Myrtle Beach Monday

My camera battery ran out of power before I uploaded all pix from today, but I added some more to the Myrtle Beach 2009 album.

• Woke up at 5:30am, then 7. It was thunderstorming! We had cereal and I went back to bed again and slept til noon (I haven't slept this much in ages)
• Went to K&W for lunch: turkey and dressing, cranberry sauce, soft roll.
• Since it was still raining, went to an outlet center and did some shopping.
• Went mini-golfing once the weather cleared at the SpyGlass. Like yesterday's course, this was a course we had never played before. It was pretty nice. Lots of stairs and uneven surfaces for my knees, but overall it was a great course.
  
• Had Krispy Kreme donuts as a snack.
• Had Cracker Barrel for dinner: vegetable soup, grilled chicken tender sandwich.
• Went to Books a Million and looked at and bought some magazines.
• Came back and I had another nap while Pete did the morning dishes.

About to take the first sip:

and it was good:

Lazy Sunday in Myrtle Beach

First off, I forgot to include in last night's bullet list the following:

• We saw a young lady intentionally moon her friends (and everyone else) while in the surf.
• Someone did set off fireworks last night right in front of our hotel; let's file that under "some things never change"
  

We had quite a lazy Sunday in Myrtle Beach today.

• Saw the sun rising over the ocean this morning
• Ate cereal here and then I went back to sleep (Pete is envious of my sleep--now he's the one having a hard time sleeping at night)
• Had Shoney's breakfast buffet for lunch
• Spent the afternoon on the beach, including maybe 15 minutes in the surf, which was pretty warm, slightly rough, and definitely a bit hard on my knees. I read another part of a book about back pain (will save that for another post)
  
• Had K&W fried spaghetti, soft roll, broccoli and potato salad for dinner
• Played a round of mini-golf that was really enjoyable as it was after dinner and not too hot. As for my back, I was fine for leaning over the club to putt. I'd drop the ball to the green and use my foot to position it for the initial putt. Pete would then pick the ball up out of the cup for me. The system seemed to work well. My knees handled the uneven terrain ok-ish. My left knee is annoyed but not too bad. My back hasn't been feeling too bad.
  
• Had ice cream, yum.
• Sat out on the balcony.

Now it will soon be time for bed!!




At the grocery store...Dr. Perky store-brand soda. No, we didn't buy it.

Myrtle Beach 2009

We actually chose the Riverview over the picnic place. Now we're trying to decide between the Riverview and the White Sands (actual on the beach wedding, ceremony and reception in same place, and has a motel attached to boot). We'll see.

But now we're in Myrtle Beach! Highlights so far:

• Pete saying he hopes they serve a "coma" on the plane, before we take off.

• Watching the people deplane from their Honolulu flight at Newark airport, in their Hawaiian garb, carrying Hawaiian stuff.
• Going grocery shopping at Food Lion and we both thought we saw Jon Gosselin.
• Being called "Ma'am" by everyone.
• Hearing Southern accents again.

Here's something you won't be seeing at our wedding (in the parking lot of Food Lion):


What's on tv:

I took some other pix, in our new Myrtle Beach 2009 album. but I doubt I'll be uploading many of them, it takes forever to upload pix here at the condo.

Vote now!!

In yesterday's posting, I should have called Pete's "proof of concept" table name cards a muslin, right??

We are finally packed for Myrtle Beach. Hopefully Tropical Storm Danny won't interfere with our travel.

Tonight we decided between the Oak Tree Lodge and the Riverview. Isn't it like House Hunters? Which one did they choose? The outdoor picnic place with mini golf, hamburgers and hot dogs, and plenty of room to roam? Or the banquet hall with a view of the marina and a brunch menu, but smaller space? Vote now!!

Flower fun

The Tuesday Princeton Farmer's Market is great. I buy flowers there every week.
I finally brought my camera to work today to take some pix of the fuzzy sunflowers and black eyed susans I bought this week.

I thought the picture had been taken:


Then we took it again. This is what I was going for:

But my eyes look too big. So I tried it with the black eyed susans:


Here's what Pete calls the "proof of concept" for our table cards. Instead of table numbers, we're having table names. This will rock out in colorful paper, with our wedding logo. The island is cut out of the paper on the fold (if that makes any sense). We're going to use Hawaiian town names (so from this one, will come the Volcano, Hilo, and Kona tables--they are all towns on the Big Island of Hawaii, as pictured here.)

Tonight we pre-pack for Myrtle Beach! Whee!

x-ray report

Tonight's inspirational reading is from my x-ray report. I'm going to ask for an MRI when I see the physiatrist on Sept 11. I called their office and said I don't want to get the back injection, but I'd like to talk more about my knees then. My acupuncturist looked at the x-ray images last night and said she thinks there's plenty of joint space and that my knee issues are soft tissue related. An MRI would confirm that.

Imaging Study: XR Knee Right 4VW
Clinical Statement: Right Knee Pain
Impression: Mild Degenerative Change
Comment: Four views of right knee were performed. There is mild joint space narrowing. There is some sharpening of the tibial spines. This is consistent with mild degenerative change. There is no evidence of fracture or dislocation. No other osseous abnormalities are noted.

Imaging Study: XR Left Knee 4VW
Clinical Statement: Left Knee Pain
Impression: Normal examination.
Comment: Multiple views of the left knee demonstrate no evidence of joint effusion. The distal femur, patella, proximal tibia and fibula are within normal limits. The joint space is well maintained. There is no loose intra-articular body.

I'm thrilled that at least one joint is normal from a structural standpoint! But for now my knees are still hurting. and my back. as you know.

Oh, autosum foibles

After going to see two more wedding places this weekend, our choice is now between the Riverview Pavilion in Belmar and the Oak Tree Lodge in Wall.

We crunched wedding numbers last weekend, and when we reviewed them tonight, I realized that I messed up with the Excel spreadsheet previously...so costs are more than expected (um, yeah, when you add additional rows after previously autosumming, it doesn't add those lines to the autosum, I mean, I knew that...). So the Oak Tree is more than originally thought. The Oak Tree and Riverview are actually equivalent in cost.

Oak Tree is more DIY and it's an outdoor covered picnic environment and it has mini-golf and picnic food (hot dogs and hamburgers). Guests would sit at picnic benches to eat. There's lots of room to roam around. There isn't anywhere directly nearby for guests to stay. It's very casual and relaxed. We could get married on the property itself so guests would only have to park once.

For the Riverview we'd get married in a gazebo in a park that's near the ocean and on a lake (we can see the beach and hear the ocean from the gazebo), then head over to the Riverview for the reception. The Riverview is a banquet place where we can have brunch food and it has a view of the Belmar Marina. It's also right next to the Belmar train station, so Pete's relatives could take the train from Newark Airport directly to the Belmar Marina and stay at the Belmar Motor Lodge that's on the property of the Riverview Pavilion. The rooms in the RP are a little small. But we felt the banquet manager really understood us and got our "bringing Hawaii to NJ" concept. And we definitely could bring cardboard Elvis to either venue (unlike the Mill, which is a little upper class for us and for carboard Elvis). There's a lot less DIY at the Riverview, but it's not outside.





Are you getting bored of this yet?
Revised text for reply card and the invitation. Fake date/time/place. Or maybe not!

Another picture post

Pix from a nearby neighborhood:


Nice flowers:


Holly bush:


Tonight's sunset:


More tweaks (text will be changed). The gray border is where the card may actually be cut (anything in the white is the "safe zone"; gray is "at risk").

More wedding drafts

Obs, dates/places are just placeholders.
New logo draft:

New invitation draft (I will reword it this weekend):

Rough draft of back of invitation card (lots to be changed here):

Draft of back of reply card (I have already supplied Pete with the edits that should be made; my address is blurred):

Info for our UK based guests (I will edit this text tmw):

Also, we haven't decided yet where we're having the ceremony/reception. Right now it's between the Oak Tree Lodge and The Mill. We see two more places this weekend.

You knew this was coming part II...

Oh knees...now playing..my Greatest Hits volume 3...knee x-rays: Enjoy!! (Doc gets a report in a "couple of days"). (Vol 1: lumbar spine x-ray, vol 2: MRI of lumbar spine)

Oh and Len strongly disagrees about getting any shots at all. He's away next week, I'm away the week after that, then it's Labor Day, so it means 3 weeks between appts. I might go on Fri just to reduce that time a bit.

lsaspacey asked about side effects of injections. I'll do some research and let you know, but initially it seems like either it doesn't work or it causes flareups

New doctor, new theory

There's a thunderstorm going on now--love it!!

This morning I went to a physiatrist--a doc who specializes in non-surgical treatment of spine and joint issues. He thinks my back pain is related to the disc--disc is bulging, there's inflammation, that makes the muscles all tight. When Len does his active release technique, it loosens the tight muscles. But then the pain returns because the underlying inflammation is still there. He said since I am seeing improvement, he thinks the disc is healing and the inflammation is reducing and the muscles are relaxing. He is encouraging me to get the disc injection--he thinks it will cure my pain, it will be one shot, by the time the injection wears off, the issue will have resolved itself. 2 shots, max. He said while he respects the ortho, he disagrees with his analysis, unless I presented differently to the ortho than I presented to him. He scheduled the injection for Sept 11. He said I can always cancel it and we can talk about my knees more then if I don't have the back injection. He said he does 12 injections a day. He said for 24 hours after the injection, there could be a very bad flareup, but that happens to 1 in 500 patients, and is followed by the relief.

As for my knees, he thinks it's a meniscus tear, and he ordered x-rays. He also said my right knee pushes out to the right and that could cause some pain and that it's common in women (my acu then later explained it's because women's hips are wider than their knees, which puts stress on the knee in a whole different way than in men). He said PT and the injection combined will help. He doesn't think the knees will ever heal on their own, and after 5 years of right knee pain, and a year plus of left knee pain, I agree. So I get my x-rays tmw morning bright and early at 8am and we'll go from there.

Oh, and the office building he's in is like being in a greenhouse--it's amazing! And he asked if I want coffee or tea. and he typed my history into a computer. And he said I have been bounced around a lot, and that my story is pretty unusual. and he encouraged me to get a primary care physician. All of the books he's authored or co-authored were in his waiting room.

I saw the acupuncutrist tonight and Pete came into the room with me for the needle insertion. He didn't get squeamish or anything about the needles. Karen said maybe it is time for me to get the injection.

Sigh!!

Wedding weekend all around

Chris and Christine Got Married!!




















Chris and Christine's wedding & reception was amazing--clearly in the top two of weddings/receptions I've ever attended. I have posted pix online if you want to take a look at their beautiful outdoor ceremony and bowling alley reception. It was fun for us. And the whole thing was definitely them. (I made a separate smaller 23 picture album here if you'd prefer just a sample of the pix)

I'm in wedding overload, though, because in the past 3 days Pete and I have looked at 4 distinctly different places for our own wedding, attended Christine's wedding, bought my ring, picked up my resized rings, saw the lawyer, went to a bakery for a tasting. I'm exhausted.

Say hello to Ruby, my new camera:

Ruby's battery is charging up....

Thank goodness we have the whole day to ourselves tomorrow with no appts (wedding or doctor). Tuesday the hamster wheel is back in motion, but for the next 35-ish hours, our time is mostly ours. Wedding budget numbers will be crunched soon. Whee!!!