Dana Burland

While in Milwaukee, I tried one of my pal Ashley ’s veggie spring rolls and Thai dipping sauce. And DANG. They were really good. There’s that crunch factor that’s really satisfying, the sweet nutty flavor of the dip and the fun factor of eating spring rolls. To be honest, I’m not totally sold on the spring roll rice paper. It’s a little rubbery and tasteless for me. Next time I find myself at the tail end of a beer and cheese bender (cough a la Milwaukee ) I’ll reach for this recipe—and maybe toss the rice wrappers aside and eat it as a salad. Since the recipe is from a Healthy Grocery Girl video , here it is in written form: Raw Veggie Spring Rolls with Almond Thai Dip Ingredients Rice paper spring roll wrappers (I found these in the Asian shelf section of my grocery store) Romain lettuce Red bell peppers Carrots Cucumber Purple cabbage 1 cup canned coconut milk 1/2 cup almond butter 1/2 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup lime juice 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon garlic...

I’m gonna make a bold statement here: Milwaukee is the new Chicago. Our double-date trip to Wisconsin was so, so worth the drive. We packed so much into our two days and three nights… …we circled around a sketchy part of town convinced our AirBnB was a boarded up duplex. …we rejoiced when we found out we finally found our bungalow on the east end of the street, not the west end. …we toured and tasted beer at Lakefront Brewery where Ben formed an addiction to their pumpkin lager. …we ate face-sized hot pretzels and played hammerschlagen —a hammer-nails-into-a-tree-stump bar game at The Old German Beer Hall . …we explored The Safe House , a spy-themed bar/restaurant with a secret entrance and hidden/spooky exit that made both me and Ashley scurry out of like frightened cats.   …we drove through an old mansion-packed neighborhood, debating which were still single family homes and which were split up apartments, and walked around a marina/park with...

Yeah, I'm in a fantasy football league--what about it? Why? Because some of my coworkers were doing it, and they invited me, and I'm saying "yes" to all social things these days. I also said "yes" to a Pure Barre workout class outside in the middle of downtown and won a winter jacket, so this "yes" thing is working out pretty well for me. I didn't know jack diddly about picking players for my fantasy team, especially after the four names I knew were picked before I could get to them. The guys giggled at me when I picked randoms in a lol-you-silly-girl kinda way. But guess what: YES. I WON. Against one of the seems-like-he-knows-football dudes. By a good amount, too. BRB, need to work on my touchdown dance.

If you're looking for me I'll be rubbing Ben's feet, baking him treats on demand and tucking little sprigs of dried lavender in as I fold his undies. He painted the whole house by himself save a small section of the backyard, the shutters and the front door cove that I took on. In 3-4 weekends, our big paint project is DONE. The house looks like a million bucks. Brand new. Three colors instead of twenty. We're getting compliments from neighbors. It feels real good. Front: Back: Work in progress: For the record, his treat on demand was homemade egg rolls, which paired nicely with that Spartans win I put in a request to Dantonio for.

Wednesday night I received a Fitbit notification. My brother challenged me to a Thursday “Daily Showdown”. The rules are simple—the user with the most FitBit steps from 12AM Thursday morning to 11:59 Thursday night wins. Let the battle begin! 9am: I planned to wake up early for a walk/run, but I slept crappy the night before. I'm still awake and on the move before him and I brought walking shoes to work, alerting my coworkers I’d be on the Walkstation all day. 12pm: I’m ahead by 2,000 or so steps and stop for lunch. Evan surges past me while I’m eating. His coworker, privy to our challenge, requests Evan fetch a pen—but it has to be from the building next door, a 10 minute walk away. 1pm: I’m back on the Walkstation. I’ve reached my daily goal of 10,000 steps and I’m 4,000 steps ahead of Evan when I get off. “That should get you the win” says a coworker of mine. “Eh, It’ll get me an hour and a half knowing my brother.” 3pm: We’re neck and neck again. My boss n...

Things you could stick before “5K” to catch my attention: hard cider, chocolate, puppy corgis, pasta buffet. I haven’t “raced” in a while—I’ve been far too busy milking injuries and excuses—but this race seemed fun so I signed up before I could talk myself out of it. And I signed Ben up, too. Hey, we’re that couple that 5Ks together , right? The race was a trail run at a local cider mill. It was 60 degrees out and raining on race morning, but there’s always an electricity in the air at organized foot races that negates crappy weather. Because of aforementioned trail and weather, this run was really interesting. There were 300+ people on a, at times, one person wide route. Also, trail = dirt and dirt + rain = mud. SO much mud. So muddy several times you had no choice but to walk and to grab on to a nearby branch to steady yourself. Both factors made running, and passing people, a challenge. And this is going to sound strange, but I’m so thankful for it. I’m not in my best ...