CAROLINA BALLOONFEST

While my sister was in town visiting we decided to go see the Balloonfest being held at the Statesville Airport. This was by far the coolest thing I had ever seen-there were hot air balloons everywhere and the weather was gorgous. I dont think the pictures do the show justice but I tried my best. Boo and I also tasted for the first time a deep fried Oreo...yes I said deep fried Oreo-not as good as the real thing so we are not sure why anyone would try to mess with an Oreo. I highly recommend everyone looking to see if there is a Balloonfest near where you live...because this was really something to see in person!

Rich N Bennett's 8th Annual Halloween Bar Crawl!!!

So for those of you who do not live in the Charlotte metro area, or more appropriately the Southeast...you probably have never heard of Rich N Bennett! They are two crazy guys from Elon University that got the great idea to start themed bar crawls in order to spice up Down/Up town Charlotte. What started out as a couple hundred friends and a few bars, has now grown into mass chaos! Rich N Bennett hold bar crawls and other various events through out the year-starting off with the NYE bash at Hawthorne's Pizza (best pizza in town), then moving on to St Patrick's Day Bar Crawl (which in 2009 should hold the Guinness Book of World Records for largest bar crawl), then we move on to the Tubing trip down the Dan River, and as fall sets in we keep warm with the Halloween Bar Crawl....and then we do it all over again :)

This past weekend was the 8Th Annual Halloween Bar Crawl-and as usual we had some funny and very interesting costume choices. I was lucky enough to have my little sister, Ashley (aka Boo) come into town for the festivities. Now every year we try to come up with a great costume themes with our friends...last year we all went as super hero's and this year we decided to come as couples from different forms of the entertainment industry!!! Brian by far had the shortest shorts, Bennett had the best chest hair/jump suite, Wendy won for the best real hair that looked most like a wig (it was awesome), Kevin and Whitney share the best message award, I guess I get the "aww your that girl from that one movie" costume award....Either way we had a great time and some good laughs.

Now who is ready for St Patrick's Day!

She's leaving..on a jet plane....dont know when she'll be back again!!!

Well it is true what they say..."You can take the girl outta Texas, but you cant take Texas outta the girl"! In the next few weeks I will say fare well to my good friend, Melissa. Born and bread in Texas she now feels it is necessary to go home...even though she will be missed by all that have grown to love and adore her here in Charlotte...we all wish her the best. I am not looking forward to our final dinner together as girls, but I will put on my best shoes and grab my klenex because I wouldnt miss it for the world. However, before she was allowed to part ways with the Queen City we had to send her out in style....so we through her a PARTAY! Thank you to Tavern on Park & Simplified for making Melissa's night a going away party to remember...you guys put on one hellva show! And for those of you who have not eating at Tavern on Park-what are you waiting for? and if you have not heard of the band Simplified you must check them out right away!!!

Well her is proof of what a great party it was...best of luck Melissa! We love you xoxo

Pumpkin Carving

We got together with friends last night to carve pumpkins and enjoy the holiday season. Thank you all for coming out to Ranlo and joining in on the festivities-it was good to catch up with everyone. Brian wins the prize for thickest pumpkin & for taking the longest ever to carve a design...even the Bennett's beat him and they showed up late! Everyone is invited back to the house next Friday-Halloween! to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids and to admire all our hard work & creativity

Girlfriends!

After reading my husbands heart felt post about the passing of his dog Will, it made me think about all the people who have touched my life...mainly the women in my life. Recently I started searching for long lost friends; those that I consider to be some of my very first friends, and it is interesting how easy it is to connect to one another now with the internet, cell phones, and blogs-yet we have been distant for so long. As I look through Myspace, Facebook, and blog postings of the last few years of their lives it made me really appreciate the friendship we once had. I have many wonderful girl friends and women in my life now-but I cant help think about those first girl friends that showed me what it was like to have sleep overs, to like boys, and to curl my hair!!! I have always been one to say that I am better friends with boys then girls-mostly bc I am a huge tom boy and love football...but when I really think about it it is the women in my life (both past and present) who have helped create the person I am today. Not a day goes by when I think about elem. school and the fun we had in SLC and the times I spent in AZ & I cant help but wonder what those girls are up to know-do they have families? where do they live, work, etc? Part of me wonders if that means the friendship never really ended-it was just put on hold until we grew up and were able to reconnect again as adults. Life is full of changes and time flies by so there is not always time to keep tabs on those we care about the most-a lesson I have learned living so far away from my family. So I guess what I am trying to say is thank you to all the girl-friends I have had and have now in my life. It is very important to have Women in our lives-and I want to just say how grateful I am for those who are a part of mine.

Good Bye Old Friend

Relationships are probably the most important thing we can make whether they are personal or professional in nature. I say we make relationships because they are made. Whether or not we have an instant connection with someone if the relationship is not nutured and taken care of it will presumably fall apart or become cold. Not to say that this is always the case. I have many close friends that no matter how long it has been since we last talked it is like we just spoke 5 min ago. Other friends, well so much time has passed that what do you talk about? Where do you start?

I had to make one of the toughest decisions of my life yesterday. It involved a relationship I had with an unsuspecting friend. Eight years ago I got my first dog. I never wanted a dog prior to that and still think I am allergic to them, but I digress. I was seemingly brow beaten into getting a dog by my ex-wife who just had to have one. We got in touch with the Basset Hound Rescue league and sent in an application. Because we had no children and no other pets they thought we would be the perfect adoptive parents for a Basset that had been abused and found stray. They named him Will, even if he never really answered to it. But it was definitely fitting for the 4 year old that had enough will to live, survive, and love even if in his own way. He had been in a kennel for 8 months by the time we met him. The word on the street was that he had gone home with someone else for one day, but was quickly returned when he was scared by a deer while out walking and went after the woman who had tried to give him a home.

My first impression of the dog that would become a loyal friend was one of pity. The kennel owners brought out a dirty dog, that was on a self imposed starvation diet in protest of being locked up in a kennel for so long with one of the loudest howls I had ever heard. I was so moved by the fact that this little guy (who turned out to be a lot stronger than I ever thought) looked so pitiful that I knew there was no other thing to do, but give him a home. I look back now and think the folks at the kennel were probably sure he would be back in a day or two. Anyone that ever had any contact with Willy new what a strong minded character he was. If it was going to be done, it would be done his way or he would fight tooth and nail to see to it that at least you knew he wasn't happy.

Things were never easy during the 8 years we spent together. Time went on, we both grew older, life happened, homes turned into apartments, apartments to a home. Family changed, work changed, life, friends, but the one constant was Will. The dog that originally didn't want to be looked at because he was scared (he literally would come at you if you dared look at him wrong) was broken of his old habits slowly but surely (well some old habits) and went from the dog that didn't want me to be around, to the dog that couldn't stand it if I wasn't there. His protests by destroying just about any material possession I ever had, when I would leave in the morning, were replaced by his incessant need to be by my side as soon as I got home. There was always guilt of not being able to ever spend enough time with him, although it was always short lived when I realized every waking minute of an entire lifetime would probably not have been enough time for him.

Brittney is an amazing woman to put up with me and the short stack of luggage I brought with me into our relationship. Will was not an easy dog to love. I have been told time and time again that many a dog owner would have taken him back and or had him put down long before they would have let their house get destroyed. I guess it is tough to say who needed who more. I don't know? When times were tough, Will was there. When things were good, Will was there. When I didn't feel like having him around because he destroyed my belongings (the blinds, the dry wall, the remote, my books, my carpet and on and on), guess who was there? Of course, always the side kick ready for a good car ride or a piece of pizza crust or some other treat.

I always hoped and prayed that by the time he got to be 8 years old he would calm down and just get old. At the age of 12 he was still cruising countertops looking for food, still responding to the doorbell with a ferocious bark, taking on Tonka the 3 year old Bulldog that outweighed him by 20 lbs, still trying to claw his way out of the garage, and still just being Will. Unfortunately, with his age also came the ailments that old dogs get. His eyes were going (if not completely gone), his joints were going and even though he wasn't as fast, he still let it be known he was the alpha dog. His sniffer never went and it was probably the only thing that kept him going and in and out of trouble.

Even as old as he was and missing teeth (he wore them down chewing on doorknobs trying to get out of the house) he was still so darn strong and even worse, unafraid. The only two things I ever saw him cower from were thunderstorms and if I raised a hand like I was going to swat him (even though I never did as many buttons as he would push). But other dogs were of no concern to him. If he didn't like another dog, it didn't matter how big the dog was, he would let it be known. He once went after a 150 lb Akita and had a fence fight, where two dogs try to go at it even if there is a cage link fence between them, which I think gave the kennel owner a heart attack, but that was Will.

Then came a phone call last December while at my Dad's house at Christmas. It was from the kennel at our Vet's office. A volunteer had tried to wake Will up and had gotten down into his space. He was most likely frightened and snapped at her. He ended up grabbing her lip and she needed 6 stitches to stop the bleeding. I felt awful and still do, but having lived with Will long enough I know you never got down on his level unless he agreed to it and never if he was sleeping. Now this wasn't the first time he had gotten a hold of someone, but it certainly was the worst. And unfortunately this scared the rest of the nice folks at the kennel and his visits were never the same after that.

Decision time. I brought the pound puppy with the big ears, sad eyes, big heart, and mean streak into the relationship. Unfortunately I couldn't see my friend living a life where he suffered or wasn't loved. Brittney was scared of him and rightfully so, most people were. He was the old man that was grumpy when he wanted to be and loving only when he wanted to be. He could turn on you like a light switch, but through it all I somehow still loved him and always will. Maybe because of my need to see things through. To not give up on a promise I made to him to always take care of him and never let anything bad happen to him. Maybe because I always reassured him, or at least myself, that I wouldn't leave him at the kennel and I would be back for him before he knew I was gone. Maybe because I knew that no matter what he needed me to take care of him and he relied on me for walks, for love, for food, for just about everything. But it couldn't go on. Something needed to be done so that there was no more fear of him hurting someone else. Fear generally wins out over love and the two don't always mix. If I ever met the owners that had abused him I don't know what I would do. I can say it probably would not be pleasant, but I can also say that there were times that I felt like wailing on him myself. I guess the difference is that I could never hurt a dog that only wanted me to love him.

I have had a lot of loss in my life (my Mom, grandparents, great aunts and uncles, friends, Valentine my other Basset Hound) and know I will get over it. Unfortunately I never had to make a decision under such circumstances and hope I never have to do it again. I know it was the right decision and waiting would have only prolonged things, but it doesn't make it any easier. Will, buddy, I love you and miss you! Hopefully now you are cruising countertops, getting all of the pizza crust, chicken scraps, and marshmellows you can eat, and no more pain and only love and belly rubs.

Brian (aka Poppy)

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY WENDY!

A blast from the past! The gang got together to rock it 80's style for Wendy's birthday on September 13th 2008. We started the night at the Bennett's uptown condo and then made our way down to "The Breakfast Club" (an all 80's all the time club)...It was good to see everyone and we thank Wendy for a great night!! I will apologize for my husband-apparently he is not allowed to drink any more purple rain's :)