Time to Catch Up!

Okay.... so I haven't been keeping up very good while I've been home on break. but here we go... first things first... I got my grades in... straight A's and a 4.0 gpa!! Woohoo!!

Wednesday night before Christmas I had some friends for HS come over!! We had such a great time, it's always good to catch up! Ended the night up at the WSL. Great to see everyone!! This is just a picture of us girls! The guys wanted nothing to do with picture taking! lol Christmas Eve I traveled to my Grandma Normas to have Christmas with the Cummins' side! We had a really great time! This quilt was made for my Grandma of my Uncle Marks old football jersey and some of his favorite tshirts from Newton! It was really amazing!

My beautiful goddaughter Charlotte Jo!

Kaydo and one of his Christmas gifts!! Isn't he a cutie!!

And drakey butt playin with the wrapping paper!! He had a great first Christmas!

The Cummins' girls! Sydney, Samantha, Susanne, and Me! Love these girls!!

Christmas Day we had family at our house but I didn't take any pictures!! :( I didn't do a very good job of that this year! Anywho then Christmas Night we went out to Kent and Sandras for Farley side!! Cole and Ross in their new sweatshirts!

Me and Lukey! He is so adorable!

Then after that I went out with some people for Brian Biermans 21st birthday!! I was the DD! :) We had a really good time and I was glad I got to go!!

This past Saturday about 32 of us went out on a party bus for Ryan Probst 21st birthday!! Freakin blast!! We had so much fun, I think we are doing it again this Saturday! haha

Me and Heather on the bus!!

So as of now... thats about it! It has been a great break so far!! Hope everyone has a great New Years!!!

1 down... alot to go!!

I am officially done with my first quarter of school here in STL!! :) It went by really fast, maybe because I was actually enjoying myself. I have recieved my grade for my Textiles class... its an A!! Whoop Whoop! Haven't recieved the others yet but I will get them in the mail within the next week or so. I'm pretty confident with my projects in the rest of my classes though, so I'm hoping for A's as well!!! Let Christmas break begin!!!

Surprise Surprise!!

So... yesterday at like 5 or so Eric text me and said he was coming to visit me! I texted Heather and told her that if she wasn't doing anything she should come too!! And this is where these two started getting tricky... lol Heather texted me back and said that she wasn't going to be able to get to Erics in time that he was getting ready to leave, so she would just come next time. This was at about 6 or 6:30. So I'm getting ready and my phone goes off and it's Heather askin how far Vandalia is from me. I told her and asked why she was asking! She said she was looking at jobs there, which made total since because she has been looking for jobs! So I thought nothing of it! Then about 8:30 rolls around, and I'm thinking where the hell is Eric he should be here by now, so I text him and he said he was just cruisin along he'd be here soon. lol I was ok... whatever! So about 9 he calls and is like "Ok WE are on Washington, blah blah blah"..... I was giving him directions... and he kept responding with WE.... again... didn't think anything of it! Next thing I know Eric turns the corner and Heather is in the passenger seat!! She surprised me!!! I was so excited to see them both! We ended up going down the street to an Irish Pub called The Dubliner! We had dinner there, and ended up stayin there all night listening to the live band!! My friend Cinzia also came and joined us! It was a great surprise and a great night!! :)

Pioneer Woman Tomorrow!!

Tomorrow Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman will be at her book signing stop right her in St. Louis. AND right by my apartment here! I am so excited to meet her!! My cookbook is ready now I just have to wait till tomorrow evening! :) Can't Wait!

Spice Up Your Life!!

Okay so today at PSC we could dress up for Halloween which is fun for us cause then we don't have to dress up so professional like we do everyday!! So last night I was out with the girls and we decided to dress up as Spice Girls! lol We threw all of our costumes together last minute and I think we look pretty damn good! Our friend Jeremey is also in this picture... but it was the best group picture we had!
Left to Right: Sporty Spice (aka. Ashley), Scary Spice (Shannon), Ginger Spice (ME!), Posh Spice (Cinzia), Baby Spice (Brittney)... and then our angel up top is Jeremey! :)
AND TO OUR SURPRISE... we had a contest at lunch time and prizes were awarded for scariest, funniest, and best overal... AND WE WON BEST OVERALL!!! woohoo!

Pat on the back...

Okay, so I'm going to brag a little bit on myself! :) I have taken 3 tests so far and got A's on all of them!! And on all of my assignments so far this quarter! I'm pretty proud of myself! I have a project due Thursday so I'm hoping I can keep my streak up!! I'm also working on my first floor plan and have hands down came to the conclusion that I need a GOOD drafting table at my place! But anywho... things are going great with school! Hope everyone has a great Halloween Weekend!!!

Suggestions Please!!!

So I'm working on my first project for school, and basically I have to get my "own" interior design business set up. So first off I need to come up with a name and logo to put on all of my paperwork... I was trying to think of something with my name or initials??? But I want something catchy and unique... I'm at a stand still!! Let me know if you can think of anything!! THanks!

HarvestFest!!

This past Saturday, was first off Trevor Scott's 21st birthday! So about 14 of us traveled in Dave Geltz van to the Berryville Wine Festival! It was such a nice day outside and we had a great time. After we left there we went and ate at Vic's and then spent the rest of the evening in T-town!! :) Anyways, this week is my second week of school!! I absolutely love it! I'm attending my first ASID meeting tomorrow night at DALTILE! I'm so excited! :) That's all for now... Everyone have a great week!!!

New Home... In the works!!

Here are some pictures of my new place. Still have some things to do like recover the pillows on the sofa below and hang pictures. But once everything is done I will post new pictures just wanted to get some on of what we have done so far!! This is looking down the hall from my kitchen table! And a view of the closet my mom and grandpa made out of old doors! It's pretty neat and it gives me a little more privacy in my room!

Bedroom!! Still don't have a dresser or anything hung on the wall yet!

Bathroom... obviously! lol

View from hall looking into living area.

Looking at kitchen area and hall from living room.

Living area! Thank god my grandparents had so much furniture! I just went shopping there! haha and then mom repainted everything!!! Still need to recover the kitchen table chairs as well! We picked out some really awesome fabric!!

Sofa and Rug in living area!!

View from other corner in living room, where my drafting table will be! And thats about it so far!!

Off to the Ozarks!

Well.... I've been on the go since I arrived in Stl Tuesday! I love it here! A big thanks to Dan Matson for pulling his trailer full of my things and helping us move in. And my Uncle Mike deserves a huge thanks as well he also helped us move in and keep trying to introduce me to people on the elevator... lol It was a little embarrassing! Mom and Tim have spent the week with me doing ALOT of shopping which we all know I don't mind! :) I still have so much to do it seems like but so far so good!

So in a few hours I will be on my way to the Lake of the Ozarks for Labor Day weekend with a bunch of my good friends!! I'm very excited and ready for a little vacation!!

I'll put some pictures up of my place as soon as its all put together and in order!
Everyone have a great Labor Day weekend!!

Moving Day!

Tomorrow is officially moving day! I'm excited but feel like I don't have everything ready... Guess I'll find out when I get over there and am missing something! ha I'm so ready to get all of my furniture in my place finally instead of just picturing it in my head! As soon as everything is in place I'll post some pictures! Bye Bye Jasper County!

Oh the Windy City....

This past weekend, Stacey, Mark and Myself traveled to Chicago for a friend of Marks Wedding! I was Stacey's date since Mark was in the wedding.... and who just doesn't love weddings anyway! lol We stayed at the Westin and the reception was right at the hotel in a huge air conditioned tent outside. It was gorgeous! The wedding however was about an hour away and the church was so old it wasn't air conditioned.... it freakin sucked! The bridal party had to be about ready to pass out! lol But anyways had a great time at the reception, food was great, music was great, and met alot of new people! Thanks Emily for the amazing dress!!! I loved it and had a great time wearing it! :) Stac, Mark, amd Me!!

Sweet Summer Time!!

It's been such a great summer!! Just thought I'd add some pictures from throughout the summer. This is most recent. Nikki, Shana, and I getting ready to leave for a Wedding in St. Marie. Of course there was alot of time spent at the lake this year!!

Mitch Addis had his big party again this year and it was so good to see everyone!!!

Especially these two!!! Clay, Me, and Doug!!

Had to post a picture of the party crew!! These were the people I was with about 100% of the time this summer!! Love them!! Tyler, me, Nikki, and Shayne

Me and Stacey at Jessica and Derek's Wedding!

Me and Brooke at Josh and Stefani's Wedding!

A bunch of us traveled to Champaign for Amber's Birthday!! This is just us girls but all together I would say there was probably about 20 or 25 of us! It was a great time!!

Us girls at the last bar before closing time!!

More time at the Lake!! :) Me and Nikki!!

Oddly Enough...

So today was my last day at Wright's with "everyone". I work tomorrow also but there are only 4 of us here. I was so excited to be done and be an irresponsible 20 year old for the next few weeks before I had to put it all behind me. But as my responsibities here get smaller and smaller because I can't take on anymore jobs obviously because I can't finish them, I'm a little bit sad. Sitting at the computer today doing some flooring pricing (flooring is my baby here!), John walks by and pats me on the shoulder and tells me "Good luck Lea, we are going to miss you!" It honestly made me sad! I loved what I did here.... most of the time ha! I can really say that I will miss this place. I would have never guessed when I first started working here that I would have the responsibility that I am leaving with, but I am so happy that I got to experience that! I remember in the first few weeks of working here I'm pretty sure John made me cry a couple times! lol But I have honestly built some pretty good relationships with my co-workers and I will miss them!!! But I guess there comes a time when you have to move on from things.... I've learned that alot lately. And I am def. ready to!! St. Louis here I come!!

It's Official... Fashion Square - Floor 7

Okay so yesterday we traveled back to Stl. to look at more lofts because my friend nikki decided to no longer move over there with me.... so sad! So I was thinking that there was no way I was going to be able to live in Fashion Square... the building I had my heart set on. But me and mom decided to just pop in and double check to see if they had any 1 bedrooms coming open, because they originally did not. She said that there was a possibility for one and she would know by Friday at the latest! So for the rest of the day I was pretty closed minded about any other places cause I just knew Fashion Square is where I wanted to be! And Jen, from Fashion Square, called this morning and IT IS GOING TO BE OPEN!!! I officially know exactly what loft I will be moving into! Mom and Tim will be signing the lease on Friday.... though my move in date has been pushed back because the people in there now will not be moving out as soon. Thats okay more time to spend in the good ol' JC!! :) I'm so excited!!! I'll get some good pictures of my actual place on eventuallY!! Yay me!! :)

Crunch Time....

So last Tuesday I took off work and headed to Stl again to look at a few more lofts and show Nikki the one I absolutely love. There is a possibility she may be moving with me which would be great!! We found a perfect loft in Fashion Square for the two of us, and this was the building I fell in love with in the first place. So I'm getting pretty excited!! We are going to have to sign a lease by August 1st which means I could very possibly be moving over there in less than a month. Which wasn't my original plan....... I wanted to spend the summer here with all my friends.... but the time has come where I think it's just best that I move and get settled in over in Stl. I know mom is worrying because I'm a big procrasinator :) I think i get it from her though so it really isn't my fault!! But anyways.... Summer is going by fast.... I'm excited and ready to start packing things up and moving!!! This picture is the front of the Fashion Square Lofts from Washington Street. It really is a neat place!! Can't wait to call it home!!!

Swim Lessons....

Hey Everyone... Just getting the word out that I am going to be teaching swim lessons this year just at Chad and Holly Farleys pool. So it will be a little different atmosphere! But I'm only doing it one week - July 6th thru July 10th. Unless I set something up of an evening with you. If you have any questions or are interested just contact me and we can set something up! Thanks alot!

Washington Ave..... STL!!!

So Monday morning, Ashley and I took off for STL to meet my mom and do a little apartment shopping. We looked at a few monday and then headed to my Aunt Heidi's and Uncle Mikes in Kirkwood to spend the evening. They took us to Ted Drewes for a little Ice Cream and then we spent the evening in... my grandpa clark, uncle mike, tim, and becket hung out upstairs and played games. While me, ash, my mom, and my aunt heidi stayed down stairs and watched old 80's movies... lol. Good times! :) Tuesday, Tim, Mom, Ash, and I took off to look at a few more places! We found a few good ones but my absolute favorite is Fashion Square Lofts! This is the view from the very top of the roof... if you go down the stairs there is a pool and bar/entertaining area...

Me and Ash in front of another view from the roof. I love this place!!! It is about a block away from my school, great security, gated parking, very spacious, just really amazing!!

A look down Washington Ave.... Fashion Square lofts is on the right... We are standing in front of a little resturant we went and ate at called Lucas Street Grill and Market... amazing food and a neat little outside eating area in the front and a deck off to the side. Very cool!

Me and Ashley again! I had such a great time these past two days... I think i will really love it over there. Glad mom, ash and tim helped me look around!! Great little mini vaca....

Just a lil update...

So not much has been going on with me... did get my tattoo finished! I'll post pictures when it is all healed up... I love it! :) Besides that... I'm just excited that we are getting all this warm weather... We had our first day out on the lake a couple weeks ago and it was awesome! I love being out on the lake till the sun goes down so of course I had to take a picture! And then there is Nikki and Me!!
Then a couple saturdays ago... Me and Samantha and Susanne and Kyle all went on a poker run I'll have pics of that up soon! We had such a good time! Of course we weren't on bikes... ha.

My new tattoo!!

I don't know what I was thinking I do have news! lol I got my tattoo on my foot :) Love it... so far that is! It isn't finished yet I have to go back in a couple of weeks to get the color filled in so... when its all done and healed I will post a picture!!

Countdown is on... HA

Wow I haven't posted in forever... not even sure where to start! I guess my first news is that I officially have my class spot reserved to start school in STL in October. I'm excited!! Other than that nothing is really new with me... My birthday was this past Wednesday... the big 20... I'm no longer a teenager... party is over! ha yeah right! so the countdown is on... one more year! :) It kinda sucks cause I'm basically the youngest of my class but I was talking to Clay Britton the other day and he made a good point..... when all the older ones turn 21 they won't have as many people to party with cause none of us will be old enough yet by the time my birthday rolls around... Everyone will be able to party with me! lol Anyways all the girls came home to party with me for the weekend... it was a great time! I was glad to see everyone... it had been forever! Thank god the weather was nice! We kicked off the festivities on Friday afternoon.... and ended them at about 4 o clock sunday morning.... :) Here are just a few pictures of us girls.... We made shirts again this year and we all wore them later that night... but my camara died before the unvailing of those so no pictures! :) Haley, Nikki, Brooke, Amber, Alison, Me, Tiffany, Ashley, and Shana!
Amber, Nikki, Brooke, Me, Tiffany, and Ashley!

Anways! That is about all that is new with me! I'm 100% ready for summertime! Can't Wait!!!

Update...

Ben did have to have surgery yesterday for the pressure to be relieved in his brain.... it went well. If you would like to keep updated on my cousin Ben you can go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/benjaminmiller. His sister is keeping everyone posted on anything that is going on as she is there all day - everyday. Keep Praying Everyone!

Long Road Ahead...

So we had put some pictures of Ben up in his room, because it is comforting to see them for us and we were told that the nurses enjoying seeing the person they are working with how they were before because it helps them also... We found this picture today... blew it up and it is posted on the front glass of his room in ICU... :) Gotta love Ben... he's such a funny guy.

Anyways.... it was another long day today. Most of the day was the same... they had to drain his brain a few times. And he did well with his feeding today. I only went in a few times today... it's getting harder to go in and see him laying there and not be able to talk to him. We have a book that me and my mom went and got on the first day and have just been passing it around in the waiting room throughout the day... its really neat. So i just write in there what I would say to him if I could talk to him right now! Later on this evening one of his physical therapists came in and she fit him with splints for his hands to prevent contractures. She told us that starting tomorrow we will be able to go in and talk to him again and hold his hand..... we are supposed to touch the inside of his palm while talking and always repeat things for up to 4 to 5 minutes such as "open your eyes ben" just because that's how long it will take his brain to understand (for lack of a better word). Or we can just go in and talk to him if we'd like, but we're also told for only one person to be talking at a time because he can't be hearing more than one voice or noise because it will confuse him.

It's scary... also within the next few days/weeks they will be running tests to see what kind of damage to the brain stem has been done which is really going to determine alot of his response to things as I understand it. As his sister Tara has said we are just trying to prepare ourselves right now from no response to a full recovery. And we are in it for the long haul!!

I'm going back to work tomorrow... although I'd rather just be there. Not really sure what to do about this weekend. I know there are a lot of people at the hospital, but it just feels like I should be there, but then again this is going to be a long period of time and I'm going to have to be working to.... I just dont' know what to do! Just cant wait for the moment to talk to him again or to just even know for a fact that he is goign to live just with a lot of rehab...

I went in and saw him right before we left tonight... we weren't supposed to be in there but the nurse let me anyways :) She said that his numbers were getting up high again and she might have to drain in a few minutes and so I asked her about the monitors and where she was looking.... she paused for a minute... smiled... finally pointed them out to me and then immediately said hunny you dont' worry about those numbers that's my job just worry about praying and taking care of him. She was sweet... and it's nice to have such good nurses there!

Keep Praying!!

Wednesday...

So Ben had a rough night last night they had to drain his brain about 6 times within an hour and at about 1 the nurse was preparing to call the neurosurgeon if Ben's brain fluid levels stayed above 20 again for more than five minutes. But we didn't end up having to call the surgeon and he had remained stabalized staying between a level of 11-14! That was up until 8:30 this morning... shortly after that we met with the neurosurgeon who updated us on Ben's status. Currently there are two fronts that Ben is working on. The first is trying to keep his intracranial pressure at levels that will not do further damage to his brain. The second is the healing of the brain stem. He told us that Ben will have a CAT scan tomorrow to check on the brain stem. While there is no change in Ben's neurological assessment today, that the first 1-2 weeks after the injury will tell a lot in terms of long term prognosis. The great news that he gave us is that he believes Ben is approaching the peak of brain swelling and that the swelling should start to subside by the end of this evening. He also told us that his belly is waking up and is making some gurgling noises, so they are going to continue attempts with feeding.

Keep praying everyone... its going to be a long journey!!

End of Tuesday Night....

Well, we were told that the second and third days of Ben's journey would be the worst...we are starting to see that. We are still being encouraged not to talk to him or touch him, since it is too stimulating for him to handle.

As of 8 pm, Ben had the fluid drained off of his brain twice more. We are happy to see that his heart and lungs are strong and functioning correctly. Praise the Lord! However, they attempted to feed him through a tube in his mouth and it was not successful. Ben didn't receive the food well - probably because it looks like brown paste and is dripping through a tube in his mouth.

At 9:20 pm he had another drain - then they had to drain again at 9:35 pm. We were told that the maximum amount of swelling would occur during the second and third days of Ben's battle. We are seeing their predictions right now. But we have not lost hope at all...our Ben has already overcome a blood clot on the right side of his brain and has made it 32 hours without having to have a major surgery! He has already made small steps toward recovery and we are waiting patiently to see even more!

A great saying I always think of when something hard comes along in life, my uncle marks nurses had given him a sign when he was battling cancer, and it fits perfectly along with Ben also!

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog!"

Keep praying everyone!
We are at the hotel room for the night and we'll be returning to the hospital in the morning! I will keep everyone updated!

Update on Ben!!

Ben did well overnight. They had to drain the blood from his brain twice. And they took him off of his sedatives so he can unfortunetly feel the pain but we are told that is a "good thing". We weren't allowed to see him from 12-3 today because they were going to have to drain the brain again around 2. My uncle Tom, ben's dad, went in at one point and was talking to him like we had been doing since we have been allowed to see him because they say even when unconcious he can still here us. But when my Uncle went in there to talk to him it caused the brain swelling to shoot up. (The number we are looking at for the brain swelling is between 1 and 25. If the numbers go up and stay up between 17 and 25 for 5 minutes they have to drain the brain.) So right now the nurse has asked us not to talk to him or touch him because it causes to much of a stimulus.She said that right now the best way she could describe what Ben was feeling was like a migraine. She said that when someone has a migraine they want all the lights off, don't want to be around anyone, and don't want to hear anything or be touched. While it is hard for us to stare at him through the glass and not be in the room with him anymore, we know that it is best for Ben right now. They have started feeding him through a tube today, so that's good. The waiting room receptionist said she has never seen so many people come through to visit someone like Ben has had...he has no enemies in the world! It is going to be a slow process and a lot of waiting, but we are all praying for the best.

Thank you for continuing to pray and believe that God can work miracles. He has made it 27 hours now. We have been told that the first few days will be the most rough, and the most critical.

Keep Praying!!

Please Pray!

My cousin Ben was in a motorcycle accident yesterday afternoon in Carbondale. He was going a little fast around a curve and lost control. Thank god he was riding with a friend and an ambulance was called right away. They life lined him to Evansville where we were told there wasn't much of a chance because of the blood clot in his brain and the swelling. His brain stem is also bruised. But about an hour later they did a reassement before surgury and the blood clot had dissappeared and the swelling hadn't gotten any worse since he'd been there so he was just put on a monitor to watch the swelling. They say these next two days are going to show whether or not the brain will swell. And he is still not awake due to the bruised brain stem. My cousin has a long road ahead of him! Please pray for his healing!! I got to see him right before we left yesterday and he actually looks good no scraps or anything on his face or body really just a gash in his leg/ankle... which is taken care of. He's a strong person and will pull through this just keep him in your thoughts and prayers! I will keep everyone updated as time goes on! It's just a waiting game now!

Birthday Wishes... a little late!

In the past month or so there have been a few birthdays that I haven't mentioned!

The most recent was my Aunt Kims!! And we celebrated in style.. :) Me, Samee, Sus, mom, and aunt kim all went out to eat. Here is mom and aunt kim at stables for after dinner drinks and dessert! Happy Birthday Aunt Kim! You are very special to me! Love you! Sus... being a dork at olive garden! lol

Me and Samee and our fruity drinks! I don't remember what they were called but it was a very good choice Samee!!

When they brought out my second drink he didn't bring a little straw so I stuck my big straw in there and we all thought it was pretty funny at the time and it deserved a picture! :)

Samee, Sus, and Me enjoying drinks and dessert at Stables!!

Me and Mom at Stables!

Also recently these two pretty little girls celebrated birthdays!! Alex celebrated hers in February and Callista just a few weeks ago... So Happy Birthday Girls! Love you!

AND... Syd celebrated her 11th birthday a few weeks ago also! So Happy Birthday Syd!! Love you very much!!