Sunday, November 4, 2007
We Finally Did It!!!!!
FINALLY!!!! We are out of the Bevo!!! It has been a long-ish process (longer if you count when we started wanting to move), but we are completely moved out--of course, we are nowhere near completely moved in! The official moving day was Thursday and it was actually a great day for moving--no rain and it was surprisingly warm for the first day of November. I will say that moving in November totally beats my standard moving time of mid-August.
There were soooo many boxes---the next time I say that I have nothing to wear is really a big fat lie. I will learn to purge...of course there are 8 closets (not counting the basement) in our new house so maybe I just need to be better organized with my clothes. Bill and the dogs can share a closet and they'd still have room to spare.
Greg, Jenny, Matt and Erin are all coming into town this weekend for Bill's thesis defense so it'll be a rush to get the boxes unpacked......if only George and Otis had thumbs like Fonzi Bear (apparently the picture is of Kermit and Fonzi moving somewhere).
Friday, October 19, 2007
boycott canceled......
i was all fired up and the jcrew lady was like, ma'am--it's the color that's ivory, not the material.
oh. boycott canceled.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
While Bill's in Europe, I think I'll buy.....
- 7 pairs of shoes (gotta have some red pumps and tortoise-shell patent peep-toe heels, hello)
- 2 Kate Spade purses
- 3 necklaces
- 10 pairs of earrings
- 3 bracelets
- the "Once" soundtrack (I totally bawled at the end of that movie, fyi---sooooo good!)
- a new ear for Georgie (well, maybe just some meds at first)
- a new house--think he'll mind?!?!?!?!?!?
here's the link: http://www.cbgundaker.com/search/advanced/detail.jsp?mls_num=755541&type=res
No, seriously--Bill left on Labor Day for his biological pacemaker conference in Manchester (where his presentation was "simply exquisite"!) and as we were on the way to the airport, we got an offer for Morganford! So the boys and I dropped him off and then went into attorney/negotiator-mode and got a good counteroffer and sold the house!! Yahooo!!!!! Only snafu: we didn't have a house lined-up and the closing is mid-October (also, not good b/c I think I have to miss Erich's wedding). So communicating with Bill was pretty difficult since his email options were pretty sporadic, but I tried my best. The house he l-o-v-e-d in Lafayette was just too much and the seller really wasn't being reasonable with his counters so I walked away and spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday looking at houses and decided this one is the one! It's not actually all that far from where we are now, but the neighborhood is drastically better. The house has a lot of great old charms that I just love (it could totally be a Quincy house) but with modern updates that will make the place very easy for us to live in. Highlights include the clawfoot tub, upper balcony, slate roof, Blackthorne and Pho being a block away!! Vietnamese food galore and 18lb pizzas--it doesn't get any better!
4 bedrooms means lots of room for guests.......
So we move Oct 18/19, Bill finishes up his theisis, Bill presents his theisis and then starts in the clinics November 19th.....hmmm......no pressure! Ok, so who's coming to help us move?
Friday, July 27, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Gnome hits the Ritz...
What a great weekend! Trebecca came in town and Kriegel surprised us too with visit, and we also had a party Saturday night as well as Sunday (a baby shower in a bar--it was awesome!) so we were really busy, but it was a fantastic weekend. Somehow, a plan was concocted to climb Mt. Kilamanjaro in 2010....well, some of us may just wait on the beach in Zanzibar, but how cool will that be! Rebecca's sister and husband did the climb this year (just one of their many cool adventures during their 3-month trek around the world) and really loved it. So now we just need to get Greg and Jenny on board and we're set. I'm sure Jenny will join me on the beach! Anyway, Gnome crashed a party at the Ritz on Friday and as you can see above, he really enjoyed himself.
Who knew Gnomes needed drunk food??
Today was my last day at work....technically, I was planning on working until Tuesday but when the head partner saw me today and basically questioned why I was there, I did too and thought I'd just capture the moment and finish things up. Big sigh of relief! We're having a 4th of July party so I'll have plenty to do tomorrow. My main goal is to stay away from any store where I could buy the iphone...it'll be hard to do.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wow--A LOT has happened in 2 weeks!!!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Amo Miami!
The reception was gorgeous and a great time: Little Jake is an awesome bartender and knew how to treat the cousins right. Paola was stunning and Tim couldn't stop smiling--which is the way it's supposed to be.
Bill and I had a rocky start the next morning (I had to walk around and find a McDonald's about a mile away in order to get some Diet Coke and function again), but once we got rolling we were able to pack in some more fun before heading home. We toured around Little Havana, had some authentic cubano sandwiches, saw old men playing chess and checkers, and giant roosters everywhere. It's odd because when I asked the symbolism of the roosters the store clerk said that they bring good luck, yet the Cuban restaurant we ate at had them on the menu...that seemed like bad karma to me, but what do I know. One last trip to the beach and then most of us got on the same flight back to StL--actually, it was mainly the cousins who had to go back because all the "adults" drove up to Tampa to spend more time in the sun--not fair!
Congrats to Tim and Paola!!
And isn't Dylan the cutest?
Holtapalooza 07--Ahoy Mateys
No, really, we're not. Granny's 87th, Dad's 59th, Steve's 57th, Theo's 7th, Terry and Laurie's 19th and our 2nd wedding anniversary--geez! The weekend was filled with family, food, and balloons! It was the first time in 10 years that we've all been together at Granny's house--and she enjoyed every minute of it! Of course, she had to take a 10day trip to France afterwards to
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
This is how summer should be.......
We're off to Quincy this weekend for Holtapalooza--I'm sure there will be some interesting stories to tell. One thing we might do is go to Navoo to see the Mormon settlement--Bill wants to carry along his copy of Under the Banner of Heaven, which I think is a little much, but who knows. Oh, he just got his second first-author paper published--that's two just this month! George had a late night/early morning visit to the vet again this week with the same problem as before. Now the vet thinks it might be some sort of muscle disease that (fingerscrossed) we may have caught in time to treat before it gets any worse. My poor baby!! He's going to also require extra spoiling as part of his therapy--somehow, I think I can manage that. Maybe I'll make him a carrot cake so it's easier for him to get his carrots?
Sunday, May 20, 2007
At least Otis is healthy
While Bill and I have been suffering through colds this week, poor Georgieboy had to go to the vet not once but twice today. We awoke this morning to find him not being his cheery self and once we saw that he was shaking his head in slow-motion and not chewing his carrots (see him waiting for one? we can't even go in the kitchen without him putting on the pathetic look while staring at the fridge), we realized that something was wrong--that's exactly how he acted when his ears hurt before he had the ablation surgery last year. Anyway, the vet determined that the problem probably isn't his ears but his neck--either he sustained some sort of trauma that caused it to be sore or something else (what that something is, I don't want to know just yet). Six hours later, we were back at the vet because he magically developed a lump under his ear. We still don't know what's wrong with him, but hopefully the cortisone shot along with his meds and some rest (don't dogs rest all day anyway) will make him all better. My poor baby!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Maybe we should just go to Toys-R-Us
This past weekend was Mother's Day, so the pups and I loaded up Georgejetta and went to Quincy. Mom and I got pedis on Saturday and a woman at the salon actually asked if living in St. Louis is scary.....There is a new organic restaurant in town, so we had to go check that out....the food was good (my goat-milk latte was surprisingly yummy), but the kicker was that the place didn't have a liquor license! Granny was a little shocked but she survived somehow--what a trooper. Sunday was brunch and in between coordinating plans for the upcoming Holtapalooza, I had the chance to congratulate the bistro's owner on his fantastic accomplishment. See, he's my age (we were in Stage Kids together) and he's already doing great stuff....sometimes I feel like my life is on hold and I'm not doing everything I could be doing. Oh well. My dad looked great, by the way--his heart attack has really made him focus on taking care of himself and I couldn't be happier. We'll be heading back to Quincy for the family festival in a few weeks--apparently Mom has hired a photographer to take a family picture so I see some shopping in my future.
Bill was in Denver through the weekend and is back to being super busy. He has a pager for the heart transplant team at WUMS--whenever a transplant happens, Bill is given the harvested heart to do his research on. It's totally cool but obviously he never knows when it will happen, like today. Oh, big news: he's going to be published as first author!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
St. Elmo's Fire Hucker Style
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Rehearsal Dinner and Presidential Debate #1
The first presidential debate was last night so I went to a viewing at one of my favorite law school professor's house with NARAL and really had a great time. Election season is, after all, my favorite time of year and election night is the best holiday if you ask me. I was sorely disappointed by Barak's stiffness, but I think he did much better when he had an impromptu rebuttal and went off-script. HRC was pretty good and honestly was the most "presidential," but I just don't know how well she comes off to those who aren't willing to look beyond her rough edges--which is wouldn't even be an issue if she were a man. John Edwards did NOT impress me and I really wish he would stop being so slick. Mike Gravel was at times hilarious and pointless, but I have to give him props for showing emotion and passion, as well as actually speaking some truths that others are unwilling to risk the political fallout for saying. The highlight of the evening was listening to Professor Rosenbury's critical review of last week's USSC's abortion decision: if you pay attention to the language Justice Kennedy used, it's just amazing how much antiquated, misogynistic, and anti-choice rhetoric was incorporated. He actually referred to women as being frail! Yikes!!
As I write this, Bill and I are watching Grey's...and of course, he's diagnosing everyone and kinda ruining the show--argh....he DID NOT, however, catch the "penis fish" on the x-ray, just in case you're wondering. And I'm sorry, but it's just not realistic that McDreamy lives in a trailer.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
A Quick Trip to Indianapolis
Friday, April 20, 2007
NYT Editorial: Denying the Right to Choose
Denying the Right to Choose
Among the major flaws in yesterday’s Supreme Court decision giving the federal government power to limit a woman’s right to make decisions about her health was its fundamental dishonesty.
Under the modest-sounding guise of following existing precedent, the majority opinion — written by Justice Anthony Kennedy and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito — gutted a host of thoughtful lower federal court rulings, not to mention past Supreme Court rulings.
It severely eroded the constitutional respect and protection accorded to women and the personal decisions they make about pregnancy and childbirth. The justices went so far as to eviscerate the crucial requirement, which dates to the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, that all abortion regulations must have an exception to protect a woman’s health.
As far as we know, Mr. Kennedy and his four colleagues responsible for this atrocious result are not doctors. Yet these five male justices felt free to override the weight of medical evidence presented during the several trials that preceded the Supreme Court showdown. Instead, they ratified the politically based and dangerously dubious Congressional claim that criminalizing the intact dilation and extraction method of abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy — the so-called partial-birth method — would never pose a significant health risk to a woman. In fact, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has found the procedure to be medically necessary in certain cases.
Justice Kennedy actually reasoned that banning the procedure was good for women in that it would protect them from a procedure they might not fully understand in advance and would probably come to regret. This way of thinking, that women are flighty creatures who must be protected by men, reflects notions of a woman’s place in the family and under the Constitution that have long been discredited, said a powerful dissenting opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Stephen Breyer.
Far from being compelled by the court’s precedents, Justice Ginsburg aptly objected, the new ruling is so at odds with its jurisprudence — including a concurring opinion by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (who has now been succeeded by Justice Alito) when a remarkably similar state abortion ban was struck down just seven years ago — that it should not have staying power.
For anti-abortion activists, this case has never been about just one controversial procedure. They have correctly seen it as a wedge that could ultimately be used to undermine and perhaps eliminate abortion rights eventually. The court has handed the Bush administration and other opponents of women’s reproductive rights the big political victory they were hoping to get from the conservative judges Mr. Bush has added to the bench. It comes at a real cost to the court’s credibility, its integrity and the rule of law.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Sinuses, Schminuses
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Marathon!
So after months of training, the marathon finally arrived....but poor Bill's leg just wasn't liking the whole running thing. Bill pushed through over 13 miles before he decided that he'd rather be able to walk again than really hurt himself by finishing the race. His pace was awesome, though: he would have finished in 3h18m if he kept going at the same rate--that's so impressive!! His last marathon was 3h59m--wow! Otis, George, and I took him to the start and then Otis and I had a few spots along the race planned out to cheer him on, but we didn't actually pick a spot early enough to catch him running. The pictures are from the medical tent and from the finish line (Bill had to turn in his chip which was just painful since he had to see all the finishers--boo). Isn't Otis handsome in his jacket?
Saturday, April 14, 2007
28?!?!?!?!!!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
New Camera, New Blog
Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/katieholt