matters of the heart

today i received some great news about my uncle! for those who don't know, he has major heart problems. 2 years ago, he suffered a major heart attack and a stroke at the tender age of 50. his smoking had caught up with him and he had open heart surgery to correct the blockage that was affecting his heart.

last tuesday, he was rushed by ambulance to Methodist Germantown after suffering a heart attack at work. the whole family gathered in the emergency room. he became stable quickly but the doctors noticed that his stints from his previous surgery were diseased and would need to be removed ASAP. he underwent several procedures the day after. they took different labs, removed the old stints, and put a sheathe in his right leg. this past friday, he had triple bypass surgery. his worst day was sunday as the anesthesia started to wear off. he was in a lot of pain and was not himself at all. he is constantly cracking jokes or singing Metallica and it was hard to see him like that. my mom texted me earlier today and told me that they have removed the tubes from his chest and he has been moved to a regular room. this was great news to receive and took some of the stress off my mind. he will hopefully be going home sometime this week and will start rehab shortly after [not drug/alcohol rehab haha]

lesson to me, my brother, and my cousins: don't smoke. like for real. heart problems run in our family [my mom, his sister, has a heart murmur]. i never want to see anyone have to go through what my Uncle Rich has gone through. please take care of your hearts, everyone.

#catholicgirlprobz

i've been M.I.A. since Valentine's Day because of my shotty Comcast internet. now that my new AT&T U-Verse equipment is on the way, you can all rest easy that i will be frequenting my blog a little more often. [i know you're all stoked]

i have decided to give up 2 things for Lent this year: Diet Coke & cursing. even though i consider myself to be a very classy lady, i have the mouth of a sailor [probably worse]. to help me with this, i have asked John & my mom to smack me on the hand whenever they hear me say a curse word. naturally, this has led to a lot of slaps. it's working slowly but surely.

i think i have just traded one Coke monster for another by giving up Diet Coke.

i have switched to Coke Zero and it is SO NOT the same thing but zero calorie carbonation is something i cannot resist. the Lord would probably want me to give up soda all together..i'll consider it. baby steps.

future blogs will include my baking endeavors, decorations, healthy eating/workout regimens, and let's be honest, a lot more Bristol :]

xoxo

and the greatest of these is love.

in honor of Valentine's Day i decided to share my all time favorite love song..besides mine & john's song.

Marry Me by Train:

i love the simplicity of not only the song but the video as well. love is simple. either you love someone or you don't. this is not to be confused with lust, infatuation, puppy love, or whatever other name you want to call it. love is just love.

okay, it's that time. i'm about to get sappy. cover your eyes if you can't handle it.

i met my boyfriend, john, when i was 15. we both went to Bolton and had a few classes together. he will even admit that he was smitten with me the day we met but i had a boyfriend. it was a typical high school relationship. i thought we'd be together forever. blah, blah, blah. this being said, i never thought of john as anything more than a friend until me & boyfriend broke up after my freshman year at UT. i used to flirt with john just because i could. i knew he liked me after all my friends told me so and i finally wised up. 

i came back to memphis for the summer & started hanging out with john again. it was so good to be able to see him and talk to him again. we started dating shortly after and were together for a year. i went back to knoxville and we broke up due to the distance. it was too much for us and we were too immature to handle it. we just wanted to be together all the time.

time passed. i had a new boyfriend in knoxville. he was taken too. i thought about him a lot but i was still hurt from the breakup. things changed after i went on spring break to Key West. i had a few too many drinks, was mad at my bf, and called john to vent about it. i realized i did this a lot. whenever i needed to talk to someone, he was my person to call. he listened to me, made me laugh, and made the situation seem silly.

after calling off my engagement in july, i moved back to memphis. it seemed like deja vu because we started talking again after i got home. he was still taken and i more than respected that. i was in pickwick with my parents for labor day when he told me that he and gf had broken up. i was elated and thought this was our second chance. it was.

we are happier than ever. we have been back together for 4 months now and i can't imagine how i got along without him this long. we have 100's of bizarre things in common. ex: we both have a big freckle above our belly button, a little to the right. we were both born on the 17th of the month. his mom's birthday is one day before my mom's. our dad's are both named mike. i could go on for days..

i just wanted to let everyone know how much i love him & what our friendship and our relationship mean to me. we were best friends first and we always will be.

now i guess i should put our song on here[i know you were all anxious to see what it is haha]

When You Say Nothing At All by Keith Whitley:

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone<3

xoxo

good ole fashioned puppy love.

well blogging has taken a back seat to the craziness that has consumed my life the past 2 weeks. i moved into my own apartment :] (there's a blog coming with pictures & decorating ideas). Bristol loves the new place and has become even more attached to me than i ever thought possible. she constantly has to be laying by me or making me play with her or taking her outside. apparently this is a strong trait in boxers. i would highly recommend a boxer for anyone looking for a dog right now. after looking on several different websites i have found:

The Boxer is happy, high-spirited, playful, curious and energetic. Highly intelligent, eager and quick to learn. The Boxer is a good dog for competitive obedience. Constantly on the move, bonding very closely with the family (told ya). Loyal and affectionate, Boxers are known for the way they get along so well with children. A well brought-up and properly socialized Boxer will also get along with his own kind and other household pets such as cats. Animals such as rodents, ducks, chickens and other farm birds may be too tempting, however, they can be taught to, "leave it" but it is still not reccomended they be left alone with them. It has been said that the name Boxer came from the way the Boxer likes to use is front paws for just about everything. If you have ever watched a Boxer go about his business you may have noticed the way he paws at his toys, food bowl and you for that matter, in a very playful cat-like way. While participating the sport of schutzhund, Boxers are known to jump up and use their front paws as if they are boxing. They are very clownish and playful. The Boxer's nature is to protect you, your family, and your home. Known visitors will be welcomed. They are always keen to work and play. Boxers need lots of human leadership. Teach the Boxer not to be boisterous and especially not to jump up at people. This breed is noted for courage and make great guard dogs. Boxers have a wide use in military and police work. An excellent watchdog, the Boxer will restrain an intruder in the same way a Bulldog does. They are extremely athletic, sometimes even in their old age. This dog needs to go on a daily pack walk. Daily mental and physical exercise is paramount. Without it, the Boxer will become high strung. This breed requires a dominant owner. Training should start young and be firm and consistent. The objective in training this dog is to achieve a pack leader status. It is a natural instinct for a dog to have an order in their pack. When we humans live with dogs, we become their pack. The entire pack cooperates under a single leader. Lines are clearly defined. You and all other humans MUST be higher up in the order than the dog. That is the only way your relationship can be a success. Meek Boxer owners will find their dogs to become stubborn. If they do not take you seriously they will be sneaky, demanding, boisterous and hard to control. Teach the Boxer dominating another dog is not acceptable. Any signs of dominance needs to be immediately corrected by the owners in a calm, but firm, confident way. 

even though Bristol isn't a full-blooded boxer, she shares SO many traits with the breed. she is definitely mama's little girl but also listens to others when they tell her "no" or "sit". training her has been rather easy. she is stubborn at first but she knows when i'm being serious with her. i could not be more pleased with her and i feel 100% more safe living by myself knowing that she is there with me.

xoxo

life is like a box of chocolates.

today i got to thinking about some ways i could start eating healthier, even when i was craving something sweet. i ran in to Walgreens this morning to grab a Coke Zero & passed by the Valentine's Day candy aisle. i'm not a sugar junkie so i found it odd that i even wanted anything from there. after passing by and getting my drink, i decided that i would treat myself to a candy bar. i felt my waist expanding as i started walking down the candy aisle so i stopped. i looked to my right and found my favorite kind of candy. i grabbed it and walked out without really thinking about what i just bought.

after looking at the wrapper once i got to work, i saw on the front that dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. this intrigued me so i decided to look up some quick facts about dark chocolate. here are some interesting facts i found:

1) it lowers blood pressure

2) antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease

now don't use this as an excuse to scarf down 5 Hershey's bars and claim that you're "lowering your blood pressure" but next time you have a sweets craving, reach for the dark chocolate instead of the milk or white.

xoxo