Good times – Page 8 – Jocelyn Rau

November 21, 2011November 21, 2011

It was a great weekend

So that weekend that was shaping up to be so much fun didn’t disappoint. Starting with girls’ night out on Friday, we had a blast! Unfortunately, I have to admit that this was probably my least favorite of the Twilight movies so far. It just seemed kind of… bland? I guess that would be the best word to describe how I felt when we left the theater. Kind of like wait, what? That was it? That’s all they gave us?! Now if you haven’t seen it yet and are planning to, you might want to skip the next few sentences… Adios… Go on…

But those who’ve seen it, are you with me? I mean the wedding scene was pretty and all, but it lasted like 7 seconds. And the wedding night, which we were all so fervently anticipating, was over in about 4 seconds. Come on!! That was the best part of the whole book and you just skimmed over it?? It was actually almost comical. Boo, jerks. And then the rest of the movie kind of dragged. It’s hard to put my finger on, but I was just left with a blah feeling at the end. Oh well, we still had a blast getting together, and now we know they better step up their game for the final movie next year!

Saturday we got the Thanksgiving food shopping done, and I can’t wait for that feast! We are so fortunate to be able to put all the food on our table that we need and want, and this year I’m especially thankful to be celebrating the day at home, just our own little family of 3.

Then the Packers game yesterday was a great time too. Even this Bears fan does (usually) have fun at Lambeau Field. We left at 7:15 to head up to Green Bay, picking up our friend L along the way. Once there we met up with a group of about a dozen other people for tailgating, including our good friends J and K who live in Minneapolis. It was a very fun day, the Packers won, and we got to spend some time after the game in Curly’s Pub behind the radio sportscasters, since another one of our friends is one of the main personalities. Our table was right behind theirs and overlooked the players’ parking lot, so we got to watch all the Packers getting into their ridiculously pimped out trucks and SUVs to leave. Pretty cool.

The drive back went smoothly and safely, and we got home shortly before 8. It was a long day, and D was already in bed by the time we got home, but she had a lot of fun playing with Grandma. And Daddy had a lot of fun playing with the Packers fans. See…

r-vince — R mugging with St. Vince after the game

And now we have a short week before the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Hooray!

November 18, 2011December 6, 2011

Yes, I’m going

November 11, 2011December 18, 2011

11~11~11

First of all, Happy Veterans Day. Thank you so very much to all our servicemen and women for all you do, have done, and always continue to do.

But back to that date. Cool, eh? Especially if you’re one of those people who loves the superstition surrounding 11:11 and all that, today must be like Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, how is it that it’s already basically the middle of November?? Who told the Holidays they had permission to sneak up like this? Yes, Holidays with a capital H, because they always barge right in and steamroll over everyone/thing like they own the whole end of the year. Eat this turkey! Wrap these presents! Drink this nog! Geez.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the Holidays. Especially Thanksgiving; it has surpassed Christmas as my favorite. You get to relax (hopefully) and spend time with family (unless you can’t stand your family, then i guess it wouldn’t really be one of your faves), eat a ton of delicious food, and not have to worry about the gift-giving that comes with Christmas. And then later that night and certainly the next day (or 5) comes the best part – leftovers! R has started a tradition in our house, too, that beginning on Thanksgiving we play the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack to kick off the Christmas music season. NOT BEFORE!

Then Christmas is great, because who doesn’t like getting presents (or if you’re like me you actually enjoy giving them more now)? Plus all the decorations are really beautiful, and I do still feel like there’s just something magical about Christmas. Especially if we get a white Christmas (the 1 time of year i actually will tolerate and kind of welcome a snowfall) – I always feel like I could go outside and find some secret reindeer hoof prints somewhere. And Christmas morning? Forget it. I always feel like a kid when my eyes first pop open that day – it’s Christmas!! Now having a kid of our own, it’s even better. It will really be fun once D gets the whole idea, and I hope we can keep the Christmas magic alive for her for years and years to come. And yes, I still put out cookies and milk for Santa. It’s tradition!

And of course then comes New Year’s Eve, the granddaddy of all parties. What better excuse to have a bunch of bubbly and make out with your beloved at the stroke of midnight? (or all night long if you’ve imbibed in a little too much of said bubbly. *ahem*) Streamers and hats and confetti and noise makers and fancy outfits, because everyone needs a little bit of sparkle on New Year’s Eve. It’s fun. And last year we did even make it up past midnight with tiny barely-5-month-old D snuggled soundly in her crib.

This year will be a little different, however. Thanksgiving is golden – we’re spending the day itself at home, just the 3 of us, which will be awesome. Then D and I are heading down to my mom’s house for a couple days to see family, and R’s going up to his fam’s area to see them and attend his 15 year high school reunion that he’s organizing. But then for Christmas, we’re leaving on a jet plane to get our luau on in HAWAII! That’s right, don’t hate. We are so lucky to be getting to spend the entire holiday week on the sunny shores of Maui. Aloha Oe! We fly back overnight on NYE, spend a day with my sisters and brother-in-law in Denver, and get home in 2012. Crazy.

So you see, it’s kind of a non-traditional celebration for us this year. It’ll be awesome, no doubt, but it’s oddly kind of throwing my brain into a planning tizzy. Like should we get a Christmas tree since we won’t even be home over Christmas? And if we do, should I take it down and throw it out before we leave so I don’t have to mess with it when we get home, or would that be too much of a dead giveaway to potential robbers (always thinking, i am)? Are we doing gifts out there with everyone (we’re going with my mom, stepdad, 2 sisters, bro-in-law, and step-bro and -sis), because how are we going to pack presents without spending a mortgage payment on overweight bag fees or taking 24 suitcases? What in the hell are we going to do with a toddler on a what, 8 hour flight? Make that TWO 8 hour flights. Do I need to go shopping for anything before we go or do D and I have sufficient cuteness in our wardrobes for a Christmas week in the sun (R’s good. it’s so not fair how boys can pack for any extended amount of time in approximately 7 minutes)? Because let’s be honest – traveling to beachy places is all about looking good while soaking up rays (yes, wearing SPF. i’m sure i’ve done plenty of sun damage to my skin already for about 18 lifetimes). Oh, and enjoying my wonderful family’s company, of course.

So you see, my organization-loving mind is starting to spin a little. I am truly excited for this trip, because although I’ve been to Hawaii 5 times now, I’ve only been to Maui once, and that was our honeymoon. And it’s one of the few places I’ve ever been where I really would have been totally fine never coming home. It’s simply amazing. But my Holiday calendar is now a little gnarly. Throw in a trip to central IL the weekend after Thanksgiving to see my dad and his side of the family, and my free weekends between now and the end of the year are quickly running out. Maybe I’ll just look at this picture continually until then to wash some of the worries away and remember to just have fun and enjoy the Holiday season, no matter where we are…

October 31, 2011October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

So yesterday was the assigned day for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Does anyone else have this? Designated times and days for trick-or-treating? Personally, I think it’s dumb. I mean I know they do it for safety and stuff like that, but really? It kind of takes the fun out of the holiday. When we were younger you always went trick-or-treating on Halloween night, no matter what day of the week it was, after dinner, with your parent who waited on the sidewalk while you went up to every door you could manage before your feet got too tired or your pumpkin got too full of candy or that parent who was so patiently tagging along decided it was time to go home. Now for us it’s always the Sunday before Halloween, or if Halloween happens to be on a Sunday then I guess we luck out.

And what really stinks about having trick-or-treating this way is that you always get inundated with people who bring in carloads of kids from all different areas of the city to simply clean up on getting all the candy they can, every day they can. That’s not fair. You don’t live here, I’ve never seen you before, and you’re neither wearing a costume nor bothering to say “trick-or-treat”! That’s the part that really annoys me.

But anyway… Yesterday was D’s first time trick-or-treating, and it was so much fun! Last year she was still just a wee lass and sat on Daddy’s knee to help pass out candy as a little moo-cow. This year, however, she was big enough to walk around to a handful of our neighbors’ houses with Daddy and get her own candy in her little orange pumpkin. She was Little Red Riding Hood, and Daddy was her Big Bad Wolf. Love!!

Friday morning - I was a ladybug for trick-or-treating at daycare!

P1090551 — 1 of 3 ladybugs that morning (but still the cutest!)

Happy Halloween!!

October 27, 2011October 27, 2011

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 up 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*)

Clothes get in the way of pumpkin carving

Bonus pic - D's new play corner in the living room

p12 — Mommy's (pattern was really called pumpkin head)

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!

October 3, 2011October 3, 2011

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: 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: 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: 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: 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!

September 22, 2011September 26, 2011

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: