BUMMER! The Sing-Off was NOT brought back for another season. Good news - we can try to save it! "Sign" the petition below by clicking on the link and entering your name and email address.

Save The Sing-Off!

The Sing-Off, outside of being the one of the networks 3rd highest rated shows commanding upwards of at least 4 to 6 MILLION viewers, is one of the most positive shows on television. 

It is an instrumental part of developing a stronger appreciation for the arts at a time when the teaching of art and music is under attack at almost every level. 

While other entertainment venues of its kind rely on either negativity, or dumbing down of the skill involved in the art-form, The Sing-Off fosters a real standard of quality in those that tread across its stage. The past contestants of The Sing-Off have shown themselves to be resilient practitioners of A Cappella music and stalwart champions of music in education. They have shown depth of character in helping their fellow competitors, long after the end of their respective seasons. They have gone around the world to help show that music can truly be the universal language. Help this continue! Sign this petition, and help convince the NBC network that The Sing-Off deserves another season. 

Thank you for joining the effort!

How Cute

How cute is this picture of my mom and grandmas at the Detroit Tigers game from yesterday?! I have the coolest family, don't I?! My parents got some great tickets for yesterdays game, and since it came with a close parking pass they thought the grandmas would be perfect for the extra 2 seats (they offered them to Ryan and I first, but I had a race and I made Ryan be my photographer :)... oh yeah, and the game was in Detroit). The Tigers ended up losing, but everyone said they had a BLAST! [Grandma P couldn't handle the heat for the full game, so went in to the Tigers Den and watched the end of it from a nice, comfy, leather chair on the big screen. Grandma V stuck it out the whole game, but said she got awfully crispy :)]

Disneyland Monorails

Three New Faces Come to the Disneyland Resort: Manny, Mandy and Mona Monorails

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If you’ve been to the Disneyland Resort in the past couple of days, you may have noticed a few new faces along the Disneyland Monorail line. Here to welcome their “Cars” friends to Cars Land at Disney California Adventurepark, Mandy and Mona Monorails began making trips around the resort yesterday – and they will soon be joined by a third friend, Manny Monorail. You can tell each by their colors: Mandy Monorail is blue, Mona Monorail is orange and Manny Monorail will be red.

Each Monorail has its own personality, which Disneyland Resort guests will certainly hear when riding. Manny, Mandy and Mona Monorails are taking charge of the overhead announcements themselves – providing a new experience along the “Highway in the Sky.”

Come take a ride on the Disneyland Monorail and visit our three newest Disneyland Resort friends – Manny, Mandy and Mona Monorails!

Thankful Thursday

I know that I missed posting my Thankful Thursday list last week. It was NOT because I wasn't thankful, it was just I was so insanely busy that I didn't really have a moment to sit down and write something out. So I figured instead of a list of 3, I would double up and do 6 today :)

Bikes [Ryan got a new bike a couple weeks ago - a old school-type 3-speed Schwinn. Before he had a fixed gear bike and the seat wasn't very comfortable, so when we would go on bike rides it would be about 4 or 5 miles in and he would be 'complaining' about his booty hurting. This new bike is super fun (not to mention we sold his other one at a profit), so we have been able to go on a few bike rides since then and haven't had any hurt body parts yet :) ]

Sunshine [We are currently in the 'May Gray' and 'June Gloom' months out here. I know, I know, we have 2 or so months of not perfect weather and we complain about it :). But since it has been gray and overcast for a while, it makes me appreciate the sunshine so much more. It just brightens up my day (both figuratively and literally). I love Mr. (or Ms.) Sunshine!]

Good Customer Service [It has been about a year since we bought our Ford Focus. They are giving me a free detail, as an 'anniversary' gift. I have been calling to set up the appointment for the last couple days, but the gentleman I was supposed to work with wasn't in. Last night I spoke with the manager, who said he would take care of EVERYTHING. Told me that we could drop it off whenever it was convenient for us and then they would even drive it over to me at my office around lunch time that day when it was done. Not only did he want to make it right (since I have had a slightly difficult time getting it set up), he wanted to keep me as a customer for like - which I think he did :)]

Skype [Living thousands of miles away from our families is sometimes hard, so it is nice to have the technologies to actually 'see' them when you are taking to them sometimes (rather than just hearing them on the phone). This past Christmas we even used Skype with my family to open our Christmas gifts together :).]

Fairies [That is the name we give to the hummingbirds. I feel like I could sit and watch them for hours. They are so fast and crazy sometimes. I love that we have a feeder right outside our living room window. Even though I scold 'Chubs' for being a bully, I still would be sad if they didn't come to our feeder.]

Ice [I have been icing my knee lately, yes, I think I really screwed it up. I DEFINITELY wish I wouldn't have done that, but now that I have, it is nice to have ice at my disposal to try and get my knee back to 100%. Prayers, along with the ice, would be greatly appreciated! :) ]

Only In Cheboygan

Only in Cheboygen does stuff like this ACTUALLY happen :)

I got home from work yesterday and I was checking out my Facebook News Feed. A friend had posted on her Facebook status the comment below (I have blocked out photos and names just to protect the innocent :) ):

As you can see, I was slightly flabbergasted!

I mean how do feral pigs get loose? And how are 3 of them shot downtown? (PS The 'Char' we are referring to in the post above in my mother-in-law.)

So Ryan gets home from work and I tell him that he is NOT going to believe what I just read. I pull up the status and read it out loud to him. The first thing he says is that he knows exactly where that ranch is and that he thought they were having issues there for a while. Of course we have to call Ryan's parents to get the skinny in the situation.

When Charlene first heard about it, they were at a friend's house. Someone called and told her that there was a shooting downtown and that three were killed. Now at this point she is thinking that it is people (and she didn't know how 3 people would have been shot and killed, since that was like half of the population up there, JUST KIDDING), but thankfully they found out that it was 'just' pigs.

I guess the ranch had been getting into trouble lately and that the DNR was actually on their case about the feral pigs. And then 8 of them ESCAPED! So now, well, the last we heard of it was yesterday, there are still 5 feral pigs on the loose.... So of course my father-in-law says he is going to have to carry his Glock every where so that he would be ready if one tried to attack :)

Oh the joys of small-town, northern Michigan living :)

Strawberry Runners

I received this email yesterday. If anyone is interested in running the Strawberry 5000 in a few weeks, please check out the link below!!




Dear Strawberry 5,000 Participant,

We have had a difficult situation arise this year with our run promotion due to a change in race coordinators.  We have heard over and over again that people had heard through Kinane Events that our event was "cancelled".  So first of all, I want to say "thank you" to all of you who have registered.  Secondly, could you help spread the word that the Strawberry 5,000 is still taking place. We are far behind our number of runners from previous years and we are hoping you might be able to help us.  As you know, they can register at Active.com - keyword "Vista Strawberry".  The direct link is:

http://www.active.com/running/vista-ca/vista-strawberry-festival-5000-run-2012?int=29-6

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Bret Schanzenbach
CEO
Vista Chamber of Commerce

Be a Color Runner

Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be You. Be a Color Runner! We have kicked off our 2012 tour and now it's time to celebrate! For those of you looking to take part in the Happiest 5K on the Planet please visit us at http://TheColorRun.com.