new plan of attack on RA

several of you have asked how my doctor's appointment went and what the new plan is moving forward with this battle against RA and the pain/inflammation that has a stronghold on my body.

i'm in the middle of the worst flare i've had yet. so it's time to grab this bull by the horns and get it under control before it does more permanent damage to my joints.

so, here it is....i have a new medicine added to my fistful of pills. an anti-inflammtory to take twice a day starting just as soon as i pick it up from the pharmacy.

we also decided on Orencia infusions every 4 weeks. in fact, within hours of my appointment, i got the call saying insurance approved the pre-authorization and my first infusion will be december 20. i have to do what's called a loading dose meaning three infusions close together--for this drug--every 2 weeks, but after those three are done i will only get the infusion once every 4 weeks. i'm very excited that it only takes 1 hour and not 2 to 3 like the Remicade did.

only downfall? i won't necessarily notice positive effects from the infusions immediately. bummeroonie.

being a papercrafts designer, where i make my living from the use of my hands, which at times lately is near impossible, i asked what else can i try to alleviate the pain and reduce the swelling. of course, i already knew: wrist splints or hand braces, ice, etc.

BUT...what i'm most excited about is the option to use a compounded ointment. they are having it made for me with 5 different medications compounded together that i can apply to my hands that will help keep me designing with less pain. cant remember the name of it right now. but am looking forward to the day that arrives on my doorstep.  i'm hoping the texture of it doesn't skeeve me out, because i have issues with the way lotions in general feel on my hands. it makes them feel dirty and i don't like the feeling at all. (yes, i weird. i own it.)

advances in medicine are such a beautiful thing. that, and being blessed to have good insurance to be able to take advantage of these treatment options.

so that's that.

thanks for asking, friends.

i have RA.

there. i said it.

i have RA.

what's RA, you ask? it's medical abbreviation for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

most of my close friends know this, some of my family knows this, and those that follow my updates on facebook may have caught the mention of it, especially over the past several months as i've been getting infusions of Remicade to battle this disease process.

of course, those of you who have been here to the blog for some time know i've been dealing with chronic pain for many years now. you might even know that they suspected RA after some bloodwork and x-rays were done during a second opinion appointment i had scheduled before committing fully to having a 3-level spinal fusion surgery.

well, they suspect no more. it's official. (has been for a year now)

to be honest, it feels weird that i've always been so willing to talk about medical struggles in hopes to help someone else through. because i really do believe that we are given situations in life to live through them, learn from them, and then share the victories in them--even though sometimes those victories might be hard to find. i can't tell you how many times i've been able to help another mom going through sensory struggles with their child or help them deal with a child with allergies, ear infections, childhood surgeries, etc. makes our experience and struggles worth it knowing we can make someone else's struggle easier to navigate.

but this? it's kinda been the elephant in the room every time i sit down to blog. you may have noticed that my blogging took a huge shift this year as i found myself only blogging about the creative side of my life, holding everything else back. why? i'm not sure exactly. thinking about it now though, i'm pretty sure it's because i've been guarding my spoons closely...and my emotions.

yes, those spoons. the spoons talked about in the essay "The Spoon Theory."

well, guarding spoons AND freaking out.

i wake up in pain, i wake up with stiffness and sometimes i wake up not even able to get out of bed without downing a fistful of medicines first and waiting for them to kick in. so i've guarded my time and energy *ahem* spoon expediture very, very closely this year and because i'm a busy mom who also works part-time outside the home AND freelances full-time from within the home, well, blogging just kinda fell to the bottom of the 'must accomplish' list.

so why am i freaking out along with guarding spoons? well. you see, i'm quite proficient in the use of google to help me find information and have always used it to feed my inquisitive mind....except for researching about rheumatoid arthritis. for some reason, i thought burying my head in the sand would make it all go away. ha. let me tell you.....it doesn't quite work that way. (uh, duh, tania)

so, one night, while battling insomnia, instead of looking for information to educate myself on RA (booooooring), i decided to try to find other bloggers, blogging about RA. i was looking for someone to give me humor through the pain. someone to help me know that i'm not the only thirty-something dealing with this level of pain day in and day out.

and i found that. i found double...no, triple that!

i quickly bookmarked them on my kindle and spent the next week reading, and laughing, and crying over entry after entry. these people know exactly how i live and they articulate it so very clearly. awesomesauce.

that's until i realized that two of them hadn't updated in some time. somehow i missed that detail when i first discovered their blogs. it didn't take many clicks through other blogs in the RA community of sufferers to realize why.

complications of RA had taken their life. *insert holy freak-out moments here*

the reality of the disease hit me like a ton of bricks. ever since my mom died unexpectedly at age 50 it's been a sometimes crippling fear of mine.....dying young, that is. anywho. it was then that i got angry at anything and everything. every day i'd tell myself to pull my crap together and add the smile and just keep plugging along.

ever heard the phrase "fake it, until you make it?"  oh, let me tell you. i got good at faking it. real good.

i didn't even let on to my discovery turned disappointment to friends or family, but it didn't feel right to be hiding something that was affecting me so very deeply. so i confessed my heartache to them. explaining how "i am just having a hard time dealing with daily chronic pain and being only 35 years old but feeling like i'm 65. it's ripping me apart leaving a big gaping hole in my soul and affecting every part of my life. depressing, discouraging, blah, blah, blah."

i spent the next several months avoiding blogs about RA altogether, but still can't bring myself to delete them from my reader. someday soon, i'll need that humor again.

anywho. all that to say. this disease is NOT who i am. BUT, it's made me into somebody i don't even recognize somedays.

the reality is, it's my 'new normal'. it's a chronic condition where i know my limitations, but my brain just hasn't caught the memo yet and i often get frustrated with myself because of those limitations. hello, brain. pick up the pace and join me, would ya?

honestly, i just keep teeter-tottering between anger/self-hate/denial and acceptance.

i have bad days. whether that be emotionally or physically.

and that's all it is....just a bad day. i'm learning to realize that a bad day doesn't make me a bad person.

i've struggled with letting myself be vulnerable through this disease. i'm highly aware that there are many eyes watching me and i wouldn't want my shortcomings with this crutch in my life to taint anyone's perception of who i am and what i can and can't do because of my disability.  but i also realize that i am not my own savior and God's grace is a beautiful thing, whether the world decides to bestow grace on me or not.

some days, balancing all my responsibilities feels like i'm trying to balance on a unicycle, peddling with only one foot, while holding a towering stack of fine-china on my head. somehow, it all gets done---sometimes with more pain (and medication) than others. oftentimes with my husband picking up more of the slack than others.  (he's my superhero, always saving the day.)

i'm not ready to give up or give in to grip this disease currently has on my body. if there is one thing that i am, it's STUBBORN...and determined.

like i said, i used to talk a lot about my pain, but have just felt it best to be silent lately. but, as the flares get more intense and the medication changes continue to happen, it's becoming the norm in my life and is making itself clear that it isn't going anywhere any time soon so i might as well start talking about it and letting others see the beauty that can come out of a pile of rubbish.

truth is...i want to blog again, uninhibited by this thing that never got talked about, ya know.

if you've made it this far, bless your heart!  thank you for reading. thank you for encouraging me. thank you for the messages checking on me. and thank you for your prayers.

(painfully swollen RA hands)

i know, that i know, that i know this could be SO very much worse.

• yes i live in pain all day every day, BUT i can still get out of bed every day.
• yes the joints in my hands swell up like balloons, BUT i can still use them to make a living.
• yes i have to use a handicap parking sticker to make shopping trips a little easier, BUT i can still drive myself and shop without a mobility device. 
• yes, crafting isn't as easy as it used to be, BUT i can still craft. (so very thankful for that!)
• yes, it feels like my life has taken an unexpected detour, BUT i'm not on permanently disability.

i could go on for days about how much worse i could be, but that doesn't make the reality of the struggle easier.

anywho. many of you that have known about my infusions have offered prayers and entertainment during those times i was sitting through hours of treatment.  i appreciate that. 

after 7 infusions with no problems, i suddenly starting having infusion reactions the last two times i was infused with Remicade, so it's no longer an option. i'm super disapointed because it was giving me my life back in so many ways. so tomorrow's hurdle, when i meet with the Rheumatologist, is to discuss alternative options....primarily to decide between Orencia (infusions) and Humira (injections).

phew.
now that i got all that off my chest..........let the mixture of everyday life blogging and creative blogging resume! :)

second verse same as the first.

on september 24, i wrote..."so i've had it with myself and not blogging. somehow life went from super busy to flying at mega speed. i laugh at myself for thinking we were busy 4 months ago, because the last 4 months have defined busy in a whole new way. sheesh. still waiting for someone to invent a machine to slow time. somebody get on that, would ya?

i've had enough of the self-imposed guilt trips with myself for failing to document everyday life in the way that my brain thinks i should, so here i am making an attempt to drown out the voices in my head.

just so you know, this is going to be as random as random gets. and in order to make sure that this was something i could mark off my mental 'to-do' list, i've decided that editing and resizing photos was a waste of precious time. so let's just pretend there are no flaws, shall we?"

today, i'm going back to my school years and just gonna add the words....DITTO that! LOL.

i mean, seriously, this once a week blogging routine that i've got going on is even getting on my nerves.

now that i'm blogging over at Fiskateers.com, and Facebooking, and Instagramming.....well, ya know. i just haven't made it a choice to keep this space updated like i want to.

to all my family and friends (and internet strangers).....i'm sorry i've been a blogging failure in this space. i'm really trying to get into the mindset that every blog post doesn't have to be epic or have a new revelation or a pretty project i've created to go along with it.

from this day forward, i'm hereby giving myself permission to:

1. blog whenever i want (i have this crazy mindset that if i don't blog first thing in the morning that i need to wait until the next morning and well, the next morning comes and the cycle repeats. i promise i'm only slightly neurotic.)
2. blog whatever i want (even if it's just a random "i don't know what the heck i'm doing in this world" confession)
3. blog without guilt if i go a week without blogging (yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. that'll never happen. LOL. let's pretend, shall we?)

isn't there some rule that says if i don't blog about it, it never happened?

happy halloween!

testing out some new make-up today....what do you think?

(sugar skull make-up courtesy of PicMonkey)

in my inbox.

two nights ago, i was having a hard time articulating the sadness deep in my soul over the level of pain i deal with on a daily basis from a health condition. so i sent a dear friend a message and got this in response. 

"Good morning, my dear sweet friend.

I know you deal with the chronic pain each and every day and I know it wears your body down, but do not let it wear down your soul. And, I know it is easy for me to say all that since I don’t deal with the amount of chronic pain you do [only my plantar fasciitis junk], but know that in my heart, I feel your pain. The pain of my friend wears heavy on my heart.  I just wish there was something more I could do for you to help alleviate that pain. 

Now, raise your chin to the sky and breath in a new day, a new beginning and a new attitude. Breath in the hope and faith of the day. Breath in the love and support that surrounds you, even when you don’t realize it’s there through the physical and mental pain. Chin up.  

I see through your pain and your hurt and I see YOU, my lovely friend who has the heart of gold.   

I love you to pieces and pray each day that you see the light, the hope and the promise each day has to offer."  ---Sherry 

***** 
i don't ever want to forget.  in fact, i plan on reading this again and again and again until i believe every last word and the pain doesn't make me question my self-worth regardless of how agressive this disease is within my body.

thank you sherry........i think you're pretty darn AMAZING yourself. :)

around town: The Ohio State Fair

back at the beginning of August we decided at the last minute to take the girls to the Ohio State Fair. they had been once before but were too young to remember it at all.  you should know....i avoid the fair like the plague. fairs just aren't my thing.  too many people....all sweating along with funky foul odors (both body and food) in one place for me.  it feels like mass chaos. but i was ready to take one for the team and suck it to go for the girls to experience it.

we really weren't there for the 'fair' per se, but i'll get to that in a bit.  i thought if we were all together, why not take a family photo. you can see that they are all jumping out of their skin thrilled about it, yes?  here's a secret: i'm not the only one overwhelmed by the fair around here.  mind you, we had just gotten back from Disney World, so they were comparitively thinking: LAME. but in all honesty, all my life, whenever i hear the word 'fair' the first thing that comes to mind is miserably HOT....and usually really humid.  this day was no different.

but there is some really, really cool stuff to be seen at the fair.  i always enjoy going into the Youth Discovery Center. some of the things they have displayed in there are quite fascinating.  my favorite is always the lego town.  they use nothing but legos to reconstruct major US landmarks into this cityscape display and it is a massive display. and if you ever miss getting your girl scout cookies ordered, never fear, they have loads and loads available for you to buy at the fair.  Youth Discovery Center is the place to get 'em.

 

whenever doug thinks of the fair, he thinks two things: corndogs and funnel cakes.  we were about 35 steps into the fair he and emma stopped to check out the corndogs.

they decided they were only mildly impressed. me?  i don't eat at the fair. EVER. fried food just isn't my idea of appetizing.

 

if you know ashlyn, you know that she will pick chocolate icecream.....excuse me, soft-serve chocolate icecream, over real food any day.  and if given the choice she'll pick the largest size offered. every time. the girl loooooooooooves her soft-serve chocolate icecream.

just because i don't eat at the fair doesn't mean my salivary glands don't excrete a little when i walk by the caramel apples. mmmmmmmmm. i LOVE caramel apples just as much as i love peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches, buuuuut i don't eat fair food.  you know, it's kinda hard to get a caramel apple if you aren't buying it at a fair. unless you make it yourself, i suppose, but that's way too much work for a single apple.  i don't think i've had one since 2007 but still consider them my favorite treat. 

 

anywho.  we were making our way over to the dairy building and got sidetracked by an enthusiastic entertainer preparing to start a magic show. emma loooooves to be entertained so we decided to stop and take in the show. just two minutes later emma was approached about being pulled from the audience to be an assistant in James Johnson's magic show and instantly melted into a puddle of giddy giggles. i'll never forget the pure joy radiating from her being during that magical 15 minutes.

 

funnel cake location found and noted for a stop later. :)

after the magic show we continued toward the dairy building and met some livestock along the way.  this dairy cow was such a sweet and mild tempered beauty.  i adore giving my girls experiences like this because when i think back to my childhood most of my memories revolve around time at my grandparents' farm or in the barn milking cattle by my grandpa's side. :)

and then we found the butter cow!  actually there were two and this was the smallest of them. there was also a three tiered cake......all sculpted from BUTTER.  amazing. the kids weren't overly impressed, but it's been an iconic thing at the fair for as long as i can remember.

but the reason we were really at the fair was to take the girls to their very first concert!  after scoring one heck of a deal on tickets we took them to see......

 

my girls are highly entertained by two shows on television right now: iCarly and Victorious.  Victoria Justice is the leading actress in the show Victorious, so they were thrilled!  tickets for this concert were $34 each face value, but we found great seats through Stubhub for $11 which also included fair admission.  typical fair admission is $10 for adults and $8 for kids, so, yeah....a deal!

 don't mind us....just killing time before the concert.  doug doesn't know how to smile for a camera....it's quite the joke around here.

 

our secret for keeping an antsy 7 year old little girl happy through a 2 hour concert?  a giant lollie purchased for $1 at Walgreens.  :)

 

 i was worried about how this one would handle a concert.  she doesn't usually do well with large crowds, dark spaces or loud noises, but getting there early and allowing her to adjust and take in everything around her before the lights went down was very helpful.  but i'm not gonna lie, i think i held my breath the entire night waiting for the sensory overload to take root.

the only thing i wasn't impressed with at this concert was her opening act, Max Schneider.  not that his singing wasn't stellar...because it was, but because he doesn't have many of his own song, so he was covering other artists. call me prude but i thought singing Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' to 20,000 girls who's ages averaged 11 years old was a bit over the top.  it really icked me out and made me second guess our decision to take the girls to the concert.  yep. prude. i own it. at 7 and 10 they don't need to hear that stuff.

 

i spent the majority of the concert mesmerized by the lighting and trying to distract myself with testing out the various settings on a new point and shoot camera.  

 

  

and checking in on spidergirl who was still happy as a lark licking away at her lollipop and taking it all in.  she sang along to almost every song.

after the concert, there was only one last thing they wanted to do........

and that was find a funnel cake. and that they did. 

five years ago today....

i lost my mama.

i was 29.
she was 50.

i feel like i'm through the worst of the heartache, although i know it will always linger..  there are times when my breath still catches in my throat as i catch a glimpse of her in my own reflection....or in a glance at spidergirl who looks so much like her. and there are still times when i can't hold back the tears like when i see a daughter walking side by side with her elderly mother.

but mostly, the memories are sweet and the tears are few.  my heart doesn't feel as broken.

and even though i didn't believe it before, time does heal the wound....a little bit anyway.

and i'm really thankful for girlsfriends like Suzi and Sherry who have been there to listen over these past 5 years.  and my new friend Emma who reminded me yesterday..."Do know that your mom lives on in you. The things you teach your children and many of the stories you share, are HER experiences. And HER stories too."

so, thank you sweet friends.

i think my mama would be proud of where i am today.

photo share: celebrating freedom

we kept with our usual 4th of July tradition again this year and headed over to Groveport to enjoy the mid-afternoon parade.  we weren't entirely sure that all the festivities would continue as Groveport had been without power for a few days prior because of the storm that blew through.  and actually part of the town was even out as the parade went one.

but, this parade is by far our favorite and wouldn't be missed unless it was officially cancelled.

some of the girls' cousins met at our house and followed us over while other cousins met us there.

doesn't this photo just melt you?  this is my step-brother Greg and his oldest daughter who is just ADORABLE!  she's quite the pro at this parade stuff by now---waving and collecting candy is her speciality.

it looks like a beautiful day, but it was HOT, HOT, HOT!  any more hot we would have poo-poo'd tradition and just stayed home.

when the cousins arrived to the house, i had just gotten done fixing the girls' hair into messy buns and spraying it with hair color that i stocked up on for 10 cents a can after halloween.  even at 7 and 10, my girls still love to dress up and find any excuse to dig into their costume bucket.

so, of course, the cousins needed a makeover too and aunt tania was happy to oblige!

only thing was.....it was so hot at the parade that when they were sweating their spray was melting off and dripping down their faces. it was a hot mess!

not sure what i did differently for my girls because for the most part their spray stayed put. i'm thinking maybe i sprayed theirs with hairspray afterward?  i dunno.

anywho. whatever it was that kept it in their hair, i'm thankful for, because this photo above is my new favorite!  i'm determined to get it printed on a large canvas before too long. the colors are so vibrant and their personality really shines through.  and spidergirl's big brown eyes just melt me! (click the photo to see it bigger!)

suzi lives in town and snagged us some super awesome seats, then spoiled the kids with goody bags filled with glowsticks, necklaces, sparklers, ring pops, and bubbles.  she's awesome like that.

and this little girl is my husband's sister's little girl.  she's quite shy when it comes to having a camera in her face, so i was extra giddy to have captured this photo of her!  for those of you who have been readers for a while, you think what we all think-----boy does she ever look like ashlyn did as a baby!  it's really unbelievable how much alike they look at this age.

and this is the same little girl up above waving at the parade passing by. gosh, she's beautiful!

of course, ya'll know, this is spidergirl!  sporting zebra sunnies and two missing front teeth.  she really wants her teeth to grow in before vacation.  i'm quite fond of that gap and hope it stays a while longer.

this is another one of doug's sister's kids....her oldest.  he's 6 weeks older than spidergirl, but she has about 20 lbs on him and a good 5".

my blonde beauty looking a bit like Marg Simpson, LOL.

these days, spidergirl is quite annoyed by my camera for the most part. she'd much rather blow bubbles than smile for me.

well, hello, suzi-Q! 

okay.......i have more, but my blogging time for the day has run out and i have to tend to some other things.

more soon.....

that could have been me...

it's taken me a few weeks to process all that's happened around here the last two weeks. it's been insanely busy and full of unexpected detours and some not so fun surprises.

one of these instances occured two weeks ago, on a friday evening, just after i left work and started my short little drive home.

just before 5pm, my boss came out and casually mentioned a hailstorm and trees down from wind damage 20+ miles north of Columbus, but looking out the windows here at work, i saw nothing but blue skies.

so i stayed until 5pm right on the button, as i always do, before making my way out to my car...skies still blue even.  somehow, the driver's side door was jammed shut and wouldn't open, so after a few frustrating minutes of trying to get it open, i resorted to just climbing through the passengers side.

settled into the driver's seat, i still couldn't quite figure out why the door wouldn't open, but decided it was something i could spend time figuring out later.

i made it about 1/4 mile down the road and the sky changed from blue to grey to green literally right before my eyes. it's the kind of sky you hear tornado victims talk about after one has ripped through their neighborhood.

and then the trees started swaying back and forth quite violently up ahead, but there were no sirens alerting anyone of any tornadic activity.

i got an instant feeling of panic. there was no rain, no thunder, no lightening, just incredible wind.

at this point, i was only 2 blocks from work. instead of turning around i pulled into a little strip mall parking lot to collect my thoughts. should i turn around and head back to work? or crawl back out the passenger's side and go into one of the stores and take shelter until it passes? 

i ultimately decided crawling back out was entirely too much hassle and i was i going to brave it and drive the short distance home.

so i pulled back out onto Broad St. and made it another 2 blocks up the road with my eyes fixed more on the violent dancing of the trees, than the road itself and i said a quick prayer asking for traveling mercies. just as those thoughts left my head, i thought one of these trees is going to fall.

split seconds later, a massive tree fell onto the roadway right in front of me.  not even gonna lie, i just about soiled my pants. i have anxiety just thinking about it.

it felt like a dream.

i was slightly past an intersection so after screeching on my brakes, i quickly did a sharp turn onto the side road with massive amounts of adrenaline rushing through my veins and tried to make my way 4 blocks eastward back to work.

only problem?  there was no way to get back to work! 

branches continued to crack and trees continued to fall. i watched up ahead as branches flew through the air and trees snapped and fell one after another like a domino train. my car was being pelted left and right by branches.  not only did i have the fear of a tree falling ON my car, but now i'm scared to death that branches are going to start smashing through the windshield like a torpedo.

every turn i made i was met by incredibly large trees down, powerlines draping the roadways, and drivers manuvering their vehicles through yards to get around the downed powerlines and as far away from the chaos as possible.

the only thing i could think of was to find an area that had no large trees within a distance of being able to hit my car should they fall.  next to impossible in this particular neighborhood, but i do remember parking my car for a whole 15 seconds before my natural fight/flight response said 'get the heck outta here!'

i can't quite recall the maze of twists and turns i had to make to get there, but i did eventually make my way back to work.  just as i got back into the building the skies let loose and the power went out.

i crawled back out the passenger's door and went back in to check on the others in the building before sitting myself in the lobby to call family to make sure they were all okay.

after waiting 25 minutes or so for the storm to pass on through, i decided it was time to get myself going home for reals this time.  thanks to my boss getting the latch loose on my driver's door i didn't have to crawl back through the passenger's side.

i made my way, heading westward on Broad, knowing i would be diverted through the neighborhood once i got to that intersection where the tree had fallen.

little did i know that when i came upon that intersection i would be met with nearly a hundred people standing around and firetrucks and ambulances littering the roadway.

as i turned the corner, i could then see more clearly the reason why.

that tree that fell.......well, it fell ON THE CAR that was traveling right in front of me the first time i left work. it was such a large tree that i couldn't see that it had actually fallen on the vehicle trapping the driver inside. here, i thought the tree had fallen between our two vehicles and they had narrowly escaped.

i quickly pulled my car over and parked on the side of the roadway to join the others watching the rescue efforts. i couldn't help being overwhelmed with the thought...'that could have been me.'

just to give you an idea of the size of this tree--it was so massive that it fell across all 5 lanes of Broad Street and covered the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road from which it fell.

from all the conversations i was listening to, it sounded as if the driver was going to be okay. she was so incredibly lucky that the tree fell where it did. i ended up landing craddled in the space where the windshield meets the hood of the car.  a split second later and it would have fallen on the hood of her vehicle, likely killing her instantly.

she was taken to the hospital with no apparent external injuries. talk about a story to tell.

it took dozens of rescue workers using special equipment over an hour to brace the tree and cut the trunk and branches apart that were trapping her inside her vehicle. then another 30 minutes or so to cut her vehicle apart to get her out.  they had to cut the vehicle into 4 pieces to do so.

and all i could think was 'that could have been me.'

had i not stayed until 5pm on the button....that could have been me.
had my door not been jammed delaying my departure....that could have been me.
had i not pulled into the strip mall parking area to collect my thoughts....that could have been me.

i'm so thankful that wasn't me.

it turns out we had a rare windstorm called a derecho that crept up out of nowhere sweeping through Central Ohio, bringing with it severe thunderstorms and windspeeds topping 75 mph. the damage that it caused was widespread and absolutely unbelieveable, even seeing it with my own two eyes.

my dad came home that night to find seven trees in his yard down.

hundreds of thousands were without power for days on end. finding gas stations with power to fill up your vehicle were few and far between. finding ice and bottled water in stock felt like hitting the lottery.

and i've decided that after two major storms knocking out power to most of our surrounding communities for a weeks warrants us getting serious about having an emergency survival kit.  sure we have everything we'd need in an emergency, but it would be so much more convenient to have it all together in one large storage container at the ready for the next major storm that decides to greet us.

visiting Madison, Wisconsin...

 

sorry for the lack of my presence around these parts, but i'm just now feeling like i've settled back into life as usual back at home---it only took me 6 days to do so. heh. (and suddenly i feel like i sound much older than my 34 years) 

 

my adventures started a week ago Sunday (Father's Day) when i made the trek from Columbus, Ohio to Madison, Wisconsin for some training for my new position as Lead Fiskateer for the online Fiskateer community.

little did i know that not only was i there for training but a whole lot of blessings too!  Fiskars really knows how to treat their people right and there wasn't a second of the trip that i didn't feel completely taken care of and spoiled rotten. i kept asking myself....'work? i'm here to work?'  it hardly felt like work!

i first arrived to the airport where they had the most amazing driver awaiting my arrival standing there holding his cute little sign that read 'Tania Willis'.  and dagnabit, i didn't have my camera phone ready, even though my husband reminded me to have it ready to go just to capture a picture of the driver waiting for my arrival.  cute, eh?

anywho. during our short ride he proceeded to tell me his life history based on all the different Madison landmarks that we passed.....i'm certain we took the scenic route.  such a pleasant way to start off my first evening in Madison. he left me with his business card so i could call on him should i need any suggestions on where to go or what to do.  little did he know Fiskars had that all taken care of for me. :)

but it only got better from there as i arrived to my hotel room at the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace and drew back the sheers to see this breathtaking view of Monona Lake.  isn't it lovely?

 

it wasn't long before we took a short walk together to The Old Fashioned on the Madison Square for a welcome dinner where i tasted and discovered my love for fried cheese curds.  melt in your mouth delicious!  ever had them?

i will admit to being just a bit scared at what would turn up at the table when they were ordered.  afterall, cheese curds don't sound the least bit appetizing. curds? all i could think of was fried cottage cheese. LOL.

anywho. here in Ohio the closest thing we have are mozarella sticks, but they don't even come close to describing the deliciousness that are fried cheese curds. and after having them a few different places throughout my stay i've decided that The Old Fashioned has the best fried cheese curds, hands down!

 

 

after dinner we walked out to the viewing deck on Monona Lake and chit-chatted for quite some time about the year to come and how we envision the community moving forward.  i turned around to hear a little boy giggling with his family only to fall in love with the view of the Capitol building amongst the Madison skyline.

what can i say.....4 hours in and this city totally captured my heart.

and from here on, my camera only came back out just a few other times. how i wish i would have thought to bring it out more.

 

one of those times was the very next morning at 5:30am when i was greeted by the sunrise because I chose to fall asleep by the moonlight instead of pulling the drapes closed on the windows.  so i sleepily got out of bed, admired it for a short time, snapped a picture with both my camera and my phone and promptly crawled back into bed for another hour of shut-eye.  i ain't no dummy! heee.

 

 

monday we hit the ground running.  meetings, company history, expectations, lunch at Francesca's, walking the long way around the Square, a cancelled photography lesson, bonus rest time, headshots with the fabulous Jane Hasty, the third sweat shower of the day (it was ungodly HOT in Madison and we walked nearly everywhere!), dinner with Fiskars employees and a dozen Fiskateers, then crafting and chatting until nearly midnight.  jam-packed day!

we ate at Graze where Executive Chef Tory Miller has won all kinds of national recognition awards for his dishes. and do you see that up there...yummmmmmmo. it was grilled steak, over roasted baby potatoes, spicy glazed baby carrots, turnips, onions, mushrooms, with red wine sauce and topped with a compound butter. seriously, delicious. i even got to try my first ever fried pickles. never thought i'd say i didn't like anything that involved pickles, but i'm not quite convinced that i'm a fan of fried pickles. haven't ruled them out altogether just yet. anyone know of a good place to order fried pickles?

from here, my photos are quite lame.

tuesday would have been photos of a screen with lots of powerpoint presentations, or lots of friendly faces of Fiskars employees as we took the grand tour of the facility, and my lunch at TexTubbs (fajitas, yum!), then more friendly faces as they greeted us when they came to fill bags of candy from the orange and green candy bar.

but again. i apparently only had half a brain and didn't take photos of any of that.

oh, but i didn't forget to photograph the mouth watering hot pretzels with cheese dip we ate at Great Dane Pub. seriously delicious. thank you to whomever suggested i not leave Wisconsin without eating a hot pretzel. best suggestion EVER!

wednesday was more meetings at the office with the most delicious chicken alfredo pizza lunch from i don't even know where, and before i knew it we were out the door heading back home.

and let me tell you, it was a blessed miracle that i made it home that day.

only moments after being dropped off at the airport, i made my way to the ticketing booth only to find out that my plane to Cleveland was 4 hours behind schedule due to mechanical problems.

no sweat, said the United agent, i'll get you home. clickity, click, click, his fingers were typing at lightening speed and moments later he handed me a new ticket being routed through Chicago with a switch over to American Airlines for the second leg home getting me in 12 whole minutes before my original flight. there was only one catch. i had to walk down to American to get my boarding pass printed. 

while down at American the gal noticed that my seat is 'unconfirmed'.  which meant, as she explained, that i had been booked on the flight but there actually wasn't a seat available.  so back down to United's counter i was sent.

back down there Mr. United had nothing for me except a flight to LaGuardia then a flight from LaGuardia back to Columbus.....an 8 hour total flight time adventure with a 3 hour layover. um, no thanks!

at this point, he booked me on a flight out the next morning and tried to tell me they wouldn't make accomodations for my overnight stay. i calmly asked for that to be verified.

in the meantime i'm calling my husband and calling Fiskars travel agent to work their magic (something we had just learned about in meetings 2 hours before, LOL).

then they offer a flight out at 5:30am getting me in by 9:45am so we wouldn't have to work so many different acrobatics to get everyone where they needed to be since i was supposed to be home.

ahhhhhhhhhh!
can you feel the frustration?

what was even more annoying was that my cell phone kept dropping calls like crazy.

long story short at 3:58 i get a voicemail from Fiskar's travel specialists telling me they've booked me on a flight through Chicago on United and it was leaving at 4:23pm.  no terminal/gate information at all.

and..........i still hadn't been through security.

i seriously was waiting for someone from Fiskars to jump out from behind a curtain laughing their behind off saying "YOU'VE BEEN PUNKED!"  as some sort of hazing ritual for the new Leads they bring on.

but, nope. this was for real.
only me, my friends, this kind of stuff only happens to me. (at least that's how it feels anyway.)

these are the types of things that make awesome stories to tell the grandkids i suppose.

long story short, i made it through security. went to the bathroom. got the largest water i could find. and still made it on my plane in time.

but you wanna know the real kicker?
once i got to chicago, i exited the plane and had to have customer service tell me the details on the next leg of my flight.

can you guess what flight i was on?

yep.
the American flight in which my seat was unconfirmed because it was full.

no joke.

and you wanna know what?
there were about 15 empty seats on that flight.
and it turned out to be the best flight out of the 4 take-offs and landings that i experienced that trip.

until the end when a passenger went all crazy on me for asking the flight attendent a question.  funny stuff right there.

in summary: i ate well, slept in the most comfortable bed ever, met some die-hard Fiskateers, felt like i was at a family reunion meeting all the Fiskars employees, and returned home higher than a kite on creative inspiration and can't wait to see where the next year leads!