Everything you ever wanted to know about Yzerbear!

Name: Melissa
Location: Michigan
Birth Month: April
Sign: Taurus
Family: Mom, Dad, 2 older brothers and 1 younger sister.
Pets: 4 cats: Cassiopeia, Draco, Isis, and Morgana

Hobbies/Interests: Scrapbooking (paper and digital), Graphic design, Reading, Writing, Traveling, Photography, and American History especially the Civil War.

Favorite Color(s): Green and Red

Favorite Music Genre: Adult Alternative, 90s alternative music

Favorite Band(s): Counting Crows, Live, Gin Blossoms, Snow Patrol, and Augustana

Favorite Song(s): "Mr. Jones" (Counting Crows), "Lakini's Juice" (Live), "Run" (Snow Patrol), "Boston" (Augustana), "Allison Road" (Gin Blossoms)

Favorite Concert: Counting Crows with Live at Pine Knob in Clarkston, MI in 2000 or 2001 (I can't remember which year it was). It POURED rain right before the show, but the show must go on. There were people sliding down the hill in the mud. We called them the mud people. The bands were just awesome. The Crows played a super cool version of "Rain King," which was appropriate.

First Concert: Billy Joel at the Palace of Auburn Hills on January 14, 1994.

Favorite Soundtrack(s): Legends of the Fall, Titanic, The Pianist, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and Memoirs of a Geisha.

Favorite Book(s): And One Wore Gray by Heather Graham, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Favorite Author(s): Laura Ingalls Wilder, Karen Hawkins, Lorraine Heath, Julia London, Kasey Michaels, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Favorite Food(s): Lasagna (no meat!), Turkey, Deep Dish Cheese Pizza from Gino's East in Chicago, and of course Chocolate.

Favorite Restaurant(s): Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Gino's East Pizza (Chicago)

Favorite Pizza Topping(s): Just Cheese and lots of it!

Favorite Movie(s): In alphabetical order: Gone with the Wind, Legends of the Fall, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Titanic

Favorite Movie genre: Historical drama

Favorite TV Show(s): The Amazing Race, Ghost Whisperer, Monk, Psych, Star Trek Enterprise

Favorite TV Show(s) growing up: Little House on the Prairie, Due South, Quantum Leap

Favorite Actor(s): Christian Bale, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt

Favorite Actress(es): Shirley Temple, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightly

Favorite Animated Movie(s): Disney's Mulan

Favorite Animated Character(s): Mulan and Mushu from Disney's Mulan

Favorite Athlete(s): Steve Yzerman (Retired - Detroit Red Wings), Michelle Kwan, Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings), and Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings)

Favorite Sport(s): Hockey and Figure Skating. I also really love the Olympics, winter and summer it doesn't matter.

Favorite Sports Team(s): Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Saginaw Spirit (Ontario Hockey League)

Favorite Season: Spring

Favorite Holiday: Christmas

Favorite City: Chicago, IL

Favorite Vacation Destination(s): Walt Disney World, Gettysburg, PA, and Antietam, MD

Favorite way to spend a rainy afternoon: Curled up with a good book listening to music. Or scrapbooking.

If there is something you want to know about Yzerbear, send me an email or leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them.

Who is Yzerbear?

Well, Yzerbear is actually a little red beanie bear. Here Yzerbear (on the left) is with some friends on the most recent adventure. Yzerbear got his name because he is a beanie bear produced by the Salvino company which represented different players from different teams and sports. My bear is representing the Detroit Red Wings player, Steve Yzerman. On the back it has Steve Yzerman's last name and #19. On the front it has Steve and a "C" to respresent that he is the captain of the team. On each arm is the #19. Since my bear needed a name, I came up with YzerBEAR. Replacing the MAN in Yzerman's name with the word BEAR since it was a bear. Since I purchased him in July 1999 he has traveled all over with me. Its a strange thing that my sister and I do, but we take pictures of them in the places we travel. Her bear, known as ShannyBear, is on the right. He was purchased in May 1999. He is representing Red Wings player Brendan Shanahan. In that picture with them is Benny who joined the others when we purchased him in JUly 2000 in Toronto, Ontario. Frankie is the cute little pug in the picture. He was purchased at Universal Studios in Orlando. My sister and I use the names of the bears as our online names and they since have sort of become our nicknames to family and friends. We both love bears and have since started collecting bears and other animals from the places we visit. Here are some of the places that Yzerbear and ShannyBear have gone.


Upcoming travel: Chicago, IL!!!
April 2005: Orlando, FL
February 2005: Windsor, Ontario, CANADA
July 2004: Antietam, MD and Washington, DC -------------->
July 2003: Dayton, OH
July 2002: Mackinac Island, MI
July 2001: Cleveland, OH
July 2000: Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
July 1999: Dayton, OH

Of course those are just the main trips. There have been countless other little trips over the years all over the state of Michigan including Comerica Park, Joe Louis Arena, Greenfield Village, Lansing, MI Renaissance Festival, to just name a few. As I find the pictures on my computer and in the pictures box I will post pictures from the Bears' adventures. Stay tuned!