Can't really think of a creative title...

But then again, can I ever? Not really. :) Well, things have been kind of crazy for us. I just got back on Wednesday night from a publishing conference in Chicago. That was really fun; very informative. I loved the editorial track; I was able to take away a bunch of new strategies for my magazines. Woohoo! And, of course, Chicago's always fun. We went to some awesome restaurants, paid for by my boss, so that made it even better! We tried this delicious steak house one night, an Italian restaurant the next, and then a seafood joint on our way home. I actually tried mussels, oysters and frog legs. Can you believe it? I'm such a picky eater, I never thought that would happen! The mussels were ok, the oysters I had to spit out because I thought I was going to throw up, and the frog legs were actually quite tasty. Hmmm. It looks like I'm expanding my repertoire.

I actually have to leave for Chicago *again* next Sunday for another conference; this one is put on by one of my publications. Agh; I love Chicago, but I'm feeling like I'm there more than I'm in Madison! And, Wednesday the 8th is Dan's 27th birthday, so I'll miss that (since I won't get home til late Wednesday night). Oh well; I've planned out where we're going to go for his birthday (we'll do it on the weekend); it's this new Brazilian steakhouse right downtown. It's supposed to be really good, so I'm excited to take him there! It's going to be a surprise, so that should be fun.

This weekend was kind of laid back; we went and saw Tracy's play again, which was hilarious, and we babysat Rori a lot too. She's such a doll; I just love her. We were watching her yesterday, and she wanted to help me make banana bread, so we had to pretend that we were on a cooking show, and if I forgot to narrate what I was doing, she would remind me that "the audience doesn't know what you're doing if you don't tell them, manda." She's such a hoot; I can't even take it. I LOVE spending time with her; I can't wait until I can be a stay at home mom to my own kids!

Other than that, nothing really going on. Dan and I are both kind of sick, but I've been so stressed at work that there's no way I could call in. Ugh. Oh well; I'd rather be too busy as opposed to bored!

You know what I love?

Working 11 hours a day, especially on a Friday. Yep, that's what happened today. Had to be at work early, so I got there at 7, and I didn't leave until after 6. Oh, and I got a whopping 10 minutes for lunch when I ran to Cousins' Subs. Yay, right? Agh, I'm so frustrated. I had TWO magazines going to print TODAY, so that was obviously a huge contributor to the stress. And, one of the other editors for one of my magazines (I'm the sole editor for Parcel, but for Inside Wisconsin Sports, it's both Erin and me) was gone for vacation. So not only did I have to do my stories, I had to do hers as well. And on top of that, I am going to be gone Monday-Wednesday at a publishing conference, so everything absolutely had to be done today. *Sigh*. It was quite frustrating.

Luckily, I got out of there at 6:15 pm, and I'm now sitting on my couch, relaxing with a beer. I don't think Dan and I are even going to do anything tonight, since we're both so stressed from work. Oh well. At least the conference in Chicago should be fun; I'm looking forward to that (although when I get back from that, I have yet another magazine going to print.) AGGGH. It's going to be a crazy couple of weeks :)

My mom's a celebrity!

Ok, well, not really, but she DID get mentioned in a newspaper in California. She, my dad and my aunt and uncle (along with some other relatives) went to California this past weekend for the UW game against Fresno State. Not only did UW win (woohoo!!) but my mom and aunt Janet got interviewed by a reporter who was covering the game.

You can see it here; just scroll down aways.

Go Badgers!

Weekend Recap

Well, we had a fun and relaxing weekend. Our living room and kitchen are now clean, which is always the sign of a successful weekend. On Saturday, Dan and I went to see Righteous Kill, with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. It was pretty good; one of those films where you think it's going in one direction, and then at the end, they totally throw you for a loop.

Today we went to lunch with Tracy and the girls at Lazy Jane's, which is this hippie type restaurant on the East Side. Afterward, we took the girls to Target, since they always like to go shopping. We bought Rori a computer game that was on sale, The Disney Princess Royal Horse Show, as kind of a "back to school" type gift (we had bought Kirsti some stuff the week before). Needless to say, Rori was thrilled (she loves ANYTHING with Disney princesses) and she played it for a good couple of hours. It's so funny to see a five year old so adept at the computer; when I was 5, computers were barely coming into popularity, and it certainly wasn't something that every residence had, like now! Computers are just second nature to kids Rori's age; it makes me feel kind of old, and I'm only 26! :)

So, we didn't do too much, but it was still fun. The only problem is, I feel like I'm coming down with a cold and sore throat, and I have a busy week at work coming up.... ugh. This is so NOT the time to be sick!

Seven Years

It's crazy to think it's been seven years since September 11. I was reading this article that asked, "Where were YOU when September 11 happened?" and I got to thinking about that and how much time has passed since then.

I remember that September 11, 2001 happened on a Tuesday. I was a sophomore in college and living in my lakeshore dorm then (that was my favorite residence through all of college!) On Tuesdays, I only had one class; my French III class at 12:05. Being the typical college student, that meant I usually stayed up late on Monday nights and then slept in until around 11 or so on Tuesday mornings.

So there I was, sleeping peacefully on my futon (which, as you know, is a staple for all college dorm rooms), and my phone rings. The first thing I think is, "Who the heck is calling me so early?" (10:30 was early to me back then.) I groggily answered my phone, and it was my mom. "Did you hear that the Pentagon was attacked?" she asked. That made me sit straight up, suddenly awake. I, of course, had not heard that, being that I was asleep up until that moment.

I turned on the TV then, and I really couldn't even grasp the horror of what I was seeing. It just seemed so surreal to me, like it was a movie. And no one really knew for sure what was happening; people were mixing rumors and hearsay in with the facts, since it was so hard to get a straight story at first. I called Dan (this is when he worked during the day at WPS, and only went to school at night), and he said he had heard about it, too. I think both of us were in shock at that point; it honestly didn't seem like something that could have happened, you know?

I went to my French class then, but my professor dismissed class almost immediately. She herself was from the East Coast (Boston, maybe?) and UW has a ton of out of state students from the East Coast, so I think that hit home for all of them. I went outside after she dismissed us, and I sat on the grass of Bascom Hill, just studying. It seemed so odd to me that I was sitting there, on a gorgeous, sunny fall day, healthy and safe, with all my loved ones safe and accounted for..... and there were Americans who couldn't claim the same thing at that moment. I couldn't really grasp it; in fact, I still don't think I've fully understood what those people must have gone through. It must have been hell for the survivors, the family members, and those who were lost.

Blah; it's Monday again

We had a great weekend; I'm just sad that it's over, and now we have to go back to work. Blah.

On Friday night, we went to see Tracy in her musical, The Full Monty. It was HILARIOUS, and she was amazing. I was laughing so hard throughout almost the entire thing. The end part was a surprise, however, since the guys really did, um, go the full monty. But it was only for a second, so Dan's not too scarred for life.

We did end up going to the Cafe Montmartre first, which was delicious. I'm slightly miffed at them, however, since they used to have this great, high-end turkey club that was amazing. They have since taken it off the menu.... grr. But Dan and I shared this delicious four-cheese pizza, and throw in a few beers, and it was all good :)

Saturday we just kind of hung around, cleaning up and trying to get our apartment in living condition once again. That night, we went to see Hamlet 2, which was fairly entertaining. Not "oh my gosh, run out and see it right away" funny, but good for a few laughs.

Yesterday we went to brunch with Tracy and the girls, and then we took the girls to the mall. They LOVE the mall; it's so funny.

So, now it's back to the grindstone. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Yay! It's the weekend!

I love having three day weekends, because today seems only like Thursday to me, but it's actually Friday! Yes! (Dan actually didn't believe me last night when I said it was Thursday; he said, no, it's Wednesday. We went round and round about it until finally he got it. He finally believed me when we went to Pedro's for dinner, since they have half-price margaritas on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and as soon as we walked in we saw the sign saying, "1/2 price margaritas." I'm like, see?? I know what I'm talking about ;) But I digress.)

Anyway, tonight we are going to go see Tracy in her play, The Full Monty. It should be HILARIOUS. I love seeing musicals, and it's even better when you know someone in it! We were originally thinking about going out to dinner first, but Dan H. is working late, so I don't know how that will all work out. We'll see. There's this wonderful little restaurant called Cafe Montmartre right next door, and we often go there before shows. But I don't think we'll be able to do that tonight. Oh well.

I worked out again during my lunch hour. I just have one question. How long does it take to get in shape, for crying out loud?!? Man, oh, man. When I was working out hard core, I rode the stationary bike for 45 minutes on level 5. Then I took a 4-month break from working out..... Oops. So now I can only do level 2 for 22 minutes. What's up with that? I get so frustrated; I just keep thinking that I want to be in the shape I used to be in. Oh well; 22 minutes is better than nothing, right? Right? Gaaahhh.

Well I hope everyone (all 4 readers of my blog, LOL) has a great weekend! I'll let you know how the play was :)

Rori's First Day!

I can't believe it; our "baby" Rori started kindergarten today! I remember the first time I held her; she was 46 hours old, and now she's a 5 1/2 year old in kindergarten? Where does time go?

We went to the Hines' house (luckily they live only 4 minutes away!) to see her get on the bus for the first time. She looked so cute, and she was so excited. She showed Dan and me all her folders and notebooks (puppies and Disney princesses seemed to be the common theme there!) and she was so excited. Although, when she got on the bus, she did kind of look back at us, like, "Wait; I'm supposed to get on here by myself?" But she was a little trooper, got on the bus and sat down in the front seat, and we waved to her until the bus drove off.

Then Tracy, Kirsti, Dan and I (Dan H. had to go to work, so he couldn't come with us, but Kirsti doesn't start school until tomorrow so she came along, which was nice) went to the open house that the school had, and we got to see her classroom and teacher. It was cool; the governor was even there, and he spoke to us and shook our hands. I was like, whoa, that's crazy that the governor is here! He chatted with us for a bit, then went off to visit some other schools.

Anyway, Rori's classroom was really cool, and her teacher seems great. She sat down right away and started coloring the pictures they had laid out on the table. She looked really happy, and she was talking to some of the other kids at the table, so she seemed to feel pretty comfortable. Here are some pictures of her (Sorry some of them are sideways; blogger won't let me turn them around. If you click on them, though, you can see them in a larger size).

Getting on the bus:


At home before the bus comes:


With Kirsti at home


Coloring at school:

Labor Day Weekend

Well, I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! Dan and I sure did. We went up to the cabin in Turtle Lake, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Warm, sunny weather, the water temperature was like bath water; in short, it was perfect. We mainly just lounged around relaxing; Dan got a lot of fishing in, and I read two books that I'd been wanting to read for awhile.

We went boating once on Monday (in my uncle and aunt' s boat--they were up there too, so we got to spend time with them, which was a lot of fun) and that was great. I absolutely love spending time on the water, and I think boating is one of the best ways to do it! I went tubing on Sunday, and while it was really fun, the water was so choppy that I really had to strain my arms just to hang on. Yeah, I'm still sore, and it's Tuesday. I feel like I went through a really tough workout ;) But it was still fun. The rest of Sunday was just spent lounging in the water on a raft, reading, so it was very relaxing.

Sunday night we went to the Five O'Clock Club, which is this excellent restaurant about 20 minutes from the cabin. It's very high-end food, but you don't have to get all dressed up to go there, which is nice. Dan had the salmon, like he always does, and then I had this delicious dinner called the Dynamic Duo; it was filet mignon topped with lobster stirfry and bernaise sauce. It was de-freaking-licious. The only problem is, they give you so much food (we had clam chowder and homemade bread before the main course came) that it was impossible to eat our whole dinner. Oh well, it made for good leftovers the next day!

Monday morning I actually got up early with Dan to go fishing. Yeah, that's something I *never* do, and he's been begging me to come with him, so I thought I might as well, since it was our last day there. It was actually quite peaceful, and I really enjoyed it. (I didn't fish though; I just sat in the boat with him and read). I would do it more often, I just wish you didn't have to get up at 6 am in order to get the good fishing in. Can't someone talk to the fish and have them change their schedules to, I don't know, 10 am-12 pm? That would be the perfect fishing time for me, in my opinion. ;)

We ended up leaving at 3 pm on Monday and got back to Madison by 7, which is pretty standard. I was surprised that we didn't run into more traffic what with it being the holiday weekend and all. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I can't post pictures, but it was absolutely gorgeous. We're hoping to go up again some time in September, so I'll get the pictures of the leaves changing then!