Holy Busy Batman.

Seriously, I know I already went on about how this Summer has been ridiculously full of plans. Well after my cousin's (beautiful) wedding last weekend, we thought we were rounding the curve to the land of no plans.

There was a detour on said curve and this week through me right into Busytown.
(Side note: it wasn't until after I typed that and then read, "Busytown" that I remembered that's an actual thing. Well, as actual as a fictitious story book about a town of animals can be. Remember The Busy World of Richard Scarry? I used to LOVE trying to find Goldbug. Too cute.
Anyway. I'm totally all Hills Hollywood this week and have had a dinner date almost every single night!

Tuesday I got to enjoy the company of my three favorite cheerleaders ever. (I'm no longer coaching so I can openly admit to having favorites). To be fair, they started as favorites because they're the class that I coached my "freshman" year coaching. It was me and 12 freshman girls with not a clue in the world of what we were doing. Special, no? Anyway, they graduated (sniff, sniff...and also, I'm getting old) and are slowly starting to scatter across the country. Two of the three faves, a set of twins who I love dearly and who are so crazy talented they earned themselves scholarships to West Georgia where they'll be the rock stars of the all-girl squad, will be moving tomorrow. So we decided it was necessary to have the four of us grab dinner before they began their big Southern Adventure. We made our way to PF Changs (I always think of Michael Scott in the office when he goes to Sbarro - his favorite local pizza shop - when I go to PF Changs - there's a buttload of authentic Chinese restaurants, but dammit that chain has done alright for themselves!) per their request and had a great time.

I got to reminisce about the exciting times of embarking into the great wide open. That intoxicating combination of fear and excitement you really only get to experience once in your life as you first move away from home and live life on your own. There's plenty of other scary / exciting times in life, but none quite so life altering as that first big move. I'm excited to see them set out on this crazy time in life and can't wait to hear all the stories of debauchery that go along with it.

Yesterday, my former roommate and the one who taught me about the Random Makeout Game in college was in town for work. She's a scientist and occasionally Science graciously brings her to a Hospital in Milwaukee (or the surrounding parts). She requested somewhere with good drinks and outdoor seating. I've tried the other members of the Sorge Restaurant family (and LOVE them) so I found this a perfect opportunity to check out Swig.

It was gorgeous outside and we enjoyed some of their good drinks and great outdoor seating. As usual the service was great (although our waiter was, admittedly, a bit on the creepy side...just too animated for our tastes). Food was delicious. I had one of the best dishes I've had in a while - a pan seared beef tenderloin with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and asparagus served over a bed of fettuccine Alfredo. Seriously - so delicious. The portion was perfectly sized, just enough with out leaving me feeling grossly full at the end.

We had riveting conversation as usual. Gossip, predictions and memories of the past. Came to the consensus that even though we're ONLY in our 20's (see what I did there Rebecca?) we are substantially less party people than we used to be...and that that might not be a bad thing. Wrapped up college as somewhat shameful but still incredibly entertaining.

Tonight I will be dining with my besties in celebration of one Miss Siobhan's 26th birthday. I know it's her birthday, but I'm pretty happy to celebrate the birth of such a wonderful friend and sweet person. Seriously, you can just go ahead an be jealous now if you don't know her. She's the sweetest person I've ever met, WAY nicer than I am. We'll be dining at Cempazuchi which makes me almost as happy as Siobhan does!

Whew - whirlwind of events this week. I could totally be a reality tv star with this kind of schedule!

"Reality" Television.

It's no secret that I love television in general. I know there are lots of those "I don't want TV" people out there. (I don't believe you, but go on). I enjoy watching television. After a long day of staring at a computer and thinking at work, I welcome the break with open arms. I learn a lot at my job. I'm pretty much learning every day. Each project brings new aspects I don't know about and given that I'm still relatively new, rarely does a day go by that I haven't learned something new about the company. So by the time I'm home and in sweatpants? I'm so. over. learning.

Sometimes I read, and I enjoy that too. But mostly, I like to turn on the tube and zone the eff out. Given my affinity to zoning, you shouldn't be terribly surprised that I enjoy me some trashy reality television. I realize most of the shows I love, whether "reality" or not, are based on real things. C has finally learned my imagination is relatively limited and fantasy type things generally don't intrigue me. Even the scripted shows I watch are based on real life things. I like things to either be entirely real or so bat shit crazy they could never happen. Things that blur that line drive me crazy. (Hello, LOST. I'm talking to you. Plane crash? Totally real. Smoke Monster? WTF.)

So anyways, for those of you "I don't watch TV" people, the wonderfully trashy MTV drama The Hills had its series finale this week. (I know, high school girls everywhere wept). As I've mentioned before (gah, talk about The Hills much - I'm embarrassed that I can accurately say I've mentioned the show before), I followed the first 2 seasons pretty closely, fell off the wagon, then jumped back on for the end of this season.

Anyway - the finale. The final moments of the show were fantastic. There's this big goodbye scene between the two characters who were lovers, then friends, then friends who did it, then enemies, then friends. As she drives off in her limo to move to Europe he's standing "outside of her apartment" with the Hollywood sign behind him...as the camera pulls away from him they pull the backdrop away too. And the whole damn thing is a set. She pulls back around in the car and they hug and all the crew claps.

Holy eff! Loves it. I thoroughly enjoyed that they poked fun at the fact that it's a "reality" show. It was just fantastic. I am proud to say that though I love reality tv, I am totally aware that it's anything but real. There's much more time spent editing the scenes to look the way they want. Seriously, after editing, they're more scripted and manipulated than non-reality television. And while I love it and enjoy it and watch it like someones' paying me to...I still know at the end of the day, there is no such thing as reality television. It's based on reality, maybe. But if you want reality entertainment, you're going to have to live it in real life!

So props to The Hills for throwing that in there at the end, a handy little reminder that it's still Hollywood in the end!

Scatterbrain.

• I can't believe it's only Tuesday.
• Christian is throwing his first party at our house tonight for the All-Star game. I was thrilled, til I heard a girl might be coming. Not for reasons you might think. Boys are so easy to please - few dips, cheese & crackers and they're so happy! I hate competing against other Susie Homemaker's - especially on a Tuesday!?
• Work is slow this week - reminding me I much prefer to be a busy bee as opposed to bored.
• The girls (my pets) woke up at 5:30 this morning and decided to turn the bed into a wrestling ring...Christian couldn't fall back asleep. I woke up at 6:30 and asked if it really happened or if I dreamt it, I pretty much slept through it.
  
• Blogger is questioning my use of "dreamt"...that's a word, right?!
• Today I am being taken out for lunch by a member of one of the teams I provide work for all the time. He's like a grandpa and calls me "dear." Some people might think that's harassment, I think it's endearing. Consider me old school.
• I have a personal blackberry and a work blackberry. Often, whilst at my desk I look down and think, "This is too many blackberries" but I don't like to mix business with personal needs...at least not via the phone.
• I do this ridiculous dance that C has dubbed, "Crazy legs dance". I basically flail my limbs around in an awkward manner. I'm pretty sure it's C's favorite thing that I do. Seriously. Guaranteed laugh every time.
  

That's enough Angie.

Don't leave me summer!!

Oh my goodness, summer is just flying by! I can't even begin to believe, nor accept, that we are almost half way through July. (Although, I am a bit of an over-exaggerator, as I was saying the same thing back on, like, July 6th).

Seriously though, July has been jam packed from the start and shows very little signs of slowing down. This makes me both excited and anxious! I can't wait for all the fun, but each time an event passes, I'm all, "that was wonderful! And now it's over?"

July comes to a head at the end with a trip to up to the cities to see those kids we love up there so much - I'm greatly looking forward to this. This trip is seriously stacked with good things. Including but not limited to:

• Dinner at a Thai / Sushi combination restaurant (yes, please! two of my favorite ethnic cuisines!)
  
• a partial pub crawl through campus bars (appropriately named, "Old Balls Pub Crawl" as it's a bunch of alumni storming the campus),
• a housewarming party for my favorite home-owning married couple,
• a Twins game (I'm not excited to watch the twins, but am excited to attend a game at the new stadium)
• brunch with one of my favorite recent parentals so I can meet their adorable little boy
• time w/ my favorite person in the whole world, the BF.

Looks like it's shaping up quite well. Pretty freakin' stoked if I do say so myself.

Gawd, for real?

Sometimes I think I'm a pretty grounded individual...other times I wonder if maybe I'm a wee bit spoiled. I also think (unfortunately, seriously, unfortunately) outside entertainment increases or decreases my groundedness based on how frequently I'm entertained by said external force.

For example, I recently (again, totally unfortunately and something I do NOT proudly claim) have gotten sucked back into The Hills. I avoided it for the last 2 seasons, feeling as though I had finally risen above it and that I was "better than The Hills." Damn you, MTV! There was a marathon on the other day (that's how they ALWAYS get you, if you see the same show on the guide for the entire afternoon? RUN FOR THE HILLS! - ha, pun intended. But seriously, you'll end up elbow deep in the chip bag wondering to yourself, "when the hell did it get dark outside?!") and I got totally sucked in. And of course now I'm totally back to DVR'ing every episode and feeling the need to know what's going on in these people's lives at any given moment. Seriously, WHY DO I LIKE KRISTIN!?

(On a side note: the first time I saw Laguna Beach - also marathon style - I went to Target when it was over...AT 10:00 P.M.!?! and JUST made it inside so I could buy the next season in order to immediately know what was coming next! Sad, I know...judge away, you totally deserve to).

ANYWAY, wow. Where I was going with this is that when I watch shows like The Hills (and also Bethenny Getting Married, which I've also recently gotten sucked into via marathon) I either go one way or the other. I either think, "Dear lord these bitches be crazy. Who do they think they are and why are they so damn spoiled?!" or I'm all, "But Daddy, I want it NOW!"

So this morning, I had to take my new baby in because her windshield wiper motor is broken (yeah, it's about as fun as it sounds). So I got a loaner car. This is round #2 for taking her in for this problem. Last time I got a (shitty) loaner car. Of course I thought it was shitty. I had just bought a practically brand new, low mileage, beauty and within a few days had her ripped from my grips to go in an older, crappier, smaller car. (I understand people in Timbuktu would KILL for a bag of rice and I should appreciate what I have, but it's all relative people). So today I went and took her in for the actual surgery and I got an even. shittier. car. And I don't necessarily mean shitty vehicle, it's shitty because the air conditioning does. not. work. AT ALL. And I don't know if you noticed but it's HOT AS BALLS outside and the humidity is bonkers.

Seriously, I walked into work this morning, face sweaty and hair a hot mess. Because I DROVE TO WORK.

And then I was thinking, "Am I being a diva right now?!" Thank you Kristin & Bethenny, you've got me doubting my logical sound mind.

We're old, but we'll call it a success!

Well, the holiday weekend is officially over. As mentioned in my previous post, year seven of the tradition has now come and gone. Over the years we've become less focused on Summerfest and more focused on relaxing and enjoying the City of Milwaukee. Which we realized, even more so on our one outing to Summerfest, is a good thing.

Friday - due to the lead feet of the Elliott couple, the group made it down here earlier than expected, which was perfect as we weren't rushed at all for dinner. We got ready and made our trek down to EE Sane on the East Side. Contrary to the original plan, we did NOT trick Ben into ordering a 10 star, mostly because I have no poker face and couldn't keep from smiling / laughing. We did enjoy a delicious dinner (seriously, we had 6 apps for the 5 of us) with only minimal judging from the staff as to just HOW MUCH FOOD was at our table. (sidenote: C & I are almost ALWAYS judged for either food or alcohol consumption at various ethnic restaurants - Japanese, Thai, Indian - however, we RARELY have more than "normal" so we're not sure why.)

Following dinner we had a few drinks at Bollocks and Hi Hat - both great places to take guests. You have heard of my love for Bollocks before...so I'll leave it at that.

Saturday we had plans of doing the riverboat brewery tour...then of just the brewery tour. However, we ended up with a nice little unplanned Saturday. We headed downtown to meet my parents for lunch and to watch Spain take on Portugal (maybe?) in the World Cup action. Oh! And we all got vuvuzelas and were EXTREMELY obnoxious with them for the remainder of lunch. Grand finale was a marching band parade on the sidewalk with the vuvuzelas.

Post-lunch we wanted to grab a few drinks and landed at this little gem...also now known as my favorite place in Milwaukee.

It's "The Yard" at the Iron Horse Hotel and it's every bit as wonderful and posh and comfortable as it looks. It was a beautiful day outside, so we cuddled up on a couch, took our shoes off and kicked back for a few rounds. Honestly, it was just wonderful and I can't wait to head back. The area is totally inviting, everyone is completely laid back and comfortable (we took direction from just about every other patron to remove shoes and put up feet). The waiter was accommodating and incredibly friendly. And while the drinks seemed a bit over priced, you couldn't argue the cost of the beer at all - and they had quite a selection, including a number of local brews. So while we didn't quite make the actual brewery tour, our guests were able to get down on some of the delicious local Brews the good ol' Miltown has to offer.

Honestly - this place was so good that if I thought more than just 5 people read my blog, I wouldn't post about it. We had no problem getting seating for 5 and I don't want too many people to know about it, they might start going and while I'm a nice person, I've never been very good at sharing.

And, because I'm a lazy blogger and need post ideas, I'm going to stretch this one out...I'll post Saturday Night / Sunday in the next one...