14 January 2008

So, we went up north for New Years...

This update will likely be short, but sweet. Hopefully.




So, on Friday evening after Jen was finished with work, we picked her up, filled up on gas (we luckily* were borrowing Matt's parents car) and headed out to a clear I-90. It stayed clear for about 12 minutes.** Once we were in Wisconsin, the roads were getting slick and snow was falling on a somewhat regular basis. Needless to say, it was a bit nerve-wracking. Once we were fairly close, and on a 2 lane highway, I was happy - after a little over 5 hours, we were almost there. And then we see brake lights ahead of us. A whole long line of them. Did I mention we were on a 2-lane highway? We saw no one coming from the other direction. We probably sat stationary for 15-20 minutes. Doesn't really seem like a lot, but it sure does when you're sitting on a road, waiting to move. I guess there was at least a 2-car crash, as we saw the tow truck towing 2 wrecked cars in front of us. Anyway, eventually we made it - Matt's parents waited up (of course) and even had some sort of chili cheese dip warmed and waiting for us. (Keep in mind this was sometime after 1AM, if I recall correctly).



The next morning, Matt's parents made us breakfast & after Jen and I learned to snowmobile. I'm pretty conservative with it, as I was afraid I'd fall off if I went too fast. *** As Jen and I were "learning" we decided to take them into town and have a beer. Beers were $1.75. Awesome. Anyway, it was an odd experience just pulling up into a parking lot and parking a snowmobile. **** Inside the bar, we found many others dressed in the same snow pants, huge winter coat as us. There was even temporary shelving set up for helmets. We had a beer & then headed back.



Most of our time was spent either in the cabin hanging out (90210-watching), out on snowmobiles, or somewhere in one of the towns at a bar. I had my first Wisconsin cheese curds (both the deep-fried and non-breaded varieties), we went antique shopping (I'm sure Matt loved that), and we watched Illinois lose in both basketball (Tennessee St at home) and football (USC in the Rose Bowl).



Back up - did I mention we brought Steve up with us? It was an interesting experiment, to say the least. After some confirmation from Dr. Bob (Matt's Dad) as well as other family members that have taken cats up there, we decided to pack him up and take him. He doesn't like being in his crate very much, so for the first 5 minutes or so, he was whining pretty bad. :( Once up there, we kept him in the bedroom we were sleeping in, as there were 2 dogs up there. We knew he'd likely stay in there anyway, under the bed, but we didn't want to take chances that they wouldn't get along. After 2 days, the dogs were gone & Steve started to show his face. He'd do his own exploring, making sure to walk into every room - for what, I don't know. As silly as it seems, I was pretty happy seeing him out and walking around. Even at home, he usually stays secluded when we have people over, so it was nice to see him out with Jen being there. By the last day, he came out quite a bit. Yay for Steve!




Ok, so back to the rest of the trip... New Years Eve, we went to the local butcher and bought steaks for grilling. Matt's parents had leftover lobster, so Jen and Matt had that in addition to steak (too weird texture-y for me). Matt grilled up the steaks & spargus - it ended up being really great (despite a grill covered in snow). We finished eating, cleaned up & had a few drinks before heading out to the Shamrock Bar for NYE festivities. Once at the bar, we quickly snagged a couple of seats right at the bar and drank cheap drinks most of the night. I think we collectively spent no more than $50 or $60. Awesome.



It was a really fun time spent up north & I hope to plan a trip with our friends this summer. It's a 6-hour drive & summer weekends are usually pretty busy for most, so it might be tough. Would definitely be fun, though.



*I say "luckily" but the car didn't handle very well in the snow. It did a great job at ensuring we make it up there, but once there, it was tough to get around.

**It was probably more than 12 minutes.

***I did fall off one night. I wasn't driving, Matt was. I was on the back, he took a turn pretty quickly, I was catapulted from the vehicle. I didn't get hurt.

**** Even more odd, being first -time riders, Jen and I didn't know snowmobiles do not go in reverse. So, when we first saw the lot, we drove right up to the pile of snow that had been removed from the lot. Everyone else was nicely lined up in the lot. I didn't want to drive in there, out of fear of doing something wrong or crashing into something. Whoops.



Oh, and just kidding about this update being short.


Here are some pictures from the time up there:




07 January 2008

04 January 2008

... and we're now in 2008

So, let's see if I can give an update on what's been going on the past few weeks.

The weekend of the 22nd-ish I spent the night in St Louis, for our annual trip to the Braggin' Right's game. Illinois won yet again, 8 years in a row. The hilarious thing about this year's game - we're awful. Even in a year when our team is awful, we still end up beating Mizzou.

Christmas and the days around it were a whirlwind yet again. Christmas Eve Eve was spent in the western burbs, once we were actually able to find it. There's just something about the western burbs - I always end up getting lost on my way. It doesn't matter if I've been to the specific location before, I get lost. It sucks. Well, the western burbs do. Anyway, that was Matt's dad's side of the family. It was a small gathering, but good to see that side of the family. Matt's grandma even commented to him, "I like your lady-friend" :D

Christmas Eve was spent at Matt's mom's side of the family in Oak Park. The main attraction to this gathering is the music played and songs sung after all of the hullabaloo that comes with Christmas is finished. That side of the family is pretty musically gifted, everyone usually sits around in the main room while Matt's uncles & aunts play instruments and sing. I'll be honest, last year, I was a bit taken back by the entire thing, I thought it was a little bit weird. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. Should I sing? If I don't, will everyone think I'm the weird one? In any case, my finding it weird was mostly because I've never been a part of a family that does much more than sit around and watch television or play cards during the holidays. This year, it was probably the part of the holidays that I was most looking forward to.

Christmas Day was spent in the Rock with my dad's family for most of the day. After that, we headed to my mom's to see her, my brothers and my nieces and nephews. And finally, after that, Matt's immediate family (mom and dad) wanted to have our own Christmas celebration, so we headed to Kenosha from Rockford. We had a nice dinner and opened gifts. Among sweaters & a picture frame collage, they gave us a huge Illinois metal bucket, filled with a ton of Illinois stuff - really cool gift that I look forward to putting to use.

A few days after Christmas, Matt, Jen and I headed up to northern Wisconsin to spend a few days at Matt's family "cabin." Cabin is in quotes because it's pretty much a house. There are 3 BRs, 2 bathrooms, a fully functioning kitchen with every appliance imaginable, a laundry room, etc. I'll hold off on posting the recap from the cabin though. I'm hoping to have pictures soon, once I have those, I will post that in a different post.

Finally, today is my first day back at work since 11 AM on Christmas Eve. Wow, it sucks. Not quite as busy as I was anticipating, so I guess that's good (I mean, I even have time for this big ol' update)... but, I really enjoyed my time off.