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!

6.28.10

I can't believe this summer is almost over and I am posting pictures from June still. Wow, I really have sucked at posting. Anyway, at the end of June, I was walking around the Bascom Hill area and loved this little window!

6.27.20

My first - and probably only - Brewer game of the year! I didn't even get nachos when I was there. Sacrilege!

6.26.2010

We were in West Bend at the end of June for my cousin's 30th bday. This is her precious puppy! I have been a fan of the King Charles Cavalier Spaniels for some time now, but hadn't seen the tri-color until recently. Isn't he handsome??

6.25.10

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We rounded out our week of country concerts at Dierks Bentley at Summerfest. I thought maybe the internet would like to see what it is like for a 5ft person to go to a concert in a crowd of people who are literally shoulder to shoulder. This was my view for the entire concert. It was awful. At one point someone stepped on my foot and when I said "ow!" and gave him a dirty look, he actually had the audacity to yell back at me. Nice. It was all around really unfortunate because we were really looking forward to seeing Dierks. We are going to try to see him again in a few weeks to make up for this awful experience.

6.24.10

I am so confused by this place. It's like a run down rv campground on the side of the highway in Oshkosh, but it has this really elaborate (ripped off) sign. I don't get it. By the look of the conditions of the place, I seriously think they spent all of their 2009 earnings on the sign.

6.23.10

Day 2 of Country USA, we had one more comrade join us (Gina), and we saw Darius Rucker. Now, tease all you want about Hootie and the Blowfish, but Gina and I are loud and proud Hootie and the Blowfish fans...but mostly Darius Rucker fans I guess. His voice is awesome. How can you deny the awesomeness that is Hold My Hand?? You cannot. And let me tell you something, not only did he sing Hold My Hand, he also sang Only Wanna Be With You and Let Her Cry. Good...no GREAT....times.

Prior to Darius taking the stage a huge storm rolled through. No worries though - we just packed up our chairs and set them up under a tent. Got ourselves some refreshments and waited it out while we did a little more people watching. These get ups were our faves for sure. 2 guys matching head to toe....except the one on the right added a little pizzaz to his by wearing some white spandex under his cutoffs. Classy.