Charleston, BFF's 50th birthday, my birthday, and then some!!

These last few weeks have been incredibly busy!!! I am so ready for things to settle back down into my normal routine!!

So here is a quick wrap up of these past few weeks:

First, I am recovering well from the surgery on Jan. 3rd to remove that lump on my left side lymph gland. Being a cancer survivor, I do not tolerate stuff that does not belong! The biopsy came back benign and now I just have to recover from getting the muscles cut across 3" of my neck (17 stitches!!)

On Monday, Jan. 24th I took the Amtrak from Richmond, VA to Charleston, SC for a one day conference that Tuesday. I really did not want to go but my boss' boss chose me to be one of the speakers so I had to go!! My presentation went well and I handled the audience questions just as well!! Then on Wednesday during that miserable snow and ice storm that stopped traffic in the DC area, my train brought me back home. Hubby picked me up from the train station and we took it nice and slow getting home in the rough weather!

The only major excitement that really happened on my trip was the gut punch when hubby told me Tuesday night that our 20 year old furnace had been acting up so he called the heater folks. They looked at it and then promptly condemned it for being leaky. Apparently quite a bit of carbon monoxide had been getting out!! So there went $3,100 for a new furnace that we really did not have!! Sadly, hubby is still unemployed and it is going to be a long while before he can complete his career change and start working in his new field!!

Then on Saturday, Jan. 29th I headed out for a one night stay at Lansdowne Resort. It was my BFF's 50th birthday party. (Can you imagine -- we've been buddies since 1983??) I almost did not go because with hubby not working, we especially do not have that kind of money. But hubby really wanted me to go and have fun with my BFF so he got DD involved in convincing me to go. She came up with the brilliant idea that since my birthday was a few days following my BFF's, that my MIL, my dad, and the kids would give me cash for my birthday gift. That covered that Girl's Night Out Package for $300 which included a very nice luxury room, a 50 minute Swedish massage, and a 50 minute European facial. BTW, all three were incredible!!! The massage was absolutely relaxing and the facial was exactly what my craggy, old skin needed!! I still had to spend some non-birthday money to cover food and tips but if you look beyond the money, the party and the fellowship of these women was incredible!!

There were 12 of us total and we all had an extraordinary time together. My BFF now has a birthday party to ring in her 50th that is one she will cherish forever. At dinner that night, there was not a dry eye nearby as my BFF addressed each one of us and told us what she has cherished about each of us over the years. And by the time she got to her mother, you can only imagine how tender that moment was!! In spite of my fears about the money situation, I am so glad I was there to be a part of her celebration. It is about these kinds of moments and memories that life is all about!!!

My own birthday was much more subdued!! We went out to eat at the restaurant where my DD works part time while she is in college. She had prearranged the table and the waitress that would serve us!! Dinner was yummy! I had a grilled chicken, craisin, and avocado wrap with a scrumptious dessert of chocolate mousse cake!!

That night hubby woke me up around 3am complaining his heart was pounding. My guess was it was probably stress considering our finances and other things going on that I have not mentioned. So we snuggled up kind of close as I was already starting to get sick, I turned on some nice yoga music as well as some ambient background noise of beach waves gently rolling in. I decided that if that did not work, then I was going to call 911!! But he settled down shortly and we dozed off.

Hubby went to see the cardiologist later that day who adjusted his meds. My cold got worse during the day and by Wednesday I was absolutely miserable!! I went to the doctor who put me on the Z-pack and prednisone. I stayed home and rested all day yesterday and went back to work today!! Probably too soon but my work was getting behind and I had to get caught up!!

There you have it -- part of my life in a nutshell. I do have pictures from the resort of us girls hanging out but I am not sure if they are ready for me to plaster their faces on the web!! So just imagine a picture of 12 middle-aged women giggling and having a good time as the waiter snaps our picture!! I am in the front row left corner!!