Baby Jackson

A big congrats goes out to Heather and Jason on their new addition, Baby Jackson Brooks. Congrats to the happy family :)

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Here are some photos from mine:

Tyler ready to go home from Grandma's house...I agree buddy, I agree!

My dad's wrapping job for me....oh he tries hard doesn't he?!

"Let me open my presents already!!"

Shout Outs!!

I've been such a bad blogger lately. But its not ALL my fault. I moved into my new office two weeks ago and it just so happens to be with my boss. SO, I think you can imagine that I can't be on the internet as much as I'd like anymore, especially since my work hours have been all weird with our H1N1 trial. (That's a story for another time)

Anyway, I have some very important shout outs that require blogging. A lot of things have been happening in the world of my friends. Enjoy.

A big congrats goes out to T and her hubby in Chicago on the birth of their son Killian. Yes he is very very adorable!

Another big baby announcement and a big congrats to the Anderson family! They also had a son, Fisher. Super cute!

A big shout out to Jason and Heather for the purchase AND move into their brand new house in McFarland. I can't wait to see it. When's the damn party?!? :)

I also need to shout out to two ladies I know...Miss Angela and Miss Kristin are both kicking ass in the weight loss department. They are both down a good amount and I couldn't be happier. Keep up the good work ladies!!

A big shout out also goes to B my besty for being my besty, coming tailgating with me, making me CD's, eating dinner with me and for keeping me in check during the Vegas-booking fiasco! Thanks B!!

Another shout out for my friend Lil A. This shout out is a 'thinking of you' shout out. Stay off those heels and get better soon! I need you in full force!

Obviously I have nothing cool going on in my own life that requires a shout out, although my highlight this week has been that I ran 3.7 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles today. That's only news to me because I've been stopping at 3 and I just decided to go for some longer distances. (Watch out, Beefy is gonna get you!)

More stories to come....Badger Tailgating Wrap up....Vegas Plans....Things I know to be true today!

Happy Birthday!!

I wasn't near a computer yesterday so Happy Birthday (one day late) to my sister! The BIG 25!! Aw man, it all goes downhill now. Hope you had a great day wtih us!

Photo of the Week

So...this is me, with a bunch of condoms! Yup, that's right! We were out the other night downtown and these girls came around handing out condoms in honor of the right to say no or something like that. So I took 4!

Cheers to them :)

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We took Tyler to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend. He was so excited to ride the tractor and get pumpkins!

Congrats to Bridget and Tryg

Friday marked the marriage of Bridget and Tryg. Congrats to them both.

The happy bride and groom

The Burns Family

Me and Bridget

Me and my sister

Photo of the Week

I haven't done this in a while. I will try to do better.

This is me, my friend Jenelle and Wee-man (yes from Jack Ass) at the Big Ten during the Woffard game. He was there doing promotions with Monster Energy drink. He was very nice and took a picture with us. Neat!

Cranberry Fest 2009

This past weekend marked my sister and I's second trip up to the Cranberry Fest in Warrens, WI. This fest, for those of you who don't know, is a fest not only all about cranberries but its also a huge craft fair and flee market. Over 100,000 people attend this fest each year, and I think they were all there on Saturday when we went!

The weekend started in the Dells on Friday afternoon and night. My sister and I arrived in the Dells at 5pm and went straight to the outlet mall. I have been searching for shoes for months and was able to find a black pair and a funky pewter color in two different styles that I luv at the Naturalize store!! I was also able to find a couple nice sports bras at the Nike store. Then of course I couldn't pass up Harry and David. I got a Sun Dried Tomato flat bread mix and some Halloween salt water taffy. Side bar: I LUV salt water taffy, do you know that?? I don't know why but its a great little treat and low calorie and low fat.

Anyway, we spend a few hours at the outlet mall then headed to Moosejaw for dinner. We ALWAYS eat here when we are up in the Dells because its my sister's favorite place. Then we went to the hotel, Econolodge, checked in, went swimming and relaxed.

The next morning we woke up at 6:30 to take advantage of the 'free breakfast' advertised with this hotel. Now, I knew it wasn't going to be gourmet or anything, but ha, I just had to laugh when we get to the area and there are three types of cereal to choose from, plain bagels for toasting and two kinds of Donettes! DONETTES, wow, are you kidding me?!? I laughed out loud, literally upon seeing them. Of course this didn't stop us from eating breakfast though!

After filling up on carbs, we checked out and were on the road by 8am up to Warrens. We arrived in the town of 360 people (no joke) at 9am, parked, and walked into the fest. Its a crafters dream, really. There are so many different types of things that there is certainly something for everyone. We walked around, I bought some cranberry products, a couple mini jams, two bags of cranberry salt water taffy, a cranberry dip mix, some cranberry buffalo sausage, and a couple other things.

Then we headed to the municipal building in town to sign up for the cranberry bog tour. We boarded a school bus and went out to one of the cranberry farms to see how farmers farm cranberries. Its a very interesting process and we got to see the fields before they are flooded. If you don't know the process, cranberry fields are build almost like in a ditch. The cranberries grow until about the 1st or 2nd week in October when they are shaken off the vines, then the fields are flooded with water from the surrounding holding ponds. This causes the berries to rise up in the water for easy collection.

It was neat to see how the fields are laid out. I also got to hand pick a few berries and eat them right off the vine. Side bar: Not everyone can eat cranberries just plain, right off the vine. They are very tart and not sweet. I luv them!! But they are certainly not for everyone!

After that part of the tour we got to go into the barn when some of the cranberries had been harvested. They were selling 5lb bags of cranberries, picked off the vine on Tuesday! I couldn't pass it up!! I would have bought two but I couldn't stand to carry anymore! Next year I think i might have to invest in one of those handy wheeled shopping carts all the ladies were pushing around!

When we got back to the fest we kept shopping and sampling and eating. I snagged a really great Brewers sweatshirt for $15 and a cranberry fest sweatshirt for only $12.50. I also bought some speciality soybeans, one flavored with jalapeno and cheddar and the other was a cranberry mix. My sister bought a bunch of stuff for her and my nephew Tyler.

This picture below gives you a very small idea of how big this festival is. This is ONE side street lined with crafters and filled with people. Every single street in this town looked like this or it had back to back craft/flee/food stations. There are also several beer tents, an entertainment stage and much more!

By 4pm we were wiped out!! It was time to leave the cranberry fest this year! But we did a great job getting some great deals and some interesting finds. If you've never been, its quite an experience. Its definitely not for the faint of heart or timid. There are ladies with their shopping carts, people wondering aimlessly around, people stopping mid-walk directly in front of you, lots of fried foods and tempting treats...but I luv it and will go back again and again!

Football Season Is Here!!

Wow, football season has hit with a bang! Not only has Badger tailgate season started off on a great note but the NFL game last night was pretty exciting. Well at least for me anyway since I'm a Steelers fan. I decided not to do Fantasy Football this year but I'm still very excited for another great year for the Steelers.


Here are some pics from opening tailgate last Saturday. It was a beautiful day and this Saturday looks even better!