MIL's Visit

 

Look at that fancy Blogging!  I found myself with an unexpected afternoon off and decided to update the Blog.  You'll notice that I posted another post today, too.  I'm getting back on this wagon after all!

The projects are (clockwise): 1. Squares Baby Sweater by Susan B. Anderson

 Yarn: Louisa Harding Hulda in pale blue.

2. My own design raglan short sleeve sweater

Yarn: Freebies acrylic yarn that I used up from my stash.

3.On the Sunny Side by Melanie Hoffman

Yarn: Arucania Pomaire Cotton in purple and green

4. Birthday Cake Hat by Susan B. Anderson

Yarn: Peter Pan 4 ply in pink and white

This post will be mostly about this past weekend.  Bry's Mom came to visit us for the first time.  (Mother-in-law-cleaning thus commenced!) The apartment was spic-and-span which was kinda nice.  She and her friend came in on Saturday morning.  We headed downtown for lunch at the Milwaukee Ale House.
This is one of our favorite spots - right on the river with a nice, cold beer!

After a lovely lunch we headed out to the Lakeshore to show off Milwaukee.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a nice walk out onto the pier.  The day was just truly gorgeous - unbelievable!

 

Bry and Abi

 

After the walk a short driving tour of Milwaukee commenced before we headed home to pick up necessary tailgate supplies.  Barb is not a beer drinker so we opted for wine instead (if you read the previous post I happened to have prepared for this!).

We had some pretty gourmet burgers and enjoyed the sunshine in our favorite Molitor Parking Lot.  Alas, I did leave the wine opener at home but thanks to my Aunts (Judy C and Nancy!) I knew how to poke a cork down INTO the wine bottle and thus enjoy the beverage!  It worked pretty well and we were the classiest tailgaters around!  The game was pretty good too - although the Brewers did lose in the 10th inning to the Reds.  Luckily this helped to thin the crowds out so we didn't have too much traffic when leaving the game.

 

So classy you can't even stand it!

Sunday was equally as lovely a day.  We went to Church (finally at our own church!) and then out to brunch at Cafe Centraal.  This place has an AMAZING brunch spread.  Bry and I realized we need to come up with a brunch guide to Milwuakee too as we have tried many many places and have enjoyed them all.

So there - 2 whole new posts for you and a fancy blog picture thingy!

4th of July and Trip to Michigan

Set your sights on PURE MICHIGAN.

The ads are pretty catchy, but it took me a while to figure out how pretty Michigan actually is.  I went home to visit the parents while Bry went to Lake of the Ozarks with some buddies. (His story turns out to be not suitable for posting on the blog - but he promises me that he did behave.  Just think what you're find in a place called "Party Cove.")  Anywho - I waited until late Friday night to leave for MI.  There was still 3 lanes of traffic the ENTIRE way back to Michigan which was totally unusual for 11 PM.  

I did get safely there and even got to sleep in without the pressure of having to wake up for work.  It was quite liberating.  My parents made me breakfast and coffee - heaven.  Then mom took me shopping at Kohl's for some summer clothes.  We followed this with a trip to Ivelise's Yarn Shop.

The yarn store had a good selection of Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Cascade and other big names, as well as some nice Michigan local yarn.  I did purchase some nice cushy wool to make a shawl.  We also found some samples of Rozetti Marina.  This is a funky new yarn that creates wonderful ruffles.  It is a pretty quick knit - but not mindless like regular yarn.  The other I don't like about it is that you can basically only make a scarf.  However, I am making 2 of these and they will likely be Christmas gifts. 

I quite enjoyed the yarn shop.  The owners were super friendly and helpful.  I am not that difficult a person to whom to sell yarn - this is well established.  But I walked away with yarn for 2 more shawls, the 2 Marina scarves and a couple of free patterns.

Lastly we went to downtown St. Joseph, Michigan.  Many people are surprised that St. Joe is a big tourist destination, especially for the Chicago crowd.  This weekend there were way more IL cars than MI ones in downtown.  We went to a bunch of cute shops downtown and ate lunch at a great restaurant, Beachside Deli.  This is a nice little Mediterranean restaurant on the main drag of St. Joe.  We had a nice time there and enjoyed some time just for us.

Later that night my Cousin, Morgan, joined us.  She was en route back to Washington, D.C. and decided to stop in.  We convinced her to stay an extra day and made a great Girls Only weekend of it - with Dad acting as our Chef and Banker.  We went out for dinner (horrible, really) and drinks with friends Abby, Mike and Brian.  The next day we went to Church, the beach, and a wonderful grill out luncheon before heading to the Round Barn Winery for dinner and wine/beer tasting, again with Abby, Mike and Brian.  We are excited to have Abby and Mike coming to visit us later this summer - and were happy to see Brian who is visiting home from China for a few weeks.

 I LOVE grilling out

 While this picture is horrible - the grilled Eggplant was TERRIFIC.

 Desserts from Bit of Swiss bakery.

 MORGAN

 Lincoln Township Beach

 Brian - wine tasting with his Schnoz.

 Each year downtown St. Joe has sculptures on the corner supported by local businesses and individuals.  This was one of our favorites - a collage of all kinds of materials.  This year the theme was "Farm Animals".

Twins Game

Let's not focus on the actual OUTCOMES of the recent Twins/Brewers Series.  Let's just focus on the fact that I got pretty close to my boyfriend, Joe Mauer, and we had awesome seats and an awesome time.

We went to the first game of the series on Friday.  Bry got us great seats just 3 rows behind the Twins dugout.  I was able to get some pretty nice photos.

We had to miss the Saturday game for a family wedding (Congrats to Tim and Marissa!) but we got to the Sunday game.  Good friend James Enderle joined us and we found some last minute seats in our favorite section.  We had a fun time there - even if Bry did drop my cheese curds on the ground.  We just love going to the Brewer's games - so easy (2 miles from our house) and fun.

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We LOVE Joe Mauer!

I always tease Bry that this guy will be the only one to possibly steal my heart away - I guess I have a thing for Minnesota Boys.  In all honesty though, not sure which one of us would love Joe more - Bry thinks he's pretty special too.  (His batting average this year aside.)  He's a quality guy, great athlete and not too bad on the eyes either!

Not sure why the photos aren't uploading with a good quality - still figuring out how to work this whole new computer.  Currently I still have to go between the computers for music and photos.  One day it will be all sorted out.

Hope you had a great 4th of July!