This was the most expensive meal we have ever had. This restaurant exists in New York and apparently it is super exclusive. It is impossible to get a reservation and there might be people who have memberships there, I think. I had heard about this place and their legendary meatballs on the Food Network and on Top Chef, so I knew we had to go there since I knew we would never make it to the NY one. I am here to tell you the meatballs were delicious. I have never been so stuffed in my entire life though...and woah, we spent a lot.
Our friends got married in Jamaica and had a reception in town a week later for those who were not able to make the trip. It was great seeing everyone (it had been a while!) and getting dressed up...even though it looks like I am just wearing a black tshirt in this picture. I swear it is a dress. We did the standard eating, drinking and dancing...and somewhere along the line realized there were a fair share of 30 somethings who have Beiber Fever.
We help out our pals over at Beyond the Booth when they are double booked and this one was unfortunately scheduled on the same day as the Packer game! It was tragic, but we had a plan to record it and watch it after we were done. We had never done that, but we decided that avoiding it completely wouldn't be a problem. That plan was quickly foiled when we got to the reception venue and there were tvs set up near the bar areas. bleh. I know, you'd think we would be praising Jesus, but not so much. We like to actually watch the game...and since we had to work, there wouldnt really be any way to do that. We worked until the 3rd quarter and could kind of gather that they were winning when we left by the number of times there was an eruption of applause and cheers. We still watched the game when we got home though and saw the walloping we gave to Atlanta. It just wasn't the same as watching in real time though.
Forget how inconvenienced WE were though. I felt really bad for the bride at this wedding. Most of the guests were crowded around the tv the whole night, which made for not much paying attention to their slideshow, first dances and dancing in general. The upside is that the Packers won though. I would guess that if we lost the mood might not have been so jolly.
We watched The Social Network and Going the Distance on Friday. I can't believe it took us so long to see The Social Network actually. We loved it too, but I knew I would even before I saw it...and I also do not mind a little more JT on my Friday night.
Going the Distance was really good too - pretty funny, but definitely not G rated...not even close to PG-13 rated actually.
Jon made his famous popcorn for our movie watching enjoyment. His popcorn is actually only famous in our house since no one has ever eaten it besides the 2 of us. He makes it the old fashioned way and if anyone else every ate it, I am sure it would become famous.
We have another year of Black Friday shopping under our belts! Here we are in line at Menards waiting to buy a Cricut at about 5:45 am. We ended up getting a lot of good stuff there - besides getting 2 Cricuts, we got a ShopVac, some pillows and other doodads. This was right after Todd got injured, by the way. He walked into a cement pole that was about 2 feet high while we were waiting in line around the building in the pitch dark and hit his shin pretty hard. Darn shopping injuries.
I had the night off from class, so I tagged along with Jon to watch his soccer game. I used to play on this team until I got injured earlier this year, leaving my soccer days in the past probably for good. waaaaaaa!
They won this game by a lot...they tend to win every week by a lot. They should probably be in a more competitive league. I think it has a lot to do with Jon's intimidating goalie skills. ;)
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:
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?
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.
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.
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:
I have gotten yelled at 2 weeks in a row by a threesome of my nearest and dearest friends for not updating this here blog...and you know what they sort of have a point. It has been a month! This summer is going by so fast, it is kind of ridiculous. So let's take a look back to the end of June, shall we?
On Tuesday, June 22, Jon and I drove to Oshkosh to see the Zac Brown Band at Country USA! Yeeehaw! We met up with my brother in law and 2 of Jon's other friends there. They are old pros at these country festivals - they used to go every year to a different festival in Eau Claire - but it was a first for me. I was warned that I wouldnt be able to see the stage at all, which I definitely couldnt, but I also didn't mind. You see, you bring your own chairs to these festivals, so I was comfy cozy laid back in my own chair toe tappin to Toes and Chicken Fried the whole night instead of being in a tiny chair squished next to a stranger in a huge arena. Great people watching at these festivals too - never saw so many confederate flags in my life! I did not get the memo that the "uniform" for ladies at these events are bikini tops and cutoff shorts though! Geez. I felt so out of place.
So here's the thing. I haven't been keeping up with the 52 project. It's done. I hate myself for not keeping up with it and not seeing it through to the end. But it ended up being something that I dreaded and felt annoyed that I had to do....and I really hate doing things I don't want to do. Other things I hate to do: get my oil changed, put laundry away, getting up in the morning.
I've found that this is the format I like best. One picture. A little caption. So I'm going to keep up with it.
...but maybe I'll at least finish the alphabet...just to make myself feel better.
The fam on day 2 at the Blue Harbor resort. This place is awesome, btw. It is less than an hour from Milwaukee and about 2 from Madison, but once you get there, you kind of feel like you are at an coastal town in Massachusetts or something. It is gorgeous!
And there she is. The last picture of this project! I went to Party City in hopes of finding those 2010 glasses so we could have a fun picture, but they didn't have any. boooo. Oh well. This picture was taken exactly at midnight - or maybe 11:59. We aren't much a pair that gets into the New Year revelry, so we went to dinner and watched (500) Days of Summer (which was awesome). Happy New Year! 2009 recap coming up...
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