drinking beer for ALS. part 2

yep, you read this right! you get another opportunity to drink for the MEF.

go down to the Ram (U Village ONLY) december 11-18th, order some grub, watch a game or two and drink purple beer. not just beer, but PURPLE BEER...$1 from every purple beer sold will go directly to the melissa erickson foundation.

drinking for a good cause is always a good time and everything is better when it's purple...true, true.

best you

no one ever graduates from life. there is always room for growth and reflection. 

be your best you.

road map to the good life

a little bit of this will go a long way.

closer to a cure

if this video goes viral, i could be cured by christmas!!!

ok, not really...cruel joke. SERIOUSLY though, if everyone donated and passed it on to your friends, you could potentially fund the doctors, who find the lifesaving treatment, and BOOM- 

YOU'RE A HERO!!!

let's get this video out there. blast it on facebook, twitter, tumblr or whatever network cures you socially. if you have an in at a local TV station, beg for it to air.  let's get this video some play!

be a HERO...they get more play, too.  *wink, wink*

just one of them days

i love this!
"that's my bike, punk!!!"

hello brother

 this is steve gleason circa 2005. you may remember him from his days at wazzu, donning the crimson and gray and making a trip to the rose bowl.  most know him for his legendary blocked punt during the very first game played in the superdome since hurricane katrina ripped through new orleans a year earlier. many saints fans regard that play, seen below,  as a symbol of their city's relentlessness.  that play vaulted steve into cult hero status among saints fans and forever cemented him as a figure of the great revival of a post-katrina NOLA. 

i'll admit, i don't remember steve as a coug or a saint. i've never met the guy but respect him as a fellow athlete and an important figure of new orleans, my absolute favorite southern city. i found out about steve because of the dark passenger that we share. he became a brother to me through ALS. another example of a finely tuned athlete that dedicated his life to strengthening his body so he could excel at football's highest level. steve enjoyed a successful career and was embarking on retired life with his new wife and plans for a family. however, slowly his body began to change. i bet he thought, 'wow, i had no idea that retiring and relaxing could cause my limbs to become so heavy' and 'what the hell is this twitching?!'. i hear ya...i thought that too!!! soon his worst fears were confirmed. steve, like me, had been robbed by a disease that i (maybe we) knew little about. ALS crept into our bodies and tore down the temple that we had been working on since the second we fell in love with our sports. ALS will try to steal every living ounce of you and it won't stop until it does. thankfully steve and i have another thing in common. the years spent dedicated to our sports were not spent alone. just as my teammates and friends held me up after our coaches vicious conditioning tests years ago...they continue to support me now as ALS tests me in a whole new way.

likewise, steve's teammates and friends continue to support him as his limbs weaken. ALS is threatening to rob steve of everything but i guarantee that steve and team gleason are mounting a grand defense. 

doctors and scientists are closer than ever to delivering a treatment to stop and maybe even reverse ALS. PALS (people with ALS) around the world continue to lean on their friends and family for support while patiently waiting for a miracle. until that day, each of us resembles that blocked punt that helped to fuel new orleans ' post-katrina resurrection. a spark lying dormant within us only waiting to be set free to start our own great revival of a post-ALS world.

thank you

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you w...ill gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

on a whole new level

i urge you to get to know Shannon by reading her blog. it is insightful and beautiful. it will challenge your mind and provoke your thoughts. it may even change your life...

sunshine

 

 you are my sunshine, my only sunshine 

you make me happy when my skies are gray

i hope you know how much i love you 

MeeeYowww

Old Dawgs, New Tricks

this is who i hung out with this weekend. it's easily one of my most favorite weekends of the year.  if i had it my way, i would cram each one of them in my house, their families and all, and live together as most of us did in college.  they know me better than i know myself, they always have and i used to hate it but i am so thankful for it now. i love you guys!

that's cheryl...she keeps it classy.

i have no idea but i love it!

lollipop carli...her flavor world be a mixture of granola and hummus.

sweet six - carli + sug spice = almost perfection

best combo in the history of the world. i'm serious people

LeAnn, Dunc, Jill, Franza, Heather, Sug', Emily and Carlito...thank you for not letting me quit the team. i'd be lost without you guys.

=)

or dig some matches out of your pocket.

you can't ever be too prepared when it comes to happiness.

mad libs my way

live your life LOUD!!!

one hell of a day! LOVE

wow.
i can't explain how much LOVE i felt throughout the ring around the needle 2011. 594 participants circled the needle to raise money for the Melissa Erickson Foundation. it was an incredible day for all involved. lots of beer, hugs and an old fashioned good time. i'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures.

thank you Team Mo...you guys are unstoppable!

Team Mo - there isn't much that these ladies can't do.

LOVE

shots!

funny drunk LOVE.

vintage Husky LOVE.

all these people in one place for lil old me...
LOVE!

shimmy flew in from St. Louis...
LOVE!

i'm armed with hugs and fueled with LOVE...
i'm ready for battle,
Let's Roll!

researchers find the cause of ALS!!!

as i ritually surf facebook before i fall into dreamland, i come across this link;

"researchers find cause of ALS".

i skipped to the next update like it was nothing...then it clicked and my eyes raced back up to the link that basically said "melissa erickson, you are a finalists in the bazillion dollar lottery!!!". i couldn't open the link. i froze. i can honestly say that i have never imagined that i would read this sentence in my lifetime. oddly enough, i just don't think about a cure or treatment at all because it's not on my agenda today and today is really the only thing i plan for. this little article forces me think about tomorrow. this is a gift and a curse. this article is staring me in the face. i take a deep breath, shrug my shoulders like Rocky against the Soviet, and do what i gotta do.

ADRIENNE, ur ahhh....JESSICA!!!!

i made her read it... just in case when i clicked on the link, ashton kutcher popped on the screen and screamed, "you got punked, beeeeeotch!!!". jess read through it and confirmed that it is legit. that half of the chains that entraps my body quite possibly may be removed. i know, i am still trapped but the Marauder's Map may have been discovered! i feel like i and thousands of other prisoners, may live to fight this beast and our weapons were upgraded from a bitch slap to a machete! that one day i'll be able to wave my wand and say, "mischief managed". THIS. IS. HUGE!!!

i'm still living for today, but tomorrow...looks a lot more colorful.

almost there...

i'll get there,
one day.

Often Awesome: A Love Story - Episode 1

people always ask me, "what is it really like living with ALS?" as honest as i can, i try to describe my day-to-day routine, what goes through my head and how my body feels. my family and friends who have known me preALS have witnessed first hand how my body has melted due to the inferno that is Lou Gehrig's Disease. i always wondered what it would be like to have a video camera following me 24/7 and be able to watch it at super high speed. would my muscles shrink as fast as a hummingbird flaps his wings? would people witness the colossal failure of my body and realize how unfair it is, that doctors searching for a treatment lack the appropriate funding because of how relatively unknown ALS actually is?

Tim LaFollette has ALS. Tim has a mission. Tim has more courage than anyone i know. and Tim has let a camera document ALS's war path over his entire body. Often Awesome is the award winning web series that documents Tim's battle with ALS. get to know Tim and his army of sparrows (you'll understand the reference soon) relentlessly fight to keep the upper hand in this unwavering war. currently there are 33 episodes released on You Tube and Facebook in the ongoing series. please visit my blog weekly for new episodes...

Tim meet my Bloggees, Bloggees meet Tim...