Slowly recovering from a week of relative rest and relaxation, I thought I’d drop in to share some good news and some fun pictures. Most important highlight: Nick proposed to Jenna at sunset on the Keys through and elaborate (and successful) surprise plan! Not as important but also notable: I managed to keep and facilitate the secret for almost two weeks!

Our time in Key West was amazing. I’m not sure whether we had more fun than the dogs though! The loved swimming and the dog-friendly culture of Key West. They were so tired from the whole excursion that they slept for two days! I slid in time to see my patients in the hospital and we made time for a few touristy trips too. I’d never been to Parrot Jungle Island before so that was our animal trip of the week. Should you visit this beautiful place, NEVER…I repeat NEVER think it’s a good idea to feed the Lorikeets! There’s a reason why we were the ONLY people lined up for this “interactive exhibit”. The birds are total wheelists! Not a one would land on me and Nick had to literally brush them off of him even after he ran out of nectar. To make matters worse, they pooped on me no less than four times before I could escape. It put a damper on the day but the ADA-compliant parrot (shown below) made up for their rudeness.

I was sad to see Nick and Jenna go but so thankful they provided me the motivation to get some much-needed rest and even more appreciative that they shared their moment with Adam, me, and two happy bulldogs. I’m so happy for them both and I’m already looking forward to the party that is in store!

I’ll leave you with some pictures- Click on the captions for full-size versions. Have a happy week!

1. Nick and Jenna beautiful sky, 2. Jenna and me in the Jungle, 3. Nick happy with the Lorikeets, 4. Adam and me in Key West, 5. Obie running on the docks, 6. house in Key West, 7. NickandPirate, 8. Nick and Jenna Earth Day, 9. dogsondock, 10. iguana at our hotel, 11. NickJennaSugarBeach, 12. an iguana and a snake in Key West, 13. NIck and Jenna-Parrot Jungle Island, 14. ADA compliant bird, 15. me and Jenna at sunset, 16. JennaNickKeys, 17. swim nuggie swim, 18. NickMebylake, 19. butterfly on his shoulder, 20. Nick and Jenna cold drink break

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as I enjoyed the Keys this weekend!

Check out my coverage of the Trials over at my blog at Disaboom.

Back to my self-induced vacation!

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It’s nearly 2:30am here and we’re…well I’m…waiting to go pick up Nick and Jenna from the airport. Adam’s in for the ride but for now he’s in some sort of a nonresponsive state on the floor surrounded by bulldogs. They were supposed to arrive at midnight but weather caused delay after delay. We have so much planned and I can’t wait to enjoy some rest and relaxation. This has definitely been one of the hardest semesters for me and half the time I feel like I’m barely staying afloat with all my classes and responsibilities at the hospital. I’ve been cramming in plenty of blogging over at Disaboom and even published my first feature article there about how parents of kids with disabilities can help them develop positive body images. I’m already hard at work on April’s feature and the topic (top secret for now) has me inspired to make some changes of my own.

It’s been tougher for me to write here since my personal life is shrouded in the cloak of confidentiality…I obviously can’t share many of my adventures in the hospital but they’re definitely a daily occurrence. My favorite moments are the totally kid-like events that could happen just as easily on a playground as an inpatient psychiatric unit. Today I came in to find one of our behavior techs attempting to reason with a little girl about how her high-heeled pink glitter shoes were lovely but not appropriate for their daily 30 minute jaunt outside. “Yes, I know their beautiful….but I think they may be too small for you!” I heard one of our big tough techs say as he steadied her before she toppled! These moments make the hard times a little easier to bear. I can’t imagine working with any other population-even cranky adolescents usually amuse me!

Thanks for serving as my late night sounding board-I’m off to wake up Adam and we’re going to pick up Nick and Jenna! Let Spring Break  BEGIN!

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Just as I vowed not to do I’m starting the week by staying up way too late…I just finished my Money Monday installment over at Disaboom. Some of my friends and family find it pretty amusing that I’m writing a regular series on the subject. It’s true-I’m no economic guru…In fact, I got my first B in undergrad from that dreadful class! But I feel like my novice status allows me to write in a way that other beginners can jump on board to reorganize and hopefully improve their financial futures. In other news, I spent the vast majority of the weekend researching and writing my position paper advocating the inclusion of family therapy in the treatment of adolescents with eating disorders. Usually papers flow for me but the requirement of over 15 sources and the process of submitting it to www.Turnitin.com has made me totally paranoid about this assignment. I don’t plagiarize my papers (really..I don’t!) but after reading over 200 pages of articles, I’ve been overly concerned that I’ll duplicate a statement and I don’t know what algorithm or computerized process they use to check originality so I’m again..paranoid (and dorky!). It’ll all be over Tuesday when I turn it in (literally).

I did take a short break on Saturday to do a little shopping with Adam for a HUGE event that we’re looking forward to this week. I picked up these adorable shoes for 12 bucks! Mine are more pink though…I don’t like the women’s version (pictures) as much.

I also found a swimsuit for our trip to Keys with my brother and his girlfriend next month. I wanted something that I could snorkel in because my fear of death by barracuda will override my awareness to adjust my suit. The swimsuit looks better on and the navy/polka gives it a retro look-or so I enjoy thinking. It’s a kid’s suit but I like it and again-a bargain at just over 12 dollars! 

That’s all for now, more interesting revelations to come this week…I promise!

Oh I almost forgot! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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I admire those bloggers that can find one poignant picture to summarize their entire mid-week entry. In the last few days, I’ve endured 9 hours of classes, blogged a couple times on Disaboom, secured an exciting new writing opportunity, caught up with a friend as we enjoyed the later sunset in the parking lot at school, attempted to lead a group at the hospital that broke out in a half dozen arguments, and completed an extended paper proposal that I just turned in for my abuse/trauma class. I like this professor’s requirement of two proposals before the completed paper is due because it’s forced me to do some preliminary research and hone in on my topic. It’d be great if I could do this on my own but time is tight these days, so due dates help. For this paper, I’m looking at dissociation in children and adolescents. 

Whenever I have more ‘must do’s’ on my list, it seems like I’m even more distracted by what I’d like to do….For an example of something that I’ve contemplated doing but quite rationalize how this fits into work on my dissertation….I’d love to craft my own traveling BaileyBrinx like this one:

It’s a Shrinky Dink with instructions on Ready-Made. Not so much a ring for me though-those ears look like a weapon…maybe a luggage tag for my upcoming travels!

I’m thankful to have avoided the flu, cold, coughs, and viruses that seem to be everywhere….my only contagion is my semi-obsession with Twitter. It’s a little sad because right now I seem to be twittering to myself. Feel free to join me!

Class is out (I’ve been blogging during some technical difficulties with the DVD player) so I’m off to make my mad rush to the hospital!

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On a summer day almost FIVE years ago, I drove out of Dayton Ohio to go to graduate school and start the next chapter of my life. I don’t miss my frequent lodgings in the heaps of snow or my cramped dorm quarters, but that area will always be special to me because in many ways it served as a testing grounds for the independence I’d been working to achieve my entire life. Since then, I’ve only experienced the harsh winters through my best friend, Tiffany, who still lives near our undergrad (Wright State University). Since then, alot has happened in both of our lives! One of the highlights has been the birth of Tiffany’s little girl, Jasmyn! I’m honored to be her godmother and am BURSTING with excitement that I finally get to see her in slightly more than a month when I fly home for Jasmyn’s baptism. I JUST (only seconds ago) booked my flight! [Random sidenote: I use Kayak to find my flights because it searches over 100 travel sites and then produces a matrix of all the options. The mere mention of matrix amuses me but it’s also consistently come up with much cheaper flights and some rare nonstop options too.]

It will be a quick trip because I can’t take many days off from the hospital but we’ll make the most of it! Bailey’s already packed her parcels because she’ll have many a romps with her cousin, Molly. I’ll leave you with their cuteness in an effort to get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight!

Credits for Jasmyn’s announcement: Shabby Miss Jenn’s Love Shack Valentine topper

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I enjoyed a busy Monday packed with patients, meetings, and my current events group this afternoon followed by supervision and then a quick trek home for a night of statistics homework. It’s too late to try to catch up on my heap o’ e-mails but I was pleasantly surprised to see that my blog last night on the ever exciting topic of money matters is the FEATURED blog on Disaboom today. If you’re interested, HERE it is. Feel free to leave suggestions on the piece here or there. I’m hoping to hear ideas on future financial topics and what you thought of this one.

In contrast to money chatter, I’ll close with something that’s entirely free! The digiscrap world would call this a “freebie” and I designed it as my entry to a recent contest. I’ve been scrapping my pictures on the computer for about a year now but this was my first EVER attempt at designing papers and elements from scratch. I wasn’t chosen for the apprenticeship but it was fun and I learned a few things from some constructive criticism/compliments shared by others. My designs had a disabled twist (go figure!) because I used the sign for “love” as one of my elements and I created paper with the Braille pattern and the ASL sign for love. You don’t have to use these for scrapping. You can use the papers for a background of something to print or use the elements as part of a signature, avatar, whatever. To download my first kit, just click the picture. The kit includes three papers (12″X12″) and three elements.

ETA: Thank you so much for the encouraging compliments and suggestions for improvement on my first designs. I was completely shocked that I exceeded my number of downloads because I never imagined that many people would be interested. I found another file sharing site that boasts unlimited downloads so we’ll see! Enjoy: http://www.savefile.com/files/1424452

Please leave me a comment here if you download the kit. Nothing tricky-just let me know what you think.

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Dropping by after another busy Sunday to share a few updates. Since the beginning of January, I’ve been balancing over 30 hours a week at the hospital, 3 classes, working on my major paper, and freelance writing/blogging when I can make the time. It’s been a hectic semester and I’m already looking forward to an end! I’ve got a couple of announcements and a few pictures to share today. I’ll start with my birthday celebration-We both worked that day but Adam and I had dinner at one of my favorite places, Bahama Breeze. Here we are after we got home. That was Jan. 23 and since then it’s been a whirlwind! Adam’s parents drove down with

his new Trailblazer that he bought in Ohio. They were here to celebrate Valentine’s and Adam’s birthday with us so we had many a more feasts and dog swims to commemorate the event. For some odd reason, we both really enjoy watching the dogs paddle about in our lake out back so they’ve been doing that quite a bit lately. Bailey believes she’s in training for Beijing. Obie-he’s just after the ducks. He’s determined to believe that one day the fake ducks in the center of our lake are going to be real when he swims ALL the way out there to bite them on their metal beaks! Another bonus to their bulldog swimming careers is it tires them out for at least that day and sometimes two! Here’s Bailey clutching the new toy my mom sent her for V-day after a hard day in the lake.

I added her bow during photo editing because she’s fairly firm about her ribbons/clothes policy.

Since school started back after the holiday vacation, our unit has remained either full or close to it. I guess it’s a good thing that I love all the other practicum students I work with because we get to see alot of each other! We finally found some time for a gathering outside the hospital to visit Alex (she’s on the far right) and her brand new baby boy! He’s SO cute and hairy..heehee. He has more hair than any baby I’ve ever seen! My friend Krystal (to the right of me) and I tried to convince her to go for the mohawk but alas she hasn’t given in yet! She comes back to work tomorrow though so we plan to continue our efforts.

In the last couple of months I’ve also officially decided on my dissertation topic and I’ve secured my committee! I’ll be researching the psychosocial effects of Osteogenesis Imperfecta and I hope to help fill a gap in the knowledge base for our condition. The first chapter will be (has to be) finished by June 20th so there’s close to a million things left to do with the project but I’m excited that there’s both an end in sight to my Ph.D. and I’m thankful to have found a topic that is important and exciting to me.

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I’ve been a little behind on personal blogging lately but have kept up the disability-related chatter over at Disaboom. The site has undergone a major overhaul and all my past linkage love (on this site and EVERYWHERE I’ve linked to that blog) is now dead! Unfortunately, I don’t have time for a full fledged post but thought I’d drop in to post the new and improved link back to my spot on Disaboom:

http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/karaswims/archive/2008/02/04/super-bowl-actions-spoke-louder-than-words.aspx

I have once again photographed my cupcakes, but I think it’s totally reasonable since this time they are not only adorably pink BUT they are also individually adorned with an assortment of heart sprinkles, nonpareils, and red sugar. They were/are delicious and I delivered them at the hospital today as early Valentine’s Day treats. My first draft of my dissertation proposal is due on February 12 so I’m doubtful I’ll feel very baker-like this weekend as I prepare for that and our incoming guests-Adam’s parents!

I hope you’ll drop by my Disaboom blog as I went on quite the celebratory rant about my favorite Super Bowl commercial as well as a bit of a tangent on an unfortunately excellent example of how to lose badly. Have a great week!

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Well it happened…I had to go into the hospital to work over the weekend. Just when I thought I had a grip on my new winter schedule, I was assigned my first full testing battery. It’s next to impossible to capture anyone’s attention for around 9 psychological tests so I had no choice but to squeeze in one today. Nothing like an IQ test on a Sunday morning!

All hope was not lost on my weekend plans though. Adam, our herd o’ bulldogs, and I played at Oleta Park all day on Saturday. I like to think of it as the kickoff to my birthday celebrations, which will of course continue for a minimum of another week! Here’s one of the too few pictures I took of us.

Little did I know there’s an Oleta Park monthly photo contest. I found out last night and was already planning our return to snap endless pictures UNTIL I looked at the winning shot for December….I WAS thinking, “It’s a small park-how much competition could there be!?!” UNTIL, I saw this…..

After further review, I don’t think my multitude of shots featuring bulldogs in the wild compare!

Tomorrow will be the first time I have to work on Martin Luther King Day. Of all the figures we commemorate with national holidays, I admire him the most. I like to think I’ll be doing work that he would be proud of because I’ll be with kids and their families in therapy ALL day. Hope you all have a great week. Stay warm-it’s even chilly here!

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