6/19/05

I’m working my way through some incredible fudge from Dan’s in Minocqua – mint chocolate, delish!

HAPPY 23rd, MAX!!!  🙂  Or should I say Mackhouse.  😉

Thoroughly exhausted, sore, and sunburned – and happier than I’ve been in a while.  I needed this long weekend to decompress and slow down.

Mom took me up to Madison on Thursday night to meet up with Max, and after I took a picture of him in front of a truck with a tiger painted on it (!), we were off.  He drove up to Stevens Point, then I took over the wheel, but I was so exhausted that after about half an hour, we had to switch back.  I stayed awake for a bit, but basically slept the rest of the way up to Minocqua.  We got to the cottage around 10:30.

I’d seen pictures of it, both the inside and outside, and he’d told me all about it, but nothing could really compare to being there in person.  It was incredible – right on the lake, adorable, and so homey.  I loved it instantly.  He showed me around quickly, then we zonked out.

On Friday, we got up at 8, went to the store for milk and butter and mac and cheese, then had breakfast and talked/hung around with Louise and Bob.  Max took me out on the boat – Lake Katherine is gorgeous and I love the feeling of being out on open water.  Then we went into town and wandered around, came back to the cottage to hop into swimsuits and lay around on the dock.  After a bit, we went to Freddy’s, a cute little bar, for lunch and some darts (Max won, but just barely!), and to the grocery store to get the stuff for dinner.  When we got back, we returned to being lazy on the dock.  Katie called with some happy news – she got engaged!  Yup, Lorenzo popped the question Friday afternoon down by the lake in Kenosha!  Yay!  Not a big surprise (everyone knew it was coming), but still VERY happy  news! 

Digression: Max and I are going to have 4 weddings to go to next summer – Josh’s in May, Patrick and Michelle’s in June, Katie and Lorenzo’s in July, and Danny and Heidi’s in August.  Aih!  Throw in some pipedreams for vacations (England with his dad and Colorado with the crew), and next summer could be totally crazy! 

Eventually went to get propane for the grill, then Max started bringing wood down to the fire pit so we could have a bonfire at some point and I went to get some beer.  When I got back, Connie, Jayna, Jeff, Hannah, and Caitlin (I have no idea if that’s how you spell her name, because that name can be spelled so many ways!) had arrived!  Jeff was the only one I hadn’t met yet, so did introductions, then Max and I made cheeseburgers and we all had dinner (except Louse and Bob – they went out for a fish fry).  I got out the birthday cake for Max, and we all sang, and ate way too much cake.  Big surprise, eh?  Then we spent the rest of the evening dinking around and being lazy.

On Saturday, Max and Jeff and I got up a little before 8 and went downstairs to find that Ron and Claire had arrived safely.  Then we went down to the town dock to pick up the jet skis – yay!  I managed to MANGLE Max’s sunglasses in the car door in the process (WHOOPS!!!), then went back to the cottage to get my sneakers on and grab the MP3 player.  I ran up to Tiger Tail and back (about 2.6 miles), then hopped into my swimsuit.  Max and I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast and ate with Bob and Louise (everyone else went out to Paul Bunyan’s).  Then Max and I and played in the lake (the up north version of a shower!) and took out the jet skis.  I haven’t been on one since the summer after junior year in high school, when Steph, Corey, Chris, and I went out on ’em, and I’d forgotten just how fun they are!  And I didn’t fall off this time, though I managed to fling Max off!  Ron had promised to pay me $100 bucks if I did that, but so far, I haven’t seen the money.  😉  I made mac and cheese for everyone for lunch, we watched a little Seinfeld, then it was back outside.  The rest of the afternoon consisted of alternating between cruising around on the jet skis, sunbathing while other people took turns, playing with Emmy, drinking beer, and laughing about almost everything.  Max wanted to water ski, so Connie drove the boat and I spotted.  He looked like he was in pain the entire time!  Everyone took a nap around 3, but Max and I got up around 3:30 to have a little more time on the jet skis.  Jeff and Jayna got up around quarter to 5, and they took ’em back to the town dock, and Max and I picked them up.  Then we putzed around, talked, and tried to make dinner decisions.  Around 6, we picked a placed called Norwood Pines, and we spent the next hour getting ready.  Jeff, Jayna, Max, Hannah, Claire, Caitlin, and I piled into the Escalade (what an AWESOME car!), and watched "Napoleon Dynamite" on the way to the restaurant.  It was super nice – a little fancy, but not too stuffy.  We got a bunch of appetizers (mmm, pinecones!), talked and laughed, and had a great time.  I had a yummy red Zinfandel, some great spinach pesto, and a wonderful night.  🙂  Ron was awesome and paid for the whole meal – yay for amazing people!  We went outside and took some pictures, then drove home, blaring rap the whole way.  Back at the cottage, all us kids hung out around a bonfire, making s’mores at first, but that quite quickly turned into a "flaming marshmallow flinging" contest.  This resulted in a TON of ’em landing on the dock, a few making it into the water, and a lot of sticky white fluff in the dog’s tummy.  It was hilarious – Claire got really into it, hunting for perfect sticks to launch the marshmallows.  We were pretty zonked, though, so we were all tucked into bed (okay, not really, but you know what I mean!) and asleep before midnight. 

On Sunday, Max and I slept in a bit (until 9), while everyone else got up earlier for breakfast (except Bob and Louise).  Max and I ran into town to get some milk, then made pancakes again, and ate ’em with Honey Nut Cheerios.  Yummy!  We took showers and got ready, then headed into town.  Max bought me a super cute Minocqua shirt (my boyfriend is such a sweetie!), we got some fudge and almond bark, he bought 3 new pairs of sunglasses (I’m trying not to touch them – I’ve ruined enough pairs!!), and I got a new Black Hills Gold ring, with a beautiful tanzinite stone in the center.  I think it’s time to stop wearing that other ring – that and the diamond ring need to be permanently placed in my past.  I would have stopped wearing the rose thing earlier, but I feel super naked / uncomfortable without SOMEthing on my right middle finger, so with this new addition to my jewelry collection, I feel like I can finally "move on" – I’m a very different person from the young woman who used to wear those two rings, and I feel like I needed something to symbolize that, if you will.  The ring is gorgeous, and I happened to pick a perfect day to shop – all Black Hills Gold was 50% off!  Yay!  All too soon, Max and I headed back to the cottage, packed up our stuff and said our goodbyes.  Hugs all ar

ound, and looking forward to coming back in July!  It should be nuts – we figure there will be around 25 people there!  Yay!  And Max and I will see Jayna and Jeff on Friday at Shannon and Robert’s.  We left around 2:45 and we talked until I dozed off – woke up in Steven’s Point to get some Subway and switch drivers.  Max called Tony when we got around the Madison area, and after only one wrong turn, we eventually made it to his new house in Fitchburg.  It’s so nice!  He, his mom, his friend Becca, and his friend Chris had worked super hard and done an awesome job painting the dining room and living room.  I liked the colors – a crimson / maroon in the dining room and a rust / clay color in the living room. There’s lots and lots of beautiful hardwood downstairs and nice, cushy carpet upstairs.  There’s 2 bathrooms upstairs (a Brady Bunch one…but it has a toilet!), the master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and another room Tony will probably use as an office.  Everything is really comfy and homey looking.  I really like the house.  The kitchen is huge and has all chrome appliances (and water in the door on the fridge, YAY!) and there’s an unfinished business that will probably get fixed up the next few years.  Max, Tony, Chris (not his friend, Max’s mom (her real name is Christine)), and I hung around and ate cake and talked until almost quarter to 8, then Max and I took off for Whitewater.  We got here too late to go to Wal-Mart to pick up a carrier for the kittens, but I’ll do that on Monday and Max will just pay me back.

And tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind – blah.  Only 5 weeks left!  And Jamie’s wedding is in less than a month, and lots of other fun stuff (Kenny Chesney!  Little Shop of Horrors!  The Dells!  Etc…).

Off to bed – need energy for the little monkeys!