another kacie original

   this is a small collage Kacie made me for my birthday. I think I talked about it at some point earlier in the blog. She made this for me when she was living in San Antonio and sent it in the mail to me. It was one of the first times in years she wasn't with me on my birthday. I keep this collage up on a bookshelf that I have her picture, a seahorse painting i did, and an ocean city souvenir. I am not sure what book the text is from but it is something about egypt. It also sounds like it is talking about life in general ... "life giving elements"... "change of the seasons"

Kacie painting

I told Gary that I would post a picture of the painting that Kacie painted for me. I think she gave it to me when we were both living in Baltimore, maybe 2003? She might have given this to me when we were in SC but I am not sure. The painting sits on top of the nice credenza table that Kacie won at Natalie's work party along with some other framed Kacie pics.

Recordings

We have about six of Kacie's messages on our land phone along with a message from Jeff in Iraq telling us that he was on his way to the hospital. I like to hear Kacie's voice so I listen to them on a regular basis in her room. I plan to eventually have the messages put on a cd. One of them is from 6:22 pm on her last night of consciousness. She was obviously very intoxicated that early in the evening.

Last night, I dreamed that I was listening to these recordings and Nancy was in the room with me. Kacie began to talk with me over the phone and I told Nancy what was happening and she was very excited but wouldn't come near the phone. Kacie and I talked for a while and she seemed very happy but then I asked her if she had a job and she stopped talking. There was silence for a while and then I asked her how she planned to make money and I lost the connection.

yoga with Kacie and Wai Lana

back in the days of VHS.... Kacie and I use to do Wai Lana Yoga. It was a VHS tape I got at Barnes and Noble or soemthing a long time ago. We would put the tape on and Wai Lana would kick our butts with some yoga. The tape was over an hour long and at some point we would always end up hysterically laughing because of some really strange position we would have to do that required us facing each other and we wouldn't be able to stop laughing. Wai Lana is from Hawaii and her voice almost sounds like a cartoon so we would always make fun of her too. In any case, I lost the tape a long time ago when I gave away my VCR. Today I was at the Good Will thirft store by my house. I found a few pieces of clothes and was at the register paying. Then behind the register and they had a whole stack of DVD'S and there was an unopened Wai Lana DVD. I had to buy it. I haven't popped it in yet but I am sure it is going to kick my butt again. 

a few more pictures

I wanted to post the other side of the camera shots from River Road. Also, a photo of a crazy sandwich Larissa ate at the Cheesecake Factory!

awful :(

I had an awful kacie dream today when I took a nap. It was very short, but very intense...and unfortunately, very upsetting.

Basically, all that happened was that I opened a door...i think it was the front door of a house and I was inside...and the person on the other side of the door was Kacie, and when i saw her I just started screaming, because i knew she shouldn't be there. and she was so confused and just kept saying "rissy, what's wrong?" but I just kept screaming.

:(

Dunkin Donuts cup

This morning I woke up late and ran to D n D before work. I'd been sitting at my desk for a few minutes and looked at my cup. It made me smile because it made me think of all the lip gloss stained cups in Kacie's car. Hope it makes you guys smile too.

sunday, march 15th

 amanda came to baltimore. it was kind of a rainy day :( we went to river road and snapped some photos. Larissa was the photographer.

The Same Old Dream

In Kacie's memory, I haven't had a drink of any type of alcoholic beverage in about six months. As I said before, alcohol contributed to Kacie's death and if I had known that she had had a problem I would have helped her to quit cold turkey and never drink again. I'm just doing what I would have wanted of her.

In the last couple of months, I keep having the same old dream. I'm with friends and someone gives me a beer or a glass of wine and I take a sip but suddenly realize that I made a promise to myself and Kacie. I get a terrible nausiated feeling in my stomach and feelings of guilt that cause me to wake up.

And The Winner Is........

We can't keep you all in suspense any longer.

Our new boat will be called Sweetpea. The name will appear on each side of the boat with a ship's wheel next to it.

Boating around Hilton Head Island will never be the same.

Medieval Times

I am finally posting this photo that I found in my things. Natalie, if you want it, I can mail it to you.

The date on the bottom that is cut out of the pic is September 15, 2005.

Name The Boat Contest

Beebs and I bought a little boat with a big motor. We should get delivery within the next week.

We have a problem. What should we name it? I'd like to have the name painted on both sides and we want a name that will give us a happy memory of Kacie.

Possibilites so far are- Sweetpea, O.C., Stinkpot, and K&J. Any suggestions? Maybe the name of a favorite food, place, or person?

Thanks

I just want to thank everyone for visiting her favorite spots and doing her favorite things. The pictures were great and I especially enjoyed the initials in the rock and the river scene. That will always be a destination for me when I visit Baltimore. Hopefully, the initials on the jetty are as well preserved.

My Favorite Blog

I reviewed all of the blogs on Kacie's website to pick my favorite-one that really gives the best idea of what Kacie was all about and the winner is-

Natalie's "In Response To A Difficult Project"

The many jobs that she had and the places that she lived said it all.

Thanks

Dear Jeff, Natalie, Vincent, Larissa, Amanda,

Thank you, thank you, thank you
for the beautiful flowers you sent us. We received
them yesterday afternoon. The rose bouquet and yellow daffodil bouquet were just beautiful. It really means more than you will ever know.

It sounds like all of you had such a great day yesterday. We got to talk to Jeff. We loved seeing all the pictures. You guys didnt miss a spot that she loved. Kacie would have been so proud. We ended up having dinner at Delvechios an italian restaurant here that kacie loved. We had the little garlic rolls that she always ordered and gary had the grilled vegetable salad that she liked. We even sat in the same booth. There's no Friendly's here, so i had a peanut butter cup sundae at Cold Cremery here.

It was a difficult day but somehow it helped doing the things she loved and of course hearing from you guys and how you spent your day. You also brightened Mimi's day, she loved seeing you and she told me about the soda. THANKS!!

today...

today was a very long day. vince and i took off work and met up with Larissa later on in the day. We started our morning out at Jimmy's diner in Fells Point. This was a favorite place of Kacie's. The food was cheap and good.
you can see in the window their logo is a anchor.... Kacie loved anything nautical.
 it was an overcast day in fells point, but the temperature was nice, in the 50's.
 a random "k" i walked by in fells point. After Jimmy's we visited Soundgarden (in fells point as well) This was Kacie's favorite music store. Vince bought an Elliott Smith cd, one of Kacie's faves.
we went to river road later that day and the carving still looks great, Jeff!



two little love-water-bugs amidst circles :)

some more artistic shots from river rd.

after river road vince and I made a brief trip to visit mimi and we brought her a coke from McDonald's. Just like Kacie used to do for her. We sat out on the front porch and talked for a while and then she had to go to dinner. She said that Jeff had tried to call her several times today and she kept missing him. If you haven't gotten ahold of her yet Jeff, shes really looking forward to talking to you. 

later we met up with larissa at Friendly's in catonsville for dinner and the famous peanut-butter-cup sundae. We also could not resist but to ask fro crayons and color sheets.
 larissa and i both ordered the "sliders munchie mania" kacie would have been impressed. it came with 2 sliders, cheese and bacon waffle fries with sour cream and the cutest little mozzarella sticks i have ever seen. it was delicious...
vince went for the more modest chicken finger platter :)


and then ofcourse we ended the meal with the famous peanut butter sundae.... and it was just like I remembered. Hope all of you had one too. Wish Kacie was here to share it with us. Sorry they probably don't have Friendly's in Germany ,Jeff.

kacie pics.

Sweet Pea

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for all the beautiful pictures and memories of Kacie. Please do something
fun to remember her by today. She was always laughing and joking around, and she would have wanted that. We planted a yellow daffodil in her honor and will do some other things today that she liked. I will also try to post some random pictures today and throughout the week.

Some of my favorite blogs throughout the year were especially of the trips to Ocean City that you did in her honor, the Volkswagen Thing that jeff posted since she always talked about buying one, the picture of Kacie in her purple hoodie when she first moved to Hilton Head, all the dreams, Bingo night, the daffodils, and I could go on and on. You guys are something special.



Love ya,

Nancy.

Dear Kacie-

I love you

images i haven't posted before... i think?