A little bit of vegetable in my life....

So I had laproscopic surgery about a week ago. I've been complaining of severe stomach pain for about 6 months now. And after having every test under the sun run on me, the last option for diagnosis was a laproscopic surgery to see what might be going on that wasn't showing up on pictures. Sure, I was nervous going into it but not really because I thought something was going to happen. More so because I was worried that the doc would get in there and find nothing worth curing.

Waking up from the surgery, I basically have a panic attack because that it what the surgical nurse and the anesthesiologist both tell me...she found nothing. It was enough of a panic attack that they shot some more anxiety medicine into my system real fast to get me to calm down.

Turns out that about the only thing wrong with me is my digestive factory doesn't work exactly like it should and a dramatic change in diet and exercise habits should fix me right up.

...So basically, I spent literally thousands of dollars this year to find out what I've known all along. Stop eating like a heffer and you'll stop feeling like one. Start treating your body better and your body will treat you better. Gee, thanks life, for not just letting me figure that out on my own (which I might have) and instead causing me to go through INTENSE pain and testing just to find out I need a little more fiber in my life.

My first goal is to get to the point where a bowl of raw broccoli is a good thing. Here's hoping.

Bike, meet Camera. Camera, meet Bike.

This is the bicycle I received for my birthday last June. Originally, I didn't want pink but I was told that when it was time to make the decision on whether or not to purchase the bike, pink was the only color available, so they went with it. It's cool though because it's starting to grow on me so I'm starting to get over the pinkness. And I just make sure not to wear any pink clothing while I'm riding the bike!

Last June, I also received a camera for my birthday. A very nice camera actually.
This camera to be exact. I love it and I love taking pictures, but I've realized that I'm not making the most out of the every day photo oppurtunities that are coming my way. So.....

.....today I went to the same store where my family purchased by shiny pink bicycle and got a basket for my bike!!! I'm so excited because now I can take my camera with me when the girls go bike riding! By girls, I mean my mom, my sister and me. My grandma comes too, but she walks cuz let's face it, not everyone should ride a bike!

Anyway, this is the basket I bought:

Things I plan to put in my super cool basket:

• camera
• water
• bread for ducks
• clothes (in case I bike to the gym HA HA!)
• anything that fits
  

I plan to take pictures of anything and everything that we encounter on our bikes. Mostly, we stay in my neighborhood which has a beautiful creek and a plethora of ducks that inhabit the creek. Most of the time they are friendly, but when they are hungry it can get a little crazy. I also plan to take pictures of anything funny that happens because let's face it, three girls riding around on bikes can be funny sometimes.

It's extra cool because it has a handle and can detach easily from the bike for ease of use. I'm so stoked. I realize that I'm not as cool as people who mountain bike or off-road or whatever they call it, but at least I'll cool with my camera, water, etc when I'm biking!!

Tens of thousands who could never afford to own, feed and stable a horse, had by this bright invention enjoyed the swiftness of motion which is perhaps the most fascinating feature of material life. ~Frances Willard, How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle

The things I often forget

This weekend was packed full of events and it helped me find something that I thought I had lost or was on the verge of losing: my faith.

Saturday, a select group of my friends helped me volunteer at the Network of Community Ministries in Richardson. The "Network"" as most people I know call it serves a very needed purpose in our community. They had out food, clothes and a lot of other things to families in need. We volunteered to help pass out pansies that people had ordered to help support the Network. Not only were the flowers beautiful, but the people who had ordered them were just generally great people. Needless to say, we had a great time and at the end of the day, were thanked for "making hungry people happy". I was reminded that though my faith has been shaken these past few months, my friends are amazing and I'm blessed to have them to lean on and volunteer with. So thanks guys!

Sunday we had a guest minister. Usually, when there is a guest minister, I'm not very excited. I tend to like the normal "staple" minister and don't always take well to new comers in the pulpit. This guy however, was amazing. His sermon was about a passage in Job. Job 10 to be exact. He hit on the fact that often times we want to turn our backs on God because He has done something to us instead of seeing that God is there standing beside us pulling us through the fire. It struck a chord in me and my family. We've been going through such a difficult time together, that it's been hard to trust that God is reaching his hand in and pulling us through; but the truth is, He is. He's standing in the darkness with us trying to be our light. It's our anger and stubbornness that blows the light out and leaves us in the dark. So although my faith is shaken, and although some certain friends of mine are not going to agree with this post (you know who you are! and I love you), it's true for me. I need to stop dwelling in the darkness and see the light that is waiting for me at the end of this very long tunnel.

I'm happy that I chose to go to church yesterday and happier still that I truly got something out of the message. When hard times hit, I encourage you to read Job. It's pretty much the ultimate bad times and the ultimate finding God in your time of need.


"Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets."

To tattoo or not to tattoo

As most of you know, I'm a fan of beautiful tattoos. I have one, or two depending on how you look at it, and I have never regretted getting them. I originally had a set of shooting stars that I liked, but didn't love. Now, I have a hibiscus flower that I share with my best friend. They're different enough to not be the same, but still beautiful and meaningful because we got them together. We were both going through difficult times in life and it's something that we will always share and I love that.

My hubby has a tattoo that he got when we were younger and dating. It is a symbol for eternity. As I've grown older, I've realized that he got it to mean an eternity with me.

I've ALWAYS wanted a tattoo on my right foot. I've gone back and forth between a dove and other things. Lately however, I've been thinking of getting eternity written on my foot. Boring, right? Well I would get it in Italian because hey, my maiden name is Italian and it's way prettier in Italian. So I'm torn. I'm torn between the beautiful, saving grace of a dove, and eternity with my hubby.

I welcome any suggestions. I think this will be the year that I finally get the tattoo I want. :)

Heart Hurt

When I was younger, my mom used to say that her heart hurt when different things would happen in her life or between my sister and I. I never really understood what she meant. To me, heart hurt must be something you feel with your actual heart. Either the muscles aren't pumping the right way or the blood isn't flowing exactly the right way. I couldn't grasp the fact that when she said her heart hurt she meant her emotional heart. The heart she had given to my dad, my grandmother, my sister and me so many years before.

Now that I'm older, I have an all too realistic understanding of what she meant all those years ago. In the past two and a half weeks, I have watched my sister crumble, triumph and crumble again. During her time of mourning, she has said more than once that she is not in physical pain, but that her heart hurts.

I also have a friend who was forced to deliver her baby 5 weeks early. While 5 weeks early is certainly better than 10 weeks early, he's still having his fair share of complications from being early. When I went to check on her at the hospital, she told me that she was not in any physical pain but that her heart hurt because her baby boy was having to spend time in the NICU recovering from being 5 weeks early.

I don't think heart hurt is a mom/girl thing. I think dads and guys have heart hurt just as much as girls do. I think that it takes a great maturity to understand where someone is hurting when they tell you they have heart hurt. I also think it is a difficult thing to overcome.

My only comfort in realizing what heart hurt is and watching my friends experience heart hurt is knowing that my sister, my friend, and I are blessed with amazing families. Families who are standing by us through both of our ordeals and reaching out asking how they can help. Not to mention the countless number of friends who have been by our sides while this is going on.

I certainly don't wish heart hurt on anyone, but I have a much greater understanding of what it is and what it means to feel it.

Family life is full of major and minor crises -- the ups and downs of health, success and failure in career, marriage, and divorce -- and all kinds of characters. It is tied to places and events and histories. With all of these felt details, life etches itself into memory and personality. It's difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul.
-- Thomas Moore