weekend in milwaukee

 Hello friends ~ it's a gloomy day here in northern Illinois and from looking at the

weather forecast, not much is going to change within the next 10 days. I would've

thought with the month of May coming up, that the days would be warmer and sunnier

and that I could finally get flowers, veggies, and herbs planted and the patio all set

up. After the loong, bitterly cold winter we had, I guess it's still taking Mother Nature

a long time to warm up. I did plant some chives in my herb garden yesterday and my

pea plants are awaiting us to build a simple trellis, but that's as far as we've gotten.

Brian and I enjoyed an overnight stay in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this weekend.

We stayed at a Four Points by Sheraton hotel and were impressed with how they

had updated the rooms. They have a more modern vibe now, which we really liked.

I enjoy several different decorating styles ~ traditional, cottage, mid-century modern,

and a more masculine modern. I suppose that's why it's hard for me to settle on just

one look! Anyway, we thought it was clever how the bedside lights were built into

each side of the headboard. Makes reading in bed easier and is a nice space saver.

 We also liked how the TV was mounted on a beam on the wall instead of just 

directly on the wall. You could take this idea in different directions according to your

decorating likes. I could see using a big piece of reclaimed wood to mount the TV on.

 I loved this mirror. I'm looking for something similar for the wall over my fireplace.

 Friday night, we had dinner at Cempazuchi - a mexican restaurant we had seen

featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It was every bit as good as Guy Fieri claimed

it was...from the peanut and sesame based salsa to the huge variety of tequilas and

hand-poured margaritas to the homemade mole sauce. (Little side note: I am a huge mole

aficionado. I may or may not be known for licking mole sauce off my plate in
restaurants when no one was looking.)

 And when the waitress told me they had homemade ("never mixes here!", she proudly

proclaimed) Sangria, I was in. I told her I'd have one. She then said, "OK! Would you

like white, rose, or red?" I was like, "Are you kidding me? You not only have homemade

Sangria, but three different kinds? How do you decide on which one to have?" She 

replied, "Oh, I usually work my way up...white, rose, then red!" I thought that was pretty

funny and clever, but I chose to stick to one. I had the rose Sangria and it was delish.

On Saturday, we went to the Mitchell Park Conservatory Domes.

Our favorite dome was the desert one ~ perhaps because we've never experienced

this type of environment. We found the cacti especially fascinating.

It's so amazing to see such beautiful flowers growing on desert plants.

 We got a kick out of this plant: Old Man Cactus! Evident because of it's long,

white "hair".

 We also went into the tropical dome, which was lush with beautiful plants and

water features. It was so humid in there though, that we started feeling a little

sick and had to leave to get some cool air.

 We then headed to the Milwaukee Public Market, which we've been to several

times. We had lunch there and walked around just to "window shop".

Our last stop of the day was walking around Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward

neighborhood. We found this great junk shop called Hoarder's World. It has three 

floors of stuff and junk packed to the ceiling. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun

to look around.

My favorite part of the shop? The owner's dog, Champ who was resting

outside. What a sweet pup.

Hope your weekend brought you some fun as well! 

Happy Monday, everyone.