WEEK # 52.. My final Post!

PHEW...
I am so happy that I have made it to the end of this year... What I mean is,  of course I am happy to be here physically and emotionally intact, but I am very pleased with myself that I have actually completed a year of this blog...
I want to thank all of my loyal followers... I cannot name you all but especially Bonnie, Danny, Julia and Rachael.. thanks to all of you for the positive remarks and comments. Before I get to this weeks adventures.. I wanted to recap the last 51 weeks for all of you who may not have been following along .....a post script if you will...

The Blog (My 52 weeks of my 52nd year) started on June 14, 2013

Week 1 –Birthday party at the SPA!

Week 2-MHA Summer forum.. Samoset Resort

Week 3-Full moon dinner at the Peak.. North Peak  Sunday River

Week 4-Golf Lessons at the Bethel Inn with Denise

Week 5-Tough Mountain Challenge with Rachael Hall

Week 6-A visit with the Kileys

Week 7-Surprise wedding in the woods-  Mr and Mrs Chris Richards

Week 8-What happens in Vegas.. stays on Facebook! With John and Jodi Knowles

Week 9-Camp Merrill

Week 10-support me for the Dempsey Challenge

Week 11-North Maine woods - visit with the Knowles family

Week 12-All about Rachael - her first half marathon

Week 13-A Merrill/Holden wedding on a tiny Island (Monhegan) .. a great place to shoot a movie

Week 14-Moving out, Lobstah with the Brits.. and Gabe!

Week 15-A very special post for a very special friend- Brandon Young

Week 16-Fall in Maine

Week 17-Dempsey Challenge and Time with Family

Week 18-Weddings and Hair Styles

Week 19- Go RED SOX!

 Week 20-Trick or treats with a pirate… Kitchen renovation underway.. RED SOX WIN World Series in 6 games!

Week 21-Kitchen remodel finished

 Week 22-Birthday party for Said and Magda Daoud

Week 23-The wind is howling… Winter is on it’s way!

Week 24-so very Thankful

Week 25-Better late than never 

Week 26-Dance Recital, Polar Express and First Significant Snow fall

Week 27-Ice Storm moving In!

Week 28-Merry Christmas

Week 29-Happy New Year!

Week 30-Ice storms

Week 31-On our way to Island Falls

Week 32-We wake up to Snow..YAY.. but decide to cut our vacation short.

Week 33-Let the Games Begin!

Week 34-Loving Work, Winter and my Arctic Cat!

Week 35-Let it SNOW SNOW SNOW… MHA winter forum and SMB trip!

Week 36-Welcome Greyson Conrad Hall! Our second grandchild

Week 37-Greyson’s second Homecoming

Week 38-Black Mountain Dempsey Challenge Fun day

Week 39- Winter keeps hanging on and that is alright with us!

Week 40-Snowmobiling and Maine Maple Syrup Sunday

Week 41- Winter is still here…. HMMM?

Week 42 – Gabe turns 3 years old!

Week 43- Surprise visit to Wisconsin with Beth Lee and John Knowles

Week 44 – Easter and a new beginning.. He is risen! Praise the Lord!

Week 45 – Spring has finally arrived…. Or so we think!

Week 46- OR conference in Boston and packing for Vacation

Week 47- Vacation in Myrtle Beach with some wonderful people

Week 48 – Hospital and Nurses week 2014

Week 49- The Patient experience Summit at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Ohio

Week 50- Memorial Day with the Boys..Overnight

Week 51- Women s Golf League, Dave Matthews Band and A Beautiful Wedding

And here is Week 52...

Paint and Sip, Father's day and of course my 53rd Birthday..............

I don't even know where to begin, I am so blessed with family and friends.. this has been an amazing year for me, I am finding myself speechless... the week was a whirlwind.. work was wonderful.. I am loving my job more and more each week... on Friday Lenny and Karri took Joe and I out for my birthday, we started with Chinese for dinner then went to the Sunday River Sip and Paint... I was very impressed and will certainly be going back to this place.. the owner/teacher was amazing, very friendly and helpful.. we all left with a beautiful painting we did by ourselves...

Thank you Lenny and Karri and a special thanks to Rachael Hall who came back to Rumford on Friday night after a very long work week to  babysit Gabe and  Greyson to make this night possible.. we love you  :)

Speaking of Rachael ... On Saturday night Rachael and William took Joe and I out to dinner at the Roosters Roadhouse in Bethel to celebrate not only my birthday but Fathers day as well. After dinner we went to Telstar High school to watch the Expressive Movements Dance recital. Rachael did a Solo and was amazing......I mean AMAZING... I am so proud of her and her dance.. she is awesome. Love you girl.. you still have it and keep it up.. The audience loved you and so do I!

On Sunday we celebrated my birthday and fathers day with Lenny, Karri , Gabe and Greyson........we had a great day.. everyone had fun, we cooked a beer can chicken and had cake.. Here is Gabe helping me with all the candles.. I need sunglasses cause it was so bright.

Thanks to Gabe I managed to blow them all out....

We also had pie for Lenny and Joe and after dinner they took the boys to the park to play.

All in all, a great day..  no it was the best day!

Again.. I want to thank you all for following me this year.. No I do not plan to have another blog at this time.. probably at some point I will do something else.. until then ... I have to find a way to say goodbye...

I was not sure how I would end this blog.. and I have thought long and hard.. I am not one to use quotes much, and I know you have all come to love my signature "luvs" at the end of each blog.. but I wanted to leave you with a quote from one of the most influential women of this century...  

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou

luvs 

 the end...........

Week #51.... Women's golf League, Dave Matthews band.. and a beautiful wedding!

I am one week away from the end of this wonderful journey.. I am not going to lie to you.. there were weeks over the past year that I had to struggle to find something interesting to write about.. What I discovered this year is that you make your own memories... and yes, Maybe I was driven to do things each week to make sure I had a by line for the blog..but you know what??? We should all live our lives that way. Live like there is no tomorrow... Dance like no one is watching....

I started week #51 with joining a women's Golf league.. Tuesday night at Oakdale Country Club, Denise, Diana and I were the new kids on the block.. we were welcomed with open arms.. thanks to all the ladies that play there and for your help (Sis Haynes and Jackie Kilbreth). See you next week.

Julia arrived home on Thursday night.. of course we had to rush over to see Karri, Lenny and the Boys... Gabe and Julia painted a beautiful picture.

On Friday I got out of work early so that Joe, Julia and I could head up to Bangor for the Dave Matthews Concert....Originally Joe was going to give Julia his ticket, But some of Julia's friends from High school had an extra ticket and we bought it for her...

The "Kids" were on the GA lawn section.. Joe and I had tickets in Section 1 Row 23.. when we got to the gate, the tickets did not scan, we were escorted back to the ticket booth..apparently, after my tickets were purchased.. the Fire department insisted the Venue re-arrange the seats for safety.. so my seat no long existed..however, I was given tickets for Section 1 Row 5!!! Not too shabby....
Joe and I have still not perfected the Selfie

The opening act was Dave Matthews unplugged...

After playing for about an hour and a half he took a break and then the entire band played till almost 11pm.. one of the best concerts I have heard.. and I can knock off #15 from my bucket list..

After the show we stopped at a bar and had a bite to eat, we got back to our hotel around 1am, only to hear this woman yelling, swearing and screaming... needless to say, we got very little sleep and by 7am were on our way home to get ready for Lacey and Christophe's Wedding!!!!

It was a beautiful day, Clint and Julie did a wonderful job hosting the event..everything was perfect.

This morning.. Julia and Rachael got up and headed out early to Auburn to run in a 5K  to Benefit YMCA in Auburn, and then they were off  to Christina's bridal shower... 

The weather is perfect today, I did housework, went to get groceries for tomorrow night's dinner party, mowed the lawn and took a nap by the pool.. Life is good.

For next week, My last entry,  I will be posting the weeks events, which look like a great time... lots of surprises in store, then I plan to do a post script of the blog...just a list of titles of each of the weeks... I am sorry to see this blog end... but I am so proud of myself for doing it...

Have a wonderful week and see you all next Sunday!

Luvs

Week #50 Rangeley with the Boys

This week has been so busy.... A short week to start.. with the Memorial day holiday, then add an additional day off (Tuesday). I took the additional day off because we had Gabe and Greyson for the weekend... Lenny and Karri were celebrating their anniversary...

We picked the boys up on Sunday and took them to Chris and Linda's camp in Rangeley.... Gabe had a blast playing with Riley and Sidney on the beach..

Chris was very excited that he had enough people around to actually place the deck back in place against the house... 

many people on hand to help.

OF course... Gri Gri was all about handling Greyson..not a whole lot of fussing going on.. he was spoiled by all there..

Both he and Gabe were good boys all weekend.. we had so much fun

Monday we were invited to the Daoud's for a cookout.. Tuesday it rained all day, but held off enough in the morning for Gabe and I to put flowers on my parents grave..

The three day work week went by in the blink of an eye... On Friday when I got home, I found that our neighbor George had tilled our Garden...love my neighbors..

We also spent a lot of time working on the pool... it is open, the water is clear.. just needs a little more vaccuming I went swimming today.

I have joined the womens golf league at Oakdale country club.. we will play every Tuesday starting next week.. through the summer.. I am also playing in my first golf tournament of the season on June 22.. a benefit for MS... 

Denise and I decided we wanted to practice a little before Tuesday so she came over yesterday.. we did great with our driving and putting.. the stuff in the middle we need work on...

hoping there will be nice cocktails on Tuesday...... :)

Until next week... luvs...

Week #49.. The Patient experience Summit at the Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland Ohio

A team of us headed to Cleveland Ohio for the "Patient Experience Summit" at the Cleveland clinic... the conference started on Sunday at noon.. we were told to try to get in to the city on Saturday as there was the Cleveland marathon happening on Sunday morning and we would not make it to the conference.

So we flew in on Saturday afternoon.. with the free time on our hands. David was generous and bought us all tickets to the Cleveland Indians/ Oakland A's game.. We had a great time, even though the TRIBE lost.

Here is a picture of the team that attended the conference.. from left to right..
front row.. Myself, Jill Rollins, John Ludwig..
back row... Diane Jeselskis, Katy Maloy, David Frum

a great time was had by all.. weather was perfect... we enjoyed the hotdogs and beer...

I would be amiss if I did not talk a little about the conference... It was AMAZING... one of the best I have ever attended... Lots of great stuff and looking forward to a debrief with the team and action plans moving forward.

On day One Jill one a prize..

It was not all work.. we found time to have a little fun, to thank David for his generosity at the game, we took him out to a restaurant of his choice... the Greenhouse Tavern.. here is David ordering a Pig's head.. and he ate the whole thing..

I want to thank David for taking this team to the conference.. I know that we will bring home with us the ideas we heard to help us make Rumford and Bridgton Hospitals two of the best hospitals in Maine..

Cleveland and it's weather  was beautiful.. 

LUVS and 

Bye for now

Week #48 Hospital and Nurses Week 2014

Hospital and Nurses Week 2014

What a great week.. Started Sunday when I brought in Subway sandwiches and gifts for all staff who were working on Mother's day..
On Monday morning we had free breakfast for staff and the free raffles going on all week.
Monday night I brought in Pizza for all staff.. everyone enjoyed Ellis' Pizza

Tuesday was the Banana and Brownie cart as well as Panda awards.. Congratulations to Gale Hill and Steve Yap for the panda award winners.



Wednesday was Dipping chocolate.. we had strawberries, pretzels and hot melted chocolate.. yum.. I came in to the hospital for the night shift to bring in the chocolate..


Thursday was the BBQ and yes.. the dreaded dunk tank............
Yes I got in the dunk tank and I was dunked at least 12 times..thanks guys..love you ...glad I did it for a charity.

we raised 40 dollars for the dempsey challenge.

Friday was the drawing of the raffles and Ice cream sundaes.. I won the Movie Basket..YAY!!!

We also unveiled the "Hallway of Honor" at Rumford Hospital.. this wall holds all the plaques from the beginning of time at our hospital... with names of donors and families, businesses and organizations who have contributed to the success of Rumford Hospital. We had letters and representation from the Governor, Senator Snowe, Michaud and others to represent the special day. Families of the names on the wall were invited and participated in telling stories.

Definitely a great day in the history of Rumford Hospital..

Until next week.. BYE and
LUVS!

Week #47 - Vacation in Myrtle Beach with some wonderful people!

Week #47 flew by with a blink of an eye... I can't believe it is over like that.. I guess that is what happens when you have a wonderful vacation.. thank you to Denise and Said Daoud for sharing their condo with us and taking us there for our anniversary.. Oh yeah.. Did I mention my husband and I are celebrating our 32nd year of marriage this week?.. Love you honey  :)

This trip could not have come at a better time.. all of us were ready for some R and R and that is just what we did... The 7 days flew by like a blink of an eye.
The Daoud's were great hosts.. and they introduced us to their friends Laura and Mike from Ohio... Friends I know I will meet again.. we all had a wonderful time and enjoyed each other's company.

Mike, Laura, Joe, Denise, Me, Said

Picture of us in front of the Carolina Opry.. we saw two shows there and both were amazing.. and thanks to Laura.. so was the Price!.. she is the best wheeler/Dealer I have ever met!

Did I mention that the Daoud's condo is only a 5 minute walk to the beach? It's true.. we had wonderful weather... 80 to 90 degrees and sunny every day.. yes EVERY DAY...

This is a path to the beach and to the Pier where Joe and Said went fishing.

We took walks every morning.. then we did laps in the pool.. hot tub, then packed for the beach.. it was very relaxing and one of the best vacations I have had... 

Here is Joe and I on a walk one morning

As I said, we took in three shows.. thanks again to Laura for getting tickets.. (great seats) for us each night.. at the Carolina Opry.. they have the tap dancing troupe known as "All That" perform.. we saw then in two different shows.. you might remember them from America's got talent" they did very well there...

                                                                    Awesome Tapping!

IF you want to see them perform.. check this out....
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xLGXWtnKyo

All in all we had a wonderful vacation... Flights were good, a little glitch in the luggage .. but that always happens to me so I expected it and was prepared... I came home to a wonderful mothers day that I spent with the Grandkids... thank you to my wonderful children for the great gifts I received.. I am so blessed to be part of such a loving family...

here are a couple of pictures of the boys today.. The Picture of Gabe is significant as he was sick for the last couple of days,, when he came to our house, he was finally starting to feel better and he actually ate a little lunch...

And here is Greyson.. just as cute and so mellow.. as always.. Mr. Cool.

Until next week..

Luvs!

Week #46 - Conference in Boston and packing for Vacation

Week #46..... 6 more blogs to go!

Sorry for the lateness of this blog my loyal followers.. I went from being at a conference in Boston straight to Vacation... So tonight I will be posting two blogs...

Week #46 not only was very busy as it was only a two day work week (in the office that is) but I felt as though I got alot accomplished... Thanks to my assistant Diana. I managed to hire my new Secretary for the Department of Nursing... (very excited for her to start work soon), and organized/cleaned my desk... WOW!
On Wednesday I departed for Boston for the 7th Annual Boston University Hospital OR conference "Preparing your OR's for the future" ... Very interesting and enlightning.. lots of great stuff for us to bring back to both RH and BH.

The conference was 2 and 1/2 full days at a beautiful hotel in the Finance District.. called the Langham.. here is a picture of me next to an old Taxi (still in service I might add) that the hotel had shipped over from Europe.

Here is a picture of Jill, Kathy and Claire in the Famous Cab!

The conference was exhausting however, we did find a little time for some fun.. we did have to eat after all...
here we are at Dick's Last resort...none of the girls had been there before so I took them, I did let them in on what it was about so it was not a total surprise.. we had a great waiter and he had fun with us.

After dinner a few of us took in a show at the Improv Assylum.. As always.. they were amazing... we got back to the hotel, only to find an "event" happening in the bar upstairs... when asked if we were part of the "EVENT" we said of course... so our hand was stamped and we were invited upstairs to the private party happening...
Come to find out, it was a graduation party for a bunch of Foreign students who just finished a business program at Harvard...... There were 48 graduates representing 32 countries! .. Needless to say there was security everywhere.. but we did not seem to be a threat so we just enjoyed ourselves...

A great time.. and a great conference... However, Melissa and I had to leave earlier than planned as our train was cancelled and we needed to take an earlier one in order for her to make it to Lauren's dance recital.. as it turned out... that worked fine for me because I got a call from Joe that morning to tell me his mom was in the hospital.. she was suffering symptoms the same as before in January.. and they were questioning another stroke... I was glad to get home early and see her, and speak with the Doctor.. she was fine, turns out she had just overdone it and needs to ACT HER AGE! ... and not rake her whole lawn, mop floors and scrub her bathtub all in the same day!!! Phew.. I dont think I could do that... I love that woman and I am so relieved that she is fine... she was discharged the next day.

that is all for week #46.. Next post will be all about Myrtle Beach and Mothers day........ Sorry, I know you are all jealous!

Luvs