Then that happened...

One of my favorite nights in Santa Barbara was the last Saturday pre-accident. We spent the morning shopping at the local farmers market, did a little shopping on State Street, and then had a picnic on the beach and watched the sunset with all of our goodies from the farmers market.  We even took the scenic route on the scooter and were able to see the foothills of Santa Barbara on the way to the beach.  Then...

 

The actual day of my accident was Monday, June 9th. It was a regular Monday which included Jon being at work and myself working on the computer and grocery shopping.  I was on the phone with my sister around 3:00ish when I hear a knock at the door and to my surprise Jon was home early from work.  It was a nice little surprise he came early, but I had't been to the store to get groceries for dinner.  So I hopped on the scooter to run to the store to grab the few items I needed as quickly as possible so we could enjoy our "surprise" evening together. 

 I didn't even make it to the bottom of the hill when I hit a patch of gravel and lost control of the scooter.  The scooter veered to the right and I tried to over compensate and pull it back to the left when it fell over.  My left foot was caught between the road and the scooter as it skid down the rest of the hill.  I remember laying there face down with my arms under my body, my sunglasses down to my chin, and the visor on my helmet scratching against the pavement.  I see this scene as clearly as if it happened yesterday. A lady across the street walking her dogs asked me if I was okay and I replied yes at that moment thinking I just had road rash and needed Jon to come help me back to the house.  I knew I needed to get my phone out of my purse which was in the under seat storage so I reached around, lifted the scooter off my leg, and proceeded to crawl to the sidewalk to get out of the road. Once I was sitting on the sidewalk I saw the huge hole in my foot that was bleeding profusely and something white showing that was't supposed to be showing.  At that moment, I knew that getting my phone wasn't an option so I said to the lady walking her dogs, "Actually I do need help. Will you please call my husband?" She went and got her husband and daughter who brought out a phone for me to call.  They also brought a towel to help stop the bleeding, but I wouldn't let anyone touch it until my personal nurse arrived. Jon threw on his tennis shoes and literally ran down the hill to me.  Thank God Jon was home and not still at work! Once I saw him I immediately started crying and when he put one hand on his hip, the other on his forehead, and made his oh crap, this is bad face- I then realized how bad it was.  This is also about the time that the pain really settled in and everything began throbbing.  I had abrasions all over both hands, on both elbows, my left leg was covered with them to the point that I had holes all in my pants, and least we forget about the giant hole on my foot.  With no car we were blessed by a sweet lady who offered to drive us to the hospital and spared us the expense of an ambulance ride. 

My pain was so severe that my body would shake uncontrollably- almost like having violent chills or shivers over and over again.  Due to the abrasions all over various part of my body I was not able to get comfortable. I held my hands and arms up so they wouldn't touch my sides and my left foot just felt like it was dangling there. After what seemed like hours, in all actuality it was probably like 10-15 minutes, the nurses started an IV and gave me pain meds.  After a few visits with the doctor, an x-ray, and a CT scan they decided I would need surgery to clean out the wound and a possible tendon repair.  Since there was no bone or bone fragment involved my surgery would be scheduled for the next day. By this time it is around 8ish and 2 nursing techs come in to clean my abrasions which happens to be one of the most painful things ever and not even the good pain medication can stop this from hurting.  With lots and lots of tears and Jon rubbing my head I made it through and was sent to my room.  The first night I woke up about every 1 1/2 - 2 hours in need of pain meds and just really uncomfortable. I had surgery the next morning around 10AM where they cleaned the wound, repaired the severed tendon, and installed the wound vac.

Back in my room after surgery
Below are pictures of the abrasions on my right hand (the only pictures that will not totally gross you out)
and at the bottom was me learning to using crutches 

Disneyland May 2014

Just a little less than 2 weeks before my accident we were able to spend an extended weekend at Disneyland with my brother Joey, his wife Maggie, and his little munchkin Zoey. It was so fun to watch Zoebelle with her first Disney experience. It brought back so many memories of Joey and I when we went as kids and just how magical it is through the eyes of children.

Zoey's first view of the carousel 

We did all of the classic kids rides including Peter Pan, Dumbo, It's a Small World, Kind Arthur's Carousel, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We also did a few adult-ish rides with Zoey and of course when we asked her what her favorite rides were she said, "Dumbo and the pirate ride." How funny is it that, at 2 years old, Pirates of the Caribbean was in her top 2 rides that we had to ride again.

We tried to hit as much as possible in the 3 days we were there- Zoey didn't alway love the ones with 3D glasses, but she sure was a great glasses collector when the shows were over. Plus how cute is she in those glasses? 

If you go to Disneyland make sure you check out California Adventure too. They have a replica Radiator Springs from Cars and it really looks and feels like you are in the middle of the movie. The actual Cars ride is incredible too! 

On the last day we had breakfast with Mickey and the gang at our hotel before we took the Dennis' back to the airport. 

We were also able to hang out with Jon's Aunt Mindy, Uncle Jeff and his cousins Brianna and Gabriel. It was our first time since our wedding to see Mindy and Jeff and my first time to hang out with Brianna and Gabriel. They are Disneyland pros so it was nice to have people to show us around who know the ropes. So happy we were able to hang out with you guys! Love y'all! 

I think one of the most "magical" moments of the whole trip was when Zoey got to meet Mickey and Minnie. We weren't sure if she would be scared or not, but she just ran up to them like they were old friends. You can tell by her smile that she was over the moon about meeting them. She was one happy, happy girl!!! 

Of course a family trip would not be complete without us having some kind of scooter complication. Right, Chris? Joey's scooter worked perfectly until the very last night on our way to ride Space Mountain one last time. Poor Jon had to push him, but every couple of feet it would lock up so Joey had to push the button while Jon pushed....team work and  I just took the picture. 

We made it to Space Mountain and have the picture to prove it after a piggy back ride and a borrowed wheelchair. We all 3 had planned out the faces we wanted to make for the picture and obviously the boys pulled theirs off, but I was caught off guard. 

Just a little Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster picture for fun... Jon and I get so serious. Can you tell we are a little  competitive? 

Our trip was so wonderful! It was so special to get to spend those day with Joey, Maggie, Zoey and Jon. I am very grateful this was pre-accident and I was able to walk and play with Zoebelle nonstop. I'll leave you this video of the new phrase that Zoey came up with during our stay....

                                         

"No way TOAD!" 

(the video will not work on mobile devices) 

Summer of THE ACCIDENT

As our time here in Santa Barbara is wrapping up I have begun to think back about what a crazy summer it has been. Of course, everything we have done here has been overshadowed by my scooter accident.  Things either happened pre-accident or post accident and it seems that everything changed so drastically after it happened. It is so easy to think that we haven't had any great adventures due to my accident and that is what has stopped me from blogging about our time in SB. However, as I think back everything has been an adventure and I should feel grateful for my time here regardless of what has happened.

There have been many positive things that have come from my accident including:

• Mom and Granelle driving out for a visit and bringing us a car 
• Jon has learned how to cook and clean :) 
• Handicapped access to the Dallas Cowboys training camp and a special autograph session
• We have met amazing people here like our neighbors who made us dinner and looked out for me when Jon had to return to work on my second night home from the hospital. Or the sweet, sweet lady that drove up right after my accident happened and gave us a ride to and from the hospital and called to check on me in-between. 
• The doctors, nurses, and therapists who still stop Jon in the hallway at work to ask how I am doing even though it has been over 2 months since my stay at the hospital 
• My physical therapist at the wound clinic is truly amazing
• I learned to crochet and I really enjoy it
• Handicapped parking in a city where parking is hard to find and expensive 
• My parents came for an amazing visit 
• Erica came for a visit when I needed it the most 
• We had a great visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library 
• Jon's co-workers took me out one night to give Jon a break and to get me out of my rut 
• SO many people have been praying for us and my recovery 
• Those same people praying have been so encouraging to me sending me texts and Facebook messages. 

There have also been a few negatives, but not nearly as many, including:

• No more scooters for me :( 
• The pain was indescribable 
• Being on crutches just plain sucks and is a lot of work 
• No swimming or walking on the beautiful beaches 
• Jon has had to pick up 100% of the responsibilities around here and work full-time too 
• We have been gone from Texas for WAY, WAY too long!!

As I compare the positives and negatives I realize that even though its easy to see and feel all the negative there are so many great things that I am taking for granted. That being said, I am going to make up for the summer of no blogging and get back on track. It may not have been the summer I wanted it to be, but this is my reality and I will not let it take everything good from me. So be ready over the next couple of weeks for the rest of our adventures- beyond the accident! 

We're Back!

Finally, after our hiatus at home in Dallas for a few months we are back on the road. We headed west again, but this time we are little farther south in Santa Barbara, CA.  It is incredibly beautiful here, mountains in one direction and the ocean in the other direction.  Although it is totally different than the Bay Area, we are really enjoying the laid back feel of Southern California.

 

Santa Barbara is right off HWY 101 which means no matter which direction you go it is absolutely beautiful. We have yet to venture south, but we have gone north a couple of times and the views are incredible. 

We didn't have a lot of time to prep for our adventure here in SB because we found out on Monday that Jon would start the following Monday.  We decided to just fly out and see what happens. We spent our first week in a hotel looking for an apartment. Luckily, we found a great place through Craig's List and are very happy with our little place.  The car situation was a little more complicated since we did not have time to drive our own car out here. We knew we either needed to go back and get our car or find another mode of transportation. After our sweet friend Emily jokingly suggested we should get Vespas we decided that scooters were a great idea. So we purchased the 2 scooters pictured below. The red one is Jon's ride to work and the white one is what I use regularly and what we use when we go somewhere together. I know all of you would love to see a picture of what it looks like when we both are on the white scooter, but we don't have a picture of that for obvious reasons. I guess someone will just have to come visit us so we can get a picture of that :) 

**don't worry, we always wear helmets**

Just posing for a picture 

Wedding Crashers

Who says that crashing weddings can't create lasting friendships? Not us because that's exactly how our friendship with Brad and Marybeth began.  They were invited to help with our flowers and set up by my dear friend Emily, whose mom was our florist.  They cam, they helped, and they decided to stay for the party.  Our favorite memory of this story is when Jon and I looked at wedding pictures and realized that Brad and MB brought clothes knowing they were going to help and then crash our wedding.  Since our wedding we have had many fun nights with the Wilkersons including a trip to Destin, FL, a night in NOLA and many other great evenings at their home.

The Wilkersons joined us in San Francisco for 3 nights.  We weren't able to see them over the Holidays while we were home so it was much needed catchup time and they let us crash in their hotel room in the city too.

We spent our first day shopping around Union Square and then met Jon for dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, R&G Lounge.  We pretty much took all of our guests here because we love the food so much.

Our second day consisted of more shopping, mani and pedis, and lunch at Yank Sing which is known for their dim sum.  It is by far the best in the city, but you do have to be ready when they come around trying to sell you a small piece of sea bass for $20 or their signature dumplings at $12 a pop. Our favorites there are the pot stickers, chicken and mushroom dumplings, and the shrimp and chives dumplings.  Jon and I will always crave Yank Sing!  

Unfortunately, Jon had to work the first 2 days Brad and Marybeth were in town so that night, after Jon was off work, we went out to celebrate. We started our evening at the Tonga Room located inside the Fairmont. It's a kitschy, little Hawaiian themed restaurant and bar with drinks and food to match the theme. There is even a small lightening and rain storm that happens ever so often. The band plays from a small boat that floats in the pool in the middle of the restaurant. We all four shared a tropical drink with crazy long straws and the typical Hawaiian Pupu platter.  We finished the night with sushi and a trip to The Cellar. 

For the final day we made our way to the wine country. Our first stop was J Vineyards and Winery (another one of Jon and I's favorite stops) and then on to Healdsburg, CA where we enjoyed lunch at Willie's and amazing baked goods from Moustache Baked Good.  Jon loves Oreos so finding a giant, homeade Oreo was like a dream for him. 

What a great way to finish our last full weekend in San Francisco! We made some unforgettable memories.  

P.S. Brad & Marybeth don't worry we won't show Ava all the pictures ;)

There's No Place Like Home

Since Jon and I set out on our adventure in Mid-October we realized it was the longest either of us had been out of the state of Texas. We flew home for a quick weekend at the beginning of December and then came home for a week and a half over the holidays, so we have been out of Texas for the equivalent of 3 months, give or take a few days. There are a lot of things we miss about the Lone Star State, but it is hard to explain just how different places (i.e. not Texas) can be until you experience it. Below is a list of things that Jon and I notice about the Bay Area and just how differently things are done here...

Top 10 reasons we know we're not in Texas anymore:

1. The term buttercream icing is taken very literal. It truly tastes just like creamed butter. You might as well ice your cupcake with a whole stick of butter and nothing else. 

2. People ask who is your "person" instead of wife/husband. After Jon had been at work about a week, one of the ladies pointed to his ring and asked him who his person was.  As you can imagine, Jon responded by saying that he doesn't have a "person", he has a wife. 

3. No Bluebell.... There are actually a lot of good ice cream joints in Berkeley and SF, but when you go to the grocery store all you get is Dreyers. 

4. They also ask if you want your milk shake made with soy or cows milk.

5. What's a union?

6. Cowboys games aren't on any channel. 

7. They think they know Mexican food, but bland salsa and stale chips just don't cut it. Not to mention some places don't even serve queso. 

8. People don't say excuse me they just stare or touch you if you are in their way.  Several times we have had the "excuse me stare" as we call it. 

9. Chinese food is made by actual Chinese people, not other random ethnicities.

10. That 5 leafed plant is everywhere.  You can't walk a block without getting a whiff.