Family

Today was a full day of meetings and more meetings. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but our team has been working with a business coach. He comes once a month for a face to face visit, and we have weekly phone conferences. Today (and tomorrow) is a face to face week. Our meetings are good. We do some marketing, a little sales and a lot of team building. After our meetings, Bossman, LBM and I always seem to feel a greater sense of camaraderie and companionship. We are a team. A fearless coalition. A family. And after speaking with my mom tonight, what else do we have, if not family? Family can the be people you are born to, or friends you have made along your journey, but family are those that love you and who you can trust. To me, my relatives, and my work family mean the world. I know they will always be there for me, and I hope they know I would do anything for them as well.

Busy work day. Many meetings. Soup for lunch. The only good part was that Katie's girls came to the office after school. Here's Aliana. She's a sweety pie. She made me a book with colored pencils filled with peace signs! It's so beautiful. ...just like her.

Here's the little cukoo. This is Alessia. She's delicious. She made me a picture too. It's a beautiful picture that says "I love Randi". Love it! Love her too.

Aliana the model's photo shoot. I think this was just after she went through my purse, counted all my money and ate all my mints... Little devil.

Aliana and Alessia's photo shoot.

Two hot babes.

...and here's Miss Alessia with all my makeup on her face! What a day!!!

Slept late. Got nails and toes done. Then attended our community's Annual "Meeting" Party. Not sure if you guys remember last year...it was the 50th anniversary of our community (built in 1960) so the theme was 1960's Beach party. Our Pom, Miss Tallulah Belle and I won the costume contest. :) Membah?? Well, this year's theme was "HOEDOWN IN THE HILLS" a western themed extravaganza filled with food, line dancing, local speakers, and fun. Mayor Susan Whelchel was a speaker. Nice lady. The Covered Wagon Catering Company made us yummy grub. Chicken, burgers, franks, corn, slaw and more.

Lee and Joanne. The Vice President and Secretary of our great community. Last year Joanne won

the volunteer of the year award for our 'hood.

This is Camille. Another of the board members.

Here's Hubs with James, Camille's hubby and another board member. Jim's Mother and Father bought a home in our community as new construction, back in 1962. Their best friends did too. They bought our house! Jim and Camille have pictures that they promise to give us someday! How cool s that???

Here's David and Cecil and another neighbor. David is a past President, and current Board Member. He is the backbone of our little 'hood. We couldn't do the things we do without him. That's why he received the "Clem Storch Memorial Volunteer Award" this year!!! Yay David!!!

Ah. The hot dog man. Thanks!!!

Some of our speakers...

Boca Fire Dept

Boca Police Dept.

After the party we met Hubs' family for dinner at the Gramercy Deli....and Boca Police.

.

Uncle Steve and Hubs

G'Ma, Aunt Judy and MIL.

FIL and me

Today Hubs and I did some errands. CVS, mall, dog groomer. Nice day. Then we went to Coral Springs. I have had the same two best friends since High School. Shelly and Lauri. We went to high school and college together and have stayed besties forever. Tonight Lauri invited us to join her at a fundraiser for her kids High School Drama program. It was at the Coral Springs Performing Arts Center. What a beautiful place! We had never been there before. Tonights fundraiser was a

comedy night.

We ate, we drank, we laughed. ...and when all is said and done, what's better than being with good friends?

After the show some of us went for more food. Beer and wings! Then Hubs and I went back to Lauri and Michael's house. They have four children. Two of them are away at college... but they were home tonight, so we stopped by to say hi. Love them! They looked great.

Their youngest son was home tonight too, hanging with his brothers! He looked fabulous. He got so tall and lost some weight. He looked amazing. What a lady killer. ...and the baby, Adele, was at a sleepover, so we didn't see her tonight. But so glad we got to see the boys. We had a great night. Hope you did too! Lots to do tomorrow. Need to get to bed. xoxo Night.

Elwood

Thursday

Worked hard. Ate cookies. Went to dinner with Sissy, Little, Big and Hubs. Middle was with friends and BIL was away. Lu them.

Friday

OMG. Work was crazy. Tax time. It was Tracy's last day for 12 weeks. She's gonna have a baby! We ordered in Chinese food for her "going away" party. Our favorite. #28 steamed with brown rice. I also offered her my favorite baby girl names. "Lily Rose", "Sofi Sara", "Macie Brie" and "Lorelei Hanna". She didn't like any of them. I think she's going with Addison. We will see. Home on the couch with the pups. Hubs is working late. He should be home soon...with dog food and people dinner food. Relaxing tonight. Busy day tomorrow and Sunday. Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Good Shabbos. Peace.

PS- The picture above is of a doggy named Elwood. He was voted Ugliest Dog in the World.

Bless his little heart.

Today the day began with a visit to the Dermatologist. About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, which was removed with Moh's surgery, 12 stitches and some reconstruction. I am supposed to go for check ups every 6 months. It's been 4 years. So today I went. Dr. Rendon cut off, burned off and looked at many things on my body, but all in all, got a good report and off to work I went. Yay! Katie surprised me with a matzoh ball soup for lunch. LOL Whadda girl. Thanks Kathleen! xoxo

<--- My cancer surgery scar. Poor thing.

There's a lot of information on the internet about skin cancer.

Please check your bodies. Be aware. Ask questions. Arm yourself with knowledge.

The below site is has some information, is easy to read and concise. Check it out.

http://www.skincancerawarenessproject.com

The ABCD Rule can also help tell a normal mole from a melanoma:

A: asymmetry – one half of the mole does not match the other half

B: border irregularity – the edges of the mole are ragged or notched

C: color – the color of the mole is not the same all over. There may be shades of tan, brown, or black, and sometimes patches of red, blue, or white

D: diameter – the mole is wider than about 1/4 inch (although doctors are now finding more melanomas that are smaller)

Other important signs of melanoma include changes in size, shape, or color of a mole. Some melanomas do not fit the descriptions above, and it may be hard to tell if the mole is normal or not, so you should show your doctor anything that you are unsure of. Skin cancers often don’t cause symptoms until they become quite large. Then they can bleed or even hurt. Basal cell carcinomas often appear as flat, firm, pale areas or as small, raised, pink or red, translucent, shiny, waxy areas that may bleed after minor injury. You might see one or more irregular blood vessels, a depressed area in the center, or blue, brown, or black areas. Large ones may have oozing or crusted spots. Squamous cell carcinoma may appear as growing lumps, often with a rough surface, or as flat, reddish patches that grow slowly. If you have a question or concern about something on your skin, see your doctor. Do not use pictures of other moles to try to diagnose it yourself. Pictures are useful examples, but they cannot take the place of a doctor’s examination.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Squamous-cell carcinoma is the second-most common cancer of the skin (after basal-cell carcinoma but more common than melanoma). It usually occurs in areas exposed to the sun. The risk of metastasis is low, but is much higher than basal-cell carcinoma. Squamous-cell cancers of the lip and ears have high metastatic and recurrence rate (20 to 50%). Squamous-cell carcinoma can generally be treated by excision or mohs surgery. Nonsurgical options for the treatment of cutaneous SCC include topical chemotherapy, topical immune response modifiers, photodynamic therapy (PDT), radiotherapy, and systemic chemotherapy. At this time, systemic chemotherapy is used exclusively for patients with metastatic disease. Australian scientist Professor Ian Frazer, one of the developers of the HPV vaccine, says that animal tests have been effective in preventing squamous-cell carcinoma in animals, and there may be a human vaccine against this kind of skin cancer within the decade.

The Mohs procedure is essentially a pathology sectioning method that allows for the complete examination of the surgical margin. It is different from the standard bread loafing technique of sectioning, where random samples of the surgical margin are examined.

Mohs surgery is performed in four steps:

• Surgical removal of tissue (Surgical Oncology)
• Mapping the piece of tissue, freezing and cutting the tissue between 5 and 10 micrometers using a cryostat, and staining with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) or other stains (including T. Blue)
• Interpretation of microscope slides (Pathology)
• Reconstruction of the surgical defect (Reconstructive Surgery)

Stuff

Work was good. Had meetings. Ate at my desk. Came home. Had leftover Chinese food with Hubs. Watched NCIS & American Idol. My picks for the top 6 guys are :

James Durbin

Scotty McCreary

Paul McDonald

Jacob Lusk

Casey Abrams

Robbie Rosen

(Alternates are Tim Halperin, Jordan Dorsey or Stefano Langoni)

Girls tomorrow. Let's see how they do...

Blackberry Torch with sparkle peace sign case...hot!

...and my gorgeous new Michael Kors tortoise shell watch! I love stuff.