In an instant....

.....I guess I am being emotional because of Barkley....he's only 6 for pete's sake. Anyway. Isn't it amazing how quickly life can change in an instant? Think of the person driving home from work....and gets in a car accident and is paralysed for life. I can't stop thinking about how upset our cat Sasha was last night while Barkley was at the vet. She kept looking for him and crying out. Life. Blech. And if you are thinking..."he's just a dog" I want to punch you in the face.

The dude

Months ago....I had given our dog Barkley the nickname of "the dude". He's one cool character. A dude. Ha. Barkley has been diagnosed with skin cancer.....a very aggressive form. He is one big scab.....that overcame his body in 2 weeks. Amazingly...he is in good spirits. We are going to bring him up to the mountains this weekend and give him our undivided attention. Feed him his favorite foods. Make him comfortable. Please pray for me for the strength to get through this.

Guess who came to dinner

This fawn followed home a sweet Beagle dog. Ahhhhh. What a cute story. Fear not....the fawn was returned to her momma.

That's good advice

I was on a sales call yesterday and the client said something to me that gave me pause. He said, "You have to be your own doctor. Keep in mind that half of all doctors graduated in the bottom 1/2 of their class." Holy crap.....he's right. That's good advice.

RETIREMENT PLANNING FOR 2008

If you had purchased $1000 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5 left.

If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have$36 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg Plan.

Emergency Room Part 2

Monday night I get home from work to discover that Barkley the Dog cannot get up. I roll him over to see what is up with him. He moans. He has this huge tumor looking thing on his chest. Todd is home about 5 mins after me and we make trip #2 in 1 week to the 24-hour emergency vet office. Sweet. They test the tumor....its a fatty tumor and it's not necessary to remove it today. We will only have to remove it if it causes him pain or makes it tough to walk. So why is he having trouble walking? He has hip dysplasia which we medicate when he flares up. After a myriad of tests and x-rays (can you hear the cash register knocking up the bill?) they diagnose that he must have taken some sort of fall to irritate his hip issues. They send us home with some pain pills and anti inflammatory meds.....and a bill of over $500. For those keeping track that's over $650 in the last week between Barkley and Sasha. Gulp. We give Barkley his meds and we all fall into bed. The next day Barkley is not eating and still won't get up. We call the vet. This continues all week. Keep giving him the medicine and he will get better. By Wednesday, Barkley won't climb the stairs and has to be carried outside to go pee. Yesterday Todd took the day off to see if we need to take Barkley back into the vet. He decided slept in a little. Barkley didn't get his normal pain meds first thing in the morning yesterday....and wouldn't you know it? Barkley comes running up the stairs to see Todd. WTF? We figured out that the PAIN MEDS were knocking him out so much that he was afraid to walk or climb stairs. We have pretty much eliminated the pain meds except for 1/2 a dose when he sleeps now. Our boy is back to being a full time tail-wagger and face licker. Whew.

Deck-a-licious

We used our wedding gift money to buy new dining room chairs and completely landscaped our backyard. We added So Real Lawn for our lawn. It's synthetic grass that is installed on a filtration system. Barkley the dog's pee killed any grass we could grow. This solves that problem. You scoop the poop and spray it down once a week with vingar and water....just like a douche! Ha. And part 2 of the backyard remodel was adding a deck. It's 15' x 8' and we freaking LOVE LOVE it. We bought a table that doubles as a fire pit for a fun fire on cooler evenings. It's awesome. Here's some pics. It's a glorious and rare rainy day today....bliss. Here are some before, mid-way and after pics. It's deck-a-licious.

Red Neck Weddings

Have you ever seen that reality show Red Neck Weddings? I can't say I have had the pleasure of seeing an episode of this train wreck but I have heard of it. After I started planning my own wedding I swore I would never rip on anyone's wedding ever again. Sorry. I have to comment on this one. First let me say that I know the groom. He was married to my best friend. When they were married I considered him a close friend. They were together for 10 years. He loved music, alt rock, techno and had a huge love for Elvis. He is a good looking man who dressed to a "T". He looked like he walked out of a hip Ralph Lauren magazine. Sometime after they divorced he freaking flipped out. Lost his f-ing mind. He became a freaking cowboy. I mean a COWboy....10-gallon hat, tight ass Wranglers, boots and all. I don't even recognize him anymore. He got remarried this past weekend. Good for him. But the pictures from his wedding DEMANDED a post from me with my comments....I just could NOT resist. OK. I don't need to say anything more but....hello...red neck wedding casting director....you missed a good episode. OH and.....If your wedding cake is a bad remake of a Jack Daniels bottle....you just MIGHT be a red neck.

Brilliant

I just heard something that I think is a brilliant idea. Tim Russert's family played his iPod for the music at his memorial service. How perfect is that? A perfect tribute to someone. I love going through people's iPod to see what they listen to. It's like looking through someones check book to see where they spend their money. Really tells you about someone. Brilliant!

Honeymoon

I have been slowly but surely writing the post of the honeymoon. I just finished Sunday - Tuesday....but it posted to early July. Scroll down to read about those days if you wish. More to come soon! xooxox

Emergency room

So on Friday night Todd and I are rushing around to get ready to head to a friend's house for dinner. I am in the spare room (where I have taken over that closet too) putting together my outfit for the evening. I notice that our cat Sasha has been in her litter box for a long time. She looks to be straining. I holler out to Todd that something is up with Sasha. I stop getting ready and watch her and start talking to her. She finishes and slowly walks out of the room. I realize something is not right. I follow her. She jumps up on our bed next to Todd. He rolls her over to give her belly some rubs and see what's up. Sasha's little body gets super rigid and shaky and her eyes are huge and look to be in shock. I FLIP! "We are going to the Vet. Call them and see if they are still open." Sasha continues to lay in the same position on her back and looks to be in the most pain of her life. I realize that I failed to do something very important when I moved into Todd's house.....come up with an emergency plan for our pets. Where do you take your pet when the vet's office is closed? At my condo I had a plan. I had a list of 4-5 24-hour vet emergency rooms....with phone numbers....vet's names (that had been researched)....and directions on how to get there. Let's keep in mind folks.....we now live in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE. I have to drive freaking 20 minutes for a freaking grocery store. I start getting really upset....saying something to the tune of, "When a person is hurt you call 911. What do you do for a pet when you live in the middle of nowhere? She is gonna die on this bed because I didn't make a plan." Todd...being the level headed one tells me to go get her carrier out of the garage and he will find a place for us to go. We hop in the car. I drive. Fast. To the emergency room vet. Sasha normally cries the whole time she is in the car. The car means 2 things to her. The vet or I am dropping her off somewhere to be watched. Both bad news for wee kitties. Her cries are getting really faint and I keep saying to Todd, "What is she doing? Are her eyes open?" "She's just laying here. Her eyes are open," he said. We get to the vet and the doctor takes a look at her. Now she is just really quiet and acting like she is ok with her head on my shoulder. Whew. The vet works her over and determines that Sasha has a bad bladder infection. The pain is overwhelming for her so that is why she had the shock episode. She gives me antibiotics & pain pills (where are the pain pills for the mamma?) and a $150 bill (I would have paid $500) and off we go. Now if you have ever had a bladder infection...the pain IS overwhelming. Feels like you have to pee 24 hours a day and when you DO pee.....oh boy....like glass is shooting out of you. Poor little girl. She is feeling better today. I have been putting some extra water in her tuna to help rehydrate her and have been giving her the medicine. She is back to bossing Barkley around and doesn't seem to be living in the litter box. They are right about what they say about pets being good training for parenthood. I will always have a plan.

Birthday

My dear hubby gave me the coolest birthday present. A black and gray TREK 4300 ASL mountain bike. It is sweeeeeet! I absolutely love it. I have been riding a crappy bike that I got from Sears 15 plus years ago that was painful to see and ride. The gears skipped and would make a nasty grinding noise. No more!

My birthday isn't for a couple more weeks....but he couldn't wait to give it to me. Plus, a bike is hard to hide.

Woo hoo! And the beauty of this is....I will probably get ANOTHER gift ON my birthday. All around...it's works out for me! :)

The Luckiest

We had a tough time finding just the right song for our first dance at the wedding. It had to be perfect. We have never broken up and gotten back together....and ironically most love songs talk about all of these trials and tribulations. It just isn't us. I am a huge Ben Folds Five fan...we agreed on the sweetest song by them....called "The Luckiest". Here are the lyrics.

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday

And I know
That
I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize

And I know
That
I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry,
I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That
I know
That
I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

Dang Dave

Did anyone catch Letterman last night? He was being such a prick to this poor guest who came on his show to do a segment on the latest hot toys. He was nit-picking her. Saying things like "oh great, it's $50 and it works 1/2 the time." It was brutal. She kept her wits about her....but I have no idea how. David Duchovney came on after him and gave Dave hell for being so mean to the toy lady....it was classic. I think David Duchovney is a douche bag...but he made me laugh last night. Poor toy lady.

Wedding Thank You Cards

.....hit the mail this morning. Holy crap what an ordeal. I made this so much more difficult than it needs to be. I bought these cool blue paper frame cards and put a picture of Todd and I holding a sign that reads "Thank You". The frame cards are 4 x 6 so there was a ton of space to fill up saying thank you. AND....we ordered photo stamps. OK. I wayyyy over did it. But they look fab....and I am proud of them. 8 weeks after the wedding isn't TOO late to get out your cards....is it?

Sex and The City

Cherill and I went to go see Sex and The City last weekend. No one warned me. No one. Not a single one of my friends warned me that I would bawl and cry...and then laugh through the tears. Not fair folks. I cried so hard at certain parts of the movie that I had my hands over my mouth and I was sobbing. The front of my shirt was soaked with tears. I haven't cried like that in years. It was intense. I couldn't talk during certain parts....just sure that I would make a noise that only dogs and dolphins could unstand "squweeek, squeeeeeak!" I love love love this movie. I am really enjoying dishing with other SATC fans about the movie. The creaters and writers of SATC are genius. I need to own this movie.

Da honeymoon

Sunday:

On Sunday after the wedding I checked the Internet to see how the weather was near our resort in Mexico. It had been raining for days and the forecast showed no end in sight. I tried to not let the possibility of bad weather ruin my great mood.

Monday:

We left for the honeymoon the next day....Monday after the wedding. Our flight to Mexico was nice. I didn't freak out on the flight (as I sometimes do) and we arrived in Cancun by 5 pm. We tipped a van driver and got a private van drive to our resort, Dreams Tulum, which was an hour and 1/2 south of Cancun. It was still raining and there were huge puddles of water everywhere. I asked everyone who would listen & spoke English when the rain was supposed to stop. No one gave me a straight answer...and no one seemed to know for sure. Dang. Once we arrived at the resort we unpacked and headed to go grab a bite to eat at Portofino the gorgeous Italian restaurant in the resort. We shared a fabulous bottle of wine and a wonderful meal. After dinner it was still raining but it wasn't gonna rain on our parade. We changed into our swimming suits and took a walk along the beach and then sat in the hot tub. Great start to our honeymoon.

Tuesday:

I get up at dawn to peek outside. Still raining. Dang. Went back to sleep. We got up a few hours later and put on our swim suits and grabbed our beach gear. We went and had a yummy breakfast and headed down to the beach. The food on this resort is out of this world. So fabulous. And the cool thing is....you don't have to make a reservation for any of the restaurants. You just walk in and they seat you. At breakfast I start chatting up this women who has on a Colorado Rockies t-shirt. She and her husband had gotten married the weekend before us and has had rain for all but 2 days of her f7 day honeymoon. They were leaving today at 12 noon to go home. That totally sucks for them....and I start worrying that the same thing will happen to us. So we are at the beach. I put sunscreen on....so does Todd. It's overcast but still warm. We play in the water and relax until about lunch time. We go enjoy a great lunch and....the SUN COMES OUT. The clouds burn off and it's gorgeous out. It was 85 and sunny the rest of the trip. Hell and yes! We head back to the pool for some umbrella drinks and relaxation. After a while we wonder into the lobby to book our excursions. We had registered for excursions at the resorts for wedding guests to get for us (Todd's sister's idea). We had received a round of golf, golf range balls, a sunset lobster cruise (sweet) and an ATV tour on the beach. After seeing the other options for excursions we decided to use our gift money to go deep sea fishing and to go to XELHA, a snorkeling paradise. We had seen another ATV tour on our way to the resort. It looked hot and disgusting and everyone was wearing oxygen masks over their faces to protect them from dust and sand. The lobster cruise looked cheap and cheesy...and they didn't serve the lobster ON the ship. Anyway so we booked the trip to XELHA for Thursday and deep sea fishing trip for Saturday. After booking the stuff we explore around the resort and then head back to the room for a nap. We decide to go to the Sushi restaurant for dinner. We get a huge bottle of Saki and many orders of Sushi. We meet another honeymooning couple and start chatting with them. They are from the south and had a huge wedding....450 guests. WTF? She is a southern belle with long brown hair and a small frame. He is a loud guy with a big body who smokes a ton of cigars. This picture was taken by our new couple friends. After dinner the 4 of us head to the bar on the beach to have cocktails. I chat with the gal. She is a sweet girl who was 100% a bride-zilla. She had 10 bridesmaids. She made all 10 buy 2...yes 2 dresses WITH I might add the matching shoes, purse and jewelry. One dress for the ceremony. One dress for the reception. She about DIED when I told her that I gave my bridesmaids a blue paint swatch and asked them to buy a dress they liked as close to this color as they could get. She told her husband what I had did and he said, "well I bet her bridesmaids still LIKE her after the wedding." We all had a good laugh. She wasn't someone I would be friends with at home...but I was in paradise with my husband and she was fun to chat with. We made plans to get together for drinks another night. I told Todd I didn't want to spend our honeymoon with another couple....he agreed.

The rest of the week to come soon.....

My breakup with Jack

I broke up with Jack in January of 2007. My dear beloved Jack was so fun...I loved his friends and loved his personality. No. He was not a boyfriend. He was not my lover. He was my profession...and kinda my obsession. I am proud to say that I was part of the first JACK FM radio station in the USA. Soon after our launch of our JACK FM in 2004....over 500 JACK FM stations and other imitations popped up all over the USA. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. We were all flattered. It was a time of creative meetings. Amazing ideas. Love for RADIO. True radio. For 2 years....life was blissful. Then things changed. A new sheriff was in town....this sheriff thought he knew radio. Ahem. I think not. All of our funny and irreverent promos were taken off the air. The deejays were taken off the air...and we were left with a jukebox radio station. All the the fun was gone. Much to my chagrin.....it was time to break up with Jack. I didn't recognize the Jack I fell in love with anymore. I was heart broken. When I left, I felt like I was leaving my helpless small child in the parking lot....all alone. Would anyone love Jack as I did?

Now... years later, I find myself listening to JACK FM to see if anyone loves this station as I did. As I listen I often get jealous. Someone does love Jack again. I hear those old promos that we all worked so hard to create. Or didn't work at all to create....because the attitude and fun was so natural at the time.....they practically wrote themselves. When I hear the old promos we wrote, I get a metallic taste in my mouth and furrow my brow. I am jealous. I miss the fun. I miss that time. Jack was at the top of his game. We will never get back together again. And he will never get back to the place we were all those years ago. But it was fun to be a part of the ride up. Thanks for the memories Jack. I will miss you.

Wedding Pics

OK...if you would like to see our wedding photos...here you go www.denver.instaproofs.com. We have a ton more....particulary of our guests....but this will give you the basics. Enjoy!

Alligator tears

Every Morning this week I have had to do my make up twice because without fail the Today Show does a story on the passing of Tim Russert right after I put on my makeup . I just HEAR his son Luke's voice start to talk about this Dad....and alligator tears are streaming down my face. Same thing today....need to go wash my face and start over. I am so touched by the love this man gave to everyone he met...truly inspiring.