Fan Club

I just joined a club & its kind of embarrassing as to which one. Okay, I'll tell you. I joined the DQ Blizzard of the month fan club. I've been all about the MyFitnessPal app lately, very diligently counting calories. Somehow on Sunday I ended up with lots of leftover calories. It happened in the middle of my yoga class. I realized that Dairy Queen was on my direct path home. It consumed my mind for the last half of the class. When that glorious moment came & it was finally time to order my blizzard, I quickly chose the Blizzard of the Month and stuck to my decision. No wavering.

Grasshopper Mousse Pie. It was better than I had even imagined. Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, graham cracker crust crumbles, chocolate chunks, and whipped cream.

Trying to be as devoted to MyFitnessPal as possible, *nerd alert* I went to the DQ website and took copious notes about the serving sizes and calories of each Blizzard flavor. I've got to at least earn my calories, ya know?

You thought I was kidding... but no. This list will probably stay in my wallet. Never know when I might need a quick reference! Plus...if you know me, you know that I like to go in order and check them off.  :)

Real Life Love Story

Now that I've had some time to process, it's really setting in with me how blessed I was to have the grandparents that I did. I've always known how special they were, but sometimes its not until they are gone that we realize what wonderful people we have had living in our presence. As most of you know, both of my dad's parents passed away within two days of one another.

They had both been sick and for the last month, they had been in different places in order for us to care for them the best way we knew how. Papa was in Hospice in Statesboro and Grandma was at Candler in Savannah. Their declines happened within the same time frame even though they were in separate cities. I feel that they were truly communicating with each other on a spiritual level during those last few weeks. Papa passed away very peacefully on Valentines Day (Saturday). My dad and his brothers decided it was time for Grandma Joan to go back home to Statesboro to keep her comfortable, as she was not getting better. On Sunday morning, she was moved to Hospice in Statesboro.

On Monday, we held Papa's visitation from 5:00-8:00 and welcomed old friends. It was so nice to hear their stories about what a wonderful man he was and how he had impacted their lives in such a positive way. Many people from his adult Sunday School classes came to visit and a few even divulged that they hadn't been back to Sunday school since then because they never found a teacher as good as he was. He was so well respected within the community and known for putting God and family first. I am very proud to call him Papa. When the crowd had left, our family gathered, exhausted, back at Grandma and Papa's house to the chili, macaroni and cheese, blueberry cobbler and all sorts of other goodies that their church had left for us. It warmed my heart to see how the people of their church showed us so much love.

As we were warming up the food, about to fix our plates, Hospice called to let us know that we needed to come be with Grandma. It was almost as if she had waited until we finished visiting with everyone who loved Papa, then she went on to heaven to be with him. If ever there was a great love story, this is one of the truest. We were able to hold a double funeral and burial the next morning, much to the surprise of many who were showing up to celebrate Papa's life. Little did they know that Grandma would be right beside him.

They set such an example of love for each other and for family over the years. One of my family's running jokes is that once when Papa was asked what his hobbies were, he commented, "loving Joan." And that he did. Back when they were able to drive around and live their normal lives, Papa was always pretty adamant that they shouldn't be driving the dark. He would always comment on how it was getting dark and they needed to get home. My Aunt Chris put it well; when she returned from Hospice on Monday night after Grandma passed away, she said it was as if Papa was telling her, "Come on Joan, the Kingdom's here....it's getting dark!"

I want to give a great big thank you for all the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers sent my family's way. I hope I can speak for us all when I say: we felt them and we all feel so blessed.

Visiting at Grandma Joan & Papa's house in Statesboro years ago

Obituary for Papa

Obituary for Grandma

Sickling

I was tooting my own horn before Christmas when everyone was getting the crud that was going around. Earlier in the month, I had stocked up on all kinds of immune building potions from Whole Foods and I never did get sick. I told everyone about my natural cures... Mrs. Mother Earth.

 Well, last night, it caught up to me. I went to bed with a little bit of a sore throat but it really kicked in at 1:30 in the morning with my whole body aching like I had been hit by a semi. I couldn't get warm despite my flannel sheets and space heater.

Finally I decided to take a hot bath with lavender mint sea salt. I took a spoonful of honey, chewed on a on a slippery elm bark throat lozenge (special potions from Whole Foods) and by 2:00 AM I was back in bed asleep. Ha! I had kicked it!

Well- By 7:30 I was searching the Internet for which essential oils work best for flu like symptoms. Peppermint and Eucalyptus- perfect! I had both. I rubbed some on the bottom of my feet, on my temples, and directly onto my achy back. I was determined to knock this out, naturally. After all, this is one of my New Years Resolutions! New year, new medicine cabinet.

I fixed some hot water with lemon and honey, I took my vitamins....I used my Neti Pot. Apparently I added way too much salt to the water because it burned my nose and made my eyes water. Not pleasant. Those were all the "natural cures" I could muster. It wasn't working. I needed relief!

Around 9:00 I shuffled my way into the kitchen and made myself a blueberry smoothie for some sustenance. Anti-oxidants, right? Had to help. It took me about 10x as long as it normally would have to make the smoothie because I was so weak and achy. Every few minutes I'd have to pause and rest because I kept getting light headed. Back to bed.

 I tried to lay on the couch and watch TV for a change of scenery, but the lady's voice on the Today Show made me angry and hurt my head. Back to bed again.

Throughout the morning I had been texting my mom telling her how miserable I felt. She told me to take some cold medicine...that it wouldn't kill me just this once. I refused. I had to be NATURAL.

1:00 PM- I shuffled into the kitchen again and made myself some brown rice with chicken broth. The whole 30 minutes that it was cooking, I went back and forth in my mind about whether or not I should break down and take some medicine. By the time it the rice was ready, I'd had enough.

Thank God for 800 mg of Ibuprofen and my heating pad. It's now 2:30 PM and I'm good as new. I gave it my best shot.

This Is What 31 Looks Like

I'm THIRTY-ONE! 

Not quite as monumental as 30, but I'm very content as the years go on. I heard someone say today that I was "31 years young," and I couldn't help but think that I don't want to be years younger. I am much happier with myself the older I get. Although, it did hit me that I turned 21 TEN years ago. Makes me feel a little old, but that's okay I suppose.

I felt like the most loved girl in the world. My phone buzzed all day long with texts from my dear friends who I don't get to talk to near as much as I'd like. With all of them, we can pick up right where we left off. I am fortunate enough to run out of fingers on which to count all these people. That's what I love the most about birthdays....getting a quick hello from each of them. The fact that they all remember makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It means so much. I also cherished all the birthday love from those who I do have a chance to talk to every day.

It was a birthday week for sure. Kristi and Vicky surprised me with dinner and gifts two days before the big event. A small, cozy party is just what I wanted! Friday night I had dinner with my family and Josh at Cohen's Retreat. My parents slipped me some birthday cash and I spent every penny of it in the shops at Cohen's before I even left the building.

Saturday night Josh surprised me with tickets to see Swan Lake (the ballet) at the Johnny Mercer Theatre. I know it was probably the last place he wanted to be, so it meant even more that he arranged the surprise all on his own. I didn't even know the ballet was in Savannah!

He also gave me this tiny little snow globe looking aquarium called Sea Monkeys on Mars. He had my 1st grade class in mind when he bought it so that I could put it together at school. I thought that was the just the sweetest. You fill it up with water and these organisms (Sea Monkeys) come to life. Along with that, I got an audio book called "Sh*t My Dad Says," and it his pretty hilarious. Makes my drive to and from work go by in the blink of an eye. Another very original gift was a CD called The New Basement Tapes. Story behind that is...a notebook of Bob Dylan lyrics were found and a music producer hand picked five newer artists to put the lyrics to music. Marcus Mumford is one of them and his variations are my favorites. There is a documentary to go along with it if you're interested! Oh! And he also bought me some Pitcher Plant seeds to grow instead of buying flowers that will die. He gets a gold star for this birthday.

We also had an early dinner at the Gryphon Tea room and I single-handedly drank an entire pot of their Hot Cinnamon Spice tea.

Sunday, Grama and Bob came over to give me my b-day present and visit for a little while. Every time they come over, something gets accomplished around the house. This time they helped take my Christmas tree down (long overdue), change air filters, scrub toilets, and put in a new vacuum bag. What would I do without them??

He was "showing me how" to properly scrub a toilet.

Another year in the books!

Top 5 of 2014

One of my favorite year end reflections is to see which blog posts got the most love. Here they are in the countdown:

#5: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

#4: My Little Sister's Engagement

#3: The Innerworkings of my Brain

#2: Blah

And the  #1 blog post of 2014...

#1: CLEAN DIET ROUND 3

December, Where Did You Go?

Well, I blinked and its almost 2015. Usually I'm ready to take down my Christmas decorations as soon as the event is over, but not this year. My tree is just now starting to smell like it is supposed to, I love staring at the lights, and I get lost in thinking about the stories behind each ornament. So sappy. At school, I knocked out some of my Pinterest crafts with the little ones. Pretty adorable. Since I have K and 1st this year, its fun to go back to the world where Santa is real, watching Polar Express, field trips to the mall for them to see Santa, and the loads of gifts they give just because you are their teacher.

I was ready for Christmas really early this year for some reason. I had my Christmas cards sent out on Dec 1 and most of my shopping done by then as well. My tree was set up early and all of the decorations were unpacked. Honestly, it made for a longer month because I didn't feel the regular hustle and bustle of the season. I'm not sure that I liked it. I sort of enjoy shopping closer to "go-time."

One of my favorite times this month was having a craft day over at my friend, Julie's.  She made hot cocoa and cookies, I brought over some cheese and crackers. We wore our comfiest yoga pants and no makeup. I painted her dining room tables and chairs while she made jewelry and Nicole cut up old t-shirts to make workout tanks. The movie Elf played in the background. I couldn't have asked for more.

The long awaited Christmas break finally began and I've been sleeping til 11:00 on most days. I can't tell you how much I cherish my sleep. This has been just the re-charge I needed. We kicked it off with my dad's birthday at Taca for some sushi and then to LuLu's Chocolate Bar where I (stop the presses) didn't order dessert. I was so full! We all had the best time & I actually convinced my dad to come to yoga with me. I'm sure the booze helped with my convincing and his consenting, but he has been with me twice since then!! I always love a yoga buddy.

Josh and I went to the Civic Center for some Christmas Eve ice skating. Thank goodness we came and went with no major injuries. He talked a big game before we got there saying that he was going to need room for his triple axle, then as we are getting on the ice he says he hasn't been ice skating since he was in high school. I guess it's like riding a bike because he picked it right back up. There was one time when he fell though.... sprawled out on his belly and it knocked the wind out of him. I tried not to laugh but when he looked up his eyes were as big as saucers. He just lay there stunned. That sure didn't stop him though because long after I retired the skates, he went back out for round two and stayed until the bitter end.  I think he was the only adult left on the ice trying to spin some tricks. Then on the way home we had to discuss technique. This happens after every sporting event he participates in: dissection of technique.

Christmas Day was perfect as always. Every year I feel incredibly blessed to have each person in my family there, happy and healthy. That was the best gift of all. As the years go by and everyone gets older, traditions start to change. For now, I am relishing in the last years of our 30- year traditions still going strong. So blessed.

Merry Christmas

Hope you have the Merriest Christmas Ever!

Love, 

Caroline & Whelan 2014

(He was not merry this year)