7.27.2006

Spirit

I had to quickly share this crazy story with all of my fans/readers out there... whoever you are...

Yesterday I brought my puppy to the dog park. This is not an unusual occurance seeing as he requires a lot of exercize and I don't have the back to go running with him. But he loves it there. All the dogs get to run around and play without leashes. What could be better in the life of dogs?

It was about 7:00 when one women, Lisa, was taking her three dogs home. As she was loading them into the car she let go of the collar of her pooch, Spirit, and he ran out into the road where he was hit by a car. His head actually went into the wheel well of the minivan and he was in such shock that he just got up and ran as fast as he could across the street into a forest preserve. Of course, Ari and Margeaux and I felt we needed to go looking for this dog with the owner and a couple other dog lovers who volunteered. Almost two hours later and almost walking four miles... nothing. Lisa was a mess, as I would be if that happened to Crocket.

It was dark and the forest preserve rangers wouldn't let us look anymore, so we left disheartened. I gave Lisa my phone number and told her to call me the next day and I would help her look again.

The next morning Lisa called me to tell me Spirit had made his way to someone's house and was outside barking to be let in. That person let him in and called the number on the dog tags and Spirit was rushed to a 24 hour vet hospital. Luckily, he will be okay. He suffered some minor head injuries, but he is back home with his family.

REJOICE!

7.18.2006

Twenty-Two!

Today is my twin cousins, Justin and Tommy's, 22nd birthday!



Now, anyone who knows me knows how important my family is to me... especially my cousins. They have been my constant friends, always there when I need them. I always have fun with them and no matter how old we get, they are still and always will be some of the most important people in my life. Plus, they always bring out the kid in me and remind me that it is the little things in life that really matter.

Happy birthday, you old farts! I love you guys!

7.14.2006

tv shows can bring people together!

Back in October I wrote a post called confessions that were twenty things nobody knew about me. Well, in the begining of that post I talked about this girl Kelly Wills and how I had heard so much about her while I was in spain and how she sounded really cool and so on. Well, when I we nt back to Madrid in April I got the chance to meet her and had the chance to agree with all of those great things I had been hearing about her. Now, I've always thought she was pretty cool(I mean she was the one who brought me to get my nose pierced!) but today I have officially decided that Kelly could be my friend for life.

Anyone who knows me, knows about my (some would say) obsession (but I call it enjoyment) of the t.v. show ALIAS. My secret wish is to be Sydney Bristow because, seriously, how hott would that be? I constantly find myself looking around any room I have entered for an escape route or I'm thinking"what could I use to knock someone out if a 'bad guy' came in." When I was at Calvin some friends of mine would humor me and we'd run up and down the halls jumping around and doing somersaults pretending to shoot each other. I even learned how to get into my bed with a leap and then pulling myself up quickly in a "Sydney Bristow" fashion (mind you, my bed was stacked over another bed that was stacked on a bookshelf that was stacked on another bookshelf that was stacked on a desk).

Well, it turns out I'm not the only one in the world. Check it out here. I think I found a friend for life! :)

7.13.2006

PS

I fixed it! The 'my pictures' link on the right of the page works now. Sorry about that! :)

Florida

Well, I am home. I can't believe my trip to Florida has come and gone. It's already the middle og July! Summer is half over...

Florida was awesome. The first four days we stayed at my parent's condo in Cape Canveral (where NASA is). We spent lots of time at the beach, lots of time with my aunt and uncle and cousins, and lots of time together. The night Andrea, the twins, and I got there my mom was already there. My dad came the next day and my brother and sister-in-law came the day after that. Needless to say, the condo was a little crowded but still a lot of fun. One day we even went to the Brevard Zoo and saw crocodiles being fed and got to pet a baby alligator! It was pretty excellent.

Thursday we left for Orlando. We went to Disney World (Magic Kingdom) on Friday. It was so fun going with the boys. They are four years old, so they get so excited to see the characters. We got pictures with Pluto, Daisy, Minnie, Mickey, and Donald. Donald even gave me a kiss on the cheek! :) But shhh... don't tell Ari. It's fun watching them experience new things. Saturday we drove back to the east coast and met up with my mom, dad, Christopher, Erika, Aunt Nonnie, Uncle Don, Karen, and Carmela in Palm Bay where we rented a boat. It was so cool! Before we even left the dock we saw an alligator within four feet of our boat! That was kind of scary but really cool. Then we saw Dolphins and jumping fish and played on islands. It was so fun!

Sunday and Monday we spent back at our Resort in Orlando. Most of the time we were by the pool. The boys had no fear of the water, so Andrea and I sat by the pool enjoying our Pina Coladas and Margaritas while the boys made new friends with the other kids in the pool! For dinner one night we went to an all you can eat crab and lobster buffet! Mmmmm. Fresh crab! Loooove it!

Getting home was a nightmare. We had a layover that we almost missed. Long story short- our first flight was delayed forty minutes and then another two hours while we were on the runway and then after our flight we had to circle the airport waiting to land for forty minutes. Luckily our connecting flight had also been delayed but had we landed two minutes later or the gate been far from where we got off - we definitely would have missed it. We literally were the last people on the plane. We walked on, got in our seats and the seatbelt light came on and we were being pulled away from the gate. So, we landed in Chicago at 12:45am--three hours later than when we were supposed to land...

So now I am home - safe and sound.

7.07.2006

Tuuuuuushy update

Well, after I declared to everyone present that July 4 was the national day of the word 'tushy' we had a lot of fun with it. For those of you wondering who was present - Mom, Dad, Aunt Nonnie, Uncle Don, Cousin Karen, Karen's granddaughter Carmella, Andrea, Michael, and Nicholas. Just for clarification, Michael and Nicholas are the boys that I nanny and Andrea is their mom.

It's not hard to try to find ways to use the word tushy. For example, Michael's swimming shorts were falling down and he said "my tushy!" and mooned us all. My dad came home from his morning stroll on the beach to tell a story that went something like this:

"Remember how I lost my sunglasses in the ocean yesterday? Well, guess what I saw... I saw a shark wearing my glasses! And I said, 'hey give those back' and you know what he did? He turned around and showed me his tushy!" So the rest of the day we were hearing about how the shark showed Billy his tushy.

Along with overusing the word tushy I've had some awkward moments. Like when maintenance came to the door and Andrea and I were in are bathing suits playing in the tubby with the boys. Or when housekeeping came to the door to give me sheets and Andrea didn't hear the doorbell ring so I answered the door in my towel (I was just about to hop in the shower). There were more awkward moments, but I will leave it at these for now.

We went to Disney World today. The boys were so excited to see Mickey and Minnie and Daisy and Pluto and Donald! Our favorite was Donald -- he kissed me on the cheek! But shhh... don't tell Ari. Tomorrow we are driving back out to Cape Canaveral so that we can go on a pontoon boat with Christopher and Erika (bro and sis-in-law) and my aunt and uncle and mom and dad and Karen and Carmella. We'll see how that goes. It'll be fun to see the boys on a boat for the first time. I can't wait!

7.04.2006

Florida and Tushy

So. I am in Florida.

This week came up really fast. All of a sudden Saturday night came and I realized I had to pack since I was leaving Sunday morning.

The twins are great travelers. We arrived in Florida around 9:30pm after a delay and a long layover. Then we had to wait for the luggage and get the rental car and then make the 45 minute drive from Orlando to Cape Canaveral. We didn't get to the condo until almost midnight.

Yesterday we woke up early and spent the entire day at the beach. The boys were so cute! I'll have to post pictures soon. They loved the waves. Then we went to the pool when we got tired of the sand. Then spent some time with my Aunt and Uncle and cousin for a BBQ.

Today we were back at the beach all day. We saw the space shuttle Discovery go off... that was amazing.

Sorry this is such a play by play post, just typing it all out quickly before heading out for dinner.

Just so you all know... Troy has offically announced today, July 4, as national "tushy" day. To find out why check out Troy's Blog. And I highly reccomend that you check it out! :)