Find a cure for breast cancer (without spending a dime!)

My amazing and supportive friend Carrie is starting a great promotion to celebrate 200 Facebook fans for Carrie R. Richardson Photography and to support my fundraising for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. 


You can read all about the promotion at her photography blog.  Between now and July 4th she will make donations for each new Facebook fan she gets, each new comment she receives, each referral (plus $5 toward a future session!) AND she'll match any $5 donation that is made to my 3-Day site.  Awesome, right?  If you know anyone in North Carolina, Carrie lives in the Raleigh/Durham area and would love to take your friend's pictures!  She does great week (see photo to the right).

I'm only $652 away from reaching my goal!  That means that you all have given $1648 since March.  You are incredible!  Thank you so much!

And then there were 6

Last year we had zero tomatoes.  Zero.  Well, that's not exactly true.  We had one small mediocre tomato and a lot of rotting-on-the-vine tomatoes that got thrown in the woods.  This year is proving to be a different story.

First, let me introduce you to the monstrosities.  Here's what the monstrosities looked like in April:

There they are, over on the left, looking cute and unassuming.  And here they are today.

Monstrosity 1 (notice how it is sneaking over to our neighbor's porch):

And Monstrosity 2 (this is AFTER pruning):

But I love our giant tomato plants because they are currently giving birth to 6 tomatoes with the promise of many more.  Let's count.

One...two...

three...

four...five...

six!

Buddy wanted to let you know that he loves gardening.

The 5-year Plan

Dr. Therapist tells us that it takes 5 years for married couples to grow accustomed to their life together and work out most of the ins and outs of daily life.  S and I are 1.92 years into our marriage so that means we still have 3.08 years of annoying each other, I mean, figuring stuff out.  I guess what he really means is don't put so much pressure on yourself to have everything settled in the first few days, months, years and don't panic if life together seems infinitely more complicated than life apart.

Dr. Therapist also has this to say about in-laws, "it takes time for that."  As in, it takes time to be happy about spending a holiday with your in-laws instead of wishing you were with your family of origin and other such situations.  I'm very close to my family of origin so this is a big freakin' challenge for me.  But I guess Dr. Therapist was right because at the family wedding a few weeks ago, I was genuinely excited to see the in-laws, both immediate and extended family, and then saying goodbye was truly sad.  A first!  Not that I didn't enjoy everyone's company on previous visits but you know, it's like the difference between your very best friend leaving after a visit and saying goodbye to the nice people you work with.  One is a slightly less heart-wrenching than the other.  But, on this occasion I moved closer to best friend territory.  It is reassuring to know that these relationships are developing, growing, and evolving and will continue to do so.

Reaching my 3-Day goal

As of today I only have $752 left to raise before I reach my $2300 goal for the Atlanta 3-Day for the Cure!  Whoo-hoo!  My goal is to reach this amount by the end of June.  We've had pretty good success with our online auction and a few very generous donations have helped me make big gains in the past few days.  If you're interested in helping me get this thing finished off, you can check out my 3-Day page where you can also find our more about the 3-Day for the Cure both in Atlanta and all over the United States.

Buddy in the summer

In the summer Buddy is an underdog.  Under the desk, under the curtains, under the table, and under the bed.

Where's Buddy?

There he is!

I'm sorry, did I interrupt your nap?

And, in case there was ever any doubt, Buddy is the boss.

What I did on my summer vacation

Hey, would you like to come over for dinner?  Oh and while you're here we'll just show you a few slides from our exciting summer adventures.  Nothing big, it'll take 1, maybe 2, hours tops!  You'll love it.

This is one of those "here's a list of stuff that I've been doing lately" sorta posts.  Feel free to scan.

Last weekend we were in Tulsa for a wonderful family wedding.  The bride was beautiful and happy and the wedding was lovely.  (Hi Ellie!)

My parents were able to come and help with set-up which made things very fun and we even made a groom's cake!

We danced.  See how good we are?  (You don't have to lie, we know we're not good. :-))

It was happy, we had a few marital insights that we'll share later, blah blah blah, and then we came back home.  On Monday of last week I started teaching at the one-month musical theater camp that I did last summer.  I love teaching at this camp!  S began a long summer of watching all of the movies and tv shows available on Netflix instant play.  He's made a pretty good dent in the list!

This weekend was way too productive.  I need a few days off to recover.  I got up early and went to the New Balance Atlanta store to get my 20% discount on shoes for the 3-Day!  I now have brand new pink 1064SBs to wear on my training walks!  I love my pink shoes, I love my pink shoes....

And I have made a big gains in my fundraising efforts and now only have $902 left before I reach my $2300 goal!  Yippee!

We also reorganized the pantry (exciting).  What was that?  You want to see a picture?  Well here you go!

We watched the US-England match at a local pub, we went for a 4.3-mile training walk with Buddy, we watered the community garden at S's school and brought home the first fully-formed bell pepper of the season, S brewed beer with a friend, I made coconut ice cream and salsa and re-covered the piano bench with nifty fabric, we had dinner with friends, and now it's now.

And, just in case you forgot, this is what we look like.  Hi!

Home again, home again (for a day)

S and I just got back from Florida.  We drove down to 1) see grandparents, 2) pick up the previously mentioned piano, 3) enjoy my first trip to Florida.  We took our pale selves to the beach.

S read his book and hid under a towel.

I sat in a chair, both with and without a hat.

So, all in all, a successful trip. :-)

I also learned that cloth napkins are useful for re-covering pillows!

Now, how to liven up this piano so that it fits in our 20-something style?

Thursday we're off to S's sister's wedding!