Sunday, January 25, 2009

55 Reasons Why I Love Wisconsin

Driving home from work the other day, I started thinking about all of the things I love about living in Wisconsin. I decided to compile a list, not in any specific order, of those things, from restaurants and shops, to events, qualities, and places. I've added descriptions for most, and I would like to add pictures as well, if I can get the time to do it. As most of you know, my job during the week makes it pretty hard to post much, so I'm going to try to post more on the weekends. Especially now that the holidays are over, Arlo and I have more free time on the weekends, so hopefully I will be able to post more in the future. With the temperature dipping back down below zero soon, there will be very little reason to go out.

Without further ado, the list:

1. Kringle- that awesomely delicious pastry made pretty much only in Racine, Wisconsin, Arlo and I particularly love the cranberry, apple, and apricot variety. It's flat and round, like a sweet dessert wreath.

2. Triskele's- yummy restaurant that Arlo and I have been to twice and would like to hit more often, they have all you can eat mussels and awesome seafood.

3. Cheesecurds- Basically really fresh cheese that hasn't been pressed into blocks yet, so it's like small, unformed hunks of cheese. They're sold in sandwich bags and squeak when you bite it if it's really fresh.

4. South Shore Farmer's Market- As much as I loved the farmer's market in Baltimore, this one kicks ass! It takes place in a big park on the lakefront and with much more space, there's less bottlenecking. The prices are decent, you can sample a lot of the food, and they sell Sven's coffee, eggs on ciabatta bread, and tamales. Oh, and did I mention it takes place on the lakefront?

5. Changes/Robert's- A restaurant right up the street, this was called Roberts, but they've changed their name, though now it has both names on the outside. Inside it is all dark wood and a fireplace, with frequent karaoke and our favorite bartender who gives you a hard time when you don't know what to order. They also have really good fish and broasted chicken.

6. Fish Fries, in general- Pretty much every place has a Friday Fish Fry, inexpensive meal of (sometimes) all you can eat cod or other variety of fish, fried obviously, plus coleslaw, rye bread, and potato pancakes (if it's done well). My favorite fish fry is Cliff's Boathouse in Racine, WI.

7. Milwaukee Art Museum- Only been there once, but it was really cool and I want to go again.

8. Bradford Beach- A beach like 15 minutes away, who wouldn't love that?!?!? And with the lake being so big, it feels like you're at the ocean. Wouldn't go there anytime soon, but it's something to look forward to.

9. Trocadero- Fancy restaurant that has an awesome cheese and fruit plate and weekly wine specials.

10. Fasten Collective- A FANTASTIC clothing and accessories store that has free craft sessions monthly. This month we are making roses out of duct tape. Shout out to Wendy!

11. Bayview, Kinnickinnic Avenue- A lot like Hampden, but without the racism and drug problem. It's filled with kitschy shops, coffee shops, and second-hand stores, along with Fasten.

12. Sven's- Located on the above Kinnickinnic Avenue, a cool coffeeshop about 10 minutes away. Sven's also has fantastic rootbeer floats and homemade soups.

13. Tippecanoe Public Library- Within walking distance, a tiny library that manages to still have what you need, and the people there are really nice.

14. Tippecanoe True Value- I discovered this early on and have loved it ever since. It's tiny, and has everything you need, like the library, and the guys who work there helped me take apart my table base when the screws were rusted shut.

15. The Nomad- Really cool bar with live trivia, and much better atmosphere than the Charred Rib!

16. The Pabst- Beautiful theater that has cool concerts, some for only $10!

17. Turner Hall- Another live music venue (No, Kevin, I am not typing this from a music festival), neat old ballroom turned concert hall with cocktail tables and chairs (I love sitting for music!)

18. The numerous parks all around, within bicycling distance, some with public pools.

19. South Shore YMCA... WHAT UP, Y!?!

20. The Dells- Kind of like Ocean City, only on a series of lakes, not the ocean, with indoor water parks for the winter.

21. Koz's- a bar with "minibowling," 8-foot lanes, wooden pins hand-set each round, and I hit strikes the first 8 rounds!

22. American Players Theater/Spring Green- An outdoor theater in the middle of nowhere, so you can watch Shakespeare under the stars.

23. Outpost- a co-op, where, among many good things, one can find Bayview Brew, the coffee that Arlo brought home on Thanksgiving.


24. Jalapeno Loco- Awesome Mexican food in the mid-west...who knew?!?


25. Amelia's- site of the All-you-can-eat crab legs or fried chicken. Perfect for Arlo and me.

26. The Lakefront- So beautiful, and we have one section of it about 10 minutes away!

27. Kohlrabi- This yummy root vegetable that Arlo turned me on to, it is great with salt and pepper.

28. Woodman's- This ginormous grocery store that has pretty much anything you could want.

29. Festivals!- Milwaukee is like the festival capital of America...at this huge year-round venue, they have Summerfest, 11 days of hundreds of bands and thousands of people, plus every ethnicity's festival, and other random festivals.

30. Waves- Restaurant down in Racine that has all of these wacky combination dishes that remind you of the food made on Top Chef.

31. Ma Fisher's- 24-hour diner that Arlo and I went to on Halloween.

32. Landmark Bowl- Bowling, darts, and alcohol.



33. Beans and Barley- Healthfood store and awesome restaurant connected. Pretty much the best chili I've had.



34. Oriental theater- Like the Charles, only more gilded and less dark and dingy. Not that I don't love the Charles!



35. New Glarus Spotted Cow- So, yes, you can get this beer at Beltway, but it's made here!



36. Gays Mills Apple Festival- Funny name, but it's a lot of fun! A festival that celebrates the deliciousness of a perfect fruit.



37. Milwaukee Public Market- Kinda like Lexington, only cleaner and less crowded.



38. El Rey Chips- Some of you have had these miraculous tortilla chips, made here in Milwaukee

39. Yardarm- Arlo's current employer, it's a boating-inspired bar and restaurant.

40. Being close to Chicago- only 2 hours away!


41. The big clock- I think it's the largest 4-sided clock in the U.S. and it's a good landmark to figure out where you are, kind of like the Domino's Sugar sign!

42. Walleye- delicious fish that is caught in Lake Michigan.

43. EE Sane- a Thai-Laotian restaurant with fantastic pad thai, in the midwest!

44. Brandy Oldfashions- You can't really get these on the East coast, a mix of brandy, bitters, sprite, cherries and oranges, with a dash of sugar.


45. The accents!- How can you not LOVE them!!??!?!


46. Honeycrisp apples- Okay, so you can get these on the East coast, but they are grown here!


47. Kopp's frozen custard- Like soft-serve icecream, only twice the fat and twice the calories. Delicious! Oh, and they have butterburgers, burgers with a pat of butter cooked into the center.


48. World Market- I think these are elsewhere, but mostly in the midwest...they are sort of like Pier One, but they also sell food and wine!


49. Helpful Service People- Sounds like an oxymoron, but here it isn't....people will thank you for complaining here....and fix it without an issue! Not only that, but people will ask, "So, whattcha workin on?" if you buy wood, glue, and paint.


50. Deb and John's Plainfield Pub- The half-house/half-bar in our neighborhood, it's plastered with Packer's stuff and they had free snacks for the Packer's games. Free snacks!


51. Waking up each morning to Arlo.


52. Our house- it's perfect. Enough space, toasty warm, and filled with our stuff...oh, and color on the walls!


53. Our backyard- huge, space for Marley to run and a ginormous tree. Oh, and we have a fire pit!


54. The general lack of judgment here- You can wear a sweatshirt anywhere from the grocery store to a restaurant, and no one will look at you funny. Love it!


55. Being close to Arlo's family- We get to see his grand-parents and father pretty often and we are only 3 hours from his mother, sister, niece, and nephew.

There you go! 55 things that I love. I could also do a list like this for Maryland, and friends and family would be first on the list. What would be on your list?






Friday, January 9, 2009

New Email Address

So, this is pretty silly to post, but I have a new email address, as my umaryland one is finally defunct. This makes sense, since I have not been a student there for over two years. My new email address I've actually had for a while, but never used, beyond using it as my Match email address. Andrej will be happy, as it's a gmail account. Anyway, it's easy to remember, I hope, as I have edited it off this post, based on everyone's recommendations.

Even though this isn't a real post, I do expect a response, at least from Bill, in order to make up for the fact that he MISSED THE LAST ONE! That's right, he missed it!

That's pretty much all I got. I'm actually going to sleep now, and this week has been pretty uneventful other than work, so not much else to add. I hope all of you on the east coast are well and happy. I heard you are getting some snow and sleet today. We had about 3 inches, a mere dusting. I think we may have a couple more inches overnight. But this isn't a weather post...what am I talking about?!? I think I'm starting to ramble now, so it's probably best just to go. Later skaters!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Experience of Verbal Impotence

For the last three days, I have been an involuntary mute. Last Monday, after a glorious trip to Baltimore sandwiched between two frustrating airline trips, I came down with the Plague. Or merely the respiratory, non-lethal version of it. I'm pretty sure that this man behind me on the plane gave it to me. He was hacking the entire trip, from delayed departure to the eventual late landing. I think it was just waiting, incubating in me all day Sunday. Anyway, starting Monday afternoon, I began to feel icky. This quickly turned to really shitty and remained that way right up until Friday. New Year's Eve was spent napping and crochetting, while Arlo made dinner. This was actually probably the highlight of the week, as he made a cheese and fruit plate, salad, crab legs, and potatoes. That man is a cooking machine! And bless his heart, he tried so hard to make this a fun night for me, while I was sitting, zombie-like, waiting to just go to bed. At this point, I had my voice still, but pretty much just used it to complain about how icky I felt. We were supposed to go to visit his mother and Mary, sister, niece, and nephew, but I was in no shape to travel. So, instead, we watched Stepbrothers and I napped until the stroke of midnight. We fell asleep shortly thereafter and I coughed my way into the new year. The next day was spent in a blur of napping, crafting, and watching movies (Wall E and I can't remember for the life of me what the other one was). Friday I went to work, grateful that I didn't have clients, as my voice was starting to get shaky at best. However, it wasn't until Friday afternoon when true mutism hit.

We had decided on Thursday that since we hadn't made it to his mom's and Mary's place for NYE, we were going to head there for the weekend. So, we hit the road straight from work, making it there for a late Fish Fry Friday night. We went to this great place, Club Oasis, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, hence the name. I tried to be healthy, ordering my fish broiled, only to find, yet again (I really should learn my lesson here), my fish swimming in a broiling pan of butter. Wisonsinites sure love their saturated fats! Anyway, it was lovely, and I spent the time listening, trying occasionally to participate with a nod or a short, whispered phrase, all while I sucked back tea so that I could get through the night with a minimum of coughing. This pretty much describes the rest of the trip. Others talking, interacting, and me, trying to stay involved but feeling so not myself. I never realized how much of myself and the way I am is wrapped up in talking. I wanted desperately to add to everything people were saying, to make comments like, "Oh, isn't that cute," when Lauren, Arlo's niece, was putting on her Dora outfits and demanding candy, and to respond to people's questions, especially when they were called to me from the other room. Although it was a fun trip, and except for the cough and mutism I was feeling fine, I felt like something was missing since I didn't have my voice. I felt rude to others because I couldn't adequately thank them for presents or respond to what they said. I felt pathetic because I had to make Arlo become my translator, tapping him on the shoulder and asking him to repeat loudly what I was saying in his ear. I know this may sound melodramatic, but I felt all of this because of the power of expression and the feeling of impotence when one doesn't have it. This is the most I have said in days, and it feels so good to get it out. Today I finally started writing things down to Arlo because I wanted to say something more than yes and no. I'm nervous about this week, because it's my first week of seeing a full client caseload and I have no voice. How can one do therapy with no voice?!?!?! The only thing I'm thinking is that this could be some kind of new, avant garde kind of therapy where the therapist says literally nothing and the client does all of the work. Could work. However, not sure it's the safest thing when working with paranoid schizophrenics. (Sigh.) Well, I should probably go. Arlo's going to be home soon with Marley, fresh from the baby-sitters. I am washing the sheets, something my mom always did when we were getting over being sick. Then, I'm going to think of something for dinner and try to enjoy the last few blissful hours of non-work part of my week.

As for my visit to Baltimore, here's the brief re-cap. I was able to spend Christmas Eve at Underwood with the Hollers, Phay, and Andrej, spent some time being entertained by Matthew and Grace who stopped by for the festivities, and wake up Christmas day surrounded by friends, though the group was quite a bit smaller than in previous years. Christmas day with the Brotmans was lovely, and my mom had all of our extended family for the evening, with more present-giving mayhem. The next day was pretty much spent with mom, shopping, hanging out, eating, and Friday night with the Blackfords, enjoying Taco Night. We had a great time, and Manders gave me a fabulous gift- the most beautiful hand-knitted mittens I have ever seen. Kevin, I'm glad you weren't there to rub it in my face how fantastic they were. :) And then Saturday, I went out for breakfast with Wendy and Tamira, got a fantastic hand-made bag from Wendy with a half-naked cowboy theme, and came home just in time to pack and head out. Another whirlwind trip to Baltimore. I don't have another trip planned right now, but I'm hoping that the next time I come home it will be for longer, or for good. :) And to everyone planning a visit, go ahead and start looking a flights now, but be forewarned that February and March can have some nasty weather.

Anyway, as I said before, I should be going. I hope all of you had a fantastic New Year's Eve, and I wish you all a happy and healthy year. Regarding my experience with involuntary mutism, it has left me with the following observations: 1. I talk a lot in my everyday life. 2. Much of what I have to say really isn't necessary, and often redundant, for, if I wait long enough, other people will say the exact same thing, and 3. Arlo asks a lot of questions.