Blue-Eyed Breather

What started out as a humid, cloudy, windy day turned into an absolutely gorgeous sunset here in Texas! Sunsets after it rains are always incredible, and today's sunset was no exception. I wish a photograph would capture its utter beauty, but instead, God grants us a unique horizon to gaze upon each and every evening. His creativity astounds me! Thursday=day of reflection and thankfulness on my blog! As I reflect over the week, I'm having trouble picking just three things to write about. But, I'll limit myself for your sake (can't have you sitting in front of the computer all day long, now can I?) ;) 1. The Spurs games on TV- The Spurs is my family's favorite basketball team. And although I can't name all the players, I know the basics (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, ex-Spurs player David Robinson). Since my dad is a basketball coach, I understand the game fairly well and am able to keep up with points, possessions, fouls, the works. I am always chee...

You know how wonderful it feels when you just have a relaxing weekend with family? You feel so refreshed and blessed by loved ones. That's how I feel today. Yesterday, my family trekked down to my grandparents' house for a Memorial Day weekend visit. I love going to Grammy and Paw-Paw's house! We have so many amazing memories with them. Last night, we looked through old pictures and scrapbooks, including my grandparents' wedding album and three wedding picture books from their three kids' weddings. I don't know about you, but I truly enjoy uncovering the family history. I mean, seriously, my family history has shaped who I am today! I'm pretty sure looking through old pictures is one of my favorite pastimes. That and watching home videos. But that's another matter. Anyway, back to last night. In addition to reminiscing about the past, we all watched the Spurs game. The Spurs is Grammy's FAVORITE team, so we were all cheering when the Spurs won. Tod...

It's Friday! Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone. I hope you're planning to enjoy this unofficial start of summer weekend. Today, my mom, sister, and I went to a nail salon and got pedicures. My mom had a gift card, so we decided that would be a fun mother-daughter outing. I haven't received very many pedicures in my lifetime, but every time I do decide to pamper myself and get one, I'm always a little bit hesitant. For starters, I'm a very active person; I'm not good at sitting still for a long time. Obviously, for a pedicure, you have to sit still for a substantial amount of time while the nail worker cleans your feet, rubs lotion on your legs, scrubs the dead skin off your feet, and paints the actual nails. Secondly, I'm extremely ticklish. It's so bad that someone just has to say "tickle" and wiggle their fingers for me to start laughing, begging for the person to stop. When the nail worker rubs the bottom of my feet, I have to restrain...

For the next four days, I have a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) inserted and taped down into my stomach. This monitor checks my sugars every couple of seconds and stores the data to be analyzed after I take it out. I have had several of these tests before; however, the past few times, the monitor has only picked up blood sugars intermittently (most likely because I'm so thin). Fingers crossed that the meter works this time! I'm not doing any insulin (usually, I do between 0-2 units of insulin in the morning, depending on what I eat and if I go to the gym or not), so the next few days will probably be a bumpy ride. I'm willing to try anything to try and get my blood sugar issues straightened out, though. I was diagnosed with CF related diabetes when I was in late elementary school and have been attempting to figure out my sugars ever since. Because my type of diabetes is different than type 1 or type 2 diabetes, it's quite complicated, and no one really knows the best ...

First day on the job, and I already experienced a fire drill, free ice cream, and the fun environment of a speech pathology clinic! This summer, I am volunteering at a speech pathology clinic. Basically, I am there to help copy papers, laminate, and do whatever else they need me to do to keep the clinic running smoothly. Even more excitingly, I also get to observe therapy sessions. I had my first observation today, and I loved it! I can see myself becoming a  speech pathologist and working with clients on speech, language, and voice issues, like articulation, form, pragmatics, content, and receptive/expressive skills. The beautiful thing about speech pathology is that with my degree, I really can work anywhere. As well, I don't have to specialize in a specific area of speech pathology, so I can change where I work and not get burned out. I can work in the schools with children that need a little more help weekly to improve speech errors. I can work in a private practice setting w...

Yep, forgot thankful Thursday. So we're going to pretend it's Thursday, not Friday (at least for this blog). 1. Sunshine- I'm so grateful for the beautiful sunshine that's been covering the lovely Austin area lately.  There's just something about basking in the glorious sunshine that feels so amazing! Now that I have time to be outside and just relax, it has been quite refreshing. 2. Reminiscing- This week, I went to one of Bowie band's concerts. It was so weird being back at my old school, in my old auditorium, seeing all my high school friends. The last time I sat on that stage, I was playing my last concert with Bowie ever. Tuesday, however, I was sitting in the audience, listening to the band's celebratory end of the year concert. I was seeing my peers wearing the all-black uniform while I sat in the audience, wearing "normal" clothes. I didn't have the familiar fluttering of butterflies in my stomach just seconds before a big solo or d...

Today was the second of the two doctor days this week. As I sit here recapping the past week, all I can say is my head is swarming with information, and I'm glad I'm finished with all the appointments for a little while. This morning, I had an ultrasound of my abdomen done.  Besides a small kidney stone, everything looked okay (Yay! Something's normal?? How strange is that?) At 10:30, I saw my dietician for the second time. We're really trying to work on increasing caloric intake throughout the day. I especially need help coming up with high protein breakfast foods that may not mess with my blood sugar quite as much as normal breakfast foods do. Hence this very creative list of foods I will be trying in the near future: 1. 1/2 Sweet potato mixed with some sort of meat and drizzled with pineapple poblano jelly 2. Corn tortilla with beans, cheese, and avocado 3. "Oprah sandwich"--turkey, avocado, and hummus on whole-grain bread 4. Turkey sausage, cheese, a...

I don't know about you, but I struggle with this one tiny little word... Forgiveness. Okay, so I can hold a bit of a grudge. When people sincerely apologize, I often forgive quickly. I know that no one is perfect, and humans are without a doubt going to fail another in some way or another. As bad as this sounds, everyone I know and can call at least an acquaintance is going to hurt me in one way or another sometime in my life. The closer that person is to me, the more likely he or she is to let me down or disappoint me in the long run. I realize this. That's just the way of sinful human life. However, it's hard for me to forgive when the person doesn't ask for forgiveness. Is that worldly and self-centered of me? Yes. I'm constantly having to work on forgiving, praying for God to teach me how to forgive. Emotions and feelings hang in a precarious balance. They are so easily swayed, changing on a moment's notice based on a phone call, conversation, or an...

What a day. Bright and early yesterday morning, I had an upper GI done to test for gluten intolerance/look around at my GI system. I've been having a lot of issues with my stomach in the last year or so, so the GI doctor wanted to look around as well as test me for celiac. The procedure was done at an outpatient facility, and I was by far the youngest person there! (by several decades, I might add). The procedure took all of 15 minutes. However, the sedation they gave me knocked me out cold. I was plain exhausted! I think they might have given me too much sedation for my weight. They said I should be up within five or ten minutes, but I would've stayed in bed for an hour had they not forced me awake after thirty minutes. I seriously just wanted to sleep!! If you've ever had anesthesia, you know the feeling that I'm talking about. For the procedure, I was on my side, so in order to wake up, they made me roll onto my back. When I did this, I was SO dizzy. I felt like th...