Dr. Keith A. Hinshaw

Hi All! Friday of last week was a crazy day for Justin and I.  

A few weeks ago, I was experiencing so much pain from my gall bladder, that I finally decided that it was time for me to go see a surgeon about getting the stupid thing removed.  So Wednesday of last week I called the office and made an appointment to meet with the surgeon on Friday afternoon.

Justin and I left work early to head over to the office and meet with the doctor.  I honestly was not sure what to expect from the appointment because I have never had a consultation with a surgeon about any type of surgery.  The last "surgery" I had was getting my wisdom teeth removed at 17 and I had nothing to do with the planning of that procedure.

Once we got to the office, I signed in and we waited patiently for the doctor to be ready for us.  Thankfully, Justin had his phone and could play games and there was a few magazines that I could check out while we were waiting.  Plus they had this handy dandy information packet about their office and the different types of procedures they do.

About 45 minutes after we checked in, the doctor was finally ready so we went back and talked with him about the surgery.  I have to say that I really appreciated how kind and how patient he was with Justin and me.  I'm sure he deals with nervous patients all of the time, but it felt nice that he acknowledged my fear. 

During the appointment, Dr. Hinshaw went over everything for me which included this handy-dandy pamphlet.  I never really knew the function of my gall bladder until I went to this appointment.  I guess the reason that I am experiencing pain is due to the fact that my gall bladder does not pump normally; instead, it spasms every.single. time. I eat.  Sound lovely right?

He also showed me the basics of what will happen when I get my gall bladder out.  I guess they will be removing the organ through an incision that is about 1/2" wide.  Can you believe that? 

After the appointment, Justin and I sat down and picked which date works best for both of us and we both decided on September 12th.  So there it is everyone, I will be getting my gall bladder out on September 12.

Question of the Day:
What kinds of surgery have you had?

Double Date Night

Hey All! I honestly do not know where the last few weeks have gone and I seriously feel like I am being so irresponsible with this blog.  If you have continued to stick around and continue reading my blog, I really appreciate it! I really hope I can get this thing back on track in the next few weeks.  

Last week, Justin and I made plans to go on a double date with his coworker, Bryan, and Bryan's fiance.  The plan was to meet at their house and head out to dinner and putt putt. after work.  

They live over by the only Ikea in the state of Michigan, so of course Justin and I made a point to stop in to buy a few items that I needed to help organize my craft stuff.  Unfortunately, my crafting supplies have been taking over the living room so hopefully the storage bins will help correct this issue.  If you have any fun/cute ideas for organizing all things crafty, let me know! I'm open to all ideas.

For dinner we went to downtown Plymouth and grabbed a bite to eat.  After dinner we made our way to Sportway of Westland.  This place was pretty awesome! It had putt putt, batting cages and Go Karts, so you know we took advantage of all three!

The putt putt course was pretty neat! I love when they have tons of waterfalls and castles.  This particular course had two different sides: the castle side and the pirate ship side.  We ended up going on the castle side which was pretty neat.  Maybe next time we will make our way over to the pirate ship (it sure looked cool)!

After putt putt, we took a spin the Go Karts then made our way over to the batting cages.  I can honestly say that I have little to no hand-eye coordination so when I got in the cage and was able to hit 9 of 15 pitches I was super excited! I definitely would like to go back to batting cages and take a few more practice runs.  Plus, it's good exercise.

I look forward to the next double date we will do with Bryan and Jenny: Bocce Ball!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite thing to do for a double date?

Swimming = Love

One of my favorite things about living in Michigan is getting to swim in one of the many lakes that we have.  As you know, I get together with my girls once a month and last month we decided to go swimming at Caroline's house since her family lives on a lake.  

The plan was for us to get together, have pizza then swim and do a fire, but Mother Nature decided that we could only swim for a little bit before the sky opened up and we got rained on.  Luckily, we got to enjoy the water and it was super nice!

Danielle didn't feel like swimming so she was our designated photographer for the evening.

After swimming we all hung out and watched "Girl Code".  Have you ever seen that show? It is absolutely hilarious! I honestly think it's so funny because most of it is true.  If you haven't seen it yet, I would check it out on MTV.  Because we were not able to have s'mores, we ended up eating all of the candy and marshmallows separate while we watched the show.

I love hanging out with my girls and cannot wait for the next get together!

Burlap Flower Tutorial

What You Need:

• Burlap (you can use any color)
• Wooden ball knobs (found at your local craft store)
• Scissors
• Card stock or cardboard for your stencil
• Hot Glue Gun
• Pins - if you're using this on a towel cake

How to Make the Flower

The size of your template will determine how large your flowers will be.  Make your template from your card stock or cardboard and begin cutting out petals for your flower.  My flowers all had four petals each, which gave it a fuller feels.  Adding more will add more fullness to the flower.

Once all of your petals are cut out, begin gluing them one-by-one to your ball knob, forming them to the shape of the ball (some of the tutorials I read, they really shaped to the ball which made the flower have more depth).  Once the flower is to your "fullness fill" you are done!

You can use this flower for almost anything - from a wedding decoration to a headband piece.  Use them to your hearts desire!

Original idea found: here

Towel Cake Tutorial

As most of you saw from my previous post, I made a towel cake for my cousin's bridal shower a few weeks ago and I promised I would share the tutorial with you!

The Towel Cake

What You Need:

• 1 bath sheet
• 2 bath towels
• 2 hand towels 
• 2 wash cloths
• Burlap
• Ribbon
• Pins (or rubber bands)

How to Make the Cake

• Follow this tutorial on how to roll the cake - this is the best one I found on YouTube

• Once your cake is rolled, begin adding your ribbon and burlap to the tops/bottom of the layers
• Add your embellishments - like the flowers
• Place on a form and go! 

**I would recommend putting the cake in a gift basket bag to help keep the layers in place**

Package your cake up all pretty and give as a wonderful decorative gift for a shower!

Bridal Shower for Jamie

Oh my word it has been WAY too long! I am so sorry! As you can guess my life has been absolutely crazy for the last few weeks and with the holiday in the mix, everything got thrown off.

A few weeks back, I went with my mom to celebrate my cousin, Jamie's, bridal shower.  She is having her wedding at a barn out in the thumb of Michigan so you can imagine that her shower was rustic themed.

For lunch, we had chicken salad sandwiches, fresh fruit and veggies with an assortment of salads.  I only grabbed a sandwich and some fruit/veggies because I know I would be running off to the next event which was a graduation party.   

After lunch we played a few games like Bridal Bingo and The Purse Game.  I loved the idea that they used for Bridal Bingo though because instead of using your typical dots, they used an assortment of super cute buttons.  Such a neat idea.

Another fun game that was played was the "Who does it?" game.  For this game, the bride and groom switch one of their shoes.  The host then asks them a variety of questions about the couple (like who said I love you first?) and things the couple expects in the marriage (like who will do the dishes).  They then hold up the show of the person they believe did that thing first.  Obviously in the below picture, Jamie felt that Kyle was the correct answer.

 After the games, the bride and groom took turns opening gifts.  I ended up giving them a towel cake! Didn't it turn out so cute? I will make sure to share a tutorial on how to make this particular cake.

 Overall, the shower was super fun and super nice! I cannot wait to celebrate their wedding in the fall!

Congratulations Jamie and Kyle!