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Memorial Monday

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Happy Memorial Day to those who have or are serving our country.

I've been such a bad blogger! Coming up this week I'll have a corn pudding recipe for you, some more Neenah restaurant fun, and whatever else pops into my head.

This weekend was fantastic. I got three whole nights at home! Bryce and I enjoyed some wonderful meals, spent time with a close friend, and I even got to have a day in Kenosha with my parents. My mom and I went shopping and I found two dresses at White House Black Market for my bachelorette party and rehearsal dinner. I love, love, love them!

Now I just need to find a dress for my bridal shower. Any suggestions for a stylish, bright, floral dress? Bright florals aren't really my thing, but that's the theme so I need to find something that works!

Shout out to this guy. I miss ya!

The Worst Fashion Blogger Ever

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Last week I sent Bryce pictures of me everyday. I really had no reason for doing it except that I bought a bunch of new clothes and I was excited about my outfits.

I mostly decided to share this with you because I love my gold-toed shoes. They are the best shoes ever.

The pictures are terrible. So terrible. I don't care. Enjoy.

Sweater {Target}

Black Pants {H&M}

Shoes {Target}

Necklace {Vintage}

Button Down {Tommy Girl}

Blue Pants & Belt {H&M}

Epic Shoes {Ellen Tracy}

It's all H&M, baby. Except the shoes, those are Target again.

Shirt {Forever 21}

Skirt {Cynthia Rowley}

Shoes {Ellen Tracy}

Zombie Face {Allllll me.}

Wedding Menu Tasting

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Our menu tasting was probably the best part of wedding planning so far. I guess there are perks to having one of those big, fancy weddings after all! Bryce and I took our moms to the tasting and we celebrated mother's day for the rest of the afternoon. Iron Horse has one of the best restaurants in the city so we are very lucky to have them catering our wedding. Food is a big deal to us and we're totally pumped!

I didn't take the greatest photos of our food. Mostly because I was very anxious to start eating it! I forgot to take a picture of one of the salads and one of the entrees, but they were just as beautiful and delicious as the rest of it.

We started off with hors d'oeuvres. Out of the five we tried, three were chosen for the wedding. Bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes (pictured above), chickpea veggie cakes with red pepper sauce, and goat cheese crostini with asparagus, red pepper & micro greens. Some of it may sound a little weird, particularly the veggie cake, but that is one of the reasons we brought our moms to the tasting. We know we have cuh-razy vegetarian taste buds (mostly sarcasm), but I have to tell you the veggie cakes were our moms' favorite.

Here are the delicious losers: Portabella Sliders & English Egg Salad

Mmmmm, salad. The one we chose isn't pictured, but below is the wedge salad with green goddess dressing. Holy Goddess, it was incredible! Like I said, we aren't going with this one, but it was actually my personal favorite.

And the main event! We tried the Gnocchi, the Market Pasta, and one other delight. Hey, I'm not going to share our whole menu! That was the best gnocchi I've ever had in my life. It was lighter than a cloud. The market pasta was fantastic as well, but it didn't make the cut. We all enjoyed it, but decided that the two winners were just at another level.

Trying out the food I'll eat on my wedding day was pretty amazing. I can't wait to eat gnocchi with my husband.

Brave Face

I literally sat at my hotel window and sang "Lonely" with some altered lyrics to suit my situation. Yes, I'm actually that pathetic.

I've always been really good at putting on a brave face. Fake it 'til you make it kind of thing. I'm a major introvert, but if you tell some people that they would never believe it. Want to know why? Because I'm such a people pleaser that I learned how to be an extrovert. I've even learned to enjoy being social, but that only lasts for so long. I can only handle a few hours at a time of being away from home, away from family.

My first week out of town I was riding the high of my new job, exploring a new city and faking my extroverted-ness so hard that I even believed it myself. I was an independent woman! I did everything on my own!

You know what? Fuck that.

I miss my fiance, I miss my bed, I miss my freaking kitchen. Today was hard and I want to go home. I feel emotionally raw. The weekend was incredibly short with a drive home on Friday night and a drive back on Sunday evening. Throw in a wedding appointment combined with a mother's day celebration and you've got what felt like five minutes at home.

I need Bryce. I need snuggles, I need my carpool buddy (okay, driver), I need his emotional support to keep me sane. Yeah, I'm dependent on him and I'm perfectly happy with that. If someone else doesn't like it, that's so their problem. Dependence is a two-way street for us. Personally, I think you should be dependent on the person you are marrying. That's kind of the point right? I guess I'm just saying, I'm done with my brave face. Today, being away from home doesn't feel worth it.

I'll hop off my soapbox now. Apologies for the lack of posts. Obviously, I'm still adjusting to working out of town for the next month.

Aspen Coffee & Great Harvest Bread Co

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Aspen Coffee & Tea

Neenah has some fun cafes and restaurants in their downtown near my hotel. Thanks to Aspen and Great Harvest it means that I've eaten a lot of sandwiches in the past three days. 

At Aspen Coffee & Tea I had a Gardener's Veggie Melt that was loaded with brie, asparagus, red peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, spinach, onions and tomato. I'm not usually a big fan of brie, but this panini makes it work. Aspen reminds me of Alterra in Milwaukee and makes me feel at home. They also have a number of veggie options which is always a plus for me. 

Great Harvest Bread Co.

At Great Harvest I had a hummus sandwich. It was yummy, but it was definitely a typical vegetarian sandwich at place that has no other vegetarian options. The big winner for me was the monkey bread. I am eating it as I write and I don't know if I have enough willpower to keep from eating the whole loaf tonight. Someone save me!

Patience, My Friends

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Oh boy. Please be patient with me over the next 5 weeks. This whole working out of town in a new job thing is going to take some time to adjust to.

Don't worry, I'll get back on track with the blog. My Neenah posts will include such things as:

1. My bad ass new shoes that all my new co-workers love.

2. The place I'll be eating pretty much every night for the next 5 weeks -- Aspen Coffee.

3. Tales from the only female staying at this hotel on business (including but not limited to the story of the horrifyingly sweaty old man hogging the elliptical machine).


It will be epic. I mean...it will be as epic as it can be...which isn't very epic. Uh, I don't even know anymore. I'm going to go drink the beer I brought with me. Yeah.

You know you're from Milwaukee when you bring your own beer with you out of town.

It's The Final Countdown!

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Today is my last day in my current job! I'm so pumped. I danced all morning and I'm pretty sure Bryce thinks I'm crazy now. Alright fine, he already knows I'm crazy.

I have 6 hours left as an administrative assistant. Maybe you have (or one day will have) an admin of your own. If you do, these might be some things for you to think about. You can thank me later, admins of the world (or of the three people that read my blog...)!

As an administrative assistant I've learned a lot of lessons about working hard, being flexible, and understanding the needs of the team. Those lessons will stay with me throughout my career as well as other lessons like cleaning up after myself (the admin shouldn't have to be the maid), independence especially when it comes to things like un-jamming a printer (as the admin I had no one else to pass my problems off to), and respect for people on varying levels of the corporate food chain (I'm not going to make someone mail my friend's lotion for me...so weird).


Things I'll Miss About My Job:

Talking to my cubicle mate throughout the day.
Reporting to my awesome manager.
My big, glass window walls.

(I'm staying in my department, just getting a new position so I don't have to miss my co-workers or potluck days or anything like that.)


Things I Won't Miss:

Fixing the printer every stinking day.
Running errands for other people around campus.
Working in a cubicle.
Sharing my cubicle with a microwave and a fridge (and another person).
Turning off my space heater every time someone uses the microwave so that the power doesn't go out.

Now on to bigger and better things! Have a great weekend!

Leaning In

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Right now I'm gearing up for 5 weeks of working out of town. I get to come home briefly on the weekends, but this means my blog post schedule needs some adjusting.

For now I'm thinking posts will go up at night instead of in the morning and you will be seeing some of my adventures from Neenah instead of Milwaukee. I'll get to share what it's like to wedding plan from afar, how to eat out of a microwave for five weeks (I don't even have a microwave at home!), and I might even talk about starting my "big girl" job. I'm leaning in, Sheryl Sandberg!

Career Links I'm Loving:

1. Details that matter when writing a cover letter.
2. Some workplace style bloggers I will be relying on so that I can look like a fashionable 9to5er.
3. A DIY gold polka dot mouse pad for a cute work space.
4. The best pancake recipe ever for a treat after a long week of work.
5. How to style a desk.
6. Since I'm leaving my job as an assistant this article made me happy and it's so true.
7. Three ways to impress when you're the youngest one in the office? Yep, that would be me.
8. Career books for young women.

Cooked

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Up here in Milwaukee we have an incredible local bookstore, Boswell Book Company. Yes, I have a Kindle and on occasion I buy books from there, but for the most part I'm a paper girl. I love buying a new book. My future children and grandchildren are sure to make fun of me for not being book tech savvy, but those little brats and kiss my future saggy butt. I'm never giving up my books.

Back on track, Boswell is fantastic. They have a beautiful selection of books and I've never gone in looking for something that they didn't have. A section of their store is dedicated to employee recommendations with little book reviews and another section is full of book club books.

Not only are they the best bookstore ever, but they host the best events. Most recently Bryce and I attended a Michael Pollan event at the Oriental Theater that Boswell hosted. Michael Pollan was amazing, informative, and entertaining. He read from his new book Cooked and gave us a nice long Q & A session.

Here's a quick excerpt I pulled from Boswell's website:

"In his new book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Pollan explores the uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements -- fire, water, air, and earth -- to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink."

I feel like it's important to mention that Michael Pollan said himself that this is his most light-hearted book. Cooked comes after Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma and more. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. If you haven't heard of him at all you are probably living under a rock. He is a wellness bad ass and you need to check him out (preferably at your local bookstore).