Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Christy!!Christy turns 23 today, hooray! She's such a youngin ;) I can't believe this will be the 7th birthday we've celebrated with each other, the years are flying by!

Thanks for being one of the most caring, loving and understanding people I know. Thanks for providing me with lots of laughs (whether intentional or not) and laughing with me when no one else will. Thanks for being a sounding board and a support system.

I love you and hope you have an amazing day!!PS. making this collage made me realize that we're a little ridiculous when it comes to taking pictures with each other ;)

Thankful Thursdays

I am thankful for:-nice weather-the joy of celebrating birthdays-baseball games-my health-a weekend where I can stay at home and not travel :)

Hope everyone has a Happy Thursday and awesome weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

"Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever."

My mom.My role model.My best friend.Love you Momma!! :)

Oh how I miss college...

This past weekend I went down to Blacksburg to visit VT and go to the Spring Game/Alumni Tailgate. What actually ended up happening with Alumni Tailgating and going to El-Rod's...this is the only time I'd let myself miss a football game in Blacksburg. Considering we were scrimmaging ourselves, I say we'd win :)
We (Susan, Sarah, Jen and I) left Arlington around 2:15 on Friday afternoon. After sitting in traffic on 66 for 45 minutes to go about 5 miles (shocker) we finally got moving. A stop @ Chick-fil-a @ JMU, a driver switch and we were on our way again. Another traffic jam (in Roanoke) made our final journey time around 5 hours. When it usually take 3.5-4...so I guess, for a Friday afternoon, it wasn't too bad.

After eating dinner with Susan's family - yummy Spaghetti - we got ready and headed DT to Big Al's. Blacksburg is CROWDED on football game weekends, everyone knows that...but we didn't expect the spring game to bring in that big of a crowd. We were definitely wrong. There was barely a place to stand without getting molested as people tried to push past you. After a few hours of molestation, we decided to go to our friend's apartment. Where, someone was celebrating their 18th birthday. If that doesn't make you feel old...nothing will. I think the high-light of the night was on our way home, stopping @ Gumby's and getting pokey sticks. Definitely not on the diet, but a definite must when you're in Blacksburg.

On Saturday morning, we got up, had breakfast with Susan's family and then started to get ready to head to the tailgate. We got there around 11, and started drinking. It was definitely one of the best tailgates I've been to in the past few years. The turn out was amazing (it was awesome to see everyone) and the food was good :) Once the game started and people started trickling away, some of us decided to go to El-Rods for some food and Jumbo Margarita's...good life choices. After El-Rods, Susan, Jen and myself went back to Susan's Mom's and took a little nap.

After our nap, we got ready to go back to DT. After a few moments @ Big Al's we decided that we once again couldn't handle the crowd, and decided to move to TOTS. It was, surprisingly, uncrowded (which changed as the night wore on) and we got good spots (standing though). After a few hours and a couple of incidents, such as one person almost getting thrown out, and another person actually getting thrown out...we decided to throw in the towel.

It was a good/fun trip down to Blacksburg. It made me miss college, the people, the town and just generally not having that many responsibilities. We talked about how it was funny that when we were in college and alumni would come back and tell us just how awesome college was and to "never leave!" we'd just smile and nod. And now, we're those alumni...oh, kids these days :)

Thankful Thursdays

I am thankful for:- sunshine- flip-flops- outlet malls- night time walks- spa days- bbqs- upcoming trips to FL- SPRING!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

*WARNING* There's a whole lotta green in this post...

I feel like I tell myself that I want to have some free weekends. It sounds like a good plan, but it never happens. These past few weeks have been busy.

On the sad side of things, my grandma passed away on Friday, March 12...she died peacefully in her sleep. Which is the best way to go (in my opinion). I thought I had prepared myself for it, but it ended up being harder than I expected. But at least she's in a better place now. My mom is actually going up to PA this weekend to get the memorial service planned out @ the funeral home where her ashes will be buried.

I don't know if it was the fact that my grandma passed away that weekend, or just that I was feeling the love, but my birthday this year (March 14) was a good one. It was definitely very low-key, no crazy parties or getting ridiculously drunk with birthday shots. But I got to spend time with all the people who matter most to me (my college friends, my high-school friends and my family). So turning 24 wasn't all that bad, other than being one step closer to 30...

St. Patrick's Day was awesome. College friends (after much debate) decided to go to Whitlow's...which probably was a good decision. Some of us go there @ 4:45, and started the party. And some of us that did that did NOT have a good after St. Patrick's Day @ work :) here's some pictures from the good times...

My parents threw their annual St. Patrick's Day party the weekend after St. Patty's Day. Good times were had by all, and I definitely feel differently about some of my parent's friends. They shared a little too much information, and that's all I'll say about that ;) My camera was stolen during the party (or should I say "borrowed") hence why there was a photo-shoot in which I'm not involved. :)

This past weekend, my Aunt Dee Dee, cousin Wendy-Beth and Pop came down. It was good to have some time with them. And now Pop has been staying with my parent's for the week. He's on his best behavior, and we're all going deaf...but anything for Pop :)

This weekend will be another busy one, but good times are ahead...

Happy Thursday!

Saying Goodbye...

...is hard to do.

My grandmother (on my mom's side) is in the last stages of her life. She's unresponsive, won't eat, etc. I can't say that this is unexpected as it's been a long time coming. But the question is, does that make it any easier?

She's been sick for a long time now. Mentally that is. She's bi-polar, has depression, and other various things. These never got diagnosed until she was in her 60's. Because of that, she never had the proper care or medication she needed before that.

I can't speak for anyone else in my family, but I had a very...interesting relationship with her. I was her only grandchild. She spoiled me. Even if it wasn't with gifts, it was with her time. I have very fond memories of going to spend weeks with her and my grandfather (Mac) during the summer. She would take me to see movies, drive me to DC to have picnics on the lawn in front of the Monuments. Through all this, we definitely had some bumpy spots. It would get confusing for me when she would feed me ice cream and then proceed to tell me that I was "fat, and useless" or that I would "never amount to anything."

Obviously, once she got diagnosed, it was easy to see what these bouts of meanness were. She has a personality disorder, she's bi-polar, manic/depression. But when you're 8 years old...that doesn't mean much. I think as I've gotten older its gotten easier for me to forgive her. I don't make excuses for her, but she wasn't receiving the help that she needed. So, while I do remember the bad times, I try to hold the good times because those were her and not her disease.

I'm not sure which is harder, knowing someone is dying and having a chance to say good-bye or having them die suddenly. I've had it happen both ways. My grandfather suddenly passed away on July 4, 2005...with no warning. I never got a chance to say good-bye or tell him how much I loved him or appreciated his love and support. But I've watched my grandma go down hill since the day she lost him. I've watched as, little by little, she's lost her life. She's not really there anymore, she's been gone for awhile. It's just her outer shell that still remains.

So I just hope she knows that despite everything, I love her. And I forgive her. And I hope that in the next place, she's truly happy.