happy 1st birthday, harper!

Harper is 1 !!!  Where did the time go? :)  It feels like yesterday when Dan and I were racing up to GB to see the Kellermanns in the hospital.  He was so little with this angelic face, adorable head of hair and big floppy baby hands.  He has grown into such a beautiful big boy with such a fun personality.  We love Harper SO much and love watching him grow and can't wait to see all the great things he will do.

just keep swimming

School is really getting me down.  I'm exhausted, both physically and mentally (more mentally I think).  Studying is making me one lonely little nerd.  Dan and gang went out tonight for Craig's birthday and it pained me not to join them.  Steph called to see if I was going to Bunco with the mamas last night and I had to decline that too.  All I've gotta say is, dearest nursing school, please give me my life back...thank you kindly...


Patience is tough.  I'm working so hard at it.  I know the finish line will be filled with all good things.  I know nursing school is something I got myself into, I kinda have to just suck it up, ya know?  I have to remind myself that I am doing this to give myself a better life and afford more time to be with family, laughing, traveling, relaxing, and going on adventures.  I just miss all the little pleasures in life right now. 


A few quotes on patience to inspire me til Spring break arrives in three weeks:

“Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit.”-Turkish Proverb


“Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.”-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon


“All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope”-Alexandre Dumas Pere

“For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice”- John Burroughs


“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions” -Rainer Maria Rilke

A few pics from my happy place to inspire me to keep on trucking, stay positive and know that I am so blessed...

The gift of sunshine on sparkling Sand Beach

Nature left us this colorful treasure

Fall in Maine...my happy place

simplify, simplify, simplify

It's been a tough week at school.  Lots of drama, lots of work, and morale is at an all time low.  I decided I can't waste what little energy I have left on junk and negativity.  I am going to try to make a pact with myself to stay positive, there are only 3 weeks left of school (what!! what!!), so I have to make it!!!
I saw this funny algorithm and had to share it:

I figured it was a great time to re-evaluate priorities and just. be. happy! Sounds easy enough!
Dan and I are taking these next few weeks to focus on what is really important in our life. (Not that we don't already, but it's easy to not be in the moment when you're drowning in schoolwork.)  Dan starts student teaching March 15th (less than a month away)!!!  Ten weeks after that, he will graduate! Woo! And ten weeks after that, I will graduate! Woo Woo!!!  Hopefully sometime within the next 23 weeks, we can pass school, find jobs, move to a new place and make a baby.  Sounds like a lot, but why not cram a half dozen major life experiences into a few months?!?!?!?! Hopefully, with hard work, patience and countless prayers, our dreams will become reality.

happy birthday, auntie carla we miss you

Today is Auntie Carla's birthday.  We miss her terribly.  Her cute little laugh, her big smile, her adorable fashion sense and generous warm heart.  She was taken from this world much too soon.  ALS is a beast with no cure, no treatment and no hope.  It's a horrible, devastating disease and research is not moving fast enough to save lives.  We know Carla is up in heaven with Papa, playing cards and drinking wine together.
We love you, little Carla! You will always be our girly girl.

One of my favorite pictures of Auntie when she was in high school

all that i am or hope to be

February 12, 1949, my grandparents, Lucia Carmella Fascilione and Orlando Joseph Bruno, were united in marriage.  They were my second set of parents and I truly am who I am today in part thanks to their unconditional love and support.  Not many twenty-somethings have the fortune to call their grandparents some of their best friends, but Grams (when she was still with it) and Papa (when the world was blessed enough to have him in it) were my best pals.  I loved watching them jitterbug in the kitchen, fight over who was cheating at 500 Rummy and scratch lottery tickets at the kitchen table.  I love how my Grams would say aloud, "Boy, I wish I had an ice cream cone" and minutes later Papa would bring her one, just the strawberry and vanilla from the Neapolitan box.  Papa would take her to the gambling boat and she'd win pretty much every time.  So many of my fondest memories are set in their kitchen, watching Grams in her apron make gravy and meatballs and Pops drink wine from a juice glass while grating cheese on the counter.  I can still hear the sound of the top of the cookie jar opening and seeing Papa eat a Popsicle in two bites.   They fought like hell though.  Grams drove Papa nuts.  Despite that, I love their love and they were amazing parents and grandparents.  Look how beautiful Grams looks and Papa sure looks dapper on their wedding day:

I found it fitting that today is also Abraham Lincoln's 201st birthday.  He is one of Dan's favorite people in the world and I love this quote from Abe:

"All that I am or hope to be I owe to you"  
Truer words were never spoken, thank you, Gramma and Papa.

(Abe rainbow print courtesy of Justin Richel Art  http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustinRichel)

auntie dana and uncle dan can't wait to meet JASPER!!!

Look at this handsome face...
hiiiiiiiiii!!!!

Look at this cute big foot!!!  I think Jasper is going to be tall like his dad!  (And adorable like his mama :)

We are SO happy for Drew and Sara and cannot wait to meet this little cutie pie.  We love them so much and we miss them terribly.  Whenever we walk outside, we instinctively look up at their apartment window and then sigh when we realize they're in AZ.  We hope they come back to IL someday, so we can watch big boy Jasper grow up.  Jasper is one blessed baby, as his mom and dad are the COOLEST.  Seriously, this baby is gonna come out of the womb breakdancing and wearing a puma jumpsuit and a kangol hat.  Holla! Dan and I miss all the fun times laughing with our besties, Drew and Sara, but look forward to what the future will bring...lots of fun vacations together, raising our kiddos together (they'll be BFFs too!!).  We love you, Sara, Drew and Jasper.
Love,
Auntie Dana & Uncle Dan
(coolest aunt and uncle ever)  

another beautiful baby girl on the way!

We are SO happy for our friends, Katie and Brad, who are expecting another baby GIRL in June.  Katie was my first friend and roommate at Barat and it's amazing to grow up together! First college, engagements, weddings and now babies!  YAY!  Their little angel, Olivia, is absolutely precious and I can't wait to see how adorable their next little princess will be.   I mean, of course they are having another baby girl, how can you resist this face?