Celebration of Life

This is a first loss for me
The loss of a peer, a coworker
A friend.
Since it’s a first, it’s hard to know what I should be feeling
Or when these feelings will go away.
Like, will I ever stop thinking about her?
About the life she lived, the way she died?
The short, sudden burst of tears blur my eyes.
I thought that clichés would help me right now…
The “at least she died doing what she loved”, or
“everyone has to go at some point”.
But those aren’t enough. They don’t work for me.
Nothing, really, is enough right now.

Brooke's Celebration of Life is scheduled for this Thursday. As my mom says, "it's gonna be heavy"...

Counting the homeless

Many of you may remember that at my previous job, I did a lot of work with (and in) the homeless population. The organization I worked for helped communities count the number of homeless for HUD (Dept. of Housing and Urban Development) funding requirements. The count happens every 2 years, and well...it's happening in 2009. So my old colleagues called me up to help out - it takes a lot to wake up at 4am to organize people (sometimes without coffee!)

So it went surprisingly smoothly this morning...Kelly and I woke up bright and early and were greeted by many homeless and volunteers alike at the Palo Alto shelter. It took about an hour, but we paired everyone up, got everyone maps, and sent them on their way! All teams reported back successfully, and most importantly, felt like they did something good and made a contribution.

What a good way to start a brand new week, considering that last week was one of the worsts I've ever had....

Silence....

I woke up this morning, already feeling like a 5 pound brick was lodged in my throat (I guess my trip to Atlanta has finally caught up wth me)...only to snooze my alarm and wonder if I could make it to work without coughing up a lung. I checked my email and my facebook and was shocked to see that an old friend, an adventurous, spirited, athletic, beautiful 31 year old woman had passed away doing what she loved most - climbing with her husband. The details are still fuzzy, but ice struck her and she fell 400 feet off of Mt. Hood. Her husband skiied to her, adminstered CPR, but it was of no use. I mourn for her, her family, Thad (her husband), and the countless others who were touched by her warm spirit and enthusiasm. You never realize how much someone touches your life until they are gone....

To my adventurous, spirited friends: I love you. Keep on doin' what you're doing.

I want this!

Instead of an invitation, isn't this poster idea ADORABLE???

Proud to be an American....

Finally! It's been 8 loooong years. I'm finally proud to be an American. Yes we can. Yes we did!

Bridesmaid dresses

Everyone has been asking me, "what are your colors?" I have to admit that I haven't quite gotten that far in the wedding planning, but I have found some bridesmaids dresses that I love!

wildflowers

I can't wait to use fresh, local wildflowers at our wedding. I haven't found the exact centerpiece idea yet, but it they will look something like these. Any suggestions?

Our website

Thanks to my mom, we have a fantastic wedding website! It has a little bit of info on it now, but will have lots more once the date gets closer. Check it out!
www.bolingstobe.com

It's inevitable...

This blog will most likely now consist of my crafts, my travel stories, AND my wedding! And to kick it off, here are a few of the J Crew dresses I'm drooling over (and all under $400! Yeah for my budget!)

Late Christmas pics

Though it's a few weeks late, here are some pics from our great Christmas in Vallejo (at Marie and Dallas' new house) and Groveland (it snowed there!). We had a great time and were surrounded by both sides of the family. I'm sooooo thankful that we all get along really well, and am so happy to be marrying into a wonderfully fun family!

Pictures courtesy of Marie...I still haven't downloaded mine yet :)


Me wearing the Christmas beanie

Cadence opening one of many presents

The presentation of Paul's birthday cake...complete with red hots!

Group pic

Cadence eating snow....yum!

The meadow with snow

I know, I know...

I've been REALLY bad about blogging the past couple weeks. What with the holidays, Paul's birthday, a wedding to plan, and work to get done, I've been what you would call stressed lately. Tomorrow I will post all of my lovely pics from our wonderful holiday vacation, so stay tuned!

Ladies that Dine Christmas Extravaganza!

I hosted the official "Ladies that Dine Christmas Extravaganza" on Monday night - you can tell by the pictures it was a very fun and crafty night. On the menu was broccoli soup, bruschetta and garlic bread, and mini pumpkin pies.





After we ate, we opened the gifts we made for each other. I made the rule a few months ago (to give advance warning), that we should make gifts for each other this year....I was met with resistance until the very end, but the Ladies stepped up to the plate and created some wonderful gifts:







It was like Christmas pooped all over my house, it was so festive!

Cookie machine!

In anticipation of my book club tomorrow and holiday parties this weekend, I spent last night baking away! I made multiple batches of spritz cookies (yum!) and a HUGE banana bread that's to die for. And I even cleaned up after myself after I made a mess!




I just realized I didn't take a picture of the final product. Whoops!


I'm in love with our little 3 foot tree...

Crafting away...

I told myself back in September that I need to start crafting things for Christmas. And while I've finished a few things, the heat is on for trying to complete gifts for the Ladies that Dine dinner next week! The girls weren't too thrilled when I mentioned we should make gifts instead of giving in to the consumer culture, so it'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

Alot of my favorite bloggers/websites are posting fun crafty ideas for the holidays. Hope some of them inspire you to make a homemade gift!

Fun felt stockings at What about Orange

Fun old-school, kindergarten inspired holiday decor at AlphaMom

Downloadable baking gift tags at Everylittlething. Too cute!

My ideal Holiday House (at Posie gets Cozy)

Happy crafting!!

Engaged!!

Yes my friends...most of you probably all know this, but Paul proposed to me the day after Thanksgiving, and I said yes! It was such a memorable event, and I (and Paul) are so happy! He proposed to me at the New York New York Hotel in Vegas, and the following day we went on a helicopter ride down to the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful, amazing, and exciting! Here are a few of my favorite pics from our trip. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

San Antonio

I didn't get to blog the entire time I was in San Antonio, due to the fact that my ancient laptop died a sudden death. Or got a virus, I'm still trying to figure that out. Anyhow, here are some quick highlights of the trip. I will post a full-on recap when I return from Thanksgiving (Vegas baby!).

Highlight #1: More teachers than I've ever met/seen in my life. They were so stoked on life, on teaching, on the NWP. They were amazing and inspiring. I loved it.

Highlight #2: LIVE BULL RIDING. Yes, I said it. It was indoor. It was at a place called "Cowboy Dance Hall". There were 2 live bands, 2 step, and poker. And chain smoking and lots of 10 gallon hats. It was pure heaven.

Highlight #3: Hanging w/ my favorite co-workers. Piano bars that played amazing covers. A dive bar called the Gulch, where a round of 3 Bud's cost $6. Burgers, beer, and no-whiner dinners at the hotel bar. Awesome.

Highlight #4: Taking an old fashioned picture with Spike (see Highlight #3). Will post as soon as I get it scanned. Let's just say the roles were reversed (I had a bolero tie, Spike was in a southern-belle dress).

Time to pack for Vegas. Thanks, San Antonio, for the great time!

Weekend recap + trip details

So, many of you may know that I organized a 50th birthday party for my mom this past Friday night. It started off with a lovely family dinner at my aunt's house, complete with photos of my mom (when she was a youngster/awkward teen up to her marriage photos). She loved the decorations and theme of the party - it was "country in the city"...

After that we headed down to the Saddlerack bar - for those who may not know of the notorious Saddlerack, it's a country bar/club in this weird warehouse area in Fremont. My parents used to frequent it in the late 70's when it was located in San Jose. At any rate, there were about 20 of us there, honky-tonkin' it up! I caught my mom on multiple occasions on the line-dancing floor, trying to keep up with the cowboys that were strutting their stuff. It was an AWESOME night.

For her birthday present, I got us tickets to see Carrie Underwood on Saturday night (a little selfish, I know, since I wanted to see her as well!) It was a great girls night out - we got dressed up and took BART to the Oakland Arena. We had incredible seats, I was so excited! (I had bought the tickets in August, so I didn't remember where we were sitting). Anyway, Carrie put on an incredible show. I mean, really, that girl can sing! I didn't know what to expect, since sometimes seeing people live is disappointing. Her show was the exact opposite - upbeat, fun, loud, and she's a very humble person. All of those people that rag on her should really recognize how great of a singer she is, no matter how she got there, or what kind of music she sings.

So now, I'm packing up and heading to San Antonio tomorrow for NWP's Annual Meeting. It's going to be an exhausting 6 days of work work work! I'm hoping to at least catch a glimpse of the Alamo, and hopefully see the world's largest cowboy boots (pictures above). I'm also crafting like NOBODY'S business, trying to get gifts ready for the upcoming holiday season! The next month and a half are going to go by soooo fast!

Sleepover

This past weekend, Cadence came over for a sleepover at our house. She's growing up soooo fast, it's pretty unbelievable! We mostly just hung out, she ate lots of bananas, and chased the cats around the house. It definitely calmed down my thumping uterus...(which I think Paul is very happy about!)

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom turned 50 years young yesterday. When I spoke with her yesterday morning, she was a little groggy from "honky tonkin" the night before. Wish I could have been with you to celebrate, mom! Luckily for her, my family and friends are throwing her a country-inspired party this Friday night, complete with dinner and dancing at the Saddlerack club in Fremont. Here's a few photos of the mom-ster as a young-ster!

Life is GOOD

I've been battling a sinus infection, thus have been MIA on the blog, and also haven't "really" been able to celebrate appropriately. But, damn....am I (finally) proud to be an American!