Why I Oughta...

Back a week or so ago, I posted a picture of Nat with Ms. Hildegard Olivia Harding - the latest of the Citizens of Main Street USA and that brought our catalog up to four including her and  the Mayor , the reporter and the Fire Chief . Today, that's me and Victoria Trumpetto, Main Street Choir Director.   When we talked to her, she said she ran the singing lessons store on Main Street - where, if you listen closely, you can hear someone doing their vocal scales .  She was lovely and had a few good lines tee'd up to use on all of us.  Maybe not as strong as the Mayor, but she gave us plenty of her time.   She now makes five on the Characters of Main Street USA down at Walt Disney World.  There's one more coming that we took a picture with that I'll post later this week.  

This is the 3rd or 4th 'craft beer tasting with Dr. Jeff' that I've shared here on the blog.  The rest of them can be found here on the "Dr. Jeff" tag page with the most recent one being an IPA session .  We've had sour sessions and stout sessions, too. This time, we had a combo session.  IPAs, sours, stouts.  It was fun. The first up is that beautiful bottle on the left.  Can't find it on BA.  On the top right is Your Wish is Granted IPA.   Not rated on BA, either .    And on the right is a Transiet Artisan Ale.  Not sure which one, though!  I guess I didn't take too good of photos that night, eh?

Ever since our first trip down to Charleston, Natalie and I have been beyond fascinated by the Live Oak species of trees.  We doubled down on Live Oaks during our visits to Sea Island over the years.  And we've been dreaming of the day when we could plant a Live Oak on our property.  (Alas, it doesn't appear that they'd survive our climate as they are marked for Hardiness Zones 7-10 .  And for sure, we wouldn't get the Spanish Moss on them which add to the dreamy effect !) Everytime we go on a tour or stay at a place that notes their Live Oaks, we perk up and pay attention.  And Disney is no different.  Out at Port Orleans Riverside, you can find a few of them including this one out on Ol' Man Island behind the pool.  There's the sign above that reads: On Earth Day April 22, 1991, this majestic Live Oak was placed in its new home before you.  This Oak and its companion at the entrance of Disney's Port Orleans Resort Riverside each weighed 85 tons an

I thought this would look good in our place.  But, alas, it didn't come home with us.  Not sure who John Henniger was, but I love his sign.  This was hanging in the Lake Geneva Antique Mall and it was in great shape! Was "The Best Milwaukee Beer" before the "Champagne of Beers" tagline?  Who knows why it says that because the MillerCoors blog makes it seem like the Champagne line was around since the beginning ?

The pizza?  It wasn't great.  But the details?  They're awesome.  But, I mean...this isn't the first place run by a rodent that serves pizza, right?   Charles Entertainment's place is terrible, too.

Found this awfully cute Santa planter up at the antique store and if we had a place to call our own?  It would have been mine!  But, because we haven't had Christmas at our own place for two years, I have no idea how much space we have and how much vintage Christmas stuff like this we have! If he's still there this fall?  I'll buy him.  I'm pretty sure he's a Holt Howard based on the face and eyes. But...what is Santa painting anyway?

On Sunday, I posted about the new antique mall that appears to be the one we'll be frequenting now that we've shifted from Michigan to Wisconsin (despite the dude being a wingnut...).  In that post, I showed off the new "Vintage Christmas Motherlode", but have to say that there was a lot more there than I even took in during our visit. And, as I mentioned, I did, indeed, buy something.  That's this metal paper roll holder.  It hold a 3.5" roll of paper on a wooden dowel  and if you pull the paper out and hold down the thin metal piece, it serves as a 'cutter' of sorts and you can tear off clean note-sized pieces of paper. I was drawn to this because I'm always scrounging for post-it notes and the idea of being able to have short or long or...extra long notes was appealing to me.  I can pull on the paper for as long of a length as I need, then press the metal cutter down and tear.  Suddenly, I have a note paper that's just long enough f

This is the 15th coaster added to the Coaster Collection here on the blog.   You can find them all here on the Coaster Collection tag page .   The Flying Fish is a table service restaurant located at Disney's Boardwalk Resort out the backdoor of Epcot Center.  And it is fancy.  Like....pretty fancy.  But not fancy enough that we stuck out with our kids.  We did, however, make a fairly early reservation so that likely helped. This is the 15th coaster in total, but is part of a sub-collection of five (and counting)Disney coasters including this one from the Boathouse , the Skipper Canteen , the Disneyland Hotel and Walt Disney World resort hotels .

I've been chronicling something I've been calling the "Vintage Christmas Motherlode" at the Great Lakes Antique Mall up in Coloma since back in 2013.   I posted about it as recently as this past June when we were getting ready to say 'see you later' to Coloma. But, now that we're spending time up in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, one of the first orders of business was to discover the local antique mall.  Either Nat's parents or her sister found one just a ten minutes away in Lake Geneva .  So on a trip up there earlier this year, we went.  A bit smaller than the one in Coloma but a lot more furniture.  Turns out the guy at the counter is a wingnut and was getting all excited about the prospect of the incoming President-Elect, so it has that going for it... But, in we went to wander around. And lo and behold...what did I discover:  a new vintage Christmas Motherlode!  Look at that case.  Some pretty great stuff.  Ornaments, lights, little figures, Pu

Adding another resident of Main Street USA to our list of meeting with this photo of Nat and two ladies.  I'll post and talk about the woman on the right in a different post, but let's talk about the woman on the left:  Ms. Hildegard Olivia Harding. From the Disney Parks Blog : Miss Hildegard Olivia Harding is a socialite and suffragette, President of the Main Street Social Society, Women’s Auxiliary and Decorating Committee, and works diligently with the women, educating them on Women’s Rights (as her friend Taby says “Those who don’t believe in Women’s Rights should watch out for Women’s Lefts.”). Hildegard’s finger is in every pie, especially chocolate. “One can never have enough chocolate!” Miss Harding owns the Emporium and has an apartment upstairs where she throws lavish functions, often serving her specialty- calamari scones. Look at that "Women Unite" sash she's wearing!  Couldn't be a more perfect meeting for Natalie and these ladies right