Happy Halloween!

As most people do, Justin and I waited until the last minute to decide what to be for Halloween. Justin took to the internet and did some searching and found a couple cute ideas: "Sick and Tired" and Milkman and Pregnant Woman. Justin and I decided to be the latter. So Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we searched through every Goodwill in Madison, Mallatt's Pharmacy, a fabric store, and State Street looking for all the necessary pieces. (Pearl necklace for me, black bowtie for him, etc.) It came together in the end.

We wore the costumes to Katie and Todd's party on Saturday night. Once again there were a number of creative costumes. Kathleen was Marion from Indiana Jones, complete with monkey. Todd was the Ben Stiller character from The Royal Tannenbaums. Paris and Martha were in full effect. And there were classics: cat, devil, werewolf, Bob Ross from the Joy of Painting.

Why celebrate on October 30, you ask. Well, Madison is the Halloween mecca of the Midwest and people from all over converge on the town the weekend nearest Halloween. Therefore, the huge State Street celebration isn't necessarily the actual night of Halloween. Once again a "riot" broke loose on State Street and some windows were broken, but luckily Katie and Todd's party was miles away from that scene.

Happy Halloween!

Me as a knocked up 50s-60s housewife.

The Jolly Milkman.

Me and Justin.

The Milkman has been kissed.

Law School love.

No Halloween party this year is complete without at least one Martha Stewart (far left) and one Paris Hilton (center).

Kathleen, the Monkey, the baby, and I dance.

Katie and Todd with his new look.

Dave plays Atari, while the rest of us relax in red.

Pre-Halloween

Thanks again to Jeana and John (Justin's parents) for providing us with Halloween pumpkins. We relaxed this Friday evening carving them up. One thing that was different about our pumpkin experience this year was the pumpkin loving squirrels. A squirrel ate through a pumpkin and made a hole so big he was able to get inside to eat the seeds. Needless to say he was a sloppy eater.

Justin hard at work.

Happy Pumpkins

Beautiful Madison Day

Today was gorgeous. Justin and I took a walk to the Henry Vilas Zoo which is only 3 blocks from our apartment. It's small, but free and we had heard there were 5 new baby lions. Unfortunately the lions were no where to be seen, but we were able to take in the fall colors and see the other animals that were out and about.

A negative of the beautiful leaves is that they all eventually fall off. I spent most of the afternoon raking, but it was so nice I was just happy to be outside. It was too dark when I finished to take a pic, but there are quite a few large piles awaiting pickup at the curb.

Madison Fall Colors

Giraffes and Storks

Sleepy piggy enjoys the sun.

Flamingos and Fall Colo

Justin and the Polar Bear

Justin and the Polar Bear II

Monkey Paige

Cane Toss

Homecoming pictures are to come. My camera batteries were dead at the game so I'm relying on friends for pictures. Hopefully I'll have some soon. In the mean time enjoy reading about the cane toss tradition.

Dinner

We are growing tired of eating pasta (I know you feel me Julia) so Monday I explored the Joy of Cooking and found a stuffed chicken breast recipe. The stuffing was the most laborious part, but really was easy. We enjoyed it - it was a great fall meal. I also tired something new that worked well - I don't have a mallet for pounding out the chicken, but a empty wine bottle worked wonders.

Tuesday was Enchilada Tuesday this week. The enchiladas were a perfect compliment to the MLB playoffs.

Enchiladas

Stuffed Chicken Breast, Mashed Potatoes, and good ole corn

Purdon't!

Like P.J.'s Fresyes - we have changed Purdue to Purdon't. Arguably the Badgers' biggest game of the year was against No. 5 Purdon't. The game was in Indiana so Justin and I hosted an informal football watching session. We all enjoyed nachos, veggies, peanuts and chose from a selection of daiquiris, the champagne of beers, wine, and bloody marys. It was a group effort and was a lot of fun. While the first half of the game wasn't too eventful, our emotions were all over the place during the exciting second half and we were definitely going wild when Purdue missed the field goal. Next week we're looking forward to homecoming and the cane toss.

Dave, Erik, Todd, and Katie enjoying Champagne and Badger Football.

Kathleen sandwich!

So many pretty blue cups.

Wisconsin wins!

Dance of Joy

More jumping around.

Paige, Katie, Kathleen, and Amanda smile about the victory.

Paige is such a silly goose!

More Door

By popular demand I have added a few more pictures of The Ephraim Inn where Justin and I stayed for the weekend in Door County. The inn was very cute and we were treated to delicious breakfast each of the mornings we stayed there. I guess there granola is supposed to be their thing. We had it each morning with eggs, fruit, muffins, etc. And each night when we returned to our room the bed was turned down and next to the bed there were 2 huge chocolate chip cookies waiting for us.

Me in front of the Inn's sign

Justin enjoying wine in the sitting area of our room.

The bunny in the crib.

The lobby area. Most of the time there was a fire in the fireplace.

Breakfast area

Front Porch

Breakfast area again!

Entrance into the inn.

Back entrance of Ephraim Inn

Door County

Justin and I went to Door County, WI this last weekend for our anniversary. Door County is the little peninsula separating Green Bay from Lake Michigan. We stayed in Ephraim, which is located on Eagle Harbor on the Green Bay side.

Justin got a haircut on Saturday morning before we made our way to Door County. During our first stop in Door County we enjoyed a lovely picnic at White Fish Dunes State Park thanks to Justin's parents. We also visited lighthouses, toured little towns, enjoyed the fall colors on many drives, and ate our first Fish Boil. The weather could not have been more perfect. The sky was so blue!

On Monday we headed back home via Green Bay where we watched the Packers play the Titans. While the Packers lost I did sport UC Davis gear in honor of J.T.

I had a wonderful time and I am sorry I have to return to reality.

Before

After

Ephraim and blue sky

Our room

Shells on Cana Island beach.

Picnic at White Fish Dunes State Park

Lake Michigan

Green Bay

Fall Color

More fall color

Fall color and Ephraim, WI

Lighthouse on Cana Island

Winery in Wisconsin. They actually drive grapes from California to this winery to make their wines.