Crochet

The original intention of this blog was to showcase some of my "masterpieces" of crochet. I was thinking about this the other day while working on a baby blanket for Dan's co-worker Erik & his wife Amy. They just welcomed the arrival of a beautiful baby girl, Grace. I'm slightly behind on my baby blankets, but Dan asked me to make a specific blankie especially for Grace. Erik & Amy are big sports fans...in particular UW sports. So here's what I was able to come up with:





Hopefully I'll find all of my pictures from previous baby blankets (those seem to be my specialty) and create a post w/ them. While I love everything I've done, theres a particular few that I'm most proud of.

Ava crawls!

This is actually old news, but I'm just getting around to posting pictures.

Amanda & Ava came over a couple weekends ago to help me finish unpacking. Dan was off playing golf w/ Adam & Dan (the other Dan :) So it was just us girls.

I think Ava had more fun w/ Reilly than she did unpacking :)

The Wedding Season

Wedding season has officially hit. Dan & I attended the wedding of our friends Dan & Lana on 06/07/08. The ceremony was supposed to be outside at Olbrich Gardens in Madison, however some severe storms pushed the shindig inside. Nevertheless, it was beautiful! The reception took place at the Howard Johnson just a few miles away. We sat at the "Cheddar" table w/ Amanda and Kristin (Adam and Chuck were part of the wedding party). For me and Amanda it was an opportunity to drink, drink....and drink some more......although Amanda had a lot more than I did.

Of course, going to someone else's wedding always has you thinking about your own. I couldn't stop myself from worrying about favors and decorations, the dj, the food...UGH!

Now, as most of you know the Cotton Eyed Joe is like a tradition for weddings....at least in the south :) The DJ played it (the techno-version) and I was not surprised to a see that no one knew how to dance to it.....Dan & I attempted, while Amanda and Kristin made up their own rendition.

We all had a great time! Thank you Dan & Lana for sharing your special day! We wish you the best!

A weekend off

Even though I only work at Menards every other weekend it never seems like I actually have a weekend off. There's always something going on. My schedule works out that one Saturday a month I work at Z, which is always during my off weekends from Menards. So right away that really only gives me one weekend a month to actually relax.

This passed weekend Dan & I drove down to Illinois to celebrate Mark's high school graduation. It was also an opportunity for Dan to help work on his dad's 70 Chevelle before he and Mark leave for the Hot Rod Power Tour.

Meanwhile, myself and my future mother-in-law went shopping! :) I grabbed a few things for the invitations (which I have now changed the design of) and some flowers I was going to use for my bouquet (which I changed my mind on too). So I have a few things to take back to a couple different stores.

Mark and I detailed the inside of Dan's Impala just in case the Chevelle was not ready for the Power Tour and they had to use alternate transportation. Hopefully one of these weekends I'll get to detail my car. I hate having a dirty car!

We had hamburgers for dinner from the grill. And of course, the day was not complete until Dan's best friend Kevin showed up with his firetruck siren and scared the crap out of the neighbors two doors down. If I can figure out how to get the video on the blog I will :)

Adam is standing in front of the siren that Kevin is holding, with Mark about to start the car.

Below is the infamous firetruck siren.

After dinner Mark and I fired up the fire pit for smores :)

Kevin thoroughly enjoyed being hand-fed his smore...It was a long day, but all-in-all it turned out pretty good. Except for the Chevelle....she didn't fair to well so Dan's brother and dad had to take the meticulously detailed Impala. Dan will get his car back on the 14th when the Power Tour ends at the Alliant Energy Center here in Madison. Of course both Dan & I work at Z that weekend, but we plan on heading over afterwards.

Graduation...

Last weekend Dan & I spent our time w/ his family to celebrate his younger brother's graduation. The commencement ceremony was held on Sunday, June 1st at Rolling Meadows High School.

Here are just a few highlights from that day:
Mark will be attending ITT Technical Institute in just a few short weeks.

CONGRATULATIONS MARK!!

Good luck!

Grades

I'm just so excited about the grade I got on my Orwell essay that I had to post about it :)

I had to take History of Western Civilization to complete the credit requirements for an Associates Degree. It felt like the work load from this class was equal to that of last semester (and I had 11 credit hours then...this was only 3!)

Last Monday I had a 5-8 page essay due on the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, with these requirements:

Each student is to read 1984 by George Orwell.
Each student is then to prepare a five to eight page essay explaining Orwell's vision. Do not simply restate the plot. Instead the paper should consist of three sections. In Part 1 explain how government works in Orwell's world. In Part 2 explain the historical antecedents that Orwell drew on to write his work. What did he draw from Nazi Germany? What about Soviet Russia? Then, in a conclusion, explain what the message of Orwell's work is and what we can learn about the early post-war period from reading Orwell.
When the paper is complete, in either Word or WordPerfect, submit it to the Course Dropbox.

And if there were more than 10 errors (spelling, capitilization, punctuation, etc.) then you could get no better than a "C" on the paper.

Well, I didn't start reading the book until after Aislinn's visit, and that is a hard book to read (at least for me). But I managed to finish and spent the entire week and weekend before the due date working on my essay - which came out to 6 full pages :)

So anyways....I ended up getting a 94 on the essay. Which totally excited me because I haven't gotten above a 78 on any of the unit exams :( I'm hoping to finish the class w/ a "B" average, but I'll have to wait to see my final grade until probably next Tuesday.

Flowers

In an effort to save money I figured it would be economical to make all the bouquets for my girls with fake flowers. Little did I know, that Walmart had already done most of the work for me! With a little bit of floral tape, ribbon, some help from Sunny and another trip to Walmart...........well..............voila!

Now I just have to figure out what to do for my bouquet..........any suggestions??

We Moved.....AGAIN!

Just two short weeks after Aislinn was here Dan & I moved into our much nicer and safer apartment in Verona. We had a LOT of help, thanks to my future father-in-law & brother-in-law & his friend Dan M., and Dan's friend Adam.......technically we had 3 Dans, 2 Adams, 1 Mark and 1 Steve helping us move :) Thanks for everyone's help! We couldn't have done it without you!

Here's some shots before the actual move....notice how nice and uncluttered it is....

And shortly after....

Dan began painting on Friday and so far has our bedroom wall, the dining area wall & the bathroom wall done. Although, he painted the dining room wall the wrong color :( It still looks nice.

I love the view from our balcony:

Aislinn's Visit

Holy crap! I can't believe it's May already! Where did April go.....

Oh yea....

April 10th - 13th was Aislinn's visit! We had a great time. It wasn't nearly enough time, but we made the best of it.

After a rough start (Aislinn arriving 2 hours late because of the weather in Chicago) we finally made it back to Madison around 1am. We got up bright and early Friday morning and took the Merrimac Ferry across the Wisconsin River to meet Porsche in Baraboo for breakfast.

It pretty much rained or drizzled the entire weekend...and as you can see from the picture the mornings were a little foggy. We didn't let that dampen our day though. Aislinn had to call home to let everyone know she was on a ferry (she'd never been before).

I was hoping to get to show Aislinn the resort that I used to work at, but the fog was too thick...so oh well!

We had a great breakfast at the Log Cabin in Baraboo (I highly recommend it!) and it was wonderful getting to see and spend time with Porsche.



After breakfast Porsche took us by her new apartment and gave us the grand tour.

We had to cut the visit short so Porsche could get ready for the wedding she was in that weekend. So we headed up to the Dells for a little sightseeing and shopping.

Next, we headed down to Portage and showed Aislinn all the landmarks from living there for almost 4 years. Then we came full circle and ended up back in Madison for our appointment at David's Bridal. After that we stopped out at the new apartment so Aislinn could see it since she was going to miss the big move.

Then it was off to Target to do some Club Wedd registering :) We ended the day with Dan & Aislinn getting haircuts. We had a quiet evening at home where we ordered pizza and I highlighted Aislinn's hair....I believe strawberry margharitas were involved too!!

Saturday meant pedicures and a trip to Wally-world!! Afterwards we stopped at Adam & Amandas so Aislinn could visit and see the bridesmaids dress in red (since Amanda has hers).

We all had a great time and I was sorry to see Aislinn go, but I know she'll be back in 6 short months!!!!

Here comes April...my favorite month!

Tomorrow is the first day of April, how exciting! This is by far the best month of the year.....why is that?

Well lets see....it's a month full of birthdays! April is the birthmonth for Uncle Mike, Kevin, Lisa, Mom, ME :), Colleen and I believe Marlene...(If I missed anyone I'm sorry! Let me know & I'll add ya to the list & mark it on my calendar!)

It also happens to be the month that Dan & I had our first date...April 13th to be exact! Believe it or not, this will technically be our 2nd anniversary. And I thought about this earlier today....it's very close to being the 5th year that I've been in Wisconsin! I seriously have a hard time believing that I've been here that long.

And, in 9, hopefully very short, days my best friend and Matron of Honor will be up for a long weekend. This'll be her first time to Wisconsin and I can't wait to show her around.


Dan & I also move to our new apartment in 3 weeks and we're actually going to be picking out paint colors so we don't have to live with white walls for the next who knows how many years.

We're also one month closer to the wedding! And we have one more item to check off the to-do list...the honeymoon :) Everything has been booked (well, except for the rental car...but I'm working on that).

So many things going on this month....I hope I'm able to keep it all together.

AND!! From watching a tidbit of the weather this morning it looks like spring may finally be here!! Highs in the 50's the rest of the week w/ chances of rain and possibly flurries....I'm praying that mother nature isn't playing a cruel joke & is going to dump another 10 inches of snow on us next week.

Hooray for Spring and April!!

NOT FUNNY!

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING...
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING.
SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES...WITH THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 8 TO 13 INCHES. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.
A WINTER STORM WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE MAJOR IMPACTS TO SOCIETY. TRAVEL WILL BE DANGEROUS AND IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP A WINTER WEATHER SUPPLY KIT IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.
(from weather.com)

Seriously!!!

It's a parking lot!!

For the most part our apartment complex is usually quiet on the outside. There were a few times last summer when I would get home from Target in the evenings and there would be several people mingling around a picnic table next to the pool or few select people hanging around the back of their lowered pick-ups or hondas wearing cowboy hats & blasting tejano music (flashbacks of the Valley).

It didn't take long to realize though that our "parking lot" is considered a major street to most of our apartments residents....even though it dead ends :)

Yes, it has it's own name....Curry Parkway....but its still just a parking lot!! There are parking spaces on either side with a narrow strip down the center w/ speed bumps and just enough room for two cars to pass in opposite directions.

So why is it people drive 40 mph down this "parking lot", slamming on their brakes when they get to a speed bump and then floor it again? Some people don't even bother slowing down for the bumps and catch a little air when they go over 'em.....like the moron last night...with his small child in the SUV...burning rubber in the PARKING LOT! (I'm going to guess the kid wasn't in a safety seat either.

One more month before we move....THANK GOD!

Church - check

I can officially check off the church!!

I spoke with our officiant today and we have an appointment to meet with her March 22nd.

Yes, I said her!

I'm really looking forward to this meeting and getting one more thing out of the way.

I'm also getting together with two of my bridesmaids the 22nd to go to DB so they can try on the dress I picked. Which technically means I just have one more person and I can check bridesmaids & dresses off! (And I'll be able to do that in April when Aislinn comes to visit! 35 more days!)

Let see...what else is new?

Oh, Dan & I signed our lease for a new apartment. We're moving to Verona to the Prairie Crest Apartments (That's where Dan has lived since he moved to Madison). They're awesome apartments, in a country setting so its nice and quiet. We're paying a bit extra but we'll have a two-bedroom loft w/ 1,100 square feet! Since we don't want to move again until we get a house, we wanted to make sure it would have enough space to accomodate all of our stuff we have and the sectional and dining room set we want to get after the wedding. We're planning on moving the 3rd weekend in April and I can't wait! (Ghetto living just isn't for me :-)

So yea, lots of stuff going on in the next couple months, and I'm so excited about all of it!

OOH...and I'd just like to say real quick Congratulations to Kevin & Monica on your newest bundle of joy...Karson is soo cute!!

Cool Site

Dan's Nana emailed this link (which I've also added to the blog): www.howmanyofme.com

There are 28 people in the US with my first and last name.
There are 24 people in the US with my first and future last name :)

It's an interesting site. Take a look!

Wedding checklist

Important things I can proudly say are checked off the wedding list:

• Gown and accessories
• 1 bridesmaid is in possession of her dress; 1 bridesmaid has ordered her dress
• Deposit for church paid
• Invitations (making our own)
• DJ
• Photographer
• Limo transportation
• Reception hall booked
• Hotel rooms for guests booked
• Engagement pictures taken and received

Many more things to be done, but when I wrote the check out for the church deposit this morning, I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Blog Name

I'm thinking about changing my blog title to "The Land of Never Ending Winter".

Our snow total for this season is up to 86 inches!! YIKES! And it's not over yet :(

The temperature tonight with the wind chill is supposed to be 30 below and there's a severe cold advisory for tomorrow morning as well.

Oh! And I know there's more snow coming....its inevitable!

So yea, welcome to the never ending winter!

And just so you Texans are aware....I still don't plan on moving back :) In the 5 winters I've been here, this has been the worse....so 1 out of 5 isn't bad. I can handle that!

Feb. 9th Festivities

Because I'm never either home long enough or awake when I'm home I'm going to do this without pictures for now & I'll add pictures sometime this weekend :)

What had originally been planned to be a nice evening out with Dan's parents and my Aunt Sue & Uncle Ken and cousins at Fox's in Orland turned into somewhat of a family reunion at Ken & Sue's home.

My Aunt & Uncle we kind enough to open their home to not only Dan's parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles but also to my aunt & uncle & gramma and cousins on my Dad's side. It had been quite some time since the Schusslers and McCues had gotten together, I think Shannon said over 20 years, which is why I wouldn't remember :)

So I'd like to say Thank You! to Gramma Mary, Aunt Sis & Uncle Mike, Bill, Jake, Billy, Don & Beth, Ace, Shelly & Alexander for coming out and celebrating with us! We hope to see you all again very soon!!

Also, Thank You! to Grandma & Dziadz, Auntie, Chrissy, Rob & Julie! It was great having you all there and I hope my family didn't scare ya too much :)

Thank You! to Dan's parents for suggesting having a get together before the wedding. Now it will feel like everyone is seeing old friends in a couple months!

Thank You! to Jack & Michelle and Alan & Shannon and of course Kit, Lily, Finn & Jack! Thank you Michelle for the wonderful cake and Shannon & Alan for the beautiful flowers.

I had a wonderful time seeing everyone and of course seeing everyone together! I really can't wait until November 1st now, because I know we're going to have an awesome reception!!

To Uncle Ken and Aunt Susie, thank you again! We really appreciated you opening your home to everyone and we also thank you for your love and support!!

Ceremony Question

Just a simple question...

Do I need ushers?

I've been to weddings that have them and don't have them and I'm just not sure if we need them or not?

Okay, another question :)

If we do decide to have ushers do we have to ask them to get suits to match the groomsmen, or can they wear what they want...as long as its appropriate?

Down With Snow!

Seriously!! I'm sooo sick of snow! Madison has a new snow record and everyone around here thinks it's time for the snow to end, and I agree!

Yes, I know, I wanted to move to a place that experienced winter and for the most part I've loved it....except for this season.

Perhaps it's because I live in a horrible apartment, with horrible parking in what seems to be the "ghetto". Or perhaps I'm just pissed because I wasn't able to get out of my parking spot this morning and had to call work for someone to come get me (Thank you Carrie & Glenn!). Meanwhile the person plowing down the center of the parking lot, sees me, more than once and doesn't bother to even offer help.

I soooo can't wait to move! It will be worth the extra money to have underground parking and nice, friendly neighbors.

If I get called off Menards tonight I'll try to get pictures and a better post up from the party this passed weekend, otherwise I'll have to wait until later this week or even this weekend :( SORRY

THANK YOU!

This is just a quick little post saying thank you to everyone that came out on Saturday to help Dan & I celebrate our engagement. It was meant to be a "Meet the Family" type of event and I'd say it was pretty successful.

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU!! to Uncle Ken & Aunt Sue for opening their home to everyone and planning such a great party!

There will be a bigger and better post to come, for some reason the photo cd I brought w/ me to work won't load