Prelay

A quick update for you bloggers out there!  Well, 1. hello!  It's been a while, glad to see you, pull up a chair, take off your coat and stay a while!

This quick little diddy is a post in anticipation for tonights festivities.

Chad and myself, his parents, my parents and my sister Heids are headed to Northern VA-my old stomping grounds to attend a Relay for Life event!  It's actually at the old high school at which I led when I lived there.  Coming full circle.  Beautiful.

Anyway, I've been asked to speak a little tonight and share some of my story about having cancer-eek!  I haven't spoken in front of a large group of people since...since the last time I gave a YL club talk I think!  That was in 2011.  Oy vey.

Haha, it'll be fine :)  Cause you know what?  It's not about me!  It's about the fellowship and camaraderie of fellow survivors, family and friends getting together for a good cause.  And hopefully continuing success in cancer eradication!

So if you're interested, check out this website: www.springfieldburkerelay.org.  The whole shebang starts at 7 pm tonight, and goes until 7 am tomorrow morning! Oh, and I speak at 9 pm tonight.

Anyway, stay posted for pictures and memories from this :)

 xoxo Gossip Girl.

Just kidding! -Em

Meet in the Middle

What do you say about someone when everything wonderful and beautiful and real could be said about them? How does one pair it down to a reasonable length? Answer: a traditional Japanese Haiku. But Kaitlyn deserves way more than that. She deserves 2 haiku!! But I'm maxed out at one. Better make it a good one...

Friends. Met in college.
Led together in Young Life.
Both married now. Woo.


Loved our friend date today K 😊

P.S. can YOU figure out what her license plate says? 2 thin mints to the winner!

Oh Baby Baby

So I meant to get this post out on Monday, since it was raining, and the theme around this post was a shower...tee hee.   But I thought I'd share some photos on the nugget shower we (Lucy Baldwin and myself) threw for T Money last week!  Theresa is due end of April, but keeping the baby's gender a surprise-I love that!

Enjoy!

Congrats T!

It was a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme :) 

Thanks to (the engaged!) Rachel for tying all these up.

You know, just a little caterpillar, in the grass.  (Grass is just green pipe cleaners, cut in half! Caterpillar was sponge painted onto cardstock and cut out. Feet and face are done with a sharpie. easy peasy)

This one's a little hard to see-the lighting was backwards for where I needed to take the picture.  But there's a caterpillar on the ceiling.  

There he is! Hungry little fellow.  Simple-balloons hung from differing heights. Face made from construction paper.  Easy and cheap.

Lady of the hour!  And these fun straws are paper-love-and found them on Etsy.  Many people sell them and they're found in all colors and patterns, but to give credit where credit is due, I bought them from Bona Ceri.  Check out her page-many fun party supplies to be found!

Colorful and edible.  double #win

Oh hey, another caterpillar.  He was supposed to be made out of tissue paper poofs, but since I botched all I tried to make, back to balloons!

Showered with gifts...totes highlighting the amazing wooden signs that Anna B. made down in front.  They say "fearfully and wonderfully made."  All in the nursery's colors.  Creative? Heck yes.  And we also think she should go into business making those signs for order-don't you agree?

Only a face a mother could love?  I think not, especially considering I have my doubts as to whether his momma would recognize him...seeing as she would probably be a butterfly.  

A baby at a baby shower?  How forward thinking.  Coincidentally the only picture I took of people at this whole shindig.  Obsessed with crafting much, em?  Julie, you light up the room :)

Anyway, congrats to Theresa and Steve, we are stoked to meet your little nugget, soon!  

Also, update on the cancery cancer front-since I'm not sure what to call my condition-had an appointment with my doctor last Thursday and he called today to say that my lung function tests are looking good!  They're back to where I started, or my benchmark.  Woo!  Also, I got word that I'll be off prednisone in 2 months, or only 7 weeks now :)  And then we can get my final PET scan a month after I'm off the drugs, to make sure that the cancer is gone.  

Ooooh, and an update on Operation Danner Get Fit:  I'm down 10 lbs-today at least ;)  And I started Insanity today.  Kicked my butt.  Like this move-who jumps with both legs and gets your knees above your waist?  Crazy people, that's who.  But I hope to be one of them in 60 days. 

Wednesday, Friendsday.

Hugs not drugs.

E3D

 

Let those winds of change

blow over my head , I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead.

Spring has sprung and it's a Jimmy Buffett kind of morning :)

Operation Rad Hairstyling is in effect!

So enjoy a picture of Chad taking care of my rogue neck hairs. As a girl, something I never thought I'd say left my mouth this week..."hey could you shave my neck?"

Happy Friday all.

-growing older but not up.

YL Celebration 2013!

I've been accused of not updating Ninny in a timely manner.  Apparently there are folks who check it everyday!  Wow.  Makes me feel like I've got celebrity status.  Thank you, all you who read.  I do appreciate it, even when I don't know you do, cause if not, it's like...like having a conversation with myself.  I also do that, though.  Whatevs.

But seriously, where does time go?  How is it already mid-March?  What?  No.  And how does it get to be weeks between when I write?  Dunno.  Time is a speedy beast.  But seriously, I usually only write when I feel like I have something to say (that I want other people to hear), which to most of you who know me comes as a surprise, because doesn't it seem like I always have something to say, whether you want to hear it or not? 

But there have been so many exciting things going on lately, I can really only attribute my lack of blogging to 3 things: 1. My biggest character flaw: laziness. 2. The day just gets away from me, and before I know it, it's my 10 pm feeding and then bedtime! or 3. Catching up on Downton Abbey.

Today I must highlight a little something called the Young Life Celebration Dinner.  Or, as us old-timers still call it, Young Life Banquet!

It's one night a year, (a no-miss event) hosted by each area to ultimately raise the salaries of the staff and staff associates for the year!  But it's also a great way to get new people introduced to the ministry of Young Life and how they can get involved!  I attended my old (tear) area's YL Celebration Dinner this past Friday night and it. was. fabulous.  They had Tim Toy as a speaker-phenomenal if you've never heard him.  He had me belly laughing, I dig his humor.   All the Area Directors spoke-great job Rhino, Mike, Derek and Chris!  They even had two student testimonies-one Capernaum gal and her mom spoke, which is really cool because we, excuse me, they-just got Capernaum in Fairfax in the last couple of years.  Capernaum is Young Life's ministry for kids with special needs.  Then they also had Ben, a high school student from West Springfield (woop woop!  Also happens to be the high school I used to lead at-go Spartans!) share a little about his life and how God's working in, around and right through it.  But you know what?  Even with all those "celebrites" highlighted, those who really need to be celebrated are the guests who attended.  All the parents, teachers, grandparents, businessmen and women, community leaders and friends who came out to (maybe for the first time) hear about Young Life and what God is doing through this ministry and how they can become involved.  That might look like prayer, it might look like donating their time, or it might look like opening their wallets and giving money to keep the ministry running.  During this tough time of recession, job loss and overall financial instability in our country, that y'all know that kids need to hear about a guy named Jesus and are willing to do something about it, is in my book-pretty cool.

 It was also the 50th Anniversary of YL in Fairfax.

Also, student speakers :)

Sidenote: got the new Mackelmore cd tonight...currently listening to "Thrift Shop" on repeat.  "I wear your granddad's clothes...I look incredible..."

Here's some of the highlights of the night for me...in pictures.

 My partner in crime for most of the night.  She totes thought somebody was going to spike the punch.  Really?  At a YL Banquet.  Bold. ;)

 Dang it-forgot to bring my own picture to add to the 50 years of awesome!  Next time, I'm all over it.

 Representing.  Originals: Kendra & Matt Andrus, they got married the year I started college.  They've got 4 kids now. Top that!

KT & Elaine Trotman: KT and I go all the way back to High School, where we both went to Great Bridge.  Wow.  Then we all went to George Mason together, they fell in love during that time and *poof* married.  Living the dream.

Paolo Cabacoy.  He did some big things in YL Capernaum and YL Fairfax overall.  Haven't kept up with him as well as I should, but he done got married, too!

Katie and I...we got married in 2007...haha, maybe not, but we've been soul mates since about that time and just cause she's 5000 miles away doesn't change anything.  She left quite a legacy in Fairfax YL, especially WSHS YL. (Chad couldn't attend cause he had to work)

Ahh!  Everybody waiting to go into the Banquet, all excited for what they're gonna hear!  Or maybe they're stoked because that punch was actually spiked...

Eric: the miraculous, the monumental, the fantastical.  YL Leader extraordinaire. And that handsome fella next to him is Ben, one of the student speakers I mentioned above.

 

Crystal.  Crazy hippy.  I do love that girl, though.  Oh, and you can't tell my my double cheeks and triple chin, but I have lost 10 lbs.  Whatttttup Operation Danner Get Fit!

Heck yes for the Banquet, heck yes for seeing old friends and hearing what God's doing in this ministry as of late.  I loved seeing everyone I did and catching up.  Thanks to the Millers for letting me crash for the night and for having a heated bed pad in your guest room.  Can muscles sigh?  Mine did.  They also smiled.  It got weird after that...

Got to my home for the evening, realizing my head wrap made me look like one of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan for most of the night...

Rolling with the punches.

Happy Tuesday, all :)

   

 

Operation Danner Get Fit

Ooh rah!  

So because our lives lack a certain Schwarzenegger-ian element, and we're battling the eternal struggle between good and evil (ie the pumped up vs. the flabby), we're getting ourselves in shape and eating right in a little thing we call Operation Danner Get Fit.  We're pretty much modeling our lives after Hans and Franz and hoping for the best.

But seriously.  Chad and I are stoked to get in shape and cut out the crap from our lives.

I'm not sure if I've written much about this (because I haven't written much at all...) but I was put on a little devil called Prednisone a few months back.  Oh you sly dog, you, big P! True, you're helping immensely to heal my sick lungs from the bleomycin toxicity, however a *fun* side effect is that I've gained close to 40 lbs now.  It sounds better to me when I say it's only 35 lbs, but that's not always true, you knowwww-sometimes you're heavier in the afternoon, or when you've just had a big meal!!...?

Truthfully the Prednisone only actually caused about 10-12 lbs of water weight...the other 30+ comes from the desire to eat and my ability to do so...constantly.  Who needs one cream puff when you can have 8?  That english muffin sounds much tastier if it has both peanut butter and Nutella on it, don't you think?  And I don't much bother with twist ties or chip clips these days...cause once the bag is open there's not much chance it's going back in the pantry.  

So, Chad and I have our work cut out for us.  We both suffer from overeating and no desire for portion control.  Also, we have a hatred for working out when there's better things to do...play on our phones, watch the cat sleep, think about our next meal...hence Operation Danner Get Fit.

Enjoy some photo evidence from today:

Sneak attack photo!  Somebody wasn't readyyy.  And evidence that I should usually smile.  I just wanted to put this one up cause it made Chad, Jack and I laugh today. 

This happened right after.  Because I'm from the generation that when I see a camera, or an iPhone facing me, I'm primed and ready for a photo-opportunity!

2 Things to point out from photo #2:
1. You know how cute it is when babies have that double chin action going on?  Not so cute on me.  And I found out from this picture that I've got double cheeks, too. 
2. Black really is slimming.  I've always appreciated that.  But even black is having a hard time keeping up here.

All this to say, we're ready!  It's going to be hard, but we're stoked to get in shape and feel good again-because it's not so much losing the weight-but I would prefer not to have to buy all new pants-but it's about being healthy and eating well and staying active and being strong!  We want to promote not only healthy living, but a desire to take care of the bodies God has entrusted to us.

So listen to Hans and Franz, and let them help you get in shape too!  They're ready to...pump (clap) you up!

Bed Head

Something I've been wanting to share these past few days....

I woke up with bed head the other day!

It happens at the crown of my head, all that hair gets smushed down and flattened out.  It's awesome.  And weird.  Check out all that peach fuzz!  I still can't seem to grow hair properly in the widows peak area though...

Do they make rogaine for women? 

Thoughts to ponder today.  Off to camp-can't wait to see some Funfax folks there!  Happy Saturday, all.

E