365 More Days To Go!

In exactly one year from today – Joey and I will be getting hitched!

I’m sure I will be running around to all of my appointments, making sure all the deliveries are going smoothly, watching Father of the Bride – or at least having it on in the background and hanging out with my dearest family and friends. I will also be thinking about how lucky Joey and I were to find each other.

Joey and I are celebrating our -1year anniversary tonight at a French bistro in Milwaukee. I’m sure this celebration is the first of several in our lifetime but one thing is for sure, I couldn’t be happier to have such a great guy along for the ride.

July 30, 2011 – 365 more days to go!

Brew City Flood

Last night in Milwaukee - it rained over 11 inches within a few short hours. And when that happens, this happens:

This is a giant sink hole on North Ave. and Oakland Ave. right by our house!

Interstate 43 - completely shut down due to flash flooding.

Glad I have an SUV - and that I came right home after work!

So we are in a state of emergency and there are a few more storms heading our way. Power was out at my office so we were sent home. Luckily we have power and Internet at home but I am making sure everything is charged up and ready for a potential power outage this afternoon and evening! Yikes!

Going to the Chapel...

Long time, no posts

Sometimes I am good about blogging, sometimes, I’m not. A lot has happened over the last few weeks and I haven’t posted a thing so in short – here is a quick recap.

Visit from the Konopka’s: Matt, Sara and Noah cam to Milwaukee for a quick visit. Noah attended his first Cubs game at Miller Park. I left Joey in charge of the camera so we have no photos – except for some of the Cubs players - go figure.

Noah’s First Birthday: The next week we were back in Indiana for Noah’s Jungle Birthday Party. What a cutie – he loved the cake (see below) and was blessed to have his home filled with family, friends and toys all in celebration of his birth!

Summerfest: This year’s Summerfest had quite the lineup. I made two appearances – for the Tokyo Police Club and Passion Pit shows on the first night. Then -of course- for the Guster show later in the week. Good times- lots of people watching and I mean crazy people watching.

Mom and Dad in Milwaukee for the 4th: It has become a tradition for my parent to come to Milwaukee over the 4th of July holiday. Joey wanted to work on his tan so he went back to Decatur to spend some QT with his fam… .and to work his golf swing. My dad wanted to go on a boat ride and so we went on the Iroquois Ferry to see a lake view of the city – beautiful! After that we went to a Cuban restaurant called Cubinata’s (amazing mohito’s) where we ran into Pharrell of NERD. He was just hanging out on the patio of the restaurant next door before his 10:00 pm show.

We saw amazing fireworks over the lake and my parents helped me clean up my yard and fix up my tomato garden – we officially picked one tomato on Tuesday!!

Then – Joey drove home a new car.

It’s about time Joey got a new car. She’s a beauty and I can’t wait until I find out where Joey hid the second key so I can attach it to my key chain!!

A Wedding and Karaoke: Which leads us to last weekend – we were in Decatur for a wedding – and some last minute karaoke. Joey. Performed. Karaoke. In front of people to possibly the lamest song ever –Girl on TV – originally performed by a lame boy band from the early 2000’s. To his credit, his friends signed him up without telling him and so he and two friends went up to perform. It was amazing.

So finally – a weekend in Milwaukee. What will we do?

I want one!

Lately I have been trying to convince Joey to get cruiser bikes so we can ride by the lake and around town. Cruiser bikes are not macho enough for Joey so it is looking like I will be going lonesome on this one.

My solution for this is to get a basket for Rosie. We can go to farmers market and to the lake! I think it would be great – especially for the summer and fall. There are a few models that I like but the most important thing for me is a pretty color and a basket! I’m feeling robin’s egg blue or pastel yellow.

See below:

(If Barbie can do it, so can I! Haha!)

Joey Does NY - Without Ale (sad face)

Joey is in New York this week for work. Ale is in Milwaukee this week for work.

I am jealous.

We have been talking about going to the Big Apple for a long time because neither of us have ever been. Lucky Joey will be spending his work week in the mecca of all that is good - shopping, food, shopping, celebrities...did I say shopping?  I know he will be in meetings but still - New York!

And within about an hour after arriving, Joey saw Tim Gunn in Time Square! OMG - to bad I'm to big to fit in his carry on!

A random display of kindness and theft

On Wednesday of last week, I was downtown with my friend Amelia. We were going to the YMCA but thought instead of working out on the treadmill, we would put our feet to the pavement.

As we were passing a bookstore, a man in a wheelchair came out and following him was another younger man. “Sir, I think you dropped some money,” the young man yelled as he ran to catch up with the man in the wheel chair. He handed him a wad of cash that included $50’s and $20’s.

WOW – Amelia and I were both impressed (and shocked) by the young man for being honest and returning the money to its rightful owner. It would have been really easy to pick up the money and walk away. It was so refreshing to see kindness – fresh, pure kindness.

I thought about that exchange several times that evening. It was just great.

The next day, Amelia and I were at lunch at Apollo on Brady Street because we had been craving Greek food. The very nice man at the counter took my order and I gave him my card to pay. “Miss, your card has been declined,” he said. Those are word that no woman likes to hear!

“What?!?!” I said.

“It is saying lost or stolen card,” he said. “You should check into that.”

Well – great. I went ahead and had my lunch and then scurried home to check my checking account online. When I got to my account page – there were lots of red numbers with a minus sign next to them and several purchases in Bronx, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. They wiped me out….and then some. (To the tune of $1,700!)

It wasn’t until today that I realized the irony of the situation. Within 48 hours I had witnessed honesty and kindness and theft and greed.

On the bright side, my bank has been great and is reimbursing me for all of the fraudulent charges. And to be honest, I’m kind of glad it was me who was stolen from because if that man had lost his cash – he never would have gotten it back.

Lucky for me, my account will be back to normal in no time!

(On a side note - the jerks that stole my debit card number made a purchase for $1.95 at Dunkin Doughnuts to which I thought - why didn't you at least get a dozen doughnuts or some munchkins! I mean, if you are already steeling why stop at $1.95!! Ohh the nerve!)