Our Journey - part 2

March 2012 - After taking yet another "break" & discussing all our options in great detail, it was this month that Shane & I made the difficult decision to stop all infertility treatments, stop wasting money on ovulation test kits & pregnancy tests, stop researching our options & stop dreaming about becoming parents. 

After a lengthy discussion, I told Shane I couldn't mentally deal with the emotional turmoil of another failed IVF cycle or any more losses. We both agreed that using a donor's eggs was not an option we wanted to explore & he was not comfortable adopting. So basically our only other option we could both agree on was to move forward, accept what is & live our life without children.

It was bittersweet for me to be closing this chapter in my life. I so desperately wanted to be a mother but I just couldn't go through anymore devastation, or loss. However, those last few months after our last miscarriage allowed me to heal mentally, accept what I can not change & look at the positives of living life without children & not dwell on the negatives.

Honestly, the one negative that I probably will never be able to get past is that I have this aching feeling that when I am elderly there will be no child(ren) to visit me in the hospital, or take care of me when I can no longer take care of myself. Or when I die there will be no child(ren) of my own at my funeral or who have "preceded me in death". I think that is what bothers me the most.

I blame how I feel on my profession. I see many elderly people in the hospital or having a procedure done with no children there to support them & it saddens me when there isn't anyone there for them & I think "that will be me someday" :(

Other than that, I think we are doing well with the cards that have been dealt to us. I turned 40 in August & I have always said I would be done with this infertility journey by then so I guess it was time to close this chapter of our lives & move on.

Infertility is one of the worst things a woman & a couple can go through & I find it sad that the stigma attached to infertility & living without children pressures so many women to remain silent about their struggles. 

I hated that I was always in tears at the sight of a pregnant girl or a new mother pushing a stroller, fighting anger & resentment toward friends who innocently invited me to their baby showers or having to watch my sister get pregnant so easily with her 3 children, or how many times I wanted to punch people in the throat when they would say "Just relax & it will happen" or "try going on vacation...you will come back pregnant for sure" or "you & Shane better start a family soon...you sure aren't getting any younger." Ugh....infertility can make you a sad & bitter person & I refused to let it define who I was.

There are so many times that I wish we were not dealt these cards, but in the end, going through this has made me such a stronger person, it has brought me closer to my husband, it has made my marriage stronger & for that I will always be thankful.

to be continued...

Our Journey

For the past 6 years I’ve kept a big part of our personal life off of this blog. I’ve thought a LONG time about this post, whether I even wanted to say anything at all or what exactly I was even going to say. I have even had a rough draft of this post for several months now & have debated many times whether to click "publish" or continue to hit "save". I guess I just wasn't ready to share with you all something so personal & heartbreaking....until now.

For the last 6 years, my husband & I have struggled with infertility. It is an awful thing for couples to have to endure & unfortunately a lot of marriages don't survive after dealing with infertility. I am so thankful that Shane & I are not one of those couples. If anything I think having gone through this has made us closer & our marriage stronger & for that I am forever grateful.

I have finally decided to share our story of infertility, how we got here & all our struggles in hopes that it will help someone else who is going through the same thing or better yet, understand why we have been married for 8+ years & have no children...because I know curious minds want to know!!

So, here is our story:

My husband &I were married for four years when we had decided to stop birth control. I was going to be 35 years old & felt we were finally ready & a good place mentally & financially to start trying for a family. After trying on our own for 10 months, we got pregnant which sadly resulted in a miscarriage @ 7 weeks followed by a D&C. 6 months later I ended up pregnant again which resulted in a miscarriage at 6 weeks.

It was starting to get really frustrating & I had already tried every trick in the book to get pregnant. I charted my basal body temps for a year, spent hundreds of dollars on ovulation test kits, read books on the subject, "relaxed" - everything you can think of & it just wasn't as easy as others said it would be.

Since I wasn't getting any younger, we finally decided to make an appointment with a Reproductive Endocrinologist (aka: fertility doctor) to look for possible answers as to why I wasn't getting/staying pregnant along with fertility treatments/options available to us. We both had numerous tests & blood work ran on us & every single one of them came back normal.

After our consult, we decided to start with several attempts at IUI - intrauterine insemination. We tried Clomid for a couple of months & when I wasn't responding to that then I moved on to follicle stimulating hormone injections & after 5 negative pregnancy tests along with poor response to the meds, it was suggested to us that we move forward with IVF - which we did.

For our first IVF attempt, we only got 3 good embryos so we ended up transferring all 3 & that cycle resulted in a negative pregnancy test. We were devastated. After 9 months of this emotional rollercoaster, we decided to take a break from all this "trying-to-conceive" business just to wrap our heads around everything. After about a 2 month break, we seeked out a 2nd opinion with a new clinic & doctor just to see what they might do differently.

Fast forward 4 months when we begin IVF #2 with the new clinic & ended up getting much better results. We managed to get 6 embryos where we transferred 2 & froze the other 4 for later use. Unfortunately, this cycle resulted in another negative pregnancy test. Again, we were devastated. We just couldn't believe that after all this time & money invested that this was not working out for us!

We again met with the Reproductive Endocrinoloigst after this failed attempt to go over our failed cycle & she had diagnosed me with Diminished Ovarian Reserve & told us this was more than likely the cause of why I wasn't getting pregnant. We are able to create good-looking embryos but they all seem to be chromosomally abnormal based on them not surviving. Basically, it means that I have old/crappy quality eggs & with this diagnosis I might never be able to have children. I just couldn't believe that this was happening to us.

At this visit, she also decided to do a Recurrent Pregnancy Loss workup which involves taking 16 vials of blood & testing for auto-immune & clotting disorders along with a thyroid workup. Why I didn't get tested for all this before is beyond me but whatever. I ended up having no detectable auto-immune disorders, my thyroid was normal but I tested slightly abnormal for a clotting factor. She assured me it was "borderline" but would be sure to put me on a blood thinner called Lovenox next cycle just to be on the safe side. This can be a troublesome thing to have because without blood thinners, the blood flow to the fetus will clot off causing a miscarriage so it's kind of important to know you have it before you get pregnant.

2 months later & we do our first frozen embryo transfer of 2 embryos. I was put on the Lovenox & baby aspirin daily & felt optimistic about this cycle. It did result in a positive pregnancy test however, I went on to miscarry 2 weeks later.

Two months later we transferred our last 2 frozen embryos which also resulted in a positive pregnancy. Everything was going well in the pregnancy, but at our 9 week ultrasound it was discovered there was no heartbeat so I was scheduled for yet another D&C. Again were devastated. All that money spent & nothing to show for it. We were at a loss. I had become numb to the pain as this just kept happening over & over for us. I had pretty much lost all hope.

At this point, we were mentally broken & out of money. We had to face the fact that we were never going to have a biological child of our own. I blamed myself & felt like a failure. I felt like I was broken & defective. Support from my husband, my sister & my closest friends helped me get through these tough times. Comfort was also found in some surprising places like infertility discussion boards & a few close friends had stepped forward to let me know they too were going through the same thing. I soon realized that I was not alone in this journey.

To help sort my feelings & thoughts, I had also started an infertility blog that I kept private from my family & close friends which really helped me work through the ups & downs of this entire journey. Only a select few knew about this blog along with the girls on the infertility forum & they always offered their support through our entire journey. It really helped writing about my experience & it turned my “poor me” attitude into something more reflective & positive. What started off as a private journal for myself is now followed by 70+ other girls & has gotten over 62,000+ views. I have made many "cyber" girlfriends just from my blog & the comments they have left behind offering support was always comforting. I truly feel a closeness to them as we are/were going through the same struggles.

I have thought about posting my If blog in the future so those that are interested can read about our long journey & understand it better. It may even help those of you who are going through infertility yourself & may be a good resource. If you have any questions you’d like to ask me privately, please feel free to email me & I’ll be more than happy to answer anything I can. Please keep in mind though that this is OUR story & I am not a medical expert by any means. I am only sharing MY thoughts & opinions - no one else’s. What I believe may not be what you believe & what worked for me may not work for someone else so please respect that.

After our last loss, we sat down & went over all our options that were left of one day becoming parents. Would we continue down the IVF road? Would we try eggs from a donor? Would we adopt? Or would we just give up & live our lives without children? Would we be ok with whatever decision we made? That was the million dollar question.

So why share all this now you ask?! Well, it has something to do with the fact that I just turned 40 (wow - hard to believe) & that was where we always said we were going to draw the line at being done with trying to have a baby. It also has to do with all the questions I have been asked throughout the years by family & friends if I was ever going to share what’s been going on with us & explain why we have no children as of yet.

I’ve always said from day one of starting this journey that I will only share our story with others if we decide to come to a stopping point in this journey OR if it ends up being a "success" story.

Well, we are at one of those two points & that my friends is why I am posting this today.

to be continued...

Hello Fall

Ok, so according to the calendar it isn't offically Fall until September 22nd but if you live in our household or at my friend Keri's house then fall for us begins on September 1st :) 

It is one of my most favorite times of the year....next to Nov 1st of course when I start playing Christmas music OR the day after Thanksgiving when I take down the fall decor & start decorating for Christmas. Just typing that makes me full of holiday cheer :) We are only 3 months & 3 weeks away from Christmas people - just let that sink in for a minute!

So while I decorated the house this weekend with pumpkins & leaves, I may have spent the day enjoying the smell of this:

While nibbling on these:

And baked my first "pumpkin" item of the season:

And while running errands I may or may not have enjoyed one of these:

 

 (Pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks)

I know - it's ok. You can admit that this post puts you in the "fall" mood too. I mean how can it not??? Who says you have to wait until the end of Sept to celebrate the fall season??

Visitors

This past weekend my mom & our dear family friend Mary Ellen made the trip to KC from South Dakota for a visit. It was a quick weekend but one that was full of fun & good food!

They arrived early afternoon on Friday & we decided to make our way to The Cheesecake Factory for a little lunch & of course some cheesecake! I wanted to try a new flavor so I opted for the Pina Colada Cake cheesecake:

It consisted of a moist white cake layered with cheesecake, pineapple, coconut, rum & sprinkled with coconut. And trust me - it did not disappoint!! My mom chose the Adam's PB Cup Fudge Ripple & Mary Ellen picked the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut cheesecake....they both thoroughly enjoyed their picks!

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at home while catching up. For our evening plans, I had thought it would be fun to go to the New Theater Restaurant for dinner & a show. The Broadway musical "Hairspray" was playing & luckily none of us had ever seen it. The dinner was dee-lish & the show was so entertaining & so much fun - we all had a great time & enjoyed the evening!

On Saturday, we did a little shopping around the Overland Park area & had a great time at Hobby Lobby checking out all the Fall & Christmas decorations. Later in the afternoon we met up with the hubby & enjoyed a yummy lunch at Jack Stack BBQ.

That evening, my brother Steve, his wife Meghan & her son Caleb all joined us for supper. We ended up getting Papa Murphy's pizzas, salad & had Strawberry Cheesecake for dessert made by my dear friend Setson. It was a great time visiting with them & catching up. Of course we couldn't let the evening end without a few photos :)

On Sunday morning, we all had breakfast at IHOP & then said goodbye to my mom & Mary Ellen as they made their way back to South Dakota. It was a short & sweet visit but was an enjoyable one & I'm glad they made the trip. 

Another great weekend spent with my family!

Pedi's & Lunch

And the birthday festivities keep on going....

Today I met up with the game-night girls for a little post-birthday pedi's & lunch! We all met at BB's Nail's & they were really good at accomodating our group of 7 girls. Everyone got their toes & feet beautified - even Jilly - who had never had a pedicure before due to not liking anyone touch her feet. She did a great job & was a trooper through it all :)

(from the far end: me, Emily, Jilly, Erinn, Michelle, Keri & Melissa present, however she is taking the picture!)

After pedi's we all headed to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch on the patio. It was a gorgeous day out & a perfect setting for lunch outside with friends. After we ordered our food, it was time to open presents! These girls were so very generous & gave me such nice gifts! I am SO very blessed to have such a great group of girlfriends in my life!!

We all enjoyed our cocktails & lunch & just when I thought I was full - out comes a box of cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes that Jilly had brought. They almost looked to pretty to eat:

The flavors were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Red Velvet, Italian Cream, White Midnight Magic (white w/choc chips) & Midnight Magic (chocolate). They were dee-lish & the frosting was the best part! Such a yummy treat!

After cupcakes & before we all left, we of course had to pose for our usual group photo. Thanks to Melissa for always having the camera for any photo op that arises:

Thanks ladies for a wonderful outing & for making an end to the week-long birthday festivities a fabulous one! So very thankful to have each & every one of you in my life!

Fabulous 40's

Goodbye 30's.....hello 40's!

Today is the day I leave my 30's behind me & embark on new adventures as a 40 year old. Ugh - it just doesn't seem possible but unfortunately, it is staring at me in the face. I am 40 & am now an official member of the "Fabulous 40's" club.

Honestly though, for as horrible as turning 40 sounds, I couldn't have asked for a better day. It began with a "happy birthday" & hugs from the hubby & a really nice card. I then made my way to work & was greeted with balloons, cards & a huge breakfast spread from Panera by my co-workers. We all enjoyed a nice breakfast together & then got back to work.

Lunch-time rolls around & my co-workers had all brought a dish to share for a "birthday lunch" which was awesome. There was a deli meat & cheese tray with bread for sandwich's, cheese dip/chips, cracker/dip tray, fruit tray w/dip & for dessert....

Strawberry cheesecake made by my dear co-worker Stetson. Mmmm - so good!
My co-workers are the best group of people & are so very thoughtful! I felt so very special after all the fuss they made making sure I had a great day! 

Then just when I thought the day was coming to an end, there was after-work birthday festivities. I was told to show up at "The Well" bar & grill at 5:30pm & was given no further instructions. I knew something was up but did as I was told.

When I got to the Well, up on the roof-top were my co-workers ready to "surprise" me, bearing gifts & ready to celebrate my birthday over drinks & appetizers. Can I just say how awesome this group I get to work with is?!

As the night went on, more co-workers kept popping in to say "happy birthday" & enjoy a beverage & it made me feel so very special that they were all there for me :)

 

Relaxing on the rooftop at The Well during a beautiful evening with wonderful friends was a great way to end a great day. I must say this "Fabulous 40's"club thing isn't so bad.....so far ;)

(in.gre.di.ent)

 

Tonight I met my friend Mindy for a pre-birthday dinner at a dee-lish restaurant called (in.gre.di.ent). It is located at Park Place behind Town Center shopping area & is a great place that offers over 75 fresh ingredients to create your own custom salads, sandwich's, unique wraps, brick oven pizzas or breakfast items. I always end up getting the salmon flats salad with a garlic chipotle dressing & it is SO yummy!

This place even has a cute little patio & sitting area where you can enjoy the outside, people watch & enjoy the view of the park & fountain. If you've never been before, it is definitely worth checking out!

Unfortunately, I failed to get a pic of the two of us before we parted ways :(

Buca di Beppo

It seems like just yesterday I was in Aruba with two of my closest girlfriends celebrating my 30th birthday. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago & now I am going to be celebrating my 40th!! I thought turning 40 would be as depressing as turning 30 was for me but I must say it was more traumatic turning 35 years old for some reason!? I decided earlier on during the year to just embrace it, enjoy it & that I did!

The birthday festivities started the Saturday before my birthday. My girlfriend Heather (HK) gathered the girls who all went to Destin, FL (minus Kari) along with our dear friend Anthony & his wife for a pre-birthday dinner gathering at Buca di Beppo. She surprised us all by reserving the VIP table back in the kitchen so we were able to see all the food made, put together & expedited by the servers which was a lot of fun.

HK managed to surprise me once again with an unexpected appearance by my dear friend Deanna. Deanna lives in Austin, TX & just so happened to be in Missouri visiting family during the week & made a special trip to KC for my birthday dinner. It was such a great surprise & as always, so good to see her & catch up.

Our dinner consisted of margarita pizza, stuffed mushrooms, fried calamari, chix parmesan, lasagna & spaghetti/meatballs & it was SO good! We were SO stuffed after it was all said & done but made sure to leave room for a little birthday dessert - tiramisu. This was of course after all the wait staff came & embarrassed me by singing "happy birthday" & made me blow out the candles on this huge candelabra.

After dessert I opened up all my gifts from my very generous friends & then we ended up taking a few more photos of the group. 

While everyone else decided to call it a night, me along with Deanna, HK & Camille decided to walk on over to the Cheesecake Factory for cocktails on the patio & catching up on the happenings of each of us since we were all gathered in Destin. It was a gorgeous evening to be sitting outside & before we knew it, it was 1am & time to call it a night.

It was a wonderful evening spent with such very dear friends & a great way to kick off the birthday week festivities :)

Concert

Earlier this week, my friend Jilly texted me & told me she had won tickets to the J-Lo & Enrique Iglesias concert & wanted to know if I would join her!? Um - twist my arm!! Of course I'll go to a FREE concert to see the beautiful Jennifer Lopez & handsome Enrique!!

We started out with drinks & appetizers at The Cashew & then made our way to the Sprint Center for the concert. We had gotten there a little early & had to wait outside a bit for the doors to open. While waiting, we enjoyed all the people watching & were amazed that we were the minority as most of the concert-goer's there were Hispanic people. I have never seen more big, curly hair, tight dresses (on women who shouldn't be wearing tight dresses), 6" stilettos & gay people in all my life. It was definitely fun to see & quite entertaining.

We finally made our way inside & ventured down to the floor where our seats were. They weren't bad seats but once the concert got going, Jilly headed up front to scope out some empty seats closer to the stage & she scored!! We ended up 10 feet from the stage & it was awesome! Front & center of Enrique - couldn't ask for much better :)

 

He ended up playing for about 1 1/2 hours & put on a good show. He did a lot of audience involvement which really got the crowd going & sang all his popular songs like “I Like How It Feels,” “Dirty Dancer," “I Like It," & "Hero".

 

J-Lo came on next - after about a 30 min wait - & her stage presentation kind of reminded me of Madonna. It was very elaborate, there were several wardrobe changes into beautiful costumes, there were skits, videos & virtual guests (Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Flo Rida), there was a light show, awesome choreography, confetti flying through the air & there was singing. Although she didn't sing more than 70 min, she put on a great show & her male dancers were amazing! At times I almost thought I was seeing the movie Magic Mike all over again :)

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/01/3744897/concert-review-jennifer-lopez.html#storylink=cpy

All in all, it was a pretty good concert - for free :) Thanks Jilly for inviting me & for a fun Saturday night out!! So glad I can be your "go-to" person when you are in need!!

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/01/3744897/concert-review-jennifer-lopez.html#storylink=cp

Worst night ever...

Our house is 8 1/2 years old. So is our AC unit. With day #58 - or what feels like it - of over 100 degree temps Shane & I have been waiting every single day for our AC unit to stop working. Half of the neighbors in our cul-de-sac have replaced their units already so we are definitely next. 

It was a normal evening here at the Taylor household. I got home from work, let the dogs out, fed them, made dinner & then Shane & I settled in for the evening in front of the TV. Around 7pm I notice the bulldogs were starting to pant & it was starting to feel pretty warm in the house. I went up to check the thermostat & it read 84 degrees....which is usually set at 76 degrees. I put my hand over the vent & felt NO cool air. In fact there wasn't any air coming out of the vent.

Son of a biscuit!! The AC had finally gone out :(

We knew this time would come but it never makes it any easier when it does. We quickly made arrangements to leave the house for the evening as there is no way the bulldogs would have been able to be in such a hot house for the night - darn bullies - they run our life :)

We were going to stay at a hotel but luckily for us, my girlfriend Jilly was out of town this week & she offered her home to us until our AC could get fixed. So we packed an overnight bag, loaded the dogs in the SUV & made our way over to Jilly's for the evening. By the time we left our house the thermostat was reading 85 degrees so it felt SO nice to be back in some air conditioning!! 

Unfortunately, the evening was anything but restful for me. We ended up going to bed early & while Neo was all curled up under Jilly's bed asleep, the bulldogs were crazed & panicky being in a new place & would NOT settle down. Shane of course had his ear plugs in, the fan blowing on him & was snoring away so he heard nothing that was going on! Typical...

It was about 10pm by the time the dogs had calmed down a bit & just as I was dozing off to sleep my pager goes off. UGH!!! I quickly get dressed & go to put on my glasses & they weren't in my case. My contacts were in the cleaning solution that takes 6 hours to neutralize so I couldn't put those back in so I was screwed. I have pretty bad vision & everything is blurry without my contacts/glasses so I began to panic. How would I drive 35 miles to the hospital at night without clear eyesight?  By this point I was exhausted, pissed, stressed - I threw my glass case & started crying. Can my night get any worse??

I managed to make my way to the emergency case - very carefully & on the way back home it started to downpour. Not only can I not see well already, throw pouring-down rain at me & make my drive all that much more stressful. Ugh - why me?? I ended up making it back to Jilly's around 1am.

I crawl back into bed - Shane still sleeping away - & the bullies are restless. Panting, pacing, whining.

All. Night. Long.

It's lightening, thundering, raining out & the bullies are not happy. I got absolutely NO sleep. All I kept thinking is that we could have a couple more nights like this & I didn't think I could handle another repeat like this again.

Shane woke up at 6am all rested & ready to go while I laid there desperate to sleep. He put the dogs in the bed with me & they immediately settled down & fell asleep. He left for our house to get ready for work & we all managed to get a couple hours of sleep. Around 8am I got up & then headed home to meet the AC service guy. He arrived right on time, spent 15 minutes working on our unit & came back in to say he was all done. 

What? That quick? Ugh - this can't be good news. I imagined he was going to tell me our AC unit was done & we would need a new unit. But surprisingly he said there was a bad capacitor in the heat pump that he had to replace & everything seems to be in working order. Hallelujah!!!! What we thought was going to cost thousand's of dollars only cost us $175. Unfortunately, I had to burn a day off of work but oh well...at least we didn't have to buy a new AC unit!!

I left shortly after the AC guy left to go get the dogs & already the house was starting to cool off. What a relief. We all got back home & while the dogs got settled in & relaxed, I laid down for a little nap & ended up sleeping for over 3 hours. I was just soooo tired & it felt good to catch up on some sleep...in a cool house....in my own bed!

Unfortunately, this little dilema we had only delay's the inevitable.I almost wish we would have had to get a new AC unit just so we don't have to worry about in the future & according to the weather guy, the month of August is going to be just as hot or even hotter!!

For those of you who are local, we used Air-Pro out of Olathe to service our unit. My friend Jilly actually dated the owner for a couple of years so he treats us & anyone I refer to them pretty good! Just click on "Air Pro" & it will take you to their website.

Hoping you never have to use them but if so, tell them we referred you :)

Auntie Day

That's right. It's National Auntie Day!!! WHOOT!!! 

No lie - just last week, I looked at one of my girlfriends & said, "I wonder why there isn't an Auntie Day?" They seem to celebrate all kinds of other "Day's" like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day so why not a day to celebrate these special women in nieces & nephews lives? 

Well guess what?? There is.

I need to send an email to my sister, husband & my mom telling them that one of them can go ahead & buy me the Savvy Auntie book for my Auntie Day present. I'm sure they will all be running out the door to get it for me ASAP. There is even a website for cool, savvy Aunt's like myself. Who knew??

(crickets)

But in all honesty, I'm so excited to find this site. I LOVE being an aunt. I constantly show people pictures of my nieces & nephews. My friends hear all about them. My bosses & coworkers hear all about them. I find myself wanting to buy them stuff when it isn't even their birthday or Christmas. Even though I don't get to see them very often, they are often on my mind. A ran into a girlfriend I hadn't seen or talked with for several months & one of the first things she asked about were how my nieces/nephews were doing. She get's it....

So I admit it. I may or may not brag a little about my sweet punkin's. I know I'm "just an auntie", but that phrase has taken on a much greater meaning since my very first nephew was born over 4 years ago. That is the day I became a Debut-Aunt (the Savvy Auntie term for a first-time auntie)!

To all of you who are mommies, think about the special women in your life who serve as aunties & tell them they are loved. 

According to the Savvy Auntie site, aunties can be:"Aunties by Relation; Aunties by Choice; Great-Aunties; Godmothers; Cousin Aunties; Long-Distance Aunties; Step-Aunties; Single Aunties; Married Aunties; Par-Aunts (aunts who become the parent when one or both parents are no longer able); Straight Aunts, Lesbi-Aunts; Teen Aunties; Child Aunties; Special-Needs Aunties; Teacher or Coach Aunties; Nanny Aunties; & Fairy God Aunties."

Damn, we are everywhere!! What a diverse group of positive influences for America's children!

Please give the Auntie in your life a little love today. Unfortunately I will be all alone so I guess I will just have to treat myself on this awesome day. Maybe I can get a special Skype date with my little punkin's?

From one savvy Aunt to another.....we rock!

Dinner & a movie

Tonight the game-night girls met for our usual monthly gathering but instead of staying in we decided to take "game-night" out on the town. We all met up at Houlihan's for drinks, appetizers & some catching up & then the majority of us made our way to the much anticipated viewing of the movie Magic Mike - a movie that is supposedly based on Channing Tatum's experiences as a stripper in Tampa, FL when he was 19 years old.

I was looking very forward to an evening being surrounded by good girlfriends, movie popcorn & Channing Tatum & Matthew McConaughey without their shirts on. The first three items definitely didn't disappoint but unfortunately the actual movie did :( I would have liked to have seen more dancing/stripping & less cheesy story-line but that just wasn't the case. At least the popcorn & company was good!!


A suggestion to anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet - wait for it to come out on DVD!! That way you you can sit & watch it in the privacy of your own home, with the remote in your hand & using the "pause" & "slow-motion" buttons at your own leisure ;)