Whatever Craft Weekend Re-cap

So..back to my incredibly inspiring and FUN weekend in Kansas. At the Whatever Craft Weekend.

{the weekend's agenda}

Several months ago, I put my name on their waitlist all the while thinking I'd never get picked. But picked I was, so I bought my plane ticket. And my parents generously birthday-gifted the weekend's cost for me, so I was in!

My weekend started off bright and early {read: 4am} on Friday for my flight. I was able to connect with the three other California girls in Dallas and travel our last leg together. Even though it was an early morning, I simply basked in my freedom. Freedom to walk around or sit, freedom to eat whatever, freedom to nap, freedom to read, freedom not to talk or be spoken to...I'm sure you get the picture. FREEDOM.

{Arriving in Dallas. Baggage claim in Kansas.}

 Thanks to Instagram, I also connect with a local gal, Niki, who generous went along with my plan to get pedis before we got picked up. Leave it to the Californians to go rogue and stick in their own fun. ;) Those few hours were heavenly and much needed. Fifteen extra minutes of massage, anyone?! I may or may not have passed out while in my chair. 

{fresh toes.}

Then it was off to the craft house and meeting the rest of the ladies. We had a delicious "traditional style" Kansas meal. Settled into our adorable rooms. And got to crafting!! We made the signature ruffle aprons and talked late late into the night. The fabric choices were out-of-control happy and oh-so-girlie. My kind of heaven.

Ladies busily working late into the night. I'm convinced that if I had still kind of craft space and beautiful supplies, I'd be way more productive! At least, I need to get me a cutting mat, suction-cup handle ruler thingy & a rotatory cutter. It's about time for these investments!

 One of the great aspects of the weekend was not everyone was crafty. Some women had never even touched a sewing machine before. Meg did a great job teaching the newbies and all the ladies were willing to give an extra hand. Allison gave me a quick tute on fabric flowers and Judy {the one in the stripes, next to Allison}  provided an extra nudge with my ruffles. :)

Once my apron was completed, I hit the sack... hard.

The following day included more amazing homemade meals, thrifting/antiquing, and more crafting!

{lingering over coffee before a delish breakfast}

Then onto antiquing, thrifting and junking!

 Post shopping, we hit up Sonic's happy hour. I'm pretty sure this was my first Sonic experience. Then it was back home to compare loot.

Lots of fun stuff!! Way overwhelming too. There were a few things that caught my eye while I walked around, but I decided to look at them later. Mistake when you're with a big group!! Some of the ladies walked away with those pieces and I may have had some slight envy!  E LOVES his Wizard of Oz book and I'm afraid that Kansas is one of the first few states he knows. Ha!

 Lisa Leonard was an honored guest and educated us in the ways of hand-stamped jewelry as part of the evening of crafts. She and her twin sister, Chrissie, were some of my favorite people from the trip. I'm so happy we at least live in the same state and have a chance at hanging out again!If only Niki lived closer!

Sunday went quick with breakfast, pictures, and good-byes before I was back in the airport and heading home. The weekend was such a wonderful experience. A treasured memory I'll hold dear.

Some amazing and wonderful women! And such a delight to hear their stories and learn about what the Lord has done in their lives. I'm so thankful God worked everything out so I could go on this weekend adventure. I definitely walked away with way much more than I put in!

And funny, that even though I had this wonderful freedom and weekend away to myself, I thought about my boys almost every waking moment. I missed them. Wondered how they were surviving. Texting W pictures from my weekend while seeing some from theirs. FaceTime.

 The time away was so nice, but I was reminded and renewed in my role as "Mama in the trenches." When I  lose my way or forget who I am, I only have to look to them to remember. They make me me. They give me a rich context to this life. The Lord shows me my sin and His grace through W and these littles every stinkin' day. And that gets ugly a lot sometimes. I think I'm learning more about the beauty of His grace this season. And how He can actually turn the dark, messy, yucky parts of me into redemptive beauty.

 My only regret was not getting to cross off a bucket list item while in Kansas. Like our trip to Wisconsin a few years back, I got this close to milking a cow. Udder sadness! ;) Kerry, who picked us up from the airport, is married to a dairy farmer!! At least now I know someone who has a cow I can milk. I'm totally going to take her up on her invite! Guess that means I'll be back...

Craft House

Still recovering from an amazing weekend away, but I wanted to at least update this poor blog again. So here are just a few pictures of the amazing craft house I stayed at. More on the weekend later! Meg's craft house is a beautiful inspiration!

And those were just from downstairs. {How I miss capturing the charming upstairs is beyond me!!}

Last Day of Adventure

Sometimes the adventure is in the journey and not the destination...

Saturday was our last day in Milwaukee & boy, was it an adventure! We decided to head to the Mitchell Park Conservatory Domes after finding breakfast at a Farmer's Market about a block from our hotel. The Domes were about 3 miles from our hotel so we picked up a bus downtown that dropped us off about a mile and a half away...{we were still learning the ropes of the numbers and routes}. With the iPhone map in hand, we headed in that direction...only to find ourselves in a very industrial area. We could see the domes from far away, but getting to them was more difficult than expected.

 Google maps insisted that we head into a dump yard to make it to our destination. We were pretty confused, a bit sweaty for all the walking, and almost ready for a bathroom break. A very nice man at the dump told us to re-walk up the hill {that we already walked up & down} and we'd run right into the park.

So we followed the man's advance, and not Mr. Google's. The neighborhood wasn't very cute to look at, but we did see a window boarded up with linoleum flooring and this...

And after deducing that yes, someone could in fact still live here, we saw this...

We made it to The Domes!! They were quite a sight. Definitely constructed in the mid-1960s. Two of the three domes held a tropical and desert climate display.

And the third housed a beautiful variety of orchid flowers, which I think was for some kind of competition.

 We're still uncertain why this place is considered a gem. We were by far the youngest people there. Heck, if my parents went alone, they'd be the youngest people there. Maybe next time I read online reviews, I'll pay more attention to who the reviewers actually are. Like age range, and geographical location. Perhaps we really are spoiled Californians with our varied climate, plant and wildlife. Even so, we still had fun & really like the tropical dome. I got to see a cocoa tree for the first time! But we definitely enjoyed our crazy journey just getting there far more.

Afterward, we jumped onto a #21 bus and then the #10. Did you know the #21 dropped you right IN FRONT of the Domes?! Sheesh. We were overjoyed to find out #10 would take us right to our next planned stop...

Brady Street, a historical strip of restaurants, clubs and funky shops. It reminded me of a street in downtown Austin...definitely keeping things weird, fresh, and hippy.
Exhibit A:

We were quite starving at this point and so happy to find this delicious oasis.

Loved everything about this little eatery! Like the tree branches & hanging Vespa for decor.

And their burgers were to die for!

I think I know the real reason W loves Milwaukee soooo much...

Pretty much every place had this on tap. Our waiter was super great for two reasons. #1: He has a niece who loooves pickles and brought us some for E, without even knowing his obsession. What a great uncle he must be! So both my boys were in heaven with their juice of choice. #2: He gave us the secret password for dinner {more on that later}.

E also got some t.v. time in, as you can see. Such a poor deprived baby at home! Dad, you'll be happy to know there was some sort of football game on.

We walked around the street and checked out some of the shops. Nothing too impressive to purchase so we headed back home for some naps! On our way home, W schooled Michelle in the ways of impatiens. They are a very popular flower for downtown Milwaukee. Perhaps they can survive temperature extremes? But the really cool thing about them is that they have explosive seed pods. You touch them and they explode. Entertainment for little and big boys alike. :) W was kind enough to pick seed pods for us so we could get in on the fun. Here's a video if you want to be prepared for your next impatiens encounter.

Dinner was our trip's finale. Melanie had told us about this fabulous and famous spy-theme restaurant called the Safe House. We had asked our lunch waiter about it and learned that you needed to know the password to get in without hassle. Apparently, if you didn't know it, the 'hostess' makes you do ridiculous things like hula-hoop or dance like a chicken while dining guests could watch you from television screens inside the restaurant. So yes, our waiter saved us from some embarrassing pre-dining antics.

We followed Mr. Google's map again. This time it lead us into a dark alley.

This is literally the front of the place. No joke. There's a small black sign that says they do imports and exports. And the hours. That small plaque to the left says "The Safe House." That's it. We opened the door to a small room with two people. The guy asked us to each whisper the password into his ear and then walked into a bookcase that opened into a small hallway.

 It was SO COOL! The place was huge on the inside and packed. We wished we'd known to make reservations but so glad we could get in to the lounge area. It was just drinks and apps for us, we were still stuffed from the burgers.

To exit, you have to put coins in a phone booth for the door to open! And there were all kinds of spy paraphernalia and we watched a few people do silly things on the t.v.. Definitely a huge hit and a great way to end the trip. The next morning, we flew back to California. E had a harder time this flight which we chalk up to the shorten naps during the trip. Also, we were extremely exhausted!

But, we are so glad we did this!! E did fabulous even with his current inability to sit still. Besides the flight home, he was his normal overly cheerful self pretty much the entire time & seemed to love all the new sights too.  The city was wonderful and we packed so much in for having a little one along for the ride. If you ever make it to Milwaukee's Safe House, make sure to ask us for the password!! We'll happily supply it to save you from much awkwardness.

Milwaukee Masterpieces

Since I took so many different pictures of the surrounding buildings, I decided to make them a separate post to share them all at once. They didn't necessarily fit anywhere, but they're too pretty to pass up. One of my favorite forms of art: architecture!

Pretty, huh?

Oh, and I did forget to share one really sweet thing about our hotel.

This is the one picture I did take at the hotel. An artist works in the lobby doing artwork and displaying it. It was very cool!! Have I mentioned we really liked Milwaukee?! ;)