but before it happened,

we took one

last shot at

our morning ritual…

(more…)

today, i work my

last day at

my current job,

and on friday, i’ll

wake up in

a place i

haven’t been in over

seven years…

on monday we’ll

be on a really,

really long flight,

and by tuesday,

we’ll wake up in

a foreign country.

but i’m getting

a little ahead of myself…

(more…)

in a little more than a week we’ll be on a plane, heading off on our new adventure.

crazy, i know.

and as i’ve mentioned before, there’s another person coming with us…

(more…)

A.J. here.

Matt asked me to give you an update on this weekend’s events.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Gala last night was a huge success!

Thanks to everyone who came to the event and donated to help families in need.

Thanks to everyone who donated merchandise or services for the auction.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who worked tirelessly over the past weeks and months to ensure that it would be a success.

We couldn’t have done this without everyone, and so we thank you!

If you didn’t get a chance to come to the Gala last night, you still have a chance to bid on some awesome items. We have an eBay site set up, with an auction running through this week. All proceeds go to benefit the foundation.

In addition, there is a story about Matt and Maddy on the front page of the Star Tribune today, A Father Alone Spreads Help to Others Like Him

Matt and Maddy Logelin were in the Twin Cities this weekend for two events to support a foundation Matt established earlier this year in memory of his wife. The nonprofit “Liz Logelin Foundation — for the love of Liz” offers financial support to men and women whose partners have died and left them with dependent children.

“I could have easily sat back and said poor me, poor me, please continue to send me clothes, send me gifts for my daughter,” he said on Sunday as Maddy played at his in-law’s house in Minnetonka. “But that’s not the case. I know there are other people way worse off than me. I see that as a big responsibility.”

The second annual 5K walk at Lake Calhoun on Saturday drew 300 people and raised more than $9,000. A gala Sunday night at the Calhoun Beach Club with a silent, live and Internet auction was expected to raise even more. An original painting by Maddy had a high bid on eBay of $400 as of Sunday afternoon.

Help us spread the word about The Liz Logelin Foundation! Send the article and the foundation website to your friends and family.

A.J. here.

Matt and Rachel have been all over the local media for the past few days to promote The Liz Logelin Foundation and our 5K and Gala events

Rachel was on WCCO yesterday to talk a little about the foundation and our upcoming events. Check it out!

Matt was interviewed on Twin Cities Live this afternoon. He talks a bit about his blog, the foundation, and there is a special appearance by Maddy!

Here’s the video:

Matt was also on Kare11’s EXTRA segment, first airing yesterday. From their site:

Over the last 18 months Matt’s blog has become, literally, famous. More than a million people hang on his every word. A book is now in the works.

The life he leads with Maddy has become so inspiring a foundation was formed to help people just like them.

The Liz Logelin Foundation works to grant money to men and women who lose their partner to death, and are left to parent alone.

The video segment up on their website, and it airs again this evening at 6:30pm.

Finally,

We just got some news from Becky about the fund-raising totals for the 5K.

You raised over $9,000 for the foundation today.

We are overwhelmed by your hard work and generosity.

Thank you.

so old to me.

and it used to scare

me to

think of

things like average

life expectancy.

the promise of that

number brought little

hope, because it

never read,

“forever.”

not for any of us.

but 77.9 years for

you just didn’t

seem like enough…

and it’s unreal to

think that you came up

47.4 years

short of that promise.

and to think…

middle-aged at 15?

three years after

you reached middle age,

that’s when i became me.

and almost

18 months after

we got fucked out

of that 47.4 years,

i am still

me, but a different

me, thanks to

you.

and right now…

on the day

you would have

been 32,

i’m here,

in your home,

for another date,

one that i

don’t want to

acknowledge, at least

not without

you.

we shouldn’t be

here,

in your bedroom,

in your parent’s house,

no.

not without

you.

but i am.

and i will be.

and madeline…

she will be,

and she is.

and we are.

to her,

her mom

is a photo,

and every

photo is her mom.

i said that

to michelle and shannon

at dinner the

other night and

i’m sure they

were both thinking,

“what the fuck does that mean?”

(more…)

1. comments – before, you had to be a registered flickr member to comment on a photo. now everyone can comment.
2. voting – you can now vote for the photos you like by clicking the words, “like it?” at the upper left of the photo.

why are these two things so important?

well, i’m working on a really, really cool project at the moment, and i want your help in picking out a photo of maddy and me from the first year of our lives together…

i’ll let you know more about the project as soon as i can, but for now, click on the “all images” link to the right of this post (or click here to see them), and vote for the photo(s) you like. you can vote for as many as you wish, but you can only vote once per photo (i think).

oh, and the voting needs to be finalized by noon pacific time on monday, sept. 14th, so get your votes in. (that said, the voting mechanism will remain in place even after the deadline).

sorry for the short notice.

thanks for your help…

we’re working on a few changes around here on the blog. please excuse the mess as we get a few things back into place. matt and i are pretty excited about it, and we hope you like it!

update: the changes are mostly complete. we have a few more things to get back into place, but I think you’ll find this new layout a bit easier on the eyes and easier to navigate.

matt is going to fill in some additional info about a special project…

(Sep. 19, Update, I made some fixes so that the site displays properly on Blackberries…)

more on that

in a bit.

on a tuesday

i held my

maddy tight

as i made it through

another 25th without

her mom.

that’s 17 of ‘em

now, and it

still feels like yesterday.

(more…)