My Address-

I'm off for the summer...
love to everyone,
be safe!
kris

I apologize ahead of time... I, not thinking very clearly during the last week or so of living in NC, left my laptop hidden under my bed, which means that I have no way of uploading my photos from my trip to the west. (My computer has a slot for an SD card...if anyone has a laptop in DE with that feature, let me know!!) Anyways, so I may not be able to post pictures of what I consider to be the MOST beautiful place I've ever had the pleasure of visiting... atleast not until august. Maybe I'll order one of those Kodak picture cds at the drug store.

I visited 9 states in 8 days. Well, that includes the layovers in Utah, Illinois, and Nevada...I never made it out of the airport for those three ;) Whitewater rafting in Idaho, Rodeo in Oregon, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK in Wyoming and Montana... I definitely had a blast during my time out there. I would do it again in a heartbeat. My aunt and uncle live out there, and their one son (my oldest cousin) and his wife - and their three children... ages 3, 2, and 10 months. What a handful. But very cute..

Camp begins on Tuesday, of course I'm nervous out of my mind. I bought a big black trunk like Em's and I'm working on filling it up. Right now I'm actually in NJ at the Galbraith's - and no one is home. Kelsey's graduation party is this Saturday (at 3, if you're in DE PLEASE COME!!! Its at the James's house!!) and I'll be back for that.

I must leave another disclaimer.. I am a bad friend. If your birthday was in the past month or six weeks.. I am so sorry. I haven't really called anyone on their birthday, life has just been going a little too fast for me lately. Thankfully, on Tuesday life should slow down a little... and be a little hotter, a little dirtier, and a little bit more my level. If you'd like for me to send you cool letters on camp stationary (with campfires and canoes!!!) then leave me your address... they say that getting mail at camp is the best part of the day!! I'll post my address before I go to camp, so that you can consider sending me something...anything...

I guess that's about it for now. Today I'm just doing laundry and hanging out with the pup, who I haven't seen in almost two weeks! Em is at a lifeguard training class all day, so I'm off to the washer... and to figure out how the hell to work my new phone, its totally complicated and pretty. :)

Love everywhere,
Kristen

Idaho

Feb. '05 approx. 2 months before relapse

Things are still pretty insane right now. I wish I had time to update this more often, but we just got internet at our new house and then I left to come back home. We leave for Idaho tomorrow morning, the flight has a layover in Las Vegas! Not that I'm even of gambling age. I'm really excited though. My family has a lot planned for us- we're going white water rafting down the Snake River, going to a rodeo, and we're taking a charter flight to Cody, Wyoming from which we will drive to Yellowstone National Park and stay for two nights and have the weekend to explore the park.

Today I have to unpack all of my things for camp this summer so that I can pack for Idaho...also, today I am getting an upgrade on my phone - thank god. Ever since the milkshake incident, when it rings it sounds like it's under water!

After I get home from Idaho, I won't even be able to post an update because there's no way for me to get pictures onto this computer at my mom's... so maybe Em will let me update from her laptop at some point once we get to camp.

Sorry this is so short, and not interesting at all-- I just have been too busy running around to be interesting. If anyone has called/emailed me lately and I haven't gotten back to you - I'm sorry! I just can't keep up with life sometimes, haha.

Love everywhere,
Stay Safe,
Kris

Kelsey's Graduation/Sydney's Illness

Rehoboth Beach, 1992. Ages 5 & 3.

I'm in DE now, I flew home tonight (was supposed to have a flight for this morning at 9am, but it had to be changed...more on that later.). The first thing my mom and I did when we got into Wilmington was go straight to Rita's for a Mango waterice. I crave it so much down in NC. The reason I'm here this weekend is for my cousin Ashley's wedding (tomorrow) and for my sister Kelsey's graduation from high school. It should be a really fun weekend- I'm kind of sad because none of my friends are home this weekend, of the people who came back to DE for the summer, they're all at the beach. Which sounds fun, I just miss everyone and I won't be here all summer, not even for one weekend. Crazy summer.

So today was eventful. To begin with, this entire week has been us moving into our new house. It's a fabulous house, I love it so much. Living with Em makes life so much easier/convenient, and Sydney is happier too...well she would be, if everything hadn't happened. The past two weeks Sydney has been a little "under the weather". I am using that as a blanket statement, because we spent all night/morning explaining to people the exact events of the past two weeks, and I can't bear to describe it all again, it's horrendously boring and the word "diarrhea" was frequented a little too often for me. So, it all boiled down to Sydney waking us up last night and she was really ill, vomiting and more diarrhea and panting, these weird stomach noises... so at 4:30am we took her to the Emergency Vet, and while she was there, she had diarrhea all over the floor...but this time, it was full of blood. Which threw up a red flag, and suddenly, Sydney's "under the weather" condition because a lot more serious. Syd spent all of last night in the ICU hooked up to fluids, and then this morning we had to transfer her to our vet, and they ran a ton of tests... The diagnosis: Sydney has Pancreatitis. Basically, she ate something that was WAY too rich or high in fat for her system (such as bacon grease, not that she ate that, it's just a good example.) Her pancreas, over the past two weeks, has been enflamed and has started digesting itself (ew?) ... So this left Sydney pretty ill, and Em and I completely confused as to what was wrong with her. Thankfully, our vet is awesome and figured it out... Sydney's Lipase (an enzyme) levels were at 5800. Normal is 1200 ...

Hopefully by tomorrow she will be feeling much better. I'm sad that I won't be there when she comes home, because I cried for so long last night, especially after the scare at the ER vet ... A nurse came out after Syd had the blood episode and said to me and Em, "I just want to let you know that things have become serious. If Sydney becomes unstable, we will come get you right away so that you can be with her..." I sobbed, I seriously thought I was going to lose my big pup. However, it seems that she will be okay, and soon get back to chasing the moths outside of our house and snuggling up to us in bed.

That's all for now.
Love everywhere,
Kristen