Back from vacation

I’m back! Tan, relaxed (until I saw the number of email messages in my inbox), and a teensy bit sick. CP and I had a wonderful week in the Dominican Republic. I’m hoping to get all of the pictures together tonight so that I can post them later this week.

In a nutshell, our trip was….

Spent with friends. The groom was CP’s fraternity brother and roommate. He decided to invite a lot of their fraternity to the wedding and was surprised by the large number of people that accepted. Despite the fact that CP and I went to the same small university and even had mutual friends, I had only met the guys that came to our wedding. So I met a large number of people that I never knew in college. It was pretty crazy.

A fun destination wedding. It wouldn’t have worked for us but it is a GREAT idea. What a fun way to celebrate your big day with friends AND have a great honeymoon.

Lots of drinking. The resort was an all-inclusive, so while the food wasn’t stellar, the free alcohol was great for the wallet. We showed up to our hotel room and we had a minibar stocked with beer (Presidente), soda, and water. On the top of the minibar was four half bottles of liquor- whiskey, vodka, a Baileys-like cream liquor, and rum. We broke into that immediately. Other wedding guests brought inflatable Beirut tables for the pools. The resort featured two swim up bars (LOVE LOVE LOVE) and 11 or 12 bars throughout the property. My liver still hurts.

Amazingly nice people. Unlike the people in the Bahamas who seemed put out most of the time you asked them a question, the people in the DR are the complete opposite. I’m sure that it is drilled into their heads that customer service is key, but they genuinely seemed happy and not put out in the least bit. This wasn’t just at the resort…this included people at the dive shop, people on our booze cruise, etc.

Amazing beaches. The sand was white and the water was turquoise. It was the perfect temperature to lay out and the water was warm enough to cool you off. If it was too windy to sit on the beach, there were a bunch of pools on the resort that had free cabanas all day every day and plenty of chairs.

Good scuba diving. We did a day of diving off of Saona Island and both dives were fantastic. Lots of different things to see- eels, lots of different fish, sea urchin, colorful coral, etc. After our two dives we had a two hour drive back to our hotels so the dive company plied us with rum and cokes and beer for a party bus ride home. It was great.

Sickness. Like in Mexico, you aren’t allowed to drink the water. The resort, the dive shop, etc. all provided bottled water 24/7 (it KILLED me to not be able to fill up the water bottles and reuse them- arrrggh!) so I have no idea how CP and I (and some other wedding guests) came down with the DR’s version of Montezuma’s revenge. In fact, I am still feeling the effects of it….along with a nasty cold. Booo.

Stymied by the resort. CP and I agreed that we are very happy that we went, but in general, it is not our type of vacation. I wanted to see the National Park but our tour operator didn’t have an excursion there and it was recommended that we only use the tour operator that booked our airport transfers. We didn’t want to rent a car because the DR had crazy drivers. I’m sure we could have gotten there somehow, but we were a bit too lazy to figure it out. We did do a dune buggy excursion which ended up sucking because the trip just took you to a beach (which was beautiful) where you had to stay in the water or get hassled to buy something, a place where they make coffee and hot chocolate (where you get hassled to buy something) and a cave with a dipping pool which was cool, but once again you got hassled into buying something. Then of course CP drove into cow poop and it splatted all over us. Gross. We also would have liked to get off the property and into some local restaurants but that’s not entirely possible either. Everything around us was a resort.

Overall, it was a great vacation. Despite the last two paragraphs we had a great time. It was great to come home, pick up the dogs and then have the entire weekend to get ready for the work week.

How have you been (I’m still working through my Reader!)?

The State of NSC- February 2012

FYI: Google Friend Connect won’t work for any non-blogger based blogs starting today!

A monthly take on my world.

Weight: 212.5 (Ugh. Must COMMIT to doing something about this when we get back from vacation!)

Current Feeling: Excitement for our Punta Cana trip- we leave tomorrow!

Running Stats
Total Miles Run: 8 miles
Time Spent Running: 1 hour, 46 minutes, 2 seconds
Longest Single Run: 3.32 miles

Current aches and pains: I don’t want to totally jinx myself, but my plantar fasciitis is feeling pretty good these days. I think that my Newton running shoes are helping. I’m sure that it also helps that I have only run 8 miles the past month (yikes!).

Current Favorite Song: International Love- Pitbull*

Looking forward to: Other than 80 degree weather every day for the next week? ;-)

Annoyed about: The fact that I didn’t ovulate this month. I had a spike three days ago in my temperature but then it plummented back down. I’m on day 18 which means that this was not a good month. I hope that this doesn’t foreshadow ovulation problems in the future…. I was pretty regular prior to my surgery.

Proud about: Keeping my sh*t together at work while working really long hours. I haven’t allowed the stress to get to me- the bottle of wine I shared with a friend last Thursday after a 12 hour day might have helped!

How are you feeling with the start of this new month?

*However, I hate that this song features Chris Brown.

Pinterest

Every day more and more of my friends are joining Pinterest. I was annoyed at having to get an invite, and still think that having to get an invite to join the website is silly, but I’m glad that I did. I annoy CP on a daily basis by showing him something I found on Pinterest…a new recipe, a piece of furniture for our sunroom, DIY crafts, etc.

Not everything that you find on Pinterest works. For instance, I showed CP a picture of a coffee table made out of two skids. His comment was, “That will never work. They use the crappiest wood for skids and even if you sanded them there would be all kinds of splinters and it would never hold anything.” Point taken. I’m glad that I have him around for some logical thinking because otherwise I was starting to get excited about the new coffee table I was going to make! Ha.

So far I have mainly made food off of Pinterest. Here are my comments in case you would like to pin these items.

Sock bun/ Curly Hair Without Heat

(Me with my sock bun)

I tried out this technique one night when bored (see picture above). The video at the end of the post was easy to follow and sure enough I had a sock bun (which I loved as a hairstyle- will definitely be doing it again). The next morning when I took the bun out though, my hair was nice and curly but too poofy. I blame this on the fact that the tutorial tells you to put it high on your head. I will try this again with it lower on my head.

Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread

I made this recipe for the Superbowl- but without pepperoni. The recipe was pretty good (I used Whole Foods pre-made pizza dough), but would have liked a little more flavor. The outside pieces of monkey bread were great because you brush the outside of the pan with garlic butter, but the inside were kind of dull (despite the fact that I brushed them with the garlic butter as well). I would probably not make this again.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Delicious. I would definitely make this again. I took it to a party and everyone loved it!

Caramel Brownies

The overall brownie taste was good, but somehow my brownie texture was more like fudge than a brownie. I did use pre-made caramel sauce from Whole Foods so that might have been my issue. My coworkers LOVED these despite the not-quite-right texture.

Skinny Spinach Macaroni bites

The idea of putting healthier mac and cheese (with spinach to up the healthy factor) into a muffin tin is a good one…but the mac and cheese didn’t have a lot of flavor. I would not make this again.

2 Minute Salted Caramel Mug Cake

Last but certainly not least, the mug cake. One night CP declared that he wanted dessert. This doesn’t happen very often so I was shocked. He suggested going for ice cream; I suggested that he help me try out this fast recipe. I made sure that I had all of the ingredients and ended up making the salted caramel chocolate mug cake (I substituted white chocolate chips for the salted caramel pieces). OMG. I couldn’t believe that it worked but after two minutes in the microwave, there it was: a delicious, moist, and gooey chocolate cake that I whipped up in minutes. In hindsight finding this post was probably a bad idea because I know that I have the ingredients on hand and will make the cake again!

Have you pinned anything good recently? Leave the link in the comments so that I can check it out!

*All images taken from Pinterest (other than my hair picture)*

Almost time for some SUN

Next week by this time CP and I will have landed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I can’t wait! This vacation has totally snuck up on me (like the Bahamas trip did). Maybe because I am getting older and time seems to be flying by?

The first weekend will be all wedding-related activities. This is our first destination wedding outside the US and I’m glad that we were able to swing it! We are looking forward to a welcome dinner, the wedding, a boat cruise, etc. But instead of leaving after all of the wedding activities are over, CP and I decided that we would stay for an entire week so that we had time to scuba dive and explore!

Overall this trip is probably going to be less expensive than the Bahamas because everything is included. We are going to be staying at the Majestic Elegance which according to their website is a 5-star resort. A bottle of champagne along with four bottles of liquor await us in our room. Last I looked the temperature will be 80 degrees.

I CAN'T WAIT.

*We are simply not going to think or talk about the fact that I have to meet some of CP's friends at a very, very bad weight. And that these same people are going to see me in a bathing suit. And most likely see my flabby, gross arms in my sleeveless wedding attire. *sigh*

Thank goodness for a random Monday holiday!

UGH. It’s already Wednesday, I don’t have anything planned after work this whole week and yet I am feeling exhausted and beat up. Boooo. And this is only my second day at work this week!

· Saturday morning I woke up to do a stair workout with a friend. We did 10 sets of an outside 87-stair amphitheatre. The race we have in late March is 688 stairs but we want to be ready! In other good news my friend and I have both raised over $500 (there is a $100 minimum) which means we will be invited to the VIP after party. Woo hoo!
· I then had a glorious hour in New York & Company shopping for myself. CP and I have ourselves on a strict clothing budget ($150/month) which we generally don’t use every month. But it had been a while since I went shopping and I needed a few work clothes. I found some really cute tops and the buy 1 get 1 free pants event is always great.

I bought this polka-dot shirt (I LOVE polka dots!) in black.

I got this shirt and a matching red cardigan. I'm wearing it today!

I got this shirt in blue to put under a couple of suit jackets.

· CP and I spent most of Saturday afternoon cooking/baking for each other. My new favorite cookbook is Cook’s Illustrated. We get the monthly magazine but last year they compiled 900+ pages of recipes into an amazing cookbook. It was a GREAT Christmas present for CP. That night we feasted on braised lamb shanks, creamy polenta, and broccoletti. For dessert I made a classic fresh fruit tart. The custard alone was to die for. I will definitely make it again (despite the fact that the actual tart shell took a long time to make).

Yes the raspberries are shaped like a heart. I am a dork.

· Sunday we spent time at the CT dog show with friends, then tired the dogs out at a local state park.
· Monday I had a glorious day off from work so Buster and I and met a friend and her dog for a hike. (Fuzzy Britches was a little sore and tired from her day on Sunday so she kept CP company while he worked.) Our 2+ hour hike was refreshing and Buster was beat afterwards because he was racing around the woods most of the time with his friend.

Buster on our hike

· Other than that….I’m stuck coming into work all this week and next week because my coworker is out having surgery on her knee. I'm crossing my fingers that I can go back to working from home two days a week after we get back from vacation. I am going to miss working in sweatpants. In addition, I am doing most of my coworkers work so it makes for very busy days and I’m forecasting some late nights.

....and I have no conclusion for this post. :-)

*I was not compensated for the products in this post. All opinions are mine.*

Am I being too sensitive?

After getting my period yesterday, I suddenly felt hopeful once again. Things are starting to get back on track with trying to conceive. I want to continue to hold on to that hope. I don’t want to have wild hopes of getting pregnant the first month back on the wagon, but positive thinking can’t hurt. Was the surgery all that we needed to get rid of our infertility obstacles? I’m not entirely convinced that it was, but who knows?

Our plan has changed slightly on the IUI. We are a little skittish in trying an IUI this month after it took so long for my period to come back. We only have three IUIs covered under our insurance plan so I don’t want to “waste” one when I may not even ovulate this month. So, I have started to track my temperatures once again and hopefully I will not only ovulate, but also have a normal luteal cycle (thanks to my trusty B6 pills), AND a regular 28 day cycle. Cross your fingers!! If all goes well and we don’t conceive naturally this month, late March will be our first IUI.

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While I have positive thinking and positive thoughts running through me again, something that I saw yesterday on Facebook stopped me in my tracks. A family friend of CP’s that comes to family functions posts a lot of articles on lactation, as she is a lactation consultant. CP has already warned me that if we get pregnant we should probably hide it from her because she is a little nuts (she cornered my friend at my bridal shower who just gave birth two weeks beforehand because she wasn’t breastfeeding). She is the same woman that posted the birthing video of a woman using dolphins as “aquatic midwives” (if you have been reading me that long).

Anyway, the article she posted is how c-sections may hurt premies. Her comment? Nature designed babies to be squeezed out, not pulled out. On the face of that, I completely agree. Natural births are how we were intended to have babies. I too have watched The Business of Being Born and think that the rise in c-sections in this country is scary. But maybe the rise in c-sections is not simply because women want to schedule their births and then get a tummy tuck afterwards. Maybe the rise is due to more people like me having to go to fertility doctors and have surgery to remove endo, cysts, or fibroids in order to get pregnant….then destined to have c-sections.

In general, why do women have premies? Usually because there is something wrong with the pregnancy- an infection, bleeding, etc. So I would think that while it would be nice to say you don’t want to have a c-section with a premie, if there is an emergency, wouldn’t you rather get the baby out and alive? I don’t know the answers as I am clearly not a doctor.

I guess I took offense to the fact that I assume that she is going to think that I am a bad person for having a c-section instead of a vaginal delivery, despite having a reason for it. Or maybe I took offense because I am still sad that I will never be able to have a natural childbirth. Either way- am I just being too sensitive?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

I got the best V-day present ever- MY PERIOD!!! Okay, so it’s not the best present ever and it makes for an unromantic evening, but still YAY!!!!!!!!!!! Double YAY to the fact that it seems to be back to what I consider my “normal” period- no seriously heavy flow days and no big clots. TMI? Sorry. Here’s hoping now that the endo and the fibroid are gone it stays that way! Actually, best case scenario is that I don’t get it again for at least another 10+ months, but that might be pushing my luck! :-)

So I finished my 10 days of Provera, the progesterone that was supposed to jump start my period. The prescription information said that I would likely start my period within 3-7 days of starting the medicine. When I finished the pills and saw nothing, I waited another day then called my doctor. I guess it depends on the woman, but it can take up to two weeks after finishing the 10 days of pills to get your period. Good to know.

In real V-day news, CP and I won’t be doing anything romantic tonight. I am hosting a fondue party tomorrow so we are going to tidy up the house and have a delicious, but unremarkable dinner. Saturday will be our celebration dinner. I’ll be making some sort of pie or tart for dessert and CP is going to make rack of lamb. Not sure of the sides or even how he is going to do the lamb (I did request no mint jelly-ewww), but that’s the plan. I’m looking forward to it!

What are you doing this Valentine’s day?