Scenes from Vacation

This is my last post about our Maine vacation; then I'll be back to irregularly scheduled outfit posts and such.

All dressed up for the wedding in her Jason Wu for Target dress, "high" heels, and new hat

Enjoying some Mainely Meat at my father-in-law's 60th birthday party (Photo Credit: Sis-in-law)

The birthday boy snoozing with Bridget (Photo Credit: Sis-in-law)

Cellardoor Winery - We'll definitely be returning here on future trips. Our favorite wines among the ones we tried were the Gewürztraminer, Grenache, Petite Syrah, and Treasure, which is a blueberry dessert wine.

Savage Oakes Vineyard & Winery - We weren't big fans of this one; however, I did pick up a frozen peach bellini mix there to combine with their Georges River white wine, and that was delicious. I would've liked to try their blueberry dessert wine, but I must've been too distracted by the peach bellini mix because I forgot.

Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery - The highlights here were the port wines, especially Cranberry Smash. Their Back River Gin was also named the best gin in the US (by what authority, I don't remember). My husband is not usually a gin fan, but even he could appreciate this one. I could not. I also purchased some lobster cocktail bloody mary mix, which tasted about how you would imagine it would - like boozy cocktail sauce. My husband liked it; I wasn't that excited about it. But I did drink one anyway.

Tubing, trying not to get thrown off (Photo Credit: Sis-in-law)

Bridget tubing (very slowly and carefully) with her aunt

Right after this, someone convinced her to kiss the fish. She was not amused.

Attempting to ride a paddle board. I didn't fall off, so that's something.

Here are a couple more outfits from vacay that haven't made the blog yet:

Left - Shirt: Target; Tank Top: Old Navy; Shorts: MICHAEL Michael Kors via T.J.Maxx; Shoes: Converse

Right - Dress: Old Navy; Sweater: Target; Sandals: Prabal Gurung for Target

Until next time, Maine!

At a travel plaza somewhere in Maine

Mom's Day Off

My husband and daughter decided to take an impromptu trip to Michigan to visit some family yesterday, and I stayed home to watch the dog, clean the house for my in-laws' arrival today, and just chill. And chill I did. Here's how my day off went down:

1. Slept in until 9:15 after dropping hubs and kiddo off at the ferry at 5:30 AM.
2. Went to our friends' son's second birthday party.
3. Visited E-Collectique Runway Boutique to use up a Groupon and only spent $6 (purchases below).
4. Caught up on a couple DVRed episodes of Resale Royalty.
5. Watched Ghost World (a favorite of mine) and then was drawn into Death at a Funeral (British comedy with an ensemble cast) after it.
6. Blogged.
7. Ate too much junk food but drank only one glass of wine surprisingly.
8. Stayed up late and watched Freaks and Geeks on Netflix.

I haven't tried the Grenache yet, but the Riesling was good.
The cheese was eh, and the puppy chow was amazing of course.

Calvin Klein - I plan to wear this to my husband's cousin's wedding in August.
It's 100% cotton, so it'll be perfect in case it ends up being super hot that day.

DKNY - They're a little bit short, so I may have to get them tailored shorter or slimmer,
but I couldn't pass them up. They made my butt look redonkulous. Do people still say that?

I was actually looking for a wide tan belt, so this one worked!

And now I have to get serious and start cleaning. Then, I hope to have time before hubs gets home to make him some rhubarb blackberry (or strawberry, haven't decided) crumble for Father's Day!

Empty Nest Recap

Bridget's back. Woohooo! Although she was noticeably more excited to see hubs than me, she was the most excited to see the dog. Seriously, she was geeking out. It was funny. Bridget and I are buddies again now, though, so all is well.

Anyway, here's the recap of our week sans Bridget, including outfit pictures because I happened to take one either on my phone or camera almost every day:

Sunday - Hanson concert. Loved it, obviously.

Monday - dinner and a movie at Fox Bay Cinema Grill. Saw Brave. So good!

Monday - Dress: Target; Blazer: Gap; Shoes: L.L.Bean; Bracelet: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Tuesday - sailing (my first time). So not good! I got motion sick, so I'll have to take Dramamine next time I guess.

Tuesday - Tank: L.L.Bean; Cardigan: Target; Pants and Shoes: NY&Co; Necklace: DIY; Bracelets: Mexicali Blues and Marc by Marc Jacobs

Wednesday - out with friends at Silver Creek. Super fun and definitely made up for my unfortunately sailing experience the previous night. It was great getting the old gang back together and ordering almost $100 worth of pizza rolls and cheesy breadsticks from the place across the street. Haha.

Wednesday - Top: NY&Co; Skirt: Deb maybe? Who knows, it's really old; Necklace: ?; Sandals: Aldo

Thursday - Helped hubs pick out a new pair of glasses since his are somewhere at the bottom of the lake in Maine. Then had dinner at The Pasta Shoppe and called it an early night.

L.L.Bean

Friday - checked out Chiselled Grape Winery in Grafton then grabbed dinner at Anvil Pub & Grille in Cedarburg.

Friday - Top and Jeans: Old Navy; Shoes: Aldo; Bracelets: Charming Charlie, Mexicali Blues, booth at Bastille Days; Bag: MICHAEL Michael Kors

Saturday - RAN. Then hung out with the girls to plan our Disney trip and watch them scrapbook since I wasn't feeling creative that day. After that, I met hubs and later Bridget and hubs' parents at our other friends' house for LOTS OF MEAT. I already posted that outfit yesterday.

All that plus grilling out and drinking a hard cider yesterday equaled eight days of drinking in a row. Yikes. Not typical for me, I assure you. I usually average one or two times a week. However, the majority of those nights I only drank one beverage, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. But um...(BUT UM!) if I drink tonight, that'll make it 10 days in a row because we're going back to The Pasta Shoppe with the in-laws tomorrow for their martini deal night. They're not big drinkers, but I got my dad-in-law hooked on The Pasta Shoppe's angel food martini. It's delish.

Although I enjoyed my temporary break from parenthood, I kept thinking I was missing something whenever I would go anywhere. Then by the end of the week, I was more ready than ever for Kid #2. We've always tried to do everything we crammed into empty nest week occasionally, but usually it's a lot more spread out. I'm OK with that. I know with two kids it'll be harder, but I'm OK with that, too.

After my many days of indulging and socializing, I'm completely ready for things to slow down for awhile again. I just want to sit by myself and maybe Bridget and either watch TV or read. I just need a little break to recharge my introverted self before the fun stuff starts up again.

Our Maine Travel Guide

Welcome to Maine. The way life should be.

As I've mentioned a lot lately, my Maine vacation is quickly approaching! We're on the road in T minus two weeks! So what does one do when in Maine? Here are the places we hit nearly every visit.

Freeport
Shopping!!!!!! The headquarters of L.L.Bean is here, and that store is ginormous. I still need to get a picture with the giant boot outside of the store someday. Besides that, there's an entire outlet mall that includes stores like Gap, J.Crew, Nine West, Coach, and then also some fun local boutiques as well.

Bartlett sign

Bartlett Maine Estate Winery
Bartlett specializes in fruity wine, like peach (a favorite of ours), pear, apple, and of course, blueberry. My husband has gone there every year for about 10 years, and the people know him by name now. Let's just say we're VERY good customers every time we go. We stock up for the year...seriously.

Winterport Winery
We don't do this one as often, but when we do, we always remember how much we like it. The port is delicious, and their cranberry wine tastes JUST LIKE cranberries.

Bar Harbor
Yes, it's touristy, but I still love stopping by and walking around the little shops. We sometimes grab ice cream or fudge and definitely hit Cool as a Moose to get some Life is Good apparel and Bark Harbor to pick up something for the dog.

Atop Cadillac Mountain

Acadia National Park
This is one of my husband's favorite spots. He's made me hike one of the mountains before, but I prefer it when we drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain and just walk around instead. At least I got a purse out of the hiking last year. Either way, you're going to get beautiful views. And if you're a first-time visitor, you should probably check out Thunder Hole, too, just to say you did.

Our meals at Jack Russell's

Jack Russell's Steakhouse & Brewery
The steaks are good, the meatballs are ridiculously good, the crab cakes are alright. They'd be better if they had a sauce to go with them, like hollandaise or something like that. The martinis are excellent. The spinach and artichoke dip is amazing (maybe I imagined this or it's a newer thing because I can't find it on any online menu). The shrimp skewers! How could I forget those? Try all three varieties, but I think we determined the cajun is the best.  We tend to drop a lot of money here...

Max plate at ABC (sorry, vegetarians)

Atlantic Brewing Company
Although I do drink beer occasionally, and I hear the beer is not to be missed, my favorite ABC beverage is by far the blueberry soda. My trip is not complete without it. If you love barbecue, GO HERE NOW! For a group of at least four (five or six realistically), I highly recommend the max plate. The sides of potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans are just as good as the meat. Or maybe better, if that's what you're into. To put it in perspective, I didn't eat beans at all until I tried these. Now I'm a bean fan.

Basically any little eatery on the side of the road
I'm kind of over the getting a whole lobster thing since I've done it once, but I still like to get a lobster roll if we stop for lunch when we're out and about. We've been to a handful of little diner-type restaurants in random places, and none of them seemed to disappoint.

Family and friends, did I forget any??

Eat, Eat, Eat, All Day Long

Dress: Target;  Belt: from a NY&Co dress; Cardigan: Costco; Shoes: Payless; Bracelet: Kate Spade; Watch: Fossil

Yesterday was another day of great food. I've been having far too many of those lately. A bunch of us ate at Bravo to celebrate my friend's birthday, and we enjoyed a couple bottles of Moscato and had delicious Italian food. I packed my balsamic glazed chicken leftovers for lunch today. Yum!!

With all my killing time between work and dinner, driving around and taking outfit pictures, I forgot to pick up a birthday present for the other birthday girl yesterday — my dog Dela! I'm a bad mom. Well, at least she didn't realize she was getting her present a day late.

By the way, the title of this post is an 'NSync reference...

Eating and Drinking My Way through the Weekend

This was one of those weekends where I could've used another weekend after my weekend.  I spent time with lots of friends and family and ate WAY TOO MUCH.  I drank just the right amount, though.  And unfortunately, I didn't take nearly enough pictures.

Let's rewind back to Thursday.  After a meeting at church, hubs and I treated Bridget's soon-to-be godparents to a wine tasting at Grapes and Tastes in Cedarburg.  We had only been there once before and were on the fence whether we liked it or not.  We tasted three whites from California and Oregon and three reds from France, Spain, and...somewhere in South America.  I meant to save my sheet, but I clearly was not thinking "blog post" at the time.

Both couples bought a bottle of the pinot gris from Willamette Valley, Oregon, but that was really the only one we were a little excited about.  Plus, after hubs broke a glass, I felt like we needed to buy something.  The other three, who are far more knowledgeable about wine than I, concurred that they probably wouldn't return for another wine tasting, but there are some fun events that the store does that could be worth checking out.

Friday was the birthday dinner of a good friend of hubs', and that was held at Sabor in Milwaukee.  Sabor is a Brazilian steakhouse type thing where you pay a set price and servers come around with twelve different skewers of meat.  You have a token on the table and have to flip it over to green when you want some meat and red when you're taking a break.  I had been there once before, and I was more excited for the salad bar and sides, which are included with the meal.  They're amazing.  Seriously.  Especially the fried bananas with cinnamon and the little cheesy rolls.  As for the meat, my favorites were definitely the garlic steak and the bacon wrapped chicken.  Delish.

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Eight of the nine of us there were winos (really 7.5 of the 9 of us--I should probably only count as a half), so we also had three different reds.  One of the guys has excellent taste in red wine, especially Shiraz, from doing many winery tours on his honeymoon in Australia.  Normally, I prefer whites, but two of these reds were delicious and not too dry.  The first was a Shiraz that hubs and I actually found and purchased later at Costco for a fraction of the price.  Score!  The second was a Grenache from Spain, which ended up being most of our favorites.

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The delicious dining did not end there.  Saturday, my grandparents, mom, aunt, and uncle came over and joined the in-laws and us for a meal at The Pasta Shoppe in Port Washington.

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The Pasta Shoppe's menu mostly consists of very accessible Italian dishes like spaghetti, ravioli, and pizza.  My favorite regular menu item of there's is the linguini primavera with alfredo sauce topped with crab stuffed shrimp.  Soooo goood.  But one of the more expensive dishes.  I usually go for one of the specials to mix it up a bit.  The meal I had on Saturday was by far the best one I've ever had there.  It was angelhair pasta (my favorite) with vodka sauce topped with a pine nut crusted chicken breast.

Not really any good wine to speak of there, but what they lack in wine selection, they make up for in fun martini options.  If you ever go, have the Angel Food martini.  It'll change your life.

On Sunday, we hosted a party after Bridget's Baptism and grilled out.  We attempted making this sangria recipe using Cedarburg Spice wine, and that ended up being pretty good.  Different, but pretty good, depending on who you asked.  The dessert selections were fresh strawberry bars, brownies, and baklava.   All of which we continued eating after the guests were gone.  Yum.

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Thank Goodness for Daycare and Wine

Photo Source: Cedar Creek Winery

Wowwww, I think everyone in the household was relieved that it was a daycare day today. Yesterday was rough. It must've been the weather because I heard at least one other baby wasn't very happy yesterday either.

We did our taxes in the morning, which put Nate in a bad mood right off the bat.  Luckily, during that Bridget was very well-behaved and intently watched Princess and the Frog on Netflix.  For the rest of the day, though, she alternated eating, rubbing her eyes, and screaming, but not really sleeping at all.  I think she had two twenty minute naps all day.  Nate and I took turns taking care of her; but by the end of the night, Nate was at his breaking point.  Not only did he have to deal with taxes and his screaming kid, but work had been calling him all day to deal with stupid stuff.  He was in awe of my patience with Bridget by the end of the night, but honestly, I couldn't have done it without him relieving me every so often.

Compared to yesterday, Friday and Saturday were a breeze. After work Friday, I met up with a couple of my friends from college for some shopping. Although we didn't have many purchases, it was fun and relaxing just hanging out, window shopping, and chatting.

Saturday, I started off the day cleaning the house since Nate was having friends over starting at nine o'clock for a nerdy gaming day. After that, I got Bridget and myself ready to head off to a friend's baby shower. It wasn't until I got to Target to buy a gift that I realized the baby shower was at noon, and it was already 11:30, and the location was at least a half hour away. Needless to say, I was late for that.

It was fun to see my friend's pregnant belly, and it was also fun to see all the other babies at the shower. There were three babies at our table alone and one toddler also in attendance. The food was excellent, and I definitely ate too much of it. When I was finished, I noticed I dropped some chocolate from one of the desserts on my lap, and it ended up all over one of Bridget's pant legs. Whoops. She ended up spending most of the shower pantless.

I'm finding with Weight Watchers that I tend to waste all my points early in the day. Which isn't really that bad of a thing because better to eat a lot of junk in the morning than after eight o'clock at night. On both Saturday and Sunday, I had pretty much no points left by dinner time. Saturday, I had fruit and a pickle for dinner; and Sunday, I had a half a cup of pasta. That's it. Seems to be working out OK, though, because I've lost 11.5 pounds since I started back up on January 31. (It should be noted also that I took a two-week hiatus in the middle of February when Nate's family was over.) It's kind of neat, but I still have such a long way to go.

When Nate's buddies were over, I was bummed I couldn't drink with them even though I wasn't actually hanging out with them. I tells ya, alcohol really does rake in the points. Sunday, I indulged in one glass of wine since it was such a rough day, but that was all I could afford with my lack of points. That one glass sure did help, though! We only had either really fruity and sweet Maine wine (from Bartlett Maine Estate Winery, where they know Nate by name) or strawberry Wisconsin wine (from Cedar Creek Winery) in the house, so I went with the local stuff. The dessert wine from Maine is way too sweet and syrupy for my taste.

Anyway, after a bit of sleep and an extremely delicious and satisfying cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks, I'm optimistic and energized for the week.  My mom wants to visit tomorrow night, so I'm hoping Nate and I can get away for a dinner date.  Then Wednesday, Sabreen and I are planning to get together for some ANTM watching and vlogging.  The rest of the week and weekend, I have nothing planned, and I'm looking forward to some relaxing if the baby lets us!

V'day Wrap-up

Yesterday turned out to be a good birthday/Valentine's Day.

• A lot of people wished me Happy Birthday on Facebook, which made me feel loved as lame as that may sound.
• A high school classmate reminded me of a friendly valentine I sent him in college from the days when my roommates and I would play Yahoo! Graffiti all the time, and it made me laugh.
• The angel food cake I made was tasty, and I only had to bring home two pieces, which is pretty good.
• I talked to someone about a possible matchmaking opportunity.  I love matchmaking!
• After having an awkward conversation with the wine dude in the grocery store, I managed to pick out a decent Shiraz (wine dude's favorite) and Moscato.
• Filets were sold out in three different grocery stores, so we had to buy the even more awesome, high roller steak.  It was expensive and delicious!
• Instead of getting me flowers, hubs brought home my favorite blueberry muffins and brownies. 
• We had a very nice dinner with hubby's sister after she spent some quality time with her niece while we were at work.
• And last, but definitely not least, my daughter laughed for the first time!  And I got it on video!

By the way, in case anyone is wondering, I did not get to watch Mad Love last night.  It was on the same time as House, so we watched that instead.  I see that CBS posted the episode online, though, so I'll have to watch it later.