Thanksgiving

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I had to work through Wednesday. This turned out well because my scans were scheduled for Tuesday with my follow up appointment on Wednesday. The start of my great holiday came when I found out that not only am I still stable but one of the nodules has continued to shrink!!! I'm so relieved. I was very relaxed for this re staging. I'm normally very nervous, anxious and can't sleep. But this time I was so calm. I even had trouble getting up Wednesday morning, I just wanted to stay in bed because I was sleeping so well. Maybe because it's been almost two years since anything really serious has shown up. I also think it is because I have increased my Bikram yoga practice to (I try) every other day. It just helps me stay calm. My life is so much more balanced when I practice like I'm supposed to.



Melvinn and I met in North Carolina to visit his mother for Thanksgiving. It was really nice to meet her, his step dad and his little sister. I'm so happy that I got a chance to meet with them before the wedding. We had a feast for dinner....chicken, turkey, fried chicken wings, greens, green beans, macaroni and cheese, rolls, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, several cakes and pies. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, there was just so much great food.



Before dinner we held hands, his little sister blessed the food and then his mom suggested that we each go around and say what we are thankful for. It was so touching. I often think to myself what I am thankful for but it's so powerful to say it out loud. I hope to continue this tradition with Melvinn each year, even if it's just the two of us and the chihuahua.



I really enjoyed my time there. It was 4 days of much needed rest and relaxation. It was also the longest I have seen my fiance since he moved. While I loved being there and eating all kinds of crazy delicious foods I don't normally indulge in, it was very nice to get back to Houston to my green juice, salads, and yoga.

Engagement Pictures

A few of our engagement pictures from our session in October. Photos by Sharon Nicole Photography.

Happy Halloween!

I'm not sure what's going on with the little tiny pictures. Hopefully I can fix it soon. I have been busy working and wedding planning. We are planning for February and then as long as everything is ok with my scans I will be joining Melvinn in RI in March! He has a temporary assignment so I will only be up there for about a year and a half. Just enough time to fully explore New England. Wedding planning is interesting. For something I have wanted to do for so long, it's honestly not as fun as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it, but it started off a little stressful. Now that I have learned to just smile and shake my head when people give me their opinions and not really listen : ) I am doing much better.

Some pictures from my last 2 trips to RI:

the capital

Providence

Pond behind our house

Crab soup or stew or something. It was good!

Pretty cobblestone.

In pictues....

This couple is the reason we went to North Carolina 3 weeks ago. They are Melvinn's friends. Now they are my friends. I had a great time and I LOVE NC.

Road side fruit stand in NC. Only place like this sell fresh boiled peanuts. Mel tasted one for the first time. He pretended as if he didn't like them but I think he secretly did because he kept letting me feed him more.

Fried pickles before out BBQ came out.

Adorable little place that we ate lunch at before heading to the airport to leave NC. They had yummy things like fried zuchinni and squash and portabello mushroom burgers.

A small local taco/burrito place we ate the first night in NC. Very fresh ingredients, I enjoyed.

Where Mel taught his first and last year of school.

All this food came from one entree.

Mac's BBQ

This is ca cute place we went to after tacos the first night. It's a hybrid between a deli and fancy convenient store with unique wine and beer sold in the bottles and cases and a bar. After you buy you can just march right outside and eat or drink while listening to a dj. Oh and all of this was under a beautiful apple tree.

About 5 weeks ago I went to see Mel in Minnesota. He was there for 2 weeks for work. These are our tired feet after running all over the Mall of America.

Amusement park in the mall. Nice touch.

Yay!!!!

The mall is full of great restaurants.

My yucky IV. The week right after we were engaged I had started to have chest pain. I had a CT scan and everything is still stable. Still having occasional pain but it seems to just be post surgical. Needless to say I was very worried.

My mocha barium cocktail before my scan.

My pretty ring. We are planning for February. I will never roll my eyes again when I hear a girl talking about how hard it is to plan a wedding. It really is. It's fun and I'm sure worth it, but even for a small one it's a lot of work.

My life in pictures

He put a ring on it. I'm engaged!!!!

He just refuses to take a normal picture, but I love him regardless

Sisters


True love is matching cell phones ; ) The EVO has changed our lives forever

Galveston part deux

Just beacuse you are at the beach doesn't mean you have to eat crap.

Fabulous

I got my first haircut last week since my hair has grown back, to calm the curls. I kind of miss this look.

Georgia

Pictures from my trip down South

My first homemade cake!

Fresh boiled peanuts, I wish I could get these in Texas

Ole Times Country Restraunt with Grandma


I went to Georgia 2 weeks ago and received some much needed relaxation. I enjoyed spending time with my Grandma, she is 90 and full of so much wisdom. She is still in good health and very feisty so she can be quite entertaining. I love it when she tells me stories about my mom. It amazes me that my mom doesn't want me to do certain things, for example, moving out of the house a few months ago, but not only did she do the same thing at a younger age, she left her home state! I have had my Grandma's recipe for pound cake for a while but never built up the courage to try it myself. See, I've never made a cake from scratch. Well we had some free time and I was with the cake master so I gave it a shot with her watching me and giving me directions. Glad she was there because even with instructions I would have messed it up. It turned out to be a delicious cake, she said the best she had ever tasted ; ) I felt so domestic, can't wait to try other cake recipes.

Last week was really hard. Mel was offered a promotion in Rhode Island and he took it. I'm very proud of him for getting a promotion and a better job offer but of course I'm upset about us having to be apart. We have figured out a plan, hopefully seeing each other 1-2 a month. He doesn't have to be up there until September so I am going to fully enjoy our last few weeks together in the same city for a while.

July 4th

I had a great July 4th weekend. Even though my job didn't recognize Monday as a holiday and I really did only get a two day weekend, it was still great. Last year I was getting chemo on the 4th so really it didn't take a lot to impress me this year. Mel and I went to Dallas and I met his dad, step mom, big brother, big brother's girlfriend, little brother, and little sister for the first time. I really enjoyed it. We relaxed, watched movies and ate yummy food all weekend, driving back home from Dallas Sunday night we even got to see several fireworks shows along the way. It was really a great weekend.

Our family photo after church.