by Bethe

An ER visit, a car wreck, and 30 episodes of How I Met Your Mother

So if you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably seen that my little sick week ended up with me visiting the ER Friday afternoon. Here’s what happened.

I had been down with a sinus infection for two days. Thursday night before bed I had a pretty bad asthma attack – something that’s commonly triggered by things like sinus infections and allergy problems. So I started breathing treatments with my trusty nebulizer, which in the past 3-4 years has been with me to Europe, Colombia, Mexico, and all over the US. I learned early on it kind of looks like a bomb on the carry-on x-ray machine. It’s a mistake you only make once, my friend.

I woke up Friday morning with more asthma attacks, and each got worse than the last. By Friday afternoon, I was home alone having my biggest one so far, when I texted Mr. Right, who was so nicely out running errands for me, and asked him to “Drive carefully, but come home and get me, we need to go to the ER.”

I got a quick text back “ok,” and then about ten minutes later, he called to check on me. Soon after he was home, and I met him at the door dressed and ready to go. Being the gentleman that he is, he opened the car door for me…

Only it wouldn’t open. And that’s when Mr. Right admitted to me that he’d just been in a wreck.

Awesome. Luckily the wreck happened about 30 seconds before I texted him about going to the ER, so it wasn’t my fault. Ironically, the person he was in the wreck with was on her way to the ER with an anxiety attack, and was in total meltdown mode. So Mr. Right had to quickly exchange information with a frantic woman, then head home to take his other frantic woman to the ER. He deserves a gold medal.

Thankfully nobody was hurt. And after a breathing treatment, a heavy dose of steriods (again) and a chest x-ray, I was back home on the couch, wheezy and agitatated but happy to be home.

A couple of take-aways:

1. Mr. Right is AWESOME in an emergency. He promised me ice cream the whole time we were there. He’s going to make an amazing dad. I was too sick for ice cream but settled for a big Diet Coke on the way home.

2. Going to the ER where you work is really nice, because you know you’re going to get fabulous care. But it also means that your coworkers have to see you at your worst, with no makeup and tears in your eyes. At least I wore a bra.

3. It’s ironic that just one week ago I blogged at work about my previous trip to the ER. It’s even more ironic when your coworkers who are taking care of you READ that blog just a week before (hand to forehead).

4. Between a giant steroid shot in my tushy on Wednesday and a six-day treatment of high-dose steroids beginning Friday, I have discovered that steroids make me an agitated, weepy mess. I cried at the ER (when nobody but Mr. Right was looking). I cried my way through a documentary about Elmo on Netflix. According to two friends who got the same shot last week, it’s normal. I’m normal. At least, that’s what I keep trying to tell myself.

5. During my five days of being home sick, I watched an 8-hour miniseries on the Kennedys. I watched 30 episodes of How I Met Your Mother (my new favorite show). I watched the Elmo documentary. I watched the Five Year Engagement (didn’t love it). I watched 10 minutes of the LOST pilot before deciding it was too stressful. And I watched 3 episodes of Gossip Girl before deciding that those girls are just mean and stress me out. I am SO TIRED of TV. PS–I LOVE How I Met Your Mother – please someone watch it with me so I can share inside jokes with you.

6. Being sick meant I had to miss out on a trip to Oklahoma for my grandmother’s 80th birthday. Boo. Instead I watched 92 hours of television and made a quilt.

7. I hacked into Mr. Right’s Papa Johns account on Saturday and ordered myself a pizza while he was in Oklahoma. I forgot to mention it to him. The next morning he called and asked me, “How did you like your large 3-topping pizza, cinnamon sticks and Diet Pepsi, my dear?” Man, that boy knows EVERYTHING. (turns out Papa Johns emails you a receipt when you order.)

Please say a little prayer for me that I bounce back these next few days. I’m so excited to be going to Portland, Oregon for a work trip on Wednesday – five glorious days in the Pacific Northwest in what I hear is a delightfully funky town. I just need to get my second wind so I can thoroughly enjoy it.

by Bethe

And the winner is…

Thanks to everybody who entered my contest – it was so fun to see some familiar names, along with a few new ones. It means so much to me that you would take the time to read my silly little blog.

Ashleigh Johnson! I’m so excited that Ashleigh won, since she’s a newlywed and is busy making a new home with her man. If you want to know more about Ashleigh, go check out her blog. Funny story, she was hired to replace me at my first job after I took my current job at the hospital. More than eight years later we’re still both doing PR in the community and enjoy sharing ideas and the occasional lunch date. Congrats Ashleigh – email me your address and I’ll drop your print in the mail!

Ashleigh chose my fall print:

If you want your own. feel free to pay a visit to my shop. And stay tuned – I have had a lot of extra design time on my hands these past few days as I’ve been stuck at home sick. There will be several new prints hitting the shop soon, along with some more notecards.

Speaking of being sick, you wouldn’t waste a prayer on me. I’m home for the third day in a row, and I am SO OVER feeling crummy. Last night my little sinus infection started triggering some pretty severe asthma attacks, so my night and this morning have been filled with breathing treatments, trying to avoid a trip to the ER (although if I end up there, at least I know it’s the most fabulous ER in town). This is pretty much the worse possible time for me to be sick, so please pray that today is my last day to feel bad. I have way too much to do to be stuck on this couch!

But it hasn’t all been a waste – I have watched almost the entire mini-series The Kennedys. It is SO GOOD. I’m on episode 7 of 8. Next time you find an extra 8 hours of time on your hands, I definitely recommend it.

by Bethe

Burlap is the new black

I’m home sick for the second day in a row. Yesterday I felt much too terrible to be bored. Today I’m on the mend, still sick enough to need to stick close to the couch, but not fighting the fever/chills/extreme yuckiness of yesterday (you know I’m sick when I have zero desire to eat – a rarity for this girl). So let me warn you, I will probably be blogging/facebooking/pinteresting/texting all day. Because it’s killing me that I’m home and yet unable to go tackle the quilt lying in the middle of my sewing room floor. It’s just sitting there, begging me to finish piecing it, but I can’t muster up the energy. Yet.

Luckily I had already made this cute pillow about a week ago, and just hadn’t gotten around to posting her in the shop. I absolutely ADORE burlap. It’s like the new black – it goes with just about everything, is really affordable, and pretty forgiving. Combine it with some vintage lace I found in an antique store (in great condition), and you’ve got a recipe for major cuteness. I’m kind of tempted to steal this gal for my bed, but the reason I sew is so I can share, so instead she’s up in the shop, available to go to a good home.

Speaking of how awesome being sick is – yesterday I broke down and went to the doctor because I’ve got two big trips coming up and I don’t have time to be sick. He gave me a pretty ginormous steroid shot in the hiney – which means that I’m no longer eligible for the baseball Hall of Fame.  They used one of those giant needles, and I ended up bleeding all over the place (TMI?). So last night, Mr. Right calls me on his way home from ESL class (which I had to miss – so sad) and nonchallantly asks me, “You do know you have a giant bloodstain on the back of your shirt, right?”

Um, no. Apparently I went about eight hours with a giant blood stain on my shirt. It went really well with the coffee stain from the morning’s shirt (I changed to go to the doctor). But when you’re sick, blood stains and unwashed hair and smeared makeup aren’t really a big deal.

It’s just another reminder of how much Mr. Right really loves me, stains and all. What a guy.

Don’t forget, tonight is the deadline to enter my contest for a free Texas Lovely art print of your choice! Go here for all the details.

by Bethe

Be classy… unless you’ve got a good excuse like you’re sick

 My goal in life is to be classy. I may not always be put together or the most fashionable, but I can always choose to be classy.

That is, unless I’m sick. At this very moment I’m laying on the couch, wearing mis-matched PJs with a coffee stain on my shirt and crumbs in my lap, hair wild and unreigned, with just a smidge of yesterday’s mascara under my eyes.

Be classy. Unless you have a fever.

Classy print available here

by Bethe

Wedding Weekend

One of my favorite people on the entire planet is Pam. She is a friend to me, a mentor, an example of a Godly wife and mother and someone who has more sass than just about anybody I know. There are times that I get stressed out when planning an event and I have to emulate her “no big deal!” laid-back attitude. Typically for me it’s one of those “fake it ’til you feel it” situations.

The first time I really got to know her was four years ago when she showed up to my sister’s surgery, over an hour away, having only met us once or twice, to sit with our family in the waiting room. She was the only person from our church who came, and I will never, ever forget that. When I was single, she gave me the BEST pep talks about it being for God’s glory and not because I had three foreheads – the kind that kept me going when two of my ex-boyfriends got engaged in the same week or when it felt like I would NEVER meet Mr. Right. Once I met Mr. Right, she and her husband basically adopted us into their extended family, along with a lot of other people they’ve adopted along the way.

Pam is a women’s minister at church, but she also is a fabulous wedding planner. She planned my wedding, which was so gorgeous that the chapel coordinator called me later to tell me she wanted to hire Pam to do her own wedding – and she sees 3-4 weddings every weekend. It was to die for.

So when she asked me to help coordinate her daughter’s wedding reception last weekend so she could do her mother-of-the-bride duties, it was a no brainer. I jumped at the chance (besides, both of her daughters worked at my wedding). I helped coordinate her other daughter’s wedding a few years back and it was an absolute blast. Both times she did all of the planning (and flowers) in advance, and then I helped set things up the day of the wedding so that she and her family could enjoy the day.

This time Mr. Right came too, and I just loved serving alongside him, both of us in aprons and comfortable shoes, running all over the venue, him helping with the food and me helping with the decorations. Once the reception started, we bussed tables together and stole a few kisses and even sneaked in a dance in the kitchen. It was exhausting but also one of my favorite days in a long time. A total adventure.

Oh, and I tried to help out by sewing custom bean bags for a corn hole game at the wedding. I was SO proud of my gorgeous handiwork, done in haste just a few hours before the reception. I patted myself on the back, congratulating myself on being such a fabulous seamstress, thinking that maybe someday I could sew hacky sacks for my children to play with.

Those gorgeous custom bean bags ended up exploding all over the patio at the wedding, leaving hundreds of dry lima beans and a few very upset children. Turns out I could have made them a bit more durable. I think I’ll stick with quilts.

Thanks Pam and family for letting us be apart of such a beautiful wedding. And I owe you three new bean bags!

————

PS- Don’t forget to enter my contest for free Texas Lovely art! Details here.

by Bethe

Welcome to my new home!

Thanks for following me over to my new home. A good host knows how to show her guests some hospitality, so I’m offering a giveaway to thank you for taking the time to update your blog feed, google reader, favorites bar, etc. I don’t like change either, so I want to make it worth your effort.

I’m giving away a free art print from my shop. There are two ways to enter:

1. Subscribe to texaslovely.com by email (see the option on the far right column).

2. Leave a comment on this post telling me which art print you’d like from my shop.

Contest ends Thursday night at midnight. I’ll hold a drawing and  announce the winner Friday.

by Bethe

Over Yonder

 I guest posted today on my hospital blog – go over and check it out and get yourself a free printable!

 

I realized that I’m a bit overly obsessed with chevron right now. Like, maybe too much. Never fear, I’ve got some really cool patterns ready to go for my next round of verse prints. I’m so excited I could spit. But that wouldn’t be lady like so instead I’ll smile wryly and sneak in a wink instead.
by Bethe

The secret to skinny jeans

 

Ladies, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Something I wish someone had told me long ago.

There is a secret to wearing skinny jeans. Now, if you already have legs like toothpicks and a tiny hiney, then this post isn’t for you. But if you have some meat on your tush and some (ahem) strong thighs, like a certain girl I know (wink, wink), then you too can wear skinny jeans.

Take it from a girl who tried to find a pair of skinny jeans for a year. Mr. Right, my fashion-forward husband, kept trying to get me to go to the skinny jean dark side and kiss my bootcut jeans goodbye, but every time I tried a pair on in the dressing room, and watched my insides become stuffed into my pants like sausage being stuffed into its casing, ready to explode at any moment, I was always on the verge of tears as I tried to wiggle my way out of those impossible pants and left cursing the horrible man who invented such a torture device.

It was downright depressing. And then I learned the trick.

Take whatever size you typically wear in pants, and go up a size. Or two. Don’t even take your normal size with you into the dressing room, or you’ll feel like an elephant.

Just ignore the number on the tag, go a size up, and be amazed at how wonderful they feel. And how much skinnier they feel because they don’t look like they’re painted on. Nobody has to know the real size.

You think I’m kidding. But you know you want to try it.

PS–My favorite skinny jeans have come from Banana (try the outlet) and LOFT. Sign up for their e-mails and just wait for their 30-40% off everything special – they run them about once a month.

by Bethe

I remember

11 years ago I was a junior at Baylor. I had a habit of going to sleep with my television on, and I had the craziest dream that I was in a sky scraper in New York, and my building had been hit by an airplane. Everything was on fire and I was trying to get out.

And then I woke up and I saw that the news was on, and an airplane had hit a sky scraper in New York. My dream had been real, probably caused by my subconscious listening to the news reports.

And then I watched as the second plane hit the second building. And my world was never the same.

It’s so strange that at that moment I didn’t know how important that day would be. My roommate slept soundly in the other room, and I didn’t know if I should wake her up. And so I didn’t, and just sat in my room, glued to the TV, with fear building from that deep place within.

Baylor didn’t cancel classes, so I went to my 11:00 a.m. advanced editing class (boy how I miss college and those days when I just had one class from 11:30-1:00 and no job). My stunned professor didn’t really know what to say, so she let us go early. Since I was a journalism major, I volunteered to go work in the newsroom, and spent my afternoon watching every newscast on every network, listening to every conspiracy theory and needless warning… becoming more and more afraid as every hour passed.

On my way home that night I stood in line for gas for an hour, and then stood in a very long line to pull money out of the ATM, for fear that our banking system would collapse and I wouldn’t have a way to buy food. Stupid college student with no food in my pantry and no cash in my pocket. This was what the news told me to do, and so I did it, along with every other American that night.

That night, or maybe it was the night after that, President Bush addressed the nation, and I remember crying and trembling on my couch, scared for my future, for my safety and for the nightmare that had become true overnight. It was my first moment as a grown up where I didn’t have my parents there to protect me, to make sure I didn’t die of anthrax poisoning or another bomb. I was 90 miles from my safety net, and I just desperately wanted to get back home where my parents could make the tough decisions, but that wasn’t an option.

Being a grown up really stunk at that moment.

11 years later, with the gift of hindsight, most of that fear my 20-year-old self felt was unfounded. I was safe. But I didn’t have any way of knowing that. And a part of me will always be affected by the horror of that day – I get nervous for large public events that could become a target. I pray for our president when he’s vulnerable in front of crowds. I have had friends fight the enemy that stole our innocence on that Tuesday morning in September.

I will always remember. But I will never let it stop me.

by Bethe

Thankful

I am thankful for cool breezes and open windows and the ability to sit and work on my back porch with a new album (Imagine Dragons) playing in the background.

I am thankful to have gotten to spend the morning with girlfriends, eating girly food and wearing sparkles and pointy heels. Sometimes it’s nice to feel glamorous, even if just for a Saturday morning wedding shower.

I am thankful for Mr. Right who took me on one of my favorite dates last night. We’ve found a hole-in-the-wall sushi place that we have made “our place,” and paired with a movie it provides for the perfect, no-stress Friday night date night. Avocado and cream cheese and shrimp tempura and snuggles from my man have a special place in my heart.

I am thankful for a good night’s sleep.

I am thankful that our sweet little nephew Jack is doing so well in the NICU. Feel free to say a prayer for him this morning.

I am thankful for new seasons, not only with weather but also with work. Mr. Right’s last day at the church was last Sunday and it has been exciting to see him spend this first week studying so hard for his real estate license. I am praying for refreshment and new opportunities for the both of us.

I am thankful for the way God has already blessed my little shop and given me the opportunity to stretch my creative muscles in a way that is really good for me. And I am thankful for friends and family who have been so encouraging during this process.

I am thankful for a God who is sweet, even in times of waiting, and resting, and hoping.

I. Am. Thankful.