Top Notch Halloween Weekend!

I had a super great Halloween weekend....even though I didn't actually dress up in costume at any point. Yeah...I was more interested in wearing fun dresses and heels...so I did that and hung out with others who dressed up instead! I highly recommend that strategy.

It was pretty amazing...I definitely went back to my college girl self for a couple of days. I'm going to blame the holiday and having awesome company around me all weekend for the behavior though. I just couldn't help myself! Here's the weekend recap:

THURSDAY
* After arriving back to town from Portland around 8:00pm, I dropped off my luggage at home and then proceeded to haul it over to my favorite martini and cigar bar with JH for live music and fun. This is my new favorite thing to do on Thursday nights. I don't even care that it makes me feel a little not-hot on Friday then...totally worth it!

FRIDAY
* Work at home in my jammies (yay!) all day

* Go for a test run in my new fab running shoes - seen here:
....and run 5 whole miles!! For me, this is huge. I didn't even think I had it in me. But I think it came from a combination of two factors - wearing all my new running gear, and then having this as my view during the run:
* Get home, shower/get ready while jamming to Bob Marley

* PH comes over to my place around 7:00pm - we hang there for a bit (in our sassy outfits)

* We then proceed to Blue Agave for some yummy Mexican food, annnnnnnd multiple too-strong margaritas (the start of the madness!)

* Next, as we're walking to catch a taxi, we happen upon a palm-reading place....so yes...we stumbled in and got our palms read from a strange lady

* We marvel for a few minutes afterward at how eerily on-target she was with our readings

* Next up, we finally catch a taxi and head up to Moe's Cantina in Wrigleyville...and join the crazy party that is Friday night of Halloween, and 7 other friends

* We proceed to try to keep up with the crowd there, which entails lots of drinks and lots of dancing....somewhere in there I get gum on my purse (d'oh)

* Bar closes just before 2:00am....but are we ready to go home? Of course not! What better next stop than The Hangge Uppe?! That's right...the bar that can (for whatever reason) stay open to 4:00am.

* Stay until that place closes...then continue dancing in the streets for the couple blocks to get home (we looked like happy fools)

SATURDAY
* Finally wake up at 1:00pm....pounding headache

* Get up and putz around until 2:00pm. Decide my head hurts too bad to stay vertical. Take 3 Aspirin and pound a Diet Coke. Then lay down on couch and watch football/doze for 3 hours.

* Then I finally made myself get up, drink coffee, and hop in the shower - time to get ready for another night on the town!

* 7:45pm - meet up with JM for some classy, more grown-up fun at Bin 36 wine bar. Stay there for about 3 hours, drinking delicious wine, munching on a giant cheese plate, and having the best conversations (as we always do!)

* About 11:00pm - I continue on to Lasalle Power Company to meet up with a group, who are all actually decked out in costumes. Here are a few choice shots:
(Me with the Man in the Yellow Hat...complete with a monkey on top! Impressive.)
(Our "NBA Lockout" crew...what a fabulous costume!! They were really working it all night, especially Brad, as evidenced here...gnawing on his lock)

(Haha - Bret Michaels hugging our ear of corn. Oh Joe...he didn't even see it coming!)

* Jam to dueling pianos until about 1:00am (they are soooooooo good!!)

* Head up to the 2nd floor then, and proceed to dance our butts off until about 2:30am (and have lots of unintended tequila)

* Most people crash at this point, however, the last 2 of us standing headed to Elly's Diner to eat omelettes, hashbrowns, and pancakes...until 4:00am

* Finally went home, and fell immediately asleep

SUNDAY

* Wake up just before noon - go meet AC for 2.5 hour coffee date

* Go home - unpack from last week, pack for this week, do a little cleaning, and watch some football (and The Jersey Shore Reunion)

* In the middle of that I received the perfect phone call - an invitation to have dinner made for me. Nothing I can bring, nothing I can do...just show up and be taken care of....yes please!

* Have perfect Sunday evening dinner, and watch multiple episodes of the TV show "Shameless"...which I had never heard of before yesterday when my sweet chef introduced me to it (great show!)

I can't even believe I just survived the madness of this weekend. I haven't done two 4:00am nights in a row (and following a 1:00am night before that) in forever. I guess it's good to know I've still got it! But I probably won't be using it TOO frequently...my body might just shut down in protest.

Happy Halloween!!! (And a big Happy Birthday to WL!! Don't worry, big guy...everyone knows the anniversary of your birth is more important than candy and costumes.)

Sorry Adidas

So yeah...here in Portland, at the Adidas headquarters, we Huron Consulting Group employees periodically get passes to go to that store location and get 50% off anything and everything in the store. And Portland has NO sales tax. Today was one of those days. Take advantage? Oh, yes we did!

The prices there are great anyway, and then with 50% off and no tax, it was almost like they were giving the stuff away! I probably went a little overboard. But it would have been a crime not to. Most notable in my giant bag of goodies? Lots of running gear and new running shoes. I think signing up for my first 5k in a couple weeks has made me a bit delusional...as in, "I'm totally gonna be a runner now." I'm not sure that's how it will actually pan out, but at the very least I can wear all my cute running clothes around and make people THINK I'm a runner. I'm okay with that too.

Favorite moment at the Adidas store? Me running laps in the shoe department to test the new running shoes...while wearing a short skirt, nylons, and a trench coat. My coworkers insisted that I test the shoes to make sure they feel good. I think they wanted me to make a good purchase. But I could also see them saying that so they could see me run around in the store looking like an idiot.

Great moment yet to come as a result of the spree? Me flying home tomorrow wearing 2 coats. I got an awesome down jacket there tonight for 40 DOLLARS. No joke. It's awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I'm going to wear it home tomorrow, over my trench coat (no more room in my jam-packed suitcase), and with stilettos. I'm aware I will be a fashion "don't" but I'm okay with that. Totally worth it.

On Wisconsin!

Man, I have been THE WORST about keeping up on here lately! Things have been pure madness for me, but I must get back in the groove....starting with an update on one of the best weekends ever....UW Homecoming weekend!!! Aaaahhhhhh, MadTown.

Before getting into too many details, let me just point out that I got to spend the weekend with a couple of fabulous people. Including this guy:
My big brother, Matty! I never, ever get to see enough of him. I love this guy more than words can say.

The amazing weekend started off with this little table of goodness in our hotel room:

I'm gonna go ahead and say that was a little aggressive....for 3 people...who were all also drinking throughout the weekend at other establishments. Oh well.

First stop on the reunion tour? State Street Brats, of course! My favorite bar in Madison...and maybe the whole world.

The good old cow was still there to greet us on the way in:

I think we all had good intentions of maybe NOT eating 3,000 calories each. But it's Brats. What are you supposed to do?! This happens every, single time:

We all rolled on outta there after the dinner extraordinaire. But it's cool. Totally worth it. Always is at Brats.

I got to stuff my face while sitting across from this adorable site:

But Mr. Matt couldn't help coming over to my side for a little sister love:

Annnnnnnnnd that's enough. Pushed him too far, I guess?

The indoor cow is another must-stop spot for photos:

No lips actually touched the most-likely-disease-ridden cow....don't worry...

A little professional-photo-cheesiness, but still cute:

Maybe I'd had too many beers, because my brother caught me here looking as if the wooden Bucky just said something nasty to me....hallucinate much?

Lady Liberty on State Street! God bless America...and Madison...and Bucky Badger.

No night in Madison is ever complete until Matt takes some sort of I'm-pretending-to-be-passed-out picture:

On to game day! Um...it's okay if you want to go ahead and be jealous...how awesome are these seats we scored?! We were up close and personal for the complete beat-down delivered to Indiana...I mean, really...why did they even show up?

(That's the marching band during half-time. They never cease to be amazing. And always perfectly in unison. How do they do it?!)

Look how much AS and I love each other....can't you just feel it?

And the bro-sis bond....stuck on each other like super glue, per the usual!

Dancing in the stands. The only one. Why did no one tell me I looked like a weirdo?

More dancing like a tool....but this time with my beloved Wild Turkey bottle. C-L-A-S-S-Y.

Tough girl. She can be scary when she wants to.

Believe it or not, I carried that damn $6.00 bag of kettle corn around alllllllll day. Great snack though. I think we were all happy I had it.

Getting closer to the field. Matt was on a mission to get us out on the actual turf again this year...

And, we made it! Just for a second though. The security guards were unamused.

Last ones out. We just did not want to leave that place!

All hail Ron Dayne.

And all hail this mustache. It is pure fabulousness.

Post-game partaaaaaaaay! With Leinie's and this awesome new friend:

We had to debate the lyrics to a couple of the dance songs....I believe the debate Matt captured here was about Neyo...or maybe Lady Gaga. It's all a little blurry.

And what better way to wrap up the daytime fun than by heading back to State Street? We'd had just enough Wild Turkey that going to buy a ton of Badger gear seemed like a genius idea. (Which always is, let's be honest)

Every, single time I set foot back in Madison I am immediately reminded of all the amazing times I had there, and how incredibly lucky every one of us alumni are for having had the opportunity to experience UW. There's just no place like it in the world. And getting to go there and hear "Welcome Home!"....priceless.

It's oh-so-true....when you say Wisconsin...you've said it ALL!!! Love you, Bucky.

A Most Unexpected Wake-up Call

My status as the s**t magnet (as my parents lovingly call me) continued this morning, bright and early. Here's one for ya.

My alarm goes off at 5:40am for me to get up and get ready for the day at the office. I was actually not miserable about waking up, as I was waking up in my own bed (a rare treat on a Tuesday morning). I stretched, rolled over, took a look at the John Hancock Tower, and proceeded to get up. I walked to the bathroom to start the morning process, which entails me opening the right mirrored cabinet in my bathroom to get toothpaste. Every other morning since I moved in? No problem. Today? The whole cabinet door unhinges and falls off, crashing down into the porcelain sink, and causing the mirror to shatter/explode all over the bathroom. And my poor right foot took the brunt of it. Shards of the glass rained down on it, cutting it open, and causing quite the bloody mess. Mind you, this is about 5:50am. My reaction time was a little slower than I care to admit. But eventually the pool of my own blood stirred me to action.

I hopped around cleaning up the first round of the blood (trying to avoid landing in any more of the glass shards), only to have a second wave of it. The second one was much more manageable, but still gross. So at this point I figured I'd snap a picture on my phone (while standing on my good foot) - here's wave 2 of the blood, including some of the glass chunks:

Now, I know this is pretty gross. And you might be asking yourself, "Why in the world would she take a picture of that, and then share it?!" That's fair, I'll give you that. But, let's remember how many ridiculous stories I've had to share with you all....I have to believe that at some point it will sound like I'm making stuff up. It HAS to. No one person can have this much happen to them, right? Well, it can happen. I'm living proof. So when I can share evidence, I feel like I need to so people don't think I'm just a big story teller. There you go.

I didn't end up needing stitches, thankfully - part of the reason was the risk of there being glass embedded in the cut (eewww). So I ended up with liquid bandage instead. Which is sort of holding up, but sort of not. Oh well. Long story short...I'll live.

Unreal. La vida Lindsay is pretty loca, huh?