Hey all!

This past weekend Ben and I went to Miami to celebrate my 29th birthday.  We had SO MUCH FUN!  Miami is a beautiful place, and H - O - T but thankfully we had beautiful weather the entire time.  We spent most of our time on the beach and at the pool.  Friday night we went out to dinner to La Terazza, and italian place near our hotel.  It was awesome!  Saturday was my birthday so we woke up and headed straight out to the beach.  We had a perfect set-up and the water is just gorgeous.  I had no idea it would be that beautiful.  We ate lunch by the pool, and headed up to get ready around 4.  We were in South Beach by 6, and just began to walk down Ocean Drive.  There are so many cool places, and we literally enjoyed people watching...there are some interesting people down there.  Someone at work said that I'd better make sure my spanish was good and wallet was fat - and man was he right!  Talk about expensive...we ordered two beers at one place and it was $17.  I almost choked.  Oh well, what can ya do?  We still had a great time after we got over the sticker shock.  South Beach is FUN FUN FUN...maybe a little too much fun.  ;)

Thank you Ben for this trip, you are SO SWEET!  I love you, and had so much fun - can we do this again next year?  ;)

Hope all of you are well - and thanks so much to all of you for the birthday calls, gifts and cards!  Love you all!

Kerri

ps...am I really 29 or did I just dream that?

This past weekend, Ben, Matt, Kristen and I traveled to Charlotte to celebrate Ben and Matt's birthday weekend!  We got to spend time with my in-laws, Ben's sister and her husband, Steph and Mike and our nephew Braden and niece Sydney.  We went to the pool all day on Saturday, and the boys cooked a rib feast Saturday night.  It was such a great weekend!

We hope you had a great 31st birthday Ben and Matt - we love yall! 

I would also like to wish my Mother-in-law a Happy Birthday tomorrow...hope your day is wonderful Mrs. Linda!

First and foremost:  I would like to thank God for bringing me to where I am today - and for giving me the strength to bounce back from cancer and treatment so quickly.  Thank you for blessing me with renewed health!

Today marks 5 months since I finished treatment.  I can't believe my one year mark is approaching since "D-DAY" or in other words, diagnosis day -  that's crazy!  September 2, 2008 is a day I will never forget, but we'll cross that bridge when it gets here.  For now, I just wanted to give you all an update on how I'm doing.  In one word...FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC!!  I'm 100% back to my old self.  A few things are forever changed in me, that's just part of a cancer diagnosis.  But, I feel like a million bucks on most days - and I find that some days I have so much energy that I can barely sit in my chair to work.  Now of course this depends on how well I sleep, but on most nights I sleep like a baby.  I have been going to the gym 3 times a week for an hour each time, and that is a huge help.  I feel so much better now that I work out on a consistent basis.  My Lhermitte's Sign is getting better, but I can still feel it.  Now if I can just get these last 4 pounds off!

Ben and I have been grilling out A LOT lately, and really just hanging out at our house.  We hang out with Kristen and Matt a lot, and also our neighbors Bernie and Jody because they live right next door.  We had everyone over this past Saturday night for a "rib off" between the boys.  Well, we think they all won.  They all had such different flavors and textures - but were all really good.  Ben's had a rich smoky flavor, Matt's had an asian sweet-hot taste, and Jody's had a nice barbecue flavor to them.  All were really good.  So, it was a tie.  We had fried green tomatoes, squash casserole, homemade cole slaw, freshly picked boiled corn, and bread.  It was a rib feast for sure.  YUM!  We all played ladder ball after dinner and just had a great time.  Here's a pic of Ben and Matt before the rib off started - it makes me laugh, look at those faces!  HA!

I have also been enjoying my hummingbirds.  I only have 3 so far this year, but hopefully I'll get a few more in August.  Here is a picture of my ruby-throated hummer, isn't he beautiful?  He's a feisty one - he dive bombs the other ones when they try to get nectar, it's funny!  I love them!

Our summer has been a blast so far, and we've still got a month to go!  Next month is going to be busy, there are so many family members including Ben and myself that have birthdays in August.  It's a great month!  

We are headed to the lake this weekend for an oyster roast - we are so excited!  I hope all of you are having a fun summer so far - love to all!

Kerri

PS - see below right, I now have a "follower" section...please sign up!

For the 4th, we went to my family's lake house to spend the weekend.  The weather was beautiful, and we actually got to go see fireworks on the boat this year!  We have tons of water!  The 4th is always a great time and we enjoyed spending the long weekend with my fam.  We made a mexican feast Friday night, and had the traditional chicken quarters Sat night.  So good!  We sat around and sang "Salty Dog" as we do every year and had a blast.  The 4th is probably my second favorite holiday besides Christmas!  

This past weekend Ben and I traveled down to Jekyll Island, GA for the Santora-Hagy wedding.  Jenny Santora is the older sister of my best friend from college, Kristie.  We got to the Jekyll Island Club around 3 on Friday and from there on out Ben and I had an absolute blast.  Friday night was a "pirate" themed rehearsal dinner - it was SO MUCH FUN!  A boat picked us up and took us to Sea Jay's not far from our resort.  They served low country boil and everything was wonderful.  Saturday we took a walk on the beach, hung out at the pool, and went and ate oysters at the "Rah Bar" right on the pier.  This was one of the most beautiful and fun weddings we have ever attended.  I will let the pictures speak for me.  Thank you to the Santora's and Hagy's for such a fun weekend, we won't forget this one!  Congratulations Jenny and Chris, hope you have a fabulous honeymoon!

Love to all!

Kerri

Remember my post about Debbie Markowski running the Seattle Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon a while back?  Well, this past weekend she finished the race!  She even put her status on facebook as "this one's for you Kerri" - WOW, she's just the sweetest person.  She has raised over $3000 bucks to date, and is still trying to reach her goal of $4300.  She ran 13.1 miles with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training group.  Here are a few pics!  That's Debbie in the middle!  Love the purple boas by the way...

Hey everyone!  Just got news that my scan was CLEAN!  No change from last time...YES YES YES!  I could go do cartwheels right now!  Good grief I am glad they called me back because I literally could not work this morning.  I just sat here lost in anxiety land, not fun.  BUT, now I am ECSTATIC!  Thank you Lord for this answered prayer!

The scan went well Monday morning.  They got the IV in the first time (in the crease of my arm which I HATE) but it wasn't too bad.  Ben and I were back home by 9 am.  I didn't have to go into work until after lunch so Ben and I stopped to get some breakfast.  We got home and I looked over at the window in the kitchen and what do I see?  A HUMMINGBIRD!  I couldn't believe it!  I have been waiting on my hummingbirds to show up since March.  It literally made my day.  I'm not sure why, but my hummingbirds always seem to show up on "scan" day.  Last time my first one showed up, it was on the day that I had the first CT scan before my diagnosis.  That awful, awful day.  That was the day I went in for a CT, got home and then they called me right back.  That was the day I got the news that I most likely had cancer.  And as soon as I walked in the door after the terrible news, tears streaming down my face - there was that hummingbird.  For some reason, that made me feel better.  I knew everything would be alright when I saw it.  Some of you may think I am weird for being that way, but that's just me.  So, when I saw the new hummingbird on Monday, once again - I knew everything was going to be alright.  They always show up when I need them the most.  

This past weekend I went to the lake house to hang out with the fam.  Talk about HOT!  Wow, it was 101 degrees on Saturday.  You could barely stand to be in the sun, and the shade wasn't much better.  We had a great time though!  We had Low Country Boil on Saturday and you just can't beat that on a sunny Saturday afternoon.  I was glad I got to hang out with my Brother and Dad on Father's Day for a little while.  Poor Ben had to work, but it turned out to be a successful weekend for him thank goodness!  We missed you Ben!  No more car sales until the fall, yay!

SO, I would like to end this blog post with a tribute.  My parents beloved black lab TJ was put to sleep last week.  They decided it was time for her to go because she just couldn't get around anymore, and the heat may have killed her this past weekend.  TJ hasn't been in good shape for two years now, she was blind, had arthritis, and when they finally weighed her - she was a hefty 118 pounds.  This dog meant a lot to my family.  She came into the world when I was a junior in high school, and she was a puppy whose mother was my brother's old dog Andy.  From the beginning, my Dad trained this dog to do tricks - she was so smart!  We called her the ultimate "lake dog" because she ran and played from the minute she got to the lake house until my Dad loaded her in the back of the truck to come home.  She loved a rock - we used to all have to take turns throwing rocks for her to go fetch.  We would get tired of throwing rocks because this dog did not quit - we could throw them in the pitch black darkness and she would find it every time.  We named TJ for the markings on her chest.  She had a white "T" and we added J for Johnson and the name stuck.  She was a happy dog, always so sweet and never mean to anyone.  We love you and will miss you TJ - dogs like you are hard to find.  

Since I have been going to the gym for about two months, I have been getting this extremely odd sensation when I begin working out and all the way through my workouts - but it's only when I look down.  I thought it would go away, but just last week - I was running on the treadmill when I looked down and I literally almost went flying off of it!  I have discovered that I have a rare side effect from radiation called Lhermitte's Sign and it occurs after radiation to the cervical spine area.  It feels like electric currents shooting down my spine and all the way down both legs.  It's CRAZY!  You know when you hit your funny bone really hard that tingly sensation you get?  Well that's why it feels like on the lower half of my body.  If I look down really hard, I almost fall over.  It kind of freaks me out a little bit now that I know this is from radiation.  I did some research this morning, and there isn't a thing I can do about it.  It will subside, but it could be months or years.  I am hoping it's months!  

Hope yall are having a good week!  Tonight at the gym when I feel this, I may just bust out the Electric Slide!  HA!

Love to all,

Kerri