After my precious Blue Kitty passed away, I started looking for a kitten to adopt. Although Blue can never be replaced, I had never lived without a cat in my life until Blue was gone. If you know me, you know that I have a special love for any “blue” cats (meaning gray). My mom and I both saw her profile on petfinder.com, so I knew it was meant to be. Turns out she was born in the U of Arkansas baseball field dugout to a wild mama cat. The baseball coach caught the kittens & brought them to a vet to be adopted. After trying to think of a clever baseball name, we finally decided on Cindy Crawford. Yeah.. don’t ask.

Check out more photos in the Cindy Crawford Flickr set.

My mom took me to D.C. to see the New Kids on the Block for my 28th birthday! We spent a long weekend exploring all of the places that we use to frequent (I lived with her in D.C. in 2001). Cory Branan happened to be playing a show nearby, so we got a little taste of home in the big city. It was a month before election day, so it was an exciting time to be there.

Check out more photos in the Washington D.C. /2008 Flickr set.

After 15 long, happy years Blue Kitty has passed away. I adopted her from the pound in the 6th grade, so she has been with me through quite a bit. She brought comfort to me when I was sad & always made me feel happier when things were great. She went with me when I moved to DC (and got to ride in first class while I was stuck back in coach) and of course was along for the move to Fayetteville. Her first experience here was a picnic in Wilson Park. Todd & I had driven our moving van into town, but had to wait a few hours for the keys to our house. We took her cat carrier to the park & had a lovely family lunch. People probably thought we were crazy. She loved it here in Fayetteville though. Her last day was actually quite nice. In fact, just a few hours before she passed she was climbing on the chill zone fence and I asked Todd, “Doesn’t she look young today?” Later that night she laid down in her favorite spot in the driveway and just went to sleep. Now she will rest peacefully forever in our backyard, buried with her brush (her favorite thing ever) and a little snowflake so that part of me will always be with her. Love you Blue.

In September I went on my very first work trip. I was in charge of all the planning, travel, hotel stuff for a two day long business meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Working on the beach rules.

Check out more photos in the Hilton Head Island Flickr set.