Cloud 9

We went to Alpine Lake again this weekend with the Iskows and our cousin Jenn. Beth and Mason were supposed to join us but weren't able to make it at the last minute :( We missed them very much but had a great time. It was nice to get away for a few days and at a perfect time with the leaves changing!

Joe's Uncle Gary and Aunt Debbie's house in progress.

OC circa 1985

This is me, my mom, and my cousin Drew in Ocean City probably when I was 5 and he was 4. Our grandparents had a condo on the beach so we spent a lot of our childhood on family trips to OC. This picture cracks me up and it made me start thinking about my approaching 30th birthday and what things I have learned in the last 25 years since this picture was taken and what I would tell 5 year old Jamie if I had the chance.

1. How carefree and comfortable you are in your cute red and white striped bathing suit will only last a few more years. Then you will forever dread the coming of summer because it means bathing suit shopping is upon you. And you tried to rock the one piece bathing suit a few years ago because 50's fashion was back for a hot second, but 2 pieces will be the way to go. You also will buy a house with a pool so you are going to be have to be in shape every single summer for the entire time you live at that house.

2. Your pigtail braids while awesome and perfect for the beach will not be cool much longer. However, bring them down by about 4 inches and rock them in your 20's and you are "casual bohemian cute" and super cool.

3. Bangs. Don't let your Mother touch them again. And for that matter, don't let her touch your hair ever in any way. Because you don't realize it yet, but you have several in-home perms in your near future.

4. At 5 you think your Mom is awesome and she makes the best cookies. But from 16-20 you are going to be so frustrated with her and think everything she does is stupid and everything she says is wrong. You will scream at her and she will scream back. But, this time will pass and eventually you will look back and realize how cool this lady is. Just look at her.. posing like a supermodel, tipping the corner of her Jackie O sunglasses just so, holding onto to her daughter while showing off her bling and oh wait.....oh no... she has her bangs on the outside of her sun visor. Well crap. Nevermind.:)

5. Your cousin pulled it off wayyyy before Bieber did.

Tag Time

Erin is a friend from work and she has the cutest baby boy named Tag. She always sends me cute pics and videos which I wanted to share. I think this should become a regular blog feature called Tag Time!

Deep Creek Wedding: Day Four (Wedding Day!)

The night before, Steph, Me, Mike and Emily headed home from the party at our friends house to head to bed somewhat early. We all went to our rooms and within 10 seconds, the fire alarm went off. I was in the bathroom and quickly came running out to the hallway to see what was going on... Steph did the same thing in her bra and pants, Mike came running from upstairs in his underwear and Emily quickly behind him. We were running around like lunatics trying to figure out where the fire was. Next thing I know, Mike has a fire extinguisher and is running around his red underwear, which was hilarious. Turns out there was no fire, we had turned on the heat for the first time and I guess it sent the alarm off!

Steph and I slept horribly that night. I was more nervous than the night before my own wedding! I kept thinking about giving my speech that had yet to be written, so I tossed and turned all night. Steph and I went to get our hair done, while everyone else started getting things ready for the night.

Steph did Emily's hair and I did her makeup. We were ready on time and had some drinks beforehand to settle our nerves. Everything went perfectly, the weather, the ceremony, the dancing, the afterparty. It was a great night and here are some pics!

Early morning fog over the lake.

This is the house where we stayed.

Getting hair done at Nola's Salon.


Pretty upscale for downtown West Virginia!

Getting the Bride ready.

View from Mike and Emily's balcony.

Giving our Maid of Honor speeches and song:) For those of you wondering what the lyrics are, you don't have to wait any longer....

What do Mike and Emily dream of

after they walk down the wedding aisle?

Do they dream of werewolves and vampires

or Emily Blunt eating a chocolate cake?

Well, don't you worry you newly wedded selves,

you're going to be in Spain and Greece in 2 weeks time,

and that's our only rhyme.

And then you'll come home as husband and wife

and then we're gonna give you a best friend hug.

Chemans, chemans, chemans, chemmy chemmy chemans

And if you get knocked up on your honeymoon night,

well, then you're sh*t out of luck!

Table centerpieces with names of all the houses Mike and Emily have stayed in at the lake.

First Dance.

Cutting the Cupcake!

Jillian and Molly can't wait to get their hands on a cupcake!

Joe, Kevin, Steph and I went to Alpine Lake the next day to unwind and watch football. I took some shots of the Iskows house, which they have done an amazing job decorating.

Kelly and Steve's Wedding

This past weekend, Joe and I drove to Charlottesville, VA for my friend Kelly's wedding. Kelly is originally from MD and went to Old Mill HS and then her family moved to Nashville the same year she started school at Belmont with me. She then went to Law school at UVA and now lives and works in DC with her new husband, Steve who she met at UVA.

The ceremony and reception was at Ash-Lawn Highlands, the gardens and lawn at James Monroe's former home. Gorgeous landscaping and a perfect place for a fall outdoor wedding. We stayed at on campus hotel and took a complimentary shuttle to the wedding. So here's the cool story...

We got on the shuttle with 60+ other people and went a couple blocks when the bus stopped to let off a few people who realized they were on the wrong shuttle to the wrong wedding. This morning, I was listening to the radio and tuned into one of the stations I frequently listen to because I love talk radio... 106.5 with Jojo and Regan. Regan was telling essentially the same story I just told you about a wedding he attended in Charlottesville this weekend where people realized they were on the wrong bus and got off. I thought... what??! there is no way this is a coincidence. I would have called the station 1. had I known the number and 2. if it was 3 days ago and I didn't have to fear the cops pulling me over for talking on my hands only cell phone. So when I got to work I googled Regan to see what he looked to like and low and behold..... he was sitting directly across from me at dinner!! Weird that I tuned in at exactly the right time to hear him say that! So now I need to find out how the heck Kelly knows Regan!

Kelly was always the most creative of my friends in college. No offense to my other Belmont lovelies but you know you agree! So I was super excited to see what her wedding would entail and I was not dissapointed.....

Gift bags waiting for us at the hotel that matched the wedding invitations. Gifts included candy, gum, snacks, local homemade apple butter.

Riding the shuttle out to Ash-Lawn Highlands.

Flowers hanging off the end of the rows in cute mason jars with matching ribbons. I was most impressed with the heaping piles of yellow, pink, and purple flower petals lining the aisle.

Kelly and Steve exchanging vows. Look at her hip, "Sex and the City" hair accessory. C/o of Etsy as well as the bridesmaids jewelry.

View of the Huppah.

Placecard table.

Erin, Me, Amanda, and Kara.

Me and He.

Kelly had a digital photo album of her and Steve's childhood, teenage and college years and guests could sign next to the photos. This is a shot of our Belmont graduation day.

We hugged and cried for at least an hour after this photo. And then all of our parents started crying.

Reception pavilion. Kelly and Steve choreographed their first dance to "Good Day Sunshine". It was unbelievably cute and Kelly kept pausing in these perfect photo opt moments. Whether it was a dip or a flirty little shoulder shrug with a funny face.

Wedding cake... yum!

Centerpieces with real plums and leaves instead of flowers. Matching placecards with the programs that matched the invitations!

Amanda, Me, and Katie.

Having fun with my new camera! I love the colors!!

New Job and Bad Corneas

I know. That is the weirdest title for a blog post. But it's all true!

Joe started a brand new job (whooo hoooo thank you Lord!) on Monday. Joe has worked in the mortgage business for the past 8 years and while it was a great thing for the first few years of our marriage, we always knew eventually he would have to find something different. Being a loan processor is pretty stagnant, there is no way to advance or further your career unless you have interest in other things like becoming a loan officer or underwriter, which Joe never was into. So he made a goal to have a new job by the time he was 30. He started his new job on Sept 27th and turned 30 on Sept 28th!

He is working at APL (Applied Physics Lab) in Columbia, MD. Thanks to a few good friends (Jason and Amanda), Joe was able to get an interview in July and after a few weeks of anxious anticipation, he got the offer! This is a huge blessing for Joe and for our future and we are so thankful that he has this opportunity. He is working in the Facilities and Logistics department and has a vast range of responsibilities that hopefully will make each day different and interesting. He wore a hard hat on Tuesday, a lab coat on Wednesday, saw an Atomic clock on Thursday, and secretly professed to me when he got home that he had no idea what an Atomic clock was until someone explained it to him. But we all had to learn on the job somewhat right??!

So the bad corneas is also news about Joe. At the end of July, Joe went to his regular eye appointment for a new prescription and was informed that he most likely has Keratonocus. Keratonocus is a thinning disorder of the cornea which causes the cornea to take on a cone like shape instead a normal round eyeball shape. So it causes pretty significant visual impairment. Joe has a hard time driving at night and has been dealing with pain and redness for months now.
We went to see a Keratonocus specialist in Chevy Chase at the beginning of September. There are only 8 facilities in the country that deal with this disorder. Joe went through a round of tests to see how advanced his case is. So here is the low down...

There are 2 ways to treat it.

1. Cornea Cross Linking. This is a relatively non invasive outpatient procedure that would strengthen the cornea and prevent further damage.
PRO: Joe would still need glasses but 60-80 % of patients report an increase in vision following the procedure that takes anywhere from months to years to see the full effects. One day he might even be able to have Lasix and have 20/20 vision and never have to wear glasses again.
CON:This procedure is still in Clinical Trials so it is not covered by insurance. It costs $6,000 and that is with a $2,000 discount cause we are young and the Doctor felt bad for us!

2. Corneal Transplant Surgery. This is where Joe's corneas are removed and replaced with donor corneas. This is horribly painful, takes months to recover from and is something we don't want to even have to think about. But it is currently the only procedure approved by the FDA and covered by insurance.
PRO: No more Keratoconus and better vision
CON: Infection, rejection of donor cornea, pain

SO! Our hope is to have Cornea Cross Linking(CXL) in early 2011. The thinning of the cornea is measured and scored and right now Joe is at 485 in one eye and 430ish in the other eye. As the cornea thins more and more, the score goes down. You have to have at least a score of 300 or higher to be able to have CXL. So we are going back in the end of October to have his score redone to see how fast the Keratonocus is progressing to determine how much time we have.

So we will update you on what we learn later this month! The good news is that Keratoconus does not cause blindness. But Joe's current prescription makes him barely legal to drive and he already can't drive at night. The bad news is that it's genetic. So now I am going to have babies with bad corneas!:) It's ok though, maybe by then CXL will be FDA approved, otherwise we better start saving!

Look, look with your special eyes!