Lately--What I did on my "summer" vacation

I've been off of work and had a productive week long vacation filled with visits with friends, a former colleague, cleaning, eating out, getting my car fixed, taking a senior citizen fitness class with my mom, etc. It's been nice having a break and I am not ready to go back to work tomorrow. Here's a few photos from my time off.

Eats/shopping finds//
I redeemed my free birthday drink at Starbucks on an Evolution Fresh sweet greens and lemon drink. It honestly wasn't my fave, but I knew it was healthy and drank it anyway.

I've been trying a few new Chobani flavors that I found at Target.

Also spotted at Target but not purchased yet-they are now selling Quinoa pasta there. I usually ordered this brand online in the past and I am excited I can pick it up at Target now.

Parade of Homes//
Craig and I visited two sites on the Parade of Homes in Menomonee Falls and Delafield.

I can safely say I liked about 85% of the houses we saw. Most of them had white kitchens and wood trim throughout the house and I've grown to love this combination over the years.

Other things I loved:

Home gyms in finished basements--this yoga studio with a mirror made me envision future plans of starting my own personal training business in our house.

The sign below on the right pretty much sums me up. Yes, I'm a Virgo, but I am a messy one at times and I generally know where everything is, unless you mess up my piles.

A Wisconsin themed guest room made me smile. 

Other things I love: the grey walls trend, bold area rugs, screen porches, porch swings, exposed basements because they're so bright and cheery, chevron flooring, the return of the Milwaukee bungalow (although the version we saw was HUGE) and lots of windows.

Let's just say that I really know what we like in a house and it's going to be very difficult to find a somewhat older house that meets our needs. We've just started looking and it's not easy to find something with our style so far and we do not want to remodel.

Eating out//
I ate out so much in the last week and to be frank, I am pretty sick of it. One place we visited with my in-laws that we loved the atmosphere of was Kegel's Inn at 59th and National Avenue. It's been owned by the same Austrian family for about 90 years and I enjoyed trying to translate the German writing on the wall. Too bad it's not uber friendly for a vegetarian eater like me. I ordered the onion rings and had some items from Craig's fish fry plate.

Other things I did on my time off//
Enjoyed breakfasts at home instead of rushing to eat like I do on work mornings. My mom gave me a Muesli morning bun that she found at Costco. I really enjoyed it.

Played with the kitties. I am seriously going to miss being away from them at work all day.

Spent time outside and enjoyed the last bits of summer--flowers, lots of walks, hikes, etc.

Finally went on a bike ride with Craig this morning from Greenfield Park onto part of the New Berlin trail. We didn't get on as many rides as I had wished we would this summer, but we have walked almost every single day.

Wedding//
My nephew Andy got married last weekend and we had a fun time in Port Washington enjoying their special day. The reception was at the Watermark at Shully's, which was gorgeous!

Back to the real world tomorrow! Luckily it's just a four day week!