Detroit...

Interesting 3 part series on Detroit. I tend to feel a fierce defensiveness about my birthplace. It is a mess, but it feels optimistic. And there is no place else that I want to be.

Big news

Angelica came home from kindergarten and told me she got married. I will let you know where she is registered.



xoxo

I did it!!!

I am great at doing laundry. But I suck at folding it and putting it away...lol. Just now I actually finished every last speck of laundry in this house. All of it. And, are you ready for this...are you sitting down? I folded it all and put it all away. I even matched socks and put, oh, probably 40 tucked little bundles in the right drawers!

Only one problem. None of us will know where to get our clothes for school/work tomorrow since the laundry room and laundry baskets are all empty. :-)

xoxo

Giving up hope and replacing it with a deadline...

I LOVE this cause!

http://www.stopbreastcancer.org/2020/about-this-deadline.html

By the way, Dr. Dennis Slamon (go to the Experts tab) is considered the "Founder" of Herceptin. Herceptin is a life saver, truly, for those of us diagnosed with HER2+ cancer.

Thank you, Jesus

I am not sure why it has been so long since my last post. Because I continually think of things I want to tell you all. But, unless there is a pad of paper and a pen close by, the ideas slip right through my brain like grains of sand in an hourglass. (wheeeeeeeeeeeeeew-weee, that was poetic!)

Life is good. I mean, really good. Angelica has a cold, Oscar should be getting it soon, work is awesome although I haven't closed my most recent deals yet (but I am so close), Autumn is almost here (so excited!!), my house and neighborhood continues to delight me with many new friends. In a nutshell, LIFE IS GOOD and deliciously normal.

More soon with photos of Oscar's 8th birthday party. He was so happy to have his Aunts and cousins and Uncle Marty here. Although he wished it could have been his "whole family", to quote him. He loves his aunts, uncles and cousins! I am sure someday he will appreciate his sister too. :-)

In the meantime, here is one of my favorite videos from the archives. We got a wonderful message from our Guatemala family, the Vela's, that reminded me of this sweet video of Oscar asking "'Low, abibobidehr?" or, translated, "Hello, is anybody there?"



xoxo

Couple thoughts this TGIF...

First, I would like to warn you all to never buy the 1 pound bag of new pretzel M&Ms. They are dangerously addictive.

I had to travel to Indianapolis this week for my job...very nice town. On the way I saw this billboard and loved it! Wanted to share. It said:

Recession 101: Self Worth beats Net Worth

My sister Suzanne will be here today...last minute trip. We are so excited although she is coming for a funeral so that is sad.

And, finally, one last little bit of news...........



I GOT MY PORT OUT THIS WEEK. Almost 23 months after having it put in. Wow...wow...wow. What a good feeling! (Well, it will be a good feeling once it stops hurting) :-)

xoxo

Pinkness

Here is the montage I put together to thank all those who made donations. You are all my supporters so I wanted to share with you too.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

3-Day video - part 3

Megan did such a good job getting this video. There were thousands of people....thousands...and it was unbelievably loud and chaotic. So, try to hear the words. And try to take me seriously in my outfit.

3-day video - part 2

3-day videos

Here is my 3-day posting part 1....the intro video. By the way, have I told you about the team we
merged with??? Merry, Katy, Lisa & Rhea...the most AWESOME girls ever. Merry has agreed to be my blog spell checker. You can all thank her. More about them soon.

I walked...60 miles...in 3 days

I walked to honor my mom, whose life was cut so tragically short by breast cancer.

I walked to heal the wounds her death left. For the life moments she deserved to be a part of. And that we deserved to have her be a part of.

I walked for the friends I have lost to breast cancer.

I walked for my friends who lost loved ones to breast cancer.

I walked for my friends who carried my when I could not walk.

I walked for you, my army of supporters, that still care enough about me to check in on this blog.

And, finally, I walked for my sisters…my sisters, who took the news of my diagnosis with such strength that it took my breath away…and still does. My sisters, who were at my side through my battle. My sisters, who are still by my side. My sisters, who are my heros.


xoxo

p.s. Check back soon for photos and funnies.

Did I tell you guys?

I am so excited.....so excited!! I was selected as a flag bearer for the 2010 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure Ceremonies! I will be carrying the "Courage" flag for the opening and closing ceremonies. All thanks to my incredible sister, Megan! I am so honored.

Getting ready to walk 60 miles...

Tomorrow starts the Susan G. Koman 3-day walk. Oh my.....

More soon!

Feeling so full!

I had the most WONDERFUL birthday...! Check out the cake Megan made me. It was a work of art and scrumptious!

What a year. This time last year, finishing radiation and detoxing my body, seems like a lifetime ago. My life is so full of love and health and fun and blessings. I am grateful!




xoxo

Tribute to Leah on ESPN

Wooooooooooooooooooo-we! Stinky!

I always loved this photo, titled "Daddy, come look at the cute kittens"!

Tonight it just makes me shudder. Scruffy got sprayed by a skunk. Wish me luck.

xoxo

Summer fun...

...in no particular order!







Click to enlarge (above). Does that work to make it bigger? Anyway, this was hilarious! We thought thumbs up meant "we are doing great"...but oh no....!



(Disclaimer: In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to confess that none of these are my feet. These lovely tootsies belong to the girls we went up north with)

Feet owners above!

Oscar and I were trying to take a picture of ourselves. A little too much zoom...!

The world's largest Slip'N'Slide at my neighbors...oh my gosh, so much fun. The kids shoot off the end into the creek.

We went to a horse ranch that was a big part of my life when I was younger (in my 20's...like just a couple years ago). When we woke and opened the RV blinds, look who greeted us!

I scored the world's greatest nanny this summer. She is lovely and my kids adore her...and so do I. She does crafts with them. I thought this was so clever.

I LOVE this picture...

More photos to come of our time in Ludington with our dear friends and also of our camping trip that included a lightening strike...! (Just to keep you riveted in suspense!)

I hope your summer is going great also!

xoxo

Leah

I have so much to tell you all. Every day things happen that I want to come here to tell you about. All good stuff...camping stories, adventures up north, chronicles of our incredible summer. Sorry I have been absent.

But I post this morning, as I weep, for one of my friends in Dallas. Leah is in the final days of her battle with breast cancer. My heart is shattered. Please say a prayer for her 3 precious, very young children and husband. I hope God carries her home soon and that her suffering is almost over. She fought her battle bravely.

I had to come here and write. It is where I have come for the past almost 2 years when things were tough and the place I came to cry this morning.



xoxo

Hot dogs with some brilliant pre-schoolers

My kids are in Vacation Bible School this week. Today there was a hot dog lunch for the moms (and dads) and kids. Megan & I went since her kids are attending as well. We sat at a table with some of Angelica's classmates. The smartest of all the little girls asked Megan if she was Angelica's grandma.

I am still giggling...

Fruit of our labor...

This post could also be titled "Boring!". lol A bunch of pictures of flowers. And it also does not include any shots of our fruit because they are not quite ripe yet. So there will be more pictures soon. That is if I can sit down and post. We have been very busy fishing and playing and swimming and enjoying summer in Michigan. Man, there is NOTHING like it! I love love love it here!

And I am just loving my gardens. They are exploding with blooms and butterflies.

I hope you are enjoying your summer too.

xoxo

Thank you

This year, more than any year I can remember, I was so moved by Memorial Day. I am embarrassed to say that, more years than not, it has just meant a 3 day weekend with grilling out and picnics. But the Memorial Day holiday is meant to honor America's fallen heroes and be thankful to them for their efforts and their profound patriotism.

I have a hard time leaving my children and dogs for an overnight trip. These men and women leave their homes and familys for months and years. How can I ever adequately thank them?

Megan and I went to outdoor mass at a gorgeous cemetary near our houses. They had fields of flags, each in honor of a Michigan soldier that had died in Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

There were too many flags.

Poor Oddie...

I got so tickled listening to Angelica tell Oddie that it was time for his "bab - BOOOO -shka". This dog has the patience of Job!





Now, tell me he doesn't look like a little Russian grandmother?


xoxo

Couple more...

I love my family...
The only thing that would have been better is if Suzanne & MB were there too.


Megan didn't want her photo taken anymore... :-)

Thanks for letting me share!

xoxo

Volume up...but not too loud if you are at work

This is a sample of the pure joy I experience being with sisters, kids and dogs. There are no kids in the video because they were all in the swampy area looking for frogs. The dogs made brief appearances between getting all muddy too.

Ahhhhhhhhh...bliss!

Ms. Moons Goes to Washington

I was in Washington D.C. part of this past week....and oh what an incredible experience it was! I have been so excited to write this post. I could not wait to tell you guys about it!!

I was a "consumer reviewer" at the Department of Defense US Army Medical Research & Materiel Command’s Congressionally Directed Breast Cancer Research Program panel (mouthful!).....to be referred to from now on as DoD BCRP . LOL I was nominated by and proud to represent my HER2 Support group. The Department of Defense paid for my airfare, hotel and meals.

The DoD BCRP has something like $150 million in congressional funds to be specifically applied to breast cancer research. So a panel of scientists and consumers (me and others) reviewed proposals with a goal of allocating funding to support high-risk, high-gain research.

So, what did I do...what did we do...? We would read and evaluate research study proposals, discuss them and then vote on them. My vote counted equally with the scientists!

I was so HONORED to be a part of it. There were just a couple consumers reviewers besides me...and LOTS of scientists. It was like alphabet soup of degrees in the room: PhD, MD, MPH, etc. The critical mass of brain power was incredible!! So many great minds in one place! There were molecular scientists, breast surgeons, surgical oncologist, epidemiologists, biomedical engineers...and a dozen others I have never heard of before. But they were all SO nice and so cool...and most were really fun. There were even a couple cuties so that was enjoyable! :-)

By the way, EVERYONE knew Dr. O'Shaughnessy (my Dallas oncologist).....and hold her in the highest regard. She is famous...in a good way!

As we were reviewing the research proposals, I found it interesting that it wasn't all just "out-of-this-world-can't-get-my-little-brain-around-it" science but also proposals relating to the effects of nutrition and exercise, which I thought was great. I was especially interested in the evidence-based alternative breast cancer therapies. Some even pertained to Native American use of medicinal herbs to treat breast cancer.

We reviewed 48 proposals. There were 49 but 1 got triaged (eliminated before review). In the beginning it took around 40 minutes to complete each review, discussion and vote. Then we picked up the pace. Regardless, we worked hard...really hard...morning 'til night!

Amongst all the talk of T cells, epidemiology, polymorphisms, nanoparticles, immunology and epigenetic something or others, I did get the chuckles a couple times. One of the scientists had a very strong accent and kept saying "toomah"....tooooo ma. Reminded me of Arnold in Kindergarten Cop. LOL

Watch and then hit your back button: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaTO8_KNcuo&feature=related

I also had to bite the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't giggle when they were talking about cleavage. They were not talking about what I used to have peeking out of the top of my shirt but rather splitting cells or something.

One time one of the scientists made a joke about using polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery...and how that was just like trying to determine genetic factors in a genome wide association study without a symptom cluster. Oh, the eruption of laughter.....! I guess it was a real knee slapper!!!

Seriously, the scientists were GREAT! Some were older, some were younger, some were male, some were female, some were outgoing, some were shy. But they were all lovely...and so grateful for my involvement. Can you imagine?!?! They thanked me. Here are these people that have dedicated their lives to eradicating this disease and they were thanking me! I was weepy with gratitude to them!

I am so glad I was able to do this! It was empowering. It made me feel like I was ACTUALLY doing something. Like it was not all for naught. I was able to represent all of us that have been touched by breast cancer. I am so grateful!

xoxo