My Brother

Happy birthday to my wonderful, caring, smart, compassionate,

accomplished, talented brother.

Happy happy happy happy birthday Nick!!!

♥ ♥ ♥

Halloween Flashback

When I was growing up my mom always made our costumes. We decided what we wanted to be, then we would make a trip to the fabric store to search through the patterns and pick out fabrics. I always felt so lucky that she did this, I always had great costumes and got to dress up exactly the way I wanted!!

{Angel: age 1, minus the wings and halo because I kept ripping them off}

{Bumblebee: age 2}

{Clown: age 3}

{Princess: age 6. I was shown on the news with my first grade class. We all dressed up in our costumes and visited the local retirement home and made crafts with the residents}

{Pillsbury Dough Boy: age 11, I had a pillow in the apron for a belly and had a Pillsbury logo on the hat, but for some reason everyone thought I was a dead chef}

{Juliet: age 12, just months before I was diagnosed}

A few others I don't have photos of:

• Pippi Longstockings, complete with red yarn wig that had wire in the braids to make them stick straight out, freckles, a dress sewn with patches all over, tights, and my moms gigantic boots.
• A queen at age 4, and Nick was a king.
• An elf. I had little elf-like shoes my mom sewed out of felt, and attached little bells on the ends. I had elf ears, a hat, and a little jumpsuit.

Five Birthdays

{5 years old}

{22 years old...last year}

It's Friday!! AND it's my birthday!! 23. I like it...for some reason I like the sound of odd-numbered birthdays better than even, I have no idea why! Sooo for this week's Friday Five I thought it appropriate to choose 5 favorite birthday celebrations. When Nick and I were kids, my parents set up a rule where we could only have a party every other year and a family-only celebration on the others. I hated it as a kid, but looking back I definitely appreciate it.

5th - Although I don't remember most of it, I do remember playing hide and seek with my costume-clad guests. I was a bumblebee, but I had taken off my costume in the above photo. This was my only Halloween-themed party and I love this photo. So serious!

7th - The years I did have a party with friends, I loved themed parties. I had a camping-themed party, a clown-themed party, and the aforementioned costume party. This year a had a California miner theme...everyone was to dress up as a miner, we panned for fools gold, and enjoyed a miner-decorated cake.

13th - I was still going through my treatment at this point. I was very swollen and puffy from all the steroids, had very short curly hair, and still very sick. My mom put together a wonderful sushi party for me, she made california rolls from scratch and decorated her condo with fresh daisies and daisy party decorations. I didn't feel great, but I loved my party.

17th - I didn't do anything special for my 16th, and my mom and stepdad wanted me to have a fun 17th. They rented a limousine and drove me and some friends down to the gaslamp district of San Diego for dinner at Dick's Last Resort. I felt like a celebrity cruising the town in the huge Excursion limo, and had a blast at the restaurant.

21st - This year was filled with all sorts of celebrations. The night of my birthday a big group of my family and friends had a wonderful dinner at Sarducci's, a restaurant next to the train depot in San Juan Capistrano. We had a private room, and I was in heaven with lemon drops and their food. A few days later I celebrated with mom and stepdad and Andrea down in San Diego's gaslamp district, with Brent as a surprise guest. AND went wine tasting a few weeks later in San Luis Obispo with my brother and close friends. Beautiful roses from Brent, daisies from Andrea, tickets to the Ellen show from Aunt Lori and many other goodies rounded out the birthday.

Thanks to everyone who has made my birthdays so special over the years!!

♥

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I have always loved that each leaf of the shamrock is shaped like a heart. I remember being taught to draw a four-leaf clover in elementary school, drawing four connecting hearts with a stem. They grew like crazy on and near the playgrounds, and my friends and I would frequently search for the lucky four-leaf version.

When I was in third or fourth grade, my friend Hillary and I decided to go leprachaun hunting on St. Patrick's Day. We each carried a Trader Joe's shopping bag and wandered around the neighborhood looking in bushes and behind trees. We were determined to find one, bag him up, and force him to hand over his pot of gold.

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Let's laugh

Waking up in the recovery room after my knee surgeries, everything foggy, barely able to move, barely able to formulate thoughts due to the drugs and the anesthesia wearing off, barely able to formulate words after the breathing tube down my throat, nursing staff bustling around, medical equipment making annoying noises, trying to open my eyes long enough to see which family member is there to comfort me. One of the first requests I can remember making besides more pain medication, is asking the nurses to tell me a joke. I always crave a distraction, something to make me laugh and smile even if only for a brief moment. Some nurses would be completely unoblidging, but I actually had one who called her boyfriend on the phone just to ask him for a few jokes, and then wrote them down for me to keep in my hospital room.

As a kid, anytime I would get upset and cry in front of my mom, she always knew how to make me smile, no matter how upset I was. She would hug me and say "you are getting your eye water on me." Without fail, this would always make me laugh.

The last few days have been miserable due to this new back pain. Nothing makes it better, I have not been getting only a few hours of sleep per night, and I am worried about leaving for San Francisco this weekend while I am still in so much pain. I was watching Two and a Half Men tonight and Jake told this joke:

"If girls with big boobs work at hooters, where do girls with only one leg work?
-Ihop!!!"

So, in the spirit of making light of dark situations, the next time you are having a bad day, or you need to be cheered up, or you are in pain, ask someone to tell you a joke. No matter how cheesy it is, I promise it will make you smile.

P.S. does anyone know any jokes? Post some on my comments :)

A "Moo" point

20 Things you may or may not know about me but now will.

Joey: "It's all a moo point"
Rachel: "Huh...a moo point?"
Joey: "yeah, like a cow's opinion...it just doesn't matter. It's moo."

1. When I was a kid I wanted to be an archaelogist or treasure diver in the ocean (I loved the idea of searching for and finding things) or an architect (I wanted to design and build the house I would live in).

2. I have had 15 surgeries, 5 of which were knee surgeries, and I can count 19 scars.

3. Until a few years ago I thought it was pronounced "numb"chucks instead of nunchucks. I still think "numb" makes a lot more sense.

4. Gum is like my form of crack...I cannot get enough and you can always count on me having some in my purse.

5. I want to visit all 50 states in my lifetime, I have been to 11: CA, OR, WA, AZ, NV, NM, NY, HI, ID, MT, CO. When Nick and I were kids we had a map of the U.S. and everytime we saw a license plate from a new state, we would put a star sticker on that state. It was always so exciting when we spotted one we had not seen yet! Maybe I should make a new version...of the states I have traveled to.

6. I think Tyra Banks and Tom Cruise are 2 of the most annoying people on the planet.

7. I hate soda.

8. When I was in elementary school I was embarrassed by my middle name, Lee, because I thought it was a boy's name.

9. My anatomy lab was one of the most fascinating things I have ever done.

10. I love to vacuum.

11. If I could go anywhere on vacation I would go to Greece.

12. I get motion sickness, I hate to fly, I am scared of heights and spiders.

13. Birds freak me out. I think it is because when I was in elementary school my friend Hillary's family had a parrot, named Rio. Everytime I would go over to her house, for some reason that bird would attack me. He would bite me when I was sitting in at the dining table or in the living room. He would even go to the extent of chasing me through the house until he pinned me into a corner and would bite me so hard it would draw blood. I will never have a pet bird...I just do not get it.

14. My favorite things to eat: peanut butter, strawberries, frozen yogurt, chocolate. Heck just throw those all together and you can probably get me to do anything. But I also love cheese, pizza, sushi, all Mexican food and Italian food.

15. It bugs me that legal pads are yellow.

16. I am constantly thinking about food. I get really excited thinking about what I will eat next, and sometimes before bed I even plan what I will eat for breakfast the next morning.

17. I have spent a total of 18 months on crutches...not concurrently.

18. I save almost every card I am given...it is impossible for me to throw them away, no matter what the occasion. Birthday cards, all the cards I received in the hospital, and any other letters just saying hello.

19. My mom made almost every Halloween costume I ever wore. The ones I can remember are: a bumble bee(<--), Pippi Longstockings with a jumper my mom sewed, her boots that were multiple sizes to big, stockings, and a wig made of red yarn and wire to make the braids stand out straight; a princess; a queen(-->); an elf, complete with pointy ears and felt shoes with bells on the ends; Juliet; a clown, matching my friend Megan in preschool; and an angel at 1 year old.
20. I like to make funny faces in pictures...it seems I always have:

Grandma C. and I after one of my soccer games