Today was Shane’s 30th birthday, so it worked out well that I was ordered to call in sick.  I don’t have any extra vacation time at the moment, but my boss wouldn’t hear of me not taking time off for the wedding and told me that she’d be very angry if she heard that I was at work.  So, “sick” I am.

We started off Shane’s quest for free stuff by getting breakfast at Angelo’s – or at least we tried to get breakfast at Angelo’s.  After a maze of one ways and miserable parking options, we gave up and went to Northside.  We’d both slept in, so by this point we both felt like this:

Yeah, yeah, I know the white balance is off. But that’s how we were feeling. Once breakfast was on its way, though, Shane was much happier. Northside offers a free entree on your birthday, so Shane had the Morning Eggdition and a great orange juice:

Full of breakfast, we moved on to do the Zingerman’s sweep. First, a half dozen free bagels at Zingerman’s Deli:

Then on to the Zing compound south of town, where we posed as funny bakers:

and Shane got a free coffee at Zingerman’s Coffee Company, free gelato at Zingerman’s Creamery, and another half dozen bagels at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, for a full (delicious) dozen:

On our way home, we stopped to get a free “creation” at Cold Stone Creamery:

We took a break after all that snacking and ice cream sampling – I went for a run, and Shane buzzed around on his moped.  In the late afternoon, we headed out for a second round of free stuff, though I forgot the camera and so don’t have photographic evidence to support the claims of:

• a free pizza at Ashley’s with Shane’s Friend of the Owner card
• a free scoop of something delicious at Ben & Jerry’s

All told, a delicious day of eight separate instances of free things, and a great way to end our really fantastic weekend.