Why I think Michigan is an awesome place to call home

As most of you know, I love living in Michigan. I grew up here, I went to college here, I found my career here, built a blog I love here, and plan to stay here for the rest of my life! There are so many reasons why I love Michigan. Today I’m going to touch on the top five benefits to living in Michigan in collaboration with MSHDA! If you haven’t heard of MSHDA before, simply put, they help Michigan residents get into homes. They offer several valuable programs, provide housing for veterans, reduce homelessness and make homeownership possible and preserve Michigan history. Be sure to head over to their website to read more!

MSHDA sponsored this post. The opinions and text are my own.

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Guide to Escanaba

Alrighty! Here’s a little recap of our trip to Escanaba… the places I’d recommend to drink, eat, and adventure to! If you know the area better than I do, and you have any more tips/recommendations, let me know in the comments! We loved our trip to Escanaba. Like I mentioned before, I planned this trip to the area because there were five lighthouses I hadn’t seen yet… and needed to check off my list. But I ended up loving this weird, desolate town. 😉 It’s full of character, and I loved the food, wine, vibes and things to do. It was definitely a slower weekend (as most weekends in the upper peninsula are), which I always appreciate. Sometimes it feels like I’m letting out a breath of air I’ve been holding in once I hit the U.P., it’s sort of strange to explain. I just love it up here; and Escanaba is definitely part of that reason now too!

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Peninsula Point Light
Peninsula Point Light

Moving onto the last lighthouse from our trip to Escanaba… the Peninsula Point Light! So the locals call this the Stonington Lighthouse, and I was getting so confused… like am I missing a lighthouse during this trip?! But it’s because it’s out on Stonington Peninsula! So first, it takes about 30 minutes to go down the peninsula and down a narrow dirt road before you reach the lighthouse. Second, this tower is all that remains after a fire and demolition. You can open the door, and climb up by yourself, for a gorgeous view of the bay. Third, this is the only place you can spot the Minneapolis Shoal Light from shore (it’s so distant, but I was able to snap a picture on the furthest zoom!) and…. fourth, this is a gathering place for monarch butterflies each fall where they rest before continuing south across Lake Michigan on their annual migration to Mexico. Long story short, this is such a special place.

Outfit details:

Levi's Premium Wedgie Straight
Tradlands 101 Martine Black Tencel
Ray-Ban Clubmaster Sunglasses
Madewell The Transport Tote
Madewell The Boardwalk Ankle-Strap Sandal

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The benefits of having Xfinity WiFi at home

We’re gearing up for autumn, and I’m really looking forward to it. To me, fall means more cozy nights at home watching movies, cooking meals, and, of course, spending more time on the internet! Fall and winter are peak usage times for our home WiFi, especially because we stream our favorite cable and TV shows. I’m excited to get into the routine of this slower season, because some of my favorite TV shows are coming back on, and we’ll have a chance to catch up on movies we missed over the summer. With that in mind, I’m really thankful we have Xfinity for fast internet and the best WiFi coverage throughout our home!

Xfinity sponsored this post. The opinions and text are my own.

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Menominee North Pier Lighthouse
Menominee North Pier Lighthouse

During our trip to Escanaba, we headed down to spend a day (ish) in Menominee! To be honest, there’s not much to do in this town (that we figured out) but there’s a lighthouse there… so of course, off we went! Menominee is right on the Michigan/Wisconsin border, so it was kind of fun to cross over into Wisconsin for a second just to say we did (haha), to do a little wine tasting at Yooper Winery, to eat some Wisconsin cheese curds at Ogden Club, to walk around their strange, quiet little downtown, to grab malts from the local ice-cream shop, and to walk down the pier to the Menominee North Pier Lighthouse. This one was built in 1877, and has been shifted and changed many times! There are several markers on the pathway that say where the lighthouse used to sit… it’s been moved/extended three times!

Outfit details:

Madewell The Perfect Vintage Jean in Fitzgerald Wash
Madewell The Boxy-Crop Jean Jacket in Lunar Wash
Ray-Ban Clubmaster Sunglasses
Madewell The Transport Tote
Steve Madden Cybell Espadrille Sandal

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Sand Point Lighthouse
Sand Point Lighthouse

One of the main reasons I wanted to travel to Escanaba was to see five new lighthouses I hadn’t seen before in the area… and the Sand Point Lighthouse was one I was most excited to see! It’s definitely a landmark of the city and it’s beautiful. This one was built in 1867, and warned the ships off Sand Point and the sand reef that reached out into Little Bay De Noc. There is so much rich history in Escanaba! It used to be home to several ore docks, so there was constant traffic of ships that would carry out iron ore and lumber from local sawmills. Another big thing about this lighthouse is that it employed one of the first women lighthouse keepers on the Great Lakes!

Outfit details:

Levi's Premium Wedgie Straight
Madewell The Jean Jacket in Pinter Wash
Madewell Central Shirt in Pure White
Madewell The Transport Tote
Target Sandals (similar)

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