Just put on a little lipstick...

I was raised that you should not use the word hate, but I have to say I hate cancer! It seems that more and more people are being affected by this horrible disease. I understand that detection techniques are better and more people are being diagnosed earlier, which is great. Early detection = early treatment and generally better outcomes. I do believe that there is a definite connection between American lifestyles, the S tandard A merican D iet and higher rates of cancer. I think America is a country of excess - we love food, drink and technology. I hear people saying that our ancestors ate lard, eggs, bacon and lived to be 100. They also worked hard from sun up to sun down. They got true physical workouts, and probably never stepped into a gym. They drank tap, or well water and knew the person that grew most of their vegetables, if they didn't grow their own. Ok, I'll get off my soap box and back on topic... In the past 3 months I have gotten a visit, phone call and email f...

One thing I am committed to doing this year is writing letters, or at least sending cards to my family and friends. My Dad and my Mother in law are great at sending cards, and receiving them always makes me smile. I plan to return the favor to them, and many others. So, if I have your home address you might just hear from me this year! A couple of weeks ago I was at Walgreens checking out all the new candy choices, and ran across the ailse of kiddie card sets. I was immediately flooded with great memories of Valentine exchanges in Elementary school. This of course, sparked an idea and I grabbed a box and started addressing them to my girlfriends. I hope they had as much fun opening them, as I had sending them!    Another fun way to send cards I've found is the postcard app for iphone. The one I'm using has a picture of the Eiffel Tower on it, but evidently there are several to choose from....

It's been a fairly easy winter here in Nashville. Cold, but no big ice storms, no heavy snows that brought traffic to a standstill. Remember this is the south, we aren't prepared with plows so 2 inches of snow, or significant ice can cripple our city. Today we did get some big white wet flakes, but nothing that kept us indoors or stranded. I was in eastern Idaho and Wyoming for work this month and I was amazed at how well maintained the roads there are, even in deep snow. I knew this must be true, I had just never witnessed it. They have plows out day and night and the roads are kept clear. We saw school kids waiting for buses with snow almost as tall as they were. Here's some beautiful pictures from Idaho and Wyoming:

I saw this story today on CNN and it brought back memories of deciding what to do about nipples. Erin Burnett Out Front http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2013/02/12/erin-pkg-tattoo-artist-breast-cancer-survivors.cnn.html Quite honestly, nipples are something I took for granted before breast cancer came into my life. I was born with them, they were always there. Then one day you find out you have cancer and nipples are discussed. Do you need them? Do you want them? Tattooed nipples, built nipples or a bit of both? If you are a smoker some doctors will not even attempt to graft nipples on, because capillary blood flow is typically poor in smokers and often nipples don't adhere and fall off. Now, that would suck! I made a choice, I got nipples built and then the nurse in my plastic surgeon's office tattooed color on them once they had healed. I'll admit, there have been some hot summer days when I've questioned that decision. If I had not gotten nipples, I w...