Challenge

Quick:
Think of something that you did in grammar school, high school or college to show school spirit.

Why the challenge, you ask? Every week during the summer program, my director has challenged the teachers to focus on something. (Oh, and there are prizes for the winners. Y'all know how I'm a gift gal? Well, count prizes in on that too.) One week's challenge was organization, another week it was attendance (which I won, ahem), this week it was "catch people doing good things". He doesn't normally announce the challenge until the week it takes place, but he announced next week's challenge today: Class Spirit.

He said there are no parameters, no rules. However we want to show class spirit is up to us. He is also going to be taking a bunch of pictures and will compile them all on a disc for us.

Normally, I am not an extremely competitive person. But sometimes my dander gets up with the silliest of things. Like this. Immediately my mind began racing with ideas, most of which stemmed from my grammar school and high school days. Things like theme days, pep rallies, group songs, chants, etc.

So back to my challenge for you: I know that you had some sort of school spirit thing at one point that you loved. What was it?

Ridiculous

We were watching TV the other night, and an ad came on for a Christmas show that will be playing at a theatre downtown at the end of November through the beginning of December.

Are you kidding me? I know I've written about seasons or holidays jumping the gun, but this takes the cake.

And what was Stein's reply when I started my rant? "It's always nice to have Christmas in July."

I had one word for that: "No."

Reunion Weekend

I've been mulling over how I wanted to set up this post about the reunion. I didn't want it to be a "and then we did this, and then we did this" kind of post, but I didn't know how else to do it. I wanted all my old roommates and friends who couldn't make it to the reunion to have a taste of what it was like and who was there. I said to Chris at one point that I felt like I was a reporter, trying to soak in everything so that I could give the full story.

But alas, the experience was my own and I came away with a lot of great, new memories. I mostly came away with an appreciation of my college years and the people I found during those years. Although a lot of them couldn't make it, the memories of these people flooded my mind during the entire weekend. Being at Wolski's after the party on Friday night? I thought of Justin and Ellen and the dart incident. Being on the riverfront deck at the Harp on Friday before the party? I thought of Sara's wedding and the beautiful day we had. And seeing the MRC across the street? Visions of Karen and her family playing darts at our graduation party danced in my head. Being on the East side? I remembered trips out that way when Shelly had a car for a few weeks and needed to get away from campus for ice cream. It was one memory after another, and I thoroughly enjoyed this trip back in time.

One of the weird things about this weekend was that I kept thinking that I was back at Marquette. As in, I would see these people the next week in class, or out on the weekends. I did have to remind myself a couple times to get up and talk to these people because I may not see them for another 10 years, if that. Strange.

I will give you some of the highlights in pictures. The rest of the stories I will spare my non-Marquette readers. For those Marquette-related people, I'm sure I'll be talking to you soon and can fill you in on the details.

Friday night, there was a party for our class at a restaurant/bar on the river near the East side. Before we went there, Stein, Chris, and Colleen, and I enjoyed some drinks at the Harp on the river. Milwaukee has definitely embraced the riverfront, and there are a ton of new restaurants and bars there. It was a gorgeous weekend for being outside, so it was a perfect place to be.

After a few drinks, we went on to the party at Bayou, the restaurant/bar on the East side. There we saw Chris' old roommate Bess and her husband Vince. I also ran into the group of guys who we hung out with our junior and senior years of college. The funniest thing for me was hearing the stories about all of their kids. They each have three, with 2 of the wives expecting a fourth. I asked them if it was a conspiracy or something with the three number. One of them had a nine-day-old at home! They made it a boy's weekend and didn't bring their wives.

The talk around the party as it neared the end was to go to Wolski''s. Wolski's is famous for it's 'celebration' when it closes for the night. They flash the lights on and off, and the staff runs around the place handing out "I Closed Wolski's" bumper stickers. It's in the middle of a neighborhood and used to be a house. So you're walking along this neighborhood, and then all of the sudden, there's a bar. Here are some shots from inside. That's our friend Dawn's husband with Colleen, Chris and Stein:

The next day there was a picnic on campus for all the classes. They also had a children's area, so a lot of people brought their kids. There had a typical Milwaukee spread: beer and brats. You can't go wrong with that! Here I am with my friends Beth and Lisa:

And this picture (above) cracks me up. I am still holding a grudge that Marquette changed its nickname during the flurry of colleges doing the same. I can't stand the Golden Eagle nickname, won't buy anything that says it on it, and didn't want my picture with the mascot. Stein thought I did. And do you like the big name badge we wore? It was annoying, but did come in handy occasionally when you had to glance quickly at someone's when they first knew your name.

On our way back to the hotel that afternoon, I had to get a tourist picture in front of the academic building where I spent most of my years. Johnston Hall:

That night, they had a really nice dinner on the union lawn for all the classes. There were clusters of tables set up according to classes. They had a huge buffet of food and desserts. Oh yeah, and who had the wise idea of having $1 Miller Lite bottles? With a bunch of Marquette Alums? That was messy. Here I am with Chris and our friend Kelly:

Chris and Stein enjoying the food (and Miller Lites):

Some of the yummy desserts:

Sarah and Carlos:

My friend Jill and me:

This picture below cracked me up. When it got dark, they had lights shining on the union and some of the surrounding buildings. Chris and I joked that it was a command: "Reconnect!" We also joked that they were subliminally shining "Donate!"

After the dinner, we ventured over to some of the campus establishments. The ones we frequented while there are no longer standing, so we gave it the old college try and walked into one of the new ones. Old being the operative word as all of the college kids turned around as we entered the bar, and we couldn't hear each other over the loud (kids these days) music. Our group of nine quickly turned around and exited the place. We were lucky to find one of the bars had an outdoor area which was a lot quieter than the inside of the bar. Here we are enjoying (what else?) Miller Lites.All in all, a great time. We were exhausted on Sunday and yesterday. I guess we're not 21 anymore. But we sure gave it the college try.

Happy Birthday to You

Today is Chris' birthday. I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with her at Marquette for our reunion. More about that later, because today it's all about Chris.

I met Chris during our freshman year in college, but we never really hung out together. She and I joke that we went to different colleges, because she doesn't know a lot of my college friends, and vice versa. It was evident this weekend while we were at the reunion.

After college, she lived with Ellen, and that's how I got to know her. Soon we all became roommates, and lived together for a few years. Eventually when Ellen got married, Chris and I lived together.

The picture above, although pretty blurry, was taken on Cubs opening day this year. You all know about our opening day tradition of being at Yaksie's from 6:00 am, until late in the day? Well, this was taken at the start of that day. I think of the opening day festivities as Chris and my tradition, since we started it on a whim a long time ago. I love this picture because not only is it taken on opening day, but it is also taken at Yaksie's, where Chris and I found ourselves so many times on Friday nights after work. It was 2 blocks from our apartment, and it was an easy choice when we didn't want to cook and wanted to get out for the night. I think we contributed to the rent of the place during that year by ordering our usual: 10 wings, pizza, fries, and a couple beverages.

I am celebrating Chris' birthday today because she is such a great friend to me. She and I have been through a lot together, and I'm thankful that she was there with me through these years. We've traveled to places together like Ireland, DC, and Vegas, and have had too many laughs to count. It doesn't matter what we're doing or where we are, as long as we're together, we have fun. And like I've said before, we never run out of things to talk about. That is a sign of a true friend. And Chris is a true friend, indeed.

Happy Birthday, Chris! I hope you spend this day doing something you love.

Planning on Food

When you're traveling to Milwaukee (actually anywhere with us), you start planning your food ventures almost immediately when the travel plans start.

We'll have a few un-Marquette related meals to eat and time to kill while we're there, so I began thinking about some of my favorite Milwaukee spots. And because we're usually in Milwaukee when the windchill is below zero, I thought about my favorite summer Milwaukee spots to enjoy this time. Uh, summer in Wisconsin? Why, frozen custard of course. And frozen custard in Milwaukee? Why, Kopp's or Leon's frozen custard of course.

You may have tried frozen custard at one of the chains like Culver's, but I have to say, the custard in Milwaukee puts all those wanna-be's to shame. You can't beat the taste nor the experience of frozen custard in Milwaukee.

The two I mentioned are the favorites of Milwaukeeans, and each has its merits. Leon's has the fame of being the place that inspired "Al's Diner" on Happy Days. I tend to lean toward the Kopp's camp, because they feature flavors of the day and have calendars printed and ready each month so you can plan accordingly. I think you all know I'm a planner.

So in the spirit of planning the food surrounding our trip, aside from Stein suggesting we get into Chicago early picking up Chris to have lunch at Hot Doug's, I thought a pilgrimage to Kopp's would be in order. But first I had the good-planning sense to check their menu. Of course it's now online. (What did we do in college before the Internet?) I was hoping for 2 flavors to possibly be offered during the weekend we were there: Cookies and Cream, or Peanut Butter Cup. Either one would be fine with me. Insisting on both of them would be really greedy.

So what flavors will be offered this weekend? Take a look:

Friday, July 25, 2008
GERMAN APPLE
Friday, July 25, 2008
GRASSHOPPER FUDGE
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BIENENSTICHKUCHEN
Saturday, July 26, 2008
STRAWBERRY

Hey, I'm all in favor of the throw back to the German Milwaukee roots with the German Apple and that Bienen-whatever flavor, but come on. You couldn't throw a little Cookies and Cream or Peanut Butter Cup in the mix? I'm so disappointed.

Well, there's always another cold Milwaukee favorite to enjoy. You know the one. I'll be fine with a couple of those.

The Small World That is Chicago

I can't forget to tell you about the small world moment of the year that happened at Patty's party. We were out on the pontoon boat for a late night ride. One of the guys on the boat was Patty's friend from the dock where she docks her boat in Chicago. They call him "The Mayor" because he is like an ambassador and watchdog on the dock. I knew his name was Dave and he grew up in the city, but didn't know much more about him. I asked him where he grew up, and we went through the typical conversation that Chicagoans have when talking about locations.

It usually goes something like this:
1st person: Where are you from?
2nd person: The north side, or south side.
1st person: What neighborhood?
2nd person: Names the neighborhood.
1st person: What street(s)?
2nd person: Names the street(s) or intersection. If the 1st person doesn't look like s/he knows, the description could include things like, "It's about 20 minutes from the lake, or Wrigley Field, or downtown." (Everything is always about 20 minutes from each other)
1st person: Oh! I know _______ who lives there. Do you know him/her? or What grammar school did you go to? or I used to live there after college...

And on and on it goes, until you usually find out that in fact this person is a long lost cousin of yours, or was an altar boy at your sister's wedding, or had a friend who dated someone who went there once.

So I went through the motions with Dave, until we came to "What streets?". When he named streets that were in my neighborhood growing up, I asked the next logical Chicagoan question: "What grammar school did you go to?" And out of his mouth came the name of my grammar school. I think I may have said, "Shut up" at this point, I don't remember. Then I asked him his last name. When he told me, I couldn't believe it. In my school and the parish, there were a handful of families that dominated. These families were large ones, with multiple generations and extended family members also attending church or school in the parish.

When I told him my maiden name, he couldn't believe it either. Instantly, he started spewing information about my family and me like he was being interrogated about my identity. He knew all my siblings' names, my neighbors, etc. He is older than me, so he knew my siblings better than he knew me. Then we started talking and reminiscing about grammar school, remembering teacher's names, telling stories about different families.

I love when this happens. Because I don't live in Chicago anymore, it always amazes me when things like this happen. There I was, on a lake in Michigan, talking to someone who knew my roots, knew my experiences. I haven't kept in touch with anyone that far back in my life, so it always comes as such a surprise when I run into people that instantly relate to those past experiences.

It truly is a small world, after all.

Oh, My Bags Are Packed

Well, unpacked, as is the case today. I feel like I've been living out of a bag for the past few weeks. I just realized this as I was unpacking my bag for the umpteenth time this summer. (By the way, I do have to say that having the afternoons free to get stuff done has been a luxury I'm loving lately). Anyway, I have realized that there has been a lot of travel going on so far this summer, and much more about to take place in the future.

We had our trip up north and then to Chicago, my weekend at Mickey's, my trip to Patty's lake party this past weekend, and this coming weekend we'll be heading to Milwaukee for my reunion at Marquette. After that, we have a wedding in Holland, MI, and 2 weeks later I'm heading into Chicago for the air and water show, and then returning with Chris so we can both fly to Baltimore to see Karen while she's stateside.

Whew! As I just typed all this out, I got a little exhausted. I haven't felt this way since I traveled for work, and that was more frequent. But it's all good and a lot of fun. All of these trips mean time spent with family and friends, eating good food, laughing, catching up and reminiscing.


Just like the good time I had at Patty's lake party this past weekend. (You remember Patty from the fabulous day I had on her boat in Chicago? By the way, it's her birthday today - Happy Birthday Patty!) Despite the crummy weather at the lake, we had a great time. A lot of my Chicago peeps (yes, I said peeps) were there, and it was great to catch up with everyone. We sat around under the porch eating and drinking and talking. And in between the rain, we went on pontoon boat rides where we continued the eating, drinking, and talking.


One of my favorite unplanned moments was Sunday morning when Chris and I were up before anyone else. We sat at the end of the dock on the bench and talked. We caught up on stuff, pondered important topics like the concept of fishing, and laughed about some of the conversations we had the night before. Guilt made us go back into the house when we saw people outside cleaning up the garbage from the party. We could've stayed out there all day, we both never seem to run out of things to talk about. We'll have more time this coming weekend when we go to Marquette for our reunion.

My bags will be packed, and I'll be ready to go.