New Orleans

For the last 3 years, we've gone out of the country mid October on either our honeymoon or anniversary trip. This year, we decided to go to Gulf Shores for an extended vacay in Sept, then have a weekend in New Orleans to hang out and watch the Saints play. I was never into NFL football before I started dating Kent, but now I love it and am even remembering names of some players and who they play for. I mean, after 5 years, you are bound to catch on to some things right? Anyway, the Saints have always been Kent's team and we've seen them play in Atlanta twice since being married. So we headed out this past Saturday for our road trip to New Orleans. I really want to ride the train, but since we were limited on time, driving was a better option. I booked through priceline and our hotel was about halfway between the Superdome and the French Quarter. We got there 2 h before check-in time, but within 15 minutes, they had us in an upgraded room and gave us a discount on our parking. Thanks Quality Inn! After settling in, we headed to eat. The Acme Oyster house was on Kent's list, and since I've only been there once in my life I don't really know what/where to go.

It was delicious and we watched the first half of the Auburn/LSU game. After that we walked around and went to Jackson Square, watched a street show and headed to Bourbon St.

We watched football in various spots and had a really great time. Sunday morning, we headed to Cafe Du Monde to eat some beignets and stuff ourselves with powdered sugar! I asked Kent to take a pic of me eating one, and I'm posed and ready when he blows the sugar all in my face.

Thanks hun! It was funny though. Then we headed out to the Superdome.

Our seats were 3 rows from the tip top but right on the 45 yard line. The Saints played like crap and handed the Browns the game on a silver platter, but we still had a great time with the experience. The ceiling of the superdome still has some holes from Katrina. After the game, we headed to eat at La Bayou on Bourbon St. Kent had a roast beef po boy and I had a New Orleans poboy (shrimp, fried green tomatoes, and remoulade sauce) that were delicious!

We went to Pat O'Briens piano bar which was a lot of fun and then just kinda made rounds listening to live music and watching other NFL games that were on. We also found these two Browns fans that I HAD to have my pic taken with!

I must say, that hair is amazing! Especially after wearing a hat all day! Haha!

It was a much needed weekend with the hubs! Now we are back to reality with sewing, monogramming, nursing, etc. Now the countdown is on for Disney!!

Tailgating...

So my birthday gift from hubs was tickets to the Alabama Homecoming. We've never been to an AL game together before and it's been almost 5 years since I've been to a game in T-town, so you can see why I was uber excited about my gift! The game started at 8pm, so we had all day to tailgate. We ended up trading our two tickets for 4 tickets and had another couple that met us there. We timed it perfect and got to park right beside each other in a field, so we just set up our tailgate right there. We brought the satellite, TV, grill and snacks. It was soooo much fun! We watched the Auburn game and grilled hamburgers, bratwurst, and andoille sausage. Yummo! We might have turned into slight rednecks when the sun was going down though:)

After the Auburn game, we packed up and headed to Denny Chimes, said hello to a coworker and went in the game.

It was a little bit closer than we all expected, but we pulled out a win. Bummer of the night, was that I had to go straight to work afterward. Thanks Savannah for staying for me:) I was only 2h late, so that wasn't too bad.

Ankle Problems

December will mark the 10th anniversary of me being hit by a drunk driver. I was heading to work one morning and BAM! my life changed in an instant. I was incredibly fortunate that my only injuries were a "crushed" ankle and a knee that was cut wide open. I was in an ankle cast, using crutches and going through therapy on and off for about 2 years.
Fast forward 10 years, and the ankle is showing signs of rebellion. I've always had some struggles when I stay up on it for extended periods of time, such as going to Six Flags or working doubles, but lately it has been unbearable. Working these arts and craft shows have proven to be much more difficult than expected. By the end of the day, I am limping from place to place, sometimes crawling from the bedroom to the bathroom.
I took the initiative to go to the doctor and have it checked out. I had just had enough!
So essentially, I will always have problems. I have severe arthritis in my subtalar joint, which is the most used joint in your foot that supports walking. Isn't that wonderful! I'm 28years old and I have "severe arthritis." I was really throwing myself a pity party after going to the doc. I'm just not that happy about it. But we are taking it in three phases.
Phase one is starting Mobic-a prescription arthritis med, changing shoes, wearing an ankle brace and wearing new insoles to my shoes.
Phase two is having a CT to evaluate the joint and doing shots in the joint.
Phase three is having my ankle bones fused together.
So far phase one is doing the trick and I think that I am going to cancel my phase 2 appointment. I've been to New Orleans walking around half the country, and did great! I must say that it's a relief! I am sure that I will eventually have to move to the other stages, but hopefully that can wait until much later on.

I did get to look at my new xrays and compare them to the ones from years ago which was pretty cool. Here's my CT from the day of the accident:

If you look at the ankle on the left, you can see in the middle there is pieces of bone just floating around in there:)

And here's my xray from the other day:

On the picture on the left, you can see a white line in the middle of the ankle. That's arthritis!

This is how you walk around if you are me:

Just because I need to wear a brace at times, doesn't mean I can't still wear cute shoes!!!