Welts and Hives

Last night after an amazing evening with my family in Houston, I drove the 2.5 hrs back to Austin and fell asleep quick once I got home. My slumber was short lived though. I was woken up an hour later, at 2am, to me scratching at my face, head and body. I felt like my body was on fire from all the itching that was going on. My chest felt heavy and couldn't breathe out of my nose

Still half asleep, I called for Phil to bring me Benadryl. I walked to the bathroom, and to my horror I was greeting in the mirror by welts all over my face and body. Instantly, I started panicking, which probably didn't help the situation. Phil freaked out too, which didn't help either.

After a short call to his mom, a nurse, he decided he needed to take me to the doctors. Apparently, there are no 24hr urgent cares in our area, so we had to go to the emergency room at the hospital down the street.

I told them I had an allergic reaction to something (still have no idea what it was), and instantly the doctors and nurses were taking my vitals, checking my throat, and giving shots. I was grateful for their swiftness, because by that point my mouth felt numb and my fingers were swelling.

I was given a steroid shot that stopped and soothed the welts and hives and they gave me a shot of Benadryl for the itching. I felt sooo weird as my heart was beating fast from the steroid and the Benadryl was making me sleepy. Not a fun feeling.

I was released around 5am. Phil drove me home and tucked me in. I was fortunate to get my 6am shift covered by my assistant, and took a sick day. The 10hrs of sleep was a big help with my wooziness.

Feeling a whole lot better now, with minor itchiness and a small feeling of swelling in my hands, but I'll survive. It was a scary situation. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. Prayers are much appreciated!

Love and light.
Adrienne

Mama Time!

My mama came to visit me last week, and we had a lovely time together. I hadn't seen her since her last visit in May, which doesn't seem like that long when you're like us, and talk everyday. If you're a Mexican daughter you might know what I'm talking about. Mexi mamas like to worry...

Back to the visit.

Mama and Max got to Austin Tuesday night. After their nine hour drive, all they wanted to do was rest. They came baring gifts: a 6.5 lb block of cheese, pecan pie, and hatch green chili. I don't know if you know this, but I like food!

Wednesday
I had Wednesday off, so we all slept in. Mama and I made a quick stop at the grocery store for some breakfast eats. Afterwards, we indulged in a lovely mani/pedi at the salon down the street and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Fire Bowl.

We picked up Max after his business conference and the three of us spent a good hour or so perusing the isles of Whole Foods. We bought tasty cheese, olives, bread and red wine--the fixings for a good time.

It was such a gorgeous day, we ended up walking around downtown a bit. Mom and I went into Anthropology where I got her excited about over price yet beautiful clothes, while Max walked around Book People. We wrapped up the night with our usual dinner spot Threadgill's (Max's favorite place to eat in Austin).

Thursday
I was up at 5am on Thursday for work. Our christmas season is in full swing, and I was in charge of setting out new items. It was a rough day, but getting to come home to a clean apartment with my mama there was a relief. She, the mr and I ate cheese and olives as we drank wine.

The mr and I had a concert to go to that evening at Emo's newest location. The night was awesome! Not only did the show rock our socks off, The Rangers won their second (I think) game of the World Series that night.

Friday & Saturday
I didn't get much of an opportunity to hangout with my mother on Friday. I slept as long as I could before work. It was another super long day and ended up working way too late. Headed home, I was pulled over for speeding. Really not the way I wanted to wrap up my week.

But I did come home to a glass of wine and a home-made dinner by my mama. It made me appreciate the little things.

Saturday was uneventful. I worked at 9am and my parents went to visit my sister in Waxahachie for the day. The mr and I relaxed at home and caught up on our missed shows.

Sunday
My favorite day of mama's visit was Sunday. She and I had a girly day. We made tasty tilapia for lunch for us and the guys, then headed to Driftwood Vineyards for a wine tasting and a glass of Longhorn Red to relax.

After the peaceful, scenic drive back, we went to the movies to watch Footloose. It was a cute movie! It made me really wish that people in real life would dance more in their day to day life. We came home to the guys watching the World Series.

For dinner, mama made amazing red chili enchiladas with eggs. It was too good!

They left monday morning after I left for work. It was so wonderful having my mama here. It's always a good time when she visits.

Love and light.
Adrienne

Project 334: My first two weeks of October

Gah! I've had a wonderful first two weeks of the month. As you may know, I had a vacation last week and got to spend some time in beautiful Nevada. It provide lots of fun photos!

October 1: I started the vacation time with a mani. I can't have my fingernails painted at work so I never have the chance to primp em up, so I took advantage of the time I had.

October 2: Sunday was great. I had lunch with my friend, Chris, at the outlet mall in San Marcos. After lunch, I spent a little bit of time browsing the shops. I stopped at Fossil and found the cutest feather ring and these lovely green glasses.

October 3: I love cooking. After waking up to no alarm clock, I made two tasty quiches--spinach, mushroom, bell pepper, and Morning Star chicken. Yum!

October 4: My mr has had it in his head that he wanted to start a business--steamed burgers. For the past week he'd been trying to figure out how to steam the patty. Tuesday he finally figured out a method. Steamed burger, steamed cheese, juicy taste (or so I'm told). Proud of my mr.

October 5: Vegas time! The mr and I left in the afternoon and made it to Vegas with enough time to fit in a nap before we explored the downtown area. I found my favorite slot of the trip: Kitty Glitter. I looked for it from them on at every casino we went to. It just made me laugh!

October 6: Thursday Sean took us to a tasty breakfast at Hash House a Go Go, and to rid those calories of the giant meal we walked the entire strip. It's a big strip too! One of the things I liked the most were all the awesome ceilings in the casinos. It's silly, but they were all so pretty!

October 7: Everything was right about Friday. We made a day trip to the Hoover dam, had an awesome dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, saw Cirque du Soleil LOVE (amazing), and did more walking of the strip. An absolutely wonderful day.

October 8: Saturday we had to say goodbye to Vegas, but we used our time wisely. We spent our day at Station Casino playing video blackjack. We also had an awesome time lounging on their giant canopy bed. It was a great way to end our vacation.

October 9: Our friends Julie and Josh did some house sitting while we were gone. They live in Killeen (an hour away from Austin) and wanted to celebrate their two year anniversary in the big city. I got to take them to church on Sunday and had brunch with Julie to catch up. It was lovely seeing the two lovebirds.

October 10: Monday was my first day back at work. It was so hard to go back! After work, I got groceries to brighten my mood. We'd eaten so much and not the healthiest so to get back on track I brought a Ninja blender/juicer/food processor. I'm in love with it!

October 11: We had so much food in the fridge! So much! So of course I cooked. I made queso, salsa and burritos. I'm so mexican.

October 12: More food-making happened on Wednesday. It was my day off so it happened after I slept in of course. The mr and I made a breakfast pizza with scrambled eggs, onions, red peppers and Morning Star meat. It was super good!

October 13: I bought the deal on Groupon because I was super curious. Thursday morning was my appointment. I was skeptical, but was totally sold on it's benefits! I left feeling amazing. It was almost better than a massage, and I will for sure go back.

October 14: While at the acupuncturist, she gave me some multi vitamins to improve my health. Friday was the first day I started taking them and already a few days later I can feel a change. I love it!

So there you have it people. An awesome beginning to my favorite month. Can it get any better? Here's hoping! Fingers crossed that everyone else is having a wonderful month too!

Love and light.
Adrienne

What happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay in Vegas...

I've been on vacation since the 2nd, and it's been the best week ever. Sunday through Tuesday was spent waking up without an alarm clock, eating whenever I got hungry, sleeping whenever I pleased and wearing heals, skirts and nail polish (a luxury to me since I can't wear them during my work weeks). Those first few days were much needed to relax and unwind.

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was when the mr and I began our Vegas adventure. The one time I went to Las Vegas, I was underage and with family, so this was technically the first time I got to experience Vegas and all it has to offer. 

My good friend, Sean, works for Southwest, and was wonderful enough to give us buddy passes and let us stay with him in his beautiful house.

Straight from the airport we went to Firefly for some delish tapas and a pitcher of sangria.

After a few hours of relaxing, unwinding and napping, Sean took us to old Vegas to feel the "Fremont Street Experience." The coolest part about downtown was Viva Vision--a giant LED screen on the roof of a canopy that spans the length of 5 football fields. Every hour they play music videos and everyone stops to stare up. It's pretty awesome.

We also went to The Golden Nugget Casino where we saw their pool with a slide that goes through a tank of fish and sharks, and I got to play my first slot of the trip. It was giant, and I was hoping to win big, but no luck there.

We ended Wednesday night with giant burgers and parmesan fries. Yum!

THURSDAY
I don't know why, but we had a giant breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. Adam from Man vs Food ate there--that show makes me happy.


Brunch was followed by H&M. During our visit we made three visits to three different H&M stores. Sean was in the market for a yellow dress for his halloween costume--the Morton Salt girl--he even had my mr shopping for the perfect yellow outfit. It was a great adventure that ended with the perfect find.

We celebrated with a delicious adult milkshake. Sean took us to BLT Burger where we indulged in vanilla, carmel and Makers Mark shake. So good!

The three of us walked off those tasty calories by walking the strip. We walked for six hours, and we still didn't make it to every casino. We perused the shops at Caesars Forum, we window shopped Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford and Fendi at the CityCenter, bought our tickets to see Cirque du Soleil  Love on Friday night, and walked around the gardens at Bellagio.


I loved it! It was fun getting to see things that most people would probably miss on a visit to Vegas. Having a local show us around made all the difference. Sean got us the local's discount on our tickets and knew the casinos with the best ceilings (I was super fascinated with all the gorgeous fixtures, paintings and sculptures that we came across).

And the one thing I wanted to do, just because you can't do it anywhere else but Bourbon St., was drink a drink while walking down the street. The mr was all for that plan, so much so he bought the round.

FRIDAY
Friday was by far our favorite day. It was a long day, but it was awesome. We started bright and early with a trip to Boulder City for brunch. Sean's mr, Marc, treated us to a tasty meal at The Coffee Cup (which was featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives--I love that channel). They had awesome $5 mimosa and delicious bloody marys. Great way to start the day.

We walked around the downtown area for a an hour or so, stopping off at the vintage stores and boutiques. Marc found us a wooden chili spoon with the state of Texas on the handle--we had to have it.

The four of us continued our day's adventure with the short, scenic drive to the Hoover Dam. We had an awesome view of Lake Mead (which btw is the second larges man-made lake in the world). My mr had never been to the dam before, so he and I took the hour long tour. We got to go down into the power plant where we were able to feel the ground shaking from the vast amounts of water that flowed through those tunnels. It was kinda scary.

After the dam tour we went back to Sean's to rest up a bit before dinner and our show.

We had an early dinner at Hofbrauhaus. It was soooo good! Fortunately, they did have a small vegetarian menu and it made me happy. They also had giant liter and half liter mugs of Oktoberfest beer. Tasty!

Our show started at 7pm. We literally got there just before the doors closed. The show was without a doubt the coolest show I've seen. I love the Beatles, and to have their music put into a beautiful display of colors, effects and amazing choreography, it was just too unreal. It almost brought tears to my eyes. Too good!

After the show we finally got to do some real gambling. My mr made himself cozy at a blackjack table--where he won $100! Sean, Marc and I wondered around the slot machines till we found ourself an electronic blackjack machine. We got stuck there for awhile, but were bribed away by Marc and his offer of wine and tiramisu at the nearby restaurant.

We somehow made it back to the blackjack machine. Sean ended up making his money back and simultaneously got addicted to blackjack. We created a monster!

We pulled ourselves away from the machines and walked around for another few hours. We tried to make it to Serendipity 3, a restaurant in the Guinness book of records for the most expensive ice cream sunday. Sadly, they were closing. We also tried to make it to the Bellagio for the water fountain show, but they stopped at midnight. We failed, but had an awesome time getting there by posing with the statues we passed.

SATURDAY
We slept in late on saturday. To cure our minor hangover, Sean took us to a tasty sandwich and juice shop. Carrot juice and grilled cheese hit the spot.

We had a few hours to kill before we had to be at the airport, so we went to our last casino of the trip, Station Casino. We found a blackjack machine and sat for almost an hour, all playing together at one machine. We were offered players card on the promise of up to $500 playing money. We each ended up getting $3. It was gone within minutes, but fun none-the-less.

After a good chunk of time on the machines we made our way outside to the casino's swimming pool. It was such a gorgeous day. We lounged on the giant bed-like canopies and played blackjack with the free cards they gave us for signing up.

We even enjoyed lunch on the canopies, also while playing more blackjack, using ketchup packets as money. It was a perfect relaxing way to end our wonderful trip.

I can't thank Sean enough for getting us there, housing us and entertaining us. He's an awesome friend!

Love and light.
Adrienne

Project 334: All of September

OK! September flew by so quickly, I didn't have time to post but one week of my Project 334. It was by far my favorite month thus far. It was just so eventful! He's a super quick look at what my month looked like.

8th Painted my nails
9th Went to San Antonio
10th Went to a wedding
11th Tackled a 3lb cinnamon roll
12th Needed coffee to survive
13th Cycling class
14th Went to H&M
15th Visited my sister in Waxa.
16th Drove back to Austin
17th Almost rained
18th Got sick
19th Charlie Sheen roast
20th Two perfect 5 secret shops
21st Paid off my car!!!
22nd Relaxed with the mr
23rd Given beautiful china
24th Cut my own bangs
25th 12 hour inventory
26th "Eternal Optimist" nail polish
27th Train with SMs and dinner
28th Got a mean note on my car
29th Made the perfect omelet
30th Ate 3 giant meals
OCT 1st: VACATION BEGAN!

Yes, October is starting off with a week of vacation. Today's the first full day, and I've loved every minute of it. October tends to be my favorite month of the year, what with all the scary movies and Fall weather. Hopefully, it'll hold up to its' potential and not cave under the pressure. I hope everyone's September brought great moments. Here's to October!

Love and light.
Adrienne