Let's see. What have we been up to lately? We saw a great band at a bar last weekend. We bought a new area rug for the living room. And OH YEAH. I threw Brian a huge surprise party for his 30th birthday!

I thought about it for months and finally got the ball rolling at the end of September. Bob and Pat were generous enough to host the party at the garage and with some help from Shannon and my mom, I sneaked around for weeks buying supplies and planning the menu. A neighbor of ours has a smoker and made us 13 lbs of pulled pork... it was (and the leftovers still are) delicious! Jon was in charge of buying the keg, I got some boxed wine, and the guests each brought a side to share. Brian thought we were meeting some friends at the garage before we went out to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday, so getting him there was pretty easy. We arrived and there were a LOT more people than he expected! He seemed pretty shocked. But the best part was when his parents sneaked out from the crowd - he had no idea they had driven up from South Carolina! We all had a great time and I'm pretty sure it was a birthday to remember!

The rest of that weekend was great, too. We celebrated Halloween by going to three parties... after Brian had played golf all day with his dad, Jon and Glenn. A very long, fun-filled day! Brian and I dressed up as two of the characters from Juno - I was Juno and Brian was Pauly Bleeker. We made a pretty great pair, if I do say so myself.



Next on our agenda is the wedding of two of our newest, yet greatest friends, Shannon and Aaron! We've gotten to know them during the length of their engagement and I'm so excited to see them tie the knot! It should be a fun weekend!

Let's Make Strides Together

Before I get back on track with my blogging, I'm going to ask you all for a huge favor. It's funny that I feel SO awkward posting this message even though I have absolutely no problem supporting others who ask me for donations, but here goes.

I was approached in my office to participate in the annual Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk put together by the American Cancer Society. Of course, I agreed to sign up for the walk and get a few donations, but I did it mostly out of obligation. I love to help out a good cause, but I didn't feel like I had a powerful reason to be walking. On the ACS website it says something like, "we've all been touched by breast cancer," and I do know a couple of women who have been affected, but I'm not close enough with them to walk "for" them.

So I signed up, emailed some friends, and I was shocked that within 2 weeks I had gotten over $300 in donations. Obviously, my friends and family think it's a worthwhile cause. Then I started thinking about why I'm doing this. Where is this money going and who will it benefit?

I know of two women in particular who have been affected by breast cancer. An ex-coworker's wife was diagnosed earlier this year and has battled with surgery after unsuccessful surgery while trying to mother three adult children and one son under 14.

Another woman I know happens to be a cousin of mine and I regret that we don't have a closer relationship. Being separated by age and distance, I don't know the details of her battle with breast cancer, but I do know that she has a wonderfully supportive husband and a young son who both need her in their lives.

I'm hoping that some of the money raised for this walk will go to find better treatment for these women. Maybe even a cure, but that's wishful thinking.

If you've been affected by breast cancer, know someone who has, or feel the desire to support cancer research, please consider contributing to the ACS and supporting me as I walk.

The neighbors were concerned.

When Grady goes outside and the weather is nice enough, I like to leave the door open. Let me just tell you I will never NEVER do that again. Tonight, I opened the door to call Grady back inside and while I was standing there, the FASTEST rat came bolting towards me, following the line of the fence. If he had continued to go straight, he would have run right between my legs and into the kitchen.

Thanks to a rat's keen sense of direction (mazes!) and my "I'm about to die" scream, the rat pulled a cartoon turn. He skidded and hopped on his outside foot 3 times while winking at me as he made a tight 90 degree turn around a gap in the fence. Heart pounding, I slammed the door right in Grady's face. A whole lotta good it does to have a cat, eh?

Grady Friday #13

Updates!

Grady is still going outside, but has seemed to cut down on his grass eating. I've moved the lilly out of reach, but sometimes he reaches for the other tall grass that we have in the yard. I've been meaning to pick up some cat grass for him and I promise I will the next time I'm at the Sunday Farmer's Market.

The auto-feeder has been a god send. Brian and I have gone out of town a couple different weekends this summer (Philly for the 4th of July! Wagner Family Reunion in Indiana!) and Grady has survived on his own just fine.

The auto-feeder has also come in handy for when Grady decides to meow the top of his lungs for food at 5:30 a.m. We can set it with his breakfast and forget it... Usually only on the weekends when I'm too lazy to get out of bed. On the weekdays, I just squirt the cat with a spray bottle and tell him to wait until 7:30.

Another update, but unrelated to Grady... Remember that monster plant I was growing out front? I was SO proud. Well, about 4 days after I took the pictures of it, the plant was DUG out of our planter by someone who decided they wanted to fill out their garden. I was incredibly upset.... I mean, I can sort of understand some angst ridden kid walking by and ripping some leaves off. But DIGGING OUT THE WHOLE PLANT?? Wow. That not only takes guts, but determination. The day after the plant went missing, I made a pathetic little sign to stick in the pot that said "Please don't steal our plants, they're happiest at home." I'm surprised the house didn't get vandalized. C'mon... that's a pretty annoying statement, right? After a few days, I decided to take it down and replant. Much to the dismay of a few of our neighbors, we're enjoying lovely zinnias instead of the poison ivy and stinging nettle that they suggested.

I have many more stories and pictures of our summer to share. Stay tuned!

Grady Friday, #12

Letting Grady outside for a few minutes at a time has become a habit. He loves it out there... but only for about 5-10 minutes. Then he's sitting at the door, ready to come back in.

His usual outdoor routine consists of sniffing around the perimeter of the fence and then pausing around the trash cans to check things out. I'm sure he can smell the (hate to say it) rats that sneak through our patio at night.

Since early spring when Brian and I put some plants in the back, Grady has been pausing at each pot and smelling the flowers. He really knows how to appreciate the simple things in life, huh? One of the plants is a day lilly which is pretty much like a grass - its leaves are long, thin, and abundant. Grady loves this particular plant. Every once in a while, he'll try to chew on the other plants in the back yard, but every time he goes outside he chews on the leaves of the day lilly. And every time he goes outside, I have to push him away from that plant.

One day, Grady was outside unsupervised and you can probably guess what he did. I know, I'm a terrible pet owner. Hours after letting him back inside, we were on the couch when Brian heard Grady in the kitchen gagging. We entered the kitchen to find a small pile of cat puke with an entire day lilly leaf still intact... This thing must have been about 10 inches long! I finally realized that perhaps I should put that pot on the table... duh.

All of his grass-eating got me to thinking... I've heard of "cat grass", but I'm not quite sure what it is. As far as I know, it's a little pot of grass that is kept indoors for cats to chew on. Wouldn't this encourage him to eat the plants outside, though? Maybe I should be nice and indulge him and his grass-eating tendencies.

Monster Plant

The Wave
Originally uploaded by Cindezio

Good news! Our plant has grown! It's completely out of control and has filled the entire pot.

Originally, we had 2 small azalea bushes in there with this little petunia, but our neighbor's football landed right on one of the bushes and snapped it off. Instead, I got liriope to take its place. Turns out, I didn't have to get anything because the petunia would have been plenty by itself! This type is called The Wave... maybe because it acts like a tsunami and overtakes everything in its path.

Grady Friday, #11

Grady has recently developed a most unfortunate habit of using his vocal chords. You know the phrase "he has a face for radio?" Well, Grady has a voice for silent movies. His is the most obnoxious meow I've ever heard out of a feline. It's more like yelling, really.

Before we feed him, he barks. Yes. Barks. I think he was raised by dogs. I don't so much mind the barking... it's kind of cute. He's talking to us.

It's the yelling in the wee hours of the morning that drives me nuts. Every day without fail, he starts his crying between the hours of 5 and 6 a.m. My alarm goes off at 7 a.m. I lose a good hour or two of REM sleep because of a loud cat.

Sometimes he yells from the living room a few (27) times and then stops which is bad enough, but yesterday morning at 5:30, he started his noise at the FOOT OF THE BED. And then started clawing the carpet. I'm pretty sure he's hungry or wants to go outside or just wants company, but at 5:30 I'm really not in the mood. I got up, pushed him into the hallway and shut the door behind him. Sure enough, I solved that problem! I'm not sure if he got the hint and stopped crying or if I just couldn't hear him anymore... either way, it looks like I'll be sleeping with the door shut from here on out!