Rapp Strategies Rundown – September

What we did, read, watched and thought about this month.

Todd R.: It’s fall color season - my favorite time to be outdoors - but less fortunately another baseball season without a playoff run. But the Gophers football and volleyball have been fun to watch, and the Vikings beat the Packers! We finished another great season of City on a Hill and we continue to work our way through The Americans (how did we miss that the first time around?). James Burrows’ autobiography is a breezy end (good Cheers stories) and I am nerding out on A Brilliant Solution, a great look at the interrelationships that helped create our constitution. I’m also greatly enjoying past episodes of the You Must Remember This podcast, which provides unique looks at Hollywood personalities and genres from the last century.

Rich: The highlight of the month was a week of golf at Bandon Dunes, Oregon with my two sons, Zach and David, and our good friend, Joe Coyne.

Todd S.: For the Stone family, September is really all about getting ready for October. We don’t consider Halloween just a day — we believe it should be a month of creepiness and fun, so we plan accordingly. The first wave of house decorating is complete, including killer cats with body parts strewn about. That does not include our family cat, of course. We will have more to do over the next few weeks. We may even have a Bigfoot sighting or two along our block. Yup, we’re those people.

Sarah: How is it the end of September already?! Harvest has started and we’re now regularly spending quality time (and meals!) in the combine. We also started a new weekend tradition: Friday night G­reat British Baking Show and Saturday night Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. The Bachelorette wrapped up, but I’ll admit to skipping the last several weeks. Bachelor in Paradise started, marking the return of the best Bachelor Nation show by a mile.

In the garden, we picked and cured 50+ pounds of onions and 150+ pounds of potatoes. We also got our first frost (so early this year!) so planning has begun for digging tubers to store for flowers next spring – dahlias, anemones and ranunculus. We’ll wait for a harder frost before harvesting the well over three dozen butternut squash that have taken over. We prepped our root cellar for long-term storage so we can have fresh veggies well into the winter, which will be here before we know it.

Sean: Summer has officially come to a close and this fall afficionado couldn’t be happier to welcome in the crisp air. While the fantasy football season hasn’t started off on the strongest foot with an 0-3 record in three separate leagues, there’s something to be said for consistency! Rosie and I were able to get up to the cabin a few more times before the weather turned, which was the highlight for the month outside of the premieres of House of the Dragon and Rings of Power, which we’ve been glued to as we slowly but surely make our way through long overdue “thank you” cards from the wedding.

Looking forward to a fantastic fall, which starts with the 10-mile race in early October that I regrettably signed up for months ago. If you don’t hear from me in next month’s rundown, please look for me somewhere between US Bank Stadium and the State Capitol (and tell my clients I loved them)!

Anna: Isaac and I spent a few days at a cabin up north, which included wind-buffeted morning coffee on the dock and eagle and loon sightings. We also had a decadent dinner at Spanky’s Stone Hearth, where I enjoyed the New York strip and Isaac relished the duck and monkfish. The mounted heads of elk and moose and beamed ceilings only enhanced the cozy, lakeside atmosphere. While there, we started The Rings of Power, and after a helpful refresh on the backstory and character bloodlines, we’ve been avid watchers of the series.

Cullen: I am once again reminded that September is the best month of the year no matter where you are in the Upper Midwest, and it isn’t close. The return of students to Madison means that fall sports are officially in full swing, so I made it a point to get out to a few football games and even a volleyball game. It hasn’t been a great start to the Badger football season, but at least the Vikings (and my fantasy team!) are off to winning starts through the first quarter of the season.

Lauren and I capitalized on the perfect weather with daytrips to Chicago and Paoli, which were highlighted by stops at Driftless Chocolates, Hop Garden Brewing, and the Shedd Aquarium. It was also a great month for food: We were lucky enough to snag a table at Mint Mark for their famous Friday fish fry, and enjoyed a very memorable dinner at The Harvey House to celebrate my mom’s birthday.

Kaylee: September was strangely a month of “firsts” and squeezing in outdoor activities while the weather was still warm. For example, by this time of the year I normally would have spent a fair amount of time out on the St. Croix River, but I only now got out there for a day of fishing. I also checked out W.A. Frost’s patio for the first time with a couple of college friends. There wasn’t much time for watching shows or reading, but I did pick up my guilty pleasure TV series again – Germany’s Next Top Model.

Will: September really flew by! I got back up to Saint John’s to see the first football game of the year in Clemens Stadium, as well as catching a rainy road game at Bethel. My roommates and I saw The Killers at the Xcel Energy Center. After listening to them for years, it was fun to finally see Mr. Brightside played live. As a bonus, Johnny Marr of The Smiths opened and played in the encore, and that alone was worth the price of admission.

My girlfriend Kate and I celebrated our anniversary this month with a wonderful dinner at The Hen & The Hog. The company was good, but the bacon-wrapped meatloaf was better.