Earth Day 2012

UPDATED on April 25: 

Breaking news today from the Jane Goodall Institute!  The date for movie ticket sale donations has been extended to MAY 3 !!  Enjoy a movie while helping save & protect chimpanzees....

Hi there ... hope you enjoyed the weekend?

Did you celebrate Earth Day in a fun or special way?  I'd love to hear about it!  Sal and I saw the new (family-friendly) nature film Chimpanzee ... fabulous cinematography!  You can watch the official trailer HERE.  While reminding us all of the fragile status of our fellow creatures and their habitat (although I wish there had been more emphasis on this), the film tells the story of an adorable orphan named Oscar:

The best part? A portion of ticket sales (on or before April 26) will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute to help them continue their amazing work protecting these precious animals.  So swing in to a theater soon and meet lovable Oscar!  :-)  

We also took a nature walk at our local wetlands, Green Cay Nature Center.  It was so special to see newborn baby birds in their nests!  An Earth Day treat!

Earth Day is also my parents' wedding anniversary ... and yesterday they celebrated their 45th!  Congratulations, M & D !!

Have a great week ahead,

a milestone for Buddy!

Today is a day to CELEBRATE !!!

THREE years ago today Buddy was having extensive (and scary!) surgery ... a large cancer tumor was removed from his lung, along with 3 lung lobes! We are so THANKFUL that the tumor was operable, that Buddy came through the surgery well, and that he was strong enough to begin the necessary chemotherapy treatments shortly afterward.

Although he has since (sadly) been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, he is doing well on his medications and we're enjoying every day with our precious beagle. We love you, Buddy!!! :-)

a Presidential day!

Today is an exciting day here on the FAU campus!


President Obama will be here to give an economic address! And even more exciting? I won a ticket to attend !!! FAU held a ticket lottery for the campus community (the general public was not included)...faculty, staff and students only. That was still THOUSANDS of people vying for tickets, and I feel so lucky to have won mine!

Campus will be hectic today with traffic and parking issues, but it'll be worth it. President Obama is only the second sitting US President to visit FAU (the first was President Johnson). So this event is historic .. and I'm excited to be part of it!

The White House will stream the event LIVE online starting at 2:45 PM (EST), on FAU's homepage. Look for me in the crowd! (Sal isn't attending -- he has to teach then, bummer! -- classes have not been canceled today)

happy Easter to all my peeps!

off-the-charts cuteness!

{photo courtesy TreeHugger.com}

OMG, isn't this 2-month-old baby manatee just so adorable?? 25 pounds of PRECIOUS!

But what isn't cute is that he had to be rescued; he was found in the Amazon, languishing near his mother's body. She was a victim of poachers. :-(

Special thanks to the conservation group Friends Of The Manatee for rescuing this helpless orphan!

Enjoy the holiday weekend,