The Recap

Please settle in, this could be a long post because it’s encompassing close to three full days.  Get cozy.

So as I mentioned yesterday I was in a semi vs car accident.  My car obviously lost (along with my computer that was in the backseat so I am now blogging on a brand new one).

However, I won.  I “walked” away and by that I mean that I took a long ambulance ride to the hospital and was poked and prodded and tested and scanned to determine that I was alright.  I am in a neck brace for a week and on painkillers but I am alive.  Also, the cut on my forehead (sewn up by the plastics department since it was on my face and I am “a pretty, young thing who won’t want a scar there forever” according to the nurses) but that is the most of it.  I am sore, yes.  I have a seatbelt burn like crazy, yes.  All that isn’t fun.  The soreness isn’t fun but it means I’m breathing, it means I’m feeling, it means I am OKAY and for that I am 100% thankful.

From what I remember of what happened, which I’m going to be honest isn’t much at all (I asked a million questions over and over at the hospital because I just couldn’t keep a hold of events in my brain), I was going back home from Jack’s apartment after some yummy Sonic lunch.

I had a junior deluxe cheeseburger with no mayo which wasn’t terrible but if I really wanted a burger, I would go to Five Guys, hands down.  In addition, Jack and I split the onion rings and tater tots.  These more than made up for the burger for sure.  Yum.

After lunch, I got on the road to go back to my own apartment and there was some pretty intense traffic.  (P.S. I promise all the following pictures were taken at a complete standstill in traffic.)

I sat forever and a day on the freeway turned parking lot and let me tell you, this is why God Jobs invented Genius playlists on iTunes.  I went through at least three, picking out all the good songs to keep me company.  The cars kept piling up behind me so I kept telling myself I could be in a much worse spot in line so I shouldn’t be too mad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With traffic being so terrible, and me really wanting to get home, I took an exit and tried to take an alternate route to get back.  This is honestly where my memory goes completely blank.  I’ve been told I was at an intersection on this new road when the accident happened.  Thankfully there was a nurse four cars back who jumped out and stayed with me.  I don’t know their name yet but I really can’t wait to find out because I feel like I owe them my life and I would very much like to be able to say that to them.  If you’re out there somewhere, thank you for all that you did.  It means more than you know.

The next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital (and even that is fuzzy at best).  I remember talking to my parents who basically jumped straight in the motorhome and drove the five hours down to see me.  Jack, his mom, my best friend, and my best friend’s wife all came down and stayed with me.  There were tons of tests.  Lots of stitches.  Some mediocre food (hello Cheerios, graham crackers, and preservative heavy peanut butter) and no clothes because all of my were cut off my body. Thankfully the EMTs kept my jewelery intact.  If I were totally honest, that would have been devastating if I had woken up and all the things that I wear on a daily basis was gone so I am eternally grateful to have it all on right now as I type this.

With all my scans clean and un-worrisome, the hospital sent me home.  It was roughly 12:30 in the morning on Friday and we had to fill some prescriptions and then I completely crashed into bed and fell asleep for the whole night.  The next morning, the day my parents were going to arrive, I got up and had some carrots with Trader Joe’s almond butter with flaxseeds.  Yum.

My parents arrived and after some tears and hugs we set out for lunch at McAlister’s.  I had half a taco salad with veggie chili and a half chipotle chicken wrap.  It was scrumptious though it took forever to come out and we ended up with four free meal coupons.  Awesome.

The errand for the post-lunch hours was to go and see the car.  I still had clothes and various things in it so we wanted to pick all that up too.  It was hard to see the car and to realize just how close I came to being a “smear in the cockpit” to borrow a phrase from my beloved Battlestar Galactica. 

Thank God for inches, thank God.

My parents dropped me off at my apartment to shower and get ready before Joshua and Jack showed up for dinner because, if you remember, Joshua and I were supposed to run a race on Saturday.  Obviously, I wasn’t allowed but he still came down and we started off the evening with dinner at the first restaurant, The Elbow Room, on the Taste of the Big City list.  This is my mission to eat at as many different restaurants as humanely possible (that means no repeats!!) while I am here for school.

We figured we would take advantage of the Devour Downtown menu which featured one appetizer, two entrees, and one dessert for $30.  Since there were three of us, one of us would order another entrée and we would split all the rest.  To start, we picked out the hand beer battered pork tenderloin strips with ranch dipping sauce.

These were really good and conveniently there were six strips so we each got two.  However, the waitress took the plate with the sauce away before we were done so we had to finish off the appetizer without the ranch.  It was still yummy though.

The boys ended up using the entrees with the Devour Downtown menu and got the flat-iron steak and the chicken wings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up getting the additional entrée and made it a housemade veggie burger with mushrooms, carrots, onions, water chestnuts, and peppers.  The flavor was great, the spicy mayo on the side was decent and added some moisture to the burger, but I had to wait 20 minutes for a slice of tomato on top.  Bad service.

For dessert, we decided to supplement the provided dessert, a brownie sundae, with a slice of caramel cheesecake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, the caramel dessert won out because the brownie sundae wasn’t anything special.  The brownie was moist but the whipped cream was sad and the ice cream just okay.  The cheesecake had some great caramel flavor and was dense enough but not super heavy.

We eventually went to sleep so that we could wake up for our Joshua’s race in the morning of the 13th.  We walked over to the registration (a nice 1.4 mile walk at 7:15am) and got his race bib and such.  Because I was technically supposed to run I still got my t-shirt and bib.  They tried to give me my timetag but I convinced them that I wasn’t running with my neck brace.  I kept the bib because it will prompt me to sign up for the next race sometime soon.

The shirt he’s wearing he had specially made for this race.  On the front is says “Friendship is one mind in two bodies” and on the back it says “For Jillian”.  I completely started bawling when he put it on.  It was really hard not to be able to run the race with him but we were there when he started…

And when he finished in 23:55!!! He averaged 7.778 mph which was awesome.

To refuel the runner among us, the three of us walked home and I whipped up some chocolate chip banana vanilla protein pancakes.  Man, that’s a mouthful, and oh they were.

I topped mine with chia seeds and syrup. The boys both smeared theirs with peanut butter, chia, and syrup.  We stuffed our faces then Jack promptly took a nap, Joshua did some used car research for me, and I did dishes.  We already had plans for lunch because Taste of the Trucks 2011 was just a few short miles away.

We met my parents there are ended up waiting in line at various food trucks for hours.  Finally, we all sat down to try our grub.  Mom and I got sandwiches at the Duos truck.

I got the roasted red pepper sandwich with marinated onions, basil, and goat cheese. IT was scrumptious.  Mom got the cucumber-cashew pate sandwich with sprouts and pickled onion.  It was also yummy but I loved mine more.

The three boys (dad, Jack, and Joshua) stood in line for the Fat Daddy truck and got a spicy steak sandwich, a chicken sandwich, and a version of a corndog.  All the main pieces were complimented with fries and tater tots.

Personally, the tots were the best part.  I was underwhelmed by everything else.

For dessert, we grabbed some sweets.  We waited for Scouts Treats cupcakes and picked out three flavors: lemon macadamia nut, caramel, and red velvet.

The best one for me was the lemon macadamia nut because it had the whipped frosting which made the whole thing taste lighter than the others.  Sadly, because it was so warm out, the cupcakes were super melty.  It didn’t really affect the taste but the texture was a bit weird.  All in all though, probably the best part of the meal.

At the Duos truck mom and I also picked up a carnival cookie which basically had everything from chocolate chips to popcorn to nuts all mixed together.  It was good though the cupcakes were better.

After all the excitement the boys departed to get home and take care of certain things, like Jack’s qualifier studying.  Mom, dad, and I went back to the motorhome and I promptly napped after checking out my brand new computer.  Love it.

Dinner came in the form of chicken topped salads.  They included anything from sprouts, scallions, and celery to dried cherries and carrots.

We drizzled them in this great new dressing we all agreed on at the supermarket.

I loved it and immediately wanted more.  Yum.  For dessert, which we only managed to hold off on for about 30 minutes, was dark chocolate gelato with raspberries on top.  This was fabulous and I practically licked my bowl clean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it.  Those are my missing couple of days.  Check back later for some today action.  I think I am back on my normal schedule, especially since it makes me feel much better and much more human to be doing my regular routine, so here’s hoping.

Have a lovely day everyone and please, take a moment to thank God, whomever, whatever, for your presence on this Earth.  It can end pretty suddenly so let’s take advantage of it now while we can.