Shutterfly Love!

I love Shutterfly. I first used Shutterfly about a year ago to make my Mr. a book for our one year anniversary. I ended up receiving a promotional offer for "buy one get one" photo book so I ended up making him two - all for about $40! I made one remembering our newlywed year and one of our honeymoon. The books sit out in our family room and I look at them all the time! He loved the gift! It was also a great way to share our honeymoon pictures with our family! Now I am again in love with shutterfly but his time with their options for Christmas cards this year. I have looked at a lot of different Holiday Card options online and hands down Shutterfly's designs are the best! Even better they are giving away 50 free cards to bloggers! Whooohoo. Here are two of my very favorites:

Here's how you too can get your Holiday stationery from Shutterfly:

· Christmas photo cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

· holiday cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

· calendars to http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

· holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

· Christmas invitations to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-invitations

Can't wait to get mine done for this year!!!!

Tennis anyone?

The Mr. bought me one of the best birthday presents yet and I was able to enjoy it over our recent labor day weekend. Yesterday we went to the US Open! That was my gift but then my trip planning/maximizing took over and we ended up in NY Monday for a nice dinner (Bobby Van’s Grill) and a show (Chicago) and a stay over at the oldest hotel in the city (The Algonquin). Two US Open tickets at a great deal became a very expensive weekend and birthday pres. Thanks LOVE!

We took the Bolt bus into the city and I would say it was just OK. Next time if we do it, I will be sure to buy seats farther in advance and get to the bus stop sooner so we can sit together.

The Open was really great and a lot of fun. I managed two days in the city with only one cab ride. For me that is pretty impressive considering a leisurely stroll on the treadmill for 8 minutes at Physical Therapy in the past was enough to get me winded. We walked a lot on Monday seeing the sites. We did lunch at Serendipity 3 and of course the amazing frozen hot chocolate, Time Square, Drinks at Rockefeller Center and then stood in line for an hour at TKTS for half price tickets to Chicago.

After all that I was pretty tired so we went back to the hotel to rest a bit and get ready for dinner. We ate at Bobby Van’s because the Mr. had heard the DC location was fantastic so we figured NYC was as well. It did not disappoint. We shared a sesame tuna starter which was good but not the best we had ever had (dare I say Bonefish is better – I just love that place!). I had a seafood pasta special with a ton of lobster. The Mr. had a filet. They had homemade breadsticks which were yummy and we ended the meal with caramel (or hazelnut – we weren’t sure) gelato.

We made our way to the theater and saw Chicago which I really enjoyed. Then we went to see my college roomie who lives in the city for a quick visit before calling it a night. The Algonquin hotel was very nice for being the oldest in the city. They are changing over to a Marriott soon and we saw a lot of the improvements they have already done. The bed was comfy – a little too comfy as we woke up late on Tuesday despite alarms and my plans to arrive early to the US Open (we had day session tickets).

We ended up getting to Flushing Meadows by about 11:30 and were in shady seats viewing a match by 11:45. The tickets were great with flexibility to move between the two main stadiums or any other court in the complex. We saw half of a men’s singles match in Louis Armstrong and then after lunch moved to Ashe to see Sam Querry the only remaining USA male in the tournament. Sam lost, but it was a fantastic and exciting match. We moved around a bit trying to stay cool in some shade. It was really hot and being in the sun for 8 hours was not going to work. After Sam’s match we stayed and saw Venus Williams. We only were able to see the first set of her match since it was getting late and we had a bus to catch.

Monday and Tuesday’s evening matches were attended by a lot of celebrities: Cameron Diaz, A-Rod, Gwen Stefani and her hubby, Star Jones, Stephen and Alec Baldwin, Hand Aaron and Ashlee Simpson Wentz and her hubs as well. A good place to go for some star gazing. Maybe I will get to an evening match some other year! All in all it was a fantastic weekend and a great birthday present! Thanks Mr.!!!!

Jersey Shore

I actually just watched a full episode of the Jersey Shore for the first time a few days ago. It wasnt as bad as I thought it would be and call me crazy but I kinda liked Snookie. Haha anyway, being from Jersey this show and these people could not be farther from the Jersey and the shore that I know. I recently spent some time at my Jersey shore with my family. Our stay included amusements, mini golf, the beach every day, surfing, dinners at home, shopping on the boardwalk, the arcade, and enjoying my niece and nephew.

Almost normal...almost.

A quick update on the knee. Normal is something I aspire to feel. It is getting there. There are definitely times in the day when I don’t think about the knee and forget about surgery, pain, and stiffness.

The manipulation has been the turning point. It was not pleasant to say the least. I was awake with an epidural. Getting the epidural wasn’t bad, but waiting all day in the holding room without any water or food in over 18 hours was the worst. Once the very quick procedure was over I was in recovery and then back in my room where I would spend the night in a machine that constantly kept my knee moving and bending. I still had the epidural so there wasn’t much pain in the leg. However I had terrible pain in my arm that had my IV. I had some issues getting the IV due to dehydration (hello no fluids for way too long). The pain in the arm was worse than anything. Well maybe that and my terrible roommate and her daughter. The roommate decided she wanted to talk to me all night and have her TV on. Finally I had to tell her I needed to sleep and requested ear plugs. Then her daughter decided that the visiting hours didn’t apply to her and arrived at 7am. If that wasn’t bad enough she decided to try and be my personal nurse, force feeding me and trying to set her engaged brother up with my sister. Beyond annoying. I just wanted to get out of there. I was a little delayed due to nausea but finally got out around 5pm . I headed straight to PT and have been working hard at PT a few times a week ever since. I am now consistently past 120 degrees and have very minimal pain except during PT. I have gotten a lot of strength back and that is my main focus now. I am so out of shape!!!

Ok enough knee - so much for a short post. I think I will get my act together with some fun pictures of family vacation at the beach soon!

I am alive!

Wow, I don't even know the last time I posted. I suppose I fail in the blog consistency department majorly. A lot has happened in the last 6 months. A lot that has made this one of the worst years yet. I try not to be dramatic and negative, but lately it has been hard.

In February (Feb 28th to be exact), I went skiing with the Mr., and two of my sisters. I actually was having a really good time, and doing well until the last run of the night. I lost control getting off the ski lift and went down pretty hard at the bottom of a hill. I twisted my left knee and felt a pop. I knew immediately something was wrong, even though the pain wasn't terrible. I ended up getting taken down the mountain by Ski Patrol (prob the most embarrassing moment of my years here on Earth to date). In the first aid station, they evaluated me and said I prob tore my MCL. Ok no biggie, it heals itself, i will be out of commission on mobility for a while, but it heals itself. So I see an ortho Dr. (one of the best thankfully) and he says i tore the ACL. Well i hadn't had an MRI yet, so even though he said there was only a 2% chance he was wrong i was still holding out hope. I go to Physical Therapy for a while, have the MRI and find out i tore the ACL & MCL. Tears. My lovely PT guy broke the news to me and I cried for the first of many times in PT. Tears could pretty much sum up my last 4 months. SO i had surgery May 18th on the ACL (MCL healed well for the three months) and now I am 7 weeks post surgery.

Things have been rough to say the least. Apparently my body produces a lot of scar tissue so I am not progressing in my knee bending ability very well. I got to PT 3 times a week for 1.5-2 hours and get bent in ways that should be easy but is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. It hurts so much and tears just fall. I am pretty sure I am the talk of the office, everyone knows me, has the tissues and water ready, and really has been wonderful and really nice. It is pretty embarrassing and frustrating to say the least. I am now bending at 119 degrees at my best. This is after last week when I went in for my normal "no big deal "Dr. check up and had the lovely surprise or aspiration and numbing - lets just say a needle for way too long. I don't do well with surprise procedures and pretty much had a panic attack. I did get another 10-12 degrees farther from just this procedure, but it isn't enough. I will be going into the hospital again next week for a manipulation. This is basically a general anesthesia procedure where i am asleep and they bend the heck out of my knee to break up the scar tissue. I have to stay over night after the procedure in the hospital to control the pain. Ugh! To me this is worse than the actual surgery. I have never had surgery before this, only broke a wrist in 4th grade. I had never had stitches prior to this, and now I have to spend the night in the hospital. I am scared and sad, but trying to be positive that this will help me heal and get back to normal.

You never really imagine what it is like to not use your leg and bend like you should, until you experience it. It truly gives me so much respect for people who lose their legs, or are paralyzed. It has been an eye opening experience. I should be thankful that I have my legs, can walk (sorta) and will eventually be ok.

My mom and the Mr. have been the most amazing people these past months. I have not been driving and they have been taking me every where and being my emotional rocks for me. Today I called my mom after learning the news of my manipulation, and after getting out a hello and bursting into tears she was on her way to me. Well i think this is enough of an update post for now. Not the most happy update. I wish i was talking about trips to the beach, date nights, working out, and family events (which there have been plenty of and I will get around to posting). Instead i will try to be positive, and keep thinking about the beach in August where I will hopefully be walking brace free and bending like gumbee! I know no one really reads this, maybe that's because I have only told the Mr. that I blog, but it will document my life for now, and hopefully turn into a baby blog someday! Yay! That is a thought that puts a smile on my face! Until next time.... (hopefully not another 6 months)!