Happy Birthday Heather...

Happy Birthday Emily...

Happy Birthday Kristen...

Congrats Lil Merrill...

Yay for Lauren, who bought a new Pontiac G6. It's a beauty...leather interior, heated front seats......and better yet, it works! (sorry Lil Red). So, congrats to Lauren and lovely car.

Christmas with Charlie Brown...

So, I know this is a weird title, but for those of you who don't know...I actually have an uncle named Charles Brown. He goes either by "Town" or in this case "Charlie". We didn't get to have Christmas breakfast with them so we settled for an after Christmas lunch. We ate delicious mac n' cheese, some type of crescent dish my sister baked and homemade pecan pie. Yum Yum... We finished our desserts by watching the newest Alvin & The Chipmunks movie. It was so nice getting to see Town, Pam, Ashlee, Jesse & Brandon.

Game Night...

It's so convenient that my best friend Christine and her husband Travis bought the house next door to my parents. So now every time we go home we get to see them, which is much better than when they lived in Blacksburg and us in Alexandria. So we got together and played games all night long. We started with Phase 10 and ended with Mexican Train Dominoes. We had so much fun! (well, we did, but Christine lost....not so much fun) j/k Love ya!!!!

Merry Christmas...

From the Harlow's & the Merrill's we wish you a very Merry Christmas. Last night we had our usual crazy Christmas Eve agenda. We started the morning with sausage gravy and biscuits at the Merrill's for breakfast. Then we had chicken cutlets for a late lunch before heading off to church with the rents and Lauren. Christmas Eve service at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Salem usually involves so many people that there aren't enough seats, some people wreaking of perfume, others of alcohol and lots of Christmas music sung by the children's choir. It's only the 3rd Christmas service I've attended at a Catholic church, and I'm still not used to the traditional ceremony with kneeling and standing, etc., etc. But it is nice spending time with the Merrill's.

After church we headed over the the Harlow clan's celebration. My dad's extended family always does Christmas on Christmas Eve cause there are so many kids and grandkids, that way Christmas is for in laws or quiet personal time. This year guest included my parents, and sister, Mike, I, Grandaddy Harlow, Jeannie, Tony, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Lynn, Brenda, Charlie, Katie, Chris, Nicole, Kelly, Jason, Jordyn, Katie, Justin and Wilbur (a new "relative" of sorts). By the time we arrived they had already eaten dinner. This year for dinner they had chosen to do soups and salads. Each year we change up the menu, it's much better than the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing....especially since I'm not a huge fan of any of those. After dinner is usually time for games, this year was no exception. We played mexican train dominoes, snacking on the delicious desserts at every chance. We ended the night, as usual, after midnight and made the drive back to Mike's parents house.

For the last 2 years we've stayed the night at my parents for Christmas Eve so that we can have Christmas morning breakfast with my parents and my mom's extended family. But Mike wanted very much to wake up at his parents and open gifts, so I obliged. After opening are many gifts with Mike's parents which included a GPS from Mike to me and a new Ipod from me to Mike we headed over to my parents for breakfast. It was a wonderful but hectic 2 days. I really enjoy spending time with our families, just wish we didn't have to switch back and forth so much, it's hard on us and Emma Sue.

Happy Birthday Megan...

Hopefully we'll get to see

more of eachother soon!

Ornament Exchange Brunch...

Today was Alana's 2nd Annual Ornament Exchange. Last year we had a delicious array of evening appetizers and wines, this year we elected to have a brunch. Unfortunately, because of the date of the exchange many people weren't able to make it, as they had already headed out of town for Christmas with their families. But, Jill, Alana and I, and baby Aaron, had a delicious brunch of eggs, english muffins and jams, fresh fruit, bacon and sausage and later desserts. We all exchanged ornaments for our trees and then hung out to catchup. It is always so nice to get together with these two ladies, as there is always a relaxed atmosphere. I'm glad that we've become such good friends and look forward to many more Ornament Exchange parties!!!
Thanks so much for hosting Alana!!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn...

Last night we went out to celebrate Katie's 25th birthday (actually 12/18) with a "Golf Tour of Old Town". Katie, Danny, Mike and I, and about 15 of Katie's closest friends met up at Murphy's on King Street at 9pm to tee off. The point of the party was to treat each bar as if it were a different hole in a round of golf. A score card was given that detailed which drinks at each bar were considered "Par", "Birdie", "Eagle", etc. Often the best score you could get was a shot of something - most likely bartender's choice and a par was a beer. Water wouldn't hurt your score, you just didn't get points for it. Mike and I only made it to 3 bars before we decided to head down the block to our apartment (I'd been sick all week with a stupid URI). But we had a blast and wished we could have stayed out longer to party with everyone. Thanks to Danny and Lindsay to planning such a fun night and of course, thanks and Happy Birthday to Katie who turned 25!!! Love ya~

Sibley Holiday Party...

Tonight was my company holiday party and this year we decided to go to Buca di Beppo on Connecticut Avenue. Mike and I had never even heard of this restaurant, but were delighted that it was an old style family dining italian restaurant. It reminded us of a Carmine's (where we went in NY after we got engaged). This year we had an extremely large group. We had 13 of 14 HR staff members and at least half of them brought their significant others/spouses plus 3 peeps from Safety & Security. We started off the night right, as Katie and I are huge wino's, by ordering 2 1.5 liter bottles of red wine for our end of the table....and it didn't last long. We also order lots of appetizers - fried mozzarella, mozzarella caprese, calamari, garlic bread all to chomp on while we discussed which entrees we would be ordering. Mike and I rarely agree on menu items, but for this dinner we both agreed that the prosciutto stuffed chicken topped with marinara and served on a bed of pesto cream sauce sounded to die for. Mike joked that I usually don't like ham and prosciutto was ham - and I came back with it's an expensive cured type of ham - at which point he said, "Oh, that's why you like it...because it's expensive" and the banter continued... All in all our table of 25 ordered 9 appetizers and 12 large entrees......but didn't stop there, for dessert about 6 of us joined in for the $12 double dark chocolate cake. I am not a huge dessert person, especially for chocolate cake, but much to my pleasure the cake came out and in my opinion could have fed 12 people (or my chocolate lover husband himself). We capped off the night with after dinner drinks of either irish coffee or ambrosia. It was a fabulous night full of delicious food and a nice break away from the hustle and bustle that has become our job. Thanks Queenie for treating us to such a special event.

Congrats Sister...

After many months of job hunting I would like to annouce that my sister has been offered an amazing position as a 5th grade teacher at Mason's Cove Elementary School in Salem, VA. We are so proud of her and can't wait to see her progress as not only a teacher but as a young adult!!! She is an amazing person who is devoted to helping students learn, but also knows how to make it fun. I'm sure her students will love her as much as I do!! Congrats sister! Stay tuned for posts on her room (which I have been commissioned to clean/decorate).

Goodbye Lil' Red...

So, after many years of faithful service "lil red" has died. For years Mike, his sister Lauren and I all drove Ford Escorts. Mine was the nicest :) a 2000 Ford Escort Zx2 so bright blue you could see it for miles. Mikes was an older 4 door white escort and Lauren drove a 4 door red escort. Mike sold his after college to a woman in Salem. I still drive mine, and although it has sounds that Mike and I consider "features" its a piece of junk. Lauren called the other night to say that hers was dying....nearly dead, and it was going to cost more to fix it than the car itself was worth. So, being the wonderful person she is, she decided to donate it to a breast cancer charity that we fix it and give it to a deserving family. So, goodbye Lil Red... and good luck to Lauren as she will be borrowing my blue escort until such time she purchases her "new" car!

Duane, you will be missed...

Salem, Virginia is a small close-knit town. Growing up in Salem I had the honor of knowing Duane. As kids we often ran around together at the Salem football games with Jen Jennings, Joey Sovine, Mike Beamer, etc. A few months back, March 11th to be exact, Duane was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. It saddens me to report that yesterday Duane lost his battle and went to be with the Lord. Please keep the Perdue family and the Salem community in your thoughts and prayers.

Happy Birthday Erik...

Happy Birthday Anthony...

Happy Thanksgiving...

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and friends and memories. Mike and I will be spending our Thanksgiving at the Crystal City Sports Pub if anyone cares to join us. We're saving our travels for Christmas. Enjoy!!!

Happy Birthday Brad...

Happy Birthday April...

Happy Birthday Michelle...

New Addition...

So, I was on facebook while in Connecticut (SHOCK) and found out that my cousin and her husband are expecting their first baby!!!

Congratulations April & Scott

and baby Whipple due may 22, 2009

Meriden, Connecticut...

This weekend Mike and I flew up to Connecticut to visit our good friends Paige and Jaydee. They recently bought a townhouse and we were all dying to see it. We all finally got there around 3pm. Alana, Adam, Hillers, Michelle and Dave all drove up and Jaydee had just finished work for the day when we all met at their townhouse for dinner. We all spent the evening hanging around watching tv and catching up. Other highlights of the weekend include dinner at a local restaurant where I had an amazing lobster roll, putt-putt and fantastic card games. We are so excited for Jaydee and Paige as they start this new chapter in their lives together. Can't wait for more trips up to CT!!!

My First Craft Show...

Every year Sibley Memorial Hospital has a craft fair. After 2 years of shopping for Christmas gifts and other items from a large assortment of co-workers/crafters I decided to take a leap and have my own craft table. I sold a variety of handcrafted items, from hand-dipped chocolate pretzels, beaded necklaces, earrings, handmade gift cards & handmade ceramic coasters. I felt like the luckiest person there, I sold so much and even had my wonderful friend Jill and her kids come visit me! Hopefully this won't be the last! So thanks for everyones prayers and support!!!

Congratulations President Obama...

Election 2008...

Can't wait for the results...I hope you voted. I love that I got a call from my parents at around 9am this morning asking if Mike and I voted. I thought it was a genuine love of my parents and a warranted concern that we fulfilled our civic duty...but nope... They just wanted to say "well, we cancelled out your votes." Well, we'll have to wait til the ballots are counted to see who came out on top. I'm pretty confident!!! Apparently I just missed Mark Warner voting in Old Town....

Happy Birthday Patty...

Love you!

Happy Halloween...

Happy Birthday Mom...

Love you!

Happy Birthday Bambi...

Aaron's Dedication...

Today was Aaron's dedication at New Life Westmoreland.

Dwayne Darrah, the newly ordained campus pastor performed the sermon and the dedication. So many friends and family were able to make it to service. My parents even drove up for the dedication. After the service we had a huge pot luck lunch with everyone. It was such an experience, one that Mike and I are proud and thankful to have been a part of.

Happy Birthday MUFFIN...

We hope it's amazing ELIZABETH

Love the Merrills!!!

Hashimoto's...

So, for those of you who see me regularly...you may have noticed or heard me complain about my "allergic reaction". Since September 17th I have been having abnormal skin reactions to anything I come into contact with. I, and many others, thought that it was just my skin being allergic to my mother's laundry detergant. When I went to Salem for my "vacation" my mom washed all of my dirty laundry, and it wasn't until I began wearing those clothes that my skins starting swelling, breaking out into red, itchy, puffy hives. It didn't matter what I touched, I got hives. As stated in an earlier post, I'm a self diagnosed hypochondriac - so, thinking that it was just a simple allergy I began taking benadryl....daily, multiple times daily. It did nothing but make me feel like a zombie. So after two weeks of this "allergy" I finally called my doctor. My doctor spoke to me over the phone and told me to try a couple of changes and that if it was still reacting the same after a week she'd see me. She told me to change from my current detergent to Dreft, to change so that I used non fragrant body wash, face wash, lotion....everything. I did it - still had hives. So I went to the doctor. It had now been 3 weeks of me having these stupids hives. I got to the doctor around 1:35 for my 2:00 appointment. I sat, and sat, and sat. Finally at 2:20 they called my name. I went to the exam room, sat for another 20 minutes and then finally the doctor came in. She asked me to explain my problem. Her response... SHE DREW AN "X" on my arm and timed how long it took for it to swell up, turn red and become a huge, ugly hive. Oh - about 1 1/2 minutes. She then asked if I was taking any medicines. I told her benadryl at night, Claritin (from the hospital's nurse practitioner) during the day. She said "Great" well, I think we'll replace the Claritin with Zyrtec and continue with the benadryl. She also said I had Urticaria - a complicated word for hives. Gee - thanks doc. She said that in order for urticaria to be treated by an allergist it required that it be chronic - meaning it lasts for more than 6 weeks. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!? So, I left and waited, another week went by, still had hives, another week, I couldn't take it. So I called and requested another followup. At this appointment my doctor pretty much said the same thing, but prescribed Zyrtec - as opposed to the over the counter kind I had been taking. Could this not have been done earllier? Still, another week went by and I still had hives. So, another trip back to the doctor this time, where by now my doctor was as sick of seeing me as I was of her. She order blood tests and gave into my demand for a referral to an allergist. The one good thing about my doctor's office is that they use an automated phone service to provide results from any lab work. It only takes 3-5 business days to get the results. If anything is abnormal the doctor will call you directly. But, rather than waiting, I immediately called one of the ten allergists my doctor recommended to see if I could schedule my appointment. "Um, December 8th is the first appointment we have, would you like morning or afternoon?" What? December, I can't wait that long - was what I was thinking in my head, but I resisted the urge to be rude (myself) and said, "well, if that's the first you have, I'll take it". The woman proceeded to ask the normal questions - "What's your name, address, date of birth, and what is the diagnosis" - when I said "urticaria with contact dermatitis" she said "Oh, can you come in this Thursday at 2:00?" - um...........let me think about it........... YES!!!!! Shockingly, last night - the night before my allergist appointment I was about to take a relaxing bath to calm my nerves when Mike popped in to say "Your doctor's on the phone". It was 7:30pm on a Wednesday night....but I answered it. And boy am I glad I did. It was my doctor calling to tell me about my lab results. The results showed that I have thyroid antibodies - a condition called Hishimoto's Thyroiditis. To which my response was "that sounds fake - are you making this up?" But she continued - she told me to go ahead with the allergy appointment and she'd followup. So, today when I went to the allergist they confirmed that it is in fact Hashimoto's. Which means that my thyroid will constantly change from hyperactive to hypoactive and occasionally be normal. It also explained why in my many attempts to lose weight why there would be periods where I would lose weight easily, then would stop losing weight then gain weight or just plateau. It also explained some of the other symptoms I have had - extreme fatigue, headaches/migraines, irritability, increased sweating, muscle weakness and occasionally shaky hands. That was at least comforting - now I finally knew what was causing all of this - now just to treat it. While at the allergist I also had an allergy test done where I had a positive reaction to all of the samples - grass, trees, mold, dustmites and I don't remember the last one.

The first set of pictures is right after she applied the samples. A positive result is indicated by a red, swollen bump (hive) in the spot where the sample was applied. At the bottom of this post is my "positive" reaction to all samples tested. It was a first for the nurse who administered the tests - she had to go get the doctor to explain it to both her and myself. So, the next step is to see an Endocrinologist - one specifically that specializes in auto-immune disorders. I will most likely have to see an Endocrinologist monthly for bloodtesting to determine the proper dosage of medication to regulate hypo versus hyperthryoidism. I will also have to have my allergies retested once my thyroid is properly regulated. So, thank you to everyone for their support in the recent weeks, I hope to have more answers in the weeks to come.

Going back to school...

I'm sure many of you have had ideas of going back to school, just like I have had the "idea". Some of you have acted on it. Some of the people reading this went straight from their undergraduate degrees on to attain their masters. Some are in the process of doing so as I type. I have toyed with so many ideas I'm sure my friends and family will never take another "possible life transition" seriously. For those who don't know, in 2004 I graduated from Roanoke College with my Bachelor's of Business Administration, with two minors - Sociology and Health Care Administration. I know - who takes sociology with business? But, as you may have noticed, I'm a rather nosy person and enjoy learning about other people and their lives, issues, successes, etc. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to work in a hospital. My favorite college course was Health Care Economics. I took that course my last semester at Roanoke, which I found very helpful when applying for jobs, reviewing benefits packages, etc. After graduation I worked for a year in an unrelated field of study - food. Although I enjoy food, I will never ever ever again work in the food industry. I have a great respect for those employees and services, but no more slingin' burgers for me. So when a friend of mine said she was going to nursing school and was looking for someone to fill her position as an HR Assistant in a hospital I jumped at the chance to interview. It might have helped that I was her friend, and that her dad is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the hospital. But hey - I'm not proud....I got the job and have loved working at Sibley ever since. After about a year of working as an HR Assistant I was reevaluating my decisions regarding further education. I knew what a nurse made - starting out - and it was more than I was presently making. So I did a little research and discovered that with the classes I had taken at Roanoke, if I wanted to go to nursing school to become an RN, I could do it by going part time - and I could finish in about 2 years. I was psyched, and most of my co-workers were very encouraging. Most of them, with the exception of the VP of HR - Queenie. Queenie and I are very similar in the sense that we are type A personalities and that we like things done a certain way - our way!!! She was devastated that I would consider going to school and then leave in 2 years. So after about a semester of attending nursing classes I was promoted and got an awesome raise$!$!$ Needless to say, I discontinued nursing school. But I've always thought about going back - whether it be to nursing school, law school or simply to get my Master's in Human Resources Management or Health Care Administration. I've spoken with Queenie several times on the topic and each time she encourages me that the Master's is the way to go. So I've researched and attended some information sessions, but am still so lost on what to do. But what I can say is that Queenie is good - she's damn good. Last year, as a ploy to encourage me to go back to school Queenie asked that I come be a guest lecturer for her students. Queenie is a Professor of Human Resources at Georgetown University. Wow! How exciting - I was scared to death. But I accepted and went in October 0f 2007 and spoke for about an hour. This year Queenie asked something even bigger of me. She knew she was going to be out of town this year for one of her classes. She asked that I teach BY MYSELF!!! Talk about mindblowing - I probably couldn't get into Georgetown if I applied - but ... I can teach there :) So, again I accepted. I got to St. Mary's Hall early tonight to make sure I setup my powerpoint properly. I plugged my flash drive into their "high tech" computer station and actually knew what I was doing. I finished just in time as the students started piling in - all in their comfy jeans, sweathshirts and flip flops - oh, how I miss college. I must confess, I did bribe the students with a basket full of halloween candy - which was empty by the end of class - but all in all it went quickly and without incident. So, just call me Professor Merrill!!!

In Laws Visit...

After a late Friday night - staying up to 2am talking with Lil' Merrill and the Gardner's it was up and at 'em early Saturday morning, as Mike's parents were driving up from Salem. We knew we needed to be showered and fed before they got here so we could get on with the day's activities - whatever they might be. So, to provide nourishment for our long day we ate a nutricious breakfast of buffalo chicken dip and tortilla chips - Breakfast of Champions!!! Mike's parents arrived as scheduled at 11:30am. We helped them unload their car and planned our afternoon. Thanks to some complimentary tickets from work we knew we were going to spend some if not all of the day at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. If only we knew...more on that later. But as the afternoon was quickly passing we decided to stay in for lunch rather than go out - hoping it would be quicker. And it was, not only was it quick, but it was free and delicious. Mike's sister Lauren had baked some quiches the night before and we stuck them in the oven to reheat. Oh my gosh....deliciuos. She made a sour cream chicken chili quiche. It was out of this world. Thanks Lauren!!! After eating we loaded up in the car and head into Maryland. It wasn't a far distance to travel, but as we got about a mile outside of the festival there was traffic as far as the eye could see. Mike's dad doesn't have the most patience in the world (not that I can talk - I drive the "Rage Mobile") so that made the drive even more interesting. But we finally parked in a field and were ready to get inside. Only we had to walk about a mile to get there...fun, fun, fun. Once inside we realized that none of us had any idea how big and popular this festival actually was. There were people dressed in costumes that you could rent, but I would guess that 80% of costume wearers were owners rather than renters. There were some serious Ren peeps. And then there were just some that needed not to wear costumes...of any sort. Everything was great. Do you prefer that your food be on a stick - then the Renaissance Festival is the place to be: cheesecake on a stick, chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick, deepfried cheesecake on a stick, steak on a stake, chicken on a lance, etc. We didn't even touch the surface of the Festival...but we were able to toss some axes, go through a maze and be hypnotized. I would love to go back next year, but allocate more time to enjoy it! Saturday night for dinner we decided to stick with a safe but delicious menu at Faccia Luna. While waiting for our table we ran into an old family friend of the Merrill's. Mike Jeffreys, graduate of Salem High and UVa, now lives in Arlington with his wife Holly, but back in the day he was apparently the premier babysitter for Karen Hills. It was such a pleasant coincidence to run into them. We caught up briefly then made our way to our table. We enjoyed the fresh pizza and bruschetta. After gorging ourselves on pizza we came back to our apartment to play Shanghai Rummy. Fun!!! Lauren - the first timer - beat us all, but I was a close 2nd. After a couple glasses of wine and a little tv we went to bed, knowing Sunday would be another long day. But how long - well, breakfast at IHOP went a little longer than expected but the unplanned house hunting was even longer. When we finally got back to our apartment at 2pm we showed Patty how to use her new Ipod Shuffle (an early birthday gift from Lauren) and put a couple of songs on, just in case she doesn't before we visit Salem again (October 31-November 1). It was a great weekend full of friends and family. We enjoyed it all and will cherish the memories for many years to come.

Brett & Mike's Joint Birthday Extravaganza...

Yesterday was Mike's 27th birthday. Last night Jill and I held a joint birthday party for Mike and Brett. Brett's actual birthday is Wednesday, Oct 15th - it made perfect sense to host a party together since we share many of the same friends. We started the evening with Happy Hour specials at Chadwicks. Apparently traffic was ungodly and many of our group was stuck, but those who did make happy hour enjoyed several drinks for those who weren't able to join us. We sat for dinner around 7:15...but, as our luck would have it, a hostess had given up a larger portion of our reserved section so we were split into to groups of about 14 each. After dinner we walked up to the corner of Fairfax & King to begin our intriguing Ghost Tour. Because there were 28 of us we were able to get a group rate of $5 per person - Thanks Jill!!!

Our tour guide started by telling a couple of ghost tales involving houses in Old Town. We learned why Hiller's and Michelle's apartment is so ridiculously hot and found out where George Washington lived - there are actually people living there now - crazy. We ended our tour in the cemetery - oooh spooky! I highly recommend the tour. It was something that Mike and I have been wanting to do since we moved to Old Town over 2 years ago... it was fabulous. After the tour about half of the group made it back to our place to enjoy cake, cupcakes, buffalo chicken dip and chili cheese dip!!! We sang happy birthday to the birthday Boyz and hung around catching up. Thanks to everyone who came out to help Brett & Mike celebrate their birthdays. We really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and look forward to doing it again soon!!!

Happy Birthday Mikey...

I hope you have a wonderful day today babe. You deserve the very best!

Baby Einstein...

I know many of my friends and readers are not at a stage in their life where they frequently watch children's videos. But recently, both with friends and through the S&H Kidz Klub I've become familiar and amazed with the videos by Baby Einstein. I haven't seen all of the videos but the ones I have observed don't seem entertaining - not to a 26 year old non-mother. The Baby Einstein website says that the videos are created from a baby's point-of-view and incorporate a unique combination of real world objects, music, art, language, poetry and nature — providing an opportunity to introduce babies to the world around them in playful and enriching ways. But I think the videos were created by hypnotist to mesmerize and subdue infants and toddlers to provide stress relief and adult time to overworked parents. Please view the video below to see exactly what I mean.

What 13 month old boy sits still for that long, doesn't allow things to distract him. I know 27 year old boys that can't devote that much attention to something (love you hubby).

Saturday Night with the Gardner Clan...

All week I kept saying how I wanted to do nothing this weekend. But when Saturday rolled around I was nearly bored to death, so I joined Jill & Co. to help make baby shower invitations for a friend. Before heading over Jill called and asked if Mike would be interested in joining later that day for dinner with her and Brett. Of course we said yes. So I brought along a pork loin, asparagus and ciabatta rolls to cook and a bottle of Barboursville Chardonnay to drink!!! The majority of the afternoon was spent card making but once that was finished we had baby play time - always a favorite of mine and then waited for the grill to heat up so we could start cooking. In addition to my dinner contribution Jill cooked a deliciuos sweet potato casserole and a kilbasa sausage. After dinner we enjoyed a friendly game of Mexican Train Domino's and Mike's Train Dance then ended the evening by watching a bit of Saturday Night Live which poked fun at Palin - again a favorite past time of mine. We always enjoy Gardner Game Night!!!

Feel better Mikey...

As if the Mets losing and ending their season wasn't enough, Mikey had a wisdom tooth out today. So this is just an email to wish him a quick and easy recovery. Rest honey, I'll be home soon with a Peanut Butter Paradise smoothie! Love ya.

The Mets...

Back in June, my oh-so-wise yet lovable husband Mike made a friendly bet with our friend Danny regarding the overall regular season records of the Phillies and the Mets. Whereby if the Mets have a better regular season the good guy (Mike) wins and if the crappy, smelly Phillies have a better regular season record the bad guy (Danny) wins. The loser of the bet must choreograph a 60 second rhythmic gymanstics routine and perform it in front of at least 5 people and a video camera. He must then post that video on their website permanently for our loyal listeners to view.

I must sadly inform all of you that the Mets stunk this year and Mike was the loser of this bet. I will post more as choreographed videos are available - STAY TUNED!!!

P.S. Mike has asked me to choreograph his routine to Celine Dion's song - the love theme from Titanic - My Heart Will Go On. this should be very entertaining to say the least.

Happy Birthday Kara...

Many of you haven't had the oppurtunity to meet my friend Kara. Kara and I have known eachother since middle school where we were on the same summer swin team - Go Northlakes!!! After high school Kara attended Johnson Bible College where she met her now husband Logan. After they got married they moved to Peoria, Illinois where Kara is now going to school to be a counselor. I don't get to see Kara much anymore, but she's one of those friends you never lose touch with. So happy birthday fellow NY Giants fan. I hope it's a great one!!!

Little Lucy...

For those of you who don't know, Lucy Noel Harlow is a dog, but not just any dog, she is my sister and parent's dog. She is a 4 pound chihuahua, the baby of my best friend Christine's dogs Princess Fiona & Fancy Pants. For years and years, my sister, mom and I begged my dad to get a dog. For years and years, my dad said No. About a year and a half ago Christine's chihuahua's had a litter of puppies, and once my mom saw pictures she couldn't resist bringing one home. She actually said if dad gave her a hard time it was either the dog stays or he goes. (I don't know that she ever would have the actual courage to say that). But she didn't have to...my dad agreed and welcomed little Lucy to the family. If you've ever seen Lucy interact with anyone in the family you'd know that she is the spoiled rotten baby. I think my dad loves her the most of anyone - which is shocking. She really is cute. But on Sunday, September 21st I got a horrifying call from my sister Lauren. Lauren was crying so hard I could barely understand her. The only thing I could make out was that someone was really sick and dying. My first thought was that something had happened to my mom or dad - I started to get upset but didn't want to cry and make things worse, so I told Lauren to calm down and say it again so I could understand her. She proceeded to tell me that Lucy had been in my parents yard and had eaten some mushrooms that were growing. My mom, who was with Lucy at the time saw Lucy start to get sick and weak, and quickly called the vet. They took Lucy to the emergency vet and were told that the mushrooms that Lucy ingested were toxic, that during the week they had already treated 4 other dogs that had eaten mushrooms and that 2 of the larger dogs didn't make it. They continued by telling my parents and sister that because Lucy was so small they weren't sure they could do anything to reverse the toxicity, so to prepare for the situation that Lucy may die. Now, I know that some of you who are reading this are pet owners, and may be thinking, it's a dog, get over it... but let me just say that a pet quickly becomes a member of the family, loved and needed. I'm not comparing an animal to a sibling or parental relationship by any means, but it can be devastating to lose someone you love - even and especially a pet. It was so hard listening to my mom and dad tell me what was going on over the phone, I could hear them getting choked up just talking about it. My first instinct was to get in the car and drive to Roanoke. I offered but they said they would keep me updated and it wasn't necessary to drive 4 hours. So I sat by the phone and waited for updates. At about 11:30 Sunday night they called to say that she was still in critical condition but she had a long road ahead if she was gonna survive. Monday, while at work, I got a call from my mom who said that Lucy had received a plasma and blood transfusion (I didn't know they did those on a dog) and that she was doing a little better but that her liver enzymes were ridiculously high, from the toxicity. But Lucy was strong and she continued to get better. She ended up staying with the vet until today when she was released to go home. What an ordeal. I kept trying to put myself in my parent's shoes, and imagine what I would do if Emma were sick. I woudl be heart broken if Emma got sick and died, I'm not sure what I would do. She really is like our child. And Lucy is like a sister (no offense Lauren). But I'm so glad that Lucy is better and we wish her and my family a quick and easy recovery. Emma was also glad to hear that Lucy was getting better, and can't wait for their next playdate!!!