Friday Favorites

Hey friends! Happy Friday! We're back in Greenville, and I go back to the doctor today to take the bandages off my foot and get my stitches out. I am so excited because all of these bandages wrapped around my foot have been driving me crazy. I'm hoping that once they're all removed it will be a little easier for me to get around.

On another note, it's been a while since I did a "Friday Favorites" post, so here goes.....

Hot Yoga
Before my surgery my foot was hurting so bad that I couldn't really run, I was having a lot of problems with my knee because I was running on the outside of my foot, and my back was killing me. I wanted to keep working out because I knew that I'd be off of my feet for a long time after my surgery, but my body was telling me that I needed to rest. I decided to take a hot yoga class because I figured that would be a good way to exercise without putting too much stress on my body. I went to Southern Om in Greenville. I was hooked after the first class, and can't wait to get back to it.

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Trader Joes Cookie Butter
Have y'all tried this stuff? It's goodness in a jar. It tastes great on toast, vanilla wafers, pancakes, and just on spoon. It's Uh-mazing. I realize that this Friday Favorite item and the one above don't really go together. I guess I shouldn't expect my body to look like the one in the first picture if I keep eating this stuff. :)

Olivia Garden Ceramic + Ionic Brush
I got one of these brushes a few weeks ago, and I know this sounds crazy, but it really does make a big difference compared to other brushes I've used before. They are a little pricey, but definitely worth the money. I got mine on sale at Ulta.

JCrew iPhone Case 
I love love love this iPhone cover from JCrew. It's so pretty and it's purple and orange, so I'd be showing my support for the Tigers while also being stylish. What's not to like?

Madewell Stucco Stripe Songbird Dress
How cute is this dress? I go back to school in a few weeks, so I'm on the lookout for clothes that I can wear to work, but will also wear other places. I think this dress fits that description.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! 

Fourth of July Week Recap

Hey friends! Thanks for all of your prayers. My surgery went well and I'm on the mend. The first couple of days were pretty rough because I was sick from the anesthesia and pain medication, but I'm doing much better now. I owe a huge thank you to mom for taking care of me and Eliza. There is no way I could have gotten through this week without her help. I'm still on crutches, but I go back to the doctor next Friday, and I'm hoping to be walking again by then.

Since I've had a lot of sitting time this week, I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from the week of the Fourth of July. We went to the beach with Ryan's family for the first half of the week and then to the lake with my family the second half of the week. I didn't do a good job of taking pictures at the beach, but I made up for it at the lake. Sorry for the picture overload! :)

First stop, Pawley's Island:

.....and then on to Lake Waccamaw.

 

The Sprain

Yep, that's what I'll be doing in a few short hours. I am having foot surgery at 1:00 today. I have bunions (sexy, I know) and my left foot if being operated on this afternoon. I had my right foot done about six years ago, and I'm finally getting around to taking care of the other foot. I put this off as long as possible, but I've been in so much pain that I knew I couldn't wait any longer. I'll be on crutches for about two weeks and in a boot for six weeks. I won't be able to run for three months. I am not looking forward to this, but I know I will better in the long run and have less injuries because of it.

Eliza and I will be in Columbia during the time that I'm on crutches so my mom can help me with her. I've known that I was having this surgery for months, and I haven't been worried about it. Honestly, I've tried not think about it too much, but I guess it really hit me last night, and I've started to get a little nervous. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated! :)

We have a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks, so I'll be practicing "The Sprain" during my recovery time. I know y'all remember this Saved by Bell episode! If you don't, I'll fill you in. Casey Kassem was hosting a dance contest at The Max, and Zack Morris and AC Slater were fighting over Kelly Kapowski as their dance partner. Slater won, so Zack ended up going with Jessie Spano. Lisa Turtle had her dance partner all lined up, but when she sprained her ankle he backed out on her. Screech came to the rescue and danced with Lisa in the contest, and guess what....they won! Everybody did "The Sprain" at the end of the episode. I'm going to try and revive "The Sprain" as an accepted form of dance. I think it could become a big hit like the Dougie, the Electric Slide, the Cupid Shuffle, and the Wobble. What do y'all think?

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Stress and Anxiety

Apparently that's what is wrong with my dog. Let me explain. We went to the beach and the lake last week for the 4th of July. I was originally planning on boarding Sawyer and Belle while we were gone, but I was able to find a dog sitter at the last minute for half the price. I was so excited that we were going to be able to leave them at home, and not have to spend as much money.

The girl who was watching them for us was sending pictures and updates, and things seemed to be going fine. Until Thursday....I got a phone call from her telling me that Sawyer had diarrhea all over our apartment! Ugh! Gross! I called our vet and the dog sitter took Sawyer in for an appointment. The vet determined that he may have eaten something, and she gave him some special food and medicine, which she said should help.Well, that didn't exactly do the trick because the dog sitter called me back on Friday afternoon to let me know that he was still pooping all over the place and he was now bleeding. Our vet closes at 6:00 and by this time it was precisely 5:45. I quickly got off the phone with dog sitter to call our vet and let them know what was going on. I explained the situation and the woman on the other end of the line very politely told me that the last walk in appointment was seen fifteen minutes ago, and that I was going to have to have our dog sitter take Sawyer to the emergency vet.

By this time dollar signs were flashing in my head and all I could think was "I should have just boarded them." When I called our dog sitter back, she had been to our vet, and they had already sent her to the emergency clinic. After apologizing about twenty times, I told her to call me back and let me know what they said. The diagnosis: Sawyer was stressed. Join the club buddy!

Now we have to feed Sawyer this disgusting special food and give him Imodium AD. While he is eating we have to put Belle in her crate so she doesn't eat Sawyer's "special food." Oh, Sawyer! I don't know what we are going to do with him. He's lucky we love him so much!

I paid a mere $300 dollars for someone to tell me that my dog has anxiety. I think he thought we were leaving and never coming back. I should have known better. The last time we left Sawyer and Belle with at home with a dog sitter I ended up replacing part of our couch, having two pillows remade, and getting Sawyer fixed. I'll save that story for another post. :) Needless to say, I have learned my lesson. The next time we go out of town Sawyer and Belle will be boarded!

9 Months

Eliza is nine months old and she is getting so big! When I took her to the doctor for her 9 month checkup I looked at her, and for the first time she looked like a little girl instead of a baby. I don't know when that happened! She now weighs 21 lbs (89th percentile) and she is 28 inches long (65th percentile).

The first thing people say to us when they see her is "Look at those legs!" and the second thing they say is "She looks just like her dad." We were in the grocery store the other day (just Eliza and I) and a woman came up to me and said "She is so cute! She must look like her dad." For crying out loud! I mean, I carried her for nine months and not one thing about her looks like me! Not that looking like Ryan is a bad thing though. :)

Eliza is a wiggle worm these days. Her monthly pictures are getting to be quite an ordeal (clearly) and changing her diaper usually takes two people. She started crawling the day after I wrote her eight month post where I claimed that I thought she might not ever really crawl. Now she is all over the place. She is pulling up on furniture and getting into everything. She can pull up on something and let go to stand on her own for a few seconds.Eliza's favorite "toys" are magazines, cell phones, and the remote. She will play patty-cake and wave to us when we ask her to, and she babbles all the time. Her favorite "word" is baba, but I've heard a few mamas and dadas also. 

Eliza has a bottle three times a day and eats solid food three times a day. At her last check up the doctor told us to finish the baby food we have and start her on table food. She is not loving some of the food that I've been giving her, but I think that may have to do with the fact that she still doesn't have any teeth. Eliza takes two naps a day and normally sleeps between 11 and 12 hours a night. I am very thankful that she has been a good sleeper since she was very young.

Eliza has started to get shy around people she doesn't know and she will bury her head in my arms when she meets someone for the first time. It doesn't take long for her to warm up to people though. After about a minute she will start smiling and babbling. Eliza is so easy going and happy, and I love watching her little personality grow and develop. I can't believe she will be one in three short months!

*For the record, I know that I am giving way too many details that most people don't really care about in these monthly posts. These are more for me than anyone else. Since I haven't exactly kept up with Eliza's baby book, I figured this would be better than nothing at all. I promise I'll only bore you with three more months of updates. :)

Gator Danger

We are on the way back from a week at the beach and the lake as we speak. I will be back later this week (or next) with highlights from our trip, but until then I thought I'd share a picture with y'all. My grandmother has a house on Lake Waccamaw in North Carolina, which is where we spent the second half of our vacation. There is a canal behind our house, and there are a ton of alligators in the canal. Think Swamp People, and you've got the picture. This year it seemed like there were more alligators than normal. We had fun seeing all of them, at a very safe distance, of course.  If you are my friend on Facebook then you might remember the first picture below from a few years ago.

**Disclaimer: This actually isn't the same alligator. If you look closely, you can see that the alligator in the first picture is missing his right arm, and the alligator in the second picture is missing his left arm. Apparently it's pretty common for alligators to eat each others' arms. Who knew?!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope y'all have a wonderful 4th of July! We're spending the day on the lake and watching fireworks later tonight. Happy Birthday America!