My Weekend Home

I spent last weekend in Rensselaer, hung out with my family and had a great time! I'll post some pics from the big birthday party on saturday night, but here's one that i wanted to post right away. I got to meet Miss Olivia for the very first time!!!! Very excited to get to spend more time with her soon hopefully!

More pictures will be coming soon!!!

The Feller Family

Please keep the Feller family in your thoughts and prayers as Tony, whose fundraisers I've been blogging about, passed away yesterday evening.

Crystal is staying very strong for their children, please continue to keep them in your hearts. She will needs lots of strength and support she can get.

Tony was a great person, and a great guy to work with and learn from. Crystal posted a blog this morning that is very touching and inspiring if you have a minute I would encourage you to read it. You can access it through my list of blogs, http://tonyfellerfund.blogspot.com/.



Kristina

Fox 59 Morning News-Tony Feller Story

All- Here is a link to Fox 59 website that shows the video they aired about Tony's story on this morning's news broadcast.
http://www.fox59.com/news/morningnews/

Thank you!
Kristina

Tony Feller Fund

Today I'm writing to you not to post new pics of Boston or what I've been doing but more for a cause...
One of my coworkers from Indianapolis which became a good friend at work has been battling cancer for 5 years. If you haven't read his story please go over to http://tonyfellerfund.blogspot.com and read what he and his family has been going through in his battle. Tony has been very determined to battle this disease and help to find a cure for it. He has went through treatments all over the world. He really has become an inspiration to never give up the fight and hope.
Crystal, his wife, has been blogging these days because Tony has become weak and has been sleeping most of his time now. So you can see how she has been dealing with it as well...
So, I'm writing for a few of reasons.
First: For those of you living in Indy, all of my friends that may want a night out tomorrow (Sept. 10), to hear some great music by Mike and Joe (Butler people I know you love them....a small fact is that these guys were fraternity brothers of Tony at IU) and for a great cause, consider going over to Mudsocks Bar and Grill in Noblesville as they are hosting the 2nd Feller Treatment Fund Cancer Benefit from 7pm-11pm.
Second: If you can't make the benefit, take a look at this ebay website: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=gemi
There are a lot of great items in there, especially if you're looking for a great gift for dad or your husband....
Third: If you get the Indy channels...remembering that all of my readers do not live in the Indy vicinity, but if you do and if you can tune in, FOX 59 is airing Tony's story tomorrow morning, they think around 8:40 am est. They have interviewed him and his family about their personal story and I believe how they have been so public about sharing their struggles.
Fourth: Please just keep Tony and family in your thoughts and prayers. I know they are just one family struggling with this disease everyday. Tony really has been an advocate to find a cure for cancer and believes that one day soon it will happen to help every other family out there fighting it.

Thanks for your time,
Kristina

P.S. Lovely

I just realized I forgot to include this in my posting on Sunday.  MamaLouise was kind enough to award me with "Lovely" tag on her last posting. So I'm going to pass along to a couple people, mainly b/c I don't have 15 new bloggers other than people she mentioned. 

I do encourage you to visit two blogs:

1) Make sure you visit The Allen Family blog and check out beautiful Olivia. I've yet to meet her, but I'm very anxious for that day to come. 

2) To you all Butler folks, the Brevings have welcomed another baby to the family as of yesterday, Sutton Jae. All are healthy and happy. Congrats Morgan on a baby sister!

Jordan (sorry, couldn't help it)- you're tagged. :)

Mmmm, that might sum it up.   

hearts, 

kristina

A little houekeeping...

So I will admit that I've been the biggest slacker this summer on posting blogs. I have many things to catch up on and I would like to show why I've been slacking, it's been a busy summer!

The tall ships/Sail Boston...

The Tall Ships are something that come to Boston from all over the world. They docked in South Boston and Charlestown. John and I rode bikes over to see the two ships that came to Charlestown. It was very interesting to see these ship that looked a lot like pirate ships....

"arrrrrrr...you excited for the next topic?"

"Sweet Home Chicago"...well close enough to home. 

Friday Night: Molly and Shaun's wedding!

John and I went to chicago to share in Molly and Shaun's wedding. We had to much fun. Of course the Stearns family were such great hosts! As always!!  And finally getting to meet Shaun was the best part :) Here are a few clips from the wedding that show what a great time we had with all the Butler girls together again!

Becky, Michelle, Kristen (Kron), Aimee, and myself

Aimee and I

Michelle and I

John and I

And now a couple that were a little later in the night, 

Michelle, Molly, myself, and Becks

I think that about sums up Friday night....

Now, onto Saturday night. my wonderful friends all decided that we would stay downtown Chicago on Saturday night and celebrate my 30th birthday a few days early. The Renssy girls also made time out of their busy lives and came up to celebrate also!  I am so fortunate to have such great friends. 

Here's the lone pics that I have from saturday night...apparently I was too busy gabbing to everyone to take any. 

The girls: Myself, Kim, Marie, and Resa

The boys: AJ, James, Chuck, and John

The next weekend I made it home to spend time with family and had another birthday celebration. It was great to see everyone, as I hadn't seen them since March. And I think I've decided that's the longest I can go in between visits. We had our traditional summer weenie roast, at least it was one of the few. Our family doesn't go a summer without having a weenie roast together, at least as far as I can remember it's always been a tradition. 

Kyle and Aunt Sandy trying to figure out Hillbilly Golf

As we hit August, work has started to pick up very heavily. Thankfully, we planned a week vacation in August on the vineyard and luckily it wasn't the same week that the president was taking his vaca.... the scenery is so beautiful on the island. I think I always take the same pictures when I go, but can't seem to stop b/c I try and get a different take on it every year. This year I got a new camera the day before we went and took some amazing pictures. The camera came with free photography classes...yep, i'll be signing up for those!

The sun is rising as we're taking the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard...that's after a hour and half drive from Boston. 

John looking at the vineyard, excited to get off the ferry and change as it's getting quite warmer in the early morning.

I took this the first morning we were there trying to kill time, but I love the picture just b/c the house is very interesting, especially with the buoys hanging at the top.

This is a walkway on Chappy (Chappaquidick), the island you have to take another ferry to from Martha's vineyard that is very secluded and has one store on it called, The Only Store. 

This is taken at South Beach. The persons umbrella was very colorful, but I loved when I turned it into black and white. Very summer esq' for me. 

I've taken this kind of picture there before, but this time achieved the look I think I wanted to get, blurring out the background. 

This is one of the views on the drive back from Aquinnah. Aquinnah is common place for stars to vacation b/c it's so secluded  and it's the outermost point of the island. 

We went golfing one day when it was overcast. 

This is John telling me to cut the crap and put down the camera b/c we had to keep on time. 

And I think this is my favorite shot. It's so simple but yet very elegant at the same time. 

I think that about sums up the late summer in pictures. Of course there's been more than that, it's been a summer of many exciting times and some saddened times with the passing of friends family members. 

Again, I will try to be better with keep everyone up to date on pictures of Boston and KB in the city. 

Lots of love,

Kristina

My first Red Sox Game....

I got to attend my first Red Sox Game a couple of weeks ago with one of John's best guy friend, Mike, and his wife Andrea, who is great also! I had so much fun, it was such a great experience! Now, no way does it replace Wrigley, but as one of the best baseball venues, it was an awesome experience. 

Let's go to the zooooooo......

We recently went to the local zoo in the area and then took a long bike ride in the woods that surrounds the zoo. It's not a huge zoo, but it was so fun to do something different and see the animals.  

Pictures show how pretty they all were and fun we were having!

Under Construction....

Yes, the blog is very plain. Updates are being made to the layout, bare with me...

I'm being punished....

.....for my blog yesterday. It hailed in the middle of the night and was pitch black storm driving into work this morning.

great!

I think I do need that trip to sunny Charleston that Stephanie recommended!

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY....DON'T COME BACK ANOTHER DAY FOR A LOOONG TIME

I'm not sure I remember what sunny weather actually looks like after having rain 23 out of the 30 days in June here. Yes, I am pouting a little bit, but it does start to alter your mood after having so much gloominess!! I've made it to the beach once, which I actually thought I was going to be taking advantage a lot of, only to have the fog rolling in and out of my beach day on saturday. darn fog!
Now, this is what my 10 day weather outlook is like? no thanks.....

***Notice "showers" in eveeeeerrryyyyy siiiiinglllleeeee daaaayyyyyyy!!!!

TodayJul 01
Details
Showers
Hi: 68° Lo: 59°
Day: Showers. High 68F. Winds E at 11 mph. Air Quality: Moderate, UV Index: 2
70%
Night: Scattered Thunderstorms. Low 59F. Winds NE at 6 mph.
20%
TomorrowJul 02
Details
T-storms
Hi: 65° Lo: 64°
Day: T-storms. High 65F. Winds E at 11 mph. Air Quality: Moderate, UV Index: 2
40%
Night: Scattered Thunderstorms. Low 64F. Winds S at 7 mph.
20%
FridayJul 03
Isolated Thunderstorms
Hi: 78° Lo: 60°
Isolated Thunderstorms. High 78F. Winds SW at 11 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: 8
10%
SaturdayJul 04
Mostly Cloudy
Hi: 80° Lo: 55°
Mostly Cloudy. High 80F and low 55F. Winds W at 13 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: 8
0%
SundayJul 05
Partly Cloudy
Hi: 77° Lo: 59°
Partly Cloudy. High 77F and low 59F. Winds W at 13 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: NA
0%
MondayJul 06
Partly Cloudy
Hi: 75° Lo: 55°
Partly Cloudy. High 75F and low 55F. Winds SW at 10 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: NA
0%
TuesdayJul 07
Partly Cloudy
Hi: 75° Lo: 55°
Partly Cloudy. High 75F and low 55F. Winds NW at 11 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: NA
0%
WednesdayJul 08
Showers
Hi: 70° Lo: 59°
Showers. High 70F and low 59F. Winds E at 4 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: NA
80%
ThursdayJul 09
Showers
Hi: 64° Lo: 64°
Showers. High 64F and low 64F. Winds E at 5 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: NA
40%
FridayJul 10
Showers
Hi: 69° Lo: 68°
Showers. High 69F and low 68F. Winds SW at 16 mph. Air Quality: NA, UV Index: NA

I know life could be a lot worse, but this just isn't too fair....no bike rides in the rain, my tomato plant has one lonely green tomato on it b/c it can't bloom, my plants are getting waterlogged, my hair is frizzy....i could go on but.....
enough of the complaining. I shall cease. and thanks for listening my peeps!

Boston- Charles Street

Hello everyone....

Something interesting that I've been meaning to blog about is a street in Boston called Charles Street. It's very cutesy with it's boutiques, antique shops, knick-knack shops, ets...and also because of the shop signs. It's been a long-standing tradition that the shop signs have actual images of what they are selling inside, i.e. grapes for a fruit shop, hammer for a hardware store, etc..below are some of the signs that still can be found today. (if you can't tell the first one is a cowboy boot)

Cancun Pics

As promised, here are a few pics from the trip

Cheers to you!!!!

View from the pool of the ocean

argggggggg!!!!

No Pig Flu...

I will post pictures soon from the trip to Cancun, but wanted to let you all know in case you were wondering that I did not get the pig flu while I was down there...even though we did see people wearing masks at the airport on Sunday on our way back.

Pictures following in the next couple of days....

:)

Kreative Blogger Award !?!

So I've been hit with this award from my friend mamalouise called the Kreative Blogger award and am to describe 7 things that I love....

I know she did this so I'll just blog about something:) since I'm the biggest blogger slacker ever!

Here's my shot at writing more than usual...

1) I love that it finally stopped snowing in Boston and we've started to see a glimpse of warmth in this city.

2) I love that I'm getting ready to go on a extended vacation over this next weekend to Cancun...I can't wait for the beach. Only 4 days, but again...warm weather please!!!

3) I love text messaging...it really does keep you in contact with people when you just don't have the energy to have that full phone conversation after a long hard day at work.

4) I love the webcam with friends and family!!!!  Really is a great tool to keep from getting homesick when you live so far away.

5) I love things being clean, tidy, and in their place. Always...maybe I wasn't always like this, but I do like things being put away and some might call me a clean freak on occasion..

6) I loved the movie Marley and Me.... just saw it on Thursday night, balled my eyes out, I miss Winnie!

7) I love all of you.... (tear, tear)

I'm not sure how many people I can convince to do this...so I'm just going to hit Stephanie as I see that she likes to make multiple lists per posts (ha, ha) which I really enjoyed by the way :)

Back to my allegiance....Go BU!

Ok, so my Purdue rally can only last so long so you people know (that means you..Stephanie)...my heart will always go out to good ole Butler U.

The parents are visiting this weekend, so far we have watched Purdue lose while eating at the famous Regina Pizzeria, taken a trolley ride around Boston on a gorgeous Friday afternoon, and today we are planning on taking a quick road trip up the coast to Rockport and Gloucester to see the beautiful scenery.  

March Madness!!!

I'm not sure about you, but March is my favorite time of the sports year!!! Even though my Butler Bulldogs are out of the running now this year and IU didn't have a chance... I'll be cheering on the hometown Boilers...but won't make a habit of it. :)

Brady Thomas Meyer

I know that I haven't posted in awhile, but I would like to take a moment to ask that you all keep my dear, long-time friends and truly family to me, Cathy and Andy Meyer (and family) in your thoughts and prayers as they have been through a difficult couple of weeks and had to say good-bye to one of their triplet newborns yesterday as he was having difficulty with his kidneys functioning. Here is the link to their website, http://www.babyhomepages.net/andycathy_meyer/

They truly are an inspiration with how strong they are being through this difficult time.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the whole family.

Kristina

There's no place like home....

Now to elaborate more on the trip...it was very interesting and educational to experience a different culture in two Asian countries and also conduct business in one of those countries.

The first stop was Tokyo, which was soley for trend shopping the market...can you say AWESOME. I'm getting paid to shop??? How appropriate! I'm putting in some pictures that highlight Tokyo and sites that we were able to see....

These next two pictures are the ends of one of the most famous streets in the Harajuku section of Tokyo. This is the section of Harajuku where most of the high schoolers hang out after school.

This is the view from the hotel we stayed at.

This was Saturday night walking around, everything is so bright in these sections, a lot like Times Square.

This is one of my favorites!! And before you ask, no he wasn't even asking for money. He was just hanging out with his dogs who are wearing coats and sunglasses.

This was the biggest surprise....public toilet restrooms are most likely this type of hole in the floor. Luckily most places offered both types! Unfortunately, some did not....

Unfortunately, in Korea I didn't get to take that many shots of the sites b/c we were in offices all day long every day, but here are a couple of pictures from the street when we went to dinner on our own the last night...

Fortunately, we met face to face some very nice people that we do business with on a daily business and they showed us the greatest time in Korea! As you may see below!!!!

It was a great trip overall and I'm very glad and fortunate that I was able to take this trip and experience new cultures on the work budget!

Go Bulldogs!

kristina