Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I have returned... from Niagara Falls!


I have been a bit busy for the last couple of weeks. I had a vacation/wedding/reception to plan. I took that picture up there from our hotel room. That was what we woke up to everyday!! It was so amazing!!!

I have been busy for a little while in this planning (and have been neglecting my online presence) as I get a bit Monica-ish during the planning stage. It did get bad enough where the
other half started answering to Chandler due to my manic state!!! AHHAHAHAHA But, it was worth it as it all turned out wonderful!!!

We did all the Falls touristy things... on the Canadian side only. It was soooooo beautiful!! We walked along the horseshoe falls, we went behind the falls, we walked along side the class 6 (the only one in the world according to them) rapids, we took the trolley car over the gorge, we rode into the falls on the Maid of the Mist, and saw how it all was formed! It was soooooo freakin amazing (you're going to get sick of that phrase in this post - just warning you now!!)

We traveled a little south to the wine country of the falls - Niagara on the Lake. We didn't want to be cows in an moo-tour so we created our own little event. We did the wonderful town/main street tour - it was so pretty and quaint and wonderfully relaxing. I do have to share the picture I have of the biggest marshmellow I have ever seen. I only wish there was a way to capture the smell so that others could experience it - the shop smelled awesome and it permeated out onto the street as well!! Here it is:


Can you believe that?!?!? I know - you're wondering why the hell I'm sharing a picture of a marshmellow when I have 300+ pics of the falls?!?!? But, look AT IT!! Can you grasp that it's a t-rex sized marshmellow - and a miniature one for t-rex at that?? The smell was so tempting ... but I resisted until dinner the next day when I got a much, much, much smaller version covered in dark chocolate with rasberry puree sauce with it!! Then we went to the Hillebrand vineyard (here's the link) We stood at that look-out porch shown on the home page! So pretty!

Then, the reason for the visit was Thursday. My partner and I are for
ever linked from that day forward! It was a wonderful event and we had an amazing day! Sigh - such a terrific day for us that I wish we were still in it!! But, we returned home to a party with our family and friends on that Saturday night and were blessed with such a wondeful outpouring of love and affection. I could've done without one of my really good friends hitting on my father, getting him to announce to everyone he still had a lot of sex appeal left in him (my step-mom WILL LOVE that story!!!!) It was my FATHER!!!!! OMG!!!

And, amazingly enough - my body decided to play nice to me. We did so much while on vacation and I never really had any problems. I had one day where my right arm tried to go all ka
pluey on me but I reasoned with it nicely and it decided to cooperate (and if you believe that - there's some ocean front property in Arizona I'd like to interest you in purchasing from me...) We did try to take at least 1-2 hours each day in the late afternoon to rest and relax in the hotel room, and so I think that helped. I only had one day where I had to go sit in a restaurant and drink a cool beverage to calm my heat down. So, I was very excited about that.

My left hand decided it wanted to mess with me this past Sunday but I figured it was due so I just let it have it's way with me. I've gotta get the cooling vest out of it's winter hibernation now as we're topping 90+ with 90+ humidity here - gotta love Texas summers!!

Do you need another picture of the falls?? Sure, I'll comply.... here's one of my faves:



Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wow - has it been that long... ( and Idol spoiler alert!)

Hmm... okay, don't like that color...

How about this one? Better for me. I had to pause and watch Ms. Abdul on the American Idol stage. What's with her wanna-be britney routine? I actually liked it, either last season or the one before that, when she and the dog collaborated and did that one song. I'll admit to it being on my ipod. It's catchy.

Course, I also have to admit to having Ms. Spears music as well. What can I say - it's perfect workout and mindless music. I'm one of those love music not only for the music but the lyrics. I don't have to worry about those with Ms. Spears... Although that leads to an interesting topic...

Have you heard the latest "song" from Britney? I didn't catch it until a co-worker told me about it. So, repeat this after me - out loud... "If you seek Amy". It might take a couple of times.

Need a few more seconds? Don't feel bad - we are dealing with MS brains!! AHAHHA Dammit myelin - don't fail me now!!!!!

Which brings me around to my sort-of point...

We, meaning the collective that deals with this crappy disease, have to be creative in our pursuit of our daily lives. We get to reinvent words to fit us - not the other way around (and get to use big SAT words and know how to spell it AND what they mean!) Like, I love to bike - I used to love to ride trails (not really even close to being real to say mountain biking in SE Texas!) Now - I still bike. It's just a recumbent stationary bike in a bedroom of my house with the a/c going. And the fan to feel the "wind" whipping my face!!

All of the boys and all of the girls want to IF YOU SEEK AMY. (Does that help with the extra line?)

I went to the neuro last week for my semi-annual visit. It was the shortest visit every - we agreed that the Copaxone was still going good and I seem to be really stable with all my meds. No MRI for now. Made another appoinment for November. I had 4 - yes that is 4!! - MRI's last year with all my back and hip stuff. Obviously, with things going okay right now he's not putting me back in the magnetic napper for now.

I fall dead alseep in them - which can be bad if you jump awake but it's just the hassle of wearing the crack show gown and driving all the way to the clinic and all that stuff. Besides, I've enjoyed my relatively doctor free first half of this year. (and hell yes I knocked on wood immediately after typing that sentence!)

I'd give you another line from the song but I really don't want to open my itunes to get it since we're about to hear the results of tonight's Idol... and so yeah about So You Think You Can Dance coming back this month!! And I am a TV junkie, apparently, so you are not thinking anything that isn't true!! AHHAHAHAH

It's time again to bust out the cooling vest for outdoor activities. We didn't hit 90 until June last year... passed that mark last week. I've had my Jeep partially undressed though since there has been enough of a breeze to keep cool. Okay, I'm bummed Allison is going home... (Maybe I should put a spoiler warning on the title of this blog?) But my 2 faves for winner are Adam and Chris. WOO HOOO!!