I'm back......

Yup. I'm back. I've been missing for way too long, but posting has just not been on my radar. After the past month, I have been so tired and busy and then tired again, that I haven't even had time to post about my fantastic vacation! What a horrible thing!

I had such a fantastic time on my trip. I visited with one of my best friends in the world, and her beautiful son, who is my godson. In fact, I got to babysit him all day while my friend went to work one of the days I was there! It was so fantastic! He's a wonderful baby and I am blessed to know him (and her!). They live in the D.C. area.

Then, my friend and I took a quick trip (and I do mean quick!) to New York City. I am a firm believer that New York is one of the greatest cities in the world. And I LOVE to visit. Sadly, I don't get to make the trip very often. The time and money involved is just more than I can scrape up, most of the time.

However, since my last trip to New York a few years ago (before I was blogging), I now KNOW people in the area. :) My lovely fellow bloggers, who make my life so wonderful! Several weeks before I was heading to NYC, I sent out a message to several people that live in the area, or close enough that they can get there pretty easily. Allison jumped right on the chance to have a meet-up. She, in fact, orchastrated the whole thing! Thanks so much Allison! She invited several fellow bloggers, some people who used to blog, and some fellow Twitter-ers (is that a word???).

Erik and Allison

All of the people at the D-OC meet-up

Then, in passing conversation with Amylia, I joked that she should come to NY too! And guess what... she did! She had wanted to take a vacation anyway (it was around her birthday) and had friends in the area, so she was able to attend as well. Lee Ann came also. There were about 14 people there and it was a truly wonderful experience. I feel blessed to have met so many other diabetics, but also, so many fellow bloggers.

Amylia and I

Lee Ann and I at the meet-up

Also while I was in New York, Allison and I went to see a Broadway show. One day, I will post about my obsession with the theater. But if I started this now, I'd never get to work on time. :) We saw a show called Next to Normal. It is about a family where the mother deals with mental illness. I have to say it was one of the most emotional shows I have ever seen. The talent in the show is incredible. And to prove it, the show is up for 11 Tonys. Allison, you ROCK for going with me. :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Alice Ripley and I

Then, after the meet-up on Sunday, my friend and I went to see The Little Mermaid. :) That was a whole bunch of glittery, skating, goodness.

Robert Creighton and I (played Chef Louis)

It's often said that it's like meeting old friends. And it truly is. I did meet some new people at this meet-up, but meeting Amylia, Lee Ann, and Allison was like hanging out with people I've known for years...and in a way, I guess I have know them for years.

While I was back in D.C., I got to attend a baseball game and see the play Rent, which I am thoroughly obsessed with. Rent is one of my favorite shows of all time. It closed on Broadway last September, but the tour was in D.C. and the show I saw was on my birthday! It also had two of the cast members who were in the original Broadway cast in 1996, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp. It was very cool to see live.

Anthony Rapp

Then, on the day I was coming home, I met up with Heidi for lunch before catching my plane. It was nice to get to spend some time with her again. It's totally fun to hang out with her too.

Heidi and I

My trip home was somewhat uneventful, but I couldn't help but wish I was staying. I have so many friends that I never had before. It made me wonder if I could move. But being back home makes me glad I'm here too! Instead, I am going to do my best to make a trip at least once a year with a goal of meeting other bloggers and friends every time I go. If any of you are ever in Tennessee, let me know!

So, now, I am going to close out this post with a promise to get back on track with my blogging. I am going to set myself a goal of posting once a week for at least a month. Those of you who follow me on facebook or twitter....remind me! :)

Thanks and V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

First off, I wanted to say thank you to all of you who expressed your sympathies both here, and on Twitter. It meant a lot to me. I was thoroughly blessed by you all, and so glad to know that people care.

Funerals are hard. Everyone knows that. But my family and I were blessed in a lot of ways as well. Churches contributed food, stopped by the funeral home, and called to check on us. I was able to spend time with some of my cousins, one of whom I hadn't seen in 12 years. And, I was reminded how much people really care.

One thing I know for sure....funerals are for the living. They help with closure. They help with support during a difficult time.

A small funny from the funeral: for as long as I can remember, my grandmother has been terrified of storms. She would faithfully go to the local storm shelter every time it was open, until she was no longer well enough to take herself. Tornadoes terrified her. Ironically, the funeral home is across the street from the tornado siren tower here in town. And it was stormy the day of the funeral. Right in the middle of the service, the sirens went off.

And for once, my grandmother had no need or reason to be scared.



Onto happier topics. I am leaving tomorrow at noon to head to the DC area and then to NYC over the weekend. I am very much looking forward to spending time with friends and am going to have the wonderful chance to meet with some fellow bloggers in both areas. Allison was kind enough to organize a get together and she and I are going to go see Next to Normal while I'm there. I'm so excited I want to jump around like a 4 year old. :)

There are going to be a host of other bloggers there. I will be giving a full report when I get back home. :) Expect several different posts.

I will also be attending an Orioles game, seeing Rent in D.C. on my birthday, and hanging out with one of my best friends and my godson (who I think is the cutest baby on the planet).
And, being the last person on the planet without an iPhone, I will not have internet access for 7 days. If I do, it will be bumming from someone's computer. :)

I will be getting back into Tennessee late on the 27th. Expect any comment moderation to be done after that. And, expect lots and lots of pictures. :)

Just a quick update....

I wanted to let you guys know I'll be semi-absent this week. My grandmother passes away last night. She's so much better off now. I'm happy for her, but sad for us.
I'll do my best to check in when I can.

Life and Death

It seems like life and death are all around me right now. And, surprisingly, they both make me want to cry.

Several of my close friends have just had or are having babies.

At 27, my heart aches for a baby of my own.

My grandmother is very ill right now.

The nurses and doctors aren't giving her much time left.

My heart aches for her pain.

It seems like life and death are all around me right now. And, surprisingly, they both make me rejoice.

My friends, who let me share in their job of new life.

Holding tiny people, touching tiny hands and feet.

My heart leaps with the blessings.

My grandmother stands on the cusp of New Life.

A new body.

And the chance to see our Savior face to face.

My heart leaps with joy for her blessing and the thought of no more pain and the chance to eternally praise God the Father and our Risen Savior.

It seems like life and death are all around me right now, leaving me with a myriad of emotions and thoughts.

Life begins and life ends.

Love is always there.

May Showers??

As has been for most of the country, it has been raining or rainy here for the past two weeks. Today we actually had some sun! And it was nice. But I had been wondering whatever happened to the whole April Showers bring May Flowers. It's May, and all we were having was showers. Wrong month, right?

Diabetes has been doing a pretty good job of behaving itself lately. It makes it take somewhat of a backseat. It's easy to "forget" how much diabetes is a part of your life when it's behaving somewhat. But, it makes me happy to know that I can go through the motions without having so much stress, even if it is only for a little while.

Right now, my stress is focusing on work and trying to get everything caught up and done as much ahead as possible, since I'm leaving for a vacation in two weeks. Not easy, but I've been working hard and I'm hoping everything falls into place.

Wish me luck!

And, here's a picture of the cake I did over the weekend. It was very colorful and I even did some tie-dyed icing for border. It was my first attempt at this method and I thought it turned out pretty well.

April Showers....

Well, April comes to an end. This month has flown by with little time to breath. It's put my trip up North only 3 weeks away. And, it's made my life a little crazy.

I am currently working hard to get my health under control. I'm working with fit4d.com and the wonderful team they put together for me. I feel like I've not given it my 100%, but I am working harder than I ever have before. All of my coaches have been so helpful and I've already noticed a change in my eating habits and my willingness to exercise. These are both things I needed to work on.

I've also been a busy little bee on Twitter and Facebook. Facebook is very new to me right now, and I've not been tweeting much longer than I've been on Facebook. There are so many of you in the D community on my Twitter and Facebook pages that I chat all day long about D and my life. So it's almost like I don't have anything to post about here.

I didn't, however, want to let April roll into May without at least one more post. Below is my latest creation (Twitter followers and Facebook friends have probably already seen this!). I do'nt watch StarWars, but I'm told this is a Stormtrooper. :) It was for a 6 year old who LOVES his Stormtroopers.

Next up.....

A musical cake to celebrate the end of the community choir season. (Did I mention I'd joined community choir in my town?). We have our spring performance on Sunday and afterwards a dinner. Then no more choir practice until the fall.

Instead, I'm going to try to learn to play an instrument. We'll see how that goes....

I hope your May is filled with flowers.

DC/NYC Trip

D-OC, some of you already know that I have a trip planned for May. I am heading to the DC area to stay with a friend of mine for several days over Memorial Day weekend and for a couple of days I am going on to NYC.

I already have been in touch with some of you about getting together in both NY and DC. Those of you whom I may have missed, or that I may not be sure how close you are to either place, I am letting you know I will be around. I'd LOVE to meet up with a few (or a LOT) of you.

I had the pleasure of meeting Heidi over at The D-Log Cabin when I was in the DC area visiting. It was so much fun and it got me itching to take a trip to meet more D-bloggers.

As you will quickly find out if you spend any amount of time with me, I LOVE New York City. I've been 3 times and each time, I want to go back again. Due to the distance from Tennessee, and the shear cost of a trip (hotel, plane tickets, food, entertainment), I don't get to go very often. New York and my obsession with theater go hand in hand.

So, I figured a trip to NY would be perfect. Allison is there, and there are many other D-bloggers who live in the area and often write about going into the City.

So, basic plans have been made. And if you are going to be in the NY or DC area from May 22-May 27, please let me know and I'll see if we can't get together to meet.

This is a picture from my second trip to NY and my first ever NY subway ride. :) The first trip, I was with a tour and we just took a bus. I have to say, there's no where in the world like NY.

iPod Challenge

Sometimes I feel like I know you bloggers as well as I know my "real-life" friends. We share so much of ourselves on a regular basis. We support each other, encourage each other, and laugh at each other. We keep each other grounded and challenge each other in so many ways.
However, it doesn't escape me that we don't really know each other in some small, silly, trivial ways. And sometimes I feel like I want to get to know you guys even more. So I came up with a challenge for you.
While I was at work this afternoon, I was listening to my mp3 player. I set it on random so I could get a little bit of everything I like. And then I had to laugh at myself for the complete randomness of my music. So I started writing down what I was hearing. Anytime a song would change, I'd jot it down. After 24 songs, it was time for me to go home. And time to post my list on my blog.
I believe that you can really get a feel for a person by the types of music they listen to. So below is my list. And I challenge all of you bloggers to compose a list of your own and post it. And let me know you've done it so I can get to know you too!

1) Here I Go Again -- Whitesnake
2) Will I? -- from Rent OBC Recording (Original Broadway Cast)
3) Big Love -- Feetwood Mac
4) New Way Home -- K.T. Oslin
5) Anything But Mine -- Kenny Chesney
6) Help Me Understand -- Trace Adkins
7) It's All Good -- Montgomery Gentry
8) I Just Can't Live a Lie -- Carrie Underwood
9) It Must Have Been Love --Roxette
10) One Night at a Time -- George Strait
11) Breathe -- Taylor Swift
12) She Likes To Get Out of Town -- Brooks & Dunn
13) Photograph -- Nickelback
14) I Wanna Die -- Miranda Lambert
15) Bless Me Indeed -- Mercy Me
16) Bloody Mary -- South Pacific recorded live at Carnegie Hall
17) Single White Female -- Chely Wright
18) Already Gone -- Sugarland
19) Something to Believe In -- Bon Jovi
20) Self Made Man -- Montgomery Gentry
21) Easy Money-- Brad Paisley
22) The Dream is Still Alive -- Wilson Phillips
23) Not the Only One -- Bonnie Raitt
24) Time Well Wasted -- Brad Paisley

So, as you can see, there's a LOT of country, some 80s rock, Broadway musicals, rock, and pop. I tend to be a very mixed person, just like my mp3 player.

So, D-OC..... your turn.

Crazy weekend....birthdays galore!

My weekend was pretty crazy. I had a million things to do and ended up not getting half of them done. It can be that was a lot of times for me, but this weekend was especially busy!

I had a cake to make for a friend on Saturday. It was a birthday cake for 2 guys. One guy was a children's church director, the other a music director, and they both were musically inclined. What I came up with:

Then, my beautiful kid sister turned 13 on Sunday. My mom and I took her and a friend out of town to eat and to buy her birthday present on Saturday afternoon. Then, on Sunday after church, my sis came home with me and we just hung out. I even let her make cupcakes. She did it all herself. The only thing I helped with was putting the icing in the bag for her. I thought she did a pretty good job!

I have to say, I love that kid more than life itself. There are 14 years and 11 months between us, and I missed many of her younger years because I was away at college. I'm glad I get to be closer to her now. She and I are as opposite as you can get, but I can't imagine life without her.

Sunday was also the birthday of one of my closest friends. We rarely get to see each other anymore, and it's especially hard on her birthday (cause I'm always with my sister), but I'm hoping to get to take her out to dinner later this week. Our schedules are crazy, so I'm crossing my fingers that nothing comes up!

Not a single diabetes related thing here....just a quick catch up on my life at this time. I hope you aren't too disappointed in the content. :)

Happy Easter!

Praise be to God! Jesus has risen!

He is not here for He has risen as He said. Matthew 28:6a


I pray you all had a blessed and wonderful Easter.

I have not been blogging of late, but I intend on blogging more often. It's just going to be in a more general sense. Sometime it will be about diabetes. Other times, it may be about church. Or life. Or whatever my current situation is.

Basically, I'm running out of stuff to write about. Diabetes is 24 hours a day, but it's not always the most important thing going on in my life. So don't be surprised if you get some completely random posts.


Currently, I am adding pictures of a cake I did recently for my grandmother's birthday. She liked it. I was pretty proud of it myself. And I hope you guys enjoy it.

Happy Easter!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

On Saturday I traveled to Nashville to meet with the Adult Type 1 Diabetics group for the second time. We meet, had lunch, and just generally chatted about life and diabetes. It's nice to meet people who understand. And to spend time in a group of people that it's weird NOT to beep. :)
We were beeping and booping all over the place. So funny. And so normal for us.
After leaving the group, I decided to go shopping for my sister's birthday present. She is turning 13 this month, and I had an idea of what I wanted to get for her. I am not terribly familiar with Nashville, though I can get around if need be. I was coming into the mall backwards from the way I normally come. As I was getting ready to get on the exit, I was double checking signs when I should have been looking in front of me and I didn't hit my breaks in time. Basically, I rear-ended a guy. :( His car had very little damage and neither of us was hurt.
My car, however, bit the dust. It was toast.
So, in addition to feeling like a total looser, being two hours from home, and having caused an accident....I was without a car.
Paid off car = bye, bye.
Car payment = hello.
On the plus side, the guy I hit was super nice and very calm about the whole thing. I was so thankful for that, since I was such a mess.
Also, the new car I got is much nicer and is built much better than my old car.
So, other than an increase in insurance premiums (which I'm sure will come soon), and a car payment (MUCH cheaper than I thought it would be), I came out pretty good.
Lesson learned: forget about it being the correct exit. Just get off. You can always get back on the highway later.
That the good and the bad...now for the ugly.
I've been fighting low blood sugars for day. Extremely low. The kind that makes you sweat, shake, and think you are going to pass out. I hate it. Because not only do I feel like I'm going to keel over at any minute, it's also a feeling that hangs around so long after the low is gone, that I am over treating myself.
Example: Last night about 5 pm, I was 78 and dropping. Drank a 15 g juice box. At 6:30, I was 68. Ate dinner. Waited 40 minutes to bolus. At 8:00, 58. Ate some food (by this time, I was out of juice boxes and had no car to drive). At 8:30 I was 47. Called my mom to come bring me juice. And a car. Drank somewhere around 20 ounces of juice (darn panic drinking!) due to shaky, sweaty, and fear of passing out.
By 11:30 I was 302.
:(
This morning woke up 204. Corrected. By 8:00 I was 47. Ate breakfast and had juice. Waited to bolus. By 9:00 I was 238. Was 99 at lunch. 78 at 4:30. 66 at 6:30. Ate about 15 grams of carbs. Was 238 at 9:30.
So, as you can see, it's a constant roller coaster. And it's driving me up the wall.
Any suggestions? I have a new bottle of insulin in my pump (started this morning), so I know it's not that.
I think it might be stress. But I'm not sure.
I'm giving it 2 more days and then I'm calling the doctor.

So as you can see, it's been totally crazy in my life since Saturday. I'm hoping this weekend calms down some. Wish me luck with that!

Contest

Okay people. Don't get too excited. It's not my contest. But it is a contest that I am letting everyone know about cause I think it's such a cool prize.
Rickina, who founded and runs Stick Me Designs, makers of "stylish accessories for the modern diabetic", has a contest posted on her BLOG. :) The prize ROCKS! Basically, all you have to do is go on her blog and nominate yourself or someone else and she is going to pick a winner April 3rd.
The prize pack is as follows:

First here’s the Prize Pack!
**A Complete Switch Me Messenger Diabetes Bag - value $86.00
**A Stick Me Designs Deluxe Case - value $36.99
**A Bio Flip for on the go used test strip disposal - value $5.00
Total Value = over $125

If you check out her website, these seem like some really cool items to have. I don't have one yet, since the budget doesn't really afford it right now, but they are on my "to get" listed. I'm just not sure how long it will take me to get to them. :)

In fact, I am also a StickMe Sidekick. So even if you don't win, and you decide to buy one of the items on her site, you can use my code (found on the right side of my blog) and help me earn credit toward a bag for myself and earn a discount for yourself.

So, put on your thinking caps, get creative and nominate someone! Yourself, someone you think is deserving, or even me! :D

Blessings, Inspirations, and a New Book!

I just have to say I've been dealing with a lot of things of late. Personally trying to decide what the next steps in my life should be. I've been blessed this weekend with a wonderful chance to spend time with members of my church family and had a true one-on-one encounter with God. As I've been searching for a direction in my life, I found myself coming up empty. No answers. Unsure of the questions. But this weekend I got an answer: Just wait on Me.

Patience has never been one of my strong points, but I am learning that He has a plan for me. And that God will not shove me into my destiny when I'm not ready for it.

On that note, I have to say that I am beginning to be re-inspired in my blogging. I have a few ideas floating around in my head and I've been trying to decide which on to post first! :)

I thank you all so much for being so kind to me and supportive of me. You are true gifts from God in my life.

Also, I just found out that Mary Tyler Moore has a book coming out at the end of the month. The title: Growing Up Again: Life, Love, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes. You have to love a title like that, right? The following is the back cover of the book (according to Amazon). I can already tell you that I will own this book. Maybe not right away (I'm kind of broke at the moment due to funding a trip I will share about with you guys later), but soon.

Each person who has diabetes struggles to come to terms with it and experiences the basic challenges of the disease in a uniquely personal way. For me, it has been a trip through rebellion and denial to finally arriving at acknowledgment and commitment to solutions. It took years. And I still rankle at the restrictions, the have-tos, the may-nots, and the never-endingness of it. But the illness is what it is, and I thank God for the genius of medical researchers who have done so much to make diabetes a less cruel imposition while propelling us toward a cure.I don’t think the story of my life with diabetes is a model for anyone else. There’s no template to follow that will determine the course of the disease and how it affects a person’s life; no one right way to manage diabetes. What I have put on paper is simply the tale of how, in the course of everyday living—dealing with the losses, the dead ends, and the triumphs that come in often seemingly random order—I’ve dodged, faced, and sometimes conquered the challenges of diabetes. I’m sharing my story because it is what I have to give, shedding some light on the follies and achievements that I’ve racked up in my daily confrontation with the disease.But my journey is just a part of the picture. So I’ve talked with other people who have diabetes to give voice to their experiences, to provide a varied view of how to live and thrive. And I’ve sought out some of the wisest and most capable doctors and scientists who are waging war in the laboratory and conducting bench-to-bedside experiments that are producing new and exciting treatments to help the millions of people with diabetes manage—and ultimately vanquish—the disease.

I've been intrigued with Mary Tyler Moore since I found out she had diabetes. I always try to find out more about people that share this disease with me. But other than hearing her speak about it a few times, I didn't really know how she dealt with it. I have a feeling this book will tell me. My favorite part in this excerpt is the part that says, "There’s no template to follow that will determine the course of the disease and how it affects a person’s life; no one right way to manage diabetes." I'm glad that someone can acknowledge this fact.

When it comes to dealing with diabetes, it always seems that someone has the answer. But only someone with diabetes can know the truth: there is no answer. There's just living life with diabetes.

Diabetes and Me

I've been doing a lot of diabetes stuff of late. I've met a blogger (which I thoroughly enjoyed), I attended an Adult Type 1 group in Nashville. I started a Twitter account, of which 90% of my contacts are diabetics or related to the OC in some way.
But this blogging thing is just kind of been sitting here. I find that I don't have a lot to write about. And I certainly don't want to bore you with tales of my highs and lows if I don't have some sort of a point. :)
I don't really want to say that diabetes has taken a back seat in my life, because, as we all know, it's always here. But I am focusing my creativity on some other things right now. So writing for this blog has kind of taken a back seat.
I contemplated doing a vlog, but I don't have a camera, can't really afford one, and if I did I wouldn't begin to know where to start with the whole vlog thing anyway.
I'm almost feeling at a loss when it comes to the whole blogging thing. I'm sure I could put up a new Meme a couple of times a week, but beyond that, I don't really have anything to write about.
I'm hoping you'll all be patient with me while I try to get my mind back into diabetes blogging. Until then, I'll be on Twitter and commenting on blogs when I get a chance.
You guys are fantastic!

Meme, Meme, Meme a.k.a. Meme X's 3

I got this from Lee Ann. I love her's, so I thought I'd do my own.

Three names I go by:
1. Sis or Sissy
2. Cara Belle (co-worker started calling me this and it stuck. Her 5 year old doesn't know who Cara is....but he can tell you exactly who Cara Belle is!)
3. Drama Queen. :P

Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Teaching 2nd Grade
2. Deli worker in a grocery store
3. Working in the wearhouse of a shirt factory when I was 16.

Three Places I have lived
1. I've never lived anywhere but the state of Tennessee, although I have lived in a few places in TN. Never more than a 60 mile radius from where I live now.

Three Favorite drinks
1. Diet Pepsi
2. Unsweet Tea (with artificial sweetener. I live in the South! It'd be sweet tea if it weren't for stupid diabetes)
3. Water

Three TV Shows that I watch
1. Bones (greatest show EVER!)
2. American Idol
3. Biggest Loser

Three places I have been
1. New York City
2. Idaho (met my biological family when I was 18)
3. San Antonio

People that e-mail me regularly
1. Amanda
2. Rachel
3. My co-workers

Three of my favorite foods
1. Chinese
2. Mexican
3. Cheese. Of any kind.

Three friends I think will respond
1. I have no idea
2. I have no idea
3. Please tell me if you do.

Three Things I am looking forward to
1. A trip I'm taking in a couple of weeks.
2. A trip I'm taking in May.
3. Getting a teaching job.

Life happens.

You'd think I'd have figured out, by now, that sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them too. I really had plans to be posting more often, but it's just not happening. Work has been more stressful in the past two months than the entire time I've been working there (3 years). Between restructuring of our supervisory positions, the governor wanting to cut jobs, and the fact that my job is a job that jumps drastically when the economy is down, I have been over worked, stressed, and feel like all I want to do is sleep when I get home. Case in point, I got home at 7pm tonight. I am supposed to get home at 4:30.
But, I'm getting back to a better place now. In spite of the fact that I have been working long hours, I feel like things are starting to flow again. And that's nice.
I have been busy, but not so much that I can't still Tweet a little. And try to blog once in a while. And I still read blogs faithfully, even if I don't comment. But just know that when I get myself back where I need to be in regards to work and home life, I will start to blog again. :)

Missing...

Okay, so I've been pretty much absent from the internet for the past week. I hate that, but I've done little more than check my e-mail. I simply haven't had time and haven't felt well.

I fought a cold all week last week and by Saturday, I thought I had it beat. That is until I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. And I've pretty much felt that way since. Last night I broke down and asked the pharmacist what I should take. My normal cold meds just weren't cutting it. I've not wanted to go to the doctor since everyone else in my town has strep, or the flu, or the stomach virus. I figured I could tough out a cold. By last night, I was beginning to second guess myself.

Turns out, my pharmacist is a pretty smart guy. He recommended a med to me and within a couple of hours I began to feel much better. For the first time in days, I slept through the night (I could BREATH!!) and woke up feeling like a new person. I still am a little coughy and yucky, but I can deal with it.

Last week, while I was fighting to keep this silly cold away, I was also working on the baby shower cake for a friend of mine. My gift to her, along w/ a baby blanket that I knitted. "Why," you may ask, "did you work on a cake all week long?" Well, if you've ever watched Ace of Cakes, you know it can take FOREVER to do the detailing work. I worked for an hour Tuesday night, two hours on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and Friday night from 5 until 11. I was able to finish it up on Saturday morning in about an hour. Whew! But it was worth it. It went over wonderfully and I was pretty darn proud of myself.

I am constantly trying new things. This was a very new thing to me. And I am always working to get things perfect. While this wasn't perfect, I was proud of my first effort at a design like this.

Anyway, I am hoping that I will be completely recovered by the weekend, since my sister is spending the night with me on Friday and we are heading to Nashville on Saturday morning to shop (her!) and go to a cake show (me!).

Hopefully I will get to post another blog or two as well...

Much Catching Up To Do!

I have not been blogging regularly. Basically, I've had so much stuff going on, that I've not had time. Even tonight, I am putting stuff off, just so I can blog. I miss you guys! And I miss blogging.

So it's catch up time.

1) Two weeks ago, I met with some other adult type 1 diabetics in Nashville. There were 7 of us that showed up to have lunch at a great little restaurant called The Yellow Porch. The food was fantastic. I was the only one who didn't live in the Nashville area (it's about a 2 hour drive for me), but it was nice. And it's probably going to be a monthly thing. I don't know that I can always make the trip, but I can go sometimes. And as you guys know, it's nice to be around others with diabetes.

If anyone is in the Nashville area, let me know and I'll get you the info on our next meeting.

2) I spent an entire week without my sensor on. But MiniMed came through for me. They not only got the approval, instead of waiting on the letter, they agreed to overnight me my sensor order. I should get my new box of sensors tomorrow. And the letter they needed was faxed to them today, after they had already agreed to release my order.

Someday I will get into an entire blog post on how wonderful MiniMed is. I won't do it today, but when I do, expect a short novel. You just don't get customer service like that anymore.

3) I spent last weekend in the D.C. area with my friend and my adorable godson. It was a nice trip. I left on Friday and didn't have to be back until Monday night (gotta love state holidays).

During my trip, we spent waaayyyy too much time eating. No lie. My diet (sorry Biggest Loser gang!) went out the window for the weekend.

4)On Valentine's Day, we got together with some other friends of Amanda's and had dinner at a fantastic restaurant called The Melting Pot. I had never had fondue before, so it was an experience. And the food was amazing! I loved it. Not to mention it gave me an excuse to get all dressed up.

5)Sunday morning I met up with Heidi, fellow blogger, from The D-Log Cabin. :) I love meeting fellow bloggers. It's so fun! We met at a place called Eggspectations and had wonderful omelets and chatted away. I'm going back up in May, so I'm hoping to get together with Heidi again and maybe some other fellow bloggers in the area. It would be fun to get several of us together to have lunch and hang out. Not to mention, so much fun to blog about.

Pretty much the rest of Sunday was spent watching movies, napping, and making cupcakes. :)

6)Monday morning, we headed back to Baltimore (this is where I flew into and out of) early.

The first thing we did when we got there was go stake out Charm City Cakes, home of Duff from Ace of Cakes. We took pictures in front of the building. You can't go in. It's only by appointment. And there is black on all the windows. But it was still pretty cool. I stood in front of Charm City Cakes! **Eeeekkkkkkk!!!!!!**

7)Then there was a restaurant that Amanda wanted to take me to called The Blue Moon Cafe. Since there is no website, I have just linked you to some reviews. Basically, it's a little hole in the wall. Very small, very packed. The wait was around 45 minutes. But when we got in, it was oh so worth it. They make Captain Crunch French Toast. Yup, you read that right. I don't know how they do it, but it is THE most fantastic thing I've ever had in my entire life. Homemade bread, no need for butter or syrup. And also I guesstimated around 110 carbs. I was so full when I left there that I only ate some cheese and crackers for the rest of the day.

Now, folks, I am spending this week working on a baby shower cake/cupcakes, so I have very little time. But I will blog again next week. Really.

Update on Sensor Order

On Friday afternoon, on my way to the airport, I got a call from Medtronic saying the insurance did approve my sensor order. I should have my new shipment in a week or so. :) I can deal with that!
I am soooo happy. My mother cried when I told her.
I would have posted sooner, but had no internet access. I will blog all about my trip in the next couple of days.