Rachel's 30!

One of my best friends Rachel turned 30 in early January and with everyone's busy schedules we were finally able to celebrate her birthday this past Saturday night. 

We decided to venture to Raleigh for dinner at Dos Taquitos, and let me tell you, an amazing time was had by all. 

I highly recommend the tostadas

I'd been to the Dos Taquitos before in a different location in Raleigh for our friend Kate's birthday and had loved the atmosphere and the food so when ideas for a restaurant were needed I was quick to suggest it.

Even though we got just a little lost downtown, we made it just a little after our 6pm reservations and ate a ridiculous amount of food and drank copious amounts of margaritas before leaving after 10pm! I feel a little bit sorry for the folks around us who had to overhear our loud conversations.

Rachel, Kathryn & Dana

Hopey, Me & Kristen

Rachel being serenaded by the staff

Dana (who is pregnant) was so sweet to drive her giant SUV and be our chauffeur for the evening!

It was so awesome to have an evening with my ladies for the first time since Brody was born, and even more great that we had so much to celebrate between Rachel's birthday, our friend Kristen's engagement, and Dana expecting her second little boy!

It reminded me just how blessed I am to have such amazing girls to call my best friends.

a decade.

On Jan. 24, 2005, Josh and I officially started dating. That was ten years (and 2 days) ago which means we have been together for a decade.

I really struggled as I tried to think of things to post about our relationship or about the years we've spent together. I've already done a post about what makes us work (here), all the changes that have happened since we got engaged almost 8 years ago (here), the first time Josh asked me out (here), and the awkward first I love you (here), so I didn't know what to write about.

Therefore, I decided on a "newlywed" type game to see if maybe after 10 years of being together we could answer a bunch of questions correctly.

I made Josh answer a set of questions with his answers and than again with the answers he thought I would give. Then I did the same thing. I was pretty surprised at how many we got wrong haha.

So here is how Josh answered the questions about himself (in blue) and how I thought he'd answer them about himself (in red), along with my comments in italics. 

Josh:

1. Between you and your spouse who is the “spender” and who is the “saver” when it comes to money? Lar the spender; Me the saver // I'm the spender, Josh is saver this is true, but I must admit that he is pretty compulsive sometimes and buys random big stuff like the giant beanbag chair


2. Who is your biggest celebrity crush? Miranda Lambert // Kate Upton oops.


3. What is your favorite food? Steak // That sausage and lima bean thing you keep talking about that your grandma makes I should have known this.


4. When you have free time, what do you do? Watch TV // Mess around in the yard well that too...


5. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? An architect  // A weatherman wow I swear he told me he wanted to be a weatherman and we talked about how he always watched the weather channel, weirdo.


6. What is your most irritating habit? Spitting // Leaving cups EVERYWHERE oh my gosh, yes spitting is much worse but I didn't that he would agree


7. Other than your wedding day or birth of your child, what one day of your marriage would you most like to experience again? Zip-lining on our honeymoon // Our honeymoon take me back please


8. What percentage of the housework would you say that you do? 30% // 50% ha, this surprises me because I thought he'd think he does more than he actually does.


9. Who is more addicted to social media between you and your spouse? Lauren // Lauren guilty as charged


10. What is your favorite fast food restaurant? BoJangles // BoJangles 

Geez, only 4/10 for me, crap. 

Here is how I answered the questions about myself (in red) and how Josh thought I'd answer them about myself (in blue), along with my comments in italics. He did WAY better than I did, crap.

Lauren:

1. Between you and your spouse who is the “spender” and who is the “saver” when it comes to money? I'm the spender, Josh is saver // Lar the spender; Me the saver we both know it.|


2. Who is your biggest celebrity crush? Right now Charlie Hunnam // I know he is dead but Paul Walker I enjoy him too...


3. What is your favorite food? Sushi from Wasabi 88 // Sushi


4. When you have free time, what do you do? Read  // Read


5. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? A writer // A writer why is he doing so much better at this than I did?!


6. What is your most irritating habit? Not sitting still  // being OCD okay this kind of the same thing, he gets on me all the time about how I can't just SIT DOWN I have to be up cleaning something or picking up toys


7. Other than your wedding day or birth of your child, what one day of your marriage would you most like to experience again? Any day from our honeymoon // Grove Park Inn Spa yes that too, but the honeymoon was so much better


8. What percentage of the housework would you say that you do? 80% // 70%  ha.


9. Who is more addicted to social media between you and your spouse? Me  // Lar


10. What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Wendy’s // Wendy's I do love their chili and salads!

Josh managed to get 7 (I'm counting the OCD thing) right.

Maybe in ten more years we'll be able to get them all correct?

he's got it under control

This past weekend, my darling Mema had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital because her heart was out of rhythm. This isn't unusual for Mema, her heart hasn't been too great at keeping a normal beat since her chemo treatments for lymphoma in 2009.

Mema and Sawyer reading (she is the only person he will sit still with long enough for this to happen)

But this time was a little different.

Instead of her usual cardioversion procedure that she's had a few times before to regular her heart rate, her cardiologist chose to do an ablation where they actually use "radiofrequency energy" (kind of like microwave heat) to destroy a small area of her heart that is causing the irregularity in her rhythm. They were hoping this would result in a more long-term fix for her versus having to have so many cardioversions.

Everything went as expected and she came through the procedure fine with her heart bopping to the right beat. But then I got a scary, scary phone call around 9pm last night.

Mema took a turn for the worst and her heart rate had plummeted to the point that nurses and doctors were having a hard time even getting a blood pressure reading on her. She was rushed to the CICU and was in critical condition until they finally got a central line put in and the right medicine dosage to return her heart back to a better rate.

The scariest part about this? She could have been home when all of this happened and therefore might not be with us today.

You see, Mema was supposed to come home from the hospital yesterday since she was doing so well. We all got a little angry when they waited to late to order her an oxygen machine so she didn't have one in time to be discharged and had to stay another night.

But the Lord knew what he was doing. Here we were so mad that she had to spend another night in the hospital and she ended up being right where she was supposed to be.

If she had been discharged and was sitting at home when this happened, even though my mom was was going to be spending the night with her, there is a very, very small chance she would have made it to the hospital and an even smaller chance that she would have lived.

God works in mysterious ways and I am so grateful that he is in control.