Race for the Cure

A good friend of Mike's family was diagnosed with cancer in June 2007 and we will be participating in this year's Race for the Cure on October 18th to support her. We'd really like to be a blessing to her and her family, so we're trying to raise as much support as we can. Would you consider sponsoring us? Even a small gift is a help and really appreciated! You can donate right here.

It was Self-Inflicted

Several months ago, a friend told me I should post pictures of my house on Rate My Space. My first thought was: "why would I want a bunch of strangers telling me whether or not they like my decorating? I like it, that's all that matters." But then I found myself checking out other posts on that site for design ideas... and last night, since I had cleaned my house from top to bottom for our Care Group to come over, I decided why not just take some pictures and try it out. Within 20 minutes, suddenly my house was open to the world. I'd had over 100 visitors and quite a few nice comments! How fun! So this morning, I couldn't wait to get to work so I could check my email and read more fun comments... well it rained on my parade. Bleh! Apparently in the wee hours of the night, all the mean people came out and decided to tell me each and everything they thought I should change about my spaces. One even said "I would like to see you do.... blah blah blah" as if I were decorating just for her! Seriously??

Well, my first reaction was to just delete the pages and stop this self-inflicted misery. But I guess there's a part of me that is still a bit intrigued... so we'll see...I think I'm a bit too easily offended, so maybe this will be good for me. It's rather humbling... even though I think the positive comments far outweighed the negative ones.

If you want to check out my living room, kitchen and master bedroom - take a look... just remember, I have wine taste on a beer budget... maybe even a water budget. :)

Where'd it go?

S E P T E M B E R

This month has probably been the fastest one I can remember! I've been pretty out-of-routine all month and I'm sure that's why I'm feeling like it just flew by. We started the month by packing for our trip to Vermont, only to be stopped by our A/C dying. We spent a few days camping out at my parents' old house to avoid the heat. Then, the day before our trip, an old friend of Mike's came over and after a few hot hours in the attic, they fixed it! (for FREE!) So that was the first week. Then we were on vacation the 5-14th. Meanwhile, Justine had decided to come home to visit the 13-20th, so when we got home, we spent every free hour we had after work with her. And on top of that Mike started a new part-time job. So then the day Justine left, I came down with a nasty cold and am still trying to fight it off... so here we are: September 24th, and my favorite month is almost over with not a single "normal" day so far! Oh well.. I guess that keeps life interesting!

Our First Anniversary

We're back from our first anniversary trip ~ lots of great memories!

• We outran Hurricane Hanna as we drove up to NYC. We stayed with an old friend from MWC (Tricia) and trudged through Manhattan for a couple hours in the intense muggy humidity before we gave up and just went to dinner at P.F. Changs in New Jersey while Hanna rained down on the Northeast.


• We had a beautiful drive up to Vermont, stopping in a few towns along the way.


• In Vermont (which is BEAUTIFUL), we went to the Cabot Cheese Factory, Ben & Jerry's Factory, an Apple Cider Mill and saw lots of beautiful scenery.


• We hiked Vermont's highest peak: Mt. Mansfield


• We drove into Canada, attempting to read the highway signs in French, and spent the day in Montreal - a city I highly recommend visiting!!


• We spent the day of our anniversary in Burlington, Vermont - along Lake Champlain and then had a wonderful dinner after seeing the beautiful sunset pictured above.

Here are the rest of our pictures!