Another Thousand Circles Round the Sun

I've had to learn a few thing the hard way. One of the most recent was the importance of being prepared. Normally, I am a very cautious person. I would much rather play it safe than be sorry. But, I am also good with money and don't like to spend it unnecessarily. I live in the Hampton Roads area. I know that the area is prone to flooding and I know what, typically, to expect from storms. This area isn't known for having a lot of hurricane activity, but living on the coastline, you know if can happen. I keep an eye on the weather. I don't like to be caught off guard. The flooding in front of my apartment My boyfriend and I had been watching the development of Hurricane Matthew before it was even projected to impact our area. When it looked like the storm could possible hit our area we began to plan. It was a week before the storm was forecasted to hit us and we were talking about what foods we needed to get, where we could store water, and if we should get a cam

So, once again I have found myself playing the waiting game. I reported for my routine colposcopy this afternoon. My doctor had assured me that the only reason she had recommended me to have the procedure done was because of my past history of surgery. Well. Of course I agreed. Cervical cancer is no joke. It kills. Seriously people, it is not something to take lightly. The specialist explained that she agreed with my doctor and that she didn't expect anything to come of the procedure. She started off the appointment by explaining everything she was going to do to both me and to her student. When she said that she would give me an injection of lidocaine before taking a biopsy I tried to joke that we wouldn't be needing to take any biopsies today. Everything was going to be normal. I also told her that I have had to have this procedure twice before and both times I needed biopsies and neither time was I offered lidocaine. My doctor explained that it typically makes you more

Chances are pretty good that you are familiar with the fact that women need to have yearly pelvic exams. And if you are a woman then chances are even higher that you are all too familiar with everything that this exam entails. It's a great topic of conversation is it not? No? It should be. There is too much of a social taboo on women's health, and it is time for that to change. Women choose not be ashamed of themselves or the care that they need to stay healthy. I want to help women of all ages feel more comfortable with themselves and not be embarrassed to speak out, if they so choose. I had my first pelvic exam at 14. I was a terrified high school freshmen that was in a hospital gown at my local ER. I was scared and in a lot of pain. The pain in my abdomen woke me up that morning. My mother, being the super-mom that she is, immediately knew that something wasn't right. The triage nurse at the ER told my mother that there was either something wrong with my bladder or my

So, tonight my boyfriend had wanted me to go with him to a friend's house. Sounds great right? Sure. But, I don't play video games. Why would that matter? Well, it is essentially guy's night and they will be playing all sorts of video games. I was told there would be a few other women there, but they all play video games. I would be forced to sit and watch, which next to nothing to contribute to conversation, or play and be horrible. Well, I chose option B. I decided to stay home. I wanted to work on a couple of blogs and see if I would be able to ear a little on-line. That was when I had the idea to spend time on myself. I have been working two jobs for the last five years and this past year has been particularly brutal. The majority of the year at my full-time job I have been working overtime. I feel spent. I feel like I am running a marathon at the olympics and have fallen just a half mile before the finish line. I can see the end, but I am struggling to finish the rac

Alright, so I know that you have all seen pretty much every child of the 90's is running around with their head down and glued to their phones. What exactly are they doing? Catching Pokemon of course! In case you aren't in tune with pop culture, Pokemon was a TV show that was big in the mid to late 90's. It launched several other products and a lot of people got really into the trading cards. Some of the cards, mainly the holographic Charizard and other rare cards, sold on-line for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Crazy right? Well come forward a few years. A few years too many if you ask most of my generation, and you will get to the mobile game that was released earlier this week. It was a long time coming and the hype did nothing but excite Pokemon fans until they were foaming at the mouth. You see, this was the game that we had been waiting for, for at least 15 years. Armed with our phones and wifi we can collect pokemon in our own neighborhoods. Its amazing! But,

If you have read part 1 (if you haven't you can find it here ) then you will know that I got unexpectedly sick while driving. And, I don't just mean that I felt really bad. I mean uncontrollably vomiting while driving late at night on my own kind of sick. My oh-so-wonderful boyfriend drove out to the empty gas station where  I was desperately trying to clean the vomit from my car. He then followed me home and took care of my dog while I tried to clean my car a little more so it wouldn't smell so bad in the morning. I know that I did not look remotely attractive. I know there were dried bits of vomit on my face, legs, and arms. I quickly looked up online how I should clean my car's interior, and found that it would not be something I could do in the dark. To help prevent unpleasant odors in the summer heat I sprinkled a generous amount of baking soda over my seat and floor. When we were finally clean we settled in to bed. Both of us were just thankful that the roads we

The other night I picked up my boyfriend and we went to a bonfire at a coworkers house. We were sending off another coworker that was moving away. It was a great time. Since I was driving I limited myself to two beers and stopped drinking and switched to water several hours before we left. Everyone had brought food. Now, it was your typical bbq food and nothing was out of the ordinary. Since the event was quite far from where I lived and I still had to take my boyfriend home (who at the time lived about 45 minutes away from me) we left a little before all the fun was done. When I got to my boyfriend's house I decided to come in to take a nap. Yes, we just took a nap. About an hour later I woke up, still tired but a little better to drive. Or so I thought. My stomach felt a little weird. I didn't quite feel that I needed to vomit, I wasn't hungry, and it wasn't gas. I just didn't feel right. My boyfriend didn't have any pepto or tumms so I decided that I would

I have never really been one to hide personal things. Of course, I don't mean to say that I share everything about myself to everyone. That would be a little silly. But, there are somethings I am more than comfortable sharing if I feel that someone will get something out of it. What I mean is: if I think you might be able to learn from something I have gone through I will share my experiences. I have had a lot of things happen in my life. Overall, I feel that I have been pretty lucky. I feel that I have learned a lot about how to deal with unexpected events. My adventures, mistakes, triumphs, and everyday life I will share what I feel others can learn from here. I would imagine that some stories might be more exciting that others. But, that is how life goes. I don't think I could handle a life that was completely nonstop with problem and hurdle coming at me one after another. But, on the flip side I don't want a life that is completely dull and has no excitement. May