Pink...A Color for a Cause

You know what the 7 scariest words are to hear? Happy 40^th, now go get a mammogram! Then you spend the next 2 months until your appointment hyping yourself up for the pain, only to realize it’s not actually THAT bad! After you finished you get the “We’ll mail you a letter to let you know everything is clear.” Sweet! See you in a year! The next day you have a message asking you to call the center back. Wait what? No, I did the squish smash already. The conversation goes something like this…

Nice Lady on the Phone: Blah blah blah center how may I help you.

Calm You: Oh hi I got a message to call back, not sure if it’s about insurance.

NLOTP: Sure please hold

Still Calm You: No problem

Nice Nurse Lady: Hi, we were calling back because there was an abnormal spot on your left side

Less Calm You: Oooookkkk

NNL: Now it could be words word words words word words words word words….come in for a follow up as soon as possible.

Completely Lost Your Crap You: Yep turning 40 was a terrible decision…so like how soon?

NNL: We can see you on Friday, we’ll reimage and then do an ultrasound with the doctor there. You’ll know before you go if it’s cancerous cells.

Almost Crying You: Um yeah okay, sure.

That whole conversation took less than 5 minutes and your life just went from ALL GOOD to WHAT THE ACTUAL FORK JUST HAPPENED?

That was me in December. And for the 2 days all I kept thinking was What if it’s cancer? Not going to lie, I’m bad about self exams and I’m now convinced this is my fault.

Fast forward 2 days…The people at my center are AMAZING! They technician explained everything and let me see the images so I knew what we were looking at. Part of the reason for the immediate follow up was I have no history as this was my first mammogram. I have a cluster of cells hanging out on their own island. I mean that’s exactly what it looks like. The ultrasound was the worst part as your waiting for a doctor to say benign or malignant…Summoning all the positive energy in the universe you’re thinking please be benign… please be benign… please be benign…It seemed like forever before she FINALLY said I don’t see any cancerous cells, all look benign. CRISIS AVERTED! As soon as I’m ready to peace out she drops the  “We would like you see you in 6 months to measure again to make sure it truly is just a cluster of cells.”

At this point I’m doing 3 things

1.   Being thankful

2.   Doing self-exams

3.   Telling all my friends to get their mammograms

I’m also scouring the interwebs and find a website https://www.sharecancersupport.org/breast-cancer/

Y’all they have a hotline! They have an online community! They have information! They have been a huge reason I haven’t completely lost my crap along the way!

I did go back in May and was super excited to get a letter!! EXCEPT it said there was still an abnormality and they wanted to see me in 6^th months. So by the time I get to my second annual mammogram I will have already had 3. Guess how many my insurance covers? JUST 1 because after the first it is no longer “preventative” *heavy eye roll* But luckily I DO have insurance and the hospital takes payment plans! 

Just this year alone I know of 3 people who have been diagnosed and undergone treatment. All different ages, 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. This triggered something in me and I want to pay it forward to Share Cancer Support! I was chatting with a blogger friend who just finished her chemo treatment and she was telling me about a website that really helped her, it was Share! They have resources for other cancers as well. They offer support and even advocates to support doctor appointments!

So while I could just ASK for money, I’d like to make it special as well as a way you can show your support too! I am selling items (aka I’m asking for a donation) and in turn I will gift you a handmade pink craft. I made everything because this is something I feel passionately about and I want to be able to give and give back. 

I’ll happily accept any donation and every dollar will go toward the charity in October. I’ll hand deliver to anyone local (ish) otherwise I’m asking for $5 for shipping. I bought all the supplies so my only cost is shipping. I also have some fun things to add to any package AND informational sheets on self exams and prevention! My company matches donations 100% so my goal is to raise at least $250 which will magically turn into $500! 

These are the items I have for sale! If you would like to support me, you can PayPal (erin_t_mccurry@yahoo.com) me the donation as well as in the note section let me know what you would like and please make a note if there is shipping so I can be sure to subtract that amount and so I know to pack it with love and get it to you! You can also PM me on the old Facebook or Instagram or leave a message on my blog. Pictures are below!

$20- pink tied rag wreath (Circle or heart, your choice)

$15- pink glitter ornament set (cause they come in a set!)

$10- Pink ribbon ornament

$5- set of 5 pink clothes pin magnets

I cannot thank you enough for support not only me but others including those friends of mine who have won their battle and supporting the fight against cancer! 

$15- pink glitter ornament set (cause they come in a set!)

$10- Pink ribbon ornament

Back of pink ribbon ornament

$5- set of 5 pink clothes pin magnets

$20- pink tied rag wreath (Circle or heart, your choice)

Without Music Life would Be Flat

Why not use a good pun for a blog title! 

One of the greatest resources for new music from up and coming artists is Twitter. Yes I said twitter. There was a time when I really didn’t use twitter much and would pop on every now and then to see what was going one. But then more artists started using twitter and so I became more active and from there a whole new world of music opened up. I’ve found some of my favorite new artists there!

Fun fact, I discovered Brett Eldredge through Tyler Rich. Tyler and I were following each other and he was trying to win a contest to open for Brett Eldredge, of course I had to look him up and basivally got a 2 for 1 deal! When artists are trying to make a name for themselves the best thing they can do is put themselves out there for people to hear there music.  Tyler made sure to send messages about new videos up on YouTube and when he released his EP Valerie (go buy it if you don’t have it!) he ran a social media contest for people to spread the word about his music. I would have done it without the contest because he’s that darn good. I ended up with my very own signed Tyler Rich CD and then he got the jump to the big time with an opening slot with Dustin Lynch. I can’t wait to hear new material from him! Radio is the song that made me fall in love with Tyler's music. Hearing it live gave me chills. 

Website: http://www.tylerrichmusic.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TylerRichMusic/?fref=nf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TylerRichMusic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerrich/

Snapchat: tylerrichmusic

Know who else opened for DL? Chris Lane. I’m not going to lie Chris is probably one of my favorite people out there. He actually started following me first and as I heard his music and was instantly taken by his sound. I may or may not have bought everything he has ever released from iTunes. For all the followers he has, he’s really good about replying to tweets and such. Oh and his snapchat? Worth the follow. I met him in February and he’s seriously the nicest guy ever, we were both sick so I’m pretty sure that makes us best friends! Oh and no one does a mash up like Chris Lane. If you don't find yourself dancing to Fix you should probably get your pulse checked too! 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imchrislane/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamchrislane

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamchrislane/

Snapchat: iamchrislane

Can we just talk about Morgan Myles for a minute? Ok more like a million minutes. I am so glad we started following each other. This girl is so talented. Like she opens her mouth and you are drawn into listening to her. I’m still trying to figure out how no label has scooped this girl up, if I had one I’d have her signed in a heartbeat! Her EP is titled Miss Morgan Myles and there isn’t a song on there that isn’t good. Whiskey Dreaming is the song we all want to sing to every guy who has done us wrong and tries to make up for it thinking they can get us back. My favorite song is probably We Won’t Go Home or Nobody Does it Better. She also does a ridiculous version of Girl Crush as well. She tries to Periscope her shows which is awesome for those of us not in Nashville. Luckily for us in New England she’ll be in NH in August for the New England Country Music Festival at the Red Hook Brewery. I might ask her to sing the phone book since she would probably slay that too!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morgan.myles?fref=nf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MorganMylesLIVE

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morganmyleslive/

Snapchat: morganmyleslive

One of my favorite groups is Jacob Martin Band. They’re a group of crazy guys who I really think are on the edge of hitting it big! They have a song currently on Sirus XM called Look at What You Started and the video for it is hilarious. It has puppets and singing, I mean what else can you ask for? They often periscope from the van on the road and if you haven’t caught a scope you really should. Mostly for the shout outs to the drummer! My 2 favorite songs are This Ain’t That Kind of Kiss and I Keep Missing.  I was in Nashville and they were in Minnesota so I still haven’t seen them live, so I just need them to drive up North so the rest of New England knows how awesome they are!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacobmartinband/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobmartinband

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacobmartinband/

Snapchat: jacobmartinband

There are probably a TON more somaybe I’ll start highlighting future superstars on my blog again. Everyone starts somewhere and in the day and age of social media there are so many ways to get your name out there! Get out there and follow people, you may just know the next Kenny, Carrie or Rascal Flatts before anyone else!

Shop small, Shop handmade this Christmas!

 So it’s time for Christmas shopping y’all!! Who’s ready? No? Well I’m here to save the day, I wanted to highlight one of my FAVORITE websites and all it has to offer! ETSY! I’ve done most of my Christmas shopping from this website.

In case you don’t know what Etsy is here’s a short description from their website!

Etsy is a marketplace where people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods.

The heart and soul of Etsy is our global community: the creative entrepreneurs who use Etsy to sell what they make or curate, the shoppers looking for things they can’t find anywhere else, the manufacturers who partner with Etsy sellers to help them grow, and the Etsy employees who maintain and nurture our marketplace.

So basically people make items and sell them online for people like you and me to buy! One huge reason I love Etsy is I am able to shop for handmade stuff and help out small business owners. I’m sure there are some people out there who don’t stick to that mission but all the shops I do shop from are small businesses!

My absolutely FAVORITE store on Etsy is A Vintage Blonde. I had ordered a bracelet from another shop a while ago and Etsy will suggest shops to look at, A Vintage Blonde was one of them. I immediately fell in love with the pieces, she’s located in Nashville and specialized in boho chic. The first piece I ever ordered was a key engraved with LOVE on it. The packaging alone sold me on her shop. She always includes a nice note and everything is always packaged in a little bag. From there I was hooked. I think sometimes she lives in my brain because I will be thinking about something I would like and next thing I know there is a piece in her shop that matches my vision. Her prices are so reasonable and the best part? She has pop up sales ALL THE TIME! They range from free shipping, a certain % off to a free piece with a certain $$ spent. She’s very active on Facebook and Instagram so I suggest you go follow her there too. She does custom pieces and kids pieces as well.  I’m constantly posting my jewelry mostly because I love it, but I can mix and match everything! She also has a line of creaseless hairbands that I don’t leave home without one on my wrist, they make a great accessory too! She’s officially part of my Glamsquad too which means on special occasions I have a Vintage Blonde piece with my outfit. In fact today both arms are well accessorized as well as my neck! My nieces each have a piece (a Happy necklace) and I’m sure there is more pieces in their future.

I really try my best to support small businesses and that’s what Etsy is all about! This week I’m going to highlight a few of my favorite local businesses! So remember shop small, shop handmade and shop Etsy!!

Music and Signs

Everyone knows how passionate I am about music, especially live music. There’s just something so raw and gritty about live music. I truly believe the saying that “Where Words Fail Music Speaks”. There have been so many times I am feeling a certain way and I can’t seem to find the right words and then a song comes on and all of sudden it hits me and POW there are the words I was searching for and then I’m like you (insert singer) get out of my head!! Being a Southern girl (Y’all I always will be no matter how long I live in New England) it’s the music that moves me, makes me move and touches my heart, soul and brain. I’m pretty sure that was the run on sentence to end all run on sentences but there are no rules in music so therefore there are no rules for this blog on said subject. I’d like to introduce you to some of the songs that have evoked feels and spoken to me as if they were written for me.  Cole Swindell has the privilege of being the first musician in my little series (it could take like 6 months to get the next one so yeah y'all read slowly)

A few months ago I was missing my dad a lot. I miss him every day but I was missing him something crazy. I’ve been looking for signs and literally said Dad seriously nothing? I went to go try and find some funny videos on YouTube to cheer me up and no lie the first recommended video was Cole Swindell “You should be here” It’s a song he wrote about his dad who passed away a few years ago as well. There was no reason for that to be the ONLY video in my recommended section (I just looked there are like 8 in there right now) but it was. He started singing, I started crying and I knew then it was a sign from my dad. I watch it all the time and I can’t wait for it to be on an album so I can hear it any time I want. The part of the video when people start to clap and he can’t sing for a second gets me every time.

I know all the words but it’s always this part I love the most.

One of those never forget it better stop and take all in kind of scenes

Everything is just right except one thing….

You should be here standing with your arm around me cutting up

Cracking a cold beer sayin cheers hey y’all it’s been a good year

It’s one of those moments it’s got your name written all over it and you know if I had just one wish it would be you didn’t have to miss this….

You should be here

Speaking of Cole Swindell my alarm is Hey Y’all cause who wants to stay in bed when there is practically a party on the night stand. Though I guess if he was jumping on my bed to wake me up that’d be better.  OMG he could be singing Get Up which is totally about concerts but make it about getting my behind outta bed. Guy is going places, wicked talented and I expect to see him headlining Gillette Stadium someday! Show #4 August 29th!

The Time I Quit My Garmin....Kinda

So for Christmas I got a super awesome Garmin Vivofit. My fitbit just wasn’t cutting it for what I wanted so I was more than pleased when mama got me one for Christmas! 

The first few months were great. I was meeting and or exceeding my 10,000 step goal every day especially on days when I ran. I was seriously Rock Star status. And then I started exploring the different tab and I found challenges.

 Curious, I clicked on it and thus started my descent into the rabbit hole. YOU GUYS you get to compete again total strangers to see who can win a challenge every week. So the first week I was placed in a 60k step challenge. I was like NO PROBLEMO! I ended up in like 7^th for the week. W….T….F I am not a 7^th place (6^th loser but I digress).

I ramped it up the next week and I WON! And I won AGAIN!

 Now with winning comes a cool “badge” on your app.

 I exceeded the challenge steps it bumped me up, it’s usually a 5k increase so for a while I was good and then one week I went somewhere or something and was walking a LOT, like 40,000 steps in a day! The damn thing bumped me up to 100k steps. WHOA let’s stop this horse right here! That’s about an average of 17k steps a day and the people in this category do not mess around. I started to PANIC, yes I panicked over a “virtual challenge” but I had been on a roll winning challenges. On day 1 I was in DEAD LAST with my 13k steps. DEAD FREAKING LAST! 

And then I found a loop hole, I’m not proud of this but I was in my car one day tapping my hand to the beat of the music and noticed my steps were increasing. So to test the theory I tried it again, by God in a short 10 minutes I had 1000 steps. But this is cheating I can’t really count those as steps, can I?

 That was the end of honesty in the competition for me. I tried to tell myself it was okay that I was switching arms and using a small weight when I was lifting my arms to get step credits. I literally became obsessed with winning this challenge, I would tap my hand at work, in the car, watching tv and so on. 

I can’t tell you how many steps I even took that week because it was so skewed by the non-steps. I won the challenge easily with my 110k steps, a bump up to 120! I won that week too. And then it bumped me to 130k and I knew I was in trouble. 21k steps A DAY! I literally started panicking. OVER A GLORIFIED PEDOMETER VIRTUAL CONTEST!!! I knew right then I had to quit, 

I wasn’t being honest with myself or my Garmin, I couldn’t figure out how to leave the challenge on my phone so I teetered between keeping the range going until I could but my brain (and my elbows) had enough. When I got home I logged onto my account and I felt so much relief pushing that Leave Challenge button. The pressure was gone! I couldn’t believe I had let something like that take over my life. I was literally skipping giddy!

 I thought about taking the Garmin off for a few days just to clear my head but it was as if the cheating side of me was gone when I deleted the challenges. I’m back to my 10-13k steps a day and content with that. I can’t see myself every joining the challenge groups again, maybe it was an addiction to those badges I got for winning the challenges but I’ll take boring badges every 100k then psycho crazy eyes Erin trying to beat the system. 

I laughed at myself when I was writing this which is good since the whole experience was highly traumatizing for me. On a side note I didn’t get hurt at all during this time period. Small victories people! That's it for now. Go outside and play, it's SUMMAH!

Rules for Dating my Teenage Niece

No. Just no.

I will make an exception when she is 24 and marries Ed Sheeran and they give me little ginger great nieces and nephews.

In all seriousness…

Rule #1- You hurt her I will hunt you down. Now her parents may make an empty threat to scare you but I am her crazy Aunt. Try me.

Rule #2- She can like you but I will never like you, she is MY Princess, not your bae which isn’t even a word.

Rule #3- She is a person not a conquest. Treat her as such.

Rule #4- I am everywhere. Seriously pull your pants up kid.

Rule #5- Refer to Rules 1-4

I’m not ready for boys or dating and I would like to lock her in her room until she is 24 but that’s not going to happen so I guess I will have to accept it but to all future boys that seek to date her I will have a 50 page application waiting for you. 

Tap tap, anyone here?

Wow so good thing I wasn't leaving a cliff hanger in my last blog. Let's recap the past couple of months:

YAY: Went to Antigua with mom.


BOO: Fell off horse in Antigua. Seriously my horse was an asshole, I would lead her away from tree branches and she would walk back into them. I swear she tried to drown me in the ocean. Falling off at the end was just the icing on the cake. 

YAY: Patriots won the Superbowl!!

BOO: We got like 908 feet of snow this winter. Ok maybe like 850 feet.

YAY: I bought a treadmill to train again

BOO: I fell down concrete steps at work and got banged up. Did I mention I tripped on rock salt and fell down the stair. That takes talent people!!!

So new year new goals right?

I talked my friend Lisa into a 1/2 marathon in October, We're pretty much pretending we've never run before and are training from scratch. It's super fun, right Lisa? Actually it hasn't been too bad but there are some days I just look at the treadmill and all I an say is 

But then I think of Lisa and I get on and run, after all it was my idea, but we get a MEDAL and BEER! 


It's almost baseball season which as a Red Sox fan is going to be great or painful, I got a mini package this year and I'll probably pop in some other games. After the winter we've had we better have a good summer!

Marathon Monday is in a few weeks, pretty excited I know a ton of people running so after the Sox game Lisa and I are going to plant ourselves and yell at people who are running twice the distance we will be, oh and we might be drinking beer. 

I also gave up peanut butter for Lent. I dream about peanut butter. This is pretty much our relationship.

So I promise to blog with fun stories. I mean training for a 1/2 marathon is SUPER fun! Along with healthy eating and all that blah blah crap! And you know tripping and falling along the way…

Do good things people!