Riding Around

Last night I got home from work and it was just a little after 8pm. I was ready to get comfy and snuggle in for the night, when my cousin Zach sent me a text to come over. So, I got back in the car and drove almost all the way back to work (I had only been home a few minutes and their house is down the road from the course, I pass it on my way home). It was well worth it though! haha Zach has a crew cab ranger and I haven't been home the weekends he's been home or he hasn't been home when I've been "free." So last night he took me on a ride in the ranger (they've put 250 miles on it the past 2 days! ha). It was a nice night to go out for a ride...it really wasn't that chilly out. We had on light jackets. After driving around for a bit, he asked if mom was still awake and would she want to go on a ride, so I called her and we drove over to pick her up and take her for a ride too! haha After stopping in town to get gas, I can't believe it only holds about 10 gallons...we made it back out to the house. Then mom and I went home. :)

Everyone these days (around here) has a ranger...and everyone goes riding on the weekends! ha Now if only I could win the lottery, it would be the second thing I bought! hahaha ;) Guess I better start buying lottery tickets, huh?

Not Much to Report

I feel like I should have something exciting to share, but in fact I do not. haha It's pretty much been the usual hustle and bustle around here the past week or so.

Toby has been his usual rotten little self. As I type this, I just got done swatting him for biting my toe. This is the third attempt at that in the past 30 minutes!

I've been keeping mom busy! ha She volunteered to do it though...so it's really not my fault. ;) We're creating an outdoor scoreboard for the golf course so when we have big tournaments/events, we can post all the team scores in a more grand manner! Jesse and his dad, Gary, found an old chalkboard at the barn...and since they never use it (haven't in 6 years anyway), we decided to re-purpose it. After much debate and shopping for what I thought it would take to clean the chalkboard (and not finding anything), we decided to prime it and paint it with chalkboard paint before painting our scoreboard lines on it. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this works! The old chalkboard surface was not usable in its present state, even after scrubbing it clean. :/

I myself have been staying busy with golf course stuff, per usual. I'm gearing up for Member Day next week. I've ordered in some goodies (yay, surprises!) and am just waiting for the 9th to roll around so I can spend the day schmoozing with our members while running the grill. Yay rah. :p haha We have an event at least one day each weekend for the next month! It's gonna be a little hectic, but it's good business for the course. Yesterday we hosted a group of 30 for a Bachelor Party. I've known Matt his whole life, so it was fun to see a lot of my friends and church family out at the course.

As I was walking this morning, I had the realization that "FALL IS COMING!" Now if you don't know, I absolutely LOVE fall weather! It's my favorite season, hands down. :) I just love the sunshine and crisp air....the leaves will change colors...it's football season...harvest should be around the corner, but will be a little late around here this year... What's not to love? haha Yesterday and today have been gorgeous! The sun is out and warm, but the air and breeze keeps pretty cool in the 60's and maybe low 70's. Kinda makes me miss my days spent "Boiler'ing Up" in good ol' Ross Ade! I haven't been to a football game since my junior year (my senior semester I was student teaching down here), so I may have to try to get a group together for a game some time! Anyone interested???

All in all, I can't believe it's almost September! This summer flew by. It's really hard to believe that 4 weeks from now I will have already been home from New York for a few days! Woah. Before ya know it, I'll be in Australia. Mom mentioned today how she'll either have to go out for brunch on her own on Sundays while I'm gone, or not go out at all. I realized today that I'm going to miss Toby's 2nd birthday while I'm gone too. Bummer. I'm sure he'll forgive me (or rather be glad I'm not home) considering I made him wear a little cone party hat last year! hahaha :)

Okay, enough yammering!! I just put away all my clean laundry, but I think I might clean for a little bit before going to work at the golf course this afternoon. Hopefully it's a busy day!!

Enjoy this amazing weather! :)

Mornings

I've always been a morning person...so it's really no wonder that I absolutely love getting up and getting my day started.

Last night I walked 2 miles. This morning I walked 1 mile. I'm already feeling tons better! :) I even started taking the cleanser I'd been taking before and the probiotics again. Neither one seemed half as bad as before! haha Progress?

Maybe getting back on the wagon won't be so hard after all....

Falling Off the Wagon

Falling off the wagon is easy.......getting back on the wagon is the difficult part!

The past few weeks have been terrible for me on the diet front. I have been lazy. ha Yep, I said it. I have not been walking...or watching what I've been eating. I have to say that although I haven't been nit-picking my food choices, it is easier to eat better. I was on vacation during my "falling off the wagon" time and may have fully enjoyed all the bad foods! :p

Despite my feeling of laziness, I still managed to lose another 3 pounds during the past 2.5 weeks. :) That in it itself amazes me! I have NEVER lost weight like this before. It feels good!! ha

Hopefully one day my scales won't scream OUCH! at me when I get on it. :(

...at the Indiana State Fair!

There's always fun to be had at the Indiana State Fair! :)

The last few years, we usually only make it to the last day because of my work schedule. I normally attend the State Fair Queen Pageant, and had plans to this year, but like the genius I am...I forgot the tickets on my desk at home! :p

So...for the first time in a long time, mom, Jen, and I went to the fair and took our time walking around and enjoying the fair food! (usually we rush in, grab a corn dog, run to a few spots, and leave)

Yes, we fully enjoyed the fair food...to finish off the list of foods "nowhere near my diet plan" - Jen and I had deep fried snickers!! YUM! I haven't had one since I worked at the State Fair, that was a FEW years ago. hahahaha

Vacation - Day 4

Monday we had hoped to visit the waterpark before heading home, but once again it was raining...so we packed up and headed back to IN! It was a long drive and although I'm sad to see vacation come to an end, it is also nice to be back home. Toby missed us quite a bit (our friend, Debbie, came out to check on him everyday) and went NUTS when we got home! ha It took us awhle to settle him down last night so we could go to bed.

Here's the last few pictures from our journey home...

Pettit Nat'l Ice Center is the Olympic Training Center. We almost stopped at the WI State Fair! And Jenna wished an Indy Car race was going on at the speedway. haha

Miller Park!

Milwaukee skyline

Lunch at the Pizza Shuttle in Milwaukee...very good!

Chicago skyline on our way back home

Woohoo! Back in the state!

We really just wanted to be done driving....Indy seemed a long ways away!

seeing a rainbow was a nice end to all the rain we experienced on the way home :)

Vacation - Day 3

Sunday morning we woke up to RAIN....and the threat of storms all day long! :( It was supposed to be our waterpark day, but since it was only supposed to be in the 70's and rainy all day, we decided we should pick some other activities to do. (seriously disappointed since the Dells is the Waterpark Capital of the World...and that's the only reason I agreed to come here!) We started looking at maps online, but there really wasn't much in the area we hadn't already seen...so I looked up how far it would be to Minneapolis since none of us have ever been to the great state of Minnesota...

Yep, you guessed it! In the car...on the road...about 3 hours later we made it to the Twin Cities. Here's the journey...

This plate is pretty good...ha

Hello Minnesota! (felt like it took FOREVER)

Minneapolis skyline...through the rain (it didn't sprinkle at all until we pulled into town! but it stopped right after this)

Another Big Ten stop...University of Minnesota!


Mary Tyler Moore statue downtown...we really wanted to get out and take a picture with her, but there was MASSIVE amounts of construction and absolutely no parking, we had to loop around a few times to get the pics we could!

Stopped illegally (shhhh...don't tell! ha) and took pictures of First Ave.


What's a stop to MN without a trip to Mall of America!?! I TRIED to find some good stuff to buy, but none of the stores had anything I really wanted, so I settled on a new pair of earrings from Icing (one of my fave spots).

The Lego display inside the mall...

...a view overlooking the "rides/amusement" area of the mall

We made it back to the Dells in time for dinner at Applebee's and enjoyed a few glasses of Spotted Cow on tap! ;)

Vacation - Day 2

Saturday was a fun-filled day in the Dells! Enjoy the pictures (aka the timeline) of our day! :)

We rode the Army Ducks...so much fun! This is one they had "staged" by the road. You'd be surprised at how fast they go on land...and how SLOW they go in the water.















Jen and I before riding the Duck...it was our best picture of the day (kinda :p)

While riding the Duck, we were able to take some great pictures! Sandstone lines the lakes and river.



















Next we took a ride on the Wild Thing Jetboat...as you can see, it is not a DRY ride! haha

Wet Joan? haha It was soooooooo much fun though!

After we dried off back at the hotel, Jen and I decided to hit the local outlet mall for some shopping. Unfortunately neither of us found anything...well not true, I found a Coach purse I LOVE...may have to go back and get it before we leave!! (as Geisler would say, that is an INVESTMENT you have to make! ha)

We also went to the Wisconsin Deer Park, where they have over 100 tame deer, it was pretty cool to feed them and have them come right up to you...even the bucks!


Jen has some pretty good pics of me with this buck, we tried to get some of her with him too, but he lowered his head a little after this and you should have seen her jump! ha

This little one thought he needed some more food...so mom fed him and then he kept trying to get into the feeder!

The 3 of us after a fun time at the park...

Next up, 18 holes of putt-putt at Shipwreck Lagoon. Jen and I each had a hole-in-one, but sadly I lost! :p

Time for dinner...Mexicali Rose! Yummy Mexican food.

...mmmm....that was a GOOD Raspberry Margarita! ;)

Vacation - Day 1

Friday was my first official day on vacation! :) It was a BUSY day of driving...a LONG day with the hour time difference...and last night we crashed early! haha Okay, so here's a recap of our day...

We left Indy a little before 6am...even by the time we got to Lafayette...sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.

Mom slept on and off during the drive. Luckily, Jenna stayed awake with me while I drove. ;)

The Chicago skyline...we are getting closer to WI!!

We made a stop in Gurnee, IL because of all weeks, this was the week that her work gave her an actual paycheck instead of direct deposit! ha (she needed to stop at a 5/3 bank once opening time came around)

Jenna kind of missed the "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign...ha

Our first official stop of the trip - Kenosha, WI - Mars Cheese Castle! (and yes, we brought a cooler for some purchases)

The roads in Wisconsin are mostly named with letters...you sure wouldn't want to be dyslexic! :p K, W, EW, PB, etc...crazy stuff

PRINGLE DOWN! We ended up crunching or losing more pringles that we ate...haha

What's a trip to WI without stopping in Madison at the University of Wisconsin?!? Camp Randall Stadium....we love Big Ten football! :)

New Glarus Brewing Company - home of the Spotted Cow beer! Definitely a fun stop and something to try if you make it to WI! (you can only buy New Glarus beers in WI! and yes, there are 3 cases of it in my vehicle, will probably be more before we leave the state)

We backtracked a little to Watertown, WI to visit Berres Brothers Coffee (a place mom saw on the Food Network)...they have amazing flavored coffees!

..........FINALLY...........Wisconsin Dells!!!! :)

Dinner at Moosejaw Pizza & Brewing Company...yum!

The restaurant has a a PT Cruiser & a VW Beatle with a moose on top...talk about great, fun advertisement! ha

Jenna and I at dinner :) Tried some decent microbrews and enjoyed some delicious food!

After dinner, we came back to the hotel and figured out what we were going to do Saturday. All 3 of us were quite tired after not sleeping much the night before at Jen's place, getting up early, driving all day, tacking an extra hour on due to time change....so, we fell asleep around 10pm (WI time).

On to another day of vacation fun! :D