The Astounding T-Shirt Sale Phenomenon of 2013

Click Here to: Buy A Shirt

How am I supposed to respond to this? If you could see my face as I type, delete, stare with wide eyes. Type, delete, and stare some more. 

Here is my best attempt to respond to the astounding phenomenon I witnessed yesterday:

Yesterday on my lunch break I called Hubs and asked, "How long do you think we should say we want to do this t-shirt sale to make sure we get the required minimum of 50 shirts sold?" We discussed and decided we would extend the fundraising to run 10 days and hopefully we could get 50 by then. I hit launch and went to microwave my taco soup. Sitting there eating, I looked to see if anyone has checked out the site yet- 2 shirts sold! In 2 minutes! I was elated. We can get 50 in 10 days! Let's do this.

Going room to room, talking to patients and my phone is buzzing off the wall in my coat. I slyly sneak a peak. My friends are a buzz- We've sold 49. I drop a quick FB shout out about # 50 and keep talking about why fried chicken and gravy is not an ideal breakfast food to a patient with Diabetes. My thoughts are really elsewhere. 50! In one day!

I run to "take a bathroom break". 30 people have shared the link on FB already. It's going viral. My phone keeps buzzing, "68"  "You're at $6000!" "This is crazy"  "79!!" "80 and counting" The texts were pouring in.

I am trying to text everyone back but my hands are shaking. 

The final count for DAY 1:

151 Shirts

$9381.00

911 Facebook Likes

38 Link Shares on Facebook

2 Tweets 

9 Pins on Pinterest

The money is one thing. I am thankful and it is very needed. But the support and encouragement. Man. That's what is choking me up. My kindergarten buddy, a friend I would ride my bike up and down the block with pretending we had our driver’s license and were dating members of Ace of Base, shared my link and spread the word.  Dear friends in Kansas, rallied in support. High School peps made shout outs and linked up the site. Fairmont Park was all over the place with links and donations. Old college buddies advocated for this cause and encouraged others to join.  With each share, post, like, sale, donation, and kind word my heart grew a little more and by midnight it was ready to burst!

For a couple who spent the last year struggling with feelings regarding our worthiness and identity- yesterday rocked us!

Thank you!

Hubs and I love you and are so thankful for you friendships and support. We are very blessed. Thank you for the outpouring of love!

9 Days Left. ;)

Happy Suture Day?

School likes to throw in surprise mandatory classes, labs and assignments. For example, on Wednesday night at 4 pm they announce there is a mandatory suture lab Saturday morning 9-12. Oh. Good.

After flaking out on people I had made prior commitments to, I show up at 8:45 to learn how to throw a good knot. This is kind of an exciting lab. People who know me, know I weirdly love blood, pathology, surgery, etc.... It is why I found a path in the medical field.

Fake blobs of flesh and fat sit in front of us and the instructor at the front of the class begins to demonstrate two commonly used stitches. Simple enough.

Let's Do This. I am greeted by a friend with a hearty "Happy Suture Day!" 

I begin piercing through one side of flesh, digging to fish out my now missing suture lost in the middle of the fake gaping wound in my pound of fatty flesh on the table. It is awkward. I feel awkward and unsure of myself. I want to excel. I look at my finished work and cringe. I would get sued for sure. Keep your scrapped up babies away from me unless you want a tough looking scar to scare other children away.

I try again. I want someone to come help me but there are 100 students and only 3 instructors and I, as usual, have sat in the back of the class.  What can I do to make this look better? Is it my hands? Is it how I am holding the needle driver (which was actually a hemostat that keep locking on me)? Do I need to go deeper or farther away from the wound? Could I please just get a little more guidance?

 Frustration!

My friend next to me helps me adjust my grip on the instruments and is trying to walk me through it again. She looks at me and begins comforting me, telling me it will be OK and that we can practice more later. What?!? Why is she saying these thing? I know it will be fine and of course we will practice more. DUH. Then taste a hot salty tear on my tongue. OH DEAR- AM I CRYING? Seriously. At Suture lab? So thankful for my lab buddies who quickly helped me recover with laughter and distraction.

Regroup, suture up the various degree of wounds on the blob and leave lab as quickly as possible. I did a whole lot better on the last two when I quit over thinking it.

I have yet to really cry about the adoption, its process, our child........ really any of it. I never cry when it would be appropriate. I share the story and the people around the table look at me with glistening eye and ask me how I am doing emotional. "I'm ok."

When I am talking about it, planning for it, filling out forms; when I am moving forward; I am ok. It's the regular days. It's suturing lab. It is today. It is when I have three assignments to write with no motivation. All I keep doing is blog hopping, reading other's adoptions stories. Tears stream down my face as I soak in the pictures of families meeting their children for the first time. I laugh and my heart swells as I watch a posted video of a father and his son bounce a ball back and forth outside the orphanage.

Is there such a thing as adoption hormones?

Sweet Lab friend who was quick to share her  wisdom and  encouragement.
Her Blob looked fantastic! Ain't gonna dehisce on her watch!

Loving a Paper Baby

So here you are looking forward to a post about perhaps loving a baby that I only know on paper- which is indeed true- but not what this is about.
I said goodbye to my paper baby today; sent it on a journey that is now out of my hands. It is hard to let go.

40 documents. Signed. Notarized. Apostilled. Now traveling overnight, alone, to its next destination.

The scared UPS man sealed the envelope while I instructed him for about the 5th time how I might DIE if this gets lost. I have been reading all about attachment issues and adoptions, but I have yet to come across the chapter regarding the attachment issues related to these paper babies.

The trip to Austin was quick and successful. For something I had never heard of before, apostilling seems to be a pretty legit and frequently used government service.

Next we went and saw Baby D's Aunt Amanda. Heart Happy.

Apostilling my paper babies And Hugging this girl......
Good Day Indeed!

Mom spent the week busy doing her Mom thing- making lists and organizing a game plan.  We tackled a couple projects, including an impromptu painting of Baby D's closet. At one point, I walked into the living room and found her with the couch pulled out from the wall cleaning the baseboards. Baseboards were not on my list but somehow they must of made it onto Mom's. Word on the street is that a home study does not equal a white glove inspection but it can't hurt to have a good first impression right?

Friday is the day.
I have some tricks up my sleeve.....
1. Go with the eyelids
2. Offer a snack
3. Bring the A game

We got this.

Changing the line-up

Announcement. What I am about to share took a lot of deep thought and soul searching.
I am changing my celebrity friendship lineup. (Don't act like you don't have one. The couple of celebs that you would hang out with on a regular basis.) See here for my previous crew. It has been a solid unchanging list for several years now and I felt the need to evolve it as I myself have evolved.
And with this I say, Beyonce, you have been a good celebrity pal. Your superior dance moves and rockin thighs have always somehow made my days better. The effort you make to get our youth hip and healthy is duly noted. With that, We need to move on. Of course Jay Z is still part of the crew so by default you would still make it to say birthday parties, etc.
Tina Fey, you are a classic. My weird obsession with female comedians all started with you. You are just in a different league now. Comedian Mom. It would be hard to relate to your new mom based jokes when we meet up at the coffee shop.
So with two spots vacant, it is important to keep my gang well rounded. I need my go to comedian, which I think I am pretty set on Mindy Kaling. The music video above pretty much settles the debate. I also need to fill the opening of Superstar. (Jay-Z does not fit this. He is not just a rock-star. He is the world dominator-entrepreneur-pays for everyone's dinner every time-friend.) This is where I am really up in the air and looking for guidance. This is a serious decision. Your Celebrity friend line up say a lot about who you are as a person!
 Suggestions. Who is on your list?
Here are some ridiculously lame but seriously awesome quizzes to help:
http://just-for-mom.quiz.kaboose.com/36-who-is-your-celebrity-best-friend
http://www.beautyriot.com/makeup-beauty/whos-celeb-best-friend-q6881 (Loved this one because it paired me with Natalie Portman!)
http://www.mylifetime.com/fun-quizzes/celebrity/which-celebs-could-be-your-best-friends (Terrifying results. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes! What the Heck Happened!)

Let me rediscover you

I am so thankful for my family and friends. Old and new. (special shout out to new friend A, who gave an inspiring half-time pep-talk on our lunch break) Sometimes I want to shake people and yell "DO YOU KNOW HOW AWESOME YOU ARE?!"
One thing almost every conversation seemed to circle back to is this thought of remembering where/what/who I place my identity in. Yes, I absolutely want to be a great nurse but that alone does not define me.
Who/What are you putting your identity in? What do you want to define you?
Today as I procrastinate working on mid-terms, I am also taking a moment of rediscovering what, Who, I choose to find my identity in.

Stopping Evil Willow

Oh Willow. Shy, innocent, Nerdy Friend of a vampire slayer. Wait.... that's not right. She dated bad boy werewolf Seth Green, then switched it up to dating a girl, and then turned into Dark-Scary-Peel-Your Skin-Off-And-And-End-The-World Witch. This chick was totally a dynamic character!
I feel like Willow demonstrates just how crazy out of control our emotions can get sometimes. Time after time, I hear a girlfriend tell me a story about how she lost control of her emotions. "I don't even know what I was so upset about." or "My poor boyfriend/husband, he had no idea what to do". This is why we need Buffy's and Xanders in our lives people. You need your other girlfriends to tell you that you are not crazy, you are a woman! :)
Sometimes in these crazy moments, I almost start laughing. Because I am sure it looks a lot like this scene. I am Angry-about to destroy the world-Evil Carly, picking fights with my precious hubs, then all of the sudden I am a heap on the floor crying. EPIC! How Dramatic!
Hubs is probably completely confused.
I just love the classic beating of Xander's chest till she falls to the ground in his arms. HAHA... So Good, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, So darn good! :)
The next time your Evil Unstable Willow is surfacing, here is a recap of a plan I use to help try and keep it short and less destructive to those around me:

1. Skip to the Cry. Really, somewhere down inside, you are probably angry because your feelings are hurt or you have given someone enough power to make you feel bad about yourself.(Dang it I do that so much) Crying is a lot less damaging to our own bodies and others then all that anger. Willow did some serious damage on her anger rampage.(seriously that skin-peeling scene still haunts me).

2. Think of a character's breakdown. I go here, to Willow. Or the ever dramatic Anne of Green Gables. Another classic is Jessie Spano's fiasco on Saved by the Bell. It either a)makes me laugh at how out-of-touch with reality I am that I am acting that crazy or b)reminds me that this happens to everyone so much that they can put it in books and shows because we can all relate. I am not crazy! I am just having one crazy moment!


3. Go do something. TV is not good. Surfing the Web, not good. Standing in front of the mirror, HORRIBLE IDEA. These things make you feel worse about yourself. GO! Go run your errands- grocery store, library, etc. Go vacuum the house. Pick a craft project off the ridiculously addicting PINTEREST. Blog. Journal. Exercise. Call a friend for lunch. Do your homework. Even in the ideal environment of the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam a job because He knows we need to be busy or we get silly!

4. Share the moment. We keep everything so secretive. Call your mom. Share in your girls bible study. Meet up with your significant other to talk. I call my bestie up in Austin who makes me feel less crazy, validates my feelings, then we move on and talk about other happenings. But we need to share, you will find out that you are not alone and we have all been there. The Xanders in our life tell us they love us and sometimes that is exactly what we need to hear during these rampages.

5. Remember to be the Xander for someone else. Once you find your happy place again, don't forget how overwhelming it feels to be out of control and look out for your friends having their Willow or Jessie Spano moments. Remind them that you love them always. Sometimes they might even need to beat up on you for a second till they fall into your arms crying. ;)Be willing to take a couple hits.

We are not crazy we just have crazy moments! Your feelings are VALID! :) Yay for hormones and emotions!

Looking for a Gayle.

I am trying to play it cool. I am meeting new people and bringing the A game in the effort to make a good first impression. Hopefully they will think I am sweet, friendly, and maybe a little funny. Really I just want to say, LIKE ME! BE MY FRIEND! SIT WITH ME! CALL ME! ;)

Good grief...When did I become so crazy? Historically, I am the friend-maker. Up for the challenge. Witty, friendly, and creatively finding ways to avoid the awkward "don't know what to talk about next" moments when getting to know new people. This is why I find it paradoxical that I am stumbling over words, letting the silence linger to that uncomfortable point, and seriously getting hot flashes when I am talking to people that I am starting to be smitten with (the friend-crush kind of smitten). I am tiptoeing the line of friendly and stalker-like.

What I really want: Is a Gayle. A Jennifer Aniston. A Dionne Davenport. A Rose.

Or switch it around: A Oprah. A Courtney Cox. A Cher from Clueless. A Blanche.

I am going to spend some time with the hubs this weekend regrouping. Give the new people I met a chance to forget some of the socially awkward moments that I accidentally created and start fresh Monday. :)

Oprah image via People

image via PBS on how to make friends. yeah. I read it and plan to put it in action. Talk to me next week

about it or maybe not. Because I might be to busy with all my new friends that this article helped me get.

Say Hello To Your Friends

I did. Quite Frequently in fact. I loved that group of gals when I was young. I read the series in a matter of weeks forgoing most childhood play time to simple sit on the couch and read about Kristy, Dawn, Claudia, Stacey and Mary Anne and their wonderful babysitter adventures. I read the books, watched the show, bought the movie, and even owned the board game!

(for Avid fans I realize I left out Mallory and Jesse, but if you recall they came later as junior members)

I took the quiz to find out which character I am, and of course, it was Kristy. This always irritated me growing up. I did not want to be bossy Kristy. The reality was that I was indeed a super bossy child. I loved school, reading, studying, and playing by the rules. It was very important to me for everyone else to also play by the rules. I am truly grateful for every elementary friend I had. My favorite "game" was teacher, where I could plan all activities and tell you exactly how I wanted them done and fail anyone who did not follow the instructions. POWER TRIP!

Realizing my bossiness was overpowering my life, my friends, and any chance I had of a relationship; I began to work extra hard to suppress the boss within. End result~ I am now the indecisive door mat that cannot even pick where to eat when it is just me. No lie, I call Jon to help me pick what to eat for lunch sometimes. It is probably just as irritating to my friends as being bossy was. Dang it woman, just tell me where you want to go or want to do or want to eat!

While I am still a stickler for rule-following to some degree, (I cannot stand it when I sit next to people talking during a lecture) it has become painfully obvious that it is difficult for me to make plans that will involve other people. Telling people what to do makes me nervous, even telling students to behave last year was a daunting task.

What if it is not what they want to do? What if they think I am being bossy? What if they hate chinese food and I choose Thai Cottage? What if I'm wrong? AHHHH

So today when I took this quiz, I really thought about Kristy. There would be no BSC without Kristy. Someone had to make the plan. I mean the first book is titled Kristy's Great Idea for a reason my friends. While it is easy to view this person as bossy and controlling, maybe I should be looking at it as a positive character trait. Haven't you been going out to eat with friends and it feels like everyone in the car is saying "I don't care, where ever you guys want to go." Someone has to eventually decide.

This summer as I embrace the Betty within I will also try to embrace the Kristy. Not full throttle though, I refuse to go back to standing on the slide at recess yelling at the other students the proper playground rules. (yeah I really did that)

Houston GNO! and Justin Timberlake

Reblogged video via abitofsilliness.

I don't know if it is really funny or if I just think he is so cute that it becomes funny because I want it to be. I really do have dreams that Justin, Beyonce, and I hang out a regular basis. Someday I will be seen at a coffee shop nonchalantly chatting it up with JT, B (of course Jay-Z will be there with her), Tina Fey, and Kristin Chenoweth. Someday.....

But for now I will enjoy the fact that I was invited in my first Houston GNO!

Girls Night Out. Which indicates slight success in the new effort to make friends. I was so friendly I even shared fajitas with someone. (even let her order sour cream on the plate without my usual obnoxious groan.) We went and saw Monte Carlo. I will not try to defend this choice but will bravely admit that I did not HATE it.

Do I have girlfriends yet? I think it is happening people. I was pretty darn-tootin charming; sharing fajitas, carpooling the ladies in the Prius, appropriately sneaking Spice Girls into the CD Player, throwing out the compliments, giggling and giving that "look" to the gal next to me when Selena Gomez finally kissed the boy. We can only hope they took the bait.

Someday my exclusive coffee date with my dream cast will be routine, but it was nice to find a pleasant filler until then. Thanks ladies for the invite. Keep them coming.