Wisconsin Girl in Wisconsin

Whoop! Whoop! was the theme of my past week +2 days in Wisconsin. My BFF Dana got married and so I flew from NY to WI with costumes, dresses, makeup and books to celebrate her marriage and party like a Wisco girl.

I'm in the airport on my way back now and I'm a bit early so I thought I'd write up my little adventure.

Day 1-2: The Flight from 90 degree hell
I thought I'd be all smart and get one final day of work in before I left NYC. I'm a freelancer so no work = no pay, yuck. So somehow (a $12 cab ride) I got my 47.8lb checked bag, a backpack, and a carry on from Queens to Rockefeller center (aka work). After work, with the help of Cathy, I got my stuff to a train then through my lady-charms I found a nice man to help me get my bags to the Northwest check-in counter in Newark. (fyi, this was the easy part).

Once I got on the plane it was... on time? No, it was not. It was delayed but only after everyone was on the plane and they established the fact that we would NOT be getting AC--on an airplane where the temperature was 90 degrees--until we took off. I hear getting stuck on the tarmac is the new cool thing to do so I got to do that and I'm now part of the cool crowd. Unfortunately, my flights ended up getting all messed up because I was partaking in the tarmac wait trend.

I am an optimist but also a New York City resident and I know that if you want to make something happen you have to act, immediately. So I did. The tarmac wait gave me time to make several phone calls and at the end of it all I had secured my spot on two later connecting flights and sweet talked a very nice Enterprise worker to wait for me to arrive at 11:26pm (2326 for those who speak military time). The end of Day 1.

Day 2: Ready, Set, Bachelorette Party!!!

(Dana, doing the honors of first flabongo)

The reason I went to Wisconsin a week before the wedding was to host Dana's Totally 80's Bodacious Bachelorette Party at my parents cabin on Pickerel Lake.

This was pretty freaking great. Dana kicked off the night with a 'flabongo.' This was a new thing to me but from observing the rest of the guest's skilled flabongo techniques, I could tell it's been around Wisconsin for some time. Note to NY, it's time to ditch the $9 beer nights and start flabongo parties, they are cheaper and more colorful.

My dad was there too. Okay, yeah weird my dad was at the bachelorette party? Yes, he was the DD for our pontoon boat. After a few drinks and kabobs at the cabin we took off with Dad and the neighbor on their pontoon boats. There were pontoon races, pontoon flabongos and pontoon 80's dancing.

It was a great day and night and the pics say all you need to know.

tip: It might be a good idea to sanitize the 'flabongo' before, after and maybe a few times in between. A few of us (including myself) now have sore throats. ew.

(Me and Little D)

(Dad with the cops. There was an incident with cops but Dad took care of it)

Days 3-5: RRC (Rest, Relaxation & Cheese)
This title kinda sums it up. I rested, hung out with my family, read some books, ate cheese, drank beer and hung out with friends.

A couple of highlights from these days were: Seeing my god son take his first steps, A sleep over with my nieces and nephew and kayaking down the Eau Claire River with an old friend from high school.

(My nephew Silas entertaining himself and me after bath time)

Days 6-8: Party, Party, Party, Wedding
On the Thursday before the wedding Jacci came up from New Orleans and I drove to Appleton to party with Dana & her future sister in-law Janelle and Jacci & her real sister Jessie. We (or I) played "See what a Wisconsin Cosmo tastes like in every bar in Appleton." It was an interesting and slightly painful experience but I ended the night with water and ibuprofen so I was tip-top the next day.

This was key because the next day was the rehearsal. After rehearsal we partied more, drank more and hung out on a creek with a campfire and the moonlight. It was awesome.

(Rehearsal. This was a very serious rehearsal. I am not trying to climb on Janelle, I'm practicing in case of... ummmmm choking? Oh, and the boys are hydrating with water)

(Dana, nervous and getting ready to be a wife)

Then there was the wedding day. Dana is kind of a nervous person to begin with so getting married is probably the scariest thing she's done yet. Somehow (force feedings of pizza and mimosa) we got her through it all and everyone had a great day.

Note: It's a good thing that rain is good luck for weddings because Dana got married outside in the rain and then it down poured the entire day after the ceremony.

Day 9: Now

(Me enjoying my last bag of cheese curds for a long long time)

I drove back to the airport early so I could see Mom and Dad once before I left and we just had lunch and they left me here. Now I'm waiting and writing. I should read or do some work but I didn't want to forget too much before I wrote it down.

There are so many more details to go with the trip, like: falling out of a kayak on a trip that should have been 3 hours but was 5, following 2 bald eagles down the river, giving fishing a 10 minute shot then giving up shortly after, picking my nieces up from their last day of school and watching Stella skip a bar on the monkey bars, and many more experiences. All in all I had a great time I think this story covers the gist of it.

Trip Theme Songs (an idea I stole): Rainbow Warriors-CocoRosie, Float On--Modest Mouse, Ha Ha--Emiliana Torrini