Eating my way through Madison, no biggie d
I’m a lucky gal – I got to see three of my girlfriends this weekend! I’ve been feeling lonely lately, and it was good for me to connect and share with them.
THURSDAY!
I’m starting my weekend recap with Thursday because Anne spent the night! She was in Chicago for a conference that ended that day, and instead of going home, she hung out with me and Steven (and our fur babies). I appreciate her traveling up from the city to spend time with us!
We got Chinese take-out and ate and chatted. I feel like we still have so much catching up to do! We email a lot, and text a bit, but nothing beats face-to-face time.
FRIDAY!
On Friday Anne came with me to the 5:00 am strength class, and we ran after. Then she left for Columbus. Sad face! But I’m grateful for our time together!
Apollo helped Anne with her towels
In the afternoon I drove to Rachel’s house. I got to meet her newest cat (!!!), Nala, and we hung for a bit then went to the expo.
We both commented on how they make you walk by ALL of the vendor booths to pick up your bib and shirt, but we both also ended up buying a few things (for ourselves and gifts) after we picked up our stuff. Ha! They got us!
A bell we knew we wouldn’t be ringing
We went to Fuego, a Spanish restaurant in Madison, for dinner. They have a full vegan menu, and a full meat menu too. We decided to get vegan stuff and split it all.
We thought the tapas were the best – guacamole and salsa, and patatas bravas (fried spicy potatoes). We got the chile relleno and paella for our main courses, and didn’t like them as much! The chile relleno didn’t have much flavor other than spicy, and the paella was deconstructed and had a huge freakin’ eggplant in it that tasted way too earthy to me! Gag! I enjoyed trying something new though, and the opportunity to have so many choices!
The paella – the best part was the crunchy bread dipped in the savory broth
Of course, we got drinks too, and cake (mango coconut) to celebrate Rachel’s birthday!
After checking in our hotel, we went to Dane Dances on the Monona Terrace rooftop, where Rachel’s coworker’s group (well, one of a few that he’s in) Orquesta Sal Sol del Mad was playing! I enjoyed their salsa style music, and thought it was fun when they covered a pop song – it made the song even better (or helped the song if I didn’t like it – I’m looking at you Ed Sheeran)! We danced until they ended their set then got a drink with her coworker.
And went to bed close to midnight! On the night before a half! But we were running for fun so I totally wasn’t concerned.
SATURDAY!
On Saturday we ran the half marathon, had an interesting experience at the Farmers’ Market, and shopped/ate on State Street.
We were planning on having ice cream for lunch <— adulting!, but when we walked by Ian’s, we had to stop in for a slice. Ian’s is one of the very few places I like to get pizza, because they have so many vegan options (surprise surprise, pizza isn’t very fun when you’re vegan, unless the place caters to that diet!).
My jaw hit the ground when I saw they had three vegan slices ready to order (I thought I’d have to wait for a custom order) and one of them was mac n’ cheese. While we had been standing in line, staring at all the ready-made pizzas, I told Rachel mac n’ cheese was what I would get if it was vegan. So, that they had it?! BEST. DAY. EVER. Dreams do come true!!! Here’s a horrible photo that makes it look completely unappetizing:
We shopped a bit after pizza (gah, so many fun shops on State Street!) then got rolled ice cream. We had walked by the rolled ice cream shop on the way back from the race and didn’t have enough cash with us to get any, so that’s when we planned to go back for lunch, because, again, adulting. It was my first time trying rolled ice cream and I liked it! Watching them make it was a lot of fun.
We headed back to Rachel’s after that. I hung for a short bit then drove home. I could tell I was going to be tired when we were riding back to her place and I sure was on my drive. Eek. Too. Much. Fun. (really, too. little. sleep.)
Since this post is recap style, I’m saying more about what we did and not really explaining how nice it was to be together for a chunk of time catching up, but also, hanging out and making NEW memories. We’re typically together for only a few hours and trying to cram in as much catch up as we can!
I admire Rachel – she’s got a lot going on, and she has her sh*t together, and goes after what she wants. She’s actually very good at adulting, beyond our initial plan to have ice cream for lunch. Ha. And talking personal and work things out with her this weekend gave me some insight. Yay, friend time!
I spent the rest of Saturday night hanging with Steven and the cats. We made dinner and watched an episode of Mad Men (we just started season six).
SUNDAY!
I was lazy on Sunday. I got up at 5:00 and fed the cats, then went back to bed until 7:00 (!!!), and ran errands from 9:00-11:30. Errands were frustrating and I kept telling myself “these are small things that don’t matter,” but I’m in a state where I’m just waiting for one small thing to make me crack and lose my sh*t and it almost happened but didn’t. Phew.
We had lunch together and Bobbi and her girls came over after to play with the kitties (and talk to us too, ha). It was fun sharing cat stories – their cat is our kittens’ mother! We want to socialize Apollo and Starbuck with lots of people so they aren’t shy/scared, so I keep inviting people over to meet them. Come on over!!!
They were pooped after playing with their visitors!
We took Data out for a walk in our yard in the afternoon. He’s still playing the floor is lava game inside, but seems completely fine outside, so we stayed out there for about an hour. When we came in, he didn’t immediately run back to the bathroom sink – he hung out with us for a few hours! Is this progress?! It made me so happy to have him hanging with us again (he did go back to the sink at the end of the night). He has an appointment with the vet today – we are concerned he’s losing weight too fast.
Steven was craving corn on the cob so we made that part of our dinner, and watched Avengers: Infinity War. And that was my Sunday, besides a few chores, and a lot of kitty time!
Random cute cat pics from the weekend:
We got this tent out of storage and it ended up being very popular!
Themocracy
That food looks amazing! And now I want to eat some good Mexican food. Thanks! 😉 it sounded like an amazing weekend with a great group of people. Those are always the best kind of weekends.
Sending all the good vibes to Dates today. I hope he starts to feel better soon.
It is never too early for a craving for Mexican food! Let me know if you go!
It was the best kind of weekend! Kind of hard to come off of.
Thanks! We hope so too! We have had him out of the bathroom for a few hours the past two nights so that is promising!
Yum! That’s amazing that there were so many vegan options at the places you went to. The mac and cheese pizza sounds intriguing. Poor Data, I hope nothing’s wrong. Though that does sound like good news that he spent a couple hours hanging out with you guys.
It was! I love that about Madison.
I hope nothing new is wrong too. Although I really hope the vet has some new ideas, but I kind of feel like we’ve exhausted them.
And he hung out with us last night too, and slept with us in bed (I brought him up) until he left at 12:30 to throw up!
We just got a rolled ice cream shop in town but haven’t tried it yet. I have to say it looks super fun! The mac and cheese pizza, LOL. Now that’s how to carb load!
It’s so good to reconnect with people you like, and who get you. Glad you were able to do that, times three! Also, kitties. They are so cute although Apollo looks like he’s over it in the first shot.
I thought it was fun! Let me know what you think if you go!
Yaaaaaaas. I need to eat that before my next race. Like, two days before. .Ha.
Ha, Apollo is super easy going and energetic, but does let us know when he wants down!
That pizza looks BOMB! But I am guessing I wouldn’t actually like the fake cheese lol.
What did you think of Infinity War??
Yeah, if you don’t like fake cheese you might not like it.
I thought Infinity War was disjointed and just an excuse to get a lot of famous people in one movie 🙂 I think I am the wrong audience – I am really over the Marvel “fight after fight after fight” and three fights at once stuff.
That pizza looks so good! I know there are a few places around here that have mac & cheese pizza (the dairy version, that is), but I’ve never tried it. I’m super intrigued, though, and definitely want to!
Is rolled ice cream vegan? I honestly don’t know anything about it. I’ve seen it popping up in several places over the last year or so, but I’m pretty clueless as to what it actually is (other than ice cream, presumably).
Let me know what you think! It’s pretty plain but I love carbs so YUM!
This place had a dairy base and a vegan base (not sure if it was coconut or something else). I am clueless about it too! It looks like it originates in Thailand. They pour milk (vegan or not!) on an iced grill and mix in toppings of your choice! Then after it’s mixed all up, then flatten it in to a sheet then roll up sections of it.
looks like a yummy and fun weekend!
So great you had so many vegan options! And I have never heard about rolled ice cream, so I’ll have to keep a look out for that.
Let me know if you see it pop up there!
I’m SO glad it worked out that we could hang out! I was looking forward to it all week, but it’s never enough time. I did run the idea of coming out for the haunted house by Terry and he thought it sounded fun… so maybe?
Your trip to Madison sounds like so much fun! I got a kick out of you girls going out dancing the night before a HM because I’d be dragging at a race the next morning. But YOLO, right? Mac & cheese pizza looks awesome!
Me too! I really appreciate you coming! Oh cool that he is interested!!!! That would be fun to go to together! We should be home Oct 20 and 27! (of course my other two weekends are booked)
Total YOLO! And I surprisingly was NOT dragging until after it was all over! Maybe that is not a surprise…
That rolled ice cream looks so good! Ahhhh.
I feel like I keep getting little pieces of advice from reading about the kitties. Today it’s about socialization! I’ll need to keep inviting people over to make sure my kitten gets lots of people time and isn’t a jerk to them. I’m v worried about having a jerk cat. Haha.
Thinking about Data and hoping the vet appointment went well! <3
It was! The sprinkles really made it fun, too. Ha.
I am glad you are finding all the kitty talk helpful! The vet socialized them a bit with lots of people and kids and some dogs, which I was glad for. I am still working on them not being scared of the vacuum and other loud things! Not sure that will ever happen. And yeah, a jerk anti-social cat is no fun. With a kitten or younger cat you should have more luck, raising them in a loving home where they aren’t scared and do jerk-ish things as a response!
Thanks! Sigh, the vet told us Data is in the “end game.” Data has lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, so he suspects it’s lymphoma. We aren’t going to treat it, so we are taking him off his steriods and keeping him comfortable and happy and watching for when he isn’t anymore.
That sounds like a pretty ideal weekend – time with friends, a race, good food, and lots of kitty love (in our case – doggie love). So sorry to hear about Data. Sending thoughts and virtual hugs your way.
It was!!! The only thing missing was a long nap! Ha!
Thank you! <3
“We’re brave potatoes!”-las patatas bravas
I love that when you host friends or go hang out with friends, you can be so chill and just do normal things together or chat and catch up. It’s really fun (I always enjoy it with you.) and takes some of the pressure off.
OMG LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Dead
Aww, thanks! That is a lot of my preferred friend time – I really want to catch up with people and not be super busy doing ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME. Just some of the things some of the time. And lots of eating!