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 

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

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

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

2 year anniversary road trip

TWO YEAR ROAD TRIP!!

Kor's Bday party in DC :)

This year's anniversary road trip extravaganza started with a surprise birthday visit to Kor in DC. After hanging out and celebrating the 5th anniversary of her 21st birthday, Ben and I rented a car and started wandering southward down the east coast.






There was plenty of car concert singing before we pulled into the Embassy Suites in Hampton, VA late Sunday afternoon. One fancy Taco Bell drive thru dinner and approximately 23 minutes later, and we were both dead to the world.

road trips & complimentary drinks at the hotel every night

road trippin'

Monday we drove to Virginia Beach. It was HOT. 107 degrees. It was HUMID. It was GREAT. Ben wanted to go into the ocean... but I had just finished watching every episode of Shark Week on Netflix a week or so before. Pair this with the fact that I had scrapped my food while in DC and that I'm not too keen on the idea of being mauled by a shark (who can smell blood up to 1 mile away, thank you Discovery Channel), I politely declined his invitation.


After an hour or so of baking in the sun, we found ourselves some air conditioning and a cold beer. While sipping our suds, Ben struck up a conversation with the bartender about how I wouldn't go swimming in the ocean because of sharks. The bartender, in turn, told us about how there was a great white spotted the week before.... about two miles offshore... for about 4 days in a row.... and that authorities were tracking it because it seemed to be hunting..... told ya so.

Monday night we got a couple complimentary drinks in the hotel lobby, then went for some fresh seafood dinner on the James River. So good!


Tuesday was AUGUST 13th!!! Our two year anniversary!! We had breakfast at the hotel and then drove back over to Virginia Beach. This time, I was feeling feisty and ready to cross off another bucket list item: swim in the ocean.

swimming at Virginia Beach

Here's where it gets tricky.
1- My swim skills start and end with the doggy paddle. 2- I don't do sharks. 3- The ocean is the final frontier. Who knows what type of tentacle-clad gooey monster is lurking beneath the waves thinking about taking a nibble of me. Creepy. Long story short, it took me awhile to wade out and do my anxious doggy paddling like no body's business.... but it happened.


After swimming, we watched some air force jets take off and land right across the street from where we were parked. Feeling the air force fever, we then decided to go to an air museum. There were a ton of really awesome planes.

air museum

For our anniversary dinner, we had decided that we should do fresh seafood (again). So we found a restaurant with an all you can eat seafood buffet. We practically gorged ourselves on fresh king crab meat, oysters, flounder, salmon, clams, blue crab, and shrimp. Ben asked a waiter to take our photo with our "2" sign. Ten minutes later, we had a champagne glasses and a cupcake with a candle delivered to our table.

2 year dinner :)

Wednesday we traveled back to DC for our afternoon flight back to MKE.  But that wasn't before my first trip to Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Then there was a quick flight, and bada bing bada boom we were home.

xoxo, b