Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

MKE

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Coming Soon: Milwaukee Cookie Takedown

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I’ve got an announcement for you all: I’m participating in this year’s Milwaukee Cookie Takedown! Oooooh.

I came across the call for bakers a few weeks ago and thought I can be competitive about non-competitive things, so I knew I had to get in on this action. All I have to do is bake 250 Christmas cookies, haul them to Turner, imbibe in some festive drinks and hope I win some sweet prizes.

Milwaukee Cookie Takedown

The Takedown is at 7:00PM Sunday, December 14 at Turner Hall if you all are interested in insane amounts of cookies and holiday spirits (and who isn’t?). Hope to see you there!

P.S. I’ll be back later this week with my recipe for this mystery cookie. I don’t want to go giving it away before the big competition now.

 

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Lazy Saturday: Milwaukee Public Library

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Lisa, what would be your ideal Saturday morning? So happy you asked. It would totally be visiting somewhere historic, somewhere quiet and beautiful – and if books are around that would be a bonus. Well, I got that ideal Saturday morning today when Michael and I visited the Milwaukee Central Library to get our new city library cards.

Lazy Saturday: Milwaukee Public Library

Look at this place. It’s like a cathedral for books. Total heaven.

Lazy Saturday: Milwaukee Public Library

Because I love history, I’m going to give you a few facts about this stunning space. The Milwaukee Public Library was founded in 1878 and shortly thereafter, the foundation decided that it needed a larger and more central location in Milwaukee. After a nationwide call for design submissions, the Milwaukee-based firm Ferry & Clas were chosen to create the new library. Ferry & Clas is the firm responsible for building the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Tripoli Temple and the State Historical Society. After nearly four years of construction, the library opened its doors in 1898. If you’re like me that’s all super interesting.

Lazy Saturday: Milwaukee Public Library

Cool stuff.

Lazy Saturday: Milwaukee Public Library

What I love most about this place – outside of the obvious architectural beauty – are all the hidden gems inside. If you maze through the media section a little, you’ll find a giant room full of old records of all kinds. And if you go upstairs, there’s a rare books collection which looks incredible. Although I’ve never been inside (can you go inside?), I can tell you it’s just about the best place ever. In cases outside, librarians display some killer art and books, and if you look inside you can see the shelves and shelves of dusty tomes. Drool.

Lazy Saturday: Milwaukee Public Library

These photos show you only about .05% of how spectacular this place is, so I suggest you check it out. And if you have some nooks and crannies in the library that you love, tell me all about them.

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Lazy Saturday: Menomonee River Parkway

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I’m not a very good biker. I’m also not a very prepared blogger. Saturday I woke up early to bike to my local farmers market knowing perfectly well that the parkway was gorgeous this time of year, but I neglected to bring my camera. So humor me and my iPhone snaps.

Menomonee River ParkwayFor me, there’s no beating the Menomonee River Parkway for a lazy Saturday bike ride: it takes me exactly where I want to go and it looks great doing it. You’ve got almost five miles of pristine bike paths, the beautiful scenery of Hart Park, and the river weaving through the whole thing. And to make it better, you’ve got awesome architectural details like this drawbridge (not an actual drawbridge) that lead to the Hoyt Park beer garden.

Menomonee River

And for good measure, here’s one of my trusty Townie bike. I’ve never been big into biking (or any exercise for that matter), but this baby makes taking a ride oh so easy, meaning: it’s beautiful and, most importantly, it’s comfortable. Let me tell you that totally sold me.

Townie bikeThis is my favorite, but I could be swayed. What are you favorite Milwaukee trails?

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Milwaukee Film Festival: “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry”

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It’s Milwaukee Film Festival season, you guys and gals! That’s right – the best two weeks of the year are upon us.

Milwaukee Film Fest

This is my fourth year I’ve attended, and it seriously keeps getting better and better. Last year I hit up a record (for me) three films in a day, and I thought I had the peak with Band of Sisters – a documentary about American nuns working for change and social justice – and Signpainters.

But this year, oh this year, I found a new favorite. A favorite for all time I’m sure: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry. This documentary about the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s was stellar. Beyond stellar. This film was packed with incredible photography and film footage from the era accompanied by interviews with a handful of important activists. Their stories and their opinions on feminism brought me to tears.

She's Beautiful When She's AngryWhat was even more incredible was that after the film, the director and two of the activists featured, Fran Beal and Mary Jean Collins, answered a few questions after the screening, and they were amazing! They were such a strong reminder that everyday people can have a huge impact on society – granted Beal and Collins said that no victory is permanent, which is why it’s imperative that women continue to fight for equal pay, access to birth control, the right to choose, and more.

I can’t do these women’s stories justice, which is why I recommend you watch the trailer here. And keep a lookout! She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry will be hitting theaters in New York and Los Angeles in December and hopefully more theaters nationwide after that.

Five stars!
Audience members are encouraged to rate the film after the screening. I’d give this a ten, but the scale only goes to five. Bummer.

Did anyone else have a chance to check the festival out? What were your favorites?

 

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Stone Creek Factory

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Is walking six blocks from your work considered an adventure? No, but I’ll file this in the adventure category because I was out and about.

Now I don’t normally take coffee shop pictures (not even a #nofilter Instagram of my cold brew because OMG I love it) but this was a very informal photo shoot for work. And by that I mean I was charged with blogging about National Coffee Day and I took that as permission to chill out at the Stone Creek Coffee factory while occasionally snapping pictures, and in this case being extremely conspicuous and standing on a bench to get an aerial shot because eye level wasn’t enough.

Stone Creek Coffee

Anyways, thank you, Stone Creek baristas, for not glaring at me too much and for not rolling your eyes when my friends and I asked for mugs so they’d look better in photos. You’re awesome. Also, if you’re in the area and have an afternoon to kill, I recommend kicking your feet up by the fire here. It’s pretty damn cozy.