Slate & Stylish

One Year Down,, Lots more to go...

2012-03-06T14:33:00.002-06:00

My first anniversary was on Sunday March 4th. GQ and I were apart for the big day but I wanted to celebrate somehow.

So I thought I would share with you some of my favorite parts of our wedding day. It was a very quiet, intimate celebration and I loved everything about that day, especially the people that were there, they top the list for sure.

1. I loved that we had a giant cupcake and not a wedding cake. We did this mostly because we got married on my dad's birthday and a cupcake seemed most appropriate, but we both think cupcakes are better than cake! :)

One of, if not the, sweetest moments of the night was when we sang Happy Birthday to my dad before the cupcake cutting. I had my grandma stand next to me and she bawled. It was such a sweet, cherished moment for me. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it.

2. Many people don't know this, but right before I walked down the aisle. My mother gave me her wedding ring from my dad. It was such a sweet moment and I got to wear it down the aisle. The ring is now on a chain around my neck because my mom's hands were so small I couldn't fit it on any of my fingers. Best something old ever!

3. Beleive it or not, I had never seen my groom in his military Class A's until I walked down the aisle. It was fun seeing him in something I'd never seen him, and he seeing me in my dress for the first time. I knew he would be handsome and he was.

4. GQ and I decided early on that we wanted to write our own vows. It turned out to be my favorite part of the whole event. I decided to write my vows in braille and I was so nervous to try to read them in front of everyone. My hands were shaking the whole time. I'm proud of myself for pulling it off (also notice the yellow LiveStrong bracelet, that thing never comes off and my wedding day was no exception.).

There was this sweet, sweet moment when I was shaking so badly and GQ just reached over and held my arm steady. It was a quiet moment but calmed me down. I'm so glad Donna captured it in picture!

I crack up at this next picture because I am literally sobbing. It was quite embarrassing with the snot and all but it's real and that's what I love about this picture. There were LOTS of tears all around, I was so surprised that I cried so much. Little Miss, "Always put together" kind of lost it.

5. When all was said and done, we had said our vows and exchanged rings. I remember feeling this surge of energy kick in. I never remember feeling so elated about something. It was such a cool moment for me.

6. One of my favorite parts of the wedding didn't even all happen at the wedding. Pretty much EVERYTHING about our wedding day was Do It Youself (DIY). Not even kidding! We were on a tight budget and I love making things as personal as possible so they were. Not only myself, but SO many close friends and family stepped up and added their talents to the mix and it make our wedding so lovely and personalized. All those little details are what I think made this day perfect.

I laugh at the above picture because you would never believe how many different ways we tried this seating decor that day. I'm so lucky to have PATIENT and artistic people in my life. It turned out lovely though. :)

These little button boutteniers were quite possibly my most favorite little detail. I had so much fun making these! I think this was one of the first things I made for the big day. I love how they turned out. So much fun!

My Aunt Vickie made her famous sugar cookies...

Sweet Stickem's Custom Vinyl made some darling stuff for us, including these signs which were another one of my favorite things of the day...

My grandmother made all the pink and orange table runners. I made this vase and we arranged our own flowers...

My cousin Kayleen made several ADORABLE frames that matched our wedding colors. They really added a TON to the whole look of the day...

My sweet, sweet friend Jaime made this adorable Guest Book for us. Which we look at all the time and just LOVE. Each page had one tiny Orange Balloon on it with a memory of my dad. Possibly the sweetest gift I've ever recieved...

A little banner I made to hang over us while we read our vows it sayd Deja & Lucas...

That pretty orange flower in my hair was made by a good friend of mine over at Bowlicious Boutique. I loved the touch of orange...

7. Our amazing videographer, Davey Orgill at Pointe Digital Photography, took us downstairs for some pictures. I love the pictures and video but I loved that time with my husband too. We stepped away from the crowd and just had some one-on-one time together. It was so lovely.

8. GQ and I love breakfast for dinner, and so did my dad. One of my favorite parts about that day was the made-to-order omelettes for us and our guests. They were delicious and I think everyone had a lot of fun with them.

9. There was this little moment that GQ and I snuck off to the corner of the room. I didn't know our photographer captured that moment until later. We kind of just held each other and danced. It was possibly the most romantic moment of the night and one of my favorites.

10. And by far, our favorite part of the day, was the people we had there with us to share in the moment. It was so incredible to have a room full of the people we love the most and who have beent here through a variety of different scenes of our lives. Several even came from various parts of the country. It was the best gift in the world to have them all there.

Here are just a few more of my favorite pictures from that day:

GQ about to throw our STEELERS football that had the rings inside of it...

Deja & Iszacc

My sweet grandma...

A group hug with my in-laws...

My Family...

My bridesmaids...

The groomsmen...

My aunts...

Ron Gardner and I...

We did a lot of kissing...

It was a perfectly wonderful day. Thanks for going along with me. You can see all our wedding photos here.

Happy One Year Anniverary to my Sweet GQ! It's truly been one of the best years ever!

Getting my Craft on!

2012-02-20T11:20:00.000-06:00

Today I have a day off so I'm...

Doing laundry.

Lots of it.

Organizing EVERYTHING.

Attempting to be crafty.

Decorating for St. Patty's Day.

So look what I made...

I had an old wreath I had bought years ago that I hated. It's a straw wreath which is not ideal for this project but it's do-able. A styrophone or plastic wrapped wreath would work better. You can buy such wreaths at my favorite online shop, Oriental Trading, go here to check them out! This is a large one and it's less than 5 bucks. Heck yes!

My husband LOVES St. Patty's Day so I thought I should decorate a bit for him.

This is a medium size wreath so I only had to use one roll of yarn.

I bought the yarn at Walmart for $2.75, it's a forest green color but there are tons of awesome green colors, the thicker the better on the yarn.

I just tied the firt loop around and started wrapping it round and round while watching reality TV shows on E! I like those slimey shows, what can I say.

I wrapped it all the way around. Make sure you keep each strand close to the next one so you have no gaps. I sucked at this and still ended up with some gaps. Eh.

Then I already had a wooden "A," for Awesome. Not really it's our family last name, but we are Awesome so it works. I then made a clover out of green ribbon and a large silver button in the middle, it turned out better than I expected but still may not actually look like a clover to some. Humor me.

Then I made a cute little tiny banner that says, "lucky". Awww. Cute right!?!

It's fun. It's green. And now I feel more jazzed about St. Patricks Day.

Look at me being all domestic.

Frame is and Love it!

2012-02-10T11:10:00.000-06:00

I have been doing the 14 Days of Valentines for GQ this month. Now before you start thinking what an amazing wife I am and how I'm trying to out-shine other wives, I have to say that I've been terrible at it!

I've missed a couple of days and left him with an empty box which is probably worse than no box at all. I made him a giant cookie last night (he loves giant cookies) and burned the edges, I just flat out forgot one whole day and I accidentally listed ALL of his gifts on our grocery list that HE took to the store, so he bought all his own presents. Genius right.

But today is going to be different. I have a great little present (so I think). I thought I'd share the idea that I totally stole off of Pinterest.

I found this cute little picture (I liked the colors a lot and they match our bedroom)...

The picture says "I love you because..." in a yellow, red and baby blue color scheme.

I will be framing it in a 5X7 frame.

And then I bought some dry erase markers so we could write lovey dovey messages to each other.

For my blind friends, I also though of doing a magnet board instead and using braille letter magnets.

I can't wait to write some sweet things on it life...

I love you because...

You make me work out at 5 am which I really hate your for at the time but love you for in the end.

You're gassy like me.

You shower on a daily basis even though you sometimes forget deodorant.

You make me delicious food and cook for me (thank heaven or I'd starve).

You work out so your super hot.

You leave your nasty, sweaty socks all balled up so I can then un-ball them to put in the laundry basket which reminds me you workout therefor you're hot.

You make me smile when I want to be grumpy.

You don't tell anyone all the WEIRD and CRAZY things I say.

See doesn't this seem like fun!

I say if you're single you should make one anyway and tell yourself why you love you, I'm doing this too for my office. I could use a little reminder to think about reasons why I love me, how about you?

GQ's Secret Admirer, With Love...

2012-02-04T01:20:00.000-06:00

I just HAD to share this will all of you...

My brother-in-law, husband and I came out of Chilis tonight and found this on our car windsheild (obviously to MY hubby)...

"Hey cutie I just saw your car here so I decided to leave you a note. I need to come up to your work and get some counciling sessions anywho don't be so shady with me anymore. And you may not know who this is but trust me once you realize what your true heart disires you'll know it was me. XOXO Your Love"

Spelling errors and lack of punctuation included. Uhm. Yeah. So this was the PERFECT ending to my CRAZY, I-don't-even-know-how-to-describe week!

I CANNOT stop laughing every time I read this!

Who's Responsibility is Safety?

2012-02-02T15:59:00.001-06:00

Blind responsible for own safety

Deja Powell

A recent article in the Ruston Daily Leader caught my attention. A blind Louisiana Tech student was talking about bicyclists on campus and the dangers they can cause for a blind person.

I read several articles a year about various dangers the blind face, lack of beeping street lights, other pedestrians, no sidewalk warnings (the raised dots on the sidewalk found at street corners), skateboarders, you name it, I’ve probably read an article about it.

I agree that such things as bicyclists and pedestrians mixing could become a bad combination, but I also believe this has little or nothing to do with blindness; it’s a risk for anyone. Every day we all, sighted or blind, take a calculated risk of leaving our homes and doing something.

Whether we walk, drive, ride a bike, take the bus, whatever it is, there’s a risk involved.
While I do understand the importance of safety, I also have learned some things in the last five or so years since using a cane; the most important is safety is primarily my responsibility. I think with the proper training my world is just as safe for me, as a blind person, as anyone else.

I have learned that the best way for me to live my life is to learn the proper skills to adapt to my environment, not have my environment adapt to me.

One of the best examples of this I can think of is audible signals at lighted intersections. This is the little beep or chirp or whatever sound is selected at the intersection that tells pedestrians when it’s safe to cross the street. I’m not aware we have any here in Ruston, but I won’t be asking for them anytime soon either.

These signals are often found in bigger cities and can actually be helpful for a variety of pedestrians who use them. However, as a blind person who likes to get around independently, I’ve found my time is better spent learning the skills I need to cross a street safely than advocating for a beeping signal that, in my opinion, is not necessary.

As a blind person, I use cues from my natural environment every day. I use traffic patterns to line up at intersections and then cross them, for me a beeping signal of when it’s safe to cross is not helpful. If anything the beeping noise blocks out my most important sound cue, traffic.

Now while I say I am not going to be asking the City of Ruston for audible signals any time soon, I also understand that for some pedestrians they are valuable.

Many of my fellow colleagues in the blindness field focus so much research, resources and time on safety-related issues for the blind that they miss the whole part about giving us proper training and preparing us for our environment.

Several cane travel instructors in this country, who are mostly not blind themselves, make ridiculous suggestions about our safety as blind people: Carry a giant orange flag, wear a bright reflective vest, carry our own stop sign, wear little lights all over our body. I might as well wrap myself in bubble wrap before I head out; these ideas are crazy and unnecessary.

I believe blind people, given the proper tools for success, can travel around an un-adapted environment like everyone else. If we want equality in the world, we have to learn to adapt to the world and not expect it to adapt to us. I’m not against adding things to increase safety for those who really need it; I know it’s important for some.

Louisiana Tech is no less safe than any other university in the world. Thousands of pedestrians travel across college campuses every day. Many have encounters with bicyclists. It’s the way it is.
Blind people have the same responsibility and opportunity as everyone else, and we need to do our part and accept the things that come with being independent.

Deja M. Powell is programs manager at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and a 2008 alumna of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston. She writes a monthly column for the Daily Leader.

Bad News

2012-01-17T13:00:00.000-06:00

I was catching up on my daily lunch hour news when I came across this article from a Utah news station. The title of the article made me laugh, "Lack of snow makes riding hard for snowmobilers." I just wanted to shout out, "WELL DUH!"
For those who don't know, I actually graduated with a journalism degree so stuff like this catches my attention. Here are some of my favorite, even more (unintentionally) HILLARIOUS news stories headlines from 2011 (with my commentary)...

1.
.
Man allegedly wounded by two 'booty call ninjas'
*WTC?"

2.

Cops: Woman had 81 pounds of illegal junk in her trunk.
*And I thought I had a lot of junk in MY trunk, dang.

3.

Man dressed as Breathalyzer sentenced to jail for DUI
*Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?

4.

China bans time travel.
*Darn it. So much for my weekend plans to go back to 1998.

5.

France set to smash B.O. records
*Seriously, take a shower people.

6.

Man learns life lesson in naked fight with javelinas
*I bet he did!!

7.

Teenager charged with drink driving blames crash 'on boyfriend who didn't take her to see new Twilight film.
*First off, "drink" driving? is the reporter drunk too!?! Secondly, this girl needs a new boyfriend, seriously.

8.

Teen robbed of meatball sub at gunpoint.
*I've been that hungry before, I understand.

9.

Lohan's second trip to the morgue is success
*Define success.

10.

5 stabbed at 'welcome home from jail' party
*Awesome!

Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-50-funniest-headlines-of-2011

Here's to hoping 2012 gives us more idiots and bad journalists! Cheers!

Feeling Blue and Gray...

2012-01-14T11:29:00.000-06:00

I am normally a go bold or go home kind of girl when it comes to fashion. I like it bold, bright and fun! But today I'm feeling a bit more subdued...

Tonight I am "going to the city" (that's what we say in the south when we go to the BIG city which is Monroe, Louisiana population 49,000), for a fancy dinner night out with good friends. I'm excited for ANY chance I get to dress up around here because it doesn't happen all that often.

Recently a certain color scheme has caught my attention, I want to know what you guys think. I'm thinking of these colors for tonight.

Gray
Silver
Black &
Robin Egg Blue

Really boring from me right!?! But sometimes I get a vision and just have to go for it.

Check out these colors together...

Dining foom with robin egg blue armoir, white flowers and gray seat covers and walls.

Bedroom with gray, white and robin egg blue planks on the wall, white duvet with blue pillows.

Robin Egg Blue nail polish by ORLY.

Robin egg blue under shirt, scarf and shoes, with black pants and gray peacoat.

Wallpaper, bedroom, pearls, dining room, felt flowers all in gray and robin egg blue.

So what do you think? Blue and gray all the way or blue and gray, no way?

Cross Stitching

2012-01-13T23:02:00.000-06:00

I sometimes sit here too long and think about what I should write on this blog. Who's reading it? How personal can I really be? Who really cares about my personal and/or professional life? Maybe I should wait until later when I feel more witty and funnier. Maybe I'll be boring and steer people away, maybe I already have. Maybe I think WAY too much.

I once was told a great story about our perspective on life. Imagine a grandchild sitting on the floor watching his grandma do a cross stitch. From below it looks like this huge mess, doesn't make any sence and just looks awkward. But from grandma's perspective she has an image she is creating, a pattern she is following to create a really cool picture. This story stuck with me. I love the concept that from "down here" are life looks a little chaotic and messy but God has a picture he's working on and from his perspective it's going just as planned. It makes that age old saying, "look at the bigger picture" make more sense to me, it's more real for me now.

For most of my life, I thought my vision, or lack of, was my biggest curse. I didn't cry over it everyday or feel sorry for myself (all the time anyway) but I certainly thought it was my down fall, that thing in my life that stopped me from FULLY reaching my full potential. I always felt like I was a good kid, a good person, got good grades, did most things well and excelled for having the "issue" I had. I always, always knew that there was more in there, I knew I wasn't just good or mediocre, it was in me I just knew it.

I know now it wasn't my blindness that stopped me it was my lack of training, lack of knowlege about blindness and lack of good skills. That gives me a slight bit of comfort knowing that it wasn't all mental for me, there actually was something(s) missing. I have come a long way but I still don't feel like I'm living up to my full potential. I actually hope I always feel this way a little, I enjoy learning (even the hard way at times) and I want to wake up everyday feeling like I am not doing my best.

Lately I have been questioning my life a bit. I work with blind kids, blind adults, I write a column on blindness, I go on work and consumer organization trips, I work all day on braille advocasy. I'm basically emerced in the blindness field. I question if I am supposed to be doing this. Maybe I should be the blind person that's out there surrounded by sighted people proving blind people can be an active part of society. I do think about these things. How did I end up here, the girl who would NEVER claim to be blind for the majority of her life is now an active member of the blind community.

I'm passionate about what I do and what I believe, for the first time in my life I believe in something so much that I'm willing to make enemies over it. I never stood up for anything the way I do my job, my blind kids, myself. Where did this come from? When did I stop caring so much that EVERYONE liked me and cared more about standing strong in my beliefs? I feel like I went from one extreme to the next and sometimes don't walk that tight-rope well.

Perhaps it is normal for us to all stop and question things now and then. Perhaps it's normal to stop and think how you got from here to there. Perhaps it's normal to question ourselves every now and then. Perhaps.

Sometimes the view from down here seems a little confusing but it's comforting to know there's a picture in the works. All we can do is hope what we are doing is making an impact, that somehow we are making even the smallest change in the world. That we are waking up everyday wanting to leave a mark or simply cross one stitch.

Who wants money???

2012-01-10T08:39:00.000-06:00

If you are a blind college student, or future blind college student. YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY. Of all things I've endorsed on this blog, this is NUMBER ONE! This scholarship is how I learned about and entered the blindness field, it literally changed the course of my life. The scholarship is ALL CASH and it's a HUMUNGO opportunity. Don't miss it, I'm super serious...

If you want me to forward you the application, leave your email in the comment box and I will forward it to you.

THE 2012 NFB SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Dear College Students:

Are you legally blind and will you be a full-time college student in the fall 2012 semester? The National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Program Application Form is online at www.nfb.org/scholarships along with all rules for eligibility and additional information. (A print application form is available upon request.)

Our Scholarships:
1 for $12,000
1 for $10,000
2 for $7,000 each
4 for $5,000 each
22 for $3,000 each
plus additional gifts to each winner

The deadline to submit the application form and all required support documents is three months awayMarch 31, 2012so there is still plenty of time, especially if you have the other required documents ready to upload from your computer to the online application form.

We prefer DOC, DOCX, and RTF file formats, though we accept PDF. We prefer PDF for school transcripts and SAT/ACT scores. We also accept documents via mail or as attachments to an email.

Students, it is never too early to begin to assemble your documents. Please read the details on the 2012 program right now by going to our website at www.nfb.org/scholarships. The “Submission Checklist” on our website lists the full set of requirements and the FAQ page provides additional information on what the scholarship committee expects to find in a winning application packet.

More good news – In addition to this national scholarship program, many of our state affiliates have their own scholarship program for blind students living in their state or attending college in their state. When you contact your state’s NFB president to set up your personal interview, be sure to discover whether the state affiliate has a statewide scholarship program. (You must request the interview before the deadline; the interview itself may take place after the deadline if you and the president wish.) For contact information, go to www.nfb.org, then to FAST FACTS, then tap on the Presidents List and follow the links to your state.

Cordially,

Patti Chang, Esq.
Chairperson, NFB Scholarship Committee
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
at Jernigan Place
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
Office: (410) 659-9314, x2415
E-mail: scholarships@nfb.org
Website: www.nfb.org/scholarships

P. S.: The deadline is March 31, 2012.

Fun, Fabulous and 50...

2012-01-06T16:16:00.000-06:00

I was able to go home for the holidays and was able to leave a little bit early to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday!
My little sister and I have been planning this for a while and wanted to make it super special, after all we have a great mom!

My mom is a humungo Betty Boop fan. She has loved her since as long as I can remember, she has a Betty Boop shrine in her home for heck's sake. So a Betty Boop Diva themeed party seemed perfect!

Many of the items for the party were hand made, we wish we could have spent a trazillion dollars on a fun party but so tried to be crafty and still classy. So I wanted to show you how it all came together, you ready...

The Treat Table

Sucker displays I mad with wrapping paper, a foam cube, ribbon and buttons.

Cute suckers from Oriental Trading Company

Cute cookie display. Red and hot pink sugar cookies from Reams bakery in Magna, Utah.

"Still a Hot Tamale" candy display.

Big Red gum vase and Cherry display.

The cookies were so pretty and even more delicous!

Betty's Bar was a huge hit throughout the night! ;)

We also had a fun Betty Boop Kissing Booth

Candy wax lips for some HOT pictures!

We also had lips and a stick for more red hot photo ops...

The kissing booth was also equipped with paper and pens to write sweet notes to the birthday girl...

And of course there was food and lots of it...

Lots of fun was had by all, especially the birthday girl!

Happy Birthday to one terrific mom! Muah!

Oriental Trading Company, Hobby Lobby,

Column: A little more give, a little less take.

2012-01-05T16:37:00.001-06:00

Thursday, January 5, 2012

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Submitted by Ruston Leader on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 10:45am

Deja Powell

As we all sit down to make our New Year’s resolutions for 2012. We all hope we can keep, at least one of them in my case. For many of us we have a sudden urge at the beginning of a new year to start fresh and take care of ourselves and others.

For some reason the holidays come around and the New Year starts and we all feel like being a little more generous. I started thinking about this, with the help of a blind friend of mine from Utah, and how that can relate to blind people.

For thousands of years, even from biblical times, a common image of a blind person has been that of a blind beggar.

That’s the first thing I ever heard about a blind person, the story of the blind beggar seeking money and food. It continues to be in a large number of countries, and that includes the United States, the image that comes to mind for many.

For many, many years blind people have been the recipients of people’s generosity. It’s not uncommon for blind people or blindness related organizations to be on the receiving end of fundraising events and charity drives.

Now I’m not saying this is totally wrong, in fact I have been on the side of asking people to help donate to organizations and groups of the blind that are important to me. However, I think there is a change in the air and more and more blind people are now on the other side of charitable giving.
For me, and many of my blind friends, participating in fundraising or charity events for our communities, organizations (local and national), environmental projects, after school clubs, can food drives, gift collections and other charitable causes is a large part of our lives. Many of my good friends are part of the Peace Corps, volunteer organizations, political campaigns, the United Way and many, many other groups that I could never list them all.

This shift is already under way but it’s also important, for us as blind people, to step up and be willing to give back when there is a call for help. It’s also important for members of our communities to think twice about not including us in projects that come up.

For many there may be a hesitancy in knowing what exactly to do with a blind person. This is a normal feeling but one that needs to be altered. Blind people come equipped with a variety of talents and contributions and can bring a whole lot to your fundraising or community campaign.
Recently I participated in an event here in Ruston to benefit the Junior Auxiliary of Ruston.
We, the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana North Central Chapter, wanted to host an event for meet the blind month but more importantly we wanted to do something to show we were invested in the community that is Ruston. We decided to do a charity fashion show. When the all-blind member committee started meeting, and assignments started to be handed out, I was amazed to see the diversity in talents that each member brought to the table.

We had people who were great at socializing and mingling that did great work with advertising, we had people who were excellent with sound and technology that helped with music, lighting, videography and sound.

We had those who had planned similar events in the past who were great at organizing people. We had those who knew about graphic design to help design tickets, programs and flyers. We even had a blind artist design our event logo.

It was amazing and impressive the amount of diverse talent in the room. We were able to pull off our event and raise more than $800 for our charity of choice. It was great for me to be a part of as even I was skeptical of all us blind people pulling off such an event. I’m not so skeptical anymore.
There’s a job for any of us when it comes to volunteering and doing charitable work, the same is for people who are blind and visually impaired.

Next time you hold an event, a fundraiser, an auction, a project, ask that blind person you may know if and how they would like to contribute. You may be pleasantly surprised that they can be a great addition to your project.

Stay strong and keep those resolutions my friends; do something for someone else and I think 2012 will be the best year ever.

Deja M. Powell is programs manager at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and a 2008 alumna of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston. She writes a monthly column for the Daily Leader.

Inch by Bloody Inch

2012-01-03T16:23:00.001-06:00

As I'm sitting here trying to make up a list of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012, it just seems so overwhelming and I want to just scream because it's too much for me to take (because I do have SO much to improve on). Then...I cane across this great article and it really did calm me down.

I will post my resolutions as soon as they make it officially to paper.

This article is from one of my most favorite people, Miss Kristen Cox. It's a must read. Seriously. Remember one inch at a time when you're making those New Year's Resolutions!

http://kristencoxut.blogspot.com/2012/01/game-of-inches.html

Good luck everyone. You can do it!

Blind or Sighted, Love is Love!

2011-12-13T09:42:00.001-06:00

Blindness not factor in relationships

Submitted by Ruston Leader on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:20am

Columns

Deja Powell

Whenever I am doing any kind of presentation on blindness, the most common and most popular questions I get asked are about dating and relationships. I think this subject is a popular one for a lot of reasons. First, people are just fascinated with love and relationships. Look at what’s in the media now. Kim Kardashian, Demi and Ashton, politicians and their relationship fiascos. It’s a popular topic.
Second, there are a lot of misconceptions about blind people when it comes to dating and relationships. Some think blind people only date and marry other blind people. Some don’t understand how we court each other and some don’t understand how we do the most basic (and important) things like kiss. I know it sounds super odd, but you would be surprised how many times I’ve been asked how I kiss.

You will soon discover blind people dating, either each other or a person who’s sighted, is really not very interesting. Wait, don’t stop reading. I promise I’ll try to make it interesting! Dating/courting, weddings, marriages, children, they all work for us the same as they work for everybody. Some dates are horrible, some are fantastic. Some marriages work, some don’t. Many have children, some do not. It’s always important to remember that blindness is a characteristic and only a characteristic.

The most common question I get asked is if blind people only date and marry other blind people. Of course the answer to this is no. I don’t have the statistics on this, but I imagine it’s probably pretty even. Just like any other relationship, it depends on correct timing, similar personal interests and personalities that mesh and physical attraction, whether the person is blind or sighted.

I have been asked, on several occasions, how that last one works. Physical attraction is just as important to a blind person as anyone else. You have to have a physical connection of some kind with your significant other. It works the same no matter what, there is either a connection or not.

I personally have dated blind and sighted guys. I happen to have recently married a sighted guy. However, the situations of dating a sighted guy versus a blind guy really do play out the same. It was interesting, in all of my relationships, how quickly we adapted to each other. It’s less traumatic than you might think for a sighted man to date/marry a blind woman. You figure out how to go places via taxi, car, walking, with friends, etc. It’s a pretty seamless process for the most part. There are small changes like any relationship, but it’s surprisingly uneventful for most.

Now I’m not saying there are not glitches that come up. Like any relationship you have to work some things out. When my husband and I first started dating, we were walking to a local restaurant. I was walking along using my cane on the sidewalk, on the side closest to the road. As we walked he kept stepping to my side of the sidewalk forcing me to move in. I was, at first, quietly irritated. My first thought was, “What a jerk. He thinks I can’t walk along the road?” After a few moments of my pure stubbornness I told him to, “Stop it! I’m perfectly capable of walking safely.” He paused and proceeded to tell me that his mama taught him that a true gentleman always walks closest to the street when walking with a lady. I felt pretty embarrassed at the whole situation and realized I didn’t have to prove my independence all the time; I needed to let him be a gentleman. It was a small glitch, but one we always talk about.

I often get asked by people who just met me if my husband is blind or sighted. I have always wondered why this question is so important to people. Maybe it’s just curiosity. But remember, blind people have the same mental checklist when it comes to dating. We have the same inner gauge of chemistry, we know if it’s right or it’s not, we have horrible break-ups and happy endings. The bottom line is, blindness is not much of a factor in the dating process. While little adaptions may take place, ultimately all the important stuff (not related to blindness) play the most important part in finding love.

Deja M. Powell is programs manager at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and a 2008 alumna of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston. She writes a monthly column for the Daily Leader.

Lessons Learned from Little Men

2011-12-01T14:46:00.000-06:00

I feel very introspective these days. I have taken time every day to really think about life and the people in my life. I know I sound like Oprah here but my heart seems really heavy both in worry AND in gratitude.

In case you weren't aware, I have thee most ADORABLE nephews in the universe. Even though I am way too far away from them, they teach me so much. Here are some lessons I've learned from them...

Best Friends will ALWAYS be there for you no matter what.

It's ALWAYS a good idea to stop doing what your doing and take a nap once in a while...

Mickey Mouse makes everyone smile.

Don't be afraid to let loose and be silly every now and then...

Grandpa's are the best ones to have conversations with, they know everything...

Even if your grandpa is in heaven, he's always watching out for you...

Friends come and go but grandma's are ALWAYS there for you...

Sometimes in life we miss things because we just don't open our eyes wide enough...

Life can get rough but one steady force will always be your mom...

Always, always smile no matter what you are wearing, that smile with stand out...

Always remember not to work too hard, stop and play once in a while...

And most importantly, if mom, dad, grandma and grandpa say, "No!" Ask your auntie. She will always give you sugar right before bed time...

To my Nut Job (Iszacc) and my Gavinator, thanks for teaching me so much.

I love you my little dudes!

-Auntie Dej

Whining is Winning...

2011-11-29T14:54:00.000-06:00

Doesn't it just aggravate the crap outta you when people start out their blog with...
"I hate to ever complain on here, but...."

It does me! And when they share way TOO much information. TMI!!!

Anyway, onto my post...

I really hate to complain on my blog but...I'm bummed.

Sinus headache like-ish thingy (with no other sinus issues).

Dizziness whenEVER I stand, sit, lay, turn my hear, step, pick up something off the floor, breathe or talk...

Random fainting episodes.

Naseua (but not actual vomiting).

Doctor Howzar (That's not his real name but he totally reminds everyone of Doogie Howzar):
"Let's do a pregnancy test just in case." Ah, you suck doctor. BUT fix me anyway please.

Nurse: "Oh you bled for 5 months!?! That's rough. Now we are going to take some vials of blood."
Me: I'm not a doctor but does that make any sense at all!?! Eh, I guess a little less blood won't hurt at this point.

The fainting stuff honestly FREAKS ME OUT though! I'm ready to be done with that.

GQ is almost 100 percent sure I have the Zombie Virus. He's really worried about that. But we talked about it and I told him I wanted him to shoot my in the brain if I become a zombie so I don't eat him. It was a touching moment in our relationship.

Did I mention I haven't gone to get a haircut in forever and I look like this...

At least I look like a hot, long-haired Justin Beiber, so that's a plus.

Mind if I yell real quick...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Thanks.

Oh, and last night, well this morning at 1:00 am, I pulled out my FAVORITE pair of shoes, I bought for my friends wedding that I can't actually wear until April, and wore them for like 20 minutes, sitting down of course so I wouldn't faint in them, they're tall, it would hurt. Don't tell GQ though, he saw them this morning when he woke up and asked if I was wearing them around the house and I said, "Duh. No, of course not!"

They made me happier though...:)

Some days you just want to stare down life and say, "What the crap dude!?! Seriously!"

You Complete Me...

2011-11-21T13:50:00.001-06:00

I am simply smitten.

I have not been able to get you out of my head for days.

You are the most stunning thing I've ever seen...

I am indisputably, unquestionably, most certainly IN LOVE with YOU!

We are soul mates, I have not doubt about this. We were meant to be one with another.

I know this is true love.

Imagine you and I and our vintage tandem...

Can you even imagine the pictures we could conceive!?!

It was love at first sight.

You really would, complete me.

I looked you up. But feel free to come by ANYTIME.

XOXOXO

(The above is a picture of a black and white polka dot 1950's vintage dress).

Reunited with my little dudes...

2011-11-17T16:53:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago, I got to go visit my family in Utah. I have TWO freaking adorable nephews so I was pretty dang excited! My newest little dude/nephew Gavin...

Simply adorable right!?! If you do not say yes, you'll probably get beat up!

This is my newly 8 year-old nephew, Ike...

Total stud, I know!

I simply could NOT get enough of these little guys. I smooched their little faces off and didn't let them out of my sight much...

Ike and Gav are the best of friends and I'm pretty much in heaven seeing them together. They make me smile and laugh my butt off too!

Ike does the most hilarious 'routine' with Gavin where he makes him a transformer. Honestly, Gavin could care less and just lets Ike do whatever the heck he wants with him, and we were HIGHLY entertained...

I pretty much hogged the little guys the whole time I was there. But I'm there favorite aunt and they miss me so it's perfectly ok!

I also got to see some of my great friends and family over a nice cold dish of ice cream smothered in the best hot fudge on the the planet.

Look how many friends I have??? I feel special.

Such good looking people, right!?!

I also got to spend some time with my sister (who was always taking pictures too so she's not in many of them) and my Bad A brother-in-law, who's such a great daddy and uncle to our boys...

I did sneak in a shot of my baby sister and I...

I REFUSE to post the highly inappropriate picture Ike and my step-dad Owl took on my camera. Those BUMS, ew!

Speaking of Ew! This is what I woke up to my first morning in Utah...

Yep, it's pretty, for like 5 minutes!

I CANNOT POST WITHOUT MENTIONING THAT IT WAS

IKE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

Ok, he had two parties in a day, because that's pretty much how our family does things...BIGLY...

The kiddos party...

See this AWESOME cake Ike and I made. He wanted A LOT of stuff on a tiny cake...

I know we're amazing huh!?!

The kids party was a humungo success!

I also got to see many of our family and friends at Ike's OTHER party...

My cute grandparents...

My handsome uncle Darrell

Gav's other grammy...

My sweet friend Meg...

The boys and I did LOTS of other fun stuff like exercise...

Eat some delicious feet...

Learn to roll over!!!

Chill on the Luv Sac...

Open a GATRILLION presents...

Smile a WHOLE lot...

I also got to meet new people, like my bestest cousin Tiffany's newest little angel, Mya, who was adopted just before Gavin was born...

Gav and Mya were not instant friend, but we'll keep working on it....

It was the best weekend imaginable! I loved every smile, every laugh, every minute, every giggle...

Some of my favorite things...

2011-10-18T10:55:00.001-05:00

I recently have been doing some serious research on beauty products. I have been trying stuff out like crazy. So I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite beauty items (and some healthy snacks--which in turn make your beautiful I suppose). So here goes, my S&S stamp of approval...

1. Burt's Bees tinted chapstick. I am a HUGE lover of Burt's Bee's products in general. This Burt's Bees Tinted chapstick (the Plum is my fave) keeps your lips moist and gives it a sublte or serious touch of color. And it's not all that expensive.

Since moving to the south my skin has been a wreck! You'd think moving from Utah (where it's so dry it sucks all the moisture out of you) to Louisiana (where I have to swim to work practically) you'd think my skin would love it! But it hasn't it hates it really. I tried so many expensive body lotions (I could have bought like 3 pairs of new shoes for all the money I spent) and nothing seemed to work. So I started doing my research and found out the answer was right in front of my face...

Vaseline Cocoa Butter Deep Conditioning lotion has been my HERO. I love the cocoa smell and my skin has made a complete tranformation. I mean seruiously who knew. And this large bottle of lotion costs about $3 in the store. Hello, wonderful!

I have been trying SO HARD to make some small changes in my diet so that I can be a little healthier. Now I LOVE chocolate and am NOT willing to delete it from diet, ever! So I found these wonderful little treats...

Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Dark Chocolate Almonds. Before you anti-dark-chocolate people just surpass this. I have never been a dark chocolate fan UNTIL NOW! These things are deliciously amazing. It's the perfect cure for a sweet tooth and actually quite good for you. I'm telling you this is a MUST TRY!

Back to must haves. I am recently a humungo fan for patterned tights. I am strange in that I"ve actually always loved wearing tights. I think they're comfortable, weird right. But lately I started buying tights with patterns, flowers, dots, striped, zig zaps you name the design and color and I most likely have it in my drawer. They are pretty inexpensive but add so much PIZAZZ to an outfit. I am loving fall that I get to wear these more often.

Back to crazy skin. My face has also been a mess since moving to the humid south. It's dry and zitty and well, gross. THEN I found something fantastic! I'm serious for less than $5 I tried St. Ives Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer and I am SO IN LOVE! It comes in a large container that will seriously last you forever, it's so inexpensive and my skin on my face has made a complete turn-around, it's amazing. I try to use it at night and when I wake up and I can't even begin to tell you how much I adore this product.

Back to snacks. You know I can't leave food for that long. I have had a recent love affair with cheese, pepperjack cheese to be exact. It seriously satisfys my "I-need-something-ubber-salty" phases. I keep some diced up in my fridge and I love this snack!

Eye shadow. I have had a helluva time trying to find eye shadow I like. I'm not picky but I hate it when it's all chalky on my eyes, yuck. So my search for CHEAP eye shadow came to pass...

I have fallen head over heels for Loreal Hip Eye Shadow. It's so creamy and rich and I simply love the color pallettes. A lot of people have compared to Mac eye shadow (which is far more expensive). I am a huge fan of Loreal Hip! Good find!

So there are a few of my recent favorite finds. Maybe something will be useful to you! :)

What the heck is MTBM?

2011-10-14T00:30:00.000-05:00

Help celebrate Meet the Blind Month

Submitted by Ruston Leader on Thu, 10/13/2011 - 11:43am

Deja Powell

October is Meet the Blind Month, a month the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has established as a time for communities across the country to come together with blind members of the NFB and learn about blindness, blindness resources and more (www.nfb.org).

Here in Ruston it may seem like every month is Meet the Blind Month, as many of you have daily encounters with blind people. However, this month is unique in that several events around the community are happening to help blind members and our communities learn more about each other.

These events around Ruston include blind people going to schools in Lincoln Parish and reading Braille books to elementary students. Blind seniors will be attending local retirement communities to provide information on programs for blind and visually impaired seniors. A fashion show involving several local stores and boutiques and blind models will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Trinity Center (all proceeds will benefit the Junior Auxiliary of Ruston). All these events, and many more around the country, are designed to get the public out to meet the blind and maybe answer some questions they might have.

I thought I would share with you some questions I’ve been asked over the years. Some are great questions and others are pretty funny. However, I’ve always said that I would rather someone ask questions than simply speculate.

How do you identify your clothing so it matches? Many blind people find unique ways of identifying their clothes. If you really look in your closet you will notice that many of your shirts, pants, skirts, etc. have little details that are different. Many blind people use these little differences to identify their clothing. Other blind people put a Braille label inside the tag of their clothes that says what color that item is. I personally organize my closet by color, keeping all the red, pinks, yellows, etc. together. I’m not sure if this is a blind thing or my obsession with organization, either way it works.

When speaking to a group of third graders, one child asked me, “How do you eat? Do you just eat French fries all the time?” I couldn’t help but chuckle at this question. I do eat far too many French fries, but blind people eat everything there is to eat.

For many kids, and maybe some adults, it’s quite common to believe that blind people are far different from themselves. However, blind people do all the things you do, we just find different methods to do the same things.

How does a blind person grocery shop? This is a great question and one of the first questions I had about blindness. All blind people have to go grocery shopping, whether we like it or not.
Many blind people use someone who works at the store, like someone from customer service, to walk around with them and help them find items they need. It’s important to understand that the assistant shopper is not doing all the work, the blind person is there to explain exactly what is needed and feels everything before it goes into the cart. Now, some blind people can go to the grocery store without a shopper. Once they get to know a shopping center well, they learn where certain products are. It is easy to purchase some products, like milk and rice, without any help.

Now to end on another fun kid question. How does a blind kid play with his/her friends? This is a really important question, especially for kids. Blind kids are like all other kids. They love hanging out with their friends, playing on the playground, playing games and sports, reading books, dancing, singing and running around the neighborhood. All these things are possible for a blind child to do. Most blind kids do these things with their cane and that’s perfectly OK. Blind kids can, and should, do the same things as other kids.

So there you go, a few questions you may or may not have thought of. Remember it’s Meet the Blind Month, so participate in the various community events around town and meet a blind person or two.

Deja M. Powell is programs manager at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and a 2008 alumna of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston. She writes a monthly column for the Daily Leader.

Tandem Love...

2011-10-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

Who do you know that has been wanting a tandem bike for like FOREVER???

Guess who's getting one on Friday???

That's right! ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited to ride while Lucas does all the work!

"Peddle faster hunny!"
:)

I feel like it's Christmas, I'm so excited!

POP-o-CoLoR

2011-10-06T09:43:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share a couple of my personal outfits, just for funzies throughout the month.

I have an interesting life because half the week I am out in the school teaching (and I do not wear anything like the outfit below) and the other half of the week I am in my office. So I sort of have two wardrobes, makes life fun!

Here is my outfit today...

After today I learned something about myself, I DO NOT make a great model. I have no clue how to pose properly. I'm a dancer though so I naturally know how to pose somewhat!

This outfit is a black and white floral, cap sleeve, knee-length dress I found at Ross. Now Ross is tricky because you have to be very patient looking through all their stuff and I rarely am that patient but IF you can do it you can find a steal like this.

Original Price; $69

MY price: $25

Sweet right!?!

I then added some long black and silver chandelier earrings, I have no clue where I got them from. Some simple red pumps from Target ($14.99). And a red and silver bracelet from JC Penney ($10.99).

I must say, I am a bargain hunter, I rarely buy anything unless its on sale!

Fashion Tip: I love wearing black and white with a POP of color. It's my favorite style right now! Don't be afraid of color, if you love it it will love you right back!

An apple a day...

2011-10-03T14:29:00.000-05:00

I love me some Shabby Apple...
You must check out this Website, I love nearly everything they have...

This red asymmetrical dress, with high collar is just beautiful! I am a huge sucker for red dresses! Nothing makes you feel sexier and more womanly in my opinion.

I am a sucker for bright colors, anytime of year I wear them. This tangerine dress makes me giddy. I love the simple cap sleeve and tight waist.

I love this ruffly skirt bottom combines with cobalt blue. The colors are beautifully and the style is classy and fun. Add a black pump and bam, spectacular.

I love white! White dresses make any girl look elegant and classy. I love the simplicity of this dress. Add a POP of color and you've got a hot look!

Don't forget to check out Shabby Apple!

Tickled Pink...

2011-09-26T17:09:00.001-05:00

I'm thinking if my husband bought me some of the following, I might be willing to cook more often/ever. Just sayin'...

Most of these pink kitchen tools, I don't even know what you do with them and the last one, well I gotta look cute when I cook. Duh.

Fashion Month...What! What!

2011-09-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

October is going to be

FASHION MONTH

on Slate and Stylish!!!

Aren't you just so excited!?!

I know I am.

Things to come...

My favorite fashions.

Shoe-a-holics Addiction Feedings.

Guest authors, fashion EXPERTS.

Fashion fixes: Cheap stuff that looks expensive.

My favorite fashion sites.

ONLINE BLIND-FRIENDLY FASHION SHOW!!!

Totally Beautiful Shoe Give-a-Way contest.

IT'S GONNA BE AN AWESOME MONTH!!!

Fashionablility...

2011-09-23T13:45:00.000-05:00

Blind people can be fashionable

Submitted by Ruston Leader on Thu, 09/22/2011 - 10:18am

Deja Powell

I like to think that I am a fairly fashionable person. I have always prided myself on not only looking good but being up with current fashion trends.

For those who have read my column in the past, I have been blind my whole life, but I always have had enough vision to not have to use a cane. Or so I was told.

I always felt like, and honestly sometimes I still do, that I’m walking a line. Am I blind? Or, am I sighted? Maybe you don’t have to pick a side but I have had a tough time walking this line.

One of the biggest issues for me, in using a cane, was how it made me look. I always want to look fashionable and normal. For most of my life I thought this wasn’t really possible if I used a cane. I felt like I could be more myself without a cane, because I wouldn’t look so different. I wanted people to notice me and not my cane.

It wasn’t until I was 23 that I really started thinking about using a cane. I remember the first time someone gave me one to use I went to my room and bawled. I hated it.

I hated feeling so different. I honestly thought that people would never again notice that I was trendy, hip and fashionable; instead they would just see my cane.

There was this moment in college that one of my teachers asked me to come present to her college class on disabilities what it was like to be blind. At the time, I didn’t use a cane or read Braille — I just struggled through school. I told this professor I’d be glad to do it.

The day of the presentation I showed up and gave my presentation on how normal I am for being blind. Looking back it was horrible.

I had no clue what I was talking about and was so far from embracing the skills of blindness it was absurd. My mom picked me up from school that day and said to me, “Did you realize that you have two different shoes on today, one brown and one black?” I was completely humiliated.
It was a moment I won’t forget.

I realized that day that by not embracing the skills of blindness in my life, I was losing myself and my credibility as a fashionista. It was an embarrassing way to learn a lesson.
Shortly after I learned to use a cane, I went on a trip to New York City. I was walking down the street and staring into the windows of the department stores looking at the most beautiful shoes I’d ever seen.

I got emotional, not because of the shoes, well somewhat because of the shoes, but because for the first time in my life I was looking at everything around me instead of the floor. My cane was giving me information on the ground and I could use the vision I did have to look at things I really loved looking at, like shoes.

The hardest thing in the world for a person who has some vision, but not enough of it is to pick up a cane; it’s that final, obvious thing that classifies you as a blind person. But with the proper training on how to use it, you learn pretty quickly how to be most comfortable in your own skin.

Deja M. Powell is programs manager at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and a 2008 alumna of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston. She writes a monthly column for the Daily Leader.

Shake it like that...

2011-09-22T09:30:00.002-05:00

Teachers, here is a little acronymn I came up with to help my little ones remember the rules of the cane. We are working on memorizing it right! One of my little guys even has some dance moves to go along with it, it's pretty cute!

I know it's not a complete list of EVERYTHING you should think about with your cane, but it's some of the most important in my book!

Always remember to

SHAKE

when using the cane…

Swing wide.

Hold it in the middle.

Always Use It!

Keep tapping.

Every time, in-step.

nbsp;Once all (7) of my kids have it memorized we get to have an Ice Cream SHAKE party! The sweets lover that I am, this motivates me as a teacher, truly! :)

Yummmayy!!!

Cruisin' in Style...

2011-09-16T16:16:00.000-05:00

Do you ever think about what kind of car you would get, if you weren't blind and could drive? Honestly, I hardly EVER think about this really but today, my mom is in town and we are driving around in this orangish/yellowish box of fun...

So it got me thinking about what I would want to drive. Here are a few options, let me know which you think is best suited for me? You know, just in case I ever decided to purchase some wheels...

Come on, this could NOT be more perfect for me. Can you not picture me riding around in a GINORM stiletto?

Honestly, this next car is NO joke. I honestly love it!

A hot pink car would be the best!

Or here's another option in pink...

Although I'm not sure if a van that looks like a pig is all that practical.

Compact cars are super popular right now and get great gas mileage...

Plus with this one seater, no one will want to ride with me anyway if I ever do drive so it's actually quite practical.

Or I could go with something totally eco friendly...

"Excuse me while I go water and mow my car!"

But I am pretty sure this one is atop my list...

I'll take one diamond encrusted car please! CHA CHING!

So what do you guys think?

God's Cute Dust...

2011-09-08T12:11:00.002-05:00

Seriously, my husband cracks me up. I thought I'd share a few things about him (which he'll never read, so that makes it totally ok to gossip about him, right!?!)

1. My husband asked me if it was ok if he packed a knife ONLY and went to survive in the woods for a couple of weeks? He was dead serious. I realize some women would be OVER-JOYED to hear this but it's just bizarre to me. Then he asked if I wanted to go with him...

2. While in the car with GQ's little sis and I, he preceded to say the following:
"Deja's nephew Gavin is so cute. Like ridiculously cute. In fact I think when God was sprinkling the cute dust on him, like he does all babies, Jesus snuck up behind God and said, 'Hey, Dad!' and so God jumped and accidentally dumped a bunch of cute dust on Gavin and was like 'uh, oh, he's gonna be really cute'."
Quite possibly my favorite explanation of my nephew adorableness and my husband CRAZYness.

I think he's right about the excess cute dust thought...

3. My husband thinks I'm short. If any of you have met me you know I'm NOT short. I'd say I'm average but I have long legs so people think I'm taller than I really am...except my husband who calls me shorty. So annoying.

4. My husband is quite the creative chef. Honestly, I never have a clue the crap, I mean stuff, he actually puts in our meals. I can tell you when cleaning up the kitchen I find some truly SHOCKING ingredients. He's been begging me to let him try to make Pumpkin Spice hamburgers lately and they just HAPPEN to be out of pumpkin spice every time we go grocery shopping. I have my sources.

5. Speaking of sources, my husband is currently at the FBI offices in Baton Rouge because he has all intentions of becoming an agent. He seems pretty serious about this and he packed his best dress clothes to wear the office this week. I'm not 100 percent sure how I feel about this yet...

6. And last but not least, my husband is obsessed with ninjas and zombies. He talks about it ALL the time and it's just weird. Ladies, why are guys so obsessed about this? I recently told him that I wanted to get some food storage together for us, just in case. He says to me, "Oh YAY! You finally believe me about the Zombie Apocalypse". "Yes honey! That's EXACTLY what I'm talking about..."

However, I love him!

Dancing in the Rain...

2011-08-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, I am not starting and S&S book club or anything, in fact I rarely have a book I love enough to share, but this one's an exception...

One of my dad's sweet sisters gave me this great book...

It's the cutest little book filled with the sweetest quotes and pictures. It's something I turn to on a regular occurrence.

It seems fitting to share this book with you now as some of you have seen WAY more rain than you ever wanted, and some of us are in a serious need of it.

Whatever the case me be, dancing in the rain, or doing the rain dance to get rain, we have to do some sort of dancing.

Get this book by clicking here, you won't regret it!

Thanks to my aunt Chris, who at the moment is learning to dance in the rain herself.

Blind Ballerinas...

2011-08-23T14:41:00.001-05:00

I was so excited when I got asked to write an article for the parent's magazine, Future Reflections, about one of my all-time favorite subjects, dancing! It was a lot of to fun write! A speical thanks to my mom/dance teacher who helped me edit this article and helped inspire me to write it.

Future Reflections Summer 2011

What Do You Do with a Blind Ballerina?

by Deja M. Powell, MA, NOMC

From the Editor: Deja Powell is an orientation and mobility instructor for blind children and serves as programs manager for the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University. Recently she got married to her fiancé when he returned from a deployment in Iraq.

My mom grew up as a dancer. When she was twelve she started teaching as an assistant dance teacher. Shortly after my parents were married, my dad built them a new house with a dance studio in the basement.

When I arrived, a baby girl, I was a dance teacher's dream. I left the hospital in tights and a leotard and leg warmers (this was back in the 1980s). That's pretty much what I wore from then on. I was the little ballerina my mom had always dreamed about!

You can perhaps imagine the heartbreak my parents experienced nine months into my life when they were told that I was blind. The doctors predicted a dismal future. My parents' dream of their little dancer probably faded into the distance.

However, as soon as I started to crawl and then to walk, the dream revived. I loved music and I loved dancing to it. When my mom went down to the studio to teach, I would cry at the top of the basement stairs. I badly wanted to dance, but I couldn't join the class--not because I was blind, but because I wasn't yet two years old.

When I finally turned two I started dance classes. Mostly my mom just let me move around in class as I chose; that's what two-year-old students usually do anyway. Outside of class Mom helped me move to an actual beat. Holding my hands, she danced with me in the living room, in the kitchen, in the studio, and in the yard. I quickly picked up on the rhythm of music. I knew how to work the stereo before I could talk. I loved to dance, and I danced all day.

As I got a little older, my mom began to spend more one-on-one time with me. She taught me specific positions for my feet and showed me where to place my arms. At first she literally put my body into the correct positions. As we worked, I learned ballet terminology. Plié, first position, jeté, pirouette, arabesque, fourth position--I knew what each term meant, and I could perform each one of them. Mom even did flashcards with me to help me learn the names of all the ballet positions. Whenever she announced a step in class, I knew exactly what she was talking about.

I began to excel in dance as I got older. I was long and lean and fit to be a dancer. I always felt that I was meant to dance.

As I became more competitive, I spent more and more time at the studio with my mom and classmates. I learned arm movements and specific placement for my feet for all my routines. At one point I was spending about ten hours a week at the studio. That was where I wanted to be.

In performances and competitions my teammates and I strategized about how I would find my spot, keep formation, and get to where I needed to go. Sometimes they communicated with me verbally, telling me to stop, keep going, or move to the right. Sometimes the routine was designed so that I didn't have to move far from my spot. I could still do many formations this way, and it helped make the transitions for me easier.

A dance teacher with a blind student can figure out what works best based on the student's strengths. Talk about what works most smoothly. Don't be afraid to try out several ideas before you figure out what works. Try to be as verbally expressive as possible while you teach. Plan one-on-one time to work with the blind student outside of class.

If you are the parent of a blind child who wants to dance, there are ways it can be done. As in any activity, you and your child may have moments of self-doubt. While I tried not to let my blindness affect my love for dance, there were moments when I thought about giving it all up. After all, you don’t see many blind dancers. Was there really a place for me in the world of ballet?

When I was nine years old, I had the opportunity to perform in the half-time show at the Fiesta Bowl football championship in Phoenix, Arizona. It was my first huge dance milestone. We spent hours on the hot football field, practicing our routines. At one point, I heard a teacher walk up to her student who was standing behind me. She told the student that she was positioning her arms the wrong way. "But I'm following the girl in front of me," the student protested. "Oh, you really shouldn't follow her," the teacher said. "She's blind. She doesn't know what's going on."

I felt crushed, and the tears started rolling. It was the first time in my life that someone doubted me because of my blindness. I have never forgotten that terrible moment.

I realize today that I have to set my own expectations and work on my own confidence, because people will doubt me my whole life. Dancing became my escape from reality. When I danced I felt like everyone else, and I actually felt like I belonged. I still find opportunities for dance today, such as yoga and Zumba (a combination of Latin dance and aerobics).

Fortunately for me, I had parents who really didn't care what the professionals had to say. They found ways to adapt something I loved around my blindness. If your child wants to be a dancer, a gymnast, or an athlete, there are always ways it can be done. There's a blind person out there somewhere who has done it already.

I can't imagine my life without dance. I'm glad my parents didn't hold back on letting me dance because I am blind. I'm grateful that they never thought I was too fragile, or that dance was too dangerous or too difficult for me. Dance shaped me and gave me the confidence that is a huge part of finding success as a blind adult.

Come on! Let’s dance!
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr30/3/fr300303.htm

Slated to be a Hero: Super Sky

2011-08-17T15:59:00.000-05:00

I rarely spend enough time on this blog talking about people who inspire me. There are many such people in my life.

Even complete strangers, through the world of blogging, have motivated me and pushed me forward to be better.

Here is one such blog that I encourage you to read! Two of my heroes...

Skyler and His Mommy over at http://crystalandskyler.blogspot.com/

The cutest of heroes!

Parents making tough decisions...

2011-08-11T13:57:00.001-05:00

Parents making tough decisions

Submitted by Ruston Leader

Thu, 08/11/2011 - 10:26am

By columnist: Deja Powell

For any parent who has a child with a disability, you know how difficult it is to make decisions on behalf of that child. There are a million decisions to make when it comes to your child’s education, decisions that you know will impact the rest of their life. Now I must preface this by saying that I am not a parent myself, but don’t stop reading, I will speak from the perspective of my parents.

Like nearly all parents, my mom and dad wanted nothing but the best for me. At 9 -months-old they learned that I would be blind for the rest of my life. I’m sure my parents instantly felt the burden of parenthood grow even larger. When it was time for me to go to school, my parents had to decide which school was best for me.

With guidance from experts such as eye doctors and other professionals in the field of blindness they decided to enroll me at the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind for my pre-K schooling. This was not an easy decision for my parents.

To make a long story short, after a year at the school for the blind, my parents made a decision to then enroll me in public school. Once in public school my parents began the IEP process, IEP stands for Individual Education Plan, for any parent who has a child with a disability, you know all too well about IEP’s.

In this process my parents had to make tough decisions about my education. Would my child use large print or learn Braille? Would my child use a cane, or not? Would she participate in physical education class? The questions were endless and I’m sure quite confusing. The major decisions were made for my parents, because, well, they didn’t know what to do with a blind child and professionals in the field probably knew best. So I didn’t learn Braille and I didn’t use a cane and I didn’t participate in physical education classes. Later, my parents learned that these decisions were the wrong ones.

So where does the problem lie, the “qualified” professionals who work with the blind seemed to be the experts and seemed to know what was best; and honestly they probably thought what they were doing was best. My parents on the other hand knew nothing about blindness or being parents of a blind child until they were suddenly side-swiped with that reality.

My mom often talks to me about how she wishes she would have made different decisions for me when I was younger. She still feels a strong sense of guilt. But my mom did what she thought was best, what she thought was normal for a child like hers. She had no other parents to turn to, no group of people that she knew who knew anything about blindness, no books to read on the subject. She did the best she could.

We now know that there are plenty of consumer organizations of blind people that help parents like mine. Organizations like the National Federation of the Blind’s National Organization of Parents of Blind Children and others.

Whenever I ask my parents what they know now that they wish they would have known before they most often say they wish they would have got to meet more blind people, blind adults who have grown up to be successful and had the chance to ask them questions about their education. They wish they could have met other parents of blind children so they didn’t feel like they were the only ones out there. They wish they would have listened less to the experts and more to actual blind people who have been there and done that.

For any parent of a child with a disability, I’m sure this all sounds too familiar. As a professional in the blindness field myself, I say to not only talk to the experts in the field but talk to other parents who are dealing with what you are, bounce ideas off of them and learn from their personal experiences. Parents are the absolute key to a child’s success. While that’s a big burden to hold for you parents, it’s also a pretty great gift you can give your child.

But remember that you are not alone and there are other parents, as well as adults with disabilities, who are ready, willing and able to help you.

•••••

Deja M. Powell is programs manager at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and a 2008 alumna of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston. She writes a monthly column for the Daily Leader that runs on the second Thursday.

Summertime Blues...

2011-08-10T16:52:00.000-05:00

I've been in a bit of a rut these days.

Not sure why but it's been a bit cold and cloudy in my head and my heart.

In these moments, there are always TWO things I want to do...

Buy clothes.

And redecorate.

So I'm thinking of doing the second one. Maybe it's time for a small home make-over at our house.

I'm going to fix up OUR bedroom. Since GQ and I got married he has had to deal with rainbow overload in the bedroom. It's quite bright and colorful (which I love by the way). He says it doesn't bother him but I'm ready to make it OUR room already. Plus I want to make it more romantical, you know for the 'cuddling' and such!

The most inspiring material things in my life are clothes and food. Those are normally my inspirations for decorating too. These are my inspirations for OUR bedroom...

Ever since I saw the above darling dress, with the red and blue floral high-waste skirt, crimson top and black tights, I was smitten. Love at first sight.

The above is a living room but the colors are fab together. This inspires me to use a variety of blues.

My hubby knows that this summer I have been OBSESSED with smoothies! I love berries and I love, love, love smoothies. The mix of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries is seriously yummy and beautiful together too.

Again, everything about the above outfit I adore. The turquoise dress, red jacket and black accessories make me crave winter. I love the look and love the little blue house in the background. Don't you?

So I'm ready to get to work, on a baby-size budget, we'll see how it all works out!

I'm also thinking of plastering this on my wall, in exceedingly large print...

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

Happy End of Summer Everyone!

Special

2011-08-09T12:42:00.001-05:00

Do you want to hear about some things that I think are special? Ok then I will tell you.

The other days I was in Baton Rouge with GQ (he goes there once a month for military duty). I was hungry (big surprise there) so I decided to walk over to Subway. I {heart} Subway a lot! So I walk over there from our hotel, stand in line and then order.

Me: "I will have a turkey sandwich on wheat with spinach and all veggies, sweet onion sauce and salt and pepper."
Special Person: "Wow! You do such a great job of ordering that sub!"
Me: "Wait until you see me order my cookies!"

It was quite a special moment for me. But I am dang good at ordering subs...I guess....
Isn't it special how some people act so awkward around a blind person, I mean who says that? Someone special.

You know what else is really special to me? My family. I love them and they love me and we are a very special family!

My little sister is super special...

My mamasita is quite special too...

She's the special one on the right.

Even my step dad is quite special...

That is a very special and LARGE beer!

My nephew Ike is extremely special also, hence why I call him nut job, see, special...

And Gavin, well he's just especially cute as can be...

My sister and I even married two very special people...

Specialness OBVIOUSLY runs in the family!

Of course this is MY blog so there are simply NO special pictures of me available. None.

The specialness must now come to an end. Go out an be special everyone!

Tiffany's Turn...

2011-08-04T17:39:00.001-05:00

There are some days that I don't understand how certain things, not so good things, can happen to such TERRIFIC people! It's hard to understand sometimes...

It's a beautiful day when you wake up and learn something GREAT has happened to someone GREAT, don't you think!?! Kind of rejuvenates the soul.

My cousin Tiffany is one of the most terrific people I have ever know. She is also THEE sweetest person I've ever me, she's my dad's niece and she has always reminded me of him in so many ways.

She has been wanting, for more than a long time, to be a mom. She's cut out to be a mom, it's so obvious. You know those people that you just imagine with kids, that's her!?! She's the kind of person that should be a mom because if more kids had a mom like her, our world would be very different.

Her husband Nick is equally wonderful (although kind of a dork;)

Well just less than four weeks ago, after years of trying to get pregnant, fertility treatment failure one right after the other, her husband and she decided to file for adoption...

Less than a week after putting their adoption profile on the web they got a phone call, now they were told at one point that the average wait period to adopt is eight years! Can you imagine!?!

So when they got a phone call less than a week after posting their profile, they were shocked. Now I won't share the whole story because it's their story to tell, not mine but keeping on track with their fast paced adoption process, they found out a mother had selected them and she was due in TWO WEEKS!

Can you imagine having two weeks to get ready for a baby? Holy crap! But Tiff and Nick were ready for this baby for years, I know that.

So now these two amazing cousins of mine are parents to the most adorable little lady, Mya! She is beautiful and so very lucky to have the parent's she does!

What a beautiful gift adoption is!

I just wanted the world to know how happy I am for them and how much I love Tiff, Nick and Mya! What a blessing they all have been to me and it's due time they get their blessing in return!

So happy Mother's and Father's Day to Nick and Tiffany and Happy Birth Day to the beautiful Mya!

Isn't it wonderful to know good things do happen to good people! Refreshing wouldn't you say!?!

Will Bake for Shoes...

2011-07-31T11:13:00.001-05:00

Good housewives cook, clean, iron, scrub, bake, etc. etc. GQ knew when marrying me that he was pretty much getting none-of-the-above.

Now I've actually been told I'm a good cook, but I try to ignore that or pretend I don't hear it, because I generally HATE doing it. I do have moments of weakness that I slap on the apron and cook/bake. GQ usually asks, "Are you OK?" if he sees me in my apron.

Recently my sister-in-law, who has been living with us this summer, was having a birthday. If you know me at all, and if you know my family history, you know that my family knows how to throw a PARTAY! So I decided she needed a party.

With me you will quickly learn that ANY party I throw must have a theme! I love themes and to me, it's not a party without a theme! I mean each room in my house has a theme, I {heart} themes! :)

So I decided to go with a Superhero Movie theme. My sis-in-law loves movies and superheros (she's 17 by-the-way). It's a genetic thing because my husband is exactly the same. Weird, but it is what it is.

So the first thing I thought about was the cake. I mean that IS the most important part of a birthday. Food is always my first thought. So I did some research (meaning I Googled a bunch of stuff) and found these ADORABLE cupcakes. They looked pretty simple so I figured it was something even I could do!

Popcorn Cupcakes...

They turned out pretty dang cute, right!?! I was pretty proud of myself.

So a few people have asked for the recipe and how these beauties were made. So you're about to find out.

First Off, you gotta make the cupcakes, now I"m about to share my secret cupcake recipe...

Step One: So you follow the direction on the box (you can use whatever flavor you wish, I used funfetti in this situation). Mix it with some stuff, and some other stuff then poor it into regular (doesn't matter the pattern) cupcake tins. Then you back them, in an over, at some medium high degrees until they're done, but not burnt. Then you cool them COMPLETELY on this wire shelf thing that my friend gave me to use.

Voila. Cupcakes.

Step Two: Get this container of frosting and take the lid off and pull off the aluminum lid thing. Then use a wet knife to spread the frosting generously on the cupcakes. The more frosting, the better.

Step Three: Take a bag of the mini marshmallows (if you can find mini mellows in yellow you can use those, if not white are fine), you made need two bags if you are baking a lot of cupcakes. Then you take each tiny mellow and cut it in half. Put it in a bowl for now.

Step Four: Print out the cupcake wrappers. I literally took this picture, saved it on my computer, and printed out on a full size sheet of paper. I didn't even use card stock, just regular white paper.

Here is the link to this picture. Cut them out and wrap them around using a small piece of scotch tape to keep it together. Place the already baked cupcakes into the Popcorn Wrappers.

Step Five: Put the halved mellows on the cupcakes in a clump like manner. The icing will make them stick. The more you use on each cupcake the more it will look like popcorn. Make sure the entire cupcake is covered.

Step Six: Once the mellows are on the cupcake take yellow food coloring and put in a bowl with a little bit of water, mix it well. Take a bran new clear paint brush and paint each cupcake to turn the mellows yellow. The more yellow the better, more buttery look.

Step Seven: Optional. You can use yellow sugar crystals to sprinkle on top of the cupcakes.

Step Eight: Eat the yumminess.

These cupcakes were a lot of fun to make and a big success at the party...

I hope you enjoyed one of the few recipes you will EVER find on S&S. Happy Baking!

I'm Coming Home...

2011-07-25T11:31:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to blog about this for months now, I think about it often but every time I sit down to write about my experience I come up empty.

Two years and one month ago, my now husband came back from his deployment to Iraq. Exactly two years ago today he drove to Utah to see me.

I had no clue what was going to happen because WE had pretty much fallen very much apart during his deployment. It was a difficult time for both of us, and that's a huge understatement. In fact at this point two years ago we were broken up, barely talking, living hundreds of miles apart and pretty much living our separate lives. I don't believe it's how either of us really wanted it to be.

It was a difficult time for us as a couple and a more difficult time for him. I won't try to explain what he was dealing with because only he really knows and only he would be able to share his experience. For me however, I was feeling about everything, pain, loss, rejection, fear, heartache...and on and on. But I was also feeling a lot of strength and had done some serious emotional strength building.

GQ had promised me he would come visit me when he got back, before he ever left, so like always, he insisted on keeping that promise. And truthfully I wasn't so sure he should come. I had finally taken massive steps to move forward and I didn't want anyone or anything to pull me off of my path.

In a ginormous leap of faith I told him he could come. He was very hesitant too, it was a leap for both of us.

I remember waiting for him to get to my apartment and literally praying for a good solid hour that somehow, someway, God would get me through this. Neither of us had any idea of how we would react when we saw each other. I'm pretty sure I threw up a couple of times because I was so nervous. I had to put my faith to work and trust that I would be guided. I also had recently learned I was strong and felt more ready than ever to handle whatever came my way.

When GQ finally got to my house (he drove from Louisiana) I helped him grab his bags, we shared a real brief "Hello" and we walked up to my apartment. We both sat on opposite sides of the room for several minutes saying nothing to each other. It was perhaps the most awkward I've ever felt. How strange to be sitting across from someone you've missed so much and have nothing to say to each other!?!

We talked about his drive for a minute or so...

Then we both kind of looked at each other and ran to give each other the biggest hug. It was a moment I won't forget. We hugged for quite a while, just held each other. From that moment on we began to slowly rebuild our relationship. We still had a lot of mending to do and such a long journey ahead of us.

I have a new found respect for military families. What a hurricane of emotions one goes through, on both sides of the world, during that period of separation. It was a time I hope to never have to repeat, although most likely I'll have to. However, GQ and I's love reached a whole new level post deployment. In my wedding vows I said that during that deployment I never thought we'd ever be able to be like we were before, and we never wore, everything got better and stronger.

It was interesting that I was thinking about writing this post for sometime now. For those who know me, during the summer I am all about So You Think You Can Dance, the only TV show I am committed to all year. Well a few weeks ago, while visiting Utah, GQ and I were watching this show and there was a routine on there that said EVERYTHING I wanted to say in less than 2 minutes.

It hit both of us hard we were basically sobbing by the end of it, our story was flashing across the screen for millions to see. But it's not just our story, it's the story of too many. I often find music and dancing to explain far better than I can with words, how I am feeling. This was pretty much the best example of this I have every experiences. Please take just a few minutes to watch this piece all the way through, so I can share with you my experience. You won't regret it.

I share this story only because I know of too many people going through this same story. The pain of a deployment is not really measurable for me, or for GQ. In fact in any relationship we reach a point where we have to dig deep and decide if it's worth fighting for. It's the toughest decision some of us will ever make. It's a dark time and a scary time but let me tell you this, when you finally get through it, even if you barely survive it, it's magic.

I am so glad I got to be a part of my husband's life during his deployment. I was far from a good support system to him but I treasure the things it taught me. Rough patches will come, they will, trust me. But it's fun to be able to stand up after it and find you've reached a whole new level.

I got a fairytale love in the end, but it hasn't always been this way. It took a lot of stripped away and polishing to get here.

'I'm Sorry, I Thought You Were a Hat Rack'

2011-07-14T16:51:00.000-05:00

'I Thought You Were a Hat Rack'
By: Deja Powell
Published in the Ruston Daily Leader on July 14, 2011

I did not grow up blind. Well technically I did, but I was pretty great at playing it off like I wasn’t.

After all, I had a little bit of vision and in most cases I could get away with few people noticing, or at least that’s what I thought. I was visually impaired or partially sighted but I would never use the term blind.

While I never learned Braille as a child, I don’t think I would have had such an issue with that. I mean it would have been cool, being able to read and write in code, most people think Braille is pretty neat after all. But where I had the biggest issue was, using a cane.

I knew that if I used a cane there would absolutely be no way for me to hide the truth. I would stand out like a sore thumb and everyone would know I was blind. There was no way I was going to use one.

However, looking back, I realize now that the fact that I didn’t use a cane was much more revealing of my blindness. Let me take you back to one of, OK not one of, but THE most embarrassing moment I can remember.

I was on a dance trip to New York City. It was my dream to go to NYC someday so I was pretty excited to go. While on this trip, my first trip to a big city, I struggled to get around. Of course I didn’t tell anyone but I was a little freaked out by all the noise, traffic, people and buildings, instead of being excited to finally be in NYC I was pretty much freaking out the whole time.

My group headed off to see the Statue of Liberty, I took the ferry over, stared at the ground the whole time (so I wouldn’t trip on anything) and was pretty much too nervous to pay much attention. We walked into the Statue of Liberty gift shop and I was simply looking around, checking out the items in the store, when I spotted something I was interested in, hats. I walked up to get a closer look, I touched the fabric, adjusted the brim of the hat, spun the hat around and then to my complete and utter shock, a face turned around and looked at me. It was a little girl and the only thing I could think to say was, “I’m so sorry, I thought you were a hat rack!” I was horrified.

I walked away so fast, straight to my mom and friends. They asked me, “What were you doing to that little girl? Do you know her?” Shaking at this point I just said, “No, I thought she was a hat rack!” Everyone started laughing uncontrollably and honestly I did too. Who wouldn’t? But it was humiliating.

I learned a hard lesson that day. Maybe not using a cane was worse than using a cane, when you mistake people for hat racks, there’s something missing. It took a couple more years and several more embarrassing moments before I actually started using a cane.

It’s funny how hindsight is 20/20. Now that I use a cane, I feel more normal, more like myself than ever before. I didn’t know at the time that the cane would actually give me more freedom to be myself and look “normal.” For a long time I thought people who used canes were frumpy, didn’t know how to dress, looked so strange and fumbled around all the time. I now know that with a cane, and the proper training, I can still wear my pink pumps and walk around confidently and with dignity.

For many blind people, using the cane is the biggest hurdle to overcome. It’s that final element that classifies us as blind people. It’s an important lesson for all to learn. We should use the tools that help us, that enhance who we are.

Now people mistake my cane for a hat rack — the irony.

My Sister the Fighter

2011-07-09T22:34:00.002-05:00

I know this blog is about blindness but it's also about my life.

And right now that's all I can think about...

This week I was in Orlando, Florida for the convention of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). I was off in my little world (which I visit once a year around this same time). I arrived on Saturday and spent the first couple of days busily running around to meetings and presentations; jumping into the mix of things and feeling right in place.

On Wednesday morning we started our General Session, which basically means 3,000 blind people meet in one room to hear from national leaders. At about 11:30 (eastern time) I got a text message from my mom,

"Call me as soon as you can."

Instantly, my heart sunk. I showed Lucas the text and we both shared a similar glance. I knew immediately something was wrong.

So I walked out to the hall, with Lucas in step. I called my mom. She told me my little sister had gone to the ER that morning because she was bleeding badly. After a few tests were done and then an MRI, the doctors found my sister had a mass, most likely a tumor, in her uterus.

When I heard the words mass and tumor, my knees started shaking and I could feel them start to buckle underneath me. I had had this same conversation with my mom, over the phone, four years before.

My mom told me she knew I was in a meeting but that I'd want to know what was going on, and of course she was right. I sort of just hung up the phone with my mom and stood there motionless. I felt like the world was caving in on us again. People told me to "be optimistic" "you don't know yet, so don't worry too much," "it could be nothing..." all whom I know were trying to help me. But all the optimism in the world didn't change things last time and I couldn't help but feel angry when people told me this.

It hurt so much. Yet I was standing in a hall that was now filled with 3,000 people leaving their meeting for lunch, acting so normal and talkative. I didn't know what to do. So I numbly walked to my next lunch meeting, picked up my box lunch and sat down at a table with some co-workers without saying a word. I sort of felt like a robot trying to eat my lunch yet not tasting a thing.

Shortly after lunch my mom called me again (she did such a great job of keeping me updated on EVERYTHING). She told me my sister would have blood work done and later that evening would have surgery try and remove the mass. She told me that a live MRI (which I learned is an MRI in which a team of doctors actually sit in on while the pictures are taken) had shown that the tumor was growing inside her uterus and appeared to have punctured her uterus and was growing toward her kidneys. IF the MRI was accurate, this was about the worse case scenario. It meant a hysterectomy, and more than that it meant my sister would not be able to have any more kids.

Now, many, many people told me how lucky she was to have just had her baby boy, that "At least she had one." And as much as I wanted this to make me feel better all I could think of was my sister and brother-in-law and their dream to have a big family. Don't get me wrong I know my perfect little nephew is a miracle but I always imagined my sister with more kids.

My husband did say something to me that night that made me smile for the first time through this whole thing, he said,

"Maybe God just couldn't make perfect again! I mean Gavin is pretty much perfect!"

That made me smile. In fact we laid in our hotel bed that night and stared at this picture for several minutes...

It was our go-to pic all week to make the pain seem a little less intense, it worked 100 percent of the time. And by-the-way, my husband is just as in-love with this little guy as I am, I caught him with the picture pulled up on his phone a couple of times! ;)

After the blood work was done and shipped off to some hospitals back east. My sister's amazing doctor told her she wanted to hold off on the surgery because she wanted to work out every other possible option before a hysterectomy. What a blessing that doctor was to our family.

My sister was so brave during a live biopsy (meaning no anaesthesia) and then the biopsy was sent off for analysis. And then the waiting game was on...

This was probably the WORST part for all of us. But the best part of all was that we began to see the ENORMOUS amount of love, support and faith from our family and friends, and even strangers who don't know Ambree at all. I can't imagine the number of prayers that were sent up for our family during that time frame. There was no way God couldn't take them all into consideration.

Although people around me, including my INCREDIBLY STRONG little sister were showing such grace and faith. I wasn't always so graceful with mine. There were time during the next two days that I felt so discouraged, so angry, so doubtful and so disappointed in God's love for our family. I know, the wrong way to feel, but it was real.

I went to bed on Thursday night, after talking to my sister on the phone for a while and all night I had nightmares and slept so poorly. I finally fell asleep in the early-morning hours and I remember waking up and then waking up Lucas and telling him, "I have a feeling it's not cancer." As so as I said it out loud I started doubting myself. "Deja, you're trying to soften the blow." "Deja, you just want that to be the answer," "Deja, you know your family history, you're crazy if you think it's going to be that easy!" But all day long my friends and my sweet husband kept reminding me to trust that intuition.

Later that afternoon we found out that the tumor was benign (NOT cancerous). It was something I should have expected (after my early morning confirmation) but it sure felt good to hear it said out loud. Suddenly I felt happy and even had a little skip in my step. As I told people at the conference who has devoted much prayer to Ambree, some even cried. I felt such an amazing amount of Christ-like love from so many people. It was amazing!

Despite my excitement that the "C" word has not reared its ugly head again, I also knew my sister was hours away from surgery. They still needed to go in, assess things, and remove the tumor. My thoughts quickly turned back to prayer that somehow they could remove it without having to do a hysterectomy, also there was fear of massive bleeding, so we weren't quite out of the woods yet.

For a minute I felt kind of like a spoiled child asking God for more blessings after we had just gotten such an awesome present already. But then I realized that there's no limit, so I asked for more.

I had a big banquet that night, so I got all glamoured up. I remember putting on my lip stick and my hands were shaking so bad I got it all over my face. I was glad I had something to keep me distracted while I waiting. After the banquet I went to my room, laid down on the bed, still in my banquet dress and cried. Lucas held me and I simply told him I wish I could just hug my sister right then, that's the only thing in the world I wanted. I just wanted to see her face and hug her and hold her hand.

I sort of dosed off in my flood of tears when my cell phone rang. I've never answered a phone so quickly in my entire life.

My mom was practically glowing through the phone when she told me how well everything went. That the tumor was completely removed, no hysterectomy, no blood transfusion, everything went perfectly.

You know what I didn't to celebrate. I slept. Like a rock, for the first time in days. After I woke up, that's when my heart really felt so blessed and peaceful.

I have no doubt that prayers led to the outcome for my sister.

Thank you to all the people in my life who stepped up, prayed, sent messages on facebook, hugged me, made me laugh, wiped my tears, texted me, held me and had faith!

Oh, and nd don't mind me, I just wanted to share a little something with my sister...

Dear Fattee,

I just want you to know how proud of you I have been through this whole experience. You are such a beautiful example to me! You have been so optimistic and hopeful; that's such a huge gift you have.

I love you so much and am so excited you get to make more "perfect" little babies so I can be their aunt. I wish I were there to give you a huge hug but I promise I will have several ready for you next time I come to see you!

I love you and am so proud of you!

Love Always,

Deja

Take me with you, Orange Balloons!

2011-06-19T00:26:00.000-05:00

Dear Dad,
I often find myself really missing you at the times that are not the most convenient or the most common. Days like Father's Day never trigger an excess of emotion for me, I don't particualarly struggle on these days....

until today.

I can't seem to stop crying tonight. I miss you like crazy. As I sit here packing to take a short trip to Utah to visit everyone and meet Ambree's new little guy I can't help but wish that when I land in Utah, you will be there. I can't help but think that as soon as I meet my new nephew I will only yearn for you more. I know the little guy is a gift from you, a piece of you but I want you!

Tonight I am packing to go home but everytime I do, every time I go back to Utah, I have to face the fact that you aren't there and facing reality is not smething I'm great at. I know that everywhere I look, everyone I see, everywhere I go I"ll be reminded of you. I know it's a blessing to get all those sweet reminders it's just sometimes a bit painful for me. I always fear I won't have the strength to deal with the fact that you aren't there.

I grow to love you more everyday. I see small glimpses of your personality in me as I grow up. But most of all I just wish I was mre like you, a lot more loving and generous with my time, kinder to other, unconditional in my love for others, more forgiving, patient and a lot less selfish. You truly exemplified everything I need to be.

I realize daily how blessed I am to have had a father like you. It's days like today that I need to celebrate you and your life and cherish the joy we shared. But perhaps it's ok that I just miss you today and wish you were here. I wish I could call you on the phone and wish you a happy Father's Day. I wish I could hold on to the Orange Balloons I send up to you and go with them, wherever they go. I just miss you and my heart hurts...a lot.

This song came on my iPad and it hit me so hard...

"What would you think of me now? So lucky, so strong, so proud, I never said thank you for that..."

"And if you were with me tonight, I'd sing to you just one more time, a song for a heart so big, God wouldn't let it live..."

"May Angels lead you in? Hear you me, my friends. On sleepless roads, the sleepless go..."

Song: Hear You Me, Jimmy Eat World

I love you!

Utah is in America, FYI

2011-06-14T16:35:00.000-05:00

My apologies for my tardiness on this...

My June Ruston Daily Leader article, you may partake!

Asking the Tough Questions about Blindness

One of my favorite things to do is speak to college students…and kids. Maybe they’re all in the same category really but neither are afraid to ask the tough questions, and I love that.

I like to talk about blindness, there’s a deep, personal story that motivates me to talk to people about it, crush some of the misconceptions out there and make people more comfortable with the subject. So I thought you’d like to hear some of my favorite questions over the years? Some really great questions…and some that just make me laugh.

When talking to a group of second graders I got asked, “How do you eat fried chicken?” I can try to be discrete but clearly this was at a school in the south. My best answer, “I just pick it up and chow down.” It’s an important question really, for what would life be if you couldn’t eat fried chicken. Eating is a skill that is easily adaptable for the blind and is usually something you just figure out on your own. Trust me, you want to see a blind person eat, I’ll show you a few who have practically made it a sport.

A college student asked, “I sometimes see blind people on the street and they look confused, but I’ve been told to never help them, what do I do?” This is a great question and one that comes up a lot, especially in Ruston. Most of the time, if you see a blind person who is wearing a blindfold, they are most likely in training and are learning how to problem solve. However, it is perfectly acceptable to ask a blind person if they need help, just never grab them or try to drag them somewhere. A simple question usually provides you with your answer.

Another elementary aged student asked me, “Why don’t all blind people use dogs instead of canes. Dogs are way cooler!” This one made me laugh, but also a great question. Using a guide dog or a cane is simply a personal preference for a blind person. Some prefer the cane and others a dog guide. However, even a person who uses a dog guide should learn to use a cane first and learn to use it well. So while dogs may be “cooler” some blind people prefer the long white cane.

At another college presentation I was asked, “Blind people seem to have an amazing memory, if they didn’t how would they remember how to get everywhere?” I thought this was a rather interesting question. The truth is, blind people do not have additional or more superior senses. You can ask my husband about my amazing memory while he’s looking for my sunglasses, keys, shoes, etc. in the morning.

In reality, blind people learn to travel just like anyone learns to travel in a car. You pay attention to your surroundings, gather information (like street names) and learn to navigate through practice and training. I’m still crossing my fingers for my superior memory to kick in though.

While it’s not related to blindness, my favorite question of all time was from a second grader who asked me where I was from, I told him, “Utah.” He responded, with wide eyes, “So you’re not even American?” I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed so hard.

Through asking questions, we get to the answers and slowly we begin to figure each other out. So many times I’ve seen kids ask their parents, in the grocery store, “Why is she using that stick?” only to be hushed by their parents. Answer their questions and ask them yourselves, we’ll answer them. Blindness doesn’t have to be a hush, hush subject. Ask away…

Joy

2011-06-09T15:23:00.001-05:00

For as long as I can remember, this is how I pictured my little sister...

She was born to be a mom, it's all she's ever wanted to be and today her dream became a reality and his name is

Gavin Dennis Hatch

Born at 10:45 this morning weighing 7 ibs. 13 oz. and measuring 20 inches long.

My sister suffered through two miscarriages before her little miracle finally arrived today. A special gift from our dad, a little piece of him can now rest in our arms, at last...

I couldn't be there but I was on the phone and can't begin to express the joy of hearing his little cry for the first time. It was instant! Love at first cry!

You know that Backstreet Boys song, "I knew I loved you before I met you!" I always HATED that song, but today I understand the meaning behind it.

It seems impossible to love someone this much that I have yet to meet!

What a miraculous day for our family! What a magical moment in our lives! I feel God's love so strongly today, how could anyone else craft such a masterpiece...

For as long as I live, I will never forget today! I'll never forget how my heart wanted to jump out of my chest when I first heard his little cry. It was a moment we can remember together as a time we all cried, but for joy this time, and not loss and pain. I think this is what joy feels like!

Today might be one of the best...days...ever!!!

Hairy Hotter?

2011-05-23T14:24:00.004-05:00

Oh my gosh guys! I wanted something different for my hair, I've been working out really hard and eating healthy(er) and so I wanted to rock a new look. I had the HARDEST time deciding what kind of look I wanted...

I knew I wanted something different..

My hair has always been pretty short, so I thought maybe extensions for increased volume...

But again, my hair is just SO STRAIGHT and FLAT so maybe a little perm would give it some bod...

Or maybe just something short, with bangs...

(My little sister so rocked out the mushroom haircut when she was little).

But I knew I definitely wanted something to show off my personality...

Devil horns, how appropriate!

I also knew I wanted something fun and colorful so I thought maybe this would work, since it's so hard to just pick one color...

But in the end I decided on this...

with a touch of pink for personality...

I was on the phone with my agent...

Pretty fun right!?!

This is my favorite hair cut I've had so far. I feel so much more

sassy

rock star

diva

a-little-bit-o-hottie

bad arss

So what do you think?

Modify and Glamify...

2011-05-16T17:12:00.003-05:00

I was thinking the other day that for me being such an accessory freak, my cane is quite boring! :( I started to think about getting a cute key chain or charm o add to my cane to make it more me. After all people jazz up their cars all the time, why shouldn't we add some pizazz to our vehicle of choice.

So I began my search for something hip, fun, not too bulky or heavy, soft and super stylish of course.

See if there is anything that tickles your fancy, they can all be found on Etsy...

(Blue and yellow leaver owl)

I have this recent obsession with owls, no clue why, I normally am petrified of birds. But I this this guy was just so cute!

Find it here.

You know I love anything girly and frilly, so I'm loving this beauty...

(Pink key chain with lace flower attached)
Cute, right!?! You can find it over at floradornments, it's a bit pricey but you could totally make something like it too!

Here's another girly one, that comes in a plethora of colors and patterns. Super cute...

They sell these over at mylittlehedgehog.

No let's get a little more manly (grunt)! ALLLLLLLLLLLL little boys I know love Spider man! I found this studly (and hilarious) key chain...

(Reads: WW*picture of Spider man* do)

What would Spider man do (if he were blind)? USE A CAN DUH!?!
This AWESOME key chain is over at LouisCyphre.

When I was first learning to use a cane, this would have been the most appropriate key chain ever...

(I have no idea where I'm going).

And I personally love this little shop name, theangryrobot!

Now I adore this next one...

It's a crocheted chap stick holder, BRILLIANT!!! I am ALWAYS losing my chap stick so how awesome would these be. Cute and has a duel purpose. It's lovely isn't it!?! Find it at Hooked Up!

And last, but not least, you could go for something extremely classy and elegant like this...

Yep, it's a felt poop and felt toilet paper. Classy!

So pimp your cane however you choose, it deserves some accessories too! :)

Catholics, baskets and old people...

2011-05-14T19:05:00.002-05:00

We have been kickin' it here in Ruston and having a pretty good time. Since we got married, this is what we've been up to...

This is my new brother-in-law, Derek (I now have two brother-in-laws named Derek, it's confusing some days)...

He's a crazy, radical, conservative republican who loves Reagan and hates Obama. Ninety percent of our conversations are arguments about politics. But we enjoy it and he's a good guy, for a republican (just kiddin!)

D dub decided recently to become a Catholic we are excited for him because he's excited about it. Here he is on his baptism day..

These are two of my new siblings, I like them and I'm sure they LOVE me...

It was very dark in the room, but I got a few keepers...

If you've never been a part of a Catholic baptism, here's your chance....

So congratulations to D dub on his Catholic initiation! :)

GQ and I also had our first Easter as a married couple. Kids, GQ and I are WAY too old so the Easter Bunny doesn't come anymore so we have to buy each other stuff, it's way lamer!

I am so on the ball that I started getting stuff for GQ's Easter basket WEEKS before Easter. However, I had periodic sugar cravings and by Easter someone ended up eating all of his candy. Come on guys, it's not like he's a kid, he's a grown up so it's not THAT bad.

So I had to go shopping again to replace said candy, I got a bunch of healthy snacks which he loves and I hate so then I didn't have to worry about eating any of it, it worked out pretty well.

We hid our baskets under some towels so no one would peek...

Why is my basket so much smaller? This is gonna change next year, I'm thinking of purchasing this...

Even though my basket was small, I was highly pleased with its content....

Can't you tell?

Chocolate HEAVEN!!!

And can I tell you that I ADORE chocolate covered peeps!

GQ was less spastic about his basket but was happy none-the-less...

Cause I'm a dern good Easter Bunny...

This is our straight-out-of-bed-still-groggy Easter morning picture. Why do we take these awful pictures???

Later, we decided to do a walk for the March of Dimes...

We are cute right!?! We actually DID walk a little...promise.

Our friend Mikey put on the big event and did a really great job. You can't see it in this picture but I know he put in a TON of work.

We love Mikey! :)

My husband is a total NERD, I mean seriously nerdy. He reads ALL THE TIME (and does other nerdy stuff). I swear he has a book in his pocket at all times...even when waiting to do a charity walk...

We did walk but we couldn't take pictures of that because I can't walk and take pictures at the same time, I guess.

It was also GQ's birthday! He turned 30~so happy birthday to Grandpa GQ! It's been his birthday month so he thinks he deserves presents like EVERY day. So here he is him with one of his presents....

Look how 30 is affecting him, his face kills me here.

He got lots of weird stuff from GNC from his brother. I don't really understand what any of it is, all I know is he likes it and always gets me to try it.

Random Story: One time he had me try this energy enhancer stuff so I did. We then went to workout and he said I would be pumping mad iron after taking it. Well I fell asleep doing crunches. It was the oddest thing. Turns out it can have the opposite effect on someone.

So this is what he got, whatever it is. I have no clue.

Fascinating right!?!

Anyway, onto something MORE important :) My bro-in-law also got me a late birthday present. So it was awesome to completely over-shadow my husband on his birthday and still celebrate MY birthday! :) Good times!

I got a $100 gift card to this store in town called Beehive who has the MOST......ADORABLE.......SHOES!

Angel's sing!!!!

But because I am the best wife ever, I am going to devote an ENTIRE post to my husband for his 30th birthday here soon. You'll love it, I know it.

Insecurities

2011-05-03T17:15:00.001-05:00

I'm really sad because my birthday month is over! :( I now can't say, "But babe, you should do that cause it's my birthday month!" "Babe, I really want this, it is my birthday month," and "Can you cook AND do the laundry tonight, it's my birthday month!"

Bummer city! :(

And what's even worser is it's his birthday month and I have a feeling he might try to pull "...but it's my birthday month" on me. It only works one way buddy!

Anyway, even though my birthday month is totally over, it's my post-birthday month so lets talk about me still, K?

So if you didn't notice, I have decided to combine my blogs. I felt a little over-whelmed with so many (like 2 is so many, but whatev) so I had to cut back, I hope you understand. So I WILL continue to talk about blindness related stuff but I'll also share a little more of my personal life and my random thoughts on this blog...it all kind of blends together anyway!

So now to those crazy thoughts that bounce around in my head...

I went with my friend Shmindy (I'm going to start adding "sh" before all names to protect my people) the other day to do some shopping. We most certainly got our shop on. We went to visit a friend of hers that works at Dillards...in the women's shoe department!

If you know me at all that's like taking an alcoholic to a catholic wedding, bad idea! So I stood there swooning over beautiful shoes I can not afford and even, literally, almost druelled on a pair of red paten leather pumps I saw. I pictured myself just lying on the ground in a big pile of these beautiful shoes and making snow angels while smiling and giggling.

So here are a couple of objects that have won my undying affection...

You can find these darling shoe clips over at Etsy!

And these feathery stunners are over on Esty too...

Aren't they beautiful. Takes my breath away.

So enough about shoes, for today. I am about to get serious for a second here...

We have had a very tough week around our house this past week. In the blink of an eye, a lot of things can change. We've seen it in our own personal lives and in our country. The other night it hit me harder than I expected, the capturing of Osama Bin Laden struck a chord with me as it did many Americans. Perhaps it's because my now husband is an American Soldier. Perhaps it's because we sacrificed a lot for an entire year while he was deployed to Iraq. Perhaps because I'm just feeling very patriotic. Whatever the reason I love this brief moment when most of us are showing bi-partisanship and rejoicing as a nation. I choose not to express my political views on this blog as most of you could really care less. But I will say this, I'm so very proud to be an American. No matter how "bad" it may seem in our country today, we are a blessed nation!

Dang! I still figured out how to get shoes into my "serious" post. It's a hopeless case.

I have moments, which I'm sure most of you do to, where I feel so insecure. I feel like sometimes on this blog, I act like I'm the most perfect blind person ever and I just ooze confidence. In reality, I am far from perfection and am not always a great example of a blind person. I have these moments when I doubt myself...

My husband and I love to ride go-carts, I know it sounds a little odd but we went on one of our first dates to the go-cart track and had a blast. It was when I was still trying to wooooo him and I wore a really cute outfit and hair down so it could blow wavishly in the wind, like a super model. Yep, that was a while back and I guess it worked cause he married me (I knew the wavy hair in the wind would work!)

So last month was my birthday month, in case I forgot to tell you that and my husband wanted to take me on a super fun birthday date...to the go cart track. The track is about 30 minutes from where we live so we hopped in the car (I was in sweats, hair pulled back and no make-up...oh how the mighty have fallen). The whole way there I felt so uneasy. Last time we had gone, I left my cane in the car. I had felt weird about taking it into the go cart track with me and then jumping in my little car to DRIVE, do you see the weirdness that could ensue. So last time, I left my cane in the car.

I have worked SO, SO, SO VEEEERY hard to get over my insecurities about using a cane and I pretty much have no problem taking it with me anywhere now but I never forgot that day that I left my cane in the car. I felt like had fallen off the wagon or something.

So the whole way there I couldn't help thinking about the last time. I kept saying to myself, "what am I going to do when I get there?" "What am I going to do when I get there?" My gut kind of hurt from the internal dilemma I was having. So finally I said to my husband, "Let's not go!" He asked me why because he thought I loved go-carts. I told him that I did love to ride go carts but I didn't know what to do with my cane. I felt awkward about taking it in and then riding the go-carts. So we didn't go.

I haven't stopped thinking about this. What should I have done? Where was my "I don't give a crap what other people think attitude? Why did I feel like again was walking the line between being a blind person and a sighted person. I felt so confused.

I realize that I still have some deep down insecurities that I have to deal with. I still question where I fit in sometimes. I still have days when I wish I didn't have my stupid cane. These moments have been far and few between for me but they still exist.

I was thinking maybe some of my readers would be able to relate. What would you have done if you were me? Have you felt this way? How did you handle it?

So in case you thought I always had it together, always made the right choice, and always had loads of confidence, you have been sorely deceived.

I'm feeling confident today, I got my power dress on (it's this little red dress I got over at Mikarose) and my black hussy boots! I always feel like a beast in this outfit! Beast in a good way!

So today is good, but I'm still working on myself.

More about ME, ME, ME

2011-04-28T17:18:00.002-05:00

I've decided to make a little change to my blogging life, let me try to explain...

I have two blogs. One about ME and my personal life and one about ME and my personal life and blindness. So mostly I have two blogs where I write a lot about ME. So I'm combining these two blogs since I pretty much talk about ME all the time anyway...

Slate & Stylish (this blog) and Glitter Pink Sneakers: Notes in Orange Balloons (my other other blog) are pretty much joining in marriage. Blog Bliss!

I will be keeping the title Slate & Stylish cause I like it and it's catchy and I thought I was clever when I came up with it.

So now you S&S readers will have to bare with hearing even more about me and my regular random, daily thoughts and activities. I hope you don't mind!?!

I have a little segment I did over on the other blog called Notes in Orange Balloons, it's occasional writings I do to my dad, so that will now be a part of this blog.

The writing nuttiness is pretty much the same, so don't expect too much of a change. Now you'll just know even more how truly NUTSO I am.

So PLEEEEEEAASE don't leave me because I will totally take it personally and unfriend you on Facebook.

Where Sneakers on your Bicycle...

2011-04-21T15:23:00.001-05:00

This song keep playing over and over and over in my head...

because I REALLY want to ride a bicycle!

I can just picture my hubby and I out on the town...

Or we could get one to ride with ALL our friends...

If I had a fairy godmother,

which I don't, I'd ask for one of these...

I want a tandem bike SO VERY MUCH!!!

Blind Kids Shouldn't be Illiterate!

2011-04-15T15:37:00.001-05:00

I have recently developed an enormous passion for teaching blind kids. I wrote the following article for the Ruston Daily Leader on Thursday April 14, 2011.

Finding Hope for Blind Kids

By: Deja M. Powell

When I was nine months old, my parents learned that I was blind, the doctors did not give my parents a very optimistic outlook on my life or my potential. My parents enrolled me in a school for the blind when I was four and that is the first time they had ever met another blind person, and they were all kids. They never met a successful blind adult until much later in my life.

Early on my parents saw the potential for me to receive a good education and enrolled me in public schools. Here they were told that like most blind people, I had some “usable” vision and braille was too difficult to learn and large print was best. They also said that I didn’t need a cane as the goal was to make me look as normal as possible. My parents listened to the so-called experts, as any parents would.

I struggled all the way through high school with large print, magnifiers, hours of uncomfortable reading, very thick glasses, no confidence and a hatred for reading.

It wasn’t until I was 23 years old, had graduated college (with mediocre grades) and now had no blindness skills to keep a job that my life felt like it was crumbling. I hit rock bottom and that was when I decided to come to the Louisiana Center for the Blind. It was then that I dug deep, learned to read and write braille proficiently, began using a cane and finally developed some confidence. It was life changing for me, but I always wonder, what if I had gotten all of that earlier?

I went to Shreveport this weekend for the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana state convention. A gathering of more than 200 blind people from around the state attend this conference every year. The convention offers workshops and presentations on many different topics related to blindness such as braille literacy, adaptive technology, advocacy skills and presentations of personal stories from successful blind adults.

The highlight of this convention came early for me. I met a young blind couple from Baton Rouge who has a little girl who is six and has the same eye condition as I, loves clothes, shoes and jewelry like I and who is scared to use a cane, like I was. Marissa is bright, loves to dance, has a lot of personality and energy; she is like any other 6-year-old except she is blind.

When first meeting Marissa’s parents I could sense how scared, anxious and over-whelmed they seemed. Their little girl is blind and they clearly wanted to do what was best for her. They attended several meetings with other parents of blind children, talked to many successful blind adults, met with some of the national leaders in braille literacy and even did a cane walk under a blindfold.

According to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), less than ten percent of blind kids today are learning braille. Can you imagine if Americans were told that less than ten percent of their children would be literate, there would be an uproar of enormous proportions. Yet this is happening with blind kids across the country. It should be unacceptable and yet we don’t have enough teachers who know braille to teach these kids so they never learn to read, a totally deplorable outcome.

Thankfully Marissa does have a good teacher and started learning braille at an early age, she is in kindergarten and reads at a high first grade level, in braille; she will be literate and sadly she is a rare case. Those who use braille efficiently, and early on, are 85 percent more likely to be employed as adults. You simply can’t argue with those numbers..So why is it so many blind kids get left behind?

While many things could be taken from the convention this weekend, the most important to me was that a little girl left Shreveport with a cane and two highly motivated parents who will give her every tool she needs to be whatever she wants to be. For any child, sighted or blind, the key to success is having someone, a parent, teacher, friend, organization that will stand up for them and fight for the education they deserve.

Tall Shoes Cause Pain...

2011-04-12T09:50:00.001-05:00

I went to the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana state convention this weekend. I always love these convention because I get a chance to spend time and learn from some pretty spectacular people. So this is about how my weekend went...

First off, I don't have any pictures of the first couple of days because my camera broke. Surprise! Surprise! Deja broke another piece of technology. None-the-less, my husband bought me a new HOT PINK camera for my birthday! So on my birthday, (yep it was my birthday and yes presents are still being accepted) is when I started snapping pics.

This is my first pick on my HOT new camera...

We are still working on posing abilities.

My mom and sister sent me an awesome package with cute clothes, shoes and jewelry (hello, they know me well) and a "Birthday Babe" tiara and pink ribbon...which I totally wore!

Natalia, Dianne and I spent quite a bit of time selling t-shirts. T-shirt saler is now added to my resume...

Pretty cute shirt wouldn't you say!?! My boss based the design off of the whole Chick-fil-A concept...

Because we're dorks, we decided to each take our picture with the Chick-fil-A cow...

Don't get me wrong, I love conventions but when I start getting a little sleepy, what's better and more exciting than posing with a cow!?! Absolutely nothing.

Even though I was in meetings all day for my birthday, my hubber-wubber decided to join me on my b-day because he loves me and because he likes meetings (he's so strange). It was nice having him around...

See, we still like each other and it's been over a month!

Besides the camera, he also bought me a shiny new cane...

It's like a new car for me but waaaay cheaper!

The night of my b-day we all got dressed up all fancy for the annual banquet....

...and no, I'm not ashamed of the tiara.

GQ is a good purse holder. But I think he likes it way to much, it' kind of freaks me out.

As Natalia demos, the food was good...

and the company wasn't too bad either...

At the banquet, awards are given. This woman, Tammy Green, was a huge mentor to me when I first came to Ruston to attend the Louisiana Center for the Blind. She was ALWAYS kind and helpful and was a great example to me. She won a major award on banquet night and I couldn't be happier for her.

This year I also got to be part of the scholarship committee. It was a lot of fun giving away money to some well-deserving college students! Almost as fun as getting it, almost!

We had a great scholarship class this year...

Miss Amber won our top scholarship this year, very deserving. She is getting ready to go to Baltimore for college to study journalism and is currently earning her personal trainer license. Her arm muscles are rid-i-culous! She would so be hired as my body guard if I needed one. And we spent the whole scholarship breakfast talking about shoes, you know, the important stuff!

We also heard a great speech by our national president, Dr. Mark Maurer, at the banquet.

The last day of the conference I spent a lot of time holding this little cutie...

This is Joshua and his mommy...

Josh's dad gave a great closing day speech...

One of the highlights of the convention for me was meeting a little girl named Marissa and her family. They were at their first convention. Marissa and I have a lot in common. She and I have similar eye conditions, both love pink, fashion, purses, shoes and accessories. Needless to say we are match made in heaven! She is a sweet little girl with WONDERFUL parents. She is using a cane at school, and loves it, and it also reading Braille like crazy! I had so much fun with her and her little brother...

Oh, I forgot to mention that at the very beginning of the convention I had a little incident with a TV that did not turn out well for me. I produced a large jumbo size Braille "A" on my head after a high-speed collision.

Luckily (I guess) it was under my hair so you couldn't see it. But it was like I gave myself a permanent Bumpit, you know the little hair things you see on TV..."From Flat to Fabulous in Seconds"

I certainly Bump'dit!

Really, it's NOT a big deal!

2011-04-11T17:12:00.001-05:00

I like kids with canes more than I like chocolate! GASP! SIGH! Yep, I said it...

I met a little girl this weekend who is just beautiful and sweet and spunky, loves clothes, purses, shoes, pink, jewelry...a total girly-girl fashion-eesta who is also a dancer.

Naturally, we got along perfectly.

Her little brother isn't blind but couldn't resist the "Cane Fever" so he got one too.

I am so lucky I met this cute little girl, her brother and her AMAZING parents. Mom and dad came to their first NFB of Louisiana convention this past weekend. They took everything they heard and are so ready to run with it! I had the best time just talking to them about my experiences growing up which are very similar to their little girl's.

I couldn't help but think how grateful I am to have found some blind role models along the way who totally give me a run for my money and push me to want to do better. I thank God that I had parents who pushed me, even though the experts told them it "wasn't necessary".

I am so glad that my new friends' parents found their way to a convention where they could meet other blind people, parents of blind kids and finally feel like there is someone out there who "gets it!" There's nothing worse than feeling like you are alone with no answers.

I had an incredible weekend around spectacular people, these people I kind of think of as my accessories. When I wear just a normal dress I look ok, when I start adding accessories. PACHOW I start looking fabulous. And wow did I have some incredible accessories this weekend!

I also got to be on the scholarship committee for the NFB of Louisiana. It was so much fun giving away money to well-deserving blind students. Congrats to all of the winners this year! Don't blow it all on clothes and shoes, your professors don't care how cute you look, I learned.

It was a wonderful weekend despite a major collision with a TV at the beginning of the weekend...

left a beautiful lump on my head. Can you see how upset I am!?!

And in case you were wondering, I'm wearing a tiarra because it was my birthday! Yep, didn't want to tell everyone, I mean it's not that big of a deal, really, it's not, it's just my brithday. Don't make too big a fuss or anything! Really...stop...I didn't want everyone to know that is was my birthday this weekend!

But if you want to send me a present, I totally understand, even though my birthday isn't that big of a deal, at all!

(I'm registered if your interested). But don't feel obligated or anything...

(You can read more about my convention weekend over on my other blog).