Day Three Hundred and Thirty Eight.

    I had no desire to get out of bed when the alarm rang this morning, but I finally did when it was absolutely necessary. I actually was impressed that I got up a little bit late and still managed to get to work on time. I got my coffee first thing this morning because I had a feeling that it would be a busy day. I sure was glad I decided to do that due to the fact that it was an extremely busy morning. I couldn't believe how much the phone rang and I felt like I had no handle on the day. It actually went by faster than any other day so far this week, so that's the bright spot. Of course, I got a little nervous towards the end of the day that I wouldn't get out of work on time. Once I got out of work I headed right to our wedding venue for our meeting with the planner.
    The meeting ended up being an hour and a half! I was so surprised because I thought it would be much shorter, however there's just so many little decisions to discuss. She said that we were moving along at a good speed though, which made me feel better. After the meeting my fiancé and I headed to Macy's to set up our wedding registry. That took a long time as well and we really didn't pick that many items. There's a lot of things that we wanted to think about before making a quick decision in the store.
    Due to the fact that it was almost 8pm when we got home we grabbed some Chinese food for dinner. I didn't really want to eat out a second night in a row, but neither one of us wanted to cook anything. I had chicken and broccoli, so I guess it wasn't the most unhealthy option to choose. After dinner I put a load of laundry in then took a long, hot shower. I couldn't wait to get in the shower because there were a lot of things which happened at work today that increased my anxiety. Well, I am ending this blog short tonight because I'm simply exhausted. What a week it's been!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Seven.

    When I got up today I was already getting excited that I would only have to get up early for two more days. I was stressing about getting to work because today was meeting day and I wanted to get there on time. After I was half way through getting ready for work I remembered that I wasn't scheduled for the early meeting anyway, but I still did get to work on time to cover. It was a pretty steady day which got very busy the last few hours. Due to that fact I didn't get to go to the meeting at the end of the day:( It ended up being well after 4pm when I finally left work and I rushed home because I knew my parents were coming tonight, but I wasn't sure what time.
    It was about 5pm when my parents showed up and I was very glad to see them, I wasn't in the mood to be alone. I had decided earlier today that I would suggest going to a local Mediterranean restaurant for dinner, to celebrate my Father's Birthday. They said they had eaten a lot the past few days but were both up for it. I took a quick shower then we headed out to dinner. I ate a lot more than I should have and feel pretty gross now. I had several pieces of pita bread, a side salad and chicken with roasted peppers, spinach and provolone cheese on top. All of that doesn't sound so bad but the chicken was totally swimming in oil and I definitely ate several calories of pita bread. To make matters worse I came home and ate the piece of cake my parents brought me from my Father's Birthday celebration at my sisters house! I can't resist home made cake especially made by my twin sister. I am so stressed out that I'm going to gain all of the weight I lost back. It's making me so anxious that I didn't even really enjoy going out tonight:(
    Once we got home I emptied the dishwasher, which I had run yesterday, then folded the laundry. The rest of the night was taken up by more work on my registry which ended up with my Mother and I arguing. She was being very difficult with all of my decisions and was definitely making me even more stressed. I get that she has helped two of my three sisters get married, therefore she has a lot of experience, but I don't like her trying to guide every decision I make to fit her desires. Even when we spoke about the wedding DJ she was already telling me to get another one. She was upset about the fact that he told us we have to trust him to play some mood lifting songs at opportune moments. She feels that we should dictate every sing song that is played but I neither have the time or patience to do that.
    I'm actually surprised that my hands aren't ruined after this long day, but I didn't have time to really do any cleaning around the house tonight so that helped. My fiancé and I have an appointment with the wedding planner tomorrow after work, then we're going to work on our registry again. It's going to be another long day. Alright, until next time.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Six.

    I'm so exhausted tonight because I had a horrible sleep last night:( I got to bed pretty easily but unfortunately my dog heard something and started barking around 1am. It really freaked me out because I thought I heard something too, so I had to go downstairs to check everything out. I didn't notice anything wrong but it took me way over an hour to get back to sleep. It didn't help that my dog was on edge for the rest of the night and barking at every noise she heard! When I got up I was feeling like I needed another four hours of sleep:( Anyway, I ended up getting to work a little late but I didn't feel that guilty because I had stayed late the previous day. The day went fairly well and I was able to take a few small breaks for coffee and eat my lunch snacks.
    I left work right on time and I didn't have to run any errands on my way home so it was only 4pm when I walked in the house! I had a feeling that my fiancé would be working pretty late, because he's been so busy, so I took my time before I got in the shower. Right before I took my shower I put the sheets from the spare room and some other odd laundry items in the washing machine. My Mother is going to be stopping by tomorrow night and I'm not sure if she's staying over or not, but if she is I want to be prepared. That means the sheets will have to be cleaned! When I was finished with my shower I folded the laundry from yesterday then took my dog for a nice walk around the block. She was so happy!
    My fiancé ended up getting to my house well after 7pm, which was frustrating because we still had to make dinner. We had Caesar chicken salads, but ended up not eating until almost 9pm. While we were making dinner the potential wedding DJ called us and we were on the phone with him for a while. By the time we got dinner cleaned up it was already after 9:30pm. Ugh, I did a lot of hand washing the last few days and it's definitely showing:( We spent the rest of the night trying to decided on items for our wedding registry.
    I know I wrote about this last night but I'll do it again, I can't believe how many decisions I've had to make regarding this wedding the last several weeks. I'm trying to enjoy the experience but honestly I feel like I'm terrible at this whole wedding planning thing. For instance, you would think that because I'm 31 I would have some handle on what I may need or want for my kitchen, but I have no idea. It doesn't help that there's so many different options to choose from! Or maybe it's hard for me because I've been settled in my house for years and I am the kind of person who doesn't really think I need anything new until it's completely broken. I think this is really the most difficult thing about having the wedding so soon, because I have to make these decisions really fast and I don't want to make wrong ones. It's in my nature to research all these kitchen products before just slapping them on the list. Well, anyway I'm going to get going to sleep!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Five.

    Surprisingly I got a very restful night of sleep last night. I thought that I would have a hard time getting to sleep but ended up doing it right away and then I woke up when the alarm went off. We had a very busy weekend so I'm sure that's why I was so tired. I was definitely not looking forward to Monday at work but it wasn't as bad as some Monday's tend to be. Even though it was steady I was able to get a coffee around 10am and have one of my lunch snacks. I ended up not getting a lunch break, mainly because I didn't want one. For some reason my stomach was really bothering me more and more as the day went on. I'm guess I just over did it this weekend with how terrible I ate and drank.
    On my way home from work I stopped at the food store to get some necessary supplies and I got home around 4:30pm. I ended up getting a lot done around the house before my shower including, sorting the mail, cleaning the downstairs bathroom, putting the groceries away, cleaning out the refrigerator and putting a load of laundry in. I really wasn't feeling well after my shower so I ended up sitting down for a while. The evening pretty much consisted of me having phone conversations with my fiancé, followed by my second to oldest sister, then my Father and finally my twin sister who was with my Mother! It was my Father's Birthday so I wanted to make sure to talk to him and he seemed very glad I called:) I always love catching up with my sisters so I was glad to hear from them tonight as well. In between the phone calls I had a Lean Cuisine and my stomach has been feeling much better since.
    I can't believe how much I have to do for this wedding! I knew that it was going to be a lot of work but I had no idea just how many little details have to be organized. Tomorrow night we're having a phone conversation with one of the DJ's to see if we like him. Then on Thursday we have to meet with the wedding planner from our venue to discuss things. Also on the agenda this week is to pick where we are going to register and at some point get the grooms suits!
    So after all of my cleaning earlier and the stress of the wedding my hand washing has gone up in frequency. I'm going to have to be careful though because I don't want my hands to look terrible when I'm getting married. Well, until next time.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Four.

    This blog is two days late:) Friday ended up being a very long day because I didn't get a lot of sleep the previous night. Well, it was due to the fact that my sleep was interrupted because my fiancé got back from his business trip at 5am! I went back to sleep after he arrived, then I ended up sleeping in much later than I had originally planned. I wanted to get another load of laundry washed and folded before work but I only had enough time to start the wash. Then by the time I showered and packed for the weekend it was time to go to work. It ended up being the busiest evening shift of the entire week which made me feel even more tired. When I got done work I went home and then we headed to my fiancés brothers house. I ended up driving the whole way because I was pretty wired. When we arrived it was 3am and we ended up staying up until 5am talking.
    On Saturday I took a shower then we had breakfast which was a delicious biscuit, egg, cheese and gravy casserole made by my fiancé's brothers girlfriend. I was a little bit nervous about my stomach and having something so decadent when I knew that we would be out all day but it ended up being okay. We went to a brew festival right in the town that they live in. It was great because it was so close we ended up walking there! Not only was it a brew fest but there was also a wing competition too. There were plenty of wings but I only ended up eating a few, again I was a little bit nervous about my stomach. The festival was 1-5pm and the time flew by. When the festival was over we walked downtown and had some drinks at a local bar/restaurant. I actually took a break from dinking and had a diet soda because I was feeling a little bit tipsy. Then we went to a pizza place for dinner.
    I wasn't sure what we would be doing after dinner but we ended up going to a club type place and dancing for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun but everyone got very tired so we took a taxi home around midnight. My fiancé went right to bed when we got back but I stayed up talking to his brothers girlfriend and their other friend who rents a room out of there house. We were up until 5am:) When I woke up this morning I was really not feeling well at all. I ended up sleeping until 12pm and just feeling so terrible that I thought I would be sick. Today was the most hung over I've been in a very long time. We ended up going out to get lunch after 2pm and I felt much better after I ate. It took us three hours to get home and once we did I unpacked then took a hot shower.
    I had a wonderful weekend and am very glad that we were finally able to get out to my fiancés brothers house. We had tried to go there this last spring but the plans never worked out so it's been about 2 years since we've been there. I ended up having a very good conversation with my fiancé's brothers girlfriend and I think we bonded more than we have before, which is good. It was interesting talking to her about my fiancé family and her perspective on things. I though I did pretty good this weekend with my hand washing and being out of the house definitely made it easier. I was using bar soap which is always much easier on my hands but I hate using it now because it gets stuck in my ring:( I had to give it a thorough washing when I got home. Alright, that's all for now!
   

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Three.

    I woke up feeling really refreshed today. I always sleep well when my Mother is in my house and last night my twin sister was here as well, which made it even better. I made a pot of coffee for everyone after I got up and then cut the second half of a watermelon I had in the fridge. Unfortunately, my Mom and sister had to leave earlier than I would have liked because of previous engagements. When they left I gathered up all of the laundry and put a load in the wash. I also got all of the trash together since it's already garbage night! I had a lot of things on my to-do list and I actually did a good job of getting most of them done. One of the most important things I got done was to buy the tickets for our sister Yankee game outing coming up next month!
    I thought I would have enough time to fold the laundry I started earlier in the day but the dryer wasn't done in time before I had to go to work. Due to the fact that I didn't fold my clothes I actually got to work a little bit early. It wasn't that bad of a night at work but I felt like I was having a harder time than usual concentrating. I feel like some of the nights that aren't that busy are the nights I have the hardest time focusing. I was able to get a coffee around 6pm and eat dinner around 8:30pm, which was a Lean Cuisine. I got really excited at work to find out that pumpkin coffee is back at the Dunkin' Donuts in the hospital:)
    When I got home, after I changed, I sat down on the couch to relax a little bit with my dog. She was very upset when I left for work today and I felt like I needed to make it up to her. I have a lot to do tomorrow because we're going out of town this weekend. In fact, the plan is to leave tomorrow night once I get done my shift. With that being said I'm going to have to get all packed up in the morning, although it really shouldn't be that difficult because we're only going to be gone for two nights. I'd really like to get one more load of laundry done before we leave but that would mean I'd have to get up early tomorrow.
    I've been pretty good about my hand washing lately but I did a fair amount of cleaning around the house today after the company left so that, of course, was a bit of a set back. They still don't look that dry so that's a good thing! It's so nice not having to worry about them being overly dry with cuts all over. I'm still not sure if I'm doing that much better or if it's because of the summer weather. Having my hands looking nice made the dress shopping yesterday so much better because I know that having cuts on them would have made me very self conscious. Okay so that's all for now!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty Two.

    Today was a really busy day and I certainly didn't get enough sleep for it! When I got up my twin sister arrived right away and I had to quickly get myself ready for my appointment at the bridal store. My Mother, my twin sister and I ended up getting there right on time and spending almost three hours in the store! I tried on several different dresses and I think I found the perfect one:) I'm going to make my final decision tomorrow morning due to the fact that I really can't wait too much longer because it takes a long time for these dresses to ship. In fact, I will already have to rush it, in order to get it in time for alterations. After we were done at the bridal store we decided to grab some lunch and I was starving by that time.
    For lunch I got a turkey club sandwich with a side salad. I really felt that I needed a splurge day since I've been eating so well. Actually, the dress size that I'm going to go with is going to be a tight fit at my size right now so I'm really going to have to lose about 5 more pounds before the big day. My biggest concern is that I'm going to start putting weight on but I'm going to have to be careful. I don't want them to have to alter the dress in October because I've gained weight:( After lunch we decided to go to David's Bridal to see about the bridesmaid dresses and possibly trying on a few more wedding gowns. I was pleasantly surprised to find a dress that will work perfect for the bridesmaids, at a reasonable price and in the color I want! I was worried I should have tried more wedding gowns on but all I could do was think about the wedding gown at the previous store, so I didn't try any more on.
    By the time we got home it was already after 6pm! When we got home my twin sister and I did the ice bucket challenge, which has been going around fbook to raise money for ALS. I got tagged to do it a few days ago but wanted to wait until someone could record me before doing it. At the time I only donated money but now I've done both, so I'm all set:) We didn't have an official dinner because of our late lunch but we did have cheese and crackers after I took a shower. I couldn't wait to shower because I had been trying on all those dresses today. I hate trying clothes on because I can't help but think about all the women who have been in those dresses....blah! The rest of the evening was spent doing wedding planning. There's so much to think about but I think we got a lot done today which is a relief! Alright, I'm exhausted.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty One.

    The first thing I did after I woke up this morning was have a cup of coffee:) I actually had a pretty good sleep but I needed a pick me upper! After my coffee I decided to take a shower right away because I needed to get to the food store to pick up a few items for the next few days. After my shower the door bell rang and I wasn't sure what to expect but it was my Mother. I thought that my Mother would be coming while I was at work but she decided to come earlier and I was very glad to see her. When she arrived we had lunch together and then I went to the food store to get what I needed. As soon as I got back to my house it was time to get ready for work!
    I was working in an area which I don't usually work in a lot tonight and because of that it made for an interesting evening. A major factor to that was that I was working with a few of my close co-workers and they were a little distracting at times. They tend to tease me a lot and joke around, which makes it hard for me to concentrate at times. Anyway, I did my best to focus and I got through the shift the best that I could! I managed to grab some coffee around 6:30pm and then eat my dinner around 8pm. When I arrived home only a little bit after 11pm my Mother was surprised to see me so soon. It ended up being an easy night to get out of work on time, which was a good thing.
    My Mother and I shared a bottle of wine while we tried to find a suitable DJ for the wedding. It ended up being a very fun evening due to the fact that it was just the two of us and we could talk candidly. Ultimately, we ended up only emailing one of the DJ's we looked at, which makes me nervous. They all seem so manufactured and silly! I forgot to mention that after I took my shower this morning I folded the laundry from the day before. Other than that I didn't do that much cleaning around the house and because of that my hands weren't washed that much at home this morning. I did wash them a handful of times at work tonight but nothing really major. Alright, well that's all for now.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty.

    I had a much better night sleep last night than I did the night before, which was great. It was kind of funny because right before I went to sleep, around 3am, I texted my fiancé to have a safe flight in the morning. He actually called me right away because he was just driving into work! Maybe I slept better because he was the last person I spoke to before bed:) Anyway, once I got up I had some coffee then decided to try to take my gel manicure off. Even though I tried the tips my co-worker gave me it still took a very long time to do and they still aren't perfect. It's just such a pain, but I didn't want to waste the time or money to get it professionally taken off. I put a load of laundry in and then took a shower right after I was done with my nails.
    I had a Lean Cuisine for lunch after my shower and then headed to work. My poor dog was so miserable when I left for work because I really didn't have a lot of time to play with her this morning. I'll try to make it up to her by taking her for a walk tomorrow. The evening at work was pretty stressful but not too overwhelming. I managed sneak away and get a cup of coffee around 6:30pm but I never had time to have my dinner. I got out of work a few minutes late but that didn't get me home much later than normal. I had a Lean Pocket for dinner when I got home.
    I started searching some DJ's/Bands for the wedding tonight and it's amazing all the different options available! I think it's probably going to come down to whom ever is available for our wedding date. I'm going to try to get up a little bit earlier tomorrow because I need to get a few items from the store before my Mother arrives tomorrow evening. I think she'll probably get to my house after I've already left for work. I was pretty good about not over washing my hands today but they got very dry with all of the nail polish remover I used this morning. Oh I forgot to mention that my fiancé called me tonight safe from Alabama, where he is for business. I didn't realize but they are an hour behind our time so this might actually work well with my evening week schedule. Well that's everything for now!

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Nine.

    For some reason I had a hard time getting to sleep last night so I slept in later than I had originally planned. That's probably the best part about working evenings though, because even if you can't get to sleep right away you can make up the difference in the morning. When I got up I had some coffee then spent some time writing an email to my Father. I ended up writing a lot to him because I wanted to tell him about our trip to Block Island and how my recovery was going. My fiancé called me when I was in the middle of writing the email and we spoke for a while. The morning just flew by because by the time I was done with the email and the phone conversation it was lunch time.
    For lunch I had a piece of BBQ chicken, which was left over from the other night, and a side salad. It ended up being a bigger lunch than I had originally planned because I had more lettuce than I had thought. After lunch I took my dog for a walk around the block and then took a shower. I gave my Mother a call before I went to work because I wanted to inform her about the change of plans for this coming week. While I was at work last night my twin sister called saying she wouldn't be able to go wedding dress shopping with me on Tuesday, due to an emergency on her husbands side of the family. Luckily, I was able to switch my day off to Wednesday so she could still come with me and I wanted to let my Mother know about that.
    Work started out slow like yesterday but progressively got busier as the night went on. It wasn't terrible but there were a few issues which at times took some extensive research and ultimately got us a little bit behind. Honestly it was so busy last week that I expected the whole weekend to be terrible and it really wasn't, so for that I'm grateful! It was a little bit unusual because a lot of the people who normally work my weekend had switched out. Even though I missed my normal crew sometimes it's nice working with a different group of people.
    I washed my hands a lot less tonight then I did last night so they still look pretty good! My nails that I got done a little over two weeks ago look terrible though. I'm really going to have to decide whether I'm going to try to take the gel manicure off myself or if I'm going to go to get it taken off. I had a hard time taking it off myself last time but a girlfriend of mine at work gave me some tips for how to do it easier, so I'm tempted to just try it again myself. I could go and get a different color applied....we'll see. Alright, well until the next time!

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Eight.

    Today was the first day in a while in which my fiancé and I didn't have to race out of bed to be somewhere. With that being said it took us a while to actually get out of bed this morning:) After we finally did my fiancé made us breakfast burritos. Originally I wasn't going to have him make me one because I wanted to get back on track with my diet. However, I knew it would be the largest meal I would be having all day and that it would fill me up for a long time, so I went ahead and had one. It was so good because he made it with taco cheese, jalapeños, and pepperoni. My fiancé is fantastic at making breakfast! While I cleaned the breakfast mess up my fiancé mowed the yard and did some other outside chores. Then it was time for him to leave:( I'm used to him going home when I work my evening weekend but this time it was even harder because he's going away on a business trip again.
    I got to work a little bit earlier than usual today only because I wanted to work in a specific spot and I knew if I didn't get there early I would miss my chance. I just felt like I needed a change of pace for this weekend. It actually ended up being a much more calm evening than I had expected. I always say this and I'll say it again, sometimes the shifts at work which are the slowest are the ones which I'm the most scared of having made a mistake. I think it's because at those times I'm more relaxed whereas I usually work best when I'm stressed and under pressure....weird right? Tonight was nice because I was working with one of my closer friends so we did a lot of talking, especially about weddings because hers is coming up in a few months. I ended up being really glad I had that breakfast burrito this morning because it kept me full until I had a Lean Cuisine with a yogurt for dinner around 7:30pm.
    When I got home I sorted through the mail and then spoke with my fiancé on the phone for a little while. My dog was really energetic and playful so I think I'm going to do my best to get her out for a walk tomorrow. Even though there's not a sink in the main work area anymore I ended up washing my hands a good number of times tonight. It's frustrating not having the sink in the main area because now I have to go all the way to the break room. I'm finding out that there are a lot of people at work who share my feeling about not having a sink so it makes me feel a lot less obsessive. Well that's all I'll write about tonight.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Seven.

    When I woke up yesterday I felt like it was the first time in several days where I actually slept really well. I got more than 8 hours of solid sleep without waking up once:) After I woke up I decided to get myself together so I could run my errands early, to get them out of the way. First, I went to the Dunkin Donut's to coffee up before stopping at the bank. Then it was time for my big trip to Target! I was very excited to find out that my Softsoap refill bottles were on sale this week for $3.99, which is a steal! I got a bunch of them and all of the other things which I needed. It's amazing how sometimes when I go everything seems to be on sale and other times nothing is on sale. Luckily, this time most of what I needed was on sale!
    When I got home, after I unloaded what I bought, I spent some time on the internet catching up with the news. There's so much going on in the world right now and I never seem to have time during the work week to keep up with it. Honestly after this round of reading the news I found myself extremely depressed! I decided to lighten things up by calling my Mother because I had a feeling we would be discussing the wedding which would cheer me up. We spent a while on the phone and it put me in a lot better mood. I also had to tell her the change of plans for wedding dress shopping on Tuesday because I wasn't able to get an appointment for the original place I wanted to go. I ended up making an appointment for a different local place and I think we'll also check out David's Bridal as well.
    My fiancé arrived at my place a little bit after 6pm and we decided to go out to dinner but we knew we would have to wait a while if we went right away, so we chatted for about an hour. We ended up going to our favorite local restaurant and getting a pizza which I was worried about trying. I wasn't sure how it would affect my stomach and to top things off the women's bathroom was out of order! Luckily, it went down fine and I had no problems with it. I splurged a lot because pecan pie was on the menu for dessert so I got a slice to take home. I really can't resist pecan pie:)
    I am on evening shift this whole next week so I hope that I can get back to my dieting and not do any more splurging. I'm also thinking that since I'm feeling so much better I can slowly start working out again. I really want to work on toning my upper body and my arms. I think if I start doing some upper body workouts it will be a good way to gradually get back into things. I don't think I should jump right back into the high intensity Jillian Michael's workouts just yet:) I did do a lot of cleaning yesterday around the house but my hands don't look that bad. I've been putting cream on them a lot more again. Alright, until later.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Six.

    I had no desire whatsoever to get out of bed this morning. I'm not sure why I was so tired but I was and when I finally got out of bed I was glad that I wouldn't have to get up early for the next week or so:) After I woke up I got a little bit grumpy with my fiancé for making me late for work because I had told him the previous night that I needed to get to work early. However, he was slow getting out of bed which ultimately put me behind. It was sweet because he sent me a text message apologizing for slowing me down around 9am, which pretty much fixed everything! I simply told him that we are just going to have to be better about waking up about ten minutes earlier when we live together. Anyway, the day at work was a lot slower today than it was yesterday but it was still hectic this morning. I finally got my break a little bit before 11am and I couldn't wait to get coffee!
    On my way home from work I ended up stopping at the food store simply to get a book of stamps. When I got home I took my dog for a walk, which is the first time that I've been able to since my surgery. She was so excited! When we got home I gathered the trash and did some minor cleaning around the house. I mainly just stuck with cleaning the steps up to my bedroom and the entrance hallway. Before I took my shower I put a load of laundry in, so that I wouldn't have to worry about it on my day off. I spent the rest of the afternoon balancing my checkbook and paying some bills.
    I really have to get to Target tomorrow and that's the only thing I absolutely have to do. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do some relaxing at some point:) I don't need that much stuff just soap, Q-tips and a few other random products such as those. I'm hoping that it's a quick trip and I think if I do it earlier it will be better. My gel manicure hasn't lasted as long this time as it did last time so I have some chipping already:(With that being said I might have to figure out how I'm going to get this nail polish off. I could go and get a new color applied or simply just take it off myself, which is what I did last time. I wish it wasn't so expensive to get a new color or the decision would be a lot easier!
    My hands don't look as bad tonight as they did last night and I definitely tried to be better about over washing today. I also think that putting lotion on helped a lot last night. Well, that's about all I've got to say for now.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Five.

    It was hard getting out of bed this morning because I was so tired, but I did manage to wake up and to get to work on time! Today was meeting day but I covered for the meeting this morning then went to the one this afternoon. The day was pretty busy especially where I worked for the first four hours. I liked it because it went by at a fast pace and I felt like I was definitely getting things done. After work I had promised a co-worker I would drop off her supply of fresh farm produce to her house. It wasn't a big deal because I was headed out that way to go to the food store anyway.
    Once I dropped off the farm fresh produce I went to the food store and managed to pick up what we needed to make dinner tonight. It was almost 6pm by the time I finally got home so I quickly put the groceries away and then took a shower. I was just finishing up my shower when my fiancé arrived and he started making dinner while I folded the laundry from the day before. For dinner we had grilled BBQ chicken, squash and zucchini. I also prepared a salad to have with it as well. Everything was wonderful and I was feeling very full after dinner, but a good type of full because it was a very healthy dinner overall!
    It was Cary Grant night on TCM so we watched a movie after dinner and both proceeded to fall asleep. It's been such an exhausting week at work for me and I'm glad tomorrow is my last day before my day off on Friday. This coming weekend is my one to work so that's why I'm off on Friday. Unfortunately, my hands look terrible and I think it has to do with the fact I washed them at work a lot today. I ended up getting involved in a lot of activities today which made me both anxious and worried about germs, so I made a lot of trips to the sink. I'm going to have to put hand lotion on them tonight and hope they heal up fast. Alright, that's all I'm going to write for now.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Four.

    I was tired when I woke up this morning because once again I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. When I got to work I realized that someone had called in so my position was changed to cover the hole. I wasn't that upset about it at all because I thought that it would make for a better day. I was really disappointed when I found out that the day turned into a horrible one! It was so busy that I had a very difficult time handling everything that was going. I actually didn't leave work until around 4pm and that never happens when I work in this particular area. Another thing which was making the day bad was because I had a very strange stomach ache. I'm not sure if it was because of the Chinese food from last night or what but it was so crampy that I didn't even go to the food store on my way home from work, like planned.
    When I got home I ended up taking a nap for two hours on the couch! I had no idea it had been two hours and was very surprised when I looked at the clock after I woke up. I think the nap was just due to the fact that I haven't been getting much sleep the last few nights. The good thing is that when I woke up my stomach was feeling much better:) After I got up I gathered the trash from the bathrooms, then cleaned the downstairs bathroom. I also put a load of laundry in before I took my shower. After I folded the laundry from Sunday I had dinner, which was a Lean Cuisine. I was excited after dinner to call my twin sister who is back in the country after her three week vacation. We had a pretty long conversation that was great!
    I started doing some more research about specific details for my wedding tonight because it dawned on me that it's only four months away! For a little while I started having second thoughts about having this wedding so soon. I think in the long run it makes the most sense because when you have too much time you start second guessing every little detail. However, it seems overwhelming right now and I just think I have to make decisions and go with them. I didn't wash my hands that much today at work because I was in the area which they took the sink away from. I was just too busy to constantly be walking all the way to the break room whenever I felt the needed to wash them. Alright, that's all for tonight.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Three.

    I wasn't surprised that I found myself having a difficult time getting to sleep last night because it's always hard trying to get to sleep early after a week off. Even though I didn't sleep much I ended up getting out of bed sooner than I normally would and arriving to work a little bit early. I knew that since it was Monday morning it would be busy, so I wanted to be there on time to get a jump start on the work. There was a lot going on and I was feeling the lack of sleep because I was slightly grumpier than I normally would be. At first I thought I would be at work late due to a continuing education program scheduled, but it turns out that it was cancelled. Therefore after work I just drove immediately home.
    I wasn't sure if my Mother was leaving today or tomorrow so I wanted to make sure I got home in time to visit with her before she left. As it turns out she was leaving tonight, so I quickly took a shower when I got home then we spent a few hours chatting together. We discussed that next week would be a good time to go try to find my wedding dress, among other things. After my Mother left my fiancé arrived at my house and we had to decide what to have for dinner. We were both feeling the effects of the first day back to work after vacation so we just got some Chinese food. I was feeling guilty about splurging, since we had eating out so much the week before, but it was nice to not have to worry about cooking. I ended up getting the chicken and broccoli, which wouldn't have been terrible for me, but I also got an egg roll:)
    After dinner we spent some time chatting and discussing wedding photographers a little bit. All this talk about wedding photos is making me seriously want to get back to eating right and exercising! I'm planning on getting to the food store tomorrow after work so we won't have to order out anymore this week. It's easy to order out when you don't have any food in the house! Today I was working in an area where I usually do a lot of hand washing and today wasn't an exception. I've been pretty lax about putting lotion on my hands every night because it's the summer and they've held up decently. I'm going to have to put some on tonight though. Alright, that's all for now.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Two.

    Just as I had suspected I wasn't able to blog the last three nights I was away on vacation so I'm going to have to lump it all in this entry. The only thing this changes is that it's going to take me a little longer than 365 days to reach my goal:) Our new lodging, "The Secrest Inn", wasn't that fancy of a place but it was definitely clean and I didn't have a problem with it at all. I was a little nervous the first night but simply did my normal search of the bed and sheets to make sure nothing looked suspicious. It ended up being a lot cheaper than the original place so in those regards it was a good thing. When we woke up Thursday morning I decided I needed to take a shower and while I was doing that my boyfriend went with my sister and her husband to rent bicycles. When they got back we all biked to a local famous donut place for breakfast which was called "Payne's Donuts". I only got one donut because I haven't had one since my surgery and was a little nervous about my stomach. They were very good!
    After we ate they showed us the hotel that we might have been stuck in. It's actually funny because it didn't look that bad from the outside! It was in an area called New Harbor. While we were there we walked out on the docks and enjoyed the view before biking back to the inn. We all decided since the day was so nice that it would be a good time to hit the beach. I didn't change into my bathing suit because I still couldn't swim or have my wounds exposed to the sun. We biked to the beach and while my fiancé and my sister went swimming, my sisters husband and I enjoyed the sun. We stayed out there for a while until everyone got hungry for lunch. We biked back to the inn then went to a local restaurant called "Finn's" for lunch. We got steamed clams, clam chowder and fish with coleslaw. There were beers involved as well:) At this point we decided it might be nice to enjoy some drinks outside our room until dinner.
    My fiancé and I had brought some Jamison so we had that with ginger ale first then had a nice bottle of red wine which my sister and her husband had brought. The plan for dinner was to go to a nicer restaurant called "Winfield's" so we changed into something dresser before walking there. I put on a nice pair of black shorts and wore a new lace sleeved shirt I had bought at the mall a few days prior. My sister wore a cute black dress and I'm upset we didn't take one picture from that night:( Dinner was fantastic and probably one of my favorite meals of the trip. I ended up getting the steak special with a side salad. The steak was prepared with a chimichurri sauce, which I wasn't sure how I would like but ended up loving it. When we were done with dinner we went to a place right next door, which happened to have a live band. I'm not sure if that was just an extension of "Winfield's" or a different place to be honest. The band was pretty horrible but we met some interesting characters and it was still a lot of fun. Before heading home went stopped at another bar called "Captain Nick's". Actually this just reminded me that we went there the night before as well before we went home! The previous night there was a piano singer but on this particular night there was a DJ. My sister and I had a lot of fun dancing together and it reminded me of some good old times dancing at the club! I was beat when we finally got back to the room!
    When we woke up the next day we decided to go to a local coffee shop called "Juice 'n Java". I found out when we were waiting in the extremely long line that I was pretty hung over from the night before, so I waited outside until our breakfast was ready. I decided to get a egg, cheese and avocado breakfast sandwich on a roll. I didn't eat all of the avocado's but gave most of them to my sister instead. The sandwich tasted great and the coffee was wonderful but it wasn't long before I had to make a run back to the room to use the facilities. I guess the breakfast sandwich was much greasier than I had initially thought! We all agreed it would be fun to bike out to the bluff's and have a picnic that day, so while I went back to the room everyone else picked out sandwich's for our picnic at a local grocery mart. I was nervous about the bike ride but it wasn't as long and painful as I had expected. I was still having a little bit of an upset stomach but luckily by the time we got to our destination it had pretty much passed. I think it had a lot to do with how beautiful everything was....it's hard to not feel well when everything around you is so healthy looking!
    We decided to hunker down on the beach to have our picnic and it was amazing. Besides what we would be eating we also brought a bottle of red wine and drank it on the beach. It's hard to describe how lovely the afternoon was on the beach with such wonderful company. It was terribly hard to leave but when we did we biked back to our rooms and then I took a shower while my fiancé took a nap. There was a place down by the main road which my fiancé wanted to try the beer at, since it was a brewery, so we went there after we got cleaned up. It was called "Mohegan Café & Brewery" and the beer was good but not great. We only stayed for a few drinks before moving on.
    We had to return the bike's before dinner so we did that and then we stopped by a petting zoo. My sister just loves seeing animals and it ended up being pretty neat for me as well. We saw a yak, a donkey, alpaca's, chicken's, a tortoise, a hare, kangaroo's, and even a Zedonk, which is a combination of a zebra and a donkey. Before going to our final dinner destination we stopped at a restaurant associated with a hotel called "Manisses". This was another fancier restaurant but instead of having dinner there we decided to just have drinks and share some appetizers. We had duck pot stickers and a cheese plate! For dinner that night we ate at a new restaurant on the island called "Kimberly's". It was neat because instead of normal bread they had corn bread on the table. We had fried oysters and calamari to start, then for dinner I had the blackened swordfish. The swordfish was very good but honestly the rest of the meal was a little lack luster. I really like places which serve a good marinara or spicy sauce with calamari and this place didn't really serve it with anything to dip it in, which was disappointing. They also ran out of crème brulee which was also frustrating! Not like I needed dessert after all that food:)
    Well I guess we all decided we wanted dessert because we ended up getting gelato at a place called "Aldo's Bakery". For the evening entertainment for that last night in town we decided to go to the "National Hotel", which had a live band. Well it wasn't really a band it was more like two guys with guitars. They weren't that bad and they were playing a lot of popular songs so we stayed there for the rest of the night. We spent some time in my sisters room before we went to sleep that night having a few night caps and laughing a lot. I must say I think I laughed more this vacation than I have in a very long time!
    Unfortunately, the next day we had to leave:( After getting up and taking a shower we met up for breakfast then took the high speed ferry back to the main land. I did a few minutes of shopping before breakfast because I wanted to grab a souvenir. I ended up getting a few Block Island coffee mugs. We decided it would be nice since we were so close to Newport, Rhode Island to spend the day there. Once we got off the ferry my sister and her husband took off for Newport and so did we. They were actually going to be staying in Newport for a few nights so they had to find lodging. They actually found lodgings for the next two nights before we even found a parking spot! Once we were all together again we ended up at a local bar called "The Midtown Oyster Bar". While we were there we also met up with a friend of my fiancé's, who was with his girlfriend and another mutual friend.
    After we had a few drinks at the oyster bar we headed to dinner at a terrific restaurant called "Scales & Shell's". There the table shared a bottle of wine, calamari, and mussels. The calamari was so delicious and it came with a  side of marinara! For my main course I had scallop marsala and a side salad. They didn't have many desserts but when I saw crème brulee I had to get it. I thought everyone at the table would help me eat it but I still ended up eating more of it than anyone else. We went to a place right across the street for one more drink before my fiancé's friend's left. Shortly after my fiancé and I made the walk back to the car with my sister and her husband. We actually did some window shopping before having one more drink prior to our departure. At this point in the night I was really wishing we had planned on staying one more night but we headed out anyway.
    We tried to stop at a hotel about an hour into the trip but they had no vacancies and I was thinking I didn't really want to spend the money on a hotel room for us just to sleep in one night anyway. I could tell that my fiancé was tired and really didn't want to make the long drive home but when I asked him if he could, he said yes. I was really kicking myself that I didn't stop drinking earlier because I would have just driven. We were both so tired when we arrived home around 2am but I was very grateful to be sleeping in my own bed! It was such a fun trip and I'm so glad that we got to go with my sister and her husband. We never get to spend that much time with them and we were thrilled that they shared there vacation with us! My sisters husband gets along great with my fiancé, which meant that my sister and I got a lot of quality time together. It was a very easy trip filled with tons of laughing and I'll be smiling about it forever:)
    My oldest sister was at my house because she came to visit my Mother yesterday so she had already made a pot of coffee this morning. It was nice waking up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee! Once we got out of bed my fiancé went to the store to get eggs so we could make everyone breakfast this morning. Actually, the only thing I did was chop the onions while my fiancé did the hard part which was making us delicious breakfast burritos with pepperoni! After breakfast I spent some time sorting through the laundry and soon after my fiancé ended up heading home:( I put a load of laundry in and then spent some time this afternoon talking to my Mother and sister. It was nice to be spending even more time with my family!
    My oldest sister left a little bit after 6pm and that's when I took my shower. My Mother wasn't really hungry for dinner but she made us both a salad, I also had a Lean Cuisine. After dinner I folded the first load of laundry and then put a second load in. For some reason I was surprised that there wasn't that much laundry but I keep forgetting that I was only gone for three nights. It's going to be so hard leaving for work tomorrow morning but I have to get back to it at some point! I'm going to have to get busy this week doing some wedding planning that's for sure. I started getting anxious about my dress because I read a website that said you need to order it 9 months in advance!
    I think one of the hardest things about going back to work is that just one day back and my OCD comes back in full force. I'm so much better about talking myself out of washing my hands when I'm not working. Unfortunately, when I go to work I just feel like everything is covered in germs and until I get my shower over with I can't settle down at all. Especially the spot I'll be working in this week:( It's just the biggest downsides of working in the health care field. Well, I guess I've definitely written enough for one night. Until next time.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty One.

    It was non-stop after I got up this morning at 9am. I was mostly concerned about getting to my follow up post surgery appointment which was at 11:15am. When I got out of bed I had a breakfast bar and then got myself ready to go out. Before my appointment I went to the drug store and got some supplies necessary for the trip. My appointment went pretty well so now I only have to see the doctor again if something bothers me. Actually, at first I was a little nervous because I mentioned the increase in pain I was having to my doctor but he said I probably just pulled a muscle. He says a lot of younger people tend to do that because they increase their activity too soon. Once my appointment was over I stopped into work to pick up my paycheck, then on the way home I dropped it off at the bank.
    When I got home my Mom was already at my house because she would be watching my dog for me while I am away. Within a few minutes of getting home myself, my fiancé arrived to my place from work and I got all of the last things I needed to bring packed. Then we were on our way! Our trip this time was to Block Island, Rhode Island and we had to take a ferry to get there. I was hoping that we would be able to make the high speed ferry which would leave at 4:40pm. I was driving and was mainly concerned with hitting traffic on the way but we only hit one area which didn't slow us down too much. We made one quick stop on the way to get gas and coffee but still managed to make the ferry on time. I was so relieved once we were on the ferry and when we got to Block Island my second to oldest sister arrived with her husband to pick us up!

    We didn't stay at the original place we had planned on because it ended up being a little too rustic for the price. I'm not going to mention the name of the place here! I was relieved to find out that my sister and her husband had taken care of the arrangements for different lodging before we arrived. I felt bad that they had to go through all of that planning but was very grateful! Once we put our things in the room we were off for some drinks at one of the local hotels overlooking the ocean called "Spring House Hotel". It was an absolutely fabulous view and an extremely wonderful margarita:) Afterwards we went to a place called "The Poor People's Pub" for dinner and I decided to try the BBQ pork pizza. It was terrific but I was scared to eat too much of it so my company helped me out with that! Before we went in for the night we went to another local inn, called "The Atlantic Inn" and had one more round of drinks. Everyone was pretty tired after that so we all went to bed!

 
   

Day Three Hundred and Twenty.

    I got up around 9:30am today because I went to bed so early last night. I decided that I could wait until after my hair appointment at 2pm to have coffee, so I made an Airborne to start my day. I also had a Fiber One bar. The first thing I did this morning was put a load of regular clothes in the laundry. Then I spent a long time on the internet searching all of the latest information about what's happening around the world. It's incredible, the state of the world right now, and it certainly has gotten me down. After getting up to date it was already lunch time and I had a Lean Cuisine for lunch, then it was time to get ready to go out for some errands.
    I got my hair done first and then I went to a few stores in the mall. I had to return the bikini bathing suit I had bought earlier this summer, because it was too big for me, so I exchanged that and bought a few other items instead. I had a gift certificate for another store in the mall, so I bought a new t-shirt there as well. On my way home I stopped at the food store, the dry cleaners, my fiancés eye doctors office to pick up his contact lenses, then finally Dunkin Donut's. I had my first coffee at 5pm and it finally gave me that spark I had been missing all day. I balanced my checkbook before I got all of the items I bought prepared for the washing machine then I put threw them in. Around that time it started storming really bad outside. My basement got a lot of water....so much so that I called my fiancé to see if he thought I should be cleaning it up. Luckily it didn't last long and I just wiped up the really deep areas with paper towels. Once I was done with that I took a shower then folded the laundry from earlier today right before I had my dinner, which was a Lean Cuisine.
    Between watching Barbara Stanwyck night on TCM and packing, my evening went by really fast. Tomorrow my fiancé and I are going on a mini vacation with my second to oldest sister and her husband, for a few days. It's very exciting that we're vacationing together and I definitely am in need of a trip away! I did a lot of work today between the laundry and preparing the house for my going away. I think that might have something to do with the fact that I'm having an increase in my post surgical pain. I haven't had it in a while and it was depressing today that it had come back but I can only contribute it to the fact that I'm over doing it. Luckily, I think that a vacation should definitely help things. Obviously, I also over washed my hands today between the laundry and all the miscellaneous cleaning I did around the house. Well, that's all I'm going to write about today. I can't say with certainty that I'm going to be able to write the next few nights but I'll do my best!
   

Day Three Hundred and Nineteen.

    Yesterday ended up being a long day because I didn't have my car at my fiancé's house, so I had to have him drop me off at my house before he went to work. We got up around 5:30am and unfortunately there was a huge accident on one of the major highways so instead of the drive taking about an hour it took about an hour and forty five minutes! I felt really bad because he knew his day was going to be long and it only made it worse by having to drop me off first! When I got home I made myself some coffee and put the blanket from my bed in the wash. I decided I would devote the day to cleaning the bed sheets since I haven't in a while and it's been driving me crazy.
    I unpacked my bag from my weekend journey and then proceeded to fall asleep on the couch until around 12pm. When I got up I put the blanket in the dryer then put my bed sheets in the wash. I also cleaned the downstairs bathroom as well as some minor organizing that I never have time to do during the work week. Finally, I took a shower then put a clean pair of bed sheets on the bed. The blanket was dry at that point so I brought that upstairs as well. My fiancé was coming over for dinner and he was given fresh green beans from a co-workers garden on Friday. So, I cleaned them up and got them ready for cooking. I also cut the squash, which his co-worker had also given him, then started marinating it in Caesar dressing. Once I got the sheets out of the dryer and folded I spent the time until my fiancé arrived reading "Gone With the Wind".
    For dinner we had turkey sausage and squash, which my fiancé made on the grill, while I cooked the green beans on the stove top. I didn't love the way the green beans came out but my fiancé thought they were pretty good. After dinner we watched a very depressing movie with Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson called "Out of the Furnace". The acting was very good but it was one of those movies which didn't really explain a lot and your left feeling confused about the ending. Instead of staying up I went to bed with my fiancé so I would be able to get up early today. Between the laundry and the house cleaning I did, my hands got washed a lot, but luckily they don't look dry at this point. It helps that I'm not working this week because the soap at work is way stronger. Well until later!
   
   

Day Three Hundred and Eighteen.

    Where to start? Due to the fact that it's been three days since I've last blogged I probably won't go into exhausting detail about any one particular day. I got up early Friday morning because I had my annual eye appointment and I wanted to shower first. Also, my older sisters were going to be stopping by and I wanted to be mostly ready for work prior to them arriving. I figured that way I could spend more time with them. After my appointment I came home and balanced my checkbook. Shortly after my oldest sister arrived and we took a drive to my dogs veterinary clinic so I could get  some more flea/tick medicine for her. Then we grabbed lunch and brought it back to my house. My second to oldest sister didn't show up until almost 2:30pm so I really didn't get to spend much time with her:( Before I knew it I had to go to work.
    It wasn't that busy of an evening but for some reason it got steadier as the night went on which is always annoying because your tired by that point I didn't eat dinner at work because my fiancé was going to grab us a few slices of pizza, so I was saving up for that! I left work right on time and was very glad when the night was over because I was ready to be on vacation:) My fiancé was waiting for me with pizza and champagne! We decided it would be a nice night to celebrate our engagement with champagne. We were up fairly late conversing and listening to music online.
    We had to get up early on Saturday because we had gotten a group of friends together to spend the day at the track. My fiancé ended up driving my dog to his house then getting a ride to the track from his Brother. While I got a ride to the track from a co-worker of mine. When we met up it was about 1pm and it was a very fun day. It was hard to resist all the good food but I didn't think it was the place to try anything too crazy. I did indulge in a soft pretzel and some beer. Afterwards we went out to a restaurant for dinner with our friends then grabbed some drinks after. Everyone was pretty tired at that point so we called it an early night!
    Today we went to my fiancé's parent's camp to have brunch with them and spend the day with the family. My fiancé's Grandparents are also visiting from Florida so it was nice spending time with them too! It was an interesting brunch consisting of grapes, asparagus, scrambled eggs, spicy bean sprouts, mini taco rolls and yogurt. I was scared to eat the bean sprouts because they were so spicy and the taco rolls were very spicy as well. I ended up eating a lot of grapes! When we were done with brunch we went down by the lake and sat in the sun for a while. It was nice because my fiancé's Grandparents joined us and we even went out on the paddle boat with his Grandmother. It's amazing that they are both over 90 years old and still do so much! They have lived a very healthy life style and it has obviously had a great effect on their aging.
    For dinner we had spaghetti with sausage and sauce, green beans, salad and croissant rolls. I tried not to over do it with the spaghetti and only had two small chunks of sausage. I tried to just eat a lot of the green beans instead of going back for pasta seconds but I did have two croissant rolls:( It was really special because after dinner we watched some old videos of my fiancé as a child. He was so cute and I just loved watching them! For dessert we had cookies and some fancy German chocolate. I ate half of a cookie and two squares of the chocolate. I'm feeling a little nervous because I think I definitely over ate this weekend which upsets me because I am finally starting to notice some weight loss.
    I'm so glad to be on vacation and I have a lot I want to do this week. A lot of what I have to get done is cleaning around the house and I hope I'm feeling up to it. I didn't have a lot of time to get too obsessive with the hand washing this weekend so that is good! I was pleasantly surprised after eating the pizza Friday night that I didn't have any sudden stomach issues but I did have some the next morning. I also had some issues when I first woke up this morning as well. It was probably due to the fact that I over indulged in beer. At least when I have these issues it's been happening the next day, not instantaneously like I thought would happen. Alright well I'm going to good to bed now!

Day Three Hundred and Seventeen

    This is the longest that I've not updated my blog since I started it. I'm very sorry but I was so tired last night and feel the same now. I will definitely write a detailed entry of the past couple of days tomorrow....God Willing:)