"Where in the world is...."

Hi Everyone!

Yikes, it's been a LONG time since blogging. But, I'm not going to apologize... instead I'll give you an update as to what's been going on!!

Since the end of January when I last posted I've been in Orlando, Naples, Denver and Summit County and this week I'm heading to San Francisco!

What have I been doing- Florida was for work and pleasure and I got to enjoy some awesome time with Laura Olin, a best friend from college. Unfortunately we were indoors in Orlando but fortunately we did not have to face the brutally chilly temperatures of 40 degrees, yes 40 degrees. Lo and I both work as sales reps for Lija, this incredible clothing line out of Vancouver, BC. We were in Orlando for the PGA Show which was the craziest 4 days ever- I got blisters on my throat from talking, talking! By the time we made it to Naples, where her parents live, we had one day of warmth and sun and then rain- just my luck right! Nonetheless we had a great time with her parents, an awesome Super Bowl party and shopping in Naples.

Here is me, Kelly Moore, Laura Olin and Amy Schmucker at Disney World- thanks Kel for meeting us and for a great night. Thanks Amy for letting us stay with you!


Morning beach walking on Marco- little cloudy but nice warm salty breezes!


The shells were still attached!


Out to dinner on 5th Avenue in Naples. (It was pooring down rain, hence the messy look!)


Laura, Ginny Paulson (Sheryl's friend from EP), Sheryl Olin (Lo's Mom) and Me


Thanks for a great visit to Florida!

Now onto Denver... I left Florida on Tuesday arrived in Denver on Thursday. It was 60 degrees in Naples and 72+ in Denver!! Yep, tell me about it! I was there on "business" and pleasure helping our dearest Kristin Anderson celebrate her Bridal Shower and to make arrangements as her wedding planner for their August wedding in Copper Mountain.

We all stayed at Melissa Erikson's and kicked her husband Nick out for the weekend to stay at a hotel, that's true love! It was such a great time to visit the mountains, enjoy the downtown Denver scene and relax with the girls.

Some people say that Disney is the happiest place on earth. I was there and it is very, very happy. But what's my happiest place on earth? The Crepes a la carte cart in Breckenridge! Yep, I am about as happy in a pig in mud on a warm summer day! So is Charla!


Kristin's shower was awesome, Mel and Charla were great hostesses and it wa a joint effort in decorating and preparing the Erikson's for the fiesta. K took to the shower well after we told her now many ribbons she broke- looks like the future Tognetti's will have 4 kids!!


After a few Happy Shots and Bridal Shower wishes the group with the Mother's of the Bride and Groom, all geared up for a crazy night with Funkiphino- K's band who was playing at Herb's.

(From L to R) Lindsay, Paula, Charla, K, me, Tuna and Mopissa

This was after a few too many Rumblemintz... but it's why I love these women so much!


After a great weekend and a quick run through the Denver aiport I was on my way home to TVC with a new obsession for Stephanie Meyer and Robert Pattison... you know what I'm talking about ladies!!

With two feet back on the ground I hit the snow covered roads running. I missed Kyle's birthday the last day I was in Denver so when I got home we had a birthday party for him! (By the way, Happy Birthday to... Ali, Karla,Chris, Sarah, Keri and Phil!)

Check out the awesome cake we had... Murphy must have walked all over it!


The birthday boy blowing out candles, maybe he already blew them out!


Murphy still thinks he's little enough to be held- he really wanted to help Dad with those candles. Maybe he wanted the cake too! Yep, I'm definitely struggling to see and hold him!


I've got a busy summer coming up with great weddings in the works and phenomenal clients. With printing deadlines and the days numbering for finished details we've got lots of work.

And with the fall selling season here, I've been traveling for Lija and working on getting some new accounts to carry the line. This is much easier said than done... especially with a global recession going on!

Last but not least Kyle and I are making some great friends through Bay Pointe and are working to create a great 20's and 30's group for adults our age along side some pretty incredible people. We're going to be in TC for quite some time, even though we have the world's bestest friends around the country, we both need a support group here. Friends we can do life with. We're super pumped about all the great people God is bringing into our life and all the people we hope to help touch too.

Finally, like I said. On Thursday I leave for San Francisco with the girls- Christina, Laura, Leanne, Ali, Erin, Kelly, Jenna to help Lindsey Lew celebrate her bachelorette hood west-coast style! We'll get a chance to visit with Uncle Greg and Bruce, take in the wineries of Sonoma and become prizoners of Alcatraz... or just temporary visitors.

Whew, that was a whirlwind post! There may be some spelling or punctuation errors there but please, READ WITH CAUTION! For a parting picture... here's our Murph... look how big and handsome he is!

Love,
Lish

New Years Photos

As promised I've got some New Years photos to share with you all! Kyle and I headed to Boyne City to ring in the new year with the Wurtzel's, Linds, Nick, Erin, Matt, Scotty, Julie and Dave. We left Murph at home with Uncle Andrew and some friends and never looked back!!

Thanks Dr. and Mrs. Wurtzel for having us and for a great evening of fun- gotta love a good game of Cranium!!


Dave and Julie enjoying the shrimp cocktail


Scotty and I having a camera education session over beverages


Linds and Erin are all smiles


Kyle... no he's not picking his nose


Nick and Niemo preparing for the ball to drop


Happy New Year!


Last New Year's as Lewy!


Let's hear it for the girls!


We took it one step too far... maybe we were channeling Madonna?

Inspiration

from Creature Comfort

Christmas Recap III

As I mentioned earlier, the day after Christmas we headed down to Indiana to celebrate with Papa and Aunt Sue. After a long but comfortable ride 6 hours south of home we made it safely to Muncie, Indiana just in time for dinner and one more Christmas.

On Saturday it was nearly 70 degrees! I cannot tell you how amazing it was to walk around barefoot in jeans and a t-shirt. I love four seasons and I love living in Northern Michigan. But, if we had 3 months of winter I would be okay with that too! On Sunday we went to round up the remnants of the Christmas sales- just wait till next Christmas when you see the amazing wrapping paper I got for $0.75 a roll, finished some projects around Papa's house and made Nana's famous German Filled cookies. Come Monday morning we each had our coffee, packed the truck and headed home.

This time Kyle played Santa and Murphy was the elf!


Dad and Murphy.


Somehow Andrew still hasn't "grown up." The only difference between this picture and a similar one taken over 15 years ago is that the size of the cars have grown proportionately with him!


Aunt Sue bought a Wii!! After I kicked Kyle's butt boxing Aunt Sue kicked Dads!


We thought we'd teach Papa how to bowl. He came in second (to me which is unheard of) with a 135.


Pure bliss.


Again, we hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas filled with family and lots of love!

Christmas Recap II

On Christmas Day we left the house pretty early to get to Boyne in time to celebrate with Kyle's family. My list of to-bring items were packed and Murphy was ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's to play reindeer games... or so I thought. It was then that I committed an Alicia-crime. I forgot my camera!! If Kyle's sister sends us pictures of us in Boyne I will post them but for now just imagine us opening presents, eating lots of food and digesting with a leisurely game of ice hockey. Yep, you read that right, ice hockey!

After Boyne we packed up and headed back home to my parents for another Christmas and more great food. I love honey glazed ham! Since Dad has just as many cameras as I do (well almost) I was able to use his camera to take some pictures, enjoy!

Something funky was going on with the camera but that's Kyle waiting to open presents!


Cayman was pouting. He gets very jealous if I don't show him enough attention while Murph is over... how could I not pay attention to him? Look how cute he is!


All the stockings hung in a row by the chimney with care.


Hudson is dressed as a present!


And he also wants to help Mom unwrap hers! Yep, the dogs all unwrap all their own gifts!!


Dad's new hat= J.Crew mailer.


This sums up the evening. Andrew in his tall wool socks, shorts, t-shirt sipping a glass of wine before dinner. Gosh I love my family!

Christmas Recap I

I'm not sure about you all but Christmas totally blindsided me this year... it could be that we had one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas or it could have been the insanely busy time of year! Nonetheless I still managed to get all the shopping, baking and decorating done just in the nick of time.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love spending time with family and friends playing games, eating great food and celebrating the true meaning of the season together. Here are some pictures, in no particular order, of our laughs and thanksgivings this year!

For outdoor decorations this year we kept things clean, simple and nostalgic. I wanted one tree lit with my parents old C9 lights from our childhood home. It was a great effect pulling into the drive and looking out our patio!


Tina and the girls came over to bake biscotti (our first attempt) and watch Sex in the City. Our gingerbread biscotti was amazing, despite it's appearance!


While we were baking Murphy and his girlfriend Lola were playing in the snow. Murphy likes to bury himself and play hide-and-go-seek!


Santa and her elf on Christmas Eve- we just put out all the presents under the tree!


Ta dah!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Kyle, Murphy and I wish you all the best for a blessed 2009!

For the holiday this year we spent the evening with friends in Boyne City and had a great time... stay tuned for some fun pictures and comments from the evening!

On a side note, we just went to see" Marley & Me" today. About three Christmases ago my mother-in-law bought the book for me and I could never bring myself to read it. Everyone I knew that had read, or was reading it, said how upsetting it was and how much they cried. (A very dear friend, who will remain anonymous even said he even cried! Let's just say he's no leaky faucet.)

The day after Christmas, Kyle, Dad, Andrew, Murph and I headed down to Indy to visit Aunt Sue and Papa. In an effort to decompress I elected to not turn on my computer (the reason for delayed postings) and read a book and a few magazines that are piling up. Jennifer Aniston is one of my favorite actresses. Ever since "Friends" when we shared the same haircut I've felt a huge bond. Owen Wilson cracks me up every single movie I watch him in. I knew that I wanted to see the Marley movie yet it was a matter of preparing myself.

In an effort to curb the uncontrollable sobbing I feared would happen I opening the book and dove in. John Grogan is an incredibly talented author. By far a great laugh-out-loud read... at one point people were making fun of my random giggles when no one in the room I was reading in had said anything funny. My favorite line... "he (Marley) had the attention span of algae and the volatility of nitroglycerine."

Grogan writes with a tenderness and brutal reality that makes readers fall in love with this big loveable beast. His unfailable loyalty and devotion, spastic bursts of energy and truly intuitive nature make Marley a page turning read dragging you along for the ride! As I neared the end I knew our four legged friend was also approaching his. About a year ago there was a great email forward that my Mom sent me. It had something to do with the shortened life span of dogs compared to humans. I don't remember the full email nor could I find it but it was something like this... dogs don't need to live as long as we do, for they have loved greater than any human in a fraction of our lifespan.

As I finished the last page I wiped my eyes and the snot that was running down my face feeling lucky to know and experience first hand the love that Grogan writes about. My family has had two wonderful Golden Retrievers. Squirt, our first, was the Old Wise One. He never barked and was always the gentle giant helping me get over my fear of dogs. Our second who is five is Cayman. The crazy yet loveable goof who stole my heart the moment he came home with us. And then there is our little angel- Murphy, who has me wrapped around all four paws so tight that sometimes I swear he really is a small, furry baby!

Walking out of the movie was a lot like closing the book. Not a dry eye in the hallway- except the snot that was on my face was now on my scarf (I forgot kleenex). And the best part of all... my strong, loving and amazing husband was wiping his eyes and in such a hurry to get home to see our Mr. Wiggles.