Thursday, July 14, 2011

O-M-E-N-T-U-M


Since we last chatted Jason ended up back in the ER on July 4th and we finally found out the cause of his agony. Apparently he had a twisting and infarction of his greater omentum. And no, I didn't mean to type momentum.

What in the name of Pete is an omentum? Yeah we asked the same thing. Let me attempt to summarize. It's basically a layer of fatty tissue that we all have over our intestines. I guess it kinda sorta protects the intestines. What's also neat is that the omentum can often be found wrapped around areas of infection and trauma to isolate and basically kill off those areas. Kinda cool. Anyway, apparently in rare cases, the omentum can randomly become twisted up and then infarct (the tissue begins to die off).

So when we got sent home from the ER the first time, my poor husband laid on the couch in misery the whole weekend. He woke me up at 6 am Monday morning and said he couldn't take the pain anymore, which I knew to take seriously. At this point we thought it was his gallbladder acting up. Well after making it back to the ER they looked at his original CT scan and said they actually did see a small abnormality after all. So we did another CT scan, and the inflamed omentum area had tripled in size in 3 days. The surgeon called the size of Jason's twisted tissue "quite impressive". Basically the size of an orange.

Go big or go home Jason.

So, Monday early evening he had laparoscopic surgery to remove infarcted tissue. Jason immediately felt better (mostly because of the pain meds) and is still recovering very well. He is supposed to take it easy until next week. Thanks to our sweet friends for all their help and to the Maiers for mowing our yard for us!

Jason was a trooper and went with me to my best friend Adrienne's wedding in Crested Butte this past weekend. It was such a wonderful time. Adrienne was a gorgeous bride and all the wedding festivities were fabulous. Just wish J had been in prime condition so he could have hiked and biked like i know he wanted too. We also shared a condo with our wonderful friends Meagan, Jeremy, Sarah, and Huynh. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! I will post more pics when I see Adi's professional pics, but here are a few from the weekend...

me and the bride...

bridesmaids!

Adi and Garrett!

me and the hubs.

ROPES COURSE!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Quite the Scare and a yummy recipe.


So.... Jason scared me to death Thursday night.

We had gone to the Astros game that evening and Jason was having some stomach pain. Well, he woke up at 2 am tossing and turning. He got up to go to the bathroom, and we he came out, he was completely white, covered in sweat and passed out. I was beyond terrified. I really think it was the scariest moment of my life so far. I depend on Jason. He is my rock. To see him temporarily unconscious on the bathroom floor was overwhelming. I really need to work on keeping my cool. I was such a mess. I started to dial 911 (twice), but then hung up immediately (twice) after J convinced me he could get up and ride to the ER. He was still white as a ghost, but appeared to be pretty stable, so we got in the car and I drove, um, quickly (with my flashers on!) to the ER.

Five hours later, after a CT scan and some blood work, they cleared Jason of appendicitis, kidney stones, and gall bladder issues. We had mixed feelings. It was a huge blessing that he wouldn't need surgery, but what the heck made him pass out?!?! Well, we still don't know, which sucks. Poor Jason has been laying on the couch resting for ~2 days straight. He's definitely better, but still having stomach/abdomen/back pain. We are hoping to get him to see a gastro specialist tues or wed before we leave for Colorado thursday. It's always hard to see a loved one in pain.

Anyway, we are glad he was cleared of some of the serious stuff, but I am definitely looking forward to having my husband in normal form again!

Let's lighten this post up a little now...

I thought I would incude a yummy recipe for you guys. The few of you that read this probably have been over when I made this dish, so it shouldn't be anything very new or exciting.

Texas Trash Bean Dip (don't let the not-so-tasty name detract you. it's DE-LISH)

Ingredients (I never measure, and just eyeball everything. This recipe rocks because you just add more of the things you love and less of what you don't. Highly customizeable!)
-approx 2 green bell peppers
-approx 2 red bell peppers
-a couple green onions (or scallions to you fancy pants people)
-~half a red onion (you can sub in shallots too)
-1 jalapeno (I de-seed)
-~1/4 cup of cilantro
-~1/4 cup of parsley (I think parsley tastes like sticks, so I do not add this)
-1 can of golden hominy
-1 can of white hominy
-1 can of black-eyed peas
-1 bottle of zesty italian dressing
-tortilla chips

Directions:
Chop up all the veggies nice and small. The bell pepper...


Green onions and shallots (the red onions at my grocery store the other day were not looking so good)...



Cilantro and Jalapeno too (not shown because I am sure you are sick of pics of chopped veggies). Next rinse and drain the B.E.P.s and hominy, and add them to the bowl of mixed veggies. You can just use one color hominy, but I love the vibrant colors, so I mix it up.


Here is what you have... (don't mind the pudding pie ingredients in the back of the picture. I am currently obsessed with chocolate pudding).


Isn't it a vibrant dish? I promise its as yummy as it is colorful. Finally, add in ALMOST all of the bottle of zesty italian. (just depends on the amounts of veggies you have used). I recommend adding a little at a time so it's not too soupy or to dry. Not to toot my own horn, (although this recipe is out of my mom's cook book, so I wouldn't really be), but this dip is the bomb. It is ALWAYS a hit. And it's fresh and pretty healthy.


My mom likes to use to cans of B.E.P.s and one can of hominy, so feel free to tweak it to your liking :)

nom nom nom nom...

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Etsy Nuggets? (that's all I got)

So glad it's almost Friday. I am super pumped for a long lazy weekend full of fun times.

Next week is going to rock. Monday is a holiday. Then we head to Colorado for my best friend's wedding. SO FUN. Oh, and my other best friend is going to have her baby girl any day. So much to be thankful for.

I wanted to share something fun that Adi (the gal getting married next weekend) inspired me to get. She found this Wisconsin themed print on etsy and I had to get the matching Texas one. They are now proudly displayed in our front hall to demonstrate our home state love.


I'm off to bed. I have to get up early and go pick up some of these before work tomorrow. It's my turn to bring breakfast, and I don't mess around. Donuts? PSSH.


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Lot's of reasons to celebrate


I know I haven't blogged for ages! Sorry! I am excited to do another wedding recap, but have been waiting on getting the files of my wedding pictures so I can illustrate things some. I should get them very soon, so be on the look out!

We had a wonderful father's day with my parents in Magnolia, full movie watching, water volleyball, and yummy food. I wish there was a way we could have seen Jason's dad too! Too bad Texas and Wisconsin are so far away from each other. J and I are so lucky to have such amazing Dads.

This past weekend was also my nephew's first birthday. He is growing up so fast. It had been a few months since I saw him, and this time I could see his personality coming out so much. He was a lot more social and actually let me hold him some :) Here are a few pics of the little gu (including some of him with his first cupcake ever!)

How cute is he, right??

The other fun milestone from last weekend was that it was the 1 year anniversary of our engagement. Don't roll your eyes, we didn't do anything special for it, and I am not going to make a special point to mention it every year or anything. But it's exciting to think about what has transpired over the past year. Jason said it feels like it's been two years and I kinda agree with him. All the wedding planning was super exhausting, but there has just been so much love and good stuff over the past year. I wish I could bottle it up!! I am to tired to write out the story, but Jason did a wonderful job on the proposal. I'm a very lucky girl. I can't wait to go back to Cypress Valley Canopy Tours one day for an anniversary :) Here are some pictures of our zipline adventure proposal.

I LOVE this one of Jason. So handsome.

My bling :)


Our wedding video clip should be out tomorrow. I will blog it for you guys to see!

Lots of love,
Pam


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Wedding Re-cap: The week before the wedding/Rehearsal Dinner


Hi friends! I am back! There was just no way in heck I had time to blog during the few weeks before/after the wedding. What a crazy time. I want to re-cap everything as a kind of journal entry for myself though, so I will spend the next few entries documenting it all...

I took the week before the wedding off from work (HIGHLY recommend this), and headed to NW Houston to run a thousand errands with my momma. It was an exhausting but memorable several days. I loved spending the quality time with my parents. They are so precious to me. I cannot say enough good things about them.

Jason and his parents drove up to Magnolia on Wednesday. It was so exciting to see them!! They helped assemble gift bags, put personalized labels on water bottles, and do a few other little projects. My matron of honor Jackie also came over and wrote names on all my escort cards for me. Thanks Jackie!!

We traveled to Austin Thursday morning (several cars of Augusts and Martins). After making it there, we picked up programs, stopped at Specs to pay for the booz, and then arrived at the ranch. I was in disbelief that our special weekend was finally here!!!

We rented a great place for the weekend for our immediate family and wedding party to stay it. It this awesome place called Longhorn River Ranch. It's a 730 acre property with 4 ranch style houses. It's a gorgeous place with tons of fun things to do (pool, hot tub, disc golf, lake (fishing and zip line), basketball course, tire swings). I will be honest that it was a pain trying to work out the logistics of who would sleep where, what nights people were going to be there, etc, but I am SO glad we decided to rent the ranch. It was great for all our close friends and family to be collocated. It made things really intimate, and we got to spend more time with our loved ones than we would have been able to if everyone was in hotel rooms. Having all the ranch activities was also great for all the down time between wedding events. Constant entertainment!


Thursday night a lot of family and friends had trickled into town, so we grabbed dinner on the patio at Nutty Brown Cafe in Dripping Springs. My adorable aunts/cousins had arrived and they decided (in true Williamson family fashion) to serenade Jason and me with a version of "going to the chapel" at dinner. It was very cute :) Can you tell I am blushing?



I hit the hay at a decent time on Thursday so I would be ready for a full day of rehearsal events on Friday. We had to have our rehearsal at lunch time because there was a Friday wedding at Camp Lucy. We arrived a little early to drop off all our DIY projects and some other decor, and then BAM it was go time. All of a sudden all our wedding party and close family was there. It was such a fun experience. We practiced all "where to stand" type of stuff which was really exciting for me. In choosing an outdoor venue, there are a lot more options for the logistics of the ceremony than there are in a church (bride and groom stand here, etc). At Camp Lucy we were really able to taylor things to how we wanted them, which is awesome, but also kind of overwhelming. Jason can attest that I stressed a lot about the layout of everything. I had multiple page powerpoint documents (rain plan and sunny weather plans). Each slide was a different portion of the evening (cocktail hour, etc). Even though I poured all that work into the layouts, I still had no clue how it would all look together, and the rehearsal really helped me visualize everything. I am a very detailed person, so the rehearsal also put my mind at ease on all the complicated wedding logistics. I was starting to feel more relaxed. The to-do list was become so small!!

After the rehearsal, a group of gals got manicures and pedicures. In true Austin fashion, there was a very nice she-man at the nail salon. She was super friendly! and tall.


After nails, we headed back to the ranch and primped for the rehearsal dinner. Once we picked the hill country for our wedding, I just knew we needed to have our rehearsal dinner at Trattoria Lisina. OMG this place is amazing. Jason and I think it's the best Italian food we have ever had. We worked with them to create a custom menu including Calamari, Bruschette, Cheese Ravioli (it was Good Friday), Chicken Parmesean, Veal, and Cheesecake. I'm salivating just thinking of it. We started off the dinner with passed appetizers out on the bocce ball court, then headed in for dinner. As people were finishing their food, Jason and I talked about each member of our wedding party and our parents. I will always remember this. It was great to highlight all the special people who were there for our big day. Jason broke down talking about his parents (i have never have seen him cry before), so I absolutely lost it when it was my turn to talk about my parents. All I was able to get out was that my parents are my best friends. They truly are.

Lastly, we showed everyone our awesome slideshow. We looped it most of the evening at the wedding in the chapel. But we didn't want our close friends/family to feel like they had to leave the dance floor to go watch the video, so we wanted to show it on Friday as well. Jason did a great job on the video, especially the soundtrack. (my classic rock obsessed husband used some Bieber and flight of the conchords). We thought it was pretty funny :o)



That night I wrote my love letter to Jason (I had meant to write it all week!) and then crawled into bed with my friend/photographer Caroline. I should have known my emotions were going to be a roller coaster the next day because I got really stressed/anxious about the logistics of everything as I was getting ready for bed. Who else was there to talk to but my mom? I called her up to my room and she helped me check that I had everything packed for the next morning (earrings, garter, etc), and was so sweet and encouraging to me. I was so excited to be marrying Jason, but so overwhelmed by all the things that needed to be executed the next day. My mom calmed me down and I got a really, really good night's sleep. I was so happy.

More to come...

Saturday, April 2, 2011

NOLA


Sorry no post since end of December. I'm sure it's very disappointing to the five of you that check this blog occasionally. The wedding is three weeks away, then we are honeymooning, so don't expect a ton of blog posts, but I do solemnly swear to try harder to blog regularly (I left myself some loop holes there)

Last weekend a few of my girlfriends took me to New Orleans for my bachelorette party. What a town. I have only been once before for a volleyball tourney in high school, so this time I was really able to absorb how great of a city it is. The food, the music, the people, it's just an awesome place. I think you catch the NOLA spirit.

We got to see at an unbelievable gorgeous hotel (the W). Thanks Jackie and Kristen! Here are a few pics of us getting ready in our awesome hotel rooms!




I have lovely friends, don't I?

Next fun activity was the swamp tour! We took an airboat out in the swamp and fed some gators (and even got to pet one). Here we are looking very swamp-ed.

The Cap'n! (telling us ridiculous stories that we are pretty sure are lies). Apparently he grew up with an Indian tribe?

a gator!


We ate some good food, checked out some really fun bars, and visited cafe du monde. It was delicious, but super crowded and it kinda smelled like a trash can. oh well. we checked it off our list. Here is a pic of the gals before we all headed our separate ways. Tear.

Thanks girls! I will always remember this trip! What a blast!