Favorite Things 2013

Rachael and I hosted our 2nd Annual Favorite Things Party a few weeks ago.  We invited the same 12 ladies from last  year, for those who were unable to make it, other "favorites" took their place.  So we had a few newbies this year.  This will be our new list of people for next year.

One of my favorite parts about this party, besides getting all the goodies... is seeing some of my friends who I don't get to see a whole lot, especially right before the holidays.  The beginning of November is the calm before the storm so it's nice to meet up at this time of year.  

Rachael and I created a table of our "favorite" candies, as the additional goodie bag to take home.

After all of the commotion of the party... my babies were exhausted.

Some of "our" favorite things!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Endoscopy pulled it together and were minions for Halloween.  I have never seen the movie, Despicable Me, but I decided to at least partake in the color scheme.  It was a fun day with tons of candy, MOSTLY happy patients, and these cup cake minions.  

Our Volunteer Dixie, got a little cray cray with the whole thing.  

Hope your Halloween was Happy!

20 years

It's hard to believe that this man left our Earth 20 years ago.  I remember finding out about Grandpa.  I was in 5th grade, and Chris picked me up from school and took me to Camille's house, while my dad made whatever "arrangements" that needed to be made.  I was mad, my brother told me I was going to miss my roller skating party at school, that was scheduled in the days his funeral would be.  This was my first true experience with death, and I was selfish, because I didn't understand.  Yes, I got it that my Grandpa was sick, it was a time where I wasn't even allowed to visit him in the hospital anymore due to my age.  But I didn't know that death was eternal.  That I would not see him in our physical world again, alive.  Later, at  home, I saw my dad "make calls."  He was in the living room, no one ever went in the living room unless it was a holiday.  I think he was in there because he might have been crying while he talked.  I stayed out of his way.  It's amazing what a kid can pick up on.

His wake was strange to me.  I kept touching him.  He felt plastic.  I kept touching his face.  Grandma yelled at me because I touched his face so much, someone had to come and reapply his make up.

The day of the funeral, I got it.  As my Grandma bent over to kiss his lips one last time, and they shut that coffin, I got it.  Only then was I upset.  To this day, it's the worst part of any funeral for me.  Watching the coffin close.

I think of my grandfather fondly, all of the time. We share stories of him every holiday.  The same ones usually, and usually involving my grandma.  The two together were characters.  I was the youngest grandchild of his 11, and I only got 10 short years with him.  Just 10.  I would have loved for him to be at all of my graduations, and of course, my wedding, to meet the man I chose to marry.  That proud smirk on his face.  But I feel lucky to have had him in my life as long as I did, and for the fact that I am blessed with a memory of an elephant and remember lots about him.  He was a lovely, lovely, sweet man and is missed by all of his family greatly.  

Reading to Rachael and I, I still have this book and consider
it one of my most treasured possessions.

"Chicken in the car, the car can go, that's how you spell Chicago!"

Gus

4/1/1910- 10/26/1993

Gravity and Pumpkins

Last weekend Adam and I saw our first 3D movie, Gravity.  Oh dear Lord, from the moment it started till the credits started rolling, my eyes were wide open and every muscle in my body was tense.  Seriously, nearly an hour after the movie and my body still hurt.  It was a great experience, and the movie, considering Sandra Bullock being the only one in it most of the time, was great.

We relaxed shortly after at the Lucky Monk right outside the theater, with beer and pretzels.  YUM.

Sunday was spent at All Seasons Apple Orchard with Alisa, Mike, and Gavin.  We had fun picking out pumpkins, feeding animals (my idea!), going down slides, eating donuts, getting lost in a corn maze, and picking mud off the stroller wheels.

The weather was awesome... sunny and cool, and we all had a great time.

Cute kid, huh?

Why me?

Charlie at the vet about
to get his teeth cleaned.

So... I had what you call a case of the "shingles" and was out of work unexpectedly for 7 full days in a row last week.  I nearly died of boredom and not the fact that I had a burning, itchy rash ON MY FACE.  It started on a Sunday afternoon, I was shopping at Costco and sampling all the foods they have.  I tried some pumpkin bread, later that night while watching TV I was feeling what I describe as  "pings" across my face, and it really itched.  I looked in the mirror and had the start of what I thought was either an allergic reaction to the pumpkin bread (I am allergic to bananas and thought they may have put some in the bread???) or some sort of contact dermatitis, that I blamed from catching from staying at the Stratosphere in Vegas the week prior (a story that deserves it's own post).

Lots of dusting, especially
the tops of all the fans

When I woke up the next day, the rash had gotten worse.  Not unbearably itchy, or painful... but definitely itchy and some pain.  I went to work.  I got looks.  I got questions.  I blamed it on an allergic reaction and went on with my day and my patients and co-workers let it be too.  The next day I went to get my allergy shots.  I requested to see the doctor that day so she could take a look at my face, give me some cream, and I'd be on my way.  Didn't turn out that way... she took one look at my face and told me she thought it was shingles.  Deep down in my gut, I thought this might be the cause, but I was ruling it out in my nurse mind due to the fact that normally old people get shingles, and normally the pain is excruciating.  My pain was bearable, and nothing I would even take a Tylenol for.

Enjoying life on the front porch with
the husband.

Needless to say, I made an appointment with my primary MD, and was able to get in with her later that day.  I worked  til 1 pm and they let me leave.  My primary agreed that due to the "pinging," the itching, and the localized area on my face, that I indeed had shingles.  She wrote me a prescription for an antiviral and I was on my way to the pharmacy.  I had to tell my employer, since it was something I couldn't exactly hide, and before I knew it, my boss had infectious disease and employee health involved, and they took me off the schedule til the following Monday.

Upon getting this diagnosis I have learned a lot about shingles, it's quite confusing.
-It's a virus caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox.
-After an episode of the chicken pox, the virus stays dormant in  your body and sort of randomly just wakes up one day.  (my doctor told me that I DID have the chicken pox, but such a slight case that I didn't even know and had probably blamed it on a rash at some point in my life, which makes shingles a proper diagnosis, since you must have had chicken pox to get shingles.)

Reading and Researching

-Most common in people 50 or over... which makes sense in my life and with my luck.  Upside-my body was able to handle it a whole lot better than a 50 year old, I responded to the antivirals and started healing right away.

My 2nd Vino Van Gogh
with Morgon

-It is NOT possible to catch shingles from another person, however you can infect people with the varicella zoster virus, (chicken pox).  If you have never had the chicken pox or chicken pox vaccine you can develop the chicken pox after direct skin to skin contact with an open shingles blister or by inhaling it in the air (gross.)  This is why I always refused patients with active shingles.  Due to the thought that I never had the chicken pox I didn't want to get them at this point in life.
-If you have had the chickenpox or the chicken pox vaccine being near a person with shingles will not cause you to get it.

Took my car for Emissions
early!!

-Complications related to it: Pain, Skin Infection, Eye Complications if rash is on your face, which mine was, and I had to really be sure I didn't touch my eyes... if I experienced any vision changes I was told to contact an ophthalmologist ASAP.

Re-wrote my entire address
book! 

Thankfully I was started on antivirals within the 72 hour onset of symptoms, the most effective time to start them.  My face started healing soon after and I even avoided the painful blisters.  Even though my face started healing... and I was feeling more confident about being in public... the hospital put a hold on my working and said I had to "run the course of treatment," which according to them was 7-10 days.  Which leads me to the beginning of this.  Being bored out of my mind....

Scattered thru out this blog post are some of the things I found around the house to do while I was trapped in it.  I got out here and there... but no shopping.  It's bad news when you shop and you are out of work.  It was overall very frustrating because I felt good, I just looked scary.  I went back to work this past Wednesday and am just glad this is all behind me!  ICK.

LtoR: day 3, day 4, day 6

JB MD SC

 I always love hanging with my girls from cardiology... each one of us have gone our separate ways now, and I am so happy that we can stay in touch.  We seriously, haven't seen Louise in like 5 years, so we made it a point to meet at what better place then HER house.  She couldn't get out of it that way.  She told us we were just going to get some pizzas, and relax.  We get there and there was a meat and cheese platter, guacamole, vegetables and dip, chips, fruit...  She sure knows how to entertain.  It was fun reminiscing about how much we all actually ate in the cardiology office.  I was reminded of all the extra amazing lunches, thanks to the drug rep, and Carrie's ability to say... "yes, today we will have Magiannos!"  There were a lot of laughs and we just had a great time. 

And when Louise tells you... "don't follow the GPS, follow MY directions!!!"  You better listen!

Coraline Debut

I had to wait two WHOLE weeks to meet this little beauty, Coraline.  Amanda and I made it over on a Wednesday afternoon to oogle over the newest little lady in our lives.  She is so cute and little and cute, I can't even stand it.  As Amanda keeps saying, "Welcome to the Party, Miss Coraline!"  Thanks for letting us stop by Andrea!  (And then feeding me dinner!) 

the Floss Vegas that never was

There were 6 ladies, in their 70's sitting on the edge of the Palazzo pool, in their granny bathing suits. Wrinkles lined their faces, the sun had aged them.  Some of their hair had turned silver, some still had color. They spoke of children and recipes.  Their husbands lined the other side of the pool, all with a camera in hand snapping their group photo.  Some complained, and some told the others to shut up, "you look fine in your bathing suit, just smile."

I imagined they all met up together, and I was jealous... because that's what I wanted to do with my friends.  I had been looking forward to meeting up with my Disney girls to celebrate our 10 year reunion September of this year in what we coined "Floss Vegas."  Everyone knew about this.  I was excited.  And I really don't get excited about a whole lot.  

In what took months to plan, to get everyone on board, saving money, and agreeable... took 12 hours to fall apart about one month prior to leaving.   While I might get the cold shoulder from my Disney girls for writing this.  I just don't know how I can not.  I was beyond disappointed at this turn of events, and can't help to do what I like to do best, and that is to write about it.

I had been questioning everyone I knew about Vegas, asking them pros and cons of the city.  Finding out what shows were worth seeing and what was worth skipping.  I was reading articles and books, in my typical pre arrival fashion.  I had never been to Vegas before.  And I was determined to make Vegas "our" vacation.  A chance for the husbands to mingle, for us girls to chat and act like the goofs we are,  to celebrate a milestone birthday, and the upcoming birth of 2 little ones, and then for us to all come together at the end of the day and enjoy an awesome dinner.  But life happened, and one by one, each one backed out.  I, of course, wasn't too pleased with the turn of events.  I was hurt and sad and angry and just deflated.  You get very few chances in life to pull a group together, from all across the country, and I really had hope that this would work out.  FAIL.

However, Adam and I went anyway, and our little getaway turned out to be a relaxing, great time.  My husband was a great sport.  2 weeks prior he was in Vegas for work, of course all expenses paid, and I felt terrible because I talked him into coming for my roommate reunion, again.  And now that this was not happening, I just felt bad and mad at myself, that I was just wasting our money.  He assured me that we would have a great time, even without my girlfriends.  He was right.  I always have an awesome time with Adam and this was no exception.

Our days consisted of sitting at the pool, getting all gussied up in our fancy over sized beautiful hotel room, and then heading out to dinner, followed by seeing two amazing Cirque shows.  I learned that right before we were to leave that my best good friend Amanda would be there for business.  While she couldn't hang the entire day, we got to have two dinners with her.  It was fun... even though in Vegas they don't believe in serving mostocolli with their chicken parm.  Amanda was a bright light in the vacation, reminding me to just sit back and enjoy this other world I was in!

After spending 30 dollars at the pool for booze, I marched Adam right down to Walgreens where we got 2 bottles of alcohol, Snapple as our mixer, 2 Las Vegas souvenir cups, and snacks for 50 dollars.

Little did I know I was going to have a Disney Reunion after all... with who else than Larsen and Stephanie.  Larsen worked on Tower of Terror while we were on the college program and lived right above apartment 27202.  His wife, Stephanie and him, just moved to Vegas from Orlando a few days prior and they were able to meet us out for dinner one night as well.  We went to Emeril's Table 10, and from the sounds of it, these two locals will be back.  It was delicious and by far my favorite meal in Vegas.

To try and save money, I purchased a few Groupons, and one of my favorite ones was the yardstick drinks.  We cashed in on those and headed to Freemont Street to see the classic lights of Vegas on our last day.  Good idea, all around.

While it's not the trip I had envisioned having.  And while I didn't get that picture with myself and the Flossers, legs dangling in the pool, looking all glamorous.  I had a great time anyways, and enjoyed it to the fullest with my most favorite person in the world.

not your typical Saturday

This past Saturday was quite eventful.  I put on my wedding planner hat and helped Mrs. M.  with my first outdoor wedding.  I really love the gig.

The wedding was located in Wayne, IL on the groom's parent's land.  They live on a huge property, complete with horses and stables.  It was quite gorgeous and a no brainer on where one should have their wedding.  While the bride and groom got married under a willow tree in another part of their property, I was busy with one of the first wedding snafus.  The seating cards were all in a box in the exact alphabetical order that they should have been in, and when someone wasn't looking, the caterer decided to be helpful and take them out of the box and set them up.  This was to be MY job.  He ended up organizing them by table number and not by last name.  I could have killed him.  160 cards then needed to be alphabetized by last name, and so that left me to do it.  When the same guy tried to help me, I quickly told him to go away because he was  alphabetizing by 1st names.  Seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The second mishap... ants... crawling up the table clothes.  I chalked that up to an outdoor wedding, folks.  We tried our best to knock them off, but they insisted.

 The wedding was amazing in every way, and I think the bride and groom were more than pleased.  I even stayed a bit longer to talk to an old friend who was a guest at the wedding.  Randi and I have been friends since elementary school, and I hadn't seen her since high school.  One of my favorite things is running into old friends.  We reminisced about old times and had a few good laughs.

Through out the day, I was receiving play by play updates of Andrea's labor from Dave and I couldn't be more thrilled or excited.  Andrea went into labor Friday night, and had the baby at 5:05pm.  Coraline Marcella is one of the newest members of this big big world, and I can't wait to meet her and hear Andrea's story!!!

Congrats Andrea and Dave!!!

my weekEnd.

This past weekend started with Urmi's Baby Shower... it was a brunch held at Pinstripes... and was just the cutest party ever.  My favorite part was craft time.  Out with the games and in with the crafts... my kind of party.  We each got to pick a letter and do what we wanted with it, so that Urmi and Ed can hang the entire alphabet in the baby's room.  E was taken so I went with J.  Seriously, Urmi's sister thought of everything... scrapbook paper, decoupage, stickers, puff pens, markers, glitter, paint, yarn... we got to do whatever we wanted.  All the letters turned out pretty cute.  We can't wait for Baby G to arrive!!!

The shower had a small peacock theme that I loved.  Since the shower was a hour away, Alisa and I planned MY entire baby shower, even though I am with out child, with no particular plans of one.  By the way, I know Urmi thru Alisa.  Along the way, we became friends too, so I was happy to share in her special day.

Hours after the shower, Adam and I picked up Jennah and Gabe from the train.  They were in town for the weekend and we couldn't be happier.  We always have a great time with them, and I got to meet Baby H too!!  We took them to my friend Danielle's restaurant, The Gratto.  So delicious.

For breakfast we went to Portillo's before we dropped them off at the airport.  Absolutely nothing wrong with eating beef sandwiches and milkshakes for breakfast.

Until the next time J, until the next time!!!