Insurance

My friend, Tim, sent me a link to this great "blog" written about insurance.  It's very middle of the road and thought provoking so I suggest checking it out!

The Age of Vacqueras

Shots are no fun

Yesterday I made my way down to Duke Medical to visit a highly recommended knee doctor.  I have very, very bad knees you see.  I'm not able to build up muscle in my quad and thereby re-locate my knee cap to it's rightful position because the pain level is too high...it's a vicious cycle of pain and weakness. 

Anyway, long story short, I'm supposed to get cortizone shots in my knee.  This is my analogy when I think about that: corizone shots=relief from pain for old people people older than me.  Sorry Bama!  I think decrepid arthritis. 

Well, I'm not a shot person.  In all actuality, I, for lack of better words, freak out.  The nurse had me lie down, but I kept peeking my head up as she was explaining what she was doing to me.  Then she froze my knee where the needle was going to go.  Now, I don't know what other doctors use, but I highly suggest whatever this was because it worked really well.  I'm talking immediate freezing satisfaction.  Last time I was told that I was going to be numbed before my IV went in my hand (mono..yuck), she injected me with a needle that released a numbing medication!  Seemed rather redundant and horrible to me. 

Anyway, she jabbed poked the needle in my leg.  It wasn't so bad...until she pushed it under my knee cap.  I'm 99.9% sure I yelled out profanity and gripped the table more than anyone else had before me.  And I know I didn't breathe through the process.  Yuck.  But it was over soon enough and she put a nice band-aid over my wound. 

I won't bore you with any of the other stuff that went on, this blog was just to chronicle a horribly painful event in my life that in 2 months I will be returning to get again.  Barf.

Ashley Bay Designs

A good friend from high school and college has recently shared her wonderful website with me!  She does beautiful work in photography, and her portfolio, which shows not only her photography but her drawing as well, is outstanding.  Ashley also works in web design so if you are interested in creating or managing a website, check her out!

Ashley Bay Designs

These are just a few examples of her art which you can find on her website!

I don't run.

I don't run.  Actually, I prefer to swim.  Handsome Taylor, on the other hand, is a spectacular runner.  It usually takes me 2 weeks 3-4 weeks to really get back into swimming shape...and swimmers know, in order to stay in swimmers shape, one must swim...year round.  T can pick up running like it's nobody's business and excel in races and such.  I would drown if you threw me into a pool and told me to swim a mile.

So this past weekend, Handsome Taylor and Bruce decided to run a 5k which roughly estimates to about 3.1 miles.  Blah.  But, being the fabulous girlfriend I sometimes am, I went out to support them...and of course, take pictures!  It was not easy sitting out in the sunshine taking pictures, but somebody had to do it.

So excited to be here!!

Waiting in line while all the people congregate...

Take off!

Handsome T came in first in his age category (20-29)!  Next time, I would run walk try to make it with him.  Well, we'll see...

23 minutes!!  Go T!

After the race--pooped!

Codilicious

Here is the latest of Codi sleeping at my grandparents...I'm beginning to think that she takes after me.

I'm inked!

So the much awaited unveiling of my first, new tattoo!  I had waited to show what it looked like until my immediate family saw it first...no need for them to find out via my blog (eek)!  Now before you start thinking that it might have been a rash decision, I promise, it wasn't!  Several years went into thinking about exactly what I wanted and where it was going to go.  I finally decided on the spot behind my ear--it can be hidden relatively easy since it's pretty small and I can let my hair down over it...and it now gives me an excellent reason to clean behind my ears!

If I had to describe to someone why I got it (which it turns out I have to do a lot to random people), I give them these reasons in no particular order:

1. Cherokee is in my heritage and the bear (black bear) is extremely symbolic in Cherokee culture
2. The bear is one of my favorite animals and top on my list for conservation efforts
3. Bears eat my trash (see previous blog)
4. Bears symbolize strength and protection
5. My mom and I went on a trip to Santa Fe, NM, and although I was extremely not well with mono (perfect timing), she purchased a handmade necklace with bear claws on it for me that I absolutely love--it means a lot to me
6. The Frazier family line is native (I use that word loosely since Frazier, or Fraser is origionally Scots/Irish) to the Smoky Mountains, where the black bear lives and continues to eat my trash

Okay, so I realize that is a lot of reasons to give someone when they ask--most of the time I just name off a couple of my favorites...or the ones that I can remember.  So...here it is!

Yes, I realize it sort of looks like fireworks, or hearts, or forks (someone asked me if I was a chef because of my "forks tattoo"), but its bear claws with a slight emphasis on the length of the claw and I LOVE it!  And if you're wondering if it hurt while I got it...not really, suprisingly.  I actually had to stop and sit up and breathe and you know, ask annoying questions that I'm sure every tattoo artist suffers through several times before the guy began.  I was really nervous to say the least.  But it wasn't bad...now bracing for the next tattoo!  Haha, just kidding mom!