More Adventure!

In keeping with the theme of my last entry, I thought I'd include another Milwaukee-related post to highlight some of my adventures! (I apologize in advance for the excessive number of links, but I want you to be able to learn about these cool places!) Anyway, two weeks ago, a couple of my girlfriends from grad school came down to visit, and we had a lovely time! It had been almost a year since the last time we'd all been together, so it was long overdue. We didn't get too crazy in terms of making plans ahead of time, but we did a few fun things. First of all, we went to Trocadero for brunch that Saturday. I'd never been there, but as soon as I arrived, I realized it was owned by the same people who run a few other places I've been to recently (Cafe Centraal, Cafe Benelux, and Cafe Hollander). Shit, I guess I've been doing more exploring than I thought! ;) On a tangent, if you can, you should go to any or all of these places. They are awesome! Cafe Centraal is pretty close to my apartment, so I've been there the most. Anyway, after lunch, we did the Lakefront Brewery Tour. I've been told by multiple people that this is the best brewery tour in the city. Interestingly, it's the first tour I've EVER been on, so I'm almost a little sad that my first one was the "best" one, because how do you live up to that?! Anyway, that was a blast, and we decided to take a little breather and come back to my place. For dinner, we went to Graffito (Ryan Braun's restaurant). It was pretty cool, but we waited over an hour to be seated. Bla. The last stop of the night was one that would make my dad proud: Scotty's Bar and Pizza. This place is just across the street from my apartment, and it's so old school, it doesn't even have a website. ;) It attracts a VERY interesting crowd to say the least, usually people who could easily qualify as my grandparents. This particular evening, we encountered some "younger" gentleman (meaning, maybe, early 30's) who felt the need to buy all our $1 Schlitz beers. Yes, we're that classy. No complaints on my end! Anyway, since the girls only stayed over one night, it went too fast as usual. We ended our visit with a flat tire on my car (awesome, NOT), and breakfast at Cafe LuLu. LOVE this place. Overall, a very fun weekend. The only downfall was how much it broke the bank for me. I. Cannot. Spend. Money. Ever. Again. ;) Enjoy a few photos from our adventures!

Me, D, and C at the Brewery tour!

Me and C at Scotty's!

Me and D at Scotty's!

Drinking a Schlitz next to a Schlitz sign. Classy.

Soakin' up the atmosphere at Scotty's!

Ethiopian Cottage

After finding some inspiration from a few local bloggers, I feel like I want to include a few more Milwaukee-related things in my blog. You know, just really document MY experiences in this awesome city. I've done some of that over the time I've been here, but I feel like I want to share a little bit more about the things I've been doing and the places I've been going. Let's rewind.

Last weekend, a very dear person in my life (who will be referred to as "L") came down to MKE to visit me for part of the weekend. We had a fabulous time as usual. When he first arrived on Saturday, we thought about just making or ordering some food. However, after glancing through my 2011 Shepherd Express City Guide (a lifesaver since I moved here), we decided to venture out and try something different. There's an entire dining section in this guide, divided out by type of cuisine. L's eyes were almost immediately drawn to a place called Ethiopian Cottage. I'll spare you the entire description, but long story short, it sounded far different from anything either of us have ever tried. Without much convincing, off to dinner we went, and lo and behold, we were the ONLY people in the restaurant. Definitely added to the experience! We went traditional and sat at one of the places that included a basket-like "table," rather than your typical restaurant table. If we're gonna do this, we might as go all out, right?! :) Anyway, we ordered somewhat blindly, but knew we wanted a variety. Check out the menu here. We weren't sure what to expect, but if I remember correctly, I believe we went with Kitfo (#6), Ybeg Tibs Wat (#13), and Gomen (#23). As for beverages, I tried an Ethiopian beer called Bedele, and L got a glass of honey wine. We considered an entire bottle of wine, but we drove, and we also didn't know if we'd like it, so a glass seemed safer. Too bad, because it was delicious! Out came the food, and we dug in. I don't know how to describe it. Almost overwhelming, because it was A LOT of food, and eating without utensils isn't exactly normal for us. Yes, we ate our entire meal without any utensils. I loved that aspect, though! I'll be honest, the crepe-like sourdough that basically served as the utensil (that you ate) was a tad on the sour side for my liking. Another confession. Out of the beef, lamb, and veggies, L and I both concurred that the veggies were by far our favorite. Seems kind of wrong when meat's involved! Anyway, we hung around for awhile and soaked in the atmosphere. Very cool to say the least. In terms of a recommendation, I'll say that you should surely have some adventurous tastebuds if you want to check out this place. I'm SO happy we went, and I'd probably go again. We racked up a bit of a tab (thank you, L, for treating me:), but like I said, the experience was very memorable. Definitely a little more out of the box than the Midwest Diner we went to on Sunday morning (which was still awesome, by the way). Check out the photos below to get a sense of our experience. They're not MY photos, but they help show what it was like. Gosh, I love this city for exposing me to new things! :)

Crepe-like sourdough called injera

Spices and goodies

See the basket? This was our "table."

Dig in with your hands!

Ethiopian beers (I tried the one in the middle.)

It's Not Goodbye. It's See Ya Later...

This week, we lost someone who touched many of our lives. I got news on Sunday that my friend Andy passed away, and to be honest, since that day, I've still had a hard time processing through it. I have been thinking a lot about life and how quickly it can change, and it's been a painful pill to swallow. Andy was only 22 years old, taken far too soon. While I didn't get to see him nearly as often as I'd like, he brightened my day every time we were together. A true zest for life, and to say he will never be forgotten is a huge understatement. I am going to miss him more than words can say, and since I can't quite bring myself to say goodbye, Andy, if you see this, "It's not goodbye. It's see ya later." Love you, buddy. You will always be in my heart.

"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth—and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up—that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."

Please Don't Go, Girl

While I'm a couple weeks behind on this entry, I still wanted to talk about the fact that the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys (NKOTBSB) concert was, no lie, probably the best concert I've EVER been to. I was literally like a 12-year old girl throughout a good portion of it, and I'm not afraid to admit it. ;) Anyway, there were 6 of us girls, all of us with varying levels of appreciation for these guys and their music, but to say we had a blast would be quite the major understatement. Before the concert, I couldn't believe how much money I'd spent on my ticket. After the concert, I was like, "I would pay that much again in a heartbeat!" It's hard to explain why it was so good - it was just overall very entertaining, they were on stage for a long time, and they played all their main songs. Awesome! I took several videos (see below), but unfortunately, I ran out of memory space. Sad day. I apologize for the blurriness in some of the videos, and also the shakiness (especially towards the end of the night). It was combination of a few too many beers and a little too much excitement! ;) My personal favorite song is "Please Don't Go, Girl" by NKOTB. That's always been may fave, and then to top it off, Joey had his own little solo at the end of that song, and I was lucky enough to capture it on tape. That's my favorite video I took. I hope you enjoy, folks. Although, no video will compare to the real thing. As I mentioned, I'd go back in a heartbeat!

NKOTBSB - The Entrance
Oh my God, was I ever excited!!! :)


NKOTBSB - Larger Than Life


NKOTB - Please Don't Go, Girl
(Really blurry, but at least you can hear it!)


Joey - (Finishing "Please Don't Go, Girl")
This video seriously melts my heart. LOVE this song.


BSB - Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely


BSB - Drowning


NKOTB - I'll Be Loving You Forever


NKOTBSB - Hangin' Tough

HBD, Jacob!!

Stating the obvious here, but I've been REALLY behind on blogging. I've had so many things going on these days (excuses, excuses), so unfortunately blogging took the first hit. I have tons of things to update you on, but for right now, just wanted to get out a quick entry to wish my brother Jacob a happy 28th birthday! Yes, I am a day late, but better late than never, right?! Anyway, I have posted a series of pictures of me and my bro (older pics first), most of them completely lacking any ounce of seriousness. But to know my relationship with him, you need to know that ridiculous pictures are our signature thing. I don't know about you, but these photos crack me up every time! Well, minus the one or two nice ones that we sneak in once in awhile! Here's to you, big bro! Hope you had a great day! :)

Heading to get family photos taken! Workin' on our good smiles. :)

Undergrad graduation. Special. :)

Being a nice bro carrying me in NYC when my feet hurt!

Ellis Island in NYC

Random night in La Crosse. Gets me every time! :)

Christmas '09
(Anyone besides me think he freakishly resembles Ace Ventura?!)

Celebrating my Master's graduation. Our most special series. ;)

Also Christmas '09

Smith Bros. Christmas party!

Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant!

Bloody Mary's at Chili Lili's in Milwaukee!

One too many shots of tequila at Alejandro's birthday party. ;)

Milwaukee Summer!

Look at me. Two blog posts in one day. Unheard of! ;)
Anyway, I just wanted to do an entry about the awesome weekend I just had here in Milwaukee! The first thing many people told me when I moved here was that I was going to LOVE the city in the summer. Nothing makes me happier than having fun things to do when the weather's gorgeous and the night's are long! Much to my dismay, however, I have spent very little time here during the past few months (on the weekends anyway). Don't get me wrong, I've loved all the happenings I've had going on, but aside from nights during the week, I haven't had the opportunity to really soak in the summer in "my" city, and it kinda bums me out. Fortunately, this past weekend changed that for me a bit! I'm not sure how familiar you are with Summerfest, but it's a HUGE 11-day music festival that takes place in Milwaukee every summer. I've been to it before, but didn't quite realize its magnitude until moving here. Quite a few months ago, I was hanging with a couple of my girlfriends and we happened to start talking about it once we noticed Sugarland was performing. We decided to get some tickets, and it seemed like foreverrrrrr until it came time to go. This weekend, it finally arrived! Lucky for us, it also happened to be my bestie Erin's birthday, so we got to jam-pack a lot of fun times and celebrating into one weekend. I've posted some pictures below to highlight some of the fun things we did. If you're not jealous, you should be! ;)

PJ's and a wild game of Phase 10 on Friday night. Yeah, we're old. ;)

In line for the Milwaukee Zoo!!

I don't get to a zoo too often, so I was kinda picture happy! :)
(Click on the photo to see larger images of the animals.)

Post-zoo, post-nap, pre-bowling!

Not sure if you can tell, but we're professional bowlers. :)

A cop on a bike just strolled on in. We forced him into a photo.

Brad, our awesomely entertaining bartender at the bowling alley!

The woman taking our photo suggested this pose. Cute! I like her. :)

This dude was juggling 5 flaming torches. For real?!
(How do you even discover you're good at something like that?!)

I found Justin Bieber!!! Enough said. :)

Anxiously awaiting the concert!!!

Sara Bareilles. Love her!

Sugarland. Such a GREAT show!!! Definitely seeing them again! :)

L to the A to the X

As I mentioned in my Weekend Bliss post, I was lucky enough to spend about 5 days in La Crosse over the 4th of July. Heaven! I must confess, Milwaukee is definitely growing on me (shhh, don't tell anyone!), but La Crosse still holds an extremely special place in my heart that I don't think will ever be replaced. I was actually there so long over the weekend that I have a hard time keeping track of my days and all the things I did. Here's my attempt at a recall.

• Drinks with a friend on Thursday night.
• Coffee with my former boss on Friday morning.
• Tubing on the Upper Iowa River on Friday afternoon.
• Grilling out with friends on Friday night.
• 8 hours on the Mississippi (and MAJOR sunburn) on Saturday.
• Grilling out again Saturday night.
• Meeting friends at Riverfest and getting sick from the heat.
• Restless sleep since I was sick.
• Rest on Sunday.
• Movie watching on Sunday morning.
• Riverfest with a few peeps on Sunday afternoon.
• Going to bed early Sunday night. Tired from heat exhaustion.
• Sleeping in on Monday.
• Helping cook (well, mostly helping EAT;) a delicious meal.
• Playing BINGO at Riverfest. (One # away from winning $56!)
• Grilling out. Again. We like to grill, okay?!
• Fireworks on the River.
• Bed.
• Driving back to MKE on Tuesday morning and going to work.

As you can see, many of the things that I predicted would happen DID happen, so it was a fabulous weekend! Well, aside from getting sick. Clearly that was not part of the plan. Then my "host" got sick on Sunday night. Doesn't help when he lives in a loft without air conditioning and it's over 100 degrees with the heat index, but that's a whole different subject! ;) Anyway, leaving LAX and coming back to Milwaukee, just to go straight to work on Tuesday, was not an easy thing to do. The drive was literally painful because I was THAT sunburned, and I was also exhausted! Overall, though, it was a GREAT weekend with some of my favorite people, and I'm already itching to go back! I get a brief little teaser on Thursday night as I'm making a pitstop there overnight on my way to the Cities for the NKOTBSB concert on Sunday. Exciting! I'll take what I can get! Anyway, sorry I don't have any pictures to show for the weekend I was in LAX. You wouldn't have wanted to see how sweaty and gross I was anyway. Ha! Well, I hope you all had a very happy 4th of July! :))