Reiki-ssage & Valentine's Day

Once again I've been the biggest slacker when it comes to blogging.  Maybe nothing has been blog-worthy lately, but as of today, something has.  

After my procedure a few weeks ago, my doc recommended something called Reiki.  She called me a week or so later with a few Reiki Master's in our area.  Of course I Googled it immediately wondering what exactly it was, & I was skeptical, but at this point I'm willing to try anything to get pregnant, no matter how far fetched it may seem, or be.  I called Tina Dittle at Therapeutic Massage & Reiki Pros & set up an appointment for today.  I was nervous about going, but I have a pretty open mind & was looking forward to an hour of relaxation if nothing else.  She was absolutely amazing & gave me a couple of different perspectives on how we could approach getting pregnant, things that we may not have thought of at this point.  Also, the obvious things like trying not to stress & having fun with it.  I would highly recommend a Reiki-ssage to anyone who is just looking to relax & de-stress.  She started off by doing a gentle relaxing massage to help channel energy, followed by Reiki-reflex which is a massaging of the arms, legs, hands, and feet.  The intentions of these touches is to basically allow the flow of circulation and balance with relaxation.  The room was so warm, she had me under several blankets, face down at first, then face up for the reflexology, calming music was playing, it was dark, very tranquil, the perfect environment for relaxing.  She said to remember that things don't usually happen over night & to come back if I felt like I needed more practice in relaxing & relieving stress.  I am optimistic that this practice will help me worry less about the pressure of trying to get pregnant.  Once again... fingers crossed.

What's everyone's plans for Valentine's Day?  Since it falls on a Thursday, I doubt we will do much to celebrate.  Valentine's Day is a little more significant for us because it's the day that Joe proposed on, two years ago (I can't believe that was two years ago already!).  And we've always celebrated our "dating" anniversary on Valentine's Day even though it''s a couple of weeks before, we never could figure out an actual day that we started dating, it was at the end of January in 2008, but Valentine's Day is close enough.  Joe doesn't like to have two anniversaries, but I think it's an important one to recognize.  This will be our 6th Valentine's Day, & our 5 year anniversary, with many many more to come!  

Valentine's Day 2011

Valentine's Day 2012 (no pic of my jean jacket)

I already have a gift for Joe.  Men can be hard to shop for.  My go to gift when I am just stuck and can't come up with anything creative is a bottle of Joe's favorite whiskey, Booker's.  Which is not what he's getting this time around (if he's reading this).  It's $50 a bottle so I don't consider that a daily drink, that's what Busch Light is for.  Last year I got Joe Eric Church concert tickets, he got me a Guess jean jacket (he will never top Valentine's Day 2011 when he proposed!)  I try to be somewhat creative or at least not obvious, I"m usually pretty good at coming up with things that he isn't expecting.  The most important thing to do on Valentine's Day is just to celebrate how in love you are with the person you're in love with.  It's definitely not about the gifts or the Hallmark cards, of course you love your husband or wife every day, you say "I love you" every day, but take an extra moment to bask in that saying & what it means!  Reflect on how great your life is & how great it is to have the people in it that you do that you love.  I love this quote from Jack Kerouac: 

I hope everyone has an amazing Valentine's Day!  We are going to Peoria to see the Jersey Boys on Saturday and probably hitting up Burger Barge for a romantic date!  

Random Ramblings...

Today I had a procedure done to make sure that my tubes are clear and that there is nothing blocking them.  It turned out well which I was so happy to hear, spill on both the left and the right & everything looks good.  It was hella uncomfortable when they injected me with the contrast, but I’m glad I had it done, now we know that we are both completely capable & it’s up to us to make it happen.  Fingers crossed (once again) for baby!

words to live by

Picked up the Escape on Tuesday, dropped it back off Wednesday to get EnviroGuard-ed, and picked her back up today.  I absolutely love it & I’m so glad I decided to get it.  It’s completely exceeding my expectations, & who knows maybe I’ll end up buying it once my lease is up… or maybe I’ll end up with a the 2016 model J

Tried an amazing recipe from Pinterest last night, the best one I’ve made in awhile, herb crusted chicken in basil cream sauce.  I’ve actually found a lot of successful recipes via Pinterest.  The one I made last night can be found here.  What I decided to do is create a new pin board called “Dinner this Week” that way when I’m scrolling through the 445 recipes that I have pinned making up my grocery list, I can repin the recipes I am planning on making to that board.  Sometimes it can take forever to find or even remember the recipes that I was planning on using so this will definitely help me when it comes time to cook dinners.

Super pumped that Justified started last week & Archer starts tonight.  Two of my favorite FX shows, Justified is probably my favorite show on TV, even better than SOA.  I’ve also been watching Parenthood on Netflix & I started Scrubs which was/is still one of my favorite TV shows of all time.  Thank god for DVR and Netflix, best creations ever.

Timothy Olyphant is GORG.

Archer is just fuckin funny, watch it!

We have a ski trip planned for the first weekend in February in Galena where we went for our one year anniversary.  We’re staying at Chestnut Resort which is where we did the fun slide back in September.  I plan to spend time at the bar, watching my friends ski.  I definitely won’t be skiing due to my knee injury, but there are a few other couples going with us and we are all totally looking forward to it.  I can’t wait to hang out downtown Galena drinking at the Galena Brewery & having black and blues at Benjamin’s, our favorite bar downtown. 

all kinds of drinks!

the slides at Chestnut!  Only during the summer... 

Oh yeah and only 134 more days til’ the cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

counting my blessings

This week has been a great one, 2013 is really starting to prove to be great so far, although we’re only 12 days in so many great things have been happening I’m on cloud 9, which reminded me of how important it is to count my blessings & not take things for granted.

First bit of good news came on Wednesday, Joe dropped a sample of his “boys” as he so delicately puts it, right before we left for North Dakota & we found out Wednesday that he’s all good, good count,  & good mobility/motility (I hope he doesn’t kill me for publishing this information).  So we are both completely fine & just need to keep trying for a baby.  I am trying to just keep focused on the present & I’m relieved that we both are healthy & capable.

Second, our cruise for Joe’s 30^th is finally booked!  We’re taking an NCL cruise to Bermuda May 30^th through June 7^th.  This actually happens to fall right before MY birthday which is June 8^th, Joe’s isn’t until June 22^nd, but prices were better the week we ended up booking, & Joe isn’t too concerned about the dates.  Our friends Jessica & Mike are going with us & we are so excited.  We get to fly into Boston on the 30^th, which none of us have ever been to, so we are definitely looking forward to that.  Making a stop at Cheers for sure!  I can’t wait to see the pink sand and the turquoise waters in Bermuda.  The unique thing about our itinerary is that we port in Bermuda at Kings Wharf for three days, so there’s less of a time crunch than we typically get when we sail.  This is definitely going to be a highlight of 2013. 

Third, is that I’m 99% sure that I’m going to lease a new 2013 Ford Escape.  I’ve never leased before, but every day on the radio I hear a guy at Bill Walsh Honda of Ottawa talk about how awesome leasing is now.  Basically you pay for about 50% of what the car is worth for 39 months rather than buying the car for full price.  After the three years is up you can either finance the rest of what the car is worth & buy it, or you can trade it in for something new.  If you’re like me and you go through vehicles about every three years, leasing seems like it’s definitely the way to go.  Then you’re always getting the newest version of the car of your choosing for half of its worth.  This Escape is amazing.  What I loved most was the touch screen navigation system & the remote start.  What Joe loved most about it was the park assist which he actually tried.  I was too scared.  The car scans for a parking spot when you’re trying to parallel park & it parks for you, the car tells you to let go of the steering wheel, all you do is use the break to ease into the spot.  I honestly doubt I would ever use it, but it’s an option on the one we’re getting.  It was pretty amaze-balls. 

So many amazing things happening in our lives right now.  We went to Bianchi’s for pizza last night since we were in Ottawa and just talked about how lucky we are & how many nice things we have.  We have a house over our heads, we have food on the table, we both have well-paying jobs that allow us to live the way that we do, pretty comfortably.  We have some great material things like nice vehicles, two motorcycles, nice clothes, the newest technology, but we also have wonderful, involved, & supportive families & so much love for each other, which is much more important than any new car or iphone.  But it is nice to be able to treat ourselves to some nice things for all the hard work we do.  We have so much to be thankful for.  

I'll leave you with this, it's very humbling.