New Landscaping

Thanks to my Dad, we now have some beautiful new landscaping in the front of the new house. Dad and Paul both put in many hours of hard labor to get this accomplished and I think it looks great! All of the bushes and trees in the front left of the house are new. I picked the white birch because it's my favorite tree. My Dad chose and arranged everything else... I love the design of the planting and also the varied colors and textures of everything.
We also have small planting of hostas and ferns and impatiens underneath the maple tree now and a few plants on the left side of the walkway. Unfortunately, the deer have started eating the hostas already! We have to figure out some way to stop them.
Zoe loves her new yard and runs around and plays outside every day. She has the best time chasing away birds, rabbits, squirrels, and even turkeys.

Turtle

Last week, I saw a porcupine on my porch and watched him scurry down into the woods before I could manage to grab my camera. I immediately called Paul to tell him because I couldn't believe it. Ever since, Paul, my Dad, Ryan, and everyone else have been teasing me because they don't think I could have seen a porcupine. I am somewhat insulted because I think it would be incredibly hard to mistake something else for a porcupine.

This incident has inspired me to try to chronicle some of the creatures that I see around the new house. So far, the porcupine hasn't been back, but today Jess and I found a box turtle in the yard!

All smiles

Brody always has a big grin for everyone. :0)


But he grabbed onto this little fish a few days ago in the bath tub and now he won't put it down (at all). Just try to take it from him and you'll get an earful!

By the way... thanks to Susan for the pictures.

The Journey

I read Google's quotes of the day today and loved this one:

"Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student." ~George Iles

It just seemed appropriate for me to read today. I officially (and successfully) defended my dissertation on April 16, 2009, earning my doctoral degree in Information Systems and Communications from Robert Morris University. But even though I'm done with the program, I've always had a love of learning and know that I'll never stop seeking to learn and understand more. Plus, with my newly formed research skills, I know I'll continue to actively research in the future (formally or not).

While it's a huge relief to be finished, there is a part of me that's a little sad that it's over. Our advisors always say that getting a doctorate is "all about the journey" - and I think in many ways they're right. There's definitely a feeling of pride and accomplishment in finishing, but it was also fun to look forward to learning new things and having new (and repeated!) intellectual debates and discussions at each doctoral weekend. Plus, my program was cohort-based, and the others in the cohort that have gone on this journey with me for the past 3 years have honestly become great friends. It's hard to think that we won't see each other as much anymore... although I fully expect the Pittburghers to keep getting together!

I'm looking forward to the graduation dinner and the commencement ceremony in May. I just wish that Mom could be there too. I know she'll be with me there in spirit, but I can't help wishing for more.

Mom

My Mom passed away on April 8, 2009. She was surrounded by her four daughters, each of us holding her hands, her husband, her sister, and her closest friends. It's the worst thing that's ever happened in my life, and I miss her so much I can't even explain it. I'm not sure if I will want to write more about it here or not, but I found this poem that I wanted to share.

OUR MOTHER

IF WE COULD HAVE A LIFETIME WISH
ONE DREAM THAT WOULD COME TRUE
WE WOULD PRAY TO GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS
FOR YESTERDAY AND YOU.
A THOUSAND WORDS CAN’T BRING YOU BACK
WE KNOW BECAUSE WE’VE TRIED.
AND NEITHER WILL A MILLION TEARS
WE KNOW BECAUSE WE’VE CRIED.
YOU LEFT BEHIND OUR BROKEN HEARTS
AND HAPPY MEMORIES TOO.
BUT WE NEVER WANTED MEMORIES
WE WANTED ONLY YOU.
SO QUIETLY TODAY
YOUR MEMORY WE TREASURE
THINKING OF YOU ALWAYS
AND LOVING YOU FOREVER.

Hard Times

OK, this is a really hard post to write. My Mom is still battling her cancer, and things are not going well right now.

Internet, all prayers for my Mom are appreciated.

6 months old!

I can hardly believe that Brody is 6 months old already! I got to babysit him last night for a while - he was a little fussy butt for most of the night - but you wouldn't know it from these pics (and we had fun anyway... I even got him to laugh!). How can you resist this little guy?

Superbowl XLIII

What a game! It was so exciting -- from Harrison's mad dash to a touchdown, to Fitzgerald's touchdown that we thought would be the end, to the football swooshing through Santonio's hands, and finally his game winning catch. We were on the edge of our seats for much of the game and had a blast watching the action at Wes and Danielle's house. Everyone had black & gold fever and was sporting their Steelers gear (although I was the only one without a jersey on because I had worn my Steelers hoodie for the AFC championship when they won - so of course I had to wear it again!). Even Zoe had on her little number 86 jersey.



We broke out the 3D glasses, checked out all of the new commercials, feasted on pepperoni rolls, chicken wings, and buffalo chicken dip... and had a great time overall. The girls even found some time to get in a few rounds of Pounce before kickoff.


At the end of the night, Paul and I watched some of the coverage on the news after the game and it was crazy to see how many people were out crowding the streets of Oakland! What a night. I know that Holmes had the game winning catch - but my vote for MVP went to Big Ben.

Ski trip

Last Saturday a bunch of us headed up to Seven Springs for a day of skiing. It was actually a beautiful day for it - and I was so layered with clothing that I honestly didn't even feel the cold. I had been skiing once before in my life, although that attempt really doesn't count seeing as how I pretty much tumbled down the mountain once and then gave up. So I was pretty much a total beginner and so was Paul.

Well, Paul took to skiing like he usually takes to new things like this - quickly and easily. By the end of the day he was zipping around like it was nothing - easily keeping up with Nick, Joe, and Kim who all had more experience. It took me a little longer to catch on. Kim was awesome and stayed with me the whole time as I snow plowed down the mountain at snail speed for the first couple of trips. I think this was a mistake overall because my muscles got really tired from the constant strain. I had a couple of falls (one of which involved a pretty decent split) but didn't really get hurt too badly.

I took a break halfway through and hung out with Ryan for a while in the lodge (he insisted that he would ski under no circumstances, LOL). When I tackled the slopes with everyone again later, I did much better. Paul convinced me that going faster was actually going to make it easier - and it did. We had also met up with Beth and Jason who were staying at the resort for the weekend, and they were really encouraging to me too, which helped. I was exhausted by the end of the day (and came away with only sore muscles and a strained Achilles tendon) but I thought it was well worth it. I'd love to go again.

A little bit at a time

I'm the kind of person who doesn't really like resolutions... if you tell me that I absolutely cannot do something, of course I immediately feel the need to do it.

So, this year I'm hoping to set little goals for myself instead... things that I want to improve about myself. I'm going to have a positive outlook and try to see the benefits from the combined effect of all of these little things instead of feeling guilty that I'm not making a bigger effort to reach some monolithic goal. And if I mess up with one of them... hey, it's not so bad, because it's just a little thing. And it can easily be replaced by other little things. So enough of my new philosophy - here are some of the things I've been doing differently:

> I'm making a serious effort to get to bed by 10:30pm (which will get me about 8 hours of sleep). I'm a night owl and I've functioned on approximately 6 hours of sleep for most of my lifetime, but recently I'd started to feel tired all the time. So, it was time for a change! So far I've been doing this for about 2 weeks, and with the exception of most weekends, it's been working. I feel SO much better in the mornings.

> No more diet pop. OK, well I'm not banning it forever (see the first paragraph of this post), but I'm making a serious effort to stop my regular intake of so many chemicals. I've been drinking unsweetened tea, coffee, and water. So far, so good.

> I'm taking multivitamins and moisturizing every day. This may seem ridiculously easy, but this has always been a struggle for me to remember for some reason, so I'm starting a new habit where I go through a nightly ritual and remind myself to do these things to take care of ME.

> I'm attacking laundry in smaller batches - maybe doing 1 load a night for 2 weeknights in a row to keep up... instead of waiting for the Big Laundry Mountain to appear.

> I've also been hitting up the lunch stand at work and having soup for lunch lately - it's saving on calories AND giving me that super-warm happy feeling that you get when you eat something warm on a really cold day.

So that's my plan. We'll see how things progress...

Looking forward to a ski trip this weekend and then, of course, the Superbowl! Let's go Steelers!

Look at the turkeys in our yard!

Comedy and Culture

On January 3rd we got ourselves all dressed up and headed out for a night on the town with Kim and Joe. We started the evening visiting with some family - it was Uncle Tom's birthday and we went over to help celebrate. I was excited to get to see baby Jack because I wasn't able to make it the last time he was in town. Afterwards, we had dinner at the Grille on 7th in the cultural district before heading over to see Jerry Seinfeld live on tour at the Benedum. Jerry was excellent - we were a little afraid that someone so popular wouldn't live up to the hype, but honestly I was laughing so hard that at times I thought I was going to throw my back out. We had a great time with Kim and Joe and the show couldn't have been better. I think we need to do this more often!

Pouncing into 2009

Keeping with tradition, we celebrated the new year at Wes and Danielle's house. Another beer pong tournament took place and this time I chose to sit it out. Kim got Garrett's sister Erin to be her new partner and the two of them pretty much ran the tournament for most of the night. So... it looks like I've been thoroughly replaced (but that's OK).

Paul actually ended up teaching some of the others how to play Pounce, and we had some pretty good Pounce games taking place at the same time that the others were playing beer pong. (In fact, we had such a good time that we had everyone over to our house on Friday for a Pounce party!)

The rest of New Year's was filled with good times, strawberry daquiris (at least for the girls), and a little champagne. Wesley even broke out the trombone (with Frank accompanying on cymbals).


Our cute little contribution to the night was the "Countdown Cheesecake" which we didn't bake ourselves (hey December was an exhausting month!) but Paul did make the most delicious homemade raspberry sauce for the numbers.

Hopefully 2009 will bring all of us happiness, prosperity and good health. Notably we will see Wes and Danielle's wedding this year and my graduation from the doctoral program. I can't wait!