In honor of the beautiful, sunshiney day outside

I love this tree. Although this is (unfortunately) not my house, it's directly across the street from us so I get to stare at the pink explosion every time I come and go. This picture is from a few days ago so now their entire yard is pink with fallen petals!

Another sign of spring in Baltimore-- lacrosse lacrosse lacrosse. While I have been accused of sports fanaticism of my own, lacrosse in Baltimore really takes it to another level...and being outside the beast, I find it vaguely wierd and annoying. Mostly because it tends to dominate my husband's life come springtime, and I can not stomach the obsessive tyrant parents who freak out about little Timmy getting a scholarship to Princeton (and no, explaining that little Timmy is still on the JV, and not even a starter, does nothing to quell the craziness). However-- last week I got to watch three major parts of my life collide when Ohio State played UNC in a lacrosse game in Baltimore. I almost took a picture of the toddlers behind us running around with their baby lax sticks as evidence of the oddness that is Baltimore, but instead focused on the game:

Buckeyes pulled off the upset, 14-11! Made me proud of my midwestern heritage :)


Hopefully this good weather sticks around for the weekend!

Go easy on me, it's been awhile...

I was watching the American Idol charity special last week and without even realizing it, started composing a blog post in my head. It was so horrifying and yet sort of awesome all at once it really got the juices flowing again...BUT, I've decided I should save the negativity for another day (cause let's face it, it was mostly just horrifying) and instead come back with some love and happiness to offer. Since I've ditched the 2 hour daily commute and transformed into Zen Dana, it just seems more appropriate.

It's also appropriate that the target of all this love and affection is the place that inspired me to start blogging in the first place-- GlobalGiving. More specifically, my now former co-workers (ack that is sort of sad to even type) who threw me a rocking farewell party last Friday night. In the midst of lots of bowling, drinking, eating, laughing, and catching up, they also showered me with some ridiculously generous and thoughtful gifts-- including a donation registry for one of my favorite project leaders, Stella in Kenya! Over $800 has been raised so far for a fantastic woman doing amazing work in Kenya (fingers crossed that things stay peaceful) so click here to check out the registry action and/or make a donation.

To the GlobalGiving team-- yall rock. Seriously. It was a privilege to work with all of you for 3 years (plus of course the internship in 2002 of course) and will probably go down as one of the crazier and more exciting things I've ever been a part of. It is a testament to how hard everyone works, and the insane pace that you keep up to build the marketplace, that my going away party had to happen a few weeks after my real departure...but the wait made it even more fun and it was great being a part of the team (if only the bowling team) for a couple hours! Remember, Baltimore isn't so far away, and I hear there is this great commuter train that will bring you right to Penn Station...marathon in October anyone??

Lastly, since I'm back on the blogging train (as of about 10 minutes ago) I feel like I can actually join in on the BlogHer challenge. BlogHer is rallying the blogging community and their readers to support five awesome women-oriented projects on GlobalGiving-- from Nepal to Darfur, these are great projects and I love the concept of "harnessing the power of women online". Check out the great widget below and spread the word!