Engaged Adventures

Whoops. There I go again, all MIA. Will you forgive me if I tell you I had a light virus for a couple days, was fine over the weekend and then had the flu? I spent Monday through Wednesday laying in bed feeling miserable last week. I was so stubborn and went to work Monday morning. May I recommend NEVER trying to go to work when you've been sick less than 6 hours before? Having to cut across two lanes of traffic, jump into your passenger seat and roll down the window is NOT an adventure I would recommend. Just saying.

The good news is that I was fine over that weekend before I got the flu and the fiance and I had a fabulous time with our photographers capturing our engagement session. I have never really done a photo shoot or anything like that, and let me tell you, it was a blast! We had such a great time and I know the pictures will be amazing! Not only did we get to take pictures in the restaurant where the fiance proposed, but we just happened to be able to take them at the table where he proposed. :) We brought one of the engagement wine bottles he made and used them in some of the shots.

If you have never had the opportunity to do an engagement shoot or a photo shoot, I would highly recommend it. We have such an amazing time hanging out and just playing around. It was fabulous getting to know our photographers better, we had such a great day. I cannot wait to see the pictures.

Cozy

The upside to having a persistently obnoxious cough and sore throat is that I get to be tucked away, safe and warm inside my apartment as the storm rages outside my windows. These heavy winds I'm used to at my parents', but they are unusual for here. The rain is driving against my windows, hammering away. Yet here I sit, sipping my hot tea spiked with lemon and honey, comfy and cozy in my pajamas. Now if only this annoying cough will go away, it's getting a bit old.

I hope everyone stays safe and dry.

447

Not feeling well is not fun. Scratchy throats that induce coughing is not much better. Toss it into a three day weekend and it really sucks.

A fiance who is unbelievably sweet and will go out in the rain to get you mint chocolate chip ice cream to soothe your throat is absolutely incredible. A future mother-in-law (in 447 days) who makes you hot tea with lemon and honey because she hears you coughing from the other room is also incredibly sweet.

I am so incredibly blessed.

Fighting to Breathe

Let's start this by saying that asthma sucks. I don't get it very often, it's usually illness induced, occasionally weather changes are the cause and one time it was stress induced. But when I feel my lungs constrict and feel like bricks are being placed upon them, when I start wheezing and coughing so bad I get horrible headaches and my throat starts hurting, I know it's time to pull out my trusty inhaler. One or two puffs from a non-expired inhaler brings nearly instant relief with air rushing back into my chest. Only now it's not such a trusty inhaler. Not since the environmental...enthusiasts...got ahold of it. Now it sucks. The relief is no longer forthcoming, and I have to turn to my nebulizer for a breathing treatment, just to get the medicine into my lungs. And according to the doctor I just saw, apparently this mediocre inhaler is going away too, and is going to turn to the powder type. Now, I've had powder inhalers, and they're great for their purpose...which functions as a long term solution for treating and preventing asthma symptoms. It is not fast acting. It is not an emergency inhaler.

I am mad. I am furious. I may not need my inhaler very frequently, but it's reassuring to know that it's there when I need it, waiting to send a burst of medicine in to free my constricted airways. And I usually do not have it so bad initially that I need the absolute emergency feature of the rescue inhaler. But lots of people do. My brother and two of my cousins for instance. My little brother has had to deal with asthma his whole life, and sometimes that rescue inhaler is vital. Same for my cousins...and multiple other members of my family.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving the environment. But really. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think a few rescue inhaler are going to do too much damage. Why don't they focus on the big things that hurt the environment like cars, chemical plants, deforestation? I would be willing to bet that the people who started attacking rescue inhalers and similar medical technology have never relied on one before. I'm sorry that my desire to breathe is so awful to you. To those who initiated these changes, leave us the hell alone and go "fix" something else. Your "input" is not wanted nor is it welcome. Now I'm going to go to a breathing treatment so that I might have a few minutes without coughing and feeling like I can't breathe. And when I finally get this under control and can breathe again, I'm going to go to my cupboard and take my old expired rescue inhaler outside somewhere, and I'm going to puff it until it's empty.