kopps frozen custard

If you ever find yourself in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, forget Summerfest, the world's largest music festival; forget the art museum, an impressive expanse of creative expression; ignore the beautiful lakefront beaches or tailgating parties at Miller Park... the one place you should find yourself is at Kopps Frozen Custard. A Milwaukee landmark {there are two}, Kopps serves the most delicious fast-food burgers, only rivaled by In-and-Out Burger, and deliciously divine frozen custard. The have a different and interesting flavor every day, but I personally believe that when you find perfection, why try anything else? And so I order vanilla every time.

I once heard a rumor that you can order Kopps custard to be shipped to your door if you live too far away to visit. {Or maybe that was just a hope of someone who lives a bit too far away.} Either way, I definitely have to look into that rumor if I ever move far enough away that frequent visits are not possible. {My Dad has already promised that if I ever move to one of the coasts, he will ship me my favorite Wisconsin micro-brews, so I have that covered.}

Anyway, I highly recommend stopping at Kopps if you make a trip to Milwaukee, which you should, just for the custard.

On a boat

On Saturday, my friends and I enjoyed an afternoon boating on Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. It was a beautiful day and even prettier scenery. And to add to the afternoon, we completely forgot that the airshow was going on that afternoon. Fighter jet airplanes were flying right above our heads, it was crazy! I can't wait to get back out on the boat again.

Cheese curds, cream puffs and beer.

It's that time of the year again... time for the Wisconsin State Fair. I know it's incredibly cheesy, but I look forward to the fair every year. And why wouldn't I? State Fair = cheese curds, cream puffs {the possible official desert of the state}, roasted corn, brats with sauerkraut, frozen custard and deep fried beer. Sounds healthy and delicious, huh?

After taking the tour of food around the fair grounds, my family and I sat with a few cold beers and listened to a musician perform class rock tunes. It was a great time this year, as it is every year.

And my favorite part of the State Fair: the flavored milk barn. As any true Wisconsinite, I love milk. Especially when it tastes like a rootbeer float. In addition to the typical chocolate and strawberry, they also have banana, cherry vanilla and rootbeer. The last two are my favorite. I wish they sold these flavors in my local grocery store; although, it wouldn't be quite a treat.

Heinies in the Leinies lounger

I never win anything. Well, besides trivia games, but that's not really anything to brag about. {Mostly because you set yourself up to get made fun.} So today when I got a message from the Taste of Wisconsin people that I won some contest, that I didn't even know I entered, I was ecstatic! What did I win, you ask? I don't know yet, but regardless... I won!

So the contest that I won that I didn't know I entered all started with a little Twitter picture post of my sisters and I at the taste:

Root, root, root for... Clint

Friday night my two sisters, cousin and I headed to Miller Park to cheer on the Milwaukee Brewers... and one Houston Astro. You see, years and years ago, the shortstop for the Astros, Clint Barmes, played for the Kenosha Kroakers, a collegiate summer baseball league. During his summers in Kenosha, Clint stayed with my aunt, uncle and cousins and remains pretty close to the family. We went to the game on Friday to cheer on Clint. Unfortunately, he hit into the last out of the game. My cousin Janine made a joke of it though, "Look Clint, they're all cheering for you!"

Even though Clint did not win {I wasn't cheering for the Astros anyway}, it was a great night. We spent hours before the game tailgating, playing games and cracking each other up in the parking lot. And the laughing most definitely continued throughout the game. I love those ladies!

They got the good seats for the Saturday and Sunday games...

my two baseball loves

Today, I had the pleasure of watching my two favorite baseball teams play each other... from only 13 rows behind homeplate. My friend won two tickets from a raffle at work and he {a Brewers fan} decided to take me {a Cubs fan}. It was the closest I've even been able to watch a game. Up close, able to see the sweat dripping down the brow of the pitcher on the mound... that's how baseball should be watched. It was tough deciding which team to root for though. The Cubs are my favorite team, with the Brewers a close second, but they are no longer contenders so I figured that I may as well root for the Brewers. And they won. Either way, it would have been a fantastic afternoon.

Did you see how close those seats are? I need to get those again.

Summer, defined.

Hot day at Wrigley

Can you think of a better place to spend a summer day than Wrigley? Because I can't. This afternoon, my friend and I headed to Wrigley Field to cheer on my lovable losers. As an owner of two Culvers restaurants, Mish got us free tickets for Culvers' Day at Wrigley. {OK, what could possibly be better than free baseball tickets?!} Before the game, Culvers threw a little party for all of the owners and served some delicious ballpark food and some not-so-delicious beer {read: Bud Light}.

The day turned out to be wicked hot but it was still so much FUN. The only thing that could possibly have made it better would have been a win. The Cubbies fell to the Marlins 11-3. Sad, but honestly, it didn't even look like they were putting much effort into the game. As a Cubs fan, I'm going to blame that on the heat, but I don't think that's really what it was.

Also, enjoy a delicious lunch at a Chicago-area Culvers today! {wink, wink}

Summerfest

I have a confession to make. I am from Wisconsin but up until last Friday night, I had never been to Summerfest before. I know, it's absolutely ridiculous. Everyone goes to Summerfest, but somehow I guess I got left behind on that one. So when my friends mentioned heading up Friday night for the Jason Aldean concert, I jumped all over that chance.

While I appreciate the good music and party atmosphere, it was a bit too intense {and drunken} for me. Not that I have anxiety about being in a large group of people, but I would rather have something a bit more low-key. With that said, I would most likely go back if a band I want to see is playing. Also, the food was delicious {especially the corn on the cob}, the music was great and the atmosphere very lively. I would definitely recommend attending Summerfest at least once if you haven't before. Make up your own mind about it.

And the Jason Aldean concert? AMAZING! I'm not a big county music fan, I rarely listen to it, but the concert was simply fun. It was high energy, entertaining and good music. By far, one of the best shows I've ever seen. I had to go pick up a few of his CDs after the show. He definitely made a fan out of me.

Annual golf outing

This morning my extended family gathered at our favorite golf course for our annual Fourth of July golf outing. This outing has been going on for as long as I can remember. And for as long as anyone else can remember for that matter. My Dad guessed it's been somewhere around 20 years. I loved listening to my Dad and his cousins reminiscing about the antics on the golf course in years passed. Apparently, my Grandpa used to sit with a cooler on the other side of the fence from the course and would pass beer over to family as they completed that hole. How funny is that? And how cool is my Grandpa?

My golf game wasn't as good as a few days ago, but I did OK. I had fun, especially spending time with family in the beautiful weather.

This was the best shot of the day. We joked that my Dad's imaginary friend Wally would have taken the shot...but my sister kicked the ball out from behind the tree instead.

My favorite thing about summer? Baseball.

On Friday, a few friends and I tailgated and cheered on the Brewers at Miller Park as they took on the Minnesota Twins. We had crappy weather all week so I was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful weather on Friday. We gathered at a friend's house outside of Milwaukee, played some games {baseball, baggo, smoke the pole}, ate delicious food and jumped on a bus headed toward Miller Park. With the exception of accidentally losing a friend at the game {whom we found after}, it was a great night. And the Brewers ended up pulling off a win!