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Diabetes Blog Week 2011 – Day 3

Posted May 11, 2011 In Diabetes, Personal

Welcome back for Day 3 of Diabetes Blog Week 2011! Today’s topic is Diabetes Bloopers. Here’s the description from Karen:

Diabetes bloopers – Wednesday 5/11: Whether you or your loved one are newly diagnosed or have been dealing with diabetes for a while, you probably realize that things can (and will) go wrong. But sometimes the things that go wrong aren’t stressful – instead sometimes they are downright funny! Go ahead and share your Diabetes Blooper – your “I can’t believe I did that” moment – your big “D-oh” – and let’s all have a good laugh together!!

The thing is, I wrote about my favorite Diabetes Blooper last year (I HATE THIS HAMBURGER!) and I haven’t really had many in my recent life. Er, I’m sure I’ve had them, but I can’t think of one right now. So I’m just going to share a diabetes memory instead. It’s pretty hilarious to me.

The summer after my 8th grade, I went to overnight camp for the first time! Mom packed up me and my brother for three weeks at Camp Sweeney and it was awesome. Like, really awesome. It was a whole camp full of diabetics and their syblings! Well, one of the cool things about Camp Sweeney is that they would sing popular songs, but change the lyrics so they’d be about diabetes. Instead of “Summer of ’69,” we’d sing about “Bloodsugar of 69” and, well, you get the idea. :) So, for whatever reason, one day in the high school cafeteria, I was talking to my best friend Madelyn about this. So, she, naturally, started busting out lyrics to “Diabetic’s Paradise” (you know, the diabetes version of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”). It was really awesome. I wish I remembered the lyrics because they were just phenomenal. ;)

Oh, and about the I HATE THIS HAMBURGER! thing. The awesome thing about that story is that hubby and I now use that phrase when we’re mad at something and we know it’s dumb. Like, if I’m struggling to open a jar pf pickles but the lid won’t budge, I scream “I HATE THIS HAMBURGER!” because, well, it’s funny. Sometimes we throw in the obligatory fist pound. It always lightens the mood!

I hope you’re having a great week! See you tomorrow!

xoxo,

Lauren

Diabetes, Personal

Diabetes Blog Week 2011 – Day 2

Posted May 10, 2011 In Diabetes, Personal

Welcome back for Day 2 of Diabetes Blog Week 2011! Today is Letter Writing Day! Here’s the description from Karen:

Letter writing day – Tuesday 5/10: In February the Wego Blog Carnival asked participants to write letters to their condition. You can write a letter to diabetes if you’d like, but we can also take it one step further. How about writing a letter to a fictional (or not so fictional) endocrinologist telling the doctor what you love (or not) about them. How about a letter to a pretend (or again, not so pretend) meter or pump company telling them of the device of your dreams? Maybe you’d like to write a letter to your child with diabetes. Or a letter from your adult self to the d-child you were. Whomever you choose as a recipient, today is the day to tell them what you are feeling.

So… Here goes!

To my friends:

I know you know that I have diabetes. I know I like to ignore it. I know you ignore it because you’re following my lead. The problem is, ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Sometimes I just need to take a minute to take care of myself. Sometimes my head is spinning and I’m trying to take control of my downward-spiraling bloodsugar and I can’t think clearly enough to explain what’s happening. And so I run off and scarf everything in sight. That, my friends, you can ignore. :) Just give me 15 minutes or so and I’ll (usually) be ready to rock.

The truth is that I love when people ask me about diabetes or what’s involved in the care of a diabetic. I could talk about it for hours! I love explaining the differences between a Type 1 and a Type 2. (I’m a type 1 in case you didn’t know!) And, the more you know, the less I feel I have to explain when I might actually need help or need to be ignored. :) No questions are off limits with me. Here’s the short-n-sweet version:

My pancreas no longer produces insulin, so I have to take it. I could take multiple shots everyday, but I use an insulin pump instead. It’s attached to me like an IV: a needle is surrounded by thin, flexible tubing. I insert the needle and tubing into my skin and pull the needle out, so just the tubing remains. The pump is programmed to give me a little bit of insulin throughout the day, and I tell it to give me more when I eat. I have to refill the reservoir and change out the tubing every three days. The pump only gives me insulin. I still have to check my bloodsugar (at least) 4 times a day. I sometimes wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It’s really cool! It checks my bloodsugar every 5 minutes and reports to my pump. It helps me stay in better control, since I have practically constant bloodsugar information at my disposal. And, speaking of control.. No, I am not in the best control. I’m not awful, though, either. There’s definitely room for improvement, and that’s just how diabetes is. No matter how hard I try to control it, it will always have a life on its own. It’s my job to try to outsmart it! Suffice to say, it’s complicated. Like, really complicated!

But there’s one thing. When I’m adjusting my pump, there’s no reason to make a “funny” comment about it. I know you think you’re hilarious (“oh yeah, *beep beep* just bump it up a little more so you can eat that!“) but, really, the comments are just annoying. And terribly insulting. When I eat, I have to tell my pump to cover the carbs I’m having… no matter how large or how small. So, see me eat an apple? I’ll be telling my pump. A cupcake? Same thing. So save yourself the effort and save yourself from looking like an idiot… Just let it go. Pretty please??

And a reminder: insulin is not a cure! If you are interested in funding research to cure diabetes (and make my day in the process!) please consider making a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It is my birthday month after all! :)

love,

Lauren

Diabetes, Personal

Diabetes Blog Week 2011 – Day 1

Posted May 09, 2011 In Diabetes, Personal

Hello friends!

Welcome to the first installment of Diabetes Blog Week 2011! I know I don’t usually talk about diabetes or how having type 1 affects my daily life. But that’s exactly why I jumped at the chance to participate in Diabetes Blog Week last year, and again this year. It really is a big part of my life, and, although I would like to ignore it, I can’t. So, please bear with me for one week as I take some time to give you a little perspective. :)

Today’s topic is “Admiring our Differences.” Here’s the description from Karen:

Admiring our differences – Monday 5/9: We are all diabetes bloggers, but we come from many different perspectives. Last year, Diabetes Blog Week opened my eyes to all of the different kinds of blogs (and bloggers) out there – Type 1s, Type 2s, LADAs, parents of kids with diabetes, spouses of adults with diabetes and so on. Today let’s talk about how great it is to learn from the perspectives of those unlike us! Have you learned new things from your T2 friends? Are D-Parents your heroes? Do LADA blogs give you insight to another diagnosis story? Do T1s who’ve lived well with diabetes since childhood give you hope? Pick a type of blogger who is different from you and tell us why they inspire you – why you admire them – why it’s great that we are all the same but different!!

The truth is I am a bit of a d-blog stalker and read up on a lot of different diabetes blogs. But I LOVE reading the blogs of parents of diabetics. I get to learn all about diabetes from someone who doesn’t personally have the disease, but who is near and dear to someone who does.

It also helps me have a better understanding of what my parents went through when they were caring for me as a child with diabetes. I was diagnosed when I was 4 and don’t have many pre-diabetes memories (or ones that are distinguished by the fact that I wasn’t a diabetic yet). It wasn’t until I read Hallie‘s post, “The Scariest Night of My Life,” a week ago that I even started comprehending how my parents must’ve felt the numerous nights that my bloodsugar dropped. Or the one night when I was rushed to the ER after spending the day at Disneyland. I had been to the ER before, but, I wish diabetes didn’t follow us to Anaheim that year! My mom even developed a ranking system for ERs across the US. I think the Disneyland ER was pretty high up there, but Atlanta’s was WAY down on the bottom. (Stay away, y’all! :))

Additionally, reading the blogs of d-parents gives me lots of fun ideas that I wish I had thought of years ago! For example, Lorraine and Caleb created the cutest Christmas ornaments out of empty insulin bottles last December! (I’m saving all my bottles this year!)

So, thank you, d-moms and d-dads of the D-OC, for opening my eyes to the world of parenting a child with diabetes!

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow!

xoxo,

Lauren

Diabetes, Personal

Norfolk Botanical Garden

Posted May 07, 2011 In Personal

Howdy, y’all!

If you aren’t a friend of mine on Facebook or don’t follow me on Twitter, you may not know that I’ve temporarily relocated to Norfolk, VA, for a couple months! Yesterday, I headed out to the Norfolk Botanical Garden to spend several hours walking around the beautiful grounds and checking out the plant sale they had going on! I spotted several miniature century plants and agaves that were calling my name, but (sadly!) I refrained since I’ll only be here for a short time. Sigh. Below are some of the gorgeous plants I saw around the garden!

There were these loblolly pines all over the park. I couldn’t get over how gorgeous the bark is!

The dogwoods were in bloom! They are SO gorgeous!

I made a few friends while I was there. Mr. Spider (below) was enjoying a snack when I met him. ;)

My favorite part of the garden was the wildflower meadow. It’s enclosed by a fence and bordered by Lake Whitehurst.

This mermaid sculpture greats the garden’s guests outside of the visitor center. Mermaid sculptures are found all over Norfolk because the mermaid is the official symbol of the city! I’ve seen several as I’ve explored the area this week, but this lucky girl is the only one I’ve photographed so far. I’m sure more are to come!!

Starting on Monday, I’ll going to be participating in Diabetes Blog Week! I can’t believe it’s already been a year since last year’s blogging event, but here we are! Check back on Monday when I’ll be posting about what I’ve learned from the diabetics who blog about diabetes on a regular basis! BIG thanks to Karen of Bitter-Sweet for organizing the event!!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Mother’s Day! See y’all soon!

xoxo,

Lauren

Personal

Los Angeles and the San Diego Shooting Group!

Posted April 16, 2011 In Personal, San Diego Shooting Group

Hi friends!

First of all, I want to welcome you to my new blogsite! I am so excited about the new direction we’re taking here, and I hope you are too! There are a few things that are still under construction, so check back for updates! And big thanks to Krista Ann Jones and the Conflux Group for helping me create this baby!

Here are some shots from what I’ve been up to recently. Last month, one of my husband’s cousins, Lauren, came out to spend her spring break with her aunt and uncle (my in-laws) down in Coronado. We hopped on the Amtrak and took a trip up to Los Angeles one lovely Sunday. We first checked out the Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and designed by architect Frank Gehry. I love walking around the exterior of the concert hall, and we actually got in on a tour through the hall this time! It was fun!

For some reason, I always take the shot on the right when I’m at there. It comes out differently each time, and it’s become a fun little tradition! Below is Lauren in action inside the concert hall.

We spent the afternoon up in Hollywood, and took a tour of the homes in the area. I had never been up there before, but now I know why all the stars have their homes there. The area was absolutely gorgeous! Here’s the LA skyline from a vista in the Hollywood Hills. (I think that’s where we were!)

Last week, the San Diego Shooting Group got together for our fourth shoot! This time, we went “back to basics” and covered Photo 101 and Portrait 101 topics. We met up in Balboa Park, where Shari Barnes started it off by talking about general photography tips, then I discussed posing before we let everyone take turns with the two gorgeous models. I didn’t shoot any images of the girls because I wanted to allow the participants to have plenty of time to get some great shots, so here are some of the group in action!

Please check us out on Facebook (here) if you are interested in attending any of our future events! You can see some photos from our last event here.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

xoxo,

Lauren

Personal, San Diego Shooting Group