Said goodbye to Jenn

Jennifer February 14, 1981-April 14, 2010

I was sad to hear that my coworkers niece, who I knew personally, passed away suddenly. It was very sudden and it broke the hearts of a lot of people. To lose someone so young is very hard.

When I first heard the news, I really thought it was some kind of cruel joke. How could a 29 year old girl just die in her sleep? It made me feel for the first time in my life, like I was not as invincible as I thought I was. It really changed the way I feel about those I love. I always want the people that I love to know how I feel about them because you never know when you might never see them again. The cause of death was Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) which is a generic heart disease. The scary thing about this disease is that there in little to no symptoms. The only way people find out that they have it is sudden death. It doesn't matter how old or young you are. If it runs in the family, there is a chance that you may have it. Its a very scary and serious disease. Jenn was full of life and followed the motto "Carpe Diem" meaning "Seize the Day". A motto we should all live by.

Details ARVC- Learn more about this devastating disease. ARVC.Com - Research center to find a way to better detect and cure this disease.

Said Goodbye to Annette

Annette

June 9 1946 - March 18, 2010

Annette was a co-worker of mine. I have known her for the past 8 years. My co-workers are really close so it feels like we lost a member of our family. She lost her battle to liver cancer that she has been fighting for the last year.

Annette was a wonderful, caring, thoughtful woman who was not afraid to say how she really felt. She had a sense of humor like no one I ever met. She was not afraid of making herself look like a fool just to get a laugh. We would often joke about her potty mouth.

I know now that she is up in heaven and not in pain anymore. She will be missed greatly.

Donations: Daffodils for Cancer

Ran a mile non-stop!

I finally jogged a mile non-stop for the first time in my life. I am so proud of myself. I love this training program (the Couch-2-5K program)! Not that jogging 20 minutes straight wasn't hard!

First I forgot my ipod and Nike+ at my apartment. So instead of going straight to the gym after work I had to go home to get them. It wasn't so bad though because I changed for the gym at home and used my nice clean bathroom before I went. Driving to the gym I had a knot in my belly. It felt like the knot that I had when I was driving to get a tattoo. Would I be able to run this mile? Would I quit like I always did? I will be so p-off at myself if I can't push myself.

When I finally got to the gym I was happy to find that it wasn't as crowded. I was able to find a decent parking spot and get a treadmill in the back. When I did my warm-up walk, I tried to pump myself up. I wanted to clear my head and think only of this 20 min jog. I stretched and then it began. I kept my pace at 3.8mph to avoid burnout.

About 3 minutes into the run, I felt like quiting. 3 MINUTES!! But my legs were tired and felt heavy. I just ignored it and hoped it would go away. I jogged 8 mins on Tuesday and I wanted to quit at just 3. Not going to happen. But the idea of doing this for another 17 mins made me want to slow down to a walk. This is what happened when I jogged a mile in sports. I would always see the entire mile I had to do instead of the step that I was doing. Then I would stop and walk until my coach yelled at me to keep jogging.

But something happened. At about 5 mins in I got my power. My legs felt lighter and I just jogged. I was even able to bring the speed up to 4.0mph. When I looked at the time again I saw the time tick away. I can do this! I focused on the song on my ipod and that fact that I could not quit.

When I was almost a mile in (about 13 minutes) my friend Mike came over to talk to me. Not now I thought! I was able to hold a brief conversation with him and lucky for me he didn't linger. I wanted to catch my mile on my camera video. I wanted to enjoy my first mile. To savor it and relish in pride.

When I hit the mile I tried to film it, but ended up not saving it. I did the mile in about 17 minutes. It was a slow mile, but I jogged the whole time. Once I hit that mile my mind went completely blank. Nothing went through my head at all. I finally finished my 20 minutes and did a cool down walk.

I felt really strange leaving the gym. I wasn't thinking of any thing. No work. No ex husband. No family stress. No money problems. Nothing. It was the strangest thing. It was like I was in shock. I felt like I couldn't possible be the one who ran 20 mins straight. I am not a runner...

I really thought when I hit that mile at the gym that I would cry and be super emotional. But the one thing that I thought was 'That wasn't so bad'. Why couldn't I do this in high school during field hockey?

All those times in field hockey when I had to be benched because my coach felt I was to out-of-shape to play. I remember when the coach pulled me aside and told me that I made the team but would not play in every game because I stopped and walked the mile we had to do everyday. I then tried to argue with the coach, saying that I even though I walked some of the mile I still did it faster then this other girl on my team. She was always the last to finish the mile. My coach said that because she jogged the entire time was the reason she would be playing more then me. Didn't seem fair to me at the time. I felt that I was a much better player but because I couldn't jog one friggen mile I was being punished.

But now I can finally say to myself that I ran a mile. I did it and will do it again. I love this running program!

This post is dedicated to Coach McGivney, for making me feel like crap all these years for not jogging a mile non-stop.

Went to Universal Studios Florida

I finally got to go to Universal Studios in Florida! Ever since I first saw shows from Nickelodeon, I wanted to go down there to be a part of it. Despite being very excited about going, there was a few issues:

1) It was extremely cold. It was cloudy and there was no sun to keep us warm. It was the coldest that FL has been in a long time.

2) I went with 2 other couples and was the odd person in the group. I felt awkward and alone 60% of the day.

But besides that, I had a pretty good time.


We went to see the new Simpson's attraction that took over the Back to the Future ride (boo). This ride was in 3D and was pretty cute. If you are a Simpson's Fan, I would highly recommend it. If you are not a Simpson's fan, you probably will not get or like this ride at all.

Because we went the first week of the year, the Christmas lights were still up! It was beautiful to see all the decorations!
If it wasn't so gosh darn cold, I would have loved to walk around Seuss Landing more. There was alot of cute little shops.

I got to see a sneak peak of the Harry Potter park. Here is the Hogwarts castle!! It was beautiful and so life-like. I can't wait to go there when its all done!

The Jurassic Park section was closed due to the cold, but I still managed to run into a dinosaur there. I should win an Oscar for my performance! I made it seem real! And yes....I really am that pale.

We did alot of great rides at Universal, but the Hulk roller coaster was my FAVORITE!! We waited almost 2 hours in line. But the worst part was that there was a cheerleaders convention going on, and there was a group of cheerleaders CHEERING in line. So let me do the math here...

Being freezing cold + waiting in line for 2 hours + twenty 16 year old cheerleaders cheering on the top of their lungs = My own personal Hell

But was the ride worth all that?? Absolutely! It had so many twists and turns going on. I loved it!
Besides all the rides and attractions there is a TON of places to shop! We had dinner at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville! It was really awesome there. If you can get past the cheesy Jimmy Buffet songs then its worth the trip. Best drinks I have ever had. I recommend the Pink Cadillac drink if you ever go there. It was like drinking Koolaid!

Details

Universal Studios: Bigger roller coasters and better 3d attractions then Disney has, but lacks the Disney magic and customer service skills. I would defiantly love to go back here! But next time I am going with a boyfriend.

Margaritaville: Very campy and cute. The food was great and the drinks were awesome. Our waitress was fantastic!

Got inked!

I finally did it!

After years of wanted one, I finally got the guts to walk into a tattoo place and get my body inked. I have spent many years looking online on trying to find exactly the right thing to put on my body. I wanted something meaningful and beautiful.

I met with Steve, the guy who would be stabbing me with needles, and showed him what I wanted. I decided that I wanted a baby blue bird on my lower back and one star on the back of my neck. I brought in my pictures and made an appointment for the day after thanksgiving.

Here is the guy that was going to cause me pain for the next few hours. He was great! He explained everything to me and my tattoos came out great.

The big day arrived and I was so nervous. Steve was running late and I really wanted to get up and leave. I wanted this so bad but the idea of pain was scary! Steve was actually shocked to see me because he thought I was going to bail out! Geez! Give me some credit!

He started with the back of my neck. I was shaking, sweating and just couldn't believe I was doing this to myself. I thought he would yell at me for acting like such a big baby. But he was patient with me and kept me aware of what he was doing. The anticipation was the worst for me. He shaved my neck (ewww), then cleaned it with alcohol and then placed the stencil on. I watched him put together the tattoo needle. It was HUGE!

Then he asked if I was ready and he turned on the needle. The sound was horrible! He brought the tattoo needle closer to my neck and I thought I was going to scream. Was I going to jump when that needle hit my skin? All those youtube.com videos I watch of girls in tears and screaming in agony to me. Would that be me? Am I going to leave this place with just a line on the back of my neck?

Finally the needle hit my skin. This is how I reacted:

Me: Is that it?

Steve: That's all.

Me: Wow, I was a baby over nothing.

My very first tattoo. Its so simple and cute. It didn't hurt at all! I am thinking of eventually getting it filled.

It honestly didn't hurt at all. It felt like someone scratching the back of my neck. It was a great feeling but it didn't cause tears or screaming from me. The tattoo took a total of 5 minutes. I looked at the mirror at my new tattoo and was so proud of myself! I finally did it. Now it was time for my second tattoo. The more painful and detailed one.

This time the prep was so bad. I knew what to expect and he still went very slow at the very beginning. Not going to lie, this tattoo hurt! There were some parts that I couldn't even hold a conversation because it hurt. It wasn't enough to make me tear up or scream out loud, but enough for me to close my eyes tight, wrinkle my nose and grit my teeth. It felt like someone was scratching me where I have a really bad sunburn. But having had a really bad sunburn this year, this was really nothing.

I chose doing a baby bird on my lower back. Baby birds are thrown out of their nest into the real world after a while. They either have to fly or they fall and die. Baby birds need to fly all on their own. This is how I felt with life lately. I either got to fly and survive this crazy world or I will end up crashing to the ground.

After about an hour, the tattoo was done! I left that place feeling like I could do anything! I felt incredible. I felt like a bad ass. I felt like I could accomplish anything. I felt awesome. All the way home I had a huge grin on my face. I couldn't believe I did it!

The worst part for me has been the aftercare. The next day I woke up and the tattoo on my lower back really hurt. It felt like a bad burn. I was told to clean it and apply Aveeno lotion 3 to 4 times a day. Nervous people (like myself) should not get tattoos because while it is healing, funky things started to happen. Mine did some weird things and I couldn't find too many websites that helped settle my fears.

Here is my pictures of the healing process:

The day after I got my tattoo. It was very hot when I touched it and felt dry. I kept putting lotion and washing it 3 to 4 times a day. I was pretty upset that the colors looked faded

Also that day, I woke up and noticed this on my bed sheets. I inked the bed.

My tattoo looked like it was cracking. It felt alittle tight and I made sure to keep applying lotion that day. It was puffy and felt like leather. It looked so gross and was discolored. The light blue parts turned to a greenish yellow.
This was the worst day for me. I took this picture and my tattoo was started to peel. I know this was normal, but look at his wing!! It looked like the tattoo broke! Nothing online helped me feel better about this. I really thought I ruin my tattoo.

The scar came off and everything looks good! The best thing was the wing wasn't shifted, it must have been how the scar was peeling off. The only problem I see if a small white spot on the birdies body. But everything looks fine! Whew!! In a few more weeks it will be 100% it won't look so shiny. I love my little birdie! Isn't he so cute! All I wanted to do throughout the process was scrub my scab off in the shower. This is a big no-no.I think

Would I do this again? Absolutely!! I love having a piece of art on my body. It gave me such an adrenaline rush that I can't even explain. If you can survive a sunburn you can survive a tattoo.

Details

Where: The Painted Bird- Very clean and everyone was super nice to me! I would def recommend Steve and hope he can do my next tattoo.

Aftercare: Aveeno and Dial antibacterial soap- Worked great and the lotion made my skin so soft! I will now have to use it for the rest of my body!

Monster Mash 2009

I have not gone to a Halloween party in a long long time. For the last 8 years all I did for Halloween was order a pizza and hand candy out to Trick-or-Treaters. Not very fun at all. So when I heard that my friends were going to throw a Halloween party, I was very excited.

Going to the Halloween store with my friend I saw almost right away what I wanted to be. It was a cheerleading outfit that said U University on it. Across that was the work "Suck". It was perfect for how I felt lately. I wanted to be something dark and Gothic so this was perfect.

The costume was a tad too short for me so I bought some silver and black material and made it longer. I also bought some black leggings, striped socks, goth jewelry and wore my hair in pigtails. Much cuter in real life.

Me and my friend, Azad, who was a magicians assistant. You can see I made my skin pale and went really heavy on the eye liner. I tried to make my bangs all cute but they looked weird like this after a few hours. I also bought some fake piercings and had a lip ring and nose ring. Extremely uncomfortable to wear.

On a side note: I noticed in almost all the pictures I smiled like this. I thought it looked better to smile with my mouth closed but I look much better smiling and showing my teeth. I look like I am in pain here!

Dressed up fancy and gambled at Mohegan Sun

We thought it would be fun if we dressed up all fancy and went to Mohegan Sun for some gambling fun. I have never been there and was shocked by how huge it is there.

Here we are dressed to impress. We were the only ones in the casino dressed up like we were. But we didn't care, we looked good.

Here I am at the slots machines wondering where all my money went...

The best part of the night was heading up to the Star Bar aka The Bar in the Sky, ALL the way upstairs from the casino. It was so nice there. The ceiling was a giant sky which changed. One minute you would see a blue sky with clouds and a airplane and the next minute you would see stairs and the moon.

The drinks were good there too. They were so strong.

Here is our bartender at the star bar, Ben. He was awesome!

After a few drinks it was time to win big! I was determined to bring home big money.

But instead this is all I won at the end of the night! Yay me!



Details

Mohegan Sun - Nice place, don't expect to bring home big money. The casino lets you smoke EVERYWHERE so if smoking bothers you, you will need to find the crappy smoke free section.

Place to hang out: Star Bar- Fantastic place to get a drink and hang out

Tip: Wear comfy shoes. You do a LOT of walking