Not Quite What I Planned

This weekend was supposed to be spent celebrating Cara and Michael at their Couple Shower and then heading to Phoenix for an event for my favorite client.  Things didn't quite go how I planned...

On Tuesday, I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose.  I figured I was just getting a bit of a cold.  I had a z-pack called in and knew I would kick whatever it was by the weekend.  Throughout the day, I started feeling worse and worse.  Before I knew it, I had chills, a fever, body aches...the whole nine yards.  Despite not feeling well himself, my sweet husband ran to the store to get more cold/flu medicine. After drugging myself up and eating some ramen noodles, I was in bed by 6:30.  I couldn't remember the last time I felt so bad.

I woke up the next morning and immediately knew that this wasn't just a little cold.  That is also when the headache set in.  Anytime I moved or got up to walk around, it felt like I was getting knocked in the head with a baseball bat.  No matter what medicine I took - I couldn't shake the headache.

After a few days and a lot of rest, the other symptoms slowly by surely started to get better besides the headache.  My head was actually getting worse each day.  Luckily, my mom works at a doctors office so I have access to medicine when I need it.  She dropped off some Bupap after work and after several hours of that not working - they called in hydrocodone.  My head hurt so bad at this point, Mark and I decided that if my head wasn't better in the morning - I probably needed to go see a doctor.

I woke up Saturday and oh my goodness - the headache had spread to my entire head (before it was concentrated to the back right side).  I couldn't move or walk without screaming in pain.  (And I have to say I have a pretty high pain tolerance.)  I tend to push through those types of things, but I knew something wasn't right.  My mom called me right as I was waking up and she could tell it was worse than the night before.  She picked me up and took me straight to the ER.

Once I arrived, they started me on an IV mix of Benadryl and some other drug that I can't remember.  They assumed it wasn't a migraine because I wasn't sensitive to light, but they didn't want to start me on too much without knowing the cause.  It made me so cold and I was shivering so badly.  (ER's need thicker blankets!) From there, they took me in for a CT Scan.  Try laying still when you are shivering uncontrollably!  Luckily, the benadryl had kicked in a bit and that mixed with my narcolepsy allowed me to fall asleep while they were prepping the CT Scan and I slept right through it.  While they were waiting for the CT Scan results, they started me on Morphine, which didn't help at all.  The doctors decided at that point to do a spinal tap to eliminate meningitis, aneurysm, West Nile, etc.

 
A spinal tap is performed by sticking a huge needle in between two vertebrae in your spine to collect fluid.  I ended up having to do this 3 times.  The first two times, the numbing shots had not numbed my back enough.  And it hurt. so. bad.  Mark and my mom were in the room with me at this time. Mark was so sweet and held my hand and my poor mom couldn't watch.  I can't even describe the pain of the first two attempts besides that I was seconds away from getting sick.  While we waited for the results, they put me on an IV of Demerol.

Luckily, the spinal tap came back clear.  From the CT Scan, the doctor advised that the virus I had earlier in the week had gone up into my sinuses and along with some major neck spasms - it was causing really bad tension headaches.

I left that evening and was told to switch between Motrin and Hydrocodone every few hours until I felt better.  Two days later, my head is still hurting off and on and my back hurts so badly from the spinal tap.  I'm so thankful it wasn't something more serious, but I pray to never, ever experience that pain (from both the headache and spinal tap) ever again.

In church, we've been going through 1 Peter and I am so thankful, as it focuses on trials and history will show - I don't always handle trials so well.  This weekend certainly didn't go as planned.  It was draining, painful, and scary at times.  It completely ruined my plans (which I hate!!!).  But it did make me even more thankful for my husband and my mom, who took the best care of me (seriously - they were AMAZING).  And it allowed me to spend a weekend on the coach with Mark.  Even though we didn't feel good, I loved spending every second with him.  It's these moments that instill in me that God's plan is much better than my own.

Thank you to all my sweet friends and family that have reached out to Mark and me to check in.  We appreciate your thoughtfulness and prayers!

Throwback Thursday: Tyler Rooskie

This week's Throwback Thursday is dedicated to my big brother, Tyler!  This will just thrill him to pieces...Not!  Tyler does not necessarily share my love of old pictures and videos (There is an old video of us dancing to my Barbie tape that he hid so we couldn't share with Andrea, which is so sad. I'd die if I could post it on here - it was a true gem.). But that's just too bad. Tyler moved to Austin this week - so in his honor, I am sharing lots of old pictures and memories of my big bro.

I rarely refer to Tyler by his name (If you don't know this already - I am a nickname person.  You know I really love you if I have a nickname for you).  To me - he is Rooskie (Roo for short), which he really, really hates. (I don't care.)  When we were younger, my uncle substituted Georgie Porgie with Tyler Rooskie (you know - Tyler Rooskie, Puddin' and Pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry, When the boys came out to play, Tyler Rooskie ran away) and it stuck.  Feel free to call him Rooskie next time you see him!

Ty and I are 17 months a part.  For the most part, we got along pretty good when we were younger. We were partners in crime when it came to tormenting our baby sitters. Roo also gave me one of my first haircuts.  During this time of our lives, Rooskie sported a really awesome spiky mullet.  It was awesome.

Hellllo chunk

When we were younger, Tyler was very shy and I was very outgoing (to say the least).  My mom used to be so worried about Tyler that she would go and watch him from the parking lot during recess to see if he played with anyone. (This would later significantly change!)  Tyler always had to have a toy in his hand.  Once, one of my mom's best friends took us to the dollar store and told us we could pick out whatever we wanted...I got 3 rolls of tape and Tyler got a tire gauge.

Tyler and I were extremely picky eaters growing up (Thus the multiple chins I'm sporting in the pictures above - my favorite meal was Cheetos and a Coke).  One time, we were eating rice and some of the grains were black.  I'd never eaten wild rice or seen this before, so I asked Ty what it was.  He told me to "show her" - meaning for me to ask my mom.  I thought he was saying it was called a show her, so I went on to tell my parents there were show hers in my rice.  From that point on, I've always called "weird" foods - show hers.

Model Rooskie

To Tyler's dismay, my mom always loved to dress us the same.  She would continue to try to do this for Christmas pictures as we got older.  Tyler finally had to put his foot down.  Tyler is very particular about his clothes.  I warn you - do not EVER go shopping with Tyler. It very well may be the absolute most tortuous process in the entire world.  And after you've spent 10.5 hours watching him try on approximately 5 whole outfits - he's done and not willing to wait 10 minutes for you to look at something for yourself.

Once Tanner came along, Roo and I shared a room and slept in bunk beds.  For a period of time, Tyler decided it was appropriate to wake me up in the morning by punching me in the nose.  This went on until I sneezed blood all over my shirt one morning and my mom discovered what he had been doing. Such a nice big brother...

When we moved to Coppell, we moved into a great neighborhood and met some of our best friends.  We spent our days playing kick the can, hide and seek, and flash light tag with the gang.  Braea and Addison Spurlock were our very best friends and we were constantly together.

 We went through a phase of playing WWE - we even had our own "ring" (a mattress).  We would jump off the 2nd floor balcony onto the mattress - how none of us broke a bone blows my mind.  Anyways - when we played wrestling, the boys decided Braea got to be Sable and they made me be Chyna.  It scarred me for life.

You will not get to see any pictures from our middle school/high school years.  My goodness - to say we went through an awkward phase is an understatement.  Tyler went through a really bad period of dying his hair "blonde" (aka yellow) and I was just flat out awful looking.  During these years, we really switched roles.  Tyler became super outgoing/life of the party and I was painfully, painfully shy.  I refer to these years as the Lost Years (because I wish they would just disappear from my memory).  I could also call them the years Roo let his friends take turns farting on me while I was sick on the coach or the years Tyler and his friends would hop in his car really fast and lock the doors so I had to walk home by myself or the years when Tyler would have parties at the house and make me cover for him.  (During one of these parties, I told Tyler I didn't feel very good - he gave me THREE Tylenol PMs!!!!  I was drowsy for days!)

Tyler and I have pretty much been banned from watching Texas Tech vs. Texas games together.  Some serious family fights have broken out during these games.  My senior year of college, Tyler came out to Lubbock for the game thinking he was going to get to rub a win in our face (Texas was ranked #3 at the time and a National Championship game looked to be in their future).

Lucky for us, Rooskie and Crabtree had different dreams.

At my wedding, I did a "first look" with my daddy and brothers.  When I came out, I might as well just have been wearing sweats by Tyler's reaction.  Jaime (my amazing photographer) gave him a hard time, which led to the first picture.  Typical Tyler...

Luckily, Tyler and I were born with some rythmn and did not get our parent's dancing skills. 

Tyler Rooskie - 

I am so lucky to have you as my big brother.  Even though we will miss you greatly, I am so proud of you for working so hard to get this job.  Enjoy every minute - you were made to live in Austin (you liberal weirdo! :-) )  I love you lots.  

Oh... and hurry up and propose to Andrea so she can officially be my sister.  I didn't throw my bouquet in her face for no reason...

Wedding Recap: Engagement Story

Through the years of dating, Mark and I didn't talk about getting engaged all that often.  I always tried to hold back from mentioning it because Tyler always told me not to nag Mark about it.  I really only remember one occasion where we were having a conversation about getting married and I shared my one biggest wish for my engagement...that it was NOT in public.  I can be extremely shy and do not like having attention on me (that surprises some people since I used to dance in front of 60,000 people, but make me give a speech or God forbid roleplay in front of a class and I’m probably going to cry!)  I truly believe if I got engaged in a public place with people watching me I would've had a full-blown panic attack.  Thank goodness he chose to listen then because our engagement was absolutely perfect! 

I'll be honest - I thought it was coming a few weeks before it actually happened.  On a Friday night in November, Mark told me that the next day that he was going to take me to Main Street in Grapevine for wine tasting.  He said we should get "dressed up" (which I don't think I'd ever heard Mark say – if you know Mark…you understand) - that totally set me off.  I just KNEW it was coming!  The whole time I was getting ready, I was so excited/nervous/happy - I was on my way to become an engaged woman!

Welp...a few glasses of wine later, we were off to meet the Applegate family at Mi Dia for dinner.  While I love the Applegates - they didn’t necessarily fit into my engagement plan. I drowned my sorrows in a margarita (or four).  The day was great, but no engagement…

I had several weird engagement dreams nightmares after that day, including one where Mark proposed with a ring that was black plastic with tiny mirrors on it. I was just so embarrassed.  I told one of my best friends, Erin, and it became a running joke between us.  However, it honestly sparked a little worry in me.  Mark and I didn't discuss rings (and let’s just say that Mark and I don’t always share the same tastes in fashion) – that morning I said a little prayer that Mark discussed rings with my mom or my friends to get a little guidance. (I tried to find a picture of what I imagined said black plastic mirror ring looking like, but unfortunately fortunately these aren't common...)

On December 8, 2013, my mom and I spent the day at North Park wrapping up Christmas shopping.  I was so worn out (if you've ever gone to North Park at Christmas time, you know what I am talking about and well now we know what was really going on…) so Mark said he'd pick up the ingredients to make a recipe we’d recently seen on Pinterest.  We had a great time making dinner together while watching the Heisman Trophy presentation.   While I was setting the table, Mark told me he was running out to the truck to grab the bottle of wine he picked up.  He casually sat it on the counter for me to open and this is what I saw…

I was so shocked!  When I looked over, he was waiting on bended knee and asked me to be his wife!  It was without a doubt one of the best moments of my life.  The bottle of wine was one of the wines we had really enjoyed on that Saturday afternoon wine tasting in November.  And to make it even better, he had bought an entire case so that we could have a bottle to celebrate special occasions and anniversaries.  We had so much fun calling friends and family that I took maybe 2 bites of the meal we had just cooked! 

I was so surprised – I did not see it coming at all.  I mean – if I had, I’d probably have changed out of my jeans and sweatshirt and looked a little cuter.  But looking back, I definitely realize that Mark was acting a little nervous throughout the night.  He kept asking me to stop watching the Heisman Trophy presentation and come help in cook.  I asked if he could just hold on til it was over! Bless his heart…I was probably driving him crazy!

To top off the night, Mark told me I needed to change out of my jeans and sweatshirt because our friends were waiting to celebrate with us at the Glass Cactus.  We stopped by my parent’s house first (my dad was crying when I walked in – so sweet!) to have a champagne toast with them and their friends and then it was off to celebrate!  I think I spilled champagne on just about every one of my friends that night. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking – my heart was just overflowing.

And don’t worry – I didn’t end up with the mirror ring (that was the first thing Erin asked)!  Mark did amazing!  He designed the ring with a private jeweler and I love, love, love it.  

Throw Back Thursday - Happy Birthday Biggie

For those of you that don't have the pleasure of knowing her, this is absolutely one of my most favorite people in the world - Erin!  Erin and I met almost 5 years ago when I first started at Savoya.  I was terrified of her.  I'm not kidding when I say I did everything I could not to talk to her because I was scared of her. (And not because she was mean, but because she is incredibly smart and great at her job - I was intimidated!) Luckily, that didn't last long.  And thank goodness because I have no clue what I would do without her.

You may hear me refer to Erin as my Biggie (or obviously see it in the title of this post!)  For my first few years at Savoya, there was a group of 5 of us in our department that were very close. And when we are together, we are completely goofy/weird/too loud/fun/awesome (at least we think we are...others may disagree). Anyways...one day we decided to start a "sorority."  I can't remember why we decided to do this (aside from trying to entertain ourselves to get through the day), but we decided that Erin was my Big Sis.  From that point on, I've always referred to her as Biggie!

Tomorrow is Erin's birthday, so in honor of her I decided to share my favorite things/memories about my Big!

1. Erin just gets me.  And when she doesn't - she pretends to and loves me anyways.
2. We have a lot in common including our love of purses (she spent over an hour with me in Louis Vuitton while I talked myself into buying my Speedy), Alanis Morissette, reading, wine, and our husbands Mark/Marc just to name a few.  We also have very similar Type A, perfectionist personalities.
3. She burned me a copy of the 30 Day Shred, which taught me some great exercises, such as the knee roll, and discipline. You do not phone it in on Jillian. 
   
4. She goes to see teenage movies with me, including but not limited to the Twilight series.
5. For Erin's 30th birthday, we went to Choctaw, where we consumed Boones Farm, ate 200 crab wontons (okay - that was just me) and watched Hilary win $10,000 dollars (not really..but close)
   
   
   
   
6. We've been to LA, New Orleans, and Paris together.  Before you get too jealous - these trips often were filled 14-hour work days.  And sometimes near death experiences, naked Parisians, and Taylor Momsen sightings...
   
7. She made me cry on the last day of my honeymoon and had her last day at Savoya while I was gone.
   
8. Obviously, that was not a great memory, but it lead to her getting to be a stay at home mom. And she is an AWESOME mom.  I mean her daughter is a YouTube sensation...
9. Erin and I can go days without talking and then pick right back up to where we left off.  Some of my favorite conversations with Erin include coming up with escape plans.
   
   
   
   
10. She has a great husband, who is an awesome videographer (http://marcrobertsvideography.com/).  If you are getting married, you MUST hire Marc!  Below is the trailer he created for our wedding (if you haven't already seen it - I only posted it 500 times on Facebook!)  I will never be able to thank him enough for capturing the best day of my life.  And since Marc came early to film, Erin came too and helped keep me calm when everyone was stuck in traffic and my ring bearer lost his pants and had to wear his sister's leggings.

Mark & Layci | Trailer from Marc Roberts on Vimeo.

These are just a few of the reasons I love my Big!

Erin - I'm so lucky to call you my friend!  I hope you have the best birthday and I can't wait to celebrate with you!