As much as I hate to admit it, last night the pain in my ankle just got worse. I was fine all day long and then at the end of the day, bam it hit. The pain seems to be on the lower outside of my heel. I did some research and it sounds like it might be peroneal tendonitis. All the symptoms seem to be there. If things continue to get worse, I will make an appointment to go in and get it checked out. For now I am doing exactly what I have heard to do with an injury. Ice, elevate, and stay off of it as much as possible. I still went to the gym today, I did 25 on the elliptical and 25 on the bike. I think I can still be able to cycle, but still want to limit the elliptical. I don't notice any pain at all when I am working on the machines. Just a little when I land on my heel when I walk. Luckily I can still lift my weights :) I know I could swim too, but the facility where we have our indoor pool is only open for lap swim certain times, which makes it more of a hassle. I know part of this reason might be because I need more support in my shoes.

After the gym, I was kept pretty busy. Craig brought home a HUGE sack of corn last night and explained the process I had to go through in order to freeze the corn for the winter-4 hours of this but I love my corn so it was worth it. Plus, how can you say no to free veggies!

1. I had to detassle all the corn, this was the worst and the messiest part

2. Stick corn in a huge pot and boil for 10 minutes

3. Right after boiling, put into ice water for another 10 minutes

4. Finally chuck corn off the cob with a knife and then place corn in freezer bags to freeze. I literally went through this process with 40 ears of corn! This took up most of my afternoon!

Tonight I am heading out to celebrate my engagement with a couple of my friends at our fav sushi place, I have been craving it all day long. Along with corn work today, I have also been busy preparing for our last summer event-FLOAT TRIP down the Nibrara River. Basically we drive 5 hours to a campsite with about 200 other people. Tomorrow night there will be a band playing and we set up our tents (this year we have a camper-ha!) and enjoy the band and socialize with drinks. Saturday we wake up pretty early, feel dozens of coolers full of beer and snacks and get on the tubs to float down the river all afternoon. By the time we return to the campgrounds, we eat and literally pass out from the sun and all the drinks. This is something that Craig has partaken in all through college, and the tradition continues on. I did tell Craig though, this will probably be my last summer going. I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I am 28 and drinking out in the sun all day takes a toll on your body. Plus next summer I will be getting reading for our wedding in August. I really tried to get out of it this year, but everyone is still going (all the wives) so I could not say no. It always feels good to see people that you have not seen in a while. Now just wish me luck on the trip with my poor ankle!

Do you and your friends or significant other still have college traditions?

Any good shoe recommendations for peroneal tendonitis?

WIAW

Inside the Museum

So two more days of searching for a wedding ceremony holding as well as a reception sight and things are narrowed down. Officially are date is set for August 18th. We are having the reception at the Soular ballroom minutes from the Joslyn Museum. Now, I put the Joslyn Museum sight on hold for 48 hours until I make my decision. For one I am not sure if I want it inside or outside the museum. I am love with the outside garden, but it is 5,000 and the inside is only 2,000. So is having it outside really worth an extra 3,000 dollars. Another reason I put a hold on it is because there is one more venue that is right around the corner from the museum that might work, the Joslyn Castle, but I am having a hard time keeping in contact with the lady. It feels as if my mind has been running a million miles a second these past few days, but I can relax now things are booked.

Outside the Museum

Now on to some good eats and my workouts. Yesterday I actually pushed myself into doing a 2 mile sprint workout. I always go into the gym with good intentions of getting started in a sprint workout, but it seems as if once I get in my pace, I don't want to break it. The workout kicked my butt, and my legs are pretty sore today and my ankle started hurting a little this afternoon...blah. Today I did some light cardio-40 elliptical and 15 minute cycle. My chest/back is still killing me from Monday's p90x workout. Here are my eats today for WIAW!!

Oats with yogurt and pb and chopped apples underneath

Yogurt/pb/jelly and rice cakes

Corn/shrimp and broccoli with ketchup

Pita bread with greek yogurt mixed in with chives and garlic to top pita bread with

Finally I ended today with a shrimp salad topped with bbq sauce and curry and my usual pita bread/cottage cheese combo and grilled garden veggies.

So I would like your opinion, which sight do you prefer the outdoor or indoor for the wedding ceremony??

Purple Green Beans!

So my first official day of no vacation or work took place, and I was a busy bee. I scheduled an appointment to check out my first reception ballroom. My Mom and I went and checked it out. I fell in love with it, it is called the Scoular Ball Room. It is located downtown in Omaha. The room is only about 1, 600 to rent out for six hours. The only problem is that it only holds up to 400 people and I am worried are reception might be a little bigger. When trying to find a date, all the dates for July of next summer are already booked!! I know and Craig thinks that finding a venue a year ahead is rushing. They do have a date in August and two in September. I would like to avoid Sep. if I can because of Husker football season. My parents and I are heading out tomorrow to look at three other venues and I am hoping to have a decision by the end of the week.Notice the HUGE stage for a band :)

After my workout this morning I scarfed down this mess of Kashi cereal, peanut flour balls and greek yogurt. My workout this morning was a 4 mile run with p90x Chest and Back workout. My run went pretty good, no pain in my heel or ankle, but I did notice some pain later on this afternoon. I am not going to run until Wednesday. Now for the Chest and Back workout...I HATED IT! Once I started I felt like I could not quit so I just kept going. I was so bored with all the stupid push ups and pull ups. I did not mind the pull ups but I HATE push ups so much. Probably because my upper body is so weak-ha ha!

Lunch today being broccoli, corn, chicken and mozz. cheese with a tortilla on the side! After a long afternoon of venue searching I hit up Costco for some fruit, greek yogurt and NO veggies. What...no veggies...yes only because I have a garden blooming full of them :)

I picked a ton of these little babies, green beans and purple beans.

I had them on side of salad shrimp. Craig bought me a huge bag of shrimp a while back and I keep forgetting to get into it. My goal this week is to finish it up. I will probably be shirmped out!

Do you like push ups?

Have you ever heard of purple green beans?

It is Sunday and a lazy Sunday it is. Today was a complete day of rest from working out. Last night Craig and my parents met up at Firebirds Restaurant for our engagement celebration dinner. The dinner went really well. We were both a little nervous being it the first time our parents met, but it went over very well. I did talk alot to Mary, Craig's Mom about the wedding plans. She really made me feel alot better about me deciding to have the wedding here and reassured me that Craig will just have to get over having the wedding in town and not at a destination. Dinner was awesome, I ordered the shirmp and strawberry salad. This is one thing I love about summer, no matter what restaurant you go to you can always seem to find some type of salad with a combo of nuts, fruit and some type of meat. I am loving salads like crazy lately. Here are just a few recipes of different types of salads using fruit.

Carrot Salad

3 large carrots

1 cup raisons

1 cup walnuts

1/4 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons coconut

1/2 cup fat free mayo

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar or splenda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cranberry Salad

2 cups cranberries

1 cup splenda

1 cup apples

1 cup grape halves

1 cup orange sections

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Optional: add in diced chicken and serve over spinach lettuce

Green Apple, Red Grape, and Toasted Walnut Salad

2 unpeeled greed apples, cored and diced

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cups seedless red grapes halved

1 cup toasted walnuts

1 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 tbsp sweet hot mustard

1/4 cup walnut oil

leaves from 1 head butter lettuce

I am going to enjoy my last two weeks of summer and really get some wedding planning details set in stone. My to do list for this week:

1. Run at least three good runs (1 being a long run of at least six miles)

2. Costco for grocries-yeah!!

3. Borshiems to re-size my ring

4. Visit vendors for wedding ceremony/reception and find a final spot
5. Pick up my car on Wednesday from the dealership (it has been getting fixed from my wreck)

6. Call vet to get a time in for Cooper to get neutered

7. Thursday get camping supplies and groceries for Float Trip (we leave on Friday for the Nibrara to tube down the river with friends)

.....and I am sure by tomorrow my list will get longer :)

Have a great week everyone!!

What are some of your favorite salad ingrediants??

Radom Saturday

So yesterday was the LAST day of camp! Yahoo!! We were all there at the school until 5 tearing down Roller Coasters and other materials the kids made. After work, I head over to a local Boarders book store, they are going out of business so everything is on clearance. Most of the books were only 10-20% off so I opted to not purchase those. The magazines though were 50% off which was awesome, considering I need some bridal magazines and hate paying full price. Anymore it is amazing how some of these book stores do stay in business with all the info you can get from the Internet, ordering books off Amazon, and also the Kendell.

Once I got home from work I started to make dinner and turned my head for a moment to find Cooper in this mess! Literally I can't leave him alone in a room for more then 5 minutes. He found a pillow and had some fun with it. I did think he looked too cute to not take a picture though :)

I am excited to say that our garden is in full bloom! This morning I picked some cucumbers and zucchini. The green beans and tomatoes should be ready by Sunday..so excited..cheaper grocery bill!!

It is now 2:30 and I am laying on my couch blogging and trying to de-stress. It is only 2:30 and I have already cried my eyes out twice today over this wedding. I feel like I am in such a bind. My parents want it here so all the family can come and on the other hand Craig wants it away so we can have a smaller wedding. What do I want? Well I have been thinking deeply about it and I feel like I really want it here. I just don't feel that I could put 100% effort into my wedding if it were to be out of the state. I want all the frills to go into it, and if it were to be out of state (because of cost) that would not happen. I feel horrible for Craig as well, he has been just as stressed as me. That is all we have talked about this week is the wedding and want we want verses my parents. I HATE the fact that Craig does not accept my parents as well as I do, but I have to reassure him that he just needs to get to know them. Since they have lived an hour away are whole relationship, they have not been able to take time to get to know each other so outings can be a little tense.

I burned off some steam this morning at the gym. Started my morning off with oats, peanut butter, coca powder and bananas all mixed in. I had planned a long run today, I opted not too. My ankle/calf has no pain anymore but it does feel a little stiff so I figured I would hold off. I did 50 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the bike followed by p90x ab ripper. I tell ya that elliptical can get pretty boring, I was so happy to see that Teen Mom was on MTV to keep me busy.

I am off to blog stalk and get ready for tonight. We have a dinner with both sets of parents to celebrate our engagement followed by a friend's birthday party. Wish me luck with the parents, hopefully no tears will come when the mention of the wedding!!

Would you rather purchase a book from the Internet or actually going into a bookstore?

Does your significant other/husband get along with your parents?

What a week and I have been a horrible blogger! So way back on Monday I was posted that I was having some tummy troubles. Well those tummy troubles turned worse, so off I was to the doctor where they immediately put me on some antibiotics. Monday and Tuesday were pretty much a daze for me. I took on the challenge of working as a camp counselor for "Camp Invention." Basically it is a camp held at my school and they get to invent things all day long. I am in charge of Roller Coasters. So students create roller coasters using tubes and various other materials. The older kids are not that bad, but the younger kids really need my assistance. So for about three hours a day I am taping and pasting materials with 40 squirming kids all around me. A little more then I asked, the days run from 8:30-3:30 so even a little longer then my regular school day. For one thing I am glad tomorrow is FRIDAY!! Here are some pics of the kids starting their roller coasters on Tuesday.

Given I was in horrible pain on Monday and Tuesday, I skipped my workouts. Yesterday I felt well enough and knocked out an awesome four miles on the treadmill. Today I went for a 3 mile run and all of a sudden I started to notice discomfort in my lower calf and the inside of my ankle. Go figure, the time when I am least active I tend to get injured. I googled some on my symptoms but I could not really pin point anything. It hurts just a little when I walk on my upper calf and around my ankle. I am hoping it is just a sprain or something and I am going to stick to the Elliptical and Bike for the rest of the week, of course Insanity is out lol. I really am hoping that it does not turn into something worse :(

On top of all this going on, I am trying to plan where I want my wedding. We have set the date for July 21st, 2012. At first I wanted a destination wedding, but the more I started really looking into getting married somewhere outside of Nebraska, the less interested I became. I brought this up to Craig and he was not happy at all. He wants a destination wedding so it will be small, he freaks in front of a ton of people. I am telling you, we never have argued before and now that we are planning this wedding it seems as if we are disagreeing all the time! All in all, he said he will suck it up and shut his mouth, when it comes down to it the girl always gets what they want on their wedding day. In reality, he does not even care about the wedding itself. To me it is a big deal, I only get married once and I want those I care about there to see me and I want to make it special.

So yes, life seems crazy right now, and I am looking forward to my next two weeks off with nothing to do before the school year starts all over again!!

Did you and your significant other ever argue over wedding plans?

How do you deal with a sudden injury that is not extreme but still a little discomforting?

Okay so I won't bore you with all of my pics from Costa Rica, so I just posted a few. I took more photos of are resort then anything else. We had a video camera to use when we went out on our outdoor adventure so I don't have many photos for that day.

Okay so now for a full recap of our vacation. To be honest with you, Costa Rica was not all that we expected it to be. I think it might have been more our fault by just going to a travel agent and assuming everything would be great. I mean, our agent told us all the wonderful things we would be able to do...waterfalls, scuba diving, volcano watching,etc. What he failed to tell us was that all these activities were about at least an hour and a half away from our resort...and with the roads being incredibly bumpy it could take more than that to get to our location. He also claimed the weather to be sunny and hot. It rained every single day, if not all day...the down pours, and I mean tropical storms would come around 1:00 at the latest.

Here are some of the pros and cons of our trip to Costa Rica

Pros: Unlimited drinks and food of any choice (large buffet full of fresh fruit and veggies with fish and meat)

Large pool with a swim up bar and professional photographers to take your pictures

Unlimited bar in our room-drinks restored when asked

Cute little shops in our resort area and prices were reasonable-except for the sunscreen...22 bucks!!

Room was very comfortable with huge queen bed and a good view

Lots of agents available on site if you wanted to leave the resort to do an activity

Huge beach in walking distance with kiaking available for free

Cons

The unlimited drinks were very scarce, not much to choose from and not to sound prissy but the wine was horrible and the rum made me sick to my stomach one night

No ATM machines anywhere in the resort, the only way to get cash would be to schedule a drive to the nearest beach 45 minutes away, but in order to pay for that you had to have cash!!

Rained every single day if not half day all day

If we called down for service, it would take at least two hours for them to get back to us

The roads were bumpy and sometimes randomly they would close and we would be stuck for 45 minutes

Barely anyone spoke English or understood what you were saying (I know you should expect this in another country but I still got annoyed)

The only shows at night were for kids, the adult shows did not come on until around 11pm and they were mostly Costa Rica girls showing off their bodies in very obscene ways-plus everything was in Spanish

So basically was the trip for us...not really. Craig and I are more about adventure and seeing things then staying in the hotel drinking and eating all week. We did go on one adventure..horse back riding/zip lining and visiting a spa. It was run except for the fact that it pored rain on us the entire time so we were soaked. Needless to say, we were both very happy to be returning home to the states.

Workout wise, I was able to get in about 4 good cardio workouts and managed a three mile run around the resort one morning when the gym was not open on time. Yesterday I returned and knocked out an amazing p90x arm and shoulder workout with some elliptical work. Then....TRAVELER'S DIARRHEA. That is what I am guessing it is. It hit yesterday afternoon and I have been feeling awful since. Every half hour or so something nasty seems to be coming out of me. So yes, I skipped the gym today and am hoping to feel a little better by tomorrow. All in all, we learned our lesson..do our research before leaving the country again!

Engaged!!

I have never been happier to return to the states and officially say I am engaged!! I have more to come regarding Costa Rica and will give a full report of how our vaca went, but this post is dedicated to my engagement. We arrived on Monday to Costa Rica. Craig and I have been looking at rings previously and I had a hint or more of a hope that this vacation would be the one. Well on Tuesday we were lounging by the pool and Craig had asked me to search through his bags in search of his sunglasses. Once up in our room I figured there would be no way he was going to purpose if he had me looking through all his bags.

Tuesday night we went to dinner at one of the Steak House restaurants in our resort. While eating dinner Craig kept asking me to see my hand. I did not think anything about it, I was more worried about when my food would be served because my head was a little loopy from the wine. I had my camera on the table and Craig had grabbed it and said it was important that he hold on to it so we don't lose it. Minutes later, Craig said he had to go to the bathroom. I was busy stealing his tomatoes from his plate when all of a sudden, a waiter stood before me with a camera. I turned around and Craig got down on one knee and tears filled his eyes, the famous question popped out of his mouth and I of course said yes. I could not have asked for a better proposal.

As you can see from this picture I was pretty ecstatic from the proposal. I am very happy with what is to come. We have talked about dates and places, and we are both considering a destination wedding sometime next July. I feel as if a year might be long for an engagement, but on the other hand, between his busy season with his job and my job the summer is the only time that might work. Are other option was the month of Feb. but I was a little hesitant with it being to close and not having enough time to plan. I really don't want to become stressed out about it.

Finally, my ring!!

Well I am off to catch up on reality, tons of laundry, groceries and getting ready to go back to teach a week of Summer Camp. I will be back with a full recap of Costa Rica! If anyone has any experience with destination weddings I would love to hear all about it!!

Costa Rica Bound

Well Craig and I officially leave for Costa Rica tomorrow at 4am! We will be returning next weekend...look forward to lots of pictures and some amazing recaps!