Twenty-five years...

...is a long time to miss someone. 
...ago was the last time I wished my Daddy a happy birthday.
...often seems just like yesterday.
...is sometimes depressing.
...from now will be fifty years without my precious father.

Tomorrow will be better, right?

You Spin Me Right Round...Like a Record Baby!

All of this hooping definitely has me feeling like a record lately...but it's sooooo fun!  I decided to be brave & make an impromptu visit to a hooping workshop on Saturday afternoon...a 3 hour hooping workshop...yep, you heard right 3 HOURS OF HOOPING FUN! 

I've never seen so many hoops in my life :)

 

I was worried about several things, but decided not to let fear hold me back any longer...

I was worried I would be the "curviest" person there...I was.
I was worried I would drop my hoop more than anyone else...I did.
I was worried I would not be able to last for the entire class...in fact, I was the last one to leave & never sat down once!
I was worried I would make a complete fool of myself...if I did, everyone else did too so there you go!
I was worried I would not be able to catch on as quickly as everyone else...this was true for waist hooping, but I definitely better when we practiced hand hooping...woohoo!
I was worried I would leave feeling discouraged & be afraid to continue in my hooping journey...definitely the contrary...I'm more excited than ever!

Let it be said that I have the best hooping instructor ever!  Rebecca DeShon of HoopEssence is fantastic, super nice, uber talented & a bundle of artist energy!  She took some time after the workshop to chat with me & told me I was doing everything right & to keep practicing, but to get a larger hoop - as was my suspicion.  So, I ordered a new hoop - only this time I got a travel hoop so I can break it apart and/or take out a section when I progress a little.

I got to pick up my new hoop yesterday evening & could not wait to try it out, so with my friend watching, I began.  Now, previously I had only managed about 12-15 rotations before the hoop fell, but yesterday was a benchmark...49 rotations!!!  I literally jumped up & down!

Isn't she a beauty?!?!?

 

Nighty-night from one happy hooping chica!

Awesome

Sometimes I hear a song & can't seem to get it off my mind...as in, I wake up singing it, listen to it 500 times a day, go to bed singing it, rinse & repeat...you get the idea.  On the way home from church yesterday, I caught the tail end of this song (which I have heard before) and for some reason, I can't get it out of my head!  If you're gonna have something rolling around in your head all day, it might as well be MY GOD IS AWESOME!

 

 

The last time this happend to me was back in March; our choir sang a song at church the day I left for a managers conference & I ended up singing this for an entire week.

 

 

Here's hoping you get one good uplifting tune stuck in your pretty little head :)

Celebrate Success

Celebrate success! No matter how small the improvement, celebration is key :)

My small success is that I just managed to hoop 12-15 times in a row!  While this may not seem like much, I've not really been able to hoop more than 4-5 times in a row for weeks now, so to me, this is huge success!!!

Practice, practice, practice!  Here's another fun tutorial about waist hooping:

 

Happy Hooping!

High...Ballerina...Bun!

While I've heard this particular hair style called several things, High Bun & Ballerina Bun are the most popular...I think :)  I have a friend who used to wear her hair like this all the time, but I found that my hair is usually a bit too slick - since I really don't use much product in my hair unless I wear it curly.  And that is exactly what I did yesterday...so I decided to try this style today & I must say it turned out quite nicely :)

Here is the original post from The Small Things Blog by Kate - I so love her...too bad I don't live in Raleigh, we could be friends :)

Due to my curliness yesterday, I didn't have to do any teasing today (thank goodness!).  I was able to use the slight mattedness (so not a word, but you get the idea) of my slept-on, not-so-curly-any-longer hair to get the same effect as teasing.  Have I mentioned I hate teasing?  I'm sure this comes from growing up in the late 80's & early 90's when teasing was an everyday occurrence in my world :)  So, here it is...my version...

PS...my hair is not actually that red, I just liked the Instagram filter :)

 

 



 

 

Although I'm not someone who "fixes" her hair each day (I'm a huge fan of pony tails & such); I am very thankful to Kate for posting a plethora of fabulous & easy hair styles that actually turn out nicely when the mood strikes.

 

Happy Tuesday!

Hooptastic

This blog post is dedicated to my new-found hobby of Hooping!  Although I'm horribly terrible, I will not be deterred :)  So, until I feel accomplished enough to post a video of my own, here are some of my favorite hooping videos.  If being a great hooper consisted of endless hours of research & video watching, I'd be a champ by now, but alas I've quite a ways to go :)

Love, love, love this girl that was featured on Ellen!

 

 

Very inspirational...

 

 

And of course, my absolute favorite...the Hula Hoop Rap!  I wake up singing this constantly :)

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy & are inspired to try something new...who knows, you may find a new passion :)



A little bit of this & that...

I read a blog post today about writing about anything just to remedy bloggers block...so here goes...

1 - I've recently discovered hooping & am looking forward to learning & practicing & repeating.
2 - I spent most of the day watching movies...not just TV, but movies!  I love movies :)
3 - I finally did laundry...I'm sure my co-workers will thank me tomorrow.
4 - My college roommate should be flying into Atlanta sometime this week with her children all the way from Costa Rica.  After she arrives, I'll be driving her precious family to NC so they can begin their new lives...so glad to have a part of this transition.
5 - No-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies are uber tasty!
6 - I've had both coffee & hot tea today...is that allowed?
7 - I'm truly infatuated with my new yellow Samantha Brown luggage...even looking at it makes me happy :)
8 - I have virtually no food in my house since I have not stepped foot into a grocery store in over 4 weeks, but somehow I was able to come up with meals for the last 2 day without leaving my house.
9 - I forgot how much I like the movies The Patriot & Valentine's Day...totally opposite, but nonethless wonderful.
10 - I'm finally going home to see my Mom & pup after not being home for over 8 weeks.

So there you go...10 pieces of truthful fact...not necessarily riveting, but true.  May this mark the break of the bloggers block :)

Not today.

On Friday, April 13th, my Mom took my sweet Lacy to the vet due to a decreased appetite & lethargy...that day changed the world I knew it.  Our vet made a prelimonary diagnosis of lymphoma - this news hit me harder than any punch to the gut ever would.  Seeing my sweet pup mope around knowing how badly she must feel cut me to my core.  After talking with a close friend who has lost 2 of her dogs to cancer, I decided to see a specialist would could give a complete diagnosis & a range of treatment options.  On Friday, April 20th, I visited with the specialist who ran tests to see if my vet had been correct...to my dismay, she agreed with my vet's diagnosis.

The chemo options for Lymphoma can be amazingly expensive:
1 - the most agressive chemo:  $4-5000
2 - the mid-range chemo:         $2-3000
3 - the chemo shot w/steroids: $400

If money & time were not object, I would have definitely gone with the most aggressive chemo treatements available; however, money and time are two things I don't have a terrible lot of.  Due to the fact that my Lacy is 13yrs. old & my main concern was to make her more comfortable, I decided on option 3.  The thought of buying a small amount of time at a huge price tag only to lose her in a few months & be left with a large debt just did not seem like the wisest of choices.  The specialist gave her the chemo shot, which was supposed to shrink her enlarged lymph nodes within 48 hours and it did, as well as give her a steroid regime.  Within 2 days, Lacy was almost back to her to perky little self, eating up a storm with enthusiastic tail wagging.

I made the trip back to visit again on Mother's Day, the weekend of May 13th, and Lacy was doing wonderfully!  She had gained weight, was eating about 3 cups of food a day & even brought us her toys to play a little bit - something she had not done since before Christmas.  I received a call from my Mom on Monday, May 28th to let me know that Lacy had begun not wanting her food again, but Mom was able to encourage her using chicken broth over her food.  I got another call Tuesday evening of the same thing, so I decided to call the specialist to see if we could increase the steroid to stimulate her appetite again - since it had been weaned down from 2 pills to 1 pill.  The doctor was out at a conference so after speaking with her assistant, I decided to have Mom increase the steroid to 1.5 pills on Thursday - this still did no good.

On Friday morning, June 1st, my Mom called me from my vet's office...my heart immediately sank...the vet said that she thought Lacy had an infection (either bladder or UTI) and gastrointestinal distress - most likely due to the steroid.  Her recommendation was to take her off the steroid so she could treat the infection with antibiotics.  My poor Lacy had not eaten a thing in over 24hours (probably closer to 48 at that point) & was having diarrhea.  She received a shot of antibiotics as well as antibiotic pills & pro-biotic gel.  She was very weak when I got to the house; just like when humans are sick & don't eat for a day or so, she needed help to get her strength back.

My Mom had not had much luck with giving her hamburger & rice, so after some prayer for wisdome, Mom remembered that she had a can of chicken...hooray for canned chicken!  While I know that grain is not good for a dog that dealing with cancer, canned chicken & bread seem to be the only things we can get Lacy to eat...and marshmallows...oh, how she loooooves marshmallows!

She does seem to have a little more energy & is not near as weak as she was on Friday or Saturday, she seems tired :(  I was told about K9 Immunity, which is a immune boosting supplement, by a friend & ordered it on Friday. 

I am desperately awaiting the arrival of this supplement since I am at my wits end.  Part of me wonders if it is time to make that most difficut decision of letting her go, but my heart wants to hold on a little bit longer..."not today" it says..."not today".

Derby de Mayo, McAlister's & the Super Moon

Happy Derby de Mayo!  I can think of no sweeter way to celebrate Mexico than through the events that unfolded during the Kentucky Derby today.  The winner of the Derby was a horse named I'll Have Another ridden by a jockey named Mario Gutierrez who is originally from Mexico. 

VIVA LA MEXICO!

This amazing horse & jockey team accomplished 2 amazing things today while they won the race:

1 - I'll Have Another won from the 19th post - a feat that has never been accomplished before by any Derby winner.
2 - This was not just any Derby for Mario Guteirrez...this was his FIRST Derby!

McAlister's
While living in Charlotte, my office was right down the road from a McAlister's so needless to say, we ate there a lot.  Since moving to Atlanta, there is only one and it's 20-30 minutes away so I've only been once in the last 3.5 years.  However, today I made the trip...the chicken tortilla soup  & sweet tea were calling my name!  Sometimes the familiar is exactly what you need :)

 

And finally, the Super Moon!  If you don't know what the Super Moon is, you probably went to bed too early :)  So along with all of the other moon observers, here is my photo offering of said moon & might I say, that's one big & shiny moon!  Night all :)

Do you know Him???

As a Christian, Easter always holds a very special place in my heart.  While Christmas allows us to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Easter reminds of us of the amazing sacrifice He gave when he laid down His life for us.  It also holds the very key to our salvation - Romans 10:9-10
⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

If Jesus had never sacrificed Himself for us so that God could raise Him back to life, we could not be saved to live eternally with Him.  In the midst of a most wonderful Easter service at church, the pastor showed this video & it was simply amazing.  These words were spoken by Dr. S. M. Lockridge 35 years ago & they are all still true today!  Happy Resurrection Day!