Allie in the South of Spain

Lots of people close to me know this and then again I am sure a lot don't. Because it is such a personal, often times uncomfortable subject to bring up I have put a lot of thought into whether or not to write this post. However, since September marks PCOS awareness month , I am coming out. I was diagnosed a while ago with polycystic ovary syndrome aka PCOS. Everyone knows that the best way to get medical info is just to google it, so I will leave you to that to get all the dirty details about physiologically why women with this syndrome have irregular periods, easily gain weight (especially in their stomachs), have problems with hair growth and probably most tragically and frustrating, often suffer from fertility problems among other super great symptoms. If you are curious, 2 articles for a quick overview of PCOS can be found here  and here .  My thoughts on PCOS and fertility problems in general: Why the whole thing sucks PCOS is a real bitch. Besides all of the visi...

Since returning to Spain from the USA there has been one big change around here. Allow me to explain: Jose and I flew out from Chicago where we stayed with our friends Jenna and Mike for the night. We had a nice, albeit short, visit with them and the city. It was while we were there for a day that I received an email inviting me for an interview at a school close to our apartment. Originally I had planned on staying at the position I had worked at last school year but had sent out my CV to other places last spring just to be safe. This job interview came out of nowhere. They were looking to fill a position quite quickly and wanted me there for an interview on a Friday. I was offered a job teaching 3rd grade (English, art and computers) on the following Monday. It all happened very fast and so far, so good. I had a hard time leaving my old job because I liked it a lot but this new school is about 5 minutes away from apartment and the schedule is nice. I get to see Jose a lo...

We have had an amazing summer here in the USA!!! I am sad to leave and say goodbye to all our friends and family but I can honestly say that we took advantage of almost every moment we've been home. You can read about some of our specific summer adventures in these posts: Our girls-only weekend trip to the Big Apple Hanging out around the great state of Michigan Family GAGME trip to Washington D.C . Climbing Mount Pleasant As if all that weren't enough, we also went up to visit our good friends in Mount Pleasant (though I blanked and didn't take any pictures) for a few days last week. We walked around the campus and saw how much everything has changed since I graduated from CMU. Talk about expansion and new buildings! We also got to see Erica and Ernie's new house and have dinner where they had their wedding reception. Jose and I are excited that they are planning a visit to Spain in December. It'll be a great way to start the new year! Wedding weekend ...

The bald and the beautiful You may have noticed in some of the pictures I have posted this summer of my niece, Daphne. She doesn't have any hair on her cute little head. No, she is not sick in the traditional sense of the word; she isn't suffering from pain, no chemo, no cancer. (Not that I want to downplay her condition because being bald and being a girl will not be easy). Daphne suffers from alopecia which has caused her hair loss. Basically it is an autoimmune disease in which her body fights her hair. It could grow back or not. The whole situation sucks the big one. For Daphne. For her mom. For all people who don't have hair (except maybe Walter White). The long and short of it My sister Chrissie and I have been growing our hair out for some time in order to donate it to a charity that makes wigs for children. We decided to use Children with Hair Loss  ( www.childrenwithhairloss.us ). It is an amazing group that change the lives of kids who need a self esteem...

Garber's Annual Gathering: A Monumental Event My family and I have decided to create a new tradition in which we will take a vacation together at least once a year thus labeling it with the acronym GAGME (the ME part allowing for changes according to where we go). Since there are a lot of us and differing ideas of what constitutes a good trip, how long is too long for a roadtrip, what we should spend, where we should stay, what our themed days should be, etc., there was a bit of discussion and compromise before we finally decided on Washington D.C. for our inaugural year.  On the road to DC I had never been to our country's capital and loved seeing all the monuments, memorials, museums and such but won't bore you with photos of the things you probably already know are there (the White House, the Smithsonian, the National Zoo). Suffice it to say that there was a good blend of tourism mixed with a fair amount of time swimming in the hotel pool, hanging around and l...

Loving lake life Since our girls' trip to NYC we have been busy and this summer just seems to be flying by. First, we have been enjoying the lake life, swimming, boating and fishing as much as weather has permitted. I love being near water and can't imagine summertime without it. A view of the lake Fishing!! On the raft Fowlerville Fair Next we had a visit from my sister, Katie, and niece during which we headed to the Fowlerville Fair. I wrote about going last year here . This time we mostly went to see the animals with Daphne since she loves an aminal (the way she pronounces it). She seems to have a slight obsession with the song "Old McDonald" so it was cute to see her interacting with the farm animals she is always singing about. She also got her face painted and we enjoyed some unhealthy treats. Seeing the aminals. Face paint and Noonie Elephant ear. Yummmmmmmmm. Pure Michigan Birthday Bash My other sister, Chrissie had a 30...

As a gift to my mother for her latest milestone birthday (45 years young, right??!!) my dad sent her, my sisters and I to the Big Apple for the weekend. And it. was. great. We left super early on Friday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon. In those 2.5 days we packed in just about everything you can think of in NYC including: Times Square, Rockafeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, FAO Schwartz, Barney's NY, Central Park, the MET, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial and more. It was intense but LOTS of fun! We stayed in a hotel a few blocks away from Times Square which is always crowded and bustling with energy and people. We went both during the day and later at night to check it out. My sisters' and mother's reactions were mixed and in fact I think they might have been a bit disappointed with this, one of NYC's most famous sites. I get it. It's really just a place with lots of advertisements, ...