Keep On Getting Older

So, I find that at the age of 30 my life has changed slightly. On Saturday I had lunch with two of my girlfriends at a sushi restaurant in Old Towne Scottsdale. Unfortunately, we are at the age where we have to have reasons to get together. The need to eat just doesn’t cut it anymore, there has to be a more valid reason than that. I am not sure at what age this happened, but it snuck up on me. When I went back to Wisconsin last weekend I hit up the Coach Outlet store and my girlfriend wanted me to get her an off-white purse. Well, I fulfilled her request with a fabulous off-white leather purse and that purse gave us a reason to get together for lunch. If it wasn’t for that purse we probably wouldn’t have eaten together on Saturday because there was no reason to. Even though we both needed to eat lunch that purse gave us a reason. Anyway, my other girlfriend also joined us for an all girls lunch. Now, the purse girl has a 6 month old adorable baby girl that came for sushi lunch, minus the sushi, and the other girlfriend is pregnant and due in December, so of course she only ate cooked sushi. Ok, when did I get to the point where, not only do we have to have a reason to get together, but now the topic of conversation is baby? Don’t get me wrong I had a great time and I learned a lot; however, I found myself driving home after our two hour lunch feeling old. I realized that I am just not all that young anymore where you get together with friends for no apparent reason, any day of the week and at any time of the day. I am also at the age where conversations revolve around babies and pregnancies. Thank god for these girls having babies way before me because I am learning a lot from all this conversation. I knew absolutely nothing about babies or being pregnant about 2 years ago, but I feel by the time it’s my turn I will be well educated due to my girlfriends. Man, a simple lunch has shown me that time has flown by and I just keep on getting older.

Fall Arrives After A Crazy & Fabulous Weekend

Well today marks the first day of Fall and let me tell you it definitely doesn’t feel like Fall here in Arizona. We were back in Wisconsin this past weekend and I was hoping for a touch of Fall weather, but it didn’t feel like it there either. Actually, I was shocked at how warm it was. I wore my flippy-flops the whole time I was there, along with a tank top and jeans. I was shocked at the weather and that my body didn’t find it cold since it was 100 degrees when we left AZ and hovered around 75 in Wisco. We had a very quick trip home, which equals very crazy couple of days. We got into Madison on Friday night around 11:30pm and I got my bags and headed to my parents to get some sleep before I had to get up at 6am. We went back to Wisconsin because Andy’s dad got remarried the weekend before and they were having the wedding reception at 6pm on Saturday night. Well, with that kind of timing it allowed us to attend the Badger game while we were there since the game was at 11am. This way we killed two birds with one stone. Sounds like a great idea huh? Well, not really, because it made for an extremely long and exhausting day. I am surprised I made it all day and all night. We started our Badger festivities at 9am with friends at The Stadium Bar. We did the usual and headed to the game for the first half before we ended back at the bar for some more drinks before we headed to the wedding reception. Not the best idea on my part as the day drinking really made the reception a bit fuzzy, but nonetheless we had a great time. The reception was at Hawk’s Landing on the Westside, which by the way the food was awesome and the cake tasted great! I am not a cake person, but this cake was so moist and yummy. We finished the reception off in the bar for more cocktails, because of course Andy and I hadn’t had enough that day. Then our AZ friend, Kristin, was in town for the reception too and she wanted to see downtown Madison. Of course we called a cab and six of us headed downtown for more shenanigans and drinks. We topped the night off with gyros at Parthenon’s, because what night of drinking in Madison wouldn’t be complete without Parthenon’s? We ended back at Andy’s mom’s house at 4am. Just in time for two hours of sleep before it was time to get up again. Andy headed to the Packer game while I went back to my parent’s house with a day full of family fun time. I was able to spend Sunday with my grandparents, niece and my parents. It was a really nice day and makes me appreciate family a whole lot more since I never get to see them anymore. Andy and I then boarded a plane on Monday morning to Detroit where we had a three hour layover before we could head back to AZ. After a full day of traveling and a weekend of drinking and lack of sleep we are completely exhausted.

Football Party!

This past Sunday we had a football party for the Packer vs. Bears game. We have friends that are fans of both teams, so we invited them all over and made a party out of it. It ended up being pretty even with a good number of Packer fans and a good number of Bear fans over. The game started at 5pm; however, of course we had to start a party earlier than that. We had wings with three different sauces from BW’s, meatballs, seasoned pretzels, beer, water and tons of appetizers our guests brought. Not only did we have our usual TV out back, but Andy hauled out our bedroom TV. I said “Is that really necessary?” His response was “That is why I am in charge of the entertainment.” So, we had two TV’s out back so they could have the game on both TV’s and two different games on during the day. It was after 2pm and the Bears fans arrive. Of course they had to come all decked out in their Bears apparel and my friend, Amber, handmade a cake in the shape of a brown bear wearing a Bears jersey. As she was walking into the house she had this giant smile along with a giggle. I knew she was up to something and if anybody knows Amber you knew she couldn’t just arrive as is. She has to do something extra…and hence the homemade Bears cake. Our other Bears friends brought their 6 month old daughter dressed up in a clown suit…aka a Bears cheerleading outfit. Even though she was in such a hideous outfit she still managed to look adorable. Our Packers fans arrived as is, nothing extra and no jersey’s. I believe they are just confident without having to scream it out loud! :) It ended up being a good game where it was going back and forth, but of course the Packers came out the winners. Who would have thought otherwise…oh yeah, our loud Bears fans. :) I am not a football fan, but I had a great time with this. It was a lot of fun to give each other crap, eat plenty of food and just socialize. I wouldn’t mind having another football party at our house as it was good times had by all.

Moving When It's 100 Degrees Outside

Andy’s buddy, Mike, moved here this weekend from California for a job. Andy has known Mike since high school and I have known Mike for almost six years now so when we got the news of the big move we were both pretty happy to hear that he was moving to sunny Arizona. Mike arrived in his Penske truck on Friday evening so the three of us headed to BW’s for some dinner as it had been decided to move Mike in on Saturday. I think the apartment leasing office was closed when he got here. Anyway, you think we would have moved him in first thing in the morning because it is September in Arizona and who would wait until its 100 degrees outside at 1pm to move? Of course it was the boy’s idea. You might ask why? Well, it’s because the Badger football game was on TV and we couldn’t be without the TV until the game was over. By the way it was a good game. Of course it went into double overtime and as the three of us sat out back watching the game it kept getting hotter and hotter. I did remind the boys about the heat right before the first over time began, but they acted like it was no big deal. Well, we eventually got over to Mike’s apartment between 1pm and 1:30pm right when it’s nice and scorching hot outside. He is of course on the second floor so we had some stairs to climb along with tackling the extreme heat. It was just the three of us and the Penske truck wasn’t big so we figured two hours at the most and we were right about that. It took us less than two hours to get all of Mike (and his girlfriends) stuff from the back of the truck and into their apartment with only the three of us. I moved all the small and lightweight items while the guys tackled the big items. Now, this apartment complex is the same complex that Andy and I used to live in and it’s in North Scottsdale. Anyone that knows the area understands that it’s filled with cougars, overly tan and outrageous women and of course we happen to be moving on the same day as a cougar was moving right above Mike. Cougar number one and her friend, cougar number, and an older gentleman helped her move in. So we are all on the same stairs and let me tell you the cougars were definitely interested in Andy and Mike. It was too funny. They were asking me who was moving in and then when I wasn’t around they were chatty with the boys. Imagine this: moving in 100 degree heat, wearing 10 pounds of makeup and a dress…only in Scottsdale will you see something like that. That is what cougar number two was wearing. Cougar number one had tiny shorts on with leather skin and horrendously dyed hair. All I could do was laugh and enjoy the show. The funny part about all of this was when we were done moving Mike in, the three of us were in his apartment and they said “Seems like she is trying to make friends in her new building.” Of course they were trying to make friends. I said “Are you serious? I think they were trying for more than friends.” These guys were naïve to the whole friend making cougar. Either way it was my entertainment for Saturday. After all was done my clothes were sopping wet from sweating so much. I don’t think I have ever sweat that much in my entire life and I would prefer never to again.

First Day of Daycare

Yesterday the girls spent their first full day of doggie daycare and it was their second test to make sure they are able to spend the night next weekend. The dogs have not been allowed in the Audi, but since this place is only 10 minutes from my work we put down the seat protectors and piled the girls in the back seat of my car. They had no idea where they were going, but Izzy laid down to enjoy the long ride and Madison proceeded to stare out the window the whole time while her wet nose was pressed against the window leaving her nose print behind. I was able to get the girls from the car and into Born to Run without any issues as they were cooperating with me on this fine morning. I went inside and they immediately took the girls from me and they had to of remembered this place because they were completely excited once they got inside. They were so excited they went with the lady behind the desk no questions asked. They didn’t even care that I was dropping them off. Weren’t they going to miss me all day? Weren’t they wondering if I was even coming back to get them? That is when I realized that I was acting like a mother who was dropping off her kid for the first day of kindergarten, but I didn’t care. I went to work and come afternoon I was hoping the girls were having fun, making friends and most importantly tiring themselves out. I arrived back at Born to Run to pick up the girls just after 5pm and I was waiting in the front room with two other ladies while they go and get the girls. One hyper dog came barreling through the door and the lady went to go get her dog. It was a boxer just like Izzy and completely hyper just like Izzy. There was this loud noise on the other side of the door and a lot of banging around. The other lady in the front room looked at me embarrassed and said “That’s probably my dog coming through.” I said “No big deal because I have two dogs like that.” I am expecting a big dog to barrel through that door just like the boxer did, but here comes a barely 10 pound dog through that door…just a tiny little thing. I told the lady that I expected a much bigger dog to come out from the noise he made. She just laughed and of course this dog is just as hyper and out-going as the boxer that came through a couple minutes earlier and just like Madison and Izzy. This made me feel better that our dogs aren’t the only out-of-control hyper dogs out there. This made me less embarrassed when they came and told me it would only be a couple more minutes because Izzy decided to play in the mud and they were cleaning her off. I said “of course she did.” That’s Izzy, she likes to play in mud. A few minutes later two tired pups came walking through that door. Izzy still had a little mud on her snout which was evidence of her fun at daycare. I get the dogs to the car and they just stood there in the doorway while I had to lift them in because they were just too tired to get in themselves. I didn’t even pull out of the parking lot and Izzy was already out cold in the back seat. Madison was trying her hardest to stay awake and watch everything out the window, but by the time I hit the highway she was with Izzy sleeping in the backseat. These two babies slept the rest of the night. It was a great day at doggie daycare and it ended up being a great night for us. They passed their second test at daycare and they are welcome to stay a night. Good thing because we already have them booked for next weekend.

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Our weekend plans started with us going to spend our three days in the woods camping with good friends up north in Flagstaff. This did not happen because as the weekend approached the weatherman announced that there was a 60% chance for rain all weekend in Flagstaff. Of all the times for it to rain, it just had to be Labor Day weekend. In reality I wasn’t too bummed when the forecast called for rain and the group called off our camping adventure. I just didn’t want to grocery shop just for camping, pack everything needed to go camping and then unpack everything once we got home. It just sounded like too much work. Normally Andy has done all the packing the past two times we went, but since he forgot some key elements the last time we went I wanted to take a role in the packing this time. Since camping was called off we managed to spend Labor Day weekend doing nothing. We are not too exciting here some weekends and this weekend definitely had no excitement. We did watch the Badger football game on TV and that just made me miss Wisconsin. This happens every year during the months of September and October. I really miss Wisconsin and I think about moving back and my quick weekends home during this time just aren’t enough to get me through the missing Wisco times. I do get over it at Christmas every year when I go home when it’s a heavy reminder of why I moved once I reach the bitter cold and the crappy driving conditions that Wisconsin always has to have. Needless to say this weekend was definitely a “I miss home” weekend. I watched the Badger game and Andy and I reminisced on all the games we went to and how much fun we had. I also was reading about people attending the Taste of Madison on Facebook…which didn’t help the “I miss home” weekend. That was an annual event in Madison that I always enjoyed. That’s ok because I know this moving back to Wisconsin thought won’t last. I go through this every year and I will get over it at Christmas time once I get to Madison and deal with the cold and the crappy weather.