I have gratitude today for...
* walking around the Philadelphia Premium Outlets with Andy today. We bought Andy a few t-shirts and a couple pairs of shoes at Bass. I got a new pair of brown "comfort" shoes for conferences (and they're actually pretty cute) from Bass and a couple pairs of running shorts from Reebok. It was a beautiful day to walk around. I forgot how many great stores there are! I'll be going back to do some Christmas shopping.
* a fantastic 90 minute massage at Cortiva. It was the first time I've had a 90 minute and it was wonderful! It was kind of weird because it didn't really feel like it was any longer than a 60 minute; they always go by so fast. I'm thankful for Cortiva because they are so reasonably priced!
* finally getting the stones replaced in my engagement ring, having the ammonium replaced on my wedding band, having all diamonds tightened and both rings cleaned. My engagement ring, especially, looks amazing! I was a little annoyed because the cost of the stones was $36, yet they charged me $80 total "to set them". I'm no jeweler but that seemed a little crazy to me. Oh well--it's done and hopefully I don't have to worry about it again.
* watching the season one finale of Homeland again and then watching the first two episodes of this season in King of Prussia. We don't have Showtime at the moment so it was fun to make an afternoon of catching up on this amazing show! This season is as good or better than last season!
* Tony A's pizza for dinner.
* more great playoff baseball!
* the adorable picture Michelle sent us of Red Rocks---Jillian, Debbie, Michelle and me. I wonder what it would be like if we all lived close to each other. We'd have the best girls' nights!

Red Rocks 2005- DMB Love (love the ticket stubs in the background)

* the message I received from Pete Shungu on Facebook today. He saw mom & me in a picture from the UFAR 5k last weekend. It turns out his father is the founder of the organization! Pretty incredible. It made me feel so good about doing the race and proves what a small world it is. It also proves Facebook has incredible power to bring people together when used for the right reasons!

Christine,

Not sure if you remember me, we went to Lawrence High together back in the day.
I wanted to drop you a line, because I had one of those small world moments. My dad, Daniel Shungu, is the founder of UFAR, the non-profit org
that had it's 5K last weekend in Princeton. My wife Melissa and I came down
from Boston to run in the 5K.
I was looking at the pictures from the event that were posted on facebook,
and Barbara Fox had tagged you in one of them-- I put two and two
together and realized that you must have run the 5K as well.
First off, thank you!! I don't know if you have been involved with UFAR
in the past, but we greatly appreciate the support.
Secondly, hope all is well with you. It looks like you got married, so congrats on that.
My wife and I just got married a little over a year ago.
Take care,
Pete

P.S. You played in the band in HS, right? Dunno if you're still in
touch with Haltmeier, but he moved up to the Boston area, and
he's actually played sax at a couple gigs with my live hip hop band.
It's been great to reconnect with him