Busy busy busy day. Ok, maybe it wasn't so busy, but it was certainly busier than I normally like my days off. Tom and I acn barely make it out of bed by noon on our Thursdays off together, and then its just lounging around, catching up on media center tv until he has to go meet Roberts bus around 3:30. So, yeah, we have some pretty lazy days together, which is perfectly fine with me. For some reason, I hate counting errand-running time as time I get to spend with Tom. Call me weird....
But yes, we actually managed to get out of bed and accomplish a few things. I made an appointment to check out a banquet hall I really liked that I saw at that bridal expo I went to a few weeks ago. The pictures on their website certainly don't do the place justice. Its absolutely gorgeous! Tom and I wandered around the place and talked to the guy for over half an hour. I could just picture myself getting ready in the Presidents room and walking down the stairs with all the guests craning their necks to see me on my wedding day.... October's late afternoon golden light pouring in from the four giant wood-paneled arched windows across the guests and my wedding ceremony. The marble dance floor eagerly awaiting our first dance together as a married couple....
Time to back things up a bit here, I'm getting too sappy just thinking about the place. Anyways, the place is elegant and I love it. Tom loves it too....any time he can relate a place to a scene in a movie (film degree, what?) its a good thing. In this case, the hall reminds him of the train station scene in The Untouchables. He apologized upfront about how him and his brothers may or may not be caught re-enacting that particular scene by running up and down the big marble staircase, pretending either to shoot at people or grab a baby carriage from rolling down....
For those of you who have never seen The Untouchables, the hall used to be a really big, old fashioned bank decorated in the art deco style. Lots of marble, incredibly ornate ceiling... they left some of the old style banking tables out for decoration...and, they left one of the bank safe doors in the wall leading to the elevator. How cool is that? Here are some pictures to give you guys an idea of what it looks like...
On the main floor, looking across floor and up towards the second floor.
Looking across second floor (mezzanine)
The Presidents Office
I am ridiculously excited about this place. All I have to do is sell it to my parents. That's going to be the hardest part of all of this, because I know they're not going to approve of the location. Downtown Pontiac. I mean, right in downtown Pontiac...its on the same strip as all of the bars and clubs. Thats strike one. Strike two through strike one million seven has to do with the fact that its Pontiac.... a majority of Pontiac looks like some sort of bombed out area, with most of the houses are boarded up. Homeless people roam the streets and hang out on corners because they have nothing better to do since the homeless shelters in the area are incredibly underfunded and past the full point. The mental institutions that thrived in Pontiac up until former Gov. Engler got his hands on the state health program and cut all funding, are all closed now, and forced even more people to go without help, homes, jobs, money, etc.
Thats why its going to take so long to get my parents to warm up to the place....
Following the banquet hall, I had a series of doctors appointments to attend to...and then a date with my parents washer and dryer so I could do some laundry.... exciting stuff, huh?