Football and Fall

We went to the Brewers game on Friday. We skipped happy hour this week. The game stunk, the Brewers were down five after the first inning. Sheets is a bum. After the game we went to The Pub for a couple burgers. We hadn’t been there in a while and they scratched an itch I’ve had for a while.

Saturday was a gorgeous day. You can tell Fall is right around the corner. I’ve missed the last two Badgers games since I was in Canada so I wasn’t about to miss this one. I headed out to Luedke’s parents’ house to watch the game in their media room. A bunch of the guys went out there. We had a couple beers and watched the Badgers struggle to beat Citadel. I haven’t been overly impressed with their play so far this year. At least we’re not Notre Dame. After the football game we headed to Adam’s for Chappy’s bachelor party. There were about twenty guys there. Everyone played cards but I wasn’t overly interested in playing so I watched football and drank beer. We played some drinking games, at some pizza and smoked some cigars. It was a good time. Chappy’s single life is quickly melting away.

Taking The BIG Plunge

The weekend has arrived that Jocelyn and I have been furiously planning for what seems like years, our wedding. Leading up to the wedding I wasn’t nervous at all. I unfortunately was sick and spent the entire week trying to get over my cold. Friday after work ended the running around and craziness started. I was able to relax for an hour at home before I had to run to get the DJ lighting from a couple establishments. There was a mix up on the lighting that I had originally ordered and I spent Thursday frantically calling around trying to find some lights. I think I found the last two sets in Milwaukee, a huge disaster narrowly averted. Rich and I hopped in the Montero and drove around Milwaukee picking the stuff up. A spring snow and rush hour traffic made for crappy driving. After we got the lights I took Rich to pick up his tux. Once we got back downtown I stopped by Luedke and DeBruin who were having a couple beers at Mo’s pub. Rich and I had one and headed back to my apartment. Once back at the apartment I got ready for the rehearsal. Jocelyn and I didn’t feel like driving so we got a ride with her mom. We were a little late but being the bride and groom we had the right. The rehearsal was actually pretty long. The pastor took his time in explaining everything very thoroughly. After the rehearsal we headed to Turner Hall for dinner and drinks. Many had the classic Friday fish fry and the food was great. Once dinner was over we stayed at the Hall and had a couple more beers. Jocelyn went home early to get her beauty rest but my job as the groom was to go out and enjoy my last night as a single man. So I went out with a couple of the Marti boys, DeBruin and Luedke. We went to the German beer hall that is right by Turner Hall. We had a couple more beers there and a five person shot on a snow ski. I was home about one and to bed at about two after I did some wedding day chores.

The day of reckoning. I woke up about eight and got my stuff together, checking and double checking. At nine I headed to Kenosha to pick up the rest of the DJ equipment. On the way I stopped at McDonald’s for a wedding day sausage egg McMuffin and a breakfast burrito. I got back to Milwaukee just after eleven. As soon as I got back to the apartment everyone started showing up. Todd and Greg showed up followed by Marti and my two brothers. Everyone just sat around, drank a few beers, got ready and waited for 1:30 to roll around. We got to the church on time and accounted for. The groom and his men hung out in the basement and watched the Brewer game on my laptop. The only thing that caused a hint of stress was my mom and dad showing up late and my dad wasn’t dressed because he left his tux with my brother in Milwaukee. When he finally got his stuff together we snapped a couple pre-wedding pictures and it was almost time to get it on. Three rolled around and it was go time. I still wasn’t too nervous but when the door opened and I took my spot in front of the church the emotions started to build up. Everyone marched out and I must’ve looked like a deer in the headlights as they came down the aisle. Then Jocelyn’s music started and as soon as I saw the white of her dress I got extreme nervousness and experienced an emotional flood. She looked absolutely beautiful, stunning. As she came down the aisle I have to admit I didn’t soak it up as much as I should’ve because I was concentrating on keeping my composure and not breaking down. The handoff between Jocelyn’s dad and I was the toughest part of the wedding. She was on the verge of breaking down, he was on the verge of breaking down and I had just spent the last two minutes trying not to break down. So I had a couple facial twitches and contortions but I was able to receive my bride without blubbering like a baby. The rest of the wedding went by smoothly considering I could feel my legs chattering and smacking the insides of my pants. My voice did crack a bit for the vows and I had another facial twitch but I was able to recite my lines without messing up. Jocelyn did her line flawlessly as well and before we knew it we were husband and wife and the wedding was over. I was officially married to Mrs. Jocelyn Rau. The wedding went great considering the worries I had over the music on the iPod and my emotions getting the best of me. After the wedding we had the receiving line. I got a little emotional with some people but that was to be expected. So after a hundred hugs and kisses it was picture time. A snap here, a snap there and we were done with that. Jocelyn and I had gotten a carriage to take us to the art museum. It was a nice sunny day but it was cold. A carriage ride is extremely slow and we were getting passed by people walking to the Badger hockey game. The carriage ride was very nice, as was the champagne, but by the time we got to the art museum we had had enough. We let the carriage go. There was an event going on at the art museum and the security guards were being assholes to everyone so we only got a couple pictures there. It was windy and cold so we did the snap snap and off we went. J and I got a ride with our photographer and thawed out on the way to Lakefront. Once at Lakefront it was time to get this party started! I had some beers and apps and did the rounds. Roman from work was manning the playlist that I created so I had to give him a brief on the night and make sure everything was ok. We had our grand march and sat down for dinner. After a speech by me, Rich, and a prayer by father Mike it was time to eat. I dug into the delicious food and we drank some champagne and reveled in the moment. It was a great dinner. After dinner Sr. Marcia had to leave and she said some very nice words to me which actually made me shed some tears. Almost tear a free day but leave it to a tiny nun to bring the water works. We then did the tosses and parent dances as well as our first dance. We had a schedule made up and we were about an hour behind which was great party planning on our part. The rest of the night was spent dancing away. I was a mad man on the dance floor and then playlist was the best, since it was my own. Some chugged beers and shots of Jager kept the night going. Everyone was having a great time and I didn’t want the night to end. But at midnight we had to shut things down. A couple slow songs and Varsity to honor the Badgers’ Men’s Hockey National Championship and the party was over. It was an amazing time. After we cleaned up the DJ gear and got it packed up we hopped in a car and went to hotel Metro. We had some more shots and appletinis and laughed with friends. Once the lights came on the night was officially over. We said goodbye to everyone and check into the Pfister next door. J was starving so she ordered a pizza which she ate while still wearing her wedding dress. Some more champagne with the pizza and it was time to call it a night. Another watershed moment in life is over. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Everything went off without a hitch and it was so much fun. I had a perfect day and now I have a perfect bride, my lovely, beautiful, Jocelyn.

The party didn’t stop on Saturday night though. The Brewers were in town and a bunch of friends and family came to the game to tailgate. My cousin Craig really hooked me up with sixteen free tickets. I was a little leery about asking for that many because I thought that some of the people that said yes to coming to the game the night before would actually be “partied out” and not show up on Sunday. But everyone and more showed up. We had a group of about 25. We grilled out and enjoyed the spring weather. Craig also did another cool thing and got J and I’s name on the scoreboard congratulating us on our nuptials. Jocelyn actually missed it because she was on her way to talk to her dad and sisters but I saw it. I stood up for my accolades and totally forgot to take a picture of it, the only regret of the weekend. I got see it though and it was very nice. I went up to one of the luxury boxes to meet with my East coast buddy Wertz before he flew back to New York. After that I headed down to watch the rest of the game. The crew lost but oh well, it was my weekend not theirs. After the game we headed back downtown. Adam and Stacey joined J and I for a dinnertime grill out in Juneau Park. We ate some brats and drank a couple more beers before wrapping up the weekend.

WHAT A WEEKEND! It was perfect and I know it will always be one of the best times in my life. I thank Jocelyn’s family, my family and all my friends for helping me make these wonderful memories. Also thanks to my love Jocelyn for making me the luckiest man alive! I love you!

The Greater Chicago Links, Fore!

This entry should be much longer but once again there are just too many details that should be included that there is no way I can remember them all. That combined with a booze haze makes what should be a long story short. I had my Chicago bachelor party on Saturday. I drove down with my brother, Evraets and Billy. We drove to Chitown and checked into the Hyatt Regency in downtown. I got a steal on Priceline.com at $100 a room. After we checked in we took a cab to the Cubbie Bear in Wrigleyville where I met up with a bunch of my friends from Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago. Once there we started our game of bar golf. Bar golf is scored like regular gold with one drink at a bar being par and each drink after that being one under. We had a scorecard and itinerary all made up so we were well prepared. We all started on our way wandering from bar to bar. Some of the bar events that occurred during our wandering were cigar smoking, wooden Indian posing, other party food raiding, batting cage swinging and Fat Tire Ale (imported from Colorado) drinking. We were doing really good until about hole number nine. We stayed there a little too long because one of our friends from Madison worked there. So we camped out there and since there was a Qdoba across the street some people went get something to eat. After that, the group got pretty split up and it was everyone for themselves after that point. I tried to plod on with my cousin Steve. About a half hour behind was my brother, Evraets and a couple other friends but as far as the golf game was concerned it was over. I was -11 after nine so I’m pretty sure I was winning. We continued drinking at various establishments throughout the night and we ended up at an after hours bar someplace in the Chicago with a skeleton crew of about six of us. Everyone was a mess, including me. I was super tired and drunk so my brother and I left a couple diehards and cabbed it back to the hotel. We got back around four so I was pretty mad when Billy started thrashing around the hotel room at seven. I was pissed but I knew he wanted to get home so we woke up and drove back. I was home by noon which was nice because I could rest the rest of the day. It was a good time.

Bachelor Bore

On Saturday I had the first of my two bachelor parties. This party was for my uncles and Falls friends because I knew that most of them wouldn’t want to make the trip to Chicago for my main one. I pretty much repeated the beginning part of my previous weekend. I went to Rich’s, helped my mom make some of the bachelor party food, packed it up, drove it to the VFW, and set it and the music up and waited for the people to show up. A majority of my uncles showed up, some cousins, and some Falls friends. A bunch of Rich’s friends also showed up, I guess it was his bachelor party too. We sat around, drank some beer, shot some dice, and ate some food. It was pretty close to the tamest bachelor party I’ve ever been to; sad part is it was mine. A bunch of people took off back to Falls but I stayed in Sheboygan. My buddy Fudge stuck around so at least I had one person to hang around with. Rich, some of his buddies, Fudge and I went to Hops Haven. We stayed there the rest of the night and had a couple beers and smoked some cigars. It was the world’s tamest bachelor party ever. I’ve been to sweet sixteen birthday parties that were more exciting. Oh well, I have one more shot and I really wasn’t expecting too much craziness from the Fallsenites.

A Sheboygan Quickie

This weekend was pretty low key and it was much needed. After a couple crazy encounters with the Marti clan I was able to sit back and relax with my own clan. My cousin Lisa and her husband Jeff were having their 25th anniversary party in Sheboygan on Saturday. Lisa had asked me if I would supply the music and I was happy to oblige. I headed up to Sheboygan Saturday afternoon by myself because Jocelyn was having her bachelorette party in Madison. I went to see my new nephew and run a couple errands. The party started around sevenish at the Sheboygan VFW. I set up the tunes and let them play while we had some classic Sheboygan buffet. The rest of the night I sat around with my aunts and uncles and talked. I didn’t feel like staying over so at eleven I packed up my equipment and headed back to Milwaukee. I called Luedke and a bunch of other guys to see what they were doing but by the time I hit the lights of Milwaukee I was ready to hit the hay. I sat on the couch and fell asleep almost instantaneously. I knew I would need the rest while I could get it with the upcoming weeks.