2 years

Today is Bowie's "Got Ya" Anniversary. Two years ago we became a little family of two and I've not had a full night of sleep since and go to work everyday with cat hair covering my clothes. BUT I love her to pieces and imagine that my life was soooo boring before she became mine.

Before I became a fur mama I was that person wondering how anyone could ever get attached to a pet or why someone would upload 40 some pictures to social media of their cat laying in different positions....and now I'm that person. Not a day has gone by that Bowie hasn't done something to make me laugh or want to take a picture. Right now, as I'm typing this in bed, she's laying beside me with her little paw on my left arm, right in my elbow crease. If I was to reach for my phone without bumping her, she would move as I went to take the picture. It's like she knows what I'm doing!

Her favorite things right now are sitting in my windows when they're open and bird/people watching, randomly running at full speed from one end of my apartment to the other, and playing with her mice. She has more toys than I can count. (I have not purchased any of them!) She also likes to get into my sewing basket and knock a spool of thread on to the ground. One day I came home and my entire dining room was wrapped in aqua thread. I wish I could record what she does all day, I'm sure it would be entertaining.

Sometimes I think she's a dog trapped in the body of a cat. She is so nosey and needy. She also greets me at the back door every single time I come home. And now that my windows are open, she actually sits in my window and meow's her little heart out as soon as she sees me pull in. It's precious. Thankfully though, unless I lock her out of my bedroom at night (because she's wanting to play and I'm wanting to sleep) she doesn't 'talk' any other times.

She has the most precious routine when I get home every day - she'll be at my window, then race to meet me at the back door, then as soon as I walk in she'll run to my dining room, dramatically fall to the ground and roll over so I can rub her belly. Of course, I usually give in. Ok, I always do.

I just want to snuggle Mom. Don't go to work.

I'm so tired I'm just going to crash right here.

Do you have wet food for me? OMG! Let me see! Let me see it!

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

you're home! rub my belly!

your arm looks like a good place to sit 

She got wet food for her big day and I let her have it early. I bought the can last week and she has known what it was as it sat on her little shelf of food. She has made sure to whine and cry every time I feed her, wanting the good stuff. Sorry girl. I might even give you a treat before bed tonight too. She doesn't know it yet, but she's getting a haircut this week too. A haircut as in I'm shaving her! Don't worry, I plan to video it!

May Shenanigans

No big events happening the past few weeks since my Cedar Point trip, but little things, which are usually the best moments anyway, have made some great memories. 

On the nights that it's really warm, I've been sitting outside on my back "stoop" reading (on my iPad, but I've finished 4 books, so not bad) and Bowie sits at the back door and whines over and over because she isn't outside. She even tries to scratch her way thru the glass. So one night last week I put her collar on, along with one of my belts (I DO NOT have a cat harness, fyi!) and take her out with me. She was scared to death. She wouldn't move from in front of me and then we she did get the courage to walk around it was back to the door to cry to go back inside. So inside she went. She is the funniest. Her two year 'got ya' anniversary is coming up. I'll have to get her some wet food as a special treat.

She also was home for less than 24 hours by herself during Mother's Day weekend. I gave her more than enough food for the time I'd be gone, but wouldn't you know she eats her feelings and it was all gone. She must have been starving, because I came home to a package of Twinkies from my Easter basket in the middle of the living room and she had eaten half of one and completely licked the filling out of the middle. That's my girl - loving sweets! I would love to see footage of this happening.

I get that the beginning of my post makes me sound like a crazy cat lady, but hey, it is what it is. Everyone knows "that girl" and I'm happy to fill that role for my friends. :)

PLEASE let me back in.

Jill, Adam and I have started our summer lunch tour again. Last year we started at Lane and High and just worked our way south. This year we're doing High Street North of Lane, but not in any particular order, just to places we'd never been. Our first stop was Nancy's Home Cooking. I went there occassionally in college and it was always delicious. They have just one special a day and lucky for us, Thursday it was Chicken and Noodles. They were awesome! The mashed potatoes could have been better, but I'm a noodles girl and I say those were great!

Last week I posted about Zach's battle with luekemia and how anyone can sign up for the Be the Match Registry for bone morrow. I got my kit in the mail on Monday - only 3 business days after I signed up and did my cheek swabs last night. The whole thing took about 3 minutes and I dropped it in the mail today. The likelihood of being a match for Zach is very low, but I could be a match for someone else. The greater the registry, the more likely it is that people that need a donation will be able to quickly find a match. So please register at join.bethematch.org/Zach.

You could be the cure!

Seriously so simple!

 My office bulletin boards are filled with postcards from my travels or trips that students and friends have gone on over the last year-ish. A group has been studying abroad in Honduras over the past two weeks and yesterday I got a postcard from Central America. My first from Honduras, but not my first international postcard. Our students travel abroad quite often, so my international board is also loved!

On Mother's Day weekend my cousin Kate graduated from Marshall and my friend Tricia got married. That weekend I drove almost 900 miles (Columbus to Cedar Point to Piketon to Huntington, WV to Piketon to Columbus to Coshocton to Columbus to Piketon to Columbus), but it was such a great weekend! At Tricia's wedding I got to see so many friends from college that I hadn't seen in years. It was a great mini reunion and hopefully we'll do another this fall. It's been 10 years since we all lived together in Norton House. Crazy!

A very pretty wedding! It was a carnival theme and so cute.

Kate's graduation was really early in the morning! Like 9am and two hours away after I drove 5 hours to get to Piketon at 1am the night before early. But it was so great to see her get her diploma and hear her name called. She's the 4th of 5 grandchildren to graduate from college, so just one more to go in two years!

Mam's granddaughters :)

So on to the rest of May! Exciting things are coming up the rest of this summer with some awesome trips in the works.

Be The Match

Back in early May it was announced that Ohio State baseball LHP Zach Farmer had been diagnosed with leukemia. I actually knew about this a few days before it was announced by the team because Zach is from my hometown of Piketon and even though I don't know him personally, I had watched him play football, basketball and baseball for years for my beloved Redstreaks. And in a small town, good or bad, word gets around pretty quick.

Piketon is a pretty small place. Small town, small school. It's kind of a big deal when someone from your town signs to play for THE Ohio State Buckeyes when he's only a junior in high school. So it was extra exciting when he was doing so well in his first season as a Buckeye. I was in the process of organizing a night for all of the Pike County peeps at Ohio State to go cheer for him while he was pitching at an upcoming game. Zach hadn't been feeling well and went to the doctor thinking he had mono, only to find out he had a form of leukemia instead. You can read all about that by searching him online. Everyone from our small hometown newspaper to ESPN covered the story.

Like I said, I don't know Zach personally but he is good friends with my cousin and many people I know. Just knowing someone from your hometown is going through something as challenging as this is tough. Especially when he's a great kid, doing amazing things. Everytime I read about the awesome things people are doing to support him, I cry. I cry over everything anyway, but to reading encouraging tweets from college and MLB players all over the country and teams wearing bracelets and patches for him makes me loose it. Heck, I'm crying right now.

Yesterday, the OSU baseball team was on ESPN as they all registered for the bone morrow registry. I registered today and my kit for me to do my at home swabs will be here in about 2 weeks. Even if I'm not a match for Zach, I could be a match for someone, someday and save their life. 70% of all patients who need a transplant don’t have a matched donor in their family. A patient’s likelihood of finding a matching donor on the Be The Match Registry is estimated to range from 76-97%.

(I took those stats from bethematch.org)

I'm a big chicken when it comes to medical procedures, but if I ever get the call saying I'm a match for someone with a life threatening illness who needs me, I won't think twice about giving. Wouldn't you want someone to do that selfless act if it was you or a loved one who needed their help? I remember reading in January about this Penn State player that donated for someone he doesn't even know.

You can register in honor of Zach by going to join.bethematch.org/Zach and filling out the form. You can make a difference – whether through bone marrow donation, giving a financial gift or volunteering – and turn the impossible into the achievable for a patient in need of a cure.

 (Last sentence also from bethematch.org)

Piketon retired his jersey in January. (Took this from the web.)

Official OSU photo. (Took this from the web too.)

He couldn't have two better communities supporting him through his treatment - the Redstreak Community and Buckeye Nation are the best! #fightfightfightfightfight

Cedar Point

 Last Friday was Ohio State Day at Cedar Point. I went last year and had a grand time, so I was excited to go again this year and take Molly too.

This year was a lot different than last year. Most of the rollercoasters were not open, so therefore the ones that were had really long lines. Last year I rode Millenium Force, Magnum, and Blue Streak. This year I went with Iron Dragon, Coal Mine Ride, and Corkscrew. Towards the end of the day they opened Maverick and Mantis, but the lines were extremely long, so we passed. Adam and Caroline road Top Thrill Dragster, so props to them. While the whole ride is actually only 16 seconds from take off to end, the 1.5 hours of waiting in line would have killed me. :)

So while I didn't ride the most thrilling rides this year, Corkscrew does have a loop and two screws, so that's something new I'd never done before!

We also rode the horses, the bumper cars, and the train. For $25, it was a day of good entertainment and thrills. Maybe next year I'll do Dragster. (Highly unlikely, but ya never know!)

No Aaron Craft this year, but we did get a picture with Brutus. Adam, me, Brutus, Jill, Caroline, and Molly.

The group in front of Corkscrew.

Molly and I riding Iron Dragon, in the front seat.

All ready to go on the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. My first roller coaster of the day.

I was bracing myself for the drop. haha.

I also worried Caroline would drop her phone!

While Away During Lent

This year I did another leave of blogging, social media, and time wasting iPhone apps during Lent. I will unfortunately admit that I didn't do that great at sticking to my sacrifices. :( Some I did well, others I did not.

Because I again crammed a ton of fun and exciting things in the past month and a half, I'm just going to do one post of what I did and what I didn't do. Beware for 56 pictures, mostly selflies.

What I didn't do during Lent:
I totally failed at completing my bible study lesson for each Monday. Because of OSU's spring break, BSF's spring break and conflicts, I only attended a few BSF's during that time anyway. :( I also didn't go to church on any Sunday except Easter Sunday. I need to get better at this.

My goal was to give up social media for Lent - facebook, twitter, snapchat, instagram, blogging. I did ok with this the first half, then not so great the last few weeks. One day I just randomly found myself reading Jenny's update on Lucy, not knowing how the heck I even got to her page. So while I didn't blog or post any instagram pictures, I was lurking for a while.

What I did do during Lent:
I went on vacation! Molly and I left on a Saturday afternoon and drove to Southern Georgia. We then went to St. Pete Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, then Disney World for two days, St. Augustine Beach, Savannah, Hilton Head Island, and Charleston. We had such a good time. Everything was spur of the moment - hotels, cities, driving. We ate out only once each day since we packed food to eat for breakfast and lunch. Our only fast food experience was a McDonald's Sweet Tea run as we were leaving Hilton Head on our way home.

We waited in line for more than an hour for this picture. I am not kidding.

Cinderella.

Sleeping Beauty 

Rapunzel, who recorded the cutest video message for our nieces.

Snow White, she's never heard of Ohio.

Molly's thoughts on the day.

Katie was a great host at Magic Kingdom.

and at Hollywood Studios...

and at Epcot!

Beautiful house in Charleston.

Rainbow Row

Dinner pic in St. Pete

Dinner pic in St. Pete

"It's a small world" - my dad's favorite ride

I rode Tower of Terror!!!!! I'd totally ride it again too!

Love me some hydrangeas!

St. Augustine Beach

Savannah

Molly and her Spanish moss.

Hilton Head Island

I visited the University of Florida. I hate those Gators, but their university campus was actually quite charming and Molly and I loved the abundance of Spanish moss hanging from the trees. We may have taken some.

Holding hands with Tim Tebow! :)

Stomp the Gators!

I went to my first Columbus BlueJackets game. I've been to several OSU Hockey Games, but never a CBJ game. It was also a plus that I got to sit in the OSU suite. Former CBJ player Rick Nash was playing for the visiting team and this game was not short on fights! Woop! Woop! I love me a good brawl. The canon on the other hand, I could have done with out.

You can't tell, but there is an ice rink in the background.

I was sooo busy with work. I planned an entire banquet, coordinated our ag-olympics, went to multiple other banquets (one with a masquerade theme), welcomed new brothers into the fraternity I advise, showed cattle for the first time in 8 years and was just on the go all the time. I was too busy. I wore myself out and it showed. Most evenings I didn't get home until after 9 or 10pm, then would go to the gym to run after that. I was tired. One week I was late for work every day because I just laid in bed not wanting to get up because I knew how much stuff was on my plate. Thankfully I survived and now that school is out I have lots of time. (But this also means the students are gone and that makes me sad!)

Pano of the guys at the Pearl Ceremony.

Little sis making me proud at Ag-olympics.

These boys take competition seriously. And this year it brought them first place.

Second place!

She's graduating. :(

These girls are graduating too! :( :(

You have no idea who we are!

I turned 29! It was my last birthday before turning 30. The last one in my 20's. But I didn't really care at all! I have nothing to be sad about. I have an amazingly happy life and have no fear that the next year is going to be equally, if not better, for me. I celebrated with dinner at Marcella's and then went out with some friends at the piano bar. Per tradition, Alicia gave the pianist my name and told him it was my birthday and I had to go on stage for what seemed like 78 minutes while he sang a pretty vulgar song. I was mortified. I wanted to die. Creepy old men I didn't know were taking my picture!!!! But I smiled and soaked up the many "Happy Birthday"'s I got from the strangers all night. My favorite was the young girl who told me she felt so bad for me up on stage because she knew I was better than that song. Yes, dear, I am. ha. But it was a great night with great friends.

Big Bang!

Seesters!

Everything about this photo makes me laugh! Love these two gals!

Abra and I took a selfie during the Selfie Song.