the end of the season...

This is what I woke up to. I love it! Here is my new home covered in snow. Life in Sheboygan... winter style.

This last weekend was the last Badger game of the season. They are still bowl eligible but since they only beat Cal Poly by one in OT, I'm sure it'll be a bowl that few will see, (I probably will though) because it'll be on while most people are at work.

We did the normal tailgating for a bit and then met up with some friends at the bar. I got to meet Mr Wonderful's childhood friend Casey and his wife Sue. (Or if you've had a little too much to drink and are trying to put her name in your cell phone, she becomes Sure.) They were great...

I also got to spend the afternoon with two of my best-est. This is Abster and Melissa. They worked with me a VK and that's how I met them, however, I like to think our friendship will last for many more years. I miss not seeing them everyday but meeting up with them this weekend was like we hadn't missed a beat. It was great! Abster met us at the bar with shots in hand... I mean really... THAT'S a good friend.

And here are Mr Wonderful and I at the last Badger game of the season. We had a lot of fun and there were moments all day long that I was reminded how lucky I am to have him in my life. He makes me laugh. He takes care of me. He is honest and caring. Above all, he loves me more then I deserve. Thanks duder.

Buck Up Cowboy

So I woke up this morning and decided I needed to stop being a baby. So I lost my job. Big whoop. Do I have a roof over my head? Yup... a nice one at that. Do I have a bed to sleep in? Yup... and a sexy boy to keep me warm. Do I have two feet and a car and any other form of transportation? Yuppers. I have skills to get another job. I have some one who loves me and is willing to support me through rejections until I'm able to pick myself up again. He doesn't resent me for moving in without a job. He doesn't even think about it. He doesn't even look at it like that. He sees it as I needed to make a sacrifice to move up here with him. He wants me here and until I find a job, he's just enjoying the home cooked meals, the clean house, and someone to light candles and welcome him home at night. Sometimes I wonder if he even realizes that I'm not working.

Last night he watched shows that I don't really get into and then we watched Grey's together... (how can I be so addicted to a show that when it's over I feel such a great sense of disappointment and start counting the days until it's on again... sad. I know) and after Grey's we cuddled on the couch and didn't talk, just held each other. No kissing or anything like that, just held each other. He broke the silence to whisper that he loved me. Ok so maybe he was watching the news but I was just enjoying being close to him. Is that wrong? That I can tune out people dying, single digit temperatures, the economy going down the tubes... just so I can hear him breathing? Maybe it's a little wrong, but I like it.

When I came in to watch Grey's, him and Percy were cuddled on the couch. I didn't want to disturb them so I sat in the WAY comfy chair that hardly gets any use because normally we can't sit close enough to one another. I looked over about half way through and couldn't help but capture the moment. They looked so peaceful.

Granted it wasn't long after this picture that Percy got booted and Mr Wonderful and I were tangled up together on the couch to watch the rest of the show. But we were apart for a good hour last night. Or maybe it was 45 mins.

We woke up 30 mins before he had to get up for work just to make sure we held each other tighter and reminded each other how much we love one another. I just like being around him. I like that he can make me laugh out of the blue. (One night when I was on the computer he came in and I thought he was just rubbing my head, when in reality he was putting it in an 80's ponytail... just because. It turned into a 10 min hair-do session. He'll kill me if he knows that I put that on the Internet but it was funny.) He doesn't try to argue with me when I'm feeling down, he just says all the right things. (The other night at dinner I wasn't real hungry, I felt like I didn't deserve dinner because I didn't "work" and he didn't tell me I was wrong, he just asked me quietly: Did you rake today? yes Did you go to the dump? yes Did you do laundry today? yes Did you vacuum and dust today? yes It looks like the dishes are done and dinner was ready when I got home, did you do that? duh, yes... Ok, just checking. And then he smiled. A really big smile.) He isn't real good about the romantic stuff and I'm not real good about it either, I like that we respect that about one another, and it makes the good stuff that much better. (We've had dates that have included grocery shopping, watching the washing machine, and cleaning the house. But on Tuesday he came home from work with a bouquet of flowers to welcome me HOME. I am finally home.)

So maybe I'm not going to work 9-5 at a job I hate just to bring home a couple bucks that we'll blow on something we don't need anyway. I'm working. I'm working hard at keeping Mr Wonderful in clean clothes, a clean house, well fed, and working at finding a job that I can go to every morning and like myself. That's hard work my friends. Very hard work.

Life of the Unemployed

Yea, I've had some exciting days/weeks in the last month. I've also had some rather depressing days. Ok so not really depressing but not so fun either. I am officially done working. It sucks. I hated my job. I knew I wasn't going to be there forever, but I also thought I'd be able to find something else to do before I left. I was wrong.

I am loving with Mr. Wonderful. I moved in this week. Since I have no job, it wasn't all that hard. I packed my car before I left for Vegas and came straight here after my trip. Then on Tuesday I went to the dentist back near where I used to live and took his Explorer that I was able to pack to the brim and bring "home". So this weekend we're going to stay in my apartment and hopefully pack up the rest of my stuff.

I love living with him. I love him. I love this town. I love all that.

I hate being unemployed.

This week I've been able to keep busy. I unpacked and organized and cleaned and did all that "homemaker" type stuff. But that's not me. Plus, this still doesn't feel like it's my house. So yea, I packed up his pots and pans and put mine to use in the kitchen but I'm not going to rearrange his closet to make room for my clothes. And without him here I feel weird putting anything away. It's just that I feel like he should be a part of those decisions... shouldn't he?

I've been cooking this week, which I love and don't do nearly enough when I'm working. And the laundry has been done, which is a chore I hate but don't mind so much when I can spread it out. The thing is, I'm not contributing financially. I want to pay the bills and buy groceries and all that but it's hard when I have NO idea what type of financial future I have. None, what-so-ever. He doesn't mind and tells me I'm pulling my weight in other ways but it just doesn't feel like that.

I love him, he's wonderful. He's amazing. He makes me smile and he keeps me moving but it's hard. Being rejected is hard. Employers should just know that I want to work, I want to make money, and I want to belong somewhere. That's all I'm asking.

Last Bachelorette Party of the Year

My baby sister is getting married. When the baby gets married, the family (& friends) celebrates!!! So why not go to Vegas?!?! Right!?!?! We had a blast! Here we are at the airport bar at 7 am where we drank $12 Bloody Mary's! I HATE Bloody Mary's but for $12 I choked one down. From left to Right there is Adrienne - Joey's cousin, Amanda - friend, Ashely - our cousin and bridesmaid, Dana - Joey's cousin and bridesmaid, James!!!! The Bride To Be , and me... Maid (or is it Matron) of Honor

And as a nice surprise to my sister we got her an Escalade Limo to pick us up at the airport with roses and champagne. She really wanted one for her wedding but since the wedding party wouldn't all fit, she went with the party bus. The shirts were also a surprise to her. "Bachelorette Party in Progress: From Wisconsin to Las Vegas". I kept it a surprise from her for 8 months and as we were pulling into the airport to fly out to Vegas I let it slip. I'm such an idiot!!!

These are my sisters and I in the MGM Hotel/Casino. I think this is the only picture I have of us all together and I don't think I have any of us all with our mom. Oops.

Here are my sisters and my mom enjoying the "gift" our friend from Arizona drove over. It was full of Champagne, beer, Captain, Malibu, margaritas, soda, juice, water... it was a GREAT gift we ALL enjoyed!!! It was so great that she made it. It was a 4 hour drive for her so she was pretty much in her car the same amount of time we were in the air! :)

On Saturday I had one thing in mind... ESPN Zone to watch the Badgers beat Minnesota. Before I could do that though they drug me to the Mirage to see Dolphins and big cats... you know leopards, lions, llamas - ok not a cat but they were there. This is Brenda, Steph, me and Amanda.

One night we went to the Balagio (I am probably spelling that wrong) gourmet buffet. YUM. I was in love with the Lobster Ravioli and Chicken Pesto pasta. I know, Pasta, cheapest things there, but they were sooooo good. I ate my fill of sushi and shrimp and had a few crab legs which I normally love, but didn't there. The food was great though.

We might have been obsessed with the Piano bar at the New York, New York... it was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip. I lost my voice I was singing so loudly. Good times.

Here's Amanda and I at the piano bar celebrating the Badgers big win!!

And Saturday night we went to Stomp Out Loud which was really cool. However, I had been to the Mirage, sat at ESPN Zone drinking 25 oz beers all afternoon, celebrating at the piano bar... all BEFORE we saw the show. Needless to say I had a blast just getting to the show.

A couple beers later, (after the show) we made it to Dicks Last Resort Restaurant. My hat says "Yes, I'm always this annoying" and I can't help but think I probably was pretty obnoxious at this point.






As we were all waiting in the lobby for the limo to come get us and take us back to the airport -quite hungover I might add- we realized no one had a picture of all of us yet so we quick snapped one. This is the entire group in all our sweat pant, hang over glory. Good times.

Another Bachelorette Party

These are my bestest college friends ever. Molly - I went to her bachelorette and wedding earlier this year - and Alicia. Molly lives in Northern MN - about 8 hours away and Alicia lives in a suburb of Chicago about 3 hours away. We try to get together regularly but it doesn't always work. We sure like to make up for lost time though when we do finally meet up.

This was us ready to go out and take on the town. Heck, we were ready to take on the world.

This is us wasted, sweaty, and exhausted at like 2am. Little did we know, it was Daylight Savings time and we got an extra hour of bar time! Just what we needed. Next to me in the picture is Katie, she also went to college with us but her and Alicia got close after Molly and I transferred out. She was way fun... wish we knew her while we were there!

Here is a big part of the group. This is still early in the night we can all still stand up. Except with my legs bent like that I look like I need to make a mad dash to the bathroom!

And here are Alicia and Katie getting ready for bed. We raided the vending machine as well as the continental breakfast bar. There were no pizza places open at 3:30am and we were hungry. Thanks to the most friendliest hotel lady ever who let us eat her bagels and peanut butter.

Gosh that was a good weekend.

THEY FINALLY WON A BIG TEN GAME!!! That calls for celebration... lots of celebration. It's me and Mr Wonderful at the bar before the game. He wasn't hammered... just being lame.

Know idea what this guys story was but he only had one pant leg on his pants. And it was cold out. Really cold. Scarf and mitten cold.

Mr Wonderful is a HUGE Miller High Life fan. It's his favorite beer so this man has recently become his hero. Wendell just happened to be hanging out at bar we were at after the game. I took this picture because I love Mr Wonderful.

This is us in front of the Barry statue. It was even Mr Wonderful's idea. (Which surprised me and I got really excited he suggested it.) The drunk guy that took the picture wasn't real good at taking pictures but it's an ok picture. He's super cute so he makes any picture with him in it good.

This is me, my friends Amanda and Kim before the game. We were chilly. I was already getting sick and Amanda was really sick. However, we drank enough to forget about the illness and the freezing cold weather.

This is us again...

This past weekend I had a lot of fun. A LOT OF FUN. However, I got sick. So Sunday afternoon I spent on the couch while Mr Wonderful did my laundry. (Well, some of my laundry)

I am getting ready to move. I have to pack up my apartment in the next month and slowly start moving the crap North. I'm so excited to spend my nights with him. I'm so excited to lay in his arms at night while he whispers how much he loves me. I'm so excited to give him kisses in the morning. I'm so excited to do boring chores with someone who makes them bearable. I'm so excited to start the next chapter. This one will have a happy ending, I know it will.

Most beautiful wedding...

This weekend I was in the most wonderful wedding. When I was in college I lived with my boyfriend and his best friend, AJ. AJ and I got really close and became good friends. He had a girlfriend. I didn't like her. He had another friend that was a girl. I liked her. She liked him. So together we worked our charm on AJ and got him to give new girl a chance. Now new girl, Steph, and AJ got married!!!!! I love them and miss them. They are the type of friends that even if we have to go a couple months between visits, it's always as if we just saw each other last week. This is a couple I KNOW will be together forever. Here's the story of their wedding weekend.This is Steph before rehearsal. About three weeks before the wedding she broke her foot. She had to wear a huge walking cast. The week of the wedding, she found out she had a blood clot in her ankle. Granted her ankle is better then her leg or anywhere closer to her lungs, however, still very scary. Needless to say, they were both anxious to get married before anything else could happen.This is the happy couple. AJ is really tall, Steph isn't really that short! The wedding was in the Dells and so the rehearsal dinner was at Monks! It was great. Gotta love the Purple Monkey. It was great to sit around and catch up with everyone. We shared lots of stories from the bachelorette party and stories from college. Lots of laughing, that's for sure.These are the bridesmaids, all in a row. Me... you know how I know them. Then it's Abby, AJ's little/only sister. Her and I had LOTS of fun at the bachelorette party. We have partied together many, many times. She's fun. Then it's Andrea. Andrea was Steph's roommate in college. The semester AJ and Steph started dating, she was away studying in Spain. She came home to a crazy life style. My favorite memory was when Andrea had been back about a month or two, Chris and AJ decided they would clean Steph and Andrea's apartment for beer. (They were hard up what can I say.) When they got there they realized how disgusting two girls could be. Andrea and I were playing Dr Mario just laughing when Chris came out of the bathroom gagging. Oh it was funny. The blond bridesmaid is Carrie, Steph's high school friend. I don't know Carrie all that well.Here is the happy bride resting her broken foot after getting her hair done. She was so nervous... she hates attention. You would never have known how nervous her (or AJ for that matter) were if it wasn't for the pacing. There was lots of pacing. We tried to keep Steph's mind free all morning. It was such a wonderful ceremony though, I am glad they planned it the way they did. Here's Steph and I getting ready for pre-ceremony pictures. Weren't the flowers BEAUTIFUL!?!?! I loved them. When we were getting our hair done the bridesmaids and Steph's agreed I was the crazy one so the hair stylist did my hair "fun". You can't tell so much from the front but it was wild and crazy. I loved it. I love this picture. All the pretty little bridesmaids with the beautiful bride. The ceremony and a majority of the pictures were outside. It was chilly, probably 55ish degrees but it was exactly how I would have pictured their wedding to be. They are going to have so many awesome pictures too. I can't wait to see them all.
And the studly groomsmen. Derek, the ring bearer was the cutest thing ever. He's Steph's nephew from South Carolina. He was sporting the brown tux like a model and he walked down the aisle and smiled better then the adults. He's a very smart 3 1/2 year old. The one in the back left is Steph's brother Scott. He escorted me down the aisle. Then it's the best man, Nate. Him and AJ went to high school together and have been super close. They went to separate sides of the state for college but now both live in the Waukesha area. In the front kneeling is Ty. He is Nate's little brother and him and AJ have been friends forever. Then it's AJ...stud. Chris, my ex-husband is leaning on AJ. They have been friends since grade school and of course we all lived together in college.
I don't drink PBR... until my friends get married.
I don't do shots of liquid cocaine... until my friends get married.
And here is Derek and I. Saying a toast over wine and oj. I swear to you I can only dream my child is as cute as this one. I love him.

So that was my wedding weekend. It was a lot of fun. Have I mentioned that yet?

One more thing about the weekend I'd like to mention. I'm not an overly religious or superstitious or whatever word you want to use but I can tell you that Steph's mom was at the wedding. She must have spent the morning getting herself ready but before the ceremony started she was most definitely there. You could feel her in the front row. Steph's oldest brother sat next to what seemed like an empty chair with his hand rested softly on the seat. But I know he was holding his mom's hand. I had never met Steph's mom but she definitely brings a calm over Stephanie. I saw how nervous she had been all morning and when she walked down the aisle, I think she too saw her mom for the first time that day. She just relaxed. Steph's mom died of breast cancer when Steph was in high school. She missed her mom being at graduations and missed being able to tell her about first dates and falling in love. It felt so good to know she didn't have to miss her mom at her wedding because we all knew she was there.