lucy

sunday night while visiting friends in PA lucy was hit by a horse and buggy. she came out of nowhere in what we assume was an attempt to chase the horse and, having no real experience with horse and buggies, misjudged her target and was struck by the rear wheel of the buggy. her right front leg is broken, her left paw is wounded and swollen but not broken and her chest and body are bruised and sore. she was treated sunday night in PA and we brought her home yesterday to our vet in NJ which is one of the best in the northeast. she is currently in intensive care and will undergo surgery today to repair her leg. it is important to note that she will fully recover and should suffer no long term side effects.

it goes without saying that we love lucy so much and that this is difficult for us. we feel very lucky that her injuries, while serious, are minor. it could have been much worse and we are so grateful that it wasn't. we pray for her speedy recovery and hope that she'll be back making friends with squirrels and licking us all to death in no time.

we love you lucy!!!!

cookin'

woo hoo! david cook won american idol. way to go to the 13 of us that voted for him. it's about time someone totally different won.

as for the 4 of you that don't watch...there's always january 2009! be there*.

and for my mom...the ONLY vote for david a...who admitted that she'd never seen either sing (true or false mom???!!!???)....WHATEVER.

YIPPEE!

*yes, i am 33 and i love this show even though it's as queer as a 3 dollar bill. i will not apologize for it. and yes, mom, part of me wishes i was the new american idol.

no(ah) way...it's raining again

as i spend yet another "spring" day inside and watch it rain i thought you'd like to know that the total rainfall for shrewsbury, new jersey may 1-19 is 4.03 inches and counting. oh...and it's about 55 degrees.

get in line by twos...we're about to launch.

"view" from our front window

wanted: comments

family, friends, foes, strangers...

i love doing this blog. it has become a real source of pride for me and i love hearing (via phone and email) from all of you that love it. perhaps this request is a bit needy and so be it, but i would love it if you'd comment more. (this does not apply to regular commentators - you know who you are.) sure, you may not always have something to say, but those times that you do, i'd love to hear it.

my blogging girlfriends and i discuss this all the time. the comments are fun and let us know that you are enjoying (or not enjoying) our hard work. so, just a suggestion...next time you read a post and have a thought like "that was really neat" or "what a cute kid!"...let us know! we'd love to hear it!

and i promise you this...if you ever start a blog, i'll comment my heart out. :)

wascally wabbit

the cutest bunny rabbit makes it's home sitting on top of wil's bed. it was a gift from my friend courtney smotherman and her boys. last night ryan and i spent some time playing with wil before putting him to bed and somehow the rabbit got in on the action. i guess wil had never noticed the rabbit sitting on top of his bed before last night. either that or he'd never seen it up close. at any rate, when he saw it he thought it was hilarious. we never know what is going to set him off on one of these laughing fits and we never tire of them.

the pauses in the laughter are a result of my taking the rabbit away from view. in our opinion, the looks on his face in those moments are just as funny as him laughing! enjoy!

spring fling

last thursday we had a visit from our dear friend tia. we had a fun lunch at edie's, did some flower shopping at molzon's and topped off the day with a good glass of wine and some shrimp pasta. tia is one of those gifts that life gives you when you least expect it. she and shawn (her husband) have known ryan since they were teenagers. it's a wonderful thing to meet your spouse's friends and hit it off when them. in this case, we've done more than hit it off. tia has become one of my dearest friends and i feel like i've known her forever. i joke with ryan that if we ever part ways (we won't) that i get tia and shawn in the divorce. (they'd want me anyway)

so, thank you, my friend tia, for a wonderful day and for helping me to get my perennial garden going. who knew you were so knowledgeable about gardening? it just goes to show you that no matter how well you know someone you never know everything. i couldn't have done it without you. i am so proud of it and go outside everyday to stare at it. i will think of tia every time i look at it. thanks for a great day!

the site pre-planting

the plants

the finished product

gorgeous!

perfect!

thanks tia!

let's go to the movies

if you haven't seen lars and the real girl you should run, not walk, to your video store and rent this movie. with the exception of juno, it has been a long time since i've seen a movie this creative and this warm. i don't really know how to review a movie but i will simply say that lars and the real girl is a beautiful movie. it touched me without being sappy and it was sweet without being sticky. it's a unique story, great writing and a great cast that delivers a big punch.
(ryan loved it too!)

oh...and ryan gosling should've definitely won the oscar. he was phenomenal.

ebert says it best. for the real review (using words i wish i had found in my head) read this.

top 5

wednesday night while watching american idol i told ryan that we needed to think of a new top 5. it's been too long. ryan didn't have his thinking cap on...in fact, he was asleep...so i had to do the thinking for both of us....again.

in all honesty my brain wasn't working too well either. it had been a long day and i was ready for sleep. i started looking around the room to see if anything would inspire a new top 5. i didn't have to look very far. curled up between us on the couch was our very own lucy lu. there are thousands of reasons to love lucy....here are only a few.

top 5 reasons we love lucy

1. lucy doesn't look like any other dog

in an age of designer dogs and purebred pets (not that there's anything wrong with that!) lucy has a style all her own. her appearance is so unique that people always stop to ask us exactly what kind of dog she is. we usually say that she's just a mutt...just lucy...and it makes us happy every time.

2. she is living proof that the journey IS the destination

regardless of where we're headed, what we plan to do, who we plan to see, how long we plan to be there...lucy is excited to go. she makes every adventure exciting and greets the world with an open, willing, joyful heart.

3. she faces her fears head on

lucy has never liked the water. when we got her she was deathly afraid of the garden hose and took the long way around puddles on our walks. after her knee surgery in january 2007 she needed to swim as part of her physcial therapy. not only was she afraid to swim but she was unable to swim. ryan and i bought her a life jacket (hilarious), strapped it on her and threw a ball into a little pond near our house in MA. she did not want to go in after that ball but she trusted our crazy cheers and made her way in for it. we kept this up weekend after weekend until she could swim without the life jacket. she now takes a running leap and flies into the atlantic ocean to fetch the ball. she is an impressive swimmer - strong, fast and determined - and has a blast riding the waves.

4. she loves wil

i was nervous about lucy's reaction to wil when we brought him home from the hosptial. lucy was my constant (and on many days only) companion during my pregnancy. when ryan moved to NJ in february she kept me company. when i moved to NJ last july we spent all our days together taking walks and playing ball. i wasn't nervous that lucy wouldn't like wil but that she'd feel replaced. turns out...she doesn't feel replaced at all. she loves wil and layed down at his feet (literally) when we brought him home. she has been so gentle, so patient and so loving toward him. our only complaint is that she'd like to lick him to death if we'd let her. i suppose that's not a big complaint in the scheme of things. we know they will be great friends when wil is older and we will be glad to have someone to share our ball throwing duties.

5. she loves us

lucy is a loyal, unflinchingly constant, gentle, loving friend and companion. she loves and lives with utter abandon...in the moment, for the moment, unconditionally. she causes us to stop daily and share love, show love, receive love. it's not something that we always remembered to do before her and it's a wonderful lesson. without her our life would be less interesting, less funny and less unexpected...although we might have more room in bed but, hey, nothing is free.

we love lucy...she's our brown-eyed girl and we are better for having her in our lives.