Shameless Solicitation

This post will serve 2 purposes, one is to show my hair as it has grown out (I have been asked countless times) and the other is to explain why it is significant.


So last year, Mike's sister Jen found out she had very serious breast cancer ... the long and short of it is she had a double mastectomy and removel of 11 lymph nodes, 6 rounds of intensive chemo and then 5 and half weeks of radiation. This ended just before Christmas and she is now doing fine, recovering her energy and looking forward to a long healthy life!!!!! In the summer, she had to shave her head as the chemo was starting to make her hair fall out. Her sister, Trish, raised $1200 through her work by shaving her head. But Jen had to shave her head before Trish was able to, and somehow, when talking to her on a Thursday night, I commited to doing it at the same time as her sometime that weekend - how that happened exactly I am not sure :) but I only had 2 days to think about it, so it went okay!!! Regardless, here are a few pictures of the hair-growing-out process ... this first one is just a few days after (sometime mid-June) ...

in November ... (in need of a haircut!!)

February 2008 ... (took it myself, so it is not a great photo).

So now the point of this tale ... in September 2008 (about 6 1/2 months away), Mike's sisters (Jen, Trish, and Tamsen) and I are walking in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. This is a 60km walk through Vancouver. We will do 35km the first day and 25km the second day. All of the proceeds go to funding Breast Cancer Research. This event is the celebration of Jen's recovery, in celebration of the three-year anniversary of another special lady in my life being free from breast cancer, and it is for a great cause. Each participant has to raise $2000 to enter the walk ... a big number, but I am sure I can do it!

If you are interested in learning more or making a donation, please see our team site and click on my individual site for more info.

http://www.endcancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Vancouver2008?pg=team&fr_id=1255&team_id=48547

Thanks in advance ... this means a lot to me and our families!

Gung Hei Fat Chow

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

We went to a Chinese New Year's Party on Friday night and had a ton of fun. There were 6 couples, no kids :) and we ordered Chinese food ... how can it get better. The best were the homemade deep-fried wontons made by the hostess with the mostess, Emily Leavitt. They were so yummy.

I made my cake for February - it was box cake, but the decorating was my challenge :) Since we were celebrating the Year of the Rat, that was the theme of my cake.

For fun, we played a game called "Crazy Rook". So for those of you familiar with Rook, you use the same cards, but it is different in many other ways. There are 3 tables (a loser table, a middle table and a head or winner table). Each person gets their own score sheet and each hand has different rules, like playing "Rock, Scissors, Paper" for trump OR pick three cards from your neighbours hand before you start play OR deal and play straight from the table (like war, you don't look at them you just play them as they come up). You move tables if you win and you change partners each round. Sounds complicated, but very fun :)

We had a great time and it was nice to get out :) Thanks to the Leavitt's for organising it!!!