Spine Time Monday

A few weeks ago I was doing squats in the gym, heavy loading my legs..probably not using the best form..probably too much weight (145lbs)...and I did "something" to my back.
Side note: Ever since high school and having to do my fair share of lines, holding passing position for minutes at a time, shuffles, and shuffles under a loose net (yes, picture a 5'10" girl doing shuffles for 2 minutes under a 3 ft net). I'm not resentful about it at all...but since then I've had quite the struggle with my back. I've always told myself, when and if I ever coach there are certain drills I will NEVER do, and shuffles under a loose net is one of those.


After my workout I went back to class, and realized I could barely sit down and had the hardest time getting out of my chair. I knew something was wrong. I am a chiropractic student, so I assumed the worst: a herniated disc. Trying to be rationale, I thought strained muscle--until I sneezed and then screamed because of the pain. Anything that increases pressure in your body (sneezing, coughing, laughing...etc) can cause a patient horrific pain in their lower back if there is a disc injury. That's when I  knew this situation was no bueno. About a week later (after resting, icing, heating) I tried to do a light cardio sesh, and that was an epic fail. I was right back to square one, and on my way to my chiropractor. Through various orthopedic tests and muscle tests and confirmation that every time I would sneeze, cough or laugh I was in excruciating pain, he determined lateral disc protrustion. I also have shooting pain into my left leg, if I lean to the right or sit to the right it feels better. In addition to all of this I have crazy muscle cramps in my feet and legs.
Side note: Yes, you do need an MRI to confirm disc protrusion, but since 1. I'm a student and 2. All signs were pointing to disc protrusion, there was no need to order an MRI unless my symptoms got worse. This is MY chiropractor's opinion...your chiropractor may think differently, and that is ok!


I am now week 2 after the diagnosis, and doing leaps and bound better. Hopefully I can start swimming for exercise next week....hopefully light weights in 2 more weeks. But point of the story--don't rush a disc injury. It's hard for all of us to limit activity. I've had to adjust patients will a protruded disc, and it was extremely hard and painful.

Here's what you can do if you have a low back injury, or low back pain after activity:

1. Rest

2. Ice (Ice to decrease inflammation (swelling))

3. Heat (if you wish--this is good for the muscles)

4. Water--lots and LOTS of water. With a disc injury, depending on severity it's still possible to rehydrate the disc.

5. Chiropractor

Here's what you can do after the injury is better:

1. Core Stabilization exercises- like planks (body resistance stabilization)..not 1,000,000 sit-ups
side note: we think "sit-ups" for core stabilization= in reality, those work our hip flexors more instead of our abs.

2. The Posture Pod; I call it "Spine Time": I've included the picture below. An instructor of mine created this routine, it helps A LOT with posture--and good posture does wonders for the body. I challenge you to do this 2x a day for 1 week and let me know how you feel after a week. I guarantee you will notice results..

Until then...have a great week. Don't lift heavy things.. and do the posture pod :)

Northern Michigan Trip

Our trip so far up to Rob's parents place!

DIY Jewelry Board

During class, to pass the (sometimes dreadful) time,  I browse various blogs and Pinterest. I've been looking for an inexpensive way to organize my jewelry. I have quite a bit of jewelry, and with my latest hobby of Stella & Dot...I've acquired even more jewelry.
Last week the "crafting bug" hit me, and I decided to create my own jewelry organizer. It's Pinterest inspired, but an Erica original.

I started by stapling cork board to the front of the canvas. Then I cut a piece of burlap big enough to fit around the frame and be stapled to the back.
(canvas, cork board, staple gun all bought at Hobby Lobby)

Here's the finished product of the canvas.
To hold the jewelry, I used an assortment of hooks and stick pins
(depending on how heavy the piece was)

Finished product on the wall

Up close version

Bangles on a smaller board

Hooks and stick pins together

This whole little project was inexpensive. It was around $20 with the cost of the frames, staple gun, cork board and burlap. I also googled coupons for Hobby Lobby and printed them out. The canvas was already on sale. I think 2 board (16X20) was like $5.00 or something.

The project took very little time, maybe and hour and a half total. The hardest part for me was the staple gun. It takes a lot of power to use the manual gun AND make sure the staple goes in perfectly flush to the frame. I couldn't grip anything the next day...

Summer break is in 2.5 weeks (yay!...finally)
This break for me will be lots of traveling- first stop: Lincoln, NE, second stop: Hillman, MI, third stop: Savannah, GA.
I am so excited to go home, excited to go to Michigan....well, just excited to get out of Georgia.

This break will be a "working" break--a break that is going to start the snowball of decisions that need to be made. December 2013 is my projected graduation date, September 2013 is when I extern in an office--add boards on top of that. Basically, the last 9 months of my education is loaded with big exams.
But, I'm not the only one that has decisions...the boy has his career we have to take into consideration. He's the money maker, I'm the bank breaker. Seriously. At the end all my school shenanigans we will take on a loan payment that is as much as a house {a little intimidating}. Yes, I know it will be worth it in the end--and I will be doing something I love doing; it was just a bit expensive.

So...we're at the cross roads right now.
Michigan...Nebraska? Somewhere in between?

We have our "plan," but as we all know life is full of twists, turns and somersaults.
At the end of the day all we can do is pray. Pray that the decisions that need to be made become more clear.

This week has just been one of those weeks. I've been preparing for a really large exam, apartment searching (yes...I'm moving AGAIN). I just felt defeated yesterday. Instead of sitting on my couch (still feeling defeated) I went to Pure Energy, which is a class at Dolvett Quince's (trainer from Biggest Loser) gym.
Pure Energy is a class they normally do on Saturday at 10, last night they did an extra class led by Dolvett (yes, he is even more beautiful in person). It was a tough class, and now I can see how the Biggest Loser contestants drop weight, and look great! I put all I had into those 90 minutes of class; not only because Dolvett and his awesome staff were there, but because I needed that release. The release of being out of my mind, out of control, blocking the entire world out and focusing on ME.

At the end of class we did a little meditation sesh, he had us close our eyes and visualize our goal.
As we visualized our goal, he had us visualize the journey it will take to reach our goal...at this point I was fighting back tears. We get caught up in day to day life we lose sight of our goals, our dreams, our ambitions. 
Once we had our goal, visualized our journey....we needed to fall in love with our journey. We needed to be at peace with our journey, embrace our journey, and at the end celebrate success of completing our journey.

After that, I felt alive...and I still feel alive. I am ready to love my journey.

Post Midterm Celebration

This past Saturday the boy surprised me with  a day date to Hilton Head.  It was such a great day!
Our day started with Rob making breakfast (cooking isn't his jam--but the man can throw down some breakfast), a little movie watching, got a workout in--an ordinary Saturday for us.

Post workout Rob told me to get in the shower, we needed to leave by 2:30 for our dolphin cruise.
Side note: I have wanted to do a dolphin cruise for a REALLY long time. Therefore excitement level 11/10. 
Rob saw a Groupon for the cruise and bought it for our year and a half anniversary. Which made the day even better, because I really didn't think he remembered that either.
Side note: Rob is fairly good at remembering dates, work is running him ragged right now--so I completely understand if he forgot. He's not a flower guy, or even much of card guy. He does simple things. 

The Day Date

First stop: Treats before Hilton Head. Rob got the standard Icee (his fav), and me, a diet coke.

Second stop: Dolphin Cruise. It was an hour and a half tour filled with dolphins, and new facts. I now have MORE random facts to add to the large amount of useless knowledge I already have. The tour left from Harbor Town went through the Savannah River, and Calibogue Sound. The tour group we "cruised" with was Vagabond Cruise

Third Stop:  Dinner at The Salty Dog Cafe on South Beach. I have seen many shirts for this place, so we decided we should try it! It was a great place- fresh seafood (so yummy!).

Fourth Stop: Ice cream! Ice cream is a rare treat for us--this place had great homemade ice cream. This place is in The Salty Dog "complex" per say.

Last Stop: Home! We had to get home so Rob could watch the hockey game...(insert eye roll here)

Spontaneous dates like this makes me appreciate Rob even more! 

The Michigan Man

So...this little piece of the internet was supposed to be about my Michigan man Rob and I. It's turned into a little hodge podge of everything. So today is the day that I will introduce the one and only....

Robert J. Radulski III

(note: he probably would not approve of this pic, but it is one of my favorites!)

Rob is seriously the best guy EVER. We have been together for 1 year, 6 months and 3 days..

The best way to describe him is "a good ol' boy from Northern Michigan"

He loves to hunt, fish (even ice fish--the worst kind of fishing--that's a WHOLE different story), work in the lawn, do boy stuff in the garage..

He is just a very easy going guy that puts up with all of my silliness..

Rob is not a "flashy" guy, nor does he think to do "flashy" things. Therefore our relationship is very "old married couple-ish"..ya know on Friday we may be asleep by 9:30, go hang out at Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon, spend the evening out on the back patio and then be in bed by 10. He's a very simple man. The small things in life mean the most--which I've taken to appreciate more than ever. I can count on 1 hand how many times I've gotten flowers (count: 2), I've never received jewelry; and it's totally ok with me because that's not how Rob operates. 

My Favorite Things:

1. He calls me EVERY morning to tell me to have a good day, and that he loves me.....and then I get a text a few minutes after to tell me the same thing

2. He does this little booty shake dance...and it's seriously the funniest thing ever

3. When he wakes up in the morning, he takes his own sweet time stretching and clearing the sleep from his eyes. It's pretty cute--he turns from a 26 year old to a 6 year old

4. He gets an AARP card--they mix him and his dad up. So every quarter he gets sent a new AARP card.

5. The looks he gives me are just funny...I get the eye roll with the sigh, the head shake, The plain-jane smile, the eyebrow scrunch..and the list goes on.

6. Even though he is a Michigan fan and I am a Nebraska Fan we can still make it out of football season alive and in love!

Though we may be 3.5 hours apart, and see each other Friday-Sunday we still love each other very much! We take each day as it is given to us...and we are so excited to see where this crazy train called life takes us!