Team Willi: Updates, updates, updates!

Ladies and gentleman...

WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS! Well, I suppose it's just me, but "I AM BACK" just didn't sound that momentous. And this IS quite an occasion...

I love blogging—truly, I do—but it's terribly difficult to get back on the horse after so much time. And speaking of all the time that has passed, here's a quick and dirty update on what transpired during the hiatus.

Let's see...

1) Fostering! JC (foster mommy extraordinaire) hooked us up with the awesome crew at Pet Connect Rescue and we began fostering dogs at the end of August. Our first dog, Brody, was an adorable one-year-old lab mix. We had him for two weeks before he was adopted. Our second dog, Rosalie, arrives today. She's a two-year-old, Australian shepherd/beagle mix and should be a great time. Here's a picture of Brody-kins, as he was affectionately named:

Aww... he was quite the lovable dope! Although, his charm was completely lost on the Teeb. She didn't warm up to this little guy until about three days before he left. C'est la vie, I suppose. Fingers crossed she gets along a lot better with Rosalie.

2) Philly! The weekend before school started we went up to Philadelphia for a couple days with fabulous friends at the The Mac Shack. It was a much needed respite from the craziness of setting up my classroom, and anytime with our friends is always supercharged and oh-so-special (probably because we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we'd like to)!

And because I'm a dork who likes wordplay:

Phood:

Phriends:

Phun:

Good times all around!

3) School started! I'm teaching Kindergarten this year, and it's been a whirlwind. I had photos of my classroom, but they were wiped out in the crash... I'll post some others soon. I must say, I've never experienced anything like this before. I knew teaching wouldn't be easy... but I didn't know I would run the gamut of emotions— Love, excitement, annoyance, elation, disappointment, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, fear, comfort, anxiety, etc etc etc... and this is all in one day :) Here's a pic from the week before school started. We've got A LOT more going on these days!

4) US Open! One of the few traditions we've managed to keep up with (so far) is our annual trip to the US Open tennis tournament. I'm a tennis freak, and this tourney is my Super Bowl. We went for the first time in 2008 and that's where the Mister finally put a ring on it. Needless to say, it's near and dear and my absolute favorite place in the world to be with Amwilli. It's as if once you walk through the gates to the tennis center, nothing else matters except who you're with and the awesome day you know is about to unfold. Sigh... I'm sad it's only once a year— but something tells me it wouldn't be so magical if it were more frequent than that.

We spent the rest of the weekend eating our way through the city... Junior's and Shake Shack and Magnolia, Oh my!

5) Minnesota! A family wedding was responsible for our very first trip to the land of 10,000 lakes. I was looking forward to the getaway, spending time with all the other Willies, and a chance to scope out hotspots from the Travel Channel or Food Network (of course). I knew we were flying into Minneapolis, so immediately the food filing cabinet in my brain conjured up the Man v. Food Minneapolis episode and a delectable little burger called the Juicy Lucy. We stopped for lunch at Matt's Bar, the home of the original "Jucy Lucy." And that's not a typo— legend has it that way back in the day a customer requested a burger with the cheese melted inside the burger. Once he bit into it, he exclaimed "that's one juicy Lucy," but it was put up on the menu as "Jucy Lucy" and the typo stayed. It's still up on the wall, on all their awards and merchandise. Matt's Bar is a hole in the wall— they don't have ice, plates or wine glasses (which didn't sit well with Grandma W, at first), but they do have the BEST burger I've ever tasted... and if you know me, and my penchant for burgers, that's sayin' a lot. I would hop on a plane to MN just for that burger. Mmmm....