Baby, Baby, Baby

We're having a baby.

A tiny person. A mini-me. A little minion.

It only seems fitting that our B & Me blog has a baby, too:

b-and-me.weebly.com

Here's to the next adventure!

xoxo, b & ben

Since... MAY!?

We've been on Go Mode since.... well apparently since May and the first hints of summer.

Since then, we had a Ben&B trip to Vegas.... where it actually ended up raining for a good portion of the trip. In the desert. We had a pretty wicked awesome corner suite room at the Hard Rock, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the center pool on 2 of the 4 walls. Ben flew in from Wherever, USA that he had a work trip the week prior, and I managed to get myself from MKE to LAS in one piece. Because Ben is amazing sometimes, he went out and bought an array of snacks, champagne and orange juice, wine, vodka, red bulls, and waters to stock up our room before I even got there. We had way too much fun at the pool (on the nice day.5), playing goofy slots, hitting up the blackjack tables, and walking the Strip.

So obviously, we went back in about a month's time. Hello Hard Rock Hotel, you sexy beast. The second go-round was for Ben's birthday, so we ended up going right over Labor Day weekend. There was a little snafu with not getting the corner suite again, so we stayed one night in a standard room and were told we would move in the morning. Morning came, we fueled ourselves with mimosas, and headed to the pool to wait for the call that at our new room was ready. Long story short, when we grabbed all our stuff and dumped it in the new room, our wedding bands were nowhere to be found. Ben went back to the old room to look around, and the nervous Nelly maid assured him that she hadn't seen anything................................................this brings me to a dark place. No additional comments.

Anywho, we spent the majority of this trip outside by the pool. We played swim up blackjack, lounged in the sun and sun, and went to the Jason Derulo pool party concert. It was while we were poolside that I found out my friends Kor&J were already on their flight headed to Vegas. And then Ben's cousin Jennifer from Phoenix texted and said she also was in Vegas for the weekend. What are the beautiful odds?! We ended up meeting up and spent a night out together causing a general ruckus.



The week before the second Vegas trip, I surprised Ben with family and friends at our apartment for his 29th birthday. His high school friend/best man Dan stopped by as the official distractor, and took Ben out on a brewery tour and to Potowatomi for lunch while everyone gathered. If you know anything about me, I'm :HORRIBLE at keeping secrets from Ben. I get too excited to share things with him, and when I do keep my mouth shut, he can pick up on my even more awkward attempts at being smooth and nonchalant. The surprise went off without a hitch, and the second surprise-- a pontoon boat for the evening-- went over great as well.

But more catch up later... time for work!

unsupervised.

I'm unsupervised this evening, which means that there's no one here to make me check my crazy at the door.

It's about time to de-clutter my pack rat husband's stash of lordy-knows-what in the closets and from the goodness of my blessed heart give the vast majority of it to Goodwill. Because I'm absolutely full of good will... And stuff we don't need and I don't want to move come 4 months or whatever when we decide to up and leave our current living establishment and move cross country to an environment full of sun and warmth and deemed fit for human life.

I'm seriously starting to doubt my relationship with Wisconsin. It's emotionally draining. Wisconsin is so terribly horrible to me all winter long, then summer rolls around and I forget why we were fighting in the first place. The weather is glorious, brats and burgers are frying on the grill, bonfires are crackling, stars are twinkling, there is a festival practically every freakin' weekend, the outdoor theater is open, and my energy level goes through the roof. In the summer, Wisconsin gives me wonderful things like a social life, patio drinking, and a tan. I totally blank on how the majority of the year is a frigid betch.

But I digress. Time for me to continue my good will rampage through this place.

Or maybe not yet.

Catch up since last month:

mini-moon up north

• I flew out to Virginia Beach for the weekend to meet up with Ben at the end of his work trip. We got seafood and walked on the beach and had a room with a balcony overlooking the water and I thought it was overall fantastic. Then we went to a crowded sports bar and yelled at the tv as we watched the Badgers end their NCAA run in the last seconds of the game. Because that's how we do.
• My grandparents sold DeCabin up in Winter, WI. We spent the weekend up there helping load up the truck and empty out the place where we spent time every summer since 1999, where Ben and I took our "mini-moon", and the go-to place for a last minute trip away from it all. We got a few items that are now in our apartment, and that still smell like the pine-needle-fresh-air-cut-grass-pine-wood-whatever-else-there-was that was DeCabin. That certain smell which, depending on how much wine I've had that particular evening, makes me tear up and/or cry a few glistening tears. Soooo many memories!! 
• I'm finishing up a gigantic king-sized patchwork-esque type quilt for our bed. My determination to finish it comes and goes. 
• I'm helping Jess shoot video at a wedding this weekend. wheeeeeeee
• May 2nd was the 5 year anniversary of Ben flinging me off of a teeter totter. All because I was trying to be a responsible 22 year old and NOT go to a street party in Madison that particular night in question. Going to the park and playing "farmer brown let me down" on the teeter totter seemed like a good alternative at the time. At least it did before I was sitting in the Urgent Care cry-laughing as Vicodin powered its way through my bloodstream. The damage = dislocated shoulder, collar bone split in two, and mild concussion because I can't play nice with the other kids.  The moral of the story: Never turn down a street party.

xoxo, b

Wedding in Nashville

Kor and J's wedding in Nashville was stupendous. 

Nicole Marie Photography

 Belle Meade Plantation was gorgeous. Such a fun weekend full of love & dancing, singing at the top of our lungs, and Fireball shots. 

Damn Fireball shots.

Ben and I even had a little bit of time to head downtown one afternoon and have Jess take some "10 year anniversary" photos on her fancy pants camera. The photos............... capture our odd little relationship pretty accurate. Kinda awkward, super cheesey, and basically crazy.  Once I bug Jess enough, I'm sure she will forward them. 

On our drive back to the Dairy State, we pulled over at a dusty little gas station to refuel the car and fill my need for caffeine and Doritos. It was straight out of a movie. Dusty little shack, middle aged lady behind the counter with a southern drawl, and a cop and local farmer sitting at a bench talking over a coffee. Hey small town, hey. So good.

xoxo, b 

pack it up

We leave 3am Thursday morning for Nashville (heeeeey wedding!), so I decided to become an adult this afternoon and pack. No last minute realizations that the majority of my clothes are dirty, I can only find one of my nude heels, or a cat somehow got zipped up into my luggage. 

So I got the 90's music bumping, pulled out my suitcase, and put on my cowgirl boots for inspiration. About 20 minutes and 53 wardrobe changes later, N'sync was blasting, booty was shaking, ideas were flowing............ and then Hurricane Brit hit.

the beginning....

I can't really explain how or why, but I pulled everything out of our closet with the idea that I would "totally organize this" and "maybe do some spring cleaning AND packing." Then the power tools and pink toolbox made an appearance, there was some dis-assembly and shelving modification.... the chaos spread from the closet to the rest of the poor little bedroom like a sickness. 

Now I'm sitting Indian style in the middle of my floor among a sad wreck of heels, sweaters, work out shorts, hangers, a lawn gnome, and mismatched socks. I honestly don't even know where my suitcase went. I haven't see one of the cats for a few hours. 

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. 

Thanks for getting me so amped up N'sync. This would have never happened if you weren't so ridiculously awesome, old school style.

Ben says I have to have this cleaned up by tonight. We'll see. 

I'm hungry and losing interest faster than...


Anyways, here's a picture of Nicole licking her lips while
I was trying to make her look like a vampire cat. 

xoxo, b  

spring to life

I'm so impatient for spring/summer/fall/anything but winter. It warmed up and almost hit 40 today.......... whomp whomp whooooomp....... Is it too late for seasonal depression? I'm still stuck on the "anger" and "bargaining" stages of winter grief, but as soon as "acceptance" rolls around I want to know that there's a group in a church basement that I can talk to every Thursday. 

-----

Ben and I had a dinner date at Bar Lou tonight. Totally splurged on dollar burgers. And now my dashing husband is in the bedroom watching some animated movie with Paris and Nicole, because "there is nothing on Netflix." I think he just felt like watching cartoons. Happens to me all the time. Embrace it Benjamin. 

-----

Wedding in Nashville in just over a week! 

I have to finish altering the top of my dress, because they don't make a Wonderbra able to fix a dress size too big meets a chest size too small. I've looked into it. And as my mom told the sales people at three different store... "Before we fix the dress, let's try and fix her dimensions! [maniacal laugh]" 

 I'm going to go ahead an thank my mom AGAIN for getting all stingy and not passing down those certain genes that would result in a chest area of anything more than a 14 year old boy. 

Thanks mom.

-----

My grandparents are selling DeCabin in Winter, WI. They accepted an offer and close the end of May. We've been going up there since 1999. It's where Ben and I had our mini honeymoon right after getting hitched. There are literally 2.951 million stories about that place. 

Hmm, I might need that church basement support group sooner than I thought...

-----

Liars and wine tomorrow night. It's Wednesday tradition with the girls. 

And you don't mess with a tradition that involves wine.

xoxo, b

weekend warrior [part b]

I'm not 100% sure where I left off.... oh well. 

Bachelorette Par-tay in Nashville  

• 5am + coffee + sick Jessica + minimal sleep = 8.5 hour power thru drive to the glorious country capital of the entire freakin' world
• Little black dresses, little tank tops, little hotel room, little party favor pins and "Mrs. Mathews" shot glasses
• Fireball shots + fire-y red lipstick on the "kiss the man" poster = bachelorette pre-gaming
• Bar dancing, booty shaking (I legitimately won a booty shaking contestone night... what?!)
• Big hair, big attitudes, big country accents
• Theme song = Eye of the Tiger. Why? Sometimes magical things like that happen on their own.

And now for the harsh reality: Girls are a gross group when they get together, scream, hug, jump around screaming "I-have-not-seen-you-in-forEVERRR!," and then spend a night or two together in confined spaces. Pillow fights and giggling? More like smeared lipstick, fake eyelashes clinging to life, and no topic frowned upon. But girls already know that. And boys? They should go on pretending. 

Minnesota Bday Bash

mega beer

• This last weekend was a very short trip up to Minneapolis for Bean's birthday. 
• Fancy bacon and chocolate donuts and coffee Saturday morning at Glam Doll Donuts
• Mall of America 6+ hours Saturday afternoon, where I fell in lust with Typo.



B at the Mall of America

• Mall of America also including a fantastic trip through the aquarium where I got to poke and prod water dwelling things. PLUS we took a trip down the underwater aquarium tunnel of awesome which included none other but the apex predator of the seas.... dun nun dun nun... sharks! My tireless educational Shark Week watching on Netflix proves useful yet again.
• German beer hall and one gigantic stein of beer each
• Brianna falling into a 12 foot+ snowbank on our way there... but conquering it on the way home
• Entire backseat of the car to myself on the way home meant that I got to sip my Starbucks coffee drink and knock-off Gatorade and send fat chin Snapchats to all my friends. My lucky, lucky friends. 

Ben in Tampa/Parents on Mexican Cruise/Ben in Boston

• and I was not/am not. Instead, I'm drudging through a Polar Vortex and having dinner with my cats. Because I'm cool like that. 

xoxo, b

Weekend Warrior [part 1]

HOLY CRIPES, BATMAN! Weekends off?! I forgot what those were............but I love them. Here's the dealio, since New Year's Eve (which I spent bad dancing at Karma), I've been a weekend warrior. The titan of the truck stop. The pop star princess of car concerts. I've been able to give into every whimsical fancy that floats across my mind involving a car and the open road (within reason).

And now I present to you, my weekends in Reader's Digest form:

1) Britani turns 25+2 birthday celebration extravaganza. This particular weekend started by going out with friends Friday night. Then Saturday morning rolled around, and Ben and I tentatively decided to go to Louisville because, hell, it's within the 6 hour radius perimeter that we had just set and neither of us have spent any time there. After a little Google search I found underground zip-lining outside the city limits. Sold. BAM-A-LAM and we're headed south early Saturday afternoon.

Then the snow started. The freakin' snow. North of Indianapolis, we were creeping along. Our trip was taking longer than planned (granted, not a lot of planning went into the trip other than "head south"). That's when traffic stopped. Just stopped. Before long, tow trucks and police cars and hazardous waste clean up crews were driving past us. And we stayed exactly where we were for the next 3+ hours. The worst 3+ hours of hoping that my bladder would not explode, because that's right folks, this chicka had to whiz from minute uno. (btw, no one was killed in the gigantic accident) After that special bonding experience with my man of choice came to an end, we figured it was best to stay in Indy and leave early for the Lou. Ben found a room, and we ended up staying downtown at a hotel hosting a middle school cheer competition. There were fake eyelashes, glitter, and high ponytails everywhere.

By early Sunday afternoon we were in Louisville, hanging out at the Louisville Slugger Museum because sidenote, I wanted to be a baseball player when I was younger.








We also did a whiskey tour at the Evan Williams Experience, where we tried two shot sized glasses of whiskey.

Then Ben booked a hotel online and we drove over to check in and drop off our luggage. As we were standing in line, we looked at each other and commented about how it smelled like old perfume. We had a chuckle, and waited like perfect angels until our turn came. During this time, I figured I should check in on Foursquare because sometimes I'm social media conscious like that. As the Internet delivered my request, the front desk beckoned us to come forward and check in. At this exact moment, the Foursquare stars aligned and the top comment for Seelbach Hotel popped up onto my phone "careful, the 8th and 10th floors are haunted." I don't do haunted. I don't do scary. I do do Google researching though, and Google researching revealed that yeah, that place has had a few things go bump in the night. One of the things was people smelling perfume...
So long story a little less long, we stayed on the 7th floor which means my ceiling was definitely haunted. I think we were the only living humans on that floor. I may or may not have screamed because I saw my own reflection in the window and maybe I tried to pee with the bathroom door open while maintaining eye contact with Ben. All alleged activities keep in mind.  Creepy stuff...especially when I woke up at 3am to use the restroom and our tv was on (did we leave it on?!) and Insidious was playing.........Ben woke up as I was getting out of bed, saw the tv, and knowing that I'm 100% chicken started yelling "DON'T LOOK AT THE TV!!!" which of course made me freak out. Very little sleep that night... and not even for fun reasons.


Monday was my birthday and for my birthday we went going cave zip lining at Mega Caverns!!!!!!!!! Never been zip lining, and definitely never zip lining in a cave so check that one off the ole bucket list. I adored dangling by a rope and going fast, which my mom tells me is "not right." She's such a nice lady.


Monday afternoon consisted of driving back to WI, and getting Kentucky Fried Chicken while in Kentucky. Obviously.

2) The following weekend was a trip to Winter, WI. This trip was also a last minute "hey-ya-wanna" trip, and also included snowy weather that made us take an early pit stop. This time it was a pit stop in LM at my parents' house for the night. It's cool though, because I got to have a glass of wine with my mom and pop and shoot the breeze. And Ben got to say sassy things to make my dad laugh and my mom's "ears bleed." The next morning we proceeded up nort', stopping at the Leinenkugel Brewery for a tour, then in Hayward for lunch, and finally a stop at the casino before getting to the cabin after dark.

super long walk in the dark...

....seriously.....

Since we had rented a crumby little Nissan Versa (which, incidentally, is the exact same little piece that we totaled in IL one year....) we were not able to make it up the tiny snowy hill to the cabin... so we were going to have to walk. In the dark. In the northern woods where bear have been known to wander and a giant had been spotted the month before near the cabin's front porch. I pouted. I got out and tried to push the car myself. Then (mostly because Ben made me), I grabbed my bags and started sprinting through the knee high snow while wimpering and screaming and carrying on like a gawd-damn fool. Once inside the cabin, I hyperventilated for the first time in my life. I don't understand it, and I probably never will. I can jump out of airplanes, speed makes me happy, heights get me excited............ but you ask me to go down a water body slide without a tube, ride a ferris wheel, or deal with the possibility of a bear and I'm down for the count. The rest of our time there was spent watching old movies, playing games, drinking wine, and watching snow fall on the lake. Relaxing once you stop thinking about being mauled by a bear.



xoxo, b

NYE MKE 2013-14

Procrastination.

 

 

It lands us in the exact same spot every year at exactly this time..... desperately trying to figure out what to do for New Year's Eve.

 

 

Every year.

 

 

It's not like New Year's is a floating, mysterious holiday, springing out of the shadows within 24 hours of happening screaming "HERE I AM SUCKAS!! HAVE FUN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT AN AWESOME WAY TO REALLY CELEBRATE THIS HUNK OF AULD LANG SYNE (maniacal laugh)"

 

 

Champaign toast this, New Year's Eve.

 

 

I don't even know what auld lang syne means. No one does. It's just a slow song with made up words.

 

So for all purposes listed hereafter, auld lang syne means there are too many parties and my lack of commitment to any of them makes me feel like the soggy fruitloop left behind in the cereal bowl of New Year's Eve parties.

 

 

 I wonder where we will end up. I'm pretty much ready for anything-- I shaved my legs tonight. And I've got a certain young man on contract to kiss me at midnight. (maniacal laugh)

 

 

Try and stop me now, 2013.

 

 

But I'm done Google-ing MKE NYE shindings for now. There are more important things going on: Shark Week Season 25 is now on Netflix.

 

 

xoxo, b

merry christmas kiddos

I'm going to be honest, I thought about doing a Pinteresty-lovey-dovey-oh-how-adorbs type Christmas card this year. We clean up nice.

Picture it: Snow gently falling as we tenderly embrace along the lake shore. A sweet kiss on the forehead with the city lights twinkling behind us. Holding hands and looking backwards over our shoulders while cheesing for the camera.  Or maybe a smile-worthy, heart warming mishap with a string of lights, tangling us together into a PG-13 kiss.

Then I realized that's silly. We don't skip around town gazing into each other's eyeballs. Well, not all the time.... and besides, that's what everyone else is doing. Which is lame. Because I've walked around and I hardly ever see people striking a traditional Christmas card pose during my day to day activities.

So I present to you, Ben & Brit's real life Christmas card(s):

cats wearing clothes, cell phone, wine, mess.

Merry Christmas :)

fa la la la la

la la la la

xoxo, b

just be cool

An average of 17 times every 8 minutes, I think to myself "Why can't you just be cool, dude?"

Which is not cool in and of itself because I'm not a surfer dude... I'm a trophy wife in training. And if I can't even get that part of the thought right, then what hope is there for actually coolness? Nonetheless, this nagging little nugget has skipped across my mind. Usually after the fact.

Examples:

• Forgetting to switch over to windshield washing fluid that won't freeze. It's December in Wisconsin, I know better. Every time I pull over and start scooping snow onto all over my dirty windshield, I think about all the cool kids driving past me on their way to work in their stunna shades listening to indie-rock music while wearing pencil skirts and heels because the cool kids shave their legs regularly and don't forget to brush their teeth. The cool kids aren't standing on the on-ramp with a jug of half-frozen washer fluid, dumping it directly onto the windshield, trying to make sure they remove all the highway gunk. That's why some inventive cool kid designed no-freeze washer fluid to use with a simple flick of a switch while driving. So cool.

• Cool kids don't get caught belting out all the words to Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi or Seal's Kiss From A Rose while weaving through rush hour traffic. You're in a box on wheels with windows. Or, oh-em-gee, Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. And cool kids definitely don't get distracted during the middle of a blog post and have a solid rock-ballad-love-song-breakdown-belt-out-concert in their living room with two cats named after socialites popular in late 20__-something and have their husband walk in and silently judge them. It's not like he's that cool either.

• Cool kids look cool at the gym. Instead of weird noodly-arms named "Fettuccine" and "Linguine," they have muscles by the names of "Butch" and "Slasher" or whatever cool kids say nowadays. And they certainly don't put on a sports bra and instantly turn into what looks like a 13 year old boy who thought it would be funny to try on his big sister's training bra. No sirree. 

• Laugh-snorting. Cool kids don't do that.

• Getting stuck in clothing-- not something cool kiddo's are familiar with. Skinny jeans stuck around your ankles in a fitting room? Bra stuck in your hair in your bedroom? T-shirt pinning your arms above your head while trying to shimmy out of your shorts and top at the swimming pool? "Absolute madness!" yell the cool kids of the world in unison.

Maybe one day I'll be smooth. I'll be suave. I'll be dripping with cool. I'll saunter into the party with a cane and a top hat tilted to one side, point and wink at the bartender and have three or four butlers with trays of champagne flutes instantly circle around me while singing a barbershop quartet-styled song about how cool I am. I haven't worked out the details yet, but stay tuned.

xoxo, b

turkey recap

Pre-Turkey Tuesday:

My last day at the jewelry store. Smash made me a pink sash and a glittery pink crown that I wore the majority of the day like a preschool princess. Roughly 1.7 million things went wrong and required me to fix them, so I didn't get much time to just hang out with my coworkers. After the store closed at 7, Smash and Co. popped open a bottle of bubbly and gave my "eugoogly"...which I had jokingly requested. Or not jokingly. After the beautiful eugoogly, we headed to Mexico for dinner and dranks.

I'm horrible, awful, no-good at having things hit me right away. Seriously. Which is part of the reason that I generally don't get too emotional......until a week and a half later when Ben finds me on the couch with a cup of coffee and mascara-face. As a whole, I'm 100% time-consuming and tiring to understand... literally a waltzing contradiction.

_________________________________________________

Turkey Time:

Having two families too close to each other makes for filling holidays. Turkey day was no exception. A late lunch turned into dinner at my parent's house, and after wiping the gravy from our faces we were at Ben's side of the family enjoying desserts and falling asleep on the couch.
Unlike last year, no one stood up and announced any life-altering news. 

Also unlike last year, Ben and I did zero Black Friday shopping. Instead, we slept in and I telephoned my mom (who was downstairs) to bring us a couple of coffees in bed. She said no.
In my defense, 1: It worked the last time 2: At least I tried and 3: Brilliant idea, right?

__________________________________________________

Saturday & Sunday:

To make the next tidbit make sense, I need to confess that Ben and I are raising spoiled thug cats. Long haired, fluffy, spoiled, social butterfly thugs named Paris and Nicole.

These little thugs stayed home alone for 2 nights while we went home for Thanksgiving. 

When we got home to the apartment Saturday afternoon, we found half eaten cookies all over the kitchen and scattered around the living room floor. The cute ceramic food bowl with the the painted blue script of Tuna Breath was mercilessly thrown in true riot state into the mecca of the chaos. Clumps of long black hair adorned the once cozy home that had- from all accounts- transformed into a gladiator coliseum only hours earlier when the last bit of cat food was nibbled and the undeniable possibility of certain death first crept to attention.

So we fed the monsters, and they fell asleep purring and cuddled up together. Because in all likelihood they are also un-medicated bipolars as well.

And now it's officially time for Christmas!
Which means Christmas music, Christmas decorations, Christmas cats, Christmas everything at all hours of the day and night. Christmas!!

xoxo, b

brit-sit

I had no Brit-sitter this week. 

Which is good, because I've been very busy working two jobs.

And which is bad because I've spent an unhealthy amount of time talking to my cats and growing extremely accustomed to their strange behavior. Trying to climb on my back while I'm sitting upright and typing, trying to climb on my lap while I'm using the.... ahem ladies room, eating a cardboard box for the hell of it, punching me in the face in the morning because they are channeling Mike Tyson, and general clingy-ness, snoring like dogs, purring all.the.time., and yip-yapping are 100% normal to me now. Sure, it was upwards of 86% normal to me before, but those monsters really beefed up their crazy and are dedicated to making me feel like a spazzy old cat lady..... and it's working.

No Brit-sitter is also bad because there is no one to stop me from having a package of bacon, 2 apples, miscellaneous Halloween candy, and a hefty portion of wine for dinner. I'm thinking Ben would not be too happy with me, since he has vocalized concerns over my odds of making it to 30............but I can rationalize just about anything. Take the above mentioned fantastic dinner for example: Meat, good. Period. Apples=fruit=good. Candy=chocolate=derived from a plant=plants=good. Wine=grapes=fruit with antioxidants=good. Throw "antioxidants" into any food-related nonsense sentence and it's like a free pass. 

Ya know what, I did have a Brit-sitter tonight by the name of Marshall's Store. Which means someone has a new pair of boots, among other things.

Ya win some and ya lose some. 

Ben's home tomorrow, and done traveling until February or something like that. Whoot whoooooot

xoxo, b

worst interview ever

Looking for a new job sucks. Plain and simple. 

Or if you prefer the more vivid and realistic, possibly over-dramatic and lengthy version: Job hunting is intimidating, horrifying, awkward and irritating. You list all your qualifying credentials on one fancy sheet of paper, shave your legs, slide into your pencil skirt and fake smile your ass off. Instead of doing what your mom has prompted you to do all your life-- listen, ask questions about the other person-- you are now forced to not only toot your own horn, but lay on that [explicit] horn while you steer the conversation like a mad-man through your lifetime accomplishments, volunteer opportunities, and a moving, memorized speech detailing why you would be a perfect fit above all the other suckers who also applied. 

During my recent new job quest, I've had an interview or two. Some have been good. Some have been "meh." One was so bad I thought I was being pranked.

Not to give away too many details, but I was able to get my resume forwarded to "Talent Acquisition" at a pretty big company headquartered in MKE through a couple of individuals that Ben and I know. One of these individuals happens to be the head of one giant portion of this company. Vague enough?

Anyways, interview bullet points:

• He was 20 minutes late.
• I was asked what I've done in the past. I told him my previous experience and education. He told me I really don't have any options unless I go back to school. So much for that private education and a B.A.
• He asked me if I was currently in any networking groups. I answered "no" since my days off have thus far been a random weekday here or there, and I don't get back downtown (home) until at least 8pm on days I work. He replied by telling me that most groups meet at night. Like after 8pm dude? Then he decided to list off networking groups and ask if I was a part of them... one by one. No need to break it down for me, I have not joined a group within the last 12 seconds.
• He asked me if I heard of "a little company called Kohls." And proceeded to ask if maybe I've applied there yet. Because I should, but not before going back to school. 
• He told me to really figure out my 5 year plan. If I was planning on staying home and having children within 2-3 years, then I should probably stay in my current position. 
• A great deal of time was spent talking about his accomplishments. He is really good at his job. He recently hired one of the smartest graduates from Marquette. He is well-off. 
• He told me that I probably think this interview didn't go too well but that I was going to "look back on his advice and think..... 'wow.'" I was already thinking "wow" 2 minutes into that interview train wreck.
• There was more, but in conclusion, I spent a half hour or so talking to the most egotistical, chauvinistic man in MKE. I should be barefoot and pregnant because my true career is birthing the next generation, and he is well-off and established because he is man. 

Life goes on. And I've landed a job at a newspaper! I'm starting part time Monday, and by December it'll be my full time position. No more working weekends, no more retail hours, no more bridezillas.

Three workdays left at the jewelry store..... holy moly.

xoxo, b

sushi

There's sushi on my counter, rice coated little packages of joy shooting me shy glances from across the room. I have to wait for Ben to get home, since he is the responsible adult who brought home the sushi for dinner and then braved the elements (hello snow?!) to go work on his fitness and overall well-being while I finished up the retail-hour workday.


I'll just have a glass of wine to pass the time. I like wine.

But I really like sushi.................


Why do those tasty little nuggets have to sit on the counter in plain sight, taunting me with their perfect bite sized combination of veggies and raw fish or whatever the hell is rolled into the magical concoction that is begging to be tenderly dipped into the warm brown soy sauce...........


Just have more wine, woman. You may have wine. Sushi has to wait.......

Wine. Wine. Wine bottle. Beer bottle. Brewery. Brewery tour. Odd tourists on a brewery tour. Some guy with a goatee wearing a tropical shirt with a collar and the three top buttons undone because he likes to strut his stuff.


Where the heck is Benjamin. Also, how could my wine glass be empty.


I'm going in. Self-restraint is lame.


xoxo, b

packers vs browns

I love Packer games. I love being in Green Bay on game day.

cousins

We went to the Packers vs. Browns game this last weekend, and had a wonderful little tailgate group. Ben, Jessica, Kor, J, Danny, Sam, Bart, Heather, Arik... it was fun to grill out, drink from German beer steins, and play bag toss in our Packer gear. And of course, there were game tutu's. I feel like that should go without saying.

the ladies

Kor and J had nosebleed seats (if there is such a thing at Lambeau, but it's fine because J is foolishly a Browns fan), and Ben scored us seats in section 138, row 16...... that's 16 rows up smack-dab in the middle of the Packer end zone kiddos. Makes me tear up a little even now.

tutus!

xoxo, b

my party has a promo trailer

Our Halloween barn party-- Mischief & Mayhem-- has its own promo trailer:   Video

Because I can't think of any reason that a holiday party wouldn't have a promotional video distributed three weeks prior to the event. Seriously.

Invite only.

xoxo, b

barn party

The best barn party ever is a mere 2.5 weeks away. The theme for the night is Mischief & Mayhem. You ask why? There are two levels to the barn that this delightful and frightful gathering takes place. The first level-- Mischief-- is filled with fanciful and freaky decor, grub and suds, tricks and treats.

Winding up a creepy path through the woods brings you to Mayhem, where dim lighting and the creepy costume-clad crowd tears up the dance floor. 

invites

But more details to follow..... Ben, Jess and I are off to shoot a promo video for the Halloween party. 

Yeah, it's going to be that good.

'Til then goblins.

xoxo, b

a short story

          Once upon a time, a young girl decided to travel with her husband to the flat lands of Illinois. The lovely couple took a car that resembled a toaster oven with them on their journey. They played a road trip scavenger hunt game which included all sorts of silly items for them to find along the way, had a delicious sushi dinner and sweet pomegranate martinis under the moonlight, and ended each night with a kiss. 
          One morning, the young girl's husband left early to attend a work function. He tenderly kissed the young girl on the forehead, said goodbye babycakes, and left.  The young girl was antsy, and excited to start another wonderful day. Moving aside pillows and blankets, she sat cross legged in the middle of the hotel bed, scouring the World Wide Web for pertinent information regarding weather, fall trends, social media activity, and ideas for her upcoming Halloween Ball to be held in a sweet old barn. 
          During her many searches, the young girl's foot began to fall asleep. Not to be deterred, and fueled by excitement over all the knowledge she had just obtained, the young girl jumped like a gazelle from the bed, boldly yelling to her foot to "wake up damnit!" Time slowed as she flew through the air like a majestic eagle, sleeping foot extended before her like a prima ballerina. All at once, the sleeping foot hit the ground. Unable to support the young girl's leap-- due largely to fact it was asleep-- the foot gave way and the young girl crumpled to the ground defeated. 
       What happened next was a fantastic slew of newly strung together cuss words and threats to the foot. Upon examination, it seemed as though the sleeping foot was merely sprained and not seriously damaged. With tears swelling in her eyes (but not really), the young girl gingerly wrapped her wounded foot into a bath towel, elevated it, and set it on ice; even though the only thing she believed worthy of elevation and icing were heels and bottles of champagne, respectively. 
         Fin.

                                                                                                                            - bbz

the maine attraction

A little while ago... as in over Labor Day weekend.... I took a little ladies' trip to Portland, Maine. Trying lobstah just so happens to be on this girl's ole Life To Do. And what better way to try lobster for the first time than to go directly to the source!? And check out Maine in the process.

So here's the Maine attraction: 

• Our flight was way early in the morning. I allegedly supported that idea, claiming that we would then have the most amount of time in Portland. During one of the flights, I was separated from the girls and sat next to what I thought would be a quirky gentleman. After telling me darling stories of his handicapped daughter, he transitioned into detailed descriptions of seeing someone splatter while bungee jumping, and watching a military friend slit both arms and neck before dying in front of him. My already over-worked imagination was on overdrive, and I told the quirky gentleman his stories were grossing me out. To which he replied that he grew up on a farm so things like that don't bother him. Exactly dude, but your listener has jumped outta a plane before.... and will do it again.
  
• Our hotel was connected to a brew pub. The first day we got to Maine was rainy and overcast and dreary and sad. So we grabbed some grub at the pub, tried to do a little shopping/exploring, then returned to the pub for a 5:30pm nightcap.
  
• The rest of the time there was gorgeous fall weather. We rode around in an old firetruck and got a tour of the city (aka a tour of the tour guide's childhood), did some exploring in the shopping areas, tried local craft beers, did a ton of walking around, took a lighthouse boat tour through the harbor, rode the ferry to Peak's Island, somehow ended up at a club during rap night, and dun nuh nuh nuhhh tried lobster.
  
• Portland Lobster Company is where we had our first "lobster feast." I had limited ideas on how or what to eat concerning the red crustacean watching me with beady, judging eyes. In times like that, it's best to just have at it. Did I feel like a Midwest hick? Damn straight. But it was delicious, and turns out there was a "how to eat a lobster" printout at the bottom of the tray that was found after we were done making a delicious mess of ourselves.
  
• I adore the way people talk in Portland: Goin' down to da ha'bah to get some fwesh lobstah and buttah to make a nice dinnah fo ya.
  
• The trip was a lot of fun, and a lot of seafood. Halfway through the excursion I had the worst craving for some beef and cheese. You can take a girl out of Wisconsin, but apparently you can't take the Wisconsin out of the girl.

xoxo, b