Weekend Goodness

What a busy weekend! Dan and I finished painting my classroom on Friday.

Sarah and I went to the Fondy Farmer's Market Saturday morning. Neither of us had been there before and it was really nice! 

The neighborhood Dan and I live in has a party called the "boulevard bash" near the end of each summer. There's music, food, and booths from companies and organizations around the neighborhood. We only live a couple blocks away, so it's fun to walk through it. I found thai tea at one of the food places :) 

A few friends and I went to a drag show on Saturday night :) 

Dan and I went to a baby shower for his sister today. We stopped at BuyBuy Baby to pick up some cloth diapers and wipes for them. I asked Dan if he could grab some wipes (thinking he would grab one package of them) and he came back with a pile of them! 

Baby shower goodness :) 

I start school tomorrow- just teacher stuff, no kids yet. I always get a little anxious at the start of things- I hope this week goes well!

Mini Bathroom Makeover

When we moved into our current home, we had to do a lot of painting. The living room was a bright green, the dining room was orange, the kitchen was red, and the two bedrooms and bathroom were a weird peachy-tan. At first I kind of liked the super bright colors around the house, but then realized that they weren't very calming. So we started painting. We painted the living room, dining room, kitchen, and our bedroom. Then we got tired. Well, we've lived here for a little over a year and with my summer vacation coming to a close, I decided to (finally) paint the bathroom. 

Before: 

These pictures don't show how truly weird of a peachy-tan color was in the bathroom.
It was like a creepy skin toned color. 

The color looks like a nice beige in the picture.
It wasn't so nice in real life.

Obviously the color wasn't too horrendous, otherwise we wouldn't have lived with it for more than a year. 

After: 

We had left over paint from our living room/bedroom and I really like the color. So I used it in the bathroom.
I also got a new soap pump, bath rug, and shower curtain. 

There is a little (frosted) window in the shower. I love how the light shines through the shower curtain without it having the be open. The old shower curtain blocked all the light. 

It's great how a fresh coat of paint and a few new accessories can make a space feel so nice. 

It feels serene in the bathroom now :) 

Weekend Goodness: Irish Fest Edition

Milwaukee Irish Fest is one of the best weekends of the year. 

It has everything a good festival should: food, music, dancing, friends, and family. 

Everyone in my family volunteers to some extent each year. My dad and brother help set up, my mom and dad bartend, and my siblings and I do random things through out the weekend. This year, we volunteered for "Pirate Paddy"- kids/families get a 'passport' and have to stop at stations around the grounds. Dan, Meagan, and I started our weekend in the kid's cultural area- talking to kids about Irish dancing and  putting tattoos on them. 

Paddy and Molly McFest are the mascots of Irish Fest. We like to get a picture with them every year :) 

Meagan's birthday was on the Saturday of Irish Fest and Molly's was the Tuesday before. We went to my parents for a good Irish breakfast (that included bangers and black pudding) for their birthdays. This breakfast also included cake- the perfect breakfast :) Because there are so many of us, we have to take multiple cars to the grounds. Ours was obviously the party car. 

Sister- brother bonding time

 Irish Fest has a whole section for Irish dogs! My mom brought Wee Seamus to the canine area to hang out for part of the day. He got lots of hugs, pets, and kisses from adoring fans :) 

My friend, Caitlin, got to experience Irish Fest.
I was volunteering for Pirate Paddy (in the blazing sun)- this time letting kids color ocean/lake pictures.
She met up with me later to see We Banjo Three- they were awesome.

On Sunday we volunteered (again for Pirate Paddy) in the canine area- we gave kids dog stickers and let them do scratchy-art on a a shamrock. 

There are SO many good treats at the Fest. I randomly got a cake pop- but some of my favorites are:
Shamrock twist (it's basically a twist of fried dough with cinnamon sugar on it), Irish stew in a bread bowl, baked potatoes, reuben rolls, bangers and mash, fish and chips, sour cream and chive fries, eggplant strips with parm, shamrock cookies, and roasted almonds. 

Mom, Molly, Rosie, Meagan, Me, Dan, Sean, Dad
Family time at Irish Fest! 

We're a little weird :) 

We saw dancers from almost all of the Milwaukee based Irish dance schools. We saw a little bit of a variety of bands (ranging from Scythian to Gaelic Storm to the Willis Clan to We Banjo Three). We shopped. We chatted with friends we haven't seen since last year. We ate. We walked around- a lot.

The best part of Irish Fest is the Scattering. It happens on Sunday night, right before Irish Fest is over. All of the performers from the weekend gather in the Aer Lingus stage and jam. They play music and sing songs. It's a big party for all of us and it's awesome. The sing "Wild Mountain Thyme" as the last song every year- the whole crowd joins in and it's such a cool moment. If you've never been, you should definitely go next year. 

Chicago!

My friend, Sarah, is on a mini summer vacation before she starts grad school. I'm on my second half of summer vacation before 4K starts for me. So we decided to take the train to Chicago for a little day trip today. It was such a gorgeous day and after all of the walking we did, I am tried! 

We didn't have any plans, other than to actually go to Chicago, so we had mostly a sight-seeing day. We walked around  Millennium Park (and took some obligatory pictures at the Bean). 

From there, we got a coffee and checked out a (possibly haunted) water tower. Supposedly, when The Great Fire happened in the 1800's, some guy hung himself (instead of being burned to death) at this water tower- people have claimed to see him hanging around still today. We didn't see anything creepy, but we did see a photograph exhibit inside :) 

We walked down the Magnificent Mile and stopped in a shop or two as we headed to Navy Pier. 

After walking around all morning, we were hungry! We got lunch at a burger place (it was delicious) and then decided to check out China Town. Neither of us had been there before- we found the red line and made it there with no problems :) I'm still proud of us for that. 

There were plenty of interesting little shops there. We went into a grocery store that had unique chunks of meat, some live(?) turtles in a bucket, and lots of other foods I've never tasted. I wish I could have bought a bunch of them, but I didn't want to have to carry them around the rest of the day. 

When we were done with china town, we went back to near the burger place, walked along the river, and then it was time to go! The day went by so fast! It was nice to take the train home- so convenient and it was good to be able to relax for a little while (instead of having to drive home). 

A Case of the Mondays

I went to bed on a bad note last night. I was crabby. Dan was crabby. I woke up this morning, tangled in a sheet with the comforter no where to be found (it was on the floor). My car got parked into the driveway by a truck. I felt like I had a million things to do. I had to do this, and this, and this. . . .  It was an "if you give a mouse a cookie" moment, but in a negative way.


As I was crabbily looking for something to eat for breakfast, I found a bunch of bananas in the freezer.

So I made banana bread. 

Baking relaxes me. I think it's a combination of mixing things together to make something delicious, the thought process it takes, and the wait time during baking. I also feel like I'm getting more done- while the bread was baking, I did some laundry. I like when I'm efficient :) 

Week(end) Goodness

Maisie (a girl I used to kind of babysit) came to visit us for part of this week. We were busy!

Maise got to meet wee Seamus. 

And Rosie gave her a little henna tattoo. 

We had pizza and donuts from Cranky Al's for dinner :)

Maisie started cross country this year, so she went for a few runs along the lake while I roller-bladed next to her :) 

We had more donuts- theses ones are from Holey Moley. 

We spent an afternoon at the art museum. 

 We went to the state fair on Friday. My favorite part is the animals. And people watching.

This rabbit was HUGE. The size of a small dog. Actually, it was bigger than a couple dogs I know. 

Some goats had ears, some goats didn't. 

Pigs creep me out. 

We tried birthday cake milk, chocolate milk, rootbeer milk, and fruit loop milk.
They were. . . interesting. 

We also tried kangaroo pot stickers.
Also interesting. 

Maisie had her first cream puff.
I made these one summer. 

 Dan, Maisie, and I met Dan's sisters as Gilles for national custard day. I love custard.

My sister-in-law is pregnant with twins! On Saturday, we had a baby shower for her and my nieces :)
I made the desserts for the shower.

Saturday night, we had Dan's siblings over to watch the first Packer game of the (pre)season.


 Today, we met up with Maisie's parents, brother, and sister for lunch in Madison. It was delicious and now Dan and I are feeling lazy after our busy week.

I have a feeling these last few weeks of summer are going to be just as busy this one!