All the news that's fit to print....or at least good enough to share.

Ever have one of those moments when you don't know you feel....good and bad all at the same time. I had that happen yesterday. I went on the Lenoir News Topic's website yesterday (yes they have one), and found out that the church I grew up in filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On one hand I wanted to do the "I told you so" dance, but then on the other hand it saddened me. I LOVED growing up in this church.....until the newest pastor at least. And if I'm being realistic the old sanctuary is now classrooms....but I still feel like I should be able to go home and it look like it did when I was 10. I sometimes have a hard time with that. Same thing happens in Chapel Hill......where "When did that building change", "what's that", and "well, you used to be able to walk through there" are common phrases. But I digress, there are a few members left from the original church at this now HUGE church. I hope and pray that they are able to figure this out. I'm all for growth....but smart growth. Mom changed churches years ago and I never really went back after college.....I'll just choose to remember the church I grew up in. If I ever want a glimpse of the past, I'll just head to the other side of Charlotte where one of my former pastors is. I keep saying I'm going to do that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Flip and Ashley for joining me on the Race for the Cure committee. One of my resolutions was to get involved in something that I had a passion for. I finally decided to join the Charlotte Komen Race for the Cure committee. We had our first meeting Monday night and it was great! They are an awesome group of hard working people. Somehow I came out of the meeting as a member of the teams committee and in charge of the expo. Funny how that happens. I've since recruited Flip and Ashley. There were several sets of roommates at the meeting.....it felt weird not to have Flip there. So if anyone in Charlotte has 2 hours or a couple of months to volunteer, let me know and I'll help find a place for you. We're also going to do "Harold's Angels" this year. Registration is scheduled to start in May......so SAVE THE DATE NOW.......the race is OCTOBER 6, 2007.

We have a couple of busy weeks/weekends coming up with Easter, birthdays, and other stuff. We'll (yes Mike still is part of the blog) try to post more often....especially since we have 5-6 months until football season :-(. Guess it'll be naps while "watching" the race for us.

Small World

I found out today that an old co-worker lives in our neighborhood!!!! I'm so excited. I can't wait to go see her this weekend. It's very hard to believe that we haven't run into each other. The neighborhood is not very big yet and she has two dogs (or at least she used to). I thought I knew every dog in the neighborhood. After Moa.....I think Sam is still my favorite.....an adorable Saint Bernard.

Back to my point.....two things about it being a small world. One is that we were fairly good friends before she changed jobs and I moved to Chicago, so I'm excited to re-connect with her. Two is that they bought the house next to the first one we wanted. We came very close to becoming next door neighbors! Now we're a block or so apart.

Mike was saying that they had updated the community map online, and we've been having some plot size questions since the stakes went back up....so I decided to check it out. I've attached the link below. We're in lot #4....my friend is in lot #61. If we're looking at the map from our closing correctly, then the bushes in the neighbors side yard are ours (not their fault, the builders). And then this week Bell South put the neighbors box in our yard!!!! Not cool.....especially burying the cable right after Mike worked so hard in the yard. We'll see what happens and how the new neighbors are. Looks like they'll probably be moving in this weekend. There's been two couples in and out of the house....we can't figure out if it's the older parents moving in or the younger couple with kids.

http://www.beazer.com/sitemaps/rad06ADA1120061395452.pdf

Hope y'all have a great weekend. Soak up some of this 80 degree weather (I Love NC) and cheer the Heels to a Carolina Victory. We plan to.

Go Heels!!!!

Oh....and Kristen. I'm very proud of you. Congratulations to the newest Wolfpack. (Is that right?....I don't know my State lingo). See you in a couple of weeks!

Help

I said I was not going to write on the blog until Mike did, but between our schedules/basketball games.....who's had time?

I'm putting together a graduation gift for a NC State bound student. I want to do a "survival kit" for them. Any ideas to put in it would be greatly appreciated.

I especially need ideas for things related to State/Raleigh.....restaurants to get gift cards to, stores, tips....etc....

Just put your ideas in the comments section. Thanks for all of your help!!

I LOVE this time of year!!

GO HEELS!!!!!

I can't wait until 12 o'clock! My bosses have been nice enough to let me take a long lunch too! Yippee!!

I've always loved this weekend. There's just nothing else like it. Dad and Debbie, cheer loud for us today! Hope you're having a blast! And give my condolences to the Peacocks......Duke lost.....again......Yippee!!!

Silly Dog

Flip sent these to me a couple of weeks ago and it's been my desktop picture at work ever since. Every time I see it it makes me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with you. This is Marley, our friend Chad's silver lab. He had just finished giving her a bath and went to get in the shower. When he came back out......well you can figure out the rest. Problem though....she couldn't figure out how to get it back off. Silly dog.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

When Mike and I went to New Orleans in May 2005 we spent one afternoon (I think it was a Sunday) shopping in the French Quarter. We came across a gallery on Royal street, "Animazing Gallery". It was a really cool gallery full of original and reproduction animation prints. We especially enjoyed the Dr. Seuss collection (and Winnie the Pooh) for me. I think if we would have had more mad money that day, we would have left with something. I found a couple of pictures of the gallery on the web (they don't have a website :-/).





Here's a picture of the the inside of the gallery.












.....and a close up of one of the pieces.










Seeing that today was Dr. Seuss' birthday reminded me of this gallery and our trip. I also think that's the day we got introduced to Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes and Lucky Dogs. Yummmmm. It also reminded me of Kindergarten when we made green eggs and ham for all of our parents. Don't parents really have to take one for the team sometimes? Ha.

So remember the kid inside of you today and always. If you have kids, read a Dr. Seuss book to them today. It's nice to know that some classics will always be around.

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if you try!"
Dr. Seuss

It's rare that a book makes me cry

I love to read as many of you already know. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in a book that I don't want to do anything else. Occasionally they'll make me laugh....but hardly ever make me cry. This time of the month we are always DEAD at work in my department. I always take those opportunities to read (I know, I should find something else to do.....refer to my second sentence).

Anyway, I just finished "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult and it was EXCELLENT!!! The author develops characters better than most I've read. The ending is gut-wrenching though.

I thought I'd share two quotes from the book that I liked.

The first is the Dad explaining the story behind Pandora's box.

"Pandora's curiosity got the best of her, and one day she opened that box. Out came plagues and misery and mischief. She managed to shut the lid tight before hope escaped. It's the only weapon we have left to fight the others".

The second is a quote about love.

".....that she would love me until the moon lost it's footing in the sky".

To hope, love, and hoping that I love the next book I read as much as this one.