Long Time A Coming!

Well what a year this is already turning out to be. I must say I feel like I am in
the fast lane of life. I mean I am only 25 years old, but it seems like just yesterday I was in high school. Then all you worried about was passing your tests and getting that cute boyfriend. And for me, winning the softball game. Next comes college and your worries get a little bigger. But still the same worry about passing those exams and figuring out what you want to major in. And eventually figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Then before I knew it I was graduating college and my worries took a big turn. I started to have to worry about paying all my bills. Then finding that perfect job in my career that still seems to be just out of my reach.

I guess those are still my worries today; finding that great job and just being happy. I have reached my goal of that perfect boyfriend. But it just seems that I am getting swept up in life itself. Listening to everyone's opinions and views of what I should be doing with my life. Not to say that I don't need direction and don't value peoples opinion, but lately I feel like I am losing myself in it all. I am usually a people pleasing type of person. Not to say that I am not very stubborn at times. But for the most part I will take everyone's advice in and at least
digest it. But honestly my head is starting to spin. I know in the end it is all up to me to decide what path to take. And to also pray to God that I am listening to his opinions above all and try to stay on the path he has laid out for me.

Ok that is all I want to say so I will get off my soap box. But to end this on a happy note. I did have a great weekend not too long ago with Reiggin down in Wilmington. We decided to take a weekend trip and enjoy the beach. It was just what the doctor ordered for me. I had only ever been to Myrtle Beach so this was a treat. The beaches were so clean and since it was the off season it was not crowded. Our hotel was super nice. I can not say enough about Hampton Inns. Saturday, we went to Wrightsville Beach and walked around. It was super cold and windy and my usual trusty bladder kept the walk short. So we headed back to the hotel and rested up.

Next we went bowling. This was Reiggin's surprise for me. I have been begging him to bowl with me since I love bowling and now I only bowl in one league. The bowling alley was a little scary and not in the best part of town. But I had a blast. I was first and the first time up I totally busted my butt and fall on my knees, but I made a strike. The whole bowling time was great. Needless to say
I will not be asking Reiggin to be my bowling partner unless I want to use his high handicap. But I love him. He could totally kick my butt
in poker so I guess we are even.

Next we went to this restaurant called Hell's Kitchen. It was downtown and I was excited to go because the place had been used in the
filming of Dawson's Creek. It was a unique bar/restaurant. It had it's character. The food was great and it was not crowded so we
got a chance to have great conversation. After that we went back and crashed for the night.

The next day we traveled to Topsail Beach. The day was perfect, the weather was about 70 degrees with a light breeze. I couldn't have asked for a better day. We drove around looking at all the nice houses and finally stopped at the one burger place in town. I had the best burger ever there. I mean the food was to die for. After stuffing our faces we made our way onto the beach and spent the whole day just walking and laying around on the beach watching people go by. Also, I was enjoying watching the surfers surf and Reiggin trying to find the perfect sea shell.

But sadly we had to pack up and head home. I was sad to leave but I was happy to get back home to my mom and dad. But I definitely would have to say that the weekend was the perfect cure. It really helped lift my spirits and make me feel 10 times better. So to all of you, I am back to my healthly self and over all the sickness that I had the previous week. I hope everyone is doing well and I will talk to you soon.

I Am Alive!! Promise

Ok! Ok! So I am not dead and I have not fallen off the face of the earth. This has just been one crazy start of my year. Putting up a blog entry has been the last thing on my mind lately. But to please a few of my great friends out there *cough*Lisa*cough*, I am writing a blog entry and I promise no great stories or excitement. But I will try my best to update you all on what I have been doing this past month away from my blog.

Well to start off, Sylvia, one of my good friends at the Gazette, has gotten engaged and has decided to leave the newspaper. We are all excited about her marriage and sad to see her leave. With her leaving, this leaves the graphics department short one person until they hire a new artist. So for a couple of weeks, Sylvia has been training me to do Sunday's and Monday's classifieds. This I am not too thrilled about, but I am slowly learning how to do it by myself. This past Friday was the first night having to do it all by myself and luckily this Monday no one mentioned any mistakes to me. So far so good, I guess.

Unfortunately, two weeks ago was Sylvia's last week and I was really really sick. Monday I was throwing up blood and having my nose bleed at the same time. Not fun at all, I must say. So I went to the hospital to find out that I have kidney stones and a urinary tract infection. This is not the first time I have had kidney stones but at the same time, not too thrilled to hear I have them again, especially since I just recently stopped drinking soda. But that is just my luck. So I spent a long afternoon in the hospital which, I must say, I was not very impressed with how I was treated there. On my release all they gave me was a print off of my drugs and that's about it. Not a single referral to another doctor or instructions on what to do for the kidney stones. So I am not too happy with my hospital.

So the rest of the week goes by and I have to be out of work for the whole week because I couldn't stop throwing up. I didn't think much about it, I just thought it was because of the pain of the kidney stones. Well by Friday, I was still throwing up. So I knew something was not right. I went back to the doctor and found out I was dehydrated. They pumped one bag of fluids into me there and that did nothing, so off to the hospital they sent me. There, the nurse pumped about 5 more bags into me. That has got to be one of my worst experiences ever. I thought I was going to float away or burst. I did find out there that I have a low heart rate. I don't know if it is good or bad. But the nurse did make me laugh by asking me if I was a runner or exercised a lot. For those of you that know me you are probably laughing already at the thought of me running or exercising. So yeah my heart rate was like 52 to 55 when I was at the hospital. That was a little scary but the nurse didn't seemed worried. Well they finally got enough fluid in me and sent me home. I was very thankful. I don't know what I would have done without my mom. She has been great. She basically waited on me hand and foot. And checked on me every couple of hours to make sure I was ok or if I needed anything. I am truly thankful to have such a wonderful mom. I know sometimes I forget how much she loves me and how much she cares for me. But this week I would not have gotten through it as well as I have if it wasn't for her. So I must say a BIG THANK YOU for all the things my mom does for me on a daily basis and just for being there for me.

With all this happening, the week I returned to work my boss informs me that my schedule would be changing from 4pm to 1am to 2pm to 11pm. I basically got a days notice. But luckily things worked out. Sadly, I had to quit my Tuesday morning bowling league and had to quit Longhorn. The bowling league really made me sad to leave. Those old women are just great, they are like extra grandparents to me. So I had a heavy heart telling them I could not bowl anymore on Tuesday. Leaving Longhorn was tough but I was ready. I have not had much energy lately and doing 2 jobs, even though it was only 2 extra days, was starting to get to me.

On the topic of bowling, a couple of weeks ago I finally bowled my first 200 game. I was so excited and I received my 200 game badge this Sunday. They called my name out and all. I was smiling from ear to ear. Right now, the badge is up on my fridge for all to see. So now my goal is to bowl 100 points over my average.

Ok well I think that is about it. Sorry for such a delay and hopefully I will be better at updating my blog but no promises. I am slowly but surely regaining my energy and health. So soon I will be back to my self again. Til then, I miss you all and hope you all are doing well.