A great perk of jury duty in Milwaukee County is a free pass to the Milwaukee Public Museum. Just a week after adding a visit to the Public Musem to my goal list, I got to check it off! I thought the museum sounded interesting, but since I haven't heard much about the museum living here, my expectations were (I'm sad to say) very low. But the nice thing about low expectations is that it's very easy to blow them out of the water. Which is exactly what happened. My favorite parts were the life size walk through old Milwaukee exhibit, the European cultural rooms, and pretty much the entire second and third floors. The cultural and natural exhibits reminded me a lot of the Canadian Museum of Civilization - every corner I turned I felt like I was in a new part of the world. The curation was so well done and definitely deserving of a second visit.
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On my visit to St. Louis this weekend, I cheered my sister Libby on during her first half marathon race. Libby works as an oncology nurse at a St. Louis hospital and ran the race in honor of one of her patients who passed away who had been training for a marathon. It was so inspiring, and I felt so proud of Libby! Music along the route to inspire the runners - I enjoyed listening to it too! All finished! Pretty sure that medal is weighing her down. Libby and her coworkers - they ran for Jenny. Libby and her cheerleaders! Don't know how she would have done it without us.
Way to go LIbby! She has me inspired to start running again, though I don't think a half marathon will be happening ... ever. There's nothing like a picture of a puppy to brighten your morning! Especially since it accompanies some exciting news. Paul and I have decided to get a brother for Pedro! More exclamation points!!!!!!
The details aren't finalized yet, but within a few weeks, Pedro will have a beagle brother to keep him company, chase squirrels with, and wrastle with. Unfortunately the new beagle is not a pocket beagle (those things are expensive!), but he will be adorable! Yay for little beagle brothers! Oh look, another goal list! What can I say? I just love them. Writing lists and making goals is a great way to daydream, and it makes the daydreams even better knowing that there's a good chance that they'll become reality.
I got the idea for doing this birthday goal list from Elsie at A Beautiful Mess who got the idea from Andrea at Hula Seventy. I turned 28 yesterday and made 29 goals to accomplish before my 29th birthday. And yes, I'm still working on that other goal list I started too. Happy goals makes a happy Mary. 1. Send care package 2. Try three new restaurants 3. Write a list of dreams (personal and professional) 4. Keep a 2013-2014 memory jar 5. Visit Holy Hill in fall 6. Attend 5th JVC reunion 7. See a hippy doctor 8. Make truffles 9. Visit Milwaukee Public Museum 10. Make my own tea 11. Save $500 in emergency fund 12. Try gluten-free/elimination diet 13. Illustrate children's book 14. Plant bulbs in the fall 15. Make a fancy scarf [or] learn to embroider 16. Close Wolski’s 17. Organize my "files" 18. Make "sun" dried tomatoes 19. Update blog design 20. Organize online/digital photos 21. Visit Madison with Paul 22. Say "yes" to something challenging at work 23. Take a visitor to the Safe House 24. Repot house plants 25. 30 days of apartment photos 26. Try to grow lettuce in our house year round 27. Decorate our apartment 28. Camp on a beach 29. Stay the night in a yurt Do you like making goal lists? What's on (or would be on) yours? waking up to the love of my life ... messages from family and friends ... being reminded of how lucky and loved I am ... living in such a happy home (thanks to that adorable dog we have) ... ackowledging that birthdays bring high expectations but gratitude makes everything enough ... flowers that remind me that spring is on its way ... Jimmy Johns ... french dinners ... looking forward to seeing Madeleine Peyroux tonight ... amazing coworkers ... loving my job ... a pretty day ... joint finance committee public budget hearings ... hearing great facts from April 4th (did you know that this is also Maya Angelou's birthday?! hot damn!) ... did I mention Jimmy Johns? ... trip to St. Louis on the horizon ... feeling happy ... taking time to remember that even with everyday annoyances and challenges life is stso good
Maybe when a couple meets and fall in love, that plants a seed, and if they are very fortunate and work hard together in time it grows into a vine, which truly does entwine their souls together. A sou mate seems to me something that you must work to enjoy, not a connection you could just stumble into. This great little book was another Anthropologie find. Fall in Love for Life is 200 pages of inspiration from Barbara Cooper, a 93 year old widow telling the story and sharing advice from her seventy-year marriage to her husband Harry Cooper. I loved this book because Barbara's advice was so authentic and so simple. It reminded me of one of my grandma's favorite sayings: "keep it simple stupid [kiss]." Barbara has kept a positive attitude and repeats her belief that if you stay committed, work hard, and want what's best for each other, you and your "sweetheart" will do alright. She realistically admits that not all marriages will work out and not all people are meant to be together. When dealing with mid life crises or a partner being unfaithful, Barbara advises people to take care of themselves and be grounded in who they are, saying this will help them move on rather than waiting around for a person who may never come back. Barbara also had some of the best insights I've heard on the aging process. Her wisdom was so refreshing in a society that repeats "it's hell to get old." This "super senior" embraces her age, aches, and pains and says, "if you live your life one day a time, then you ease into the changes. If you have friends, if you have family, if you love yourself and do what you can to help others, then you can forget about again and just focus on living." Amen! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently married, engaged, or thinking about getting married in the future. Her book is definitely aimed at heterosexual couples and includes gender generalizations, but overall the book is a really joyful read. I debated whether to share this picture, but I was thinking about our marriage so much while reading this book, hoping that we could enjoy a long, happy marriage like the Coopers (my new super senior inspirations), that it seemed authentic to include it. Thanks for indulging me.
Paul and I spent Easter in Milwaukee this year (the life of being married to a nurse - a life of a spouse who has to work holidays). Luckily, we have a great Milwaukee family we could celebrate the holiday with! Being in Milwaukee for Easter meant we had a chance to attend Easter services at our church, which were so energizing and were such wonderful celebrations of community. The Spanish and Gospel choirs came together and played some fantabulous music. On Easter Sunday, we got together with friends for a late brunch and enjoyed some DELICIOUS home cooked food. Seriously, we went all out. Included on the menu were these cinnamon rolls, my first attempt at making them from scratch. I'm happy to say they turned out really well. Check out America's Test Kitchen for the recipe. Mouth watering yet? I also shared my first quiche attempt! I replaced the cream and some of the cheese with actual cream cheese and thought it turned out well. I added vegetarian sausage to the top for extra taste (and because I'm a sucker for vegetarian sausage). And what brunch is complete without a tasty mimosa? We made ours with fresh squeezed orange juice and the champagne of champagnes: Andre's. Also on the brunch menu: crepes with nutella and whipped cream, spinach caserole, and fruit salad. YUMMAY. And since this brunch post has focused almost entirely on food, how about I add a picture of my other favorite post topic? PEDRO! How adorable is that beagle? Answer: too adorable.
Hope you had a great weekend! Here's what has me smiling today: we put an offer down on this house! What a dream come true!
Believe me? Ok, April Fool's! Even though I love and patiently wait for this holiday, I've been tricked three times already today (thank goodness the Game of Thrones announcement wasn't true! My heart was broken for a few seconds). |