Emma Faye Nail Salon

My parents have been so helpful in getting projects done around my condo. One Saturday, my dad had a few things to finish up at my place, so my parents drove out to Waukesha and we met up at the Farmer's Market. It was a beautiful start to the day.

This was my first time at the market for the season and I like the new changes they made. The market is located on both sides of the Fox River in downtown Waukesha. Some buildings were torn down in the Waukesha State Bank parking lot last year and grassy areas were put in their place. The booths line that grassy area, providing more room between the rows and a lot more vendors.

Mia Famiglia is one of my parents' favorite restaurants when it was in Hales Corners. I was happy to see they had a booth with their products and samples. I had the onion foccacia bread with a balsamic reduction. It was fabulous! I still have to get over to 225 South one of these days and try more of the great cuisine.

After spending some time and a little money at the market, my mom and I went for pedicures at Emma Faye Nail Salon in Waukesha. The place has been open for about a year, but this was my first time here.

They were ready for us right at our appointment time and let us soak our feet for a bit before starting. They asked if we wanted water, tea, soda or coffee while we were relaxing, but we were both content at the time.

They have six pedicure massaging chairs across the back wall and a counter in the middle with four stools do manicures.

They have both gel and regular polishes for nails.

They performed an excellent job on my feet and it was such a relaxing experience. Tony was extremely personable and talked to my mom and I about all sorts of things while we were relaxing.

And they do a stellar job on the polish. I went with a bright Brewers blue while my mom went with a more typical (for her) mauve-y pink tone. The polish looked great and they let us sit for as long as we wanted to let them dry.

They signed my mom and I up for the pedicure club and after five pedicures, your next one is free. What a great deal!

These are my toes one month later and there isn't a single chip in the polish. I can never do that on my own!

I will definitely be going back for another pedicure soon and possibly a manicure too! The place is very inviting and very clean. And the prices are extremely reasonable! It's not far from work for me either, so I can just zip over here after work or maybe even on my lunch hour.

Sweet Mullets Brewing Co.

My friends and I are really making an effort to get out to dinner and try new places (or new to some of us places) more often. Because we each live in a different city, we are trading off where we go to keep it fair.

Sweet Mullets Brewing Co. in Oconomowoc was suggested and we agreed to meet up on a Wednesday night after work and check it out. The sunsets are so pretty right now, so I snapped a quick shot on my way out to Oconomowoc.

If you haven't been to Sweet Mullets before, you might have a hard time finding it. It's all the way on the west end of Oconomowoc in an industrial park. They brew in the same building that houses the bar, so that's why they are in an industrial setting.

Once inside, you would never think you are in an industrial building. They did a great job doing an industrial,, but homey cabin feel inside the place and even have some games for people to play. Jumbo Jenga anyone?

The bar is against the back wall and the windows show the brewing area. We asked if we could take a tour and were told that we can call and schedule one with a group, but they aren't offering them regularly to the public at this time. The mugs on the wall are a part of the beer club and are created by a local artisan.

Our server came over and offered us some samples of new beers on tap to try. What a nice treat. Because I hadn't tried any of the beers before and those samples were decent, I decided to order a flight of beers and try them all!

My friend Tory followed suit while Kacey order cocktails made with Great Lakes Distillery's Roaring Dan's Rum. (Kacey has Celiac's Disease so he couldn't partake in the beers too much). Our other friends Angie and Jeremy have had some of Sweet Mullets beers before and just chose a pint or two to enjoy.

With all of this beer, we knew we were going to need to order some food. I chose the corn chowder, two others chose sandwiches and the others split nachos. Shauna was able to join us a bit later in the night and ordered the chili when she arrived.

I thought the corn chowder was really good with a ton of flavor and very filling. Shauna said the chili was great, but shouldn't be called mild as it had quite the kick. As for the sandwiches, they were just ok and a little bland on flavor. The nachos were interesting in that they came with cheese, olives and onion and then a chopped chicken breast laid over the whole thing. 

The food filled us up, but it definitely wasn't what we were there for. I did see that they just started serving pizzas as well from Slinger. In regards to the food, one suggestion I have for the company is to incorporate the beers into the food. They could already be doing that but the menu didn't say for sure. I think the jalepeno beer (see below for my thoughts) would be great as a marinade for the chicken on the nachos or as a little boost in the corn chowder. The chipotle beer could be used in the sandwiches and chili.

Ok - onto the main feature - the beer flight. A clipboard is hung on the edge of the table and has the menu of beers on it. I used this to help me keep track of my beers that I was drinking. To follow the picture below, start with the bottom row (moving right to left) and then proceed to the shorter top row (also moving right to left).

Celebration - Slightly heavier light beer - it was ok
Jorge -  Like a Jalapeño in a cup! A bit spicier but I think would be great to cook with.
Five o One - A nice easy red ale
Buckwheat - Resembles an IPA slightly...it was decent
Athletic Stout - coffee caramely--hoppy - it's an oatmeal stout
Black Hops - coffee and caramely - the more I drank, the more I liked it. It would be nice to drink alone and not with a meal.
Day Dreamer - wheaty and summery - this was my favorite.

Funk - pretty tart - almost sour - Wheaty, sweet smelling. I would not drink this with a meal.
Rasp - very tart, lots of fruit, super sour
Rafael - Really hits the back of the tongue with full spicy flavor. I couldn't even drink it aside from my initial sip but Kacey loved it. I think this would be good to cook with, though, for adding flavors to meat.
Eleven - Pretty hoppy, light in color
BIRA - slightly hoppy but still good.  Malty

My overall opinion of the flights was that the beer maker really knows what he is doing. The flavors are very complex and each beer was really unique. I will definitely come back here again and enjoy my favorites from the flight.

The beer maker took a moment to come over and thanks us for stopping in. He chatted with us a little bit about the beers as well. After dinner, our server brought us some complimentary peanuts to share at our table as well.

The place seems to have decent traffic as quite a few tables were filled while we were there. Good beer draws people in and keeps them.

Waxing Girl Studio

Up until three years ago, I never touched my eyebrows with anything more than an occasional tweeze to get rid of a few strays trying to create a unibrow on my face. But while getting my hair done, I was offered a  brow wax and shaping while my hair was all foiled up. I went for it and I'm glad I did.

I now understand what defined eyebrows can really do for a face. I didn't keep up on it with professional help and just tried to do my best at home. But again, they have gotten a bit wild!

I received an email from Waxing Girl Studio's owner who had found my blog and wondered if I was interested in checking her place out. I had been struggling to keep my unruly brows in the same shape and was needing to spend time penciling them in every day. If I didn't, I look like I don't have brows (see examples below) The hair on my head is now a natural dark brown (although I do dye it to add more red to it), but the brows, arm and leg hairs are still much lighter.

Where are my brows? 

Another example - looks like I'm brow-less! 

Pamela, the owner of Waxing Girl Studio, and I exchanged a few emails back and forth and I scheduled an appointment for brow shaping and a discussion of tinting them, though I was really nervous about that part.

Waxing Girl Studio is a brand new establishment in Hartland. The studio has two private waxing rooms in addition to the cute retail area. When I stopped in, she had officially only been open for six days but said things were going really well for her already!

Before opening Waxing Girl, Pamela and her husband had an antique shop and when Pamela decided she wanted to open this studio, she brought some of her best antique finds with her to make the shop one of a kind.

Check out this register! 

Love the chandelier!

So a bit more about my appointment, Pamela took me into the waxing room and laid me down flat on a massage table. She cleaned the brow area first and then asked me about tinting my brows. I said to go light on the color and it took all of like 10 seconds to dye them. And I am a big fan of how they turned out. Eyebrow coloring doesn't last as long as hair dye because eyebrows fall out quickly.

Then she shaped my brows. I don't mind my brows size on my face, but I just wanted them to be even and get rid of any randoms. Pamela is such a pro and knew exactly what to do for me. In about three minutes, she had my brows back to what a normal person should have.

She then rubbed cold stones on my brows to help with the redness and some Witch Hazel oil. She was going to put on Vitamin C, but I am allergic, so we just did the oil instead. And then she applied some powder to also cover any redness. I have to say this was the most calming experience for this Nervous Nelly and I will definitely go to her in the future for shaping and tinting.

Here is the direct aftermath of the brows and I am really liking them.

 One week later

 Still loving them.

From the website:

Pamela Reinemann Cosmetologist, and CIDESCO trained Esthetician. Pamela has been working in the esthetics field since 1999 and has been a cosmetologist since 1990 in California and since 1999 in Wisconsin.

From further discussion with her at the shop, waxing is something that Pamela truly enjoys and considers herself an excellent 'Brazillian waxer.' Personally I don't think I'm ready to go there, but I know of other friends that have had that done and it can be hard to find someone that does it well. So I will recommend her to all of you for any of your waxing needs. She provides to both female and male clientele. 

Waxing Girl Studio provided me the services free of charge. Although it was free, the review is my own honest opinion of the experience.