The Lost Week

Last Sunday at work, my throat started feeling kinda scratchy. Never a good sign. I was gonna come down with a cold. I could tell. But all in all, I was feeling pretty good, and when they were looking for people to stay to fill in some holes in the afternoon shift, I agreed to work a double in exchange for Monday off. After 12 hours at work, I pretty much hit the wall with exhaustion. I am usually pretty pooped after a 16 hour shift but not like this and I still had 4 hours to go. Somehow I muddled through to the end and made it home.

Monday morning I had a hard time getting moving, but still texted a friend, hoping to do something fun later in the day. But it turned out to not just be a morning thing. I couldn't get moving pretty much all day, and eventually had to admit that I was just tired from my double shift and that I wouldn't be able to hang out with friends. In the evening, I told Zack we needed to stay in for the evening since I was so tired and we decided to put up Halloween decorations. That didn't take off very well either as I realized I didn't even have the energy to help with even the most basic things. By 9 or 10 on Monday night, it finally settled in that I wasn't just tired from my double shift. I was sick. So I got a blessing and hoped I could rest it out on Tuesday, my regular day off, and then be back at work on Wednesday. I probably slept 18 hours Tuesday, canceled a pre-arranged hang out with friends, and realized by early afternoon that I would not be going to work on Wednesday. I think I realized it was the flu on Wednesday, which was pretty similar to Tuesday. I had a temperature, cough/sore throat, stuffy and runny nose, chills, exhaustion, aches and pains, headaches, upset tummy, no appetite... you name it. And on and on it went. In the end, despite my resolve to absolutely go to work on Friday, I didn't make it. So here I am, an entire week later, still feeling it. I'm staring a morning at work in the face. I'm definitely going this time. I do feel better. Still not good but better. But it's weird how I kind of lost an entire week. It went by in a blur. A long, miserable blur. I barely ate anything. I didn't really see anyone, except my husband (who was amazing through all of this, by the way). Time just went on, as it is prone to do, and a whole week is gone. Weird.

An old lady

I mean me. I just celebrated my 26th birthday, and I'm feeling pretty darn old. My birthday was fun though. It just happened to fall on my regular day off. Oh yeah!

I didn't feel like doing anything too ambitious so we stuck with relaxing and low key. The night before, we got a light dinner and saw the movie Contagion, which we really liked. On my actual birthday, we went and checked out this little shopping center nearby that we'd never been to before. We went downtown for a while and snapped some pictures of various things and we went window shopping and enjoyed some touristy stuff. Finally, we drove out to the 'burbs and hit up the mall and a few other stores. Can you tell that I love shopping? In the evening, the Becks and Wadsworths came over for cake and games. The Becks even dressed baby Madeline up all in pink just for me. They are not big fans of pink but I sure am so that was sweet. On Friday, we went to dinner at the Melting Pot as a bit of a belated celebration. Yum yum. I guess getting older is alright if it means a celebration.

Here's some pictures

Betsy Ross House

Independence Hall under construction

The Liberty Bell

Oliver helping me blow out my candles

Anniversary

I have a little catching up to do.

For our anniversary, we decided to get away to Cape May, a darling little shore town on the southern tip of New Jersey. On our first evening there, we got to check out the fireworks in Wildwood while enjoying some funnel cake (yum).

We also rode the ferris wheel,

and Zack whomped me at a game of medieval themed glow in the dark mini golf. Good times.

The next day, we started our day with some shopping and a yummy lunch at a Cape May fish place.

After that, we went on a whale watching tour.

It was 3 hours. Unfortunately, all the action was basically packed into the first 45 minutes. We saw lots of dolphins,

but then we headed out into the ocean for a long way, and saw absolutely no whales. Boooo. Stupid whales. After that, we headed back to Wildwood to ride some more rides (3 roller coasters and a sky ride), and I beat Zack in glow in the dark 3D pirate themed mini golf.

Okay, so he actually did better than me, but I nailed the last hole and won a free game and the guy standing there also said that it took a certain number of strokes off my score. It turned out to be just enough to win! By that time, the day was winding down, so we headed back to the hotel. I had gotten so sunburned despite my ridiculous huge pink hat and sunblock applications. I looked ridiculous because I had the sunglasses marks around my eyes, where it didn't get burned. Thankfully, it faded quite fast and I didn't look so dumb even as early as the next morning.

The next day was our actual anniversary. We had been planning to sit on the beach that day, but it was a little overcast, and we weren't sure the weather would hold, so we decided to hit up a small zoo nearby instead. We had a great time.

Lion (we heard this guy growling like crazy for a little bit, which was pretty great)

Zebras (see 'em clear back there?)

Bear

Turtles

Cheetahs

After the zoo, we stopped at one of those Texas themed chain restaurants and we ate delicious fattening foods and watched a show about people doing way stupid things on motorcycles, bikes, skateboards, etc. Hee hee. At home, we swapped anniversary gifts. I got Zack a video game and he got me some new cases for my cell phone. All in all, a nice celebration of our 4 wonderful years together.

A random post

We are thrilled to be enjoying the fun time of year when lots of new people move into the ward. This year, we are lucky enough to get several couples who are in about the same stage of life as we are. We are really enjoying making some new friends. Last weekend, we got 4 couples together and headed down to the beach for a day of fun. And fun it was. We are also pleased that another couple that will be in our ward has moved into our building. Woo hoo!

I cannot believe August is almost over. Where did the summer go?

I am absolutely not wishing summer away, but I am excited for some upcoming events, including my birthday, our trip to Utah for Megan's wedding, and, of course, Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, lots of stores are already selling stuff for the holiday, which means it's that time of year when I need to stay home, lock my doors, hide my credit card.

It's interesting how life can be so good and so difficult all at the same time. Have you ever felt like that? Sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed by the number of things that are uncertain, imperfect, or seem to be just not working out. But all the while, I know I am blessed with an awesome husband, a great home, fabulous friends, a job and steady income when so many are struggling. It makes me feel guilty for ever feeling bad about the way things go in life.

Fruit snacks will always hold a special place in my heart, but I think they are on the way out of my diet. I think they are at least 20% responsible for the spare tire around my waist.

Anyone tried out the crackle nail polish that seems to be popping up everywhere nowadays? I'm intrigued... but not convinced that it actually works.

I just finished reading The Help. Now I can go see the movie with my man and see what I think. Date night this week? Check. I highly recommend the book, if you haven't read it. And if you live nearby, you can borrow my copy if you want.

Can you tell I'm home alone while my hubs enjoys a man's night out with one of his buddies?

This one also came off my cell phone but I thought it deserved its own post because I think it's my favorite Oliver picture of all time. It was pouring rain and pretty cold but it was free cone day at Ben and Jerry's so we went with the Becks for some free ice cream. This is Oliver's "I'm cold" face. Everything about it is just so great... the face, the hat, the ice cream all over, the napkins tucked into his jacket.... Love it!

From my cell phone

I just uploaded the pictures from my phone onto my computer. Here is a random sampling of some of the photos that were on there. They were taken over the past several months.

Here's me taking a picture of Oliver pretending to take a picture of me.

Not really current events, but I got a kick out of it anyway.

The Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld in Florida.

A game of bowling on our most recent trip to Utah. Wow, we suck. And Zack whomped us.

A book I want to read.

Fountain show in Atlantic City

The Toms that I want

The mayor at the park during our ward party.

Isn't he the cutest little kid you've ever seen?

This is Oliver on the morning that his little sister Madeline was born. He stayed the night at our house while mom and dad were at the hospital. He just looked so cute.

A sign that a family member put on a hamper at work. I took a picture of it for Zack so that we could complain about all the grammatical and punctuation errors together. The name of the family has been covered for privacy reasons.

Chow time!

An awesome hat. I need one.

Zack holding baby Madeline.

I got into this itty bitty little space by parallel parking. Zack didn't even have to do it for me!

What you'll find in my pockets (or around my neck) during a day at work.

Hard to believe it's been 4 whole years. Happy anniversary to my fabulous husband.