Face Plants and Mosquito Bites

Hey, guess what…I finally found a few extra minutes to write a post…crazy right?  I am between bachelor parties and on the verge of this semester’s final exams (my brain has no idea what is happening right now).  To say life has been busy would be an understatement.  With that being said, we’ve been up to a few things since I last rapped at y’all, so I will try and squeeze most of it in. 

Where’d we leave off?  Oh yeah, Gina and I were anxiously awaiting and preparing for our house party.  Well, we ended up with a great turnout.  There was a good mix of people including several of my school pals, “dental school” friends from the Milwaukee area, and Nick and Danita were able to make it for a while with our two nephews Alex and Bennett.  Alex became my little sidekick for a good portion of the day, and besides using his face to break a fall from our swing, and a few Frisbees to the forehead, I’d say Alex had a great time!  Bennett was not able to tell me, but I am going to assume he had fun as well. 

Friends and Fellow Dentists
Back: Drs. Jordan and Katie
Front: Drs. Allison and Gina

 If you asked Gina what my favorite part of the day was, I am very confident she would tell you that it was me being able to grill about 10 lbs of meat on my new grill (she would probably be correct).  We had plenty of grillables, plenty of drinkables, and most people brought a dish to pass as well, so dinner was awesome. 

Embracing Zac

A buddy of mine from school brought two tiki torches and we placed them in the yard about 30 feet apart.  We then turned the empty oilcans upside down so the top of the torch had a flat surface to set an empty beer bottle on.  Some of you know where this is going!  Lastly, we got a Frisbee and divided ourselves into 2 teams of 2, with a team located at each torch.  The game begins with each player having a beer in one hand.  The object of the game is to toss the Frisbee at the opposing tiki torch trying to knock the bottle off.  The opposing team must catch the Frisbee (after it has passed or hit the torch/bottle) as well as the bottle if it was knocked from its perch.  One point is scored for every dropped disk and two points for the bottle hitting the ground.  If the bottle is hit but caught before hitting the ground, the bottle points are nullified (you can still get a point if the disk is dropped).  I am sure this sounds simple, but remember you must have your beer in hand at all times, which makes catching a bottle/Frisbee rather difficult.  We played to a score of 21, but naturally, it can be turned into a drinking game as well, however we had enough excuses to drink and did not need to add fuel to that fire.  Foul language and drunken tomfoolery are highly encouraged.  We also played Beer Pong along with the ladies’ favorite game, “sit in a chair and enjoy a beverage”.  The most popular game of the evening was by far “donate blood to mosquitoes” (unfortunately, there are no winners in this game, except for a few mosquitoes who were probably having difficulties flying straight, if you know what I’m saying).  All in all, I’d say we were best party south of the state line. 

Derek's friends from school
L to R: Nick, Jon(our roommate), Jenn, Ross, Van
Notice the tiki torch with the beer bottle on top!

Zac, Nick, Jon and Michael setting up a little Beer Pong

 The weekend after our party, I had to attend a Neurology seminar outside Chicago  (Nerd alert: I find these somewhat exciting), but Gina had the pleasure of attending our friend Allison’s bachelorette party in Milwaukee.  Needless to say, there are zero pictures to show you.  I was given few details, but it is safe to say that the ladies all had a great time.  On Sunday, Gina ended up at Miller Park for a Brewers game.  Nick had reserved a suite and set up a surprise party to celebrate Danita and her recent completion of residency along with Nick's 30th birthday.  I really wish I could have gone, but I would like to wish them both another congratulations.   

Gina's 2nd affair...#1 is Aaron Rodgers.  I can't complain

A shot of Yovani Gallardo warming up before the game

Brewers game attendees

 On to weekend #3.  Gina and I drove up to Port Washington for Port Fish Day.  I see a common theme developing: we never ever ever ever take a weekend to relax at home.  We have attended Fish Day a couple times in the past and I probably mentioned it in an earlier post so I won’t go into too much detail.  In the past, our friends Mike and Katie who live in Port had hosted a house party during Fish Day.  It is at these parties as well as a couple other events where Gina and I became friends with a few other people from Port.  This year, another couple (Ali and Joel) hosted the party and were nice enough to invite us.  We noshed on good spread of food and indulged in a few beers and cocktails.  Later in the afternoon, we walked a few blocks to downtown Port where the actual festival is.  Fish day reminds me a lot of the Merrill fair but without the carnival rides.  There are several beer tents serving up ice cold beverages as well as an absurd amount of fried fish (no complaints here).  There are also live bands and fireworks to top the night off.  Needless to say, we had a pretty good time.

Sunday morning on our way home from Port Washington, I worked my charm and convinced Gina that we needed to stop on our way home to get a new salt shaker and pepper grinder.  The seal on our current shaker is a prankster and loves to break loose when Gina uses it.  As you can imagine, this always makes Gina really happy.  Anyway, there was a very specific set I wanted, and the only place to get it was a nice 20+ miles out of our way (remember the charm).  Now what I should have done was call ahead and make sure the store had the set in stock, but what I did was use my man brain and drive there only to find that it was probably the only thing the store had out of stock (zero points awarded to Derek).  However, the store was promoting an espresso maker and gave us each a free sample (2 points awarded to Derek).  I would like to tell you that the espresso was worth the drive, but the truth is, no matter how much I pretended to like it, the espresso reminded me Tug Lake during the month of August (minus 5 points for Derek).  I would like to think I learned a lesson from this experience (there’s that charm again). 

*Author’s Note: The Grenfells are still without a new salt shaker and the foreseeable future is without signs of another attempt from Mr. Grenfell to try and acquire one.     

Moving right along…as I stated at the opening of the post, I am between bachelor parties.  Allow me to explain.  This past weekend was Michael’s graduation party in Milwaukee.  Michael is the fiancé of Allison whose party Gina attended a couple weekends back.  As I recall, Michael’s party consisted of a wholesome dinner, male bonding, and good clean banter before a strict 10:00 bedtime.  Well, something like that at least.  We did squeeze in 9 holes of golf in the early afternoon.  This was my first time out this summer on a course I have never played.   Somehow I am actually fairly pleased with my performance.  Anywho, us gentlemen gathered at Michael’s house before heading to an awesome dinner at The Rumpus Room (I promise this is not a strip club).  It is a gastro-pub with an excellent beer selection and one heck of a menu to boot.  After dinner we moved on to our bar hopping and good old fashioned debauchery. 

While I was attending Michael's bachelor festivities, Gina took advantage of an opportunity to head over to Madison and visit with her younger sister Brandi.  They got to spend some quality time together while doing things like having a couple beers at the Memorial Union terrace on Lake Mendota, and heading to the farmers market on Saturday morning.  For any of you who may not have been to the farmers market in Madison, I highly recommend you make that journey because in my opinion it is second to none.

Memorial Union Terrace at night

    

That leads me to the present day.  I have another bachelor party tomorrow evening in Oshkosh for my friend and former college roommate Cody.  Then Saturday and Sunday should be more studying since Monday begins my week and a half stretch of final exams.  It looks something like this:  Monday: 1 exam, Tuesday: 1 exam, Thursday: 3 exams, Monday: 1 exam, Tuesday: 2 exams, Wednesday: 2 exams and 1 Three Year Anniversary!  I also left out the Wedding festivities that take place the weekend in between.  Michael and Allison are getting married, which should give me a very welcomed study break.  Gina’s schedule looks something like this: 0 exams, a wedding (Gina along with our friend Jordan are Allison’s personal attendants), and 1 Three Year Anniversary!  I think it is safe to say Gina has a slightly better (and well deserved) schedule over the next 2 weeks.

Just a note, the day after my final exams, I have an appointment with Dr. Grenfell, DDS.  I’m really looking forward to meeting him!  You are supposed to laugh now.  Actually, I think it is going to be really awesome to see Gina in her element.  I am super proud of her and can’t wait to see her first hand in action.   

That’s enough for now, or I won’t have much to write about the next time.  Until then, thanks for tuning in and I’ll catch you all again soon. 

Cheers,

Derek

P.S. Here are a few pics I took from around our house...enjoy.

View from our back Patio

Some flowers hanging off the back deck

Our Basil and Oregano "garden"

Feelin Hot Hot Hot

Hey All,

I heard that Satan called, and he wants his weather back!  Holy balls it has been hot out there and it shows no signs of letting up.  Back at the beginning of June, we moved into our new house we are renting.  I was extremely excited because we have (had) our own lawn.  The owner of our home was nice enough to leave us a lawn mower and I was looking forward to getting out and mowing our beautiful green grass throughout the summer.  Well, as you know, unless you have been living on the moon for the past month, it has been 100 degrees every day with no rain.  Our beautiful green lawn is now the same consistency of our front door welcome mat.  I mowed the lawn two times and you could argue that the second time was not necessary.  A little rain would be greatly appreciated. 

  As is usually (always) the case, we have been pretty busy lately.  Last weekend we went up to Port Washington for a surprise graduation party for one of Gina’s good friends and former classmate Katie.  She had been told that she was going to an engagement party for one of her other friends so she was nice enough to make an appetizer and bring a gift…she was definitely surprised.

This coming weekend we are hosting a party at our home.  We needed to get a few things done like painting a bedroom that had green carpet and pink walls.  We also made a few pit stops on the way home from Port Washington and picked up a couple new toys.  I was able to finally get a full sized Weber grill!!!  We also picked up 6 new patio chairs so our guests have a place to sit during the party.  Buying the chairs turned out to be less than fun.  Well, I should clarify, the actual purchasing of the chairs was fairly simple…swipe the ol’ visa…done.  However, what I did not take into account was the fact that the chairs were too big to get into the back seat or trunk of Gina’s car.  Lucky for me we only live about a half mile from Home Depot and I had the pleasure of loading the chairs up over my head and carrying them home.  May I remind you that it has been 100 degrees for the past who knows…throw six chairs on your head and you have yourself a 350 degree oven.  Not to mention, I’m sure all the cars driving by thought I looked awesome.

Needless to say, when I got home, the grill was assembled, food was cooked and the glasses of sangria were filled (not in that order).  Our inaugural meal was Moroccan Zucchini Boats on the grill and they were awesome. 

You can find the recipe here: http://fastpaleo.com/moroccan-zucchini-boats/

You will notice in my photos that we bought a chimney to light the coals in.  If you don't have one of these, you better get up and get one.  all you do is stuff some paper in the bottom, put the coals in the top, light the paper and let it go.  No lighter fluid needed!

Papa's new toy - notice new chairs and firepit

Moroccan Zucchini Boats finishing on the grill

No Grilling session is complete without PBR

Yesterday we celebrated the 4^th of July.  For the most part we used the day to relax.  I was mixing Margaritas from scratch in the afternoon and we had two or five.  Margaritas, music, tossing washers and ultimately chillaxin’ make for a great 4^th.  For dinner I got to fire up my new toy again and grilled a tenderized round steak we still had in the freezer from our last CSA share.  I normally take pride in my grilling skills, but I have to admit, I let the round steak sit a bit too long.  I think my internal clock was running a bit slow after a few of those margaritas.  I also noticed we were the only people in the neighborhood enjoying the gorgeous 100 degree day outside.  Once the sun started to set we hopped in the car and headed a few miles south to Libertyville to watch their fireworks.  For the record, I had not consumed a margarita for a couple hours before we went to the fireworks.  Overall, it was a good show and we left with minimal mosquito bites, and for me, I think I had the start of only a mild hangover.  It had been a couple years since we were last able to watch fireworks on the 4^th so I was really happy we were able to take part this time.

Derek's Muy Bueno Margaritas

As a side note, I recently read the book Wheat Belly by Dr William Davis a cardiologist from the Milwaukee area.  It has rocketed up towards the top of my recommended reading list.   It is a quick read and full of great information.  I know I have a few friends and family members who are dealing with issues like idiopathic (unknown origin) GI issues, diabetes, or simply general inflammation/pain/arthritis issues as well as weight struggles.  If you fall into one of these categories, or even if you don’t, I highly suggest you get to the library and check it out.  You will be happy you did. 

 

That is about it for now.  As I stated earlier, we have a party coming up this weekend so I am sure I will have plenty of stories to share next week.  That is, if the sun doesn’t cook us all first.  I have to remind myself that during the Wisconsin winters I pray every day for weather like this…I guess you have to be careful what you wish for. 

Cheers!

Favorite song this week:  Feel So Close by Calvin Harris

Beer of the Week: Milwaukee Brewing Co’s “Admiral” Stache

http://mkebrewing.com/beer/baltic-porter/

This is a Baltic Porter and the best way I can describe this beer is a back massage in a bottle!  Go get some…what are you waiting for.

We're Bringing Sexy Back

We’re BACK!!!  Well alright, due to popular demand I am going to get this blog back on track and try and post regularly again.  It turns out that people were actually reading this thing.  I think that instead of doing the occasional full post, I will be trying to post more frequent short posts.

Since it has been nearly 14 months since the last post, you can imagine that much has changed.  Rather than go into detail on each topic, I will try and hit a few highlights.  I am sure I will forget a bunch, but here it goes:

-Gina GRADUATED from dental school and has been working her 1^st job for over 2 weeks now.  I cannot begin to describe how proud of her I am.

-Nick and Danita gave us a second nephew named Bennett…we just celebrated his 1^st birthday with him.

-I have completed 3.5 of 10 trimesters of Chiropractic school.  It is going great and I am absolutely in love with the career I have chosen for myself

-I began a Functional Neurology Diplomate (specialty) in addition to school that I should hopefully finish up right around the same time I graduate. 

-Gina and I moved into a house in Gurnee, IL and so far we love it (don’t panic, we have no intention to remain residents of the state of Illinois)

-I have fallen in love with CrossFit workouts.  They are intense, and so far it is the closest thing I have found to the sport of wrestling since my “retirement”

-I have become absolutely obsessed with the topic of nutrition.  My biggest interests are in the Primal/Paleo diet and lifestyle or putting it even easier, eating REAL food.  I am sure you will hear plenty on this topic in the future

I will end the list here for now. 

I promise to get another post up in the next couple days.  Here are a few pictures from the last year.  Enjoy 

Dr. Gina and I at her graduation.  

Ring Dips during CrossFit Workout

After CrossFit Workout

My nephew, Dino-Bennett on his 1st Birthday

My Nephew, Polar Bear Alex at Vilas Zoo

Hanging out with my niece Paisley

A Breath of Fresh Air

A breath of fresh air…that’s what you could consider my last couple weeks. I finally concluded my time as a laboratory technologist and moved on to some much needed vacationing. I’ve had plenty of time to myself to catch up on sleep, reading, and organizing while I also gear up for my next big hurdle. As I type this post, I am only two days away from starting school and now the excitement, as well as the butterflies, are beginning to set in. All sorts of questions are arising. How long is my commute going to take me every day? That is easily the biggest question I have right now. My entire life will revolve around my commute time. How much time I have to study at night, how late my nights will be, how early my mornings will be, how often I am able to spend time with my wife, etc… These aren’t even the questions I have about school itself. As you can see, the downtime without worrying about a job on top of it has helped me tremendously these past two weeks. I would like to say though as crazy as it sounds, the benefits of me starting school a year earlier instead of waiting another year for Gina to finish up her schooling, far outweigh the costs.

Now all of my downtime has not been spent at home. This past week I met up with Erich, a friend of mine from the lab, and we took off for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior near Munising, Michigan. We had been talking about this trip for several months prior to this date and since Gina was spending the week in Appleton for school, it was perfect timing. The plan was leave from Milwaukee early Thursday morning, head up 6 hours or so, check in to a camp site before 4:30pm (originally we wanted to backpack, but with the colder weather we were forced to bring too much gear), quickly set up camp, and head out for a short hike before nightfall, hike all day Friday, hike part of Saturday, pack up and head home. That sounds like a great plan if you ask me. Well, naturally the actual events deviated from the plan.

I woke up nice and early (before the alarm went off) Thursday morning so that I could meet up with Erich and get on our way. I rushed through a shower and breakfast and then sat down for a few minutes to enjoy a nice warm cup of joe. As I was sitting there I started to realize I did not pack as well as I should have the night before, and so I had a little bit of work to do before I could leave. Not a big deal, but it pushed me back about 30 minutes. With our first plans, Erich was going to provide the tent which was a small 2 person tent for backpacking, but as I stated earlier that idea went out the window with the temperatures hovering right around freezing. Therefore, I was going to bring one of my tents because it was larger and we would have more room to throw down bedding and keep dry if it were to rain at all. Had I got more of my packing done earlier, I would have discovered that I did not have my tents stored at our new apartment. When we moved, I stored some stuff at Gina’s sister and brother – in –law’s house. Two of those things were my tents. No big deal, when I met up with Erich (a half hour late) I let him know before we hit the interstate that we would need to go a little out of our way and pick up the tents. Plus, while we were chatting, I saw a hatchet in Erich’s garage, which would later on turn out to be a lifesaver. I figured picking up the tents would only set us back about another 10 minutes (it turned into about 25 minutes as my 2 ½ year old nephew had to put on a little song and dance show that we couldn’t pass up). While looking for my tents, we also notice my Pudgy Pie irons, which would also turn out to be lifesavers. Alright, we’re finally on our way. False, we needed to stop and fill up the gas tank (10 more minutes behind). Alright, now we’re finally on our way for real this time…a camping we will go!

A few hours into our trip and we were now up by Marinette right on the boarder of Wisconsin and Michigan’s upper peninsula. As we were driving through the city I was admiring the downtown and how it looked and felt a lot like my hometown of Merrill. That’s when we noticed it, a small shop called Blue Bike Burrito: Marinette Wisconsin’s finest organic Mexican restaurant and music venue. Of course we had to stop in since as I failed to mention, Erich has an insatiable appetite for burritos. We were very surprised to see what this small shop had to offer. The two guys working the counter (who we had assumed to be the owners) looked like road cycling, microbrew drinking, Frisbee tossing transplants straight out of Madison. How this place ended up in Marinett, I have no idea, but we were right at home. They had a small selection of specialty beers I would never expect to see in an area where the majority of people probably drink Pabst Blue Ribbon or Hamm’s. Not to mention, the food was pretty damn good too. Alright, back on the road (only 20 more minutes behind schedule). False, just remembered, we need to get a few groceries if we planned on eating anything over the next couple days in the woods. While in the grocery store, which was the nicest store I have seen anywhere in northern Wisconsin (well done Marinette), Erich and I noticed that there was a loud popping sound coming from another aisle. This sound was comparable to a shot from a .22 caliber rifle. As I approached the apparatus making the sound I saw a sign that said “Magic Pop”. Not that it takes a whole lot, but I was amazed! This machine takes grains, smashes them down under immense pressure, puffs them up, and then like a cannon fires them out at a clear plastic window in front of the machine. The end result is a multi grain snack similar to a rice cake. Alright, back on the road (20 more minutes behind schedule).

Moving along a few more hours and we are now arriving the beautiful Munising Michigan with a lovely view out to Lake Superior. We found the information center where we thought we had to pay for our campsite. We pulled into the parking lot at 4:04pm, 26 minutes before they close…perfect! I called Gina to let her know we had safely arrived at our destination. While I was on the phone Erich pointed out that the sign on the door said, “closed”. That couldn’t be the case since they were supposed to be open until 4:30. Gina confirmed for me that the time was 4:04pm and that’s when I looked at my phone and noticed that it said 5:04pm. It turns out that along the way we had passed into the eastern time zone and never noticed…we were now too late to pay for a site. I jokingly told Erich that we could just campout in the parking lot and wait until the info center opened in the morning. Perhaps other people have had the same idea because Erich pointed to several signs in the parking lot that said in very bright red “NO CAMPING”. Crap! Now for those of you paying attention and doing the math, we were probably about an hour and 45 minutes behind when we should have arrived to our destination. Double Crap!! Damn you Blue Bike Burrito and Magic Pop!!!

After some deliberation and sign reading, Erich and I decided that we would just go to our intended camping area and see if there was any way we could pay for a site there. Away we went. As we got within a few miles of the camping area we started to notice a lot of residual snow on the ground and suddenly I really started to second guess our decision to go camping on the northern boarder of the United States on the coast of a Great Lake in APRIL! Oh well, we’re committed, no turning back now. Down the bumpy dirt (slightly ice covered) camp road we went to our spot on Little Beaver Lake. There wasn’t too much ice on the road, only as we headed down and around a sharp curve at about an 18% grade on a road about 3 inches wider than our vehicle. To my side was a 60 foot dropoff, but don’t worry there were a couple yard sticks pounded into the ground so if our 2,000 pound vehicle started to slide of the road, it might give the illusion of slowing us slightly and maybe give us a little hope before we plunge to our final resting places. This trip is going to be great…I can feel it already!

Finally we arrived at Little Beaver Lake…victory is ours! Next order of business, who and how do we pay for our site. I saw a sign that said we could pay at the information board. We went over to the information board and there was no sign of anything to collect money in. I did however find a sign that said the campground was going to be closed from November to May. Hmmm, well that’s no good because it just so happens to be APRIL! Well, there was hope, another group of people who appeared to be college kids had 4 tents set up at another site. What the hell, we decided to stay…FREE CAMPING! We claimed our site and set up the tent in no time at all. We decided to get a fire going and maybe eat a little something before heading out on a short hike.

HAHAHA, guess what…in April just after the snow melts it just so happens that all the wood in the forest is absolutely soaking freaking WET! Even better is the fact that wet wood burns like sh*t. And by sh*t, I mean not at all. Luckily, I was still riding the high of not having to pay for our campsite and we decided to try and find some dry wood. It took about an hour to collect some wood that most would classify as damp. We also found several logs that people had left behind that were not too wet in the middle, but the outside layers were very wet. Good thing we had the axe. Erich and I spent another hour or two taking the axe to the outside of all our wood pieces in order to get to some dryer inside pieces. We even sacrificed Erich’s wooden ice scraper. After about 3 hours with nightfall quickly approaching, we finally had something that resembled a fire, at least it gave off a lot of smoke and smelled of fire. Once we had a bed of coals we had the ability to keep throwing small damp sticks into the fire to keep it going. Our large logs were still being pretty stubborn and would not burn. Since we had a bed of coals, and no idea how much more burnable wood we would find, we decided to quick make some Pudgy Pies. The pies would turn out to be one of the best tasting and well deserved meals I’d had in a long time. With the last bit of sunlight still peaking out across the lake, we went to the shoreline behind our tent to take it all in and catch a few moments of the reason we were up north in the first place. After a while of chatting with a duck and one another, we came to the conclusion that it was time for bed. We stocked the fire with a little bit more wood, took a few pulls off the handy dandy bottle of Jameson I had packed (for inner warmth reasons), climbed into our sleeping bags and went to sleep (or so I thought).

Long story short, I did not get much sleep at all because I was not camping with a proper sleeping bag. It was only a half hour or so before I started to shiver and shake. Right around that time was when I also saw the warm red glow of our fire disappear through the tent door. It was a rough night as I tossed and turned trying to create heat in my bag. The morning could not come soon enough. Eventually I saw a few rays of sunshine peaking through the back side of the tent. It was time to get up and start moving around…maybe the sun would warm me up since everything else had failed miserably. After a few cups of hot green tea (Erich packed a Jetboil) it was time to start prepping for our first hike of the day. We thought a short 2-3 mile hike around Little Beaver Lake would be a good way to warm up. The hike was so peaceful and enjoyable. The scenery was unbelievable. My favorite parts of our trek were the giant sandstone caves along the trails. During our hike I got to thinking a little bit about the previous night and how I wasn’t quite sure if I could handle another one like it. I mentioned this to Erich, and we decided that when we returned to camp, we would pack up, go for a nice hike somewhere else, and then head home.

Upon returning to camp we remembered that Erich had packed a special treat for the trip. A treat we had talked about for 10 months or so since Erich got it in the first place. The special treat was a bottle of Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout from 3 Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana. This fantastic beer has been rated by many as the best beer in the world. It is a limited release beer, and they sell a certain number of tickets in advance for a one day event where everybody with a ticket can get a bottle. It just so happens that Erich had one. We cracked the bottle open and thoroughly enjoyed the beer by the shoreline. Let me tell you, I have never experienced a beer quite like this one. The taste is nearly indescribable. The only words I have are that it was the best beer I have ever had, and there are few other beers that have come close. It also happens to be the case that this beer is about 15% ABV and we were a little buzzed up when it was gone…my watch read 9:40am. After our meeting with the Dark Lord, it was time to pack up, which we did very quickly because there was a park ranger on the property and we didn’t want him to try and ruin our free camping trip. So off we were…

(3 bottles of Dark Lord....h'mmmm a man can dream can't he)

We went back towards Munising a slight ways so that we could find the amazing Pictured Rocks shoreline that is so famous and we heard so much about. I had no idea what I was in for. When we arrived to the shoreline, there is a lookout point to look out over Lake Superior. I thought the lake was about 10 feet below…wrong! There was about a 100 foot sandstone drop off with beautiful green water slamming up against down below. The rock formations jetting out to the lake were simply breath taking. I felt like I was on a coastline in Central America…I never imagined anything like this could exist in the U.P. Imagine that der, eh. Then we walked down a path to what appeared to be a long white sandy beach by the shore. We were right except we noticed right away that about an inch below the sand was none other than ice. It was a total paradox. I was standing in the sun on a warm sandy beach with this amazing water that looked like the ocean. I was ready to put on my shorts and flip flops, but really the sand was literally cold as ice and the water wasn’t much warmer. I didn’t care. I let my mind think I was at some faraway island. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. The whole trip along with the freezing cold and lack of fire was completely worth it. I am so glad we made this trip and I would recommend it to anybody (go around June when it gets warmer/greener and before the bugs come out).

I arrived back home completely refreshed and ready to tackle anything the world wants to throw at me for a while. Not to mention it was extra nice to cuddle up with my wife together in our nice WARM bed for the first time in a week.

I am aware this post is a little long but I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed remembering my trip and writing about it. Again, I will be starting school in a couple days, so I hope to write another post soon to let you know how the first few days go.

Cheers,

Derek

Best beer in the world: Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout by 3 Floyds(duh)

Favorite song right now: Icky Thump by The White Stripes

Things I’m looking forward to:

- My nieces baptism this weekend (and seeing my mom and grandmothers on Mother’s Day)

- A new niece or nephew arriving soon (hopefully this weekend sometime)

- Starting school

- Celebrating with Gina’s younger sister this weekend in Madison for her 21^st birthday. Also, happy 21^st birthday to Gina’s brother on the same day (they’re twins)

A Midsummer Day's "Dream"

81° and partly cloudy is not but a July dream anymore my friends…it has finally become reality. Although it is only April, and I am sure there are cooler temps to follow, it is amazing how rejuvenated my soul feels. There are ice cubes in my coffee, flip flops on my feet, and I am not sure where I left my shirt. On that note, I am also keeping my sunglasses on, but that is due to the blinding glare given off by my white Wisconsin winter shimmer. Our new apartment in Kenosha has a patio out back, and you better believe we are putting it to good use today. The only way I see today being any better would be if I had a hammock to string across the patio.

Since the temperatures have gotten above freezing over the past couple weeks, I have made a point to get outside and do some running. The other evening while on one of my runs, I was able to catch the sunset. There is something magical that happens at that time…all your worries and stresses from the day seem to disappear. Lately, I have noticed the cabin fever starting to set in. Gina and I had so much going on this past winter that we never really had a chance to get outside. I spend a good portion of my days thinking about how I would much rather be out hiking around a lake with my wife, musky fishing from my dad’s boat, or have my butt firmly planted on a sandy beach with an ice cold brew in my hand. I’ve spent most of my life thinking that the city life was for me, but the more time goes on, the more time I spend trying to figure out how to get away. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the things that keep us busy in Milwaukee, I just think there is something to be said about good ol’ fashion peace and quiet. Not to mention, seeing all the stars in the sky at night never gets old.

This past Friday we had the opportunity to join a group of our friends at Miller Park to watch our Milwaukee Brewers play the Chicago Cubs. Whenever the Cubs are in town, there is never a dull moment at the ballpark. I must say I was extremely excited to see a much larger percentage of Brewers fans compared to Cubs fans. The Cubs still had enough fans to make plenty of noise for their team, but it was very obvious which team was the home team. Unfortunately, the home fans did not have too much to cheer about since Milwaukee pitcher Randy Wolf thought it would be a good idea to give up 5 runs in one inning. It turns out that in the sport of baseball, whenever you give up 5 runs in an inning, your chances of winning the game decrease greatly. Regardless of the outcome, we always have fun when we get out to root for the Brewers and it is always nice when we can share the experience with great friends.

This week will be my last full week at my current job. As of 4:30pm on April 20^th, I will officially be unemployed as I take a little time off to rest up before jumping into my Doctor of Chiropractic program. I am very happy to be ending my run as a laboratory technologist and finally begin my pursuit of a career that is the right fit for me. Although I am looking forward to beginning school, the nerves are also starting to creep in a little bit. The course load I will be taking will be much heavier than anything I have taken part in the past. I am confident that my undergraduate degree has prepared me for the task ahead and I have also set very high goals for myself as added motivation. It has been a big help for me to have had the chance to watch and see how Gina has managed dental school over the past few years. My hope is that I will not be as overwhelmed by the large volume of work. I am sure that my next post will come some time around my start date at school, so I promise to let you all know how true that is. Keep your fingers crossed.

Well, we have a little bit of time left to enjoy this beautiful spring evening. Thanks for tuning in.

Song Recommendation: Devil’s in the Jukebox by Ray LaMontagne

Great Documentary: 180° South (can stream on Netflix)

Potential Upcoming Topics:

-derek starting school/long commute

-first Kenosha farmer’s market trip

-derek’s upcoming backpacking adventure

March Madness

Do you remember how I said in the first post that I would try and maintain the rate of one new post per week? FAIL! Apparently, I forgot, and I also failed to take into consideration the fact that sometimes Gina and I get really busy. As it turns out, we actually have a few people following this blog already, and most of you have taken the time to let me know I have greatly exceeded my new post deadline. I really thought I would make it at least 5 or 6 weeks before I fell behind. As is sometimes (almost always) the case, I over estimated my abilities (insert image of Gina nodding in sarcastic agreement). Therefore, I promise all of you that this post will far and away surpass the others in some way. So please fasten your safety belts, take a deep breath, and prepare to have your minds blown. Disclaimer: Gina and Derek cannot be held responsible if in fact anybody’s mind is blown.

As I stated previously, we have been really busy as of late. Allow me to let you in on what we’ve been up to. First and foremost, on February 6, 2011 there was this little event that hardly anybody knows about, but I think some of you may have heard of it. The event is called the SUPER BOWL and the GREEN BAY PACKERS won it!!! It has been a month and a half since the game took place, and it has still not set in. We were invited to watch the game at the home of our friends Mike and Katie in Port Washington. They are excellent hosts and we have way too much fun every time we go there. We had an amazing time with great friends, and I definitely over indulged in the taco bar. I showed up in my new “Raji Against the Machine” shirt and Gina was wearing her new “I wanna get ‘sacked’ by Clay Matthews” shirt. When the game came to and end I was so inspired and pumped up that I found it necessary to go “Clay Matthews” on my buddy Zac and sack him in the couch. Lucky for me, he was too elated to realize or care what had just happened. Either way, the Packers winning the super bowl is a memory that I will cherish forever and I am pretty sure the 2010-11 Packers are the greatest team in the history of the UNIVERSE with a slight edge over the 1996-97 Packers. In a distant 3^rd is the 1999-2000 Wisconsin Badger Rose Bowl Team…wait…what? That’s college football? Ok, well there is no 3^rd place then.

The Saturday after the Super Bowl, Gina and I attended a Milwaukee Bucks game against the Indiana Pacers. Not only was it Gina’s first Bucks game, but also at halftime there was a special presentation. In attendance for that presentation were Mark Murphy, Charlie Peprah, Charles Woodson (Yes, that Charles Woodson), and the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I have never heard the Bradley Center as loud as it was when the spotlight on was that trophy. The Bucks played terrible as they have much of this season, but we still had a blast (thanks to the Packers in attendance). I think it is safe to say I won’t have a problem getting Gina to go to another Bucks game with me anytime soon.

Moving forward in time two weeks brings us to another evening of fun as we enjoyed a concert featuring Joshua Radin. In addition, we made sure to kick the night off right with a great Thai dinner at The King and I. We were joined our good friends Zac and Jordan, and Michael and Allison (also dental students and they had just gotten engaged the weekend prior). The concert was held at the Pabst Theater in downtown Milwaukee and it was my first time at that venue. The Pabst is the fourth-oldest continuously operating theater in the United States and has easily become one of my favorite places of all time.

Let’s jump ahead one day, and we find ourselves on our way to the windy city of Chicago. Gina was signed up to attend the Midwinter Meeting at the humongous McCormack Place convention center on the south side of Chicago. The main reason for attending the MWM was for Gina to attain a few continuing education credits. I know, it seems ironic that she would need to get continuing ed credits while she’s still in dental school, but that’s how it works. The other reason for the MWM is a gigantic vendor fair. I know this all sounds really exciting. However, it turns out Chicago would not be all work and no play. We went down on Friday and checked into our very excellent room (which we got for a very excellent price) at the Embassy Suites downtown. Again, we were joined by Z&J. If you haven’t noticed, they are pretty much rock, so we hang out with them as often as they let us. Before we could hang out with all our friends, Gina and I had another engagement to take care of. Recently, Gina has started to make contact with different large group practice dental clinics as she is approaching the final year of school. Well, it just so happens that one of those practices had rented out the upper portion of a cool bar downtown for the evening, and invited us to join them. We spent a couple hours meeting several dentists, hygienists, recruiters, and even the CEO who all made their company seem very welcoming. As chance would have it, there was also an open bar, and being that we were in Chicago where the drinks aren’t cheap, we definitely made sure to have a couple. Then it was off to meet back up with all of our other friends who were also in town.

Naturally, all the bumming around Chicago made us pretty hungry, so we decided to grab some grub at XOCO (pronounced Show-Co). It is a restaurant run by Chef Rick Bayless, who has a couple cooking shows on television mostly revolving around Mexican and South American cuisine. XOCO is very similar to Chipotle or Qdoba, but on steroids. The food was delicious and I would recommend it to anybody visiting Chicago.

The next day we drove over to McCormack Place to see what the vendor fair was all about. Let me tell you, it was crazy. I have never seen a convention of this magnitude. We are talking about 8 football fields worth of Colgate, Listerine, Sonicare, etc… Anybody who sells anything in the dental profession had a station there. We hung around for a couple hours, just long enough to make sure we got our fair share of free samples. Then it was time to hightail it out of Chicago. On the way home, we were pretty tired and looking forward to getting some quality rest in our own bed. But you know me, It would make too much sense to do that. I suddenly felt the need to push it just a little bit more. While heading home, I remembered that the WIAA state wrestling finals were that night. The session started at 6:00 p.m. so if I made it home by 4:00p.m. I could make it to the Kohl Center in Madison on time. We were in the door at 3:58, so I was golden. As I was leaving the snow began to fall…and fall…and fall…you get the picture. Long story short, I made it to the finals a little late, watched all the matches before slowly heading back home and finally resting my head on the pillow some time after 1:00 Sunday morning. Lesson learned? Probably not, but I would like to think next time I will choose my bed over hours of driving in a snowstorm.

Gina made the wise choice to get some rest, but that was because it would only be three days until she would be on an early morning flight to Los Angeles, California. More specifically, Anaheim, California…home of Disneyland! Being a dental student, Gina is a member of the American Student Dental Association and this year they held their 41^st annual session in the land of the one and only Mickey Mouse. ASDA is like the student voice of the American Dental Association. Therefore, the point of the session is to discuss topics pertinent to improving dental education for students as well as the profession of dentistry from a dental student’s point of view. Either way, Gina was able to spend 5 days or so in the nice Cali weather with some good friends. One of the events they took part in was a 1980’s dance party. I have seen pictures, and let me tell you…Gina looked AWESOME! I hope to have pictures to post soon.

While Gina was off visiting the Golden Coast, I got started with the always fun task of packing. That’s right, the next weekend would be the move to Kenosha so I tried to get a jump on boxing stuff up while Gina was gone. Don’t get me wrong, I still had some fun while she was away. I went to a Milwaukee Admirals hockey game with my buddies Zac and Greg (also a dental student), and then we entered several fine establishments that serve alcoholic beverages. Needless to say, there was still plenty to do over the next week when Gina got back home, but I did take a good chunk out of the packing. Then before we knew it, the move to Kenosha had finally arrived. I would like to thank those of you who helped us out. You all worked so hard and really made the move so much easier on us. We are very grateful.

So here we are today, in our second week since the move. There are still a few things that need to be unpacked and put away, but so far it is safe to say we really like our new place. The most obvious reason is the fact that this apartment stays WARM. We are getting used to the commute to and from Milwaukee every day. It really is not bad at all. So as you can see we have been occupied by a few different tasks since the last post that have made it rather difficult to get another one up. I hope you all have enjoyed this post (those of you who have actually made it this far without having your mind blown) and I promise to try harder to get the next one up closer to my one week goal.

P.S. Go Badgers in the Sweet Sixteen!!! We’re also pulling for Marquette!

Book you should read: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

(also try The Omnivore’s Dilemma by MP as well)

Other Book you should read: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Album you have to hear: Brother by The Black Keys

Potential upcoming topics:

-This Friday’s pub crawl

-Derek starting chiropractic school

-March Madness

-Brewers opening day and new season

-The Healthy Bakery’s Hearth Thrive Bars