wish you could see it...

Well, this weekend Matt and I went to the beach, Ocean City, NJ. My in-laws own a beach house there and we like to go during the off season and just enjoy the island practically for ourselves. Very few people on the boardwalk and the beautiful view of the ocean with no one in between me and the water. We had a good time with Matt's parents and his brother's family. I COULD'VE posted photos, had I NOT left my camera at home. We were already on I-95 by the time I remembered. So sad. I would have loved to share....

a picture of the ocean, our view from the deck...

a picture of my niece, Haylie walking on the boardwalk...

a picture of our card-making assembly line: Heather and Patti helping me with the baby shower invites...

a picture of Haylie saying "Hi" to everyone in Atlantic City (even the drunk homeless man being cuffed by the cops)...

a picture of the new sweater I got for $8 at Old Navy...

but I guess you'll just have to use your imagination. And I promise to never forget the camera I waited so long for.

...by hand

A passion of mine is making handmade cards. I've collected a lot of stamps and ink and paper and other tools to make some pretty fun cards. My most recent project is to make over 80 handmade baby shower invites for my cousins-in-law, Kelly and Ashleigh's baby showers. Their babies are due a week apart so we're having their showers on the same day to make it easier on all the family that will be attending. Kelly is having a girl, and Ashleigh is not going to find out so I made green and brown invites. Kelly, if you're reading this, sorry that your invite wont be a surprise. I hope you like them!

A weekend away

I spent the weekend in Easton, PA visiting Matt's cousin, Lindsey along with my sister-in-law, Kayte. We had a nice time doing girl stuff. We went to see the chic-flick, "27 Dresses", we shopped, we watched reality TV and we ate (junk) food. We had a nice time laughing about things only girls think are funny and enjoyed the relaxing weekend with no agenda.


When we got back tonight, we went over to my in-laws' house for dinner. My niece, Haylie loves when we wrap her up in the blanket and swing her. And this is what she typically looks like, with a full head of static electricity, as she asks for "more". Haylie learned to sign but when she's so excited, she tends to combine the signs for "more" and "please" by pecking her fingers on her chest violently saying, "pleesh, pleesh." Quite entertaining...for both of us.

We calmed the static and helped grandma give her a bath.

I LOVED this picture of her big smile. As I was snapping photos she kept saying "shmeel" (smile).

Winter Wonderland

It snowed for most of the day yesterday while I was at work. Then at about 4:55pm, when I was packing up to leave, the power in our office went out. There aren't many windows in the place so we used our cell phones to gather our things up to leave. I only live a mile from the office so I had a feeling, the closer I got to the house and noticed that all the street lights were out too, that our house would be without power. Sure enough. I walked into a dark house. Luckily the power came back on within the hour. Her are some pictures of the snow from our back yard. I had to do something while I was alone in the dark! I wanted to capture what it looked like before it turned yucky the next morning because of the plows and cars.

all cracked up

I went to the chiropractor today. I'm on the road to recovery. I felt so good, in fact, that I was able to journey up to Lancaster with Amy to hit up the PotteryBarn Outlet bedding sale! I'll take a pic of the new stuff when I get it on our guest bed tomorrow!

pain in the neck, continued

Well, after my post last night, things got progressively worse. We went to our friends house for dinner and some games with a few other couples. The percocet was making me feel a little queesy so I only ate a half of a piece of pizza. About 9:30 when we were finishing up a game, nausia came over me pretty quickly. We left about 15 mintues later and to spare you the gruesome details, lets just say there were various parking lots and curbs on the ride home that I became personally acquainted with. By the time I made it home, I made it upstairs to the toilet to be sick for the 4th and final time. As you can imagine, my mother, my nurse-sister and my husband were concerned. Not sure if the sickness was related to the neck pain, or if it was just a super delayed reaction to the percocet, they considered a trip to the ER. Luckily, due to the business Matt is in, he had the number of a doctor they work with. He was off that night but talked to Matt on the phone at 1030 on a saturday night! He listened to my symptons and thought that just keeping me home unless my sickness continued would be best. Shortly after Matt got off the phone I was able to fall asleep.

My neck still hurts a ton today. My sister-in-law Kayte, who is also a massage therapist gave me an impromptu neck rub to work some of the tense muscles that were balled up in my neck. I've been heating it since then, but we'll see how it feels in the morning.

Your prayers are appreciated. I dont have sick days to take at work so I hope it feels good enough to sit at a desk all day looking at a computer.

How was your weekend?

pain in the neck

What started as a minor irritating stiff neck on thursday has turned into some of the worst neck pain I've ever felt. Thursday afternoon at work I noticed pain when I would look to the right. It kept me up a lot during the night. Friday at work I resorted to sitting in a regular chair (instead of the exercise ball that I usually sit on) to relieve any additional strain. I took 4 ibuprofen and friday night seemed to feel a little better. Once again, last night, I was kept up all night. Every time I turned my head or lifted it to turn over while I was sleeping, the pain would wake me up with a jolt. Today, the pain has moved from not only the right side, but to the left and up towards the base of my skull. I feel a sharp pain when I turn my head in any direction and even when I stand or sit without resting my head, I feel lots of strain. I've taken ibuprofen, oxycodone, and just now I took a couple percacet. (not all at once, so don't worry about any drug misuse- hehe).

I've been couped up in the house all day because of it and our plan all week was to go over to a friends house for dinner and games so I hope I last through the evening!

My nurse-sister Laura has diagnosed over the phone a possibly pinched nerve (hopefully thats all) so I'm hoping the Lord will give me some relief from this pain soon! I'll keep you posted.

Weekend in Washington (well, close to there)

This weekend Matt and I went to visit his cousins in the D.C. area. Matt's cousin Kelly and her husband MJ let us stay in their guest bedroom. Kelly just found out she'll be having a girl in May! His other cousin, Brandon came up from Lynchburg, VA with his wife Ashleigh, also expecting a baby in May! The eldest cousin, Jason and his wife Shawna have a two year old Braden who celebrated his birthday on Sunday! The youngest cousin, Lindsey came with her 7-foot-tall boyfriend, Jamie. It was quite funny to see everyone's reaction when Braden referred to him as "Uncle Jamie."

Braden had a lot of presents to open for his birthday–and he was grateful for every one of them! You've never seen a two year old just as excited to open up a pair of jeans or a jacket as he would be to get a truck or a football. He'd see a wrapped box and scream, "Presents for Braden!?" Then once he ripped it open he'd yell, "JEEEEAAAANNNS!!!" He's a great kid. Lins got him a tricycle and Jas had to put it together for him. He was so excited–kept saying "Braden's bike!" He got a tool set for Christmas and was helping his dad put together his bike. Jas would ask MJ or Matt for a screwdriver and as fast he could, Braden would say, "here dad," and hand him his toy screw driver. So cute.

Braden got a football jersey from his football coach uncle, Brandon and some sunglasses from his football coach grandpa, "Pop."

Pregnant Kelly ^

Pregnant Ashleigh ^

Braden's Bike!

New Year, new toes

A few weeks back I told Matt that I wanted a pedicure. He said in reply, "well, so do I."

So Monday, on New Years Eve, I got out of work early and Matt and I got our pedicures. Don't worry, Matt didn't get any polish. Just a good cleaning and some rubbin!