12 Ways of Giving: Email an Old Friend

I have been thinking about my friends back in New Orleans quite a bit lately.  I keep up with a few of them on Facebook, but some of the older folks don't use social media as much as some of the others... 

I got on my little lap top and sent an email to my old boss in New Orleans today.  Donovan was the one who rallied to get me from Chicago down to NOLA, and when I called him last year to tell him I wasn't coming back for the season, he was understanding and encouraging. 

I haven't talked to him since last year around this time, so I just sent him a little email.  Didn't talk me long, but it keeps the lines of communication open with a friend I could have easily lost forever.  That's more a gift to me than anything. 

Just a few more days 'till Christmas, and I have a lot of giving left to do and an empty bank account.  I'm excited to see what I come up with! 

1...2...3... my life

I’d like to bring everyone (which means myself because noone reads this blog) up to speed with what’s going on with a few of my favorite things. Warning: this blog is random, so I’ve included a table of contents to keep you informed:
Project Runway
Moving to New Orleans
Injured Jockeys

Okay, Project Runway has started, or as I like to call it, LIFE. Life doesn’t stand for anything, I’m just saying that I’m obsessed with Project Runway and it’s great and my life revolves around it, and I capitalized it for special effects.
I’m not sure if I’m impressed yet. I haven’t seen anything I’m going to die without, and some of the “love it/hate it” choices by Heidi and the other judges has made me a little like, “wha?”

This I was shocked that they liked! I thought it was shapeless and poorly constructed. The bottom looked awful, it all looked like a cheap, red, polyester bag. The only thing this is good for is to pack your groceries and take them home.

This one, however, I thought was SUPER cute. They hated it. It was in the bottom 3. I would definitely wear it. Especially pregnant. They said it was “pointing to the belly… but I say, HELLO, the protruding belly points to the belly. The thick straps are perfect for wearing a bra, the colors are SO cute, it’s short but not too short, it’s not scandalous like some of the others… it’s SO CUTE. I want it. Okay, it was possibly poorly constructed, but nothing a few more days couldn’t fix. Seriously, what’d they have 12 minutes and $5 to construct this? SO cute anyways.

Now, I know I shouldn’t… but I LOVED this. Loved it. The top’s amazing, the color is a shimmery off white/eggshell. Loved it. Shorry....

Moving to New Orleans!
So… I’m moving to New Orleans… but you already knew that, because you’re either me or my mom (we’re the only ones who read this). I’m pretty excited. Here are a few of the places we’re looking at! This one might be a bit out of our price range… but I’m hoping we luck out.

While I’m there I have a list of “must do’s” and this list will grow until I leave. So here goes:
Meet Brad Pitt
Eat a Beniet
Get a drive-through daiquiri
Go to a Crawfish Broil (or is it boil?)
Find out if it’s “broil” or “boil”
Contract a southern accent (I say contract because I hear you get it the same way you get diseases… dirty needles and sex) (I’m kidding mom)

No worries, this list will get longer the closer I get to moving out there, and the more I learn about the place. As of now that’s all I know about New Orleans…

Injured Jockeys
This is the least upbeat of my topics, as well as the only topic I actually want people to read. We recently had a second Jockey fall during a race and he was seriously injured. His name is Michael Straight.

He’s a really great guy, I’ve met him a few times, and we shared a love of College Basketball and he told me about New York.
A few months ago Allyson here at work put together a REALLY successful golf outing for Rene Douglas, another jockey who was seriously injured here at Arlington.
The outing raised over $100,000 for him and his family. In this economy, that’s amazing to me. But it leaves a lot of people with empty pockets this time around. There are some ideas being thrown around involving marathons and poker tournaments, and whatever happens I’ll for sure be involved. Another issue is the time… We only have a month left of racing, and then everyone leaves for different tracks, and it makes it difficult to rally the troops.

Anyways, Donations to the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockeys Fund, earmarked for Michael Straight should be sent to P.O. Box 18470/Encino, CA 91416. For more information on the MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, please visit: http://www.macbethfund.org/

And, A bank account to receive donations specific for severely injured jockey Rene Douglas and his family has been established and this information was released this evening by the office of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.To send donations please make them payable to Rene Douglas and mail to Citibank, 539 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611

So, I hope you were able to track with the many things on my mind. Maybe I’ll try to blog more often so my posts don’t get this jumbled.

Loves!