Jessie's Girl

Can you remember your teen heart throb? Maybe it was Shawn Cassidy, The Corey's (you know who I'm talking about), John Stamos, Rob Lowe...or maybe I'm just dating myself. Well, mine was none other than Dr. Noah Drake...aka Rick Springfield. My incredibly generous father took me to my first Rick Springfield concert and sat there with earplugs in the entire time. I still don't understand why he would want to block out the soothing sounds coming from the lips of an angel, but that's OK because there were thousands of screaming teens who agreed with my musical taste. Those screaming teens have grown in to middle aged women who still scream and cry at the sight of the about the man who will be turning 60 next month. And I'm one of them.

Fast forward to the year 2000...my wonderful husband took me to a local "2nd Chance Prom" where Rick Springfield came out on stage & performed despite having a 101 degree temp. Instead of sharing a guitar pick with a doting fan, he shared a cough drop. A cough drop that ended up in the mouth of that fan. I'm pretty sure I would've done the same thing.

Here we are in the year 2009 and I'm about to have one of my dreams come true. A couple of my coworkers somehow managed to contact Rick's management company & someone at his company hooked me up with tickets to his concert at the Biltmore House in Asheville tomorrow night. And while they were at it, they hooked me up with a meet & greet after the concert! I'm still in shock! If I don't run off & become a groupie or die from cardiac arrest, I will be posting the evidence from this dream at some point this weekend. But right now, I need to go and get my nails done & buy some new shoes...and a new outfit...and maybe some new lipstick...and...

Sincerely,
Jessie's Girl

Where Have I Been?

Work


School


Life


Love


FUN!!!


(oh, & Big Brother started. That can take up a LOT of time!)

I can take a hint. Thank you blog stalkers for your emails regarding my well-being...I'm fine! I've just been a bit overwhelmed this past month. Returning to work has been draining. In addition to that, the girls started back to school. Between homework, their extracurricular & social activities, we've been struggling to find which end is up!

Nothing new to report on the cancer side. I visit my oncologist again on Thursday which is when I should be receiving another dose of Herceptin. My red blood counts aren't bouncing back as quickly as they should, but I'm hoping that won't stop my treatment. I'm due for scans as well, so there's something else to add to the schedule!

(see, Rey, I published a post BEFORE August 1st! Hee, hee!)

Boom Boom Pow

Hope y'all had a fantastic 4th! We spent our day BBQ'ing with family & ended up at our usual spot to watch fireworks. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of my leave of absence from work & get ready to jump back in to things early tomorrow morning. The girls will start year round school on Tuesday...I still can't believe I have a middle schooler :( Here's a few pics from our day...

Bailey's enjoying a bone or a stogie...not sure which
Mom bought Dad a bottle of wine...

Cheers to the Old Fart's Wife!

Lu Lu Belle was all decked out for the 4th thanks to Em & Meg

This is what happens to our girls when we're forced to wait in fireworks traffic for over an hour!

Prayer Request

We just received the heart wrenching news that the wife of Terry's best friend was just diagnosed with a very rare form of extremely aggressive leukemia. She was sent to Duke after experiencing extreme back pain & they sent her home with pain pills. After many trips to the ER, she ended up at UNC, which is where they gave her the cancer diagnosis.

Please keep Kathy, Tracy & their young children in your prayers as they begin to fight this battle.

Myrtle Beach Vacation

WELCOME TO MYRTLE BEACH!!!

Whether it be the sun, ocean, sand or just spending some relaxing time with my husband & kids, something has definitely rejuvinated my tired body...I'm finally back! After visiting the plastic surgeon last Thursday, we took off for one of our favorite vacation spots...Myrtle Beach.

The waves were rough...

but the girls found a way to fight them TOGETHER.

The nice thing about being at the beach is that you can walk every evening & never get hot!

Me & T

The lifeguards

The big joke at dinner each night has been about the corn. For some reason, I can NOT get the corn cooked perfectly. Thank goodness we had some yummy BBQ chicken as a back up at this dinner!

The girls favorite beach treat...root beer floats

Carp at Broadway at the Beach. They have to be the most disgusting fish I have EVER seen!!!

I've always wanted a tattoo, so I finally got one. It may be temporary (henna), but I got one & it didn't even hurt!!! Of course, the cute artist named Diego that was holding my foot like a princess might have taken some of the pain away ;)

Shirts made for Risa Rarson's friends!

Megan is known throughout our family for having a freakishly long tongue. She finally got to see why we call her "Gene" while we visited the KISS Coffee Cafe. In case you can't see it in the pic, her tongue is touching the bottom of her chin!

We got the whole world in our hands.

Even Meg couldn't finish this cone!

Fraternal Twins

There are many ways to refer to breasts. Ta Ta's, Boobs, Boobies, Mounds...the list goes on & on. I prefer "twins". Most women have naturally "fraternal" twins (breasts that aren't the same size). We're born that way. It gives us something to complain about...because as you know, we don't have enough complaints already. Well, after my most recent surgery, I'm going to have to accept that my smaller right twin is probably going to be the size that I'll end up with. Too much radiation has destroyed the tissue and left not a whole lot of good tissue to work with. So, this means that the gigantic (it really is HUGE) left twin will be reduced. I've had three surgeries in 7 weeks. And I asked for this!!! Dr. Lyle wants to wait until the right twin is completely healed before he goes in to reduce the left one, so he's giving me an ~2 month break. Wow, I'm so lucky. During that surgery, he'll make nipples...God willing, that will be the end.

Komen NC Triangle Race for the Cure

13th year...1.75 million contributed to finding a cure. Words cannot describe what it meant to walk this race with my family this year. Or the overwhelming feeling of walking through a sea of pink shirts...we are survivors, warriors, sisters and some of the strongest women God has created. I ran into my oncologist which I thought was odd. Of all the women in the Triangle that I've met since the beginning of my journey, I saw not one of them today...but there was Dr. Maha Elkordy. She reached out for a hug and said, "I cannot tell you how proud I am to see you here today." And all I could say as I choked back the tears was, "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, so thank YOU for getting me here today."

WE are the cure!!!

They gave out capes which turned Emily into a BC superhero!

My beuatiful Megan!

Emily, me & Meg walking to the finish!