Christmas Earrings & St Jude's Hospital!

This year I made my Christmas earrings again! I am going to be donating all the proceeds of the Christmas Earrings to St Jude's Hospital in honor of a very special little girl who is being treated at the hospital in Memphis.  She is 3 years old and was diagnosed with Leukemia this past June.  She is doing great in treatment and hasn't lost an ounce of spunk throughout her treatment thus far!  She has a loving and supportive family that is doing a great job of taking care of her and them during all of this.
I wanted to be able to do something to give to St Jude's who is giving life back to my friend! I hope you are able to look around my etsy site (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ByAndreaLeigh) and maybe find an item or two, or maybe you want to donate directly to St. Jude and that would be wonderful too!
All of the Christmas earrings profits are going to St. Jude's Hospital, and 20% of the any other item ordered will also be donated!  Also there is a 10% discount for ordering before Dec 15, use code ANNABELLE when checking out.
Thank you for all your help and support with this!

A Few of My Favorites!

I have seen several bloggers put out posts about their favorite things or things they are loving and I have a feeling they do it because it lifts their spirits because well thinking of your favorite things seems like a mood booster.  So I thought I'd start Monday off right by doing just that, so here goes:

My favorite thing: Puppies! Well specifically my 2 dogs and almost any other dog I come across comes in a very close second.  They always cheer you up, they are sweet (well mine are at least) and cute.  If people were more like dogs life would be better!

Now in no particular order:
-Traveling- particularly around the US and to Europe.  Thanks to Brian's job we have gotten to go to a lot of cool places in the Middle East and Asia but the US and Europe travel has a special place for me, or maybe its just you can count on it to be clean (or at least find something nearby that is).  My favorite place is still the Rhine river in Germany :-) Close second has to be the top of the Mountains in Colorado.  I'm not really an outdoorsy person (as best seen when there is a bug on the door and I inform Brian that nature is trying to invade my house and make him kill it) but the hike up is just worth every minute you see that view!
-Volleyball- I came into playing this sport in 8th grade and haven't stopped.  I love the sport, the challenge, the fact that you can be the best and still have ways to improve.  You can play pick up or competitive and always have fun.  I do manage to get hurt a lot but I figure since I play a lot its just the way life is.
-Baking- while I am currently taking a break from my seemingly daily baking schedule of cakes and cupcakes and treats, I do love to bake!  Although I don't particularly like to eat it, everyone else seems to so that works for me!  I am excited to learn to make brownies from scratch and improve on the recipes like I do with cakes!
-Gift Giving- this may sound silly but I get the utmost satisfaction out of giving gifts, especially unexpected gifts (whether at an unexpected time or just something they had briefly mentioned in passing).  It makes people feel great when you spend time to pick out something that they really want, need or will love and I take great pride in doing this.  I may not always get it right though, but hopefully overall people love what they get.
-A Clean House- now I didn't say I love cleaning but I love the sense of a clean house, when all the dog hair and dust is gone and everything is put away, it gives me a great sense of relief and peace.  Its even better when someone else does it :-)
-A Great Night with Friends- some of our most memorable times with friends are just hanging out over dinner and drinks and maybe a game, you really get a chance to chat and enjoy each others company.  While a great active day or movie might be fun occasionally I love just hanging out.

It was tough to narrow down but those were the things that I was loving today and thinking about today :-)  What are your favorites?

A little bit sick...

Over the past few months I have been working on trying to get healthy.  This included going to the doctor with all my ailments in hand and figuring out what the heck is going on.  Luckily right off the bat I found a great doc who is willing to listen and work on figuring it all out!  I have had several blood work labs done and here were the conclusions.  First I have lyme's disease, this is no shock to anyone who knows my family as several of my family members have been diagnosed in the past 2 years.  The extent of the disease isn't really possible to trace besides clinical symptoms and I fall somewhere in the middle of the group there.  I will see a specialist in October to determine the best way to move forward and hopefully be Lyme's disease free by next year or so.  As for all the other symptoms, more blood work and more potential diagnosis but no conclusions yet.  The other thing I am working on is all my neglected injuries over the past few years.  I am in constant pain that has nothing to do with any "symptoms" of a disease, its more like, ya I got hurt and ignored it and now I am paying the price... So I am in physical therapy twice a week for my hip.  Its not too bad as most of what I do is get deep tissue and fascia massages and ultrasound (deep heat).  Occasionally they give me more stretches and exercises and after showing me them allow me to do them on my own.  Not a bad gig and seems to be helping quite a bit.  This isn't the first thing I have tried for this ailment but seems to be initially the most effective...
So hopefully I can keep on the path of figuring out this health stuff and start my 30's with a clean bill of health or at least answers... Hope everyone is doing well!