My poor baby.

Today was a very big day for Brody Bear, but I didn't intend on that happening. Brian took Brody to his groomer's, Olga's Dog Spa, to make him even more handsome. He HATES going to the groomers mind you. He shakes and shivers uncontrollably. By his reaction, you'd think that we were abandoning him forever.

So anyway, I picked him up around 1 pm and we were driving home and I noticed he kept squinting his left eye. His left eye was really runny and I noticed a film on his eye. I called Brian letting him know that I thought something was wrong and that I was going to take him to the vet, just in case something was wrong. Its a Mother's instinct I suppose.

I took Brody to his veterinarian, Wilmington's Animal Hospital, to let Dr. Stacy Ward take a look at his eye. While checking out his eye, she noticed he had several pieces of hair in his eye. She had to put a yellow dye to make sure that there wasn't an abrasion. Unfortunately, he had two small corneal abrasions. I have to put an ointment in his left eye three times a day for 5 days and take him back to the vet if I see it's not getting any better.

I feel so bad for him. He's a dog, he can't tell me if he's in pain. All I can do is use my judgement. He's my baby and I don't want anything happening to him. I want to protect him as much as I can.

I'm So Excited, I Just Can't Hide It!!

I booked a plane ticket to Mississippi! I had no intentions of going home, but yesterday I noticed on the work schedule that I'm not working on April 6th, which is a Monday. By not working on Monday, I have a little bit more of a weekend. The wheels started turning in my mind. Why not see what plane tickets were to fly home for the weekend. Mind you that I haven't been home since Christmas '07. It is WAY OVER DUE. Grant it, my parents have visited me since I've been in Wilmington, but I haven't seen my brother since my last visit home. Too long, I know! I'm really pumped about seeing him. I'm just ready to get back into God's country.

I really do miss Mississippi. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE North Carolina. But like Dorothy says, "There's no place like home." For me, MS will always be "home." You can't beat it. The food, hospitality (which means, just about everyone you pass on the road, you wave), pastures, agriculture, blues music...to just name a few. Mississippi is truely a gem, and you don't realize it until you are gone.

I remember growing up, I just couldn't wait to move. I wanted to be somewhere other than Mississippi. I didn't want to be like my parents. Living just miles from where I grew up. I just knew that there was something bigger and better than slow talkin', sweet tea drinkin, country music listen' Mississippi.

I have had the opportunity to live in Tennessee, Georgia and now North Carolina and nothing compares to the great Magnolia state. Now, Wilmington is beautiful. It's full of arts, kind people, historical downtown, the beach, great seafood restaurants, but I haven't yet found a great "honky, tonk...aka juke joint" bar to where they play good ole' blues/country music. Like I stated in a earlier post, Clarksdale is great place for blues music. Well, let me take that back, the Delta all together is great for the blues. If you ever travel to MS, please stop by the Delta. I do miss it!

Needless to say, I am a little home sick. I will probably get there and not want to come back. Pitiful. I just love my parents house. It's on 25 acres of land with a 3 acre pond right outside the house. I enjoyed going fishing and swimming in that pond growing up. It takes about 20 min to get into town. Perfect. My daddy built our house when my Mom was pregnant with me back in 1980. When I go home, I will have to take a pic of it to share. It's just lovely.

I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends. It will be good to catch up with everyone, especially my 92 year old Grandmother. Can you tell I'm pumped!!!

Airlie Gardens

Sunday was such a lovely day that I decided to walk around Airlie Gardens. For those of you not familiar with Airlie Gardens, here's a brief history:

The property known as Airlie was part of a 640-acre land grant from King George II to the Ogden brothers in 1735; by the 1800s much of the original acreage had been transferred to Joshua Grainger Wright. It was not untill the arrival of Sarah Jones, wife of Pembroke Jones, that a formal garden was created. The Joneses were wealthy industrialists noted for their lavish entertaining. They used Airlie as a means to accommodate their guests and parties.

Sarah Jones began planting the property in 1901 and later in 1906 commissioned German landscape architect Rudolf Topel to transform the tract into a picturesque garden. Airlie reached its peak during the 1920s, at which time it was reported that over a half million azaleas and 5,000 camellias were in the garden; many of these plants still bloom and thrive in the garden. The 67-acres of today’s Airlie are all that remain of the original 155-acre estate.

The Corbett Family purchased the Airlie property from the Joneses in 1948 and used the gardens as a primary residence. Local business owners with strong ties to the community, the Corbetts would open the garden to the public several seasons throughout the year, especially in the spring during azalea bloom. In 1999 the family sold the property to New Hanover County. Today, Airlie is a local treasure as one of the last undeveloped land tracts along Bradley Creek. The gardens are undergoing restoration and are now preserved for public use.

If any one comes to Wilmington, you definitely need to check it out. Here are a few pics that were taken. I have more on my flikr page at, http://www.flickr.com/photos/30862989@N05/.

What A day!!

That's all that I can say. Not only work being hellishes (if that's even a word), but I got into a car accident on 3rd street today. That's right, a car accident that involve, technically 3 other vehicles, and myself. Sadly, it was my fault. I took the long route home from work today to drive through the downtown area...I really wanted to listen to my iPod before going home. I was minding my own business, and I suppose I looked down...honestly, I can't remember, it all happened so fast. The next thing I know, there was a Crown Victoria stopped and I slammed on brakes, but it was too fast and...BAM, I hit the crown victoria. That car hit a PT cruiser and that car hit someone else. The car of the front end left and me, the victoria and cruiser stayed behind. My vehicle got the worst of it. I mean, that bad boy is totaled. Stuff started leaking out and they even called the fire department. The other two vehicles involved only had a couple of scratches...it wasn't too bad on their part. But man, mine...not pretty. I'm just thankful my airbag didn't pop out. How i tdidn't, I don't know. I was going about 35+MPH!

Of course, they had to tow my car away. The tow guy told me it was about $4,000 in damage. I'm glad no one was hurt. My wrist is feeling weird...all numb and tingly. If its not any better tomorrow, I will have it checked out. I'm sure I will be feeling the affects of it tomorrow. I'm just so mad at myself for this happening. I suppose that is why its called an "accident."

Anyway, just wanted to give an FYI for anyone who may be reading my blog. It sucks that I wrecked my car, but thankfully no one was hurt. That is all that matters. Its nothing a bottle of wine can't fix!

Two New Purchases

Last night while I was waiting on Brian to get home, I was browsing the internet and checked out my favorite store, http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/. They have the CUTEST stuff! Anywho, I've been needing some new everyday earrings for all the dresses that I have been purchasing lately. I'm not the proud owner of cute earrings. Honestly, I don't know why. I thought these were cute and I they have other cute ones that I wanted, but I spent almost $40 on just two pair. I really didn't to spend too much money on just earrings. Anwy, I liked them and just thought I would share a couple of pics of them. Can't wait until they arrive!

Oakdale Cemetery.

My dumb blonde moment of the day.

I dilated a prosthetic eye. That's correct boys and girls, I put dilating drops in someone's artificial eye. I mean, what the hell! Okay, so here's how the story goes down.

This guy was my last patient of the day and looking at his age, 33, I thought "hey, this will be easy as pie." Its not like I'm taking back an 80 year old or anything. I flipped back through his chart and it said he had a retinal detachment. Okay, no big deal. So, I brought back this dude and he was wearing specs. So I wasn't paying attention to his right eye. I knew from his last visit he had no light perception to that eye, couldn't read the acuity with that eye, no depth perception, only could do the color blind test with one eye. So, I asked him to push his chair back against the wall so I could check his vision. My dumb ass self asked him to cover his right eye, and he said "seriously." Of course there was no need for him to cover that eye because HE CAN'T SEE OUT OF IT. I just told him "sorry, that comment was out of habit."

Looking at him, I couldn't really tell if it was a prosthetic eye. I knew that it looked funny but I wasn't going to ask. I already made a fool of myself asking him to cover his bad eye. I mean, the dude had mobility in that eye!

Anway, I went to take him back to the exam room and I didn't dilate him. I told Dr. Beck that I didn't because he wasn't last time. Still, not knowing that it was an artificial eye. He told me to go ahead since he had a history of a retinal detachment. So, I took my ass to his room and told him that I was going to dilate him. He said, "okay." I put drops in both eyes. I bet that poor guy that I was an absolute MORON! Anyway, Beck was reviewing his chart before going in and it turned out that he had a prosthetic eye. I felt like a dumb ass. He just laughed. Actually, everyone in the office laughed at me. I don't blame them. I mean, who in the hell dilates someone with a prosthetic eye? No one, except for Jennifer Kinard.

I have to admit that I've had several "dumb blonde moments" in my life. I will share a few.

Sophomore year in high school, my two best friends, Summer and Leigh went to Grenada to have dinner. The waiter came by to take our order. And the guy asked me "super salad"...at least that's what I thought he said. I looked at him and was like what. He said "super salad." Again, thinking he was saying this. I looked at Summer and she said "sup-er-salad" and I said "Is that like a really big salad?" We all cracked up! It was so funny. All three of us were laughing until we were crying. I seriously thought he was saying "super salad" instead of "soup or salad."

Summer of my senior year, I got a new car, Hyundia Elantra...woo-hoo. Leigh and I were driving back to her house from town (she lived, well still does, out in the country) and I was driving exactly 55 mph. She told me, "Why don't you drive at least 60 mph?" My bright self says, "I don't want to add extra miles to my car." Yelp, I said that. Leigh starts laughing and says, "You goober, your going to drive the same amount of miles whether you drive 55 or 100." Classic!

I have several more, but I don't want you to think I'm an absolute moron. Those are just a couple of good ones. Now, I can add my incident from today.

I hope you enjoyed my embarrassment. That will go down in my history book of "Walk of shame."

Should one be posting after drinking several glasses of Pinot Noir??

Probably not. But hey, I think a lot of people do their best writing while "under the influence." Now, I'm not saying I'm drunk, but I am feeling pretty good right now. I've been browsing the Internet while listening to my iPod library on my computer. I've been jamming to some Buzz Ballard's...gotta love it! I have a wide variety on my playlist. From Kelly Clarkson's new album "All I Ever Wanted" which is pretty damn good to the "Greatest Hits" of Elvis Presley and Robert Johnson. Those boys bring me back to my roots! I have fallen in love with a new band/singer Ben Kweller. His album Chasing Horses is great! Its kind of bluesy/country. He has some awesome tracks. While browsing on the net, I have my routine stops that I make everyday...it never fails. Number 1: my email @ yahoo. Even though I get a lot of junk, I can't help but to check it everyday; 2. Facebook...I have to say, it's an addiction. I love reading people's 'status' and checking out pictures; 3. Just Jared for my celebrity gossip. It's a 'guilty' pleasure I must say; 4. Star News...Wilmington's local newspaper...I have to know what is going on; 5. My best friend, Summer, website of Irie...although I'm very disappointed in them for not posting any pics of miss Irie Layne; 5. Random people's blogs. I have come across some blogs of people whom I have never met, but love reading. I feel like I know them, but they have no clue of who I am. Sounds weird, right? I should comment on their page to say, "Hey, I've been reading your blog for year now and I really enjoy it...very entertaining...and just want you to know, check out mine." Yeah, that will probably not happen. 6. Urban Outfitters. I absolutely LOVE this store. I just bought the cutest dress, it was in my last post, that I have seen in a while. Brian says I look like I should be a 60s-70s flight attendant in it. It's SO NOT TRUE! It's too damn cute. I almost bought a couple of earrings from there today, but didn't. I will have to check around town to see if I can find any cute ones. If not, I will order them.

Today, was an okay day at work. I was suppose to learn how to check out patients with Carla today, but that didn't happen. I got tied up answering phones, taking tests for DVC and taking back a couple of patients for a "slow" screener that we have. I don't know what has happened to Denise. She use to be a "team player", but lately she has been a slacker. Taking her sweet ass time working up patients, not wanting to help out and is missing when you need her. Don't get me wrong, I love her to death, but she really needs to pick up her game. I have become really close to one of the girls there, Jenipher. She's Awesome!! We get along really well and I don't know what I would do if she wasn't there. She's my buddy. I can ALWAYS count on Jen. I also love working with everyone @ DVC. We have all gotten really close. That's why I wanted a job where I work from 8-5 so I can meet people here. In outside sales, it was unfortunate that I didn't have that opportunity since I was working in a 12o mile radius of Wilmington. It was just Brian and I. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with him...but man, every-now-and-then you need a girls night. And that is what I have with the girls that I work with. We have been fortunate enough to have "girls night" at least once a month. Its great to be in a work place with people who you enjoy being with. I truly believe that makes "work environment" so much easier. If you don't have a relationship with your co-workers, its not going to work. You are just going to be unhappy and out searching for a new job. I'm hoping I will stick it out for the long run. I do have to take a CPO test in May which I'm not looking forward to taking. Its not the test taking part that I'm dreading, but afraid that I am going to fail. How embarrassing will that be! I would be absolutely mortified!! I told my office manager that if I don't pass, I'm working front desk. I just hope I will do well. I have 2 mos.

Well, I'm feeling the affects of my lovely red wine so I guess that is my cue to sign off. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this, but if so, you are more than welcome to leave a comment. I only do this for my family back home to keep in touch on what I am doing. I hate talking on the phone and I feel blogging is much easier than actually speaking. Goodnight everyone!!

Happy Birthday Audrey!

Today is my niece's, Audrey, 7th birthday! I cannot believe she's 7. Its amazing how fast they grow up. I wish I was back in MS to celebrate, but sadly NC was too far to get away. So anyway, I hope you had a wonderful birthday party yesterday and have a fabulous birthday today my little toot-t00t!!!