Valentine's Bliss

Last week I was blissfully engaged in creating crafty, colorful, love-filled joy to spread around...and I wanted to share it with you, since sadly, Valentine's day is behind us now.  (But at least I have my birthday to look forward to!!!)

The kitchen table was covered in colored paper galore, bits of scraps, markers and pens while my best friend / roommate, Sherri and I handcrafted cards for our friends.  For Sherri, I strung shapes together and hung them from the ceiling fan in her bedroom for a festive Valentine's inspired mobile!  I also scattered red swedish fish all over her bed.  :)

Now, I received some fun Vday surprises too!  Yummy and beautiful heart-shaped cookies from Pam.  Chocolates and other such treats from Mom.  And these fun flowers from Peggy.  What makes these flowers so special is that they are solar powered, and when the sun hits them, the flowers happily wave back and forth while the leaves bob up and down.  It's quite a cheerful little show that they put on, and they make me smile.  :)

The red one is Sherri's and it lives in the living room, and the pink one is (of course) mine and it lives at the window above the kitchen sink so that I can enjoy it while doing the dishes...which I need to be doing.  :(

And finally, the Valentine's treats shared between my friends at the Stem Cell Clinic and me.

Happy Friday my friends!  Have a wonderful, colorful weekend!

Valentine's Day = PINK!

I'm always looking for a reason to wear pink...afterall, it's my favorite - my signature - color!  And what better occassion to sport that happy color than on Valentine's Day.  Since the 14th just so happened to be on one of my days to visit the Stem Cell Clinic, I thought it would be a great excuse to sport not just pink, but the hot pink wig given to me by my hair-stylist friend Peggy waaaayyyy long ago when I first started chemo in 2007.  Even though I have about a half inch of hair growth now, I thought the wig would be the perfect antidote to the mid-winter blahs!

And it was a huge  H I T !    Now, I don't wear it often, because I don't like to attract such attention to myself.  But every once in a while, when I am feeling bold and brave, I will go pink.  Just walking into clinic, past the waiting rooms and other nurses, elicited quite the reactions!  What fun!

The nurse assistant Sandy and physician's assistant Zylphia were the first to see me.  From what I understand it had already been a crazy busy morning when I walked in at 8:30, and it was fun to watch them crack up and see the mood lighten a bit!

My nurse Linda, a cancer survivor herself, saw me next.  Her reaction was priceless..."pure sex" is what she called it!  She couldn't stop laughing about it and was excitedly anticipating my oncologist's reaction.  She always tells me that I'm his favorite patient, and knew that he would just love the wig.

When my doctor did come in for his rounds, everyone gathered around to catch his reaction.  It was great!  He laughed and laughed, and told me that it was a good omen because another patient of his was given a pink wig (not as neon of one, he was quick to add) and ever since she began wearing it she has been in remission.  That's wonderful, but for me the wig will get safely tucked back into it's storage spot until the next great occassion!  I already have my healing...

I also gave Dr. Agha a little Valentine's button to wear on his jacket lapel.  I told him he has to wear it all day today, and I think he was quite happy to do so!  I actually regifted it, as I just got it yesterday attached to the most beautifully decorated heart shaped sugar cookie from my lovely friend Pam.  Ohhh and it was so yummy too!  (The cookie, not the button!)  It didn't last till Valentine's day...not even close!  :)  Anyway, the button has a frog leaping over a bicycle and it says "I flip 4 you".  It is very, very cute!  I hated to give it up, but being that Dr. Agha is an avid bicyclist, I knew it was perfect and thought it would be more fun to make him wear it.  And it matched his tie too!

I got blessed by the Stem Cell folks too.  They had a little chinese take-out box decorated with candy hearts and full of sweet treats for each of the patients.  Sugar and chocolate always make me happy!  I had little surprises for each of them too...Valentine's inspired magnetic photo frames for the fridge, which I tied up in pink ribbon with pink nametags for each of the ladies.  Yay for spreading the love!

So, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to you!  Spread the love, because LOVE is the greatest afterall!!!  (1 Corinthians 13:13)