The Giveaway I Won... Louisiana Part 1

A few weeks ago I came across a wonderful blog My Brown Bag Studio by Kimberly. She was having a giveaway of her Greensleeves java jackets. I'll be honest I had no idea what they were until I read her blog. They are sleeves to go around your coffee cup to keep you from burning your hand. They are fabulous and such a great idea too. Well, I just happened to be on her blog while she was having a giveaway. I thought it was too late to enter her Halloween giveaway, but imagine my surprise when she told me I had won. I NEVER win anything. Skip ahead Thursday Sept. 18 the day I arrived home from Louisiana to find this package in my mailbox...

I was so excited... I love getting packages...



Aren't these just awesome??? They are meticulously made. Each detail... WOW!!!!



And a wonderful hand written note too...



Thank you so much Kimberly... You couldn't have timed it any better!!!!

Now on to the boring stuff (don't worry I'm not going to bore you all at once just a little at a time so that way it is agonizing for a long period of time hehe)...

My trip to Louisiana...

My partner (Cale) and I had to be in Cincinnati by 6am 9/11 so that meant we decided it would be best to leave around 12:30 am to get there and maybe take a little nap before everyone got there to leave for LA. It is approximately a 4 - 4 1/2 hour drive down. We got there no problem... but there were already people there so we decided we would talk to them and get to know them first. Before we knew it it was 6am. Everyone, all 15 ambulances, from all over the state of Ohio had arrived. We were checked in and given our assignments. To be in LA by 11pm that night. Everyone understood we got in our trucks and drove a few hours before stopping for fuel.

Here are a few pics of the ambulances... I must warn you I don't take a lot of pictures I just feel funny about it. But everyone has promised me they would send me copies of theirs so that I can have them. It might take awhile to get them so I may show you pics come Christmas LOL. Anyway... it is hard for me to explain to you in words how awesome the chance to be able to be apart of this was. I love my job as a paramedic and was truly excited to get this chance of a life time. The site of these ambulances was just awesome going down the road. All 15 of them in a row all the colors of the rainbow is just beautiful to me. For some of you I know this is boring so bear with me. We were going to represent the state of Ohio in another state that I have never been to. We were going to help those who were in need after a terrible catastrophe. I didn't know what to expect...what I would see... who I would meet... could I handle it... do I have the skills... what if I see a dead body floating in the water... are the men going to accept me as a woman... will my kids be ok... will my hubby be able to handle things while I'm gone... will I be safe... will my ambulance make it (that's another part of the story LOL)... and much more went through my head. If you couldn't tell I am a worry wart and get excited about things beyond my control. Let's back up a little though... by 6am on 9/11 I had maybe 8 hours of sleep since 9/9 Tuesday night. All of Wednesday we had packed and prepared our ambulance to go and didn't get off work until 6pm 9/10. I then came home to do laundry and finish packing my personal stuff to be ready to be picked up by 12:30am. Keep this in mind for further stories coming soon.

Here are some of the pics I have...













And the story will continue at a later date...