OH MY HECK

 Can you believe this find?

Think refurbished...so cute!!!! 

(since I started tearing it all apart before I could get an awesome photo)

If I could squeal like a girl, this is the moment I would. 

SQQQQUuUUUEEE!!!!

(Don't mind the disco clothing, it is Halloween)

I was trying to negotiate with the DI to bring down the price of $75, but it had only been there an hour.

Did you know they will cut it half price if it's been on the floor longer than a week?

Done and Done. 

Because we Did.

Yes. We did.  

Southwest.com

Southwest.com is having a flight special! Hurry!

Jack and Sally

For some reason I have a thing for Jack. 

Not Jack Sparrow (although he is a handsome rouge)

But Jack from Nightmare before Christmas.

If only I had known Derek didn't share my love for carving pumpkins. So I carved dos.

Who doesn't <3 sticking their hands in gooey, stinky, slimy pumpkins guts?

Luckily, my sisters do.

Hannah with her usually "oh so meticulous" self was feeling less inspirational, while sister Hali, felt very down?  

Drying Time

When in doubt of something going bad?

Dehydrate it.

Plus it looks soy pretty.

And it's tasty, well except for the oranges.

They are just decoration.

Halloween Partaying

Halloween, oh Halloween. 

Went to friend Ryan and Heather's Halloween party. 

Ryan answers door.

Sees me on crutches. 

Asks if I'm trying to dress up like I was in High School, when I am clearly in a Disco outfit.

 (I had two knee surgeries in HS, so people just remember me on crutches. SIGH)

Because Ryan looked just like I remember him.

He was dressed up for the 90's.

Bowl haircut and sporting a little tail.

Friend Nick looks at me and says "Really? Again?"

Yes Nick. Again. It's like 7 years never happened.

Saturday it was raining hard.

I told Auntie Mitsie we'd come and pick all the fruit off the trees.

That was before I couldn't walk/drive/dress myself/be an independent woman.

Went to Gram's, still gun ho about getting that fruit down.

It's a good thing the old Radio Flyer still works. 

Done and DONE! 

When feeling down, just think of Wisconsin, husband, and The KONA

I <3 all of this!

Somewhere in Wisconsin there is a toilet stall. 

 Said Toilet Stall has funny statistics all over the laminate walls instead of graffiti, plus I just wanted to sit on the toilet FOREVER so I could read them. 

 Good Bye Book Toilet Reading!

We went through some little town in Wisconsin which was very charming. 

I have a slight obsession with Bird Cages. The old ones, I don't want a bird, I just want the cage, so I can put The Kona in it.

Look at this stuff!

For some reason Metal + Flowers = Happy Harmony

I also have another obsession with Old Cars. 

I'd like a Mafia CAR, a Black One. 

Meet Forevertron

no, not the bird, it was a WHOLE metal sculpture theme junkyard. 

It was awesome.  See the Trumpets?

This was a giant creation of metal craziness.  

It was at least 20' High.

This reminds me of the Labyrinth 

I also <3 the Harley Davidson Kids section. 

I know I look good on one of these.

Derek does too. I told him we could buy some. 

Meaning, I get one, he gets one.... maybe.

And this is what it will look like. 

Sparkles and all. 

Hooray for kids section again!  

Can you see my rubbing? (is that what they are called?)

Yes, I <3 this funny boy as well.

Isn't this FABULOUS!  

Thought about purchasing until I saw 300 dollars later.

Maybe my Grandpa has one of these somewhere.

Nice, peaceful clouds, while feeling slightly nauseous the whole time. 

Special Spot Reserved for The Kona.

She is Cute.

Yogurt of the Gods

Greek Gods that is. 

Which by the Way is DIVINE.  

It's kind of like Red Mango Yogurt, just not frozen, 

MMMMMMmmmm.

Expensive at Smith's, Cheap at Winco.

Thanks Dad for bringing this light into my life.

I know now what Fern Gully felt

They are cutting down the tree in front of my office. 

The first big limb to come down nearly broke my <3. 

Stop the madness.

You will be remembered Big Willow tree.

What does one do whilst driving through Wisconsin?

Crochet little Buddies!!

And take photos of foot.

Wisconsin Dells

Yes, this is the white house completely upside down.  

Again, a weird feature of Wisconsin, but super fun. 

It's kind of a scare house, you walk through the whole building.  All the furniture is upside down and they have all sorts of quirky things popping out at you. Plus the host was foreign with super frizzy (or as I affectionately "Amazon Woman Hair" which i also covet terribly) and kind of crazy. 

Sadly, we were with some smaller children so I think she toned it down quite a bit.

Now this, this was one of my ABSOLUTE favorite things. 

Wisconsin Dells has like 1700 population, but has more hotels than Vegas (slight exaggeration).

But this place was so cool.  Your objective: Find the four wizards and free them, while solving riddles, going through hidden doors, slides, castles, mazes and bridges to find them.  Yes, it is that cool. It's like a McDonalds playplace but made for adults/kids and it is AWESOME.  There was a ball pit that you have to go through and climb up a slide to a hidden area, which I found the slide really hard to get up and almost lost my shoe, which made me slightly frantic.

so if you ever find yourself in Wisconsin Dells, go there!

For being a podunk town, Ishpeming had a lot to offer.

Carnegie Library. 

It was amazing inside.

All Derek had to say was "it's like the Music Man library" and i was sold.

It had two levels, and this picture doesn't do it justice. The floor was super thick glass and the light from the bottom would come through.

Happy Drunk people. Nice statue.

Da Yooper Tourist Trap.

Derek says this really sums up the people of Ishpeming.

Yes, this is almost a nine foot snow blower.  Record year for snow, 26' feet, while Derek was living here.

You'll have to click on the photo. But i thought this rock was brilliant.

Derek felt he need to follow the instructions.

Lots of weird stuff.  Outside the store is this little walk area with lots of taxidermy creatures.

Awesome snow plow.

Yeah, I bet you want this gun Hunter.  Big Ernie - the largest firing rifle in the world!

Yes, super weird and creepy.  I would not like to walk through this place at night, or even dusk.

For some reason I vaguely recall a show as a kid with a giant chair and some weird puppet with red hair...anyone remember the name?

Derek was afraid to sit on this with me.

The sign indicates all the snow. I feel the need to apologize for ever complaining about our snow fall.

Clarification

Though it may seem that we moved to Wisconsin, in reality, we were there 6 days and saw everything there.
EVERYTHING.

Ishpeming and cows.

There were suppose to be three cows, I could only find the two.

Maybe the window covering were counted as a third?

Cows, cows cows! I guess being the cheesehead state would make sense.

First ski jump in USA supposedly. 

Elevation 700 (as opposed to Utah's thousands)

This is for you Gena.

Gena asked if there was anything not weird in Wisconsin and Michigan.  This is to answer her question. Because the weird is awesome, but this was breathtaking.

We took a side road on the way up to the ski jump and found this!

The colors were Amazing.  I love how it reflects off the water.

Top of the ski jump.  Now, I'm not afriad of heights, really, I'm not, but I was wearing some boots with a slight hill, and going up these giant wooden steps is not to be taken lightly.  I've fallen down many a stairs wearing heels. Not my favorite past time.

This is included in the breathtaking comment. heheh.

You couldn't ask for a more beautiful day.

Gingerly walking town the creaky steps with the barely on hand railing, shaking the whole time.