Wednesday, August 30, 2017

My Everyday Life [Week 34]

I'm a bit behind, so here's week 34. Last week was busy, but full of great events and people all crammed into one jam packed schedule.

Monday started out with a family get together because my big sis was in town. Here's our group minus my niece Sara. 
We celebrated lots of things--my nephew Nathan's 14th birthday the next day, two wedding anniversaries (including my own), and my b-day. 
The old man was sitting in his grandma's chair so I couldn't resist this photo. Oh to be 14 again.
Caught Shiva "holding paws" with Pema. Just so much adorableness right there.
On Tuesday, Craig and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Time has flown because I have had so much fun in my marriage to him. We went to Tofte's Table in downtown Waukesha.
Just sticky pudding for Craig since he already ate dinner at home.
I ordered the kale and collard greens dip. It was delicious!
After dinner, the history geek in me wanted to check out a building in downtown. I started a fiction book set in Waukesha based on the life of real-life veterinarian Dr. Roberts. His office was in this building. I was happy to see they even have a little display dedicated to him in the window!
A beautiful sunrise walk.
I tried ripple half & half for the first time and I loved it.
Oh Shiva, always the little cat supermodel.
I helped my best friend since middle school move to her gorgeous newly built house!
Her girls were so excited to be playing in their new basement.
Danielle didn't quite know how to organize her kitchen, so I tried my best to help out. Turns out I learned she isn't the cook or baker in the relationship, so that made it twice as hard. I told her to think of her kitchen as stations. You want things to be convenient to the appliance they are going to be used with! Helping her influenced me to organize a few things differently in my own kitchen.
We took Tanzi to a new integrative vet on Friday evening and she was wonderful. We are so happy to have found someone we can trust who also focuses on nutrition. 
Tanzi loved seeing fish swimming in the tank for the first time. He was so cute.

He lost some weight since we've moved to the new house and we thought he might have hyperthyroidism. I got the blood work results on Monday and it turns out he's completely normal! Phew.
On Saturday, we attended the 1st sustainability fair at Lapham Peak. It was amazing and I didn't want to leave. We attended talks about green and natural lawn care, zero waste living, owning a Tesla, gardening, and nature photography. We both learned so much and the green living geeks in us loved it. Definitely a must do for next year too.
We both were rock climbing virgins before Saturday. Truthfully, I was a little scared to do it. Luckily, we survived and even enjoyed our experience. I hope we can get to an indoor gym over winter.
I even got to pet a chicken! Somehow the guy who owned the chickens must have known I was a bird lover. :)
Sunday's adventures including a couple of hours with my sister-in-law and adorable nephew. I loved spending time with the little guy and getting to know him better.
Finally, we checked out the awesome Lego display at Mayfair Mall. So many neat displays on both floors.
Sunday was also full of lots of foamy milk made in my new toy. I think I'm going to do a Friday favorites post this week and include the machine I purchased in my roundup.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

My Everyday Life [Weeks 32 and 33]

I've made homemade hummus before, but I guess it's been a while because I forgot how incredible it is. One of my favorites is the sriracha flavor by Hope, so I added a little hot sauce to my version and it was perfect!
I loved these two podcast episodes last week. Dr. Michelle McMacken is featured on the Plant Your Self episode and her approach to nutrition and the medical field is so admirable. Check it out here

I've always wanted to try Veggie Grill restaurant and the #EatForThePlanet podcast featured co-founder T.K. Pillan. So many head nods while listening to that one too. 
Worked out at the Y with my cute mama! I was very happy to be in the gym again. I got the opportunity to show her TRX, which is one of my favorite tools for working out!
I NEED this passport cover I found at Paper Source. I sent a text with the image to Craig and he said, but then if you get this, you'll want to go everywhere. :) That's the point!
New nephew time! He sure makes a lot of funny faces. 
Loved the raspberry flavor!
Rollerblading while Craig longboarded on a lovely Sunday morning.
Tried this pizza for the first time and it was pretty good!
Thanks to Influenster, I was able to try the new Quaker Overnight Oats! I added almond milk to mine the night before and in the morning, I had a delicious and nutritious breakfast waiting for me.
Finally picked up one of these and it was delicious.
And we also finally played tennis. We always walk or bike, but rarely get on the court to hit the ball around. It was fun!
I received a coupon for a free voucher for any Nasoya product from Social Nature. Since Craig and I both love chipotle, I picked this baked tofu up and it was amazing. I would definitely buy this again as it was so easy to pop the package open and add the tofu to a salad or wrap. I warmed mine up a bit and it was nice that way too!
I enjoy cooking and need to do it more often. Here's my little work station for lunch prep. I had my parents over for lunch!
I made the Oh My Veggies tempeh sloppy joes. My mom isn't keen on spicy food, so I added sriracha to mine to spice it up a bit.
Tanzi was the only social kitty during lunch and he was curious what we were up to. So cute.
Finally received my custom ordered dresser last weekend. But...
The delivery driver dropped it on the way in and one of the legs is badly cracked. Ugh! Now I have to see if it can be repaired or replaced. So disappointed.
I was comforted by a mocha shake from Collectivo.
And this was how I felt about Saturday once that dresser was ruined.
We checked out India Fest at Humboldt Park on Saturday evening. It was so much fun! Delicious food, cool dancing, pretty music, and a great setting for a cultural festival! We had a combo plate from Bombay Sweet and it was tasty!

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Travel: Lac du Flambeau and Manitowish Waters [Day 3]

Our last day of vacation started out in Lac Du Flambeau at Dillman's Bay Resort. I hung out in this space for the wi-fi so I could communicate with my mom while she fed the cats.
Craig and I enjoyed listening to a loon on the lake. See it in the photo below? The loon had such a pretty call!
We hopped on the bikes available for resort guests and took a little ride around the surrounding areas. Once we were back and loading the car, I kept hearing a strange noise. I walked around the corner and saw this cute little guy.
The reason we stayed at Dillman's was because Craig is obsessed with the prohibition era gangsters and the cabin below is where Babyface Nelson stayed (it was moved to Dillman's from another site across the lake). 
We were sad to check out of Dillman's, but we had a nice chat with one of the friendly owners before leaving. Then we were on the road again twenty minutes north to Manitowish Waters. Craig wanted to stay near there so we could check out the John Dillinger display at Little Bohemia, which did not open until mid-morning.

On our way to Little Bohemia, we stumbled upon the Voss' Birchwood Lodge where the FBI stayed and prepared for their unsuccessful Dillinger raid. There were a couple of ferrel cats on-site and we loved trying to get their attention! You can eat breakfast here and it was a happening place, but we simply checked out the interior, which was pretty cool.
After talking about going there for years, we finally made it to Little Bohemia

Supposedly, these gunshots were from the shooting of the Public Enemies movie. 
We arrived around 10 am, thinking the museum and restaurant would be open because their website currently lists the opening time as 9 am. Unfortunately, information on the web was not accurate and they did not open until 11 am. Just wanted to throw that out there if you're planning a trip to Little Bohemia on a Saturday morning.

The small display and Dillinger's room were really worth waiting around for.

I think this is the suit Johnny Depp wore in Public Enemies. 
Dillinger's clothes that were left behind after he ran from the FBI!
As you can see, the museum display featured many news articles about Dillinger. When I was looking at one of them about his death, I discovered that we visited Little Bohemia on the anniversary of his death. Weird coincidence!
The room where he stayed seemed very well preserved and authentic. I loved the fact that you could walk into it via the glass enclosure they built.
Bullet holes everywhere! How did those guys survive this shootout?

Back downstairs, you can see more bullet holes in the restaurant.
While it would have been cool to eat there, nothing on the menu really appealed to us so we just walked around instead.
I'm not a huge Johnny Depp fan, but I thought he did a great job portraying Dillinger in Public Enemies. 

More items of Dillinger's are on display downstairs in the restaurant lobby.

That was probably more than you ever wanted to know about Little Bohemia, but I thought sharing some information on it might be helpful to travelers!