Celebrate good times

Come on!!  (I still love that song...)  There have been SO many things going on lately!  This is just a quick recap of all the events that have taken place in the ummmm... 2 months since I've posted...  Sorry 'bout that.  This post is also pretty photo heavy.  Sorry 'bout that as well.

Tracy (a friend from the workplace) is expecting her second child this Fall, but she was moving away so my friend Erica and I threw her a going-away/baby presents party.  I fully tried to convince Hunter that it was NOT a baby shower, so I refuse to use that term to describe this get-together.  And by "Erica and I", I mean Erica decided what to do and chose the theme/location/decor, and I made the lists.  I guess I also baked some cupcakes and made the oreo bites (with help from Sami and Angela... so it wasn't a huge feat...), however Erica decorated them and made them adorable.  I'm quite proud of our accomplishments, so feast your eyes on our homemade goodies.

Like I said, I can't take a lot of credit, but aren't they so CUTE??  Plus they were delish.

The hostesses with the most-est-es and the soon-to-be mother of 2.

Next up, we had some coworkers who were graduating from their BSN program!  I am quite upset at the quality of my photos, and I had to tweak this one to get it to look presentable, but here it is nonetheless...

This was taken while they were reciting the Florence Nightingale Pledge.

Then Hunter's sister got married!!  It was SUCH a fun weekend!  Despite the weather, we had a blast!  The bride did SO much work to make the wedding and reception personal and beautiful, and it was absolutely breathtaking.  It was a really cool wedding.  P.S. - I did a HORRIBLE job taking pictures this weekend.  I'm fairly disappointed in myself.

3 generations of Crumley women before the youngest one changed her last name!  This was at the bridal luncheon.  The place where it was held had the most AMAZING sweet potato cake.  It sounds like it would be weird, but it's totally not.  It's fantastic in every sense of the word.

Up to bat next was another coworker's pinning ceremony.  It's always exciting getting to watch a new nurse receive her nursing pin!  Congrats!!

A few weekends later, it was one of my best nursing school friend's bachelorette party!  It was also a lot of fun!  Having a girls' weekend is so nice, and celebrating Jennifer's upcoming nuptials was a perfect reason to have a girly getaway.  (...And don't worry ladies, I'll post more pictures on facebook later.  But I've found that posting pictures to facebook exhausts me.  It will get done.)

Yesterday, said friend Jennifer married her now husband Chris!  I enjoyed pretty much everything about this wedding weekend!  All of the bridesmaids were amazing women who were fun to be around, and their wedding was a perfect reminder of what God intended when he created the institution of marriage.  Plus, it was really great getting to see friends I haven't seen in a long time and catching up!

Congratulations, Chris and Jennifer!!  I hope you're having the most AWESOME time on your tropical honeymoon!

I have one more commitment for the month and I'm reeeeeally hoping the sun will decide to show its face again so I don't lose this tan I've got goin on.  But that's about all I have to say for now, homies.  It's been real, it's been fun, it's been real fun.  Until next time.

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

...Not really.  I can barely stay upright and not crash into things even using both handlebars.  I just sing that song in my head sometimes when bike-riding.

We live in an absolutely beautiful place.  I wasn't too keen on moving here at first, but it's really grown on me.  It really hits me when people come to visit us and dote on how beautiful the landscape is, because sadly people get used to the beauty when we see it every day.  We've decided to take advantage of our surroundings.  We've been going to more local restaurants, enjoying the outdoors (I have been going to the pool, Hunter - not so much), and we plan on going to the beach often once the upcoming weddings in which we're involved are finished.

I mentioned our bike ride a few weekends ago.  Here are some pictures from our outing.

A whole lot of driftwood on a "beach" that Hunter claims is actually a beach when the tide is low.

Hunter enjoying the "beach".

So this is one of the first pictures I took when we got to the "beach", and I didn't really look at it.  Then I saw the water crashing around this big piece of wood and I really wanted a picture of it.  So I took like 10 more pictures trying to get a good one, and when we got home and I was looking over my pictures, I saw that this one was the best, and the first one I took.

Our rides!

The path leading up to the bridge over the lagoon.

Since Hunter posted that picture of me sleeping after I posted his quote about Aerosmith, I figured I'd repay the favor.  This is most likely going to open up a HUGE can of worms, or just a lot of sneaky sleeping picture-taking.  This is Hunter finishing his "shoulder workout" to fix his bum shoulder.  Apparently it was exhausting.

I love you, honey!  Please don't hate me!

Sibling's Day and my new ride

So, apparently yesterday was National Sibling's Day.  And being the wonderful sister that I am, I had no idea.  Anna texted me at like 8:00 p.m. wishing me a good one.  And I also did not blog about her birthday OR her visit with us over her Spring break.  So let's roll.

Birthday:  My baby sister turned 22!!  I love her intensely.  Mom would work nights, and when we were little we would sleep in the same bed.  When Mom was at work, we would sometimes play movies and leave the TV on to help us fall asleep.  It couldn't be something too scary in the first 30 minutes, though.  Two of our most frequent fliers were "Stuart Little" and "Fantasia".  I had a point to this story when I started it, but now I don't remember.  So there's just a little fun fact for you.  We got along great then and now we get along great.  It wasn't always that way, however.  When she was about 10 years old, I did not enjoy being around her.  She was very moody and just mean to me.  (I was like 13-14 years old so I'm sure I was insufferable, too, but that's not the point here.)  But then the most glorious thing happened.  She got put on Yaz.  After those hormones evened out, it's been pretty much smooth sailing ever since.  I joke that I need to write Yaz a thank-you letter for changing our relationship.  But in all honesty, I don't know what I'd do without my baby sister in my life.  OH!  Now I remember where I was going with the whole "Fantasia" thing.  It was to say that I have always felt a strong urge to protect Anna, and I think it's from all the nights that we kept each other company and what not.  So I may stress about her future sometimes, but it's just because I see her great potential and I want the absolute best for her in life.  I know she's gonna do amazing things.

Spring Break:  Anna came to visit for a few days.  We went downtown, shopped a little, went to the local lighthouse, had home-cooked meals.  It was a lot of fun.  Of course on the day that we went to the lighthouse, I didn't have my nice camera.  But when we went to the outlet stores, I had my camera and didn't take any pictures.  Terri would be ashamed.  She also made me watch Pitch Perfect for the first time.  It was phenomenal.  I'm very upset with myself that I haven't seen it before now.

(I'm fairly certain this night/montage of pictures is where my mild obsession with mustache-related paraphernalia originated...)

Sibling's Day:  I was thinking on my way home of what my favorite memory with Anna would be. I had like an hour drive, and I could not come up with a favorite!  There are too many goodies to choose from.  After junior year of college, I got home and started to unpack and realized that I had left the entirety of my underwear drawer in the actual drawer.  Anna offered to ride with me back to school to get my unmentionables.  On the way, we taped her camera up in the corner of the car and recorded us dancing and lip-syncing.  Anna was shocked to learn that I know the actual lyrics to "Macarena".  On our family trip to Boston, we jumped back and forth on the double beds in the hotel room, laughing and singing.  We were singing "Nobody's Perfect", by Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana.  We were 17 and 21.  These are just two examples of some of our fabulous memories of which I cannot choose a favorite.

My new ride!  It's not a car, it's a bike.  A bicycle.  And I love it!  Hunter has been riding his bike around and I wanted to partake.  We took a Saturday and went shopping around and found the perfect bike!

We went riding on Sunday and I'll post the pictures later!

I'm going to pay for this later, but I keep thinking about it and giggling.  On the drive to our bike ride, Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" came on the radio.  Here is a snippet of our ensuing conversation...

Hunter:  "The main guy's name is Steven Aerosmith, right?"

Me:  "You mean Steven Tyler?"

Hunter:  "That's what I said..."

Me:  "No.  It isn't..."

Take that, Diabeetus!!

So today I had an appointment that I used to absolutely dread.  I had my endocrinologist appointment.  My diabetes doctor.  Dun dun duuuuuun.  But lately, they haven't been too shabby!

For those of you who don't know, I was diagnosed with diabetes at age 12, in November 1999. Right before Thanksgiving.  Worst Thanksgiving ever.  Anyway, I had been drinking a lot and peeing a lot.  We went to the movies as a family (on some random weeknight, I'm sure, which I loved), and I drank a ginormous Coke by myself before the previews even started.  Dad was like, "Okay, that's it.  We're checking her bloodsugar when we get home!"  Mom had gestational diabetes while pregnant with my little sis, so we checked my sugar when we got home and it was like 475 (holy moly!  Normal bloodsugar is 70-110, actually back then I think it was 80-120...still crazy high).  So just to be sure it was really bad and not some coke and popcorn-induced hyperglycemia, we checked it in the morning after not eating and it was still like 375.  So BAM.  Welcome to my life, Type 1 Diabetes!  I didn't take care of myself like I should have the first few years because A) I didn't want to be different and B) I didn't really understand anything like the actual process of the diet and insulin and the horrible consequences that come from not controlling this disease.

Even as an adult and with an insulin pump, I still used to have difficulty regulating my sugars and keeping my lab levels normal.  But for the last like 1-1.5 years, my lab levels have been glorious, and my blood sugars fairly well under control.  For you who understand, my hemoglobin A1c level from today was 6.1!!  I'm fairly certain that it's the best it's ever been!  I think when I was in 11th grade and got dumped and basically refused to eat for several weeks because I was convinced I got broken up with because I was not skinny enough to keep the guy (I never said I was a rational teenager...) my hemoglobin A1c was like 6.2.  That level is supposed to be less than 6.5 in diabetics, and I could barely keep it below 7.5 or 8 like 3 years ago.  So I am very pleased!  Blood tests to check the function of my kindeys and liver were great as well!  However, cholesterol is kinda getting the drop on me (as usual), but I blame genetics.  It runs in the family.  And my blood pressure has been slightly elevated, but unfortunately it's kinda par for the course with diabetics.  Overall, I am SO very blessed to be in such good health considering all of my diagnosed maladies.

My life changed tremendously in November 1999, but I think it changed me for the better.  I think about how I would probably eat if I weren't diabetic and had to be conscious of everything I put in my mouth all the time (not that I always make the best decisions), and it is astounding.  I love chicken fingers, pasta, french fries, chocolate... practically everything that's terrible for me.  But I have to eat that stuff in moderation.  And Hunter helps me out a lot in that arena, too.  He's healthy voluntarily, and he's probably more healthy than I am anyway.

In other news, here are some photos from the past months that I've sucked at posting:

Me and my man on Christmas, complete with the lovely scarf from my sis.

I just love this gift bag and wanted to share it with everyone.  Just to prove that my sister is better than your sister.

Dad and Robin came to visit, and I was slack about taking pictures, but we were in a store downtown and Dad found a hilarious book and he kept cracking up.  It was almost funnier watching him lose his mind laughing than the book itself!

Some of the girls on a shopping trip!  Very fun night!

AND MY BABY GIRL TURNED TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD!!  I CAN'T HANDLE IT!

Here's a pic but I'll make a separate post about it.  She deserves it.

We all met in Columbia to dine together to celebrate Anna making it to 22 years, haha.

Here's the funny quote for the post.  My friend Jonetta had her wisdom teeth out, and we had been texting beforehand so when she got out of surgery and was still quite under the influence of the anesthesia, she thought it would be a good idea to call me.  I can't quote my favorite one because it has a dirty word in it (surprise, surprise), but here goes:

"Leah, my mouth used to be pretty.  It's not pretty anymore..."

Now that I typed it out, it's not that funny.  But listening to her say it while she was still pretty high and seeing it again on the video that her significant other took, it was hilarious.  I love her intensely.

Ian turns ONE!

So my favorite brown baby turned ONE YEAR OLD over a month ago.  His birthday party was the weekend before Christmas, so I didn't get a chance to post about it before then, and Christmas was busy as I'm sure it was for everyone.  But after that I have no excuse.  Just that I'm lazy.

So Happy Belated Birthday, Ian!!

A coworker of ours made the beautiful Dr. Seuss cake!  Complete with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!  And it tasted fantastic.  Though I rarely meet a cake I don't like.

And this is what I spend my morning of Ian's party doing.  While Ian's mom, Jonetta. was failing miserably at creating these whimsical cookies that looked a lot easier online than they actually were, I was making the centerpieces.  I would love to say I made the Cat in the Hat's hats, but I didn't.  Jonetta bought them and I just hot glued them onto sticks.

 At first, my brown baby wasn't feeling being at the party.  He had been getting tired even at the house while preparations were going on.  He had food in his mouth that he refused to swallow for some reason in this picture.  He's not usually that chipmunk-y/

After some food in his belly and a little play time, he started being his usually adorable, happy self.  It made me a little happier.  Those noise-maker things didn't make noise, which I think was a blessing with so many children running around.

And in true older-sibling fashion, big brother Austin blew out the candles on Ian's cake.  There are approximately a thousand pictures of me doing this to my little sister throughout the years.  So be expecting one come February, haha.

And here's the whole family!  They begrudgingly took this picture while they were trying to clean up, but it's not complete without the family picture!

Happy Birthday, Ian!  I can't believe you've been around for over a year already!  I remember when you were just a he-tus fetus.

Here's my new quote of the post  as promised:

"Leah!  I found a saying that matches us perfectly!  'Best friends are two bodies and one heart'... or some s*** like that..." - Jonetta.

Reppin' well.

As long as I can remember, my dad has been way into politics.  He absolutely loves it.  So this past year, he ran for South Carolina's House of Representatives, and he was elected!  On Dec 4th (yeah, I know I'm way behind), he took an oath to serve the people to his best ability, which I assure you is amazing.  Anna and I made the trek in different directions to converge in Columbia to see him make this commitment, and it was so great!

First off, Anna was late, and she was hungry.  Since I was early for a change (shocking), she asked me to stop and get her a biscuit.  I didn't know how strict the security would be about eating inside the State House, so I kinda hid the biscuit in the bottom of my pocketbook.  So after Dad stood in the median on the phone trying to direct her, waved furiously at a guy who drove the same kind of car that Anna used to drive, and she successfully arrived, she got her biscuit.  It had flattened a bit in the time that I was receiving a tour of the premises, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Dad trying to get Anna to Columbia in a safe and timely manner.

Flat biscuits, don't knock it til you try it.

Anna and I got to actually go down to the House floor and sit in one of the Representative seats, but I didn't take my camera because I wasn't sure how appropriate that was, or if we'd look like country-come-to-town, which is what we normally look like anyway so I should have embraced it.  We also got to meet a lot of cool people who represent the people of South Carolina.  It was such a neat experience, and seeing Dad have so much fun was really amazing, too.

Then the Representatives voted on stuff, I was apparently being hilarious that day because Anna giggled inappropriately the entire time, and then Dad took his pledge.

I had to work that night and Anna had a huge test the next day, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time there, but what time we did spend I'll remember forever!

So congrats to my father!  I love you, Pops, and I know you'll do a great job!


A couple posts back, I think I said I was gonna end them with a random quote and I haven't had any really fun ones until recently.  So here's a conversation I had with a friend after Black Friday.

Her:  "Leah!  I almost bought us matching scarves but I didn't because I didn't know if you'd think it was lame or not."
Me:  "You totally should have gotten them!  That's so not lame!"
Her:  "Okay good!  Because I totally bought us matching scarves but I was afraid to tell you because I thought you'd think it was lame!!"

Happy almost Christmas, everyone!

What's Happenin'

So all of my long-distance friends know that I'm bad at it.  It's not that I don't love you, it's just that I don't ever know when it is appropriate to call!  I was going to use that excuse for why I haven't posted in a really long time, but now that I read it out, it doesn't really work.

Here's my update on what's been going on in my life since...geez, October!  I'm way behind.

First, my wonderful friend Jennifer got engaged to Chris!!  I am so happy for you and I can't wait to see how everything unfolds!  I know the wedding and marriage will be a beautiful thing!

Then, it was our anniversary!  Hunter and I have been married for a whole year.  It doesn't feel like it's been that long, and every day has been a blessing.  We have grown so much as a couple and as individuals.  God knew what he was doing when he put us together, and I am so thankful!  I woke up to flowers on the day of our anniversary, and then we went on a weekend trip to Asheville, NC!  We had a lot of fun, including going on a hike.  I apologize for the lack of a picture of me looking like a decent human being, I promise I did shower and look nice during the trip.

At the end of October, I finally got to babysit my favorite brown baby, Ian!  He was not well at first because he was taking a nap when he arrived at my apartment, but after a while he warmed up and became this cute little booger.  The pictures are a little blurry, but that's because once he stopped clinging to my chest and whimpering, he was constantly in motion.

The beginning of November, I got to see my roomies from Clemson!  Julie and Kristi were in Savannah for a half marathon, which I politely declined to participate in because it would have been embarrassing for everyone else around me due to my speed and endurance (hah!  Yeah, right.)  And then Kathryn drove down from Charleston to meet us for some pastries.  It was glorious and I always enjoy seeing them.

I feel like the rest of November, I worked a ton.  Because I did.  I had an endocrinologist appointment somewhere in there, and my diabetes is still in check.  Fast forward to Thanksgiving.  I had to work Thanksgiving night but I cooked my first real holiday meal the night before and it was delicious.  Then the day after Thanksgiving we made our way to the upstate.  I got to see Anna for dinner on Friday, and my friends from high school before that!  Hunter and I got to hang out with more friends from college on Saturday afternoon, then we spent some time with Hunter's family watching our Tigers get their tails handed to them.  Sad times.  We met Dad for lunch on the way back home on Sunday!  It is always nice to see family and friends that we miss so much!

It's officially December, we're getting in the Christmas spirit and our tree is up and decorated!  

And now it's back to work once more.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!