crazy week

its been one crazy week!

had to get all my documentation together for my home loan! they needed my w-2's from 2009. mind you, there were three of them, and i had no idea where they were. after about an hour of my mom and i tearing the house apart, we finally found them. phew!

on tuesday, i started getting phone calls about the poker tournament fundraiser that i am holding tomorrow for my relay for life team. i was told that there were a lot of people interested and to expect over 50 people! aaahhhh! definitely not prepared for that. then i started getting questions about how much money is going to be paid, how many people are going to be paid out, what the blind structure is, if there are re-buys....
i only play cash games, so i had no freakin clue! i think i have everything figured out now and we are expecting at least 30 people, hopefully more, since i have gotten a lot of "maybe" replies.

we went to costco last night and bought a bunch of food and papa johns is donating some pizzas too! i hoping that this will be a very successful event!

on tuesday we also found out that my grandfather has a mass in his colon. on friday we found out that it is colon cancer. since i created my relay for life team back in november, my step dad and grandfather have been newly diagnosed and we also lost a very amazing man to this awful disease. just makes me realize that there IS a purpose in what i am doing, and that i AM making a difference in the lives of others.

today, while at my second job, i did have to threaten to call the police. thats always fun, especially since i work at a kids moonbounce place. wtf? people are just so rude and cant seem to understand that we are running a business here. there are rules. if you dont like them, please have your party at your god damn house!

im supposed to close on my first home this thursday, but apparently they dont have the foreclosure deed....whatever that means. we shall see....

Celebration of Ty Lewis

When I was a senior in high school, i started working at a child care center. there were two awesome ladies that i worked with in the toddler room. i just though kelly and shannon were so awesome!

Ten years later, i was back at winwood, working with shannon again in the toddler room! four years ago her husband was diagnosed with cancer. it was already terminal and the doctors told him that he probably only had about two years to live and that there wasnt much they could do.

Ty did go through numerous rounds of chemo, surgeries and various trials, but nothing seemed to help. shannon and her family made the best of every moment they had with their husband, father, brother, son, etc. Ty's love of soccer and love of his family kept him fighting for four years.

On april 2nd, Ty lost his battle with cancer. he left behind so many people that loved him, so many people that he inspired. The lewis's have to be the strongest family i have ever met. sam, ty's daughter graduated high school and got in to ODU. chris, ty's son played his heart out on the soccer field and made his dad so proud. shannon, ty's wife made him specials shakes every morning and stood by his side during every possible moment. ty's sister stacy and ty's family even started a non-profit, the ty lewis cancer foundation which raises money to help caregivers of those with cancer. The entire lewis family has inspired me and many others. I am honored to have known ty and his family....



It was a full house!



On saturday april 9th, we celebrated the life of ty! the brambleton community center was packed! literally, people had to stand outside! i have included a few pictures from the beautiful memorial. You will be missed....




Ty inspired so many....

 




This is how Ty would have wanted us to celebrate his life!

 


 















been a while

I started my new job on March 9th. Although I was excited to have at least a week or two off to get some stuff done, it was good that i got hired so quickly since i have to be employed for 30 days before i can get a home loan.

On that friday, my mom took me and my sister to the spa to celebrate my birthday and we all got 80 minute massages (which were amazing) and facials. My mom is the best!

I am now an admistrative assistant at UNJURY Protein. If you are intersted, you can read about UNJURY here. Tuesday was my birthay and my new coworkers got me flowers and a gift card and sang happy birthday to me. It was a very nice surprise. I definitely think I am going to like it there!

My mom also got me a new camera for my birthday, so i plan on learning to use it and hoping to get into some photography....we will see how that goes.

Aside from my new job, the most exiciting thing going on in my life right now is that i have found the house! my real estate agent got a foreclosure in potomac station over in leesburg that is awesome! it has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 1 half bath. there is a big deck off the kitchen and a fenced in backyard! im just waiting for the bank to give us a listing price so that i can put in an offer. hopefully i will be a first time homeowner by may 1st!





Chasing Hope Sport Bounce Fundraiser

Our first fundraiser was a huge success!

The first thing that i need to do is thank jenn sharman, the best boss ever, for allowing us to use Sportbounce this evening. this wouldnt have been possible without her and SportBounce!

Secondly, I need to thank my team for helping to spread the word, especially my mom, who has recenly become so excited about Chasing Hope and relay for life since she has raised over $800 in only 3 days!

Lastly, thank you to everyone who came out and got their bounce on!



Chasing Hope raised $530!!!



when it rains, it pours...

Since november, my boyfriend left me, i moved back home, i put my cats in foster care, i created a relay for life team, i totaled my car, i bought a new car, and to top it off, i have been laid off for the first time in my life!

I can definitely say that whatever doesnt kill you makes you stronger, but im really hoping that nothing else insane happens any time soon. thankfully, i started my new job today at UNJURY where i am making significantly more money than i was making at chenega and still getting employer paid benefits. i am really starting to believe that everything really does happen for a reason.

Now i know you are probably thinking, what the hell is UNJURY? well, its a medical protein used mostly by people who have gone through some sort of bariatric surgery, either lapband or gastric bypass. it was originally intended to be used by wound patients in effort to help encourage cell growth. it is also currently used for cancer patients that are going through treatment and to aid in weightloss.

At first i thought it was a total scam, but after my first day, it is obvious that this is a great business that makes good money. everyone that works there is super nice and young! im very excited about this new opportunity!

If you are curious about UNJURY check it out here.

first relay for life team meeting

We had our first relay for life TeamLUKE! team meeting on Sunday Feb. 27th at Panera. Although there were only 5 of us that showed, we shared lots of great ideas and got to meet some of our team members.

Dawn (one of my best friends from high school and fellow cheerleader and dance team member) and her sister Dana just joined the team and between the two of them have already raised over $300! They have both participated in relay for life before, so having them on the team is super awesome. Ashley, one of my co-workers from BeanTree also recently joined our team. Last month she wrote a letter to a random soldier. So nice! This is her first time participating in relay for life. So glad this event has enabled us to reconnect.

Kaitlyn was one of my coworkers at Winwood. She has lots of friends that plan on joining our team and even got her boss to join. Go Kaitlyn! She also came to the walk for Ty Lewis last weekend in Reston.

It was really great to get my old friends together and catch up! Its amazing how such a great cause can bring together so many people. Relay for Life 2011 is going to be awesome! Thanks again to everyone that has joined our team and all of our supporters. Together we can make a difference.

update on TeamLUKE!, house hunting, and my job

We now have 10 team members! We have also already raised 78% of our goal and havent even had our first fundraiser yet. I think this event is going to be even better than I had imagined. Two of my long last friends have joined our team and I am so excited to catch up with both of them. There are also some Winwood parents that have joined too! We have had so many donations and I think people are finally getting excited...I know I am. I have also had friends offer to post the flyer that I made for our fundraiser at their places of employment to help promote the event. I really do have some great friends and family!

On Thursday I looked at a house that I thought was perfect, but it turns out that because the condo fee was a whopping $218, it was out of my price range. I was pretty bummed.

Then friday I get an email from my boss telling me that a co-worker had sent out a not so politically correct email asking the people in the office to make sure that they let him know when they will be having guests. Unfortunately he made it sound like we needed to know so they could schedule things around my telecommute day, which was the complete opposite of what the email intended. Needless to say, my boss called me the next morning tell me how he put his neck out for me and was really unhappy about what happened and that I am no longer allowed to telecommute one day a week. Seriously? I didnt send out the email. I only did what I was told. Then I was told by my other co-worker that my boss stuck his neck out for me when he shouldnt have. Why the hell shouldnt he have? I have been there for 2 years now, never received a raise, I do a lot of work for him and have learned a lot in 2 years. They both telecommute more than they are in the office and many other people telecommute as well, so why shouldnt I be allowed?

Luckily I got a call from my real estate agent telling me that his company got a foreclosure that is perfect for me and that he can negotiate with me first before letting anyone else see it. Finally, some GOOD news! So the day that started out so shitty actually ended up not being so bad.

damn camera and lots of lollipops

This past Saturday I participated in a walk in honor of my friend's husband Ty Lewis. It was freezing and windy when we first got there, but after we walked for a while it was actually kind of nice. We did 2.5 miles around lake anne in reston. there was a pretty good turn out and it was nice to see some of my old winwood friends there. i took lots of pictures including some winwood friends pictures to give to shannon! unfortunately, when i went to get them off my camera, the files were corrupted. i dont know what the hell is going on, but i am not happy. i will be dropping off my camera today to see if there is any way that they can recover these files. im going to be really bummed if they cant...

after working all day on sunday, i came home and started making cancer awareness ribbon lollipops. it took about 4 hours to make 60, but it was all worth it. at sportbounce on monday, my bosses kids helped me to sell every one of them! we raised $65 for TeamLUKE!

i also sent an email out to my co-workers today telling them about TeamLUKE and letting them know how to donate. one of them donated $50! as of right now, we have already raised $910 for TeamLUKE and we havent even had our first fundraiser yet. speaking of fundraisers....our first one will be on March 9th @ Sport Bounce (of course)! My boss is so amazing that she said we can keep all of the proceeds, instead of splitting them with Sport Bounce which is the usually policy. She also donated $250 to our team!

You can check out my personal page or our team page and see how awesome we are doing!

tax deductible donations

i have recently discovered tax deductible donations! i know i should have known about this before the age of 28, but now that i have discovered it, im all about it. i have donated to the avon walk for breast cancer and a walk that my friend is doing for MS. i will also be able to write off the donation that i will be making to the ty lewis cancer foundation walk that i am doing on saturday, so excited! the other night i even went through the clothes that i am going to donate and made a list. i have never really had to pay much money in taxes, but a friend told me that once i buy a house, im going to want all the tax deductions i can get. plus, id rather have my money go to great causes than to wherever the check goes that i write every year.
now i just need to do my taxes for 2010.

my mom and i are going to our first relay for life TeamLUKE meeting tonight. i am definitely looking forward to it. our team has already raised over $500 and that is just from personal donations, i havent even started fundraising yet. i love the feeling that i get from being a great humanitarian.

many thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family for supporting me in everything that i do. you all are the best!

interview and such

i have been a little concerned with my job security lately so i filled out an application online for a position at a company in reston. the pay range was 0 - 5k more than i am making now. at first i was so excited, but then today i cancelled my interview and told them i was no longer interested in the position. only a $5k increase is not enough for me to leave where i am where i can work from home one day a week, pretty much come and go as i please, get more than 3 weeks of paid vacation a year, 12 paid holidays, and FREE healthcare. Just the increase in gas and tolls wouldnt even be worth it. Plus i would probably have to work 8-5 and wouldnt be able to come to my favorite job to work during the week :)

i also went to look at a townhouse today that was completely trashed. it looks like im going to have to save up some more cash so that i can afford something a little higher than my current price range if i want anything decent. honestly, living at home isnt so bad. my mom's pretty awesome, except when she bitches about me hanging up my clothes. why am i going to hang up my clothes if im just going to take them off the hanger and wear them again :) just kidding ma!

i really wish i had something more exciting to talk about. im thinking of going to see Ted Garber in reston at Kalypsos which should be fun. there's also an 80s coverband playing at bunkers in leesburg on saturday that i could go to after im done babysitting...

relay for life and walk for Ty Lewis

It has been a great week for relay for life TeamLUKE! So many of my friends and family have made donations and joined our team. I do want to thank Kelly Keiter, Cameron Potts, Lauren Shapbell, my co-worker Becky Gill, and my mom for all making donations! There have even been people that i dont know liking our Facebook page and making donations as well. Even my boss, Jenn Sharman is going to make a donation! My mom and step dad are going to join our team and hopefully my sister too!

Im getting very excited for this event and have my first team captain meeting next wednesday that my mom is going to attend with me.

On a sad note, I stopped by Winwood yesterday to visit Cat and Shannon and found out that Ty (Shannon's husband who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer a couple of years ago) is now on hospice. He has lived much longer than the doctor's thought he would and the Lewis's have definitely made the best of the time that they do have left together. Shannon may be the strongest woman I know.

The Ty Lewis Cancer Foundation is doing a walk in honor of Ty on February 19th in Reston. Everyone is meeting at Lake Anne Plaza at 10am. Please let me know if you would like to join us!

You can also like the Ty Lewis Cancer foundation on Facebook.

for a cause

i have been having a pity party for myself lately and decided that it was time to snap out of it. last night i created a flyer for my relay for life team luke. today i sent out an email to my friends and family letting them know about our team! then, this evening, i dontated to the avon walk for breast cancer in honor of my grandma, Mary Ann Levy. check out the tribute book!

im hoping to get my flyers up at the Winwoods and start planning our first fundraising event soon! i have my first captains meeting on feb.19th, cant wait!

thanks to everyone for your support!

restoring humanity - everything changes

As i question my faith in humanity, i came across SOJA's new video.

Perhaps if more people thought like this, we could restore our humanity.

Check out the MTV video here

weekend of death and losing faith in humanity

ive been instructed to write in my blog more frequently, so instead of working, im writing.

i have finally began to recover from the weekend of death. not sure if it was food poisoning, a virus, or something to do with the sibo, but it was absolutely miserable.  i still dont have an appetite and only got a tall white mocha this morning - even though i probably shouldnt have, but i havent had starbucks since friday morning :(

lately i have been feeling like i am losing faith in humanity. i try to see the positive in people, but its disappointing to see how much people dont care about themselves or other people. seeing people just floating through life without a plan, or complaining about something that they actually have control over and do nothing about. perhaps i need to go back to doing my part. maybe increasing my own humanity will help me to see the good in others, or to at least allow those who dont do their part to bother me less. because i am trying to buy a house, i went back to working part time at sportbounce which has taken up most of the time i was spending volunteering and donating, etc. i feel like im stuck between a rock in a hard place. on one hand i feel the need to make as much money as i possibly can right now so that i can achieve one of my personal goals while at the same time neglecting another. i keep telling myself that after i take care of myself that i will go back to doing all of the things that i want to do for others, but then i think of all of the work that comes with buying a new home and wonder how long i will be putting off humanity.

now i havent completely lost myself in all of the road bumps that i have hit over the past month and a half. i still see lukey and the hawleys and last night at Not Your Average Joes, 15% of your bill went to Journey for a Cure if you printed out a paper and gave it to your waiter. So when my mom told me that is where she was going for dinner, i made sure she printed it out and brought it with her. I also reposted the link on my own facebook page to try and help get the word out there. I am also still leading my Relay for Life TeamLuke, although I havent really done anything yet. Maybe I will make a flyer today....

Relay for Life - TeamLuke

Join our team or make a donation!

update: doctor, car, house...it never ends!

i went back to the doctor on friday since my infection is back. he put me on another 14 day dose of the same antibiotics, 3 times a day. he said after that to do the VSL-3 which is supposedly a really good probiotic. so, i will try this one more time before i go see someone else.

i thought when i wrecked my car that it would be so fun to buy a new car. boy was i wrong. car shopping totally sucks. i got $8k for the scion, but since i am trying to buy a house, i want to buy something used for around $6k that will get me around for a year or two until i have my living situation figured out. I need to make sure i can find a roommate and will hopefully get a raise sometime in september. i was thinking about getting a cabrio, figured if i have to drive a pos around it may as well be convertible, but after reading the reviews, i will be staying away from vw. looks like im gonna have to go with a honda or toyota.

i havent looked at any houses since before the holidays, but plan on looking at some this afternoon, so we will see how it goes!

ive been working crazy hours at chenega, helping out at sportbounce, and babysitting just about every weekend. im makin that money, but im also exhausted. i am thankful to be able to work from home one day a week now and am glad im putting away some money. it will all be worth it in the end!

a positive note

after talking to my boss on friday and explaining how disappointed i was that i had been hired at my current salary with no experience AT ALL and that almost two years later i still havent gotten an increase or bonus, blah, blah, blah...

after another crazy monday, as my boss left for the day, he poked his head in my office and said "so which day are you working from home this week?" of course, my response was "what?" then he proceeded to tell me that i was now allowed to work from home one day a week. that it couldnt be every friday and it had to be different days each week, but that i could choose one day to work from home every week as long as there was no reason that i needed to be in the office.

i guess i can be happy with a workfromhomeday a week until i can figure out how to get an increase :)

it never stops...

this week was a difficult one. going back to work after working from home/being on PTO for two weeks was not fun. after almost two years i have finally figured out what im doing at work and am actually really good at it. ive taken on more responsibilities, coorespond with upper corporate management on a regluar basis, and even manage special projects. but obviously none of that matters. supposedly the company is doing so well, but there is no money to give anyone raises or bonuses. right. 6 months ago i would have just decided to look for a new job, but now i actually like what im doing and the people that i work with and my commute is about to go from 40 minutes to 7. its frustrating to hear that there is nothing anyone can do about my salary until annual evaluations in september. that 9 effing months away.

so, i am back to working two jobs and babysitting in hopes that i can come up with enough money for a substantial down payment on a townhouse since i can only borrow 200k.

geico called me yesterday to tell me that my car was a total loss...no shit. then asked me if i had the key. "no, you have it. its in the ingition, remember?" so they have to hire someone to come out and find out what the mileage on my car is before they can cut me a check, which they cant even give me an estimate on what the amount will be. bullshit. and of course, they dont work on weekends, so the earliest i can expect to hear anything is monday. what they dont know is that i will be calling ever hour on monday and tuesday and wednesday until they give me my damn money. last time i totaled my car, i had a check in hand in less than 7 days. on monday we will be on day 17.

so jake has been gracious enough to save me from living in falls church for another 4 months. he agreed to move back into the apartment and take over the rent payments until my lease is up on april 30th so that i can move back to my moms, save money, time, gas, toll money, etc. until i find a place to buy. for this, i am extremely grateful. i think that is a good, positive note to end on.