Saturday day's vary every week. Sometimes, we clean, we go to sporting events, during the school year, it's homework, sometimes it's shopping, it truly varies. But there's one thing that is the same 90% of the time- we go to church. Today, we came home from Grammy & PopPop's house after Olivia's track meet (which she did grand in, for very little preparation). Our church has a 4 o'clock mass, and we missed it because of traffic but got home at 4:30, so we went to our old church at 5 o'clock. My aunt and uncle and cousins all go there so after mass, they talked for a while as my sister and I sat and watched our cousins wrestle a chair and dig in the sand volleyball court.
He's currently in to WWE, so he wrestled a plastic chair after Mass
As usual, we had dinner together and decided to get pizza versus voting on a restaurant. My mom, aunt, and I got the pizza and s'mores supplies. We got home, baked the pizza, and now it's time for s'mores!
Around the fire pit
We all get along so well (well, most of the time;)) and I love that we live close to each other so can spend so much time together. Next week, we're going to Steamboat with them and I can't wait! I love our Saturday night family time. :)
Here we are (with my grandparents too) in Kauai, 2011
Happy Friday! What a wonderful, HOT week it has been :)
1. Cinnamon rolls and fresh OJ, one of my favorite breakfasts ever!
2. I want to see this movie very badly. I loved that Target was already selling movie paraphanilia. “If you had the chance to change your fate, would ya?”
3. Liv and I bought HOT pink nail polish this week and man alive, it is neon bright! Here’s her nails, a sparkly accent fingernail and polka dot toes.
4. We headed up to my Grammy’s house on Thursday because Liv has a track meet early on Saturday near Gram’s house. My little cousins who are moving to Japan for two years in a few weeks were here and it was so fun having them around!
Love these crazy cousins! Too bad they weren't all in the picture!
Meet my friend, Mackenzie. She is my locker buddy, Katie Herzig/Mindy Gledhill/all other types of good music buddy, my talk-on-the-phone-for-hours buddy("it's the friends that you can call up at 4am that matter"), almost 1,000 messages on Facebook buddy, my person. We met our very first day of high school and have been friends ever since.
Mack and I- we take lots of pictures together:)
Well at this very moment, lucky Mackenzie is in Kauai! What a beautiful, serene place to be! She first went to Oahu for four days and the flew over to Kauai. Today, she is guest blogging for us! I'm so excited to have her as my first guest blogger, thank you Mackenzie!
A relaxing day in Kauai is just the kind of day I love. ;) I spent the morning laying on Poipu Beach reading and burning apparently. After the beach we walked down to the little shopping area near our hotel and we discovered this store called Sand People, which I love!! http://www.sandpeople.com/ (The website doesn't have nearly as much as the store). It was such a cute beachy shop and I basically wanted to buy everything I saw. The only problem was it was a bit more expensive than I budgeted for. ;) I had to buy something though so I bought a cute lanyard for my keys and some gifts for people. After that we went to dinner at the Beach House which was fantastic! The sunset view was beautiful and the food was so yummy! I had a virgin lava flow, and the macadamia nut crusted fish (thank you for the suggestion). It was all in all a great, relaxing day.
Here's some pictures from my trip:
Waikiki Beach
Waikiki Beach
Waikiki Beach
Pearl Harbor
Yummy fish!
Swimming with dolphins
Thirty minute plane ride from Oahu to Kauai
Shaved ice, so good!
Waimea Canyon
Dinner at the Beach House- a virgin lava flow
Dinner at the Beach House- Macadamia nut crusted fish
If there is one thing that I'm not afraid to admit it is that I love reading. I immerse myself in the story and become attached to the characters(sometimes too much;)). The library is like Heaven as is any bookstore. I love curling up on my reading chair with a book and a cup of tea, it's relaxation in it's purest form. I mostly love realistic fiction and romance. My favorite authors are Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, Sarah Dessen, and a few others.
Last week, I read Nicholas Sparks' latest novel, The Best of Me. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed. I've read all but three of his novels and this one was just... ehh. So here's my little review, giving further explanation to my opinion.
Book & Author: The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks ★★★☆☆ In a Notebook style fashion, Dawson Cole reunites with high school love, Amanda Collier, as their old friend, Tuck Hostetler, who sheltered their young love, dies leaving them with directions. They have a romantic time similar to Nights in Rodanthe. Their love is rekindled but they have lives outside their small hometown that exist and those must go on. Their is tension and conflict, from both of their family's and their relationship is a mystery until the last third of the book. In typical Sparks' fashion, the end was written in the happy/sad/surprising sense. I definitely saw it coming, not like others, where I was utterly shocked. Overall, it was a good read and you can't go wrong with it, we can just hope for something better or reminisce of his already wonderful ones. :)
Man alive I am addicted to this song. It's my new text tone thanks to this tutorial. Just listen and have the catchy song get stuck in your head to the point where you'll be wanting to have it just 'get out of ya head, get out' ;)
Isn't it funny how in the winter, you can't wait till the summer and all of it's warmth? You just want to whip out those shorts and flip flops and ditch the sweaters and boots? Then it's the summer. Sure, the no school part is nice. But then there's the 100° weather and you start to countdown till Christmas (181 days if you were wondering) and listen to your Christmas Pandora station in the hopes you can fool your body into being cold, not hot. Ok, maybe I'm the only one who does this last part because I love any excuse to listen to Christmas music :) But man alive, it is hot. Unbearable really. Yesterday, I had a tennis tournament and it was blazing. I thought I was going to throw up and pass out. One girl just had to sit down during a match. It was crazy. Denver broke a record high of 105°, toasty.But I won, so I won't complain. ;)
A day in the life of a ginger in the summer Can you see where I did get sunblock? Nice fingers huh? ;)
Last night, I took an ice shower and stuck my lotion in the freezer beforehand so when I got out into the hot world, I had ice cold lotion to put on. My poor black man was sprawled out on my bed trying to beat the heat. I always feel so bad for him since he's all black.
even in the heat, he still curls his tail in happiness. what a cutie.
And now I have tennis at 11. I can't wait. I love being a minority and having the latest, hottest practice {not}. Here's today's predicted high temp. Oh and there's a gazillion wild fires burning away, making it hot and smoky.
I guess today I'll have my mom help me put the sunscreen on my back today. ;)
xo Hannah
ps- I am convinced Norah Jones wrote this song for me. I mean, look at the first few lines:
The Sun Doesn't Like You- Norah Jones
The sun doesn't like you, you always get burned,
Stay in the shade and watch the world turn.
Better find a new place to lay on the ground,
Can't stay where you are or you're gonna be found.
Today, if you were to ask me who my inspiration is (besides my mother and Dr. Nina Starr Braunwald aka the first woman cardiac surgeon), I'll gladly say Stephanie Nielson (aka nie or nienie). She was in a horrible accident and was scarred for life, inside and outside. Prior, she lived a fairy tale life, married young and with children soon after, with her close family near, and a positive attitude and outlook of life written on a blog that thousands loved to read. One simple Sunday afternoon, that changed forever. In a small private plane with her husband and family friend, they had enjoyed a leisurely day at Mr. Nielson's family ranch, the plane malfunctioned and crashed. The friend was killed, Mr. Nielson burned on 30% of his body, and nie, over 80%. She was in a coma for months and woke up in a body that was foreign, scarred, and not the body she knew. Her children would not look at her. She had to move states without ever saying a real goodbye. She suffered trauma...
but continues
to live life, because it's what we do. We're learning constantly how to
fight off death, but how often do we have to learn to keep on living?
That is what nienie makes me stop and think about, it's a push to keep going when life seems wretched and unfair, and to appreciate the
life I have and the joy comes from it... for each day we wake up is a joyous gift. So I thank you nie, from the bottom of my heart.
I remember the days before I blogged. The first blog I remember seeing was my mom's childhood best friend's daughter's blog. She just blogged about day to day life (like me!) and I always enjoyed reading about her family, friends, school, and other activities and thinking how we were so similar! Then, in December I started actively reading The Small Things Blog everyday, learning all sorts of hair and beauty tricks. I continued to find more and more blogs I loved and then, when I was in Steamboat over spring break, I came across the blog that was my true inspiration. My mom, aunt, siblings, cousins, and I stopped in a Walmart to grab candy to eat when we watched a movie and while at the checkout stand, I grabbed a magazine to flip through, like usual. I came across an article on Stephanie Nielson (aka nie or nienie) and her family and was fascinated about her story. I saw in italics at the end of the article her url for her blog and memorized it to search once we got back to the condo.
When we got back and I googled the blog, I sat on the couch for almost four hours, reading as many posts as I could before my mom made me go to bed. Each one was raw and honest- sometimes funny, sometimes cute, sometimes heartbreaking. I loved her wit and that she lived each day with such gratitude for life. I kept reading once I got home. I adjusted my morning routine to add time to read her blog every morning. At the beginning of May, I told Mackenzie about the url and soon, we would talk about the posts and about nienie.
After reading post after post, I thought, 'I want to do this. Just write my thoughts, my stories, this is for me.' For a while, I told Mackenzie and Kylee how I just wanted to start blogging. It was one of those things I knew I wanted to do, I just needed to do it.
And then one Tuesday afternoon, it happened. Because of Nie, Simply Me was born. And I love it more and more each day. :)
There is just something about the color red and makeup. It's feminine, classy, and really, you can never go wrong with it. My polka dot mani is now gone, so I settled with timeless red and turned my Pandora station to Norah Jones for the perfect time. I decided to give you all a detailed timeline of my nail painting process. :)
Step One- Gather supplies (I feel like I'm writing a chemistry lab;)). I have my nail tray (just a tray), plenty of q-tips, cotton balls, tweezers (for those pesky hairs that can get on wet nails), file, cuticle clippers, cuticle sticks, angled brush, remover in cap, polishes, and Panic button for when I mess up (also a handy place to rest my fingers when painting).
Step Two- Cut back cuticles, file, base coat.
Step Three- Two even layers of color. The first one should be thin but cover the entire nail. Red can be a tricky color to clean up, so I put cotton on the end of the cuticle stick and dip it in remover for easy clean up, along with using the angled eye shadow brush.
Step Four- Put on one coat of the world's best top coat and let dry! Wala! A classic red manicure :)
For the complete vintage look, pair with red lips! Gorgeous!
Monday you can hold your head
Tuesday, Wednesday stay in bed
or Thursday watch the walls instead
it's Friday I'm in love.
1. Family gatherings. Don't punch me in the butt, or we do this to you. But we'll strip you down only to your underwear, and then put you on the hot trampoline. And when you're released, it will become a round of WWE.
2. My spectacular mother surprised me with these flowers when I was blue.
3. Brace yourselves... he tried salmon... and kind of liked it!
4. After the dentist, no cavities! And I got to watch The Incredibles ;)
5. I retaught myself how to finger knit... now I have a gazillion feet in knit chains.
Today was a long day. I was up early to volunteer at the hospital for the first time and I was so anxious! I got there 15 minutes early and signed in and headed on up to the cardiac floor. The nurses are very busy on that floor so it can be hard to get them to acknowledge your presence. I walked up to the station, not going to let that happen. I introduced myself to a friendly nurse and asked what I could do, but she told me she was not in charge so I looked for the Head Nurse for twenty minutes. Once I found here, the rest of my three hours looked like this- walking around the hall, getting water for a patient, talking to a patient who only wanted to talk about their bowel movement, reading this entire book (review to come), going to the lab, and reorganizing a supply closet. Fun stuff. When 1 o'clock came around, I was pretty happy to go get my free lunch. But, the boring morning was rewarding as I was thanked numerous times from strangers around the hospital for volunteering. It was nice to see how much volunteers are appreciated. :)
I came home to shower and then go to do some Girl Scout camp budgeting. I was in a pretty mediocre mood as I was hoping for a better morning at the hospital, so I decided to wear a dress, because that's one of my favorite things. :) Of course, I had to take pictures.
Dress- Target 2009 Tank cardigan- American Eagle 2010 Sandals- Target 2010 Necklace- bp Nordstrom’s 2010 Bangle- bp Nordstrom’s 2010
Oh, and wearing red lipstick always cheers me up:)
I'm gutting my room. I have so much junk it's nasty. I've gotten rid of two and half bags of clothes and two bags of trash. Now everything's piled on my bed as my mom and I draw out some new room ideas. Wish us luck!
Two months ago today, my life was changed forever- but for the better! All of my life, I've had GERD- gastroesophageal reflux disease aka reflux. When I was a baby, my parents called me 'Bulimic Baby' because I would literally throw up everything I ate. After a certain point, I started to not throw up but I still refluxed (the food would travel back up my esophagus). I grew immune to the nauseous feeling, however in December of 2010, I started to actually throw up again. At first, I just took more Tums, Pepcid, and Rolaids, then transitioned to an over the counter medication (Zantac) but that did not work. My pediatrician agreed that it was GERD and advised my to try taking Prevacid and give it some time. In September of 2011, I was referred to a pediactric gastroenterologist, Dr. Stathos, who is seriously the world's best doctor. He's awesome. He started me up on Nexium, but ordered a Barium swallow as well as a CT and x-ray of my digestive tract, all of which . He then ordered an endoscopy with biopsy and a 48 hour Bravo pH study. The endoscopy results showed that yes, I had reflux and my esophagus was damaged from the constant acid in it. I was in beginning stages of Barrett's esophagus. If not treated, the esophageal cells mutate and can form cancerous cells- that's never good! The pH study showed that I reflux 96% of the day, so even if I wasn't throwing up at the time, I was nauseous. Eventually, I was on a strict drug regimen of Reglan (4x a day) and omeprazole (2x a day). The amazing Dr. Stathos is one of 38 ped gastroenterologists in the United States that can prescribe Cisapride, a last resort drug used for GERD that is not on the market due to the slim possibility of giving the paitent an arrhythmia. After a battery of tests including x-rays, EKGs, and blood cultures, I was approved for the drug and started taking it (5x a day, and it as liquid, ick!) in February 2012. Well, as fate would have it, I developed an arrhythmia. So we stopped that right away ;) We then decided that the best (and only) option was surgery. I met with Dr. Rothenberg, a pediatric surgeon with an impeccable record with laprascopic Nissen fundolpications. A Nissen fundoplication is where they take a portion of the stomach and wrap it around the esophagus to create a tighter sphincter so the food in my stomach will stay there. That my friends, would be perfect, food staying in my stomach! So on April 19th, I walked into Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, ready to go. The surgery took about two hours, and I spent two nights at the hospital. The pain was ok, the worst part was just all the pain from the air that was pumped into my abdomen. Here's some pictures from the hospital~
Compression stockings to prevent blood clots, these were terrible!
After surgery, all is good!
Stomach, post surgery day 0
I went back to school six days after surgery but laid low for a while. I got hooked on a few daytime TV shows (Real Housewives of New Jersey!) and had some wonderful friends visit me, but was ready to get back in the swing of things!
My nurse, Jack;)
I was on a soft diet for the first three weeks, but then I was back to eating about everything. To this day, some things (steak, bread, pizza, sandwiches, burgers) are really hard to eat because it's difficult to swallow. I don't ever feel hungry which is good, but bad. It's common after a Nissen to not have much of an appetite but it's also very important that the patient gets enough nutrients, which was an issue and I've had to add protein powder to my diet to maintain a healthy weight. I can't have anything carbonated (i.miss.coke.) but life goes on ;)
In early to mid May, I developed a horrible rash all on my stomach. It spread to my back and my chest and was incredibly itchy. Turns out I'm allergic to surgical glue, which is what they closed my incisions with. Because it had gone under the layers of skin and really inside me, the rash lurked and infected my incisions. The glue began to come off, but the inside still itched like crazy. I was on a steroid, hydroxyzine, and antibiotic to help it. I wish I had a picture of it, but I can assure you it was disgusting and ugly. So for the future, we now know stitches are the way to go ;) I documented pictures of my stomach, to show the progress of my incision recovery. One thing is for sure now- I can never be a swimsuit model now ;)
Post surgery day 3
Post surgery day 18
Post surgery day 21
Post surgery day 33
Post surgery day 60, not too bad!
Here's one of my best pictures (not). I took it as I was coming out of anesthesia, which I guess was quite the experience. I remember bits and pieces of it. I was determined to take a picture to send to my friends, but was pretty loopy and crazy. I would ask my grandma when she showed up, then tell her I already knew that. I called my mom 'woman', which is what I call her only in pure frusturation. I guess then though, I was yelling loud and proud, making sure the nurse knew I addressed my mother as 'woman'. There was also a lot of tears, which of course were of joy. I remember those. I would go from hugging the nurse, to Grammy, to my mom, and begging to thank Dr. Rothenberg because he fixed me and made it so I would never throw up again. What a saint! The worst mistake I made however was forcing myself into an upright position. My muscles had been cut into and were weak, and there was also a ton of extra air in my abdomen that later hurt horribly. The parts I don't remember (thank goodness): flashing everyone (yikes. I was so mad they didn't let me wear my underwear into surgery!), begging for my underwear, falling asleep mid sentence, yelling at the guy who brought me to my room, talking about Nate the Great (hottest tennis manager at my school!), trying to sing (not the sharpest idea considering had been intubated and my throat hurt horribly), and slipping out a few curse words about the pain in front of my Grammy (whoops).
This one's for you friends ;)
I also fainted for the first time in the hospital. On another patient's bed. Skill. One of our family friends 2-year old daughter was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma (prayers for Haven! xo) the day before my surgery and by pure coincidence was in the room next to mine. We went to visit after one of my walks around the floor that was just a little too much for me. I don't know how to explain fainting, but I vaguely remember my mom and Haven's parents and grandpa running over to me as I went down. My mom told me Haven just sat there, sucking on her pacifier, while I collapsed right next to her. ;) I woke up later with a nurse telling me that I should probably not walk as long or as far anymore ;) But here we are today, June 19th 2012. I haven't thrown up since April 18 2012, as it's now physically impossible for me to. ;) It's very common for people to not be able to burp after the surgery, so I cherished all of my last burps before the surgery. Luckily, I can burp! Every burp is a mini celebration for me :) If need be, I would have the surgery any day as I am basically cured from my GERD! Surgery truly is the best option, and I highly recommend it. Although my body still refluxes and I'm technically forever a GERDy girl, I am now free of looking for empty bathrooms, keeping barf bags in my backpack, and choosing not to eat so I wouldn't throw up. I thank the Lord everyday for His help in my healing process, as my quality of life has improved immensely and I am forever grateful to my surgeon, Dr. Rothenberg, my favorite pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Stathos, my parents, and my friends who helped me through recovery. But of course, I thank Dr. Rudolph Nissen for pioneering the procedure in 1955-- you're my hero. ;) xo Hannah
Today started with a tennis match in the sweltering heat. It was insanely hot, it was horrible. After the match, I just sat in my room for hours, trying to cool down. Then I realized I was going to dinner with my friends and should shower off. Once I did, I was off to get gas and grab a bite to eat. We met up at the Mellow Mushroom, one of our favorite places. :)
Delicious garlic bread!
People who were on time! At 6 not 6:40!
Maddison, Riley, Kylee, and Jessica went to see The Avengers afterwards while Mackenzie, Sierra, and I decided to get ice cream (I had red velvet, it was amazing!) and watch a chick flick. We were hoping for a Nicolas Sparks film, but couldn't find any :/ So we settled for one of my FAVORITES, Mamma Mia! I can pretty much quote every word of that movie! Plus, we had the sing-along version on which made it so much better! ;) We ate Gushers and drank Kenyan tea, yum!
Dancing Queen, one of my faves!
I just love summer nights with my friends, they're truly the best!
