Rewarding Awards

This past Tuesday, I was recognized along with 3 other people for my volunteer work with SOPA (Special Olympics PA) at my high school district's School Board Meeting. I started volunteering in January 1997, and minus the 3 years I skipped because of college, I have been volunteering every January through June since. The certificate they gave me says "for ten years of outstanding service"... ten full years of active service; wow, I think that that is the longest I've ever stuck with something!



Anyway, it was nice to be recognized and rewarded. I'm going to hang the lovely certificate they gave me in my office as a reminder for me to "stick with it... whatever it may be".

Running A-ways

I just signed up for my first 5K run!! I'm going to be competing in the Philly LIVESTRONG Competition in August with my company. I can only run about 1.5 miles right now, but I think 2 months is enough time to double that... I just hope its not 95* and beat-down sunny. Bonus? It also takes care of my charity-of-the-month for August.

Now starts the fundraising... anyone want to donate? :)

Questioning: The Big Book of If

I have a book called "The Big Book of If - 1,2,3". It is just a list of questions that people ask each other... i.e. 'if you won the lottery, what's the first thing you would buy?'... My neighbors and I love it. So here's the question that I've picked out for today's thought:



"If you had to give the same gift to everyone you know next Christmas, what would it be?"



My answer? A home-made re-usable tote. I love mine and use it almost everyday (yes, I realize I shouldn't be shopping that much!) I use one I've had since last year at the grocery store, at the mall, at Lowe's, at the pet store, etc. It zips into itself so its always in my giant purse... bonus? It saves all those precious wildlife creatures from eating plastic bags.

Winter Weather in June

I'm tired of the rain. More over, I'm tired of the weird weather we've had this year. It started snowing before Halloween, and now it is mid-June and there is monster hail on the ground. Who says there is no such thing as global warming?!

Lovely Notes

One of my lovely sisters house sat for us this past weekend, and left us these cute notes all around the house... it is so great to have family close by you can count on to help you and entertain! I was sad when we finished finding them... I'll have to have her house-sit again soon!

Nascar Rocks!

This past weekend I got to go to my first ever Nascar race. We had so much fun!

The noise was incredible... so I'm glad we bought the earplugs. You think that its just the "zoom... zoom". No... the noise is just a constant vibration in your whole body when the cars drive by. We did play it a little classy though... we got the VIP treatment with a garage tour, free food and drinks because my future (cross-my-fingers) sister-in-law's family friends own the Pocono raceway and she and my brother-in-law were working there. The race wasn't enough to turn me into a fanatic like some of the people we saw, but it was still awesome to have gone.

Another way to go green

My sister and I were talking about my reusable bags, and I mentioned to her that the only reason I even use the grocery store bags anymore is to reuse them for my dogs. She said the pet stores now sell little rolls of 100% biodegradable bags meant for that.

While it sucks to have to buy them, I'm all about saving the dolphins we just saw in the aquarium. I tried these out yesterday, and they work wonderfully. I'm done with the grocery store bags! If only they made these in kitchen size!

Friendly Advice

I've been feeling quite overwhelmed lately with all the changes at work, an uncleaned house, planning for my friend's bridal shower / bachelorette party, and general commitments with my family. In response, a superb friend gave me advice I just have to share; hopefully it will not only make you laugh, but it will also help you out!

I get really overwhelmed with so much to do as well. I think you will benefit from a good house cleaning, a nice detailed list, and just diving in and getting one thing done at a time. don’t look at the big picture. This is not like those illusion pictures where if you stare long enough it all becomes clear. This is more like those paint by number paintings where you do one number at a time and follow the order and before you know it, you have an uncanny likeness of a black lab staring back at you.