When I was deciding if I would go through with this surgery, I did a lot of research online to hear about other stories of people who have had ACL revisions. I found a lot of negative stories unfortunately, but still went ahead with the operation after talking with a lot of real people who thought there was a need for it to be done (PTs, trainers, doctors, athletes who had the same injury). So in case anyone who is in my same position and is googling "ACL revision" looking for a success story, I am recording it here. (it is probably a little early to gauge if i am truly a success story, but so far so good).
Shari's shower and bachelorette party. We had a good time, to say the least. I got clearance to not wear my brace earlier in the day and I definitely put it to the test on the dance floor that night. I was in good hands though since almost half of the people at the party were PTs.
6:28 pm
Sorry if this is gross. I went under the knife for the second stage of an ACL revision a few weeks ago. Recovery is going really well. My PT has had me focused on getting the swelling down though. My range of motion is progressing really well, but the balloon-like shape my knee has morphed itself into is hindering my ability to bend as far as I probably could if wasn't so swollen. So yesterday I was sitting against the wall with my leg in the air letting gravity do its thing, when I noticed how freakishly tiny my leg is! I'm not sure why I was so shocked since this is not the first time my knees have been operated on, but seriously...look at it. My calf is concave.
11:44 am
Shari and I threw a baby shower for Lindsay's little bambina arriving at the end of May. It was such a nice afternoon. The shower started at 10:30am and I honestly thought people would probably be gone by 12:30 at the latest. Instead our little group stuck around and talked until the late afternoon. Always a great time with these ladies!
4:35 PM
I saw another blogger add time stamps to their daily pictures. I decided I liked that and am ripping off this idea. I think it adds another dimension to the picture...imagining what might have been happening before, after or while the picture was taken. In this case, I went to Dizzy's on an unseasonably warm Sunday night. We were waiting outside for her sister to arrive with our dinner and I took a few shots of Char.
1:04 am
(I guess technically this was taken on April 10th, but I am calling it April 9th.) Thomas turned 21 y'all! In celebration, we went out to celebrate at the finest that Water Street and Old World Third Street had to offer. We drank, we danced and we drank a little more. A funny sidenote: Tom wears plaid shirts like the one is fashioning in this picture often. Meghan thought it would be great if we all wore plaid shirts to be just like him. Such a great idea, so I came to Milwaukee armed with my favorite plaid shirt of the moment. However, when I got to Meghan's, it turned out it was basically the same one she was wearing. Sooo, I ended up nixing the plaid shirt so as not to be twins with Meghan (because people mistake us for twins all the time.....yeah right.) Thomas, Meghan and Taylor certainly nailed the plaid shirt theme though.
On our last day, we went to dinner at our favorite place, Mon Ami Gabi. The atmosphere is always perfect and as a bonus, the food is so delicious. It was the perfect way to end our trip.
This was the most expensive meal we have ever had. This restaurant exists in New York and apparently it is super exclusive. It is impossible to get a reservation and there might be people who have memberships there, I think. I had heard about this place and their legendary meatballs on the Food Network and on Top Chef, so I knew we had to go there since I knew we would never make it to the NY one. I am here to tell you the meatballs were delicious. I have never been so stuffed in my entire life though...and woah, we spent a lot.
It was Country Music Mania the weekend we were in Vegas. The ACM Awards were in town and we got to go to the award show....kind of. The real award show was happening at MGM, but there was a simulcast with a few performances and a couple awards given out at Mandalay Bay, which we were at! After the awards show, there was a full on concert with about a dozen artists who sang about 3 of their most popular songs. It was amazing and we were not expecting it. After everything was over, we ended up being at Mandalay Bay for about 7 hours listening to country music.
Day 2 of our vaca consisted of a visit to the Neon Museum. This is a really cool thing to do - it was a guided tour that took us through a maze of old signs that had great stories behind them. Highly recommend this.
Later that night we went to Mandalay Bay beach to see Dierks Bentley. After unsuccessfully trying to see him twice last summer, we finally saw the guy! Who would have thought it would end up happening in Vegas though. Unfortunately he already has a new album out, so some of my favorite songs of his from Up On The Ridge were a thing of the past. Waaaaa! He was still great otherwise though.
We went to Vegas for almost a week in the beginning of April - sort of as a 30th bday celebration, sort of because we got a screamin deal on a hotel that we felt like we couldnt pass up. We stayed for pretty much 5 full days, which seems like a long time to be in Vegas, but since we had such a great deal on the hotel, we gladly welcomed the extended vegas vaca.
The first day we were there, we saw Viva Elvis (which was not that great) and as we were leaving the theater we ran into a crowd of people around Toby Keith! Confession: I love Toby Keith. It was he and Tim McGraw that made me cross over to becoming a full on country music fan. I hung out at the end of the crowd of people and was prepared to tell him that he made me love country music. However, the look on his face as he left the mob of people was not welcoming and he was basically looking past me because I think he knew that I, too, was about to bother him. I still asked if I could take a picture with him, but I decided to spare him the chit chat.
This was my actual bday (the big one). Meghan and Thomas came up to celebrate with me. Meghan and I started off by getting pedicures, then had lunch, followed by a little dessert at my fave, Red Mango!
Shari and I made plans to get together at Panera for breakfast and to talk about her wedding this summer. I came armed with my laptop, prepared to talk about invitations and centerpieces. Instead, we walked in and I saw Lindsey and said to Shari, "oh hey look! Lindsey's here...wait, so is Lindsay....and Dizzy?" When I saw Diz (who lives 1.5 hours away and had never met Lindsay or Lindsey), it became clear that this breakfast was not planned to talk about wedding stuff...it was for my birthday! It was the best.
Later in the day, things just got better. My mom, Gina and I started off our evening at the spa - massages for them, facial for me....and then we met up with the men and went to PF Changs for dinner. Love that honey shrimp.
Eleanore turned 30. There was a surprise party for her. I brought Lay's Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Kettle Cooked Potato Chips as my contribution and have been addicted to them ever since.
I went to see Lilly on a Friday afternoon. Such a sweet little fighter baby, this little girl has turned out to be.
We had double bday parties on March 4th. First was Charlotte's first bday. I was taking pictures for Dizzy with her camera for most of the party, so this is the only one I have of the birthday girl.
Then it was up to Green Bay for Coop's 3rd birthday! So old he is getting...still the most hilarious person I know I think though.
There was a lot of protesting going on in my town a few months back. We went down a few times to support my sister and brother-in-law.
OMG, YOU GUYS! Remember when we won the Super Bowl??! I still get really happy when I think about it.
We were the obnoxious group that shows up to a Friday Fish Fry with 12 people...and Eleanore had her baby the next day!
My doctor would not have been happy to see this picture...knee supported and not working on my extension. tsk tsk to me.
I really want to keep up with this blog. Obviously it has taken a back seat to work, school, rehab, surgery, other projects, etc. the last couple months though. What is funny is that the last time I updated, I was just going under the knife...and in the time since I have recovered from that surgery and am now recovering from the second stage of surgery. This image is like deja vu 3 months later. A comment left on this blog recently made me realize that some people that I don't see all the time actually read this blog and maybe they have wondered if I ever recovered from that surgery or if I had to have my leg amputated or something. I didn't. I'm fine.
In preparation for this surgery, I needed to procure a pair of crutches. I got a script to get new ones, but I knew my mom and dad still had the ones I used back in the day and figured I could just use those. When I saw them they looked pretty crusty though. I believe these were used 3 times. I think my sister was the first to use them in the early 90s when she broke her leg, and I used them twice in high school. Needless to say, they have seen better days.
When I checked in for surgery, almost everyone who walked into our little holding room commented on how old they looked. I think the PT actually felt sorry for me, because he brought me new ones. So no worries, I'm currently walking around with brand spankin new crutches.
This is the night before round 1 of my 2 stage knee surgery. I thought I should take a picture of my knees before they became even more Frankenstein-y than they already are. Lord, let these surgeries be successful and I'm not handicapped for life! Ok, I'm being dramatic...but you never know! Anything could happen.
(I know, nice tube socks.)
I have never been so excited for a football game in my life. I had a really hard time thinking about anything else the whole day actually. It was an amazing game...and the fact that we beat the Bears was the icing on the cake. Jay Cutler is the biggest loser on the planet. Like my blood actually kind of boils when I think about what a baby he is. I guess it doesn't matter and I shouldn't get so worked up about him because we have the amazing, Aaron Rodgers, and we won the NFC Championship! We are going to the Super Bowl!
Jon went to pick up this wheelchair from his aunt in preparation for my knee surgery. Hoping we dont really have to use it, but if there are icy conditions, I'm not taking any chances.
Our friends got married in Jamaica and had a reception in town a week later for those who were not able to make the trip. It was great seeing everyone (it had been a while!) and getting dressed up...even though it looks like I am just wearing a black tshirt in this picture. I swear it is a dress. We did the standard eating, drinking and dancing...and somewhere along the line realized there were a fair share of 30 somethings who have Beiber Fever.
This was a full moon. I was on my way to class after work, sitting in traffic, not able to take my eyes off of it. Every time I would come to a stop, I would attempt to get a good picture of it. No such luck, unfortunately.
This little guy is a little over a year and has a total Justin Bieber haircut. It is to die for.
We help out our pals over at Beyond the Booth when they are double booked and this one was unfortunately scheduled on the same day as the Packer game! It was tragic, but we had a plan to record it and watch it after we were done. We had never done that, but we decided that avoiding it completely wouldn't be a problem. That plan was quickly foiled when we got to the reception venue and there were tvs set up near the bar areas. bleh. I know, you'd think we would be praising Jesus, but not so much. We like to actually watch the game...and since we had to work, there wouldnt really be any way to do that. We worked until the 3rd quarter and could kind of gather that they were winning when we left by the number of times there was an eruption of applause and cheers. We still watched the game when we got home though and saw the walloping we gave to Atlanta. It just wasn't the same as watching in real time though.
Forget how inconvenienced WE were though. I felt really bad for the bride at this wedding. Most of the guests were crowded around the tv the whole night, which made for not much paying attention to their slideshow, first dances and dancing in general. The upside is that the Packers won though. I would guess that if we lost the mood might not have been so jolly.
We watched The Social Network and Going the Distance on Friday. I can't believe it took us so long to see The Social Network actually. We loved it too, but I knew I would even before I saw it...and I also do not mind a little more JT on my Friday night.
Going the Distance was really good too - pretty funny, but definitely not G rated...not even close to PG-13 rated actually.
Jon made his famous popcorn for our movie watching enjoyment. His popcorn is actually only famous in our house since no one has ever eaten it besides the 2 of us. He makes it the old fashioned way and if anyone else every ate it, I am sure it would become famous.
I got this bag when Meghan and I were shopping a couple weekends back....and I love it...except....
It has me confused. In the store it looked sort of celedon in color...but sometimes it looks like a really bold chartreuse....and other times it looks down right neon.
In those moments, I sometimes feel an urge to tell whomever is in my vicinity that it is NOT neon.
(was that the correct use of 'whomever'?)
Let's try not to pay attention to the fact that Google Reader is on my computer screen at work...mmmmkay?
I got my eyes dialated at the eye doc on monday and got to go back to work in these sweet disposable shades.
I met diz, andy and charlotte out for donuts on Sunday morning at Cranky Al's. Diz has raved about this place for a long time and I finally got to try it out for myself. The donuts were quite good...and so was the ambiance. loved it.
can we please focus on this little bonnet that charlotte is wearing though? the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Meghan and I went to the Chicago suburbs and Kenosha outlets on Saturday. I don't think this picture really conveys how crowded this store was. (that seems to be a theme - can't capture the scope and grandeur of a situation) It was seriously packed though - who are all these people purchasing high end hand bags on a random saturday right after Christmas? They were offering 20% off, maybe that explains it.
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