Detroiters carry on...

Not a lot of time to be blogging lately, but I wanted to share this article with you. Mitch Albom brings tears to my eyes, and reminds me how proud I am to live in Michigan, in Metro Detroit. He pretty much says it all...

Gay Marriage

I don't have a lot of time, and I feel like this article really gets my brain MOVING about gay marriage. But she just says some really spot-on things in terms of where the bible stands on gay marriage. Read here

The randomest of Memes

1. Started your own blog
(Um, yeah, look around ye...)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4.. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Why Disneyland? Does anyone even go there anymore? Isn't it all about Florida and Disneyworld?)
8. Climbed a mountain (like with rock climbing equipment? No, but I've been to the top of mountains before)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (You truly haven't heard me sing, or you'd know this is a big no)
11. Bungee jumping>> (Oh you have to be kidding. Hayl No. Lets just put away the OMGIWOULDBESOSCAREDI'dPEEMYPANTS feeling that would surely take over me. My back and neck and every joint in my body SCREAM when I think of that. )
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (The inside was closed the day we visited, go fig...)18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight (wow this is quite the random meme. Visits to Paris and Pillow Fights?
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort (dudes. I live in Michigan. Snow Fort Building is a religion up here)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon (I walked 60 miles over 3 days, that's gotta be pretty damned close.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (This list has an infatuation with Europe)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (Um, duh)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (in person? Or on the tube? I watched Witness, does that count?)36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (Again with Europe)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David (How about something in Africa or Australia? I haven't done those either, but I'd feel better about not having done those. More equally represented...something)
41. Sung karaoke. (George Michael, no less)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (-a ha! we're moving from europe)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (like kate winslet in titanic, no less, right? nope, never done that)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (Ugh...more Europe. I want to go, k? Just haven't gone except to London)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris *sigh*
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie (I was on the special features for Harry Potter Goblet of Fire DVD - 2disc edition. Does that count? Yeah, it does. IT DOES TOO!)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China (Ahhh! Hello non-Europe)
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (no, but i've taken my kids to their martial arts class, so i should make this red or italics. It's a by proxy meme!)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (define visit. Drive by in a taxi counts, right?)
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (ok, this europe thing is cool. only cuz i've done it)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
8. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Met the kids from the HP movie and was *this* close to meeting JK Rowling)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone (seriously?)
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (Yes, but 2 days is my preferred)

Nostalgia lives here

A friend of mine has started to put up some old recordings of choir and band concerts from when we were in high school.

Did that bring back some memories or what? Let's see - in no particular order:

• Yelling "Dondero Loves Durand" every year...
• Ray bringing us truffles from his upscale restaurant before a competition
• Jill and I locking our keys in our room (twice) in Holland
• The bus breaking down on the way back from Holland freshmen year
• Going through initiation, which is super gross, then having to get cleaned up and come back to play a b-ball game that night. My dad hosing me down outside in the yard cuz I couldn't possibly go in the house looking (and smelling!) like that.
• Having Ray teach us dance moves to "Vogue" by Madonna and "Round and Round" by Dead or Alive.
• Making Night Show Sr. Year
• Listening to Pat and Julie jam to Rob Base all the freakin time
• Freezing our tookus off every weekend in the bleachers!

So. Tonight my kids have a middle school band concert. And unbeknownst to me, the high school showed up as well to give everyone a taste of what the high school band program was like. My daughter will be in high school next year (i know, i know) and so it was a nice mix of the bands. They did a couple concert pieces (that TOTALLY rocked) and then full marching band get-up inside the auditorium. Very FUN!

And it was fun to feel the excitement from the kids. They are excited to be a part of the Marching Experience when they get to high school. It's so hard to describe the type of energy and the type of connections I made during Marching Band. Everyone had their "thing" in high school. For some it was sports, for some it was drama, for some it was choir. For many of us, it was a blend of all of these - which I'm sure made every experience that much richer. I just know that I need to express successfully to my kids how many OPPORTUNITIES there are in high school. And they need to GET INVOLVED.

One thing the h.s. band director did that I thought was cool. She was talking to the audience (including the middle school band students) about how many great things the band did, and how involved and intelligent the band kids were. Then she turned to her band and said 'How many of you are on the honor roll?' - A whole host of hands shot up.

'How many of you play a sport in school?' - Again, a ton of hands went up.

'How many of you are captain of that sport?' - At least 10 hands went up.

'How many of you are involved in volunteer or church organizations?' - Tons of hands.

She got her point across but she drove it home by talking to the kids in a way that they understood. She was very adorably 'with it' and both my kids thought she seemed very fun. I was also secretly (or not so) happy to see a female in charge of the h.s. program as i know that's not the norm and kudos to all the female band directors out there!

<>

I pulled out my h.s. scrapbook and I really need to get going on scanning some of these pics. From my new years eve party senior year. From Initiation during pre-week my jr. year (yes, i think it was spaghetti dinner!) From Key West trip Spring Break. (Would YOUUUUUU rather???? EAT A BEETLE!) From Senior Prom.... I gotta get this stuff up so you can all oooh and ahhhh over our big hair and our young faces =)

Pendulum Swinger

Not sure Blogger will let me embed a video, so here is a link.... but I thought it was appropriate to hear this song today. LOVED it the MOMENT I heard it.

Pendulum Swinger by Indigo Girls

I meet you for coffee
We get together periodically
I got a bad case I can't shake off of me
The fevered walking round wondering how it ought to be

You work in the system
You see possibilities and your glistening
Eyes show the hell you're gonna give 'em
When they back off the mic for once and give it to a woman

I dream like a mad one
Brutal fantasies I catch as catch can
I'm a psychic and a laywoman
I see love and I like to make it happen

What we get from your war walk
Ticker of the nation breaking down like a bad clock
I want the pendulum to swing again
So that all your mighty mandate wasjust spitting in the wind

It doesn't come by the bullwhip
It's not persuaded with your hands on your hips
Not the company of gunslingers
The epicenter love is the pendulum swinger
She is she is she is

It's fine about the old scroll
SanskritGnostic gospels the da vinci code a smash hit
Aren't we dying just to read it and relate
Too hard just to go by a blind faith

But they left out the sisters
Praying to a father god so long I really missed her
The goddess of benevolence
You should listen to your mama if youhave a lick of sense left

Pushed under by the main press,
buried under a code of dress
Relegated by the Vatican
But you can't keep a spirit down that wants to get up again

If we're a drop in the bucket
With just enough science to keep from saying fuck it
Until the last drop of sun burns its sweet light
Plenty revolutions left until we get this thing right

Voting Day!

Last night recap in the ongoing saga that is my life: I stay late at work, don't get home til 7:30pm, turn around and do parent-teacher conferences at the kids' school til 8:30, come home, eat a late dinner (yummy mac & cheese casserole with onions and sausage and garlic that Chris made, which I love every time he makes it), take a shower and then flop in front of the TV to flip between football and Bridget Jones Diary. I know - I'm so fucking eclectic.

ANYWAY.

By 10pm, I was beat. And I mean like dragging my ass to bed beat. Damned clock-turning-back time-of-the-year.

But did that stop me from waking up at 5:30 this morning to go vote early before I came in? Nope! Now, did the time change this weekend have something to do with that? Yeah, it did. So what! It's voting day, bitches!

I *LOVE* to vote! I love the IDEA of voting! I love that we GET to vote in this country. It makes me feel so happy to have that RIGHT. That PRIVILEGE. I feel truly honored. Blessed. Completely fucking lucky.

I have never voted early before. I always go after work. This year I wanted to see what the polls were like at 7am. I dragged Chris with me (he always wants to vote together, it's like grocery shopping or something, it's cute) and we got to the polls about 10 minutes before 7am. There was already a fatmongous line queued up all the way inside the church. Yeah, we vote at a church. Isn't that funny? Church and State anyone? Ah, nah, don't worry - just come inside this BAPTIST church and put your vote in! (ok, i've never had any problems voting here, but i just thought it was funny when we moved that we found out we voted at a baptist church)

But oh, how it warmed my heart to see that line. I was ECSTATIC to wait in line with those folks. I LOVE not only voting myself, but hearing that other folks have voted, too. I *hate* hearing folks who don't vote. Why would you not vote? Isn't that what this country is all about? Get out and vote, people!

Anyway, we saw our neighbor in line and the line moved pretty quickly. We were in and out in an hour. I admit I did not vote for every single item on the ballot, as I'm not knowledgable about who should sit on the U of M board or the Wayne State Regent Board, and I know NAH-ZING about judges. But I voted for my rep, my senator, the 3 proposals, and of course Mr. Obama.

I practically skipped out of the precinct, my heart full of hope and just real love for this country. I really hope that people WANT change enough to go vote for it, and that Obama can surround himself with the support team he'll need to get us out of this hellhole. I think he can. Hell, I wouldn't have voted for him if I didn't think that.

What a historical moment. I am trying to soak that in. This is such a MOMENT. I can't wait to relish in all the coverage and what not tonight. Even though I've been sick of it the last few weeks, I'm now ready to reel it in and watch everything unfold. It's history, people!

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!

boringest post ever

So sick of the political process, I could scream. Let's just vote already.

I'm feeling the urge to get back into my scrapbooking again. Haven't had that urge in a very long time. My scrap room looks a little like the cat lady's house met the pack rat from hell. I used to have this SO organized. And when I do, I am the envy of every scrapper out there. I have a kick ass table that is HUGE and sturdy. I have good lighting (when they work *ahem*) I have a SHIT load of supplies and cool tools (although I need a Cricut!). I'll have to see about really getting into a groove and cleaning up this room so I can get back into scrapping. I'm now 4 years behind. I like to be constantly 1 year behind (so that way if someone sends me pics 4 months after an event, I don't slap myself and say 'oh, man! That would have fit so well into the page I just scrapped!')

But my creative juices have not been really flowing and I feel them knocking at the door. Please can we play, too, now? The reading books and blogging and facebooking just isn't cutting it. I need to play with paper, scissors, and die cuts.

My job is going really well. I'm really liking it and the people are both entertaining and helpful. I have some quirky funny folks I work with and that's always a plus. I'm very lucky.

Kids are doing well - Taylor is eye-level with me, and I'm thinking Alex isn't far behind.

We're going to Melting Pot for dinner tonight, and I'm kinda geeked. Haven't been there in ages and it's oh so yummy.

My Buckeyes continue to give me ulcers with winning consistently in the Big Ten, but not prettily. We better beat MSU today, that's all I'm sayin'

Pretty Amazing

Again I walked the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk

Again I was motivated and inspired by the many stories of survival and struggle.

Again I was touched and saddened by the stories of loss and heartache.

Again I was happy and joyous by the human spirit and being part of something bigger than myself.

My friend Jamie came up all the way from New Orleans just to walk this. Jamie and I had never met before this event. We were Myspace buddies -- shared common interests, made each other laugh, traded emails and pics of our kids, our lives....but when she said she wanted to come up here and walk I was all for it. It may sound strange but in this day of staying connected via internet, texting, e-mailing, and what not, it seemed like the perfect fit.

I was more touched this year by this event, and I can't really put my finger on why. I had put some more effort into training this year and really had my heart set on walking ALL 60 miles. But once I got into the event, I realized (yet again) it's *so* not about the walking. The walk is the FUN part. The money-raising is the meat and potatoes of this event. The getting-the-word-out-about-breast-cancer is the important part. It's a privilege to be ABLE to walk those 60 miles. For those who can't or who are no longer with us.

And if you can't walk them all, who cares? I had that feeling overtake me a bit when we started. It was so awesome to be a part of the Opening Ceremony, listening to everyone, watching the flags go by, seeing the one Survivor in the Survivor Circle cry tears of joy as we shouted and clapped them onto the stage...it seemed like the walking was just the icing on the cake.

Jamie and I walked the entire way on Day 1. Whew! We were really feeling it that night, but big thanks to my mom who picked us up and really baby'd us in the evenings. It made a world of difference for us, and with the way Jamie's knee acted up near the end, I don't know what we would have done had we stayed on site overnight. Total miles walked Day 1=21

Day 2 was hard on Jamie - her knee had swollen badly and her blisters were disturbing, to say the least. She didn't want to get on the bus at lunch to ride back to camp. She had flown all this way up here to walk, right? Nope. She had flown up here to be a part of this meaningful event, and she WAS. She had raised her $2,200+ and she had EARNED the right to be in this sisterhood of walkers. That's all that mattered. Total miles walked Day 2= 19

Day 3 was the Loopy Day. It's when we made the crazy "F" video (if you are on myspace, check out my page... I'll see if Jamie can upload it in another format for those non-myspace users) and we even made up our own song about blisters. *snicker* It wasn't a nice song. Because Blisters aren't nice. Total miles walked Day 3=15 (I think?)

We jammed to the Pink Ambulance Guys.

We took our picture with the lady who had been diagnosed at 7 months pregnant, had had her baby, and was here to cheer on her group of friends walking in her honor.

I walked with a guy from Kzoo whose wife was a survivor of 7 years and he decided to walk in her honor by himself.

I ran into some girls I used to coach volleyball, who were walking for their mom/aunt.

We met Pink Bearded Barry - the 60 year old guy from Huntington Woods who walks EVERY 3-day EVERY year. Yup. 60 miles EVERY weekend for TWELVE weeks. He's done it 3 years now and he says he'll keep doing it until someone shows him why he shouldn't. Every time I would see him, somehow my feet and calves immediately hurt a little bit less.

We *Squeezed* into the most outstanding, bestest, coolest, fantasticness Sweep Van of all and let Chef Erin and Chef Jill cart us to the next Pit all the while Erin was decorating my back with stickers and my feet were numb from squeezing in between the two front seats. =)

We were so grateful to everyone who came out and gave us fruit, candy, pop, slurpees, or just a big pat on the back and a "thank you" - we walk for everyone who can't and until we live in world without breast cancer, we'll just keep walking.

I urge all of you to check out this event, check out the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and get educated about breast cancer and what is being done to prevent and cure it.

The Michigan walk raised over $7 million dollars this year, up from 5.5 last year. Thank you SO much to all of you who donated to my walk this year. It's a big commitment to say "I'm going to raise $2,200 every year" and with this economy hitting us in Michigan, I wasn't sure I would be able to come back this year and do it. But you all proved me wrong. I am so happy and blessed to have the kind of support I do from my circle of family and friends, and trust me when I say I am *more* than grateful. I'm one lucky chicka and I know it.

And let me know who wants to walk next year, cuz I can't imagine a year going by where I'm not walking AT LEAST one of these. I know Jamie is just as inspired and wants her Mardi Gras folks to join us next year. Whoopee! The more, the merrier! There is talk of picking a different city to walk, and we all go there to walk - who knows - I just know I need to be a part of this until there is a cure....

3 Day Video

It's late. This video took WAY too long. I'll blog about the 3 Day in well-deserved detail later. For now, enjoy this... and know that this event continues to be one of a kind....

3 Day Video

(Blogger won't let me put the video in here directly....please go watch the video...I know you don't usually want to click away from the page you are on, cuz it's one more page to open, to wait for, to go visit....but I promise you'll be glad you did)

Excellent Post by J

I don't do this normally, but I'm being hit by this very powerful post by my friend, J. Go and take a look see at her blog entry this a.m.

I pick up Jamie at 6pm tonight and tomorrow come 7:30am, we start The Walk!

Wish us luck! I'll be sure to post a bunch of pics come Monday or Tuesday of next week. Stay tuned. =)