Hello, dear friends! Last Tuesday I went into surgery as planned, and boy what an experience it has been. My fears were not unfounded, and the procedure ended up being much more involved than we had hoped. My surgeons at The Cleveland Clinic, who are  a couple of the main guys in the world for this type of surgery, said I “win the prize for being the most difficult tumor to remove.” That was shocking to hear, since the size of the tumor was pretty average and appeared in the MRI to be manageable. I guess it’s really not the size that counts, but how much of its surrounds it has invaded. They had to do repair work to my arteries, and I ended up being under anesthesia much longer than we all expected- about six hours total. As I type this now, I’m staring at the keyboard, because my eyes can’t quite bear to look at the screen, and it’s already been six days since going under.

I am so thankful for life right now, but it’s a bit difficult to feel cheery when in actuality I feel miserable. I am so thankful for such skilled surgeons and for the insurance that has made all of this financially bearable. I am thankful that my nerves are still in tact and I will still be able to talk and swallow, but right now both of those are very difficult for me, and in combination with not being able to strain (I have sutures both on my arteries and on the outside of my neck) and not being able to talk, my interactions with Lucy are pretty limited right now. Talk about frustrating. My breast milk supply took a huge dive, and I’m dealing with the emotions of feeling like I am failing at providing for Lucy and losing my intimacy with her and also the emotions of waiting for pathology reports and wondering what life will be like if the tumor has metastasized to other areas of my body.

Right now I’m just focusing on getting healthy and enjoying lots of episodes of Foyle’s War on Netflix. I have to wait on my tumor’s pathology report and am going to have more body scans to rule out or confirm other tumors or cancer. The doctors said they are a bit more concerned about that than they were before surgery, because of my tumor’s invasiveness. But I’m trying not to think about that and keeping my head up above the cloud of gloom that sinks down on me every now and then. I had hoped to be two weeks ahead with blog posts before my surgery, but when my computer died, I lost one of those weeks and was only able to get one week ahead. I know you guys aren’t hanging around with baited breath waiting for me to update, but keeping this place lively is important to me, so hopefully I can get back to my regularly scheduled blogging. But for now, I’m just taking it easy. Thanks for all of your love and support!

What is blogging without the blogging community? It would be like living in a deserted town or having conversations with yourself. Both of those are well and good, I suppose, if that’s the kind of life you want. But I crave community and connection with other people, especially those who can relate to my quirkiest ways. I first started out on this weird journey as a blogger in order to meet and share with people I couldn’t find in my local community. But lately, my blogging world and real world collide all of the time! Most recently I was so excited to meet up in Cleveland with some local Northeast Ohio and North Western Pennsylvania blogger gals, thanks to Erin who coordinated the afternoon with brunch at Touch and shopping at Sweet Lorain

The first time I met up with bloggers was also the first time I met up with someone I had met online. This was about five years ago, and while I was pretty sure none of them were psycho killers, I was still pretty nervous. They had already formed first impressions of me that were only based on the little bit they knew of me from my blog, so what if they didn’t like me in person? And what if I didn’t get on well with them? What if the whole thing ended up being a massive drag?

So, here I am, five years later, still freaking out before blogger meet-ups. Maybe it was just because Liz was there that I felt like I could completely be myself, but this time around was extra fun! It was just like meeting up with a bunch of old pals. I can’t wait until we can get together again.

Have you ever been to a blogger meetup? Were you as nervous as I was? If you’ve ever considering meeting up with local bloggers, but chickened out, I’d definitely encourage you to give it a try! And if nobody in your area has ever put together a blogger meetup, why don’t you be the one to plan a nice weekend brunch like Erin did, and maybe enjoy a trip to a local shop afterwards? I promise, it will be more fun than you expected.

T H E   B L O G G E R S :

Mandy of The Curvy Blogger / Julie of Orchid Grey / Liz of Yellow Finch Designs / Megan of Kiddo TV
Erin of Zero Style / Lauren of Someone Like You / Katy of Sugar and Chiffon / Jessica of Midwest Muse,
Jaclyn of Sharing My Sole / Karina of Beach and Dress / Dina of Dina’s Days /

above photo by Julie, black & white group photo below by Erin, all others by my iPod touch

And you thought my favorite treasure trove couldn’t get any better! Well, folks, it has. A local vintage seller, Violet Velvet, has consigned a section of The Bomb Shelter where affordably priced vintage clothes and accessories for men and women are bountifully displayed for our shopping pleasure. Come on out to Akron, Ohio, and places like this might make you second guess ever going back home. You think I’m kidding? I’m definitely not.

Even though Violet Velvet is located in an annex of a larger store, The Bomb Shelter, there’s plenty of room for several organized racks of clothes, and space for several shoppers to comfortably browse the great vintage selection. You won’t find high-end vintage at Violet Velvet, but I bet you’ll be surprised at the friendly price tags on the easy-to-wear ’50s-’70s clothes that are for sale there. Since there aren’t dressing rooms, I was happy to find measurements listed on many of the tags. I walked away with two garments that I happily discovered fit me perfectly! If you’re not a regular Etsy vintage shopper like me, you might want to know your measurements and bring along measuring tape to be confident that whatever you buy will fit you when you bring it home.

First and last photo by Kyle Michaels. All other photos by Mandi Johnson