Blazer Games

It has been an absolute blast going to the Portland Trailblazer basketball games with my brother Scott. He works for the Blazers but also has season tickets. As his lucky sister, he invites me to games all the time. Such a great brother...:)

2009 Opener

I haven't posted in awhile - been a little distracted with Facebook :)

So far 2009 has been all about physical recovery.

I dislocated my shoulder on Dec. 13th - slipped and fell walking back to my car after dinner downtown. Thank god my friend Jeremy was with me, because I could not move my right side, let alone drive. He drove me to the hospital and I spent the next 3 hours in absolute agony. It was awful... My friend Javier and his wife Bobbie were with me the whole time. Don't think I would have survived without them. The doctor set my shoulder - not fun and I got to go home. I spent the next two weeks snowed in and dosed up on pain pills - thanks to the horrible snow storm in Portland. The good thing was that I was able to still work, logging in from home, so I didn't take anytime off for my injury.

Because Portland was basically shut down due to all the snow and ice, I did not get into see the specialist for two weeks. My brother's girlfriend, Andi, works in physical therapy so she told me what exercises I could do and to start using my arm and to not keep it in the sling all day. According to the specialist this turned out to be great advice and had helped to heal my shoulder correctly. All the x-rays showed that the bones were still set correctly and the doc referred me to a physical therapist.

So...current day... I have been in physical therapy for 4 weeks and am amazed at the progress we have made in my shoulder mobility. I do exercises every night and they are getting easier every time I do them. I am so happy that I am healing...this has really been a challenge to go through.

Having my shoulder injury has given me the motivation to get back into an exercise program and get the rest of my body back into good health. If I would not have been so heavy, I would not have dislocated my shoulder when I fell. Nothing like a little misery to give you a good wake up call...:) So, I started going to a step aerobics class at Ballys. It felt amazing to work out at that level again and to survive it. The guy who teaches the class is David and I found out that he has lost over 100 lbs. Talk about a source of inspiration!! Guy is a machine...looks like an olympic athlete - would never have guessed he had a weight problem at one time. Think this class is going to be the secret to my success!! Very exciting!

I had sushi lunch with my friend Denise this week and she somehow convinced me to sign up to do the half-marathon in Porltand with her in October. She is helping to keep my motivated by giving me this goal and calls me her GIT - Girl In Training. LOL!

So far 2009 is off to a good start :)

Turkey Day

I spent Thanksgiving in Portland with Scott and his girlfriend Andi. It was her first turkey and it turned out perfect!! We had a wonderful meal and a relaxing day together.

My 41st Birthday

I was not ready to turn 41 - had not even gotten used to be 40 yet! This year was a low key celebration. Scott came over and we got a pizza, beer and watched the Blazers game and a couple of movies. It was great!! Then the next day I got up and pretended like it never happened and I was still 40...:)

Thanks youAngie for the beautiful flowers and gift certificate!!!

Judene and Dad, I love my new pink NFL Eagles watch!!

Scott thank you for the Nike jacket and Blazers shopping bag and for spending time with me on my birthday. You're the best!

Eagles game - Christmas early this year

What a great wknd! Brett flew in thursday night around 10 pm. We started off Friday with a trip to one of my favorite sushi spots and pigged out on sushi - yummy! Then we stopped by the hospital, so I could see my friends Renee and Kevin's new baby boy - Jack. He is a beautiful baby! Renee went through absolute hell...but that is a whole other story. Poor girl!!

Next up we headed downtown to Rockbottom Brewery and met up with Scott when he finished up work for the day. We grabbed a couple happy drinks an appetizers amongst all the halloween crazies and then hopped on the max train to go to the Blazer's game. The game was amazing! So much fun...stadium was sold out and the crowd was totally into the game the whole time. We yelled so much that I could hardly talk the next day. Blazers beat San Antonio 100-99!!! It was a great first home game for the season.

Saturday - Scott, Brett and I drove up to Marysville to spend time with Dad and Judene. When we got to their house we had a bunch of snacks and soda. I also got a chance to look through Judene's Avon and Scentsy candle stuff - ended up getting myself a couple things (of course!)

Scott's girlfriend, Andi, met up with us at Dad's. She had to drive seperately because she had to go back to Portland the next day for practice.

Dad took us all on a tour around town and down by the water. Really pretty place. For dinner, we had dad's famous fried rice - so good! Afterwards, we all hung out, talked and watched college football. Good, quality family time...:)

Sunday - GAME DAY!!!! Dad and Judene fixed a big waffle breakfast for us - yum! Then we headed out to Seattle for the big game!!!! I was so excited I could hardly stand it. We had a fabulous day! It was even sunny off and on. We got to our seats, which were great, about an hour before kickoff. Gave us a chance to relax, talk and check everything out, including McNabb during warmups.

Game kickoff was at 1:00 pm and when McNabb and my Eagles walked out on the field - I wanted to cry I was so happy!! McNabb played the whole game, so the Esplin curse if officially over. For those who don't know what the Esplin curse is about - first Eagles game I went to in Indianapolis with Brett - McNabb got injured the week before and was unable to play. 2nd game in Philadelphia over my sabbatical - he got hurt first quarter and didn't play the rest of the game. 3rd game was the charm!! Got to see him play the whole game!!!!

Eagles beat the Seahawks 26-7!! It was amazing and so great to see my team play with my family...:)

Celine Dion

Scott scored me three tickets to the Celine Dion concert, because he is an awesome brother...:)
I took my friends Nicole and Brenda and we had a fabulous time!! Celine was AMAZING!!!!
So glad we got to see her concert.

Guys and Dolls

Last wknd my friend Stephanie and I went to the Armory Theatre to see "Guys and Dolls" put on by the Portland Center Stage. Loved it!!!

No matter how terrible a fellow seems, you can never be sure that some girl won’t go for them.” - Miss Adelaide

How could a bunch of rough and tumble gangsters end up singing about “the boat to heaven” in a Times Square mission? Anything’s possible when love is on the line, and never more so than in Guys & Dolls, one of the greatest American musicals of all time. Based on Damon Runyon’s gritty tales of the 1930s NYC underworld, bursting with colorful characters, and with a score that features iconic hits like “Luck Be a Lady” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” Guys & Dolls promises to light up the night.