Vulnerability

So this year was supposed to be my best year yet.... 

For any of you that have known me for any period of time, you know that I live with a constant battle with acne. Unlike most people, I have been through 4 dermatologists and every medication known to man and still have new break outs daily. 

You name it...

Retin-A
Salicylic Acid 
Benzol Peroxid 
Minocyclin
Tricyclin
Spirinolacton
Accutane

and the list goes on....


So after 4 different dermatologists and thousands of pills to fix my acne situation - my newest dermatologist (whom I really like) has put me back on my 3rd round of Accutane. This round of accutane is much more aggressive than the last two rounds of accutane. I am taking 160 mg of Accutane per day compared to the first two times when I was taking 40 mg per day. 


It is crazy the steps that you have to take every month in order to be on the medication. 
Pregnancy test

Blood work 
Questions
Online Enrollment
Prescription filled

 So my road started in July 2009- with high expectations. 

After month two...

 

After month three....

 

 

 

 

 

Missed month four... Aren't you glad? 

 After month five...

 

 

 

 

Isn't make up a wonderful thing? 

So, I'm in my last month of treatment with accutane and then I must take a break for six months to let my body rest. My lips are excited about the break from all of the cracking. If there isn't a drastic change within the next three weeks - then it looks like I'll get to do all of this again in 6 months. I'm looking forward to being able to look in the mirror and see me - not see the marred image of me.

I'm hopeful and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Finally.... A Weekend In Nashville

It has been a long time since I posted a blog.... I guess I fell off of the blog scene momentarily.

I spent the weekend in Nashville hanging with good friends and meeting a few new ones. 

Friday night I spent the evening with my sister and Justin. I love them both dearly and they are always my safe place to go to when something is going on.... Upon reaching M and J's humble abode on Friday, we decided to watch Babel.

 

This might be the worst movie that I have watched in a very long time. Thus, I fell into a coma half way through the movie. I did get to sleep in the bed of clouds at M and J's after it was over. 

On Saturday the crew and I decided to go for brunch at South Street. It was amazing. Everyone had breakfast preparing for the day of drinking, but I, of course, had a turkey sandwich instead! Weird, right? 

Upon leaving South Street we headed to the Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival at the Nashville Convention Center. The beer was good and the bourbon was flowing. We played a couple of games of cornhole and hung out for a while. All in all it was a good time.... I met a new friend via Josh from Knoxville and we spent the day catching up with old friends as well. 

 

Melissa, Paul, Josh, Me, Kelly, and Tiffany at the BBQ Festival. 

 

Me and the boys (minus Greg).... boys will be boys. Josh is one of Paul's best friends from growing up - he might be one of my new favorite people. He's a ton of fun.... of course Josh and Kevin are the usuals in the normal hang out crew. 

 

Melissa and I hit it off instantly. I think that if I lived in Knoxville that I could get in trouble hanging out with this girl. She is such a good time! I'm looking forward to seeing her again very soon! 

 

Even she was doing the Meggan smile, head tilt, and hands by the end of the night. She was trooper in the bucket drinking and I played the babysitter card on the beer front. 

All and all it was very successful weekend. I got to spend some time shopping and entertaining the sister on Sunday....

Buyers Remorse....

So for any of you that may know me personally... this will be nothing short of a reminder of how obsessive I can be about buying clothes... For those of you that do not know me, let me introduce myself....

"My name is Meggan and I have a shopping addiction."

Don't get me wrong, I do not spend money that I do not have on clothes - nor am I breaking the bank or creating a large debt on credit. I simply like to buy and have new clothes.

I made the mistake of doing a little online shopping during my "not so lunchy, lunch break" at work on Friday which spurred this desire to go to a store and feel the new fabric against my skin...

Maybe not quite in such vibrant colors or patterns... but you get the drift.

This Saturday I came to the conclusion that I might have a small problem. I mean I have clothes that I haven't even worn yet hanging in my closet, but I'm out buying a few new items. I mean I guess I justify the purchases because we are after all in the middle of changing seasons. The summer and spring clothes just will not work any longer and last years clothes.... well they're still hanging in my closet too.

I decided on Saturday that I would go do some window shopping at The Avenue in Murfreesboro. I mean surely I wouldn't find anything that I just couldn't live without. WRONG! 

Something about the following sign totally threw off my determination not to purchase anything..... 

AHHHHH!!!! No Good!

I did find some really nice slacks for work on sale and a few shirts (not on sale) that I thought that I had filled my retail therapy needs.... until I walked past this adorable little store that must have been created by the devil. .

This store will suck you in and make you spend all of your money and then spit you out. I am talking about the most amazing cheap, but not cheap looking jewelry. They have absolutely EVERYTHING that you could imagine.

Like this.... but this a lot more to choose from and organized by color. 

Anyway, I spent far too much money and ended up taking half of it back.... with the exception of my incredibly adorable large sunglasses.

Because they are totally trendy... 

I hope that am able to refrain next weekend. I should probably wear what is in the closet before ever walking into another clothing store or shopping mall.  

Weekend in the "Big City"....

As promised, I have returned to share with you a few photos from this weekend!


Did I comment in my first post how unhappy I was with the movie Love Happens?

 Katie and I made our way through a ton of traffic (caused by a rock slide on I-24) to the theater to spend $10 a piece to watch a mediocre movie. It wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't a great movie either. It was not really a sad movie, but definitely a "Debbie Downer" movie. Anyway....It will not be winning any Oscars and is another bad movie for the record books in my opinion.

The rest of the weekend was filled with football...

The UT Vols lost to Florida.... Ugh.

So I thought well maybe Arkansas will represent from the home front....

Ugh.... still no luck - Dogs beat the Hogs. Strike 2 for Saturday.

It was a day of lost cause. I guess I spent Saturday killing a lot of time and a couple of beers waiting for one of my teams to win at Mauri and Justin's.

Sunday had to be better for a day of football, regardless of the rain..... so since Justin couldn't go to the Titans game with Mauri because of his mistress, Ms. Chemistry, kid sister Skipper was able to tag along and use the second ticket that one of my co-workers had.

Sister and I before the game.

 Love you sister!

It was a lot of fun.  We drank a few beers and cheered on the Titans as best as we could. Unfortunately, our offense was not able to stop the Texans from scoring and inevitably winning the game.

It was a weekend of pretty average entertainment... Average movie... 3 of my teams lost.... and the Emmy Awards were less than Vanilla.

Day 1 and Day 6....

Well... here goes nothing.

After months of reading Mauri's blog, I decided that it was time for me to trade one addiction for another and start my own. I have always enjoyed expressing my, often random, thoughts by putting pen to paper - so why not?

I am sure that some of you are probably wondering what the Day 6 represents.... or if you are friends of mine on "the facebook", I am sure that you have seen the random hours and days on my status.

 On September 13th, 2009, at 10:00 p.m. I lit my last cigarette.... 

God, I loved to smoke.... Strike that - I LOVE TO SMOKE. For those of your have been a regular smoker, you know what I mean. That feeling in the morning when you wake up and you have your first smoke on the way to work or as soon as you get in the car headed wherever. That break at lunch that lets you escape from a stressful day. Even in the afternoon where you survive through the afternoon only for the promise of a cigarette as soon as you are outside. 

For those of you who have not been a addicted to my sweet friend - that's bitter sweet because you do not know what you are missing, but you also do not have to ever quit something that you love. 

 

This is totally what I feel like now that I quit.... 

 

I mean everyone is/was doing it......

__________________________________________________________________

On another note... I am going to my first Tennessee Titans football game tomorrow. 

I have not been to a NFL game since I was in the 3rd or 4th grade and that was a Buffalo Bills game... WOW! That was such a long time ago! 

I suppose this should be all for my first post... More to come later...