Cancer sucks, grad school, and wedding dresses

One year ago today one of my best friends lost her best friend, her mother, to breast cancer. Those of us who are close to Dana are wearing a pink bracelet to honor her mother, Lin. It took all of us by surprise and shock when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mom had gone to the doctor because she thought her skin was starting to look yellow. Little did she know that was the last time she would see her house because she was taken by ambulance up to the University of Iowa Hospital that same day and a month later she was gone. I can't imagine what Dana went through seeing her mother being taken away so fast and so early in life. My mom is my best friend and the thought of losing her scares me every single day. Losing either one of my parents scares the shit out of me quite frankly and I can't help but think about it every day. I'm a worry wart. It's what I do and I hate it. I don't want to live without them. They are my everything. Dana lost both her mother and father within three years at the age of 26. That is far too young to lose both parents :( This girl has gone through so much within the last five years she amazes me by her strength and courage to keep going. Despite everything she has been through she keeps truckin' through.

Throughout the years I have heard way too many people getting this nasty thing called CANCER. I hate it. This nasty thing runs in my family. In fact my family is full of it. Great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, my father, and even my fiance have all experienced cancer. It's like we as human beings can't get away from it. Even if we do everything "right." If we eat right, exercise, aren't around certain chemicals, put sunscreen on, etc. Somehow we still end up getting it and it SUCKS. Cancer survivors are awesome and they are what keeps giving people hope. We CAN beat cancer and we WILL find a cure someday. Until then, cancer can kiss my butt.

On a lighter note, grad school starts back up tomorrow! Well, I guess that isn't a lighter note because I don't want it to start again. Yes, I love what I am going to school for but everything I went through last semester makes me want to cry. Working full-time and taking 12 hrs of course work was horrible. I don't think this semester will be that bad so I should be alright. Track starts next month as well! That's a happy note! :) Sad part is I won't be able to coach as much this year because of grad school but I will still be there for my throwers. You bet your butt I will :) Love my throwers and the rest of the team of course. I was able to coach some club volleyball over the winter break. Was filling in for an Iowa student who plays volleyball for Iowa. She went home for break and I was asked to cover a few practices for her. It was so much fun coaching volleyball again. I flipping love that sport. The girls were great too. They wanted me to co-coach with their coach by the end of it :) Made me feel special. It boosted my confidence and I need that every now and then.

Hmmmm...what else can I write about....oh yes! My mom and I took her wedding dress to Cedar Rapids to the dry cleaners to see how much they could brighten/whiten her dress. If they can whiten it enough then I will probably end up altering it and wearing it for my big day :) I'm excited to see what they are able to do. Won't know for a couple weeks or so. It would be so great if I could wear it. I know it means a lot to my mom and seeing her so happy about it makes me feel so good :) I am still going to go shopping for dresses just because that is fun to do! I was originally going to wait until March to start trying on dresses but I can't wait. I made an appointment to try on some dresses this weekend. It will be just my mom and I for this one. I wanted to go to at least one appointment where it was just her and I so we could cherish those moments together. I love my mommy very much and want to make as many memories with her as I can because life can be short. Dana deserved to make way more memories with her mom than what she was given. Seeing someone go through such ordeal makes you appreciate what you have and don't take anyone or anything for granted.

That's all I have for now. I will try to get on this more, I swear. Haven't been good at writing posts lately. I'm going to go eat my peanut butter cup and chocolate ice cream now then go run a mile. Makes sense, right?

Peace!   

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yep, I know I haven't written a post in a while. My bad. It was a busy semester, okay! Happy to announce my first semester of grad school in the school counseling program is over. Phew. It was definitely a tough one working full time and taking 12 hrs of class, but I did it! There were times I wanted to cry (and often did), throw a fit like a 2 year old (occasionally did), and just give up. Papers after papers and presentations after presentations! I felt like things would never end but when they did it felt oh-so sweet. Even though I lost almost 8 pounds simply because of stress in the process I ended up with all A's and am pretty darn proud of myself. Woohoo! I am enjoying this month break from school and taking advantage of my time by doing what........WEDDING PLANNING!

Wedding planning is so fun! :) There are so many things that come with planning a wedding and it's challenging. Which means I like it! Bring on the challenge baby. I'll crush you. I am already ahead of the ball and we aren't getting married for another year and a half. Our wedding date is July 11, 2015 and already have the venue, church, and photographer booked. Boom! I also already asked my six bridesmaids to be in the wedding and they were all excited :) I made cute little cards for them and gave it to them for Christmas. I am in the process of making sure I get a trolley and DJ I want so those could be checked off very soon. That is if my fiance will let me make those plans. Ya see---I like to get things done right away whereas he is more laid back and likes to take his time. Nope, can't do that. I can do that with some things but when I know I want something, I gotta have it! The girl singing, "I want it now!" from Willy Wonka just popped into my head. Yikes. She really wanted that golden egg. I'm not like her at all, but can be at times ;) Hah. I just like to have things done a certain way and I want to make sure everything is in order. I probably won't go dress shopping until my spring break which is fine. I can wait for that. Speaking of wedding dress. I tried on my mom's wedding dress the other night and actually really liked it! I mean--yeah instead of it being ivory like it used to be it was more yellowish from being in a box for 33 years, it was wrinkly, and was a little too big but overall it was a pretty dress. My mommy is very important to me and I want to incorporate her dress on my dress somehow or even alter her dress to make it into something I could wear. She said I could alter it any way I wanted because she would never wear it again ;) There is some potential and can't wait to start fiddling with it.

 Hmmm....what else to write about.....2014 has a lot of things in store! My best friend's baby girl is due in April. I still can't believe she's pregnant. My other best friend is going to be having a baby as well and is due in June. She has a feeling it's a boy and it probably is. Whenever she has a feeling about something she is usually right on. Two of our good friends are getting married this year and Jared and I get to take our engagement pictures this summer, and Jared will start his LAST year of dental school this coming fall! I'm excited!

One thing that I would like to see happen this year is for one of my best friends who is very far away from me in Australia to have a wonderful year. Her 2013 year was not ideal in any way and she deserves to have a great 2014 year more than anyone I know. She is the most generous, kind, thoughtful, and selfless person I have ever met (besides my mommy) and she deserves the best. She has quite the mouth on her and lets "f" bombs out left and right but it wouldn't be right if she didn't. I hope God blesses her with the many wishes she is currently hoping for and I am constantly rooting for her to get those wishes granted. Love you Dana!

Here is to 2014! Until next time....