Whirlwind weekend

What an awesome weekend... We spent the night in Tampa on Friday with Chris' mom, sister, aunt and uncle. What a fun night! We went to Outback for dinner then came back to the hotel to play a few card games. Such a great time!

Thennnnnnnnnnnn on Saturday morning Chris graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of South Florida!! Graduation was at 9 AM followed by lunch at the Columbia Restaurant with Chris' family and my parents and grandparents who joined us for his big day! I can not even begin to explain how proud of him that I am ... he has worked so hard over the past 4 years by working full-time, taking 12 credits every semester and of course by being the most amazing husband that a girl could ever wish for ... I'm so very lucky!

On Sunday morning I woke up early to work on a paper. Then we decided to check out the local animal shelter for a kitten. Lakeland SPCA didn't have any kitties (well they did but they were already adopted) sooooo, we decided to make a drive over to the Tampa Humane Society. This is where we found our newest Rohde baby! We adopted an adorable kitten who is only 9 weeks old (DOB: 2/28/09). She is very cute and super lovable! We decided to name her Phoebe (read: Fee-bee). Peyton and Persephone are very excited to meet and play with their new baby sister, Phoebe! Lets just hope that the girls get along!

Below are a few pictures of Phoebe coming home ... notice her baby blanket that was given to us by the shelter. How ADORABLE is she?! More pictures coming soon ...

Sleepy Phoebe laying on her baby blanket on the way home



Phoebe in her box on the car ride home


So not only 1 time but TWO times did Phoebe climb up behind the CLOSED dresser all the way up to the TOP drawer where she was then trapped ... no worries, we have blocked all entry. haha



Aww, this picture melts my heart - so sweet!


Our little escape artist...




Baby Phoebe and I ... love her!


We will hold off on the integration process for a couple of weeks (just to be sure she didn't bring anything home from the shelter. We don't want to infect Persephone). She is 100% healthy and is up to date with shots but it is general procedure for Humane Society to suggest that when mixing shelter cats with home cats. This also gives time for Phoebe to get a little bit bigger ... she is TINY ... probably only weighs around 2 pounds, if that.

For those of you who are wondering or who might ask ... No, we do not plan to name our future kids with "P" names ... or even the same letter for both/all of them. This is just something we are doing for our pets, our Princesses.

We ended the weekend by going to Cirque du Soleil: Saltimbanco at the Lakeland Center. It was an AMAZING show ... I can't wait to see another Cirque du Soleil show in the future.

I plan to post a few pictures from Graduation and more kitty pictures by the end of the week ... check back for updates.

With love,
Connie

An afternoon at the Lake

We decided to take a walk around Lake Hollingsworth since it was such a beautiful day! We picked a great day to walk the lake as they were having a speed boat competition. It was fun to watch as we walked. However 3 miles in flip flops was not a good idea! Thanks to Chris he switched shoes with me half way through and saved my poor little toes!

After the walk, we went to dinner downtown and checked out some of the shops around town. It has taken me a while to appreciate the little city we live in and it is days like this that remind me of why I love living here. I know, I know Lakeland isn't that small but it is smaller than any other city I have ever lived in before.

I will try to post pictures from our walk and the boat races sometime soon.

My pink surprise

Today I got a surprise delivery of a PINK external hard drive!!

In case you don't know what this is, it is a tiny portable hard drive for my new [pink] laptop. It saves documents such as music files, pictures, and important school papers. It's so cute and small. This little thing will come in handy since I save a lot of important school documents and pictures. Here is a picture of what it looks like...

iLove it!

It seems there always has to be excitement in my life. Well, this past Friday night I was working on a paper that was due Sunday. Already in a time crunch, I pretty much needed the stars to be perfectly aligned to pull this off in time for the Sunday due date. Wouldn't you know ... my computer crashed!! Well sorta ... the monitor plug decided to break ... literally it just broke. One minute I was looking at the screen and the next it couldn't find a connection. LOVELY.

Luckily I called in my personal IT guy, aka my awesome husband!! After trouble shooting with the spare (read: very old computers/monitors) he determined that it is the monitor port on the back of my computer tower. If you know me well enough, you will know that when I say "Friday night" that literally means early Saturday morning (after midnight). By this time, it was close to 2:00 AM. Chris tried to set me up on his old desktop however he was in the middle of a windows/Linux crossover which was not complete. Basically it isn't able to function yet and would take a lot more time to configure. By the end of the night, he started a full re-install and we would see the results (if it took) in the morning.

The next morning: the re-install didn't take and would need take a lot more time to configure so he suggested that I get a new computer since 1. my computer was over 5 years old and 2. his old computer is even older than that (probably 6 or 7). Unfortunately, time was not on my side as we had a wedding to attend in St. Petersburg Beach at 1:30.

Long story short .... we went to the wedding, had a blast, spent the night at the Bilmar Beach Resort, woke up Sunday morning, went to the Apple Store at the International Plaza, and bought a MacBook!!! I have officially entered the "Mac World" ... and, iLove it!

I got a 2.4 MacBook which has the new silver casing shell however I got a "protective" cover which just so happens to be PINK. So, it looks like I have a Pink MacBook which makes me love it even more! hehe Here is a picture:


This computer is amazing and I'm not sure how I lived without one before this. Oh, and I finished both papers that were due tonight! Woohooo!!

Valentine's Day 2009

Happy Valentine's Day 2009! I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful day with your special Valentine. I sure did!!


Earlier in the week Chris mentioned that he had my Valentine's present and I could have it "whenever" during the week or I could wait until Saturday. Of course, knowing that it was here, I just had to have it. hehe What a great present - he bought me a "Dream Escape" package to my favorite Day Spa here in Lakeland, DayDreams. I love it and I can't wait to use it!

Later in the week he surprised me by having pink and white tulips delivered. Tulips are my all-time favorite flower next to roses. I love both but tulips can only be found a couple months out of the year which makes them that much more special when I get them. I posted a picture so you all can see how pretty they were.

We went to the Melting Pot for dinner which was very yummy! Apparently reservations at the Melting Pot on Valentine's Day are very popular and hard to come by. Luckily we made our reservations back in January because we are Fondue Club members. Dinner was amazing and so romantic ~ I love my hubby!

We enjoyed the "Cupid Special" which featured a quattro formaggio fondue (cheese), a salad course with a choice of traditional caprese salad with balsamic glaze or strawberry almond salad with basil infused white balsamic vinaigrette. Our entrée course included cold water lobster tail, tuscan sirloin florentine, filet mignon, honey orange duck, shrimp diablo, citrus fennel pork tenderloin, and lobster ravioli served with seasoned vegetables and assorted dipping sauces. Our favorite course was dessert where we had dark chocolate fondue infused with orange cognac liquor for that perfect orange zest flavor.

After dinner Chris suggested that we go to a movie and that I could pick any movie that I wanted to see. (Translation: I will go to one of the girly movies that you've been wanting to go to). So, we ended the night by going to the movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" at the Lakeside Village. (Thanks honey, I love you!!)

I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's Day (week) or a more special person to share it with. I forgot our camera but Chris took a few on his new iPhone (his Valentine's Day present). Here are a few pictures from our Valentine's night out.

Chris and I at the table.
Cheers to another Happy Valentine's Day together!

Thought this was cute even though part of our heads didn't make it in there, lol.


With love,

The Rohdes

Update on Miss Peyton Marie

Peyton's results have come in. It is in fact Melanoma. The pathologist said that there is a low degree of atypical cells with some neoplastic cells but overall it appears to have benign characteristics however not clean borders (one area real close to site where taken) which means there is a slight chance of spreading if in fact there is some beyond the area they took from... The Pathologist recommends to "keep close eye on it" but the Doctor is concerned because it grew so quickly so we have elected to have XRays, Bloodwork, and a Urinalysis completed. We are taking her in tomorrow morning at 8 AM. Depending on the results from tomorrow's tests, we will be referred to Florida Veterinary Services for further treatment. (http://www.f-v-s.com/)

Please keep praying for our baby!!

Sorry its been so long

Sorry it has been so long since our last post. We have been keeping extremely busy. We hope you all had a safe and Happy New Year! We had a fabulous time and I will be posting pictures soon!

As you've read in earlier posts, 2008 was a very hard year for us and we were anxiously awaiting the start of 2009. Unfortunately, 2009 hasn't had the best start. We are sad to announce that our precious Peyton (3yr old Lab) has been diagnosed with Melanoma. Yes, the very same disease as her Grandpa Rohde. As you know, Peyton is far more than "just a dog" or "just a pet" to us ... she is our sunshine and we both simply adore her. Please pray for her and for a speedy recovery. The doctors believe that we caught it early and we are hoping (PRAYING) that we did and for a full recovery. We received the test results yesterday (1/14/09) and she went in for surgery this morning (1/15). The doctor called and said that the surgery went very well and that she is recovery just fine. We are sending the entire tumor for pathology to get a full diagnosis so we will better be able to come up with a treatment plan. There is also a possibility that we will be referred to an Oncologist in Tampa. Peyton is only 3 (well, 4 on Feb 3rd) but she has so much more life in her and I can't imagine our family without her there. Words can not even begin to explain how much we love her! Again, thank you for your continued prayers and well wishes!

In more sad news, my Godmother, Connie Fielder in Atlanta is suffering from COPD and Hospice has been brought in ... I am far too familiar with this stage as we recently went through this with Chris' father. It doesn't get any easier but it is good to know what an amazing organization they are and that they are doing all they can to make her comfortable during this time.

On a positive note: we had new floors installed last week and they look absoletely amazing! We chose a light cherry wood for the dining room, living room, hall and all bedrooms. We tiled the foyer, kitchen, and bathrooms. The color combo looks great and both Persephone and Peyton enjoy sprawling out on the floor since it's a bit cooler than the carpet was. Also, we purchased a new hutch for our dining room from craislist (only $75) and it is beautiful! Once things settle down, I will post a few pictures.

Again, we thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as we are praying for comfort for my Godmother and for Peyton that the cancer has not spread and that she will be just fine for many years to come!!

With love,
The Rohdes