in 12,960,000 seconds...

we will dance and laugh and cry and celebrate and rejoice and live and love!!  i'll be in white, mom in pink, BABs in a light khaki (just like i like my coffee) suit, EVERYONE will be sporting their "CANCER SUCKS" lime green bracelets…

…and fingers crossed i will still get to end up on a boat

theknot.com emailed me this week to remind me that i needed to order bridesmaid dresses {5 out of 6 ain't bad so far} and send in the order for wedding invitations {since i should have had the proof from last month}.  luckily i fell behind on schedule!  what the email did not ask me to do was decide on a "new" reception site which would change the flowers, decor, menu, seating arrangements, and color scheme that was pretty much set!!  
{please be prepared for a reception music montage of "we didn't start the fire" "burning down the house" "baby you can light my fire" and from one of BAB's favorite bands, KISS, "heaven is on fire"}  


"When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" Isaiah 43: 2b-3


wedding schmedding…. today we were blessed with a miracle!

MIRACLES=Wednesday's Favorite Thing

Mom's PET scan and spinal tap came back clean as a whistle;  and by whistle, i mean the only "bad" spot seen was where we found the initial "patch of Jasmine" in her back.  we went from a guestimated stage IV lymphoma that was miraculously downgraded to stage I.  silly Jasmine… thinking it can mess with the dobbinators!  so we are looking at 3 cycles of "round up" instead of 6-8.  hoping to be done with this nonsense by the end of 2012!  this doesn't give you angels and prayer warriors permission to erase mom's name off the list just yet… we still have some ugly "round up" to get through… but we are finally finally FINALLY seeing a glimpse of sunlight behind this dark cloud that has been following us around for 3 weeks.  

i was also reminded today of some funny memories with friends from previous "cocktail parties of the south".  a long time tradition for the UGA/UF game in jacksonville that started over 10 years ago (for us) with 25 best friends crashing some brave parents' home to sleep under dining room tables and on kitchen floors next to a running dishwasher… who said trampolines and lawn chairs couldnt be "beds" either?  
once we graduated to renting a house that would actually sleep 25 we still enjoyed acting like absolute college kids.  never ever have i laughed so hard at a game of "battle of the sexes" and thought of simple cooking techniques {blanching} in such inappropriate ways… followed by a midnight snack of oreo cookies with a mini snickers in the middle dipped in neapolitan ice cream.  i will miss the GA/FL weekend this year but look forward to heading to BMB friday morning for a 'relaxing' wedding planning 2.0 weekend!

if this isn't funny to you then i am sorry… if it makes you tinkle in your big girl {or boy} panties a little then you're welcome! {i may or may not be implying that happend during the filming of this video} 

sunday-funday 10.23.11

we got twinkies at church...

i found an ePhoto outfit for under $100 at the mall

the falcons won and UGA moved up in the ranking without even playing

quote of the day from me to BABs: "thank you baby for letting me drink more than i should've at a one-year-old's birthday party and driving me home.  i love you"

did i say LAUGH?

"blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." luke 6:21

i would like to thank everyone out there for the thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement over the past couple of weeks.  there have been many sleepless night and tears, but as of this morning i feel a whole lot better about almost everything.  

we found out wednesday that mom has a form of non-hodgkin's lymphoma.  i have had to "google with caution," and push my pharmacy knowledge of cancer and chemo to the side.  it is hard to filter around the good, the bad, and the ugly associated with this 'thing' we shall refer to as "Jasmine".  

<<DISCLAIMER>> 

this is not a 'cancer' blog… therefore we don't need that word scattered all over the place.  

just like the Jasmine that is 'attacking' the stairs and deck to our porch at the Beach Blossom, we will attack mom's Jasmine with FDA approved Round-Up.  in my opinion there is about to be a major Jasmine beat down!  


it has been such a blessing to be surrounded by the love of my life {i think he is still going to marry me even after seeing my ugly cry… SUPER ugly}, the best girlfriends in the world {by the way i totally cried all over that homemade mac-n-cheese for girl's dinner too}, and an amazing family.  last time i checked: back surgery, PET scan, wig shopping and 6-8 cycles of round-up are not on the "how to plan a wedding in 12 months" to do list.  i guess that just makes me special!  


so ON the wedding front… in 1 week we will have our toes back in the sand, be drinking those yummy whippetts for lunch, sharing a bottle of wine with the pastor we FINALLY found to marry us {how cool is that… totally his idea}, and awkwardly posing for the engagement photo shoot!  {oh yeah… watching football GO DAWGS!}  then we can swing by the reception site and see what is left from the blazing fire that destroyed over half of it at about 2 am this morning…. "what was that?  did you just tell me my reception site burned up?"  REALLY?  i did say we would continue to laugh!

ironically the first thing i did was send up a big old hallelujah praise to my Jesus!  no doubt in my mind He is showing his presence in my life and reminding me i am nothing without Him.  

we will round-up, we will rebuild, we will have a beautiful wedding!  boogity boogity boogity AMEN.

wednesday's least favorite thing: the c-word

what do you do the morning of the day you find out not IF your mom has cancer... but what kind of cancer she has?
work a few hours as if my entire world isn't going to change in the next 4 hours?
think about how beautiful she will be in her pink dress on my wedding day in just short 5 months?
continue to be relieved that the pain that has been cursing her for the past 4 months is finally gone?

we are all being very optimistic!  i am trying NOT to think of the probability, prognosis, staging, statistics, and measures that i studied for years and discuss with patients on a regular basis...  but also can't help it!

we will continue to live!
we will continue to laugh!
we will continue to love!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  Rom 8:28