Wrigley and Us

At 6 am on Saturday morning, Matt and I made our 3 hour trip from Milford CT to Tunkhannock PA to pick up Wrigley, our 6 1/2 week old female German Shorthaired pointer.

When we arrived at the breeder's house, she picked Wrigley out of the litter and put her into my arms. She cuddled onto my chest, laid her head on my shoulder and just looked me in the eyes with her sleepy face. She had already melted my heart. Her smooth coat, wet kisses and desire to cuddle up next to you; I was in love! She sat in my lap the entire 3 1/12 hour car ride home. My chest area was extremely red from her scratching to climb up onto my shoulder area; it looked like I was attacked my a cat! She cried a few times, but spent most of the trip sleeping. You could tell she was having dreams because her body would go into complete spasms. I just tried to squeeze her a little harder. We made a little pit spot at a Wendy's parking lot to let her do her business and drink some water. She stepped on the grass like a baby learning to take her first few steps; she would walk on the edges of her paws.

We spent most of Saturday afternoon and night between the crate, eating, sleeping and lots of playing in the backyard. She was sleeping so well in the crate during the day we figured that Saturday night would be cake. Guessed wrong, big time! Wrigley started crying around 1 AM, 3:30 AM and 5:45 AM; each time, we took her outside "to do her business" and she went. I sent Matt back to bed around 6:15 AM since he was off to Baltimore this afternoon for his semi annual sales conference with UnderArmour. Yes, I'm a good wife, sometimes! Wriggs and I spent the morning snuggling on the couch, her sleeping and me attempting to nap. Instead, I felt like a mom; I slowly stroked her skin, listened to her heart beat, cuddled her up in a blanket and felt her fast shallow breath on my skin. This little girl has been around for only a day and I'm already hooked.

After Matt left this afternoon, we had a girls day. Wrigley got visitors and admirers from all over the neighborhood. She tried to help me weed; she just tried to bite the tops of the dandelions in the beds. We laid on a blanket in the sun and let the warm sun hit our bellies. We ate dinner and now we are cuddling on the couch together. I have to say, it's been a great 1st Mother's Day!

Oh, and Wrigley was meant to be ours. When we were looking at her AKC paperwork this morning, we learned Wrigley was born on March 26, 2009. This used to be our Anniversary Date before we got married. It signifies the day after my 19th birthday bash at SHU when Matt spent in the night in my room, making sure I was breathing. How great is that! Wrigley will always remind us of the start of our relationship and now she is the start of our family : )

One week until Wriggs

We officially pick up our new addition to our family next Saturday. Matt spoke with the breeder on Thursday morning and said she'd be ready to go! We have one tiny little problem...Matt will be leaving for Baltimore on Mothers Day, which means I have Wriggs by myself for about 3 days. Reason this is a problem...I work about 1/2 hour from here and I cannot come back on my lunch hour! So I am now looking to find some help on my first few days with my new pups...

In reality, having this puppy will be like having a child. We picked out a name.; we bought a crate, bowls, food, toys! We will both have sleepless nights, listening to her cry at night...wait..not really because Matt can sleep through anything! We've both been doing reading and research on how to crate train her. There will be lots of pictures and videos to post. I get the giggles thinking about her coming home with us; a new memeber of the family but nervous about what my house will turn into. We'll have plenty of laughs and times we will want to kill her for feeting shoes or killing a couch cushion. I've had plenty of offers to spoil her and watch her. But I can now say my life will revolve around a puppy for the next year and I can say, we are pretty excited for the road ahead!

To the Future Mr. and Mrs....

Matt and I are proud to annouce the engagement of our our best friends in the world, Patrick and Kristin! We are so excited for the both of you! Love you both!!!

Random pictures from the Last Two Weeks

A Cubs game, A Run in the Park, Dirty Work...And Easter!

In the last week, Matt and I have been very busy! On April 4th, we went to Yankee Stadium for an exhibition game between the Cubs and Yankees. And of course, I wore my Cubs hat and Matt was extra decked out in his hat, uniform and his official "Shut up and Drink Your Beer" bleacher shirt from Wrigley Field. We were really excited to go but that excitement died rather quickly for me...
#1: It was 32 degrees outside with a blistering wind. I tried to layer up as much as possible with cold gear and jackets but it didn't help.
#2: We took the train into Harlem and caught the subway to Yankee Stadium. We went early to tour the stadium so we bring out tickets up and we are about to walk in and they tell me we can't have a backpack. Now my backpack is an official UnderArmour backpack that is rather small. It was to hold an extra jacket, my wallet and keys. We tried to talk to ticket people into letting us in but the guy told us his boss wouldn't be happy...whatever. So we had to walk down the street to the BOWLING ALLEY to check out bag....ok, now I'm getting a little upset. We walk down the street, check out bag and walk back. Now we walk into the stadium and I see backpacks EVERYWHERE. On top of it, women are carrying in these HUGE tote bags, which are definitely bigger than my backpack, into the stadium. Now I'm at a 4/10 on the rating scale of being mad.
#3. We walk around the stadium as I freeze. Seriously, it was cold. So to try and warm me up, Matt buys me a pretzel. It's cold...like it wasn't even put in an oven...that was $4 for nothing...anger rating is now like 5-6/10.
#4. Batting practice is going on as we walk around. Matt wanted to take a picture so he steps down into one of the seating areas; one step. One of the ushers runs over,
"Sir, do you have a ticket to sit here."
" No I just want to take a picture...
"Sir, I cannot let you do that because you don't have a ticket to be in this area. I have to ask you to step out."
" I'm standing on the first..."
"Sir, you really need to move."
Anger rating now: 7/10
#5. We go up to the bleacher seats where our tickets are and I get a hot chocolate. So we are watching practice and Matt puts his hot chocolate on the ledge to fix his jacket and I heard this voice go, " Sir, you cannot put your drink there. Please move it." There they were again; one of those annoying Yankee stadium employees. Now I'm really pissed and my anger level is 8/10.
#6. So we go to our seats; I sit on the UA book Matt brought for signing so my ass doesn't go numb. Game goes into start mode with the signing of the National Anthem. Now this is a HUGE PET PEEVE of mine...TAKE OFF YOUR FREAKIN HATS! Its a respect thing...by the way, most of the people were Yankee fans!
So Matt and I sat through about 7 innings before I couldn't take it anymore because I couldn't feel my toes, legs or fingers and I felt like I had frost bite on my nose. We boarded the subway and headed back home. Apparently I passed out on the train from Harlem back to Stratford and enjoyed a nice nap...ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

The next morning (by the way, it was beautiful out on Sunday...ugh) Matt and I participated in a Lyme Disease Run/Walk at Sherwood Island in Westport. Orna, an amazing woman I have the privledge of working with, organized this event to raise awareness of the disease. Orna was bit by a tick in 2002 and suffered significant neurological symptoms including migraine, peripheral neuropathy and other musculoskeletal disorders. She currently continues to have gamma treatment to assist with minimzing the effects of the disease. Her year long dedication paid off very well with approximately 700 people in attendance.
Matt and I decided to run in the 10K. Now for me, this was a big challenge because I have never ever run 6.2 miles steadily. Playing soccer, you run/jog/run/walk/sprint...you know, its always a different pace. For Matt, it wasn't cake but he's a natural runner. So I started in the back of the pack and I am proud to say that I ran the 10K in 58 minutes and 21 sec! It was a freakin miracle. Matt ran the 10K in 53 minutes and 30 seconds. We were a little sore after but I was on such an endorphin rush that I couldn't wait to get home and work outside.

It was finally a beautiful day outside and I was so excited to get our there, use all my gardening tools and get our yard in order. We had a couple of tasks to do (1) rip out the rose bushes; (2) cut back the hemlocks and (3) clear off the vines from the hemlocks. I was in charge of the rose bushes and Matt was in charge of starting with the hemlocks. Getting those roses out of the ground required me to find some strengh deep down inside me after running for an hour. To take out 5 rose bushes, it took me close to 25 minutes because the root systems were so thick and rooted into the ground. I actually fell on my butt at one point trying to pull so hard that my hands slipped and I just fell back; I rolled over on my side laughing. After I was finished with my project, I started to help Matt. Unfortunately, our hemlocks are pretty diseased, which is common with hemlocks that are neglected. 5 hemlocks that were completely rotted and just fell when Matt touched them. Many of the branches along the bottom had no growth so much of the evergreens were cut back. We started this project around 12:30 and at 4:30, Matt and I looked at each other with exhaustion all over our faces. We pushed through and finished most of the work around 6:30. Bascially we showered and laid on the couch. We looked like our grandparents trying to get out of the couch to get a drink. It was a very labor intensive day!!!

It took us about 2-3 days to recover. I'm not complaining but I definitely know that I will have issues with my left knee and Matt with his back, as we get older. Now I know why my patients all tell me to enjoy my youth!!

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter at our house. It was the first big meal I had cooked for 13 people and let me tell you, it was delicious!!! I marinated filet mignon with a garlic/herb dry rub overnight and compliments the dish with spring spinach salad, lightly glazed carrots and roasted potatoes. Matt was able to cook the filet on the grill and he is perfecting the use of his grill very well. I am so excited for meals outdoors this year duing the summer time!

The best part of having a house... the Easter bunny still comes! He brought me two beautiful hydrangea bushes, pots to start an herb/salad garden and a beautiful potted plant (I cannot remember what it is) My garden will be coming together over the next few years : )

Most of all, it was great to have our families all together under our roof. I think sometimes I forget how significant it is to own a home. As my Aunt Sally walked up to the door, she just kept saying, "I'm at your house, its your house. I can not believe I'm at your house!" I know its a blessing to have a house, a loving husband and healthy family and friends.

An AHA moment...

As I"ve gotten older, I realize more and more that I am my father's daughter. I may take on more of my mother's physical features such as the Connelly thighs and chipmunk cheeks, but other than that, I am my father's daughter. I don't know how to describe my father; he can be a pretty complex guy, but he always told me I was born to do something great. I think I'm starting to see what that could be....

I consider myself a rather average person (Matt would obviously tell you otherwise...and you can see my true self esteem...not much there!) and always seem to have ideas but I never really put them into action. This has been especially true with my career. As most of you know, I'm a practicing physical therapist in an outpatient/sports medicine setting. I love my career; I meet alot of very interesting people and have the best patients in the world. But dealing with insurance companies, being denied visits based on what an insurance company thinks is unnecessary treatment and getting a pep talk about stats each month and how we need to bring numbers up...it gets really old. More than anything, I'm about patient care and the quality of care; not the quantity that walks in the door. When you are a business owner, the quantity seems to matter more. But don't you get people to come back based on getting them better and providing them with one on one care?

Basically this tangent brings me a little closer to my point. On Thursday, I had the opportunity to be introduced to the Met's PT/CSCS (certfied strength and conditioning specialists) who will be doing a lecture for our clinic on shoulder instabilites in overhead athletes. He is a very accomplished 33 year old guy doing what he wants to be doing because he knocked down doors, worked in ass off and was in the right place at the right time. I was almost mesmerized when he was speaking because it opened up my eyes again to being outside the clinic and working outside the box. So the question becomes, what do I want to do?

I am not the best multitasker in the world and after Matt and I got engaged, alot of focus was spent on the wedding and hating being away from home. And then we bought a house; getting things settled around here, which has taken a long time, became priority. Then discussions of starting a family with a dog and kids has come up. Kids will be the ultimate priority. So can I really do what I want to do because I really want a family with a fenced yard, friends over, relaxing at night....can I really be EVERYTHING I would like to be? Why don't I be the average person who does average things...maybe I'm not mean to do something special but be a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister and a friend. These thoughts are a little overwhelming to me. And believe me, this isn't about money. Yes, in the United States of America, everything is about money

So get to the point Colleen (see, difficulty staying focused) What do you want to be doing? There are many factors that play into this but here we go...the basis here is PREVENTION AND EDUCATION: prevention of injury, especially in young athletes; teaching them the basics of training and working hard, understanding nutrition and the importance of how you eat and how it keeps the body healthy. I want to be involved with getting kids healthier and educating people on how important gym programs are to schools and the well being of children. Even of the smaller level, I would love to get involved in the pediatric obesity epidemic sweeping that is nation.

Now, I have a plan...its now about getting myself back to books to get my CSCS, use some of the connections I have and see if my plan can actually become a reality. Sorry for the inconsistencies in thought but I had to get this down....

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Tuesdays are my early day out of work, like before 9 PM at night : ) The weather was absolutely beautiful! To burn off some calories, soak up some Vitamin D and breath in some fresh air, I used my birthday presents and put them to work in the garden!

I have bulbs popping up everywhere in colors of purple, white and yellow, especially along the front walkway to the front door. I started on the front beds. I cleared out the old mulch because it looked disgusting, removed weeds and pulled back the grass from the edging. The more I did, the more bulbs I started to see surfacing, wanting to get out in the sun. I was so happy! I'm not the most green thumbed but I'll learn. To just be able to go outside and be in my yard, I love it...it's a complete dream come true!

After clearing out the front beds, I proceeded to the backyard to clear off the hemlocks. Matt and I have hemlocks that line two areas in the backyard for privacy. Unfortunately, hemlocks are usually diseased and they really don't look that nice. However, Matt and I really do not have the money to be cutting them down this year to replace it with a fence. So I'm on a mission to save them. Being a physical therapist definitely has its advantage because I meet all types of people with various backgrounds and knowledge and I reep the benefits from it. I am very lucky to be treating a semi-retired landscape designer who is now my gardening guru. Just like a home, she told me, a garden doesn't happen overnight (Again, Rome wasn't built in a day) So she has given me some advice on improving the soil to help the plants and cut down any vines that are growing on the hemlocks to keep them from "choking." So I listened to my guru and cut down all the vine to the base of it, which is pretty big. Now I have to see what grows there.

I have also discovered 5 rose bushes along the fence line. The thorns were HUGE! Basically, Sunday we will say bye bye to the rose bushes because they are way too much work and I'm not a huge rose fan. I'd rather have hydrangea plants...come on...it's me : ) It may be the only plants I buy this year becaues I feel that my house needs one with beautiful deep blue colors!

So April...keep the rain coming but during the week only, so I can tend to my yard : )