The Highlight of My Trip…Or At Least Saturday Night
These very amazing sales ladies managed to convince me to buy a Coach Purse. I’ve always wanted one…but never felt like it was a necessity. The guilt of spending lots of money on a handbag used to eat away at me. But then I was standing in a room full of expensive designer bags at the Macy’s cocktail party, intoxicated by the fabrics, the leather, the straps.
I caved. I bought one. She is gorgeous. The handbag isn’t half bad either. Haha. No but seriously…look at that bag. I’m in love. Absolutely, totally in love. I know. It’s silly. Get over it. This high won’t last forever. Sneaky, sneaky Macy’s. Way to sponsor a cocktail party for shopaholics like me. You’re not stupid, that’s for sure.
Paying for my new love. That was the most fun I’ve ever had — signing my life away on a my credit card…let me tell ya. It was totally worth it. It was my first Coach experience, and I can’t wait to do it again. Mocha‘s daughter, Mallory, said it best, “It’s like a drug…isn’t it!?”
So very, very true! I’m shaking from withdrawals already. Time to buy the matching wallet, I think.
I wrote this post while waiting for my plane yesterday. And then I got home and found the T-mobile internet access card in my BlogHer swag bag. I totally could have posted this earlier this morning! Bugga!
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I’m sitting on the floor of the San Francisco International Airport, patiently — or not so patiently — waiting for my flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul (where I connect to get my tired ass home).
I wanted desperately to post this entry right away, but the fucking airport doesn’t offer free WiFi. After I paid $497 dollars for an airline ticket and had a crazy TSA office go ape shit on me because I forgot to take my cell phone out of my purse before sticking the bag under the x-ray machine, you would think free WiFi is the least they could do to appease me.
If I wanted to, I could connect to this T-mobile network but I’m too lazy to pay $9.95 for 30 minutes. Or really, I’m too cheap.
I’m exhausted. I can’t think straight. My eyelids desperately long to close and my body is begging for sleep. I’ve had a busy day full of walking around the city.
This afternoon, Liz from This Full House joined me for the Giants vs. Brewers game at AT&T Park (and it’s important to mention, THE BREWERS KICKED GIANT BEHIND!) and after the game we walked down the South Beach all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf at Pier 39, and then trekked south on Powell Street back to the Westin St. Francis hotel.
I must tell you, the walk was wonderful and so worth the exercise but my dogs are barking and I want so badly to take my shoes off, however I may end up killing all these nice people sitting nearby at this shit hole airport. (No offense SFO, I’m just an overtired, cranky bitch right now.)
On our beautiful but cold and windy walk, Liz and I saw some wonderful views of that city by the bay. San Francisco is gorgeous and I keep wondering why the hell it took me so long to visit this metropolitan bliss.
I was able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, but the photos aren’t spectacular. Mostly, the bridge is surrounded by intense fog, but the snapshots I captured are interesting just the same. Good thing the very touristy Fisherman’s Wharf had some GGB post cards and other souvenirs they were eager to sell to me.
I bought Dawson a small snow globe and a t-shirt, and I got Doug a personalized GGB keychain. For myself, I chose to buy a zippered fleece jacket because San Francisco is fricken cold! Seriously, I was tempted to stop at the CafePress booth at the conference to make a t-shirt that read, “I visited San Francisco and froze my ass off!”
On the walk back to the hotel, I managed to catch a glimpse of the very crooked, zig zaggy street that is Lombard. That was freakin’ cool. I wish I had more time to really tour that block, as well as this city, in greater depths. There is so much to see and do! I’m thinking I need to come back soon with Doug.
After our city tour, Liz and I met Shannon back at the Westin and we did a second round of souvenir shopping so that Shannon could get some t-shirts for her daughters. I found a musical snow globe much like the one I bought when I was in NYC earlier this year. I couldn’t help but buy it, as well as a little trolley car toy for Dawson.
After shopping, the three of us had a quick dinner before taking the shuttle back to the airport to catch our flights.
That was a feat in itself. Liz put down a deposit on the shuttle, and the driver tried to say that she still owed money, not realizing I was still in the van and needed to be dropped off at the NWA terminal. I couldn’t figure out why this man was being so ridiculous.
When he got back in the car, he told me that I would owe him $15 dollars and I said that’s fine. We got to my terminal and suddenly he tells me I owe $17 dollars, which is exactly what I had in cash in my walled. Needless to say I couldn’t tip him, and I asked why he said $15 the first time. He didn’t answer my question so I handed him the cash and took my luggage, as he swore at me in Chinese. I told him I was sorry I couldn’t tip him and that if he had his rates straight it would be much easier to understand what the hell was going on.
So here I am, at the airport, tired and cranky. There are people staring at me. Probably because I’m wearing my Brewers gear (sorry Giants fans…I love my team just as much as you love yours).
Also, what is it with all the pushy people who can’t bear to stand in line at the Java Hut for more than 5 minutes? Sheesh! You’ll get your fucking cuppa joe as soon as I’m done paying for mine, okay? These people are freakin’ weird.
I just want to go home. I miss my family. And I miss having a wireless internet connection. Forty minutes until I can board. Forty long minutes. God help me.
The second day of our Milwaukee trip, Saturday, started off on the wrong foot. Not only did I get NO sleep whatsoever because my mother snores like a bear in hibernation, but my ears were aching from leaving my iPod in all night. I had that sucker cranked, and I swear the louder I turned up the volume, the louder Mom’s snoring would get. It was horrible.
To save costs, we were staying at the Super 8 in West Bend. I made the reservation online after verifying they had WiFi and a clean swimming pool. They lied. The internet connection was shoddy, and very slow, and the front desk clerk assured me that after he reset the system things would be fine. No dice. I should have known that cheap hotels really are cheap.
I had to do some BlogHer work that morning and with an intermittent connection that worked at a snail’s pace it didn’t make my job any easier. After Googling “internet cafes” and finding only one, a coffee house down the street, I packed up the laptop and Dad drove me in that direction.
Turns out the coffee house was invisible. Meaning, the address 310 E. Washington Street didn’t exist. It jumped from 230 to 520. Interesting, don’t you think? Dad finally pulled onto a side street and asked some very nice bicyclists for directions to the Washington County Library, and thank heavens it was only a few blocks away. And they had WiFi. And it was fast. I was happy as clam.
After my work was finished, we took a tour of the Old Courthouse Museum in downtown West Bend, just a few streets over. It was a wonderful museum with many exhibits and thousands of historic artifacts. Some of my favorites:
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Then Take Me Out to the Zoo!
Our mini-vacation to Milwaukee went surprisingly well. For a few days before we departed, I worried that anything and everything that could possibly go wrong, would. It didn’t and I’m eternally grateful to the forces that be for ensuring that Dawson and I had a great time in Beer Town.
We left our humble abode at 10 a.m. and made it to Milwaukee proper by 1:15, and I only made two pit stops. We veered off the beaten path at a cute little town called Lomira (where there were nearly 50 Vestas whirling in the vicinity), which is just south of Fond du Lac.
Then an hour later we stopped at a park in Wauwatosa so that I could stretch my legs and Dawson could burn off some pent up energy. Two and a half hours in a car could drive anyone crazy.
I expected horrendous traffic once I got near West Allis, but I realized it was a weekday, and the lunch hour rush was only beginning so we made it just in time. I’m positive traffic was worse downtown.
We finally went to our hotel in West Milwaukee, after 45 minutes of enjoying the beautiful day. We stayed at the Best Western Woods View, the same hotel we chose last year for our Mother’s Daygetaway. I love it because the hotel is walking distance from Miller Park (and we had Brewers tickets for that night), and it’s only a 15-minute drive to the Milwaukee County Zoo.
After check-in we changed into our swimming gear and went downstairs to the pool. The Doodlebug only asked me 25 times if we could go swimming so to shut him up I agreed. We swam until I turned into a California Raisin, and then I had to drag Dawson back to the room so we could rinse off the chlorine and get ready for the game. I realized once we were back in the room that I didn’t bring the camera to the pool. No big deal. If you’ve seen one hotel pool picture, you’ve seen them all.
The Brewer game was to start at 7:05 p.m. and because we were going to walk to the stadium we left at 5:30. I figured Dawson’s little legs wouldn’t be able to walk very fast. I was right. He dawdled and whined that he couldn’t walk anymore so I carried him and my gigantic purse/camera bag the rest of the way. That in itself was a cardio workout.
We got inside the stadium and I decided we needed Brewers t-shirts. The one I owned was from high school and much too small, and I wanted to commemorate Dawson’s first Brewer game. The souvenir sales person convinced me to get Dawson a t-shirt with a player name on the back and she asked, “Which one do you want? Braun, Hardy or Fielder?”
I thought to myself, Where are the Yount and Molitor shirts?
Had it really been 20 years since my last baseball game? I had to think hard about that. Then I remembered that after Dawson was born I sort of lost interest in baseball.
“I think we’ll take the J.J. Hardy shirt because his is the only name I recognize.” I said to the clerk.
She laughed and said, “First Brewers game?”
“It’s my son’s first Brewers game. My first visit to Miller Park. And to think I used to know the players by heart so many years ago. I know every Green Bay Packer, but sometime after giving birth I lost my baseball brain.” I chuckled.
“Now’s the time to get back into it.” she replied.
Fifty-seven dollars in souvenirs later, we found our seats, ordered two hot dogs, cotton candy, a super rope and a large soda, and watched the Brewers win 5-3 against the Dodgers.
Dawson was mesmerized by the lights, noise and Bernie Brewer, and he loved the Klements Races. He didn’t have one temper tantrum. I was truly in awe of how well behaved he was. Here are some of my favorite photos from the game:
Eating his first ballpark hot dog.
The Klements Races.
J.J. Hardy, short stop.
In his new t-shirt, watching a foul ball fly into the stands.
We stayed for all nine innings because my son was having such a great time. When the Brewers scored a run, the crowd went wild, fireworks went off and Bernie Brewer went down his slide. Dawson and I exchanged hi-fives, and I watched happily as my little buddy became a baseball fan. It was such a wonderful experience and I’m so happy that I could share it with him. (For those who are wondering, I won tickets to the game from a local radio station and Doug couldn’t get off work to go. Thus, Dawson and I had a “Mom & Son” date.)
The walk back to the hotel after the game was tough for the little guy, and once we got to our room, he fell asleep instantly.
The next day we slept until 9 a.m. (this is late for us), had the continental breakfast, and after checking out of the hotel, drove to the zoo. This time we tried to see all the things we didn’t see last year. Such as:
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, the Lion doesn’t sleep tonight.
Not a def Leopard.
White, and black, Stripes.
No clever, musical title for this photo, I just like giraffes.
“People all over the world
Join in
Jump on the zoo train, zoo train.”
Dana began her Mom career in 2004 with the birth of her first son, Dawson, aka The Doodlebug, and little brother, Owen, was born in 2009. She spends her days putting out fires, climbing mountains and chasing monsters. More About Dana.
Contact: thedanafilesblog [at] gmail [dot] com RSS Feed
