Whew, what a New Years Eve! Jess and I expanded our adventures in Madison Wisconsin, and ventured over to Milwaukee for the evening. We met up with our friends Mel, Chris, Terry, and Sara.

We chose this year to have a fun but classy New Years Eve experience. Thus, dinner and drinks and drinks ensued.

We found our selves enjoying a 5 course dinner at a swank little downtown restaurant called Cafe Vecchio Mundo. Cafe Vecchio Mundo is one of our favorite drink places and has, I would say, Milwaukee’s best Martinis. Vecchio’s dinner was fabulous! Of course all of us and our gourmand ways, were pretty stuffed by the 5th course.

That being said, the fifth course included pecan pie, a chocolate brownie/torte, Whipped Strawberry Flan (served in a wine glass), and the most ridiculous scoop of Captain Morgan ice cream. It is a good thing we walked from our hotel, because that ice cream was delicious…but potent.

After a brief digestion period, we went out to John Hawks Pub, nestled on the river that runs through Milwaukee. This was our first visit and the place was great. It was a classy little pub and with a British pub feel. (including a live blues band and no cover charge) With a little more fog, I could have thought I was on the “Queen’s Island” prepping for a futbol match.

A few drinks later, we found ourselves back at our hotel watching Carson announce the Ball Drop in the Big Apple and counting along with the last few minutes of 2006.

2006 was very good to us and part of me will miss the old gal. However, we have a wedding to attend to and a plethora of new and exciting moments to prepare for.

Thanks to everyone who made 2006 a great year for Jess and I. Here’s to a wonderful 2007!

Boone here. The past weekend, Jess, Jon, Mel, and I went and purchased our annual Christmas tree. This year we decided not to make our evergreen holiday purchase from a Wal Mart parking lot and make a day of it elsewhere. We drove down the road to Cedar Creek Tree Farm in Verona, WI. This place is a great family owned business with friendly staff, good prices, and nice trees. (Highly Recemended)

The four of us took our (provided) plastic sled and saw and ventured through the 5 achres of trees. With our vast tree knowledge we setteled on a green one and like a more impressive Paul Bunyan, we went to work.

It was a gorgeous sunny day (hardly needing a coat) and it was easy to drag, size, and purchase our tree. The hardest part was trying to decide the best way to load the tree into Mel’s new Ford Fusion.

Our tree made it safely home and now sits like a maceys window display next to our fireplace.

So, as well as planning our own wedding for next Spring, Boone and I have five other weddings to go to. Wow- that’s lot of I dos. We are in three of them also, so there’s also additional planning involved there. We are looking forward to a lot of it- I just hope we have enough of our own planning done to enjoy them.

Yes yes, if you have read my prior post you are in the loop about my new car. I am proud to say that Jess and I are now a full-fledged BMW family. Jess with her 2006 Mini Cooper and I with my 2001 BMW 325i.

Play nice now siblings.

It could be that I was previously driving a Ford Probe, but WOW I love this car. Of course I am searching for any excuse to drive and am using gas like my daddy owns an oil field in Texas, but its all for a good cause. As the previous owner said “This car is Pure.”

Yes, yes it is. Pure passion for driving, pure quality, pure performance, pure BMW.

On top of that it all, the inline 6 cylinder and 5 speed manual transmission put some serious spunk in her trunk. I will leave you with some words of wisdom from my man, X to the Z, “This is one sick whip.”

Hey yall, Boone here. Many of you probably felt the pre-winter frustration this past Friday. Here in Madison, WI we only received around 2 inches of snow. That was bad enough. However, back in Osseo, WI, they received a whopping 16 1/2 inches. If you had ever wondered, “How much snow does it take to stop the United States Postal Service?” I would like to assure you…that it takes 16 1/2 inches.

I am just not ready for winter…yet. 

The snow was perfect for snowman mass production, but it is not going to stick around. My guess, it will be December before we see snow with lasting effects.

Friday’s storm just caught me off guard. Especially since my new Bimmer still has its performance Summer tires on it. This is the first car I have owned with rear wheel drive and Friday’s dumping was my first experience with rear wheel and snow. How was my experience? Lets just say, I want my snow tires on before the next snow storm hits.

Drive safe and wish me luck!

This November, Boone and I took some of our friends to one of our favorite Madison activities: Badger football! We got up early, had breakfast at Mickey’s and drinks at the Oakcrest/Lucky’s, then got front row seats for the game. The student section was in great form as usual and the Badgers creamed NW. Despite a little sun burn, the day was perfect and everyone is looking forward to doing it again next season. Go Bucky!

 

Boone here. Today’s Food for thought:

Is it sad that a large determining factor of me buying a new car, is that it have A cup holder?

Yeah, thats what I thought too. 

That being said, I have finally thrown in the Probe Towel. As some of you might have known, I bought Mike Van Hamert’s 95 Ford Probe a little over a year ago. She has been a great car. However, cest la vie. It was time for an upgrade.

My replacement: a 2001 BMW 325i. This is an unbeliveably sweet machine. She is black with black leather interior and is in perfect shape. I havent had time to take too many pictures just yet. But, a few are featured below. Stay tuned for detials.

 

Well, Halloween has come and gone, and in Madison that usually means two things: riots and a party thrown by the two of us. Luckly, there weren’t any riots but there was a party! We had a few friends come into town and a few friends from town join us at our place for drinks and games. Then we went out to one of our favorite places, the Claddagh Irish Pub, to show off our costumes. A good time was had by all and costume of the night goes to our friend (and wedding photographer) Matt. He already looked like the Big JC without the robe and crown, but with those two things, it was scary.

Boone and I recently when on our first drive with the Madison Mini Cooper club. It was pouring outside and Boone thought that it might be cancelled but when we got to the meeting spot, eight other adorable MINIs were lined up and ready to go. They found the most windy, twisty, fun roads they possibly could and, despite the weather, we took them pretty fast. We ended with dinner at this tiny seafood and steak place (the food was good!) and then headed home to put Ace to bed. It was great to see some other Mini owners and to get some driving tips from them.

For those of you who didnt catch my last post about my new Yamaha XJ550 motorcylcle, I ran out of gas while out for a cruise. However, I have good news. Now I have gas. I mean, I filled the gas tank and she now purrs like Katie our Kitten. I was even adventureous enough to ride the bike when I returned the gas can to my Friend Jeff Clark at his new condo.

Since my last motorcycle post, I have gotten a new drivers side mirror and purchased another helmet (AFX, Jet Black). Sencing my biker-gang tendancies, my parents contrubited to my new hobby and bought me a motorcycle jacket. Yes, I am pretty bad ass now. Moral of the story: I am getting much more comfortable on my Yamaha XJ550 and will soon be out cruising again