I reject your reality and substitute my own

Laura came up with the best idea last week... to go to Forks. We live so close, it's only 2.5 hour drive. Saturday morning we left bright and early at 9am and of course I had to make a little sign so everyone knew where we were going! We only stopped twice, once for coffee and once for gas and snacks. We rocked out to good tunes, enjoyed the scenery and gabbed a lot. I only had less than 3 hours of sleep the night before so I was tired, but nothing my latte didn't cure!



When we pulled up, we all had to pee so bad, we drove passed the welcome sign and straight to a gas station where we were made fun of for being "Crazy Twilighters". Already we knew the trip was going to be fun. That gas station had some tote bags, baseball hat and tee shirts all dedicated to Twilight series... definitely getting off to a good start! We ran back to the edge of town to take some obligatory welcome sign pics. It was a hike up and a hike down on slippery mud. Good times!



Jessica took this pic and I think it looks so "twilight-y". hahaha The weather was a little cloudy and chilly, but throughout the day it did warm up and the sun came out. Which probably explains why we didn't see any vampires.












Laura drives a Volvo... Edward drives a Volvo... pretty coincidental right? We had the perfect ride for the perfect trip!!



Our first stop was the Visitors Center. I had read online that they have maps with all the Twilight stops on it. It was all the way at the opposite end of town, so we drove down the main street trying not to look around too much so that we could experience it fully. We knew we were in the right place when we pulled up to the visitors center and saw...



A poster saying I love Bella and Edward. This was the only possible picture to happen in front of this. There was also other posters in the windows. When we walked in there was a guest book with people from all over the world that had come to Forks. There were souveniers and a signed note from Stephenie herself. There were 2 other groups in front of us getting the whole tour run-down from the visitor center worker.




And this is the visitor center employee himself, Mike. He spoke about the book like it really existed and was happening now. He really got us pumped up and excited and just a little nervous about the locals...



They had Bella's truck in the parking lot!!




The second stop was the Swan household. The people that live there put a sign up saying Home of the Swans. When we pulled up there was a man and a little girl cutting wood on the side of the house. Jessica was starting to doubt mine and Laura's judgement when we walked right up for a photo op, but we decided long ago we would have no shame while we were in Forks. I can guarantee that we are the most mild of all Twilight fans.
















Next stop was the hospital where they had a real parking spot reserved for Dr. Cullen. It was so funny to see how far they went to really make it an experience for visitors. It was so fun.












Forks Community Hospital!! There wasn't a whole lot going on over there besides sick people walking in and out... how boring. ;)



Next stop was Forks High School where Bella and Edward attended. It was one of the funnest stops as you will see by the pictures. The parking lot wasn't at all what I thought it would be. It was very small, I'm guessing local kids don't drive much. But I still was able to visualize Bella almost getting plowed into.



We were looking into every window trying to find the Biology room. Laura found it and the pic actually turned out! Even though it's obviously fiction, it was fun to pretend and be silly.



This has nothing to do with the tour, but I love it anyway. Jessica and I were pretending to be high school students telling secrets. We had so much fun, I literally can't look at these pics without cracking up.

I will finish tomorrow... this was about 1/2 way thru the tour, so it's appropriate.

Of course, she will be much more adorable in it... she is obsessed with lady bugs and beetle bugs and slugs and snails... she loves them all. Year 1, she was a fish. Year 2, she was an octopus. It was a difficult decision to steer away from the whole underwater creature theme, but it had to happen sometime. ;)

I am getting out all of my Halloween decorations today. I know that it's early, but now that Lo is going to know what's going on and can get excited, I just can't wait to decorate the house and watch how excited she gets.

All ready to go hunt out some puddles!



Oh ya, those are great ones!



Run, stomp and repeat



After an hour we were so ready to go back inside. Then, bubble bath time!!



End with some hot chocolate and that was one FUN afternoon!!

Laura came up with the best idea ever today. We are going to drive to Forks on Saturday and go see the town and all the places that do actually exist there that are in the books. I am so incredibly pumped. The visitors center has a whole tour list you can pick up. Then places all around the town have Twilight food and items. I can't wait... pics to follow.

Lo and I decided to do something we have never done before... go see a MOVIE! The only kid movie playing was Igor, so off we went. I decided to get popcorn and drinks, Lo had her first real soda. She's had sips, but never her own. She of course got Sprite. She loved it and sucked all 24 ounces down before the movie even began. Which made for a TON of potty breaks. She did really well considering it wasn't probably the best movie for a 2 year old. She sat in her own chair for half the movie, on my lap for a quarter and stood up for the rest. I was all in all impressed and I think we will make it a new fall/winter activity! I forgot my camera, so here is the cell phone pic:

So last night was the big night. I had some issues getting someone to go with me, luckily Michelle was free and I am so glad she was. We had to much fun!!

Our summer is totally over and it's been raining for a week, but yesterday it was semi-warm and no rain. I had sprung for the covered seats, but it didn't look like that was going to matter. We left around 4:30, stopped by Kadyn's birthday party and then off we went!

We got there and found a latte stand. The line was SOOOOO long and not hardly moving, but we were willing to wait for a coffee. It started sprinkling, no big deal. It started raining a bit, ok... we can handle it. It started monsoon raining, we freaked. Of course it wasn't enough to make us leave, but we got drenched! After getting the coffee we went straight to our seats. Augustana was opening but I knew CC was next. And yes, our seats were covered, but on the very last row of covered seating, so sideways rain hit us all night.

The second I saw Adam Durst, none of it mattered. I instantly had tears well up in my eyes. 15 years with this band. Every teen and adult moment in my life had been tagged by Counting Crows songs and here I was. It was just amazing. My favorite song is Anna Begins and sure enough, second song into the set list and it's playing. It was unreal to me. What was probably 10-12 songs, felt like it passed in 30 seconds. Before I could even breath they were leaving the stage and I was screaming for the encore. It was truely life changing for me. I loved every second of it. Wish I could do it all over again.

Maroon 5 rocked it too. We didn't stay for the entire show, but most of it. I think Adam Lavine is so incredibly hot. He sang a song to me... ;)

Here are a couple pics and a video of Anna Begins.

I've started digital scrapbooking, I know some day I will look back at this and be embarassed at how amateur it is. But for now... I'm pretty tickled!!

Lo has been potty training for a long time now. She rarely has pee accidents these days, but every single day she poops in her panties. I can not figure out how to get her to poop in the pooty, I've tried everything. She even has a Yo Gabba Gabba toy waiting for her when she decides to finally poop in the potty. So yesterday I video taped what we go thru daily when I try to teach her how to poop. It's pretty funny if you ask me.

I am FINALLY going to get to see a Counting Crows concert on September 21st. They are my all time favorite band since I was 14 and I have always, for one reason or another, missed out on their concerts. I have a life list in my head and seeing this concert is definitely a BIG CHECK! next to that place on my list.

Maroon 5 is also playing with them, which is totally exiting to me. I have changedmy play list to only have Maroon 5 and Counting Crows tunes. I also had to move it to the bottom of the blog so it didn't get cut off.

I'll be posting pics after the concert!

So about a week after I started feeling better from the meningitis, I woke up in the middle of the night with uncontrollable tears coming out of my left eye and was feeling like there was something in it. I got a wet rag and put it on my eye and went back to sleep. I woke up with the same issues only I was having serious light sensitivity. I thought maybe I scratched it so I just dealt with it and went on with my day.

The next morning I woke up and it was swollen almost closed and was horribly painful. I got into the eye doc and learned I had a corneal ulceration, one of the worst he has seen. He gave me an ointment cocktail of antibiotic and steroid and sent me home.

Because of the light sensitivity, I have been in the dark for almost a week. I broke down and went to bumbershoot, but other than that, all my shades have been drawn and I haven't been outside the house during daylight hours except to go to daily appts with my doc.

I am so sick of being sick. However, I have a new appreciation for my health and I will definitely work on taking care of myself more. Both diseases have been because of a weakened immune so I need to make sure I am getting sleep and eating much healthier. Of course I am saying this at almost midnight and I'm on my blackberry writing a blog.

So on that note, I'm going to bed. All of us mommies out there need to take care of ourselves!! It's not just us that suffer when we don't!!