Happy Easter??

This weekend was one of those crazy, busy weekends that I went into somewhat exhausted.  I worked at Loft on Friday night and then did a long shift on Saturday.  I went to hang out with Jenna & Emily after and by the time I got home, I was more than ready for bed.  I'd only been in bed for a few minutes when I got up to go to the bathroom.  I saw that I had a message on my phone so I checked it.  It was from my sister and I knew that if she was calling me at 11:30 at night, it wasn't good.  I was right - my mom was on her way to the hospital with chest pains, heaviness in her arms, and tingling in her legs.  Thank God for my roommate because I momentarily lost my head and couldn't think straight at all.  She helped me pack all my stuff and made sure I had the important things as well...you know underwear, toothbrush etc. 

By the time I got to the hospital, my sisters were already there and mom seemed to be doing better.  They gave her some meds and had already done an EKG which showed nothing.  We didn't get home until about 2:45 that morning and let's just say no one slept really well.  We got up and went to church, raced home and had lunch, and then back to the hospital.  Mom had another round of chest pains and they did another EKG of which nothing showed up again!  She's still in the hospital waiting on the results of a stress test so if you think about it - pray for her that nothing serious shows up.   And just pray for my dad as well....he's freaked out even though he's trying to not show it.

This morning, I got a phone call and found out some friends of mine had their home broken into and were attacked last night.  They are fine and the attacker wasn't able to get what he had come for.  Because of his (my friend's) quick thinking, they were able to subdue him and the police took him into custody.  I still can't quite wrap my mind around the fact that this happened to someone I know.

I feel so exhausted and overwhelmed by everything that has happened and it made me think (again) about how short life is.  So  here's my question - if you knew your time here was limited what is one thing you'd want to do or what is that one thing you'd want to tell someone?  I know it's kind of a depressing thought especially because we just celebrated Easter but it's sort of where I'm at today.

Workout Update

I'm 9 weeks in to the P90x cycle and I'm still doing it!  I'm actually sort of shocked cause I usually give up before I get this far.  I have to confess that last week was a bit shady - I only worked out about 3 days but hey, it was rest week so I rested, right? :)

I still feel like some days I can't tell a difference but today was chest & back and I'm proud to say that I did 97% of it by doing real push ups, not push ups on my knees.  I've got biceps for the first time in my life, which I'm pretty proud of.  I'm looking forward to the end of the cycle but also want to continue some of the workouts cause I enjoy them.  So there you go - my workout update.

I realize that it's more than just working out - it's creating a habit and I think that God is still trying to teach me about pushing through and not giving up.  I'm excited cause I know this is going to flow into other areas of my life!

Grace is NOT my middle name

So this is one of those moment of truth posts as well as one of those - I'm giving you permission to laugh at me moments.

Ever since I was a child, I've not been the most graceful girl around.  Growing up I always had unexplained bumps, bruises, and scratches.  My legs always looked like I'd run through a patch of thorns with no regard, so it really goes without saying that I was a bit of a klutz.  I think part of it was because I was 5'4" when I was in 4th grade but that's a whole other post.  As I got older, I did get a bit more coordinated but not much.

I've always wanted to be thought of as graceful especially since I'm taller than most girls but it wasn't meant to be.  I'm sure you've all seen the post from a couple of weeks back - the one where I busted my chin.  Well, get ready, I have another story for you but sadly no pictures.

I've been working at Loft for quite some time now and I love it!  The people I work with are great and it's always a lot of fun.  This week has been really busy because we've gotten in a ton of new shipment and have done a whole new floor set.  So last night I went in and had only been there for about an hour when it happened.  I was helping a client and she bought a jacket and pair of pants, so I put a bag over it and turned around to hand it to her and tripped over this big plastic box that was on the floor.  Let me just say, that Jessica had already tripped over it 3x.  I tried to play it off and finished up with her.  The other girls were dressing mannequins so I walked over to tell them what had happened.  When I pulled up my pant leg to show them, it looked really bad.  It was a huge gash and lots of blood.  Melanie and Shelbie freaked out and took me to the back to clean it up.  Shelbie was dry heaving because of the blood and Melanie was really worried about my shoes (they were super cute and she was worried I was going to get blood on them).  The more we tried to clean it the more it bled.  So in between Melanie worrying and laughing, I finally grabbed the stuff from Shelbie, rubbed Neosporin on it, slapped an eye pad that I'd found in the first aid kit on it, wrapped it with gauze and then taped it.  Now I know an eye pad seems weird but it was the right size and really thick.  So we kind of laughed about it all night.

Fast forward to tonight - I wore a cute pair of wedges today and as I was 5 feet from the store something popped.  Yep that's right, the glue on my shoe gave and so now the bottom of my shoe was separated from the wedge portion.  Are you kidding me?  I could NOT believe that had happened.  Thankfully I was a bit early so I thought, I'll just glue it and go on with my life.  No such luck because we didn't have any glue so I put packing tape in between it trying to hold it together and it sort of worked but not really.  Melanie had a good laugh at that as well - she's like "wow, I don't think we should leave you alone for a second!"  So there you are - graceful I am not!!  I swore to her that I was going to wear flat shoes that had no chance of breaking and was staying away from boxes the next time I work...we'll see if I succeed in not injuring myself.

Happy Birthday Linsdsey!!

So this post is about a week and a half late but...better late than never right?  I remember clearly the day Lindsey was born.  I'd moved back to Illinois in September and had been living with my sister and her husband for a few months - translation: I needed to move out once Lindsey was born.  That day was pretty normal...it was a Saturday and we were hanging out at home.  Troy brought lunch home and then he left to do some errands.  Lisa was in labor and thought he'd be back but it went very quickly and he barely made it in time.  I remember holding her for the first time - she had lots of dark hair and I thought she was the cutest thing ever!!  Unfortunately, I don't have any of those photos on my computer but trust me when I say she was darling!

Lindsey has always been such a little girly girl and yet she's a tomboy as well!  She loves dressing up, make-up, clothes, etc.  She's definitely a princess.  She has a sweet spirit and loves to be in the limelight but not in an obnoxious way!  She can also be very quiet and you often find her in her room or somewhere in a quiet room reading!

A few years ago, I started a what has since become a birthday tradition with Lindsey.  She came to spend the night.  The next day we went to breakfast and then I gave her some money and we went shopping.  She got to buy whatever she wanted that day.  We also had to stop for Starbucks somewhere in there and then back to shopping.  We've done that for the past few years and are planning to do it again this year.  I look forward to that time because you never quite know what she's going to say or do.

I look forward to continuing to see Lindsey grow up and see the young woman she will turn into.  I love this child and am proud to be her aunt!  Here's a picture of Lindsey from her birthday party!

Milestones

Well this weekend was filled with milestones.  The biggest one of course was moving my little sister to Peoria, or technically speaking Morton, IL.  I feel like it was a milestone for me because for the first time, she's the one taking a big step and not me.  I've mentioned before that I'm usually the one moving away so it felt really weird to know that this time it was her.  I have to say that it's still a bit surreal to me because I'm used to driving 40 minutes to see her.  I didn't think it would hit me until I was ready to leave.  Of course, she got teary eyed which made me tear up as well.  I'm excited for her cause I know she and Lamar are about to start a great adventure but I also know the adjustment that comes with moving to a new home in a new town.  I know that both of them will dig in and feel comfortable there in no time.  I think the thing that broke my heart the most was as I was pulling out of the driveway, I looked up and Miss Lauren was standing in the big picture window with Rascal Spot Unicorn Clifford the Big Red Dog Pokey looking at me with her big blue eyes.  I will miss being able to pop in any time but I also know that I'm welcome in Morton any time as well.  Have I mentioned I have my own room?;)

The other big milestone for me was that for the first time in my life, I did a real push-up.  I just finished my 5th week of working out and tomorrow is crazy busy for me so I decided to do tomorrow's work out tonight.  It involves lots of push-ups so I decided to give it a shot.  I did it!  Granted it wasn't very deep but I don't care - I did an honest to goodness real push up.  That was a proud moment for me.  Of course, I couldn't do that for the entire workout but I'm still proud of myself.  And the other part of that is I was finally able to touch the floor with my hands with stretching.  There are days when I question whether anything is happening other than sore muscles but I have to believe that what I'm doing is making a difference.  My hope is to be wearing single digit pants by August!!!

Fair vs. Just

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted.  Not really sure what to say because there are so many things that are going on, it's hard to pick one.  Not to be a downer but there have been a lot of things that have been happening that make me say "that's not fair!"  A good friend of mine told me that life isn't fair but God is just!  Hmm what does that mean?  I'm not sure what it means yet but I know that I've been thinking about it all week.

So I guess my question is what does that statement mean to you?  Yes, you....all 12 of my followers!:)

I have several things rolling around in my head so I hope to have several new posts in the next few days!

Happiness

Today is a gorgeous day!  I LOVE this weather cause I just feel better.  It certainly helps when I can wear flip flops and drive around with my sunroof open!  I may even go for a walk when I get home!

And.....I have 11 people following my blog!  Yep, it's the little things in life!:)