Restaurant and Shopping List

There are two things that everyone talks about over here - shopping and restaurants. After being here for a couple months Burger King, Pizza Hut, Pop-eyes, Taco Bell and Subway get old really fast. The PX gets old after the first two trips there. It doesn't take long before you start craving food from the U.S. and whether you realize it or not, you begin a list either mentally or physically of all the restaurants you want to eat at as soon as you get home. Shopping is the same way. Everyone has a list of where they'll go first.

Of course everything is amplified when you're pregnant, so I've had a cumulative list going for a couple weeks now, along with stalking the menu's of restaurants online. I can't help it. I wish I could describe to you what it's like to live in a bubble for two years, but it's one of those things you can't really understand until you live it.

Anyway, here is our compiled list of restaurants we plan to eat at least once at while we are in the States. Some are location specific, so I've included the designated location. Some of the locations are not feasible as we won't be in that state again (at least for awhile), but first and foremost this is a wishlist. For the most part, these are in no specific order as to importance.

Jimmy John's

Jersey Giant - East Lansing, MI

Jersey Mike's - Fayetteville, NC

Mitchell's Fish Market - Lansing, MI

P.F. Chang's

Gumby's Pizza - East Lansing, MI
Panera Bread Co.

Cheesecake Factory

B.C. Pizza - Boyne City, MI

Andy's Pizza - Peckville, PA

Buffalo Wild Wings

TGI Friday's

Jason's Deli

Sonic

Chuck E. Cheese

Red Lobster

Dairy Queen

Steak and Shake

Carraba's

Olive Garden

Wendy's

and lastly, in my great need for salty food - some kind of Hibachi/Sushi restaurant

Shopping, of course, is easy enough. Walmart and Target are always the first couple answers you get if you ask someone. I can't wait for Meijer (for those of you that aren't from the Great Lakes area, it's like a Walmart but not as ghetto). Mostly, I can't wait to just go to a mall. To see all the stores in one place and be able to actually see clothes and try them on before purchasing them. Good quality clothes for decent prices. Shoes that you don't have to gestimate the size. Choices in electronics with prices that aren't marked up because of international shipping. Again, I wish I could explain the significance behind these feelings, but words couldn't do it justice. My list for shopping is not specifically location-based. While, I will be thrilled to step inside a Target and a Mall, I am not as concerned about where I buy the things I need as I am just excited there are options!