Dun Dun Duh Nuh Nuh Nuh GO PACK GO!

December 13th marked the greatest day that I've had thus far (well maybe I wouldn't go that far but def top 10). As stated in my previous post, we went to the Packers/Bears game at Soldier Field!

Section 223!

It was so fun, but we discovered that Bears' fans are really not nice at all, except for a select few. As you may have seen/heard, Meghan and Dad went to a Packer game at Lambeau a few years back, and it was veryyyy cold. She pulled through and went the end of the game in her bikini top, and I had made the decision to do the same at my first big girl game (I went to Lambeau when I was 13, and to the Rams/Packers game my Senior year of high school in STL which obvi doesn't count).

Matching Ear Luggs

After much harassment for just BEING a Packer fan, the fourth quarter came around. It was 30 degrees and we were losing. I was skeptical about shedding the jacket and jersey for fear of death and frostbite, but we got a really good run in and were in the red zone. I took off the layers with confidence: Sports Bra, tutu, Ear lugg hat and all. The fans around me did not respond well. There were B-words, and W-words, and people commenting on my weight, but I stuck it out while popcorn and hotdogs were thrown. Thank St. Vince that we won, because I'm not sure what I would have done otherwise! After the game, some nice (because very drunk) bears' fans wanted a pic with the Green Bay girl and all worked out in the end. Haters still passed, but others appreciated the die-hardness that was shown. Definitely a day to remember.

Drunken Bears' Fan

XOXOGOPACKGOXOXO

TODAY'S THE DAY! (caps means shouting)

It has finally come.

Sunday, December 13th, 2009.

There will be a high of 36 and a low of 32.

We will be in section 223...the south side of Soldier Field.

Look for us in the green and gold tutus.


Last night we stalked Nick Barnett and he smile and waved from his cab when I yelled "GO PACKERS" I then tweeted him to tell him about that experience and HE. TWEETED. BACK. and said "Yea I saw you guys! :-)"

Now most of you who read this understand how awesome this is...but for those who aren't familiar with the Packers...Nick Barnett is to me what Beyonce is to normal people. Just to put it in perspective.


GO PACK GO!

xoxo

Gobble, Gobble, Trot , Trot

Thanksgiving means many-a-thing to the Randy Ekern family: Dining out, watching football, bloodies and beer, shopping, and now apparently running in the cold. That's right people, this year Meghan convinced us that we had to run the Turkey Trot 5k in Chesterfield, MO as a family. So, after a nice T-day dinner at the Melting Pot, we woke up at the crack of dawn, and ran, and all of us completed the race...So go team.
Now anyone who knows me knows that I will use any excuse to make a t-shirt (high school senior activities, Harry Potter 6 premiere, New Moon premiere, etc.) So Mom and I decided that we would get some shirts made. We got them in Packer colors, and I said that there was no way in H that I would run 3.1 miles without an incentive, so the front said "Beer Run 09...Thanksgiving Edition" and the back said "EKERN" with the number of the year we were born.

(Did I mention it was bleeping cold? Well It was, so we all look 4 times larger than we are because of the layers. Don't judge us.)

Consequently, I finished the race, went straight to the car, straight to the cooler, and drank my beer.

The rest of the fam followed, Meghan got her banana, and I guess this is a new tradish.

The Ekern Family is now on the run.

XOXO

Fall Favorites

Winter may be the most wonderful time of the year, but Fall is definitely the most fun. The weather is still nice enough to enjoy the changing leaves and outdoor activites, and...well, it's my birthday! And let's not forget about the start of FOOTBALL SEASON! Here is an account of my Autumn Season:

We Decorated the Apartment.

We went to the Pumpkin Patch. (That's Nicole)

We carved said pumpkins.

I spend my Sundays at the Packer bar with the owner, Brian. I also risk my life every sunday sporting my Packer tutu around the streets of Chicago. Many swear words, honks, yells, and hand gestures are seen and heard.

THEN CAME MY BIRTHDAY!

I am no longer a teen. I am 20. I have 11 months until I am allowed to drink without the chance of being arrested. As we know, my birthday is on Halloween, which always calls for a party regardless.I had my birthday party the night before my birthday so we could pop some champagne and squeal at midnight.....but i didn't quite make it until then. After a few drinks (I won't disclose how many) I decided to...fall asleep...at 11. No one was even really at my party yet. Turns out about 50 more people showed up at like 11:30, and apparently it was fun, so I'm happy! The next day (my actual birthday) we laid around ALL day, watched Halloween 1, 2, 4 and 5, went to taco bell, and then got ready for the evening to come. My friends Chelsea, Blair, and John decided to come up for the occasion, and we all went to the Boystown Halloween Parade...which was awesome. Then we went to Katie's "before going out" only to find out that it was a surprise dinner and drinks party for me! It was decorated so beautiful and there was tons of food and fun. After that it kind of went downhill but I was just exhausted and getting sick so we called it a night after the surprise. All-in-all my birthday was a success.....and I plan on next year's being an even bigger one!

The Crew from STL: Chelsea (Cat), Me (Lady Gaga), Rachel (Aerobics Instructor) and Blair (Kristen Stewart...the girl from Twilight for all you real adults out there)

Katie's decorated apartment for my surprise!

Minnie Mouse (Katie), Gaga, Mummy (Linds)

Happy Birthday to Me!!

XOXO

London Calling. Paris...Not So Much.

Finally I will blog to you about my European Excursion!! I left on September 20th and stayed until October 2nd. I went through my school, The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago which grouped with several other AI schools around the country. We went to London, Bath, Paris, and Lyon and it was such a great time! I met so many great girls from Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and California.

Our first day was ridiculous because we had an overnight flight and then had to start the day with no sleep at all! We went on a bus tour, and to dinner, and just got familiar with the area. We stayed at the Kensington Close Hotel right by the Kensington High Street aka GREAT SHOPPING!

Also while in London we went to Kensington Palace, John Lewis Department Store, and a ton of museums. And in Bath we went to the Roman Baths, and a few more museums (there were quite a lot of those involved in this trip). London is my favorite place I have ever been! I would totally live there if I could. It has such a great vibe. Here's a few of my favorite London Pics!

We then moved on Paris. Now at this point we had been gone for a week. We were all exhausted and it was starting to take its toll. Then when we rolled through the city in our tour bus we were all unimpressed. For some reason the romance and magic of the city wasn't caught while driving through the shadiest areas. Let's just say Paris and I got off on the wrong foot. I think I would need to go there again and stay in a different location and do different things, and then maybe I could appreciate it more. Our schedule was so jam packed that we had basically no free time. The highlight was definitely going to a Paris Fashion Week show. It was a great experience and one that may have been once in a lifetime. Lyon was beautiful. We found a fun bar called Hippo Bar to eat and drink at, and it was more relaxing and fun there. Here are my favorite Paris pictures.

XOXO

Anything But Clothes.

Before I left on my European adventure, it was my BFF Rachel's birthday! Of course we had to have a party, and anyone who knows us knows it can't just be a regular party. So....we had to theme it. We decided on Anything But Clothes, and although this sounds like an x-rated party...it wasn't, and it was a fashion student's creative dream. We thought long and hard and came up with how we could be fully clothed while wearing no clothes. My material of choice were cereal boxes. If you've been in my apartment you have seen the 10 boxes of cereal I had lined in a nice little row on my shelf. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Corn Pops, Cheerios, Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Mini Wheats...the list goes on and on. Here's how it turned out.

Lindsay chose metallic tissue paper and pom poms. Blair chose a sheet and pink duct tape.

And the birthday girl chose a gify bag and bow of course!

No one else really went with the theme, but that isn't unusual at our parties because apparently we're the only ones that know how to have a good time!! And that we do.

Long Time No...

I've been M.I.A. for a while, and I apologize. Althought I know I have like 2 readers, the fan base isn't going to get any bigger if there are no posts to read. I just got back from a 2 week excursion to Europe, but that post will come at a later date including pictures and stories galore. When I left off I was headed to Vegas for work, so that it what I'll fill you in on.

I have an internship at a showroom in Chicago. My role is to assist Clare in all of her tasks as a sales rep. She carries several lines of clothing in her showroom, and here's how I explain it to people. Designers make the clothes and Buyers buy them for their stores. Reps are the people that the designers hand their items off to, and then the reps sell those clothes at wholesale to the Buyers who then sell them in their store at retail pricing (usually about double the wholesale price). Our biggest lines at the moment are Tretorn shoes and Lucky Brand Accessories. I'm gaining a lot of experience in the fashion industry and having a good time doing it.

One of the perks was going to Vegas for one of the biggest trade shows in the country MAGIC and PROJECT. At trade shows, all the reps have booths with their lines and buyers from all the stores come around and pick what they want for that season and we write their orders and get them their stuff. I had a great experience working in the Idylle booth with the brothers that started the business. I learned a lot about selling and then got to have fun in Vegas at night! We stayed at the Venetian which has everything you could need right inside so we had some great dinners and drinks, and a good time with a lot of other reps.

I didn't have my new camera yet, so there are no pictures of Vegas, but I didn't see much besides the hotel and show, so you aren't really missing anything fantastic. However, I did have my camera in Europe and my next post will prove that!

Thanks for reading!
Em

On Wisconsin! Happy Birthday Sassy!

This past weekend was Katie's (I sometimes refer to her as Sassy) 19th Birthday! To celebrate we went to visit her boyfriend Steve, who also happens to be Lindsay's best guy friend from high school! (How convenient right?) AND as it just so happens Lindsay and Steve are from Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. (I know that 98.2% of the people reading this blog know where that is since you are all from wisco yourselves.) But for those who don't it is near Madison which is near Baraboo, which is where i lived age 4-8, so basically we grew up within an hour of eachother! (Small world.) Anywho...Steve goes to UW-Madison so we made the small journey to spend Wednsday thru Sunday at Steve's new townhouse. (Which if you think through means that I was there to watch the PACKERS kick some ass (sorry g-ma) on Saturday!).

To fully celebrate Katie's birthday we bedazzled these little jugs which are called 'Bubba Kegs' and drank party-friendly liquids out of them for the evening. (They have googly eyes).

The rest of the weekend we just met Steve's friends and hung out. BUT Saturday night Steve and I insisted on having a full Packer tailgate. There were burgers and beer and brats and that game which people call "testicles" but i think is really called somthing about a ladder but it doesn't matter because I was so good at it (Steve and I were undefeated). We then settled down for 3 hours (poor katie suffered because she is not a football fan and was only prepared for 2 hours) of good old fashioned football.

We headed back Sunday but not before we pit stopped at the world's largest Culvers for a chocolate malt and some chili chedder fries. All-in-all....good weekend! A bitter sweet moment was figuring out that this was week 5 in our 10 week summer schedule of fun aka 'The Summer Sched'. We have had crazy weeks of travel and fun things going on every weekend so we made a schedule and taped it the fridge. Next stop for me is Las Vegas for the Magic and Project trade shows! Stay tuned people!

Lollapalooza 2009

A couple weeks ago was Lollapalooza, a well know music festival that lasted all weeked from Aug 7-9 starting at 11 am every morning and ending around 10 pm every night. My roommate, Lindsay, and I got our tickets as soon as the list of bands that were going to be there came out because Kings of Leon was headlining and they are our favorite! We bought Katie a Friday ticket for her birthday and then her dad bought her and her boyfriend Steve tickets for Sunday so it was definitely a BFF event. Since we got the tickets so early we got a great deal: basically 3 days for the price of 2 plus the ability to come and go as we please.

It was such a blast. Some of the bands we saw were: Manchester Orchestra, Ben Folds, Asher Roth, The Decemberists, KINGS OF LEON!, Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Airborne Toxic Event, SNOOP DOGG, and the Killers, along with a bunch of cool DJ's that were mixing tracks on the spot.

Day 1 it poured so much that we went home to change from our cute dresses to rainboots and sweatshirts. We stood in the same spot for 2 1/2 hours just so we could be up close and personal for Kings of Leon only to be harrassed by a couple of drunk boys which resulted in us (not really meaning to) but starting a fight. The fight resulted in said gross boys losing half of their belongings and leaving the crowd. Serves them right. But remember kids: violence is not the answer.

Day 2 was mellow.

Day 3 was the day of all days. Snoop Dogg would be performing and to pay him and his hip hop ways tribute...we dressed like so:

although there were funny looks and comments, it was totally worth it to dance like a gangsta and look the part as well. After Snoop was the Killers which was basically just a big dance party.

This festival will for sure be a staple in our yearly plans. Can't wait to see who's in the line up next year! :-)

"So Young To Be Loose and On Her Own"

Hello Family and Friends,

Since Meghan has decided to ditch our former 'sister blog', I too have decided to take my own path. I've chosen blogspot cuz that's what Greta and Becca use, and I like it better. I still live in Wrigleyville in Chicago, and I have actually moved just 2 blocks away from our old apartment. I have 2 roommates, Lindsay and Britt, and you'll also see and hear about Katie, our BFF that lives on her own a few neighborhoods south. Now I may not be a writer but I'm a pretty good time, so if nothing else you can use this as your source of entertainment.

I thought I'd start my blogging off with a recap of things I have done in my first year of living in this great city....

1. Visited the outdoor exhibit "The Big Red Ball"

2. Becca Running the Chicago Marathon

3. My 19th Birthday

4. Segway tour with the Fam

5. Voting for the 1st time!

6. Getting my first tattoo.

There are the highlights from the old blog. I will post a bunch more in the near future of all of my summer city activities!! Thanks for reading!

XOXO,

Em