Life on the Runn...

I love Madison, the Badgers, and family, so as Saturday approached, the stage was set for a really great day.  It was our annual girls trip to Camp Randall.  And, thanks to a strong season and championship standings, the game was moved to 2:30pm.  That gave us time to really settle in for some MadTown shenanigans.  Talk about adding to the fun of a long holiday weekend. When we rolled into Madison just before noon, things got a little tense for about five seconds -  our parking area was full and we weren't sure where the big truck would fit (but were very sure that a typical front yard spot would not suffice).  As luck would have it, we simply made a right hand turn and found an open spot directly next to our target location.  With that kind of good fortune, we knew the stage was set for a fantastic day. We settled into our private tailgate zone, busted out the beverages (including my husband's bourbon) and got to it.  While I cannot - and will not - recount some of the top

The extra hour 'fall behind' brings our way used to mean an extra hour out drinking at the MadTown bars -- and while I did my best impression of college Amy this weekend, that extra hour, this year, meant one more precious hour with friends and family during this action-packed weekend. Friday, after a study session with my Acadec kiddos, it was off to Appleton to celebrate my brother's birthday.  We joined a few of his wonderful friends for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, where I ordered what I thought would be a typical margarita.  What arrived at our table was more like a bucket of awesomeness, a margarita as big as my face.  By the time I was done with it, I had trouble feeling my face.  After dinner, the party continued until it was time to pack up the car and head home.  As we were heading out and saying goodbye to my brother and his friends, I had a real old lady moment, where I looked around at my brother's people, an in my mind though of how very happy I

While it didn't dawn on me until Monday of last week, a non-service Friday (read: no students, not contractually obligated to be at work) meant that I had a long weekend, precious time where I could do almost anything my heart desired.  Thus, at a stoplight, just around the corner from work, I sent Brian a text and suggested we head west for the weekend.  By the time I left work that afternoon, he had planned our weekend trip to the Front Range.  For that alone, he's worth keeping around! Our nearly three full days in Colorado began with at 6am flight; from touchdown to takeoff on Sunday, our time was packed with outdoor activity.  We drove straight from the airport to Clear Creek Canyon, where we hopped on a multi-pitch sport route, 'Playing Hooky' and then headed into Boulder to meet up with friends for a soloing missing up the Second Flatiron.  I don't know that any trip to Boulder is complete without that!  We grabbed dinner and caught up with friends to roun