an update of sorts

This week has been CAH-RAY-ZEE.

Seriously, it flew. 

The opening weekend of the show ended. 

I baked that delicious apple pie. 

Dave got ready to leave on his business trip to Paris. 

I packed up some stuff to stay at my mom's while he's away and got ready for the second weekend of shows by baking cupcakes for the cast. 

Then yesterday morning I woke up early to bake cookies for the awesome cast party we had at Sue's house after the Sunday matinee. 

One of the actor's had to go to the ER literally an hour before the Sunday matinee performance so we had several actors take over for his scenes. It was scary and fun and adventurous, but mostly we just hope Dwayne is okay. 

I came to my house this morning to spend some time with Bogart (he really missed me) and clean the house to get ready for  girl's night which I hosted this week. 

Chanell was the only one who made it, but it was awesome. We locked ourselves out of the house because we were walking to her car so she could get a book for me to borrow. We both left our cell phones in the house, so we had to knock on my awesome neighbor's door to use their phone. I called my mom who is also in Paris because I don't have my husband's cell phone number memorized (I know, I'm a doofus) and I needed my mother-in-law's number so she could bring over the spare key. I kept getting cut off from my mom so we called a locksmith instead. He couldn't pick the lock, so instead he jumped through the window and I paid $135 for that, which REALLY blows, but it was hilarious and now Chanell and I have a funny story to tell and I'm just thankful we got back in the house.

So about those cupcakes I made... they were incredible. I made four dozen. Yes, FOUR DOZEN. By Saturday there were only 4 or 5 left.

I got the recipe from Erin at Sunshine and Carousels. Her cupcakes and baked goods always look so amazing and I've been meaning to bake something from her blog, so I used this opportunity (and that huge jar of Nutella in my cupboard) to do so!

I made the Banana and Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Nutella frosting and I'm telling you they were EXTRAORDINARY.

One of the crew members had at least 3 or 4 of them. Everyone loved them. I'm so happy they turned out so amazing. You should definitely check out the recipe here.

I wrote little notes of thanks and attached them to each cupcake so that the cast and crew knew how much I appreciated all of their hard work. They all seemed to love it.

While cleaning the house today I gathered together the remains of the bouquet of flowers Erin and Jon gave me when they came to see my play and they added so much color and life to the living room!

Bogart really is the king of the castle around here.

I guess he's really into Seinfeld now.

The flowers from Erin & Jon, as well as the ceramic tea set and platter they gave us as our wedding gift.

She & Him 

Volume One

I'll be continuing to stay at my mom's house for the rest of the week and she doesn't have a working computer so I won't be blogging as regularly and I definitely won't be able to keep updated on everyone else's blog, unfortunately. 

I'm sorry in advance to all my favorite blogs out there! I hope you know who you are :)

~Andrea~

ice packs are my new bff

So yesterday I went to a chiropractor recommended to me by my dear friend Chanell, and he was a godsend.

Immediately after telling him briefly about where my pain is coming from and how it feels he told me it was a spasm due to stress (not a pulled muscle). He didn't have to ask me if I was under stress, I immediately concurred. Why it hadn't dawned on me that stress might be causing my physical pain, I don't know. 

I am a firm believer in the physical body being directly affected by the emotional stresses that is placed upon it. Why I don't perpetually keep this in mind, I don't know... either.

Without saying anything about what kind of stress I am under he immediately began telling me all about what he thinks it may be. He basically described my family dynamics to a T. He said that the kind of pain I am dealing with is a direct result and physical manifestation of emotional stress. After he relayed to me what he thought, I was speechless. I mean, yeah, I've been under a lot of stress in the last year. This year has been one of the most stressful of my life and it has definitely been a hard year for my family, to say the least. But was this guys psychic or something? I still don't even know what to do with it. I mean, I'm still kind of speechless. 

Anyway, he had me ice my back before the adjustment and he let me know that since I am in so much pain that he would only adjust the vertebrae around the spasm, until the pain dissipates more. He also told me I had four rib outs (what does that mean?) and that my neck is extremely stiff, but that we would work on those later. He didn't have me lie down for my adjustment since I couldn't really get on the table, so he adjusted me in a chair against the wall twice and I could not believe how many pops and cracks I heard. Even he commented on how badly I needed an adjustment.

But you know what? I immediately felt a difference. And this morning I woke up in less pain than I have since I hurt my back on Saturday. I mean, I still had moments where I wanted to shriek before my medicine kicked in, but I wasn't constantly in pain. I couldn't believe how sweet and kind this guy was. He wasn't just interested in helping my back feel better, he was genuinely interested in helping me understand that I need to get to a place, emotionally, where I can let go of my stresses so that I don't ever need to come into his office in pain. He only charges for one adjustment a day, but during that day I can come in for an adjustment as many times as I want. He suggested that I start to do this on Thursday. So tomorrow I will be staying in the area so that I can go into his office as many times as I want and I only have to pay once. 

Is this guy a saint??

So it looks like I'm gonna get better. Even Sue said to me last night that, though it seems like I'll always be in this much pain and that it seems like I'll never feel normal again, slowly but surely it will get better (she has had similar back problems so she knows all about this stuff). I have something to look forward to.

But enough of all this back pain stuff. I wanted to share a few photos of my baby (since I don't have a child yet, I treat my little Bogart like my baby). He's been pretty mischievous lately and I've snapped a few phone shots of him being is naughty little self.

{trying to catch a fly}

{not supposed to be there and he knows it}

{new succulent!}

{oh and I thought this word verification was pretty funny}

~Andrea~