Uncanny!

I had been in full agreement with Matt that, despite the opinion of one child in the library, he in no way resembles a dolphin ... until now!

{Pink dolphin appears in US lake}

Are you an organ donor?

Me too!  Well, I haven't actually donated anything yet ...  but this morning I took the steps to make sure health care providers will know and honor my wishes when it counts.

In New York State, merely signing the back of your licence is so 3 years ago.  There is now a "Donate Life Registry" with the Department of Health, and it takes 5 minutes, a printer, and a postage stamp to complete.  Why is this important?  Well, prior to 2006, when a person died, even if his or her wishes to be a donor had been expressed to the State, next of kin permission was still required. Now, if you download the consent form online, sign it, and mail it to the Department of Health, you are giving your own permission, and the burden of this decision is lifted from your loved ones; they will be informed of your decision and given information about the donation process, but their consent is not required because you have completed this process yourself.  [FAQ's answered here.]  Laws overseeing organ and tissue donation vary from state to state, so if you're not a New Yorker, here is how to find out about becoming a donor where you live:

http://www.donatelife.net/CommitToDonation/.

Over 100,000 adults and children across the US are currently in need of life-saving organ transplants, and another person is added to the waiting list every 12 minutes.   Yet while waiting lists are growing, donation rates have plateaued over the last few years.  I recently attended a lecture on organ transplantation as a part of our school's "Transition to Residency" curriculum, and it was mentioned that an estimated one-half of eligible, interested donors are missed in the process for a number of reasons - because the deceased person did not make their wishes known; because at the sensitive time of a person's death, clinicians have difficulty discussing donation with the family, and loved ones have difficulty making such a decision.  Many of these barriers to organ donation could be avoided if your consent is given through the State registry.

My own dad has been on the waiting list for a kidney for over a year now.  Statistically, his life expectancy on dialysis is 1/3 of what it would be with a transplant.  While 90% of Americans say they support donation, only about 30% know the necessary steps to ensure they will be a donor.  Having taken those steps this morning, I can promise it's pretty darn easy to do ... just a matter of doing it!   

Happy Easter!

 {Me-likey: Berkley Illustration}

In honor of Easter, I present to you these hilariously sweet animal portraits by Etsy seller Berkley Illustration!.  Check out the whole series - they have formals of everything from a little robin to a T-rex.  How can you not smile at these?

Shower Power

A few weeks ago, my mom and aunts, with the help of my bridesmaids, threw me the loveliest bridal shower EVER featuring springy pastels, sugar flowers, china teacups, and doilies galore.  Sugar and spice and everything nice.   It made me think of when my father used to get dragged to high school cheerleading competitions, after which he described "being smothered by a pink cloud of estrogen."  I think the shower was one of those pink-cloud moments.  Awesome!

The star of the show - not me, shockingly - was the cupcake display!

Mom and Aunt Betty, fairly new to cake decorating, had carefully followed the instructions on how to make these exquisite gumpaste orchids.  After they struggled for a bit, legend has it that Dad then sat down and casually made one with great ease.  There was some rolling of eyes, but they eventually made a whole batch to adorn the cupcakes - FANCY!

Fancy, indeed.

Andria, in her first official duty as Maid of Honor, demonstrates that the gumpaste, while edible, is best left a feast for the eyes. 

A while ago, Mom got the idea to use doilies as a decor theme.  She wanted to use spring colors, but since colored doilies are a rare and expensive thing, she had the great idea to spray paint them!  Look at the pretty pastel bunting and place mats - it really helped brighten up the place since outside it was a gray and rainy spring day. 

Quote of the day by Andria: "I took a picture of the tables before everyone sits down and RUINS them!"  So wrong, yet so true - that is totally how I am going to feel about the table settings our wedding!  

I wish I had a picture, but my mom, in her typical Macgyver-like fashion, placed cardstock behind the doilies while spray painting them, thus creating pretty patterned paper which she used for the invitations.  

Here is part of the brunch spread, complete with the beautiful antique teacup collection that was my grandmother's - graciously lent to the occasion by my mom and aunts:

There were also egg stratas of every known variety and yummy breads made by Mom and bridesmaid Renee.

After brunch, there was opening of gifts ...  

"ooh!", " ahh!", "a mug!",  "a toaster!"

Note Andria's lawyer-ly legal pad to record the gift-givers 

(It's funny because she is a law student)

((You know its funny when it requires an explanation))

And then Mom, a former public speaking champ back in high school, read out loud the cards that each shower guest had filled out with a memory, recipe, or advice.  Some were sweet; some were funny.

My cooking skills, or lack thereof, were of course an easy target, but luckily nothing too scandalous.  Mom is going to put the little cards into a scrapbook for me.

Matt stopped by at the end, took some ribbing, and helped hand out the favors - froofy pink bookmarks that read "Support your local library!"  Haha!  

Oh Matt, even my sweet mother picks on you!

Some parting shots ...

My lovely bridesmaids - BFF Andria and College Roomie Renee

"4gether" high school cheer friends - Amanda*, Jamie*, and Carly

*99% of these photos are stolen from Amanda and Jamie

Wish I had more pics of the families (will post if I find some!) - thanks to everyone for coming and making the day so nice!

Hey Iraq, you've just been Matt Stock'd

The images seen below have recently surfaced.

At first glance this looks like nothing more than a photo of a helicopter and a wall, but when you look closer there is that suspicious dark smudge there ...
And here is another photo, this time of a wheel, presumably of the helicopter seen in the previous one.  And there is that smuged again, although this time with a bit more detail ... what could it be?
Here is a photo of that smudge on the wall.  I think it might just be a face!  But why would a face be there.
Okay, so it is definetly a face.  And according to the caption, its in Iraq!  So this is what has been happening - my pal Logan has been stationed over in Iraq for too long.  Apparently, he got bored, and decided that what the country really needed was more Matt Stock.  I cant say that I disagree. 

Here is the template that Logan used for this little project.  I think I turned out rather well! I think this would make a rather nice tattoo.  In fact, I may be willing to pay for said tattoo if you would like to get it... 

Thank you Logan!  And get back soon!

Brothers in Trees

While on a recent trip upstate to good ole Greenville, NY, my brother and I found ourselves in bit of a predicament - the Nintendo Entertainment System didn't work! "Egads!" I exclaimed to James, "How are we going to stay out of trouble with no Nintendo?!?!?!" James looked to me and cryptically said "we don't. Today, Brother, we climb trees."

And so began a day that would go down in history as The Day When Matt Almost Broke his Leg for the Third Time.

The exciting part about this adventure (besides me not breaking my leg again and attracting the wrath of El Sar) was that while in the woods, we happened upon a single shedded whitetail deer antler!

Look how proud James and I were! Now that I have this antler in my possession, the obvious question is "what to do with it?" Sarah wanted me to graft this to my forehead as part of my RockBand outfit, but I felt as though if I'm going to do this I might as well hold out for moose antler and do it right. So, I am therefore considering suggestions as to what sort of craft project I should do with this one of a kind item. If I hear one that really strikes my fancy, maaaybe I'll just go ahead and do it. If not, I'll just keep this thing around intact and poke Sarah with it. I'm cool with both scenarios really.