Day 6: Halloweentown is vegan friendly!

Cedarburg or Halloweentown? Impossible to tell.

On Saturday morning, I took an impromptu trip to Cedarburg with one of my best friends, Ashley, so she could look for her wedding dress. Little did we know, Cedarburg during the fall is the spitting image of Halloweentown. If you weren't lucky enough to see the movie back in 1998 (and another 125 times since then on ABC Family every October), it's a quaint, happy place that is basically blanketed in Halloween decorations. The majority of the houses were built in the 1800s and have since been turned into shops, taverns, and restaurants. You feel like you're on a movie set when you walk down the main street in Cedarburg, plus it was unseasonably gorgeous that weekend, so the combination made the whole day seem surreal.

After shopping (she said yes to the dress), we wandered over to The Anvil. The first thing that came out of our sweet, older waitress's mouth was "this feels like a bridal party... is someone getting married?" She was wearing a shawl, had perfectly white hair, and was evidently psychic. Hal. lo. ween. town.

The menu looked amazing and the whole place smelled unbelievably good. Right away, I honed in on the veggie burger. There wasn't any fanfare about the way it was written, just "the veggie burger with lettuce, tomato, and onion." Famished, I ordered it with sauteed mushrooms on top, too.

Maybe my hopes just weren't as high as they were for the previous day's burger, but I absolutely loved this one. It was hearty, the mushrooms were a perfect addition (go me), and the fries were blatantly addictive. At one point, I felt myself hitting that point where I knew I had already eaten way too much, but I didn't want to stop. Being the only one still eating at a table of five, I finally mashed my napkin onto the plate with remorse, crushing what was left of the fries and making it mostly inedible. Had I not done this, I'm fairly certain I'd still be there ordering a 65th plate as we speak. It goes without saying: lunch was a great success.

After that, we rolled our ever-expanding selves next door to the Cedar Creek Winery. We sampled several wines and were quickly informed that if you buy more than a dozen bottles, you get a price cut. Naturally, we left with 12 bottles and Ashley's mom is now a proud member of the Case Club. She's entitled to discounts, complimentary tastings, tours, and all sorts of fun stuff. I highly recommend going this route, assuming you are not like me and have more than 1 square foot of storage space in your kitchen. Of the 12, I went home with two bottles of my own (Pinot Grigio and La Belle Vie) and they've made wonderful companions for cooking, blogging, and crying over old episodes of Sons of Anarchy. The best part is that Cedar Creek Winery is completely vegan, so I can't go wrong.

By the end of the day, I had purchased two bottles of wine, two necklaces, two pairs of earrings, four scarves, and two dishtowels. You try saying no actual shopkeepers! When was the last time you purchased an item from someone who owned the establishment you were shopping at? It's a whole different ball game, and it's awesome. Turns out, if the person behind the register isn't a moody teenager in mid-text, I'm completely unable to stop myself from buying something. Stay awesome, Halloweentown.