what's really important

One of Matt's friends from high school has an 8-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with a brain tumor about a year ago. She's been going through surgeries, spinal taps and chemo this past year and has been a real trooper; handling it like an adult while still maintaining some of her innocence. This past week her parents got the news that because her diagnosis is so rare, the doctors have exhausted every possibility they know to try. The docs have given her no specific amount of time; months maybe more maybe less.
When it all comes down to it: the life of this little girl; finding a cure for cancer; loving your family--that's what important. The things I worry about in my daily life pale in comparison to what Kenny and Kasha are going through. Knowing their little girl has a limited amount of time left; knowing they're going to have to explain this to her little sister; trying to kep their faith in what they know is right--I have nothing to complain about when I think about what others are not complaining about.
-peace, love and health

Movin' on up!

Let the countdown begin...We have 38 days left until we close on the house and leave our neighborhood. I have been packing in joyful preparation. I followed the lead of one of our brilliant friends (who moves Tuesday) and packed all but 4 plates, bowls from our kitchen and all the towels and sheets that we aren't currently using. So now we have a rather large stack of boxes in our living room of things ready to go.
Yesterday I got to go to Riverfest for the first time. It's a yearly celebration with live music, art and yummy foods (from what I smelled). It was such beautiful weather that I couldn't stay inside any more. I decided to call Molly because she had mentioned going and I figured she would know what was what and where to go to enjoy. Sydne, Molly and I walked down from her place and toured the Riverfest, tried to listen to some music. The only person we got to see desperately needed to tune his guitar. He even stopped mid-tune at one point when he realized he was terribly off-key and then proceeded to try to kill "Rainbow Connection." I was waiting for Kermit to hop out of the river and do a Miss Piggy karate chop. We did wander to the art fair, very good. We finished out our fun afternoon with an hour and a half at the dogpark. I don't think Sydne could have asked for a better day, me either. It was great to hang with friends.
Today looks just as beautiful. I think we'll christen the new grill.
-peace and love

nuttin' big

After a party like Friday, it's pretty hard to have much to write about, but I'll try. We did have a great picture.

The weekend brought about the same types of interesting people as always appear when the weather gets nice. Somehow, when you think you've seen it all you find that there is always something more. Saturday was our example of just that: after watching a minivan pull up quickly in front of my house and a man call for the "yellow n--- over there" to come to his car. I quickly reacted by trying to memorize everything about his face and the car, then grabbed the phone, primed to call the police. The men ended up talking and a few hours later, a van (maybe the same one, not sure) showed up, parked in front of our place again and began to sell shoes out of the back hatch. Some things you can't make up. This would be one of those things.
The house stuff is coming along well. We had the inspection and so far will request they do a radon mitigation and replace an outlet on the front porch. That's it. I think we can handle that. The j-o-b is still in the works, but I am hopeful it will all come to a very happy ending in the next few weeks.

Par-tay

Tonight was the Oto holiday party and I have to admit it was super-fun. I had a great time. I found out that some of the people I work with are even cooler than I thought they were. In terms of working in Oto, I probably have the shortest track record, but it's cool. I didn't feel like I was in the high school click-scene this year and we all talked and hung out post-food and movie.
The R4's had a hysterical skit/movie this year that made me laugh harder so much I burped a little vomit. Then again, that could be because our waiter took our empty white wine bottle and replaced it with a new one AND we got drink tickets (3-4 each!). I love parties where alcohol flows freely and laughter and amazing friends are par for the course.
Then, our house passed inspection with a few "minor" changes that must be done before we move in; mainly, our radon level was almost 3 times the EPA allowance. But our inspector said that's pretty common for houses in our area and can be remedied fairly quickly. It's even better because the sellers will have to pay approx $900-1500 to have it repaired, which covers the difference in what we wanted to pay and what we paid for the house. Talk about balance.
It's a fun night. I'm still waaaaaay happy with wine and Matt has started to snore on the couch. I love Fun Fridays!
-peace and love

the wedding in all its glory

Photobucket Album

Catchin' up

This last week has been crazy: I woke up 30 minutes late to leave for the airport on Wednesday (strike one), it was snowing outside (strike 2), but my flight was not at 6:30 as I believed (foul tip even though Matt drove 45 mph up the interstate (foul tip), ); it was 7:30 (ball 1) and my flight was on time, woohoo (home run)!

When I left the airport it looked like this,

but luckily when I got to NC there was no snow to be seen.

The wedding was wonderful, but I don't think I've worked that hard in such a small amount of time in over a year (when I was recruiting and beginning my research study). There was so much that needed to be done and was not even ready to be completed. I'm just glad I was able to be there to make sure it all went off without a hitch (except for the gettin' hitched)


In happy news:

All I want is a place somewhere
far away from the cold night air
with one enormous chair
oh wouldn't it be lovely?

Ah, yes it would be, and is. We finally got all the papers in and on the move to get our very own house. So now we just have to get the inspection and, hopefully, everything will be okay there. If not, at least we'll know and the owners will have to fix it before we move in. I am SOOOOOOO ready to have our own place and be able to paint the walls. So for now, June 7 can't come fast enough. I'll probably be singing a different tune when I'm still packing on June 6th.
-peace and love

seeing things in a new light

I just spend 45 minutes reading one article from the Washington Post. I only read it once and cried. I've never really had that type of reaction without my own personal hormone imbalance. This was amazing. One of the world's most reknowned violinists played in the middle of the L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, DC during rush hour. Almost 1,100 people passed him. Out of that in the 45-minute performance, only seven people stopped what they were doing to listen...SEVEN! And in the entire time, with his violin case open, he got $32 for performances that are $100 for the "worst" seats in the house. This man makes $1,000 a minute (per the Washington Post) and over a thousand people walked by without even noticing. Of the people the writers did observe who wanted to stop but couldn't, children. What does this say about us, as a society? It breaks my heart to know that we have gotten so cold, so heartless, that we don't even take the time to acknowledge beauty, especially when something that amazing and special is in our presence. Will we ever know what we're missing if we don't stop?
That's one place where I see a stark difference between current society and that of my grandmother's time; they stop and listen. Whenever I'm in a nursing home, it doesn't matter if I'm having a good musical day. It doesn't matter if I play all the chords right. They stop. Not only that, but they pull themselves from their wheelchairs, their rooms, and almost flock to the music. I'm not saying that I have remarkable skills, I'm saying the appreciation for beautiful things, for the aesthetic things-- the music, the art--is gone.
I will never blindly pass a street musician again or any musician for that matter.

be it ever so humble...

so we might have found our home. I'm very excited! That is, until I try to talk with the step-monster. She always seems to bring on the "gee, I would really like to slap you" feelings. They don't just boil to the surface; they explode like Old Faithful.
But back to the happy thought...we found a very nice home with a very homey feeling. I can imagine having my friends coming over and hanging out for dinner or a football game or, well, anything. It's not as big as the gi-normous house but it feels more like it could be our home. And I love, love the master bedroom, especially with the 2 closests and nice-sized master bath. Now if I can just talk to Dad about it, maybe he'll help me shed some more "happy light" onto it.

I am also excited because I get to go home, home on Wednesday for Booker's wedding. I am so happy she found a guy I haven't wanted to punch in the face, or at least attempt to scare the piss out of. (I can have that affect on men--shocked, I know). It'll be fun to be back in the hometown/black hole and see what everyone, who was sucked back in, is doing. I can't wait to see if Ames and Holly have popped out their babies yet, especially since they're both due pretty much any time...no pressure, but I'd like to see some babies...and then hand them back when they start crying. :) The fun of life!

a positive light

I feel the need to write about how much I love my friends. I don't think I really realize it until I get the chance to talk or hang out with them.
One of my friends (and former co-workers) came into town this week and although it sucked that she moved, I never realized how much I missed having her simply across the hall; someone to bounce ideas off of about anything from work to research to life in general. Someone to have sushi and martinis with. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I have truly amazing friends; friends who inspire me to do great things and to strive to be a great person myself. I think the fact that they're all brilliant helps. It, at least, makes me feel like I can do amazing things, too.
I am a very lucky person.

underwhelming...

So the conference wasn't as bad as I expected...it was worse. Unfortunately, everything I expected to happen, happened and then went down hill. Oh, and it wasn't in St. Louis; it was in Town and Country, MO. (Makes me want to go car-shopping.) I do have to admit, however, that I had a great time with the people who were with me. We managed to cut-up without causing problems (or at least getting caught), with the exception of pain in our ribs from continuous laughing. I don't think I've ever been so very glad or in so much of a hurry to get home.
I did find the home of Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri and hope Matt and I can go back and play in the Cave where Injun Joe was trapped. Who knew the Midwest could be so much fun? First, the Field of Dreams now Tom Sawyer's cave.
Our next step is to find a home. We've been looking for what feels like forever, which, in all actuality, is only 3 months and still haven't found the right one yet. We saw one on Sunday we really liked, except the master bath was tiny and the kitchen was a little small. Tonight we saw one that was gi-normous, but in a realistic way. I could imagine having lots of parties with friends and family. Matt wasn't as enthusiastic about it, but liked it "okay," which means it was mediocre for him. And the search continues for home, sweet home...