If the World had Wheels

we stopped at mcdonalds for some lunch and a quick break around jupiter florida. back on the road!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We just started the drive! Adam has the first leg. The dogs are happy after their last run in Miami. Its a beautiful morning and we even had time to feed our ducks one more time.Bone thugs and harmony on the ipod. see you on our first stop!

The moving cubes are on their way and I’m mere seconds from disassembling Chloe (my beloved computer). But first a quick reminder that the next several posts may look a little wacky because I’ll be blogging from the road. If you haven’t already, enter my “Kentucky or Bust Blog Contest” and then track our progress by checking back here. I’ll post where we are at every stop along the way on our journey! Have a great day and happy Thanksgiving!

We’re sky high in boxes at the moment, but I thought I’d drop in to share my positive experience with our moving company. I started pricing different options for our long haul a few months ago and U-pack immediately rose to the top of the group. They do offer truck rental, but we decided we didn’t need THAT much room. If we’re going to be stuck in a vehicle for around 20 hours, we’d rather it be our own! Instead, we’re using their ReloCubes and I can’t wait for those big ole empty metal boxes to arrive. Somewhere along the search for moving services, I made the unfortunate mistake of signing up online for competitive quotes on my move. NEVER-I repeat NEVER-do such a thing! I started counting after the first few days (where my phone didn’t stop ringing) and I got over 20 calls-most of which only offered services we weren’t interested in at all. By the time I spoke to the U-pack representative to book my move, I was admittedly cranky. The representative was so helpful and friendly throughout our call though that I e-mailed her supervised her to thank them for my service. I’ve never done that before but have decided to add it to my potential New Year’s Resolutions. They seemed really genuinely happy about my note of appreciation. In about a week I hope to report our move went smoothly and I’m safe and sound WITH my ReloCubes  in the Bluegrass state. But before that-I’ll try to write one more time before we depart!

Are you up for some cross-blogging celebratory contest fun?

In honor of my 100th Disaboom blog post (TODAY!) and my major move from Miami to Kentucky, I’ve decided to hold a blog contest! Surrounded by boxes, overwhelmed by my growing to-do list, and realizing that I only own one sweater-the timing of this contest makes perfect sense! The premise is simple.

You have to guess how many stops we’ll make during the move from Miami, Florida to Frankfort, Kentucky.

But if you’re a frequent reader-or if you happened to drop by my blog last week-you know that my life can be somewhat complicated. Here are a few things you might want to consider:

• There will be two wheelers, two walkers (my fiance’s gracious parents), and two bulldogs along for this journey. Like Noah, we feel traveling in two’s is for the best.
• If you want to get technical with gas mileage, we’ll be driving a Mini Cooper Clubman and a Trailblazer. There will be no trailers or moving trucks involved! Our boxes will be traveling by ReloCube.
• A stop consists of at least one individual (human or bulldog) getting out of the vehicle. The duration of the stop doesn’t matter so an overnight stay would still only count as one stop.
• Because we’d like to make it before the end of the year, we’ll try to minimize stops. It can be a pain to climb out, put together two wheelchairs, and dog wrangle. With that goal in mind, I tend to get hungry, tired, thirsty, stiff, energy deprived, in need of fresh air, and otherwise worthy of a break….often.

Now that you’re armed with some helpful hints, here are the rules:

1. Post your guess in the comment section of my DISABOOM BLOG POST ONLY!

2. One entry per person.

3. If you are not registered with Disaboom, you’ll need to leave an e-mail with your guess. If you prefer, you can also leave a twitter, plurk, or other social media username. If even that doesn’t amuse you-drop me an e-mail including the name you used to comment.

4. In the spirit of Price is Right, the winner will be the person who guesses correctly OR comes closest without going over.

5. The contest ends at 11:59 EST on Wednesday, November 26. (That’s the night before Thanksgiving. We’ll be departing Thanksgiving Day).

6. Because I’m prepared for the overwhelming genius of Disaboomers, I’m hoping that more than one person will guess correctly. Everyone who guesses right will be entered into a random drawing for the prize!

 What’s the prize you say?

A $20 gift certificate for Amazon!

Whether you grab a book from your wish list or apply the amount towards your very own land cruising tank or wooden wedding chapel, the choice is yours!

The prize will be e-mailed to the winner during the first week of December. The winner will be announced here!

 Want to improve your odds?

If you guess correctly, there’s are several bonus way to gain more entries into the drawing. Blog, twitter, plurk, digg, stumble, or otherwise spread the word about this contest. Leave me a comment about what you did and I’ll add your name again for each of these good deeds!

Here’s a smaller graphic if you’d like to add it to your post or signature. Just remember to leave a note about all your extra credit in a comment ON MY DISABOOM BLOG!

Want check how you’re doing during the Great Wheeler Migration?

I’ll be posting a quick update on our travels during each stop. They will be posted HERE on this blog (If the World Had Wheels).

Thanks for joining me in my blog celebration and allowing me to take you along for the ride to Kentucky!

*Important note: The actual contest will be held on my Disaboom blog but live updates will be posted HERE throughout our move during each of our stops. Join the contest and you can track how you’re doing here.*

*Important disclaimer: Family members not eligible to win and don’t try to post under any other names. You have an unfair advantage at knowing which posting names might tempt my bias. The odds that Yoda, ET, Barack Obama, or Frida Kahlo would really enter my contest…are quite slim.

What an amazing weekend! We had our engagement pictures taken by Amber Sycz on Saturday in the Miami Botanical Gardens. It was so much fun. She made us feel totally relaxed and was willing to try any and all of our (ok-mostly my) crazy ideas. She’s already posted several of the pictures up on her blog and we’ll get the rest on a disc in the mail in a few weeks. I can’t wait! Drop by and check them out and let me know what you think.

Saturday night was one of my favorite here in Miami. My friends picked me up and we headed to Lincoln Road for my Bachelorette party. We talked, ate amazing food, drank some wine, and enjoyed a beautiful South Florida night. The weather and the entire night was perfect. It was totally me and I really appreciate all they did to make it special. I’m going to miss these girls so much but I know we’ll keep in touch. Here are a few pictures:

I’ve been tagged! Leah and Dominick have written a bit about how participation in tagging can be a fun and effective way for bloggers to network. For more on the positive work done by bloggers, check out my post today for Disaboom (after you’ve read this one of course!). Before my opportunity to answer the call of the blog is lost in the shuffle of the move, I better reply! Here are the rules:

Step #1 - Link to the person who tagged you. That was Dominick! We went to Wright State for a couple years together and our blogger paths crossed a few years later online when we realized that we shared writing and disability in common.

Step #2 - Write Five Fun/Interesting Facts about yourself. This gives fellow bloggers (and your readership) a chance to actually get to know you better.

1. If somehow I could juggle more than the two careers that are up in the air right now, I’d love to receive formal training in design. I’m fascinated by color and can get lost in design sites and blogs for hours.
2. I think grammar is a form of art-not so much the rigid rules of it but the flexibility it allows to be creative and write in a way that isn’t accepted.
3. I like hospitals. I think they’re just as much a place of hope as they are the scene of tragedy. I cherish my experiences as a patient because they will make me a better doctor.
4. I’m finally ready to get back into the pool! My YMCA membership is ready and waiting in Kentucky and I plan to start swimming again in December.
5. Organization amuses me-but sometimes you wouldn’t know it! I remember spending a weekend when I was 12 labeling every last section of my closet. I’ve always taken the search for a perfect planner very seriously and my heart flutters with the chance to browse in the Container Store. I read about and genuinely enjoy the thought of organization, but sometimes it doesn’t carry over to every aspect of my real life!

Step #3 - Tag Six Other People and link to their blogs. Then let them know you’ve tagged them by twittering them or leaving a comment on their blog.

I’m dedicating all my tags to some of my favorite plurk pals. Plurk is a microblogging site where I’ve met some really amazing people with so many different backgrounds, interests, and careers I definitely can’t list them all. Here’s a few:

1. I read banned books.
2. On a Limb with Claudia
3. Tales from the Sunny South
4. Popping Bubbles
5. Susie Scrapper
6. Dot Lizard

Happy Tagging…back to packing.

Thanks to Oinster

Thanks to I am Being Nate

Thanks to Bananeman who captions this with, “Throw water at people in wheelchairs.”

are sitting in my living room! We’ve got lots of packing to do! That’s on the agenda for tomorrow though because today was mostly dedicated to my dissertation. I’m finally fleshing out the methods section and detailing exactly what I’ll be doing for the next several months! I also receive an e-mail from one of the internship sites that they received my application in full and it’s among the stack being considered. The waiting begins!

In the spirit of boxes and fitting into just one, I’ve found some peace with the drastically different tasks that make up my recent days compared to my schedule at the hospital a couple of months ago. I sincerely miss working with children and their parents-even the exceptionally cranky teenagers, but I feel like this interim experience dedicated fully to writing will make me a better professional. A post on Open Forum supports this case with a discussion about how some medical schools are adding a study of literature to the curriculum because it’s been shown to elicit empathy in residents and produce compassionate doctors. It’s called narrative medicine and is even being used outside the classroom as a tool to bring doctors, patients, and residents together on a common subject. We all want empathic doctors for our own care and I certainly plan to be one as well. The author of this post, Guy Kawasaki, recommends a book written in 1938 by Brenda Ueland called If you Want to Write: A book about Art, Independence, and Spirit. Written in 1938, Ueland argues says, “that anyone can write well once the imagination is freed from self-consciousness, anxiety and fear of failure.” The cross-over between writing and psychology is definitely clear here.

The business of writing will also help me to be a better therapist. It’s refreshing to learn about different subjects again and communicate with people from so many different fields. Involvement in social networking involves a different kind of interest in relationships but the human connection is still the central focus. My clinical work as a therapist and my academic studies have definitely helped ease my plunge into work as a freelance writer but the feeling that this is completely new to me has been a motivating factor as well. I don’t plan to ever stop writing, but I know that eventually my days will once again be monopolized with my role as a therapist. I’m looking forward to that but also planning how I will continue writing-in whatever capacity fits best with my life. I think it’s official that I’ll always have a slash career. Not only is a great option for income, but I’ve enjoyed the relationships I’ve made with other writers, and sometimes it’s nice for a product to speak for the quality of my work. It’s never quite so concrete when working with people!

Because I only need a SHORT break from my dissertation writing…I thought I’d post this instead of a full-blown blog. Enjoy!

Four family members:

my mama, my papa, Nick, and Mernie

Four places that I go to over and over:

Lately…Kinko’s, the Post Office, Publix, and Target

Four people who e-mail me, plurk, or twitter me (regularly):

my mom, The Left Thumb Blogger (Glenda), Karen (Deafmom), and the editors I work for right now

Four of my favorite places to eat:

Beverly Hills Cafe, Outback, California Pizza Kitchen, and Olive Garden

Four places I would rather be right now:

by the lake behind our building, in Disney World, in a pool, and on vacation…anywhere!

Four TV shows I watch over and over:

Jon and Kate Plus 8, Felicity, 17 and Counting, Friday Night Lights

Four things in the room I’m in:

my Bailey snoring, a million psychology journals opened and highlighted, an empty Pepsi can, and boxes for moving

Four concerts I’ve been to:

New Kids on the Block, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Method Man

Four things on my calendar:

THE MOVE, my bachelorette party, our engagement session, OI Christmas party!

Four fears:

black standard sized poodles, falling, clowns, losing people I love

Four things in your purse or wallet:

MAC lipglass, my “believe” angel, my camera, and my NSU ID badge

Four chores you hate doing:

ironing, cleaning bathrooms, washing dishes (if I don’t have a dishwasher), and wheelchair maintenance

Four favorite animals:

Bunk Skittle Bunk Bunk, Obadius Nugget Junior, Molly Wop, and Reece Piecey (all code names)

Four speed dials on your cell phone:

my AA, my mama, Krystal, Tiffany

Four places you have called home:

Frankfort, KY; Dayton, OH; Miami, FL; Colorado Springs, CO

Four favorite pieces of jewelry:

my engagement ring, my eternity band AA gave me when I set my first world record, my check necklace, and a black hematite necklace with a pearl that my dad gave me

Four websites you visit:

Plurk, Disaboom, Bloglines, and Etsy

Four people who have been in your car:

AA, Panch (with AA), Krystal….the guy from the Mini dealership

Four things you are wearing:

my “Stay Golden” Golden Girls t-shirt, jeans, socks, and my uber attractive Wright State scrunchie

Four things you are looking forward to:

Saturday!!!!!; seeing our friends and family from home on a regular basis after we move; hearing back from hopefully several internship sites with an invite to interview; our wedding!

Four favorite types of candy:

Sprees, rock candy, sweet tarts, cry babies

Four sports teams you like:

Franklin County Flyers, Louisville Cardinals, Bengals, and Team USA

Four things found in your fridge:

Pepsi, a red pepper, pork chops for tomorrow, string cheese

Four rituals you do daily:

Take the dogs out X100; plurk; make a to-do list; manage my e-mail

Four things currently within reach:

my Treo, Fosamax (one would think the proximity would remind me to take it), nail polish, and someone else’s finished dissertation

Four things you know how to cook:

lasagna, sweet tea, homemade marinara, pot roast

Four Halloween costumes you’ve worn:

a princess, a she-devil, a clown, and some unidentifiable (by anyone but me) character from a book I loved in elementary school. Thanks to Fear and Parenting in Las Vegas, I looked up the name of the character and it was Queen Achren from the Chronicles of Prydain series. What can I say? I was an odd kid!