Cheriz: My life with Cystic Fibrosis

Hey everyone! So I am boldly going where I have not gone before…into the realm of blogging. Now to start off I will say that I am not a writer, so over the course of the next, well rest of my life, bear with me as I share my perspective on our life. To start off I am going to let you all know a little bit about myself, as if my lovely wife hasn't shared that information in the past! I am married to the lovely Cheriz, I am a graduate from the culinary arts program from Joliet Junior College, I love to cook, bake, be outdoors, movies, baseball (Go White Sox!), and I love my job! Recently I transitioned from working at Hy-Vee as the Assistant Meat Manager, a job which I really did enjoy but did not allow me to spend the kind of time I wanted with Cheriz. Also looking into the future and the discussion of fostering kids, it was not the right fit for me and our family. The transition lead me to becoming the General Manager of Culver's, which if you do not know, is a casual dinning r...

5 years ago I decided to start blogging about my life. I wanted to take a more active role in the CF community, share my story with others, hear others' stories, and fundraise more effectively. I believe I have accomplished all this and more! I can't wait to see what more the future has in store. There were many topics I could have blogged about today, but I decided for a such a big occasion that I should talk about one of the biggest decisions I ever made. Getting my stomach tube!!! Also it (apparently FB says) is "Feeding Tube appreciation week" Let me take you back to when I was in 6th grade. (time travel music insert here). I weighed 45 lbs around 4'8 ft tall and ran out of energy so often, I'd stay in during recess or breaks to eat extra food and drink ensure. I struggled keeping up with my friends on Halloween, didn't have enough energy to even play sports. I struggled a lot, but I kept on pushing. Thanks largely to my family, friends, and ca...

Why Do I Blog? I thought I'd share why I started blogging in honor of my blog's 4th year! There are lots of reasons why I blog. It started when I did Stand-Up Comedy on the BigTen Network. My Stand-Up comedy is all about my Cystic Fibrosis. If you want to watch a clip of it, it's here  (I start about 10 minutes into it- this was my 2nd time ever doing stand up, I was NERVOUS! lol)!  It was pretty rewarding though being able to spread awareness via jokes on TV! Please, understand that I didn't make jokes directly about CF. Having CF itself, is not funny. However, CF can get you into some funny situations and we need to have a good outlook on life. Why be negative and sad all the time? PLUS, Why not share mine and raise awareness?!?! I graduated that semester from college (Fall 2010) and moved back to my hometown. I felt like I wasn't doing enough for the CF Community. Nobody in my hometown, really had CF (those who did had already passed away), and our town d...

Happy 3 year Birthday/Anniversary to my Blog!    I can't believe I have been narrating my life in a blog for 3 years. Seems a little self centered when you think of it that way. HOWEVER, I'd like to think of all the changes that have come about because of my blog in the last 3 years! I wrote a blog entry on my Blog's 1st anniversary and 2nd anniversary . In my 2nd year blogging anniversary post I brought my readers up-to-date with the changes I had made since I began blogging. Read those entries to remember where I was in life at those points. Since the 2nd anniversary (in the last year), I've moved to the DeKalb/Sycamore area, decided to go back to school to get my real estate licenese (and finished all my courses). Plus, I got engaged to Andrew (and will be marrying him this fall)! I'm one lucky lady! In the last 3 years, not only has my life changed a lot, but my blog has really grown! I enjoy blogging about how CF influences my life. Why? I guess 1. It...

My Blog & my Mom: Some exciting news, a few days ago a list was published with the top 35 Cystic Fibrosis Blogs: Mine was on that list. I was listed as #7  See the List of Blogs HERE!  I put the badge on the left top side of my blog! Also, for anyone considering walking in June at the Princeton Walk. If you want to register you I can. I just need your birthdate, goal donation/fundraising amount, contact info.  I'm excited that it's getting closer! That's all that's about new...except it's March, slowly getting warmer, and my Mom came to visit! In my last post I updated everyone on all the different things that have been going on! I know it's a lot of info in a lil blurb, but I wanted to make sure to cover each topic! So now it's march, wish it was warmer and less snowy. Like I said in the post: Walk in My Shoes: Spoon Theory , shoveling snow, clearing off my car, and the cold all bother my lungs a lot. I'll be very happy when the snow is gone ...

  2nd Anniversary of Blogging! First of all, 2 years wow. Time flies. I remember when I first started blogging in 2012! I had moved back to my hometown after graduating from the University of Illinois and was deciding what to do next. Here's the first page of my blog entries  Beginning 4 Blogs ! As you will see when I first started I didn't write as much, probably because I wasn't sure what exactly to say. I may not always have the most "on edge" topics to discuss, but I am always comfortable sharing my voice online now. It's interesting how much my life has changed since the beginning and exactly the amount Cystic Fibrosis influenced the path I took. So I'm going to take this time to explain the last two year journey of my life and how CF has impacted it! 2 years ago... Starting with first Blog ever: I was living in Princeton, my hometown, after receiving my bachelors degree and was trying to figure out what job was best for me. I was a before schoo...

New Look: Getting Tech-Savvy: Since, I'm getting more involved in blogging, I decided it was time to give my blog a makeover! eMake-overs are always fun, whether you getting a new hair style, or outfit at the mall. However, I've been researching a lot about blogs and social networking. And I thought it may be time to update my blog's look.      I think I like my new one (at the top) a lot better than the old one (pictured on right). What do you think? I wanted my blog to feel more personal and I wanted to make it more tech-savy. I kept the black/purple color scheme. But made the purple the main color instead (and made it a softer purple). I then started looking up how to make my own buttons, widgets, etc. It isn't too hard to find tutorials for anything these days, between google, pinterest, and forums, you can pretty much find instructions for anything. I used a simple code and photobucket to make my own buttons: I think my new Tw...

Why did I start a blog? What is the point of this blog: catching up on little things. I started writing this blog in Feb of 2012. A year and a half a go! I have written 150 blog entries, I've had  14,906 visits to my site. ( breaking it down that = 784 people visiting my site per month. However, that monthly count increases each month. For the month of September I had 981 visits).  Why does this matter?  It means, I'm not completely boring and perhaps it means other CFers have found my blog and enjoy reading and relating to topics I discuss. I love getting comments from people, I have met many people through blogging and I love this idea of networking.  ( fun fact: this is latest views I've broken down by location) United States  11818  Russia  760 Canada  309 Germany  251 United Kingdom  194 Ukraine  151 Australia  137 South Korea  89 France  87 Spain  83 ...