I'm sorry...

According to Melanie, no one is reading the blogs anymore because of Facebook. :-) I have good excuses for not being blogging lately. Steven sprained his ankle a few weeks ago and has been on the couch elevating it ever since. He's doing much better now and is able to get around much more. This has put a lot of extra stress on me because not only am I at his beck and call, but I have had to do everything around the house and with the dogs. But this wasn't the only thing that was going on. The main worry was for my little brother who was having some physical problems that was causing mental problems that started on March 3rd. He was in and out of the hospital and seing multiple doctors trying to figure out what was going on. After a week, my parents took him to the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital and they concluded that it was encephalitis. He's finally back home, but is a long way to full recovery. We just praise God that He was always there protecting John and my family from harm. Work has been good, just busy. I'm looking foward to tomorrow because I'm going to my first St. Patrick's Day parade here in Savannah. For some reason, St. Patty's Day is a huge deal around here and I missed out on all the fun last year. Who knew?!?!? lol
Thanks everyone for letting me vent! Please keep John and my family in your prayers.

Check it out!!!

My brother Allan just posted some great pictures of my adorable nephew and breathtakingly beautiful new niece Sarah. What can I say...I'm just a proud proud Auntie! :-)

http://flickr.com/photos/allanbranch/

Sarah Wilkinson's Bridal Shower

Sarah Goodman, Lyndsey and Jonathan's daughter who will be two in a few months






Lyndsey was so sweet to host a bridal shower for Sarah a few weeks ago. Sarah Wilkinson is Jonathan's half sister's, half sister, but she is an intricate part of our "extended" family and has been apart of it a way lot longer than I have. She got married today (2.21.09) at 2 pm in Allenville, but Steven was on call and I worked so we weren't able to go. We know only a little about her groom, Jason Wynn, but we look forward to some get togethers soon because they will be living only a few minutes away from us. We wish them nothing but the very best in their new life together. :)
We haven't had a wedding a long time as most of our friends got married about the time that we did, but it got me thinking about our wedding. We've been married now 6 1/2 years and it seems like a lifetime ago full of changes and learning. I was almost 24 years old, yet looking back, I was so naive and unaware of just life in general. Marriage takes a lot of hard work, dedication, time, energy, love and selflessness. There are so many things I would have done differently with the wedding too, but many things that turned out awesome. Who would have thought that a last minute addition of a coffee bar would have been such a hit? Thanks Mom. Steven is my best friend and I know we are meant to be together forever, but I am definitely the yin to his yang. :-) If you had to give advice to a friend about marriage, what would it be? If you didn't like the person, he or she was going to marry would you tell them? If you could do your wedding all over again, what if anything would you change? Thanks y'all~

Sarah Lucille Branch

Born February 12th, 2009 via C-section 8 lbs, 4 ozs 19.5 inches long
I was the only one that wasn't there, but many thoughts and prayers were going out to the whole Branch family, Allan, Anna and little Jimmy. We love y'all so much and are so very very happy to welcome this new little blessing into our family. Check out photos at http://flickr.com/photos/allanbranch/

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope that your honey spoils you rotten not only this weekend, but through out the year~ LOVE LOVE LOVE to each and every one of you

Tomorrow...

I'm getting a niece tomorrow and I'm so happy, so very happy. I just wish I could be there, but they will be in my thoughts and prayers. Sarah Lou will be brought into the world at 10 am via c-section. Pray that everything goes smoothly for Anna, my sister-in-law and my brother Allan. They will have a ton of family support and thoughts and prayers. I will post pictures soon guys I promise. :-) Love to all~

But my "doctor" said...

So I went to my acupuncture (or "doctor") Wednesday morning at 9 am stressed from a crazy morning. After dropping a Pepsi on the floor where it preceded to explode all over my clean floor, accidentally spilling coffee grounds and dumping water from dirty dishes all over my scrubs as I was heading out the door, my morning had started off with a bang. He read my pulse and said "I think you need to relax this weekend. Watch movies, sleep in." Wow- my pulse told him all that! Sweet~ So today, I had the day off from work per my choice so I did nothing. Okay, not nothing but close to it. I'm booked on Saturday so I used the time off to my advantage. There's always that "gnat" of guilt that buzzes around and I always here my mom's voice saying, "Get your lazy butt off the couch and be productive or at least match socks while you're there!" :-) I did accomplish two loads of dishes, made a great white chicken and broccoli pizza for lunch, two loads of laundry, straightened up the house and vacuumed the never ending dog hair. That was my day plus watching a few movies and lounging around trying to get warm this morning. Oh how lovely!!

My week

Not so crazy, just full of frustrations. This story marks the theme of my week. On Wednesday, I went to Publix to pick up a cake for a co-worker who had a birthday. Now, I never go to this Publix but I easily found my way around the store, purchased a cake (which turned out to be frozen) and was out the door minus twenty dollars. I walked out and just blanked. Where did I park the car again? My poor little old bronze Ford Taurus was not to be seen surrounded by huge, giant SUV's and five million other cars the same color. I went up and down each aisle looking like a psycho while trying to balance a cake in one hand and my purse in the other. (Why I didn't hit the panic button...because I was already in the panic mode!) After about 5 minutes of looking like I needed my straight jacket and a ride to the psych ward, I found my car. YEAH! So, then I was digging through my lovely, yet huge purse and I couldn't find them. I started hyperventallating! Did I lock them in the car? No. I finally sat the cake on the hood and it started to slowly slide down. I grabbed it as I angrily continued to search through my purse. Oops...I had put them in my pocket so I didn't have to search through my purse. Oh man! MAJOR Alzheimer moment...I feel like I'm 80! Thank you Lord the week is now over.

My busy week

When it rains, it pours. This saying is the foundation of the massage therapy business. You take clients whenever and however they come along. This week, I did a record amount of hot stone massages which I enjoy doing, but they make me sweat like crazy! :-) It's like a workout for me because the stones raise my body temperature so high and I keep the room nice a warm so my client doesn't get a chill during any point of the massage. If you have never had one of these massages, it's awesome! The only reason that they are not more popular is that they are so much more expensive than a regular massage. It's a nice treat every now and then and it's great on cold days when everything feels all tight and stressed out. I normally run about an hour and fifteen minutes and we charge $100 at Bloom. It seems like a lot, but once you get one, you understand why. It's a lot more work for the therapist in preparing the stones and then dumping the water and cleaning each stone. I did three hot stone massages on Tuesday, back to back to back. A first for me. I did another one on Saturday. It's a nice change from the regular massages. I was also able to do some outcalls (going to client's houses and massaging them) this week as well which is a nice addition. Mondays are my catch up days, so the laundry is been cleaned, dishes in the dish washer, groceries in the fridge and now I am procrastinating on starting to clean the house. Ugh~ and it is so pretty outside. Maybe I'll open the windows and enjoy the fresh air (or at least, air out the cleaning product potent odors). :-)

Things I miss...

My nephew Jimmy-
This little fella' has wormed his way into my heart. How can you not love something so cute and adorable! He is so sweet and fun and he makes the funniest faces. I hate that I am missing all his milestones and can't be there to be involved with daily activities. :( I just get to spoil him with gifts!

I miss hanging out with friends and family. These are pictures of Jimmy's birthday party. This crazy wacky family loves to play games, go out in the boat, watch movies and of course, EAT! :)
I miss my Mommy! lol It sounds so child-like, but I do. As I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate my siblings and parents more. Growing up, my mom was teacher, discipliner, and mom which was very difficult for her and me. Having five kids alone is a tough job, but trying to raise them with values, morals, brains and art skills. (I'm still working on the cleaning skills) We love our Mom because she is the best mom on the planet. I wish we could be more involved with each others lives, but phone conversations will have to do for the moment.
My sister, Lauren and I weren't very close growing up, even though we did share a room at one time, but we have grown together in the last couple of years with the bonds of medical knowledge. We are so much alike yet so different. We love to go shopping at Dillards, drink very weak margaritas and watch old musicals and Jane Austen's together.

I miss the beautiful beaches of PC. It's hard to beat the aqua waters and white sandy beaches that I grew up with and spent thousands of hours building sand castles and floating around. It's so relaxing to hear the crashing waves with the caw-caw of the seagulls. Watching the sail boats fly by or look out on a still sea of glass. I never realized how cool it was to watch the sheets of rain come across the bay. It's home.