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State Fair 2019

Our family has integrated a recent tradition of attending the Wisconsin State Fair yearly. Although we’re admittedly never ones to rush Summer, there is nothing that screams Summer more than visiting the Fair! Normally we enjoy visiting on the first Tuesday of the fair. This year that plan wouldn’t work since it will be busier due to our imminent family vacation! The reason we like to go on that Tuesday is that they do a promotion called Crazy Grazin’ Days and you get deals on the food so you can basically try more items. Smart idea, right?!

I was a little apprehensive that attending on the first night would be pretty crowded. As we approached the gates there were plenty of people, but once inside I was relieved that it felt similar to attending on Tuesday nights in the past. It couldn’t have been more perfect weather for wandering around the grounds. The gate we entered had a detour around some of the closed animal barns. To our dismay, we realized that one of the closed buildings were goats/sheep. Small backstory, but we call our Grandma, “The Goat.” Our family has a fixation with goats, so whenever we’re there we spend a chunk of time watching the goats and laughing at them. So that was sad to miss out on because we found out that it was closed for the entire night at 4 p.m. which was right after we showed up. 

Luckily we were lured away by the promise of many wonderful fried food smells permeating the grounds. They released over 60(!) new foods for the fair this year. Yes, a lot of it is unhealthy, but it’s a special occasion and we plan ahead to enjoy it all. Plus it’s wonderful to attend with other people who are ready to eat because then we split everything between five people. That way you get a couple of bites of items, but you don’t fill up on one thing. 

We started off with a plate of potato chips, which has been a go-to for years. There’s something about freshly fried chips that are just irresistible. From there we went in search of a beer and found that they had a huge tent called the Micro, serving you guessed it, microbreweries beer. They weren’t hurting for choice! Caitlin chose a particular beer and then the guy returned to tell her she tapped the keg. We were wondering if they were going to tell her to pick something else, but instead, he got on the speaker system and made an announcement and then gave her a Keg Tapper T-shirt. It was a fun little surprise!

Right behind that tent was one of our favorite Milwaukee pride t-shirt shops, Brew City Brand. We had seen their promotion on their Instagram page and knew they had some ridiculously good new t-shirts available. Our friend Sarah was eyeing up the “That’s What Cheese Said” t-shirt, and once Caitlin spotted the “Brews Your Daddy” T-shirt it was game over. She snagged it for an impromptu gift for our Dad and he loved it! There was also a “Red, White, and Brew” t-shirt, which you know us and our love of patriotic gear – super tempting! Most of their stuff is available on their website as well but I think the new ones mentioned above aren’t available online yet, but check it out here.

From there, we refocused on our stomachs. There was a Brat with egg and cheese on top that was wayyy better and more exciting than it sounded. We’re going to have to recreate that one at home! Corn on the cob is always a must. Last year we learned that the corn is grown and sourced locally and they serve it only after they dip it in a vat of butter. Then we had an “Italian Stallion” which was a wonton style deep-fried Italian beef dipped in au jus sauce. Can’t forget the good ole 18-inch hand-dipped corn dog. That is one of Caitlin’s non-negotiables of the fair! They stack 3 hot dogs in a row, and it always hits the spot. We also had to grab a Cream Puff, because Wisconsin. They are the messiest treat but always hit the spot. We also shared some garlic cheese curds, again we’re Wisconsinites! What do you expect aside from lots of dairy?! To wind down the food for the evening, we always head to the local food hall. We started with two ice cream sundaes as an appetizer before we headed over to where Cedar Crest ice cream hooked us up with a 2 (or more like 5) scoop cone. The girl scooping it was making herself laugh as she piled it higher and higher. None of us were upset either haha. The only let down this year was that they discontinued the deep-fried PB&J sandwiches, a more recent family favorite. Consider this our campaign to bring back the PB&J! 

Interspersed with copious amounts of food consumption, were a couple of rides. We always like to ride down the big yellow side. You grab a “burlap sack” (More like a rug now) and climb the stairs to experience the joys of feeling like a child again as you grin the entire way down. We also rode the Ferris wheel this year, which we haven’t done in many years. It was fun to be able to have six people in the same car, but it went way too quickly!

We did stop into the Exhibition hall. It has plenty of products you didn’t know you needed. Our Mom took us back to the Silver jewelry stand and we both picked out a ring because they actually had larger finger size options! Every year we pass by the food chopper guys and he amusing himself with his nonstop chatter during his demonstration. Luckily we didn’t get sucked into any sales demonstrations this year. 

Basically, we had a blast as we always do attending Wisconsin’s State Fair. It has plenty to entertain the whole family, and you’d have to put more effort forth not to enjoy yourself than it would take to just have a good experience. Tell us below, if you attend the fair; what is your favorite part?

Outfit Details

T-Shirt is linked here, cow print tank is linked here but only available on UK site

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London and Long Tall Sally

We made you wait long enough for the final day in London! I keep laughing every time someone thinks we’re still in London. We never post our pictures as we’re traveling, it will always be on a delay. But we do appreciate the well wishes, the trip was incredible! If you haven’t caught the first three days; here is day one, here is day two, and here is day three.

For our final day, we awoke ready to make the most of it. The plan was to walk over to an area that had a boutique our Aunt Susan wanted to shop. So we headed that way, with the intent to find a place for breakfast en route. Well turns out, a lot of stuff closes down for their bank holiday, aka our Memorial Day. We ended up trying to find somewhere that was open, and that we could sit inside. That turned out to be a taller order than expected. So then we stopped into another Paul’s and were able to sustain ourselves on more croissants while we searched.

There ended up being a restaurant a block or two off the main street, and once inside we realized it was a hotel. They had enough to satisfy everyone, so we sat and warmed up. The weather had taken a turn back to typical London. It was slightly overcast, and windy. Once warmed with breakfast and coffee, we headed towards the boutique. Or so we thought, dun dun dun. Plot twist, we had walked past Long Tall Sally’s flagship store “on our way” to this other boutique. Since we were in the area, we might as well stop in.

Turns out, the only reason we were in the area was to visit Long Tall Sally. As we were perusing the racks (which was freaking incredible) our Aunt Susan disappeared and reappeared with envelopes that contained gift cards from Long Tall Sally. Once again we were blown away. First Asos, and now Long Tall Sally?! We couldn’t even believe it. It was the BEST to be able to sit downstairs and try on shoe after shoe after shoe. Cinderella, we get you! When the shoe fits, it’s magical.

Once we finished with the shoes, we got to come back upstairs and try on all of the other sections. I had been obsessing over the rainbow striped dress ever since it dropped, so that was top of the list. They have the nicest women working at their store. It just felt like a wonderful sisterhood of tall women. They were ready to grab different sizes at any moment for us and gave feedback on the fit of items. I ended up taking home this rainbow dress, this denim dress, and these sneakers. The fit of the denim dress is a bit looser than normal, so where I normally wear a 10/12US, I got it in an 8US.

Caitlin tried on several pairs of shoes and ended up grabbing the same Mary Jane flats that are so perfect and versatile that I own. She also has been impatiently waiting to grab this perfect printed wrap dress. It fits her like a dream and the print is basically seasonless. She’s been loving loafers lately and couldn’t leave this classic black pair behind. Luckily for us, they had a sale running in-store to buy 2 items get 1 free. We could have spent so much more money and we know they definitely will be taking more of our money soon. I had such a hard time leaving this blue wrap maxi dress behind. The fit was incredible.

After our incredible experience at Long Tall Sally, we took our first and only cab ride back to the Airbnb to drop off our goodies. We had been talking about the cabs the whole time, and it was fun to squeeze the four of us in, with Caitlin and I sitting in the pull-down seats facing the back. From there, we headed out again to find some tourist attractions. We took the tube to Westminster Abbey and wove our way through the throngs of other tourists. The tour buses had been passing relentlessly and we thought it might be nice to get off our feet and listen to some history and see more than we could walking. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite find the right area to be picked up at the bus stop. Instead, we moved on to find Buckingham Palace!

It’s a very impressive structure, but when no one is outside there really isn’t much to see! None of us could imagine living in there full time and having millions of people stalking about the gates hoping to catch a glimpse of you. Not an ideal scenario by me! Quickly we decided to hit up some shopping and ended up at Oxford Street. WOW, there were tons of people there! We basically ran through a couple of stores because no one was in the mood to fight the crowds. With our energy flagging, tea was in order.

We luckily found a charming tea spot called the Tea Terrace. It’s the top floor of the House of Fraser department store on Oxford Street. It was decorated convincingly in all blues and pinks. It looks like a confection or a place of my childhood dreams. Once seated, we pored over the vast menu. Our Mom used to love Crumpets, so we had to do an order of those. Then we each did tea and scones. It was such a cute setup. As we sat and enjoyed it, we giggled listening to a small girl sitting with her mom and sister playing “imagine.” It was so sweet and entertaining to hear how vivid her imagination was!

Completely satiated by tea, we headed back to our Airbnb to pack up. It was a whirlwind of gathering things up and making sure we were putting enough in the extra bag so no one’s luggage would be overweight on the return journey. For our final dinner, we had planned to find some fish and chips for dinner. We got all excited over a particular place, but Bank Holiday struck again and it was closed when we walked over. We settled for another spot that was decent around the corner from our place, and then we headed back to finalize packing and catch some sleep before our 4 a.m. wake up call!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. We’ll be forever grateful and thankful for our Aunt and Mom taking us there! It went too fast, but the taste of London we got was incredible. The people here were all very kind and helpful, and we will definitely be back in the future. Hopefully, this provides a good outline or inspiration for a future trip of yours. Let us know any questions below!

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London Bridge Isn’t Falling Down

Onward we progress through our whirlwind of a trip to London! This post picks up where we left off, which is day 3. After our fun night out in the pubs (check our last post here for that story), we knew we wanted to get a quicker start on the day and hit up some of the tourist destinations. High on the list was the Tower of London, where they house the crown jewels. Much more beyond that, it has a storied history. I feel we only scratched the surface of visiting it.

We didn’t get a chance to join in one of the Yeoman tours (which start right inside the gates), because we were trying to meet up with a coworker of our Mom’s who lives in the London area. Instead, we beelined it for the queue to the Crown Jewels, which was impressively long for being earlier in the day. It grew even more staggering after we left for our coffee break meet-up and returned. Basically, if you’re heading to the Tower of London, hit that part up right away. Once inside, you might think you made it. The queue continues, but it was fun to see some of the crown jewels for sure. If it’s not your cup of tea, skip it!

We also went inside the actual Tower once we returned, and it was incredible to be inside such an ancient building. They had tons of armor on display, and after a while, we kind of breezed on past that. The chapel that is restored inside was quite incredible and worth sitting and listening to some history on. We could have spent more of our day here, but we want to move on and see some other stuff.

Once we left, we headed straight to the Tower Bridge; which is the infamous blue bridge you see in every tourist London pic. Not to be left out, we definitely snapped many as we walked across. The walk is easy compared to across the Brooklyn Bridge (as far as distance). We found ourselves parched, so we stopped into a tiny pub on a side street after getting lured by the promise of a brewery on the side of a historic building. It was all a lie, but we ended up with a pint, so it worked in our favor! The bar was in an old building, and it showed. Check out this hilarious picture of the doorway into their seating area. The good-natured gentleman below joined us for a picture since he couldn’t find the issue himself. We have to laugh about it sometimes, right?!

From there we wanted to figure out how to get to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and we ended up finding a bus route that got us close enough. It was fun riding the double-decker buses and sitting up top for a great view. Overall their metro transportation system was really flawless and impressive. We especially like that you can’t get charged more than 6 pounds a day using it. I also really appreciate that their Oyster cards are the heartier plastic material than NYC’s paper counterparts. But I digress. We realized as we arrived at St. Paul’s we couldn’t get inside because it was closed.

Obviously disappointing, but a peril of visiting on a Sunday I’m sure. The outside was still quite impressive. Onward we pushed, to see if anything else of interest was in the area. We rallied with a cup of coffee and then walked down the street to see if we could find another drink of sorts. St. Paul’s Cathedral seemed to be in an area that closes down on the weekend, but we ended up finding a delectable donut shop. We split two donuts, and they were a great treat to hold us over.

With that, we admitted defeat and headed back to our Airbnb to sit for a bit. We discovered our aunt had a ridiculously large blister on her heel and we all needed to get off our feet. Luckily we stopped by a grocery store and grabbed some wine for a little happy hour at home. We sat around and giggled for a while, as we searched for dinner options.

Caitlin is always interested in noodles; so we found an Italian place that was an easy walk from our place. Apparently, most people make reservations in London. We were questioned if we had one, but ultimately seated immediately. Our decorum must have been lacking throughout the trip. I had the coolest pasta dish that was basically all types of seafood. They poured it out of a paper bag, so it was still steaming and fresh. It was amazing. Caitlin had the pesto, which is always a good idea. Overall, a really nice dinner.

From there, we had already gone hard enough on happy hour and had such a late dinner, that we were ready to call it a night. Day three was in the books and a success. Come back next week for our final day!

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London Calling

If you missed it, we visited London over Memorial Day weekend! Our first post can be read here. We’re back with Day 2 of our whirlwind surprise trip, today. The jet lag caused us to be slow-moving, so we drank some french press coffee as we got ready for the day. Once we got out the door, we made our first stop at Paul’s which is a local franchised bakery/coffee shop. Definitely had to grab all varieties of croissants. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we sat outside and sipped our Americano coffee and munched our pain au chocolat and almond croissants.

Once fortified by the baked goods, we hopped on the tube to get to Camden for the Camden Market. It is such a funky, colorful area. We spent many hours wandering through it, in and out of the little stalls eyeing the little trinkets and wares. Caitlin called me over and to my excitement found a perfectly distressed vintage Levi denim jacket. I bartered the seller down a bit, and it was mine! If you’re on the hunt for a jean jacket, head to your local thrift shop or Goodwill. Don’t think twice about hitting up the men’s section. Jean jackets are completely unisex, and all the different fits are “in” right now anyway. Suffice to say I wasn’t going to find a women’s size that fit me this well.

After I bought my dream of a jean jacket, we continued on through the market to find some sustenance. We had heard about Honest(?) burgers and there happened to be a mini restaurant/stall in the market. You know we had to grab one and check it out. As someone who loves a burger, I was duly impressed. We also split some fish and chips for the authentic London experience. There are so many little shops to wander through, you can easily take up the bulk of your day there. Before we left, we stopped in a brewery that was on the second level. Whenever traveling, Caitlin enjoys finding some local breweries and we enjoyed an IPA.

On such a lovely day, we felt compelled for a wander through one of the many beautiful parks London has. Regent Park was close enough and in the same direction as our Airbnb. We ended up strolling through and then stopping for a bit of people watching on a bench. One of my favorite things in new cities is seeing different fashion and especially how people mix fashion and functionality when they’re doing heavier walking than our driving-centric city.

We did a bit of research on dinner that night and settled on Indian Food. In Milwaukee, we don’t have a lot of options and we had heard London was renowned for their restaurants. Dishoom seemed the obvious choice via Yelp. A side note, Yelp doesn’t seem to have a huge standing in London. Might want to check different apps for food research like OpenTable or the like. But Yelp came through for us on this find. It was a moody, almost speakeasy-like vibe. Maybe it had to do with being seated in the basement. Totally a lovely intimate spot. We ordered a bunch of small plates again and tried everything to our heart’s desire. All the recommendations our waiter made were spot on, and we had a wonderful experience. We would recommend in a heartbeat.

After dinner, we were in the mood for some ice cream. Being in the theater district, we headed down the street and found a Gelato place rather quickly. As we were enjoying the flavors, we noticed there were several pubs in the immediate vicinity. What better way to round out the night than grabbing a cocktail? We walked in and immediately found a perfectly place table (or so we thought). After we settled in with our drinks, we realized we were next to a bachelor or as they say Stag party. They were having a GOOD time, aka they were feeling the booze. Before we knew it, they were basically sitting at our table with us, talking about mainly about our height and more oddly, hand size. They were equal parts enamored with it and seemingly terrified.

Encounters of that sort have a bewildering feeling. You’re never sure if you’re being celebrated for your height or insulted. At least that’s my feelings on it. You can hardly reason with someone that inebriated but we did our best to correct them at opportune moments. All in all, it was a unforgettable night of laughs out in London! Stay tuned for the rest of our trip.

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Austin: Part 2

In case you missed part one of my Austin trip be sure to check it out first here. And then continue on below.

Sunday Morning we were a little slow to rise from our activities the night before. We had a few more drinks than we planned, but it’s vacation right? Funny recommendation, but if you are like me and suffer from terrible hangovers almost each time you have a few drinks give these hangover patches a try. My friend recommended them and then my mom grabbed them for me for my birthday and I am here for it! Anyways, we headed to Torchy’s which came highly recommended from many people, and we honestly didn’t really get it. It wasn’t bad by any means and you could tell they used fresh ingredients. It was nothing special in my opinion. The queso was my favorite part!

Back to the pool we went, for the rest of the afternoon. We headed back to our rooms and drank some wine and snacked on goldfish in our hotel robes, while laughing about how classy we were. We got ready slowly and decided we needed another afternoon coffee stop. We were sad to find out Cenote was closed, so we headed a little further down the road to Flat Track. Another friendly shop, another great coffee and nice patio. We grabbed a Lyft to head across town to Terry Black’s BBQ.  

We were greeted by a lengthy line but were relieved to find out it moved very quickly and they have a beer window at the halfway point! First stop is to pick sides where we snagged green beans, creamed corn, corn bread, and mac & cheese. You round the corner to choose which BBQ you want which was a little overwhelming to us; however, the staff was so helpful and accommodating. We decided on the brisket and turkey ribs. Everything we ate at Terry Black’s was amazing. The meat was so tender, the sides were flavorful, the cornbread was fresh and warm. They put paper towels and BBQ sauces everywhere for you to grab from and you can just sit wherever you would like!

Next up was Amy’s Ice Cream, which also led us by the “I love you So Much mural” and the Austin Motel. It was a really cool area and I am super glad we essentially stumbled into it. The line for Amy’s was long, and I don’t know if it was entirely worth it. I mean it was good. Ice cream is always good to me, but I probably wouldn’t wait in line again. We finished up and made our way to Rainey Street where we quickly learned that we were both exhausted and pretty much just wanted to go to bed.

Monday was our last day, so they’re always a bit awkward if you ask me. We try to book flights later in the day, in order to take advantage of the hotel night we just paid for. We went to Bird, Bird, Biscuit for a freshly baked biscuit breakfast sandwich and a cup of java. Another delicious breakfast spot! Once we were done we called a Lyft, and y’all it was our first and only sketch ride. It was an old police car, with no music, and a very peculiar aggressive driver. Anyways, he got us to the outdoor Hope Mural Gallery in one piece. We were disappointed to find out that it is closed and locked with chicken wire until they can open the new location. Luckily we could see parts of it, but still sad we couldn’t get in.

We decided to walk a bit to see where we were and what else there was to do. There was a juice shop nearby, so we grabbed a fresh juice and then scootered back to the hotel. And then as you could have probably guessed, we planted ourselves at the pool. It was super nice to find a nearly empty pool for the first time! We spent a while there reading and decided we were somehow hungry and decided that instead of getting the infamous Whataburger at the airport, we were going back to Veracruz for more tacos and Mango juice. We got “lunch” tacos this time and they were equally as impressive as breakfast tacos. I would have drove this taco truck back to Milwaukee with me if they would have allowed it. If you are in Austin, I dub this your #1 must do. Back to the pool to kill a little more time before the airport, and then after a very long rerouted journey home we arrived at 2:30 am.

Here are the quick outfit details: The first outfit that I wore to breakfast is a total picture fail for y’all but I wore my favorite button fly 5” shorts, a bodysuit and my Amalli talli Duster. I totally saw them style it exactly this way and just copied it. Sorry for the lack of a good picture!

That night I wore this easy breezy midi dress. It actually came with straps but they would not stay on so I left them at home! I went with the same Target sandals and again this was just such an easy outfit!

The next morning I threw on the same girlfriend jeans, because *gasp* I am a re-wearer on vacation. This body suit that I actually own in two colors now because the fit is just that good! I went with Birkenstocks since I knew we would be doing a bit more walking this day, and grabbed a J. Crew flannel just in case! (Hint: I bought a mens medium slim fit for longer sleeves).

Unfortunately I only snagged a picture of one swimsuit top which is this camo one that I am obsessed with! You all know we are huge camo people by now and this is no different. But the cherry on top is that the bottoms are the best coverage I own! I ended up wearing this one twice! I also brought some new Asos shorts, a tank, and the romper cover up that you can see from our romper roundup post last year here!

All in all this trip was the best! We enjoyed every minute of the easy going relaxed pace, the delicious food, friendly locals, and the 86 degree weather wasn’t so bad either! Let me know if you have any questions on Austin, I would love to help give you recommendations!

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