Ohio State v. Badger Football

Tim and I were only able to make it to one Badger football game this whole year, but looking back, we picked the best game to go to (including the Rose Bowl in my opinion!). Ohio State was coming to play on Badger turf. It was a night game, and Ohio State was ranked #1 in the country (we were #18). Leading up to the game day I was remembering the last big night game against Ohio State in 2003, my first year at college. They had been ranked higher than us, and we took them down! So we could only hope for a similar upset!! The energy in Camp Randall that night was incredible, it was so loud you couldn't hear anything, and from the first play of the game the Badgers were in control! Tim and I were in the student section, the best place to be, and it was insane. Tons of fun, and we dominated the game, brining down the #1 team! The students rushed the field, but since Tim's ankle was still in poor shape we just watched from above! Here are some of the pictures from the game. Go Badgers!

At an awesome pregame with Justin and Liz before the game!

Shots of the field and the band!

Tim and I after we won with the final score! WE WON!!

The students swarming the field. It was unbelieveable! Probably the best Badger football game I have ever been to! Go Badgers!!

Camping at Mirror Lake

It's a good thing that we registered for all sorts of camping gear for our wedding, because we didn't not use ANY of it until Ben and Alex got married (yep, that would be 1.5 years after we got married.... good thing we got all that camping gear RIGHT AWAY). Ha, but the good news is Ben and Alex are outdoorsy people too, and we decided to bust out all our new gear together on a camping trip in October. We decided to go to Mirror Lake, a camp ground not far from Madison. Ben and Alex came down from the Twin Cities, and we spent the coldest October weekend grilling, hanging by the fire, toasting marshmallows, and going for hikes. It was a great weekend, our new gear is AWESOME, and although it was freezing we all had a great time (even Cooper!)

Tim sprained his ankle very badly a few days before our trip, but he came anyway (what a trooper!). He wasn't able to move very well because his ankle was so swollen, so he parked himself by the fire, read Harry Potter, and checked sports scores on his phone (rough life huh)

Pictures from our hike around the lake. It was cold, but the hike warmed us up and it was beautiful!

Trying out the pudgie pie makers, and Alex flinging flaming marshmallow across the way! Thanks for a great camping trip guys! Here's to more in 2011!

Dan and Sarah's Wedding

To complete our 2010 wedding season, we travelled once again up to Spicer, MN to Tim's parents for his brother's wedding. Dan and Sarah got married on Spicer Lake in Tim's parents backyard. It was a cold fall day, and we were all bundled up as best as we could, but it was a short and sweet ceremony (in fact it was the same ceremony Tim and I had!), and we were quickly back inside drinking hot chocolate and watching the end of the badger football game. The ceremony was perfectly timed to happen during halftime (though it remains a subject of debate whether that was deliberate or not)! Like all the other weddings we have been to, bad weather threatened to come on that Saturday as it had been raining the entire week leading up to their wedding, but when we woke up in the morning the sun was shining, and it dried up all the remaining rain! Per tradition, the ceremony was at a nearby golf club. It was a wonderful wedding, congrats again Dan and Sarah!

Some of the decorations for the outdoor ceremony on the lawn.

Keeping warm outside as the ceremony starts, and back inside to keep warm! Cooper was very overwhelmed by all of the people at the house, but he was very well behaved!

Watching the end of the badger game... we beat ASU that day, and we had a couple of ASU fans at the wedding. But what's a wedding without some family discontent ;o)

Some wedding pictures of the group

Cupcakes and raising the bride and groom on the chair!

Ben and Alex's Wedding

On August 21st, two of our college friends, Ben and Alex, got married in Eau Claire, WI. We were looking forward to the wedding because it was a mini college reunion for us, as it was a reason for all of us to get together for Ben and Alex! The wedding was a lot of fun, and we had a blast! Congratulations Ben and Alex! We weren't allowed to take pictures at the church, so here are some pictures from the reception!

The delicious cake and a picture of Tim and myself.




The maid of honor and best man speeches

First dance!

Chicago to visit Athma

Dan decided to have his bachelor party in Madison, and I decided I didn't want to be around (because if they called me drunk to drive them somewhere, I was going to get pissed). I decided it would be much better use of my time if I went to visit a high school friend of mine in Chicago! So off I went to Chi-town!

I got down their Friday night, so I really only had just over a day in Chicago, and we covered a lot of ground! We had a barbeque with her neighbors Friday night, saw the Univeristy of Chicago campus on Saturday (where she is getting her doctorate), went to China town and enjoyed amazing food and beverages, went to a Mexican festival celebrating the 200th year of Mexican independence, got Indian food, and eventually headed back to watch and movie and catch up on gossip! Sunday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, got sushi, and then I was off back to Madison. I think we made very good use of our time, and I had a blast in Chicago!

Visiting the campus of the Univeristy of Chicago



We went to Chinatown and a Mexican festival, where Athma and I both got some fun stuff!



Cupcake shops are becoming very popular in Chicago, and so we had to go and out the newest shop (delicious!!). Then we went to the top of the Sears Tower to get a great view of Chicago!



We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and had a great time!



We ended by getting sushi before I headed back to Wisconsin. It was a very fun trip!

Alex's Bachelorette Party

Ben and Alex's wedding is just around the corner! They decided to have their respective bachelor/bachelorette parties on the same weekend, but we each chose one of the twin cities (we were in Minneapolis, while the boys were in St. Paul). It was a blast! We started with dinner at the Melting Pot, which I had not been to before. It's a fondue restaurant, and it was delicious! We started with bread and two kinds of cheese, and then they brought out meat that we cooked in boiling broth with 5 different sauces to choose from. There was shrimp, chicken, and beef, and I can only remember the gorgonzola sauce; my favorite! We did a small gift exchange, which included giving Alex underwear and she had to guess who each pair was from, and other small gifts. I got Alex Porn for Women, and if you've never read it, you should! Even Tim enjoyed it when I showed it to him ;o)

The crew at the Melting Pot!

Alex decked out with her bling-bling engagement ring, veil, and martini glass

Cheese fondue. There was cheddar with beer (yum!) and swiss.



The meat that we got to cook. We ate all of it!



Our meat cooking away. It was hard to wait, it smelled so good!



Katie and I were designated dessert sharers. It was an amazing end to the fondue experience!

After dinner, we went for drinks on the rooftop of a bar called Solera, and then we spent most of our night dancing at Bootleggers, and then a little more fun (or too much for some) at the W (part of a hotel I believe). It was a blast! I was an old lady and went home a bit early, but considering I had a 4.5 hour drive home the next day by myself, I wasn't too upset to not be hungover the next day. It was a fun mini-road trip!

We passed a pedal cart! It looked like fun!



Alex getting her groove on ;o)

Looking forward to the wedding in August!

Spicer Vacation

I decided to take off Friday and head up with Tim to go visit his parents in Spicer. We had not been up there since New Years, and decided it was a good time to make a visit. We spent the weekend as usual, sleeping in, lying by the lake, jetskiing, waterskiing, and swimming. We went minigolfing, ate dinner at Melvin's and Jennifer cooked us a number of delicious meals! It was very relaxing, and a nice break from the past couple of stressful months of graduate school.

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few from the lake! I also have one HILARIOUS story. I was trying to learn to waterski for roughly the first time, and without a doubt I sucked at it. So I kept falling and having to start over. We had decided to take Cooper with us on the boat, and he was doing just fine sitting in Tim's lap (who refused to try waterskiing... slacker). All of a sudden he realized I was in the water, and without notice he FLEW off the boat and swam to me! This dog has NEVER even jumped off of the dock into our arms, but in the middle of the lake he jumped off of the boat to come and save me! It was so cute, and I think a touch traumatizing for him! But he didn't seem to scarred by the experience, and he's enjoying being in the water more and more!

Scott and Becky going for a ride on the jetski

Cooper was one hot dog, but we kept putting him in the water to cool off. When he wasn't in the water, he had to be touching me at all times. I was covered in dog hair. Kind of gross!

Tim on the jetski (but no waterski.... loser!)

Me and my baby. He was so tired from all the excitement and hardly ate any food and would not sleep unless it was at night. Cooper had a blast though!

Lab Decision

After many delays and obstacles and challanges, my graduate school career finally started to come together at the end of June with a (hopefully) final lab decision! I joined the lab of Dr. Robert Nickells, in the Department of Opthalmology and Visual Sciences. He goes glaucoma research, and while I did not think I would enjoy working with the eye, his research is really neat and I'm excited to be a part of it! He is already working to help me cater a project to include immunology (which is what I really want to do!). I'm very happy hear, and I think this is going to be a great fit for my graduate research. The other members of the lab are wonderful, and they all have a great relationship with the PI. Now it's time to start researching! More to come as my project develops :o)

Way Behind

Yes, yes, it's been too long since I last updated. We have been quite busy, and I will try to recap everything that we have been up to in the past few months. Check out the posts below for updated events!

Sarah and Matt's Wedding

On June 26th, also Dan's birthday (Happy 29th birthday Dan!), Tim and I attended our first wedding of the summer (1 out of 3). Tim's parents, brother and fiancee drove down in Madison on Friday, and we all drove down to Wheaton, Illinois the next day for Sarah and Matt's wedding. It was a wonderful wedding, and reminded me a lot of mine and Tim's wedding. They had a simple ceremony is a beautiful church, and a reception at a golf club nearby. Sarah and Matt looked like they were having a lot of fun on their big day, which is always a good sign when the bride and groom are enjoying their wedding ;o) The weather also could not have been better! Congratulations Sarah and Matt!

On our way down we passed a Dunkin Donuts, which we DO NOT have in Madison and it kills me! So me made a mandatory stop. The World Cup was going on and the US team was playing, so off course Tim was on his stupid blackberry as long as possible to keep track of the score!

The church was beautiful, but unfortunately I didn't have a good view to get more pictures!

Instead of assigning table numbers, they did "themes". Each table had a theme that related to a part of their lives together; it was very sweet, but made finding your table a bit tricky!

As you can tell from the quality of these pictures, my little camera didn't do the best job, but I did manage to catch a great picture of Sarah fearing the cake-in-the-face move! She managed to avoid getting smeared with cake, though just barely!