"Decorated house, decorated tree, I wish I were a present"

The title of this post is dedicated to my brother, who made up this short song when he was just a wee mensch as we went driving around looking at the city lights one Christmas as kids, he had a habit of being excessively thrilled about life in general...Happy Birthday, Guido! :) We love you!

Newsflash: we're finally settled in! Unpacking was horrendously time-consuming and poor Kyle loathed it...he thinks that I unnecessarily like to have things unpacked and organized quickly when I move to a new place. Am I so weird? (I'm pretty used to moving and organizing by now with 6 moves under my belt in the past 2 years. I think I've got it down to a science and I'm contemplating writing a book about it. Okay, maybe not, but I think I deserve to spend some quality time with the things that I've missed while we've been gone adventuring...

Like, for example, my favorite orange vintage reading chair that makes me gleeful when I think of reading the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine in it or some tragic non-fiction for the book club...either way, I'm happy to have it back in the family.

Things like my vases and a cake plate, which I have a crush on. Our juicer and Vitamix...who would've thought a teapot could bring back such joy and civilization into one's heart?

Our obese table that seats 12 with a leaf has been highly missed and of course our cal king bed that actually has springs and is long enough for our legs so we aren't forced to sleep in the fetal position.

I must say Kyle's favorite thing about the move was probably getting new clothes for school. The Mall of America certainly helped. And in between unpacking bursts, we did manage to get a few things (his and hers vests....*sigh* how quaint) for the colder weather that is slowly sneaking up on us already! And we took a few pictures of his beloved MBA Grainger Hall (his second home).

He will be so upset when he finds out that I put this "touristy" pic of him up here...he might as well be making a peace sign, giving a thumbs-up or some other nonsensical gesture saying: "I'm new!" Nevertheless, it needed documentation.

Until next time, "If they don't find you handsome, they'll at least find you handy." *

*Tribute to the Lewis children and their 60's upbringing of watching the Lawerence Welk show in succession with the Red & Green Show.

Adventure to Minneapolis

We'd like to declare our vote of confidence in Madison for the next two years: It is surprisingly really easy to fall in love with. The director of Kyle's MBA program said that it is really hard to get the graduates to want to leave! Other than a plenty of silos, dairy farms (you can have fresh milk and cheese in glass bottles delivered straight to your doorstep like in olden days!), a free public zoo, surprisingly great shopping, friendly people, 4 seasons, "Red Smog Alert"-free air, zero traffic, a protected state forest or park every 5 minutes, and an awesome farmers market with "Jazz Friday"...what more could we ask for?

The week after we moved in, we were invited up to some friends in Minneapolis, the Kusch family. It was really fun! They are an awesome family, but somehow we didn't get any pictures of Aaron's wife, Erin, and their adorable little girls Zoe, and Quinn! :( Next time...since they only live a 4 hr drive away.

They took us down the street to the Mall of America! It was so HUGE! And Nickelodeon has a big theme park inside! Surprisingly, they were really fun and fast! Lost my stomach a couple of times, and a couple of kids accidentally expelled not a lot, but enough, of their saliva on him to make him unnerved. All-in-all, a great experience! We also had to try the food court while we were there, not a typical endeavor, but discovered that Chipotle now has organic, hormone-free, veg.-feed chicken in their burritos...Go Chipotle!

Woohoo Mall of America...it has pretty much any store you'd ever want to go to. Way to go Minnesota (this can only be whispered and no exclamation sign given because they happen to be Wisconsin's rival in sports. "Big doin's" supposedly).

We drove through the famous Wisconsin Dells. There were probably 4 inside water parks that we passed off the freeway alone. Its a big place for camping and vacationing. Something to look forward to.

Still fairly chipper for our nice 4 hr drive home with lots of detours due to random freeway construction* going on all over the state for the summer. Kyle drove both ways...what a champ!

*A little side note: they don't re-pave roads here. When the snows ruin the roads over the winter, they simply wait till summer and throw a bunch of tar and gravel in the cracks...and whahla! A very nice bumpy ride. Looking forward to those winters that even locals shudder about! :)

Get your hand off my tail, you'll make it dirty...

The day we packed was a quite pleasant 102 degrees + humidity...take that Texas! It took Kyle, I, and Andre about 3 hours to pack the truck. I would describe the experience as swimming back and forth from the truck rather than walking. If you're reading this...Thanks Andre! We never could've done it without you! :) Sunday morning, we began the joyride: 14+ hour drive from Alpharetta, GA to our new residence in Madison, WI. Kyle drove the big truck and I drove the car...it was, however, even...in terms of comfort. Both of us had seats unworthy of praise and each lacked the desired "cruise-control." There's nothing like that feeling of your foot going to sleep in a awkwardly propped position.
We made lunch on the way, as depicted in my joyous face. I obviously wasn't too pleased that "Traveling Almira" was being documented. Isn't cooler camping fun?

Our arrival was greeted by a delightful downstairs neighbor. She left a sweet gesture on our door that night, encouraging us to be quiet...though we hadn't even moved anything in yet. Little did we know, we would be receiving a few more of those sweet little notes with endearing reminders. We brought her brownies and haven't heard a thing since...(fingers crossed).
This is our make-shift shower curtain...trash bags are kindred spirits. Isn't Kyle so cute with our Costa Rica towel (the only one unpacked)? It was quite a trick to get it to stay so the water didn't splash everywhere...Who thinks to bring a shower curtain?! Ooops. And since we hadn't moved anything in...we slept on, yet again, trash bags. I get a little sicked out of any new place we live in before I deep-clean and vacuum.

Stay tuned for: "Adventure to Minneapolis", and "Decorated House, Decorated Tree; I Wish I Were a Present"