i spent a long, but wonderful 2 weeks in sheboygan while i was back home for winter break. i flew on the 20th in between 2 different snow storms that were making their way across the country, so i was anxious that i wasn't going to make it back that day -- but i just had a small delay and after a really smooth airplane ride, i was back in chilly wisconsin after leaving 3 and a half months ago.
my first night back in town was literally ROCKIN'. my dear friend, jack's band, shoeless revolution (check them out! www.myspace.com/shoelessrevolution) was playing at a christmas bash my friend jake was throwing in town. it was the best welcome home i could have ever had. their band is so talented & fun and i just danced the night away with all my close friends that i hadn't seen since i left. good times!
for christmas, my extended family rented a house in neenah on lake winnebago. we spent 2 nights there just hanging out, playing games and of course EATING.....a lot. it was nice to have everyone together since i hadn't seen most of them in a long time. it was also nice because my aunt & cousin came up from arkansas......wish i could see them more!
back in sheboygan we had a quick little get together with friends i use to work with at camp y-koda back in the day. we always try to get together with everyone over the holidays when everyone is back in town....but this year it was just 4 of us. we are all growing up & moving all over the place, that its getting harder to stay in touch & see each other, but i am glad the 4 of us did! my parents & friends also collaborated to throw me a REALLY early surprise party after my first week back. i had made plans to go to milwaukee on saturday night, but my friends were being very insistent on me staying in town to have a dinner party together. i didn't understand why we couldn't push it back a day, because people were still going to be around for awhile. i was getting really upset about it, that my parents finally told me what was going on & that i couldn't go to milwaukee. so.....they threw me the "surprise" party and it was great to just hang out & laugh & talk with my close friends. my birthday isn't until the end of this month, so i feel a little rushed on turning 25 (GASP!)....but it meant a lot that my friends wanted to help me celebrate since they won't be out here with me on the big day!
i did make it to milwaukee. it actually worked out that i didn't get to go on saturday, because the yacht club was having their employee xmas party on the 30th.....so i crashed that & got to see a slew of people i use to work with. my close yacht clubber friends & i snuck away and headed to THURMANS.....my favorite bar in all of milwaukee (& maybe EVER anywhere) and enjoyed the rest of the evening playing darts & picking tunes on their awesome jukebox.
NYE was probably the best i ever had. my best friend tess had a house warming party at her place. she is sooo grown up & bought a house in may & had done a TON of work on it & it looks AMAZING. so we ate & drank there with a decent amount of people.....mostly wearing SPARKLES because then we headed to blue lite -- the only gay bar in sheboygan -- and danced our butts off into 2009! it was a most wonderful evening. we thought we would be brave the next morning & do the polar plunge into lake michigan....but quickly changed our minds when we saw the huge waves.
i headed back east early on the 3rd. i hated saying good-bye to my friends because those 2 weeks back just reminded me of summer & all the fun we all had together.....but i was happy to get "back home" on the cape. i had missed it a lot & was ready to be back in my old routine.....but not without some more fun, first!
meg & tim picked me up from the airport in boston and we headed up to new hampshire to go twighlight skiing & snowboarding at gunstock. i hadn't skiied since my freshman year in high school....but i quickly got back into it & we had a great time hitting the slopes! tim is from mass, so his parents nicely let us stay at their house in andover. we picked alex up from the airport on sunday & started our journey back to the cape! i couldn't help but smile the whole time....i was so happy to be back! monday we jumped right back into our service....clearing "fire fuel" with the eastham dnr out the cold. the cape is actually a lot milder than back in the midwest, so it wasn't too bad being outside. i started doing a lot of data entry at the stranding network and we had a WET Fest on friday in harwich with the whole corps -- so we were all finally back together again! it's amazing to me how much this place has become my home & these people my family. i love it. i have started to look for jobs & such for once this is over & i always get sad thinking that this awesome adventure is going to have to end....so i am trying to soak up everything while i can! we went bowling on friday......hiking at the mass audobon yesterday.....& today we are possibly going ice skating! busy busy.
i hope everyone else had a great new years.....if i saw you back in wisco.....it was great to see you & thank you for being so interested and supportive of what i am doing! i think back to what i was doing a year ago.....in madison & it is so crazy what a difference a year makes.
LIFE IS GOOD!
my "surprise" party.......
outside THURMANS in milwaukee.....
camp get together.......
back in wellfleet.....hiking at the mass audobon.....
1 comment:
ABBEY! thanks for the update and pictures! im so so sorry i missed you when you were in wisco, it sounds (and looks) like you had a great time... i miss you guys. it was definitely nice to be in florida, but i would have liked to catch up with you and everyone else back home. anyway, i hope 2009 is a good one for you, lets have a phone date sometime! much love-
dan
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