Milwaukee Veg Expo

I checked out the first ever Milwaukee Veg Expo at Hart Park in Wauwatosa on Saturday, May 7th! I attended the Mad City Vegan Fest in Madison last June and loved it. I was secretly hoping that someone in Milwaukee would start one up too, so I was very excited when the expo was announced months ago!

The organizers' mission is to "educate and give people the tools to live a life that is good for all of us, the animals and the planet. It is our hope that you experience the joys of plant powered living."

I arrived right when a cooking demonstration was beginning. Breast cancer survivor and Food for Life Instructor Amberlea Childs made a Kale and Brussel Salad which looked delicious and easy to make!

Following the demonstration, I went to hear integrative nutritionist and gourmet cook Carol d'Anca speak on the topic of "Food Not Meds." She was a fantastic speaker! Since nutrition is my hobby, I was familiar with much of the material she covered, but I still found it to be very inspirational and reassuring. 

Doesn't this dessert look divine? You can find the recipe for it in Carol's book, Real Food for Healthy People: A recipe and resource guide. 

I found some time to walk around the exhibitor section! There were so many great booths to check out.

Loved these bumper stickers, especially the "McShit" one.

I tried Gorilly Goods for the first time and they were so flavorful and full of wholesome ingredients. I love that they are made locally in Jackson, Wisconsin. 

Attendees could also enter to win raffle prizes. 

I picked up lunch at the Indian Village booth which was quite popular. The sampler plate I had was spicy and tasty! 

I can't wait to see what the second Milwaukee Veg Expo has to offer next year! 

My Everyday Life [Week 22]

I was off of work on Monday and supposed to go hiking with a friend. She had a sick kid, so I took advantage of the extra free time I had and prepared for something next to these snuggly guys.

I enjoyed being home with my three guys and felt like I got everything I wanted to done. 

Craig and I went to the library on Monday night. I checked this book out and I can totally relate to Tess's story right now. 

We attended a program on rain barrels and rain gardens at the library. This was the library's fairly large rain garden. 

Drainage from the parking lot into the garden. We learned so much! I am not sure we'll ever have a rain garden, but I'd like a barrel someday to use for watering flowers and washing our cars. 

I was off on Wednesday too. I was all dressed up and trying to look as professional as possible in a black dress and cardigan.  

I was eating at the breakfast counter and Pema was annoying me by trying to eat my food, so I pushed him away and he ended up loving sitting in the middle of the room like this.

Watched Genealogy Roadshow time and distractions courtesy of Shiva, who was being naughty.

 

Mushrooms starting growing out of my mushroom kit even though I hadn't officially started it yet! Guess that was mother nature's way of saying I better start properly growing them. 

I received a lovely package of Bobs Red Mill's protein powder and this blender bottle. I tried the chai protein first and it was delicious!

We walked around Carroll University over the weekend. We were the only people on that part of campus! So many pretty buildings and flowers to check out. 

 One of my favorite flowers, lilacs.

 A gorgeous house near campus.

 We both liked this arch and yard in general.

The song I've had on repeat lately by the band Miike Snow. Craig doesn't like it. The lyrics are a bit weird, but there's something about the composition of the song and singing that I love.

I enjoyed looking at old plat maps at the library. It was fun to see the history of the land and farmers' names. I was checking out the New Berlin land I lived on from 1989 through 2000.

Made my annual spring strawberry rhubarb crisp tonight. I had a little helper, food lover Pema. His new thing is walking into the kitchen, smelling the air and then hovering if he likes the smell of what I am cooking or chopping up. His favorite lately seems to be eggs. 

I made the crisp in the microwave for the first time ever and it actually turned out just fine. So easy! 

 Pretty salvia in our front yard. Spot the bee?

I've got a big week ahead of me! Lots of changes ahead and I am ready for them. Have a great Memorial Day holiday! I'm actually heading into work tomorrow so I can save my holiday time and get it paid out.

My Everyday Life [Week 21]

The weather has been beautiful this weekend, but I spent most of it inside working on preparing for something. I am taking a break to get my everyday life post out in time!

We had a little visitor to our house on Monday night. Craig and I were outside reading on the front porch and the outdoor cat in our neighborhood, Jasper, was outside too. Pretty soon, he wandered around toward our house while walking with his owner. She brought him up to the front door and he met Tanzi through the glass! Tanzi was so excited to see him. I wondered if Jasper reminded him of Karma.

His owner left and he came around the back of our house to start hunting in the woods.

I went to a free pickleball clinic at a local park! It was so much fun to play. My friend plays it and knew I'd love it too. I met so many nice people (mostly senior citizens) and enjoyed playing a few games. I need to work on my serve and my excuse is that I am used to the overhead serve played in tennis. The teacher said that my returns were strong and I just need to practice the serve. I definitely want to sign up for a class in winter. I am very excited that in about two to three years, we should have pickleball courts within walking distance of our house.

Craig loves the prohibition era gangsters, so we attended a talk at a local library. It was fun to learn some new information and see lots of photos of places they stayed at in Wisconsin.

One of my former interns and I had lunch at the adorable Urban Beets cafe and juicery on Thursday. I'll write a separate post with a review of it. I might go back there and try a juice or smoothie this week.

Craig and I went to Stein's Garden and Gifts to get some items for our garden. I was in awe of all of the beautiful flowers. 

So many vegetables to choose from!

We decided on planting two tomato plants in a garden near the woods. Craig took care of that while I planted the brussels sprouts and broccoli plants in containers. I've never grown either, so we'll see how they do.

Before heading to work Friday afternoon, I picked up a free egg and cheese sandwich from Starbucks. They randomly had a sandwich without sausage on it, so I got super lucky! I also ordered a caramel iced coffee.

Happy to be coordinating my last ever sleepover program! You can now guess what I've been alluding to in terms of changes, but more on that to come later. 

The pretty Milwaukee skyline while at work on Friday evening. 

I really want to grow spinach this year, so I was debating getting some seeds. I think I'll probably go for it.

Craig and I both love it when Shiva sits on our shoulder and puts his paw up on our arm. Tanzi is pretty darn cute at snuggling too!

This is how I spent most of the weekend prepping for something. The cats are always little distractors.

Craig being silly with Pema. Love his face here.

Saturday afternoon lunch--kale salad with raspberries and cucumbers. Pema was sitting next to me and was obsessed with the way the poppyseed dressing smelled.

"Craig's" orchid finally bloomed! He has the green thumb so he takes care of the delicate orchids.

Pema is featured a lot in this post--he's yelling at me here. I went outside to take pictures of the full moon. Have you seen Mars in the sky yet? I did!

My attempt at a photo! I always feel like the full moon causes strange things to happen and it did this month too. 

Shiva kneading on me.

That's all folks! Have a great week!