26 Mar 2013
Fitness & Family

Taking Care of Our Children

The Women’s Association of Morristown Medical Center (WAMMC), Morristown, NJ, is proud to raise money and awareness to help our community’s children. With staggering statistics of one-third of our nation’s children overweight, including 31% of children in New Jersey, WAMMC has selected the highly successful Goryeb Kid-FIT program to receive all proceeds from the Super Bowl 2014 Ticket Raffle currently being held.Print

“I was happier after I started Kid-FIT because I was able to do what everyone else was doing.  It was a big change in my life,” said Kevin, a high school student, featured in the “I Can Do Anything,” testimonial video produced by WAMMC to help tell the story of the Goryeb Kid-FIT Health Management program at Goryeb Children’s Hospital.  Go to  (http://www.wammc.org/News/Events/Raffle.aspx) and watch this amazing video. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
08 Feb 2013
Acquired by Experience

Got back pain?

I remember raking leaves one beautiful autumn day about 14 years ago.  My back seemed a little sore when I finished.  Two days later, I couldn’t walk, sit or stand comfortably.  I started getting worried a week later when I was still in agonizing pain.  So, off I went to the doctor.  After a lengthy interview with my internist, I was sent to a specialist.  The specialist performed some the tests, and I was diagnosed with a herniated disk.  A what?

The doctor told me that I had damaged by lower disk and that gel from that disk was spilling out and inflaming the tissue around it.  I was told to get plenty of bed rest and take a high dose of Motrin.  After a week of bed rest I did get better, but the pain came back a few times during the course of that year.    The doctor told me surgery was an option.  I didn’t want surgery.  I had a young family and my husband and I both worked.  The time in bed put a lot of pressure on me from missing work and time not spent with my family.   Back surgery was a big deal to me and not worth the chance.  I would try to work through the pain. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , , , , ,
08 Jan 2013
Reviews

An Edge-Of-Your-Seat Movie with a Twist – It’s True

“The Impossible”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have time to see a movie, go see “The Impossible.”  It is an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting, eyes covered, suspense story of one family’s survival during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  The movie makes you feel like you are there.   I almost felt the blows as the debris slammed into the actors, the realism is unbelievable.

The movie lets you settle in for about 5 minutes and then bam – - – - Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments
26 Dec 2012
A Tidbit Bit • Reviews

A Little Light Reading for the Holidays

The clouds inch by my office window bringing a coldness that will last till spring.  Winter has arrived  spitting out a few snow showers and a little sleet just to harden the top layer of soil.  It’s the quiet time right after Christmas when the meals, family and shopping are all done, but before the new year.  A time when you are tired and don’t feel like doing much of anything – maybe a book or a movie, but nothing too taxing.

As the cold begins to creep into my bones for the season, I grab a throw and head for the fireplace and open the first book in my overflowing stack of books that I haven’t had a chance to read yet. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , ,
06 Nov 2012
Uncategorized

Oh, Sandy!

Oh Sandy
You came and you took without mercy

 Helping can be right next door.

The rain begin its trip to earth in earnest on the rolling hills of Morris County around lunch time on Monday, October 26th.   Colorful fall foliage not yet ready to descend to the ground broke from the weight of the pounding rain and landed heavily on the earth.   These beautiful leaves were the first victims of this storm, this ‘catastrophe,’ this once in a lifetime disaster.

By Monday night, the winds had really picked up.  There are 90′ white pine trees all throughout our property, with the majority on the right side of our house in a wooded area.  We lost power by 4:00 pm. But the worst was yet to come, by 8:00 pm the wind was howling.  The gusts came up over the ridge, which had never happened before in any storm.   My husband and I stood in the safety of garage and watched with sickened awe as mother nature pummeled our property. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , , , ,
23 Oct 2012
Trips, treks and travel

Fall Wonder

How is it possible that death can be so beautiful?  Fall is a wonder with its kaleidoscope of bright bold colors.  Even though it brings in the drab, cold winter months, I still look forward every year to this time.

I’m looking out my second floor office window and watching the reds, yellows, oranges and greens command the landscape.  The magnificent blue sky of summer now seems so pale and uninteresting by comparison.

Even nightfall astounds me with its burst of glowing color dropping out of the sky and seemingly melting into the landscape below.   The colors are so pronounced almost daring artists to even try to come close to what nature does so easily.

I try not to travel during the Fall because it always goes by too quickly and I want to enjoy it while it’s here.

 

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , , ,
22 Sep 2012
Trips, treks and travel

Freedom

I had the privilege of travelling through the Ukraine this summer.  My husband’s parents are both from the Ukraine and came to America after WWII.  We went with my in-laws and our children, so we had three generations  together to make this pilgrimage.  My ancestors came from Ireland and Great Britain, so I didn’t have the ancestral pull to see the Ukraine, but I was excited anyway. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , , , ,
14 Aug 2012
A Tidbit Bit

Sunday Morning

Where can you find out what is really happening at Plum Island?  Or, how many bridges the gondolas of Venice have to navigate. Or, what is Japan’s ghost island?  Questions you probably never thought too much about.  But, if you are just a little curious about the world we live in, then tune to CBS News Sunday Morning  Show.

Tune in with your morning coffee and maybe a muffin, before you know it an hour and a half has gone by and you can’t believe your desire to go get that new artist you just heard about.  Maybe you find yourself looking up information about a new movie or book.  Sunday Morning peeks your curiosity – imagine a show that shows something really interesting.  How else does a thirty, forty, fifty-something find out about Adele, before her songs play nonstop on the radio. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , ,
25 Jun 2012
Trips, treks and travel

The National September 11 Memorial

Recently, I visited the 9/11 Memorial.  The Museum will not be completed for another year, but the actual memorial is open.

The symbolism seeps out of every angle, every shadow,  every tree,  every structure.   It’s powerful,  but comforting.   The largest made-man waterfalls in the U.S. are set into the footprints of the North and South Tower of the World Trade Center.   There are about 3,000 people listed on the bronze parapets surrounding the waterfalls.  These are the men, women, and children who died on September 11 in the attacks on the World Trade Center, Shankville, PA, the Pentagon and the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center attack. Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: ,
16 Jun 2012
Mansion in May 2012

Happily Ever After for Mansion in May 2012

 

Denise Panyik-Dale

Mansion in May 2012 has officially ended.  The signature fundraiser of the Women’s Association of Morristown Medical Center exceeded all goals from attendance to money raised.

There was a glamour to this home, a fairy tale quality that just sparked the imagination.  And that indefinable quality was at the heart of making this the most successful Mansion in May to date.

It all began with the right house, and that isn’t controllable, you have to use what’s available.  Only once in a  blue moon do you come along a house like “Glynallyn.”  Then, you have the right mix of volunteers that live, eat, sleep, (and clean) only the Mansion.  Next, you find the right designers (both interior and landscape) that will turn the dusty, overgrown relic of a mansion into “Mansion in May.”

Read more

kim.harwanko | No comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
« Older Entries