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!

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

16 candles + 10

I accomplished another full year of living, which brings my grand total to 26. Lucky for me, I have not had any spontaneous arthritis, need for a hip replacement, or found any grey hair. However, I'm 26 now, and I fully realize I will need to monitor for those types of things from here on out.

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To celebrate such a joyous and monumental occasion-- aka the 5th Anniversary Party of My 21st Birthday-- Ben and I decided to head  north to DeCabin in Winter, WI. We left Thursday, and after a pit stop in LM, showed up at the Leinenkugel's Brewery by 3:30 on the dot. We got our tour on (with a crowd of 4 other people), wrote postcards, and sipped 5 different beer samples. Life was good.

Then the TomTom got us lost. Then we got ourselves found. Then we continued to DeCabin.

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part of the goofy zoo puzzle

The next day, my parentals showed up with their pup, Eko. We didn't do much of anything on Friday... other than go for a Friday Fish Fry at the Wannigan, watch movies (What About Bob!), play games (which I managed to win every single one...), put together a crazy puzzle (that ended up missing a piece in the center), walk around the edges of the lake (because I figured I would fall through or a muskie would fly thru and eat me), and drink wine.

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Saturday, we went for breakfast "downtown" at The Hotel. It was the first time since we got up there that either Ben or I had an Internet connection (but still no cell service). No cell/Internet is fantastic!! After breakfast, we took a little trip up to Hayward, WI. On the way, we stopped at the LCO Casino and played 5 cent Wizard of Oz slot machines. I won five bucks on a spin, which apparently flipped a competative switch in my mom, because she immediately went ahead and won 8 bucks on her 5 cent spin. Typical.

mom with Hook Stone wine to open in the summer!

After winning big at the casino, we did some wine sampling at Hook Stone Winery. We bought a bottle to bring back to LM and open sometime in the summer so that my birthday will continue to last throughout the year. Then we stopped by The Angry Minnow Brew Pub and shared a paddle of their craft beer.



beer samples at The Angry Minnow



After the Hayward trip, it seemed like a good idea to make a gigantic bonfire.... even though it was negative something degrees outside. So Ben and my dad created a 5-alarm fire with gasoline and pallets, and then Ben and Eko shot off some fireworks. I think the macho fire was to prove that they COULD make a fire... since they weren't able to do a dam[n] thing about the fireplace inside....

2 men, 1 fireplace, 1 goal

the birthday tiara and matching earrings

Since my 'rents were leaving in the morning, my mom made a steak birthday dinner Saturday night. It was dee-lish. I was even allowed to wear the AMAZING plastic earrings that went with my birthday tiara to dinner... even though it wasn't my bday yet. Because a birthday tiara is exactly what every [twenty-]six year old needs.

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Anywho, Sunday was my official birthday. I woke up with the sun shinning and birds/butterflies fluttering around and Ben singing a gorgeous melody in a deep and soulful voice while on one knee..........then I woke up from that dream to Eko's wet nose and sloppy tongue on my face. A few cinnamon rolls and a shower later, and it was time for me to wait impatiently by the duck phone for my grandma to call and sing me happy birthday. Because it's what she does every year, solely because she is awesome. 

mom signing the bottle

I wore my tiara and earrings that day, we popped a little pink bubbly, and I turned 26 like a champ.





one of the bottles Ben & I
got in NY on our anv roadtrip!

 

In other birthday related news, Ben bought a strange pie and some candles when we first got to Winter. We ate half the pie right away. The second half we saved for my actually bday. Since there weren't enough candles, a couple of scented pillar candles completed the distraught-looking mess of a bday cake display. It took awhile for Ben to light all the candles, and then I forced him to sing to me. After I blew out all the candles my first attempt, we lit them all again so Ben could prove that he was able to blow them all out in one breath, too.

definition of a beautiful disaster

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By the time Ben and I left, neither of us had any idea what was going on in the world or exactly how many days we had spent at DeCabin. It was lovely.

We stopped in LM on our way back to MKE for some birthday margaritas in Mexico (aka the Mexican restaraunt in town) with Jessica. Brianna and Weiner happened to be in the area at the same time, and stopped by to join us. It was a mini fiesta! Brianna told the waiter that it was my birthday. He asked me if I wanted a tequila shot or a shooter. Well HELL! Tequila shots and I end up making bad life decisions together, but I've always gotten along with a shooter. So I asked for a shooter. He brought me a fried cinnamon stick in a glass of whip cream... a "churro."

birthday "shooter"

Life Lesson from a Quarter Life Crisis: You know you're geting old when you turn down a shot and ask for dessert. And the whip cream on that fried cinnamon stick? The fact that you didn't hear the waiter correctly in the first place.

Here's to 26.


xoxo, b

pumpkin lager

Splendid fall day today! The smell of crisp fall leaves, and the gentle loving embrace of malted barley and specialty craft beer wafting through the air and hugging my senses.....


Living next to a brewery rocks. I love you, Milwaukee.



xoxo, b

chasing waterfalls

 New York 1 Year Anniversary Trip = Success!!

We left Thursday night after work and started driving east towards New York wine country. On the way, we saw a deer, and there was cursing and a slight heart attack. And then life continued.......

climbing a building

Anywho, on Friday it was overcast and rainy-ish. Our general plan was to get to Watkins Glen State Park and get our camp on, but that didn't seem like fun in the rain. So we switched gears and ended up in Rochester, NY Friday afternoon. We headed over to the National Museum of Play and naturally, we played.

Xbox

There was literally every toy that you could have ever played with...
Barbies...
Xbox....
Pong....

chatting with Big Bird

dolls.....
Michael Jackson disc player.....
Seasame Street....
Dance Dance revolution....
a comic book heroes section......

and everything else you could possibly think of...






Friday night, we left our riverside hotel room and walked over to Roc Brewing Company for a cold craft beer. I was positive we were walking through the ghetto, and that I was going to be brit-napped.... then the clouds parted and a stream of sunshine shone down upon the brewery and all my worries vanished....

so dramatic.

At the brewery, we each tried a beer. Then we saw some other folks near us who got a sample platter of beers... and within two minutes we also had a sample platter of beer.

taste testing

It was pretty tasty stuff. Then my smarty pants husband had too many sips and figured it would be a great idea to not only taste test each beer individually... but to mix a little of each beer in his glass and taste them all at once.

He thought it was fantastic.

I thought it was not  fantastic.



Saturday, we drove down the Seneca Wine Trail-- right along the lake-- to Watkins Glen, NY. I got all sorts of excited seeing all the vineyards and wineries on our way south.... and I began plotting my wine trail travels.

vineyards and Seneca Lake

Upon our glorious arrival to Watkins Glen, we found Nascar fans in every nook and cranny. Turns out that there was a Nascar race Sunday afternoon.... so the place was jumping. Neither Ben nor I are race fans... don't get me wrong, I love cars that go fast. The important fact, however, is simply that I like to be IN  the car that is going fast, not watching it.

We got lost for a hot second trying to find the state park... which is right in the middle of town. But moving on...

We got to Watkins Glen State Park and set up our camp. Then we got busy hiking in the GORGEOUS gorge......

It was like something right out of a movie...

A heart at the bottom of some falls

 

 Pictures don't do it justice!!





After we got done hiking, we went back to our campsite and started a campfire. We went into the woods to pick up some kindling... or so I thought. I returned to camp with little twigs and sticks.... Ben returned with a fallen tree. Hmm...

 

That night, we sat around the campfire and chilled out. It was great to hang out together and just shoot the breeze. It was a warm night, but the fire felt wonderful.  
Side note: we could hear the Nascar qualifying races early in the night, which was kinda cool.




Sunday was wine trail day. And it was everything I had hoped for and more. An area dedicated to wine and wine tastings-- such a place does exist!

We decided to drive north for a little bit and then turn around and hit up the majority of the wineries on our way back to Watkins Glen.

Fruit Yard Winery: first stop, super friendly. Specialized in fruit wines.We bought 2 bottles.

Ashley Lynn Winery: great lady with a silly laugh that I loved. We only got a tiny shot glass tasting of each wine, but she waved the $2 tasting fee because we bought a bottle and she liked us :)


Shaw Vineyard: specialized in dry wines. We paid $5 each for a glassful of  10+ red and white wines, and got to talk to someone who was near our age. Bought a bottle of white wine

Stopped at R.E.D.S. Hots for a philly cheese steak sandwhich..... tasty and quick and right along the wine trail so we didn't lose any precious wine time

Miles Wine Cellars: weeping willows and a big white mansion on the lake... sleeping dog on the great front porch.... so beautiful!

National Geographic Travel said it was the "most serenely gorgeous setting of any winery in the region." They were right. $3 tasting and wine glasses to keep. We bought a bottle called "Call Me a Cab"

a few items from our new wine collection

Glenora Wine Cellars: overlooking Seneca Lake, gave us cheese (woohoo Wisconsin)  with our wine tasting. Live jazz musicians playing outside on the patio. Bought a bottle of sparkling wine... SO GOOD!!

Magnus Ridge Winery: super pretty building with friendly dogs that greeted us as we drove in. We didn't do a wine tasting here, but we found a funky little hot pad that made me laugh

Pompous Ass Winery: loved it because of its name... and the wine was good, too. We got a bottle of wine, and a coffee mug for my coffee mug addiction

After our wine tastings, I was in the mood for some more hiking. So off we went to the gorge again.....

During our hike, it started to rain... and we went running around like a couple of goonies trying to find shelter. Then it cleared up and we saw a rainbow.

kissing on a bridge... using the 10 second self timer on the camera

walking behind waterfalls

When we were done with our hike, we headed back to camp and started up a bonfire. Ben finished burning the giant tree he had dragged out of the woods on our first afternoon there, and we made s'mores

Monday morning, we broke camp, packed up, and drove over to Ithaca, NY to go hiking and swimming at the base of a waterfall. Because swimming at the base of a waterfall sounds pretty sweet. Monday also happened to be August 13. 2012, aka our first anniversary!

Lucifer Falls

happy hikers

Robert Treman State Park was very pretty, and we spent a good deal of time doing hiking trails that were a bit more difficult than Watkins Glen. By the time we were done hiking and ready for swimming, the 66 degree water felt.......refreshing.  And then straight up shocking.

off-roading...

We took videos of each of us jumping off the diving board into the lake: Ben did a stunning cannonball that made the kids gasp and cheer. I did a rendition of a flailing noodle arm bird about to drown.

Monday afternoon, we finished up our trip to the Finger Lakes area and were trying to figure out what to do: #1) start driving back to Milwaukee and stop somewhere along the way or #2) head up to Niagara Falls

Option #2 won, and by Monday afternoon we found ourselves standing at the biggest waterfall we had seen on our trip.

1 Year: Niagara Falls, NY

We (eerr... Britani) thought it would be pretty cute if we took a picture each year on our anniversary of the two of us-- wherever we happen to be-- holding a sign with what year we are at. And all those pictures are going into a little scrapbook.

Year 1's sign was a bit bootleg.... a random piece of copy paper that was in the car and a ballpoint pen to write with.....but that actually ended up being perfect

We got a hotel on the river a couple miles from the Falls, showered up, and then headed back to the Falls to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and check out Niagara Falls light up at night.

 

Tuesday morning, we slept in and then went back to Niagara Falls for some more exploring. We checked out Three Sisters Island, which is just upstream from the American Falls.


Then we got in the car and drove back to Milwaukee.... with multiple stops at Starbucks, fast food restaurants, and gas stations.

We got home around 10:30pm and dropped into bed..... where 2 very fluffly kitties tried to get our attention all night.



Home again, home again :)

xoxo, b