And...

Because blog posts are totally boring without pictures, here are a few from the past 2 months:)

at Camp Randall! 20-10 Iowa Victory!

Happy 27th Birthday to me!

Dolley is helping me blow out the candles:)

Me and the beautiful bride Marcee!

Former roomie and great friend, Ann and I!

Me and the fiance! Our wedding is next!

All the beautiful ladies!

Some of my besties... Me, Sara and Kate!

Kate and I!

Wow... I really suck at this...

I mean, my last post was October 12th? Really, Amber? Is it possible to be absolutely swamped without being busy? It sounds ridiculous, but it's not like I've really been up to much the last few months. My wedding has practically planned itself, thanks to my mother. So aside from driving back and forth to Iowa City on the weekends, I don't really have much of an excuse for my L.A.M.E. blog. My world for the last few months:

October 17th: Tyson and I drove up to Madison, Wisconsin for the Iowa football game. 20-10 is all I gotta say! Go Hawks. They were 7-0 after this ass-kicking!

October 23rd-26th: Spent the weekend in Iowa City, babysitting Tyson's younger siblings. Nearly had a heart attack as the Hawks needed a no-time-remaining TD to secure the win over the Michigan State Spartans. I should also note that Tyson's neighbors probably weren't too happy with him, as he ran around the cul-de-sac screaming after the TD! Celebrated my birthday on the 26th (27 years old!) with dinner at Blackstone with my family and Tyson's parents. Fun time.

October 31st: Again nearly had a heart attack as the Hawks waited until the 4th quarter to start playing the game of football, going on to beat the Indiana Hoosiers in controversial fashion. Plenty of blown calls in this game, but the Hawks lucked out and pulled out the "W." Definitely took some criticism from the media after this game, but 9-0 is still 9 wins and NO losses, last time I checked. Also got to see a good friend and former roomie, Ann, who was in town for the weekend with her hubby Justin. Went out and had a ball with them on Halloween. I didn't dress up though! Oops.

November 7th: Unfortunately, I was there, in the stands, at Kinnick Stadium as the Hawks lost their first game of the 2009 season. What a heartbreaker. Never would've lost if Stanzi hadn't gone down. But, some things go your way and others don't. We have Penn State's number, and apparently Northwestern has ours. I expected Tyson to take the loss much worse than he did, but he bounced back pretty quick. The rest of the weekend was kind of a blur!

November 13th: Back to Iowa City... again... this time for Tyson's birthday. We went to dinner at the Wig to celebrate and braced ourselves for the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. See, with Stanzi out, NO ONE gave us a chance. They'd totally written us off. No way in hell we could pull out a victory AT the 'Shoe. Well folks, we took them to overtime. Damn near beat 'em. If it weren't for a botched 22-yard field goal, we would've taken the mighty Buckeyes down. But, again, things just didn't go our way, but we put up one helluva fight. I was proud to be a Hawkeye! One of my besties from high school was also in town this weekend and we went out and had one heck of a night on Saturday night. Sunday wasn't so much fun, but Saturday night with Kate and Allie was one of the best in a long time!

November 21st: Ahhh yes... the weekend I'd been looking forward to all summer. See, this past summer we had an abnormally large number of Gopher fans around the ballpark. Mostly interns that felt the need to talk sh*t despite taking an absolute BEATING last year in the Metrodome (55-ZERO, in case you forgot...). "We're a better team this year," and "We've got a new stadium that's way nicer than Kinnick," and "Watch out, Minnesota football will be dominant in a few years," is all I heard all summer. Puh-lease. Give me a break. So I just kept my mouth shut and said we'll see how it plays out. Well, although I was hoping for another shellacking , the Hawks still beat the Goophers impressively, holding them scoreless for another 4 quarters. Very impressive, Minnesota. Can't wait to see how dominant you'll really be!

November 25th: Back to IC (see a pattern developing yet?) for Thanksgiving Break! One of my very best friends, and my maid of honor, Sara, was in town so it was fabulous hanging out with her. I think her boyfriend was slightly mad at me for the shape "I put her in" on Friday night. Oops. Let it be known that I wasn't force-feeding her the alcohol! On Thanksgiving, Tyson and I drove to Independence, Iowa to spend time with the Gartner family. After a hearty meal that included plenty of turkey, some cranberry sauce, and Aunt Jeanne's famous rolls, Tyson and I were off to Iowa City to spend some time with his family. I swear, I ate more in this day that I did in the 4 days leading up to Thanksgiving!

December 5th: One of my very good friends from college, Marcee, got married this weekend in a suburb of Chicago! Tyson and I drove over on Saturday morning and stayed in the hotel where the wedding reception was taking place. Wow, what a fabulous idea. No cab ride home, no worrying... just a drunken stumble up to our room. Perfect. Marcee looked absolutely beautiful and it was neat seeing all her ideas play out. About 6 months before her wedding, Marcee and I were exchanging emails about our respective plans for our weddings and we realized that many of the things Marcee was planning, I was planning as well! Without talking to each other at all! So it was neat to see everything come together. Sunday sucked because of all the driving, but all-in-all it was a fantastic weekend!

December 11th: My mom and I departed on an interestingly dangerous trip up to LaCrosse, Wisconsin to visit my Aunt Wanda and her family. I say interesting because, despite having a GPS, we still managed to get lost. And I say dangerous because, despite driving a massive SUV, we were still slipping and sliding all over the road. A trip that should've taken us no longer than 3.5 hours ended up taking almost 5. Oops. I wish I could just blame it all on the weather, but we're just not so good with directions! And I swear, neither of us are blonde! Once we got there, we spent some quality time with Wanda, Tom and their two daughters, Shelby and Joyahna. And we made my bridesmaids gifts for the wedding! AND we made MY necklace for the wedding. A very productive weekend.

December 18th- 20th: I was soooo looking forward to this weekend... I didn't have ANYWHERE to be. I could spend the WHOLE weekend in Des Moines if I wanted to! Tyson even made plans to come visit me on Saturday after he got off work! I was so pumped. Then I get a text message on Wednesday alerting me of a family Christmas on the 19th. Not kidding, I was in tears. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. Any one of my friends will tell you that. But I was just SOO looking forward to a weekend of NOTHING. Apparently that weekend just wasn't in the cards. Oh well. So on Friday I packed up my car for the 15th consecutive weekend and headed back to Iowa City. Tyson's family Christmas was fun and it was a joy to see everyone again. The question of the night seemed to be "are you and Tyson going to have kids right away?" Man, give us a chance to GET MARRIED first, people! All-in-all it was a great night and I scored a sweet pair of gloves in the gift exchange!

Well... that pretty much sums up my life for the last two months! On December 23rd I once again packed up and headed back to Iowa City for Christmas. That night, my great friend Kate threw a party at her new condo in Coralville and man, was it fun. Sara was in town and so was one of my very best guy friends from high school, Tonsie. Ahh, good times. Christmas Eve was celebrated at Grandma Judy's in West Liberty, followed by gift opening with my parents, brothers and Tyson later that night. Christmas Day I went to mass with the fam and then headed over to Tyson's parent's to open presents with his family. After a movie with the Gartner clan (went to see Up In the Air with George Clooney... excellent) we headed home to do our Christmas tradition: a meal in which everyone can have ANYTHING they want. You pick, and Bruce cooks! It's awesome! I chose spaghetti and meatballs, like I do every year:) Tyson picked tacos for his first-ever Christmas meal, but about halfway through, he looked at my dad's NY Strip and said "maybe I'll do a steak next year!" HAHA! Saturday and Sunday were lounging days, Monady through Wednesday were spent at work, and as we speak, I'm gearing up for another trip back to Iowa City to ring in 2010. I have a feeling it's going to be one of the best years of my life:)

Black & Gold Never Gets Old!

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you knew that the fabulously undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes were taking on the Michigan Wolverines this past Saturday night, under the lights at the infamous Kinnick Stadium. If you know me and my fiance, you know that we're slightly obsessed with Hawkeye Football. Tyson grew up sitting on the 50-yard line with his dad nearly every Saturday from August to December. And I, although spending my entire life in the amazing town of Iowa City, did not attend my first Hawkeye game until my freshman year of college. Tyson and I's relationship was solidified around Hawkeye football. Every weekend we'd head down to the stadium to tailgate with his friends and family. Some of the most amazing memories I have with him have been on ice-cold football saturdays! This season, because of family weddings and work obligations, I haven't been able to sit with Tyson and cheer on the Hawks like we've done for the last two years. So you can only imagine how incredibly excited I was that NOTHING was planned on Saturday, October 10th. Nothing but a nice, old-fashioned ass-kicking of the Michigan Wolverines. Ok, so maybe it wasn't the blowout I was hoping for, but like the Homecoming t-shirts so cleverly stated, we definitely made Michigan our Bichigan! HA!

The day started out around 4 pm, which is seriously LATE compared to the 11 am start times most students obeyed! We parked far enough away from the stadium to get a good walk in and headed towards the Kinnick Society parking lot, where Tyson's family sets up camp every home football weekend. There were tents. There was a camper. There were heaters. There was a grill with tons of chicken and brats. There was chili. There was Bailey's and coffee. And most importantly, there was this incredible anticipation surrounding the Stadium. Everyone was just giddy with excitement. The atmosphere was incredible. And I was still OUTSIDE the stadium!

After visiting with friends from Des Moines and catching up with a great friend in town from Memphis, Tyson and I decided to head in a bit early. Ya know, to catch all the pregame stuff that goes on during Homecoming Week. We took our seats in time to see Chuck Long grace the Kinnick Stadium grass once again. We saw the cheerleaders and dance team, and the ALUMNI cheerleaders and dance team. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was having a good time. Everyone was in Black and Gold. The coolest colors EVER. When "Back in Black" blared through the speakers, I about lost it. See, although I've been to quite a few Hawkeye games in the past eight seasons, the electricity of Kinnick Stadium never gets old. The players walking through the halls to AC/DC. The semi driving in to Iowa City and smashing the opposing mascot on it's way through. The stupid board that Herky rides out on. The I-O-W-A flags that light up the night as they fly through the air. The SWARM. None of it EVER gets old to me. I ALWAYS have goosebumps. And this year, I almost cried. Everyone was cheering. Everyone was in black. Everyone was waving their gold pompoms. You could tell that every single person in that stadium, aside from the handful of Michigan fans, was 100% in love with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. And that was pretty damn cool.

Although the game was a little too close for comfort, the Hawkeyes scraped out a two-point victory to improve to 6-0 for the first time since 1985. Oh, and by the way, the Hawks now own the nation's second longest winning streak. Two words: Iowa Hawkeye Pride. :)

It's Britney, Beyotch!

I tried to keep it classy with the title, but really, it's Britney Spears. Is there really anything classy about her?! No... And that's what I love about her!

Last Friday, my good friend Andrea and I went to The Circus, featuring the legendary Miss Britney Spears. It was seriously a circus... not just a concert, but a production. I've never seen anything like it! A couple months ago I saw Coldplay at the WFA, and while they put on an AMAZING show, Britney was incredible! Some of her "Circus" acts were a little sketchy, but overall, a great performance. Can't say she was really SINGING the entire time, but oh well! You can't expect a girl to dance her a** off and sing at the same time, right?!

From what I remember she sang: Circus, Boys, Womanizer, Toxic, Baby One More Time, Everytime, If You Seek Amy, Slave for You, Gimme More (I think!) and a really cool cover of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know! Oh, and Jordin Sparks opened for her, singing Battlefield, No Air and Tattoo!

Special thanks to the girls from the DM Register for an amazing night! I had a great time!

Andrea and I after the concert...

Performing Everytime...

Smokin' Hot!

The Legendary Miss Britney Spears!

The Circus begins in...

Andrea, Myself and Kristin!

JORDIN SPARKS!

Going to the Courthouse:)

So last week I went with one of my great friends, Katie, and her fiance Chris, to the courthouse to apply for their marriage license. They needed a "witness" and I was the lucky person they chose:) It was so fun, y'all! I'm totally that person that gets all weepy and sentimental at awkward times, but this was a HUGE step... they were going to apply for a REAL marriage license! Like, it's totally legit now. Katie even got to sign her new name... Katie Moorhead (no "E"... basically what she'll have to say for the rest of her life!) (Not that mine will be much better... Yes, like the restaurant, McDonald.) HA!

Dutifully playing my part, I snapped a few photos of them filling out the forms and even got a great one of them outside, by the Polk County sign:) I was so honored to be a part of such a special moment for them. I see Katie and Chris being great friends for quite some time. Katie and I always joke that we'll be the hot soccer moms, toting our children all over town, while our hubbies are off playing golf somewhere! Here are some of the pics from the day!

My Best Friend's Bachelorette Party

so my very best friend is getting married in one month and six days! i couldn't be more excited for her! over the weekend of august 1st, we celebrated her "final fling before the ring." we had an incredible time. michelle flew in from denver. maren drove over from omaha. i was (thankfully!) able to get some time away from work. and amy, alicia's adorable older sister, opened her gorgeous home for us girls to celebrate. and celebrate we did! see, amy had such an amazing night planned. the decorations were gorgeous, her awesome hubby cooked us a delicious dinner and the drinks were nothing short of amazing. here's a picture of the incredible decor:

pretty amazing, huh? the night started with some hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. the sangria was delicious. presents were opened. games were played. stories were shared and lives were all caught up. after dinner, and plenty of sangria pitchers later, we proceeded to throw our own dance party in the kitchen. yep, you heard me. we danced it out, mostly to the amazing tunes of michael jackson (may he rest in peace). when we'd had enough kitchen dancing, we piled in the back of the minivan and mark drove us to a couple bars in downtown davenport. this is where the night becomes a little shady:) luckily i have plenty of pictures to help me remember this amazing night. enjoy!

it's been a while...

apparently i suck at this whole blogging thing. as you can see, it's been over a year between my last two posts! oops!

tyson and i went to the PGA championship this past weekend. holy cow people, TIGER is even more impressive in person. he's downright beautiful. everyone that knows of my absolute LOVE for tiger woods would be happy to know that i mustered up the courage to let out a "go tiger!" as he walked by us on the 18th fareway:) apparently my inspirational shout didn't quite work, as he relinquished the lead to Y.E. Yang on the final day of the tournament. it's ok... i still love him.

only 13 more games left in the 2009 baseball season. the iowa cubs are dangerously close to making the playoffs, and while i'd love to see them do well, i'm secretly crossing my fingers that they come up JUST short. i just have too much to look forward to this offseason... and piling more games on top of the already played 72 just doesn't sound like fun. i'm ready for a little peace and quiet.

i'm heading back to iowa city on wednesday for a little family time. i haven't seen my parents since they got back from mexico and i'm craving a little mommy/daddy time. and a little time with the brothers. oh and that fiance of mine:o)

since i couldn't take my camera with me to Hazeltine National, i'll leave you with a picture of what i got to see ALL DAY on saturday. i know you're jealous.