Goodbye Abbott 0:-)

I woke up this morning to very sad news. My precious cat Abbott had died. He had been pretty sick for a few weeks, but we were all hopeful that the vet would be able to get medication to help. He was having kidney problems, and who knows what else, but he was clearly getting sicker. He lost a lot of weight, and his fur went from light in color and fluffy to dark and oily. My parents took him to a 24 hr vet clinic to have him put on an IV, and apparently his sodium levels were so high that the machines couldn't even read it. This morning my parents made the decision to put him at peace. Although it is hard news to hear and I haven't stopped crying since finding out, I know that it is what was best for him. He was sick and probably in pain and did not deserve to live like that. I know he is at peace now and no longer suffering. But, while he may be at peace, all of us who loved him so dearly are left with the pain.

Abbott in his healthier days :-)

Abbott, you were a wonderful cat. I remember bringing you home as a kitten with your brother Costello and you would both chase me down the hall biting my ankles. You were always the timid one who would hide inside the couch to avoid any people. You were a little crazy, just like me, but you were the sweetest cat when you wanted to be. I loved you dearly, and your life was cut too short. We had about 8 wonderful years with you and I am hopeful that you felt loved and had tons of fun. I know you are at peace now, and I will try to remember all of the wonderful times with you. I will miss you everyday Abbott. 0:-)

Abbott just a few weeks ago, he is clearly not doing well

Here's to hoping Abbott was not in pain and that he is at peace now. Here's to hoping that we are all grateful for the time we have with those we love, because it can be cut so short. 0:-)

clearly I've been busy....

I did not realize how long it has been since my last post. This must mean that I've been busy, which is the truth. So, over the next few weeks, I will try to catch up on what's been happening.

Sneak preview of what's to come:
- patio update
- garden fun
- baking
- cooking
- court reporting
- new steno machine
- Kevin's birthday
- garage update
- new bed
- probably a lot more that I'll remember as I go

Here's to hoping I continue to be busy and have as much fun as I have been having. :-)

Green thumb.....i think not

Even though we have had weeks of constant rain and coldness, I am still focused on spring. Although it is not for the reasons most people think of. The warm weather is not appealing to me at all, but being able to start a garden is always fun.

A few weeks back, or more like a month and a half, Kevin and I went to Lowe's and got all of the things to start a new garden this year. We got a little indoor greenhouse tray to start seeds indoors before transplanting outdoors along with a bunch of different seed packets.

My seeds sprouting the first time around - before they died after moving outside

Got everything planted and it was going so well, but silly Lindsey did not read all of the instructions about transplanting. I failed to "harden off" the plants first and subsequently almost all of my plants died. My beans were going strong too, but after a week-long torrential downpour I think they drowned.

But, with my love of gardening, even though I clearly lack the green thumb, I decided to start again. This time I am reading all of the directions on the seed packets and following every step. My seeds are sprouting once again and I look forward to the day when I can transplant these new plants outdoors.

Here's to hoping for a fruitful garden and wonderful spring. My life is so wonderful and I hope this gardening season only adds to my happiness. :-)

What did you do this weekend?

I love when people ask me what I did over the weekend. I don't know if they are expecting something like, "oh you know I climbed Mt. Everest, no big deal." or if they are expecting something for subdued like, "grocery shopped, relaxed and cleaned the house." Either way it is always a fun question because there are those weekends that I did something incredible fun. So now I will ask myself....."Lindsey, what did you do this weekend?"

Oh, you know something awesome. Kevin and I ventured up to the Google campus on a quest to find the Google Android statues. Yes, Google has giant statues representing Android and all of it's OS updates. Although this may not seem super exciting, once you know that they name the updates after desserts, it for some reason seems super interesting.

So, of course, we preplanned and Googled the location of the statues so we wouldn't have to drive around every single Google building. Low and behold he information on the Internet was accurate. Right in front of Building 44 were the giant statues of the Green Android Thing, a Donut, and Eclair, a cup of Fro-Yo, and a giant Gingerbread man. Of course we took funny pictures and then went on our merry way. But this little adventure confirmed to me that we are meant to live in the Silicon Valley. While we were taking our funny picture, other people came up to the statues and were looking at them and taking pictures. Yes, we live in a place where the tourists flock to giant operating system update statues.

Me hugging the Gingerbread statue :-D

The rest of the weekend was not as exciting. It included the more mundane tasks like food shopping and laundry, but it all balances out since I got to hug a giant gingerbread man.

Weekends are great, especially when you do something fun or unique that you get to tell people about when Monday rolls around. Although I may not take advantage of weekends the way I should, I think I will make an effort to have more fun adventures like this past weekend.

Here's to hoping that weekends become increasingly fun and that we all have something wonderful to talk about come Monday morning. :-)

Spring Semester :-)

I'm one of those weird kids that actually looks forward to the first day of school. I am super excited for spring semester to start (even though I've been in school for all of January for a mini winter session of classes). I don't function with only a small amount of work to do, so when spring semester starts I should be a little less bored.

I will have a grand total of 15 units consisting of:
CTR 080 - 80wpm Speed Building - 6.5 units
CTR 028A - Computer Aided Transcription - 2.5 units
ENGL 903 - Basic Grammar and Sentence Structure - 3 units
NRAD 222 - Online Medical Terminology - 3 units

I am hoping for a fun, busy, informative semester at school. Hopefully I am also able to meet my own personal speed building goal of getting up to and passing one 120wpm test by the end of May.

Here's to hoping for an awesome 4 months of school :-)

outrageous goals for school

So in an attempt to motivate myself for school, since I don't practice nearly as much as I should, I have set some pretty crazy goals for myself.

Here are my goals for 2011:
- pass all 100 wpm tests by end of spring
- pass at least one 120 wpm test by end of spring
- pass all 120 wpm tests by end of summer
- pass all 140 wpm tests by end of summer
- be in the 160-220wpm class in fall

Needless to say, these goals are very ambitious, considering it takes most people at least 2 years to go from just 140 to 200, but why settle for the average. My goal is to do my best, and strive to reach the goals I have listed above. Whether or not I can achieve them is yet to be seen, but nothing is better than striving for the best.

Here's to hoping that I can accomplish my goals and do the best that I can. You can't ask for more than your personal best. :-)

time for a positive udate.......

Although I would love to write that they have figured out why I am sick, that is not the case. Instead, I am just going to write about more positive things to hopefully take my mind off of my health situation.

Progress on our wedding seems to have moved into high gear. Since new years eve we have gotten quite a bit done. We ordered one of the last few items needed for invitations and all paper stuff for the wedding; just need to settle on vellum and buy that. Then the supplies for all paper goods for the wedding will be in our hands. Of course, then comes the tedious task of making everything, but considering the sample didn't take long, I'm not too worried. It also helps that we won't have to deal with any glue when doing it all, yay for not having aerosol adhesive everywhere.

In addition to all of the paper stuff, we have all of the favor boxes and just need to order the rest of the goodies to go in them. Centerpieces are done and in hand.....although we should stock up on batteries before the wedding. Save the dates should be here in a week or two, yet another thing to cross off the list.

Thinking of all the things we have left to do for our wedding is not nearly as overwhelming. I just need to get a dress, although I am doing my initial search next Tuesday with Kerri. Other than that, we just need a caterer, an officiant and I think we are ready for the wedding.

Crazy that we could get so much done so quickly, but I love having things ready to go. It will make the weeks and months before the wedding far less stressful.

As the days go by I am more and more excited for the wedding since it seems like it is going to be incredibly fun, at least for us. The average person might think our wedding is a little crazy, but that's just fine.

Here's to hoping that the last few things for the wedding come together and that we have months to just relax before the big party is here. :-)