Play in the City

Lifelong learning; reading; and Internet friends

If you’re anything like me, you found school to be exciting and rewarding, and you sometimes miss having the opportunity to learn new things in a class setting.

Anybody?

Well, lucky for me, and for folks just like me, most cities have a recreation program that offers classes in a variety of areas, allowing us lifelong learners to never want for a unique and interesting educational experience.

Dave and I took our Crash Course in Dance last year through Milwaukee Recreation, which offers a slew of classes and programs throughout the year.

Last week, upon invitation from blog friend and regular commenter, Farrah, I took a class called “Publish Your Passion” with her at Greenfield City Hall.

Greenfield is one of Milwaukee’s many suburbs, and its parks and recreation department offers a wealth of classes, from cooking, swimming, and youth sports to dance, computers, and feng shui.

“Publish Your Passion” was held in a small classroom on the second floor of the city hall from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m. Thursday night and was taught by local author, DeAnna Radaj, who recently self-published her book, Designing the Life of Your Dreams From the Outside In.

Farrah and I were two of six people who attended the interactive class and DeAnna went over such topics as writing what you know, how to write a query letter, the do’s and don’t’s of publishing, and how to market your work once you’ve written it.

I’d taken a similar class during my last semester of college, and I was looking forward to the refresher lesson. I didn’t find the class overly challenging or enlightening, but that was just because, as I said, I’d learned it all before, plus I work in PR so I know about marketing. However, I believe the class must have been incredibly informative for those who were just starting out, and the instructor was very friendly and passionate about what she was talking about.

While the class didn’t rock my world, I did get to meet another Internet friend, which I always enjoy doing! Plus I thought it’d be a great opportunity to pass along the information about Greenfield’s offerings and to encourage people to check out their own city’s programs. With the wide range of classes that are offered, everyone is bound to find something that they’re interested in.

And while we’re on the topic of Internet friends, I must mention something that I’m really, extremely, super excited about.

Krista, author of Conversation With Myself, is a fellow writer, marathoner and bride-to-be (well, I WAS a bride-to-be) and has been a faithful blog reader for some time now. In turn, I’ve become a faithful reader of her blog, and of her articles in the Oshkosh Northwestern. Mutual blog reading and regular commenting led us to a Facebook and email friendship. And, well, now we’re pretty much Internet BFFs.

In two weeks, we shall officially meet.

I don’t know how many of you regularly check in on my reading list, but I’ve been burning through Jodi Picoult's novels since I first saw on Krista’s blog that she was a big Jodi fan. I read My Sister’s Keeper and I was hooked, and I’m currently reading my third Picoult novel, with the fourth and fifth on deck.

Ms. Picoult just happens to be doing a reading and book signing at Alverno College next month where she will be debuting her newest novel, Nineteen Minutes. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to meet my online BFF, I invited Krista. We’ve got the tickets and we’re in the process of making dinner plans for before or after the reading, most likely for sushi at Sake Tumi.

We’re really excited.

Financial guru Suze Orman will also be making an appearance at Alverno next month, on March 9. I would have really liked to have seen Suze, too, but my pocketbook could only stand one or the other, and I chose Jodi. And Krista.

I can’t wait!

Model cars, model ...

The Greater Milwaukee Auto Show starts tomorrow and runs through next Sunday, March 4 at the Midwest Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee.

In previous years, walking around a huge exhibit center looking at cars would have been just about the last thing on my list of fun things to do on the weekend.

This year, though, I’m suddenly interested.

Maybe it’s because I’m a little older and the concept of buying a nice new car isn’t quite as far-fetched as it once was. Maybe it’s because Dave is actually in the market for a car. Or maybe it’s because it’s simply fun to dream. To get a glimpse of what’s out there for those who can afford it, and to wonder if I’ll be one of those lucky people one day.

The plan was to visit this weekend, but plans have changed, so I think we’ll check it out next weekend.

This weekend – much to Dave’s delight – we’re heading to Elkhart Lake with our wedding photographers to be models for a resort up there. Of course, I’m excited to get my hair and makeup done, wear pretty dresses – including my own again – and go out to dinner and stay in a hotel. Dave just sees it as taking up his weekend and having to wear a monkey suit.

Once again, proof that my hubby is quite the trooper. I think we'll have a lot of fun, though, and he just doesn't want to admit it yet that he thinks so, too.

I mean, there will be beer, and there will be me. What more could he need?

Krav Wrap-Up & The WAC

After the Krav Maga feature ran in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a few weeks ago (complete with a fierce photo of yours truly), I got a handful of emails from readers wanting to know more about our month-long experience at Krav Maga-Milwaukee.

I responded to each email individually but also promised that I’d be doing a short recap on the blog, as well. Well, here it is – my apologies that it’s several weeks overdue!

Our month of Krav Maga training was intense, to say the least. And since classes were held three times per week (Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings), it became a huge part of our lives for those four weeks. It was a big commitment, especially when the drive to the studio in Brookfield took us nearly 30 minutes.

Some of the days, we didn’t quite feel like attending but still we dragged ourselves out in the cold and to Krav class, and of course, after the hour of training and working out, we felt on top of the world and were so glad we went. The hour-long class always flew by, and most of the days, we left wanting more! (Hence the increased frequency and intensity of the wrestling in our house for those weeks.)

Class always began promptly with Kurt and John in front of the group. Kurt would start the music and John would lead the group in running laps around the perimeter of the mat. We’d raise our knees, kick our butts, run backwards, shuffle to the inside, shuffle to the outside, and change directions when we were told to. After about five minutes, once our heart rates were elevated, we’d get into about eight minutes of stretching. Then came the part that most reminded me of what it must be like to be in boot camp: push-ups.

We spent probably 3-4 minutes in the push-up position, with John yelling “half! – down! – half! – up!” And we had to go halfway down and hold, all the way down and hold, and then back up and do it again and again. Sweat dripped onto the mat from people's foreheads, and many groaned from the pain. “Stay up! Drop to your knees if you have to!” John would yell.

I could barely manage to stay up, even though I did the entire thing on my knees – I can’t imagine doing them full-out the way most of the men did.

Once the push-ups were done, we’d do 20 crunches on our own and then it was time for the training portion of class.

In our four weeks, we did straight punches, jabs, hooks and elbows; we did knees to the groin, straight kicks, and side kicks; we learned defenses for choke from the front and choke from the back. During one of our last classes, we even learned defense for a gun, complete with heavy, extremely lifelike handguns to practice with. I’ve never held a gun before, and pointing that thing at my husband and then having him point it back in my face was incredibly frightening! But how excellent to know what moves to perform if God forbid someone sticks a gun in your face.

After just four weeks, we both felt major changes in our athletic ability, our confidence in defending ourselves and in our flexibility. I’ve always been pretty flexible, but Dave said he was amazed at how much those stretches helped him. Even now that we’re done, he still regularly does his “Krav stretches.”

A month is long enough to whip into better shape and learn some basic techniques, but of course, someone could train in Krav Maga for months or years and still not know it all or be perfect at it all. I think for those who are looking to find a passion and be dedicated to something that will improve their life and their confidence, this is perfect.

For us, the drive and the frequency of classes were just too much right now, so we stopped after a month. Kurt and John are incredibly passionate about what they do, and I very much enjoyed learning from them. I feel like I learned enough in a month to hopefully be able to put up a good fight if someone tried to mess with me.

You can see a video from one of our classes here on the Journal Sentinel website. (I'm in yellow and I won't lie. I'm a dork.)

So now we’re back in the gym and extremely happy about it. We were members of Motion (now the Princeton Club) in New Berlin when we lived in Muskego, but since living in Shorewood, we haven’t belonged to a gym and we’ve really missed it. 

We joined the Wisconsin Athletic Club at the beginning of February and we just LOVE it. There are six locations – West Allis, Waukesha, Greenfield, Wauwatosa, downtown Milwaukee and Glendale. The Tosa location is just two minutes from where I work, and the North Shore one in Glendale is their newest facility and is the one closest to our house. It's an absolutely beautiful gym – spacious layout, big locker rooms, huge pool area, flat screen TVs everywhere, and top of the line equipment.

We pay $94 for the two of us per month, and that's the membership that allows us to go to any of the six locations and includes racquetball access at the West Allis and Waukesha locations.

Krav Maga was awesome while it lasted – and I'd totally recommend it to those who might want to give it a try. For me right now, though, belonging to a gym that lets me work out on my own schedule is what works.

I'm already getting back into the shape I was in back in October – no first-year-of-marriage 15 for me, that's for darn sure!

Happy belated Valentine's Day

So … making a list of random thoughts instead of streaming together coherent and clever sentences is something that lazy and incompetent writers do.

However.

After a hectic week of work that included an overnight stay in Grand Rapids and the execution of two events, plus a late night last night following the John Mayer concert in Madison, I just can’t seem to manage a coherent and clever post today.

So bear with me and please enjoy my list. J

1. I like Valentine’s Day. I don’t think it’s a Hallmark holiday the way a day like Sweetest Day is; however, I do think spending $200 on dinner and $100 on overpriced roses that will die in a few days is a bit over-the-top and unnecessary. But a day dedicated to love and romance is a-ok in my book.

2. I did not get a $200 dinner or an overpriced bouquet of roses. Instead, my sweet husband surprised me at work yesterday with a bag full of my favorite things that he’d just purchased at Walgreens: the latest copy of US Weekly, a new pack of pens, Twizzler bites, pistachios, Orbit gum, a bottled Starbucks Frappucino, and a few other little things. Seeing my husband outside my office window and him knowing exactly which little things to get me = priceless. Way better than flowers.

3. That sweet husband? Also very sly in that he got me a birthday present that was to be used on Valentine’s Day. We went to the John Mayer concert at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison last night and it was the best birthday slash Valentine’s Day gift ever.

4. I’d never been to the Alliant Energy Center before – it’s rather small, only seating a little over 10,000 people, and we were in the very back row but the seats were still pretty darn good.

5. I’ve seen John Mayer twice before and he just gets better and better. Both of the other concerts were outside at the Marcus Amphitheater, and while outdoor concerts are one of the best parts about summer (ahhhh, summer), live music sounds so much better inside.

6. He played a great mix of older stuff (“Comfortable,” “Your Body is a Wonderland,” “No Such Thing,” “Bigger Than My Body”) and new stuff (“Gravity,” “Vultures,” “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” “Waiting on the World to Change”) with a lot of jamming on his electric guitars in between.

7. This man is itchin to play the blues full-time, that’s for sure. If and when he does, I’ll still love him. I still love him now despite his silly o-faces and his desperate need for a haircut.

8. Dave thought I was dumb for mentioning Jessica Simpson numerous times, but it would have been cool to catch a glimpse of her. She was there, but alas, I did not see her.

9. Being in love is the best thing ever. Krista's post about her fiancé this morning – along with regular stories from Amanda & Mark and other friends – made me realize that most couples are goofy and obnoxious and ridiculous together, and we all think that no one could possibly be as weird as we are. But we’re all weird, and it’s what makes our respective relationships so darn fun.

Our ride home last night included us belting out songs from The Little Mermaid (well, me belting out songs; Dave just singing “Under the Sea! Under the Sea!” over and over to drown me out) and Dave trying to exorcise the devil from me by blessing me with bottled water. And also laughing uncontrollably over the word “hooter.” 

Erin: “Can we still act like this when we have kids in the backseat?”
Dave: “Simple, we’ll just get one of those divider things like taxis and limos have.”

10. I have tomorrow off in exchange for the travel and the evening events I’ve been working the past few weeks. Tomorrow I’ll be using a gift certificate to get a massage at Azana after taking a morning yoga class at my new gym; Saturday I’m having breakfast with a friend and lunch with mom and Gram; and Sunday we’re entertaining my dad and Barb for dinner. I might fit a blog activity of some sort in there somewhere, or I might not.

And that's all she wrote. Have a good weekend all.

The Pabst Mansion

It's a habit of mine that when I drive by the mansions that line Lake Drive in Milwaukee, I slow down and gape out my car window, wondering what they must be like on the inside.

I'd always resigned myself to the fact that, unless I somehow become a member of Milwaukee's high society, I will spend my life simply wondering about them.

Never mind that all along I had access to the most iconic and splendid mansion of them all in Milwaukee and that I could see the inside of it whenever I wanted.

Of course I'd heard of the Pabst Mansion and always knew I'd visit it one day, but I didn't know when tours were available, and I couldn't have even told you where exactly it was located in Milwaukee.

When we followed Wisconsin Avenue to the Pabst Mansion yesterday, there it was, nestled between commercial buildings near Marquette University in an area I've driven through dozens of times. I'd seen it, but I'd never put two and two together, and I'd certainly never slowed my car down to gape, as it's on a much busier street than Lake Drive.

I visited the Pabst Mansion website yesterday morning and discovered that the mansion is open seven days a week for tours, and we didn't even need an appointment. We arrived around 2:30 p.m. and a small sign on the outside of the house directed us around the side of the building to buy our admission tickets in the Victorian gift shop.

Two friendly elderly women greeted us and we paid them our $8.00 each. We were told that tours were given on the hour, but that if we didn’t want to wait a half hour, we could take a self-guided tour. Another family of four had entered at the same time, so the six of us all decided we'd just go it alone. We were handed a tri-fold tour guide that gave us some history of the house and then offered a brief explanation of each of the rooms.

We were escorted through the gift shop and through a small door that opened into the dining room and we were greeted by another woman who was going to give us a short introduction before we went off on our own. Turns out, though, she just kept talking and talking and leading us from room to room on the main level, so we did end up getting at least half of a tour, and we learned so much more than we would have otherwise.

Cameras weren't allowed, and while I usually attempt to sneak photos when I can when such rules are in place, I wasn't about to do so here. Here are a few photos borrowed from the website:

Shameless Self-Promotion

My blog is featured in the North Shore edition of M Magazine this month.

For all of you who don't live in the North Shore, I took the liberty of scanning the article in for you to see!



I think the article turned out great and I'm extremely grateful for the recognition.

However, I must simply comment on one thing.

It's not that I presume to think that folks care THAT much about what my exact wedding date was, and I obviously understand that my wedding wasn't the focus or point of the article. But still, it's just plain bad fact-checking and reporting – and lacking common sense, too – to report that I Dave and I got married November 6.

First, November 6 was a Monday. Sure, people get married during the week sometimes, but not very often. Secondly, you'll see that November 6 was the day I posted about my wedding. Would I really have posted about my wedding ON my wedding day?

Now it's just a thought, but maybe M Magazine should hire me to write for them. I'd check my facts, I promise! (self promotion, take two!)

Sure, it's minor - but we bloggers have to keep those journalists on their toes, don't you agree? That was just a silly mistake!

"After an 'engaging' year following her wedding plans, Erin's blog is now returning to its roots."

They did get that part right!

This is what I'd look like skating at the Pettit National Ice Center

Yes, I know it doesn't help to see me pretending to skate, but that's all I have to offer today.

Yesterday, seeing as how it was (and still is) too bitter cold outside to do anything, the plan was to bring the fun indoors and go skating at the Pettit National Ice Center.

The Pettit is one of the venues that makes Milwaukee great, and while I've been skating there probably a dozen times since my childhood, I've never featured it on the blog and I knew it was about time I did so.

I spent the morning cleaning the house and then I showered and got ready to head out. I went outside and started my car to let it warm up, and just as I got back inside and got bundled up, plans were suddenly cancelled by my would-be skating partner.

I was extremely disappointed, and since Dave was at work, I didn't have a back-up partner. So I went outside and turned off the car, and then came back in and set up the camera to record what I would have looked like skating, since I knew that's all I'd now have to offer my faithful readers for the week.

I had to work an event for a client last night; so really, my weekend was only one day long. And I'll be darned if I was going to use my one day of rest doing anything that involved me leaving the house and braving the frigid temps.

I'll surely cover the Pettit soon; I guess it just wasn't in the cards for this weekend.

Hace Frio!

Hace un tiempo horrible.

This is the phrase on my Living Language: Spanish Day-by-Day calendar for today.

Translation: The weather is horrible.

How apropos!

Temperatures are hovering in the single digits today with the promise of dropping even lower through the weekend. Lower as in around ZERO with the wind chill around negative 20. Ouch!

(Hmmm, today seems like a good time to revisit this post from exactly six months ago. We get it all in Wisconsin, that's for sure!)

So, what’s a girl to do for fun on a frigid weekend like this one? Why, bring the outdoor fun inside, of course! Lucky for me I know just the place …

I’ll be back Sunday with the full report!