I’m crazy pumpkin head – give me some candy!

Unlike my husband, who holds this as his favorite holiday, I’ve never really been a big Halloween fan. Maybe it’s because I’m extremely uncreative (if that’s a word) and can never think up nor really feel like putting together a good costume, whereas he is the master. I mean, I always liked Halloween parties in school and stuff, and admire people who go all out on the decorations. You know, dry ice for scary smoke; bowls of jello, spaghetti, and grapes to represent various guts and body parts; robotic mummies and witches all over the place to bend over or jump out and scare you at just the right moment; spooky music. It’s just never been my thing to try and set upĀ all that paraphernalia.

I’m more the simple pumpkins and mums on the front porch type. And although I’m the biggest wimp on the planet, I will admit that even I do like a really good, seriously frightening horror movie this time of the year. As long as there’s someone sitting next to me into whose lap I can jump, or a giant blanket under which to hide myself at the really terrifying parts, that is.

Carving pumpkins has never been the highlight of my year either, as I hate grabbing through all the innards and usually just go with a traditional smiling jack-o-lantern face. This year, however, I decided to spice things up a bit with the carving. We had a couple carving kits leftover from years past that I busted out last night, and we now have some pretty sweet-looking pumpkins on our front steps. And no, I didn’t suddenly get all artistically talented or anything; they were stencils. R did do D’s free-hand, though. See, I told you he’s the creative one in this family.

A little pumpkin? For me? Thanks! (pay no attention to the overflowing recycling bin in the background. *ahem*)
Daddy showing how to dig out the guts
Oh like this, Dad?
Hee - pumpkins are fun!
Daaad, gross, I don't want to eat that!
Well now what?
Pumpkins are REALLY fun!
Clothes get in the way of pumpkin carving
Bonus pic - D's new play corner in the living room
Family of jack-o-lanterns
D's
Mommy's (pattern was really called pumpkin head)
Daddy's

Didn’t they turn out great? It only took a couple hours to get them all finished because I had to give D a bath in the middle and then her incoming molar caused a scene at bedtime, but I’d say it was worth it. I did enjoy seeing D playing with her pumpkin this year, so that got me a little more in the Halloween spirit. And instead of real candles, this year we’re using little flickering pumpkin lights so we don’t have to worry about them constantly blowing out. Geniuses at work, I tell ya.

Happy Halloween!

 

Super fan recap

Are you kidding me with our sports this weekend?? How amazing was that! In case you were in a cave, under a rock, or in a remote part of the world with neither signal nor connection, let me give you the low-down of this historic weekend in Sconnie-land…

Saturday

1:07 pm: Ā The Brewers hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks in game 1 of the NLDS. Tidbit – this was the first time in history that the Brewers opened up a playoff series at home. Pretty cool. And we were at Miller Park, witnessing every pitch. It was awesome!! I must admit, though, the crowd was extremely underwhelming in their enthusiasm level. Remember how I said the playoff games we attended in 2008 were electrifying? The ones this weekend were more on the level of a shock you get in dry air when you walk on carpet with socks on then touch something metal. In other words, snooze-a-riffic. I have no idea why, seeing as this is the PLAYOFFS, but I digress. The Brewers won 4-1, everyone left the stadium in a great mood, and we still had another game to watch. It was Badgers time!

7:00 pm: Ā Kickoff at Camp Randall, where the Badgers hosted the Nebraska Cornhuskers. (seriously? cornhuskers? nice mascot) I was uber jealous of everyone at the game in Madison, but we had our fun earlier watching the Brewers win so settled in with some pizza for football-viewing at home. I went into this one feeling like we’d probably win, but it’d be a really close game. Um, wrong. We blew them away! Badgers won 48-17, and I was just happy to see that Camp Randall didn’t collapse during that rendition of Jump Around. We are now 5-0, thankyouverymuch.

Sunday

12:00 pm: Ā The Chicago Bears hosted the Carolina Panthers and beat them 34-29. Devin Hester set an NFL record with his 11th punt return for a touchdown, Matt Forte ran for a career-high 205 yards, and I’d just like to say Cam Newton, Shmam Newton. Oh, wait, what? You’re Packers fans? Ok fine – they hosted the Denver Broncos at 3:00 pm and crushed them too, 49-23.

4:07 pm: Ā Game 2 of the NLDS at Miller Park. The Brewers continued their domination with a 5-run 6th inning and beat the D-backs 9-4. We were lucky enough to be at this game too, with D in tow this time, and witnessed more history being made. Ryan Braun hit his first postseason home run ever, and the Brewers became the only team with a 2-0 postseason series lead right now. Can you say BEAST MODE??

Talk about exciting! It was definitely a great weekend to be a Badger!! Now let’s keep it up. The Brewers continue their series Tuesday night out in Arizona, and the Badgers have this coming Saturday off before hosting Indiana at Camp Randall for Homecoming weekend in 2 weeks. As the sports writers are saying, this weekend was one for the ages. We saw 4 nationally televised games, a potential Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback in action in Russell Wilson, a potential NL MVP in action (that’d be Brauny), and yes, for you Packers fans, a potential NFL MVP in action as well in Rodgers. 237,101 fans attended 1 of the 4 games this weekend, with some lucky ones making it to 2 or more. It really was tremendous. Go Wisconsin!

 

Worth at least a couple thousand words

Ever have one (or more) of those weeks where you just can’t seem to get caught up? That’s how I’ve felt since we got back from Colorado the other weekend. I’ve been doing a lot of exploring of and venturing farther out into the social media/networking world, and have set some pretty lofty goals for myself with this here little blog, which has ended up taking up much of the time I usually use to dedicate to my posts. Hence, the lack of pictures for you.

Until now! I finally picked out the ones I thought best summed up our awesome trip. The wedding was beautiful, the scenery was divine, and the company couldn’t have been better. Besides D’s illnesses, it was fantastic. Congratulations again to my sister M and now brother-in-law C – may you enjoy a long and happy lifetime together!

I made the photos small again since there are so many, so please click on any to make them bigger:

Get me!
R pretending he's freezing on an "ice cube" chair at Coors

Continue reading “Worth at least a couple thousand words”

I.O.U.

Ok, I know I’m way behind on my picture posting. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to work on them this weekend either, so you’ll just have to keep waiting. So sorry.

But this weekend was fantastic. We headed down to my mom’s house Friday after work, because we were going to the Badgers vs. NIU game at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday. So we caught a couple trains into the city Saturday morning, met up with all our friends at one of their friend’s condos, and trained it back downtown to get into the stadium shortly after kickoff. Our whole group sat together in a section full of NIU fans, but they were quickly silenced as the Badgers dominated, winning 49-7. Oh yeah, Bucky!! Plus the weather was absolutely perfect for a game day – right around 70 and sunny. So awesome.

Here’s a teaser pic from the game. Sorry for all the peeks. The full photographic run-downs will be coming soon. Promise.

Thanks, C - I borrowed your photo! šŸ™‚

 

 

Off we go

Into the wild blue yonder. Or Colorado, whichever.

My sister M gets married on Saturday, so tonight we head west for the rest of the week and weekend. I couldn’t find a picture of the exact dress I will be wearing, but it’s similar to this one except in purple:

Suzi Chin for Maggy Boutique, Nordstrom

I’ll make sure to post some pictures when we return to show you the real thing. These, however, are my exact shoes. A terrible choice for what turned out to be an outdoor ceremony, and I haven’t spent nearly enough time breaking them in, so I’m afraid they won’t last long. I’m definitely taking a pair of flats or flip-flops or something to wear when I can no longer stand these skyscrapers:

Enzo Angiolini "Sully", Nordstrom

And I know you’re all dying to know, so here’s what D is wearing as well:

A little blurry and unfortunately I don't know the brand, Neiman Marcus
GFVEY Waltz, Target

 

Wish us luck on the flights, and I’ll see you next week!

 

Good eats

I just love long weekends, don’t you? This past one was no exception, it being the Labor Day holiday and all.

Friday night we saw the Tedeschi Trucks Band in concert at the Riverside Theater downtown (side note: if you ever have the chance to see live music at either the riverside or pabst theaters in milwaukee, do! they are the most awesome, intimate venues). They were amazing!! Susan Tedeschi is an excellent bluesy/jazzy singer, and man, can she play a mean guitar, too. Her husband, Derek Trucks, is also the guitarist for the Allman Brothers. So, duh, you know he’s good. But the best part? Susan wore blue strappy stilettos on stage for the entire show! That’s my girl.

Saturday morning I got my hair trimmed and colored (sayonara grays!), then we went up to the Sheboygan County Fair that afternoon. If there’s a Hot Wisconsin Cheese stand within 100Ā  miles you know we have to get our fix. Fortunately the rain held off for us up there, because it poured here for the better part of the day. Pushing D around in her stroller in mud and barn slop would not have been pleasant.

Sunday and Monday were a continuation of the culinary adventures that always occur on our holiday weekends, and this time we nommed on 2 rounds of surf ‘n turf. Yumola! Sunday night we had our good friends A and S over, which is always a blast. They are expecting their first baby, a boy, due in January, so I always love catching up with S and seeing how things are going. And of course D had to show off her walking and running skills, along with all her toys. Monday night was round 2 of our meaty delicacies, for just me and R. Who says you can’t enjoy this stuff just cuz?

 

 

The weather has taken a decidedly cooler turn, too. Yesterday was quite brisk in the breeze, and the nights are downright chilly. I do love Fall, but this year I’m just especially sad to see Summer go. I love being outside in the sun and warmth. Maybe we’ll get some wonderful Indian Summer days to stretch the season out just a little bit longer…

 

Are you ready for some football?

First of all, who’s sufficiently stuck to their seats? It was 83 on the temperature gauge this morning on our way up to 92 today, with about 400% humidity, and my hair is ready to curl off my head. Blech. I was hoping we were past these days for the summer, but apparently I was mistaken. Fortunately it’s only supposed to last today, so that’s not too bad. Poor air conditioning did have to come back on, though.

But to my real point… It’s one of my favorite times of year again, people – college football season!! That and college basketball, specifically UW-Madison Badgers football and basketball, are simply wonderful. I enjoy them so much more than pro. NFL I like, but NBA? Are you kidding me? No thank you very much.

The Badgers played their season opener at home in Camp Randall last night against UNLV, and blasted ’em 51-17. Go Badgers!!

Here’s a stroll down memory lane from some of our past Badger football game appearances:

This usually happens before/after a Badger game - at the Great Dane, Oct. 16, 2010
It was billed as the last "Glory Daze" for our friends
We beat #1 OSU!! I would've LOVED to have been down on that field
Yep, we taught 'em how to Bucky. And you know this!
Oct. 31, 2009 vs. Purdue
Purdue can kiss R's butt (we won šŸ˜‰ )
Our brick outside Camp Randall
Nov. 15, 2008 vs. Minnesota - I got to go out on the field with past letter winners. Very awesome
Oct. 25, 2008 vs. Illinois - Badger Fun Day, view from a suite, amazing
Nov. 10, 2007 vs. Michigan
Oct. 28, 2006 vs. Illinois
Oct. 22, 2005 vs. Purdue
Sept. 25, 2004 vs. Penn St.
Oct. 18, 2003 vs. Purdue - look how young everyone looks!

Have a great long weekend – Happy Labor Day!

 

p.s. and again, run stats for the week: tuesday i ran 1.86 miles in 15:21 for an 8:15 pace, and last night i ran 2.11 miles in 17:46 for an 8:24 pace. short but sweet was the theme this week, so hopefully i can get a longer one in this weekend sometime.