The Whirlwind Formerly Known as "May"

Hi blog! Nice to see you. What have I been up to? Oh, EVERYTHING!

I knew that May would be a difficult month. With our trip to Jamaica, my trip to Colorado and my mom coming for a week and a half at the end of the month, I knew I'd be busy. Add to that a new puppy, house issues, tenant issues, work and life and we're feeling a little overwhelmed. It's been a whirlwind so far and we don't really have an end in sight.

Our puppy (we have decided on Indy for those of you paying attention) has been wonderful. But, she is a lot of work. Obviously, we knew going into it that owning a puppy is a huge responsibility. We're not complaining about it, but it's taken a lot of our time. She is absolutely wonderful and we have completely fallen in love with her. Every day she learns something new and I am so proud of how quickly she is catching on with things. The house training has gone well and she seems to have grasped the concept of outside being where she should pee and poop. She is the source of constant amusement for me. I am also pretty certain that she grew while I was gone. I must be attached because I missed her terribly while I was in CO and called home about 1,209 times to check on her.


Our house is not so wonderful. Our tenants of two years have been moving out and we have new tenants set to move in. Move out finally took place today and they loaded up the last of their Uhaul and headed out to their new home. The new tenants move in next Wednesday. In the meantime, we are rebuilding the bathroom in that unit, which has proven to be a huge project. We've had workers here for the past two days and they should be working up until move in. In addition to that, our backyard fence needs to be rebuilt. Our dishwasher is broken. Our furnace is broken. Will it ever end?


Yesterday, we joked that our house was the "white trash" house of the neighborhood. Our tenants' stuff was ALL over the front yard while they loaded the moving van. We had a pile of trash about a mile high in the alley. Our fence was missing with only a few big holes in the ground to mark where it had been. And, our yard hasn't been mowed yet and is getting to be jungle-scary. This all really piqued our neighbors' curiosity as they all came over to see what was going on. I met more neighbors last night than I have in the last two and a half years that I've lived here. Go figure.


And now, my mom and brother are arriving today for the next week and a half. They originally came to help my grandmother pack and move. However, the sale of her condo fell out and she is not moving next week as was originally planned. So, they won't have much work to do while they are here. It will be great to see them again (even though I just saw them) and I really hope the weather is nice so that we can play outside and possibly even go to the lake house (nevermind the fact that the piers and boats aren't in the water yet (they're usually in by now)--THAT'S how busy we've been).


In between all of this, Matt and I are trying to fit work in as well. Fortunately, we are flexible with our business and careers that it can fall into place as needed.


Hopefully when May is over, we can get into some sort of a regular routine again. I really can't wait until these house projects are done. I like to enjoy my home, not see it as a money/time pit.

Graduation Weekend

I spent the past weekend (Friday, Saturday and half of Sunday) in Grand Junction, Colorado for my brother's college graduation. It was a really fun weekend. For one, it was great to see my family again after not seeing them since DECEMBER (which, really is way too long for me). Secondly, my brother is the first male from my family (either side) to graduate college. So this is a huge deal. Finally, the weather was great and we really enjoyed ourselves.

We went on a winery tour (though there wasn't much to see, as the vines haven't grown in yet), we ate good food, we layed out by the pool (I fell asleep and got entirely too much sun) and we just had a fun time.

Congrats Aaron! I'm so proud of you.

I'll Take It!

The weather in Milwaukee this weekend?


Not bad. But, the weather in Grand Junction, CO for the weekend?

I'll take it! Bright and early tomorrow, I will be on a plane to Colorado for my little brother's college graduation. It's just a quick, weekend trip, but it will be nice to get some warm(er) weather again. I am just hoping it sticks. I feel like every time I visit my home state, I have to pack for all four seasons--it could be 80 one day and snowing the next! (You think I'm joking? I'm not. It's snowing in Telluride today.) But, since this is such a short trip, I am packing light and not checking bags, so I am hoping for the warm weather!

In addition to graduation and eating, I heard rumor of going on a winery tour (Grand Junction actually has several) and laying out by the pool.

Be back Monday!

Telluride in Milwaukee?

My wonderful husband just sent me this link.

Now, this is exciting to me for a few reasons. First, anything and everything "Telluride" automatically piques my curiosity. Actually, it's more than that. It's an automatic "OMG!OMG!" siren that goes off in my mind. Okay, I might emit a slight squeal as well. But, really, Telluride holds a special place in my heart. And, a lot of people don't know what/where it is. So it's a big deal. Okay?

Second, it looks like they're going to serve good Colorado beers. If they can get New Belgium in there, I may just have to move in.

Third, they allow pets! How cool is that?!?! So, let's back up here for a second. Dogs pretty much outnumber people in the town of Telluride. They're everywhere. People take their dogs to work, out to eat and to bars. Yes, it is not uncommon to walk through the door of a local establishment and have to step over a dog or two to get to the bar.

I don't want to get prematurely excited for this, but I can't help it. This could be my tiny slice of "home" here in Milwaukee. The cynic in me argues that it won't hold a flame, but maybe it could come close. Either way, I am excited for it and definitely plan on going once it opens. Probably without the dog, to start.

Puppy!

Please meet the newest member of our family! She is a 3-month old Shepherd-Boxer mix. We are both absolutely and completely in love with her.

Matt and I have been talking about getting a dog for a while now. Actually, since 2004, but who's counting? First, we weren't sure where we'd end up after college. Then we moved apart--him in WI and me in CO. Then I moved and we got engaged and we bought a house. We thought we might be ready for a dog, but with wedding planning and other things, we decided we weren't. Then we got married and started a business. We are finally (after four years) feeling settled enough to have a pet.

So, for the past month or so, we have actively been stalking websites for Humane Societies and local shelters through petfinder.com (the Wisconsin Humane Society updates their site every 30 minutes, so this is an all day kind of thing). We knew we wanted to adopt. We visited the Wisconsin Humane Society several times looking for the right pup. There were a few that were strong possibilities, but we also decided that, with our trip to Jamaica, it wouldn't be fair to get a puppy and then leave it so soon. However, during our trip, we talked a lot about it and said several times "I can't wait to get home and look on the Humane Society webpage for a pup. Just think, we could find our puppy as soon as we get home!" And we did.

This past Sunday, the first thing I did when I turned on my computer was visit the site to search the latest available dogs for adoption. And there she was. Matt was eyeing a different dog and practically dragged me out the door to get down there to meet them. The puppy that Matt was interested in was adopted by the time we got there. So that left our girl. She was there with her sister and they had come from another shelter in Indiana. Her sister had already been adopted, which made me feel a little better (but it didn't keep me from crying when they said their goodbyes to each other).

We met with our adoption counselor and went over the puppy's medical records, signed the adoption contract and then we were out the door with our dog. The past few days have been absolutely wonderful. She seems to really like us and is the sweetest thing ever. We are working on the house training and, so far, she's doing really great. She was just spayed on Saturday, so we are still taking it easy with her, but she still really likes to play. I love her! Prepare yourselves to see many more posts and pictures featuring our little girl (so far, the only decent pictures I can get of her are when she's lounging).

We have not officially named her yet, though we are tossing around the name "Indy"--short for Indiana, where she came from. If you have any ideas, comments, feedback or suggestions, please let me know.

(I think I got some water or something in my camera on my trip. All of my pictures are turning out looking like Glamour Shots. I promise, that's not on purpose and the new camera that I've been debating is officially on my birthday list.)

For anyone considering a pet, I highly recommend that you check out your local Humane Society and shelters (again, through petfinder.com). It is an incredible feeling to know that I was able to help and give this little dog a good home. Some of the stories behind the animals that are in shelters are absolutely heartbreaking and they all deserve to have a good and loving home. If you cannot have a pet, please consider a donation to your local Humane Society or shelter. The staff is almost entirely volunteer and they operate solely on donations. And do an amazing job.

Jamaican Me Crazy!

I was fortunate enough to spend the last week in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Specifically at the Sandals Dunn’s River. Even luckier still is the fact that the trip was courtesy of my in-laws. We really had a great time. We layed out in the sun, drank fruity drinks, ate a lot of food, went diving and had an all around fabulous time with the family. Our group was made up of Matt and me, his dad Dennis and stepmom Candy, sister Sarah and her boyfriend Dan and sister Julie.

To follow is a lengthy trip review as well as some pictures. Enjoy!

Saturday, May 3: We woke up early to drive to the airport. Best I could tell, it was going to be a cold day in Milwaukee, so I didn’t quite mind escaping. We spent the next several hours traveling—Milwaukee to Ft. Lauderdale to Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. Apparently, Midwest doesn’t serve cookies on flights that start before 10am. And the seats in the back of the plane are noisy and crappy. But Air Jamaica has free champagne service, so that made up for it. The MoBay airport has a Sandals Lounge with beer and soda, so that helped too. When we finally got to our resort, we were both tired and hungry. Something about traveling for 15 hours will do that to you. Since Matt and I had been to a Sandals resort before, we got an upgraded room. We ate dinner at Il Capitano, the Italian restaurant and managed to consume several bottles of wine between us.

Sunday, May 4: Our first day at the resort, we were up early and ready to play. We had breakfast at the main buffet (the first meal of many in which we would eat too much) and proceeded to spend the remainder of the day at the pool. Unfortunately, the information that we were given on that particular pool bar was faulty—we fully expected it to be open at 10 am. When we swam over at 10:15 for our first drinks, we were sadly disappointed to find out that they did not open until ELEVEN! What a long, hard wait that was! (Seriously, I kid.) So anyway. Finally 11:15 rolled around and the bar was open (Jamaican time is not the same as American time—we were probably lucky it opened at all). The rest of the afternoon was full of Pina Coladas, Rum Runners, Jamaican Smiles (SO GOOD), Red Stripe and whatever else they were serving. It is also worth noting that these drinks were not watered down as is so often the case at all-inclusive resorts. They were STRONG. That evening, Matt and I had a very lovely, romantic meal at the “fancy” restaurant—Marco Polo.

Monday, May 5: This was our first day diving. It was okay. I was extremely underwhelmed with the reef and the marine life that we saw. Not to mention the fact that we were grouped in with the resort course divers (not certified, not aware, not good at not kicking my mask off of my face every two seconds). It was my first dive since our honeymoon and I wanted to ease into it, so we didn’t dive the second dive that was offered. The rest of the afternoon was spent much as the day before. Except that this time we moved to the beach and were witnesses in a wedding. We were literally 20 feet from the wedding location, just lying in our chairs chatting. The wedding coordinator came and got it all set up and I was sure she would ask us to move. Not the case. We were the only witnesses to this cute couple’s union. It was a little awkward. On Mondays and Thursdays, all of the restaurants are closed and they have a big Caribbean buffet on the beach for dinner. Afterward, they had a show with steel drums, dancers and some local talent. This included: a man that did the limbo, a man that balanced beach chairs on his nose and a man that ate fire.

Tuesday, May 6: Somehow, Matt talked me into going diving with him again. However, this time, was a million times better than the day before. There were only four of us in the group—all certified. And, they took us to a shipwreck. It was really neat. They also brought along a photographer who snapped a ton of pictures of the two of us. We came back to the resort, ate lunch and went sailing—Matt and me sailing against Dennis and Julie. We totally kicked their butts. Unfortunately, my knees paid the price of being out in the sun and I ended up looking like I had a Gout attack—they were so red and swollen. We had dinner with the whole family at Marco Polo again. Still tasty.

Wednesday, May 7: Feeling brave, we did both dives Wednesday. Again, both times were small groups (the first was just us) which made it so much better. We also went to some better spots and saw a lot more life. And, again, the afternoon was very similar to the days before. Our dinner was at the one restaurant that required a reservation—Kimono’s, a hibachi style restaurant at which they cook at the table. It was very fun, very much food, complete with our chef trying to flip shrimp into our mouths—it landed down my shirt, on Candy’s lap and bounced off of Dennis’ glasses. Wednesday was also karaoke night. Really, there is nothing more hilarious than watching a bunch of drunk tourists try to sing and dance. Sarah did a fabulous rendition of “Baby Got Back” and had everyone on their feet. Others were not so good and included a Russian “Weekend at Bernie’s” lookalike, a drunken forty-something with a bad perm yelling Bette Midler and a drunk couple trying to re-inact Grease.

Thursday, May 8: Diving again in the morning. Both dives this time. Afternoon was, again, the same as before. Thursday night was a Caribbean buffet around the pools for dinner.

Friday, May 9: Last day! “Technically”, we were not supposed to dive this day (diving too soon before flying can be very dangerous). However, according to our super duper smart dive computers, we probably could have and been okay. Either way, we decided to sleep in and have a long, leisurely breakfast at the sit-down restaurant with Julie. We also talked her into going snorkeling with us. The diving was better—there really was not much to see where we snorkeled. This being our last afternoon, we really did our best to enjoy it. We sat out trying to get as much sun as we could and really kept the pool bar in business. I don’t think any of us were thrilled when we found out we had to check out at 6am the following morning to catch our flight. Dinner was at Colombo—the Caribbean restaurant. So good. Yum. Really.

Saturday, May 10: We were up early to check out and catch the bus back to the airport. Our flight didn’t leave until 11:00, but Sandals thought we needed to leave at 6:30. That got us to the airport at 8:00. Nothing like being early! We milled around the airport until it was finally time to board. We got on our plane. And sat. And sat some more. And sat and sat and SAT! The captain came on the intercom and explained to us that the ground crew was going through contract negotiations and they were not going well. Um, so they were all on strike and they wouldn’t let us off the plane! Sitting in the window seat, I was watching the goings on outside the plane. Had it not been me, I would have found the situation so much more hilarious than it really was. The luggage handlers were moving soooo slow. They would load a bag, wait five minutes, load a bag, wait five minutes… And, for some reason, it was ABSOLUTELY crucial that five additional people stand around and watch this. We were on that freaking plane for nearly five hours. For a two hour flight. Oy! Luckily, we had a five hour layover in Orlando, so that was not impacted too greatly. I would like to say that this was the last of our bad luck traveling. But I can’t. Our Midwest flight home was AWFUL. Matt and I were in the VERY last row. Right in front of the bathrooms, with no window. And then we learned that the bathrooms at the front of the plane were out of order. So EVERYONE would be using the two stalls directly behind us. Oh, how fun! I honestly thought Matt was about to choke someone. Especially the woman that must have had an “accident” that smelled awful and was in the bathroom every 10 minutes or so. But, we made it all in one piece and we can laugh about it. Though, the cold and rainy weather that greeted us upon return to Milwaukee was not pleasant and had me convinced I would freeze to death.

Overall, it was a great trip. It was so nice to spend time and bond with the family. The past few months, Matt nor I had seen much of some of his family members and were slightly nervous how things would play out. Fortunately, everything worked out and I really enjoyed catching up with them. We had many laughs together and all have many stories to share as a result. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was in the 90’s every day, but there was a steady breeze that made it bearable.

Jamaica is a beautiful country—very hilly with white sand beaches and that beautiful, blue Caribbean water. However, it is a very poor country too. In general, I don’t feel comfortable staying at a nice, fancy resort while knowing that outside its walls are people who may not know where their next meal is coming from. Further, as a result of the economic state of the country, the locals are very persistent at trying to make money. At one end of our beach was a group of shacks with people selling their goods—necklaces, wood carvings, food, drugs… They also had jet skis that they rode back and forth through the beach area all day long. While I can’t fault them for trying to make a few dollars, it was a little annoying. Everyone was so, SO friendly though.

Other than diving, Matt and I did not leave the resort. Sarah, Dan and Julie hiked Dunn’s River Falls one day and Dennis and Candy went to Sandals Ocho Rios to play golf. Everyone else went shopping in town once or twice.

In addition to the wedding that we "participated in", we saw several other couples tie the knot throughout the week--sometimes several in a day. Some couples had family and friends and others had just the two of them. We all commented that it could be very lonely getting married without any friends or family around to celebrate, but to each their own. Unfortunately, we did have about 20 minutes of rain during the week. It just so happened that it was during one couple's wedding and they had to move it inside. Is that irony?

The food was all very good. Breakfasts (with the exception of the sit-down) were all buffet. For lunches, there was a snack bar by the pool that served burgers, sandwiches, nachos, etc. as well as a wood-burning pizza oven with fresh pizzas. All was delicious. My favorite dinner was probably Kimono’s—for the food as much as the experience—followed closely by Colombo.

It was a great trip and I am so thankful to my in-laws for taking us. While I feel that maybe I could have gotten a little browner, I would not have changed a thing.

Yeah mon!

And I'm Back

Yes, I returned from sunny Jamaica this past Saturday evening (and I've only complained approximately 43 times about how sucky the weather in Wisconsin is in comparison). I will be posting pictures and a recap later today. In addition there is some other exciting news around here that I will be wanting to share at some point. Stay tuned! (Admit it, you're totally on the edge of your seat...)