Festival Fun!

Our community has a wonderful festival every May. We love going, me for the food and shopping, the Hubby for the food and food, the Little One for the lemonade and fun kids activities! This year it was H-O-T on the day of, and we didn't make it out there as early as we normally do so it was extra hot by the time we made our way there. First we had to do some inflatable slides and pony rides, then we moved on to the Sand Art (another big hit with the Little One) and then on to the food.

After lunch, I ditched those 2 while my Mom & I did a little shopping around, and let them sit in the shade with their boiled peanuts :-)

When we met back up I had 2 bags of hairbows (seriously the only thing I bought other than food, and the main reason I look forward to going each year) and was beyond ready to rip my wig off from the heat! We decided to let Little One do the slides again and get Henna Tattoos and then we would leave.
Finally after a tiring, hot day we left. Not before standing in line for my favorite Kettle Corn and fresh squeezed lemonade, of course! The Little One had a popsicle in each hand, a half wiped off henna tattoo and face paintings on both cheeks cracked and scratching off when we left. Yeah, that's the sign of a great summer day!!!

Much Needed Beach Trip!

Immediately after the Race for the Cure, The Hubby, Little One, my Parents & Myself all packed up and left for Orange Beach. We had 4 nights and 5 days of Fun in the Sun and we couldn't have been happier to get away!

It was a great trip for us all, a little different for me this year since I had to wear a scarf and hat still (my hair is steadily growing, but I definitely have a Sinead O'Conner thing going on & I'm just not THAT confident I guess). So, I'll have to say it was the driest vacation ever for me, but I still enjoyed just laying by the ocean and watching the Little One play nonstop in the sand and my very favorite activity in the world, reading on the beach. It's the most relaxing thing ever!

My wonderful parents got the same condo we stayed in last year again, and it's just perfect for the 5 of us. We love it there, and the Little One loves her pool time with Gammy and G-Daddy (not to mention the 24 hour spoiling)

We ate some amazing food as well, and had our fresh seafood fix before the oil spill hit in that area. I'm so thankful we had it planned to go that week since no one really knows how bad the gulf will be from here on out.

Mother's Day was spent exactly as my Mom and I would have had it...on the beach! We also ate at our favorite restaurant down there, Lulu's, that evening.

One night we all went to a place called The Track to ride go-carts and bumper boats. It was so much fun for us all! We laughed harder than any of us have in a while, and I'll have to say it was a great feeling! The Little One even drove her own kiddie go-cart a few times and once she got the hang of it she was all over it!

The only downfall to vacation is coming home. They just never seem to last long enough!

Race for the Cure

Last Saturday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Atlanta. My brother-in-law has done the 5k for the past few years, and this year he decided to start a team in my honor. It was the sweetest thing for him to do, and we had a wonderful morning there! "Team Stacie" had 16 participants which was awesome since all of my friends were 'busy' at 7:00 am on a Saturday...but I'm not bitter ;-)

Anyway, I'm hoping that we can make an annual event of it since we had such a wonderful time there. I know this year will probably be the most meaningful to me, since I just became an official 'survivor', but I'll never tire of hearing that word, that's for sure!

It was SO incredibly inspiring to see the support of 17,000 + people running and walking together in support of all the survivors and in memory of those who lost their battle.

At the finish line, they had a separate lane for the survivors to walk through with balloons and people waiting to hand us a pink rose, put a survivor medal around our necks and a man with a microphone to congratulate each one individually by name.

The little one was signed up to do "Kids for the Cure", an area where she made crafts, had her face painted and just had a blast with her Gammy while the rest of us did the race. She had a wonderful time! I know my Mom was disappointed not to be able to walk this time since she fell a while back and still isn't 100% with her knee, but I have to say it worked out well for everyone involved.

Tastebud Heaven

My sweet Mom made me this awesome, fantastic, ah-mazing pound cake for my Birthday and they even brought over sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream for my very favorite dessert of all time. So wonderful! Thank you Mom :) The down side to this is that I had a half pound cake left over and I love it way more than my family does so I've been eating it for breakfast and a little sliver for a snack every time I walk in the kitchen occasionally. ;-)

Life Legacies

My Grandmother sent me the sweetest Birthday card, and I loved it so much I wanted to share the words with you.

Live Deep

Never stop learning, playing, or finding wonder in the world around you.

Live the length of your life, but live the depth of it as well.

Travel Light

There is no use in carrying around worry and regret.

They only weigh you down.

Always keep yourself open to hope and to love.

They give us wings.

Forgive Imperfections

in yourself and others.

Imperfections keep things interesting.

They're the cracks where the light shines through.

Own Beautiful Things

and not just to keep in the drawer, tucked away for a perfect day.

Surround yourself with things that make you happy,

that remind you of the beauty all around us if we only keep our eyes open to it.

Make Mistakes

Follow detours.

Sometimes it takes an unexpected turn to help us

find the life that is waiting for us around the bend.

Trust yourself and the path that is meant for you.

Take Care of Yourself

and sometimes that means that you need the ice cream.

Be good to your body, but also to your mind and spirit.

You're the only one who can.

And always, always know that you are loved.

You are a blessing to this world and a blessing to me.

And that will never change.

This blessed my heart and I hope it did yours as well! :-)

The Big 3-0!

Today is my birthday. I'll admit that for months (actually a year) I have dreaded this day. I had no desire to put a 3 in front of any number involving my age! I know how irrational that is, and how dumb it sounds, but it's very true! I wouldn't let my husband do a party and even told him I didn't want any gifts. I didn't want this day to be different than any other.
Then on Saturday I had a lightbulb moment. I was going through the Survivor bag from Relay for Life the night before and there was a t-shirt in there. I held it up and tears welled up immediately. Here's what the back of the shirt says: "Happy Birthday" is a Victory Song.
WOW! That's exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. I decided right then to thank God for this day and every birthday after it!
Now, if my tumor hadn't been discovered yet I probably would've still made it to 30, but now at least I'm 30 and cancer free! Praise the Lord!

This year will surely be better than the last one. I certainly don't want to stay 29 forever, 29 hasn't been too good to me!

AMEN!

Relay for Life

Up until this year, I have never really thought much about Relay for Life, except that it's really cool that they bring communities together to raise money for cancer research. I have never been to an event or heard too much about them to be honest. This year, of course, I have a different feeling altogether about it.

My awesome brother-in-law is a teacher and his school always has a team. He told me about the one in our county, and we decided to go and see what it was all about. I have a dear sweet friend that is a Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor (of 5 years!), and she told me about the survivor events they do also. We were thankfully able to register that evening at the event, with dinner from Shane's Rib Shack and received a Relay for Life survivor bag with lots of goodies in it.

After the dinner, we headed over to the field for the survivor lap. All the survivors were given purple t-shirts and walked a lap around the track together with the other attenders cheering them on. It was very moving, and a cool celebration of life.

Getting Ready to walk our lap together as Survivors!

Our girls walking with us as our "caregivers" :-)

After the walking there was fun stuff to be done...face painting was first on the agenda

Of course she had to do the "crazy hair" too...twice, actually!

We're looking forward to many more Relay for Life events. It was a great family night, and showed The Little One (and myself) just how many people right around us have had and beat cancer. It's such a terrible epidemic and I hope that eventually a cure will be found for this awful disease and there will be no need for Relay for Life. Survivors will just be people that had the bad luck to get the news before a cure was found but we will never have to worry about it anymore! That's the world I want to live in.