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10 Things We Love About Summerfest

In honor of Summerfest starting this week, we thought we’d share a mini post of 10 things we love about the world’s largest music festival! Without further ado…

  1. The grounds are on the lakefront. Not only do you get to listen to tons of amazing music, but you get an incredible view!
  2. The eggplant strips at Venice Club. They’ve been a mainstay for many many years, and every year we prioritize splitting a platter and sprinkling parmesan cheese on top.
  3. The sheer amount of options! There are 12 stages that cover every genre of music! You can head down there and easily find a band/artist you’ll enjoy.
  4. Catalano’s Lemonade. If you go during the day, there is nothing more refreshing than some fresh-squeezed lemonade that is ice cold!
  5. The small town feel. Inevitably, you will run into someone you know, despite the thousands of people moving through the festival
  6. Festival Fashion. Duh, you knew we couldn’t get through the list without mentioning all the fun looks people show up in!
  7. Public Transportation. They do a great job of providing safe options to get to and from the festival. Plus it’s a worry-free way to not have to battle traffic and parking!
  8. Saz’s Sampler Platter. It’s the perfect mix of foods to try and share with a friend. All the fried food goodness!
  9. Cedar Crest Ice Cream. They are another local company, and lately we’ve been grabbing a cone after the concerts end to finish off a great night.
  10. The value! Nowhere else can you show up to a festival and get in the door to see someone like T-Pain, or Lake Street Dive for $23! Most of the time, the ticket fees are like $23 alone! Plus if you buy a 3-day pass ($57), you save $12.

Those are just a few reasons you need to visit Summerfest. We will definitely be down for a good portion of the festival. Hope to see y’all there!

Outfit Details

You can see these shorts styled differently if you check out our shorts round-up here!

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Bastille Days!

Summer in Milwaukee is always pretty epic. The weather is agreeable enough to everyone in Wisconsin congregating outdoors, for any social gathering you can dream up. By the way, we’re pretty creative here, and we dream up a lot of random excuses, err… events. If you haven’t experienced it (yet), you obviously can’t confirm or deny. But every once in awhile, you might catch yourself yearning for a French experience. Look no further than Milwaukee, because it’s home to French Festival: Bastille Days. It happens to be North America’s largest French-themed celebration. Who’d have known!? Milwaukee knows how to celebrate any heritage all summer long.

With French culture being synonymous with cool; it draws quite a crowd over the 4-day festival. The first night kicks off with a Storm the Bastille run, sponsored by Associated Bank. We grew up going to Bastille Days and Storming the Bastille was always the night we attended. Either we ran the race, or we volunteered to give the runners water, etc. It was a big deal as a child, getting to be out late on a Summer night. The throngs of people excited for the excuse to run the streets of downtown Milwaukee were exhilarating to be around. Never has a 5k run/walk gone by so quickly. It gives you a chance to see Milwaukee from a different perspective than your car window. Come join us this year in Storming the Bastille. The run is at 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 11th, we’d love to see you there!

Once the run/walk is over, it’s all fun and games from there. Cathedral Square is transformed into stall after stall of food vendors and various goodies. There are options for everyone. One of the delights in attending festivals and marketplaces is discovering a cool item you never knew you needed. Plus, you know we’re drawn to local small businesses. Every time we’ve attended, we’ve been able to meet a new to us vendor. Can’t wait to see what goodies Bastille Day will unearth for us this year.

The smells alone will lure you to stalls to discover the French/Cajun cuisines. We’ve seen so many local high-quality restaurants with booths of better than a typical festival treat. Of course, they’d be remiss if they didn’t have crepes. My personal favorite, however, is the beignets. You can satisfy your sweet tooth with one of those! Then you can wash it down with one of their wine tastings. Bastille Days offers them Friday, July 12th at 8:30 p.m. for the perfect weekend kick-off. Otherwise, they have two options on Saturday, July 13th at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. If wine isn’t your jam, maybe you’d be drawn more to the champagne tasting on Sunday, July 14th at 1 p.m.? If you pick up your ticket in advance online, it’s only $30, otherwise $40 at the event. That’s a steal for 8 tastings and a light appetizer pairing!

Perhaps you’re experiencing withdrawals now that Summerfest has ended. Fear not! Bastille Days has four stages with live music, to ease you back into your Summerfest-less existence. There’s a wide array of performers, to cover the diverse crowds. With that in mind, you can bring the whole family. If you want to come with your children, they have the annual Kids Day Celebration on Saturday, July 14th. There’s a French-themed breakfast, ballet lessons, and soccer drills to keep your kids enjoying their time at Bastille Days.

I could wax poetic about Bastille Days all day long. Instead, I’ll just tell you this. Go check it out, you won’t regret it! It’s a smaller festival, but it has so much flair and character. Plus, where else are you going to find a mini replica of the Eiffel Tower? The other thing we’re super excited about this year is the Love Locks Sculpture! It’s being unveiled on July 11th, and it’s interactive! You can purchase a lock at the Bastille Days merchandise booth, write a message or loved one’s initials on it, and lock it onto the sculpture, dropping the key into a locked box to signify your love will last forever. All proceeds from these love lock sales will be donated to Habitat for Humanity too! Lastly, come join us for the Associated Bank Storm the Bastille 5k Run/Walk. Enter to win a free registration on our Instagram/Facebook post. Otherwise, you can register using this link! Online registration closes June 25 but you can register in-person over the next few weeks and the day of the run too. https://events.easttown.com/products/storm-the-bastille-registration

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A Morning at the Cathedral Square Market

As you’ve often heard us mention, Milwaukee in the Summer is top-notch. Living here, you find yourself with an overfull calendar of event options to choose from. When we’re not hurting for choices, it’s easy to avoid wasting your time at a sub par event option. This was definitely the case last Saturday. You may have caught our Instagram takeover for East Town Association and the Cathedral Square Market. Farmers markets pop up pretty much everywhere in the Summer. Who doesn’t want to grab some fresh fruits and vegetables as you support family businesses?

The weather was ideal for the market, it actually felt like a Summer day. As you walk into Cathedral Square you notice the obvious view of the namesake Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.  From there, we appreciate that the vendors were well-spaced. There is nothing worse than trying to shop at a farmers market and people are crowding around trying to get past you because there isn’t enough room.

We had to grab a coffee to start the Market off on the right foot. Cafe Sole had their Costa Rican pour-over coffee available in either warm or cold brew. They are a family-owned and run establishment. When they visited Costa Rica initially, it was love at first sight with all things coffee bean related. They ended up moving down there for part of the year and helping with the process and then bringing it back here to share with everyone by way of pay what you please pour-over coffee. How cool is that?!

From there we found some gorgeous flower arrangements and knew we had to grab a bouquet for our dad for Father’s Day. Dads like flowers too! We wandered towards the stage and watched the free yoga class that was taking place. Another time when we didn’t have tons of outfits to get pictures of, we’ll be back to do an outdoor class! It’s such a nice touch to come get some physical movement in (FOR FREE) and then be able to pick up a few goodies on your way out.

One of our favorite discoveries was Nourish Natural Products. We met Jamie (a fellow tall woman no less!) and were elated to see that she sold a natural bug spray! The struggle is real for our volleyball games at night, plus being up north or camping throughout the summer. We will be putting it to the test repeatedly. She has a bunch of other products as well, like her essential oil healing roller ball blends. I was eyeing up the natural deodorant because I’m trying to make the switch. Plus, she makes   lash and brow serum and lip balm! She can do it all! Check out her shop here, if any of that interests you.

From there, the cheese shop was calling our name. We embrace the dairy part of Wisconsin wholeheartedly. You won’t have to question our devotion. Stamper cheese had ALL the goodies laid out on their table, and we got the full rundown. I was honestly just impressed she knew all the names of the cheese. I couldn’t remember them long enough to list off our requests. But five kinds of cheese later, we got it done. It made the ideal cheese platter for Saturday night.

As we were winding down, we saw some homemade granola made by 4 Zinks. We each grabbed a sample and then loved it. No brainer then to grab a bag, and we’ve been enjoying it mixed with yogurt and berries all week. I shared some with my Mom as well, and she just texted me to say she loves it too. Our preference is always a homemade version to avoid the additives of the store-bought options! They do special orders online that you can grab here if interested. Otherwise check around for their market schedule! Parked right next to the granola was the Chillwaukee Popsicle bike. We wasted no time in grabbing our peach-mango Popsicle. They were super tasty, and we were glad we caught them in time because they sold out of some flavors shortly after we finished ours!

With our bags filled, we figured we should move on with the day. It was an idyllic morning strolling Cathedral Square, and you don’t have to convince us to return! The market had quality vendors and lots to offer for a variety of people. It was the perfect morning for a summer dress, so Caitlin wore this pink confection from Asos.

It is a tall sized dress. The rainbow stripes and the loose summery cut was perfection for a farmers market! Despite it being loose, be careful with gaping at the bust. If you have a smaller bust it might not be an issue, but worth noting. Our Mom sewed it close to avoid any future worrying. A lady passed us as we arrived and turned back to tell us she loved our outfits. It is always so nice when people spread kindness. All in all, it was the perfect morning!

Outfit Details

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Shorts Round-Up

We’re so unbearably close to it being Summer we can almost taste it! It’s two days away, depending on what calendar you go by. The weather has been giving us glimpses, albeit it a bit irritably. In the meantime, we’ve done some serious legwork… pun intended. The intent was to showcase each pair on our differing heights, so you can get a decent idea of where it would hit on your leg. Both of us feel like we’ve finally found a groove with buying shorts we can feel confident in. No more constantly yanking them down or feeling like your butt crack is hanging out every time you sit down. All of these pairs we’ve worn and will continue wearing for the summer. So let’s get to the good stuff!

In hopes of making it easier for you we sorted the shopping by the company at the end of the post. So once you make your way through this round-up you can shop easily at each store! Some of these shorts are already on sale, so happy shopping!

ASOS Paper Bag Shorts

It’s been said that if you love something, buy it in multiple colors. Never mind who actually said it, it might have been me. So after seeing Caitlin have success with Asos tall shorts, I knew I had to get some of my own. I bought them in a neutral stripe and a bold red. Both of them are extremely comfortable. Plus they hit at the correct part of the waist without having to sacrifice length.

ASOS Shirred Waist Shorts

Y’all know one of the prints we always enjoy is a good polka dot. This pair again is made of jersey fabric, making it super easy to wear for whatever the day throws your way. Chores? Fits the bill. Errands? Still chic and put together. All in all, an easy choice. Caitlin owns the same pair in black!

Gap Paper Bag Striped Shorts

These are possibly the runaway favorite buy of the year. Are you sensing a theme yet with the paper bag waist? What can we say, we know what works on our frames. The rainbow stripe is muted enough to be versatile, and you can’t go wrong with navy and white for a classic Summer look. They are a linen material and extremely comfortable.

Gap Button Fly High-Waisted Denim Shorts

Caitlin snatched these up as soon as they dropped. I totally regret that I haven’t followed suit yet, but budget I guess! They are super flattering, and whatever sorcery Gap has put in their recent denim, our bodies thank them! They are the ideal stretch, but don’t seem to lose shape! If you enlarge these pictures do you notice something off?

Gap White Denim Shorts

The 5-inch inseam is where it’s at. If you told me that I would be wearing white shorts again, I would have chuckled kindly and disregarded your opinion. But the proof is in the shorts. They came with me to New Orleans and I was very comfortable all day long trekking around the city. Plus, I didn’t feel overexposed which is sometimes the case with see-through white fabrics. This is hearty enough fabric to put me at ease.

ASOS Green Utility Shorts

Another pair, another paper bag waist. With the addition of our favorite color, you know this utility-style is going to see tons of wear around this summer. This fabric is not a jersey, but still has stretch to it. They have a nice sheen to them so you can maybe dress them up a little bit!

Gap Light Wash 5” Denim

Light wash denim is not evil! It does not make you look larger or bad at all! But those are the lies we believed for the longest time. The distressed hem is there to keep your summer spirit light and carefree. The 5-inch hem is your best friend, hitting you well below the area where the butt and thigh meet aka, the THUT.

Gap Boyfriend Fit 5” Denim

I’ve had these bad boy(friend)s since last year. They were my go-to’s. Although trying my best to wear them out, they’ve held up really nicely. If you’re ever feeling like the 5” hem is a little long, you can give them another roll to spice things up. The rise is only mid, not high – be forewarned. I did size up in these to 32 to ensure the fit of the thigh and after buying only size 31 this year, I could have done the same. Hindsight, right?!

Gap Black Denim Shorts

If you were hoping that black denim would make a comeback, this pair is for you. A little bit edgier than their blue-hued cousins, you can wear these to a concert or out wherever the night takes you.

Gap Gingham 4” Inch Shorts

I can’t get over how good these shorts make me feel. It starts with the side zipper, which streamlines the whole look without a bulky front zipper. Then add in that the cut is A-line and you have a new best friend in me. It skims right over the thigh, so no unpleasant squeezing. These were my go-to last year for a dressier look but still staying cool in the heat.

Old Navy Utility Linen Shorts

I’ve had these tie waist shorts for a couple of years now. I definitely have other shorts that fit me a bit better, but we wanted to share a pair from Old Navy because other people have mentioned how much they like their shorts. I love the color of these, but maybe I would have sized up another to accommodate my thighs.

Asos Striped Paperbag Shorts

We’ve already been in your ear proclaiming the glory of the Asos linen culottes. Think of these as their shorts little sister. As in, they fit just as beautifully. Just like the culottes, the fit is generous, so we’re wearing a size 10. You’ll probably never want to take them off. Seriously we will never get over the paper bag shorts. Just saying.

Express Striped Shorts

Express shorts have worked nicely in the past because they’ve always had 3.5″ or 4” inch options. This striped pair was a clearance find by Caitlin.They’re a standout pair, and still, have enough space in the thigh to be comfortable. It has a nice little ruffle at the waist too, and easy pull-on with no zipper.

We truly hope you found this post-useful-we put a lot of work into these types of posts for you! Let us know if there are other roundups you would like to see!

Gap Shopping

ASOS Shopping

Express Shopping

Old Navy Shopping

Tall Friendly Body Suits

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Buckatabon Lake

Let’s first start with helping all of you with the pronunciation of our beloved lake shall we? Buck-A-Tah-Bon is the name and us loving it deeply is the game. We have been blessed our entire life with learning what lake life is truly about. Our Grandma has lived on Upper Buckatabon our entire lives and we have made the four-hour journey to the lake more times than I can count. Especially now that our parents also have a place to call home on the lake.

The most memorable times at the lake from my childhood are when we would spend one week up there each summer with our extended family. It was and still is always a focal point to our summers. Our Grandmas house would quickly fill with enough food to feed a small country, too many bodies for the beds, and too many laughs to number. This was always a special time for our family and I think we all cherish those memories. As we all got older, bigger, and busier our vacations had to start falling at different times. However, our grandma is turning 90 this summer and the entire family will be up together-we are so looking forward to it!

I won’t bore you with too many of our family memories. Rather what the journey and time at the lake are like. We plan the menus ahead, pack our things, and pile into a few cars for the beautifully long drive. Thankfully as you progress into your trip and the North woods comes into sight you forget about being in the car as you take in the views of tall pines, lakes along either side of the road, and the indescribable smell of the woods. Each ride is filled with hours of chatter, snacking, and excitement (Or a nap if you’re lucky).

Once we hang a left onto HWY K no one can contain the giddy feeling knowing the only part of the trip that remains are the winding roads that outline our lake. Depending on the season the windows go down and we haul it to our home. Since we usually make our way up Fridays after work our first priority is to grab a cold beer and unload the car. If we were lucky enough to get out of work a few hours early, we might enjoy a traditional Wisconsin fish fry or make our way to the boat for a booze cruise. Our first night up north is usually too short-lived and fast.

There is something about the first cup of coffee when you wake up because you either get to enjoy it on the balcony with the serene sounds of wind chimes, on the pontoon, in the serenity room, or with a crackling fire in front of you. What I am trying to say is, any way you cut it your morning cup of coffee is going to taste as good as it possibly can because of where you are and who you are with. Some of us bring books, some sit, and some chat. No matter what is going on it’s always a special time for me.

A typical day for us might include a few chores, a workout, paddle boarding, kayaking, fishing, pontooning, skiing, biking around the lake, drinking ridiculously decorated bloody marys, reading, napping, and so many other activities. Honestly, there are never enough hours in a day to accomplish every activity that you would like. I typically try to set an alarm so I give myself the best chance to do so. Lake Effect Co. recently made me realize that we don’t catch many sunrises while we’re up there. We’re not the most morning people you will ever meet. Plans are now in motion for an early morning kayak across the lake with a hot cup of coffee to catch one of those breathtaking Buckatabon Sunrises.

Another big part of the lake for our family is games-we like to play cards and dominoes through the night as well as any and every outdoor yard game you can name. Bags (Corn Hole), Beersby, Kan-Jam, Washers, Kubb, and so on (all games are linked). We have even altered some of them so we can play on the sand bar or at the islands which doubles the fun – if you ask us.

We have also grown quite the collection of inflatables, an aqua hammock, and most recently a big foam lily pad that we cannot wait to use. Whenever we get out the floaties and hammock its seems like hysterical laughter comes along with it. Some of our favorite memories are tipping around in water that is too cold trying not to spill our beers or choke from laughing.

It’s really hard for us to put words on paper how much we love and care about our lake but hopefully, this was a good start and portrays why it is so important to us. We will be doing a few more installations specifically on our lake because of how important it is to us and our family as well as some other lake memories. We would love to hear from you if there is a lake you hold near and dear to your heart.

And as always don’t forget that you can use THEREALTALL15 to get 15% off of your purchases at Lake Effect Co. These long sleeves are unisex and great for our long-limbed friends as well as those of normal to average size. You can also see some of our favorite Fourth of the July Lake Effect Co. Picks from our post here.

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