Introducing... Rufus Galbreath

Aaron, Linus and I are pleased to introduce you to the newest addition to the Galbreath family, Rowdy Rufus Red Galbreath, AKA Rufus.

As many of you know, we lost our beloved Simon in November of 2009, and life just hasn't been the same without him. Probably never will be. Personally, I couldn't really ever see myself wanting another dog in the house. That is, until I met Rufus. Now, while it's true there will never be another dog like Simon - I mean, it's just not possible - there can be a Rufus. And there is!

As was Linus, Rufus is a rescued Siberian Husky, which we adopted from Indy Homes for Huskies. IHH is a great local organization that works to find, rescue, foster and then adopt northern breed dogs, huskies in particular. They do a good job of keeping their network informed about available dogs, and in an email last weekend, well, there was 'Fred.' For some reason I still cannot explain, I had to meet Fred.

Anyway, on Wednesday, Aaron, Linus and I trekked up to Marion to meet the little nugget. We trekked back to Noblesville with the little nugget in the back of our Insight. :-)

After renaming him Rufus on the return trip (formal name being Rowdy Rufus Red, as all our dogs have to have three word names of silliness), we brought him home to casa Galbreath.

Rufus is one sweet baby. As you might guess, rescued dogs tend to be grateful to have homes, more so than the average pup. He's no exception. He's very sweet natured and lovable. His only flaw so far is that he's a little too excited about his new brother, Linus. Linus, in his 6th year, has grown tired of silly games (do you believe this?) and often wishes to simply bask in the sun or have a nice stroll around the yard. Rufus wants to play! Well, Rufus is leaning that Linus may not want to play. And, as such things must be learned, all is well.

We're so happy to have Rufus as part of our family. And, we know Simon would be so happy that we've added another furry family member so that we can give this little nugget a great life just like he had. Simon was cool like that. Well, for those of you who knew him, he was the coolest ever.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to give a dog a home, particularly one who's been left behind. For anyone interested in adding a pup to the family, please rescue!

http://www.indyhomesforhuskies.rescuegroups.org/

13.1 Miles, Goddesses and Moms

It was a big weekend in the Galbreath family. I ran my second mini-marathon, we attended the annual Planned Parenthood of Indiana Gathering of Goddesses and Gods fundraiser event and we planted some lovely flowers with Mama K for Mother's Day.

So, the fun began Friday night with a little pasta get together hosted by a fellow-runner and friend, Sonia. It's always good to carb-load with a good excuse. Then it was early to rise on Saturday morning (very early, 5am to be exact), as the race hosts/geniuses moved the start time up this year to 7:30am. This is entirely too early for so many reasons, but I digress.

Earliness aside, the star of race day wasn't Festus Langat, the Kenyan who won the race for the second year in the row, rather, it was the wind. 30 mph winds at the start added to the fun of it being only about 40 degrees. It was brutal in the beginning. Carrie, my running buddy, and I decided we'd be content to finish with the same time as last year given the gusts. Our goal up until Friday had been 2:15. Well, we finished in 2:15:28, making our goal and cutting 12 minutes off of our time from last year. We were psyched! Thankfully, the wind was at our back coming out of the beautiful Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and stayed at our backs for the last 4 grueling miles. For those of you who have never run the mini, the track is probably the most famous part of the course, but it's also the toughest in some ways - it's exciting to run around the track, don't get me wrong, but after about 2 miles, you just wonder if it will ever end.Overall, a great race. I'm so glad it's over.

Just a few hours later, Aaron and I were all gussied up for the PPIN benefit. I was honored to serve as the chair of the promotions committee this year, and I am so proud to have been a part of this important event. Proceeds from this important even provide health services for low income women and men across Indiana.

Joined by Carie Newburn and Don and Gay Murphy (great friends), I squeezed my angry feet into some heels and off we went. We had a blast, finishing off the evening at Birdies with more friends. Needless to say, it was a long (and fun) day. You can actually see me becoming more and more tired in the photos as the evening goes on :-)

For Mother's Day, we traveled to Muncie to visit Mama K and plant some lovely flowers. We also indulged in a comical photo session, the results of which are too funny to even post. Who knew we could make such hysterical faces? It was a wonderful day for all of us. Of course, the weather YESTERDAY was perfect!

We missed Mom G yesterday, but thought of her often. Aaron will be making a trip up next weekend to give her a big, belated Mom's Day hug.

All in all, a fun-filled, jam packed weekend. As I write this, I'm still trying to figure out why I didn't take today off. :-)

Love to all!

A Visit With Harlan Coben

On Tuesday evening, Aaron and I ventured to a Greenwood Barnes & Noble for a book signing by one of my favorite authors, Harlan Coben.

Coben is the author of about a zillion super-awesome mysteries, all of which I adore. My favorite is the uber-suspenseful, The Woods.

His newest book, Caught, is great.

If you haven't picked it up, you should!

Check out his complete library of myseries here:

harlancoben.com

So close...

Butler Falls to Duke, 61-59

That's the crappy headline in the barely-readable-enough-to-still-be-called-a-newspaper Indy Star this morning.

What a heartbreaker! Those Bulldogs were full of fight last night, and I'm guessing the Duke primadonnas (Coach 'K' and fans included) didn't figure on the game they got from the little school that could.

I mean, one more possession and I think I'd be writing a much different blog post today.

Here's the thing... I HATE DUKE! EVERYONE hates Duke. They even did a special segment before the game on why so many people hate Duke. Come on people! No one wants the winner of such a hard-fought championship to be a team everyone hates. Of all the stinking teams. Duke. Alas...

Well, I look at it this way. Those Bulldogs will be back to play another day. Games like this ensure that this little team from a school with only 4,200 kids will get itself a nice batch of new players, and hopefully hang on to their young coach. And like that pinched-face Coach K said, that was Duke's last night together as a team, what with their 'big three' and all - including the guy who looks like that albino, Silas, from the Da Vinci Code.

Hopefully, next year Duke will go out like they did last year. I really enjoyed that.

Meantime, big congrats to the little school from Indianapolis that made dreams come true this year. I don't remember a game like that since Illinois played NC a few years back. And I don't remember a Cindarella story like this in, well, ever.

More than even dreams, Butler re-energized Indiana's love for basketball and made a slew of new fans this year. People forget that just as football is to Texas, basketball is to the great state of Indiana. It's about time we have ourselves a team with some heart again.

I'm over the million dollar coaches and uppity Power 6 conference winners, groomed in fancy gyms and with NBA level trainers. When I see teams like Kentucky, Duke and even North Carolina most years (the list goes on), I see a bunch of well-groomed, upper class fans cheering for their finely trained players who function much like basketball robots.

When I see Butler giving finely trained players the game of their lives, I see heart. I love it!

Duke may have won the game, but Butler surely didn't lose. Go Dawgs!

dgs Rocks!

dgs - my home away from home for the last 10 years - has been named to BtoB magazine's Top Agencies for 2010 list. For those of you who don't exist in a marketing world, this is really a huge honor, so we're psyched.

Check it out:

http://dgsmarketingmusings.blogspot.com/

Three Cheers for Health Care Reform!

FINALLY!

The US finally caught up with the rest of the civilized world today as President Obama signed Health Care Reform into law.

It's about time!

And to the Republicans who would vote against the notion that every American deserves fair and equal access to high quality health care EVEN IF THEY ARE POOR... well, you lose! Again!

Three cheers for President Obama!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/23/health.care.main/index.html?hpt=T1

All Gussied Up

Last weekend, Aaron and I had the opportunity to attend a benefit for the Indianapolis Choir downtown at Union Station (yes, it's still open much to my surprise). Some new friends of ours, Gay and Don Murphy, invited us to attend.

So after much dress shopping, off we went. It was typical benefit style - silent auction, cocktails and dinner. But what wasn't so typical was the choir singing down to the crowd from a mezzanine that surrounded the top of the dining hall - it was fabulous! As most of you know, my husband comes from a very musical family, lots of choir and instrumentation among them, so this was perfect for AMG. I loved it, too.

Thanks to the Murphy's for inviting us along.

Next up, the PPIN Gathering of Gods & Goddesses on May 8. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my tired feet into heels after running the mini, but it's all about fashion, not function, ladies!


Don't we clean up good? ;-)

SweetSimon

August 11, 1999 - November 20, 2009

Simon passed away the Friday before Thanksgiving. I am his grandma and I would like to write a few words to celebrate his life. Simon entered our lives ten years ago.We loved him from the start. He was a wild guy who ran through the house and enjoyed our backyard. He and our dog Lady became great frriends. Lady was a Maltese, so you can picture these two buddies ...one huge and one tiny. Lady was boss!Simon loved her. Simon was the most gentle giant of dogs. He loved everyone. He was a charmer and gave everyone he met a dose of sweetness.Our memories are wonderful! Simon would run like the wind throughout the backyard. Occasionally, he would jump our fence and run away to the front yard. When he started to take off I would hold up a piece of cheese, and he would gallop as fast as he could to get that cheese. He loved to eat. Simon was a great eater. His favorite was chopped sirloin and rice.Unfortunately, I had to cut back on that as he aged. However, Grandma could always be counted on for some cheese.We have so many lovely memories of our sweet boy. He was one of the great dogs in our family.He loved Leslie with all his heart, and she gave him a wonderful life. They were kindred spirits, and fortunate to have had each other in their lives. He was tired, and he was ready to leave us. We, on the other hand, would have kept him forever.I like to think of him being pain free, and his wonderful spirit is romping in a huge meadow with Lady tagging behind him. Thank you, my sweet boy for loving us, filling our hearts with such joy, and enriching our lives with your bigger than life presence. I love you forever, Grandma.