For part of the holiday weekend, we went to Milwaukee for some rest and relaxation. After going to SummerFest, the largest outdoor music festival, and the vicious sunburn I came home with, the trip was certainly an adventure, but for the next week or so, I'm looking forward to some good, old-fashioned downtime!

While we were in Milwaukee, we stopped at my favorite spice place, The Spice House. It's in the Old Third Ward section of the city, sandwiched in between other shops, so unassuming that you wouldn't realize what you were passing until it was too late - except the incredible aromas coming through the screened door. The amazing thing: for $24.09 I grabbed 8 oz. Indonesian cinnamon, 4 oz. Italian sausage seasoning, 4 oz. toasted minced onion, 4 oz. roasted garlic powder, a jar (3.5 oz.) Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Spice, and several glass spice jars. Even the stuff in the grocery store would run me more than that! I adore that place.

Across the street is Usingers sausage, which I have to stop at - literally, it's right across the street. We popped in there, but there were no great deals to be had, so it was easy to move onto the next thing. The last stop before SummerFest - Milwaukee's (indoor) Public Market - which is comprise of around two dozen small food vendor stalls - from fine chocolates, to cheeses and delimeats, to a wine shop, spices (yep, from the Spice House, but their store has much more to pick from), Indian food, a burrito stand, and fresh fish. It really does have it all.

Though, as a sign of the times, the prices have really gone up in the public market, so DH & I contented ourselves with a few cookies from C. Adam's bakery, and headed off to the festival grounds. A short drive and we're there. We spent over 4 hours meandering through Summerfest, nibbling on cheese curds, and listening to the music. The sun started to get to me, so we headed out a bit earlier than expected and on the way to the car - my skin slowly went from a lovely shade of pale to a searing shade of red. How red might you ask? So red I could claim tomatoes as my kin. Yep, it's that bad.

Coming back on Saturday, we went to a BBQ at DaMama's - wow, was that a feast, followed with fireworks near my inlaws house. Afterwards, we stopped at a local cafe for $.50 ice cream cones (their July special) and that wrapped up a long, but fun day. There was so much food leftover from the BBQ, I won't have to cook all week. Nothing wrong with that!!

Sunday, we spent the day on the Fox River, riding the peddle-boats, playing mini-golf. This time I used loads of sunscreen - which kept me from turning into an extra-crispy critter! For which I'm grateful.

Now, it's time to get back in the groove of things with a meal plan, sort of:

Monday - Salad, corn on cob, leftover hotdogs

Tuesday - Leftover roasted chicken

Wednesday - Leftover steak, baked bean casserole, corn on the cob

Thursday - French toast, sausage, and fresh fruit

Friday - Grillin' time or homemade pizza!

Saturday - Paninis or subs, salad

Sunday - baked Fettucine Alfredo