Neverland

Sometimes I wish I could escape to a place where I have no worries, no responsibilities, and nothing but a handsome boy to occupy my thoughts and dreams. What a life! When J.M Barrie thought up the classic story of Peter Pan, he hit the nail on the head. I mean who wouldn't like to fly across the universe into a magical world where you never have to think of grown up things and you never have to grow up? This morning when I awoke that's exactly what I wanted to do. So with the blinds turned down and a scented candle glowing, I slipped my favorite version of the tale into my DVD player and took a trip into the adventures of Neverland... what a place.

Its so easy to get caught up in the crazy, fast paced world in which we live, to get bogged down by the sad and tragic circumstances that surround us. This past week I had a family member lose a good friend in a bizarre and tragic accident. I saw a grateful patient who had called me "sugar" for the last three days break down when she found the news she had cancer.

Its comforting for me to know that there is always Neverland. Don't we all have a bit of a Peter Pan in us?

Life Is a Highway

So the deal is I am always on the road... lately the highway is my new home, the gas station my new hang out. I live and work about 1 hr from my fiance, 1 hr 15 min from my older sister/BFF, and 1hr from my church... You know that song "Life is a Highway"? That seems to be my theme song for the last couple months. When I'm not working my shifts, you can find me on the road!

I don't mind the driving actually. Although Lovie, my 2004 Honda Accord, may have a different opinion. Lately she seems to be groaning in protest. I noticed in the last couple days that somewhere during our travels she has developed a straining rattle under the hood. Is it time for a tune up, oil change, or tire rotation? Or is she trying to tell me she just needs a rest from the travels?

I'm starting to notice other parts of my life that have fallen to neglect as well. My homey apartment is looking more and more like my brother's football team locker room and my tennis shoes have seen the gym 2 times in the last 2 months... yes, the jeans are feeling a bit snug!

Maybe I'm ready to give up on the road for a while, maybe its time to start concentrating on that 100 lbs I have to lose to fit in that wedding dress, or find that grilled cheese sandwich I lost in my room somewhere... Oh, but those great hugs at the end of the road! That handsome smile with the deep dimples! (sigh) Oh, dear!! NO, NO!! DON'T LOSE FOCUS!!

Well, maybe we can work something out ;)

Online Sale

Ok, I'm a fan of online shopping. I love shopping for dresses especially... And I noticed there are some pretty awesome summer sales going on right now with fall around the corner:

At Jcrew:

White House Black Market:

Anthropology here are some of my faves:

When Life Gives You Lemons

After a couple of particularly difficult days on the job last week my fiance sent me a beautiful bouquet assorted of green, white and yellow arranged flowers. This bouquet was particularly interesting because sitting proudly among the flowers were bright yellow lemons. Attached the card simply read:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

This caused quite a scene on my floor at my hospital because any flowers that come to the floor usually go to our patients. Needless to say I blushed brightly at all the attention while my heart smiled softly over the thoughtfulness of my fiance. I explained to my coworkers that I had had a couple of hard days at work and expressed my exhaustion over the phone after work one night. One coworker looked surprised and admitted, " I didn't even notice you were having a rough day." I just smiled and raised an eyebrow...

Yesterday at church our pastor was also talking about stress. He spoke of the pressures in our life that we have or will one day face. There will come a day in your life, he explained, when a situation arrives that you will have no control over and the stress of the situation will be too much for you to handle. Why does this happen, we ask? "Letting “all hell break loose” in our lives is the only way God can get our attention at times. God will often let more be put on us than we can handle so that we will stop boasting in our own strength and become desperate for His," He explained. Yes, there is hope. There is a God that is sovereign and in control of every situation. If we no longer see our problem as our own but as God's problem (God's cancer, God's addiction, God's job, etc.) then we are set free. We leave the situation at His feet and trust in Him to take care of the burden...

Ahhhh, what a sweet and refreshing comfort! Sweeter than even an ice cold glass of freshly squeezed lemonade...

A Bouquet of Newly- Sharpened Pencils

Yesterday and today is the official end of summer to millions of kids in my area. I know only because my sister is an English high school teacher and tries nearly every year to sucker me into helping her prepare her classroom for the big day... and she is usually successful. However there is a hate/love relationship between her classroom and myself that goes pretty deep. I always go into the project with the enthusiasm of the Good Samaritan and leave with thinking "Thank you Lord I don't have to do this every day!" For example one year I spent an entire day cutting out letters to a poem that, to this day, I can't quite get out of my head...

"I read because one life
isn't enough, and in the page of a book I can be anybody;
I read because the
words that build the story become mine, to build my life;
I read not for
happy endings but for new beginnings; I'm just beginning myself, and I wouldn't
mind a map;
I read because I have friends who don't, and young though they
are, they're beginning to run out of material;
I read because every journey
begins at the library, and it's time for me to start packing;
I read because
one of these days I'm going to get out of this town, and I'm going to go
everywhere and meet everybody, and I want to be ready." ~Richard
Peck

AHHH! It still gives me nightmares. I know what you're thinking: not a big deal. But it WAS and it took ALL DAY... You would understand if you were there. Why I cut out these letters and then glued them onto a HUGE poster that took up half of her wall instead of just writing it out I don't know.It actually is a great poem because I am lover of reading myself and agree whole heartily with the message.

Once the school year has arrived I am ready for the cool weather, bring on the fall! It makes me want to watch You've Got Mail. I love that movie! Even though the movie passes through nearly all the season I always think of it as a fall movie because the beginning starts out during the fall season. One of my favorite quote is when Joe Fox writes to Kathleen Kelly near the beginning of the film:

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school
supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your
name and address.

Ahh, Love it: A bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils. Almost makes me wish I was back in school again readying myself for another year.... Well, almost!

A New Path

Today I started blogging. Ah, yes, breath it in! I am following in the footsteps of the many that have little to say but much to type. I realized that with a medical background I have no writing, english, or even any creative skills whatsoever, I'm not especially clever or smart, I don't really have a great message to sent out to the great wide cosmos, and that this is probably a bad idea (and probably doomed to fail)... but I'm doing it anyway! Why not I ask you?!

I am inspired by the new day, a new week, starting clean and fresh, and my great fellow writers and inspirators: Carrie Bradshaw, Anne Shirley, Mary Engelbreit, and Jane Austen. What is going to fail when you have those chics on board, right?

I've named my blog "In My Tennis Shoes" (as you probably already noticed)... I'm not exactly sure why... I guess its because I feel so much better, confident, and secure in my tennis shoes. I feel strong in them, like no task is too large. And as I am blogging right now and was tyring to figure out what to name my blog (who new you named these things?), I sit at my small desk in the corner of my small room with my t-shirt and undies I slept in last night, a pair of white cotton socks and my super exciting gray and pink Mizuno tennis shoes.

So this first entry is dedicated to you my dear old friend: To the many paths we've walked together and to those we have yet to conquer!