so long 2011, hello 2012!

2011 was by far dominated by ups and downs. i started off the new years with andy's family out in northwestern PA, while my parents packed up the home they had lived in for my whole life and moved to texas. andy and i had started looking at houses in late 2010, and we spent all of 2011 continuing to live in our rented 1890s farmhouse. 

we had some adventures:

Texas (San Antonio & Houston)

Promised Land State Park (PA)

lots of kayaking

river safety patrol

Madison, Wisconsin

Siesta Key, Florida

 We reached some milestones:

100,000 miles on the Echo.

and a car with 7 miles on it.

 We had some setbacks:

my poor echo

a basement full of water

We spent some time with family and lost some family.

I took up a new form of exercise (hot yoga!!).


I had some major work projects come together, ones that i put together all on my own and saw them through to completion. [hey, maybe a promotion in 2012?]


and of course, the most exciting news of all- we got engaged!

maybe you can't tell it from my face, but at this point, i'm still in disbelief.

the last two months of 2011 flew past as we set a wedding date, picked a place for the ceremony/reception, booked a band, ceremony musicians, a photographer, and i bought the dress! 


we spent thanksgiving with andy's family, and christmas with my family (almost all of them!)

just the grandkids (mom's side)

dad's side (minus 3)

earthquake, hurricanes, snowstorms in october... all in all, i'd have to say 2012 was good, even with the pretty rough patch in the middle there. hopefully 2012 will be good all around. i have a feeling that august 18, 2012 will be an especially good day! :)

happy new years!

quick holiday recap and rant

i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! i was able to spend time with andy and my family this year for christmas. we bounced around from place to place over three days, stayed at a hotel with my parents (even though this was just over an hour from where we live, but all the driving back and forth for 3 days would have been a little crazy and exhausting). it was good to be with family, but it was a sad christmas too. this was our first christmas without poppa, but they still wanted to have it at the house, and as somebody pointed out, that's the only place we've all known for christmas morning for our whole lives (aside from the one year we had it elsewhere when grandma was diagnosed with lung cancer). and this would be the last year we would have it there. so it was a bittersweet day. i do have to realize that i'm pretty lucky and that each christmas that i spend with my family, i do (usually) get to see every single one of my aunts and uncles and first cousins. not a lot of people can say that, so its nice that we can usually catch up at least once a year.

andy started with a cold on the eve of christmas eve. i managed to try to avoid him until he gave me an adorable card for christmas and i had to give him just one kiss on the lips. and then of course, the following evening, i started feeling sick. i can't blame it all on him, because my mom was sick too, and then my dad got it, so it was just a matter of time.

our last holiday event was monday, and then when we got home it was really starting to hit me. i woke up and felt awful on tuesday morning and called out of work. i had a meeting on wednesday that was related to probably the most important project of my career so far. i told my boss i would meet him for the meeting and that's probably all i would work on wednesday. i did make the meeting, even though i felt worse on wednesday than i did on tuesday. i've been going to bed at around 8:30pm every night i've been sick, and just spending all day in bed. aside from our appointment to look at two townhouses on tuesday and to take my mom to visit my dress today.

[here's the rant part] but i have to head in to work tomorrow because if i call out sick tomorrow (the last work day before a holiday), i won't get paid for the holiday on monday. regardless of the fact that i've been sick for three days, with an obviously contagious head cold. so, i'll drag my sorry, sneezy butt out of bed tomorrow morning, and potentially contaminate my officemates. sorry, co-workers, but i'm not going to not get paid. i at least only have to work 6 hours because i've pushed off my two hours left of vacation that i have to use this year until tomorrow (i was going to use it this week for some of the other errands, but now i've been sick). ugh, such a stupid rule. i totally understand that people will take advantage and try to extend their long weekend by being "sick" but obviously that's not the case here. so just sucks for me.

anyway, hope you all have a wonderful new year's celebration--i have a feeling that it will be pretty low-key for us sickly folk. hope you all have a wonderful 2012!

life update--including that i found THE DRESS!

so, i know. i haven't been writing very often. and that's because things have been crazy. between vacation and holidays and wedding planning and that other thing--oh yeah, work, i just haven't gotten around to it. or cleaning my house (which is a whole other story).

after we got back from florida, we went back to work for a couple of days, and then we headed off to visit andy's family for the thanksgiving holiday. we went out for a whole week, because andy really misses hunting. well, and he sure got to go hunting a lot. he shot a turkey on thanksgiving morning, and he got an 8-point buck. he got to spend a lot of time with his dad, which made him really happy. i spent my time doing wedding planning online, spending a lot of time on pinterest, and even getting some time in at the local Y out there (yay for the Y AWAY program!)

when we got back, we decorated the house, and then a few days later, my mom, my sister and i met up with some old family friends and resurrected our formerly annual holiday cookie baking extravaganza. we used to eat raw cookie dough bake cookies from noon until 9pm. and i mean sugar, spritzer, choc chip, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, fudge, and everything. dozens of dozens of cookies. we didn't make nearly that many this year, now that we're older (i think the last time we did this was maybe 10 years ago?). but it was fun.

in wedding news, i have done a lot of dress shopping (which resulted in a lot of crying--mostly from stressing out), but i'm so glad that on the first day i was able to go with my mom (who lives in TX), my sister (who lives in PA), and my best friend/twin (who lives in SC).  mostly the morning after i thought i liked a dress, i woke up at 3am, panicked because i found a bazillion things wrong with the dress. i did find the right color/fabric dresses for my bmaids on the first day, although i didn't find my dress. on the same day of my first dress shopping adventure, we met with an invitations person, and got to check out another band. it was a good day, so i'm glad i've been able to get a lot done. and we LOVED the band! (we being: andy and i, my sister and her hubby, my mom, and twin--so happy i could have almost everybody there, just missing my dad). I'm so glad we were able to get that figured out and we're all set with the band. And the invitations I think will come along nicely!

after my first dress attempt, i had to head out to more stores. i made three appointments the next weekend, and twin was able to come with me and spend the night. i really liked this organza with fern design dress at david's bridal and i thought it fit my personality perfectly, it was just a little too much dress and train than i was looking for. although i didn't get a dress, i'm so happy twin was able to spend the night, and spend time with andy and i. andy even made waffles and mini omelets the next morning!

organza and fern dress by vera wang
this was not the dress i chose,
but still beautiful!

on sunday i had two more appointments scheduled with my sister. i liked the first place (some things were a bit too expensive), but i found a dress that made me look AMAZING. i liked some details of another dress, and they said since each dress is made to order, they can make it how i want it to be. i didn't want to commit to anything since i was thinking about the fern dress, and i knew we had another appointment. we went to lunch first, and i realized that the fern dress was really not what i wanted and that the amazing dress was what i had been looking for all along. the 2nd store was a DISASTER. both places said "bridal couture"--which i scoffed at, and my sister told me it didn't mean couture like i thought it did. but for this place, it did. nothing looked good, most dresses actually made me look like a house.

i had been so overwhelmed with how awesome i looked in the dress at the first place, that i forgot to picture myself walking down the aisle. we called them and asked if we could come back before they closed. i knew when i put it on that it felt so right. i was hesitant because i hadn't slept on it and it was more than i anticipated spending on a dress. but i was going to be so comfortable in it, and i wouldn't have been in any other dress. and it was going to be made custom for me. so we placed the order! and the more i sleep on it and think about it, i'm so glad that's the dress i chose.

so, we got our save the date proof--it looks ADORABLE. i still have a little shopping to do, although most of my shopping was done and wrapped before thanksgiving. which is a good thing since i really haven't had any weekends free since then. this weekend won't help: we're going to a wedding! [since i'm surely not wedding-ed out] the bride, andy and i were 3 out of the 4 interns the first summer at PEEC. it is crazy where life takes us in just a few years.

hopefully i can blog a little more frequently than once a month! just in case, happy holidays and a happy 2012!

(i have a feeling that 2012 is going to be a wonderful year! i can't believe this time next year i will be MARRIED.)

a little of this, a little of that

in case you're wondering where i ran off to, it was here:

 my home away from home, my parent's other home, in florida. pretty much one of the most awesome places on earth. we had perfect weather (low 80s and plentiful/abundant/radiant/etc sunshine--according to weather reports, every day).

andy and i spent 8 days down there, my mom was there the whole time, my dad there for a couple of days. we got to see my great aunt & uncle who are snow birds down there, and some awesome family friends. i enjoyed some delicious margaritas at various places (airplane margaritas are NOT recommended), while seated outside enjoying the summery atmosphere, even in November.

we got to see some awesome sunsets, like this one:

we nearly missed this one, but it was awesome that we caught it! (the huts are the lifeguard houses at our beach, the most awesome beach in the world, well, at least the US. yes, it's ranked the #1 beach in the America this year.)

we visited the sarasota chalk festival (and got to see some 3D chalk drawings)

terracotta army in legos!

viewing the above drawing from the opposite corner.

that's us. in this sea turtle-VW beetle-barrel full of something.

spent some time by the pool, on the beach, at the aquarium, at the botanical gardens, on our friend's boat, watched andy go fishing (see below), ate a bazillion calories worth of food at Ruth's Chris to celebrate our engagement with my parents (which was all so worth it), you know. vacation.

and in the midst of all of that, we got some tough news on the wedding planning front: our band backed out. they were supposed to be sending us the contract the next day (as they had confirmed availability nearly 2 weeks beforehand), and whatever. just really tough, because now we're 9 months out, and the good bands are already booked because people have longer engagements now and have been planning their wedding for 6 months already.

anyway, sorry for my rant. but the good news is, is that i feel more in love with andy than ever. i just can't wait to be married to him. it's a good thing we're not waiting until 2013. and there was something i saw on Pinterest (omg, just got introduced to this and it's AWESOME)--and my re-pin failed... but it was something to the effect of: a wedding isn't a performance, things may not go as planned, but as long as when the day ends you're married to the one you love, it was a success. and i'm going to try to really tell myself that over and over again. so if you see it on Pinterest, let me know. because i want it. thanks.

hope all is well!

wedding teaser & hot yoga re-cap

it's still hard to believe this is all happening. we have been engaged for three weeks now, and we are full swing into wedding planning. i think 10 months is plenty of time (i still do)--now that we have some of the big things out of the way (place, date). lots of people are saying "wow, 10 months, not a lot of time to plan a wedding!" 

NBD i say to them. i know what i want. and when you know what you want, you just go for it (within budgetary restrictions, of course). 


so, now i can tease you with our ceremony & reception venue. i'm so excited about it. here are some photos, taken quickly, without great care, no editing (so please just imagine how beautiful they will be on August 18, 2012).

outside the reception building - the Lodge

practice?

cocktail hour lawn & the Lodge

love love love the chairs and the windows

by the lake (a short drive from the ceremony/reception spot)

our wedding night cabin

yay! :)


in other news... it snowed. in october. which was awful. i made andy drive me to my first hot yoga class, in case i passed out and didn't feel well enough to drive home. but in the end it worked out, because he could drive me home in the horrible road conditions. 


hot yoga = awesome! i'm not ready to give up pilates or bodypump, but i'm totally ready to add hot yoga to my workout mix. i never felt like i was bloated all the time, but since saturday morning, i feel like someone deflated my stomach (which is a great feeling).


things i learned:
- after your done sweating your salty sweat, you sweat gross other sweat.
- it's okay to lie down if you feel ill. and it's normal to feel nauseous after some of the poses.
- i'm going to stick by the 'drafty' side of the room until i get this figured out. ('drafty' = probably only 95-100 degrees)
- i think i went swimming in my clothes subconsciously during the 90 minute class.
- 90 minute class really takes up half your day--arrive 20 minutes early, then 90 minute class, cool down, change out of your disgusting clothes, and then go home (i was there from 10am to 12:30pm). 


and all i wanted to down when i got home was shower, and as soon as i stepped in and turned on the water, we lost power. which is not okay when you have a well. 


luckily, we only lost power for about 5 hours, so i did get my shower eventually.

Happy Halloween! 

(I totally forgot and am wearing a blue shirt. Nothing to do with Halloween, at all).

mixed emotions

so this weekend was filled with mixed emotions. we went out to visit andy's family (planned), but had to cut out early before their big fall festival/neighborhood pumpkin carving event to get back for my grandfather's wake and funeral. 

but backing up--we had plans to meet with my mom at our top wedding location choice on friday, for a 2nd meeting, and we booked the date! August 18, 2012 it is! (i'll post some pictures in the next post)


after having lunch with mom, andy and i headed off to his parents' house. we spent some time catching up with his fam, talking about the wedding planning, went apple picking on saturday, prepping for their big event, and unfortunately had to head out fairly early on sunday morning. 


we headed back across PA and into NJ, and met my family for the viewing. it was so weird to have everyone saying "i'm sorry for your loss, but congrats on getting engaged!" all at the same time. i was in a very weird place on sunday. monday for the funeral it really hit me, there was little happy talk, and just very sad.


these things are exhausting. i think i'm still recovering.


and i'm just trying to keep going, and i feel guilty for not really grieving aside from monday, but i know he's happy now, and he wasn't before. so i'm trying to be okay with it.

but on the happier side of things, wedding planning is moving right along. we've been engaged for less than 3 weeks, and we have:

ceremony/reception location
officiant
reception music
ceremony/cocktail hour music (i've put in that we're looking to book, just waiting for confirmation)


and we've been reaching out to a few photographers, and meeting with a handful this weekend/early next week... and hopefully we can get that figured out next week, because they'll probably get booked soon!


so, in my efforts to look my best in a wedding dress, i'm trying something new tomorrow... hot yoga. any tips, words of wisdom?


hope you're bundling up for the SNOW we're supposed to get tomorrow!



 

poppa

i come from a big family. especially on my mom's side. my mom is one of 7 kids.

and from that, i am one of 21 grandkids on that side.

and yesterday, we lost my grandfather.

while i don't feel that i was ever particularly close with Poppa, i know he was always excited to see each and every one of us, and i loved knowing how excited he was to receive father's day cards from me (i think i was the only grandchild that send him one).

i'm glad that i got to speak with him last week to tell him the good news, and how excited he was. he always referred to Andy as my "friend," and asked me how Pennsylvania was. (everybody, aside from me, and one uncle/aunt, live in NJ, all about 1 hour apart--i only live an hour and change too).

this was expected and unexpected at the same time. Poppa would have been 92 in February. just over a month ago, he fell climbing the stairs to get to a party at my sister's condo (which is on the 2nd floor). he broke his hip, had to have surgery, was going through rehab, and was just about to get released to go to assisted living (he had lived on his own since my grandma passed away in May 2007).

and then he dislocated his new hip. and had to have surgery again. and it was a difficult road since then, but we all thought he'd be okay. and then he just slipped away with my mom by his side.

i'm sure when i talked with him last week, he was already thinking about dancing to "Unforgettable" at my wedding next summer, just like he did at my sister's. he absolutely loved that moment, and it was the point where my sister cried the most during the whole day.

he danced with all of his granddaughters at his 90th birthday party back in 2010.  to "Unforgettable."

i take solace in that he's where he's wanted to be for the past 4 years. 

we'll miss you Poppa. give Grandma a kiss for me.

good days are ahead!

So, remember when I posted that things were looking up? Well, they just continue to get better and better. I had posted about Mary-Nevin, another recently engaged, bride-to-be, and how she was having a giveaway. And, I won! I have to say, she inspired me to get my butt moving on this wedding planning thing, she's already got her dress and dates picked on two different continents!

I felt like a slacker until yesterday! Andy and I went and looked at a couple of places in the Poconos (the area of PA where we met). My sister, my matron of honor, met us and helped ask the difficult questions that I've barely thought of. She put together her awesome wedding day just two years ago (seems like just yesterday).

So, after just a day and two places, we have a tentative hold on a place for August 18, 2012! There are a couple of key logistics to see if they can make it happen and I want to check it out one more time with Andy and my mom on Friday, so we could have an official date soon! So I'll keep you in suspense until then! :)

But back to the giveaway, I have already starting thinking about decorations (let's be honest, I've been on etsy for a couple of years picking some favorites...), and I found a wedding cake topper on Amazon YESTERDAY that I think is perfect for Andy and I. A brown haired guy and a blond haired girl, hiking together, with a "Happy Trails" flag? What could be more perfect!?  Thanks Mary-Nevin! (check out her blog, Serenity and Style!)

Hope wherever you are that you're having as beautiful day as here in PA! (which is a perfectly intermediary crisp, warm, fall day where the leaves are poppin'!)

is this real?

that's where i am. i can't even believe that we're here. we're engaged. we're going to get married.

i just keep looking down at my left hand to confirm that this has happened. i think i'm still in shock. i obviously was hoping this was going to happen, but i was just going about my business enjoying time in the outdoors with my then-boyfriend/now-fiance.

for REAL!?

so far, we've decided on the poconos--the area that we met (and just across the river from where andy proposed!). we would like to get married next year, but a big part of that depends on if we can get a place we want when we want (e.g., i do not want to get married in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb or any spring month). So my mom is actually calling around to some places today to see if they have any space open for August/Sept/early Oct, and if so, I guess we're taking a trip up there this weekend.

i know time might be tight to make things work, but i really don't want a 2 year engagement. we've made it this far, let's do this. i don't think i can contain my excitement and wait until 2013. Andy also noted he would be pushing his 7 year limit. Early on in our relationship, we were watching a movie/tv show/interview/something and a woman said she was with a guy for 7 years and he hadn't committed. i looked at him and said "i can't wait 7 years, so you better make a move before then." i can't believe he really took that seriously. i mean, i meant it at the time, but when things changed and he moved out here to be with me and emptied his savings and barely ate any food, how was i supposed to expect a ring at the same time? i told him he was off the hook now, but i don't think he believes me.

man, this thing sparkles. sorry, got distracted again! 

happy thursday!

just can't contain myself!

so, yesterday, andy and i had plans to go for a hike at one of our favorite places and hopefully catch some of the fall colors turning. we've been crossing paths a lot recently with work and other commitments, so i'm glad we had set aside the day to do something for ourselves, and enjoy the outdoors. and it ended out being a beautiful summer-like day.

so the day started off with sleeping in and some chocolate chip pancakes. we got our stuff together for the hike and headed up to the Delaware Water Gap. we were doing my favorite hike, a place that andy and i had hiked on our first unofficial date back in June 2006, as i call it (which was in the rains that led to the 2006 flood of the Delaware River).

about halfway up

so the hike up Mt. Tammany is really steep on the way up, and its been ages since we've hiked there (especially when we were well conditioned to hiking all summer). we made it to the top for the spectacular view, which is also a great lunch spot. unfortunately there were stink bugs all over the place that were attacking, so we got up to head down the mountain. Andy asked me if there was another higher spot that we could get another view from the top, and I said i didn't think so, but i climbed on top of a rock that put me higher than anything else. Andy noticed that my shoes were untied, and said he would tie them for me.

Once he finished tying, he reached into his left pocket, got down on one knee, and said, "Well, I think this is a good time to propose... that I would like to spend the rest of my life hiking with you."

And I think that I was just so shocked and speechless that I don't even know what happened next, and we were sitting on the rock and he was putting this GORGEOUS rock on my finger.

and then this:

 

so i wore the ring down the mountain, holding andy's hand nearly the whole way. it just seems so surreal! i can't believe this really happened! this has just been a special place for andy and i. and as he pointed out that the Delaware River is really something that has joined us for multiple reasons, even being the border line separating the two states that we've come from and we meet in the middle.

i love this ring!! (almost as much as i love andy!)

so, no we don't have a date yet, we've got a lot to figure out, so we're just enjoying being really happy right now.

still can't even believe this is real!!

life as a happy person

although upsetting thoughts occasionally creep into my mind, i try to push them back. although i would love a house of our own (and a potential dream house--in a reasonable price range, but still out of ours--is on the market), i just have to be thankful that we both have good, stable, full-time jobs, a roof over our head, and enough money to pay our bills. i thought about getting a second job for a while, just to bring in a little extra income, that could go to savings to help pay for a house someday.

but, i've put that idea on hold for the time being, especially since we're coming up to the season where i get to spend a lot of time with Andy (late Oct-mid January is his 'slower' season). 

but i've done some form of exercise for the past 4 days, and the next few days won't be any different. i'm trying to get back on my stability ball when i'm watching TV. that's something i did all through college and grad school, and it was awesome. its tough though when your nice comfy, warm bed and/or couch is right there waiting for you...

and after all this, i feel awesome. maybe it's just in my head, but i feel like my jeans fit better after just a couple of days. and i got a compliment at the gym on monday about the way i look from a fellow bodypumper. 

and on other fronts, things are good. i miss my parents, even when they're up in this neck of the woods. during their last visit a few weeks ago, my 92 year-old grandfather stumbled getting up the stairs to my sister's 2nd floor condo and broke his hip. so my mom spent time with him in the hospital for his hip replacement surgery and then through his first week of rehab. 

needless to say, i'm excited to spend some time with them in our vacation-land, even though my dad can only be there for a few days of it.

it seems weird to me that i'm just trying to switch off being unhappy after it seemed to paralyze me for about 2 months. but as i kept being told, it's all about attitude.

or maybe it is the sunny, warm weather we're having :)

looking up

it's been a rough couple months. and people have told me that they've noticed the change in my overall mood, and that's really upset me. so it's time for a change. i don't want to be mopey or upset or sad or frustrated or any of the negative moods. so, it's time to look up. 

and i think a big part of it is that i haven't been at the gym nearly as much as i want to, and my body looks that way. i've had other things to deal with, so that's fallen to the wayside. well not anymore. i didn't have anything planned that required me to have a bathing-suit worthy body this summer, so maybe i had no goal? well, now i have a goal. i'm going to a beautiful place in a few weeks, so i've got to get prepared. here's a teaser:

credit

credit

and a very lovely blogger, mary nevin--newly engaged!--is having a giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift certificate! check it out!

our trip to America's Dairyland

So, now that we've been back for just under 1 MONTH, I'm making this post happen...

in mid-August, Andy and I headed out to Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? you might ask. Well, way back in 2006, when I was studying abroad in Ecuador, two of my fellow classmates met on the trip and started dating. Since our whole group was there when they got together, we were all invited to their wedding in Wisconsin. Although it would have been wonderful to have the whole group together again, only myself and one other from the group of 14 were able to make it.

We left the house very early on Thursday morning, got to the airport, boarded our plane from the tarmac, and then it started POURING. and we were delayed. and we missed our connection in Cleveland. So we were re-booked from Cleveland to Milwaukee to Madison instead of just Cleveland to Madison. We hung around the Cleveland airport for a while, lugging our bags around, eventually made it to Milwaukee, and only about 4 hours behind schedule we made it to Madison. (In my personal opinion, Milwaukee was a crappy airport--we had to leave the 'secured' area to get our tickets for the third flight, which was from a different airline, and then had to go through security again. And dump out the water bottle I had purchased at the Philly airport--UGH).

Anyway, we arrived, exhausted and cranky--and eventually went to find some food. Now, I really wanted to explore and visit the quintessential local fare. So we went to The Old Fashioned, and I had one of the most ridiculously delicious sandwiches ever. Grilled Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese with bacon and roasted red pepper, with a huge pile of onion strings (I read they were the best in Madison!), complemented by a local hard cider. YUM.

After consuming half of it (and saving the rest for later), we went for a walk to get a feel for Mad-Town. We walked over to Monona Terrace (this is our 2nd Frank Lloyd Wright building we've visited--the first was Fallingwater out in southwestern PA way back in 2008). The sun was setting, and they had just lit up the capitol building, and it was beautiful! We sat on the Terrace just looking out over Lake Monona, watching the boats drive around.

The next day, we ate breakfast at the Marigold Kitchen (delicious) and I had planned for us to walk out to Picnic Point, through the UW-Madison campus. It was probably about a 6-7 mile round trip walk. It was a beautiful preserve along Lake Mendota that then went past some beautiful campus buildings, and eventually back into preserve again on this very thin peninusla that provided wonderful views of Madison. On our walk back, we stopped and had lunch at the famous Memorial Union (which came highly recommended from a wonderful friend, Dr. Mookie).

We met up with the bride and groom to be on the eve of their wedding at the Great Dane Pub, and we consumed a couple beers and the cheese and artichoke dip (another recommendation from the fabulous Dr. Mookie). More yum. (I was eyeing up the cheddar mac that some other people got, though!)

The following day, we had breakfast at the Sunprint Cafe (mmm bacon egg and cheese sandwich), we met up with Noah and Rachael (Noah was from the Ecuador group), and Rachael is his wife. They were on the last leg of their 5 week long honeymoon, and heading back to their new home in Boulder. ADORABLE couple. I bought some cheese to take home at Fromagination on the Square, and we enjoyed the Dane County Farmer's Market (which was HUGE, and kept people shuffling along in a counterclockwise fashion around the capitol square). I tried some cheese curds, DELICIOUS cheesecake, fresh sliced tomatoes, and so much more. 

We had some leftovers at the hotel for lunch, had some ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe on State Street. (It's America's Dairyland--now that I've had lots of cheese, I had to have ice cream). I got their signature Zanzibar Chocolate with peanut butter topping, peanut butter cups, etc.Andy got something green (maybe pistachio?) I don't know. I was too engrossed in my sundae.

We took a nap after all that and then it was time for the wedding. Held at the lovely Orpheum Theater on State Street, it was a beautiful ceremony. Something I really liked that they did was they passed around the rings for the entire group to touch and send their blessing, as everyone had touched their lives in some way.

 

Nicole & Alex (her dress was handmade by her aunt!)

the adorable Rachael and Noah (quite the dancers!)

we partied and danced until I was about to pass out (around 11:30, I think), went back to our hotel room and slept until it was time to go to brunch in the AM. After saying goodbye to Noah/Rachael, and Alex/Nicole, we headed off on our next adventure. We walked through the other side of the UW-Madison campus towards the Henry Vilas Zoo. We passed the Orpheum, which still had the message for Alex & Nicole (So far so good)--since they were officially married last year, and then wanted to have the wedding ceremony/party for friends and family.

The zoo was pretty awesome for being a free zoo! It was about a 3 mile walk to get there, but I need to work off all of the cheese that I had consumed so far. We saw some really cool animals like a badger (of course, the UW mascot), capybaras, an alligator snapping turtle, etc.

We decided to call a cab to get ourselves some food, since we were hungry, and I really wanted that cheddar mac at the Great Dane, so that's where we went. It was DELICIOUS.


It was our last night, and I had also been keeping an eye on the grasshopper ice cream at The Old Fashioned, so we got some of that for dessert (it's got creme de menthe in it, so I got carded to get ice cream), over a brownie, to go, and took it to Monona Terrace. It was a great last night in Madison, a city I really enjoyed. 

(The trip home went off without a hitch--we did have to take a propeller plane from Madison to Cleveland! It was pretty crazy!)


Hopefully I'll be better about posting for my next vacation!! :)