Shame Shame Shame, Cheese Curds, and Couches

What a mish mash. I foresee this happening a lot now that I'm back in school, but still want to nurture this little tot of a blog, which, as it has been pointed out... is not so "Daily". Apologies... but hold on to your hats because this one is a long entry, full of awesomeness.

"How's school going?" you ask. I think it's going to be another good semester. One of my classes is the core course law requirement, and the professor is pretty amusing. He's a lawyer, so he's well spoken - a great lecturer and discussion starter - very entertaining and good sense of humor, if a bit of an "interrupter." An amusing tidbit from this week was when he was telling us about all the silly laws still on the books in Massachusetts, and everyone knows they're silly, but it's even more silly to waste time and taxpayer money repealing these laws.

                     Prof: For instance, it is still a serious crime in Massachusetts to have premarital sex.
                     [SILENCE]
                     Prof: How's THAT for ruining your weekend?
                     [RELAXED LAUGHTER]
                     Prof: You're all going to jail!
                     .....
                     Prof: Just kidding. Jail isn't full of fornicators. It's full of people who
                             ACCOST their fornicators.

This should be interesting. I'm ready and fully caffeinated in preparation for class number two tonight!

Before school started, to end my summer with a bang, I went to Madison, WI to visit the lovely Cristina. Brief history of our friendship: we were on the same floor during our first year of college and luckily also in the same first-year seminar. She was the feisty, intelligent girl from Vermont, not afraid to question anything our classmates and professor said and a great friend from day one. So obviously I had to go see this town she'll be in for awhile while completing her PhD in sociology ...and being generally awesome.

In case you hadn't heard, Wisconsin had some pretty big stuff happen earlier this year, when their governor tried to impose major budget cuts, hitting unions especially hard. Gov. Walker proposed drastic increases to the amount they were expected to contribute to their health care as well as taking away the vast majority of their collective bargaining rights. According to Wikipedia, people were mostly upset because he never mentioned these intentions in his campaign AND no one likes having their rights taken away. Not surprisingly, people protested, often chanting, "Shame, shame, shame!" which has become a Wisconsin-ism. Also not surprisingly, Cristina was on the forefront - featured in this wicked awesome video as well as lots of other media. Imagining 100,000 people camping out in the frigid "Square" (aka Madison downtown) as we biked through it in its early fall, bustling-but-not-nearly crowded state was difficult. Watch the video though - these protests were amazing. They're gearing up to recall him this winter, when that's finally possible.

And now - a photo montage of my time in Wisconsin! It mostly involves food and drinks... cause we like to eat good food and drink... well, pretty much anything. (I feel like Marshall from How I Met Your Mother <- scroll up just a little to "Cat Funeral" video to fully understand how funny that is.)

Shamefully (or, joyously) all of the following were eating in a 24 hour span, though technically not one day:

Pre-Grilled phase of the excellent Veggie Breakfast Sandwich

...and post grilled. Includes Wisconsin Cheddar, naturally.
Yum!

Cheese Curds! Consuming more Wisconsin Cheddar later that night...
in a dark and romantic setting.

And MUCH later that night, a trip to the diner.

Wonderful Willaby's Waffles... oh yeah, and us!

Meet Ethel, Cristina's hilarious dog:

Here she is, on a futile mission to get 

a mysterious toy at the bottom of the basket. 

Eventually, I tipped the basket over for her.

Victory! ...and the only way I could get her to stay still enough for a photo.

Meet Cristina's ginormous tomato plants:

They are the envy of the neighborhood.

...gives some perspective on their ridiculous size.

We were productive, too!

Inspecting the Glow-in-the-Dark merchandise Michael's had to offer
...on our quest  to complete their set of terrificly huge champagne flutes.

Homemade apple tarts (check out the fall leaves acting as top crust)
...and Cristina's new glasses.  Sure. They go together.

The Tea Tree. They had so much tea that Cristina had
to transform this easel into tea shelves. 

This was our "Next Morning" photo post Bougie Night:

How many bottles of bubbly can YOU find? Answer: Just enough.
And for all of you hookah lovers - try the raspberry.

And sadly the trip came to an end.

Note how large these people are relative to the plane. I could see lots of the pilots' controls, 
and was practically close enough to tell if they needed a breath mint.

And lastly, let's all breath a sigh of relief that our living room finally has a couch, and no longer requires sharing of the nice chair or taking turns in the camping chairs that were occupying our living room.