Almost Time!

Yes, that time of year is only 4 days away!!!! Of course I'm talking about HAWKEYE FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!!!! My friend Chris, Kelsey, and Kacey are all arriving Friday night and we are going to do some "serious" pre-tailgating at BWW (apparently Kelsey has been craving it)....but Fry Fest is also that night and I haven't ever been to it yet so I think it would be fun to visit it also!

Naturally we are getting up before dawn to get our fav tailgating spot....unfortunately Nate has to work so he won't be partaking in our festivities:(  But I believe my dad and brother Nick are coming to the game with me this weekend so it should be a good time!  I think I almost need to make a check list to make sure I remember everything!  It always seems like the first few games you forget this or that, but once conference play starts everything is ready to go every weekend.....we even know what everyone else is going to bring food-wise so we don't have overlap;) I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

As for Tennessee Tech, I haven't done much research on them, but I think our Hawkeye team has some potential this year!! I heard some announcers on the radio this morning having the Hawks at 7-4 and 8-3 and losing almost all of their non-conference games....if you ask me that is horse shit, but that's just my opinion;)

Sunday the whole fam (including Nate) is heading to Nick and Jills house for some much needed rest and relaxation. A little beer, grilling, and games is in order....should be a great time! 

Nate has to work on Monday, the club always had an "end of summer BBQ/pool party", so maybe I'll just relax.....or if I get ambitious I can organize the garage and FINALLY put up the shelves I bought for them back in May....

I'm sure I"ll have some good tailgating and BBQ pics come Sunday and Monday, stay tuned. GO HAWKS!!!

Tree Problem

Our tree in the front yard is looking a little less than healthy lately.  At the beginning of the summer it started turning a kind of reddish-brown color (as did a lot of trees on our street).  I wasn't too worried about that because I thought maybe it was just a different kind of tree than I thought and it naturally had reddish leaves.  But now a lot of the leaves have turned black around the edges!  I'm not sure if it needs more water, but we water it almost every day.....could it be because we have rock around the bottom and it's not getting enough oxygen to the roots or something???? If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them!  We also have those tree spikes in the ground by it so it gets nutrients.....I just don't know. I hope it pulls through!

And the winner is.....

The purple dress!!! I'm not sure on shoes yet....I have some purple and black Jessica Simpson ones but they slip really bad at the heel so I don't walk very graciously in them....plus after a couple drinks that could be disastrous! haha.  But I bet we have something at work I could put at the heel . Hmmmm, there's an idea....

Unfortunaley the greyish dress with the one shoulder flowered strap was made out of a not-so-forgiving material, if you know what I mean.....It's super cute and if/when I lose weight I would love it, but for now I should probably just return it....

I also received my bridesmaid dress in the eggplant color for my friend Maddy's wedding in October yesterday!!!! I was super nervous about this fit because all I did was send in measurements and we ordered online (cheaper!).  Anyway, I tried it on ASAP and it fits really well!  It is just a little long, but it depends what shoes she has us wear too.  It is also a little gappy in the chest area...a little uncommon for me, haha! It seems as though I like purple, huh....

Door County, WI 2011

So, here it is, as promised!  Nate and I got back from Ellison Bay in Door County, WI yesterday.  It was such a great relaxing vacation neither of us wanted it to end! We stayed with Nate's parents, Nancy and Steve, in their cabin on the Green Bay side of the Door County penninsula.  Orginally we went up because it is the annual salmon fishing tournament....but it turned out that fishing was pretty terrible this year.  We went out almost every day (days that weren't too windy we went out twice!) and only caught 3 fish.  Apparently they usually get 3 or so every time they go out.  Nate and I also did some bass fishing in the bay and caught some good ones there too (but let them go....).  The sunsets were all beautiful and we had a great time hanging out with some awesome people!!! I seriously can't wait to go back! 

We left North Liberty Friday after work and drove to Madison and stayed at an iffy (at best) but cheap motel.  Then we drove the rest of the way in the morning, got all our lisences and tags and tickets and got up there asap!  Nancy and Steve had gotten there Friday night and slept in the boat since the people renting the cabin were still there one more night.  We got everything unloaded and I met everyone who was already up there. 

Nate and I (really just Nate...) had a list of restaurants we wanted to definitely visit so we got to work on that as well!  Hmm, the short list of places we ate is Al Johnsons, The Shoreline, JJ's, Summer Kitchen, and The English Inn.  We also visted Cana Island Lighthouse and saw Harry Potter and Horrible Bosses at the Drive-In one night;) Anyway, I"ll get on with the pictures!

Nate is getting reaquainted with his Wisconsin friends, haha;) These little guys are kids of people Nate and his family always vacationed with in Ellison Bay.

Sunset the first night. It was always a "to do" to see the sunset!

Our private harbor and pier.

The Seagull, Nate's parents' cabin

The grounds. Shuffleboad courts, fire pit, and other cabins in the resort.

The chairs we watched the sunset from. Picturesque, huh?!?

A look at the resort from the pier.

Steve's, Nate's dad, boat and boat slip.

Nate and I took the boat out by ourselves when Steve had to go back and help at work for a couple days. Captain Nate was getting a little hot....

Sunset the night Nate and I took the boat out.

Looking up at the main entrance to the restaurant Al Johnsons. It is a swedish restaurant and they had wonderful breakfast food! They also have grass on the roof with goats grazing, haha!

At the Drive-In watching Harry Potter and Horrible Bosses. Great Night.

The first salmon! It was only about a 12 pounder, I think....

I guess Nate decided he needed to show everyone how the slip and slide is done!

Our nightly "chill" by the fire.

Not a very flattering picture of me, and the fish is apparently not a good one to eat, but I forgot my camera the first time we went out when I caught a couple good small mouth bass. Oh well!

Friday night dinner at The English Inn. We went with Steve and Nancy (Nate's parents) and it was soooo good!  They have 5 different kinds of fish to choose from for their all-you-can-eat fish fry. Needless to say,we were stuffed.

Sunset on Friday night, I believe.

lounging in the chairs at the end of the pier watching the sun set.

Finally, a good salmon! This one was 19.98 pounds, so basically a 20 pounder! However, the guy weighing in his fish right before us weighed in at 32 pounds....damn. But Nate thinks that guy will win the tournament with that fish....oh well, I'll settle for 20 pounds of salmon!

Visiting the Summer Kitchen for some great soups and sandwiches

Inside at the Summer Kitchen

A very windy storm suddenly came up as we were watching the sunset Saturday night. Almost everyone at the resort had left earlier that day except us (rentals are from Saturday to Saturday) so we were running around trying to secure everything!

There was a little bit of a "sache" (I think that's how it's spelled).  Its when the barometric pressure drops suddenly and it sucks the water out and the water level drops really low in the harbor. Then it basically rises quckly and floods.  The one this day wasn't too bad, but Nate and his parents told me a story of one awhile ago when it put all the boats up on the pier, yikes!

Here is the Cana Island Lighthouse Nate and I visited Sunday after his parens left for home.  It had some good historical info that we toured but we didn't go all the way to the top because you had to have on close toed shoes....oh well.

Then we stopped by Ellison Bay State Park and walked to the overlook onto the bay.

The sunset on our last night. It was absolutely beautiful!

The stairs down to the beach that Nate and his dad built this week. There always had to be a project;)

Decisions....

My cousin Michael is getting married next Saturday (also happens to be my birthday) and I decided to buy a new dress for the occasion!  However, after looking around the Coralville Mall and not having enough time to drive over to Jordan Creek, I have resorted to online dress shopping, yikes.  I ALWAYS have to try on a dress so this makes me very nervous....but I think I have found 2 I like at Von Maur.  I bought bought both of them and will try them on and decide which one to keep once they get to my house.... Here they are:

Which do you like better????? I'll definitely know if either of them works once I try them on. I'm REALLY trying to get away from black. I looked in my closet the other day and all I had were black dresses....boring!

And of course I will be posting on our wonderful vacation to Door County, WI later tonight! I have to upload all the pics first, hopefully my camera has enough battery left for that!!! Nate and I had a great time and we REALLY wish it wasn't over.