almost missed it!!

thank you Fabulous K (a blog I stalk) for reminding me!!!

Earth Hour is tonight from 8:30pm to 9:30pm -- all you have to do is turn off your lights for one hour -- TONS of cities around the world are doing it to show how much energy can be saved in an hour to combat global warming. It's so simple!

Last year Emily and Christa came over and we played board games by candlelight -- I don't know what we'll do this year, since I've only got 4 hours to plan -- maybe Pete and I will do what we had originally planned -- shrimp kebabs on the grill -- and just dine by candlelight.

If you are wondering where I'll be for the next two years....

I'LL BE IN GRADUATE SCHOOL!!!

My letter of acceptance arrived last Wednesday, I've just been behind in posting. I'm excited and nervous and scared all at the same time, but am hoping I will be able to work to deserve the spot I've earned in the program (130 applied, 25-28 were accepted).

So, the next time I'm in the workforce, (fingers crossed) I'll be a Speech-Language Pathologist!!

taking a break

I'm about halfway-through writing the first-draft of my Graduate Writing Requirement research paper (due tomorrow). I've been terrible about updating this little 'ole blog, but it's because I've been super-busy -- honest!!

I even have some little pictures and things all ready to go from when I was going to blog a few times this weekend but remembered it would be a better idea to study for my Diagnostic Procedures midterm (which was this evening at 6pm and *so* didn't deserve all the stress it caused me).

We are on the verge of Spring...I can just feel it. When I got out of my class this evening, it wasn't quite dark yet -- and all my catalogs and magazines are showing the cutest Spring/Easter things:

chocolate umbrellas and little feather duckies -- almost makes me WANT april showers!

...and on sunday I read the sweetest post-secret:

Alright, I guess I better get back to Evidence-Based Practice in Health Care and its Importance in Guiding Clinical Practice in Communication Sciences and Disorders (exciting, I know)

when will the post of the day be MY choice?!?!

was SO excited when I got the email from Boden that every day in February a different item will be 25% off -- now I faithfully check every day hoping that the shirt I like and the little sweater will each have their day, and I won't feel too bad for buying more clothes. :)

Happy Friday!

a fun (food) filled weekend

We had a nice, relaxing weekend at our house. We kind-of dropped the ball on planning for Valentine's Day, so we decided instead to go out on Friday night to one of our favorite restaurant's, Sal's.

Saturday morning Pete went for a long run (12 miles) while I stayed home and made flashcards (whoopee). I did a workout video while Pete went to the grocery store -- when he came home he had all the makings of a great dinner for two AND fresh flowers! We went to the co-op to get sushi for lunch, then drove around chevy chase looking at houses for sale. No, we're not house-hunting, but it never hurts to look, right? On the way home we stopped by Starbucks for some lattes.

I got back to the flashcards once we got home and Pete started on dinner. He slow-cooked a pork loin, roasted potatoes, and roasted asparagus --yum!



And then for dessert -- Pistachio cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory!!

We rounded out the evening by watching Sweet Home Alabama on t.v. -- we're serious movers and shakers, people.

Today was another great day around the house -- we went to Target, took the dogs to the dog park, watched West Wing dvds, Pete went for another run (while I made MORE flashcards) and then we got...wait for it...SONIC for dinner -- sin of sins, onion rings and hamburgers, but it was GOOD. :)

I have FINALLY finished my Language Development flashcards, so after this break I will start reviewing them...oh joy.

saw these last night when pete and i went to the mall:



*might* have to get them :)

i know i did this yesterday

but my brother's blog today is HILARIOUS (and personally embarassing) -- so it should be enjoyable all-around.

so put on your jams and a hypercolor shirt and head over to bald men need hats!

another blog to visit today

nothing much going on a camp crawford...I'm posting this in between clinical observation at 11:30 and class at 1:00. I WOULD be eating lunch, but the PT students have pretty much taken over the student lounge, so I'm waiting for the dust to settle a bit before staking my claim in line by the microwaves.

SO...somewhere you SHOULD read about cool stuff today: melanie's blog! She posted images (and a slideshow) from Lauren and Barrett's wedding -- one of the rare weddings where I was her assistant. It was a beautiful day in Louisville and the wedding was just lovely.

that's it, i'm blogging to say go see melanie, which i know most of you do anyway :)

Happy Wednesday!

I guess I'm just a girl who CAN say no!

I was SO excited when Woodford Co. Theatre announced their 2009 season -- they had picked Oklahoma! as their summer musical -- who-hoo! One of my favorites! I had the BEST time doing Crazy for You in 2007, I couldn't wait until they posted information about auditions and show dates.

Auditions are March 8th & 9th -- Sunday afternoon, Monday evening, I can totally do that. BUT THE SHOW DATES ARE EVERY WEEKEND IN MAY!! I just can't see being able to be in rehearsal all night before my finals and still doing well in school. Also, if I get into graduate school I only have 3 weeks off in May before classes begin -- we have to take the second summer session that starts in June.

So I'm going to be a responsible adult and not audition to be in one of my favorite shows ever....I will have to cling to the memory of doing curtains for Cooper's 1995 production when our football quarterback - who was playing Curly, the lead -- spoke to me (ME! a freshman!! I was giddy for weeks!).

I'm clearly being irrational

but I'm starting to feel oddly possessive about baby names. No, I'm not pregnant but Pete and I are definitely in that window where we can see starting a family in the next 2-5 years. Of course, so is every couple we know. Just found out last week that my sister-in-law is pregnant (yay!), along with a host of other people we know.

Pete just called to tell me that his good high school friend (and his wife) have decided on a name for their first child, due in the next week or so: Samuel. My first thought was -- oh what a great name.... my second thought was -- but wait! that is one of the names WE like!! Luckily, Rachael and I chatted about this last week (she fuels this baby madness) and none of our chosen names conflict. ;)

But so many good ones are already gone:
Benjamin - nephew
Andrew - brother-in-law
Emma - cousin (once removed?)
Charlotte - S-I-L's dog
Hannah - my dog (obviously my fault)

No, I'm not going to list my fav baby names and stake claim to them (plus I feel like that could jinx things) but I just hope if we proclaim our first born on the internet in the year 20?? no one will think we're copying or naming our child AFTER someone...it's probably just a name we like...that has a good meaning, strong character, good initials, etc.

okay, that's it -- just thought i'd confess :)

We obviously have too much time on our hands

but what else are we supposed to to when iced in?

Here's the video of Josie in the snow -- and a glance at our front yard:



Also, a few years ago my brother sent us a cat toy for Josie. She didn't like it and we forgot about it. I happened upon it while digging in our game closet and Fiona went nuts!

though the weather outside is frightful...

So we got our ice storm last night, and then this morning we got about 2" of snow on top of the ice. UK finally canceled classes around 6am, which is good because there's no way I would try to drive in this. Pete and I walked to Kroger after playing in the snowy fields at the elementary school.

It seems silly that we own these, but we TOTALLY used them last night when we we walking around outside (I should have used them on campus yesterday but i was silly and assumed the university would salt since they didn't cancel classes -- I was SO wrong)
YakTrax!!! They're like ice chains for your shoes -- Pete and I got them when I used to work at John's and they come in very handy (albeit rarely).

The other thing we were SO lucky to have today are 2 of these:
and here's why....




I told Pete he was jinxing us when we bought them, but I seem to have been wrong (unless you count all the ice and fallen trees, of course)

Unfortunately, after we had all our fun, it was time to come home and clean up the messes in our front and back yards.

Poor apple tree -- we just hope the right side doesn't also fall down or we'll lose electricity for sure -- the electric cable into our house is tangled in all that mess.

If you're reading this -- hopefully that means you are safe and warm somewhere!

Good day!!

Yay for a day with no school!! I know the semester just began, but it's NICE to have a 3-day weekend right off the bat. We met Rachael & Sylvain and Mike in Louisville for lunch at Lynn's Paradise Cafe and had the best food! Mike and Pete and I each had the Matador (yummy omelet with biscuts), Sylvain had a mushroom omelet, and Rachael was good and had a salad.

It was good to see our friends and hang out for a bit -- thanks guys!!

***next time we visit it'll have to be on a day when Cake Flour on Market is open -- I'm dying to go there!!

we're home!

We have been for almost a week but have been going nonstop since then it seems. Anyway, Happy 2009 to all of you! We've been busy around here, getting ready for classes to start Wednesday, hosting parties, painting the guest bedroom, etc.

Thanks so much for reading about us -- I love to share my thoughts and photos with you -- stay tuned for what's sure to be an exciting year!!

Here are a few favorites from our trip...enjoy!

the view from our terrace

drinking coconut milk with Milan

the view from the shoulder of Petit Piton

Happy New Year!

Our day sail up to Marigot Bay

The trip back to Soufriere (after the wind died and they rolled up the sails)

For mom it was the gold beads, for me it's the ribbon

I've not been able to get the tree to look right this year, something about how the ribbon is hanging. I tried buying more ribbon, draping it differently, etc -- I just can't get it to work. Today was my third and final try. I popped Nutcracker in the cd player, dragged a chair over from the dining room, took the ribbons off, and set to work getting them just right.

Whenever we would finish putting ornaments on the tree at my house growing up it would be time for mom to put on THE BEADS. We were never to touch the beads, no less hang them on the tree. Mom used to tell us the really old ones were real gold. As they would break through the years, some got replaced with plastic beads, but the original ones that were left were always saved for the very top. She would meticulously go around the tree, on her tippy toes on a chair, draping the beads so they were just to her liking. I never understood what the big deal was with the beads -- they're just BEADS, slap them on there and be done with it. Until I got my own tree.

This is our fourth Christmas with it being just the two of us in Lexington. We LOVE going out to the farm every year to pick our tree -- the same big black lab, Oscar, greets us at the end of the drive, and the man who owns the farm remembers us and what kind of tree we got last year. We always get a nice tall fir, something that will touch our 8' ceiling. Pete hangs the lights, we both hang the ornaments, and I finish the tree by adding ribbon. Last year's tree was PERFECT! Last year's Christmas was perfect -- Audrey had just gotten married, we had just seen the Rockettes in NYC, life couldn't be better.

I wasn't sure we would get a tree this year at all. I was campaigning to skip Christmas -- it sort of worked, we're going to St. Lucia, right? But over Thanksgiving my Grandma told me I WOULD get a tree and told us we WOULD decorate it because that is what my mom would have wanted. So we went to our tree farm. We got our tree; a nice, tall, fat Frasier Fir, and took it home to decorate. We put on the lights and the ornaments. Then I tried adding the ribbon. It didn't look right, but I left it until this week because I was pushing all Christmas things to the back of my mind until after finals. Saturday afternoon I messed with the ribbons, still no good. Flash forward to this afternoon. Sugar plum fairies were dancing on the cd and I re-draped the last ribbon, climbed off the chair and looked at the tree. It was beautiful. And I couldn't stop crying.

I know why mom hung the beads, she was the only one who get them just right. She was the only one who could do a lot of things just right. My ribbon is still a little off -- but that's okay. Christmas is off this year -- and will be for quite a while I suspect. I think of my mom everyday and I miss her everyday, but it is especially hard right now.

So, for Grandma, here's our (slightly off but beautiful just the same) Christmas Tree:

Our Gimpy Girl

We're not sure how, but Hannah hurt herself tonight. I was sitting at the dining room table addressing our Christmas cards, and Pete was in his office doing the same thing with his cards for his clients. Hannah and Fiona were in the office with Pete when all of a sudden Hannah lets out two long, sharp wails!! I jumped up from the table and ran to the office to see what was up -- Hannah and Fi were just walking out of the room, and she yelped again. Neither Pete nor I could see anything, so we had Hannah walk down the hall toward me. That's when we saw that she was bleeding!! Somehow our little Hannah severed the claw on her back right paw!! Poor girl!
She must have cut it outside this afternoon, then snagged it on the rug in Pete's office.

We called her into the bathroom so she would be on easier-to-clean floor to investigate -- once she was calm Pete left to go buy some supplies because we are horribly lacking in the first-aid supplies department. Pete returned with my 'tools':
We cleaned the wound, then I cut the claw the rest of the way off, applied Nik Stop, wrapped it in gauze, taped it, then we wrapped her whole paw with an ace bandage. She looks so cute!! (and sad)
I took a little video to try to show how funny she looks walking on it (please ignore Christmas Card central on the table in the background)

I should be studying...

This has been the phrase of the week. I'm taking a break right now (as I have been all night pretty much, talking to my brother on the phone, ordering everyone's Christmas gifts online, writing a new blog, etc). Tomorrow afternoon is my last final - Anatomy & Physiology of Speech @ 1pm. Hopefully I'll do pretty well on it and have 4 As for this semester. I managed to get an A in Neuroscience (thank God for the curve!), and, despite pretty much a disastrous score on my Audiology final I held on to my A in the class (I really don't know what happened, I thought I did better than the grade on my final suggests - but have already requested to see my test to see where I went wrong). I get my ABRs, OAEs, and ARs confused (along with about a bajillion-other hearing-related acronyms). My phonetics final was fun -- I love that class! On the test we had to write a paragraph in IPA with diacritic marks and phrasing and I wrote the verse to "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" (complete w/lisping) - hopefully Dr. Deem was amused.

Thank goodness the Co-op is close by -- otherwise we might not have eaten this week as I have seriously fallen of the wagon as head chef and chief grocery shopper of our household. Tomorrow night we're going to see the Nutcracker at the Opera House, and Saturday (hopefully) we're joining friends for a holiday dinner at Holly Hill Inn. I just have to make it through tomorrow!

Fiona DID bark last night -- but not as loudly or for as long. Her barks were more like long whines as if to say, "when I made noise last night you let me out...please, please let me out again."

I don't know if we'll post a picture of our tree this year -- I can't find a good topper and our tree is fatter than last years so I need more ribbon to go aroud it. Since today was my first day to go shop for decorations (when I should have been studying) - many stores were already down to slim pickings. Maybe Saturday I'll make the trek out to Hobby Lobby -- they usually don't let me down as far as holiday decorating goes.

Just had to take a break to see what Fiona was in to -- why, of all the trash cans she could raid, does she manage to open the door to the laundry room and get the one full of LINT and DOG HAIR?!?!

Oh well, better get back to the books.

Oh My GOSH Fiona was trying to get us to throw her out into the street last night!!!! I have four finals this week and was lucky enough to have only scheduled at 8am. THIS MORNING. We had our normal nighttime routine last night -- a little later than usual because Pete was running through my Audiology flashcards with me: Ask the dogs if they're ready for bed, dogs scurry off toward their crates, we go get some kibbles, give kibs to the dogs, latch the crate doors, go down the hall to our room to get ready for bed -- you get the picture.

Well last night went all as planned, until about 30 seconds after we climbed under the covers FIONA STARTS BARKING HER HEAD OFF!!! After about 15 minutes Pete gets up to see if she needs to go out -- he lets her out, she goes, he puts her back to bed. Ten minutes goes by and she starts up again, by this time I am trying earplugs....Pete gets up AGAIN and lets them out of their crates -- I think he gave Fi some food this time (we were all about the negative reinforcement last night). This time when he put her back to be he made her wear her gentle leader which usually works for settling her down. Ten more minutes of silence....you see where this is going....
After about TWO HOURS of nonstop barking Pete goes to sleep on the on the sofa so the dogs can be out of their crates and just sleep in the living room with him. Everything seems okay for maybe 5 minutes until JOSIE starts wigging out in our bedroom! She was going CRAZY with this roll-ball scratch thing she has until I had to get it up and take it away. After I took it away she decides she's going to scratch on the bedroom door to be let out. I figure the dogs have settled so I open the door a crack to let her out and crawl back under the covers. In a flash of a second there is a giant black lab on my head! (Poor Hannah, she had nothing to do with all this barking and waking up in the middle of the night -- but when presented with a fresh cat and/or a warm human in bed, she's going to pursue) I can't really remember what happened next (it was around 1:30am after all) but it involved me carrying Josie to the bedroom door only to meet Pete, who was trying to wrangle the two dogs away from our bedroom. It somehow resolved itself and I got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep -- poor Pete got about 5 -- and apparently the dogs slept ON TOP of him on the sofa!
So that was our night -- my final is over, I did fine, I only have one more to go (Friday at 1pm). If Fiona barks tonight we're not getting up for anything. I just wanted to share our trauma and point out how wonderfully thoughtful Pete was to try to give me some pre-test ZZZs.

UPDATE: yes, of course, now that it's daytime, Hannah and Fiona are both sacked out on their bed in the corner of the living room seemingly wondering why we kept them up all night :)

2nd UPDATE: yes, Pete and I have discussed how, someday, after the wee-est Crawford has arrived, 5 hours of sleep will seem like a day at the spa.

remember last year....

when I had the best husband ever? Well he's struck again!! We made plans last night to go on an awesome post-Christmas vacation to ST. LUCIA!!!

We're excited about starting out 2009 on such an up-note (2008, after all, has not been the best year for us) -- now I just have to make it through finals and we can celebrate Christmas and then go soak up some sun.