my birthday and madison

I went to Madison, WI on Friday with Doug and we stayed until Saturday afternoon. It was so pretty. I was very impressed! We walked around all day. I think we walked about 5 miles up and down the streets from one lake to the other. We strolled into all kinds of shops. I highly recommend a day trip to Madison, they have the best shops and bookstores and restaurants. We stayed at the DoubleTree which was very convenient. We didn't have to drive anywhere, it was so nice. AND they had a gluten free friendly restaurant, The Nitty Gritty, a block away from where we stayed. It was my first time there and I was about to move there haha :)
this is the UW terrace
we walked along Lake Mendota on this bike and hiking trail
I loved this used bookstore
we ate at a Mexican restaurant called Frida, I wanted to eat there just because of the name and it was so nice inside. very good food also
this is State St which we walked up and down
a very cool exhibit in process at the Museum of Contemporary Art

at Lake Monona and Monona Terrace
my special gluten free menu
at Great Dane Pub we sat outside and I had an amazing mozzerella and tomato salad

the WI capitol building, we walked around the Capitol Square farmers market on Saturday morning




and now for birthday presents and some projects I'm working on

my mom bought me a Daisy box set because it's my favorite scent (and the bottle is amazing) and she got me a huge vintage vogue cover framedDoug bought me some great presents but this was my favorite....a Dwight Schrute bobblehead (cue Office quote, "It's ME") and I got a LUSH box giftfrom Marissa who works there (so jealous!) and some things from benefit and I've already used most of the stuff so I decided not to take pictures.



and here are the projects I said before that I am working on from the new BUST magazine....




I had a wonderful birthday and a great trip to Madison. Yep, that's about it for today...(like all those pictures weren't enough?? haha :])

♥ Al