Follow-up to I got swabbed!

You might remember back in early March when I got swabbed for the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry. The drive was held at IU for DKMS and the spotlight was on Lindsay, a college student at Duke diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

I just wanted to follow-up on how Lindsay is doing. She is a family friend and while I have never met her, I have met her parents and our mothers are childhood friends. The good news is that a match was found for Lindsay. Not from the IU drive, but that doesn't even matter! Someone else on the donor registry was a match and she all ready went through the stem cell transplant a few weeks ago. She is doing well and hopefully on the road to recovery. She has to be watched closely for the next several months and doesn't have to go through chemo anymore!

Also, if you were at the drive, you may remember a book that could be signed for Lindsay. Well, she did get that book and her family read through all the well wishes. They are thankful for all of the support and positive thoughts!

Celebrations and Old Friends

I love when I get to go somewhere and see old friends and acquaintances I haven't seen in years. It is always fun to see what people are up to these days. Yesterday, I was in the Chicago suburbs for my friend Tracy's wedding shower. I got to see several friends from college and celebrate her upcoming wedding. It was a lot of fun!

There were a ton of people at the shower, so Tracy got a ton of great stuff. One of the gifts was a really cool creative gift. I am not good at coming up with stuff like that, so I'll have to steal it for future use. It used candy and little sayings for clever thoughts on marriage. Like the Almond Joy bar with the saying for the joys in life you will experience. Very cute. I had never seen that before and definitely want to use at some point! The room the shower was in was decorated so cute with flowers on every table and a brunch/lunch buffet. The favors were adorable, too! But, the best part of the shower (for me, anyway) was getting to see Tracy and catch-up with old friends from college. Granted the time was short, but it was fun to see everyone!

Tracy, me, Kendra, and Sarah

Coolest Gift Ever!

What a cool and creative gift! My friend and running/half-marathon training partner, Mandy, made me the coolest gift ever. It is a framed collage page of our running events from this past spring -- post-race pics, a pic of us finishing the IU Mini together, and the train we got stopped by on the way home from the Indy Mini packet pick-up (which was so funny, but you had to be there). I tried with and without the flash, but the picture does not due justice to the page she she scrapbooked. (Meaning, ignore my bad picture-taking abilities.) I love it! Of course, I am not creative at all and wish I had half the talent to do something like this. Thanks, Mandy! Here's to the fall running season!

Quilt Square

Our friends, Chris and Rita, are adopting a baby from South Korea. While they wait and prepare for their new little one (we hope comes sooner than later), Rita is creating a quilt called the "100 Good Wishes Quilt." They asked friends and family to send meaningful fabric to create a quilt for the baby. It is so cute and a really great idea to welcome the baby home!

I had a hard time trying to come up with something clever, but finally decided on Cleveland Indians fabric. We used to go to baseball games with Chris and Rita, and Todd has been known to talk crap with Chris over their favorite teams. Chris and Todd also played on the same softball team, while Rita and I cheered in the stands. Rita is a huge Indians fan (much like us - they are our minor league team) and Chris is a Cardinals fan (boo!). I tried to find some of each fabric, but couldn't find any cotton Cardinals fabric and only found the Indians fabric after some searching. Anyway, I sent them our fabric and good wishes. The squares they have received so far, including our creation, are all shown on their blog. So cute! I am excited to see the final project and pictures of the baby with the quilt!

NYE Recap

I have been meaning to post about our New Year's Eve festivities for some time. I figured I better get to it before the month of January is over! We had grand intentions to spend a few days in Chicago over NYE and meet up with friends and family while catching a few of the tourist sites we have yet to see (mainly the Art Institute, which is one place I have never been but always wanted to go). Anyway, we got the dogs into the boarding place at the last minute and decided to head to Chicago Tuesday and stay until Friday or so. We were off work and didn't have specific plans, so it sounded like an adventure. And it was, until I was so sick I could only lay in the hotel bed and wish I were home. We got downtown much later than planned Tuesday, so we grabbed a late dinner at Murphy's Pub. Whatever I ate did not sit well with the stomach the next day, which was the first problem. The second problem was that my cold worsened to the point where my throat was throbbing and I could barely talk. But, we decided to head out in the freezing winter temps Wednesday morning to shop a little and go up in the Hancock tower. We also ate at Pizzeria Uno. Of all the pizza in Chicago, this is not at the top of my favorite list, but it was good. After that we headed back to the hotel. I kept feeling worse, so I decided to forego the Art Institute and take a nap. I was in bed almost the entire afternoon. We had already made dinner plans and purchased Blue Man Group tickets with my friend April. So, we met up with her for dinner. Our reservations didn't work out as planned, but we still had a good time out (rather April and Todd did as my stomach was still not feeling well so I only ate bread...lovely). Blue Man Group was awesome, as usual. This is my second time to see the show and I highly recommended for everyone. I don't really know how to describe it, but I definitely think the show is worth the price of admission. It is artsy, funny, and interesting all at the same ime. They even did a special NYE after-show thing with a champagne toast, hats, and noisemakers, which was fun. I felt bad because the whole time I was trying not to touch or breathe on April and Todd for fear I would make them sick.

I woke up Tuesday morning and didn't even shower. I packed up my suitcase and told Todd I needed to go home - I was sore and achy, I could barely talk, and all I wanted to do was sleep. We left our hotel by 9:30am. So, we did not get a chance to meet up with anyone else, which I was bummed about (sorry people - I really did want to call you up). Maybe next time as we hope to get to Chicago again soon. Regardless, we still had a fun NYE with April!