The Post That Doesn't Really Have A Point...

One of the things I love about having a blog is learning that some of my oddities aren't really that odd at all. As sad as it sounds, reading your comments/emails about your own fear of needles made me feel so much better. Thank you! And to those of you who give blood for fun, props to you too. :)

I'm excited to have another "room reveal" in the next few days. Our bedroom is 95% complete (don't tell Michael--he thinks we're done). I'll take a few pictures and post them sometime this week. The living room sneak peek was the pillow so I figured I'd do something similar with this room as well. Cari, a good friend of mine, took some absolutely gorgeous pictures while she was out and about in Portland, Oregon. Almost all of our rooms have pictures of nature (hello Peter Lik), so when I saw her pictures on Facebook I lit up. She graciously let me use her works of art and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. So without further adieu, our bedroom sneak peek:





Aren't they gorgeous?! Thank you, Cari!

We've also been hard at work outside. I planted flowers for the first time in my life and decided I want to include "professional gardener" in our 2011 budget. It is hard work! But I must admit, it feels good and the instant gratification is awesome. Michael did all of the hard stuff so that helped too. :) I forgot to take "before pictures" but I'm not sure I'd show you even if we had some--absolutely terrible. We have a long way to go but so far so good.

That's it for now. Hope you all have a great week!

The Post Where I Embarrass Myself

WARNING: This post gets a bit graphic towards the end. Not terrible, but if you aren't a huge fan of grossness, back out now.

My story begins at 10:45 am this morning. I drive 400 feet to the hospital for my yearly checkup and park the car. I've been nervous about this appointment for several weeks because I know they'll be taking blood.

I hate needles.

I hate veins.

I hate blood.

I hate needles that poke into veins that take blood.

(Brief pause while I take a sip of orange juice since the previous sentence just made me a tad nauseous.)

And I'm back. I wait in the doctor's office for eons (actual time: 23 minutes) and am eventually brought back for the exam. It goes well and I love my new doctor. We switch numbers and promise to meet up for drinks (joke). And then I am sent off to the blood cave. I tell the nice lady that I am deathly afraid of the aforementioned items above and she asks if I need someone to hold my hand. I laugh and she looks back at me with a raised eyebrow. Hells no I don't need someone to hold my hand, I'm a woman! I smile and tell her I don't think that's necessary but to please go easy on my arms. I sit down in the chair and she gives my arms a full examination before she picks the best one. This makes me happy. Most of the time they just grab my arm and start poking. She decides on the left and I turn to the right. Before I know it, she is DONE. She tells me to put some pressure on the cotton swab and I start flailing my right arm to find it (I'm still looking to the right). She calmly grabs my hand and places it on the cotton swab. At that moment I felt like I was 7-years-old. But I look up and tell her that this was the absolute best blood giving experience I've had in my life. I thank her profusely and ask her to be the godmother of our first child. She tells me I can stay as long as I want but I jump out of my seat and run out the door. I'm feeling GREAT. And then I'm feeling NOT GREAT. I leave the office and make my way outside so I can sit on a bench. I see a couple argue about parking. I see a mom drop off her teenager. And then I see spots. I breathe deeply, regain control and decide I'm ready to find my car.

My car is approx 100 feet away when I start feeling really sick. I think, "Wow, this is how I feel right before I throw up." And then I throw up. In a parking garage. And then I throw up again. In a parking garage. And then I make it to my car, shut the door, open the door, and throw up again. I threw up three times. Did I mention I was in a parking garage? I am absolutely mortified, embarrassed, disgusted, bad adjective, bad adjective, bad adjective.

Giving blood has made me cry. It has made me nauseous. It has made me scream. It has never, until today, made me throw up.

My thoughts go out to anyone who parks on the second floor, row B of the Medical City parking garage. And my thoughts go out to my husband, who married the biggest pansy this world has ever known.

Goodbye Winter, Hellooooo Spring!

Oh, hello there. It's been an interesting few weeks. I'm not sure where to start so I apologize if this post becomes a bit chaotic and unorganized.

I completed my CRIS designation for work, which is thrilling because I now have my evenings and weekends back. When I told my boss I finished the program he said, "Don't forget--you get some money for that!" I told him I'd already expensed each of the courses and he said, "No... you get a bonus for completing the course. Didn't you read the handbook?" ("I er... um... of course I read the handbook.") It was a fantastic surprise and went straight to our New York savings account.

Sticking with the "work theme," there was a shooting in our building last week. My company is on the 16th floor and the shooting occurred on the third floor. It was bizarre. Security came over the speakers and told us to lock the main doors to our offices. About 15 of us interpreted that as "Cram into one tiny office and lock the door." They didn't tell us what was going on until it was all over. We saw dozens of police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and helicopters. It was a targeted attack and thankfully, those that were shot are ok. Needless to say, I didn't get much work done that day. I wasn't going to tell my parents but Kait told me she saw it on CNN and I didn't want them to see their daughter's building covered in yellow tape on national news.

Last weekend Michael and I drove home to Fort Smith to attend Leslie's baby shower! We had such a great time and I was able to catch up with several friends. The baby shower brings me to my next point. I've debated whether to write about this but let's face it, when have I ever been one to hold back?

I would like to call this segment:

Etiquette According to Meredith

I would say half of our friends have kiddos or are pregnant. We, on the other hand, have a fat cat. Right before we drove to the shower, I told my mom my least favorite question: "So.... (sweet smile) Does this make you want to have a baby?" Unless you are a very good friend of mine, I really don't want you asking me this. Why? Because it's a lose/lose situation for me. If I say, "No, not really," I sound like a bitter person with a black heart. If I say, "Absolutely!" the new rumor is that Michael and I are "trying" (a phrase that makes both of us cringe). My mom told me to simply say, "When the time is right" and just as I predicted, that phrase came out of my mouth several times. So my advice is to talk about the person who IS having the baby rather than those that aren't. Don't get me wrong, Michael and I are so excited to have kids and we adore all of the babies around us, but seeing someone else with a kid will never be the catalyst for us. And frankly, I'm thankful for that. :)

Off the soap box and time to wrap this one up. Hope you all have a WONDERFUL week and enjoy the extra hour of daylight at night. Spring is here!

Our Alma Mater

Last weekend Michael and I made a quick trip to Tulsa so we could meet beautiful Leighton Marie (my best friend's daughter). We had a great time catching up with Kait and Steve and I was a baby hog the entire time. I would look over and ask Michael, "Do you want to hold her?" and then look away before he had a chance to respond. Oops. We love being surrounded by so many adorable babies. (And we love handing them off when they need a diaper change.) :)

The past few times we've visited Tulsa I get this small ache in my heart and I just want to wrap my arms around the city and give it a huge hug. I know Michael worries about whether I'm happy in Dallas and it wasn't long ago I realized (and explained to him) that Tulsa is just another city. It's a great place, but my emotional ties have nothing to do with it as much as the memories it gave me. A great college experience where I met my best friends. A wonderful boyfriend who became my husband. A wedding. A first home. An abandoned cat who could not have come at a better time in my life. Of course I am grateful for it because it made me who I am today. And for better or for worse, I'm pretty happy with the person I've become and extremely happy with the people I've met along the way.

In an attempt to avoid making this "top 10 sappiest posts ever," I thought I'd share a humorous moment. Michael and I try to take a tour of TU when we're in Tulsa because it changes all of the time. We picked up our college newspaper and immediately flipped to campus crime watch because it. is. hilarious. Both of us were lucky enough to be featured in this section when we were in college and like to read about the current members. In my defense, I was completely innocent. Well, 70% innocent. When I was a senior (read: 21 and legal) my roommate, Melissa, and I had a party in our campus apartment. Someone turned us in for throwing beer bottles off of our 3rd floor balcony. We knew it wasn't anyone from our party who committed the crime because we'd bought a keg for the occasion (which was also not allowed and therefore could not be used as defense) so we showed up to our school hearing a bit nervous. Luckily, the girl who saw the broken bottles admitted she never saw anyone throwing anything off of our balcony so we were let go. I think the school was pretty shocked when two honors students walked in wearing their Sunday best and one carrying a rosary (I might have made that last part up).

Michael--on the other hand--not so innocent. :) Late one night the soccer team decided to play egg baseball from another campus apartment balcony. Michael, the batter, was stationed on the ground while the pitcher threw from the 3rd floor. TU campus security--not so thrilled.

Here were a few of our favorites from this past week's newspaper...

12:15 am: A Security officer followed a student driving recklessly on 8th street to the University apartments. The officer noticed the car was missing one of its front wheels and it was causing sparks. The intoxicated, underage student exited the car holding liquor, which was confiscated along with two other bottles of alcohol recovered from the car. The student stated that they were coming home from a party at a campus apartment.

(Sidenote--We are obviously not condoning drinking and driving, we were merely amused by the lack of a front wheel causing a 4th of July show for all viewers.)

3:00 am: Security shutdown a party in the University Apartments due to the late hour. The residents were initially uncooperative, denying there was a party and preventing entry for a welfare check. Eventually officers discovered several people hiding in the bathroom and the guests left.

God bless TU. Your campus might change, but the antics never will.