Invitations and such

It's official. My sister is going to design our invitations. This way, we'll save ourselves some money, my sister will be heavily involved in the wedding, and we'll have really nice invites and all the other things that come along with invites. What she's going to design:
1) Invitations/envelopes
2) RSVP cards/envelopes
3) Directions to/from reception site and hotel
4) Programs
5) Thank you cards/envelopes

This way, each little piece will look similar to each other. What I've found, is that when you buy invitations online or whatever, they don't come with all these pieces. They typically come with just the RSVP card and you have to purchase all the other stuff separately. Now all I have to do is find a printer willing to do this work for a low, low price. It'll put my negotiating skills to the test!

Nothing much else is going on. Steve and I took a stab at gardening on Sunday. Not real gardening, but we realized that one of our trees/bushes or whatever was getting quite overgrown so Steve decided to cut some branches down. I must admit, it looks really nice! So then, I, finally, decided to weed some areas that were getting out of control. Before I realized it, we had spent like 3 hours outside. It was such a nice day, it was good to be out in the sun.

We took the dogs to the park Sunday morning - it had been a long time since they've been there and they had fun swimming. At one point the dogs were running pretty far from us, so Steve and I hid in the brush. It was hilarious watching the dogs run past us, stop, look around and run back. Shelby did end up finding us, so we pulled her into the brush with us and Hudson was running back and forth, back and forth trying to find us. I have to admit - I'm proud that he even bothered trying to find us. He's the type of dog that I thought would just run free and not even care where we were. So finally, he found us - it was so funny.

Then this couple arrive with their 6 dogs and they had absolutely no control over these dogs. Two ran off into the woods immediately after being released from their vehicle. The husband went off screaming loudly at these dogs to come back - like that would work. I'm sure your dog would LOVE to come running back to you, while you're screaming that you're going to kick it's ass when it gets back to you. Riiiight. Good luck. So Hudson is off with that man, trying to locate his two dogs and Steve and I think it's about time we left. Hudson is soooo far away from us and we're calling his name and telling him that we're about to go and here he comes, running like the wind, straight for the truck. What a good boy. He made us look really good, with allllll those dogs running amuck, he still recalled really good. Phew. I was NOT about to chase him through the woods. Maybe that $100 OB class actually worked?

Nick is coming up Friday night. I can't wait to see him! I didnt' get enough Nick time when we went camping for obvious reasons, so it'll be nice to have him around for a couple days.

am I crazy?

For those of you who know me well, you'd know that I'm not creative. I don't usually have good ideas and I don't typically think "out of the box." For as long as I can remember, my sister has been the creative one. She can draw, write, take amazing photos etc. I can't seem to capture that moment.

I have a DIY guru friend who did made ALL her own wedding stuff. IE: Invitations, programs, save-the-dates, aisle runner, banners, center pieces, unity candle etc. She's even selling this stuff on the side for other brides-to-be. Very cool stuff. Very time consuming. I never thought that I'd do any of this myself. I'm more of the "I'll just pay someone to do it for me" - I think I got that from my dad. He tends to not want to be bothered by much, so he hires almost everything out.

However, now that we're engaged, we have to make sure we stay within our budget. It's not that easy when you're limited with funds. Yes, our parents (fortunately) are capable of helping us out with finances, but they aren't paying for the entire thing, nor do we want them to. We'll have to shell out a good chunk of our own money.

So, I've been doing preliminary research on items such as invitations. WOW. EXPENSIVE! I never even had a thought about how much these cost, until of course I looked online. Yeah, I don't think we'll be spending $3000 + for invitations. People throw those away! I'd rather spend the money of food and open bar. I'd rather spend extra money on the photographer. So I think I've decided, with the help of my friend (who happens to work with me too, and is a creative person) that I will design our invites. When I say design, I really mean finding something I love online and showing my friend Michelle who can make a similar design. I like straight lines, simplicity and elegance. I think we can do it....I think. I have to get costs for printing them, but again, my industry lends itself to these types of vendors so I have easy access. But then I think to myself, is it worth it to spend the time to trim and assemble 200 invites? If you think about it, it's not just invites we'd be assembling. It'd be invite itself, the little cards that are included (directions, hotel information, RSVP cards, RSVP envelopes), programs, table numbers etc.

I haven't yet decided if I'm up to this challenge. I do think though, it would save us a lot of money to do it myself. My sister is coming home for 6 months. Maybe she can design my invites and I don't have to pay her as much as I'd pay my friend. I mean c'mon, she's my sister. I just don't know if she's got the programs on her computer to do such things. I'll have to check.

I think that's probably the only thing I'd be doing myself. Ugh. I'm just not sure I'd be able to pull it off.

"How did you meet"

For 99% of the people who know Steve and I, they already know this answer. But, after telling people that we're now engaged, they have a lot of the typical questions. "How'd he do it?" "How long have you been dating?" "Do you have a date?" "How did you meet?" So, I figure, for those of you who don't know, here's our story:

He was 13. I was 14. We were in Ian Zink's backyard. I was there with a few friends, he was there throwing a football around with others. We hadn't yet been introduced, so I didn't even know his name. Before I know it, my head gets SLAMMED with the football. I turn around and FREAK out on him. Why the hell would you throw a football into a crowd of people? So anyways, I wasn't very fond of him early on. Him and his black BOSS jeans and wife beater tank top on.

I started hanging out with all of those guys shortly after this incident and as it turned out, Steve and I became really good friends. People have asked numerous times, did it ever go any further than that? NO! It really didn't! He wasn't my type and he was 2 grades below me. I would go to him with guy problems, problems in general...we chatted many, many times just the two of us, trying to get through life. I have very fond memories of us sitting in the adirondack chairs on his driveway until super late at night, just chatting about life and our problems and how to get through them. Because, clearly, at 17 or 18 years old, life is HARD.

I got ditched the week before my junior prom. I didn't have a date. I pulled into Steve's driveway and cried to him about it. He offered to take me. I was excited for him to be my date, as the rest of our friends were going "as friends." It was the best time ever. I'm so glad I took Steve to my prom. We'll have those memories forever. Aaaannnnd it's super funny to see our prom pictures of when I was 17 and he was 16. Insane.

Then I find out years later that he had formed a crush on me after prom. Hmm...no wonder why he was calling me more! But I didn't find this out until probably 2-3 years after prom. I'm glad I didn't know, as I'm not sure if we would've remained as close as we did if I had known he liked me. That would have just been awkward I think.

So times goes by, I leave for college...I lose touch with all my old high school friends. All but Steve that is. We still called each other every once in a while. We still saw each other when we'd visit home for holidays or breaks. I drove my new Jetta to his house in 2003 so he could take it for a spin. I went to visit him in Chicago in 2003 and that was a bit awkward, since I could tell he would've been open to a more than platonic relationship. Fortunately though, nothing happened and it was a great time.

Finally, we're both done with school and we both have good jobs. I started hanging out again with my old high school friends and it was as though I had never left. It was so awesome. I started coming home every weekend, starting April 2004 (right before I graduated) and Steve and I were back to our old selves again. Then, one August weekend in 2005 , I invited a few people up to my condo in Buffalo. We drank ourselve stupid that weekend - hell, the bars are open til 4am!

That first night Steve and I shared a drunken kiss. For 3 weeks, we didn't talk about "the kiss" - I even asked my Buffalo friends what I should do. Do I like him? Does he like me? Was it just a drunken kiss? Does he even think about it? My friends in Buffalo told me not to risk it, what if it didn't work out and we threw our friendship out the door? Our friendship to me was/is so important that I didn't think we should proceed with a relationship. Besides, he had just gotten out of a on again off again relationship with his now stalker. He had just broken up with her 3 weeks prior to our kiss. Was I a rebound?

All my friends at home told me to go for it. They told me that he's been waiting 8 years to be with me. So I went for it. I had to. But I was still having thoughts of "do I really like him? Enough to mention it?"

Well, it was mentioned and he was all for it. I was hesitant and reluctant, but then I figured, I'd have to give my all to know if it's worth it.

And man...am I glad I took the risk! Because this whole time I was looking for my soulmate and he was right there - the entire time.

finally, pictures

Finally, here are some pictures that I have been too lazy to upload until now.

Hudson, relaxing

Me and Nik, first night camping, before the sickness hit
Our setup
Nick, with his laptop of course
Hudson hanging out with the rest of us
our new fridge! BOO YAH! (we're planning on building more cabinets on the left side and along the top of the fridge for more space)

Inside view, love the double doors
Our (kinda) new stove and new range hood

New fridge!

Saturday we got a new fridge. We had been looking for a few months, since our fridge was clearly from the 1970's (maybe not THAT old), but it was old. It was tiny. It was that beautiful cream color.

When we moved into our house, the one thing that bothered us was that none of the appliances were updated. The dishwasher was OK, but that was the only thing that was OK. The fridge was really old and small. The stove - God, what do I even say about the stove. Horrendous, dirty, again, that beautiful cream color. That stove was really from the 1970's. The washer and dryer we have - OLD. Still works, but energy efficient? Not at all.

So we got a new stove back in January. Stainless Steel and flat top cooking surface. Gorgeous. We had to be conscious of what we were buying, we had to stay in our budget. So we got the stove during some special, with this % off because of this reason, free delivery, a rebate check, plus, when the stove got to our house, there was a tiny scratch on the side (which no one can see because it's between cabinets) and we got another $75 gift card to Sears. Not a bad deal!

The fridge. We've known it was coming for a while now. We knew we'd need a new fridge...and soon. So we bit the bullet and got one. We got the Ultra Satin Kenmore Elite side by side fridge. It's the coolest. I will have to post pictures tonight when I get home. We also put up the stainless steel range hood that my parents were going to throw out (it's in perfect condition!) So now our kitchen looks completely different! I'm so excited. This is proof that we're OLD. Proof because getting new appliances was so fun. I mean really fun. We kept opening up the doors to peek inside. It's HUGE too. I didn't really realize how much bigger it was until it was standing in our kitchen next to our old one. It's 25.4 cubic feet and it's ginormous. I love it. It changes the dynamic of our kitchen completely and now it looks way more upscale.

On another note, after mom and I went to Sears for the fridge, we stopped and had lunch at Biaggi's. I had a salad (trying really hard to eat healthier and get fit). Then after lunch, mom and I went to Mrs. Burkhart's bridal shop. I have to correct myself here, Mrs. Burkhart was NOT my 10th grade English teacher, I was confusing her with Mrs. Birkmeier. Mrs. Burkhart was the home economics teacher in HS. I never had her, but after remembering who she is, I do remember that everyone LOVED her. I had a few friends that had her and just adored her. She was in the back of her shop, so I didn't get a chance to see her. She did remember Steve though. She did the "OH yeah...I remember him."

The reason for trying on dresses on Saturday was to get a feel of what I would look good in. I am not buying anything until I lose the weight. But, I figure, I can at least try on different styles. I pretty much knew I'd love anything A-line, but I wanted to try on big dresses, just for fun.

I realized that since I have a very short torso, I can't wear the dresses where the waist is dropped and there is a hard line of where the waist should be. I need to have a dress that is one piece, no corset. I found one that I did like a lot - the back was so sexy. It laced up the back just a bit, then the buttons down the back was very dramatic and it had a long train. We'll see what I like in 6 months after I've lost some weight here. But man...dresses are heavy! I got to stand on the pedestal to see the front/back in the mirrors, it was fun.

Ok, time to get to work! Lots to get done today!

My fiance is the best (it's ok to throw up in your mouth a little)

One of the many, many reasons I love Steve so much:

He texts me this morning with:

"Did you know that I think you're the best and I can't wait to call you Mrs. Ruple - love you."

Sappy, corny, but oh so sweet.

So the date is set...sort of

Steve and I have decided on May 29, 2010 for our wedding date. We're starting to tell people that's our date too. The only problem: the date can't be officially set until the end of September. The 2010 calendar is not out yet for Casa Larga. May 29 has been put on "hold" for us until the calendar/contract it out at the end of this summer. I'm not that worried about it, but my mom is. I think that if we're the first and only couple requesting that date (which we are, I asked) then as SOON as the calendar comes out, we'll get first dibs on signing the contract and putting a deposit down. Right? That's how it would work right? My mom is getting antsy that she's telling people and we *might* not get it. But how could that happen right? I think she's losing her marbles a little. I think we'll be fine.

Also, I had started a preliminary guest list a while back and brought it to mom's yesterday. We added her people in and family members etc. It's much harder than I thought it would be. I have a TON of cousins on my dad's side of the family...none of whom I know very well at all, and since a majority of them are overseas, there's a really good chance they won't make it. I mean, who the hell wants to visit Rochester for a day? A weekend? Not much to do around these parts. Of course we'll invite them anyways, but know that they probably won't show.

I want to keep our list to 200 (the capacity at Casa Larga is 210). So I'm thinking maybe 175 will actually show up. I asked FMIL to also provide a list and we'll cut down if we go too far. Hopefully I can cross this off my list in the next couple of weeks.

I'm requesting any and all information from past brides, future brides, people at work etc. to help me with DJs, florists, etc. They've been through it or have already researched it so hopefully, my search will be pretty easy. I definitely want to use people that others have used so I can get their first hand experience on how well/not well it turned out.

I'm excited for Saturday. New refrigerator and dress shopping. Fun!

Back to work

Yesterday was my first day back to work since I got sick. I took it pretty easy, took the elevator as much as I could (even though it's slow at SHIT) and was pretty much fine throughout the day. I did get really tired towards the end of the day...around 2-3pm I started to feel fatigued. Oh well, I made it to 5pm and went home to relax. I'm thinking I'll be like this a few more days - before my body gets used to getting up and doing stuff during the day.

I found out from an old high school acquaintance that my old English teacher from 10th grade has her own bridal shop about 45 minutes away from my house. I'm going to stop in there this weekend with Mom to start the wedding gown shopping I think. Just to get a feel of what I'm looking for. I'm not going to purchase anything until I've lost the 15 pounds I want to lose....but I really want to just see what's out there! What's funny - is that I mentioned to Steve last night that Mrs. Burkhart has the bridal shop and he said when he was cleaning out our closet, he found an old yearbook and flipped to a page that had her picture on it. Then I asked him if she'd remember him at all and he said "well, I don't want to mention it, but Sasha used to go to her all the time to complain about me" so that's pretty funny. She was a psycho path from the start!

I'm really excited to try on dresses! Even if I don't buy one or pick one out! Just the fun of trying them on and seeing what style really suits me! I know I want an A-Line gown, but maybe a ball gown would be fun? Not sure! So many ideas floating in my head!

Steve today has a few appointments - he needs new glasses, and he has a dentist check up. He's been getting bad headaches lately and he thinks it might be from his teeth. He hasn't had a dental check up in god knows how long - at least as long as we have been dating - 3 years! He's crazy. I always try to remind him, but to him, it's just me nagging. Let's see how many cavities he's got. Maybe that will make him go see a dentist every year.

Well, dinner tonight at Mom's house....

Better today

I went and saw the doctor again this morning. Thankfully, he's not making me make appointments with him, I can just walk in so he can take a listen to my lungs. This way, I'm not paying my $25 copay each and every time. Phew. He says I sound much, much better today! My cough is still "really crummy" according to him, but I can probably go back to work Monday! He says it's up to me. I'm going to give it a shot. If I can make it, great, if not, I can take a half day. And he wants to see me one more time next week.

Today Steve and I stopped at Casa Larga to take a quick peek. There was actually another wedding going on, but they were in the one little room and Steve and I looked into the cocktail bar/area and the ballroom. The ballroom is the most important thing anyway. The staff was busy putting up tables and chairs and chair covers etc. It looked nice. The wedding cake was over in the corner too, that was pretty cool to see. Steve was impressed (as I knew he would be) by the HUGE windows that are all around the room, especially in front of the marble dance floor. The view. The scenery. Oh...it was so nice! I'm soooo excited now that we were able to walk through it a little. We were there less than 10 minutes...but you get the feel of it by just walking up the stone walkway with the water fountain running. So pretty. I can't wait! My mom wants to put the deposit down asap, so I'll have to contact the wedding coordinator.

Steve and I also stopped at Sears to look as some refrigerators. Ours is really old, small...not energy efficient. It's been working ok, but sometimes, due to the placement of the thermometer, our stuff goes bad because the temp got moved by accident, or our shit is frozen solid. It's super annoying. We try to be conscious of it, but c'mon...just by putting milk in the fridge, if by chance you barely TOUCH the knob, it moves all the way to "coldest." So we saw an LG one we liked a lot. We also saw a nice treadmill on sale for $599 too. And we saw a dishwasher we like that will match our stove and new fridge. Of course, all we need now is the money to pay for it all! Haha...fridge and treadmill are #1 to us...

Tonight is our friend's sister's graduation party. Fireworks, catered food...the goods. It'll be good to see everyone since I have been MIA for the past 2 weeks. I don't think any of them have even seen my ring! I can't wait to show it off! My friend Jen will be there too and she's getting married next June...we can chat weddings! I need to get out of this house, so I think I can handle going to Rich's. I mean, I can just sit there in a chair or something. No biggie.

still home

I went to the doctor's again yesterday morning. The second he saw me, he shook his head. My cough is still horrendous. I'm still coughing up a ton of phlegm. Still feeling pretty gross. He took another listen to my lungs and told me that I actually sound worse than I did when I left the hospital on Monday. Great. Just the news I was hoping to hear. He told me I couldn't go back to work until at least Monday. That's one FULL week of being stuck at home recovering. I have another appointment tomorrow morning for him to check my lungs out again. I'm really hoping he'll give me the go ahead to work starting Monday. I feel like my life has been put on pause, I feel like I'm frozen in time. I feel horrible that I'm dumping all my work on my coworkers, even though I know I would be no good at work if I can't focus or do any work.

Today I ran errands with Steve. I HAD to get out of the house. Even though it was raining, I couldn't stay in the house any longer. I stayed in the car while Steve ran his errands, so I wasn't exerting any energy whatsoever. I feel pretty good if I'm stationary. I just took a shower and that totally winded me again. I'm no longer doing breathing treatments every 4 hours, more like once every 6 to 8 hours which is a major improvement.

One errand today was to get the estimate for fixing our lawn after a drunk driver plowed through our front lawn and took out our mailbox. That'll be a couple hundred bucks. Stupid drunk driver. This stupid idiot actually ran from the scene of the accident too. A cop was following him the entire time and witnessed the accident. This freak lives like 30 seconds up the street from us. He wasn't even 21 years old. His birthday is at the end of this month. I really hope his license gets taken away until he's 25. He could have plowed through our house! He could have killed someone! I hope this is a lesson for him. Now that we got that taken care of and faxed to the insurance company, hopefully we'll get our money back soon.

I got my first bill for my ER visit in Pennsylvania. Thank god for medical insurance. The total bill was about $500, I only have to pay $75. That's for ONE ER visit though, not including my second ER visit and ambulance ride to Strong. Great. I'm just grateful I have insurance. I can't imagine those people who have to pay out of pocket for that shit! It's insane to think about.

I emailed the special events coordinator at Casa Larga asking if we could go on another tour. Steve hasn't seen the inside yet...and I know he'll be blown away. After the 2010 calendar gets in, we can put our deposit down. Then after the date is actually set, we can start looking for photographers and DJs and such. That will be fun. I also want to get in touch with Pittsford Wegmans, I hear they do a mean job with flowers (reasonably priced too).

So many weddings coming up! Our friends Alex and Hana are getting married next June. Jen and Chris are getting married next June too. Then the year after that is our wedding! At least I will have friends to chat all things wedding with. Two girls at work are also getting married! Having all these girls going through the same thing is exciting for me. That way, I won't feel like that's ALL I'm talking about and boring the shit out of people.

Even though I want to invite everyone I've ever met to our wedding, I do hope people understand that we can't invite EVERYONE. We have to have limits. We have a budget to stick to. So, please, please understand that if you don't get invited, doesn't mean at all that we don't love you!

I'm trying to get started on our guest list. I have a preliminary list started, but I have to run it by Steve. I also have to get both sets of parents to give me a list. I'm thinking we'll end up inviting around 200 people, and maybe 175 will show up. Not sure.

Ok, stay tuned for more updates later!

feeling better

Today is better than yesterday. Not much though. If I'm sitting and relaxing, I'm pretty much fine, however, once I get up and exert any type of energy, I'm winded and weak. Just taking the dogs outside to pee is tiring for me. I really hope this sickness goes away fast so I can get back on track with my life.

I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning at 8am, but I'm not sure he'll let me go back to work. Although I work in an office environment, there are a ton of stairs, lots of walking around etc. I'm not sure I can handle that. I don't have many sick days left either, so there's a good chance I'll be forced to take time off without pay. Oh well. Shit happens right?

Steve is back to work today too...I'm a little worried about him...he didn't seem too healthy last night, but he needed to get back to work too. He should be home soon. Hopefully he's feeling better with the antibiotis pumped in him.

So with all this time on my hands, I've been researching wedding stuff. We know we're going to get married on May 29, 2010. We're hoping to make a trip over to Casa Larga this weekend if I'm feeling up to it so Steve can see the place. Then we'll put our deposit down and start the rest of the planning. Once we have the date/location set, it's time to find a photographer. Then we can get our engagement pictures done. Then after that I can start on the guest list and start on finding save the dates. Since Steve and I have the same friends, our portion of the guest list is almost done. The parents just have to give me their lists and we'll go from there. I'm thinking we'll invite around 200, and maybe land on 175 or so.

We also know that we're going to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We'd make our first stop i Honolulu, spend a few days to a week there, then hop on a place to either Maui or Kuaui (sp). I'm hoping we'll be able to spend 12 days on vacation there. We'll see. Instead of staying in hotels, I think we're going to look into renting a private condo. That way, we'll have a full kitchen and all the amenities we normally enjoy.

Argh, I'm so sick of being sick! I hate this feeling of weakness and vulnerability. I'm tired of watching TV. I love being home with the dogs and spending time with them, but I'm so ready for adult conversation and actually using my mind for something. This kind of confirms that I will never want to be a stay at home mom. God bless you all for that...but I NEED, desperately NEED to get back to my real life.

Wish me luck at the doctor's tomorrow and let's hope I'm able to get back to work this week.

what a trip...

So camping officially sucked big time. I woke up Thursday morning with a slight tickle in my throat but I just assumed it was allergies. I took a benedryl and that was that.

It rained as we were packing up the truck...it rained the entire way to Pennsylvania...we stopped in Binghamton to meet up with Tom and Nikki for the rest of the drive down. It had started to let up...and even got sunny as we got closer to PA.

We got to our campsite and it was sunny and beautiful! We were hoping it would stay that way...too bad it only lasted long enough for us to set up our tents, get dinner started, then it started to downpour. I mean DOWNPOUR. It was awful. The boys set up a tarp and luckily, Nikki and Tom brought down a canopy type thing to set up also. We had plenty of room for all of us under the tarp and canopy, but it still sucked. The dogs were not having a good time either.

So that night, Thursday night, we just hung around, drank some, smoked some, etc. It was a good time overall. Went to bed around 3am...I woke up Friday morning and felt like absolute shit. I mean SHIT. My nose was plugged, hell, my entire head felt like it was filled with mucus. Everyone went paintballing, except for Steve and I...we had originally wanted to go hiking with the dogs, but since it was STILL downpouring, we just hung around our campsite and read magazines. Eventually, since it was so muddy out, we put the dogs in the back of the truck so they could lie down and relax. By the time everyone got back from paintballing, I was still feeling horrible. We settled in for a nice steak dinner and just hung around the campfire (even though it was still raining at this point). I had had enough of the rain, so I took the dogs and went to sleep in our tent around 10:30pm. Our tent has windows, but because it was raining so hard, we closed all the windows...it was a hot, humid, sticky mess in the tent. I woke up at 3am gasping for air. I mean...I couldn't get ANY air in. I could exhale, but not inhale. I started to freak out. I woke Steve up around 4am and told him to call 911. The ambulance met us at the front of the camp sign in area and gave me a breathing treatment. The treatment only lasted long enough for Steve to drive me to the local hospital. We get to this rinky dink hospital in god knows where PA and get me taken care of. I spent about 3 hours in the ER, they gave me two more breathing treatments and an IV of steroids. They sent me home with two prescriptions.

Steve went back to our campsite while I was still in the ER to pack up our stuff....it was about 6am at this point...none of our friends were awake so when they woke up, our stuff was gone. Steve came back to get me at the hospital and we headed home. Steve made it back to Rochester in 3 hours. It's normally about a 4 and a half hour drive. That was one of the scariest moments in my life...not knowing if I'd make it all the way home or not. I did NOT want to stop at another rinky dink hospital on the thruway. We get home and my mom meets us at our house with my nebulizer. Between the hours of 1pm and five pm, I had 4 breathing treatments...none of which worked. My mom told me it was time to head to the hospital again. I didn't think I'd make the drive, so we called 911 again and had an ambulance take me.

I spent the next 11 hours in the ER, with all sorts of tubes, IVs, tests, Xrays etc. They initally thought I had a blogclot in my lungs, which would NOT be good. Fortunately, they could tell by a bloodtest that I did NOT have a bloodclot (phew). I was finally admitted to a floor at five am. They sent me to the Intensive Care Unit so I would have around the clock care. That way, they could monitor my heartrate, O2 level etc. My heartrate went up to around 140 which was a bit scary and my blood pressue was up to around 150 over 90 or something. Scary! I was hooked up to Oxygen and heart monitors and on IV steroids until Sunday night. They finally moved me to a regular floor, since I was no longer considered an ICU patient.

My primary care physician saw me Sunday morning and took a listen to my lungs. He said I was still wheezing pretty bad and said that he couldn't let me go home. Bummer. By Sunday night, I was removed from all tubes and IVs and no longer kept on a heart monitor. I was feeling much, much better. That night, I was moved again to another room since this one old lady was found wandering around the floor, the nurses wanted to keep her within eye sight. So they moved me to another room on the same floor, just around the corner. I had been moved 3 times by this point. Whatever. Just get me better and let me go home! Steve came to visit Sunday night right before visiting hours were over and told me he was starting to feel sick too. Oh no, just our luck, I passed on this illness to him!

Monday morning, my doctor came in around 7:30 and took another listen. This time, he said I was doing much better and said I could go home! I started packing up my stuff right away and called my mom to come get me. Steve called to check on me and told me that he was feeling really rough and he was on his way home from work. Mom brought some antibiotics for him too so he could also get on the road to recovery. I got discharged around 11am Monday morning. Mom came over to help cook, clean and get us comfortable. Thank GOD for mom. She made enough food to last a couple of days and got us all settled on the couch. Needless to say, I won't be back to work for a few days. I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for Thursday 8am and hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be able to go to work after my appointment. We'll see. Fingers crossed. I hate being sick like this. Not that I've ever been THIS sick...but I still hate it nonetheless.

I was so looking forward to camping...sucks so bad that we couldn't enjoy not one minute of it! I guess while Steve and I were dealing with this sickness, the rest of our friends decided to plan a snowboarding/skiing trip for this winter. Hopefully they'll pick a place that has a hospital close by.

Getting ready for camping

We leave tomorrow morning! I'm SO excited to get this little vacation started! Of course, Steve has the day off today so I've enlisted his help to get us ready. I made a list for him this morning so he would have something tangible to bring with him (god knows he won't remember on his own). He needs to make 3 stops today: 1) Vet to get flea/tick stuff for the dogs and ask about sleeping pills for Hudson. Hudson gets anxious and whiney when he's in the truck for too long. Steve doesn't agree with medicating the dog for that reason, but I'd rather not deal with it. It won't hurt him, just make him sleepy. If Steve does not get the pills, I have Benedryl with me. 2) Wegmans to get some groceries for the trip: hotdogs, chips, beverages, snacks etc. 3) Home Depot to get hooks for the ropes we are using as tie outs for both dogs. Actual tie outs cost like $35 each so just using a sturdy rope (think rock climbing rope) with hooks at either end will allow us to tether each dog to a tree.

Then tonight, after I get home, we're going to head to Old Navy to get a few things. Steve needs swim shorts, I want a few tops. Then, when we get back from that, I'm going to make a quick dinner and start packing the truck. Steve wants to be on the road around 8am. Check in is at noon, and it takes about 4.5 hours to get there. Nick should be getting there around the same time as us. Tom and Nikki will get there afternoon sometime - maybe 3-4? And Alex and Hana won't get there until later in the evening.

Lots to get done today! I'm hoping work goes well today. I have one client presentation meeting at 3pm...I'm not TOO worried about it, but presenting anything to clients is intimidating.

And, I'm hoping our wonderful executive team will close the doors early today and let us leave at 4pm! We'll see.