Good News Everyone!

Happy Tuesday! It is a chilly day here in Michigan, but it looks like Ms. Sunshine is going to make a brief appearance and I know all Michiganders are excited about that.

I totally forgot to post about my Uncle's 60th Birthday Party on Sunday when I was doing some updating! For his birthday, my cousin planned a surprise party where all of his family and friends were invited to come and celebrate his 60th birthday with him, or his 37th birthday for the 23rd time.  It was such a nice party and the cake was super cool!

It's hard to tell by the picture, but the flowers say, "Still Mowing After 60 Years". 

One of my other favorite parts of the party was the photo booth my cousin had rented.  I loved the idea because it was an open background booth where you were not limited to a small box.  Us girls got some rather hilarious photos.

I love my cousins.  We always have a great time together.

After the party Justin and I made our way home to relax for the evening since I still was not feeling all that great.  I did, however, manage a few pictures of me and the kitties.

I think Frye was a bit skeptical at first, but he came around when the camera started making sounds.  Such a goofball.  Of course, where one cat has no interest, the other one has too much.  Leilah kept trying to paw at the screen as I adjusted the camera.  So silly these two.

Doctor Office Update

I received a call from the doctors office and it appears that everything came back normal from my blood work.  My liver and kidneys are normal, my lipids are normal, and I did not show any inflammation markers. So what is next? Well, I will be receiving an order in the mail for a bone scan that I will need to schedule sometime this week or next week.  Not sure what a bone scan is? Do not worry! I did not either. 

This is how it works: I will be injected with a radioactive tracer (no it's not harmful).  This tracer will either be  absorbed into the bone or continue to move through the blood stream.  If the tracer collects in any areas they will glow bright on the screen indicating there is an issue there.  These issues could include: bone cancer (unlikely in my case), damage to the bone through injury or damage to the bone through infection.

While I wait for the bone scan order to come in, I will continue taking the medicine three times daily and taking it easy.  It is driving me insane, but I need to continue to do what the doctor orders.  Hopefully we will know more next week!

How I'm feeling

If I am being honest, I am a bit scared.  We still do not know what is causing the pain (hence all the tests), but at the same time it could be something pretty serious.  I don't think it is, but the possibility is there.  Also, I REALLY do not do well with needles so being injected with tracers will not be fun.

Question of the Day:

What is the weirdest medical procedure you've had done?

Chest Pain Update

Hello Everyone! I hope you are doing well.

I wanted to do a follow up on the chest pain I had mentioned last month that has been preventing me from working out.  Last Monday while I was at work, I experienced some of the strongest pain I have had since the initial issue.  While I was at work I was having difficulty breathing and sitting down was next to impossible.  As a result of the pain, I decided that it was time I made my way back to the doctor to pay her a second visit.

On Friday morning I scheduled my appointment to get my blood work done, since my doctor request I do it a month ago {whoops}.  While I was at the office getting my blood drawn I started to feel faint and went through all of the steps fainting without actually blacking out.  Let me just say, I hate that feeling.  Luckily, I was able to lie down before I blacked out.  Because of almost fainting, it made my chest hurt 10x worse than it did on Monday.  It also forced me to work from home since I was worried about the 45 minute drive.

On Friday afternoon, I made my way to see my primary care physician to discuss what has been going on.  The first thing we did was an EKG.  I am proud to announce that my heart is fine, just beating a bit too fast.  After getting positive results from the EKG, she did some poking and prodding and concluded that my rib cage is the "problem".  She ordered an extra test on my blood work (not sure what) and requested for them to look for inflammation indicators as well.  

She informed me that the inflammation indicators in my blood would indicate that there is some form of inflammation in my body somewhere (seems obvious) and that we will have to see what the blood work brings back.  If the blood work comes back positive for inflammation, then I will need to have a Bone Scan (the kind with the IV) which will show exactly where there is inflammation.

Unfortunately my blood work will not be back before Tuesday (when the Dr. is in next) so I have to wait until then.  So until Tuesday, she prescribed me 600mg Ibuprofen to be taken three times daily.  This should help with the pain and if it works, that would be second indication of inflammation.  

Sooooo... that is my update on that.  So far the Ibuprofen has not done anything but I have only been taking it twice daily since it makes me woozy.

When I know more Tuesday, I will let you all know!

Thanks for checking in.

Girls Night In - March Get Together

Who doesn't love cupcakes? I know that I do! Well that is what our last get together completely revolved around.

For the last few months the girls and I have been planning on doing a cooking get together and that has just not happened and honestly, that did not really happen this time outside of the cupcakes that we made.  However, we did spend the evening playing Dance Central 2, coloring in Caroline's coloring book and baking cupcakes.

I was excited that we busted out the Kinect because it has not been used in what feels like ages.  At our old apartment, we really did not have the space to do any dancing and the floors were SUPER creaky (which is embarrassing), but now at our new apartment, the floors are double concreted so we can jump as high as we want and it won't make a peep.

Caroline has been on a tie blanket kick and brought over her latest fleece pick for her boyfriend's mom's birthday.  I absolutely love the pattern that she picked for the blanket.  So elegant and super beautiful!

For the cupcakes, Danielle and I picked a basic white cake recipe offline and picked a basic butter cream frosting recipe.  Overall, the recipe turned out pretty delicious and we doubled the recipe so we had more than enough leftover cupcakes to go around.

It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the frosting was green in honor of St. Patrick's day the next day and I just so happened to have green food coloring in my pantry.  Score!

 Overall the evening was super nice and when I finally made it to bed, I passed out from all of the excitement.  I can't wait to get together with my girls next month!

Ladies Retreat

Who loves traditions? I know I do! 

Last year my mom and I started a tradition of going on the ladies retreat hosted by her church every March and I was excited to see that this years would be "hosted' by a different group.  

Do you know who Kathy Troccoli is? If I am being honest, I did not know very much about her until I went on the retreat, but when she started singing, I knew exactly who she was.  I grew up listening to my mom sing her music and it brought back tons of memories listening to her sing.

Turns out she is hosting the Among Friends Conference and this was the event that we were attending this year.  Along with Kathy Troccoli, there were two other women: Jennifer Rothschild and Dr. Jeanne Porter-King.  It was so awesome to hear them talk and I am excited to say that I purchased one of Jennifer Rothschild's devotional studies to do with my friend, Danielle.

On Friday afternoon, my mom and I made our way up to Lansing to get checked into the hotel and do some shopping before the event started.  I was so thrilled to see how nice the hotel was! It even greeted us at the door!

After we checked into the hotel we dropped off our stuff and made our way to dinner at Clara's Lansing Station restaurant.  I was thrilled to see that we would be eating dinner inside of an old train car connected to a retired train station.  I love going to restaurants that are filled with history.

For dinner we had salad and pizza.  The salad was super delicious and I honestly wish that I could have had second servings.  For dessert, we had cupcakes that were SUPER yummy.  I, of course, helped myself to seconds on the dessert.

Friday night and Saturday morning were spent enjoying the conference and companies of some pretty awesome ladies.  The only thing I wished is that more girls my age were attending the conference.  I still had a lovely time, but I think next year it could be good to invite a few 20 somethings to the event.  We're all women anyways!

I have to say that I will be looking forward to next years event.  As time goes on, I find myself more excited to getaway with my mom and enjoy her company as I grow up.  

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite thing you do with your mom?

Sorry!

Hello Blogger World! I am SO sorry for my lack of posting over the last 10 days.  Life has been crazy to say the VERY least.  

On Thursday March 14th, I surprised Justin for a special date night.  I decided to be gushy and plan it because we had been married for 500 days! It's crazy to think that we've been married that long.  I look forward to many small anniversaries with him.

For our date, I decided it would be fun to recreate the night he proposed but without a few of the steps.  When he proposed, he took me to Build-a-Bear to get a stuffed animal then took me to the Melting Pot for dinner.  After dinner, we went back to his parents house where he surprised me with a mini engagement party, such a wonderful night.  So for our date, I took him to Build-a-Bear and the Melting Pot.

Justin picked a green teddy bear with clovers on it that he aptly named "Lucky".  I love going to Build-a-Bear because they make it such a fun adventure every time you visit their store.  Honestly, it would be the perfect place to have a birthday party for a little girl (which is why I love it so much - such a kid at heart)

After Build-a-Bear, we headed out to The Melting Pot.  Have you ever been to The Melting Pot? It is such a fun fondue restaurant and the food is absolutely wonderful! Such a treat!

For dinner, Justin and I did the Fondue for Two which included two types of steak, shrimp, chicken and ravioli.  I would have to say my favorite was the steak and they have this wonderful "Green Goddess" sauce that is to die for.  It's specifically meant for the beef, but I always put it on EVERYTHING.  Yummy!

After dinner we chose the traditional chocolate fondue that is chocolate and peanut butter! I was so full that I was not able to eat more than a few bites of the dessert! 

After dinner we had planned to see Oz the Great and Wonderful, but that did not happen because we were both in a food coma, but it was SO worth it! 

Questions of the Day:

What is your favorite restaurant?

What is your favorite thing to do that is geared more toward little kids?

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Happy Hump Day Everyone! How is your day going?

I am proud to announce that I went to workout last night and was able to complete a full hour of cardio kickboxing without too much pain.  I am super excited because I am supposed to be running a 10k two weeks from Saturday and I was genuinely not sure if I was going to be able to complete it.

This week has been filled with new recipes and I thought it would be good to share another one with you.  I am slowly falling in love with my crock pot because it makes dinner so much easier on me.  Last night for dinner we ended up having Salsa Chicken and it turned out pretty delicious.  Here's the recipe!

What You Need

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Cup Salsa
• 1 Can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 Packet Taco Seasoning
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• Tortillas

How to Make the Chicken

Place the chicken in the crock pot and pour the taco seasoning packet on top of the chicken.  In a separate bowl, combine the salsa and cream of chicken soup.  Pour the salsa mixture over the chicken and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8.

Shred chicken with two forks and stir in the sour cream.  Serve over tortillas or as desired.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hello Everyone! I trust you are having a great Tuesday so far!

Last night while I was at home, I deemed it necessary to bake some sort of sweet to fill the sweets craving I have been having for the last week or so.  Luckily, I did some reorganization on my Pinterest boards that made searching for a dessert easy peasy.

I came across a recipe for "Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies" and they caught my attention right away and luckily I had the ingredients in my kitchen! Here is what I ended up with! 

What You Need:

• 1 Cup (2 Sticks) Butter - Room Temperature
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups Peanut Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 2 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• Extra sugar to roll the dough in

How to Make the Cookies

Preheat the over to 350° F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, sugar and peanut butter together.  Mix until creamy.  Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time until well blended.  Add the vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.  

Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl a bit at a time allowing the flour to be completely blended after each addition.

In a different separate bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar.

Once the dough is ready, begin rolling it into 1" balls (or larger if you'd like) and roll them in the sugar.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the sheet and enjoy with a large class of milk!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite cookie recipe?

Besides milk, what do you like to drink with your

Niagara Falls Weekend Getaway

{Not so} Happy Monday Everyone! I trust you weekend was full of fun and adventure like mine was! Who is tired from Daylight Savings Time

Justin and I made plans at the beginning of the year to head to Niagara Falls to meet up with a couple we met on our honeymoon and hit it off with right away.  It's been difficult to see/communicate with them because the live in another country: Canada.  So you can imagine how excited we were when the plans were made and everything was set.

Niagara Falls is about 4 1/2 hours from our house so it is not too terrible of a drive.  We got up bright and early Saturday morning and made our way out of the U.S. and into Canada.  One of the traditions we have started in the last few years is to listen to books on tape when taking long road trips.  My pick for this trip was Warm Bodies by Issac Marion.  If you remember, we went to see the movie last month, so it seemed only fitting to "read" the book.  Surprisingly, there are quite a few things in the book that do not match up with the movie, but overall they did a pretty decent job.

Once we arrived at Niagara Falls we met up with Nick and Laura at the hotel to drop off our luggage before heading down to the falls.  Luckily the hotel was able to check us in right away and we were able to upgrade our room to a Jr. Presidential Suite for only $15.00! It was amazing.  Plus the hotel had a pool & hot tub!

The weather was absolutely beautiful in Niagara Falls on Saturday which made the trip that much more enjoyable.  We walked down to the falls so Justin could see them for the first time.  He was pretty impressed and enjoyed snapping some photos of them

His favorite type of pictures to take are panoramic and we both managed to grab a few good ones.

After walking the falls, we decided to do the Journey Behind the Falls tour.  Because it is winter time, the falls were frozen in a few spots, but we were able to go down and see them from 35' down.  I loved seeing them from this angle and feeling the sheer force of their strength.

After the Journey Behind the Falls tour, we went back to the hotel to relax in the hot tub before dinner! I am so excited to tell you about dinner because it is one of the most exciting dinner experiences I have ever had.  Have you ever been to a Brazilian Steakhouse? Then you know what I am about to tell you about.

For dinner, Nick and Laura chose CopaCabana for dinner which is a local Brazilian Steakhouse about a mile from our hotel.  At a Brazilian Steakhouse they bring "speared" meats to you and you pick and choose as they walk by which meats you want to try and which ones you will pass on.  They also had pineapple spears which were absolutely delicious.  I kept asking them for more.

The two pictures above were of the menu.  When your menu said "Fire it UP!" the waiters would continue bringing all kinds of different skewered meat to you.  When your menu said "Cool it DOWN", they no longer would bring you food.  Overall, I would have to say that the Parmesan crusted sirloin and the pineapple were my two favorite choices from the menu.

After dinner we spent a few hours at the casino testing out the slots and some roulette.  No one won anything, but we still had a great time.  

The evening ended with another dip in the hot tub before heading off to bed.

Sunday we grabbed a quick breakfast before heading back to Michigan.  What a nice and relaxing way to spend time with friends and enjoy new experiences!

Sunday evening Danielle came over for some one-on-one best friend time so we could catch up and she could tell me all about her trip to Florida! So lucky!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite restaurant?

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

Blog Under Construction

Hello There!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up there there will be some changes to the blog in the next few weeks. As this blog develops and changes I am noticing that the theme no longer matches the focus of the blog or the personality of the blogger.

As a heads up, the blog will still be up and running during the "construction" so continue to look for posts from me!

A Few Other Updates:

• I still have Costochondrisis and it is still painful.  But thankfully the days go on, the pain gets less and less.  I am starting to get very frustrated with this "issue" because it is really inhibiting my ability to go to the gym and workout with Janna.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will feel well enough to go next week and hop back onto the bandwagon.

• I started working on one of my New Years Resolutions this week and I am super excited to show you once it is completed! I will post pictures and updates on that when the time is appropriate

• I still have not written the letter to my birth parents.  If I am honest with myself and with you all, there is something in my subconscious holding me back.  I am working on that part of the letter and working my way towards writing it.  Hopefully I will be able to finish it in the next month or so and have it sent on it's merry way.  Oh boy, that is so scary.

• Leilah is adjusting pretty well to her new home.  She definitely takes after me with her stubbornness and incessant motion.  I think Frye is starting to officially adjust to her being in the house since we constantly find him looking for her and playing with her

That is all the updates for now! I will just leave you with this little piece of gold.

Have a GREAT Thursday!

Delicious Cheesy Chicken

Hello Everyone! I trust your day is going well so far and you are enjoying your day!

I decided it could be fun to try a few new recipes in the crock pot and started to research some when I came across the Cheesy Chicken and Rice on Ziplist.  If you have never used Ziplist before I would 100% recommend it.  You can search for recipes right on your phone app or on the Internet and if you like what you see, you can add the ingredients to your shopping list right there.  It definitely makes shopping and meal planning easier.

Here's how to make the recipe!

What You Need:

• 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Large Onion chopped
• 1 8 oz box of Zatarans Yellow Rice Mix
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese
• 1 10.5 oz can of Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 15 oz can Whole Kernel Corn, drained

How to Make the Cheesy Chicken

Place your chicken in the crock pot and cover with the onions.  Cover your chicken and onions with the Cream of Chicken Soup mixture by putting spoonfuls of soup wherever the chicken is not covered.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8.

Cook your Zatarans Yellow Rice according to the packaging.  Once your rice is cooked, cover the chicken with your corn, cheddar cheese and yellow rice.

Cook for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted.  Shred your chicken and stir all of the ingredients together.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Overall this recipe was simple to make and it was very delicious! We will be enjoying this recipe in our house again!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite crock pot meal to make?

This was delicious, but my favorite is still the Sante Fe Chicken.

Wedding Card Project

Happy Tuesday Afternoon Everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Last night I spent some time working on a project that has been a LONG time in the making.... at least a year...maybe more.  I saw this pin on Pinterest a long time ago and it immediately caught my attention.  The project? Wedding Card Organization.

We've had our wedding cards in Ziploc baggies for over a year and they were begging to be organized when we were cleaning out the guest bedroom over the weekend.

The best part about this project is you can do it with cards from any occasion: Birthdays, Bridal Shower, Baby Shower, Graduation... the list goes on.  It's a great way to keep the cards and be able to reread them whenever you feel like it.

What You Need:

• Your stack of your {wedding cards} removed from the envelopes
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Ribbon (or book rings if you choose)

How to Organize Your Cards:

• Pick any card from the pile and punch the holes in the card to your desired locations (mine are about 1/2" from the left and 4" apart.  I didn't want to them too far from the fold otherwise you won't be able to open the card
• Use your card first card as a guide and begin punching the rest of the cards to match your first card
• Once you have hole punched all of your cards, begin threading them onto your ribbon.  (I had to use ribbon because in order for me to get a book ring large enough, I would have spend $20.00+ on the two rings)
• Once you have strung all of your cards, tie your ribbon tightly in a bow and you are done!

Now you can have your cards organized and can put them on display if you so choose! 

Question of the Day:

What project are you working on?

Potted Potter

Happy Monday Everyone!

I trust you had an exciting weekend and enjoyed yourself! Our weekend was filled with adventures and organizing. 

On Saturday, Justin and I headed to Downtown Detroit to go see the play, Potted Potter.  I actually bought the tickets a long time ago for Justin as a Christmas gift and it was great finally being able to use them.  I honestly did not know what to expect with the play because it is not one of the major productions, but I can honestly say that I had a great time! 

We ended up going to Outback Steakhouse for dinner as a last minute option and it turned out to be pretty nice.

I had the fillet with the sweet potato and Justin had the house steak with mashed potatoes.  Overall, it was a very delicious meal!

After dinner, we rushed down to Detroit to catch the play.  I never realized how busy Detroit is on a Saturday night and due to the time constraint, we ended up running from our car to the theater.  We made it to the show just before curtain call and settled in for the excitement.

I absolutely loved this play.  It was only two men on the stage retelling the entire Harry Potter series in 70 (or so) minutes.  I can honestly say that I have not laughed that hard in quite some time.  My favorite part of the play was how much they interacted with the audience and how much they catered to the location they were in with jokes wittingly geared toward Detroit.

If you have a chance to see this play, I would take it.  Both Justin and I laughed hard and often and if that is your type of thing, make your way to Potted Potter.

Detroit is so beautiful at night and I have never really paid any attention to that until now.  It makes me sad that it is painted in a negative light.  I wonder what it was like when it was in it's prime days! It must have been wonderful.

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite play/musical?

I still think Wicked is my favorite, but Potted Potter is a close second!