There's something about what happens when we talk...

Can't get this song off my mind today. Heard it on slacker radio the other night and confused the voice with Chrissy Hines. Loving myself some Lucinda Williams today.

"If I had my way
I'd be in your town
I might not stay
But at least I would've been around

'Cause there's something about what happens
When we talk
Something about what happens
When we talk

Does this make sense
It doesn't matter anyway
Is it coincidence?
Or was it meant to be?

'Cause there's something about what happens
When we talk
Something about what happens
When we talk

And conversation with you
Was like a drug
It wasn't your face
So much as it was your words

'Cause there's something about what happens
When we talk
Something about what happens
When we talk

I can't stick around
I'm going back south
But all I regret now
Is I never kissed your mouth

'Cause there's something about what happens
When we talk
Something about what happens
When we talk

Something about what happens
When we talk
Something about what happens
When we talk"

It's official. Vacations #1 and #2 are booked for this year!

Yes! We are going back to CALI. We cannot wait. We've been talking about it all week and Carmen says she is excited to go on an airplane and she is already talking about packing her bags and all of her stuff she has to bring from our house...most importantly her red dinosaur, Samantha. Yes, she HAS to go everywhere with us...or it can get devastating!

She's a riot.

We were on Facetime with Mary last night and Carm got to see her 4 dogs, cat and the pool. She was pretty psyched about all of them.

So we leave end of March, spend 10 nights there and then we head to Phoenix to stay 3 nights with Aunt Cindy & Uncle Bob and spend Easter with them.

It's going to be pretty great! I cannot wait to take Carm around to some of the fun places I loved about living there, the Getty Center, Griffith Park Observatory, Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach just to name a few. Mary says there is a Dinosaur museum near the La brea tar pits. Should be pretty cool.

We haven't been back since July of 2010 when we got married!

Gosh. Where have we been?

I feel like we've been flying fast. So much life has passed by since I last wrote in July.
It was a superb summer. One of the best. So much vacationing and relaxation and enjoyment. I'm surprised we work as much as we do because we really got to have some fun last year and I feel like more vacationing is right around the corner.

So big news as of late is that Mike is running a 1/2 marathon in NYC on March 15th through the NYC marathon association in support of the PKD charity. We have raised just over $2,000 and we've only just begun. We aren't ready to open up yet on Facebook so we have only shared this with the very few friends and family that know about our situation and everyone has been so generous it's been truly amazing. We are starting to get ourselves out there and talk with some people who are in our same situation through private Facebook groups and it's been so helpful for me. We realize even more just how rare and lucky our case truly is. Carmen is doing FANTASTIC. Perfect. We just had some great labs done at her appointment with Nephrology this month and her scores could not have been better. We meet with Hepatology next month and are hoping for the same outcome.

Here is the link to the fundraising site. We posted some great photos of Carmen. The NY marathon only allows 10 runners to run for the charity and Mike came in on the last position. Now we've moved to the # 1 place because of our donations.

https://www.crowdrise.com/pkdfoundationnychalf2015/fundraiser/michaelcartwright

& Mike is doing awesome. Training and running hard daily. This is huge for him. He's always been active and in shape but he has never been a runner. He sure is becoming one! This is just the first of more marathons to come.

Next on the horizon is we are finally hopping on the plane with this little girl and heading west. Even though I admit since becoming a mother I worry about EVERYTHING....why do you think we drove to Cleveland last May??!! We could have saved ourselves 12 hours by just flying but I wasn't ready. Well, now I think we are. We've always been into traveling and Carmen will be too. It looks like we will be in LA in March visiting Auntie Mary! Mike and her husband, Ray, are going to put a new roof on their new home. The guys will spend a few days working hard but mostly we will relax by the pool and hit the beaches. Carmen is going to love it. Of course we will HAVE to take her to Disneyland while we are there!

There's a possibility of tying the trip in with a visit to Phoenix also to see Aunt Cindy & Uncle Bob and the kids.

& then we have the lake house in August again & we are already talking about seeing Soup & Lilah Ivy in Tahoe in October!

OK OK I don't want to wish this year away already.

I will say we are off to a great start!
Peace, love & light...until next time.