F&B, B&F.

As I said in my very first post ever, my dad has a way with words and I've got some quality quotes from him that have stuck around for ever. As evidenced here and here.

One of my other favorites is "Focus and balance, balance and focus." For my 21st birthday he had a pin made that he designed. It's a butterfly and in the designs on its wings are an F and a B on one side and a B and an F on the other. (It's likely not much of a coincidence that on a birthday often celebrated with copious amounts of booze he reaffirmed this message.) These messages have been engrained in my brain. Along with the emphasis on focus and balance he also advised my brother and I to never let anything consume you. (I think it was in a drugs and alcohol talk we had when we were kids that it first came up, but I apply it everywhere in life.)

The past couple weeks I've had a hard time getting my ass to the gym. And this afternoon I reminded myself of this message for a couple reasons.

I need to regain my focus. For a while there, since this post, where I announced the ultimatum I placed on myself, I was doing great at going to the gym. I made it to the gym 4 times a week for 7 straight weeks. That is some good focus right there! I made it a priority and fit it in (rather comfortably if I do say so). So last week between shit hitting the fan at work and a long weekend / vacation (that's what I was calling it) thrown in there, it was like I dove head first off the wagon. I worked out once...and it was Yoga. (Not that there's anything wrong with yoga but it's not one of those "my heart is beating out of my chest and it's possible I could die" workouts.) This week I really wanted to be better, I had a plan in place. And then, as it usually does, life happened and I got off plan.

This is where I find it so important to follow up the focus with balance. I am okay with life happening. I know no matter how hard I plan, life will ALWAYS happen. And that's a good thing, I want life to happen. What good is working out and feeling great if you're never around people to share it with? So I accepted last week and moved on. And I'm rearranging things this week and finding a way to get in a couple workouts this weekend.

I don't have any desire to be someone who spends all their spare time at the gym. I don't ever want to have to turn down spending time with people I love dearly to make-up a workout. I understand some people have that type of discipline but it's not something I am interested in. I try very hard to carefully plan my workouts and get them in any chance I can. But if I get a call from my brother and he needs someone to watch my nephew, the plan changes. If my parents call and want to spend time together, plan changed. If a friend is in need of some wine and company, I'm there. And, in the case of this week, when the shelter calls and is having a Halloween party for 30+ kids and needs an extra set of hands? Goodbye Spin, helllllooo pumpkins! Working out is very important to me, but it's not going to consume my life or spare time or priorities.

I've put the ultimatum in place because I love plans and enjoy measurable results. If I see 4 penguin stickers on my calendar for the week, I know I've met my goal. But there is always going to be exceptions. As long as I can at some point get back on the horse, all will work out. I'm compensating for next week. I have workouts scheduled for lunch AND after work. So I know I can make at least one of them. I'm headed back to MPLS on Friday so I'm hoping to get all 4 in during the week so I can not worry about it on "vacation." By next week I will have regained my focus and found my balance.

Semi-related: I could also probably consider not calling every long weekend to Minnesota a "vacation" but where's the fun in that?

What helps you focus? How do you get your workouts in during a busy week? When do you allow for the exception?

Team Struggle.

I know, two posts in one day. This one will be far less entertaining and make much less sense.

I still feel like I'm a little bit a member of Team Struggle. This doesn't come as a surprise as today is my first day back in the "real world." I had off Friday, Homecoming festivities Saturday, Game day festivities on Sunday, off on Monday, worked from home on Tuesday. The combination of lack of sleep, more drinking than normal, lots of driving, many emotions, and a lack of routine has proven more than my mind and body were prepared for.

It's not like I'm doing anything crazy stupid, but I'm in that haze you often spend your time in after a lot of acting younger than your age. This leads to really ridiculously special thoughts. And I figured, it was too fun not to share. These are legitimate thoughts I've had today.

• I wonder if I'll ever find a pair of aviators that look good.
  
• That guy is dressed in all black, I'll call him Johnny Cash.
  
• Why can't I find the home button on IE8?
  
• Is it possible I'm still a little drunk? What if booze stayed in your system for as long as weed does...that would be nuts.
  
• Ha, look at you Johnny Cash!
• I told my boss she made a "drawering" a la Mike Meyers as Simon from SNL.
• I had to google "Mike Meyers" to make sure that was the right guy.
  
• I answered the phone, "Hello" when my brother called and with just that one word, he asked, "Why I are you confused?" (and I was.)
• If everyone in my meetings had a British accent, I bet I'd pay closer attention.
  

My mind is a scary place to be today - hoping tomorrow I gain a little more normalcy.

We did it. Part II.

Rawr Betches.

I don't think I'm very good at writing re-cap posts. For as wordy as a person as I am, I have a very hard time actually capturing the amount of fun that was had. And if you weren't there? Then these posts have to be the most boring thing you've ever read. So sorry about that. Soon I'll be back to writing my much more entertaining and riveting posts about nothing at all.

Saturday could have been one of the best days of 2011. Let the record show that I am NOT a morning person. But there is something to be said for activities that require you to get up super early in the morning, there's like a built-in excitement for whatever lies ahead. Like an early morning flight...way more exciting than an afternoon flight. For some reason, waking up with the sun just makes it more fun! So Saturday morning we did just that. After going to bed around 1:00 a.m. (there was support needed in the beer batter making that was going on), we woke up around 6:30. The sun wasn't up yet but we downed some coffee, the boys packed up the portable party wagon (to the fricken BRIM) and we donned our maroon and gold. We were on the road to campus as the sun was coming up.

Sidenote: Since the ground breaking on the new TCF Bank Stadium on Campus I have been jealous of students at the U. When I was there (another way of saying, "Back in my day") we had to attend football games at the Metrodome. Which is, in case you're unaware, the WORST place ever to watch any sporting event. Especially when said sporting event is a Minnesota Gopher Football game. We hardly filled the stadium (which automatically takes excitement away). PLUS, it was no where near being "on campus" so you had to board a nasty, sweaty Campus Connector bus that was full of way too many drunk people. The threat of being vomited on was enough to keep me away. Now they get to walk to games, to a stadium on campus. And best of all, the tailgating is a HUNDRED times better because it's RIGHT ON CAMPUS. Lucky. So damn lucky.

So, back to the recap. The amount of stuff in Jeremy's car was out of control. Luckily Sae is small and she fit in the back (barely) next to a tank of propane. I sat three across in the front of the car with two former football players. We were cozy. Maybe I just had too much fun, but I also kind of feel like getting all cozy in a packed car adds excitement too?? (It's possible I was just excited and anything that happened that day seemed to make it more exciting...it's entirely possible.)

*Disclaimer, as Pat pointed out, he is not a giant, he was just riding the hump.

The first 20 minutes of tailgating was chaotic and I couldn't stop smiling! Jeremy's wearing a lion mask! Oh we're at DU, FUN! Look there's Chris Howard! Awww, campus! Those house fronts are terrible (couldn't get over this one). We should buy mittens. How come we can't get into the lot? Oh the guy is hungover and didn't show up for work...Oh college! Let's listen to Party Rock! Quick unload the party wagon! Let's get coffee and bagels! Ha, look at Pat trying to get out of the car, he's crying like a baby being born, hilarious! Let's listen to Party Rock! Drink this coffee...getting wide awake! Chris Howard is so fun and he even has a baby! Remember when Homecoming was on a Tuesday? (WHY AM I SO OLD?!) Look it's Joe and Tripod! Hey BK is here! BK remembers the game on a Tuesday! Bloody Marys! Pickles! Wait, are we listening to Party Rock again? Hey it's getting warm, remember when we thought we needed mittens? How come all the men have capris on?

Seriously, that was the first 20 mins. Then there was a nice little calm before the storm. We even sat in chairs for a little bit. Got in a few games of bags, chatted about Pugs with Amy, and slowly gathered a larger group as people started trickling in. And then time literally flew by. I felt like minutes were passing like hours. People starting pouring in, other cars showed up. The lot was full and it was 3 hours into tailgating and it felt like 5 minutes. Beth came and brought champagne which quickly became Gopher Juice. Then more Alpha Chi's showed up and we suddenly had a group of AXO's. My BFF's came and it was official. We were doing it. Max Tailgating. It was like I had finally experienced a legend I had only heard about (and seen pictures of on facebook.)


Jeremy deep fried everything within reach. SERIOUSLY. He had a deep fryer and he was a master chef of tailgating. Other groups got wind of this and came over to witness his wicked tailgating chef skills. I talked about Price is Right with some kid. The band came and played while Howard stood in the middle of them. We listened to Party Rock 235 more times. BK played DJ and we had an oldies dance party in the tent.

It wasn't until the band finished playing that I realized Chris was in the middle of them.

Before we knew it, it was 3:00 and time for those with tickets to head on into the stadium (and for the rest of us to continue drinking...)

We did it.

I have thought about writing this post since my drive home yesterday and just couldn't figure out how to write it. How to put into words how much fun I had! So after hemming and hawing, I just decided it's going to be a little scatter brained, but we'll just go for it! (It's not like you, my readers, aren't used to that already!)

I left for Minneapolis on Friday morning. There was a happy hour set for 3:00 so I left a little earlier than usual and was on the road by 9. I must have really gotten into the driving zone because I had planned for a 5 1/2 drive and made it there in 4 1/2. So at 1:15 I was driving through St. Paul and well on my way to homecoming weekend! We got changed into our maroon and gold and headed off to campus.

Gina and I kicked off homecoming happy hour with a quesadilla and a beer at Burrito Loco...where I forced the bouncer to check my ID before we made our way upstairs. He looked at me like he didn't know what to do with it...and that was the first time that weekend I felt really old. Brushed it off though, and was quickly reminded why we decided to risk feeling old for a happy hour on campus. It was $1 tap beer, rail drinks and margaritas. ONE DOLLAR...for THREE HOURS. And if you ordered a $4 pitcher of beer, you got free fajitas. It didn't make sense, but that's a hell of a deal. I'm currently contemplating drinking on campuses for the rest of my life because for $15 I was full and drunk. Success.

We moved onto the parade as it turned dark outside. Back in my day, the parade was in the morning before the game. And let me just tell you, that made a ton more sense. Sure kids were up drinking before the sun, but at least you could actually SEE the parade. At night they just put a bunch of spot lights out to light the route but you spent most of the time being blinded by the lights. When I'm not spending the entire parade waiting for "I Get it Daily" t-shirts or free chipotle coupons it's just much less attention grabbing.

Also, the house fronts were WEAK sauce. Though we determined it was probably for safety or budgetary reasons. I mean sure, having drunk frat boys spend a large amount of their house funds on tissue paper they're climbing three stories of scaffolding to place seems a bit ridiculous. But damn it made for some beautiful house fronts back then. (This is probably the 2nd time I felt old as we kept talking about "back in our days.")

After a half hour of the parade I was totally over it. Fortunately I wasn't alone. Sae and I made our way to Stub and Herbs...where it was so hot you were literally inhaling sweat. We made our way out to their sweet new patio (back in my day, they didn't have a patio). Ted met up with us and we had a couple beers before needing to turn in for the night as an early morning of tailgating was soon to be upon us.

Observations from Friday:

• I now know how I was able to survive on so little money in college, things are cheap. SO cheap. Drinking is cheap, eating is cheap. It's all very cheap. I might just move to a college campus.
  
• I have the world's best friends. The number of offers I had for living in basements / guest bedrooms / couches if I move up there brought a big smile to my heart.
  
• There's a TON of new stuff on campus, including a Qdoba (are U students still more faithful to Chipotle?), a Buffalo Wild Wings (so wait, they just get to walk to Bdubs instead of driving miles away to pick up orders?!) and multiple luxury apartment complexes (since when is anything in college described as luxury?)
• We all agreed if there was a way to go back to college for just one week we could die of happiness. Fact: life is easier. We witnessed it a few times.
  
• I am already feeling like a too old alumni to be around the frats on campus, but there are some REALLY old men who LOVE hanging out there during homecoming. Related: STOP oggling young co-eds. You're gross.
  
• Somehow a magnetic force keeps pulling me back to the Faue Family Farm and I'm very comfortable with this force.

Okay, because this is already getting long, I'm breaking up the homecoming recaps. Come back for tomorrow's recap of my very first LEGIT gopher tailgating experience (the non-campus Metrodome experiences just don't count.)

Happy Homecoming!

I am less than 24 hours from the beginning of my homecoming weekend celebrations and I couldn't be more excited. As much as Milwaukee is my home because it where my physical house is, my family is here and it's where I spend the majority of my time, it's very fitting that my favorite celebration at the U and in the Cities is Homecoming. That campus was my home and because of many reasons still is a home away from home. Many of my non-blood related family lives there. I've had houses there. (I still consider AXO "my" house, so I guess I do still have a house there). And when it comes to memories, the concentration of good solid memories that the U provided a backdrop for is ridiculously high. So, in less than 24 hours, I'm coming home. Maybe only for a long weekend, but for the whole damn weekend, I'll feel like I'm home.

And to kick off the wondrous celebrations, I've decided to post some pictures from homecomings of yore. I thought I'd be able to find a lot more, until I realized that for most of the homecomings I celebrated as an undergrad, you couldn't yet upload albums of pictures to Facebook. Yes, kids I'm talking about a time that was B.F. Before Facebook. (If that doesn't make me feel like a creepy old alumni...thank goodness this weekend is made for creepy old alumni!)

This is from just this past year and makes me smile every time. I have it hung at my desk at work and no one even comments on the fact that I'm a gopher fan in the picture, they're too busy looking at the 3 pretty ladies in their gopher gear!

Ahh, my very first homecoming. I joined the sorority after HC freshman year (wow was that a different kind of homecoming celebration.) This year always holds a special place in my heart. Special enough that I have pictures on the 'book from it because I SCANNED them on to my computer. That's dedication.

This is still one of my favorite memories as it's the first time my 'rents ever met Tor. And she was quite upset about a lost mitten at the time. It wasn't until years later that they admitted the stood across the street and watched us for a while before they came over and said hi. And they let me stay in the sorority. Shocking. They even loved Tori. :)

Thanks to being Greek I got to relive a bit of Cheerleading in college. Here's our cheer team from my favorite year of homecoming ever. There were many hours spent practicing in a barn that year...the sawdust was as close to a gym with a mat we could find. And we loved every minute of it. Our theme was Shrek. And yes, we made our costumes. (I'm sure you were wondering as they look so professional.)

Addiction.

This post is far less serious than it appears given the title. But, when I thought about this particular subject I thought to myself, "Surely I've written about other things I'm obsessed with / addicted to, yes?" The answer is hell yes. I have 5 pages of posts that had the word obsessed in it and 1 page of posts with "addiction" mentioned in it. And seriously, have you ever heard me talk about Target?! (It's out of control.)

So this leads me to a couple of conclusions (both of which I already know).

1) I tend to sometimes over exaggerate just a wee bit. (obsessed and addicted are pretty heavily loaded words!)
2) I also kind of dive in head first when I like something. Sort of. (See: Anything Titanic related.)

So, as I was thinking about posting something today my mind was wandering about what I'll have for dinner tonight...and as my mind does these days, it immediately went to Chipotle. Which led to me using words like addicted and obsessed.

Now let me tell you, me and my love affair with Chipotle goes way back. 9 years to be exact. I can remember the first time I tried it! I had just moved into the dorms at the U and was alone, hungry and repulsed by the thought of another meal over at good old Centennial Hall. I looked up what was within walking distance and found Chipotle. I remember I got tacos, it's one of the few (seriously, maybe three times) I didn't get the EXACT same meal. (Those of you doing the math, that means in 9 years I have varied up my order THREE TIMES.) I've never looked back.

Now before you go judging me, let me also tell you the tradition that developed over those 4 years in college. Chipotle became a spot. Most Saturdays if hungover and not looking to do much more than roll out of bed? Chipotle. Homecoming after the parade (to soak up some of the day drinking)? Chipotle. Study snack? Chipotle chips & salsa. Living in Dinaken for a whole summer? LOTS of chips and salsa. Also the introduction of guacamole. I have fond memories of many-a-lunch at Chipotle and I love those memories (including a reunion of the SATC girls this summer with a hungover Chipotle lunch!)

But, even in those 4 years, it was an every now and then thing. Lately, it has become a down right problem. I'm obsessed, addicted, etc. I don't want to eat anything else. But here's the thing...I can't find a reason not to. Beyond the portions being out of control (but not if you ask for easy rice)...it's good for you! It's colorful, it's whole, unprocessed foods. The only thing that I ever hesitated about was the rice...and now? My Chipotle has brown rice!

So my eating goals lately have been:
Unprocessed foods? Check.
Colorful veggies? Check.
Only whole grains? Check.
On a budget? Check.
In a jiffy, I can get all my "needs" met for under $8. How can I say no (to myself)?

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I'm aware I just wrote an entire post about Chipotle. No, Chipotle didn't pay me to write it, and given that I have roughly 10 readers, they'll never see this. Yes, I realize it totally sounds super fat kid of me. No, I don't mind. I love me some Chipotle, this is what came to mind, and as it usually goes on this site, I shared with you.

There are no cohesive thoughts here.

I've known I needed to blog for a while now and every time I thought about what I was going to blog about it ended in me likely getting fired. So I've just been waiting it out until I could write something respectful and not lose my job.

Also - I went to the dentist yesterday to have not one but TWO cavities filled. It was not nearly as bad as I had thought it would be...totally psyched myself up. Either that, or, the combination of nitrous oxide and my ipod on a very high volume is enough to make me so relaxed I don't care what happens to my teeth or what terrible noise the drill is making. (It's likely the latter of the two.)

My favorite project that I work on each year, the BEST part of my job, the event we spend hours and hours and hours planning has been cancelled. It was a decision made by management. I don't like it. That's as much as I'll say in order to best not get fired. I have spent the last week at work dealing with the aftermath. It has been awesome (sense the tone.)

However...IT'S ALMOST HOMECOMING WEEKEND!! It is my light at the end of the tunnel. If I can truck on through to 5:00 on Thursday my reward is Homecoming. Come 3:00 on Friday afternoon I'll be all happy hours and parades and tailgating. I can spend copious amounts of time on the campus I love so dearly without being considered a creepy old alumni! I can eat Burrito Loco and Chipotle all in one weekend because TRADITION says I should. I love homecoming like I love Christmas. It's an all encompassing passion for a day full of all things wonderful. I have so much damn maroon and gold set out for the suitcase. EXCEPT, for the GREEN and gold I have set out for Sunday.

Clearly, because Clay Matthews does in fact want to accept my proposal to be my husband, he talked to the powers that be and made sure to schedule the game against Minnesota that takes place IN Minnesota the one weekend he knew his future wife would be there. So Sunday afternoon I'm trading maroon for green and will cheer on my future husband and his teammates (including Amy's future husband) as they take on the Vikings.

And, because I have found even more ways to make this weekend awesome, I have taken Monday off of work so I can leave as I choose on Monday morning and meander back to WI.

Only about 62 hours until it's go time!

Groundhog's day?

When I started thinking about what I could post about to kick off this lovely Monday morning I realized it was a bit of a Groundhog's day moment.

Brewers win twice? Check. Packers kill it? Check. Badgers had a bye so that's about the only thing different. Oh, and the Gophers actually put points on the board this week, so I guess a few things changed. (Not hating, just stating factual evidence. I still love the U more than you could imagine, but really Gophers? REALLY?)

So in the interest of protecting my Minnesota fanbase (which is quite large) and turning this into a "HOW FRICKIN' GOOD IS WISCONSIN!?" blog...I'll write about non-sports related things that happened.

I went to my favorite spin class again this weekend. Saturday morning with Kelly. She's the best. Seriously. (And the woman has three year old TWINS. After being utterly exhausted after spending a couple of hours with him this weekend, the fact that she has TWO, that are in her care ALL HOURS OF THE DAY?!?! Well that just makes this woman a super hero.) She always has one thing she says to us that really sticks with me. Last week she reminded us we could have chosen to stay home on the couch, but we opted to challenge ourselves. Some people NEVER do that. (How do you not feel all "hell yeah!" about yourself?!) This week she was encouraging us to give a little more, push a little harder. She said, "If you wanted an easy workout you'd be watching TV on the elliptical." Again, HELL YES. Not that there's anything wrong with hopping on an elliptical for a while. That's still exercise and you're still lapping all those people sitting on the couch. My point in bringing this up is that she reminds you WHY you're there. You didn't come to spin class to effortlessly meander through your workout - you came to be challenged. To push yourself. To sweat. your. ass. off. And we did exactly that. I spend the rest of the week waiting for Kelly's class now!

Second fun story of the weekend. My brother and I met for lunch on Saturday. The nephew came too. I was eating my food with chopsticks. (Side note: my brother and I argued over why people eat with chopsticks. I said I really do enjoy it. He said it's just to show off and look cool. Either way, I can use 'em and he can't. Jealous.) Joey saw me eating with the chopsticks and soon after grabbed them and deemed them "JJ's chop-sticks." (As he does with most things I have.) He held them at the very bottom of the stick, grabbed the food with the same hand and brought it over to my plate as he said, "There you go." And after he did it, he sat back in his chair beaming with pride. I swear he was thinking to himself, "Chopsticks? Skill mastered." It was the cutest thing I've seen. Then I showed him we could just poke the food to make it stick on the chopstick. From that point on everything he ate had chopstick in front of it. Leading him to loudly proclaim, "This chopstick chicken is delicious!" So. Damn. Cute.

On Sunday, before the games, my dad and I cleaned out the insides of our cars. Vacuumed, wiped 'em down and washed the windows. I know that this is technically not possible, but I swear my car feels like it drives better when it's clean on the inside!

And now here we are, Monday morning again. I've tried three different cups of coffee and all tasted horrible. (Two were my fault, one was McDonald's) In an effort to get caffeine by any means possible I resorted to a Diet Coke (which I haven't been drinking in months). Clearly it's not my day for caffeine as the soda machine in the cafeteria was out of Diet Coke syrup forcing me to choose Diet Pepsi. And we all know it's just not as good.

And finally, because Sukie will ask (thanks acountabilibuddy!) I did get my 4 days in last week! Monday was upper bodyworks, Wednesday was lower, Saturday was spin and Sunday was a long walk with the pup.

Here's this weeks' plan:
Monday - Upper bodyworks over lunch
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Yoga after work
Thursday - Total Bodyworks over lunch
Friday - Rest / Walk the dog
Saturday - Spin
Sunday - Walk? Spin? Rest? (Depends on what Saturday night looks like)

Well, well, well.

Sure has been a long time since I've come around these parts! Shit got down right crazy this week and I've been a busy bee with no spare time (I mean beyond the spare time I spend catching up on my favorite shows now that regular TV is back for the fall, of course. I love you all, but I can't miss Parenthood. Let's be real.)

I've been going to bed ridiculously early (last night I was asleep before 10:00 p.m.) and waking up much later than usual (thank goodness for my naturally curly hair and the ability to be up and ready for work in under 30 mins.) My brain has been working double time at work these last couple weeks, combined with my working out schedule and the stress WI sports teams have put on me and by 8:00 p.m. I'm downright sleepy. Last night as I struggled to stay awake through Grey's Anatomy (yes, the show that is FINISHED by 9:00) I remembered just a few years ago when I had weekly Grey's viewing parties that rarely STARTED by 9:00. Ah, to be young again!

Sometimes, like last night, I think to myself "If I lived with someone right now, I might not be able to get my 9+ hours of sleep at night...they could interrupt that. Oh! And what if they don't want to watch Grey's? Then I'd be watching it and falling asleep in bed and they'd be all waking me up when they decided to come to bed at the ridiculous hour of 11:00?!" (Yeah, I have a tv in my bedroom. Yes, I know "experts" say that's a bad idea. I combat that "expertise" by repeating that I sleep 9+ hours a night. I don't think I'm having any problems with sleep, thankyouverymuch. Oh and also, I live by myself and do what I want. So suck it, experts.)

Since this post clearly has no point thus far, let's keep that up with some random bullets.

• I have been keeping up on my working out. As exhibited by my penguin stickers on my calendar. Just looking at all those penguin heads gives me motivation! (Seriously, the same trick people use to potty train their children seems to keep me excited about working out.)
  
• This week I'm taking a little baby risk. I am not working out over lunch today because I need to get out of here early so I can cheer for the Brewers (they need me) and the game starts at 4:00. That means in order to get to my magic number of 4 I need to work out tomorrow and Sunday. If you do the math on that, I need to NOT drink so much tonight that I'm hungover for my favoritist spin class tomorrow at 8:30. Which could be tough if we're celebrating a W here people!
• I've officially scheduled monthly trips to MPLS through the end of the year. I'm pretty happy about this.
  
• I met a boring guy with a horrible laugh last weekend...and that concludes my update on my dating life.
  
• My brother keeps talking about never wanting to date again, ever. I know that's not what I want, but I have to admit he makes it sound pretty appealing.
  
• Yesterday I was really annoyed by a co-worker and I typed about 10 different tweets (out of frustration) and ended up deleting them all and not posting anything. This was strangely therapeutic for me.
• My dad sent me the commencement speech Steve Jobs gave in '05 today. There's lots of good in there, but my favorite is "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." This might become one of my many life mottos.
  

Now that I've spent about 5 minutes of your life with no point or end result, I think this is a good time to wrap it up.

Enjoy your Friday, have a good weekend and of course, GO BREWERS!

#Sconniepride

I spend a considerable amount of time on this blog talking about how much I love Minnesota and how many happy memories the Twin Cities have provided me with. But, let it be known, I am a Wisconsin girl, through and through. Milwaukee stole my heart from a young age and no matter what city I may visit or temporarily call home, Milwaukee is my first love and will always be my home.

And seriously? After this weekend? I am BEAMING with pride. And, as long as we're clearing things up, let it also be known, this is not a fair weather fan / bandwagon jumping situation. I was at a game at Lambeau field before the age of 1. I attended many Brewer games from the womb. And although I was born in Milwaukee, I moved to Madison on day 2 of my life and spent some time there too. In 6th grade when told we needed to give a speech about something Wisconsin, I chose Vince Lombardi. I memorized the speech. I think it made my dad cry. At 11, I stalked Jeff Cirillo so hard he recognized me as "that girl who was screaming a lot" from an away game in Cincinnati. We were thrilled when we learned Gorman Thomas lived a few houses down from my parents house. And him AND Mark Chmura attended our church. My dad played back yard football with some of the Green Bay greats. My nephew was named after a Brewer. We are Wisconsin sports fans through and through. We've stuck by them through the not so great seasons.

And finally all 27 years of allegiance has paid off. This weekend was probably one of the best weekends a Wisconsin sports fan could have. I went to bed early on Friday and it kind of felt like Christmas Eve. Except when I woke up, Christmas came four times and lasted 2 days.

Our Brewers bookended the weekend with wins against the Diamondbacks. Beast mode was in full effect. Saturday night the Badgers gave the Cornhuskers one hell of a welcome to the Big Ten. (It should also be noted here that the Gophers lost 58-0 to Michigan. I love the U more than I probably should love an inanimate object, but wowza...not sure about Gopher Football!) Sunday was the holy grail. Kick-off at 3:15, first pitch at 4:07. We flipped back and forth (couldn't figure out picture in picture at my rents). I cried at least 3 times. I switched T-shirts often. Blue to red, then back to blue, then on to green.

Truthfully, I'll always love "my boys." But watching them play this weekend reminded me why. They have fun. At the end of the Brewer game Prince Fielder literally skipped through as he high fived his team mates. Even Grienke, the anxious pitcher, gave a little baby beast mode (which took the cake as the cutest part of the game.) Rodgers had one of the best games of his career, and set an NFL record. And he got to throw on the belt a few times. Donald Driver, one of our most beloved boys, threw some dirt on that injury and came back in to score a touch down.

As Doug Russell pointed out in his blog, "We have the reigning Super Bowl, Big Ten football, National League Central Division, Division III football, MISL and NCAA women's hockey champions all residing here in our little hard-working, out of the way, flyover state. "

My intentions are not to rub this in the face of fans of any other teams. I know there will come a time again when someone else takes their reign on top. But for now, in this year, it feels DAMN good to be a Wisconsin sports fan.