Look at me...

Just a continuation from yesterday's post...

Look at me, there has to be,
Something more than what they see,

Wholesome and pure, 
Oh so scared and unsure, a pawn then, 
Sandra Dee.

Sandy, you must start anew, 
Don't you know what you must do,
Hold your head high, 
Take a deep breath and sigh 
Goodbye to Sandra Dee...

wide. open. spaces.

Randomly heard this song today when my iPod was on shuffle.  Such a great song and it definitely brings back lots of memories from college, both good and bad. But...today, the song helped me vocalize what I've been feeling lately. I've done a lot of "growing" this past year...not necessarily growing up because, honestly, I think I have that one mastered...but just growing in a general sense. Learning more about myself, what I want in life, who I want to become, where I want to go, and who I want to surround myself with. A friend once told me I needed more people around me who would challenge me...and apparently, a little challenging is just what I needed because now I crave my own wide open space! During this past weekend to Tybee, i got to see an M. Joy that I (and the rest of you) don't get to see too often...she's carefree, spontaneous, daring, she lets her hair down, and just enjoys life without all the stresses and crap that come with reality. I miss her...and wishes she would make an appearance more often. i think that's part of the reason I was so emotional about coming home. it meant putting that M. Joy away and bringing back the other M. Joy...the one who is classy, responsible, always doing the right thing, teacher/librarian, cardigan wearing, and ultra-conservative. Anyways, this song just kind of puts it all into words!  ~enjoy~

Beach Blues

 Love vacations...hate coming home from them. 

How does the song go?

"back to life, back to reality,

back to the here and now...

back to life, back to the present time,

back from a fantasy...

back to life, back to the day we have..."

by EnVogue

Something about having to leave behind the freedom of the weekend makes me sad.

I said today that I wish I could be the person I was this weekend* more often...

and I am going to try to be.

Coming home also means that summer is almost over. 

I teared up a few times on the way home...and as I took DJLicious* and Pink Hotness* home....and when I came home...and as I unpacked...you get the drift.

My mind was racing about a lot of things* and I decided a cold one would help me relax and hopefully slow down the thoughts in my mind...

so I cracked open a Woodchuck and let the amber cider drown my thoughts.

We had an amazing trip...no real drama...just a good old-fashioned girls' trip to the beach!

So, while I may have the beach blues tonight...

I know that this trip brought 3 incredibly lucky girls closer together...

it strengthened our friendships and gave us many memories...

and I can't wait to do it again...

and knowing that makes the tears and beach blues totally worth it. 

I'm sure that after I get a full night's sleep (more than 4 hours) that I will be just fine...

and if not I'm not fine, I definitely know I have 2 friends I can count on.

I promise I will blog more about the beach adventures later this week...

I need to recover first!

*Sorry...but what happens on Tybee...stays on Tybee!

SsSsSsSsSs......

Snake Saga

I'll spare you all the details..but I came home on Sunday night around 8:40 after celebrating my brother's birthday at my parents' house...and a snake was waiting to welcome me into the garage. Before I go any further, let me preface this whole thing by saying I don't do snakes...at all....not even a bit. I am absolutely terrified, petrified, and just plain scared of them. Nonvenomous, venomous, big, little, dead (the best kind in my book), alive, even the ones that supposedly help us by getting rid of bugs and other annoying critters...I just don't like them. I personally think Adam and Even should have done us all a favor in the Garden of Eden and should have killed the snake right then and there...that would have solved this whole snake problem and then...the snake saga on Sunday night would not have every happened1

But I digress... I came home to a snake wrapped around part of my garage door track where it is braced to the ceiling. I did what any reasonable girl would do....I screamed! Actually...I didn't scream....I sat in my car frozen in fear...and then I called my brother and dad to come over and help.

The ordeal lasted about 3 hours when they (really just my dad although my brother is claiming responsibility) finally got the snake off the garage door track, unstuck from between the garage door and the edge, and off the back of the garage door (this particular snake must love roller coasters because he sure did seem to enjoy riding on the back of the garage door as we made it go up and down in an effort to get him off). He finally fell to the ground in the garage....my dad used the shovel (which had previously been used to try and chop the sucker's head off..obviously it didn't work) to shove him out of the garage, and my brother shut the garage door. He apparently slithered off into the grass and I hope he either slithered all the way to China (a little far-fetched I know)..but really I hope he just died somewhere along the way!

5 Things I Learned During Snake Saga 2011

1. Gwinnett County Animal Control is UESLESS!!!

   They would not come out to help because the snake was not in a livable

    part of my house. Even when I called to tell them that it was not a

    black snake (like we originally thought) and was over 4 feet long. 

    Nothing!! I may be writing a letter about this!

2. None of the venomous snakes in Georgia can climb like this guy did. So...

   if you see a snake in a high up place...don't worry...it'ds not venomous.      

   But like I said earlier...I don't do any kind of snakes...I don't care

   where it is!

3. It is illegal to kill any nonvenomous snake in Georgia. I say that is..........

   Ridiculous!!! If the snake is on my property, I should be able to 

   whatever I damn well please to him!

4. Don't count on being able to get any animal/wildlife removal experts to 

   come out past 4 pm on Friday...they all live out in woods/sticks and

   you then have to pay a hefty fee for them to come back to civilization!

5. Again just to reiterate...Gwinnett County Animal Control is useless!

How I found the snake...
hanging down from my garage door track

The snake stuck in the closed garage door...
and he was still alive and kicking!

Random Thought...

We have a tendency to think we know what we want, what (or who) we are looking for, and what's best for us. 

But...at the end of the day, we really don't have a clue!

So glad the big man upstairs knows what I need, 

knows what's best for me, and is willing to make sure I get those exact things! 

Girls' Night Out...

So excited about tonight...having some incredible friends over for    a little Girls' Night Out (or In, as the case may be)! I made a little frozen pineapple rum punch (it's delish) and there may or may not be some jell-o in little plastic cups in my fridge...you can let the cherry smell that's hit you when you open the fridge help you to decide which way to go with that!

Just ready to relax, spend some time with some great friends, and have fun...oh yeah...and not have to worry about driving!!

Look for a GNO recap in the next few days....

One year later....

One year ago today, I had surgery #3 on my left wrist...and was doped up on Vicodin and pretty much out of it I went into surgery thinking it was going to be a relatively easy surgery...just like the first 2 had been...Dr. A was going to remove a cyst and then look around the joint and clean anything up that needed it. Since my MRI didn't show that I had torn anything...I wasn't even remotely thinking about that possibility. While I was in pre-op, Dr. A came to talk to my mom and me...and on a side note, when he left my mom asked how old he was and if he was even old enough to be doing the surgery...and the nurse said that they actually hear that a lot because he looks so young!! Anyways...Dr. A came in to talk to us and I had a few questions for him. I asked how long surgery would take and he said about an hour...as long as he didn't find any surprises...like a torn TFCC. I also asked about the splint and he told me that I would know what he had done by what my splint looked like. If it wasn't too big and I was able to straighten my elbow, then everything had gone according to plan and nothing was torn...but...if it was a bigger splint that went above my elbow and I wasn't able to straighten my arm, then I would know that something was torn and he had repaired it. When I woke up in the first part of recovery where they let you begin to wake up from the anesthesia, I remember waking up and asking the nurse two questions. I asked her what time it was and she said 10:12. My surgery had started at 8 so I knew that it had taken longer than planned...I then asked the other dreaded question.."what did he do?" She just replied, "sweetie, look at your arm." I remember lifting my arm and seeing the splint/bandage and realizing that I could not straighten my arm. I put that together with the fact that surgery had taken twice as long as planned and I knew something must have been torn. And it was...my TFCC (if you have no idea what that is, then click here and then click TFCC Tear on the left side)..we have no clue how or when I tore it...thinking maybe it had something to do with the cyst that was on my wrist and pushing things around. 

So after many doctor's appointments, many hours in hand therapy, a bionic arm, a half-bionic arm, a 2nd surgery to deal with a stitch and nerve issue, and 2 new amazing friends later...here we are at the one year mark. And what did I do to celebrate you ask?!? I spent my morning with my amazing friends at the hand clinic....getting a new (insert your choice of curse words here) splint made! I somehow have made my ulnar nerve very unhappy at my elbow and it has been making it feel like I whacked my funny bone for hours at a time, making my little finger and ring finger go numb, and  making my lose some of the sensation on the back of my hand again. One thing that makes it worse is to sleep with your elbows bent. And how do i sleep? Well, of course, I sleep with my arms bent all the way! I have tried (really, I have) to sleep with my left arm straight and it just isn't working. I have tried ace wrapping towels to my arm so I can't bend them...tried laying it on pillows...and it's just not working. So in an effort to not have to have crazy nerve testing done (which I have a feeling my friends would get a huge thrill out of shocking me) and not to have to wind up with elbow surgery, my friend (well, she's my OT, too) made a splint for me to sleep in. I haven't slept with it yet...but I can already tell you it's going to s.u.c.k!!  She said I'd probably be ready to cuss at her...we'll see....but I'll do anything not to have to go through elbow surgery. I think my poor left arm/wrist/hand has had its fair share of surgery!

A year of splints in pictures...

Bandage/splint from surgery #3...July 2010

The rest of the bandage/splint

Bionic Arm

Half-Bionic Arm

Bandage/splint from surgery #4...Feb 2011

New elbow splint....need to find a name for it.
Amanda suggested ET since it looks like an elephant's trunk!

PRR Recap

Three Things I Really Didn’t Like About the PRR

-The completely insane walk back to MARTA…that part of the race should be called the MARTA 2K!

-The heat…the hills…the humidity. Enough said!

-Spending 45 minutes trying to find my car at the Lindbergh MARTA station after the race. Story below...

Three Things I Loved About the PRR

-The patients from the Sheppard Center cheering for you on Cardiac Hill…it’s so inspiring!

-The first 3 miles being downhill!

-Running into a childhood friend that I haven’t seen in years! Story below...

So...this year I decided to park at the Lindbergh MARTA station instead of at Avondale simply because it meant I was only 1 stop away from the Lenox Station instead of about 10 stops away and I knew it would take less time. I parked in the parking garage, got on the train (which was almost empty which never happens the morning of the PRR), got off at Lenox...and went on my merry little way to my starting coral for the race. After the race and the freaking insane UPHILL walk to the closest MARTA station to Piedmont Park which is the Midtown Station, I thought I was just going to hop on the train and go north one stop, get off, get in my car, and go home. Well...that's not what happened. When I got to the midtown station, they were using the buses to shuttle us to the Lindbergh Station..so I hopped on the bus and off we went. When we got to the Lindbergh Station, they dropped us off (I still haven't figured out where they dropped us off) and I immediately knew that I didn't know where I was. I followed the crowd and things started to look familiar...I saw the train platform and saw a parking deck...and then another one...and then another one...and so on! After going through 3 different parking decks and not finding my car, I decided I needed to retrace my path from the morning....so I walked up to Piedmont Avenue to get my bearings straight and finally figured out which parking deck I was in. I knew what level I had parked on but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to get to that level...there were gates down, the doors to the stairs were locked, etc. I was using my little key thing and could hear my car when I unlocked the doors, I just couldn't see it. Anyways...about 45 minutes after I got off the shuttle bus, I finally found my car...don't think I have ever been so happy to see my little Camry!

Now here is the fun story...every year I have done the PRR, I have run into someone I know...someone from school, an old neighbor...but nothing, and I mean, nothing could prepare me for this year's surprise run-in. It was before the race and I was walking to my starting coral just minding my own business and taking everything in. There were people everywhere, helicopters swarming overhead, and just an excited feeling in the air. As I was walking, I noticed this guy from behind me start walking towards me kind of quickly. The next thing I know, I hear him say "Melissa H- - - - -"...and then I instantly knew who it was...it was the guy who lived next door to my grandparents when we were growing up! I said, "oh my gosh...Chip!" We hugged and stood there and talked for a few minutes and then both realized we had to go to just about the same place to so we kept walking towards the starting corals together. We had the best time catching up with each other. We figured that we hadn't seen each other since my Nannie's funeral and even then, it was only for a moment or 2. It was a total surprise because neither of us knew that the other was a runner/walker. We probably talked for about 40 minutes and then we each headed to our start location. It was just such a nice surprise to run in to him!!

~ facts of life ~

~ facts of life ~

~Life isn’t fair. Ever.

~The grass is always greener on the other side.

~Women won’t ever fully understand men…and…

~Men won’t ever fully understand women.

~Timing is everything.

~Laughter from children is one of God’s best gifts.

~You always feel better after you work-out.

~Singing makes the work a happier place.

~A handful of M&M’s can help you make it through a rough day.

~Sometimes life just calls for a glass of wine.