The Novelty Has Worn Off

Hello! Sorry I have not written in a while but I have been very busy with work and fun things. The past few weeks have been crazed with lots of good things!

• My mom and I went to Canyon Ranch with my friend Tina and her mom and had a great, great time! It was truly an education as well as an indulgence and we came home with lots of great tips on how to be healthy and fit. I also made a lot of "vows" about not eating processed foods which I know will wear off the minute work gets busy again :)
• Speaking of getting busy again...I then went to Los Angeles for 3 days of work meetings. The meetings were great and I got to spend a lot of time with the actors and creators of many of the Nickelodeon shows. That was a lot of fun! For those of you who are living under a rock, the picture above is myself with the 4 stars of iCarly (the 2nd highest rated show among kids and tweens behind American Idol)
  

I have learned that although I might not feel tired or sick during the week, if I don't get my 9 hours of sleep a night, it really catches up with me. This past Friday, chemo kicked by butt. I have manged to sleep 23 hours over the past 2 days and have been eating a lot of processed, unhealthy food (for some reason I always crave, ice-cream, burgers and fries when I am nauseous!). So much for what I learned at Canyon Ranch :)

The doctor says we only have a few months left of chemo and I am starting to really look forward to that! I think I am "hitting the wall" a bit. I realize that the end is near so many of my symptoms and side effects are becoming more aggravated. It could be because my body is just finally saying "I've had enough" or it could be that I am mentally ready to be done. Regardless, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that is great news. Because the "novelty" of cancer has definitely worn off!

I am very excited to be going to Austin, TX this coming weekend for a Duke Girl's weekend. Then Dave and I are off to Mexico for our friend's wedding. Lots to fill you in on when I get back

A Busy Week

The past few weeks have been filled with a ton of great stuff! On March 24th, I was awarded with 9 other women to be New Jersey Woman of the Year! The award was an empowerment award presented to the woman in NJ who empowers others. You might wonder how we pulled that off given that I have not lived in New Jersey for 20 years but leave it to my publicist to make it happen (aka super mom). The award ceremony was held at Drumthwacket which is the name of the Governor's Mansion in Princeton, New Jersey. I was very touched to receive this award but even more touched by the hard work that went into getting me nominated for this award. My rock star publicist (can you believe she works for free?!?) wrote a really beautiful essay about me and Dr. Maki as well as good friends, former bosses and colleagues all contributed. It's so gratifying to know that I make such a difference in the lives of those I love. And I really loved that my grandmother made the trip and got to see me accept the award since I have learned so much about empowerment by watching her over the years.


And given that Passover is around the corner, I can use the phrase "Dayenu" at this time because it is very appropriate. Dayenu means "and if this were not enough"...yes, there is more!

After I won the award, I flew out to Los Angeles the next morning to attend my very first Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards! For those of you who wonder what I do in my new job, the following pictures will present you with a very "sexy" view. I schmooze, meet celebrities and try not to get slimed! The event was truly amazing! It is so great to see the brand that you work on "come to life" in such a creative way. Jack Black was the host and he was so, so funny! Afterwards I got to hang out in the VIP tent which was supercool! Many of my colleagues have worked at Nickelodeon for a long time so they were laughing at how excited I was to see it all come to life!

For those of you who are NOT "in the loop", that's Harrison Ford and Orlando Bloom getting slimed and pictures of me hanging out with Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Nim's Island) and Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Speed Racer, The Girl Next Door). Quddus was there as well...he is the host of the new Nickelodeon dance show called Dance on Sunset. Oh, and there's Miley Cyrus and Rihanna :) Gotta go shmooze :)