Website Revealed!

My friend Courtney has been working on something spectacular for me: my very own jewelry website!  At this point I still have more inventory posted on Etsy, but eventually this will mean a more professional front for me and no more Etsy fees.  Gotta love that!  So for now you can find me in two locations online!  My showcase things like my signature necklaces can be found on the new site, but eventually everything will be moved over as I familiarize myself with the process and fine-tune the little details.  So, without further ado, here is the link to my new site:

Bombshell Bling Jewelry

Now take a minute to head over to the announcement of this site on Courtney's blog, Sweet C's Designs.  It will give you details and an AMAZING deal for those of you with small businesses who want a beautifully designed site of your own, AND she is giving away the pair of my Swarovski Crystal earrings that you see below.  It's as easy to enter as leaving a comment, so go enter today!

How exciting.  Slowly but surely, I am becoming a pro.  :)

Scared but Blessed

This week we had a couple of our favorite St. Louis friends come for a brief visit --- Ann and Owen Brown!  They were out here so Ryan, Ann's husband, could interview for a job that he is very excited about, so we are hopeful that a little piece of St. Louis will be coming our way next year!  (A post with kid pics about the visit will be forthcoming.)  On the way home from dropping them off at the airport I got into a very scary and serious car accident.  You know when you are driving along and it feels like ALL OF THE SUDDEN everyone is stopped?  That's what happened.  But the problem is that I was in the left lane of the highway going somewhere between 55 and 65 miles per hour, not on a semi-residental street with lots of stop signs and stop lights to slow me down regularly.  The radio was hardly on because I had a terrible headache, and I had forgotten to bring my phone.  I was not distracted.  It just happened.  I slammed on my brakes but knew instantly that it was far, far too late.  I have been in a few accidents before (none this serious) and some very scary situations involving ice and the highway, among other things.  I never feel out-of-control panicked.  I feel a sense of acceptance, "Ok, this is happening, and THIS is exactly what I need to do to not make it worse."  This time logic told me that I should swerve onto the shoulder of the highway so that if I hit something it would be the median and not another car.  The car began to skid as I jerked the wheel left, and then it jerked right back to where it was before and nailed the car in front of me.  Panic most definitely set in at this point, I can tell you that much!  As the air bags came out and slammed me in the face and the right side of my dad's car smashed in I saw the other car roll over.  Once we came to a stop the other car had rolled all the way over and was back on its tires.  It was a busy day on the road, and it is nothing short of a miracle that the car did not hit any other cars when it rolled into the other lane of traffic.  It wasn't the only miracle of the afternoon!  The other driver got out of the car without a scratch on him and came over to talk to me.  He was unbelievably nice to me, as were all of the men who stopped to be sure we were okay, but, then again, it is hard to be mean to a hysterical woman sobbing on the side of the road with bruises and airbag burns all over her face and arms who is going on and on about how she is pregnant and the baby could be hurt.

Meanwhile, I borrowed a phone but couldn't remember Logan's new cell number, so I couldn't reach either him or my father.  After the emergency crew had arrived and loaded me into the ambulance the man whose phone I was using kept calling until he reached my dad's secretary.  It wasn't a great day to forget my phone.  At the hospital my sister Rachel showed up because they still couldn't reach Logan and she lives close to that hospital.  Perhaps the biggest miracle of the day, in my mind, is that Callum was not in the car with me.  Callum is ALWAYS in the car with me.  But it was nap time, and Logan is working nights, so I left them both sleeping at home and went to the airport by myself.  I have never been so grateful for Logan's bizarre schedule in my life!  Even if Callum had been uninjured, he definitely would have been traumatized.  Until the firetrucks showed up, at least.  :)  Callum is QUITE fascinated by my story of crashing Bapa's car and riding in an ambulance "so fast!"  He has a very distinctive idea of how car crashes look from watching the movie Cars so much, so he keeps telling me that I crashed Bapa's car and rolled and rolled and rolled.  Well, not exactly, but close enough.  It turned out that Logan and Callum had both woken up from their naps about 15 minutes before the accident and were out on a walk together.  Dang Logan for being a good dad when I needed him to be lounging at home!

Many hours later an ultrasound was FINALLY done and the baby was alive and kicking, literally.  Baby was moving around as much as ever and had a strong heartbeat, which was an enormous relief.  Logan headed to work late and my dad came to sit with me until I was discharged and could head home.

Both cars are totaled, no doubt, but all of the people involved are safe and well.  I am so grateful that I almost can't express it.  Upon reflection that night in bed, when I was lying there trying to get my body to stop aching and my mind to stop racing, it occurred to me just how lucky I was.  First of all, although I am extremely upset that I totaled my dad's car, I am so grateful that was the car I was driving.  It was a mid-sized SUV, and I hit another SUV.  Our Civic would have crumpled right up and I could have been much more injured, especially since we have gotten a couple of notices about a recall regarding the driver's side airbag.  Wow.  Yeah, we are getting that fixed next week.  More importantly, when thinking about the car jerking around it seems to me that I saw my arms involuntarily jerk the wheel back toward traffic.  It was not my intent, and I am usually levelheaded in these situations, so it made me sit up and realize that it may just have been Divine intervention.  The side of the car that took the impact was totally smashed in.  If I had hit that median then it would have been MY side of the car that would have been smashed in.  I shudder to think how Baby and I may have fared in that situation.

I am so grateful to have so much family close to rally around me.  I am grateful that the man I hit and my dad, whose car I destroyed, were both totally concerned about my health and safety, rather than the condition of the cars.  I am grateful beyond comprehension that I was alone in the car and that both of my children are safe and sound.  I am grateful for auto insurance and health insurance.  I am grateful for kind strangers who stopped to help and to be sure that both drivers were safe and cared for.  Most of all, I am grateful for the protection of a loving God who truly watches out for His children!  This has been a painful ordeal, and it will soon turn into an expensive ordeal, but we all came out of it safe.  And, really, what else truly matters?

Looking Back: April: Aunt Worla Visits

Aunt Worla (that's how Cal pronounces Laura's name) came to visit us over her spring break.  It was a short visit, but we had a blast with her, especially the day that we went to the City Museum, our favorite spot in St. Louis.  Callum loved climbing the ladders and going down the slides, with everyone but me, that is.  I think the pictures say it all.  Funnest!

Looking Back: April: Jessica's Colorful Baby Shower

(Check out my necklace---I made that necklace in a metalworking jewelry class that I took.  

More about that in a later post.) 

In April Jessica's baby girl was due, and Tori, Ann, and I threw her a baby shower.  The church group we went to in St. Louis had many young families in it, so there were constantly babies being born.  I honestly can't count the number of baby showers that I went to over my four years in St. Louis.  We really wanted Jessica's to be special and stand out, so I came up with a strange plan.  While most pregnant women crave sweets and chocolate, Jessica had been craving savory appetizer-type food, so I decided that we would have a Super Bowl-style baby shower.  The three of us put out a spread of Super Bowl Party foods like buffalo chicken dip, salsa and chips, meatballs, popcorn balls, etc.  I also got a case of Fitz's Root Beer, the famous St. Louis root beer, and put it in a cooler of ice.  It was a seriously yummy event!  I also spent quite some time making wild, colorful streamers, which Tori and Logan patiently hung all over the apartment for me.  To finish the event off, we had a game up called "Who's that Celebrity Baby?"  It's a funny game of baby pictures with celebrity faces pasted on them.  It's always a hit.  It was such a fun night, and Jessica got showered with plenty of gifts and attention.

My Girls.  LOVE!

 Good luck guessing, ladies!

L to R:  (Bottom) Michelle Leinwebber, Natalie Miller, Glori Olsen, Danelle Rowley, Camille Keister, Kirsten Siebach, (Top) Brittany Caban, Alison Miller, Stephanie Phillips, Amy Karren, Emily Durrant  (This wasn't even close to everyone who came---we had a great turnout!)

Looking Back: March Randomness

This is my LAST March post!  Hooray!!  Only 6 more months to go . . . oh, boy.  I was feeling really good until I wrote that.  :)

This post will cover the random things we did in March as narrated by pictures.  Here we go:

Friends

I have discovered that I have many pictures of Callum and his buddies from this spring.  I was feeling nostalgic about them being separated, I supposed.  I have the most of Noah Southerland (who I babysit once a week, and who is the son of my good friend Emily, the photographer) and Oscar Haslam (Jessica's son, who we spent a lot of time with and who I watched a lot because our two families did a ton of babysitting swapping).  Let's start with Oscar . . . 

Cal Pal and Oscar-cito

Callum and Oscar are the ultimate frenemies.  They are either fighting or laughing together.  Two strong personalities at a stubborn age are tough to combine.  It can be a little rough having them together now, but I know they will be great friends down the road when we are still getting together for vacations and visits.  Even if they are fighting like cats and dogs during a playdate, when Oscar wakes from his next nap he is always chanting "Cal Pal, Cal Pal, Cal Pal" in his husky little voice.  :)

Once the weather started to warm up in March we headed to the zoo one day.  Logan wasn't able to come, so "Uncle Andy" took the boys on the zoo railroad while a very pregnant Jessica and I sat on a bench and talked in the sunshine.  It was heavenly!  On the way out we saw a man selling his book of poems called I Don't Want to Kiss a Llama.  Well, we are a family of llama lovers who DO want to kiss a llama, so we bought one and had him autograph it for us.  After the zoo Logan was able to join us to go to the Crowne Candy Kitchen, a famous, old St. Louis restaurant.  I'm not sure it if was worth all the hype, but it was a fun experience and we all had a great time laughing at the amount of bacon on Logan and Andrew's BLTs.  Um....wow.

Every time I babysat Oscar the boys ended up needing a bath, because we are just a messy family like that.  Luckily, the bathtub is the place that they seem to get along the best!  Are they not just too cute for words?!  I want to eat them both!

Noah and Callum

Noah is one of Callum's favorite people on the planet.  He is a year and a half older than Callum, so he is a "big boy" who Callum just loves to follow around and copy.  Luckily for Callum, Noah has always been just fine with that!  When I started watching Noah he wasn't even two yet, and Callum was an annoying little crawler who would literally follow him around taking away every toy that Noah touched. Most kids would have slapped him, but Noah was so sweet and patient and would just move on to the next toy for a minute or two until Callum came over to steal that one as well.  He is a great kid, and I love their relationship.  Noah is exceptionally imaginative for his age, and he is the one who introduced Callum to make-believe and creative play, which he now loves and does daily by himself.  The day I took these pictures they emptied the toy bins and were walking around with the bins on their heads giggling like crazy.  I asked Noah what they were doing and he said in a halting, "robot" voice, "We. are. robots.  We. are. crime. fighting. robots."  So freaking cute!  Ever since that day, Callum has been putting bins, baskets, and buckets on his head and talking in a robot voice.  I love it!

A Visit From Bapa

Bapa came for a belated birthday visit to play with Callum.  We had a great time with him, as usual.  The picture of Callum and Bapa having some "play time" together on the floor of Callum's room cracks me up.  So typical!

Book Club

L to R: Katy Walling, Danelle Rowley, Tori Cox, Michelle Leinwebber, Myself, Mira Pazolli

For the last couple of years I have been attending a small book club made up of some of the ladies who go to my church.  It has been fun because it has introduced me to some new books and motivated me to read at least one book a month.  Reading is one of my favorite things to do, but when you are a busy Mama trying to also run a little jewelry business it's hard to justify finding the time to relax and read.  The group is organized by my friend Mira Pazolli, but it is hosted each month by a different person.  The month this picture was taken it was my turn to host, and we read one of my all-time favorite books, These is My Words.  If you haven't read it then you are seriously missing out!  Marie Newman was always there as well, but she left early at this meeting to go home and feed her baby, so she isn't in the picture.

Random Pics Around the Apartment.

A flour mishap while cooking that I found so hilarious that I took a picture of it before consoling the poor baby boy, spraying OxiClean (and water for Callum) on dirty clothes, watching a horse on tv while riding a horse, coloring, and bonding with Daddy . . . I love our little life together!

Looking Back: March: Match Day

St. Patrick's Day may mean drinking until you're wasted for many people around the world, but to us it meant something quite different: MATCH DAY!  Match Day is the day when med students all throughout the US open an envelope and discover what city and school they have been assigned to, or "matched" to, for their residency.  This is the way it works: after interviewing at many different programs, each student turns in his or her rank link, which is just a list with all of the schools at which they interviewed ranked from 1 to 12 (in our case, but the number of interviews you go to varies for each person).  Then each school/program turns in their list of the candidates that they interviewed, ranking them from 1 downward in the order in which they want them in the program.  Then the lists are all put into a computer and the computer spits out your assignment.  End of story.  It's a bizarre process.

Many people go into Match Day waiting and wondering, clueless at to where they will end up.  It must be very nerve wracking and also very exciting for them!  For us it was a little anticlimactic, not because we weren't happy with Logan's "match" here in Colorado, but because we already had a pretty solid knowledge that Logan was matching in Colorado because he ranked it #1 and because of his scores and grades, along with the fact that his interview had gone so well and he had gotten so much positive feedback from this program, so there weren't any surprises for us on Match Day.  However, there is always that little chance that the computer could have sent us elsewhere, which we would have been totally fine with, especially with his top 3 to 5 choices, but it didn't.  

I spent a silly amount of time worrying about finding a cute green outfit, and while I do love what Jessica and I found, I ended up being ticked off at Logan through most of the ceremony, because after spending over an hour straightening and barrel curling my hair he made me RUN from our apartment to the school because we might have been a few minutes late.  It was windy, and by the time we got there I was very sweaty in my new outfit and my hair was trashed, not to mention that I could hardly breathe.  I am NOT a runner.  Men.  But I got over it, obviously.  Everyone was crammed into a room, which wasn't the best for Callum and I, so we just soaked in the revelry and excitement (everyone else was celebrating with some sort of green alcohol) and then spent most of the day in the hall hanging out with my dear friend Marie Newman and her kiddos, Isaac and James.  Isaac and Callum are big buddies, so they were as happy as clams.  The Newmans were a hugely important part of our St. Louis experience because Blake and Logan found one another early on in class and became fast friends.  They were with us through all four years of our journey, and we had countless dinners, game nights, park outings, and craft nights (Marie and I) together.  They stayed in St. Louis for Blake's residency in Neurology, and we miss them sorely!

After the ceremony I decided it was very anticlimactic to just go home and eat cereal for lunch, so I called up my Auntie Muriel, who lived two blocks away from us, and---miracle of miracles!---she was home and didn't have plans, so she graciously watched Callum for the afternoon so that Logan and I could walk down to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in the Central West End (our funky neighborhood) that we didn't often go to because it's a bit of a splurge.  We sat outside in the beautiful weather and had a lovely celebration together.  What a day!