Giving Thanks

Hello Friends and Family;

We are in Virginia, and things are wonderful, but we wanted to take a second out of the day to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

All of the family has gathered, Jennifer and Tom, Joan and Alister, Graham and Kate, Molly and Laurel, and new friend Tamio.  The turkey is just out of the oven, but all of the 'extras' are heating up in the oven.  Nate and I made Cranberry/Orange dish, Asparagus, and Mashed Potatoes.  Kate and Graham baked pies all night last night!  Everything is looking yummy and exciting.

We spent time yesterday talking about all of the visitors that we've had to Holly Hills over the past few years, and how blessed we are to have them all.  Caroline, and her wit.  Becca and her warmth.  My parents and beautiful sister.  We've loved sharing this place with so many wonderful people, and hope to share it with so many more.

Everyone says hello, and that we are looking forward to all being together this summer.

 Dad's new dog, Luna

 Morning on the way to VA

Had to send this before dinner, because after we'll do nothing but this (YAWN!)

Look out! She's got a Furball!

Hello family and friends!

We missed last weeks update, and we apologize! There has been a lot going on here, and we're trying to get caught back up.

This weekend was Furball, HELP's largest fundraiser of the year. In preparation, I got to do an interview with Fox 59 out of Indianapolis, which was very exciting. You can see that here:

http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-richmond-men-pose-nude-to-help-110410,0,3396462.story

Turns out that none of the board members are particularly excited to go in front of a crowd or camera, so armed with my high-school drama experience, in I went. The interview was a lot of fun, you can see some of the amazing people and animals that I get to work with every day. Nate is working, as we speak, to make the calendars available online, and you can order one at www.helptheanimalsinc.com! Remember, the nude men calendar makes a great gift for all of your women friends, and a great gag gift to all of your other friends!

I also gave the "State of the Union" speech at Furball, which Nate wrote for me. We were joking on the way over that I couldn't write a speech and he couldn't give one, so it was good that we paired up together. It seems to have gone off well, so that's exciting.

Nate and I are part of a training group that meets on Thursday nights to work with the shelter dogs. We started with obedience, and once the dogs (and us) mastered/got bored with that, we moved on to agility. Our local dog park has two tunnels and one tiny jump, which was enough to get started, but now we need more. We have paired up with local Eagle Scout hopeful Cameron DeLucio who will build us the equipment that we need, but we need to raise the money first. Please visit us at:

http://members.petfinder.com/~IN135/AgilityDrive.html

If you could please send this on to anyone that you think might donate (its tax deductible!), we would really appreciate it. If we don't get this started before the snow comes, we likely won't be able to until next spring. Any help that you could dig up would be wonderful.

So that's my shelter update. Thanks everyone!
-Justine (and silent Nate)

Pitts and Panthers

This past weekend we finally got up to Pittsburgh to visit Anna at college, which we knew was way overdue! Both Nate and I took Friday off and had a nice drive there, during which we listened to Radio Lab – wonderful for the car rides! We end up doing more talking then listening to the audio, but we find it sparks lots of stories and discussion.

We arrived in Pittsburgh around 4:30, and drove around for a little while looking for gas and a pharmacy. We were struck by how much it feels like an east coast area – the roads were on hills, with trees and brush everywhere, and it was all changing colors. Mom and dad arrived, and we went out to dinner with Uncle John. We talked a bit about Penn politics, and how his road signs keep getting stolen, and laughingly made comments about different ways that he could keep them from being removed. It was a nice reunion, and a fun dinner!

After we went to see Anna’s apartment, which is in a great location, full of closet space and well furnished and poster-ed. We all hopped in the car (6 of us in the Honda accord!) and went to a place called ‘the incline.’ Pittsburgh is a city that is split by many rivers and cliffs, and this little trolly-like thing takes its riders from the bottom of a cliff down by the river to the top among all the nice restaurants. It also provided us with a beautiful view, and was great for understanding the general layout of the city. After that we rode down and went to the one place that a family must go to once all of its members are 21 – a bar! We all went to Pitt’s version on the famous German Hofbrauhaus, and toasted each other with liters of beer! Good beer, good company, and a wonderful night!

The next day, the Kahler parents and baby Bells set off on their own and headed for the Strip district. This place is down on the wharf, right next to the river, and features rows and rows of old warehouses that have been converted into tiny shops that sell anything you can think of! Meat and seafood, Steelers apparel, tacos, one of the buildings was labeled ‘Acme Banana Company.’ We ate breakfast at famous (due to Obama eating there) Pamela’s Diner, then wandered about looking for Christmas presents and promised items for people back home.

Next was the game. The Pitt Panthers play in the same arena as the Pittsburgh Steelers (locally pronounced ‘Stillers’) and it was really neat to see a college game played in a professional arena. The Panthers played Rutgers, and ended up trouncing them even though Rutgers had a better record than the Panthers so far this year. Two really interesting and fun things – the stadium is the Heinz stadium, and when the Panthers got within 20 yards of the goal its called the Red Zone, and the huge ketchup bottles perched on either side of the scoreboard tip and spill ketchup, turning the scoreboard red. Check out this video – how cool is that? Second most fun thing was for the third quarter cheer, they played Sweet Caroline with ‘Lets Go Pit!’ instead of ‘Dah-dah-dah.’ It was really fun, and now that I know the correct version of the song I can’t get it out of my head; I’m cleaning the house and yelling Go Pitt, Go Pitt, Go Pitt!

After the game, we took a tour of the University of Pittsburg and saw all the places that Anna loves. We went to the top of the Cathedral of Learning and looked out over the university, and Chris and Anna pointed out all of the places that were important to them; the science building, the places where they were each doing their research, different places that they had lived, and landmarks around where the college was. Next trip we hope to see many more of the things that were pointed out to us.

After that, we went out to dinner and ate more than I think we’ve both eaten in a long time. We had dinner at the Union Grill (rock bottom drink prices!), where we split a cup of the lobster bisque and then both had sea food over ceaser salad (crab cakes and salmon – yum!). Then we went to Dozen, which makes and sells only cupcakes (which made a good breakfast the next day), and finally to a frozen yogurt place called RazziFresh. There, you get a bowl, put in as much of as many flavors of frozen yogurt in it as you like, then cover it with as many toppings as you want from the topping bar, and pay by weight. It was wonderful and dangerous all at the same time – tummy’s full!

We bid Anna and Chris goodnight and headed back to John and Judy’s. We got up late the next morning and headed for home – tired but so happy!