11.14.10

Here is the big 1 year old! Here he is at only 1 week old.

Gina and Todd had a frog themed party, complete with a bouncy set up in their garage. Besides the man (boy? baby?) of honor, the other focus of the party was the amazing cake! Gina's friend, who is not a pastry chef, made this awesomeness:

11.13.10

We headed up to Green Bay in the beginning of Nov. for Fisher's 1st birthday party! We got up there Saturday night and got some pizza and made cookies for the party. Cooper put on my boots and attemped to walk around in them also - but mostly just fell every 3 steps.

11.7.10

A little Sunday morning project. He is a robot!

11.6.10

Gina, the boys and my mom and dad came to visit last month. We decided to go to Chuck.E. Cheese for dinner at around 5pm, which was probably a mistake. It was so crowded! It was also a very interesting observation in parenting. Gina pawned her children off on my parents and parked herself at the skee ball for about 15 minutes. Cooper has a nerf dart gun to show for her efforts!

Gina and I had to school my mom on the art of tearing off tickets at Chuck.E.Cheese though. She was just tearing off the amount that had come out of the machine after the game was over...psh! Everyone knows you grip the ticket closest to the machine and pull to get more tickets!

10.31.10

Confession: for the past 5ish years, Halloween was not my favorite holiday. Actually, it was probably my least favorite holiday. I used to work at a place that planned for Halloween celebrations and activities for children for about two months, culminated by a 4 day event. We were also required to work all 4 long days, while dressed in costume. Needless to say, I was pretty much "over" halloween by the time October 25th rolled around.

Finally this year, I turned a corner and decided to embrace the holiday. I even crafted our gnome costumes from top to bottom! Here are a few of my other faves from the party:

and the winner of the costume contest, Ghandi.

10.16.10

Back on Oct. 16th, Wisconsin beat the then, No. 1 Ohio State!!! It was amazing! Jon and his pals were downtown all day long, but I opted to meet up with them right before game time at around 6pm. It was an epic day and night for Badger fans!

Fun fact: I saw a drunken Ohio State fan with blood all over his face from falling (saw that happen too) get arrested as I was waiting in line to get into the Big Ten Pub. Probably put a damper on his trip to Madison for the big game, hey?

10.9.10

I've really let this blog go, haven't I? Yikes. I better pick up the slack if I want to do another 365 project...which I am thinking I might do again in 2011. In the meantime, back in October our nephew Keegan celebrated his 5th birthday...complete with a bouncy house and all his school friends. We were recruited to help keep tabs on all the kids. I'm here to report that only a couple kids emerged from the bouncy house in tears from getting trampled. Pretty good odds, I'd say.

10.7.10

Meghan got THE CALL on a Tuesday that she had 4 tickets to see Oprahhhhhh! Meghan and I were lucky enough to attend a taping a few years ago, but this was still really exciting. I mean, when Oprah calls, you drop everything and go to her...especially because this is her last season, ya know? Following suit, I promptly and without question skipped class on Wednesday night and took the day off on Thursday to go to Chicago. To get to the 9am taping, it was suggested to us to get there at 7am...which meant we had to leave Milwaukee at 4:30am! If you are doing the math, that meant I had to wake up at 3:30am. Basically, I shouldnt have even gone to sleep because I could hardly sleep anyway from being so anxious!

The topic of the show we saw was the 25th anniversary of Love Story. Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal were the guests. It was a sweet, heart warming kind of show....and a great experience. Oprah was as fab as you would imagine.

A really cool part of the day happened after the taping though. We wanted our picture taken in front of the Harpo sign and asked some passerbys to take a picture of us. We made a little small talk with them (2 girls about my age and an older man) and it turned out the man worked at Harpo and offered to take us inside for a backstage tour. Ummm, yes please! We got to see some cool things and got to hear some great stories. I'm so glad I got to go one more time before her show ends!

10.2.10

We headed to a wedding in Naperville in the beginning of October. Since we didn't want to drive 3 hours in our formalwear, and couldnt check into our hotel until after the ceremony, we had to find a spot to get ready once we got to town. Right next to the church was a high school where they were conveniently playing a soccer game. It was cold and rainy, but we did what we needed to do and used their public outdoor bathroom there. Pretty classy.

I must give the styling of this wedding props. Everything from the linens, the paper products, the chivari chairs all the way to the elaborate centerpieces were perfectly coordinated. Beautiful!

9.25.10

Last weekend we participated in the highly anticipated Curd Crawl 2010. Lindsay (pictured) organized this event and it is exactly what it sounds like: the concept of a pub crawl, except instead of sampling beers, we sampled the best cheese curds Madison has to offer...except we also took part in our fair share of drinking beer too.

The Crawl started out at Dotty Dumpling's Dowry, followed by State Street Brats, The Plaza, and The Old Fashioned and finished up at The Great Dane. We consumed a lot of curds, my friends. We picked up a few other random crawlers with us along the way as well...who happened to be from Ellsworth, WI, which is the cheese curd capital of Wisconsin. What are the chances, people!? It was kismet!

Lindsay made official ballots and we all took the judging quite seriously. Plus points went to those places that offered multiple dipping sauces, good appearance, gooeyness, etc. Dotty's offered no dipping sauces and actually charged for a side of ranch. cheap! 0 points for sauces there! By the time we got to the Great Dane, we could only choke down 1 curd per person, but we all were troopers and got it done. At the end of the night we took a poll on our favorite curds of the day and I think the majority said Old Fashioned. Prior to the crawl, I would have definitely said my favorites were from there as well, but The Plaza totally won me over and they might have scooted its way to the #1 spot. Overwhelming worst curd went to Brats. They were starchy and hardly even melty. You have been warned.

9.18.10

We headed to our first Badger tailgate of the year a few weeks ago. The weather was perfect. I mistakenly brought a fleece with me that was unneeded for most of the day. I think I ended up wearing it around my waist, early 90s style for a while. We had a fantastic day - hoping to make it to at least 1 more tailgate before the season ends!

In unrelated news, my hair is a little unruly in this picture. Don't worry, I remedied that situation this week and got a much needed cut and color.

9.12.10

That was getting kind of annoying seeing my feet everytime you visited this blog, eh? Gross. My pal, Heath, did the Ironman again this year, so I went down to the lakeshore path to hopefully see him and cheer him on. I planned it out pretty well this year and tracked him online all day. I successfully saw him around 3pm during his first loop. We walked together for about a mile while he felt like he needed a break...perfect timing on my part, even though I was prepared to run with him too. When he was ready to run again, I wished him luck and bid him adieu...and then met my friend, Lindsey, to watch the runners on State Street.

Fun fact: we saw a blind athlete! Whhhaaa? He was connected by a buddy band type system with another person. We were confused how he would have been able to do the bike though. Is it a tandem? Couldnt be a sidecar situation because he would have to do the pedaling. If it is a tandem bike, does their partner pedal at all? If so, that would seem a tad unfair. Either way, when he came running down State Street the entire crowd rose to their feet and roared with applause. It was amazing...and inspiring...and for about 30 seconds I thought, maybe I could be an Ironman. And then those 30 seconds were over and I came back to reality.

9.11.10

So let me get this straight. Just like that, summer is over?? These flip flop tan lines are basically a thing of the past...even though I just got them about 2 weeks ago when I was lounging on the beach in my swim suit sweating my butt off? Is this correct?

This blows.

Oh, and I just saw a commercial for the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

9.6.10

Labor day afternoon/evening was spent at our pals' house for a bbq. There was bags and bocce ball and a dip contest. We made our own rules for bocce and had to throw it different in each round. I'm sure El will love this angle. And the dip contest? Well, everyone was instructed to bring a dip and we all sampled and picked a winner. Our artichoke dip tied for second place. First place went to Lindsey's pretzel mustard dip...which I didn't even try because mustard makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

9.5.10

We headed to Devils Lake on Sunday to do some hiking. Before we made our way up the bluffs, we sat down to eat a picnic lunch (Subway). It was rather crowded, so we sat in a spot close to a parking lot. We were enjoying our lunch when all of a sudden we noticed a little boy getting horribly scolded. Reason: because he had just taken a large rock and scratched the entire length of the family's Lexus SUV. ummm, yeah. Mom was not happy and made it clear to him that Dad would have words with him when he got home. I'm guessing that kind of put a damper on the afternoon outing to Devils Lake for them.

9.4.10

We headed out for our now annual Labor Day weekend tradition of going to the Taste of Madison and seeing Too White Crew. This year we met up with my cousin and his wife (my cousin-in-law perhaps?) and some friends. We sampled less than we have in years past...instead sticking to what we know and like. Namely, the Old Fashioned's cheese curds. TWC were a little late getting on the stage, but like normal, did not disappoint!

8.28.10

Lisa's sunglasses broke on day 2.

8.27.10

Our annual yurting weekend. I am keeping the incriminating pictures for my personal collection. This year was especially fun, I think. We were encouraged to bring a crazy hat this year, but Jon and I didn't really think about it or put any effort into going out and buying one until the night before. We had this one laying around. My sister in law, on the other hand, busted out this light up fuzzy pink leopard gem.

8.21.10

money shot.

8.20.10

Here I was teaching Jon some things about composition and was modeling for him. Yes, this face and pose has model written all over it, doesnt it??

8.18.10

I had to work in Milwaukee during the week, so I went to Tosa Tonight with Nancy, Tyler, Diz and Charlie. I went earlier in the summer to this event and it wasn't too crowded so I told Diz we wouldnt need a meeting spot and that we would just see each other. Except when we got there, it was packed and there was hardly any grass open...and my phone was dead. Luckily Diz is smart and stayed near the thoroughfare and we found each other with no problem. It took us all back to 1999 when no one really had phones and had to rely on making plans though. We spent much of the night smiling and making faces at this little chica. She was so good all night (!)...and stayed up way past her bedtime.

8.15.10

Obligatory cream puff shot from the fair. Jon and I ate our way through and added a new favorite menu item to our annual stops: Brad and Harry's Cheese Curds. Woowee. Top 5 best cheese curd I have ever had for sure. (thanks to diz for the recommendation)

8.14.10

Gina, Todd, Coop, Fish, Mom, Jon and I went to Bayshore mall where they have an outdoor fountain/splash pad to let Cooper run around. He obviously had a blast. My favorite part was when we were packing up to go and Gina told him that we needed to get going...he ran up to her and said, "1 more". I guess she has been saying that to him a lot lately in different circumstances and he has started to turn it back around on her. ha! He did this "1 more" bit about 5 times. Here he is in action with his "1 more" business.

Later that night, Jon and I played babysitter while the rest of the adults were out having their own fun. It started off a little rough with the mother of all meltdowns on Coop's end (Gina and Todd would probably disagree with that claim though), but we were all friends again by the end of the night.

8.12.10

My parents had to deliver the headboard a couple days after we made it since it was made at their house and my car is not big enough for it. We made it pretty tall, but I enjoy the statement it makes in our room. Finished picture to come...

8.11.10

My dad and I made one of those upholstered headboards that are all over the internet. In a nutshell, it was super easy and now that we have made one, all subsequent headboards should be able to be put together rather quickly. I took detailed pictures of all of the steps. I'll be posting a comprehensive recap of it soon. (but let's get serious, with my track record it will be another 3 months.)

8.10.10

I was at my parents' and spotted this street down the road with leaves turning color. This was a shockingly unpleasant sight in the beginning of August.

8.9.10

August 9th was our actual anniversary - even though we did our celebrating the night before. 2 years! We have made a tradition of wearing our wedding shoes on our anniversary. Or in this year's case, the night before our anniversary. (I had us put them on again for this shot) I'm liking this tradition a lot. I have to convince my husband this is an awesome tradition every year though. He struggles with it big time because he doesn't want to risk the chance of ruining them. I have to remind him that if there is any time he should wear them, it is this day. I think he begrudgingly agrees...and then probably buffs out the scuffs when we get home. just kidding. he doesnt do that....that I know of.

8.8.10

We headed to Chicago for our anniversary. Our pals let them us at their unoccupied downtown condo. Do Chicagoans call michigan ave. area "downtown"? I just sort of made that up. Either way, the place was in a perfect location for the things we had planned. We spent the day doing the requisite walk down Michigan Ave. to Millenium Park. Then headed back and got ready for our anniversary dinner. We went to Mon Ami Gabi in Lincoln Park. This restaurant has a few other locations around the country - 2 of which we have been to - and since we love it so much there, we figured we would try the Chicago locale. We were very pleased. Afterward we got some cupcakes down the street for dessert (separate post on cupcakes to follow).

8.7.10

Gina brought the boys over to swim and hang out while our husbands were off doing things they do. (honestly, it was so long ago I'm having a hard time remembering what they did). When I took this picture, I told Cooper that I was going to count to three and then he should jump. Except he never waited until 3...and I had to be quick on shutter release! (and I just remembered that Todd and Jon went to their friend's bday party)

7.28.10

A couple days before Nancy and Tyler were officially out of their apartment, they asked that I take a few pictures from across the street so they could have a memento of this time in their life. Luckily there is a rooftop restaurant directly across the street and I was able to get this shot! Afterward we headed up the block to Concert on the Square and then to Graze for a late night bite to eat.

7.25.10

This restaurant is a few blocks from my parents' house...but this weekend that I was in town, the sign out front said that it closed! I felt really sad about it at first, but then I realized I/we had never been to this restaurant. Yes, this place is within walking distance from the place I lived for the majority of my life and we never went inside. The gaudy sign was definitely a part of the neighborhood though and it will be missed.

The good news is, one of the most popular Mexican restaurants in the city is opening a second location in it's place. Soooo, maybe it wasn't such a loss in the first place.

7.24.10

Rachel got married on July 24th! There were so many friends there, some I hadnt seen in years, so I spent little time taking pictures. Rach looked gorgeous though! Her dress was amazing (Jim Hjelm, I heard). They even had an "hora loca" later in the night. I found out that was what it was called after the fact. At the time, all I knew was all of a sudden everyone had crazy hats, noisemakers, fake mustaches, etc.

...and you know it's not a party unless Beyond the Booth is there! We partnered up with Meghan and Taylor for this gem:

7.23.10

Leaving all these pictures to post so far after the date is making for some bland recaps. I think this one should make up for that though! This is a hilarious story...at least to me...and probably to anyone who knows my mom.

A couple weeks ago, we stayed at their house while they were out of town. It was right before we were expected to get a lot of rain and flooding, so I talked on the phone with them about what kinds of things we might need to do while we are at their house. When we were done with our conversation, I said to my mom, "ok, now you dont need to leave a note about this or anything because we already talked about it. We got it covered." When we walked in the door, we were greeted with this gem.

7.21.10

I skipped this day the last time I did a mass update on this blog. What is my problem with updating this thing? It is pretty much officially the end of summer and I have not even done one update for August. extreme lameness.

Back to July 21st. Nancy and Tyler (Mr. and Mrs. Madison as we lovingly called them) had only a couple weeks left in Madison before they moved, so El and I threw a little going away get together for them at the Terrace. While we were organizing it, we decided we would bring some light dinner food for everyone to snack on and we would buy pitchers when we got there. The day of the party, I was talking to El and I start second guessing our plan and say, "they allow us to bring food there, right?" to which she says, "yeah. I mean, I think so. I've brought Chiptole there, why can't we bring sandwiches?"....

....well, as it turns out you cannot bring carryins. Maybe if one had a small group and were subtle about it, it wouldnt be a big deal. In our case, we had about 25 people and large quantities of sandwiches, chips and desserts. Woops. We got a slap of the hand and were told the rules, but they were nice enough to let us stay and keep our food. thanks, Terrace workers, for not breaking up our party!

7.18.10

My uncle was in town from San Francisco, so we had a bbq at my parents' to get the whole fam together. Pretty much everyone was there too, which doesnt even happen on holidays. These kinds of occasions require a family picture, obviously

7.17.10

Maxwell Street Days 2010! I realized this year that I think the sales just arent as good as they used to be. It is still a ton of fun though. I got a pair of Pumas for Jon and I at the store where this picture was taken for $30 each. Not a total steal, but about 50% off. Meg and I thought these hi-tops were pret-tay sweet.

This also marked the second year in a row that we missed watching the Paddle and Portage. Arrrrgghh! So maddening!

7.15.10

The day after Gina's bday, we went to the children's museum. I used to work there, so it was fun being back! Toward the end of the trip, this kid had a little meltdown when he had to wait to go into one of the play areas. Good thing we think he is cute and forget about the meltdowns fast! Well, we all do. Not sure if Gina forgets about them as fast...

7.14.10

On Gina's birthday, the fam went to a local concert in the park in Wauwatosa. I had been pumped to go to one of these concerts since they built a bandshell about a year ago...and it did not disappoint! This night featured bluegrass music, which we enjoyed while having a picnic dinner and watching the kids dance on the dance floor.

7.13.10

Happy Birthday to Gina (on July 14th!)

7.5.10

Before we headed out of town, we made a stop at the Sun Drop bottling company. Our new friends, Jen and Andy, have family who own the company, so we got a behind the scenes tour of the operation. Sun Drop is huge in Shawano. It is in every restaurant and bar, right along side Diet Coke...and I wouldnt be surprised if Sun Drop outsells Diet Coke actually. Anyway, this company still bottles Sun Drop in glass bottles and we got to see the assembly line it goes through to get bottled. It was like we were in an episode of Unwrapped!

I also got to taste my first Sun Drop. I am here to report that it was delicious! Sort like a less sweet version of Mountain Dew, maybe? Yummy. Coop could be a spokeschild for how tasty Sun Drop is in this picture I think.

7.4.10

We all got up bright and early, with our red white and blue best on, to go to the Bonduel 4th of July parade. Now, I have not been to a parade in quite some time, so I was quite out of the loop when I realized the name of the game is no longer to just sit and wave at the passerbys...but instead to gather as much candy as possible. I think every float threw out candy...or string cheese...or freeze pops. It was every man for himself out there too. I wouldnt be surprised if I saw an adult leap over a kid for a freeze pop.

7.3.10

The group for the weekend in Shawano included: us, Gina, Todd, Coop and Fish, Barney and Gina and Todd's friends Jen and Andy and their 2 kids. We had only met them once (briefly) prior to this weekend, but we all had such a great time together! Everyone pitched in with helping with the kids, making meals, sharing food, drinks, stories. It was such a great group. I love this picture of Gina and Marren because they look like they are college girlfriends or something.

Interesting side note: on this morning, I went for a run and ran into 2 people I hadnt seen in at least 5 years...one of which lives in Australia...and remember, this all went down on the side of the road in Shawano, Wisconsin. It was so crazy...and awesome!

7.2.10

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Shawano at my brother-in-law's parents' place. It really felt like the quintessential holiday weekend. We were at the lake, great weather, in a small town, with family, relaxing, fireworks, bbqs, sparklers, parades. It was a blast! Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy many more summer weekends at this cottage in the future. We got there around noon on Friday and got right to the beach with the kids to make the first of many "lakes" and sandcastles. We later had dinner at the famed Amico's pizza for stuffed crust pizza. If one is ever in the Shawano area, a stop at Amico's is a must!