6/13/05

This weekend was INSANELY busy – but, all in all, a really great time.

On Friday, Max picked me up around 7:30 and we headed to Janesville, ready to beat my mom in Scrabble. Well, he was at least.  I knew I’d lose miserably (and did!)  .  That took until almost 10, when it was time to head to The Back Bar to see Tim’s Banned.  They were awesome – Eric, I’m so glad that the Roman cow still gets to be on stage!  My first experience at the Janesville bars was…interesting.  That scene is DEFINITELY different from Madison!  People were dressed a LOT more casually and the whole tone was a lot more mellow – not so meat marketish.  I saw Jay, Chris Frank, Alex Mills, Peter Riggs, Deanna, Rob, Bryan, and Jamie’s mom…talk about a high school flashback!  Max had his "Kiss Me, I’m Irish" shirt on, and some scary girl with a lot of tattoos actually DID!  It was super funny.    We stayed there until 11:30ish, then we crashed, after inflating the Aero Bed (that was amusing!).

Saturday brought a 7 AM wakeup call from Mom, per my request.  I was going to go jogging, but I like cuddling in bed with Max just too darn much!  So that turned into "I’m going to take a bath," but then I STILL didn’t want to get up, so it turned into ,"Uh-oh, I gotta take a really fast shower!"  Mom made egg matzo for me (!!!) and Max even tried some!  I was so proud of him!  Michael and Jenna and Max got to the house around 9 and we left for Harvard.  It was, of course, an amusing 45 minutes in the car, since my brother and his girlfriend are like a traveling comedy team.

Hilarious quote of the morning: "What happened, something awesome?" – Jenna, in response to when I tried to open the bag of spice drops and they "exploded" (she couldn’t see what was happening, just heard my shriek and my mom freaking out  ).

We got to the train station around 10, bought our tickets, and then waited until we could board around 10:30.  It was really cool – I haven’t been on a train since I was a little kid, and I don’t even really remember it.  So we dinked around, sang (loudly!), took pictures with Max’s phone, and did some people watching.  Around 12:30, we pulled into Ogilvie Station in Chicago.  Even though I could never live in a big place like Chi-town, I love walking around in it.  The buildings that are just COVERED in glass are amazing looking – and we saw some pretty brave window washers up there doing their thing!    I’d be WAY too scared to do that!!

We had lunch at McDonald’s, and then…WICKED!  I don’t think it’s one of those things I could really write about – it was amazing and breathtaking and just…AWESOME.  I really loved Elphaba – the character AND the actress.  It was an amazing few hours.  Definitely equal to NYC Broadway.

Then a quasi-mad rush back to Ogilvie, to catch a super-crowded train.  Max and I didn’t sit with the others, and instead wound up on the top section of a very busy, somewhat noisy car filled with rambunctious little kids.

Damn brats. 

We got back to Harvard around 7:30 and into Janesvile a little after 8.  Max and I packed up some stuff, picked up Heidi’s birthday present, and drove up to Madison.  After my first EXTREMELY successful parallel parking job (thanks for helping, sweetie!), we went up to Betsy’s.  Heidi and Josh went to meet Danny at the Gritty, and the rest of us (Max, Jerky, Betsy, her roommate, a friend, and me) played a pretty fun game of Circle of Death.  That whole one syllable word rule sucked, though!  And so did the not touching the table!  It’ll be fun to play it in the Dells – can’t wait for that!  Around 11, we went out – we went through 3 fishbowls at Wando’s, then went to Brats (but just for a little bit).  Next was Bullfeathers, where I had some of Betsy’s Sex on the Beach (YUM!), which I’d never tried before.  Then Amber, Josh, Max, and I went to Ian’s (chicken alfredo pizza, SO GOOD!) and to the Embassy.  Super exhausted at that point, so it was time to crash on the Aero Bed on the floor at Betsy’s…it was about 3:30, I believe.

Highlights of this part of the night include getting my ass slapped SUPER hard by Danny and having my underwear thrown at me (I was wearing a pair, the one that got thrown was the pair I wore the next day).

Max and I got up around 10:30, waking everyone else up in the process.    Whoops!  Got our shit together and came back to Janesville.  By noon, everyone was at the house – Mom, Dad, Michael, Jenna, Max, Aunt Fan, Uncle Gilbert, Jay, Joanne, Grandma, Aunt Anne, Lex, Hailey, and me.  Needless to say, it was a little nutty!  For the next four hours, Hailey entertained us by carrying around my purse, babbling up a STORM, eating bubble mixture, and walking around holding cheese on a bun.  It was hilarious.  I love that little girl so much – I can’t wait until I have kids!  I took some video of her, yay!  It was the first time she’d played with bubble mixture, so I know Lex will be happy I capture that moment. 

We pigged out, of course, and it turned out to be my only meal of the day (albeit a "meal" that stretched on for 3 hours!).  Max and I were back at my apartment by 5, putzed around for a bit, and then zonked out until 10:30.  Can you tell we were tired?!  He had to get going, though, since he had to work in the morning…poor guy didn’t get to bed until midnight!    I’m sorry, bud! 

And now it’s Monday, almost 2, almost time to go back to work for the closing shift…and I’m not really that tired, surprisingly, and SUPER excited for Thursday!!  Still debating whether or not to go to Shannon and Robert’s on Wednesday.  Obviously, I’d love to go, but we’ll have to see what the homework situation is like.  I’d probably be going to Caledonia this weekend anyway, so it’s not like I’m spending money on gas that I hadn’t really planned for.  It’s only $10 or so anyway.  Not a HUGE deal. 

Going to get started on my World of Ideas paper (due tomorrow!) before heading back to the Children’s Center.

Ciao!