Pre HallowEEK!

I love Halloween.  It's one of my most favorite times of the year.  The weather is usually gorgeous, the decor for the holiday is so fun, and who doesn't love dressing up?!?

Here's a look at the decor and events happening in Wisconsin!

(I made two crisps on Sunday afternoon with Wes.  One apple and pear, and one just apple.  I put the apple crisp in the oven when I woke up on Monday morning and brought it into work all nice and warm.  It was completely gone by 9am.  Success!)

(My new best friend; my pressure cooker.  Wes is a such a great guy and does a great job in supporting all of my crazy and stupid endeavors, like "hey, let's make and can apple butter and other stuff today". If yall know either of us it's no surprise I said that to Wes Sunday morning, and no surprise that Wes's response was "whatever you want crazy lady".)

I forgot to take pictures of the apple and pear butter process, but I did remember to take pictures of the peach jam making.  The apples were from the orchard that Wes and I went to this weekend, and all the pears came off of Liz's parents pear tree.

(Fresh peach jam!  Following Martha's recipe online this was pretty easy and I was completely canned and finished in around 45 minutes!  Not too bad for a bit of homemade goodness!)

(The finished products.  

Apple Butter. Peach Jam. Pear Butter.

BAM!)

 

(Wes and I tried out Tulip's down the street on Monday night.  It's a Turkish- Mediterranean place.  We started off with fried artichoke (which was so so so yummy) and then split their main platter.  

Lamb chops.  Chicken kabobs.  Beef kabobs.  Spicy Meatballs.  Beef Patties.

It was a feast to say the least!)

(Wes "teaching" me how to "properly sample the wine".  

I'm prrrrreeetty sure you don't start with a glass that big;))

And now on to decorations around our apartment!!  Yay!  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!

(Halloween printables hung on the wall.)

(Spooky owl, Trick or treat sign, and a fresh pumpkin with a scare crow sitting on it.)

(I found this great lawn and garden place that had white pumpkins for .59 a pound.  What a steal!  I nabbed this beauty up to set on the side table next to our club chair and tv.)

More photos to come later!

Until next time...

Here We Go Again

Wes and I have been crazy busy these passed several weeks and after many trips for each of us we're both back in Milwaukee.  Here's a long look at photos!

(Signs of Halloween at work!  Pinterest idea on the bottom left, carved out a real pumpkin and planted some pretty fall flowers in it!)

(Further signs of Halloween at work.  This is conveniently located next to my pumpkin full of candy, which for some reason won't seem to stay full.)

(Weekend brunch with Emily Shooter, delicious salmon eggs benedict at The Plaza Hotel!)

(Last week marked the start of Dart Ball!  It was my first time playing (or hearing of it for that matter) and I had a ton of fun!  Not to mention the bar that we play at has $2 burger and fries on the nights we come, can't beat that!)

(My two favorite Patti's!!)

(Wes and I tried out Ward's House of Prime last week.  It was quite possibly the best meal I've ever had.  The prime rib was excellent, and Wes's Sea Bass was also pretty impressive for a steak house.)

 

(With a bottle of wine, Wes and I had the classiest night we've ever had.  And it was only a Tuesday!)

(A short trip to Baltimore to visit my sister and congratulate her on her engagement!!  She is such a little smarty pants and showed us all around her school/work.)

 

(Our first Maryland Crab!! A delicious crab cake and crab salad sandwich that we all split while exploring... the inner harbor?  I'm not sure where we were, I was just happy to be there.  

And to have crab!)

(The three of us at Jordan's lab.  Sadly this is the only picture of all three of us that I got all weekend!)

(We stopped for lunch during one of our outings and I picked up the ever fabulous Chick-Fil-A.  

Gosh I've missed this stuff!!)

(Beautiful sister trying on wedding dresses.  We couldn't really decide what looked best, because it all looked fabulous!  It's going to be hard to find one that she'll say "yes" to!)

(My first experience with Baltimore softshell crab.  

It was a LOT of work, for just a little bit of goodness)

(Sadly, all good visits must come to an end. Adios amigas, we'll meet again at Christmas!!)

(Fall in Milwaukee is absolutely beautiful!  We stopped by this cemetery on our way out of town on Friday.  It had the prettiest leaves I'd seen all fall!!)

(On our way to get new winter coats Wes and I saw this rainbow!  Sometimes it's the small things in live that are so exciting!)

(Wes and I celebrated 4 years this past Friday.  It doesn't seem like that long, and then it seems a lot longer at the same time!  Love you!)

(Wes and I watched the Aggies attempt to BTHO LSU at SPiN Milwaukee.  It's a local ping pong bar, that's right, ping pong bar.  I got this lovely Sprecher flight of beers and BTHO of Wes in ping pong.  Although the Aggies didn't pull out the W, we still looked good!)

(After the game Wes and I went on a lovely Wisconsin adventure!  We went to a lovely little orchard and picked all the remaining apples they had left (which was the one I'm holding above).  Apparently the apple crop in Wisconsin was down about 80% this year!  

It was still a beautiful day and lovely orchard.)

(Me climbing a ladder at the orchard.  Notice my new glasses, I can finally see!)

(Baby crabapples left over at the orchard.  They were so little, but the bright touches of red really popped in the trees!)

(The sweet country store where we started our apple picking adventure.  They had the widest array of pumpkins and some of the tastiest looking treats!)

(Today Wes and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out for a bike ride.  

Milwaukee is absolutely beautiful this time of year!)

(Milwaukee has some of the best maintained parks I've ever seen.  Coming from "The Natural State" Wes and I have both been super impressed.  They are clean, they have great bike/running paths, and the natural scenery is top notch!

(Wes and I on the bike trail!)

(Lovely Fall leaves!)

(A crazy lamp post with vines and leaves growing up the entire thing!)

This afternoon will be filled with canning the apply butter than Wes and I made last night, making an apple and pear crisp, and homemade enchilada's for dinner!

Until next time...

It's Been Awhile

So I haven't blogged in some time.  And there's been a LOT going on.  Here's little recap...  

P.S.  The BIG news is at the very bottom.  Go ahead and scroll there now:)

(Carin and I hit up Rustico Pizza for $1 pizza slice night a couple of weeks ago.  I (mistakingly) got two slices.  They were huge.  I ate it all.  It was awesome.  But then I felt awful)

(I joined a bowling league at Cooper for this winter and we picked up last week.  It's the highlight of my Tuesday!

(I took a trip down to Chicago for the Cupcakes and Cashmere book signing by Emily Schuman.  I read her blog pretty much every day and it was great to get to meet her!)

(I also got to catch up with the lovely Kristen Griesbach while in Chicago.  It was nice to see a familiar face and here someone who spoke the same dialect of English that I did.  But, the trip made me very thankful that I do not live in Chicago.  People there are in an angry hurry, and it's too damn windy.)

(A beautiful sunrise on my way to work.  Wisconsin has to be one of the most naturally pretty places that I've ever lived, coming second to Arkansas of course!)

Last weekend Wes and I took a trip down to College Station, TX for the A&M vs. Arkansas game.  It was great to finally see the Aggies BTHO out of the Hogs.  Wes and I have gone to this game for the past 4 years, and this is the first one A&M has won!  We had the second best seats ever in Kyle Field (only trumped by the Texas game last Thanksgiving) and had some great friends to spend the weekend with!

(One of the most exciting things I brought to Texas was Rumchata.  It's a liquor that's only sold in the Midwest and tastes like the milk left over after cinnamon toast crunch.  Needless to say, it was a hit!)

(Brooke, Mara, Kathryn, and I after the game.  We stuck it out through the pouring rain and watched the Aggies give Arkansas the butt whooping they deserved.  

(Something I had never noticed in my 4 years at A&M.  After the game is over (pending we win) the band tackles the Yell Leaders and carries them to the Fish Pond and then the YMCA building.)

(The AWESOME Aggies band.  I had forgotten how great these guys are!!)

(I went to work out this week and there were freshly picked apples from a local orchard.  

Great surprise for the day!!)

(A picture of Jordan and I at around the same age growing up.  We really do look like sisters when you compare these two pictures.  These are hanging up in my cube at work in the spirit of Halloween!)

(This past week marked our Physical Inventory at Cooper.  I was a second shift auditor, and I'm also in charge of 2/3 of the consignment for our plant.  So Thursday I worked the lovely shift of 1pm-1am.  We were so good that we got out early and I left before 12:30am!  But let me tell ya swing/split shift realllllly messes with your sleeping schedule!)

(If yall didn't already know, I love Pinterest.  I got this great stovetop recipe that makes my condo smell exactly like an apple pie.  It's one apple roughly chopped.  Around 3 cups of water.  A teaspoon of cinnamon, allspice, and pumpkin spice.  

A stick of cinnamon and a couple of whole cloves.  It's awesome!)

AND NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT...

(MY SISTER GOT ENGAGED!!

She's calling me tomorrow with all the details.  All I know right now is...

1.  It happened where her and Jim first kissed.

2.  She was dressed cute. (clutch)

3.  Jim staged Ryan and Amanda as secret photographers during the whole process so there are ample photos of the whole thing. (DOUBLE clutch, way to go Jim!))

Until next time...