Venice!

I posted all of my pictures on facebook but I figured I’d whittle them down to my favorite pics from each city.

Venice was reallllly cold. I would say maybe it got up to 30 when we were there. The whole city was kind of shrouded in a fog bubble that kept the sun from warming it up. It was really  nice that the off season weather kept the crowds down. We got to see and do a lot of things in the limited amount of time we were there.

Day 1- Checked in to the hotel, got lost trying to walk to San Marco Square, finally found San Marco Square, took the Vaparetto back to the hotel, had pizza for dinner.

Day 2- Took the Vaparetto (water ferry) to Murano, watched a glass blowing demonstration, bought Murano glass for some presents, took Vaparetto back, walked to the Rialto Bridge, had pizza for lunch, walked to the Bridge of Sighs, Gondola Ride, walked home.

Day 3- Took train to Florence! (Florence pictures to come)

Emily needs your prayers…

The day I left to catch my plane in Chicago, my dear friend Emily got some devastating news. Her dad, Mike, was diagnosed with stage 3 bile duct cancer. He is currently at the Mayo Clinic under the best care he could get. He is hopefully a candidate for a liver transplant. They should be getting more information in the coming weeks. He’s in positive spirits making Emily crack up when she calls him. I know this is really hard for everyone but they seem to be handling things well.

If you could take some time out of your day to pray for Mike and his family, I know they would appreciate it. If you’d like to read about Mike’s journey, please go to www.caringbridge.org/mikefitzgerald1.

Ciao!

Starting Monday I will be here:

Credit

Followed by:

Credit

And then…..

Credit:

I’ll post updates and my pictures when I return (although they might not be as good as these).

Take a minute

 Please repost this if you can today, tomorrow (or the next!) on your blog, so we can expand the positive thinking throughout the entire blogosphere. Every little bit helps!

My name is brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He’s a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He’s the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He’s the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He’s a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He’s made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He’s listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He’s recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He’s the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I’m overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren’t sure what’s happening. He’ll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what’s going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as ‘brandy’s hot awesome dude’). If you don’t pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven’t seen it, google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I’m throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn’t a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It’s just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven’t already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

Hi….remember me?

Soooo I’ve taken what some may call an unexpected hiatus from blogging. My life has been pretty mundane as of late and I just haven’t felt the need to bore you with witty (or non-witty) status updates. Instead, I’ve compiled a list of randoms….

1. I asked for and was denied (insultingly for a pay increase).

2. I have mentally checked out of this job and am desperately seeking something new/different.

3. I passed a test for a possible different career route that I don’t want to get into unless it becomes a reality.

4. I love Christmas lights and fireworks. I just love to drive around and see the Christmas lights in the neighborhoods…it makes me happy. Same thing with fireworks in July.

5. I leave for Italy in 25 days.

6. I tried zucchini for the first time last week. It was like nothing I’ve ever tasted. Not sure if that’s a good thing.

7. We got a couch for the basement!

8. This has resulted in a lot of guitar hero playing (thanks for the new edition, Collin!) We rock.

9. I’m uber excited to see my family for Christmas.

10. My baby sister got into graduate school! In approximately, three years we’ll have a little occupational therapist on our hands. I couldn’t be more proud.

So that’s a tiny, wee peek into life in the past month and a half or so… Hopefully, the holidays will leave me feeling rejuvenated and not so bitter. I’m guessing I’ll be tired and pissed I’ll be returning to work on Monday.

Thursday Morning Freakout

So anyone that knows me well knows that I have an intense fear of bridges and more specifically my car going into the water and not being able to get out. When I read this story yesterday, my heart sank. My greatest fear happened to these girls and it makes me cry thinking about it. The panic they must have felt and the realization that they couldn’t get out of it.

I had crazy dreams last night about being in that car and feeling that panic. I woke up in panic, sweating profusely.

I know this doesn’t happen a lot and that it’s probably an irrational fear of mine but now I know I need one of these:

This is Res-Q-Me. It’s a tool that hangs on your keychain. It has a seat belt cutter and a spring loaded tool that helps to shatter a car window. Again, this is me being irrational and paranoid but I think I would feel a lot better if I knew I had this with me.

Thursday Morning Get to Know Me

1. Where is your cell phone:
In my purse

2. Your hair:
looking good today

3. Your mother:
good heart

4. Your father:
is just like me (or I am just like him)

5. Your favorite food:
Nachos

6. Your dream from last night:
Kind of crazy

7. Your favorite drink:
Tea

8. Your dream/goal:
to be in a job that I don’ t hate

9. What room are you in:
My office.

10. What are your hobbies:
crocheting- hopefully a blog post coming on that soon, reading, running (need to get back into that)

11. What is your fear:
not being good enough

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years:
With my family, in a different job

13. Where were you last night:
home

14. Something you are not:
motivated to work

15. Muffins:
not really a fan

16. Wish list items:
I have a whole blog page of those

17. Where did you grow up:
mostly Paris, IL but I spent my summers in CA and MD

18. Last thing you did:
reviewed a contract

19. What are you wearing:
a jcrew cashmere sweater and black dress pants

20. Your pets:
Lola

21. Your friends:
help me get through the week and give me something to look forward to

22. Your life:
is good

24. Your mood:
defeated

25. Missing someone:
my family

26. Vehicle:
Nissan Rogue- love it

27. Something you’re not wearing:
heels

28. Your favorite store:
J.Crew, Ann Taylor Loft, The Limited

29. Your favorite color(s):
navy blue and kelly green

30. When’s the last time you laughed:
this morning

31. When’s the last time you cried:
I tear up watching tv sometimes

32. Your best friend:
i have several great friends that make me laugh

33. One place you go over and over:
home or to the Mexican place with Tana- it’s kind of our thing

34. One person who emails me regularly:
Robyn and Amy

35. Favorite place to eat:
Mexican (almost any will do), Carrabba’s for the best alfredo

Halloween (Epic FAIL)

I was sooooooooo excited for the first Halloween in our house. I was sure there would be tons of trick or treaters and so we bought a ton of candy. We had a total of 5 ppl show up.  The ones that did were adorable but it made me sad. Are people not going door to door anymore? Not even in Kirkwood??

We waited until Halloween to carve our pumpkins. I was sooo excited because I had found a boxer template and wanted to make Lola pose next to my awesomely carved pumpkin. Failed there too. Here is the professional version from Better Homes and Gardens:

And mine…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAIL!

Collin’s pumpkin, on the other hand, was adorable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shadowboxes!

Crossed off my thirty before thirty list.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes….

This post is a long time coming. We’ve done a lot of changing stuff around in the house and I finally remembered to download the pictures and show you what’s been happening around la casa.

WARNING- Lots of pictures, long post!

A tacky brass light fixture was removed for this rubbed bronze beauty.

Collin bought me this awesome hammock for our two year anniversary (cotton). Too bad October sucked and rained 18/31 days.

When I was in San Francisco with my dad, Collin stained the entire deck!

This chair was once an ugly black with a horrible cover. Now, it’s super cute!

We lowered the light fixture to the appropriate height (thanks google) and added window valances.

A tacky brass fixture was removed from the front of the house. This one is adorable. We need new house numbers now and maybe a new mailbox…

My favorite new addition is this sideboard. We don’t have anything in it but I love it. Ignore the price tags on the decor…we were deciding what to keep and what to take back.

The next big change was the art project for around our tv. This was our inspiration:

And our version:

Just added yesterday:

We found the side table on clearance at the local Ashley furniture store. Topped with a Home Goods lamp and our living room is finally complete!