Women of Achievement

Yeah, the title kinda cracks me up, but they really did give me such an award. Not just me, there were six of us. And there we are in the first photo (L to R: Barbara Purvis, Colette Lee, Debra Murphy, Colleen Walker, Yours Truly, and Betty "Bets" Folsom). The luncheon was very nice and my friends and family turned out in all their glory (two full tables of 'em!).

So rather than bore you with what I said and what was said about me (the others were fascinating of course...surely they have their own blogs?), I'll just show you some of the great photos my personal paparazzi (Mike Easley of Vital Excess) captured.

Here's me with my dad and step-mom (and she won the beautiful nautilus shell necklace in the raffle!).

 And here's me with my mom and Chris. We were almost ready for that photo. (Yes, right, my height comes from my dad. And a killer pair of Cole Haan Nike Air heels!)

And now that's me with Chris and Chris's mom Trudi (No idea where Chris's height comes from; I'm just glad he has it.)

Michelle Pierce (my awesome assistant) and Laureen Pittman (my unparalleled paralegal). (Oh, and they're not that tall; I bent down!)

Me on "the big screen" during the luncheon. Thankfully, from my vantage point on the stage, I really couldn't see this. Because I don't think seeing oneself on a screen that large could be a good thing. Unless you're Julia Roberts. Which I am decidedly not.

Here's me making faces. Oh, and giving my "acceptance" speech. There were laughs (intended) and tears (not at all intended!).

On stage with Collette and Debra (the banner is the YWCA logo--and part of what we were honored for).

And last, but certainly not least, here are the wonderful Women of Table 17 who nominated me. I'm proud to have such an esteemed group appreciate my work for Alternatives to Domestic Violence, The Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center, and, of course, The Inland Agency's "The Pink Ribbon Place."

So there you have it. A great day. And this also gives the much anticipated update on what my post-chemo hair looks like now. Yeah, I lightened it.

A Miscellany Mess o' things

 We'll get to more Paso Robles postings, but two exciting things happened in the last 24 hours that must be shared.

First, for the first time in 355 days...I used a blow dryer!!
Right, okay, so I don't really have that much hair, and nor did it get blown out that big, but...the point is, I have enough hair that a blow dryer is...um, okay...it's not necessary, but it's helpful. I'm not sure anybody else could tell a big difference, but at least I don't have a wet head of hair most of the day.

See, last week I got my hair trimmed up a bit and my hairstylist added a little red highlighting to it. But  nobody noticed! This seemed like a monumental event to me so I thought people should notice, so of course I started telling everyone. And everyone squinted their eyes at me, tilted their heads and said "really?" Then I realized that when my hair is wet, it's darker and when I put product in it in my lame attempt to style what still looks like toddler hair into something that looks like adult hair, but not too adult, it just stays dark. You can't really see any "highlights" when there is no light hitting it. That's when I had the brilliant idea to actually dry my hair before putting any product in it. Hmmm... still no one has noticed. I'll have Chris take a picture of it and see if you can tell. Besides, we're due for another oh-so-stimulating-just-how-long-does-it-take-to-grow-hair-back-post-chemo photo. (March 13th is the anniversary of my head-shaving. A one-year-later photo would be appropriate).

And the second exciting thing was that I received my first blog award! I've seen these on many folks blogs, but have never actually known how they came about. Well, apparently they are just bandied about from blogger to blogger.  Here's the one I received, from Chrissy over at I Shoulda Been a Stripper:

 This is a "Sweet Friend" award and it comes with serious, serious obligations for the recipient. To wit:

The Sweet Friends Award has the following rules:

1. Copy the image and paste it to your blog.
2. List 10 things that make you happy, do one of them today.
3. Select 10 bloggers who brighten your day.

Alrighty then, so yes, it's like a chain letter, only without threats of bad luck or ill health (which would of course be remarkably tacky considering my blog is what is known as a "cancer blog"---not a blog that is a cancer, people, knock it off).  I'm going to sort of follow the rules, since Chrissy herself broke the rules (she also had less than 10 in number 3):

1. Check.
2. Ten things that make me happy:  Chris, cuddling with Seamus, dogs in general, wine, reading, the beach, travel,writing, napping, having a fabulous meal.  And the jokes about "doing" one of those things are just too easy and yet inappropriate.
3.  The 3 (right, 3, not 10...I'm improvising here) bloggers who brighten my day (besides Chrissy, who already got this award) are:
     - Roryann at   Cooking With The Chef's Wife
     - Sara at   Sara in Vermont
     - Stephanie at  Bah! to Cancer

Ladies, consider yourself awarded and now you must follow the rules for one who has been awarded a "Sweet Friend" award or terrible things will (or will not) happen to your life/blog/worst enemy/Kleenex (you choose).

And there's my mess o' musings for the day.