Learning To Live

Learning to Live is hard.  I want to live happy, healthy and free.  I get frustrated when sad things happen.  I feel it shouldn't affect me because I'm no longer depressed.  I need to accept that sad things happen and it's okay to be sad.  Last week my puppy got sick.  We got Snowball when I was 10 and my brother was 7.  We named him and that's as creative as we could get.  He was white and flluffy, so Snowball made sense.  If I got a dog now I'd name him Einstein, Schrodinger (although that's a better name for a cat), or The Doctor (Doc for short).  That's a different story - the "Why Carla Can't Have A Dog" story.  So we'd had Snowball for more than 13 years.  He truly was my mom's dog - he followed her everywhere.  But we all loved him so much.  He was the best dog ever!  There was no end to the tricks and quirks of Snowball. Some of my favorites are when he used to steal my dad's sandal - and it wa...

Two of my FAVORITE people on the planet have had golden birthdays recently.  I feel bad because I think I forgot to say awesome things on my blog about my awesome brother on his golden day, so here are the awesome things about TWO AWESOME PEOPLE. Happy Golden Birthday, Darin (a little bit late).  I know we went to Vegas, and I threw you a party here, and I told the world on Facebook how awesome you are - but I didn't say anything nice here.  And this is the place you never read, so it's SUPER important.  Right. My brother means the world to me.  He's one of my very important rocks.  He's brilliant, and funny and can be amazingly flamingly gay.  The last one is one of my favorite qualities in my brother.  That, and that he hangs up on me on the phone on a regular basis.  Seriously. If you interrupt his thought at all he gets mad - which can be funny.  But overall, he's sweet when he's told to be.  He does my laundry when I tell...

I'm exhausted, but I just want to with a VERY Happy 2nd Anniversary to Chris and Kyra of kyrachris.com. Chris and Kyra - Thanks for being in my life.  You're an amazing couple with an adorable, smart, wonderful son and I am blessed to know you all.  Thank you for your unconditional love and support.  I couldn't ask for better friends/honorary siblings.    I'm pretty sure I wrote everything else I wanted to tell you in my card/present.  ;-) I LOVE YOU! Happy 2nd Anniversary - And Many More! Love, Carla "Auntie Carla"   

So I'm back. Where I was, I don't know. But I think I'm back. I might be back and able to blog again. I'm at least going to try. My goal for today is to post something important. And then maybe I'll have other things to say in the near future. Hopefully. In the meantime, I would like to say, I have an amazingly cute nephew!!!

Here are some VERY random photos from California... I want to go back. THE CASTRO (soo much fun!) I really need to update my travel blog. Maybe I'll get there this week, or maybe not. 24 minute parking :-) Gansl is sooo cute! New version of Chest PT? SWEET! M&P on the last night. Priceless :-) Vacations are great!!!

This is our 2009 Great Strides promotional photo for the Lucky Ladybugs. I know, we both look like death, but Lauren's in the hospital and I was busy getting ready to leave for California. The day before I left Lauren and I had our Hospital Photo shoot, I packed and did some errands, spent the afternoon with Luca and Kyra, went to dinner with Chris, Kyra and Luca, and made an appearance at games night. I did all of this AFTER I recorded my podcast for CFvoice.com. To record the interview that will end up being several podcasts, I had to go to a professional studio. I sat on a couch with the microphone and mesh screen in front of me. I had a ton of fun doing it and talking candidly about my CF. I enjoyed saying exactly what I wanted to say without having to guess someone's reaction or filter it to prevent someone from the whole truth. I talked about many subjects, but I know the one that could come back to bite me in the ass is talking about my parents and the support syst...

Tonight I am sentimental. I am missing a great number of people who have influenced my life. Some are gone and are now angels, and some just live too far away, and some I saw a couple days ago, but I want them to know how much they mean to me. I found this photo, and it made me miss college. It made me miss the days when I lived in the dorm. It made me miss all that energy I used to have. And this photo came from a CF Mom. You have no idea how much I miss my pediatric doctor. This is a photo of a real doctor. A doctor who loves what he does and who loves his patients. I miss that. It takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to help me get through this fight. And tonight, I feel like part of my village is missing. I know my angels are with me, but I wish sometimes I could give them a giant hug. Tonight I am making my montage for 2009 Great Strides. It will be called, "My Village." I am including photos of all the people who have helped me get wher...

Hello All. It's me :-P I'm still not sure what to write about - other than the fact that I am listening to a COVER of "Witchdoctor" ...and do we know which country it came from? If you guessed the Britain, you were totally right, and totally inSync with my iTunes. I have come across some totally amazing British SHIT. Total and complete musical SHIT, but it is genius in it's own way - like in that Hanson singing "Mmmmbop" kind of way. You just can't turn it off and when it comes on you need to dance. Thanks to Chris for helping me do some updates to this blog. I'm now using Google Analytics so do me a favor and click on random thing on my site. That, and visit me 40-50 times per day to boost my numbers. Like I said before, I'm still not sure what to write about, although Sarah Lynn and I had an amazing hour long conversation today. We talked about our AP Language Forgiveness papers - although my mother wouldn't sign the permissio...

I have loved putting up decorations for Christmas this year. I am so happy my house is pretty much done, and I love it. I love burning candles and curling up on the couch. Here are a few pics :-) The wreath I (and Darin) made for Mom's birthday. I think I did a pretty damn good job on my first holiday wreath. I'm now convinced I could do anything crafty. I'm going to try and post more of my decorating and crafty creation photos. My candles by the fireplace (it's a gas fireplace and completely useless.) Me putting the angel on top of the Christmas tree. My very skinny tree :-)

I'm not a big fan of my current haircut. Maybe it will be good when it grows some, but right now I don't like it. I want to be able to let it air dry, but right now it only looks good when I blow-dry it and curl it. And those are two steps I don't care to perform. So these are a few old photos of me where I like my hair... And how do I make it look like this again???

Chris B. made Mickey!!! :-D My non-Traditionally colored, traditionally carved pumpkin I

This proud Aunt just can't resist posting a new photo of her nephew - the most adorable baby EVER. I love you Luca. Love, Auntie Carla

Dear World, I got a tattoo. I thought you might like to know. It's not a big deal. I just decided this past weekend that it was time and I needed to do this. I know the exact second I decided. I woke up on Tuesday and knew that was the day. I wasn't scared at all. I guess you could call me the Queen of Needles this week - I got a tattoo (which didn't hurt, it's sore now, but doesn't hurt), I got my 2nd Lupron shot (in my ass), got my flu shot (which makes my arm sore), and got my port flushed. And of course I gave myself my insulin shots. All I needed was to have some blood drawn, and this week would be completely filled with needles. Of all the needles, the only one that hurt at all was my port flush. But imagine someone shoving a large 3/4 inch needle straight into your chest. It's going to hurt a little. After the initial stick, it's no big deal - and I'm used to it. This should be my only tattoo until they find a cure for CF - then I will ...

I voted today. I thought this kind of fit.

I love fall - leaves, pumpkins, little kids dressed up in costume, big kids dressed up in costume, etc. I carved this pumpkin this past weekend while in Milwaukee. I still want to write all about that weekend, I just haven't had time.

So, I decided I want to ignore my life right now... I may post a brief list of why I don't want to think about things, but other than that, I don't want to talk about it tonight. So here is my wittyness for the day. I was browsing through thousands of pairs of shoes online because just looking at shoes makes me happier (I have a problem, yes, I know). And I found some of the worlds UGLIEST shoes. For your enjoyment, here they are: Pair One: The Gladiator from Hell Who the hell would wear this??? Seriously, would you wear this with your favorite pair of jeans? I think it would be a waste of time to put on if it's going to be covered up, but then again, this should be covered up. No, it should just never be worn. Pair Two: Baked to a Crisp It looks like a pair of shoes those really over-tanned women would wear. You see them on the beach, in high heels, and they look like their entire body has been reupholstered in leather? Yeah, them. These shoes are for those women. ...

The Things In My Lungs (I've found these critters before, but never blogged them... Thanks to Lindsey for the idea :-) ) Meet MRSA . (I guess having a cape makes you more powerful in the plushy world) And Staph . I think they also need to make psuedemonas. It would go here if they did.