Brian and I went to Grand Rapids this weekend. He was seeing Motley Crue at Van Andel Arena Friday night, and I was going to hang out with April and finally meet baby Olivia. The drive to GR went great and we made great time. We were staying the weekend at the JW Marriott downtown, which is a gorgeous hotel and is hooked right to Van Andel by a catwalk. Saturday, for Valentine's Day, I had planned trips to the Meijer Gardens, the Van Andel Museum, a restaurant and a piano bar. Brian knew these things were planned, by the way, I'd like to add.
Friday night was great. I had a great time with April and her sister Anne, who is staying with her and JB for awhile. Baby Olivia is gorgeous and huge for her age! Since April is 5'10" and JB is 6'4", it's not really a surprise that Liv is big! We went to a great restaurant called Marie Catrib's, which is Middle Eastern/a little bit of everything (the owner immigrated from Lebanon). The food was great and Marie herself came out to fawn over Olivia! I left April's at about 10:30, wanting to get back to the hotel before the concert got out. I did, and was walking on the catwalk from the parking structure to the hotel, and the most random thing happened. I ran into Laura, who is a paralegal at B&T in Grand Rapids (I did a summer project for them a couple years ago in South Bend). She was in South Bend at the same time, working on the same project and we became friends. She had been at a bar across the street after work and was walking to her car, which was parked in the same structure I was in. We ended up going in the hotel bar and chatting until 12:30. It was so nice to see her too!
Ummm, as I said above, Brian and I had all sorts of fun things planned on Saturday. The day did not go as planned. All I want to say is that it was a very bad Valentine's Day for us, and it'll take Brian a long time to make it up to me. By later in the day, things were somewhat better, and we attempted to go to San Chez, a tapas restaurant. When I called them earlier in the week, I was told they don't take reservations and that I should get there before 6 to somewhat beat the rush. We arrived at 5:30 to find that half the restaurant was taken over by a wedding reception, and the wait was already over an hour long. I wasn't told about the reception earlier in the week or I probably would have picked another restaurant! Well, we were both starving, so we decided not to wait, and went to a steak place that was a couple blocks away. It was great, but we were a little underdressed, so we tried not to draw attention to ourselves! Anyway, we left at 7, and went to Mojo's, a dueling piano bar. It was tons of fun and I would definitely go back.
I'd like to go back to Grand Rapids and go back to Meijer Garden in the summer time and get to go to San Chez this time. Hopefully, we will again and will have a smoother weekend next time.
Friday night was great. I had a great time with April and her sister Anne, who is staying with her and JB for awhile. Baby Olivia is gorgeous and huge for her age! Since April is 5'10" and JB is 6'4", it's not really a surprise that Liv is big! We went to a great restaurant called Marie Catrib's, which is Middle Eastern/a little bit of everything (the owner immigrated from Lebanon). The food was great and Marie herself came out to fawn over Olivia! I left April's at about 10:30, wanting to get back to the hotel before the concert got out. I did, and was walking on the catwalk from the parking structure to the hotel, and the most random thing happened. I ran into Laura, who is a paralegal at B&T in Grand Rapids (I did a summer project for them a couple years ago in South Bend). She was in South Bend at the same time, working on the same project and we became friends. She had been at a bar across the street after work and was walking to her car, which was parked in the same structure I was in. We ended up going in the hotel bar and chatting until 12:30. It was so nice to see her too!
Ummm, as I said above, Brian and I had all sorts of fun things planned on Saturday. The day did not go as planned. All I want to say is that it was a very bad Valentine's Day for us, and it'll take Brian a long time to make it up to me. By later in the day, things were somewhat better, and we attempted to go to San Chez, a tapas restaurant. When I called them earlier in the week, I was told they don't take reservations and that I should get there before 6 to somewhat beat the rush. We arrived at 5:30 to find that half the restaurant was taken over by a wedding reception, and the wait was already over an hour long. I wasn't told about the reception earlier in the week or I probably would have picked another restaurant! Well, we were both starving, so we decided not to wait, and went to a steak place that was a couple blocks away. It was great, but we were a little underdressed, so we tried not to draw attention to ourselves! Anyway, we left at 7, and went to Mojo's, a dueling piano bar. It was tons of fun and I would definitely go back.
I'd like to go back to Grand Rapids and go back to Meijer Garden in the summer time and get to go to San Chez this time. Hopefully, we will again and will have a smoother weekend next time.
1 comment:
Thanks for posting about the JW. We always appreciate a little PR. Please send us your mailing address so we can send you an upgrade certificate to our concierg floor/lounge next time you're back at the JW.
You should try six.one.six restaurant next time. We take reservations:)
Best regards,
George Aquino
General Manager
george.aquino@jwgr.com
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