Category Archives: Weekend Shenanigans

Weekend Tidbits

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Homeownership kept us pretty busy this weekend.  It was the first weekend we’ve been able to just futz around the house and get outside in the yard.  We spent a lot of time at Home Depot and World Market.

When we bought our house, we inherited a TON of garden space.

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I wasn’t joking.  When I first saw the space I was overwhelmed and immediately wanted to convert it back to a yard.  The only thing I’ve ever grown is a baby!  Then, during our second walk through I thought, “Well maybe we’ll take out the first three and keep the three beds behind the garage.”  After the previous owners accepted our offer, I met with the Mrs. and she informed me that the 100 heads of garlic were growing in one of the beds that I wanted to take out.

I finally got back there this week and saw the garlic starting to sprout.  I got really excited and started to plan out what else I’m going to plant back there.  I planted some carrots in the same bed as the garlic.  I’m not sure of how they’re going to come out: those seeds are tiny! And I thought of a better way to plant them after I kind of just spread them around.  The rest of the planting and gardening will resume after I get back home in the beginning of June.

Another project I wanted to get done before I left at the end of this month was the accent wall in our bedroom.

bedroom wall before

bedroom wall before

  I used a wall stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils to transform our wall into this:

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It was a really tedious job but I’m really happy with how it turned out.  The color is Special Gray from Sherwin Williams.  All the walls were painted with a matte paint and the accent wall was painted with a high gloss paint.  I used the matte paint to go over the high gloss paint.  I’m really glad I stuck with the same color.  Unless you’re a stenciling expert, if you’re going to do this, I would recommend sticking with similar colors.  There were a few little mistakes but it’s really hard to see them, which I’m very thankful for.

The very BEST part of my weekend came today when I was reunited with my sister.  She’s been deployed for two months and we’re so happy to have her home.  Madelyn has missed her auntie!

melissa

When Melissa and I found out the date and time of when she was scheduled to come home we decided to not tell my mom, but rather surprise her at work.  Thankfully, everything fell into place and we were able to pull of an awesome surprise homecoming!

Welcome home to my sister and best friend!  We have some wine dates to catch up on :-)

In the past Few Weeks…

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One thing I’ve learned since going back to work full-time?  Weekly blogging with a newborn is pretty impossible for me.  My day starts out at 4am: I pump, get ready for work, get little miss up and ready for daycare, feed her, make myself some coffee and we’re out the door at 5:50ish a.m.  I drop her off at daycare around 6 and am at work by 6:30 am.  I work 10 hour days and am lucky enough to have an hour a day to workout-so really it ends up being about a 9 hour day.  I leave work between 4:30-4:45pm to pick up Madelyn from daycare and I get home around 5pm.  When I get home, I get settled in, make dinner, spend time with my husband & baby and start our bedtime routine around 8:30-9.  I’m usually in bed around 9:45-10.  Sleep & repeat.  It’s a very long day but it’s worth the 3 day weekend I get to enjoy :-)

Since my last post we’ve had some pretty eventful things happening here:

1. Madelyn came down with a cold and got so congested that we ended up at an Urgent Care.  The little girl had such a hard time breathing it scared the bejeezus out of Larry and me.

2. Whatever germs Madelyn picked up from daycare, she decided to share with the rest of us and we all took turns being sick the past few weeks.

3. I celebrated 28 years of life.  After a certain age, birthdays stop being exciting.  I was at the tail end of a really bad cold this year and we had drill the following day, so I spent my birthday with my family eating pizza, drinking wine & snacking on birthday cake. It was perfect.

4.  I ventured down to Chicago with my husband and mom and we ran The Hot Chocolate 5k.  It was my first run postpartum and it felt really good.  I ran with my mom whose pace is  just a tad slower than mine-but I wasn’t trying to set any PR with this little race.  My only goal was to have fun-which I did!

5.  I’ve had a not so great few weeks of tracking my weekly weight watchers points.  The good news is I haven’t gained any weight. Bad news? I haven’t lost weight either.  Another blogger pointed out to me that MyFitnessPal DOES take into account breastfeeding so I may be switching back to that because A-it’s free and B-I had success with it before I got pregnant.

6. I found an “in studio” barre class to take in the Milwaukee area.  I liked it, but I want to try another class during the week before I give a full review.

7. Hubs and I spent the night in Chicago this weekend for some much needed husband/wife time.  My mom kept Madelyn for us while we wined and dined in the Windy city.  It was hard leaving her behind but I had peace of mind knowing she was at home and in good hands.  We found a good price on hotwire.com and stayed in a really nice hotel located right off of Michigan Ave.

Larry took me on a little shopping spree and out to dinner at RPM Italian.  I’m a HUGE fan of Giuliana & Bill so I was super excited to try out their new restaurant.  Like every other Lettuce Entertain You restaurant, it did not disappoint.  The food was awesome, the service was spectacular, and the atmosphere was very Modern without being too pretentious.  Their entrees were made to share which I like when you have a small group because then you get to try a variety of foods.  It was a fun getting all dressed up to go out.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done that and Chicago is the perfect city for it.

I’m off to browse through the Thanksgiving issue of the Food Network magazine.  I’m hosting for the first time this year and I’m pretty excited/nervous! Wish me luck!

Pumpkin pie is a must-have at our Thanksgiving dinner.  Larry loves it!  I love mixing cranberry sauce and stuffing together the day after.

What’s your favorite/must have Thanksgiving entree?     

Summertime, Please slow down.

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Happy Monday!  My weekend went by way too quickly as it usually does.  This past week, I’ve been super busy getting stuff ready for the baby and finishing up other things I wanted to get done before the baby comes…like finishing our wedding album. So I took a little break from blogging this past week to focus on that.  It’s almost done.

On Friday, I celebrated my mom’s birthday by going taking her to Lululemon and buying her her first Lulu top, dining at Via on Downer, and finishing up with some frozen yogurt at My Oh My.

We started our meal off with the Crostino Milano appetizer with gluten-free bread.  On top of the bread was spinach infused with olive oil, garlic, basil, tomatoes and goat cheese.  It was very good and just what I needed.  I’ve been skimping on veggies the past few weeks because they just haven’t appealed to me in the raw sense, but this was very satisfying.

For dinner I went with the pizza.  They have some of the best gluten-free pizza I’ve tasted.  LC and I visited their sister restaurant a few months ago, and enjoyed it so I knew this place would not disappoint.    I went with the La Bella pizza and added chicken and goat cheese.  The last time I was at Via, I had a pizza with their garlic sauce and it won my heart so I ordered another garlic sauce based pizza.  My heartburn hasn’t been too bad this pregnancy, but I wanted to err on the side of caution and forgo a tomato based sauce.  The pizza originally came with artichokes, cheese, and onions.

After dinner, we headed to a new frozen yogurt place in Milwaukee.  In the land of ice cream and frozen custard, I’m so happy to see a frozen yogurt shop.  There were tons of them in Chicago and I’ve now seen two pop up in Milwaukee.

I loved the way this place is set up.  We walked in and a girl offered us little sampling cups so that we could try whatever yogurt we wanted before we decided.  It’s self serve and their flavors change daily.  I decided on 1/2 dolce de leche and 1/2 NY cheesecake.  I topped it with some strawberries and was on my way.  You can also top your frozen yogurt with whipped cream at the cashier’s station.  The yogurt was very good and I would decide to have this over ice cream any day.  Lately, ice cream and I haven’t really meshed well.  Last time we went to Culver’s for frozen custard, I opted for a lemon Italian ice instead.  Baby really prefers fruity and cold :-)  My mom said it was the perfect ending to her birthday :-)

On Saturday I went into work for a little bit and then came home and cleaned the house.  I finally understand this “nesting” stuff.  I’m constantly cleaning up our house every chance I get and I’m starting to drive my husband crazy.  After my cleaning frenzy, we went to El Fuego for dinner and headed down to the lakefront to watch the Festa Italiana fireworks.  It was the first fireworks show that I’ve seen all year.  We missed the 4th of July fireworks due to the drought/dry grass this year.

On Sunday, I had my girlfriends over for a girls brunch and some pool time.  It was nice catching up with everyone and getting together just for fun without it revolving around a baby shower, wedding shower etc.

For brunch I made a crustless quiche and overnight baked french toast.  A friend of mine also brought over a fresh fruit salad to share.  After brunch we headed over to the pool to sit in the sun and swim around.  It was the perfect afternoon with my girls and will probably be the last time I see some of them before the baby arrives.  We all agreed that we don’t get together often enough, but when we do we pick up right where we left off.  As we get older, life gets in the way.  I’ve been extremely blessed to have the same group of girlfriends since middle school (16 or so years?).  Two of them are also pregnant and due in December.  They both recently found out that they’re expecting girls, which makes me even more anxious to find out what we’re having.  EVERYONE keeps telling me that I’m having a boy (my sister is sticking to her guns and saying girl).  And last night I had a dream that I gave birth to a boy. In the beginning, I had dreams that I was having a girl and I’ve also had a few dreams that it was a boy.  Maybe that’s because it’s what everyone is guessing that I’m having?  Who knows, but we’ll know soon enough :-)

I’m off to the craft store for a DIY project for the baby’s room and I’ll be back later with a pregnancy update!

Something to talk about: In my opinion, summer goes by way too quickly as an adult.  What’s your all-time favorite memory of summer as a child? My grandma was a teacher’s aid, so I remember spending a lot of time with her in the summer.  We’d spend time baking, going to the library, movies, and the little wading pool in our neighborhood.  I also remember making homemade GAK with her :-)

 

Weekend Recap-Summer in Milwaukee

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Like Chasin Mason said last night, “There’s nothing like it.”  The last four summers I’ve spent the majority of my time in Chicago.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Windy City, especially in the summer, but nothing beats a summer in Milwaukee.  This weekend was the epitome of  what a perfect Milwaukee summer is.

On Friday, my mom and I took my sister out to dinner at Ryan Braun‘s new restaurant, Graffito.  We took her out because she’s leaving us for 3 weeks and venturing to the East Coast for some military training.

I’ve been wanting to check this place out since it opened and I’m so happy that my sister suggested it.  Everything is made from scratch and bought locally.  They also have many gluten-free options available for my madre and myself :-)  All of their pastas can be made gluten-free with the exception of their ravioli.  I decided to roll with the shrimp scampi and added mushrooms and goat cheese.

Verdict?  I thought it was good.  Nothing that was “out of this world outstanding” but good.  The sauce was a little watery for my taste and I would’ve liked it if the shrimp weren’t so small.  If I ever get back there again, I would try something else.  My mom had the pasta primavera (gluten-free) and she said the same thing about the sauce.  Maybe it’s the gluten free pasta?  Not sure.  But the service was excellent and the freshly squeezed lemonade was very refreshing, especially on a hot summer night.

On Saturday, I met the same ladies (mom and sister) at the Original Pancake house in Brookfield for a morning of breakfast and shopping at Babies R Us.  I had some gift cards to use and some things that still needed to be purchased.  I’m so happy that my mom came along with.  She had some great advice about baby products and offered some helpful solutions as to what bottles to use.  Besides stuff for baby, I also picked up a few nursing tank tops for myself.  Time is getting so close!

After I got back and washed all of the baby’s clothes, LC and I decided to venture down to Summerfest by the lakefront.  Summerfest is the world’s largest music festival that’s put on every year by Milwaukee’s lakefront.

You pay to get in but there are tons of stages of free music and then one main headliner that plays at the Marcus Amphitheater, which you have to pay for.  Last night, Chasin Mason, Phil Vassar, Cake, Common, Anthony Hamilton and Chevelle (just to name a few) were playing.  Hubs and I walked around, he drank some beer while I ate, and we just enjoyed each other’s company and had fun people watching.  I really wanted to stay to see Cake, but my feet were killing me and I was so tired.  Even though it was beautiful weather outside, all I wanted to do was go home, lay home and put my feet up on the couch.  When we got the car, I started crying…I felt so bad for leaving the party early but at the same time I couldn’t handle anymore.  I also felt bad that I made hubs go home on such a beautiful night.  Gotta love third trimester hormones!

Today, I spent a few hours at Target :-) and then we took little Oliver to the dog park.  Because it’s been unusually hot here, he’s been getting gipped on his walks so we took him out for some much needed exercise.  We played his favorite game fetch.  It was still pretty warm out today, so he was pretty tired at the end of play time.

After the dog park, we came back and threw some chicken on the grill while I stayed inside and whipped up some risotto.  To top off it all off, we finished our night off with a tasty treat:

Because what’s a Milwaukee summer without a little frozen custard?

Summerfest and frozen custard are two things that come to mind when I think of Milwaukee in the summer time.

What festivals/things are your city known for?

See you tomorrow with a 33 week prego update!

Sunday Funday

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Has a whole new meaning these days :-)  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  I actually went into work for a few hours on Saturday to earn some comp time for when the baby’s born.  Hubs works nights and when he comes home on Saturday mornings at 6am, I’m wide awake so I figured I’d just go into work for a few hours and get some stuff done.  Afterward, I went to the South Shore farmer’s market with my mom and bought some beets, kale, pea pods and shared some kettle corn with my mom.  LC and I went to the pool later the day, but our pool workout was cut short due to scattered showers :-/ So I came back home and did my prenatal Bar Method DVD instead.  I’ve been doing this DVD throughout my pregnancy, but not consistently (they recommend 3-5 times a week). I NEED to bring this into a regular workout rotation now, because today is the first day I woke up and didn’t have extreme lower back pain after a night of sleep and I think the pool and bar method had something to do with that.

Today, I started our day off with blueberry waffles with a little help from Better Batter.  Of all the gluten-free pancake mixes I’ve tried, I like this one the best so far.  All you have to do is add water or milk (I used rice milk) and an egg.  They were very good and very light and fluffy.

After breakfast, hubs and I met up with my sister and her friend down at the lakefront for the Festival of the Arts.  It’s a big arts festival that’s put on every summer at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Most of it is under tents so that if it rains, the art won’t get ruined.  Of all the years I’ve lived in Milwaukee, I’ve never made it to this festival until today.  We got there expect to pay admission, but were surprised to find out that it’s free for military and families.  The art exhibit on display right now at the museum is Posters of Paris, so there was a huge sand sculpture in front of the festival honoring that theme.

We walked around for a few hours admiring the art pieces that we couldn’t afford and enjoyed the day.  After we had seen enough, hubs and I headed back home and went straight to the pool since our visit yesterday was cut short.  it was hoppin’ with people today. We went for a little swim and then went back to our chairs to lay out in the sun.  We must have both been super tired, because before I knew it, I was waking from a nap.  It felt amazing to sleep out in the sun :-)

In baby news, I found out that an old college friend is expecting a baby in December! So that makes what seems like a million babies born this year…when really it’s 10 including myself.  Craziness.  I thought it just seemed like the whole world is pregnant because I am and maybe I’m noticing it more, but everyone really is pregnant!  I’ll be back tomorrow with a 30 week baby update!

Stuffed

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Good evening!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  It was a drill weekend for me, so it was pretty uneventful.  Yesterday after work, hubs and I met up with some friends at the zoo.  A girlfriend of mine is a radiology tech at a local hospital and her job was giving them an employee appreciation night at the zoo.  She had some extra wristbands and invited us along.  We had a lot of fun catching up and seeing the animals, but I forgot how big the Milwaukee County Zoo was!  It was great exercise but I was definitely ready for bed by the time we got home.

Something GREAT happened this weekend…my job finally became permanent!  The applications came back and it was between me and one other person, who was just as qualified as me even though I’ve been in the position for the last 6 months.  I was a little bit nervous for the interview, but I did pretty well.  It’s such a relief knowing that I have a permanent full-time job in WI.

Tonight, we dined in the celebrate the good news.  I wanted to enjoy dinner on the patio and just take it easy tonight, so I prepped while hubs grilled.  I decided to give stuffed chicken a try.  I cut the chicken breasts lengthwise making sure not to cut all the way through (just about 1/2 way) and created a “pocket” out of the chicken breast.  Then I rubbed some olive oil on them so that they wouldn’t stick to the grill.

After that,  I filled it with crumbled feta, olives, and seasoned it with garlic powder, pepper, and Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning.  LC grilled the chicken along side asparagus & zucchini.  Dinner was muy bueno!  We ate outside while listen to Today’s country hits on Pandora.  My idea of a perfect summer evening :-)

I’m off to get working on our wedding album (something I have to finish before baby arrives!) and cuddle with this little guy :-)

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Belly Up to the Bar

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Sometimes, the weekends with no plans end up being the most productive.  Yesterday ended up being one of those days.

I started my morning off with a bagel from Against the Grain and an orange.  While I LOVE their pre-made pizza crusts, I’m not such a huge fan of their bagels.  They’re airy and very light, not the kind of consistency I look for in a bagel.  Udi’s is still my fave.  

 

After breakfast I tackled our filing cabinet and got rid of old papers that we didn’t need anymore.  That turned into a monstrosity that I wasn’t expecting.  I found leases from my first apartment, which was 8 years ago, and cell phone bills from 2007.  I apologize to my husband and my step-dad for having to move that thing from apartment to apartment for me…love you guys :-)  

gfgirlinchicago 
When the paper shredding fun was over with, I headed over to Bar Method in Lakeview for my first official prenatal class.  It was awesome!  I’ve taken the regular classes since being pregnant, because the prenatal is only offered one day a week.  I tell the instructors that I’m pregnant and they help me modify the poses.  The prenatal class teaches you ways to modify the poses on your own so that when you do take a regular class,  you’ll need little help from the teacher.  It was also nice, working out along side with other fellow preggos :-) There was one women there, still working out and she was 36 weeks pregnant.  Very impressive to say the least.  Bar Method is, hands down, my favorite toning workout.  It helped me shed inches for my wedding day and now I’m hoping that it keeps me in shape during my pregnancy.  When I’m in WI, I use their DVDs.  While they are very good and comparable to a class, I prefer the motivation of a real-life instructor.  I feel a little giveaway in the near future :-)    
One of the things that I miss about being in Chicago on a full-time basis is my kitchen.  I enjoy cooking, and now that I’m at a point where most of my food aversions are out the window, I like to spend as much time in it as I can.  Pre-Wisconsin during the week, our weekends were spent dining out.  Now I much prefer to make dinner at home.  Last night I made hubs and I grilled salmon over a bed of greens & quinoa with olives, artichokes, mushrooms and goat cheese.
 LC told me that I could make this every day if I wanted, it was that good :-) I seasoned the salmon with olive oil, lemon, rosemary, oregano, pepper and sea salt.  I agree with him, it was probably the best salmon I’ve every made.  
I also got some use out of pampered chef chip maker and turned these sweet potato rounds

into these crispy sweet potato chips. 
 
 The key to getting a crispy, instead of chewy, chip is to make sure that all the moisture is out of the sweet potatoes before putting them on the crisper and then into the microwave.  I’m happy that I made enough of them to snack on through the week.  Maybe next week, I’ll explore with apples. 
Today’s not going to be quite as busy as yesterday was.  We have our Bradley Method class where tonight we’re discussing the first stage of labor.  This morning I’m headed to Bar Method and off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful Sunday! Have a great day.