Friends

I know this is cheesy, but I am going to talk about friends. I feel like we don't really have any good friends in Boston, and when they're not there, you really miss a good friend.
Friends can be family...
(my mom and I)
or sometimes friends become family.
(sister-in-law/nursing school survival buddy Breanna and I)
A friend is someone who makes sure you look good... (me and my sister Breanna)

but someone you can also be silly with.
(Bre & I again)
Ok...really silly.
(me and Bre AGAIN- getting a theme here?)
A friend can be someone you just met...
(our good friends Jason and Sarah)
or someone you have known pretty much your whole life.
(Sasha and I)
You may want to have your friend is with you all the time...
(my Dad's tattoo- him and Mom)
A friend is someone who can always make you smile...
(Tamara and I)
or even make you feel like dancing (and it doesn't even matter how badly you dance)!
(Jason and Andrew)
A friend is a person who knows when you need to be loved.
(My Mom and I)
It's important that you know when your friend needs love, too (though they don't always admit it)...
(me and Andrew)
But usually they accept the love as a sign of the friendship.
(Me and Andrew again)
Sometimes, the more you are with your friend, the more you start to look alike. But then again, sometimes you don't.
(Family's dog Zig & my dog Quincy)
Friends remember you when you're not around.
(Top row is Bre, Stef, Tammy, Jess, Mom, "Me" in the middle, and Jodi & Tina on the bottom)
Hanging out with your friends may make you feel like a rock star or movie star.
(Allie, Breanna, Mom, me)
Remember- even someone who you did not really like at first might wind up to be your best friend (PS- yes, the cats are friends now).
(She-Ra and Roxy)
The most important thing with friends is to let them know how much they mean to you. Thanks, guys, for being my friend! I hope that a single tear rolls down your cheek as you remember the good times we've shared! :-) Hugs and Kisses! Have a good weekend!

I can't help it... she's so cute!

You all may be getting tired of hearing about She-Ra, but too bad. She's cute as a button and I haven't done anything else exciting to talk about. So, here goes! Yesterday we went to the pet store so that I could buy She-Ra some things. I bought her some toys (Roxy doesn't like to share hers) and a little blue kitten collar. I like my pets to wear collars. I think it makes them look domesticated. She-Ra is starting to get the hang of the litter box. Her favorite spot to nap is this one particular windowsill- right next to my cornucopia. In fact, she's there right now. Here are some pictures from this morning.

She LOVES this windowsill. And she tries to chew on my cornucopia.

I woke her up while taking her picture.

How can you not melt over that face?

Why "She-Ra"?

A lot of people have been asking where the name "She-Ra" came from. Well, anyone who has met Roxy, our other cat, knows that she's a force to be reckoned with. When Roxy had her only experience with a strange cat (when we were in Morocco), it took quite a few days for the hatred to fade. So we knew that bringing a small kitten into Roxy's home was going to be difficult. We decided to give the kitten a mighty name so that it will help boost her confidence to stand up to Roxy. After much deliberation (and a VERY large list of names), the only one that we both liked was She-Ra. Remember the 80's? She-Ra is He-Man's twin sister. You know, "Princess of Power"? Oh, just watch the video clip.

The resemblance is uncanny, right?

Meet She-Ra

After a VERY long ride back from New York (she cried the WHOLE trip!!), we welcomed the newest member of our family yesterday: She-Ra. Actually, we didn't all welcome her. Roxy is still processing her feelings on the new addition. I was hoping that Roxy and She-Ra would run around, play, and sleep in a ball of "cat love" but my dream is not materializing as quickly as I wanted. Whenever Roxy sees She-Ra, she hisses at her. Everyone else, however, couldn't be happier. Andrew, who wasn't gung-ho on getting another cat, is totally in love. Quincy loves to cuddle with her- that is when Roxy isn't looking.

Roxy caught Quincy laying down next to She-Ra this morning, and now Roxy is mad at Quincy (hissing at Quincy whenever he walks near her). As you can see from the above pictures, She-Ra is cute as a button.
So far, she has been sleeping...

looking out the window (the pets look out the window like it's tv or something!)...

and playing, playing, playing!

Isn't she the cutest?

How long do you think until Roxy and She-Ra are friends?

I love Halloween!

I can't wait for Halloween! It is totally my favorite holiday! I just love walking around in my costume bring smiles to everyone's face! I ordered my costume the other day. It came in today's mail. And yes, I'm wearing it right now!
I have had some pretty legendary Halloweens in the past. In high school, I used to host a party every year on Halloween. We didn't do anything crazy...just ask anyone. We went Trick or Treating until we were seniors!
Ah...the memories! 2000 was a good year! My friend, Amanda, was Cher. I was Marilyn Monroe. Andrew was the Eat Me Weiner. Marc was a scary monster. And Stef was a dog. Good times!

Senior year, I was looking pretty smoking as I Dream of Jeannie. Andrew didn't want to dress up, but he let me put funny eyebrows, mustache and a hat on him.

In 2003, in college, I was Josie from Josie and the Pussycats.

I'd have to say that one of my best years was 2005. I was working for my parents, and everyone there dresses up every year. We looked pretty awesome.

Later that night, Quincy and I posed for a photo op. And yes, it was a meeting of the justice league. In case you can't tell, Quincy was Batman, and I was Wonder Woman!

And as for this year... well, if you want to see me in my costume, that's going to have to wait until Halloween. But I will tell you that it's going to BEE awesome!

More Decorations...

Before I show you what I did today, I forgot to post my weekly photo update of my ankle. It IS getting better, but it's still swollen. Almost all of the swelling is on the outside back of my ankle. There are still bruises, too. The worst of the bruises are actually on my calf now. Check it out.


Ok. Now onto my decorations. I had to go to the gorcery store today, and I made a quick stop at the dollar store. You know, a good dollar store is probably my favorite kids of store. I bought this cute little decorative broom (not bad for $1!!). I put it on the outside of the bathroom door.

Now this decoration, my little cornucopia, was my afternoon project. I bought it in numerous pieces. There was: the cornucopia basket, 5 different bunches of silk flowers, and a little plastic gourd. I know that $7 is a little pricey for an afternoon of entertainment, but I am so proud of it, and I love it, and it's much more special that if I was to buy one at the store. Plus, I can keep it up until Thanksgiving. You like?

I think my fall decorating is done...at least until October 1st when I can add my Halloween decorations to the bunch!

Random Update...

I'll start off with my most exciting news. For those of you who have been following my ankle saga, it's finally starting to come to an end! The doctor told me today that I can go back to work on Wednesday, however I am on a restriction that I can not stand or walk for more than 30 minutes at a time. I explained that I am a nurse, so how am I supposed to work with that restriction? He told me to talk with my supervisor. Well, my supervisor was just as stumped as I was. We talked about different options and came up with this plan: my 12 hour overnight shift on Wednesday will be changed from 7p-7a to an 8-hour shift of 11p-7a. By 11pm, the kids will be sleeping and I won't be running around crazy for like 2 or 2.5 hours trying to get the kids settled, evening care done and evening meds given. And I will be able to get back to work. On Thursday morning, I'm going to tell my supervisor how I feel. If I feel ok, my shifts this weekend will be changed from 12 hur shifts to 8 hour shifts. If it hurts too much, then I can have the weekend off. I will be able to resume my normal schedule of three 12-hour shifts per week for my next scheduled shift after the weekend- Wednesday 9/26 when all restrictions are lifted. Yay!
In other news, as a shut-in, I have decorated my house for fall. The easiest part of the decor was to put my cute little dollar store scare-crow on the front door.

I got him last year and I just love him to pieces! I think he's so cute. I love his little face!
The rest of my decor is pretty subtle. But it took a lot of work. I cut the shapes of leaves out of construction paper and taped them to my windows.

It was really time consuming to cut out each leaf with its intricate details, but I think it looks really cute. And you can see it from outside. I love my decorations!
I have 2 different types of maple leaves:

and an oak leaf!

I think I am the only person in this building who decorates for holidays or seasons.
Also, as I mentioned in my post- 10 confessions from 8/23/07- we collect bottle caps. We plan on building a bar in our house someday, and we want the counter of the bar to be made of bottle caps. So far, we have 189! We still have a bunch more until we have enough for a whole bar, but it's a start.

Cool, huh?