Thankfulness

Today I wanted to say a quick thank you to a special group of women.

My childhood pediatrics office.

No, I am not kidding or crazy.

These women, who for the sake of privacy stay nameless, have shaped my entire life. They are some of the first people who ever met me. They made going to the doctor fun (and they try not to give me too much grief about the time I was at the office, left, and then was returned shortly in tears with a bleeding head because of an unfortunate car door incident.)

My mon began working with them when I was 12. I began working with them when I was 17. They supported me through college, that big breakup, and are still supporting me while I moved away, entered the workforce, and ended up married to the most amazing man.

So thank you Ya-yas. Thanks for the laughs, the tears, the support, the bridal shower, the gifts, and even the card from the nurse who shall remain nameless. (You taught me to always make sure I pay really close attention!)

I love you!!!!

Great Day

So today has been one of those awesome, southern, summer days.

My friend and her hubby are in from Montana, and we hiked part of the Appalachian Trail near my house.

The weather was beautiful, and the company even better. And A & J: sorry I slowed you guys down. (I am way not in hiking shape.)

So here's the view from our perch at the top. BEAUTIFUL huh?

What a Friday

My cousin/sister A send me a message Friday that could not have been more fitting:

"We have to give up good things to find great things." I gave up a good thing Friday. And then my Friday got crazy.

So, as some of you may know, I am not returning to the school I teach at this fall. It has been a fantastic 3 years, and I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.

So Friday in itself was emotional, packing up my life there and saying my goodbyes. At the end of the day, I had a meeting with the principal where I turned in my keys and had a chat about how much he has learned about my character this semester. It was tough. We then had an emergency faculty meeting, where we learned that a former colleague had emergency surgery to take out cancerous cells. Outlook: positive but with no further details.

So there came some tears as I climbed in the car to leave for the last time as a Knight. I grabbed for my phone to call my mom, and my phone wasn't there. So I spent the next 30 minutes running through the building looking for it. My friend/assistant coach found it, in the bottom of a box, about 2 minutes before I was suppose to meet D's mon 30 minutes away.

So I called, and met her at the alterations place instead of Target. I was only 5 minutes late for my appointment. 2 weeks ago my dress wouldn't zip. The dress that 3 weeks prior was 4 sizes too big. My seamstress assured me that it would fit Friday because of normal bodily changes. Lo and behold, she was right. I went home with my wedding dress perfectly sized!

On the phone with my mom, I discovered a deer had destroyed a lily and ate the top off my hostas. Vowing vengeance, I marched across the yard to D and informed him that I wanted him to shoot the deer he sees every morning. He laughed at me, and as I turned to go back to the house to unpack my car, I was stung by a bee. Second time in 3 weeks. Bees must love me.

So inside I went, took a Benadryl, 2 Tylenol, and stuck a piece of ice on my ankle. About 20 minutes later, I was really itchy. Like crazy itchy. I told D I was going to take a shower to see of the itchiness went away. The look on his face wasn't good. "ok but you lol awful." Not really comforting from the man I'm gonna marry. One look in the mirror told me he was right. From the upper thigh to my face I was covered in raised bumps with red splotches.

In true adult fashion, I called my daddy. He told me to take another Benadryl and if my tongue felt big, or if my throat hurt to call 911 immediately. Well, my mouth went numb. Not a good sign, so on to the hospital we went. Along the way my mouth felt better, but then my chest hurt. After checking in, I couldn't catch my breath and my chin was shaking up and down as if I was really freezing cold.

Vital signs were all good, and I was given fluids, more Benadryl, and a steroid. After about 3 hours, I was sent home, with a steroid regimen, Zantac (apparently contains antihistamines-who knew?), an epipen, and instructions to "take Benadryl religiously until you're done with the other medicines" and go see an allergist to find out what bee it is I'm allergic too.

Like I said, what a Friday.

Gotta love the dog

So in our beautiful home, we have laminate hardwoods in the living room, and linoleum in the kitchen/dining room (and an open floor plan).

So I bought a swiffer and I swiffer every day. Well...almost every day. But I try, everyday, to clean the floor.

I also sweep with a traditional broom and mop the floors on Wednesdays. Today is Thursday. So that picture below? Todays swiffer cloth. And, yes, I did mop yesterday. That's one day of the dog spending time in just 2 rooms. It's the sight that greets me everyday when I swiffer.

Lots of hair, lots of grime. But we love him still. We would be lost without him.

We have a table!

Ok, so I know I promised a blog update that never came, and I am sorry. Maybe I will make it my goal to put a mini house update up each day? Maybe. But here's my first attempt:

For the first time in my life, I OWN a table. And no, not D's table that I now claim, but my very own table. (besides, we have been eating off of TV trays for the last 2.5 years.)

Not only do we have a table, but we have a handcrafted to my specifications table!

D's dad made us the table totally by hand, and it is gorgeous! It was delivered to us last night, and i am stoked to get to eat on it today! Here's a picture of it, with our beautiful yellow walls! (I promise, they aren't really that bright. More on the painting later)

Anyone else having a great time with spring home improvement projects?

Promises

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let y'all know, I haven't forgotten about blogging! It's been pretty crazy here lately. Expect updates on volleyball, the house, and grad school soon!

Spring Break!

So this is going to be an interesting spring break. My first day off, D & I had our home inspection. His dad came to help, and I more or less wandered around deciding what definitely needed to be painted or added before we move in.

The inspector passed everything, with only our deck getting a bad report. (He didn't fail it, but we definitely wont be having any parties on it.) It was also super weird because the owners were there, having a yard sale. They were SUPER nice though, and spent some time telling me about all the flowers in the flower bed. They also agreed that, so long as all the paper work & reports come back fine, they will let us come in a few days early & paint!

I left our inspection early because I was headed out to DC for our volleyball tournament. We are warming up now, for Playoffs. We had a disappointing day yesterday, with a match that we went down 13-3 ending at something around 25-21. At the beginning of the season, we asked the girls for an inspirational quote. One put "We didn't lose, we just ran out of time." Never have I seen a match that phrase fits more. Losing that match took us out of contention for winning the tournament. Instead of competing today for 1st - 12th place, we are competing for 13th - 15th.

The rest of break, I need to catch up on all my grading, finish up my grad school classes, and pack my apartment up. Then, on Friday, I am going to head home, for our next tournament, a 2 day in Richmond. It sure should be exciting!

I leave you with a picture I took from inside the hotel where we are playing our tournament. The water you see through the glass is the Potomac River. It's a beautiful place.