1. This is my first birthday without my best friend Disney. She died in August at 13 years old.
2. I became disabled at age 26.
3. I'm the only person in the world who has had 3 transplants in one knee! I've had 10 knee surgeries total.
4. I graduated with a degree in Psychology from Florida GulfCoast University.
5. I've been obsessed with basketball my entire life. I coached high school and AAU boys basketball until 2 years ago.
6. I've coached NBA players and over 50 college basketball players.
7. I've traveled the country coaching basketball including Las Vegas, Washington DC, Louisville and Indianapolis.
8. I've had a girlfriend for 5 years. I love Cletus :)
9. I grew up in Naples, Florida....5 mins from the beach. Its paradise!
10. I was born in Columbus, Ohio. Go Buckeyes!
11. It ruins my week if Ohio St football loses. I'm a little over the edge!
12. We just rescued 2 dogs who were going to be killed the next day. Buckeye and Gator have healed my heart.
13. They say dogs are man's best friend but Disney legitimately was my best friend.
14. Disney and I moved to Gainesville the day before Obama was elected. I moved to coach high school basketball. I knew maybe 5 people so Disney was all I had.
15. Disney took on my medical conditions and ultimately saved my life. Its a crazy story for another time!
16. I missed my calling as a DJ! I make mixed CDs for everybody.
17. My nickname in high school was 2Pac
18. I was diagnosed with A.D.D as a senior in college. No clue how I made it that far without the meds! Wish I could do school over and see how well I could do with the meds.
19. I ran the largest after school program in SWFL before becoming disabled. 300 kids a day!
20. My eventual goal is to start a program that helps people discover their passion in life. I'm selling on ebay to pay off my debt and save the money.
21. My parents are the greatest in the world! No joke!
22. I love to travel! Once my knees get stronger....I'm going to Europe.
23. I'm Native American, white and black.
24. I LOVE roller coasters!
25. Writing poetry calms my anger problems that come with A.D.D.
26. I started my own non-profit organization at 19 years old.
27. Selling on ebay is PERFECT for anyone living on Social Security. I'll let you figure out all the reasons why!
28. I've only been serious about selling on ebay for 10 months. Learn something new everyday.
29. I see the top Orthopedic surgeon in the world in Birmingham, Alabama.
30. SWFL has the best thrift stores we've found in the country. The wealthy donate so much and the prices are cheap!
31. We've been to thrift stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, DC and Iowa.
32. My BOLO list has over 250 brands! I mark it when I find a brand on the list. Goal is to find each brand. It keeps things challenging and interesting. If you are interested in my life and accepting the challenge also...comment here. I'll share!
33. Check out Disabled Lives Matter on youtube and Facebook please! We are starting a movement.
34. I've had 18 surgeries and I'm still walking. Still talking. Still independent. I'm disabled for a reason. I intend to change the world! Through all my adversity....I feel blessed.
35. If you read this far.....Thank you!
Happy birthday! Talk about awesome! All that coaching, working with kids and NBA players. Running the after school program with 300 kids. That is amazing! You are truly a highly motivated and inspiring person. Looking at your knee injury in a positive light is touching, and something I don't know if I could do. Now you are tackling the eBay world with flipping I love it. I am up for joining you, in conquering your massive BOLO list.
ReplyDeleteI wish you the happiest birthday today. Hope you have/had an amazing day!
And thanks so much for always sharing.
You have some amazing accomplishments! I am from Maryland and have been thinking about moving to the Cape Coral area for a while - eBay is my main source of income so facts 30 & 31 really make me happy! I can't wait to come check them out!
ReplyDeleteYou have some amazing accomplishments! I am from Maryland and have been thinking about moving to the Cape Coral area for a while - eBay is my main source of income so facts 30 & 31 really make me happy! I can't wait to come check them out!
ReplyDeleteThank you Julie! Where do you live in Maryland? We visited my cousin in Maryland for Spring Break and visited a lot of thrift shops.
DeleteIf you make a living selling thrifted items, there is NO better place than SWFL. We grew up in Naples (about 20 mins from Cape Coral) and the thrift shops in the whole area are amazing. The prices and selection are BOTH the best we've seen. If you do move down or visit the area let us know...we will tell you the best thrift shops in the area to shop. There are so many and figuring out the best can be time consuming. But seriously the thrift shopping alone is a great reason to visit the area. I'd rather move to Estero but I guess Cape Coral works :)
I live in Ocean City, we only have a couple thrift stores within a half hour from me and they are all pretty expensive. My boyfriend and I are planning on staying a week towards the end of July in Cape Coral to get a feel for the area. I'll have to check out Estero, too! It looks like Ft Myers also has an outlet store, have you been there? Is it worth the trouble haha?
DeleteThe thrift prices in Maryland/DC/Virginia all seemed really high. The exception was the Goodwill Outlet in Frederick, which was the best Goodwill Outlet we've visited. Low prices (obviously), organized just like a regular Goodwill, not crowded because it's kind of hidden and a great selection.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't shopped at the Goodwill Outlet in Ft. Myers. We stopped by on our drive home last month to see if it is worth a future stop. It's pretty small but maybe worth checking out. Honestly, we haven't found a Goodwill in SW Florida that isn't worth checking out.
If you look up Florida GulfCoast University and see all the thrift stores (or any shopping) near there; that's where you want to go. Also, near the exit off I75 to head towards Cape Coral are 2 AMAZING thrift shops. We can email you a list of the best ones if you'd like. We can easily think of 20 great stores off the top of our head.
July is the perfect time to go down there too. It may be HOT but the old people have gone home for summer! Enjoy! We will definitely want to hear about your trip afterwards.
I've never been to the outlet in Frederick - that's probably about 3 hours from me. It would be so awesome if you could email me (westocjulie@live.com) a list of stores to check out! I will definitely let you know what I think about them when I visit in July! Thank you so much - you are awesome!
DeleteJust wondering.....do u know who Richard Heine is? Hint: TBDBITL. If you know who he is please let me know. cr_twigg@yahoo.com.
ReplyDeleteI'm also disabled and I'm brand new to being a reseller. I'm in the process of reading every word of your site. Thank you...It's already taught me so much! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Hello: we don't know Richard Heine....should we? Thank you for posting a comment. We are very excited and honored another disabled flipper is reading our site. We LOVE to be able to help anyone with a disability in any way possible. How do you think we could get more disabled people involved in thrifting? The job could really help our community. Thanks for checking out our site. If you have any other questions email us at: BeU352@gmail.com.
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