Monday, June 24, 2019
So I kind of forgot about this blog. And with so many years of no updates, I highly doubt anyone is paying any attention. lol But... I may start this up again.
Labels: Rambling, Updates
posted by Charity at 6/24/2019 09:31:00 AM
Saturday, May 8, 2010
My Job - I LOVE MY JOB!!!! It's amazing how from week to week I feel more comfortable and confident. I've brought in some of my personal stuff to decorate my space and it made it feel more like home. I really enjoy my job. My coworkers are all pretty cool and very smart. I've known my boss from my job at Integrity Online (we worked together) and he's a great boss here. Sure I work some long hours at times. I have gotten used to 12 hour days occurring on a semi-regular basis. It's not overdone. But when I have my part of the project, which is Quality Assurance, it's the tail end of the project closest to the deadline. I'm responsible to make sure the site looks and works the way the client specified. I enjoy the work. I also wear the hat of Office Manager. I take care of the smaller administrative tasks in the office.
San Francisco - I ended up going to San Francisco for work last month and had an absolute blast! I'll try to post a couple of my favorite pics! I had a hard time narrowing them down to 200 for Facebook! So we'll see what I'll be able to narrow it down to for the next blog post if I actually post pictures!
My School - I started school. I got an A in my first class and so far I've got an A in my second. I'm currently in Microeconomics and I'm enjoying this class more then the first. I should be doing school right now but I'm honestly just not in the mood to do it. Writing about my life doesn't take a lot of thought.
My Schedule - It doesn't seem like I've changed my social calendar much since taking on school. I still feel like I'm trying to fit it all in. Which I can't keep up. I will have to learn to say no. That's gonna be tough. I am a social person and being unemployed I really learned to be open to doing anything and everything at a drop of the hat. Now I remember how it was when I worked down in Ontario. Those were pretty much 10 hour days w/ the drive. I remember never having enough time to get everything done, and there were moments of just breaking down because I felt overwhelmed. I actually almost felt like my time of unemployment was a gift from God, to give me time to recoop, time to spend with Him, time for me! I am glad I didn't waste it. There were times I didn't take advantage of my free schedule, but for the most part I took opportunities to do things I'd never have the time to do.
Big Changes - Most of you have read about my brothers surgery. He's home now. He still requires a lot of care. They have him on a nutrition iv at night and there's been nothing but problems with the pumps they've sent over. At this point we're hoping he can just not use it because he's been eating better.
My sister is engaged! Mike met with me on a Saturday to try to come up with a plan. He knew he wanted it to be soon and he also knew he wanted me there to take pics of the moment. He just wasn't sure how to make that happen without it being obvious. I decided to be sneaky and plan a photoshoot and ask Heidi to be my model. She had no idea! It was awesome! And I got pictures of the whole moment! :)
So I really had intended to post some pictures but I think I'll just have to wait till next time. Labels: activeLAMP, AIU, Updates
posted by Charity at 5/08/2010 05:29:00 PM
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Update 4/24/10
So I just got home from visiting Brian at the hospital. His spirits seem good. He's still really weak but is able to keep his humor. His heart rate has become almost normal. While I was there he got up 3 times to walk around. He's doing very well. It was a nice change to see him up and out of bed. They allowed him to eat once last week but he had a bad reaction so they put him back on an IV of nutrition. He will hopefully get to eat solid foods next week, currently they are allowing him to have hard candies (which he doesn't seem to care for) and some flavored ice chips.
But... they estimate he will be discharged in 2 weeks! That is if he stays progressing at his current rate. So keep him in your prayers!
Though I had to share (with Brian's permission of course) this adorable pic of him I took today! Always the comedian. :D
Update 4/16/10
For those of you who want to know if there is a way to help...
http://www.thecareplace.org/brian/
Brian hasn't eaten since his first surgery on the 5th. They are removing fluid from his lungs over the next hour. He has been accumulating fluid in his lungs for the last several days. There is a fluid buildup and it is very difficult for him to breath. We have friends and family with him 24x7 and he ...is still in allot of pain and on a continual drip of morphine. They did find fluid in his cavity again, but will take a new procedure with needles and remove the liquid that way, instead of opening him back up.
Doctors are still optimistic.
Original Post 4/13/10
A lot of people have been asking about my brother Brian, what happened and why he went in for surgery. One of the reasons I haven't shared too much detail about the procedure is because Brian is a very private person and dislikes talking about it to people that aren't aware of his condition. I have decided to post this and send this post to the certain individuals that are asking rather than sending out the same story in multiple emails.
The History - So my brother has Ulcerative Colitis. Brian was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis back in 2003. He spent a month in the hospital to recover. Once out, he seemed to lead a normal life, he was healthy active and the disease went into remission. That is, until October of 2008. From that point his health went up and down, his quality of life deteriorated. He was in the hospital a few times for colonoscopy’s and blood transfusions. His doctor tried everything she could, every drug out there, each with months of waiting to see if it would actually work. She finally ran out of options and told him to talk to another specialist to confirm that the last option she could recommend was surgery. The second opinion confirmed and Brian agreed to go forward with the surgery.
The Procedure – a Colostomy. He had his lower intestines removed. This is the part I know is a bit private for Brian so if he wishes to share I will let him do so. I understand that this procedure will increase his quality of life, and before you think it’s a permanent colostomy bag, that is not the case. It’s amazing what they can do with the human body these days!
Present day – Brian had the surgery Monday April 5th, 2010. It was a 6 hour procedure and according to the doctor this is a surgery where it’s common place to have complications during the surgery, Brian did very well! It was a stressful 6 hour wait for the family and his girlfriend Saundi. My brother Shawn flew out to be with Brian during the first week of his surgery. I attempted to keep myself distracted but found I couldn’t focus on anything. We were able to see Brian right away and I was surprised at how alert and lively he was considering what his body had just been through. Over the next few days the family and Saundi, took turns spending the night with him. By Friday he’d been out of bed walking around on his own. We were all quite impressed with how well he was recovering.
Saturday was a different story. His heart rate had increased to 170 and his blood pressure dropped. It was just me, my mom and Saundi at the hospital with him. He was breathing shallow quick breaths and we knew something was wrong. After a long day of ruling out possibilities, such as a Pulmonary Embolism, leakage, infections, etc. Brian was taken to ICU. His original surgeon, Dr Hui, was called in.
When he got there he took another look at the ct scans that the Radiologist ruled as clear, and he found something! Thank God he decided to take a quick look! He found something but couldn’t confirm what it was without going back in. He got Brian prepped for immediate exploratory surgery to find out what was going on.
It was quite an intense moment as we stood there when he explained he would have to open up my already weak brother, and poke around to find out where the leak had occurred. We were all emotional wrecks. I was grateful my friend Andie had decided to come to the hospital to visit me before all of this went down. She arrived right in time for me to break down on her shoulder outside. Within a half an hour of deciding the only option was to open him up again Brian was whisked away to the operating room. It was a tense couple of hours but Dr Hui came out and explained that Brian was doing well, that he found a massive infection on his right side and that if they hadn’t caught it, he would have been dead in a couple of days! Talk about sobering! Yet we could rejoice that Dr Hui had found the minute spot on the CT scan where the Radiologist had passed right by it. Thank God!
So we were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Brian, we were told was going to make a full recovery now that they knew what they were dealing with. What happened was that at some point on Friday when he was doing so well the suture had ripped and he was leaking fluids to his right side. He had a drain on his left side but for some reason it wasn’t draining all the fluids out. Dr Hui put another drain on the right side and explained there was still no way to fix the torn flesh but time would have to heal it. He explained the reason why is because it would be like sewing through tofu. But now that they know what to look for they wouldn’t need to open him up again but have other ways of clearing it out.
Today Brian is doing remarkable! He was moved out of ICU the next night. Every day he gets out of bed more often than the day before. He still has his sense of humor and is quite entertaining to talk to while on all his pain meds. Today he has some labored breathing and they found some fluid in his lungs and said he needs to get up and walk around more. We’re still not sure how long he will have to stay at the hospital but overall we’re extremely thrilled with his progress! I believe he’s doing even better this time around then the first surgery!
It’s been an incredible comfort knowing so many people were praying for Brian. I am so amazed at all the people who are so willing to offer to help in any way. I thank you all! I haven’t been able to respond to all of you as I’ve been dealing with a lot of things! I know you understand but know I am so grateful to you and your prayers! I know it’s the only way I’ve been able to function this last week and a half!
I will keep updating this post when anything new comes up. Labels: Inspiration, Updates
posted by Charity at 4/25/2010 01:01:00 AM
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Ok everyone... I might be down for a couple of days while I transfer my domain to a new hosting company. Then be prepared for an extremely large update! :D Labels: Updates
posted by Charity at 10/01/2009 01:14:00 PM
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Weight Loss - So I hit a plateau for a couple weeks there. I would fluctuate between 3 pounds, neither going over or under but somewhere in between on each day. I started a exercise routine and wondered if that was it. I was on the verge of being discouraged when I measured and weighed last week and had lost 1 pound for a total of 28 pounds. I measured and went down 7 1/2 inches, which the time before I had gone down 10 pounds and 7 1/2 inches. So I was happy to see that even though the scale wasn't showing a difference my body was. Well I've stayed consistent with my exercise routine and have officially lost 34 pounds and 41 1/2 inches all over as of this morning! :D I feel fantastic!
What's more surprising is that 3 years ago when I was a couple pounds lighter then I am now, my measurements were bigger then they are now! So I may weigh more by a couple pounds but I'm smaller physically. It feels great and has made me even more determined to keep going. I understand that plateau's happen and will happen in the future but I'm going to stick them out. The reward is so worth it!
Another interesting fact is that the last time I lost this much weight I did it over a span of 10 months. I've currently been working on losing weight since early June! Only two and a half months! :) It makes me feel my next big goal is very attainable! I've reached my first goal which is to lose 32 pounds. My ultimate goal is an additional 50 pounds but my next short term goal is 25 pounds. So I'll keep you posted!
Birthday Plans - I'm not sure if these plans are going to happen yet but... I want to have a BBQ on my birthday which is September 4th. I picked Friday because I'm going to BootieLA on Saturday September 5th with a big group of friends and that's always a late night so I figured I'd be too tired to do anything on Sunday September 6th. So we'll see if I can pull this together. Right now the financial side of it is what's concerning me, even if I have everyone bring something. But I haven't had a big party at this place yet. I've had a dinner party of about 20 people but this would probably be bigger then that, at least I hope so. :) Oh and I plan on going to Disneyland the day of my birthday if that works out. I signed up for the free birthday pass but since I already have a season pass I hear they give a gift certificate in its place.
Job Search - I've been pretty discouraged about the whole job hunt thing. I've gotten confirmation that doors are staying shut for a reason, just haven't figured out what God's reason is yet. That might seem a little odd but it's true. Things have happened that there is no other explanation then God shut the door. I'm trying to stay positive about that. It's hard to understand when I don't see the bigger picture. But that's what faith is all about, trusting in what you can't see or understand.
Unexpected Honesty - Right now I feel so torn between being a good Godly woman and being completely unrestrained in opportunities of the worldly nature. There's a song that fits where my hearts at.
Satisfy - Tenth Avenue North
Before the sun has touched the sky
Colors bursting from Your eyes
Before the flood of the morning light
Before the earth has felt Your heat
Before I stand up to my feet
Before I begin to feel this weak
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
I'm begging You, help me see
You're all I want, You're all I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
When the day is closing in
Like the stars in the night I am falling
Into the pull of the earth and it's affection
In me, oh lord, can you create
A pure heart cuz I'm afraid
That I just might run back to the things I hate
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Yeah, I'm begging You, help me see
You're all I want, You're all I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You're more than all this world can give
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You're love is all I need to live
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You're more than all this world can give
You're beautiful, more beautiful
You're love is all I need to live
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
I'm begging You, help me see
You're all I want, You're all I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
My relationship with God has become stronger in this time of having to trust His plan for my life but I also feel the draw to do things I've always been against in my personal beliefs or what I have always felt was morally unacceptable. It's been quite a challenge! Especially when the opportunities keep presenting themselves at the most unexpected times! Of course, that's when it's the hardest to prepare yourself to fight against the temptation! Those of you who understand where I'm at, please pray for me to have continued strength.
A Chair's Photography - I'm almost afraid of sharing this because I've said it so often. I actually have made steps to moving forward with the business plan. I am happy to say that the signs that God wants me to move forward with starting my photography business are too great to ignore anymore! I have to get it up and running and right now is the best time! So hopefully I'll be sharing updates in regards to this very soon!
I woke up at 3:30 this morning to make my way down to Pasadena for another photography group outing. This one was organized by my friend James. James' friend Jon ( 2Factor Photography Smug Mug page) joined us, and I had a great time learning new things about how he started his business and what he uses.
Our photography group is planning on getting together every 3rd Saturday of the month with a new photography project or location each time. If anyone is interested in joining let me know! This next month we've decided we wanted to play with nighttime portraits and I'm going to use my friend Andy as my model (he's already agreed)! I wanted a rock star look and he's got it! I'm really looking forward to playing with lighting. Jon has some external lights and Septembers project all started when I asked if I could just go with him when he's shooting a portrait with external lighting. I am really happy about this group. I hope it grows because it’s a great way to gain more knowledge and it's so fun to talk to people who have the same passion as I do about photography.
Here is a couple of my favorites
     
Depeche Mode - I'm going to Depeche Mode Monday night at the Hollywood Bowl! I love Depeche Mode! I'm a little nervous because Dave Gahan has been having voice issues and has had to cancel a couple shows this week per doctors orders! The last email I received said the two shows at Hollywood Bowl would still be happening but I'm still nervous! That would totally suck! Especially since a couple of the people going with me have never seen Depeche Mode live before! It seems crazy when I've been to at least 1 show per tour in the last few tours. :) I love the Hollywood Bowl as a venue so it should be very cool! Labels: A Chair's Photography, Beliefs, Birthday, Disneyland, Inspiration, Parties, Photography, Rambling, Updates, Weigh In
posted by Charity at 8/16/2009 02:48:00 PM
Monday, July 27, 2009
So since my last post, life has been filled with non-stop adventures! Gotta love that right? But that means LOTS of pictures (as usual)! So I guess the first announcement might as well be the biggest… Weight Loss – So I’ve lost a total of 27 pounds as of today! Better yet, I’m able to fit into jeans I haven’t been able to wear for over two years! I love it! Oh and I have lost a total of 27 inches all over! Yup, I feel great! I’m so close to my first goal! I’m proud of myself. And I have no desire to falter or cheat. Ok so there are those days but they haven’t happened in a while. I want to lose the weight at a healthy rate. And, I haven’t been working out as consistently as I would like to but I’m still very happy with my success! In my last post I had to run off and didn’t finish explaining the wedding and the busiest day of the month last month. 6.19.09 Terrance & Holly’s Wedding - I can’t share the pictures of the wedding because I haven’t given them to the bride and groom yet. I’m waiting on them for something so I don’t like sharing until they have access to them first. So it should be sometime next week. 6.20.09 Toni Michels Funeral – Well there is nothing good about funerals. I will say it felt like a reunion of the old Aspen Street Crew, though I wish it was under different circumstances. Toni had a big impact on my youth. It’s hard to imagine I won’t see her, on this earth at least. Steve had written his thoughts out because he knew he wouldn’t be able to make it through talking about it. His brother read it for him. The one statement that stood out to me is that every time he goes to bed and wakes up he will feel the sorrow of her loss the most… Wow! How true and real is that? I went to school with Shawn and I got teary a lot during his talk, but it wasn’t until his oldest daughter got up to speak that the tears flowed. She talked about how her Nana always said she loved her more then the universe and broke down in the middle and Shawn had to finish for her. It was so tender... She ended it saying "Nana, I love you more then the universe". Yeah, not a dry eye in the place. She passed away from Breast Cancer so the entire family wore pink of some sort which I thought was fitting. The women wore brown dresses with pink ribbons in the pattern. The guys wore black shirts with pink pin stripes and pink ties with a breast cancer sweat band on their forearm. All the grandkids wore pink of some sort as well. After the service I got a chance to talk to the family and it was an emotional morning. Toni will be missed. 6.20.09 Sasha's Going Away Party - I left there and had to rush to get lunch and head down to Sasha’s going away party in Yucaipa. Here are a couple of my favorite shots. It was a nice time. I didn’t get to hang out with Sasha that much but it’s always so relaxing at the Clements’s home.        6.20.09 and Poet Sky @ Old Towne Pub Pasadena – I made my way out to Pasadena to make sure I would get there in time. The drive was relaxing. I was looking forward to the show and the venue has so much character I was looking forward to taking more pictures there again. I had a great time that night! Poet Sky was on fire! Their last show at this venue was a bit of a disappointment for them but this one I think more then made up for it. And it was a late night!      6.29.09 Laguna – My sister and I had an appointment in Irvine again. And since we were both going down together for once, we decided to spend the afternoon at our favorite beach afterwards. I love Laguna! I found it difficult to just sit and relax. I wanted to be exploring, taking pictures or walking around. Heidi on the other hand enjoyed reading and lying on the beach.     I posted a status update on Facebook and a friend called me and had a recommendation for where we should eat for lunch, Sun Dried Tomato. I was laughing but he took care of everything! Made the reservation and even suggested what we were to eat and where to sit while we were there. And we got there and decided against outdoor seating only because it had gotten chilly and we also decided against his food recommendations because of the day’s specials. It was yummy! All-in-all a great day!    7.1.09 Monthly Worship Concert – My church, The Place, is putting on monthly concerts the first Wednesday of every month. This was our very first one and I am thrilled to say it was a success! We even had a hotdog cookout because it was so close to the 4th of July. We had a great time! I’m looking forward to the next one!                7.4.09 4th of July – I normally don’t get out to the fireworks but was happy to be able to this year. We met up with some family friends and I was impressed with the show.           7.10-12.09 Santa Cruz – My sister was hired to do makeup for a wedding up in Santa Cruz. They paid for the cost of her travel, her hotel room as well as paid for her time. Since I don’t have a lot going on, she asked if I wanted to join her. Of course I said yes! How cool is it to experience a trip up the coast at no cost to me other then food!? So, we decided to take the scenic route which was the 101 to the 1 since we were leaving Friday and had the time. It was such a great time with Heidi and I, we had so much fun being silly and listening to great music.          It was such a beautiful drive! I had a hard time not stopping every few minutes to take pictures!           Saturday was the day of the wedding and while Heidi started work on the bridesmaids I had made arrangements to meet up with my friend James. James and I have been friends for years (10+ easy)! He usually has to come down to Southern California for us to hang out so this time I was actually able to meet him up in his territory! We’d always ended up at Santa Monica Pier when he’d come down and he’d always say it was nothing like Santa Cruz Boardwalk. And sure enough he was right! I loved it there! We had a great time walking around, talking and catching up and of course me taking lots of pictures!      I got back in just enough time to get ready for the wedding that evening. James stuck around so that after the ceremony we went back to the boardwalk and then went to Downtown Santa Cruz and walked around. It was a great day.         Sunday we took the boring route back down the 5 Fwy because we were on a time crunch. My brother’s band, Poet Sky, was playing and we had decided to be the hard core fans and drive 5+ hours to go see their show in Pomona that night. 7.12.09 Poet Sky & AMP in Pomona – Before the show I wasn’t sure I had the energy to make it through but as usual once I start snapping pictures I was energized! The show was originally supposed to be in a bar but there was some confusion and luckily they were able to play out in a courtyard which I thought worked out better!           It was a long crazy weekend but nothing compared to what was coming the following weekend! 7.17.09 Camp Schultz Practice – Andy had asked me if I had time to go take pics of his band while they practiced for their show the next day. It was a short practice and early enough that I was able to stop by for about an hour and take some shots. I was pretty happy with how they turned out.       7.17.09 Club E (a Gothic Event) – My good friends Joe and Erica had put on a big Gothic party for Erica’s birthday. They wanted me to take pictures for it and were generous enough to pay me for my time. I had a great time shooting pictures and enjoying the nostalgia of my old wannabe Goth days just out of high school. It was a bit of a reunion as a lot of the people there were friends from that time.             7.18.09 Pasadena Photo Walk – The only bummer about my late night out was that I had already agreed to be in Pasadena the next morning at 7:30! Yeah I got like 2 hours of sleep, but I don’t often get out there and take artistic shots of random places. But that was the point of the event and I took advantage. Sadly we were all supposed to meet up after a couple of hours but the location they set wasn’t opened for another hour so everyone just kind of went their separate ways. I was looking forward to checking out what other people shot. Anyways, we got done and with the lack of sleep and being out in the hot sun, I was definitely losing it. I needed sleep bad! I got home and took a nap for a few hours and had to get ready for my final shoot of the weekend.      My friend James had been the one to invite me to the event and we stayed close while taking our pictures through Old Town Pasadena. We plan on going back out on our own August 15th and we’re going to invite anyone who wants to go to join us. If you’re interested let me know. 7.18.09 Camp Schultz and others with CJ Ramone – So Andy and Chris were pretty excited about their show with CJ Ramone who was going to be playing all the old Ramones songs. My other friends, Voting with Bullets, were there as well so I knew a lot of people at the show.                At some point in the evening I lost all gumption. I believe it was the lack of sleep catching up with me because I got unreasonably moody. I struggled to even want to be there. I felt like I knew everyone but that there was no one there that I could hang out with. Everyone I knew was in the bands playing so they were too busy. By the time CJ Ramone came on I just wanted to leave. Mike from Camp Schultz convinced me to stay because when was I going to get a chance like this again? I was glad I did stay but I didn’t close out the event, I stayed for about half the set. Job Hunt – So I had a pretty big let down this week. I interviewed for an Admin II position for the Pharmacy at Kaiser in Victorville on Monday. I felt good about the interview and sent out my thank you letter as soon as I got home. I found out Friday that they went with someone with Pharmacy experience, which makes sense but I was pretty down. She told me I did great in the interview and thought the thank you letter was definitely a nice touch (thanks Russ!). I have another job I’m still waiting to hear back from but it’s been dragged out because of some issues beyond their control, so I’m not sure when that one will be confirmed one way or another. So it’s taken me over a week to complete this post! Hopefully it won’t be this long before I can post again. I really need to start writing less or posting more often. Not sure. Labels: A Chair's Photography, Inspiration, Photography, Photoshoots, Pictures, Rambling, Random, Travel, Updates, Weigh In
posted by Charity at 7/27/2009 10:46:00 PM
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