Maxwell Street Days Goodies

This year, I worked at a store during Maxwell Street Days in Madison. I could go into detail explaining how crazy people were (and are) and how exhausted I was every single day when I came home, but I'm sick of thinking about it. I'm going to file that madness deep in my brain so it's hard to find ever again. Let's focus on the goodies I came home with, shall we?

Summer so far, according to Instagram.

White out with a pop of neon at Lake Lawn Lodge.

Reorganization of apartment. My kind of candy.

Smooch from Chicago.

Steve's fancy Japanese beer from Brasserie V.

My mom's specialty.

Menacing birthday owl celebrating my dad.

Birthday Abe celebrating my dad too.

Summer, summertime at Steve's graduation party.

Grocery bag wrapping paper gone chic.

Stella, the namesake of my hair salon.

Sparkly shorts and a movie.

Dangerous fashion.

Weekend getaway.

My mom's bejeweled hand.

Orange manicure, striped maxi, and a giant ring.

Cocktail ring.

The Kiltie.

I'm Not a Fan; I'm a Belieber

I got the new Justin Bieber CD the day it came out. That is the same day he was on The View, and I giddily watched. The same week, I watched and DVR'd the Justin Bieber special and discovered that you could totally play "Boyfriend" in its entirety during a commercial break. I got the title of this post from that same special; it was written on a fellow Belieber's neon and glittered sign. Pure genius.

Anyway, back to the CD. It was advertised that some of the new CD's contained golden tickets that meant you won wonderful prizes like being the "One Less Lonely Girl" at the concert of your choice. When I opened my CD (in the car before I even sat down), I literally started hyperventilating. I HAD A GOLDEN TICKET. I felt a little guilty because I am a 22 year old college student. Some 14 year old girl probably would have made a better fit. And seriously, how embarrassing would it be for me to be sitting on that stage with a giant thing of roses and J. Biebs dancing around me? All of this flashed through my head before I realized that every single CD contained a golden ticket; you had to go online and enter the code on your ticket to see if you won.

Needless to say, I checked it the second I walked in the door. Apparently I didn't feel that guilty or embarrassed.

I did a screen-shot of the result. I'm too depressed to type it out myself, so you'll just have to read it.

Sorry I'm not as cool as you once thought.

P.S.- Ummm....have you heard about how Justin hung up on that one DJ during an interview? I hope my little Biebs isn't getting a big head. I only think he's the best because he's so nice. And why did he call himself Justin Johnson when he got pulled over by the cops for driving 100 mph? And I have defended him for the "Sixteenth Chapel" thing, but there's only so much I can do for him. Oh, Justin.

Buzz.

There has been a bug flying around my apartment for the past two days.

I haven't killed him yet because I think he's smart and likes the air conditioning. He may also be quite fond of French and Italian Renaissance Literature, because I always notice him buzzing around when I'm doing work for my online summer class; he might be able to help me on my homework. His best quality though is his ability to stay out of my grill. I have never once become annoyed with him.

I love this bug. I think I'll name him Petrarch.

P.S.- What kind of world do we live in that I can Google "bug reading a book" and get 48,300,000 results?

UPDATE: Petrarch died the day after I wrote this. I am still grieving this loss. My online class hasn't been the same ever since.

Sanity Trip, Part 2

The following day on this sanity trip, the temperature plummeted 40 degrees and it rained non-stop. We had planned to go sailing that day, but cancelled that, and every, plan. Instead we piled on the sweatshirts, socks, and blankets and watched movies (Home for the Holidays and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never; I can say without a doubt that we are all Bieliebers) and read magazines all day. It was basically perfect. We finished the night with yet another of Jeff and Diane's delicious meals.

 Sydney didn't want to watch movies. She wanted to play.

Blurry picture of delicious caprese salad and olive oil from our dinner.

The next day, Diane left early for work, and my mom, Jeff, and I made our way down to New Richmond slowly. We had lunch in Delta at the Delta Diner, and I swear to you, I had the most delicious burger I have ever had in my life, plus fried macaroni and cheese. No pictures exist to prove it because I was too busy eating. This diner is apparently quite famous in the world of diners; they are known to have a three hour wait on average. We were lucky though and didn't go during their busy season, plus we had an in; Jeff knows the owner quite well.

Our next stop was Mulberry Street in Cable. We visited the owners who we loving refer to as "the boys." Jeff and Diane know them quite well, also. Their store is a cool mix of vintage and new things for the home. I bought a super cool glass decanter, and my mom made some fun purchases as well. "The boys" showed us this rabbit that lives in their backyard and comes whenever it is called. They named him Bud and feed him giant carrots and oatmeal. That is one smart rabbit.

Later, we made it to New Richmond where we all glommed onto our computers for the rest of the night because we had access to the internet for the first time in several days. It was madness.

The next day, my mom, Diane, and I went to the Mall of America. We saw a really cool exhibit on Princess Diana that had artifacts from her life including her wedding gown and about 25 dresses she had famously worn. The earrings that Princess Diana wore on her wedding day were gone though, because her niece was getting married the following weekend and had just sent a representative that morning to go pick them up so she could wear them. How insane is that?!

 Sydney was mad and sad that we were going to the mall without her.

THEN WE SHOPPED.

 These are pictures of Lego Land at the mall for Steve. Enjoy, weirdo.

The perfect mug for Jeff that we found at the big mall. It combines his old love for coffee and his new love for the Biebs.

That night, we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Hudson. The following morning we left and returned back to real life. I'm still sad about it.

Sanity Trip

Alright, so this past school year was officially the most academically challenging year of my life. First semester, I had 16 credits and an internship; apparently I decided that wasn't enough, and second semester, I had 17 credits and two internships. Needless to say, there was barely any time for sleeping or breathing let alone personal blogging, hence my absence. Let's get back into the swing of things, shall we?

Immediately after I finished my last exam of the semester, I went to my apartment and packed, and my mom picked me up and we left right away for Bayfield. It's almost as far north as you can go in Wisconsin, and it is quite the gem. My aunt and uncle live there, so it is a little vacation we can luckily go on often. This trip was much needed to regain my sanity and composure.

When my mom and I arrived at my aunt and uncle's chic cabin hidden in the woods, it was nighttime and we were exhausted, but we were welcomed with fun drinks in fancy glasses. How cool am I with my sparkling blueberry drink in a martini glass?

 With a lime twist!

The following morning, we were awoken at 5am by an evil, cruel, and horrible woodpecker. My uncle tried to hit it with a tennis ball, but to no avail. Later that morning, my uncle, Jeff, a famed barista, made fancy coffee drinks for everyone, and my aunt, Diane, an excellent chef, made delicious egg sandwiches. My cousin, Sydney, an Australian shepherd, border collie mix (yes, she is eerily smart), showed off her modeling skills.

Later we went for a little hike on the trails surrounding their house and made our way to the beach (in their neighborhood!) on Lake Superior, or Gitche Gumee if you prefer. Although it was 90 degrees that day, the water was so cold that my feet started to cramp up if I stood at the edge of the lake for longer than ten seconds. Sydney loves the beach.
 

After a quick cat nap/low blood sugar coma back at the house, we all took a trip downtown. We checked out a historic house, an art gallery, a couple shops, and my absolute favorite, The Candy Shoppe. I sincerely hope heaven smells like the inside of that place. I bought some taffy for Steve, an ice cream cone (they put malted milk balls at the bottom of your waffle cone so that once you finish your ice cream, you still have a little treat at the end - GENIUS), and we bought wine bread. I am convinced eating wine bread is the purpose of my life. I don't even know how to explain it; the words don't exist. We ate ours for breakfast the following morning.

 I got chocolate chip cookie dough. Duh.

 Heaven.

To be continued...

CollegeFashionista Get-Together

A few weeks ago, I had a CollegeFashionista get-together at my apartment so all of us Style Gurus could catch up, eat snacks, and watch Bill Cunningham New York. It was super fun and had to be stylish. Check out the spread:

Things I Like This Week

The week just started, but I'm all ready needing some motivation. Two things are helping in that area so far:

Meet Professor Peabody. I love him because he has heart glasses like me.

These are pretty, pretty flowers that Steve sent to me last Friday. What a guy.

Let's Bowl, Let's Bowl, Let's Rock'n'Roll

I went bowling this past weekend for the first time in a long time, and I loved it.

I was really excited about my bowling shoes, skinny jeans, pink leopard socks combo.


P.S.- $10 to anyone who gets the reference in the title to this post. Unless you're Kelli Luterbach.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day. It's a holiday that celebrates hearts, sparkles, and chocolate, which just happen to be my favorite things in the world. I celebrate Valentine's Day all year long with my heart-shaped bowls and plates, heart-shaped pillows, and many, many heart-shaped accessories, but here are a few things that are making today a little more special: