Storytellers Ball

Thursday was the night and we did have a good time. I was ready for it to come and go and I am glad that it's over but it was nice to get out and meet a lot of the people you hear about it the business section of the newspaper....not that I read it, I just hear about it. We had a good time getting ready together at the studio. Amy B and I both borrow dresses from Amy Head and they were so pretty and sparkly. I FINALLY found some gold heels...bcbg always pulls through for me. If only I wore size 8's, I couldv'e borrowed Amy's Manolo's...*sigh*. Oh well. :) They had a live auction and Harold and Amy got a cool painting so that was exciting...quite a bidding war went on for that. The food was pretty...of course nothing was vegan but I wasn't that hungry so it was fine. I saw my brain surgeon and I may or may not have had a slight crush on him so that was fun...lol...he was so nice and our mutual friend was there with him and made a big deal about the last time he had seen me, I had a big bandage around my head was that was quite embarassing. They had a band playing some fun 70's music. There were probably about 400-500 people there total. So next up is the fashion show on Thursday. Exciting! Jay's taking off work tomorrow since he's been working so much (he's even at work today) and we're going to find something for me to wear to it!

Update on the medicine...still too early to tell if it's going to help the pain but I may not be blogging as much. It's taken me about 40 minutes to write this little bit bc I have to keep backspacing almost every sentence. I keep writing words backwards and phrases get all jumbled up. It's a very common side effect so it's not scary but it's just frustrating and time comsuming.

Have a wonderful week!

Y and Z

Y is for...Y can't I find the shoes that I'm looking for? I love shoe shopping but I HATE shopping FOR shoes...I promise this is a logical statement. I enjoy just stumbling upon a great pair of shoes when I'm not particulary looking for any but when I have a certain outfit that i need a certain style of shoe for, I can NEVER find the right ones. I have been all over town today looking for a pair of shoes for the Storyteller's Ball on Thursday night but I can NOT find them. It's a black tie event and I am borrowing a dress from Amy thats kind of a fleshy peachy color with parts of it sheer and parts of it with peachy sequins. It's beautiful and drippy and I need simple, elegant shoes...I want a nude color so it's like I'm almost barefoot because I don't want to distract from the dress but everything is either so ornate or really really plain. Ugh. I have until Wednesday night to find them. I did find a cute pair of Steve Madden wedges though...hehe. :)

Z is for...Zephryhills. That's the kind of water my seester is stocking up on because of hurricane Fay. She lives in Ft. Myers and it is headed for them tomorrow afternoon. She's all stocked up with supplies so now it's just a waiting game. Jay and I lived in Florida during the season with all the storms and we evacuated each time but they're going to ride it out. PLEASE pray for them. I am praying of course for their safety but also for the small things. Jonathan is nervous about the power going out and can you imagine being 4 years old hearing all the wind and rain beating on the windows, sitting in the dark with your little flashlight, no cartoons and having to ride out the storm? My prayer is that they will be protected from ANYTHING related to the storm...strong win, power outages, tornadoes. I wish so badly that I could wrap those little boys up in my arms and protect them (and Kristi too!) but I am going to be in a constant spirit of prayer for them until I see that colorful "spot" named Fay on the weather map move over them. PLEASE do the same!!

Well, I made it through the Alphabet! If anyone has any ideas of what I can do next let me know! I need something like this to keep me blogging! :)

V,W,X

V is for...VIP Runway Event!! It's going to be soooooo fabulous!!!! So VIP is the local magazine that everyone wants to be it...it features pictures from all the big parties and fundraisers around Jackson and it has great advertising and every month they fly off the racks as soon as they go out....it's pretty pathetic if you ask me. Anyway, the editor, Leigh Reeves does a fantastic job, she's very classy and hip and she's putting together the first ever VIP Fashion Show charity event. Amy Head Studio is doing the makeup and "creative direction" for it which means we got the final say on almost everything b/c our name is on everything. This isn't your typical local rinky dink fashion show with highschool girls who's moms told them they were puurrrty...these are HOT men and women (they had a casting call for it) walkin down the runway in high fashion clothes with GORGEOUS Amy Head makeup. It's on the front lawn of this old Historic house in the Fondren district under the stars with this amazing DJ who was mentored by the best of the best. It's being catered by the hip little restaurant that has even opened yet called Mint. Tickets are $75 bucks so you know it'd better be good. It's on the 28th so I'll let ya know how it goes.

W is for...Wait. Thats what I had been feeling like God was telling me lately. Just wait. I am usually a very laid back, even tempered, go with the flow kind of girl but there was this little situation (i won't go into detail cuz i'm not sure who reads this) that just made me want to blow up. I couldn't understand why another person of authority involved wasn't seeing things the way I was seeing them, which was logical. I kept getting so angry inside and wanted to confront the issue but I would always here that little voice saying, just wait. So I waited for about a month and then finally yesterday I had had it. I had been pushed over the edge, my heart was racing and I was hot and I was about to lose it when I heard the voice again. So again I recomposed myself, even had a calm conversation with the person and then at the end of the day, it all made sense. The problem was resolved and I got to see how waiting was more than the right thing to do. Things worked out better than I could have imagined and because I waited, I am still respected by everyone involved. I am sooo thankful for that still small voice.

X is for...Xcited about date night tonight! I know I cheated but I couldn't think of an X and I didn't have anything to write about a Xylophone. I'm not sure what we're gonna do and it really doesn't matter, I'm just happy to be spending time with Jay. He's getting all clean and polished up now and we'll head out :) Probably buy some more shoes...and then return them...kidding :) Have a fab weekend!

S,T,U

First I gotta acknowledge (that's a hard word to type) my new layout!! My first one ever thanks for Mrs Langhans :) I have tried in the past to figure it out but I could never do it, so for now this one is going to do until I have a few more minutes to play with the site she sent me a link to. Thanks Lindsey!! :) Now for the Alphabet...

S is for...Summer Olympics. I just can't get into them. I love our country and I'm all about some Michael Phelps (sp?) too but I just can't sit in front of the TV for hours cheering our team on. I hope we do well but that's about as far as my spirits gonna take me. We did however watch a little bit of the womens gymnastic in bed lastnight and they weren't doing too well. I felt so bad for them. I felt even worse for the Chinese girls though only because I feel like if THEY do bad, they'll get beaten, or sold into slavery or something, ya know? Sad. But really though, Go USA!

T is for...Too young for makeup. Seriously moms, you gotta draw the line somewhere. We have been having sooo many little girls in for their back to school makeovers and when I say back to school, I can almost say back to Preschool. These girls are 10 and 11. I know that 12 is a pretty safe age to START wearing a little bit but I had a little 10 year old today who's MOM was telling me to put on foundation, eyeshadow with a dark crease, BLACK eyeliner, blush and lipstick...seriously...serisously? She spent over $700....on her TEN YEAR OLD!!! You gotta have boundaries ladies, boundaries!

U is for...Ugly secretarys. A lady I work with has a daughter who's husband just became an official lawyer and she has made a rule that he can only have ugly secretaries. The lady was actually in an attorneys office the other day and she said that all of the secretaries were all so unattractive. I know this sounds so awful but it was so funny to me. It makes sense though. I guess if Jay was in an office alone with a woman, I'd feel better if she wasn't the easiest thing to look at. So, if you work at an office and the wives love you, are you the ugly secretary??...JUST KIDDIN :)

P,Q,R

P is for...Playing in the rain. Jay and I are dorks. I said it. We are. But we LOVE to love life and while some people prefer to go to the theatre when it's rainy and yucky outside, we can't wait to get out there and smear mud all over eachother...haha. So I'm attaching a pic from a day a few months ago when we did just that. Todays been rainy and yucky and fabulous and if he weren't still at work I'd like to think that that's what we'd be doing now :)

Q is for...Quarters for Chiari. We started savings our quarters when I got my first dr. appointment in NY and we started calling them our "quarters for chiari" and it just stuck. We saved rolls and rolls of them and paid for many taxi rides, bus fares, train tickets, subway passes, etc with them. My mom also surprised us with HER large stash of quarters for chiari that we used on another trip to ny. Everytime we have our date set to go we get re-focused on saving up those quarters. Maybe I shouldn't give away this susper secret hiding spot but I keep them in the freezer...I think b/c if the house burns down, they won't melt?? Is this true...or maybe the chimney would be a better place since the chimney always seems to be left standing...hmmm...

R is for...Re-play. Jay and I Re-played Scrabble and I must say we had a BLAST. We established the rules from the beginning and that did the trick. We decided that if we could prove the spelling of a word it counts. Unfortunately you can prove some pretty crazy words...lol. But I personally think that makes it all the more fun. I was so happy last night though b/c I BEAT HIM....not just beat him...SMOKED HIM!!! Now I can't wait to play again! I feel like my sister is with Monopoly...she LOVES that game! (I promise I'll play with you seester!!!)

M,N,O

M is for...Much needed day off. Every time I have a day off it feels like it's been a month since the last one so I've really enjoyed today. I woke up to steady rain which was nice so i got ready and headed to the market. I dropped off the groceries and met my handsome husband for a lunch date. We've had such a fun weekend spending time together. We're one of the rare couples that REALLY REALLY like eachother and love spending time together. (except playing boardgames..lol) I took those shoes back to the mall *sniff* and then picked up a few more things at Healthway and headed home to bake. I made some more of the vegan brownies so Jay could bring some healthy snacks with him to work and I made the mistake of eating one...or 10..j/k ;) at about 3 o'clock so I spoiled my dinner. Oh well. I'll just have to have a midnight snack. Now I'm just waiting for Jay to get home so we can have a fabulous evening together.

N is for...Never enough hours in the day. Do y'all ever feel like that? I do all the time at work. I know that going in to work tomorrow I have about 20 things that I HAVE to get done by 5 o'clock but I will probably only get about half of them done if I'm lucky. I like to think I'm pretty good at time management but you can only do so much. I really wish we had a couple more people to work part time so that I could spend a little more time in the office uninterrupted a couple days a week but I do enjoy being on the floor as much as possible so I don't know if what I'm saying is actually true. It always seems to work out and things always seem to get done. I always have that thought in the back of my head though that at the end of the year we're going to uncover some MASSIVE mistake that I've made that can't be undone and the whole business is going to fall apart because of it!! Yikes!!

O is for...Ombre. Do y'all like this fashion trend? It started showing up a couple of seasons ago and now it's really making a mark. The new fall line of Hobo Intl. handbags has done a BEAUTIFUL selection of Ombre and until now I wasn't too sure about it. They did it so well though...very smart and tasteful. We just got a ton of bags in at the Studio so if you're in the market for a new one, stop in. FYI, we always have ours marked about $20 less than the MSRP!

J,K,L

J is for...Just a game. I wish!!! Jay and I try our darndest to play boardgames b/c we both love them so much but he is sooooo competitive and I am sooooo stubborn that they don't always turn out so well. We got Scrabble this weekend b/c I thought of all the games in the world, that one would be the least debateable but noooooo...he had to question whether or not the words...."om", "aflame" and "aura" were actually words...I Googled them and sure enough, they all are!!! LoL. I guess now that Google is around, Scrabble has a whole new set of rules. So if anyone knows of a game that has no debateable content, PLEASE let me know!!!!! ;)

K is for...Keeping house. That's what we've been doing all day. As soon we we got home this afternoon we started with the ceiling fans and worked our way down to the baseboards. It looks and smells soo good inside and I know we're even going to sleep better tonight. I always sleep better when the house is spotless. Tomorrow I have off so i can focus on all the errands I have to run. One of which is returning this FABULOUS pair of shoes Jay got me this weekend. They're BCBG and they are beautiful. I just realized that I know I'm not going to get my moneys worth out of them b/c they're not a "basic" shoe. They're "statement" shoes, ya know and for the price and I would always feel guilty about having them. But I did get some great BCBG clothes on clearance that I am keeping :)

L is for...La-La Land. That's where I've been this week. I started my medicine and the dosage was WAAAAAAY too high. I started at 50 mg. for 2 days then went to 100 mg. People, I couldn't even form a sentence. One minute I wanted to crawl under a table and the next I wanted to rip my skin off. It was undescribeable and just sooo miserable so I am down to 25 mg and I am going to slowly increase. I don't know what being stoned feels like but if it is even remotely like that then I can't imagine why in the world anyone would CHOOSE to feel that way!!!!!!

G,H,I

G is for...Good Karma "ice cream". This stuff is amazing...it's Vegan, Lactose Free, Dairy Free, Transfat Free, Gluten Free and all organic and it is incredible!! It is like the Ben and Jerrys of the Vegan world. I say that not only b/c it's packed full of flavor but it's also not "diet" friendly. I eat it for what it is and enjoy every bit of it. I've had some kind of peanut butter flavor and most recently I tried one called Carrot Cake. It tastes like cinnamony carrot cake and cream cheese frosting all mooshed together and it is to die for. Try it!!

H is for...Hungry b/c that what I am right now. Jay is working late but since he's actually in town, I am forcing myself to wait until he gets home so that we can actually eat together! I am going to have squash and zuccini with black beans for myself and I think I'll make him some Grilled Chicken with whole wheat Penne and I'll make some yummy sauce and he'll have a veggie also. Yes, I always cook two seperate meals :)

I is for...Incedible blessings. So yesterday we got the long awaited prescription in the mail from my NY doctor so we took it to the pharmacy right away. We were joking about how much it was going to cost but we were so not prepared for the actual total. $420.00....and thats only for ONE month...of EXPERIMENTAL medication. I thought I was going to cry b/c I had gotten my hopes up so high and I was so excited to try it. So we told the sweet lady to hold it and we may come back. This morning I called my sweet friend Hannah who works at the pharmacy her brother owns to see how much it was there and they said that they could give me double the dosage and I would just need to cut them in half and it would only be $145.00. Isn't that such a blessing?? As sad as I was last night I just KNEW that God was going to show us what to do and provide a way for me to be able to have this. I am so thankful for His blessings and the people that He has put in our lives.

D,E,F

See, I knew this would get me posting more!

D is for...Daisey. Our sweet little almost 4 year old Maltese. We got her when we still lived in Florida and I wanted her sooooooo bad!! It was during the time that I was staying home and I needed a little companion. That girl is such a stinker though. Among other things two of her highlights were jumping out of our car while we were driving (we weren't going fast) and worst of all...taking a running jump our of our second floor window. Seriously. Jay was working upstairs and had the window open to let some air in and before he realizes whats happening, she's out. He ran downstairs as fast as lighting and expected her to be either dead or paralyzed but no, she was running in circles around the yard. She loved it...agh!! As bad as she is, we love her so much and can't imagine life without her.

E is for...End of Summer. I can't believe school is starting this week. Jay and I were just saying how we soo don't miss those days. I remember I used to think my mom was so lucky that she got to stay home and "do nothing" while we were at school all day. I am sooo glad I am done and i will feel soo bad when I have to send my kids. We went to the market today and it was MAD house with everyone getting there last minute school supplies. I used to LOVE getting brand new school supplies though. Even though I always had a sick feeling on the first day, it was still a little exciting finding out who my teacher would be and my classmates. Seeing where my desk would be and getting my new books. And my mom would pack the BEST lunches...peanut butter and jelly (or marshmallow cream!), cookies (usually homemade) and fruit by the foot or some other fun snack. Those were the days...lol.

F is for...Franklin. Our hopefully near future hometown. We are planning a trip back probably next month to explore a little more and get closer to our eventual move. If you 've never been, it's like the Greenwich Village of Nashville. It's such a cute little area to walk around with super cute boutiques, friendly people and fabulous atmosphere. I think a Studio will be so successful in that area. We will see!!

Alphabet...

a) i'm so embarassed by all the bad grammar and typos in my last post and I want to push it off the page quickly and b) i dont post very often b/c i feel like something exciting has to happen before i do....these are the 2 reasons i decided to play the alphabet game that i've been seeing lately. so that it doesn't take me until by 30th bday, i think i'll do 3 letters at a time. so here goes nothin....

A is for...Amy Head. As in my boss, the studio, and everything else associated with the words. Just 2 years ago at this time, I had been told (or actually would be told in a month) that I shouldnt work, I couldnt do anything active, I couldn't get pregnant...basically I was feeling like I had no purpose...until Jay and I were on our way home from a long road trip and I decided to try and "get my foot in the door" at the place where I had my wedding makeup done. Little did we know, it would change our lives. God has used this place and these people to impact our lives in ways that will affect our futures forever and we are so thankful that God lead us straight to them.

B is for...Babies. I just mentioned that I "couldn't" get pregnant. For about 3 years Jay and I were DESPERATE to start a family. I didn't understand why in the world I couldn't get pregnant...my mom and sister were oh so fertile, why wasn't I? Well, I was checked from head to toe and everything seemed to be working properly...I started fertility drugs and nothing happened. All around us our friends were getting pregnant and it was truly heartbreaking. Dont be sad though, God knows SO much more than we do...imagine that. Had we had a baby when we wanted, we would never be in the situation we are in and we would never be able to be headed for the direction God is leading us now. Yeah I still EVENTUALLY want to start a family but I even get a little panicky thinking about doing that now...I would be so content with 5 more years with just the 2 of us. Also, God has opened my heart (Jay's was already wide open) to adoption and when we're ready, thats probably what we will do.

C is for...Co-Op. As in Rainbow Co-Op, this fabulous grocery store and restaurant in the fabulous Fondren District. The restaurant inside is the most delicious food ever and it's all 100% Organic and Vegan!! My fave is the grilled black bean and spinach burrito. It's on a sprouted wheat wrap and it's STUFFED with black beans, spinach, brown rice and soy cheese and grilled to perfection. It's so big, I get two meals out of it! Jay and I are having a lunch date there tomorrow! Yummy!

Well, this seems fun. Maybe this will get me posting more often. I'm looking forward to a busy but hopefully good week. You do the same!

So God's been being God lately and I wanted to share a few things. It's about my crazy brain and the thing they call Chiari. I had the worst day of pain in my entire life last Thursday. Got sent home from work, Jay was out of town, I didn't think I could live another minute...I was actually so afraid to fall asleep b/c I truly did not think I was going to wake up. Do you get that it was bad? Well, I've been noticing some of my symptoms a lot more lately. I clear my throat about 5 times a minute and it's sooooo annoying I know but a symptom is trouble swallowing and when most people swallow their spit without even thinking about it, it gets caught in my throat. Lovely, huh? Also my numbness in my arms and legs is happening quite frequently. So, I decided it was time for me to be more involved with Chiari and educate myself better. I have been on top of it in the past but I get so discouraged that I tend to fall away from it. Well, there has been some exciting things happening and I feel a little glimmer of hope. I've been back in contact with my Dr in NYC and he's encouraged too. He is sending me a prescription of a medicine to try but theres a new procedure where they implant something called a nerve stimulator into your chest and wire run up into the nerves in the back of the head and many Chiari patients have had great results. One girls story I read said she was 90% pain free!! Even to be ONE% pain free I would be unimaginably happy...bouncing off the walls happy!!!!! I am so excited about it. Jay is on his way back in town so we will talk it over this weekend and then we will go from there. We have no idea how much the procedure would even be but I would sacrifice anything to feel better! God has proven Himself to us over and over and over again in our finances so we have no doubts that He will provide this time. I am so encouraged!!