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  • Chronic Illness
    • Chronic Illness

      My Experience with Humira

      April 15, 2019

      Chronic Illness

      Chronic Illness: Dissolution by Degrees

      December 14, 2018

      Chronic Illness

      Chronic Illness: the Groundswell

      September 25, 2018

  • Lifestyle
    • All Adventures Beauty Education Spiritualism
      Beauty

      Pravana Red Shadow Roots

      October 17, 2018

      Adventures

      Celebrating My 30th Birthday

      February 26, 2018

      Spiritualism

      5 Ways to Practice Heathenism in the Modern…

      January 1, 2018

      Adventures

      5 Ways to Celebrate Your Anniversary on a…

      May 28, 2017

      Adventures

      Celebrating My 30th Birthday

      February 26, 2018

      Adventures

      5 Ways to Celebrate Your Anniversary on a…

      May 28, 2017

      Beauty

      Pravana Red Shadow Roots

      October 17, 2018

      Education

      Using Education to Reach the Next Chapter

      December 13, 2014

      Education

      The Crossroads: Change Springs Eternal

      November 23, 2014

      Spiritualism

      5 Ways to Practice Heathenism in the Modern…

      January 1, 2018

  • Travel
    • All North America
      North America

      My Anniversary Weekend in Nashville, Tennessee

      July 18, 2019

      North America

      Visiting West Palm Beach, Florida

      April 24, 2019

      North America

      A Wedding in Bensalem, Pennsylvania

      September 9, 2017

      North America

      A Weekend Visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

      September 6, 2017

      North America

      My Anniversary Weekend in Nashville, Tennessee

      July 18, 2019

      North America

      Visiting West Palm Beach, Florida

      April 24, 2019

      North America

      A Wedding in Bensalem, Pennsylvania

      September 9, 2017

      North America

      A Weekend Visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

      September 6, 2017

  • Photography
    • Photography

      The Winged Lion Fountain of Savannah, Georgia

      October 20, 2018

vvitch, please!
  • About Me
    • About Me
    • The VVitch is Back
    • Start Here
    • As Seen On….
    • Disclosure & Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me
  • Chronic Illness
    • Chronic Illness

      My Experience with Humira

      April 15, 2019

      Chronic Illness

      Chronic Illness: Dissolution by Degrees

      December 14, 2018

      Chronic Illness

      Chronic Illness: the Groundswell

      September 25, 2018

  • Lifestyle
    • All Adventures Beauty Education Spiritualism
      Beauty

      Pravana Red Shadow Roots

      October 17, 2018

      Adventures

      Celebrating My 30th Birthday

      February 26, 2018

      Spiritualism

      5 Ways to Practice Heathenism in the Modern…

      January 1, 2018

      Adventures

      5 Ways to Celebrate Your Anniversary on a…

      May 28, 2017

      Adventures

      Celebrating My 30th Birthday

      February 26, 2018

      Adventures

      5 Ways to Celebrate Your Anniversary on a…

      May 28, 2017

      Beauty

      Pravana Red Shadow Roots

      October 17, 2018

      Education

      Using Education to Reach the Next Chapter

      December 13, 2014

      Education

      The Crossroads: Change Springs Eternal

      November 23, 2014

      Spiritualism

      5 Ways to Practice Heathenism in the Modern…

      January 1, 2018

  • Travel
    • All North America
      North America

      My Anniversary Weekend in Nashville, Tennessee

      July 18, 2019

      North America

      Visiting West Palm Beach, Florida

      April 24, 2019

      North America

      A Wedding in Bensalem, Pennsylvania

      September 9, 2017

      North America

      A Weekend Visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

      September 6, 2017

      North America

      My Anniversary Weekend in Nashville, Tennessee

      July 18, 2019

      North America

      Visiting West Palm Beach, Florida

      April 24, 2019

      North America

      A Wedding in Bensalem, Pennsylvania

      September 9, 2017

      North America

      A Weekend Visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

      September 6, 2017

  • Photography
    • Photography

      The Winged Lion Fountain of Savannah, Georgia

      October 20, 2018

Author

Sarah Birdsong

Sarah Birdsong

Creatrix. Wildling. Heathen. Born in a microcosm, possessed of different instincts.

North AmericaTravel

My Anniversary Weekend in Nashville, Tennessee

by Sarah Birdsong July 18, 2019

Nashville, Tennessee, is many things.

Tennessee is unhurried. It remains unphased by the quickening of the world, all notions of hustle suffocated in the wake of the humidity with its corresponding bustle drowned in sweat beneath a pitiless sun.  Oppressive even in the early morning hours, this heat beats down on Nashville’s streets, leaving little room for flights of fancy.

Nashville is the land of guitars; guitars picked and tuned or dusty and forgotten.  It’s the land of cowboy boots stylishly complementing their ensemble or standing horribly cliched against a backdrop of stereotypes. It’s the land of flaming hot chicken commercialized and spread within its borders to be enjoyed with peanuts swimming in chilled Coca-Cola.

Nashville is also the land of fairy tales; everyone is one hook away from realizing their dreams. Dubbed Music City through its rich history of “picking and grinning,” Nashville enjoys throngs of these starry-eyed musicians and songwriters that fill her streets to bursting. Many found within her neon streets begging the blessing of famed ghosts from years past leave her concrete edifices with nothing but those dreams to catch dust along with their guitars once the city is done with them.

Good old Nashville—breaking hearts and records since the days of silver screens.

Yet, none of these were reasons I’d had for visiting. Nashville, Tennesee, has been a long-awaited destination of my own for other reasons; there, in the unlikeliest of places, sits a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon of Athens in Centennial Park.

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July 18, 2019 4 comments
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North AmericaTravel

Visiting West Palm Beach, Florida

by Sarah Birdsong April 24, 2019

I’ve known my best friend, Cara, for ten years. We met sometime during July of 2009 but we weren’t too keen on each other. We had plenty of pretend reasons not to—our respective partners were jealous or insecure, we were unhappy at where we found ourselves in life, and we’d fallen into that trap of thinking women had to compete with other women.

Yet, in spite of that, we did manage to forge a relationship.

I distinctly remember the moment it happened: we were out with a group of friends at our local brewery (before craft beer became a personality type) and she was introducing me to the ambrosia that is “Hummingbird Water.” That is, Ace’s Pear Cider mixed with Lindeman’s Framboise and a dash of Grenadine. Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Cara accidentally spat directly onto my face, mid-sentence.

Feigning politeness though no less taken aback by disgusted horror, I stared at her. There was a moment of silence.

“Did I just spit on you?”

“… yes.”

The pause deepened.

“Well… you can wipe it off now.”

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April 24, 2019 0 comment
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Chronic Illness

My Experience with Humira

by Sarah Birdsong April 15, 2019

In February of 2018, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I first started Remicade (Infliximab) which was unable to induce clinical remission. During this time, I was also taking Prednisone and Mercaptopurine (6MP). None of these drugs were able to make me comfortable and at my worst, I weighed 87lbs completely unable to walk. I stopped Remicade and started Humira (Adalimumab) in July 2018.

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April 15, 2019 4 comments
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Chronic Illness

Chronic Illness: Dissolution by Degrees

by Sarah Birdsong December 14, 2018

In this blog, I’ll be following the chain of events described in the Groundswell of my health’s dissolution. I’d intended to post it sooner, however, much of what happened to me is lost in fog. Added to that, I’ve struggled with details I should or should not share. For all the hand-wringing, I’ve finally managed to produce the second part of the hellish saga this past year has been.

By January 1st, 2018, I was 124lbs—31lbs down from my former 155lbs. Sean enrolled me on his insurance plan, a managed healthcare consortium, meaning I needed a new doctor. My third specialist referred me to my fourth within its strict network. Bordering on destitute in more ways than one, I managed to keep hope alive by reminding myself that 2018 was the best time in human history to be ill.

I’d managed to secure full-time employment following my termination, and fortunately, it was a work-from-home position. I was able to work from the comfort of my couch. This worked out in my long-term favor, as I was often too ill to put myself together. Later, I would be too ill drive.

However, this meant that I was slowly becoming more and more immobile with each passing day. This bloomed into a bevy of health risks I couldn’t even begin to predict.

Before I go on, I must again express the following disclaimer: our bodies are all different. The expression of our diseases will be different even if we share a diagnosis. What works for me may not work for you. I can only share my experiences in the hope that they will help someone who may need the information.

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December 14, 2018 1 comment
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Photography

The Winged Lion Fountain of Savannah, Georgia

by Sarah Birdsong October 20, 2018

If you live in or around Savannah, Georgia, you might have heard of the Great Googly Moogly Outrage of 2018.  The city took to Facebook with the following:

Who did this?! Someone placed googly eyes on our historic #NathanaelGreene statue in #JohnsonSquare. It may look funny but harming our historic monuments and public property is no laughing matter, in fact, it’s a crime.

 

We are hoping to find the person responsible! If you have information, please call Savannah Police Department.

Whoever made that post didn’t have a clear understanding of how the internet works.

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October 20, 2018 0 comment
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BeautyLifestyle

Pravana Red Shadow Roots

by Sarah Birdsong October 17, 2018

If you’ve tooled around on this blog for even a moment, you’ll notice my favorite color is red. In the beginning of 2018, Sean and I prepared footage of my then new hair color; red shadow roots. Unfortunately, my hair no longer looks like this, due to extreme Telogen Effluvium—hair loss. The culmination of two autoimmune disorders and a protracted state of malnutrition due to an ongoing Crohn’s flare has all but spelled the death of my hair.

Since then, I’ve both rocked a side shave and gone full mohawk. If I’m going to lose most of my hair, I’m going to grow it back out on my terms instead of trying to nurse these limp strands back to life.

I’m not the only person to suffer this kind of hair loss due to Crohn’s, either; Hayley over at Chronically Fulfilled began shedding just three months after her own severe flare. I can’t say for certain when mine began, because I was far too ill to notice. By the time I’d sussed it out, my hair was already thin and limp, clogging my shower drain.

That said, I wanted to share the content we filmed earlier this year anyway, and use it as a baseline for my hair’s recovery. Today’s post will not be about my hair loss, but rather, its color.

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October 17, 2018 0 comment
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A story in three parts: my Crohn's journey, from start to finish.
Chronic Illness

Chronic Illness: the Groundswell

by Sarah Birdsong September 25, 2018

I know I’ve been suspiciously absent for months now. I alluded to medical hardships in my previous post regarding my birthday, but left it at that. I’d intended to start this much sooner than now, however, the whole of 2018 has been spent bedridden or in the hospital. I’ll begin with a story in three parts before moving on to what you can do if you or someone you know are in a similar situation. More than anything, I wish for this blog to be the resource I didn’t have when I needed it.

But please remember this: we are all different. Our bodies are unique. The expression of our diseases will be different even if we share a diagnosis. What works for me may not work for you. I can only share my experiences in the hope that they will help someone who may need the information.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Chronic illness is a ticking time bomb and your body is the fuse. It isn’t something you can prepare for, diet your way into or out of, or run from on the treadmill. For those of us with genetic factors, it isn’t a matter of if. It’s when.

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September 25, 2018 4 comments
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A handful of dear friends who threw me a surprise birthday party.
Adventures

Celebrating My 30th Birthday

by Sarah Birdsong February 26, 2018

I’m sure you’ve noticed a break in my postings. I can assure you that was not intended. I have been on a different sort of adventure recently—the kind that invokes memories of network TV medical dramas.

There’s a lot I would like to unpack and share with you on that topic. But as I am still recovering, I need time to transform my medical escapades into words.

In the meantime, I will discuss something slightly more interesting and enjoyable to write about: my birthday!

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February 26, 2018 0 comment
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5 Ways to Practice Heathenism in the Modern World: true practice is a little more nuanced than we're lead to believe.
Spiritualism

5 Ways to Practice Heathenism in the Modern World

by Sarah Birdsong January 1, 2018

It’s not easy for me to pinpoint when I became a heathen. I knew organically, even in my youth, that I was drawn to animism, to ideas lacking supraregional rules and institutions. With the internet and the local library at my disposal, seemingly without real effort, I fell upon reading material speaking of the customs of Pre-Christian cults and regional belief systems. And yet, of all the belief systems I read about, only the Germanic belief systems stuck with me. I gravitated towards a local belief system carried over from one generation to another. Devoid of dogma, strict hierarchies of gods, or beliefs. That beliefs and practices varied from town to town, household to household, enraptured my young mind.

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January 1, 2018 0 comment
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A Wedding Under the Stars: Bensalem, Pennsylvania. 1858 Street Rd, Bensalem, PA 19020
North AmericaTravel

A Wedding in Bensalem, Pennsylvania

by Sarah Birdsong September 9, 2017

We find ourselves in the final installment of my time in the northeastern part of the country. As previously mentioned, I found myself in the northeast visiting friends for a wedding I was to be part of and wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to take advantage of my time there. This entry will continue where I’d left off in my previous piece, A Weekend in Philadelphia. I’ve broken this trip into three separate installments: my brief stay in New York, my weekend in Philadelphia, and the wedding in Bensalem.

I divided my time in Pennsylvania between Bensalem and Philadelphia, as the wedding was on a Sunday and its rehearsal that Saturday. My Philadelphia adventures are detailed in that entry.  This entry will focus on visiting Bensalem for my longtime friend’s wedding.

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September 9, 2017 1 comment
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Here, you'll find a disgruntled heathen puzzling over the world for want of wit; a restive nomad borne by desire for locations remote; a hedgevvitch subsisting off spontaneous prose in the concrete jungle.

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