Little Buddy!

I never understood the connection that people had with their animals. I never really understood until I met Odie! Odie is Ryan's dog and therefore soon to be my dog, or maybe we should refer to him as my step-dog. He is the sweetest little buddy!! Odie will be staying with me for a few days since Ryan went home to Florida and his sister is moving home this weekend. He is the best little snuggler and truly appreciates every ounce of attention he is given. I'm sure we will go on many walks this weekend and keep each other in good company while Ryan is away. I am convinced that Ryan is some sort of dog whisperer that he was able to train Odie to be the little "robot dog" that he is. So yes, now I understand how dog can be a man's best friend. Cats on the other hand...I'll never understand!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the Road Again...

OK so not really quite yet. I still have to get a new helmet and have my bike inspected. I truly believe that Ryan (and Paul) did a fine job putting the bike together, but I'm not taking any chances. My new bike is much prettier than my busted up KHS. Once I can afford to get rid of all the old components that survived my crash, it will really look sweet! I am afraid that a cool bike will make people think I am supposed to be faster though. Let's just hope I keep this one in one piece!
I know that I promised an accident pic in an earlier post. I have now decided that I really don't want my friends and family to see my "elephant man" look, but here's one that's not so bad. I wasn't too swollen at this point. Like Ryan says, it was like a free trial of collagen in my lips. I don't think it's a good look for me!

Brain's no good if it's on the road!

I found that quote in my title from Trek's website, which ironically was the maker of my cycling helmet. Oh how true it is!!



This helmet, cracked like an egg, could be my forehead and I am so grateful that it is not!! I was riding with 6 other members of the Paradigm Cycling Team on Saturday. I set off at 7AM with the intention of riding 50 miles. I was feeling a bit discouraged about 5 miles in when the rest of the group sped ahead and Lauren and I lagged behind. She is my faithful riding partner though so I was thankful to have someone to keep me motivated. We had just started chatting, I couldn't even tell you what we were discussing, when I noticed a Gigantic crack running parallel on the road.
By the time it registered that I had nowhere to go, I just closed my eyes and hoped that I came out of it in one piece. My front tire wedged down into the crack and I believe I was still clipped into the pedals when I went face first into the concrete at about 17mph. My helmet is dented and cracked and my bike is totaled. I am typing this blog 5 days later, so obviously I am in MUCH better shape than I should be.
Amazingly enough, I have zero broken bones, zero lost teeth and at this point, it seems that I still have all my brain cells too...
I am not quite ready to post pictures of my ugly mug, but it gets better everyday. They put 40 stitches in my face and mouth in the ER. I got about 1/2 of them taken out today and it looks pretty good. The plastic surgeon is pretty confident that I will heal well, although it will take several months. I better be back to normal by May 2009 though!!
I appreciate everyone's kind thoughts and prayers so much! I am so thankful as this could have been so much worse, but it still was difficult to see myself in the mirror those first few days. Somehow Ryan still managed to make me feel beautiful and I love him even more for that. He has taken such excellent care of me and it has been amazing to see this side of him. I know my parents wanted to be here, but they can feel confident that I had a good home-health nurse!
I will post pictures in the coming weeks, but in the meantime...Wear your helmet when cycling and especially on a motor cycle. If your child argues with you about wearing a helmet, scare some sense into them with stories like mine. Remember, Brain's no good if it's on the road!

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered...FINALLY!

What a pain computers can be!! I still have not gotten everything on my laptop backed up so that I can send it back to hp. I am pessimistically nervous that they will find several things wrong that are not covered under my warranty. In the meantime, I have diligently been working to get the address labels made for our Save The Dates. Sounds like an easy project, right? Well in the wonderful world of technology, it somehow manged to take me all week. I had originally deemed that job to be Ryan's, however he gave up days a go. He is now at Nationals for Youth Soccer and I was happy to drop those things at the post office at 10PM tonight! I know I have stated this in an earlier post, but why do all men think that women get a high from wedding planning? Maybe this is my cry for help...RYAN!! Oh, who am I kidding, he doesn't read this Blog! :)

OK, now that I've thrown him under the bus, I'll post a few pics that hopefully paint the picture of how much I really do love my fiance. He has only been out of town for a day and I miss him already!

Out of commision!

Well, first we left our camera in a cab in Mexico so I had no fun pictures of the trip to post. Now my laptop is not working. My desktop is my work computer so fun and recreational activities such as blogging are done on the laptop. Apparently I have to mail it into hp for service. In the meantime, I need to back up all of my pictures. Ryan and I got some great engagement pics taken on the 4th of July, but I don't want to release a spoiler before I mail my Save the Dates. Stay tuned for some thrilling pics of Ryan and I in coordinating outfits in the coming weeks. I know the suspense is just torture!!! Wow, as if I didn't have many readers before, I'm probably losing the crowd very quickly!! :)

Barcelo Site Visit

We returned from our trip to Mexico last week and unfortunately I do not have any pictures to post right now because Ryan and I made a major tourist mistake! On your way to the Barcelo for our site visit, we left Ryan's nice camera in the cab. We attempted to retrieve it, but I'm sure it's in a beach-side pawn shop somewhere.
I did find this picture of the Palace gazebo online (the spot where we think we will have our cereomny) and I love it! I will post more details and a few pics when I get them from my friend Johnna, who we traveled with. I will say that I was very impressed with the Barcelo and cannot wait until next May!!

Happy Birthday To Me...

and Katie and Lauren! It was a fun few days of birthday celebrations.

On Saturday night, we had fun celebrating both Katie and Lauren's Birthdays with dinner at Bucca di Beppo and then on to Martini Park for dancing and well...Martinis!

Amy joined us out later and then brought us Neiman Marcus chocolates to our Tuesday night Birthday Dinner. Thanks Amy!!!!!!
We had a great time on Saturday night (hence the famous red carpet pose). I have to say I was also truly impressed that 23 of our friends showed up for another dinner outing for our B-days on Tuesday. I have no pics to post of that event, but thanks to all who made it out. We have an awesome group of friends!