NeedToBreathe

Earlier this fall Derek "suffered" through a Parachute (one of my favorite bands) concert with me. I use suffer loosely because I think he actually enjoyed it. So it was only fair that when his favorite band came an hour away, I would go with him to see them. We left right after work and drove the hour to Madison. I was excited just to explore a new part of town. The area of town the theatre was in looked more like a college area with a great view of the capitol building! There were at least two coffee shops in the same block, and I do love my coffee shops! There was also a lot of amazing buildings in the area, so of course I had to take a picture of some art deco detailing!

Wisconsin Capitol

While we were waiting for the concert to start my design side kicked in as the place became fuller and fuller for the sold out concert. One of the first things I did was look for the nearest exit just in case. I tend to get claustrophobic in large crowds but was able to keep cool the whole concert, mainly because I focused on being with Derek and not the whole crowd. Also, while waiting the kids in front of us decided it was a good idea to pull out a lighter to play with. Really?! Do you know how fires start?! All I could think of was learning about all the fires in Interior Design classes and why codes are the way they are. I didn't want to start picturing what could happen if a fire had started....hence why I looked for the exits!

Waiting for the show to start!

Bear, the lead

Bo, his brother, rocking the Banjo

Several times during the show I could feel the floor moving with the crowd. Again, my design senses were asking myself how old is this building, when was the last time they were inspected, how far of a drop could it be? Yes, maybe my design side makes me more paranoid about public spaces, but I just want to be safe, right?! The actual show though blew my mind! They.were.so.good!!!!! I would rank it in the top three concerts I've ever been to and I've been to a lot! Definitely worth the drive, late night, and facing my claustrophobic fears! Here is our look after the show:

So good live!!!!

Also, late night McDonald's runs are questionable......

Fall, Flannel, Friends.

This post is a week late, but oh well! Last weekend was a pretty good chill weekend in Milwaukee. A friend of ours was hosting a Fall Flannel Bonfire at her place on Friday night so I decided to try my hand at making Chex Mix to take with us. While buying supplies, I decided it would be cheaper and quicker to just buy the prepackaged stuff, but where's the fun in that?! The recipe I used made a lot, but it was a hit at the party so we didn't have much leftovers (minus the rest of the supplies)!

The bonfire was actually supposed to include an outdoor movie night as well, but it was just too darn cold away from the fire. Welcome to Wisconsin! We did get to watch some New Girl and hang out playing Catch Phrase around the fire. The night was full of meeting new people, fun times, and lots of laughter!

The lovely ladies!

I put this one on here simply because if you know me, you know I'm a picture ruiner. Location doesn't change that!

I also had a chance to explore a new place after church with some friends. I had been wanting to try a place called Melthouse Bistro for awhile now, so this seemed like a good time to suggest it. They serve specialty grilled cheese sandwiches and the design firm I would love to work for designed the place. It was so good!! Everyone who was with us got something different, which I feel doesn't happen in large groups at restaurants. The restaurant was located downtown Milwaukee a few blocks from UWM and a few blocks from the lake, so after lunch we decided to try to beat the rain and walk to the lake. It was cold. It was starting to sprinkle. But it was an adventure that included a large hill and my hands being frozen! It was still a beautiful walk that included seeing some of the fall colors here!

Another thing I liked about the restaurant: It offered healthy side options!

Beautiful leaves changing!

 Down by the lake front.

 And the shortcut hill that was our finale!

There is so much to explore and do here! 

I love lamp.

No, seriously, I love my new lamps!! I found some awesome vintage lamp bases at an antique store in OK (which is a whole different story) for pretty cheap and knew that they would be a great first restoration project to try my hand at. I cleaned them before I moved here and had reapplied gold spray paint to hide some of the bits that wouldn't come off when I cleaned. Then they just sat for the perfect lampshade. And sat some more. They had the tall shade holders on them, and I was trying to find something to fit those, but I either couldn't find a good pattern or they were too big for the lamp. So I finally decided to paint my own after being inspired by a post of this blog I follow (A Beautiful Mess). On a whim I decided to just buy some shades at my local Target (for once I left with only the thing I went for) and found out while there that I should be able to take off the shade holders. I didn't know I could, so please don't judge me! :) Anyways, the shades worked and the pattern matches well the geometric glass of the base, and fits the color scheme I love!! Here is the process in pictures:

They are awesome!! Also, I finally got permission to paint my room so my ugly wall color will hopefully disappear soon!!

Let Him Shine.

This weekend was pretty uneventful and I'm okay with that! Derek, his roommate, and I had another one of their coworkers over for a pumpkin spice pancake breakfast/games and it was fun! Then the boys started watching football so it was my cue to go be productive! However, I did make it back in time to watch the ending of the Penn State game, which I would have to say was one of the best football games I've probably watched. I mean four overtimes?! Really?! Derek was pretty excited, which in turn made me excited. Side note: I've probably watched more football games since moving here then I have....probably ever.

We have found a church, which I may have said before, but the church has awesome worship bands that they rotate every week. These people are not only talented, but have great taste in music to play. Church and especially the worship is usually where I get the most inspiration for being creative. This week was no exception and may be one of my favs so far.

After making this I was thinking about what does the "it" refer to. His glory? God himself? Why don't we put that in there: Let Him Shine!!

Colectivo Coffee

A friend and I have started what is turning out to be a tour of coffee shops around the area. Yesterday we got together for a cup of coffee at a downtown location of Colectivo Coffee near the UWM campus which meant the area had a great college town feel to it! This particular location had a strictly interior part and an exterior part which could be closed off by a garage door. What also made this particular location fun was the atmosphere (as a design major, I kinda like spaces and the atmosphere they provide, surprised)? They had large skylight windows in the ceiling and rafters full of plants that hang down. The exterior part had levels of seating which made more of a view to the outside! The time was a bit rushed only because of some crazy scheduling conflicts that arose the day before, but it was still a fun time! I am definitely enjoying exploring various places, and the place being a coffeeshop doesn't hurt!

This is the view from my table in the exterior part with the garage door to the right of the  picture.

The front entrance. Everything was so colorful!

Leinenkugel's

This past weekend Derek and I had plans to go to Eau Claire to "reverse" surprise one of his coworkers for his 30th b-day. As in, we all show up where he is versus he show up where we are. I was hoping the four hour drive would be gorgeous because leaves are starting to change here, but the weather decided to be rainy and foggy all day. Lame. Some of his other coworkers came with us and we had planned to go to a local brewery, Leinenkugel's, before meeting up with everyone else. I'm not a big fan of beer, especially when I hadn't even heard of the beer before, but I like trying new things, so I payed the $1 to sample 5 different kinds. They have a Raspberry Weiss beer that was actually really good along with a few other fruity beers I tried. Not a big fan of dark or real hoppy beers. This one reminded me of the pineapple beer that is served in Manhattan. (Have I mentioned I miss that place?!) After the short tour at the brewery we met up with some of the family members and headed to the bar where Derek's friend was. I think his friend was really surprised and glad to see so many people there to hang out with! After a few hours there though, I decided to leave and let the guys hang out so a friend from staff (who I stayed with) picked me up and we hung out the rest of the night doing girly things! And in the morning we were able to enjoy a cup of coffee and scones (my lovely friend's recipe which I've missed)!

Overall it was a fun weekend exploring a new part of Wisconsin and it was great to see my friend and catch up! It was weird though going to my old directors' stomping grounds before they came to KS and they weren't there!!

It was started many generations ago by one family.

I also saw a sign for and Augusta, however, it obviously was not the right one....

Soup & Sunshine

Derek came back to Wisconsin, after visiting home last week, sick. My roommate also got sick last week. And if any of you know my immune system, it means that I inevitably got sick as well. Luckily, it was Derek's cold and not my roommates ear infection/strep/mono combination of whatever she has. I took care of him last week before I caught it and decided to try my hand at chicken soup from scratch for the first time. After gathering all the needed ingredients it wasn't too hard to throw it all together! I was pleasantly surprised with myself! The only downfall was that it was a bit salty. (Something I'm learning about Derek is he likes to add salt and pepper to pretty much anything when cooking, so before he could ask if I had added it I did it anyways. His salt container has a wide hole though, sooo a little more may have been poured in then needed, hence the over saltiness). It was a learning experience for sure!

Plenty of leftovers too!

I ended up getting sick around Wednesday/Thursday last week, and was luckily still functional to nanny on Friday (after checking with the family, don't worry). By that night into Saturday though, I was pretty lethargic and may have looked like death if you asked Derek. So our Saturday plans of going to the 3 year old's birthday party and having a bbq with some friends turned into "Elizabeth resting, sleeping, and watching New Girl all day at Derek's place so he can take care of her." I did feel better that night though, enough to have a couple friends over for cards. I did need that day of rest in order to be functional on Sunday!

Derek and I have been wanting to make a Goodwill/Golfing date for awhile now, and it just didn't work out because of many things including us being sick, so Sunday it was super nice outside and we were both feeling much better so after church we invited another friend to go with us and we headed to Goodwill! I wanted to get some plaid flannel (since I'm living in Wisconsin now) and we like to look for puzzles/games for cheap there as well. I would say overall it was a successful trip except I forgot to look for one thing I wanted to look for (boys are fast shoppers and they made me nervous to hurry up). 

After a quick lunch, we headed to the driving range. I'm learning that golf is kinda big here, or at least in Derek's circle of friends.Probably because they work for a company that has a golf league and takes clients golfing. My dad and brother both like to golf occasionally, and the only experience I ever had was swinging the golf club with my brother in our backyard as a child, so to say the least I didn't know much. Hence why Derek wanted to take me to the driving range. Our friend who went with us also didn't have much experience so I wasn't alone! We started off chipping shots to practice then "graduated" to the driving range. It took awhile to get the hang of and not every shot got air or distance, but there were a few! Overall, I thought it was fun (minus blisters forming from the grip) and almost relaxing! It was just great to be outdoors after being cooped up for several days inside, and fun to try something new that Derek was interested in! I wouldn't mind going back eventually, but I'm definitely not ready for an actual round of golf!

Our friend trying his hand!

Derek could hit it wayyy further!!

One of the best shots I had. Air and Distance!
Derek wanted to point out my very intense concentration face! 

I have a few more adventures already lined up this next week so I'm excited to share those when they happen! I really am enjoying blogging about these explorations!! I'll leave you with another drawing I did last week inspired by the song Awakening by Hillsong United which we sang at church last Sunday!

Slowly. Slowly, I feel myself awakening.