Halloween!

Hey all. I miss you! I thought maybe once I moved to Madison that life would slow down a bit, but nope! Just always on the go. I love everything I've been up to, but I am such in old lady now in that all I long for is a weekend on the couch with nothing to do. I do have that this weekend for the most part, but it's a rarity as always. Since I'm way behind (I started this post a couple weeks ago already), I guess I will back track a bit. A few weekends ago, we did our annual Halloween celebration. It's where a bunch of good 'ol friends from La Crosse get together every year and get dressed up based on a particular theme. This year's theme was Music Legends. When one Halloween is over, the next day, we all go out for breakfast and debate on the following year's theme. It's that serious. No joke. This is the third year I've participated, and I had such a blast! I was originally going to go as Gene Simmons from Kiss, but as time went on, I was just feeling less and less excited about it. L was originally going to go as Prince, but he too decided on another option. I chose this version of Lady Gaga, and L chose Slash from Guns N' Roses. As you'll see in some pictures, we both rocked it and felt awesome about our costumes. It's so much more fun when you're "feeling" your costume, and feel it we did! So many people complimented us all, and I even had a group informally choose me as the winner of all our costumes. How fun!

A good chunk of the group took Friday off work, and we all met in Waukesha for some drinks. We've always done Halloween in La Crosse in previous years, but since so many people have moved to various parts of the state, Waukesha seemed to be a bit more central for most of the crew. A few of our friends live in that area too, so it just worked out really well. We spent most of Friday just exploring different bars and enjoying each others company. It was such a blast. We all got a little tipsy to say the least, L probably more than anyone else. Before that weekend, I could say I had never seen him puke from drinking. I can no longer say that. ;) He had a good time, and so did the rest of us, so all was good. I was a little 'under the weather' the next morning if you catch my drift, so after almost throwing up my breakfast, I decided it was time to take a nap. That helped tremendously! More people rolled into town late Saturday morning, so again, we all just gathered and spent the day together. One of our friends who lives in Waukesha recommended we try this new bar called Jackson's, and that was an amazing choice. There was really no one in there when we got there, so we kinda owned the bar and just had a blast catching up with everyone. Eventually, we left and everyone put our costumes on. We had the most amazzzzzzzing group of musicians, I'm telling you. Every year, we have a theme, but I think this theme (out of the ones I participated in) was by far the easiest to tell that we were a group. It was awesome. We all got back together and went to Bernie's Tap Room, which is where we had a table reserved for us. We stayed there for a bit and had fun entertaining all the other people who were there, but eventually, we decided to go back to Jackson's because we thought we'd have a little more fun there. When we got back there, there were only a few people there, so we definitely livened up the place to say the least! It took the manager a few seconds to realize we were the same people that were in there earlier, but once he did, he was so excited. He even bought shots for all of us, which was at least 20 people or so. What a cool guy! What made it even more awesome is that our friend Baker has an app on his phone that allows him to connect to the jukebox and play songs, so he proceeded to dominate the jukebox by playing songs that represented each of us. While it wasn't planned, most of us engaged in a 'performance' of some sort when our songs came on. Seriously, so fun!! One other awesome thing - we didn't have anyone dressed as Michael Jackson, but shortly after we got to that bar, some random guy came in dressed as Michael. Too hilarious! The night overall was a blast. It's such an amazing group of people. Everyone is just genuinely excited, and the positive energy is amazing. I don't think anyone had even close to a bad time, so I'm super happy to have been a part of it for a third year. Take a look at some awesome photos to see how much fun was had!:)

 Me and L at Mutt's in Waukesha! This is where the danger started. We had shots and beers before 11:00am. Oops!

 L with some of his best buddies!

 We went to this bar called Toon City, and the entire place looked like this. Unreal!

 Ladies at the cigar bar!

Day two. Hanging out at Jackson's!

 This PBR wasn't mine, but I needed to take a picture with it. It was 32 ounces!!

You need to watch this video of L doing a dance to Monster Mash. I laugh so hard every time!

Me and T!

Something was clearly funny. ;)

 Slash:)

 Lady Gaga and Slash:)

 Walking from bar one to bar two!

Freddie Mercury doing his performance!

 Slash doing his performance!

 Beyonce, Slash, and Katy Perry doing the "Single Ladies" dance! See the video below, awesome!

Slash and Beyonce!

 Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, and Slash. Badass.

The guys owning the "stage" (aka: the window)!

Slash, Rod Stewart, Angus Young, Charlie Daniels, and Rob Halford.

 Just a bunch of randomness!:)

 Ginger Spice (Spice Girls) and Freddie Mercury (Queen)

 Fun pick of the ladies! From left to right:

Bjork, Beyonce, Ginger Spice, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Tina Turner!

 Slash and Gaga again. Confession: I love this picture!!

 No music legends theme is complete without Dee Snyder and Elvis. ;)

Most of the guys! From left to right:

Rob Halford, Charlie Daniels, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, Slash, Alice Cooper, Dee Snyder, Rod Stewart, Angus Young, and Freddie Mercury. To say they loved this theme is an understatement!

Another pic of the ladies. This time, we added in Josie and the Pussycats and Gwen Stefani!:)

What an AMAZING weekend!:)

Celebrating Erin and Ross!

Hi all! I've missed ya! I'm gonna do a major overload post here and talk about one of the main things on my mind lately, and that's my best friend's marriage to her now husband Ross! The past month or so has been so busy - moving, starting a new job, planning and celebrating Erin's bridal shower and bachelorette party, traveling to visit friends, weddings, etc. Seriously insane! It's been great though, and I can't believe I've been living in Madison for a month already. Just this past weekend, L and I went back towards home to celebrate Erin and Ross' wedding, but before I get into that, I figured I'd back up and start with the bridal shower and bachelorette party.

After some intense planning with my friend Subera, we got all the fun little details outlined for Erin's shower and b-party. We had it the last weekend in August and had a great time celebrating with family and friends. The shower was very tasteful and beautiful (shout out to my fam at Smith Bros. for providing lots of the food!), and it was great to see so many lovely ladies there to support Erin. After the shower, we packed everything up and headed back to Erin and Ross' house and transitioned into the bachelorette party. For those of you who don't know, Erin is as Irish as they come, so we settled on a St. Patrick's day theme for her party. Not gonna lie, I'm secretly jealous because that's my favorite holiday and now I feel like I can't steal that idea for my party if I get married, ha! Anyway, we all got dressed up in green and proceeded to have a million jello shots that a bunch of us had made the night before. We had a bus take us out on the town that night and we traveled to several different bars around Wausau, which may or may not have included a strip club. ;) We were all feeling pretty good by the end of the night. Great time! Take a look at some pics from those two parties, and then take a look at the wedding pics too!

 BRIDAL SHOWER

Me and Subs before the shower started!

 

 Erin with her mom and mother-in-law!

Dessert table!!

 Erin opening the emergency wedding kit I made her:).

Lots more gifts from guests!

Look at all the people!

 Maid of honor and the bride!

 Bridesmaids!

BACHELORETTE PARTY

  Just some of the booze;).

 Making jello shots!

 Erin taking advantage of the leftover alcohol we couldn't get into syringes!;)

 One of two coolers full of jello shots. Yum!

Who doesn't want a penis cake?!

And she went for it... :)

We played the panty game where everyone brought a pair of panties and Erin had to guess who brought her which ones. As she guessed, she had to put each pair on over the next. Too funny!

The bride-to-be ready to go!

 Loading the bus!

Here we go!

 Some Colby ladies at the first bar!

Future brides get to do whatever they want!:)

 Dance!

 Right after a shot, ha!

 She actually didn't do too bad, but this picture is too good not to include!;) Great times were had by all!

THE WEDDING

Because I was maid of honor in the wedding, I took off work the day before and headed up by Erin on Thursday night. L was able to get Friday off too, so we rode up together, he dropped me off in Wausau, and then he headed Colby to hang with my parents until the wedding on Saturday. I was slightly nervous about how he'd handle being with them without me for an extended period of time, but it's safe to say everyone had a good time! :) For the ladies in the wedding, Friday was spent getting nails done, doing some decorating at the ceremony and reception sites, and doing the rehearsal. Everything went very well, and we were all in bed by a little after 10:00, ha! Made sense, though, because we all got up around 6:15 on the morning of the wedding day to start getting ready. It was pretty chaotic in the house to begin with, but everyone slowly got ready and then we did a bunch of the girl pictures (boys were at a separate location). Sadly, it was quite chilly and rainy that day, but it cooperated when we needed it to for the most part! The day went fast, but the wedding was beautiful, and the whole thing was great. I had to give my speech, and I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit of a hot mess. I'll be real, I wasn't even sure if I'd cry or not. My emotions are kind of wild card in that sense, but boy, did I fall apart. Ha! One of the main things in my speech I remember saying is, "Wow, I am a mess right now!" Fortunately, everyone laughed with me...or at me at that moment;). My speech was very heartfelt, and I'm truly happy for Erin and Ross! While I was embarrassed by my surprising lack of control over my emotions, I did get many, many compliments on my speech, and some people even told me that they cried. L, who is the king of best man speeches, was even impressed because he said, "It's hard to be maid of honor. The best man can just crack jokes and everyone laughs and that's that." He thought I had the right balance and that it was a great, sincere speech. Made me feel flattered since he's awesome at this stuff:). Anyway, we chatted with lots of friends and danced the night away! On Sunday morning, we went out to Erin and Ross' for some last goodbyes and then headed back to Colby by my parents to watch the Packers dominate the Lions (it's about time they won, but it still wasn't that pretty). Got to see my brother, his wife, and the kiddos too! Then it was back to Madison! Crazy how time flies. It was a great time, though, and I'm so happy we were able to be a part of their special day! Enjoy a few photos!

 The night before the wedding, one of Erin and Ross' cats was inspecting this poster board for a LONG time. Think she was trying to decide if she was okay adding Ross to the family. :P

Erin getting her hair done!

After we got her in the dress, I had to tie her tennis shoes! (Yes, she wore tennis shoes.)

Tada! She looked beautiful!! (Confession: I LOVE my hair!)

Me and Bean before the ceremony!

Limo!

 

 Newlyweds!

Me and Ash!

 I'm classy like that;). Secret: It was empty!

Me and L!

 Me and papa at reception!

Me and mama!

 With the bagpiper!

Friends for life:).

<3

Me and Subs at the head table!

Happy couple!

 Me and Becca! (This weekend, I got asked to be her bridesmaid for her wedding next summer!)

 Me and Jared!

 Hilarious photobomb by Bean!

 My bouquet looks beautiful even after the wedding!:)

 One of the professional photos from the day! (Love everyone's faces!:)