My Fam Comes to Town

It's true...My family came to visit. My mom and Kelly flew in last Friday to spend the weekend experiencing Milwaukee. How we fit so much into so little time I'm not sure, but it was an amazing weekend, and I can't wait for my dad and Boozer to be able to come now!

The ladies got here Friday a.m. and I took the day off. Oh. Excuse me. I called in "sick"! A quick tour of the building, and then we were off to Miss Katie's Diner. Miss Katie's is a piece of Milwaukee history. It's a tiny diner that overlooks a very urban part of the city. When I am there looking out the window I can only think, "Yes. This is the Midwest." I love it! I think mom and Kelly did too. We spent Friday at the mall, because we figured Christmas shoppers would take it over on Saturday. We shopped for hours, and Kelly and I bought matching hats. We dined at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and took a trip to Target to buy me an iron (I don't own one, and mom's didn't fit in the suitcase!). Friday also included a trip to MetroMarket, which might have ended up being mom and Kelly's favorite place of the trip. See the picture! That's right, wine in the grocery store here in Wisconsin! We had dinner at the Milwaukee Ale House, which is a local brewery in the Third Ward. I've been wanting to go there since I came to Milwaukee and I was so happy mom and Kelly got to go with me. We got home at an early (or so I thought) 9 p.m. and I promptly tucked Kelly into bed...

Saturday we did a TON of local stuff. First, we had breakfast at this little cafe that Laura and I discovered on her trip here. It was delicious, and I'm going to go there with anybody who comes to visit me! We visited the Public Market, which is one of my favorite places in the city, we went to the park and saw the Veterans Day Parade, we watched UofM battle Wisconsin at my favorite bar, and we ate a fantastic dinner of deep dish pizza at a lovely restaurant for practically free...All in all, Saturday was super busy, and wonderful. That night we went to the Ambassador to have drinks with Judy and Eric. It was kind of sad because the bar was full so we sat in the restaurant and lost some of the appeal but still, it was wonderful. I really wanted mom and Judy to meet, and I wanted at least some of my family to meet Eric.

We woke up early on Sunday and went to church. It was nice to have somebody to go with, and of course, the church was beautiful! It was a quick day, and at about 1 Eric went with me to take mom and Kelly to the airport. It was sad to see them go, but I am of course super excited to be going home in a week to see everybody again!

Hugs & Misses, xo.

Chicago, Chicago!

Alright...so I took my first trip outside of the city! Last weekend (yes, yes it has been a while) I went to Chicago to see my sister (Lindsay--the younger, not married but engaged one), and my mom and dad came down to see us both.

Friday night my sister and I were alone in her adorable apartment in Lincoln Park (I really love it--all lofty and cute!). The highlight of the night was: I took the train from Milwaukee into Chicago. When I got to Union Station it was POURING rain. So, I jumped in the first cab I could, and gave him the address. He drove me to....well....somewhere near Lindsay's apartment, then told me that he didn't know exactly (as we headed in the wrong direction!) and told me to get out. He actually kicked me out on a random corner in the pouring rain in Chicago! Thankfully, another (nicer) cab drive stopped and picked me up and took me where I was trying to get (which turned out to be about 5 blocks the other way).

Mom and Dad got into town early Saturday morning, and we filled out time eating and shopping. We spent the morning in Lincoln Park shopping and then went downtown. The city was super crowded. There was people EVERYWHERE!

Check back next week to see & read what happens when Mom and Kelly show up in Milwaukee this weekend! Hugs & Misses...