Congratulations Jessica and Scott

Last Saturday, July 22, I laid witness to the beautiful exchanging of vows between Jessica McKeen and Scott Bailey. It was a beautiful ceremony, my first time at an outside wedding, and it was a wonderful and intimate experience.

Some of my favorite parts of their wedding:

The gorgeous ceremony site!
Gary's beautiful flower arrangements
Watching Jessica walk up the stairs and standing at the foot of the isle with her dad
Seeing Scott cry as he watches Jessica walk the isle
Lets face it...my dress.
The wind in the hair of the bridesmaids standing at the front of the pavillion

SUPER strong Bacardi/Cranberries at Crossroads bar in Elkhorn

The full mugs of beer in the wedding party's hands as they exited their massive limo
Crawling under Jessica's dress to help her with the bustle
The cookie favors on our tables
Tippy Cup and drinking games during the reception

Falling over while taking a picture with Jess
Watching my dad get hit on
Dancing the night away

Taco Bell

American Players Theatre

Every year, for the past 5 or 6 years, my parents have driven up to Spring Green, Wisconsin to attend the performances at the American Players Theatre. For the first time last year, my brother and I were able to attend one of the plays with them, Tartuffe, and I’ve been hooked ever since!

The venue consists of a cozy outdoor theatre setup with about 1100 auditorium style seats horseshoed around the stage. The theatre sits on top of a hill, in which you have to hike up a wooded path to get to, and surrounding the path to the theatre are little picnic areas in which you can utilize prior to the shows. Last year we brought our picnic basket and some wine and sat and enjoyed the nature before heading up the path to the theatre. This year however, we were crunched for time and arrived to Spring Green just in time to hear the music playing at the top of the hill, signaling the patrons to take their seats.

This year, I saw Romeo and Juliet (my first time seeing a live performance of it) and I must say I’ve never seen Romeo and Juliet portrayed better! While the actor playing Romeo was a bit weak, the rest of the company did a fantastic job portraying the intensity and the crazed feelings these young lovers had and the stage direction of the play was just phenomenal! I loved it so much more than any movie creation of the story.

It’s always a bit intimidating walking into the theatre due to all the scholars, professors, and literary types that frequent the shows, but luckily the popularity of the Romeo and Juliet story drew quite a younger crowd, so I was able to relax a bit more than I was able to while seeing Tartuffe. =)

I’d love to make it up one more time this summer to see another show, but time is crunched the way it is so I may have to settle for an early show next season.

Do I stay or Do I Go?

Today, I was offered a position representing Essense of Australia, in Southern California. I would be the Southwestern representative for the line, traveling between southern Cali, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. I would be training staff and store owners, selling the line, and representing the Australian company at the US bridal markets in New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas. On top of that I'd be working out of their Paloma (sp?) beach office which is yes...right on the beach. I'd finally be living by my beloved ocean.

But I'm happy here in Milwaukee. I have my family, and my friends...and my love. what am I supposed to do? In a time, where I feel completely content with my life in Milwaukee...an opportunity like this comes along causing me to jump into "adult world" and make a huge decision regarding my career path.

A decision has to be made...do I stay, or do I go? And I haven't the slightest clue what to do.

Awww, Summerfest is officially over. I’m always a bit saddened at the end of it all, because I feel that my summer has an official lull in it. I never made it to the final night, but I went out with a bang on Saturday, seeing Pink for all of 4 songs and pigging out on the final combination platter at Saz’s for the year.

Tara and I started out our Saturday festivities with martini’s at the Hi-Hat near my apartment and by the time Erin arrived at my apartment around 6:30 that evening, we were half in the bag already. *cheers to summer*. We polished off a bottle of champagne with Erin at my apartment, chatted about wedding stuff (sorry Tara), then headed back to the Hi-Hat to get one last drink, and a free ride to Summerfest.



The bus took a bit longer than we had anticipated, and we didn’t end up getting to the grounds until close to 9:30 which put a damper in our evenings plans but we weren’t willing to sacrifice any portion of the evening: Saz’s, booze, and Pink. We would just have to hurry along this way.





We hurried over to the Saz’s stand, waited in an obnoxiously long line (which is pretty common for the famous restaurant) and pigged out on our combination platters on our way to the Briggs and Stratton stage on the South end of the grounds. We quickly grabbed a drink (a beer for me, mixed drinks for Tara and Erin) and headed to the stage, disappointed to find that actually seeing Pink was going to be a pretty hard feat to accomplish.





Annoyed at some of the Summerfest patrons, and sick of hearing Erin complain about not being able to see Pink, I decided to lead the group up the front of the stage, in hopes of getting a better glimpse of pink. I was sadly mistaken as I realized the further up we went, the more condensed the bleachers became and the harder it was to see above the screaming heads. We got a few quick glimpses, enough to say we actually “saw” Pink that day, and hurried back out the way we came.







Ready to leave, we decided to foot it the rest of the way home (my brilliant idea) and I think about 45 minutes later we finally made it to my apartment…ready for bed.



It was a great end, to a terrific 11 days of fun. I can’t wait to do it all over again next year!

Fourth of July

Today, a week’s worth of festivities has finally caught up with me. My throat hurts, my body aches, and I really could just sleep. But alas, it’s summer and it’s summerfest, and rest is not on the radar until early next week. Yes, I am a Summerfest junkie. There is no better time to me than a cold beer, great friends, and a night of fabulous food and music. I feel so lucky to live in a place that for 10 days out of every year, I can pay my $15 and access hundreds of different bands. Not many other places can boast something so marvelous. Not to mention, for anyone who loves people watching, what better place than in Wisconsin! Summerfest has some of the best people watching EVER. In just a few hours you'll see a great mixture of many different types of people. Thanks to the likes of Nine Inch Nails playing on the same night as Dirks Bentley, you're bound to see a wide aray of people. It's great!



I’ve been there three days so far, and have three more lined up. Thursday’s outing was by far the most intense but Sunday’s trip was equally as entertaining. Katie, her sister Julie, and Julie’s friend showed up to my apartment around 6:00 and we headed down to the grounds, Cabby top down, boppin’ away to the sounds of Brittney and Rihanna. Parking is always absurd around Summerfest, but luckily we found a lot close enough spot for only $7 (a steal of a deal).

We started off the night with…Saz’s of course…and made our way to the Harley Davidson Stage to watch Pat McCurdy perform (One of Katie’s favorites). He was AWESOME. He had this unique gift of being able to get the crowd jumping and singing to anything he decided to spit out of his mouth. I laughed hysterically as I watched the crowd turn from hick to hip hop in a matter of seconds and they laughed along the entire time. He had quite the following and not to mention the Dirks Bently concert had begun to draw quite the crowd at the stage as well, so by 8:30 we were pretty much trapped on our bleacher seats. I guess we were staying for the concert =)



At 9:00 A CMT producer came on stage and informed us all that this specific concert was going to be televised on July 16 and we laughed at how random it all seemed. Here we were, stuck on these bleachers, and were about to be televised on national television. I love Summerfest. =)

The concert was awesome. I had never heard of Dirks Bently prior to the concert, but I left a full fledged fan. I even went out and bought his newest CD the next day. He was personable, and fun, and super cute. Minus the drunken morons that frequent Summerfest, we girls managed to have a fantastic time.





My third trip to Summerfest came a bit spontaneously. Tara and I woke up early Tuesday morning and decided we wanted to go see Kenney Chesney that night. 10 minutes later, we had 15th row seats…I was pumped. Before the concert however, we had plans to meet up with Katie and Mary at Miller Park for the brewer’s game that afternoon. We met them in the Petit National Ice Center parking lot at 10:00 and made our way to the stadium.

Only in Wisconsin can you enter a place at 10:00 in the morning, and find the parking lot full of people with grills, lawn chairs, and plastic footballs. If there’s one thing us ‘sconies are known for, it’s our ability to drink. *cheers to us* ha ha.

Anyways, we grilled out and drank in the parking lot until well after the 4th inning and finally made our way inside the stadium. It was Bobble Head Day and we were WAY excited about leaving with our free little toy. However, we soon realized that you cannot expect stock to remain well into the 5th inning and so we left instead with a blue “rain check” for our bobble heads. We were a bit disappointed.









We left the stadium at the top of the 9th inning, still bitching about not receiving our Bobble Heads. We decided to wait out the crowd and play a few games of cards outside our car and we ended up meeting a group of really great people who were waiting out the crowd as well. A nearby Chicago girl had heard us all bitching about how we never received our Bobble Heads, so she came over and dropped hers off at our table…she was never going to use it again. We were like kids in a candy store. I have never seen four grown women more excited about a Bobble Head in my life! We took pictures, and named it, and talked to it…it was a little ridiculous. But I suppose that’s what alcohol will do to you sometimes =)







After the game, Tara and I made our way to Summerfest and soon after to the Kenney Chesney concert at the Marcus Amphitheatre. We had fantastic seats (as we usually do when it comes to Kenney) but I was a bit disappointed in the concert itself. The entire show just seemed awfully random to me. Generally when I go to a concert, the headliner lets you know that he’s going to be starting…in some way. The lights go off, the music plays, there’s a moment of anticipation. But for whatever reason, there wasn’t any of that. Suddenly I just hear “Summertime” playing, and I look behind me and he’s standing on some bleacher singing in the middle of the theatre. What?! Um...okay there’s Kenney. As the rest of the concert went on, random people came out and sang with him. Sugarland. Why? Uncle Cracker...from where?! I just found myself trying to stay focused and enjoy what was going on, but was being way over stimulated =)







Regardless of the randomness of the concert, I enjoyed myself immensely. It was the best Fourth of July I’ve had in a long time. I love summer! I’m so happy that it’s finally here.

Summerfest 2006...Day 1

Every year, Summerfest roars into Milwaukee and every year I anxiously await its arrival. The festival kicked off on Thursday with a full day of music, food, and beer and I was bound and determined to be there for it!

After work on Thursday, Katie D and her two friends showed up at my apartment, ready to party it up, the way Milwaukeeans do. We mixed a few Rum and Cokes, girlified ourselves, and headed out the doors at 8:30 destined for the Milwaukee lakefront. We had a bit of trouble figuring out transportation but luckily we met a very nice woman, and a very helpful bus driver, and we were able to get ourselves to the lakefront with very little hassle. I’m really bad at telling stories, so I won’t go into detail about the bus ride and events leading up to it. But luckily, we made it =)



We started off the night with a Miller Light and an REO Speedwagon concert. We only caught the last couple of songs, but were there long enough to hear “Roll with the Changes”, “Keep on Loving you” and “Ridin’ the Storm Out”. I was sad to have missed “Can’t Fight This Feeling” but what can you do right?





After REO was finished, we made our way to Jo-Jo’s Martini lounge, sipped on a few Cosmopolitans, and awaited the Big Bang fireworks. The fireworks were amazing, a little long, but still amazing. They really are the best fireworks display all year…in the state of Wisconsin I think! Not that I’ve seen that many to compare it too, but I’m sure it’s up there!

For the remaining couple hours we spent some time at the Harley Davidson stage watching Common and then headed to the Miller Light Oasis to watch the Bodeins. At 12:30 the grounds closed and we made our way back to my apartment for some Pizza Shuttle, sobering talk, and a pass out session =)

I’m hoping to make it to Summerfest a few more times before it all ends. I’ll definitely be there on Sunday with Katie again for the Love Monkeys and then on Monday for Phil Vassar and Keith Anderson with Tara. Thursday is The Frey and Saturday Pink is playing and I’m going to try really hard to make it to that as well. Luckily I have a free ticket in my wallet to utilize. Summerfest is getting quite expensive! But it’s totally worth it. $15 gets you inside the grounds, and access to a ton of bands….FOR FREE! It’s the greatest festival ever! For anyone not from Milwaukee…get your ass up this way. You’re missing out on a fantastic time.