March Wreath

As some of you know, I absolutely LOVE to craft.  Even more than that, I LOVE the month of March.  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it's my birthday month, but even more than that I feel like it is the month when the world starts to smile again.  We get beautiful spring weather: sunshine that kisses your skin without making you sweat and warm breezes that reaffirm that summer is on its way.  For most people, March brings a week when you can lay back and take a breath as you enjoy a hiatus from school and work.  March also signifies a transition from being cooped up indoors to finally being able to play outside without a coat.

As we are nestling into this little townhouse, Darren and I have tried to decorate our home with the seasons on a budget.  One of the first places a guest will look is, of course, the front door.  Naturally, I wanted something to welcome them to our home. Thus, the wreath!

I'm a frequent pinterest user, and have seen multiple posts of burlap or yarn wreaths, which look easy enough to make.  With the help of a gift card to Hobby Lobby from my dad (thanks, Dad!), this whole wreath cost less than $20 to make and I still have some supplies left over. I've never done a how-to blog post, so bear with me.  This wreath was extremely simple to make, it just took some time (we popped in the Sound of Music and I was finished by the time Captain Von Trapp and Maria returned from their honeymoon).

Here is a list of the supplies you will need:
-scissors
-hot glue gun and glue sticks
-ribbon (mine is green checkered, 1")
-colored burlap (green)
-jute
-one wreath made of twigs/sticks from Hobby Lobby
-3 sheets each of green and ivory felt
-one wooden letter of your choice
-paint for the letter (green)
-paintbrush

My supplies

The first step I did was I painted the "C" so that by the time it dried, I would be finished with the wreath and ready to attach it.

Next, I started to make my felt flowers. There are plenty of options to choose from as far as how you make felt flowers.  Since I'm not a seamstress, I decided to pick ones that wouldn't require any stitching. I made the same exact flowers in both the ivory and the green, but took pictures of just the ivory ones so you could see how each type was created.

First take a strip of felt and fold it in half, glue those edges together, and then cut slits in one side. On this first one I cut the strips at an angle. I'll show you the difference between the angle and straight cuts later.

Put a drop of glue on one end and tight-roll this, adding glue as you go. Here is how it should look once it's all rolled together:

Now, here is what the straight cuts look like and then the two side-by-side:

Obviously there are ways to add variation.  If you want the petals to be thinner, cut the strips thinner. In order to have a smaller diameter flower, make the strip shorter like these two:

Next are the rosettes. I really like these since they're simple and cute. Cut a circle in the felt, and then cut a spiral within that circle.

Roll the felt from the outer edge in (yes, seems counter-intuitive), gluing as you go.

And voila, here is your rosette!

A variation on this one is a wavy rosette, where you cut the felt in a wave and roll it up to get this:

Finally, one other felt flower I chose is this little ball of wavy petals. You start by cutting 9 equal circles and one smaller one for the base.

Take the first circle, put a dab of glue on it, and fold it in half. Then do the same and fold it again to be a fourth.  Glue that to the base.  Do the same with 3 other circles until you have all four like this: 

Keep in mind that you want the open ends to face the same direction.

Add the next 4 circles the same way, only off the creases from the previous ones. Then take your final circle and loosely roll it, placing it in the center. Fluff up your layers and this is what you get:

So, I made all of the flowers in both ivory and green for this wreath. Here's what I had to show for it...

I took a break from the flowers and used my green burlap to loosely wrap around the wreath. I glued the beginning spot, then again at the end to hold it in place. You may want to add some glue on the back where the burlap comes close to the wreath just to hold it in place.

It's time to finally start putting your flowers on. Now, I didn't have any rhyme or reason for the order of my flowers, just glued them where it looked good. 

After adding the flowers, I felt like there were some holes on the ends and in the middle, so I took my ribbon to add a little bit of color in those holes. I cut strips about 4" long, folded them in half and put a dot of glue on them. In some areas, I wanted more than one little ribbon, so I would glue 2 or 3 together like these:

I tucked them into the holes in the flowers.

Next, I took my dried "C" and wanted to give it a background so I glued the jute on the back. I started at one end, then continued to fold and glue in the shape of the letter like this (ignore the maroon sweatpants):

Here's how the letter looks with the jute behind it:

I put a ridiculous amount of hot glue on the "C" and added it to the wreath.

Finally, I made a quick ribbon holder around the top of the wreath so it could hang on the hook of my front door. 

Here it is, the final product!

I enjoyed putting this together and now will be able to display it every March...and all in time to sing along with the Von Trapp Family Singers before they are chased by the Nazi's!

I hope this helps inspire you to make your own :)

Silver White Winters that Melt into Spring...

February has brought an abundance of one thing: snow.  Apparently, last winter was not an accurate portrayal of what to expect in St. Louis during the months of December through March.  Darren and I have trudged through what seems to be a never-ending downfall of fluffy white stuff.

Each morning, before I do anything else, I peek out the window to determine the amount of effort it will take for one of us (Darren) to clean off my car so I can get to work on time.  Bragging moment: despite the fact that he absolutely doesn't have to, Darren wakes up each and every morning to help clear off my car and make my lunch while I get ready. How sweet :)

About a week ago, St. Louis had its biggest winter storm for the year (well, let's hope so anyway).  I had a pacemaker implant to do in Jerseyville, Illinois (about an hour north of where I typically work), and began my drive right as the "wintry mix" began falling.  That drive only took twice as long as it should've, and I was able to make it to the hospital on time. However, I was not so lucky when it came time to leave.

Only about an hour and a half later, I came out to my car to find this:

That's roughly 4 inches of new snow accumulated on my car. To those of you who are not from Texas, this isn't that strange to you.  To everyone from home, you can imagine my horror at the thought of driving on roads that I couldn't see! Look at how buried my wheels were!!!

The unfortunate part of being so new to snow, is that I didn't realize there's an art form to driving in it: wait long enough for the snow plows to clear the roads before you head out.  I needed to return to St. Louis (the storm was supposed to only get worse as the day went on and I didn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere), so I figured the sooner I left, the quicker I would make it back and try to beat the storm. Ha.

Here is my new favorite phone snapshot of what my driving conditions were as I trudged along at a 10 mph pace:

I called my mom (seeing how I wasn't driving very quickly) and tried to explain to her what it was like to drive when you couldn't even see where the road stopped and the farmland started. Fortunately I had those trucks to follow or else I probably wouldn't even have known which direction the road went.

By the time I made it back to the St Louis area, cars were all over the place: ditches, parked along on/off ramps; people were abandoning ship and just walking across the highway. It was a mess! I was very fortunate to only spin out once (turning into the neighborhood) and get stuck literally at my parking spot. 

So naturally, Darren and I decided to have a snow day when I got home from work! It was about 30 degrees (not that cold) and the wind wasn't too strong, so we knew we would be able to play outside for a while without getting too chilly. We stuck to our neighborhood and had hoped to build a snowman/snow fort/igloo, but the snow was so powdery it wouldn't stick together. Instead, we just drew things on the rocks that are on the big hill as you approach our neighborhood. 

Gotta show that Aggie pride!!!

My car- nice and stuck 

Excited to play in the snow

February not only brought us snow, but also some wonderful visitors; Darren's Aunt Donya and cousin Sheldon came to visit to take a look at a local university. Sheldon is interested in set/makeup design for theater shows and was looking at potentially attending Webster University.  We had the great pleasure of getting to spend some time with them and catch up while they were here in St. Louis! We took them to Fitz's on The Loop on Friday night and then went to the Budweiser factory to see the Clydesdales on Saturday.  It was so wonderful to see family and show them our town while catching up. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures with my phone (Aunt Donya has them all!). 

Here's to hoping for a warmer March! 

Love is something if you give it away, You end up having more

At about 7am on January 2, I walked through the biting wind into one of my main hospital's lobbies. It was a typical day, I was dressed in scrubs and huddled up in a coat, carrying a few things for work. An elderly lady, probably about 70 or so, stopped me by the information desk. At first, I jumped to the conclusion that she needed directions (this happens multiple times a day), so I was ready to direct her to a set of elevators or the emergency room.

But this lady was different. She asked if I could spare a minute, to which I said I could. Then she proceeded to set her purse down on the counter, reaching for something inside. She pulled out her wallet, fingered around for a bill, and handed me a $20. I just looked at her with a puzzled face and she proceeded to say, "I do this every year and I haven't done it yet. I hope God blesses you with this." At first I couldn't believe it, I mean it's pretty obvious that I'm not exactly poor. I have a coat, I'm well fed, and I am employed. But then I remembered the joy that one can only find if you give wholeheartedly to someone else. I looked her in the eye and asked for a hug, and told her thank you and that I hoped God would bless her as well. We went our ways, and I stuffed that $20 in my pocket and went into work.

For those of you who grew up singing church of Christ nursery rhymes, do you remember this one?

Love is like a lucky penny,
Hold it close and you won't have any
But give it away and you'll have plenty;
You'll end up having more.

It seems rather silly, kind of a fun little tune for the kids to sing and learn about "love" and "pennies." The irony is, of course, that those of us who need that lesson the most are the adults in the room, not the toddlers.

Darren and I have been going to a Crown Financial Bible class at the church we've been attending this month.  While we got some great ground rules on financial topics in our marriage prep class back at A&M (thanks Kelly and Foree), there's still plenty of work to be done on figuring out where our money is going and how we want it to be spent. Without getting personal and uncomfortable, let's just put it this way: we want to use the money God has given us wisely and the way He would want us to.

Now to some people, as I recently learned, that concept is extremely foreign. Why on earth would you ever give 10+% of your income to someone or something that you don't even know for sure will use it wisely? Why would you be so dumb as to hand a beggar a couple bucks when you know that most likely they will turn around and use it to fuel some sort of addiction?

Let's think about this for a second. If God chose to give you a great job so that you could afford to live a certain lifestyle, does He not also expect you to turn around and bless others with the very things he chose to bless you? He has selected you as a steward of His money, so you have responsibility of deciding how to spend it. That's the key: you are spending it, one way or another. So if you decide to buy that new piece of furniture you really want or if you decide to save it to send someone on a mission trip, you've spent it.

I realize this topic can go way beyond that which I really want to talk about, so I'm going to reign it in here a bit:

 How are you using what God has given you?

I realize that some of you are still in college, and your current assets aren't even your own. Some of you, like me, are just starting out and have more student loans than fingers and toes combined. Some of you are established, some of you are very well off. Here's the kicker: it doesn't matter. God has a plan for you, you are in the midst of that plan, and He wants you to still find some way to give what you can.

I am teaching this to myself more than to anyone else, because without access to AFC I haven't found many avenues to donate time or money. But that's no excuse.

Here's the thing: there is no joy quite like that of giving something with your whole heart. You have a financial freedom in knowing that you are using your resources for God's purpose, and it's a freedom that many people struggle with and are never able to find. The nursery rhyme is right: it talks about giving the penny away, but really it shows how giving love away brings back even more.

So, here's what I'm going to do with this. I'm going to find a way this week to give, and give with my whole heart. And after the fact, I'm going to savor the freedom and joy that it brings me.  I hope you do the same.

Meet US in St. Louis?

Oops, it has been quite some time since I updated my blog.  My apologies, I'm sure you're all just dying to know how life has changed for me in over a year since my last post. To keep the catch-up short, I'll give you the top 5 things you've missed since October 28, 2011:

1. Darren and I got married

2. Darren moved to St. Louis

3. Darren and I moved from the loft downtown to a quiet condo in the suburbs

4. I became fully CRM (Cardiac Rhythm Management) certified and began training for the ablation mapping software with my company

5. A TON of my friends got married (and we enjoyed attending the weddings we were able to make)

Phew. That almost covers 14 months of lost time.

Why the sudden interest in posting again? Well, I realized how much I enjoyed catching up with you, my long-distant friends and family, over the holidays and wanted to maintain some sort of connection so you wouldn't feel so far away. It's a new year and with that comes new resolutions. One of mine is obviously to try to maintain this blog a little better than I have been. We'll see how long it lasts!

I would like to quickly give a shout out to those of you who have recently traveled all the way up to the middle of the country to see our little Cannon family. To Kacey & Brian for coming over Thanksgiving, to Alex & Stephanie for stopping by before Christmas, and to Svenja, Lauren, Robert, & Hunter for coming before New Years:  It may not seem this way when you're here visiting, but it means the world to us that you took the time to drive up here and say hello. 

You see, I've relearned an important lesson recently. There are friends you make and keep while you're in a certain time of life such as high school or college and then as you are separated by distance and circumstance, those friendships fade away.  Then there are friends who you personally work hard to maintain but they, for whatever reason, do not put forth as much effort to keep close and eventually they, too, fade away.  Finally, there are friends that no matter what you do, you just can't seem to rid yourselves of them. Haha, just kidding. But really, there are those people who become an integral part of your life that you just cannot imagine life without. Instead of mourning over the loss of friendships that were and no longer are, I am trying my best to continue fanning the flames of those that have the potential to burn on through anything. To you, I say thanks for sticking with us even if we do live in the smack-dab middle of the country. 

If there is anyone who happens to read this and thinks, "Man I wish we had kept in touch." PLEASE say something! This sounds silly, but maybe I've been thinking the same thing and it's time that we reconnect. 

Here's to good friendships and maybe some rekindled ones in the coming year!

Okay, enough serious talk. Can somebody PLEASE give me a WHOOOOOP for this amazing season of Aggie football? If Darren and I are having this much fun with it 14 hours away from Kyle Field, I can't imagine what campus has been like! We watched the Cotton Bowl with a group of friends and spent almost the entire game explaining some of our crazy traditions. From the corps to kissing when we score to how we've got a mascot who is a dog but we're called the Aggies and also part of the 12th man, I tried to decently cover the Aggie basics. Everybody was floored by how much passion and tradition we have. This is really something, having the opportunity to explain the spirit and tradition of A&M to people who literally know nothing about it... and at the end of one conversation they can already feel how special our school is. All I can say to that is how proud I am to be an Aggie. We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we (even in Missouri)!!!

A Lone Ranger in Cardinal Nation

Howdy!

It has been quite some time since I last caught you up on the goings-on in my life. I knew I wanted to update this tonight, but I figured I should probably do it BEFORE World Series Game 7, just in case things went downhill. As I have been telling all of my coworkers and patients, GO RANGERS!

Fall is in full swing here in "the Lou" (I am apparently now allowed to refer to my city as such since I have lived here almost 4 months). The trees are unbelievably gorgeous and it makes the view so much more enjoyable when I'm driving around for work. I didn't take these, but I pulled a few images from the web just to give you an idea.

Isn't it absolutely breathtaking? I typically drive a couple of hours a day (not all at once, 30 min here, 30 min there) and these trees are making me wish I could drive more!

Work is funny. There are moments when I LOVE my job. I get to the hospital and I start talking with patients or with the lab staff and I just enjoy doing what I do. Then, there are days where it takes every ounce of self-control that I can muster just to get out of bed. Since my last blog, I have become officially certified in "low voltage" devices (pacemakers). This means that I completed 5 pacer implants and 5 pacer patient checks, under the supervision of my mentor or Field Clinical Engineer.  The next step after that was to actually start doing things on my own. It's crazy how different things feel when you are working alongside someone vs working alone. Suddenly, your safety net of having an expert at your fingertips is gone. But, when I get in the room and I'm one on one with the patient, I thrive! We can chat as much as I want and I explain things the way that I think they should be explained. It sounds silly, but there's a freedom to it. 

I have two metaphors I use when I try to explain how work is going. The first one is driving a car. When you first learn how to drive, you can barely take your eyes off the road long enough to look at the speedometer, let alone take in all the other important pieces to driving a car (reading signs, watching other cars, changing lanes, etc). This job is like that. Once you get the basic concepts down, you have to start building on what you can do in one moment and keep an eye on everything going on (your tests, the rhythm, the patient, the monitor, etc). When I first got back from training, I felt like I had mastered turning on the car and driving straight. Now, I feel like I'm starting to add in all the little details that make me a good driver. 

My second metaphor is about high school. When you're a freshman, you're as scared as it gets. You don't know where the classrooms are, who to talk to, how to act, what to wear, etc. By sophomore year you've kinda figured things out enough to not look like a freshman. Junior year you're almost on top of your game, boasting about being an upper classman and enjoying being a real part of the school. Senior year, you dominate. You are comfortable in your own skin and confident about your position. You like to help teach the younger kids where to go, how to get to class, etc. Working in huge hospitals is kinda like that. When you first arrive, people know you're new. They can tell you don't know where you're going or how to act or what to say. As you begin to get to know them and build relationships, they start to trust you and help you out. When I go to a new clinic (or one I do not frequent often), I am back to freshman status. However, in most places I am starting to be in the sophomore-junior phase. I am starting to have a presence in these places and it feels great!

Just to show you how large my main hospital is, here's a picture:

Moving on. Last weekend I flew into Houston and got to spend a 3 day weekend with Darren and some friends. We went camping near Huntsville (and have ZERO pictures to show for it). I just love camping. I pretty much already go to sleep at dusk and wake up at dawn, so doing it in the fresh air with best friends during a relaxing weekend is the picture of perfection. I also worked on my not-so-awesome frisbee skills.

I got to visit the famous haunted Lemp Mansion (http://www.lempmansion.com/) for a product inservice about electrical hygiene last week. Apparently this place is a pretty big deal. One of our SJM guys leading the inservice is so involved in the mansion that he gives tours and has spent many days and nights (ah!) with supernatural hunters. I got one picture of myself standing in the middle of an unnecessarily fancy shower/bathtub in the ladies' room that the Lemp family had imported from France.  If you want a good spook, read that story and come visit and we will eat there!

This weekend I'll be attending a Halloween party hosted by my favorite interventional cardiologist. She is letting me borrow her extra dirndl (cute German girl costume) to match her and Craig (an SJM coworker) as German people. She is throwing the party as a Halloween/Craig's birthday combo and is raising money for a local food bank. 40+ people are coming, including lots of docs, lab staff, and SJM people. I am really looking forward to attending and I hope to have some fun pics to show you afterwards!

In two weeks I'm heading back to Texas for high voltage training (defibrillators). I am, as always, counting down the days and look forward to getting some hugs!

GO RANGERS!!!!!!

Love & blessings,
Brooke

Pictures!

I owe you guys a happier post and a whole bunch of pictures!

GREAT news: I am officially taking a day off from work to visit Darren smack dab in the middle of what would have been 8 weeks apart. This negates almost all of my anxiety about being so far away for so long and gives me something to look forward to :)

Also, I finished my first certification case! It was pretty intimidating to know that I had to figure everything out on my own, but it was with a great doctor and lab staff and the case went very smoothly. I also got my brady bag in this week (for my product once I'm certified).

Tonight I was skyped into my old bible study with some of my favorite people in the entire world. It's funny, when I'm on skype it's like I forget I'm not actually physically there. Except for when Leonard knocks something over and I have to go chase him around the apartment.

Okay, enough talking. Time for some photos!

My new car! Please help me come up with a name.

Kacey came to visit

So did my mom!

Now some obligatory pictures of Leonard being adorable.

Some apartment improvements

New lamp!

Fall decor

Finished the wall art

Repainted the bookshelf for the guest bathroom... actual setup to come, this is temporary

And finally, a pic or two from my visit to Aggieland

That's all for now! Miss you guys.

Love & blessings,
Brooke

A Little Ring Made of Gold

It's funny how some days I feel like things haven't changed a bit. Like when I fly back to Texas and stand with 80,000 of my closest friends and yell for my favorite football team. Or when I hug the necks of 50 AFCers at ring dunks and celebrate their great accomplishments. Or when I hold Darren's hand during what is probably the thousandth church service we have attended together.

But then there are days like today; days when there are no Aggie yells, no AFC hugs, no hand squeezes from the man I love. Days when I look out the window and wonder how on earth I ended up what seems to be halfway across the world from every thing and every one I know.

I'm not sure if it's the daunting task of facing 6 weeks in a row without a visitor or a trip to Texas. It could be the fact that the weather is turning and I am literally afraid of the winter to come. Most likely it is because I am low on sleep and high on requirements. At least that's what my mother thinks.

I will tell you one thing, having Darren call me into AFC devo on Thursday nights was probably the best idea I've had since moving to St. Louis. As most of you know, I spent almost every Thursday night of my entire college career sitting under the stars on the steps of the Academic building praising God with around 100 other AFCers.  This was something that my mother treasured when she went to A&M and, in time, it became a source of encouragement that I, too, sought each week.

Do you ever think about the words you're singing while you're in church or at devo? I know for us Church of Christers there's a lot of focus on the four-part harmony and making sure everything sounds beautiful (remind you of a skit?), but when was the last time you took a song and pulled it apart, word by word? Tonight it was "Thank You, Lord". This song has never really been all that special to me and I'm not sure why. Sure, it's got a fun little tune and the rhythms are interesting, but I always thought it was kind of simple and didn't pay all that much attention to it. Well, tonight while I was singing along with my phone on speaker (my end on mute of course), I focused in on one phrase of that song:


All that You've done and all that You are is all that has carried me through, my Jesus I thank You.

Read that a few times. Maybe some of you have never really had anything in your life that has challenged you. No big changes, no tough situations, no losses or struggles. But, if I had to guess, a lot of you have. Some of you know the deeper things that I've got going on in my life right now, and some of you probably think this is just me whining about moving away (big deal, get over it, etc). Whether or not you know why this struck me doesn't really matter. I just wanted to share something that gave me a little bit more hope than I had yesterday so that maybe the next time you're facing something that you think is bigger than what you can handle, you will remember this part of one song that I happened to catch during a devo I luckily was able to listen in on during one random Thursday in September. I know that the next time I screw up on the job then come home to find that Leonard has once again knocked over the trash can and oh, by the way, there are 4 more bills that need to be paid and there are 50 more days until I get to hug somebody who loves me I will think about the sacrifice that Christ made and how He has this whole thing figured out and is standing right beside me when I need Him.

It doesn't matter that I will not interact with a single human being this weekend except for when I go to church on Sunday. It doesn't matter that I have to cook for one and eat three meals a day by myself. It doesn't matter that I will go 7 months before I get see my home sweet home in Sachse, Texas. What matters is the sacrifice that Christ made on that cross. He had a plan for me then and has a plan for me now. Heavens knows I have no idea what that plan is because you better bet your life I would NOT have planned this little excursion to the Midwest. But the plan is in motion and I have to stop fighting against it so I can start fulfilling whatever it is He has called me to do.

I don't know if a single person will get anything good out of all that gibberish I just typed out, but it makes me feel better writing about it.

Onto an actual update.

Since the last time I wrote, my mother and Kacey came to visit me. We had a whirlwind weekend of car and wedding dress shopping, both of which were purchased within about a 5 hour time span on Saturday. Let's just say I had a little trouble falling asleep on Saturday night after knowing how much money I had spent/committed to spending. But, I LOVE my car and am very excited about altering my dress to perfection.

A week later I left for my Low Voltage Phase II (Bradycardia) training in Austin. I spent the weekend in College Station (toured the new Biomed building, saw Contagion, ate at Blue Baker) and then joined my intern class for a fun-filled week (ha) of timing cycles and algorithms. After passing the final and wasting 3 hours learning about my "personality" from a test, I was picked up and sped to College Station by a friend so that I could go with Darren to get his Aggie Ring!!! His little ring made of gold is about three times the size of mine and the whole experience was very exciting. There really is nothing quite like Aggieland and our traditions. I went to some ring dunks and saw some of my very best friends (all of whom I miss dearly), then got to go to Yell Practice! Even though I decided midnight yell should be nine-o-clock yell because I was falling asleep on the drive there, I absolutely loved being back in Kyle Field and kissing the only date I've ever had to Yell when the lights went down. Saturday Darren and I enjoyed lunch with the Days before heading to the game. Then we BTHO Idaho (not without some coaching input from me of course).  Sunday brought church in the morning and then the dreaded afternoon of goodbyes followed by a series of flights.

Now that I'm back in St. Louis, I have to complete 5 implants and 5 patient checks on brady devices to become certified. I also have to do all of the modules for the next phase of training (tachycardia). Then I'll head to Texas on November 12 for another exciting round of CS visits and Austin training. Oh, and a little game between the Fightin' Texas Aggies and some orange school who thinks they deserve their own network. Psh.

Pictures to come!!! I just haven't uploaded them yet.

Love and blessings,
Brooke