In keeping with my healthy-lifestyle concept...

I suppose it's time to quit procrastinating and finally get to the lone "catch up" item on my list: Jana's walk/run.

For those of you who don't know Jana, she is a third-party "vendor" from work (for lack of a better title), whom I have grown to absolutely adore! I wrote about her in my Thanksgiving blog (yes, I know it's been a while) and have grown even closer to her since then. Without doubt, Jana is the most inspiring person I've ever met--she makes me want to be a better, more generous, compassionate and selfless person, and she does it all while battling stage 3 multiple myeloma cancer.

But enough gushing about Jana, the woman; let's talk about Jana's event!

At lunch several weeks back, Jana informed me and another friend (so very nonchalantly) that she has decided to put together "The Jana Stressel Miles for Myeloma Walk/Run." Okay--well the title may be a bit deceiving as we won't actually be honoring the cancer so much as raising money for a cure/treatment. We've had very little time for planning (Jana, unfortunately, has been going through intense chemotherapy for the past several months and has been very sick for most of that time), but Kiera and I received an invitation for the The Jana Stressel Walk/Run Kick Off Party for Sunday, so hopefully this will be a time for Jana's "fans" to get together and divvy duties! Count kiddo and me in!

Aside from the fact that we will finally get the planning ball rolling and aside from just being happy to get some face time with her, Jana loves to entertain and is an amazing hostess. I imagine this soiree will be one Kiera and I won't ever forget! And I imagine the walk/run will be no different.

I will expect support from all of my family & friends and hope that those of you not able to contribute financially will be able to donate your time or, at the very least, help spread the word. I'll write more on Jana's story in an upcoming blog to give you a more intimate view of what she's enduring and how she manages keep a smile on her face in spite of it all.

Toodles!

Jana (top, middle) and her fans at Kiera's Southaven Idol performance

Eliptical Goddess? Yes, please.

A couple of coworkers and I have decided to engage in a friendly little weight-loss competition as of...today!
The wager? $10/wk each for the next eight weeks (or $240 for those of you mathematically challenged) and infinite bragging rights.

As many of you know, this isn’t my first competition. At my prior company (aka “hell”), we had a similar contest with a prize just short of $1,000. There were nine people in that contest, which made it an entirely different kind of play, but nonetheless, I won... and by a long shot. Then, in keeping with my luck, I broke my foot the very next month. Since then I’ve slowly regressed to my former non-athletic, pillow-top potato, carb-craving self. But, having done it before, I know I can do it, no problem. I just have to get back in the saddle, hope my still-injured foot holds up, watch what I eat and make it happen.

I’ll need a little inspiration along the journey (as if practically living in my bikini all summer on Tommy’s boat isn’t enough), so feel free to comment with any helpful hints or words of encouragement, and (of course) I'll blog along the way with updates on my progress. :)

Sorry for the lapse, faithful correspondents...

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But I'm afraid this week has been and continues to be far too hectic to to discuss the number of things that caught my atttention over the past five day. But, on the bright side of things, at least I'm not this family. Some things are just better left unsaid and some of us know we aren't interesting enough for the world-at-large to genuinely care--it's a little self-important and pretentious for my taste. I prefer my intimate network and crowd.

But hey--to each his, hers or its own.

That's right, Bonnie is synonymous with Awesome.

If Merriam-Webster wrote it, it has to be accurate.
Here's an excerpt from my online lookup of Bonnie at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bonnie.
I'll highlight a few of my favorites:

Synonyms: A-OK, A1, awesome, bang-up, banner, beautiful, blue-chip, blue-ribbon, boffo, excellent (also bonnie) [chiefly British], boss [slang], brag, brave, bully, bumper, capital, choice, classic, cool [slang], corking, crackerjack, cracking, dandy, divine, dope [slang], down [slang], dynamite, fab, fabulous, famous, fantabulous [slang], fantastic, fine, first-class, first-rate, first-string, five-star, four-star, frontline, gangbusters (also gangbuster), gilt-edged (or gilt-edge), gone [slang], grand, great, groovy, heavenly, high-class, hot, hype [slang], immense, jim-dandy, keen, lovely, marvelous (or marvellous), mean, neat, nifty, noble, number one (also No. 1), numero uno, out-of-sight [slang], par excellence, peachy, peachy keen, phat [slang], prime, primo [slang], prize, prizewinning, quality, radical [slang], righteous [slang], sensational, slick, splendid, stellar, sterling, superb, superior, superlative, supernal, swell, terrific, tip-top, top, top-flight, top-notch, top-of-the-line, topping [chiefly British], top-shelf, unsurpassed, wizard [chiefly British], wonderful


Antonyms: atrocious, awful, execrable, lousy, pathetic, poor, rotten, terrible, vile, wretched
 
Proof positive. :)
 
Now take a few minutes and look yourself up. You may be surprised at what you see.
Although I certainly wasn't.

FB²

As per the May 17th blog, my FaceBook page is now up and running.

The slew of friend requests on the Bonnie Faye page after Saturday's reunion was the final inspiration and ultimately beat out my reluctance.

As of this moment, I'm glad it's up. I've gotten dozens and dozens of welcome back messages, which makes me feel LOVED! :)

If I'm not already you're FB friend, shoot me a friend request and, if I actually know you and you're not on my "short list," I'll welcome you to my (other) virtual world. :)

FB²

As per the May 17th blog, I have reluctantly reactivated my Bonnie Rook FB page.
The reluctancy was, of course, because of the problems I've had in the past, but I decided I wasn't going to let that hinder my ability to express myself and connect with people any longer.
From here on out, when someone betrays me and forwards my information, I'll simply find them (and the solicitor) and beat the hell out of them both.
Because-let's face it-girly as I am, I can still get down like the boys when provoked for long enough.
If you ask for or receive said information, I'll assume that means we have a contractual agreement and will hold you to it.
That is all.
You may now return to your meaningless existance.

Fifteen years, what?

There isn't much time left in the day leading up to blog item #5, so I'd better go ahead and get this out here, even if it's short or choppy or inarticulate...

Let me preface this by explaining that my high school was (and continues to be) dysfunctional. Not your typical every-high-school-is-dysfunctional variety of dysfunctional, but overall completely dysfunctional. We walked through metal detectors, experienced a coup when prom votes were rigged and had a rock fight outside after the fire alarms were pulled for the um-teenth day in a row. We never did things by the book, there was never any great sense of pride in the school and most of my classmates had essentially disappeared prior to the social networking trend that began a few years ago. Since then, however, there have been several get togethers for KHS students. Most of these were pretty informal--meeting at Fox and Hound, The Flying Saucer or Shelby Farms, but tomorrow we will be meeting in a (slightly) more formal fashion at Spaghetti Warehouse in Memphis. Now, I get this isn't an all out formal reunion, but it's as close as we'll ever get to one, complete with old high school memorabilia, photos, decorations and catering. So I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.

As a pre-game to the reunion, I was fortunate enough to meet up with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Sabrina, today and have lunch with her and her three beautiful girls (visiting from North Carolina). Sabrina and I became best friends somewhere around diapers (her family lived beside my dad), and we stayed glued at the hip until jr high school, where we developed into our own separate characters, always knowing that we had each other's backs, no matter what the distance (both emotional and physical). It was clear from lunch that that mentality has not changed, which is refreshing. I have no doubt Sabrina would be the go-to friend if I ever came into a "Goodbye Earl" situation. And she would handle it flawlessly.

But back to the event...
Hopefully there will be a good crowd there. I splurged in a little retail therapy with Tina last night and found an ah-mazing dress and heels for the event...and I'm stoked. Genuinely excited (which to be honest with you, I wasn't feeling even as recently as last week). As an added plus, I'll be spending all day (and night) with Stephanie (whom I've also known since diapers). I'll  be sure to take plenty of pictures and post an update after the reunion with all the good news for those of you that won't be able to make it.

I'm still shocked that it's been fifteen years. Fifteen. Seriously? Wow.
Now back to feeling old but looking great. :)