Blogs, I love them!

So one of my favorite blogs to read is Pioneer Woman. She's funny. I enjoy her dog and hearing about life on a ranch. She also cooks..... a lot and has a cookbook out that I received for my birthday. I have made a couple of recipes from her site and book and they have all been hits.

If you've never checked her out, I suggest you do. She runs a recipe website too, Tasty Kitchen, check that out too.

Thankful Thursdays!

So it's Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday and it is supposed to be B-E-A-utiful!!!

• Wonderful weather! Sunny with a light breeze and about 75 degrees, can't beat it.
• Life - New life, old life, animal life, people life. It is amazing how individual and perfect every life is. Even if it isn't perfect in our eyes, God made us the perfect that he wanted us.
• Acupuncture - I think it's working. Not a quick fix, but progress, I think.
• Zoo Membership - I love that I love the Zoo. It's great for taking JJ to and Brad really doesn't mind going fairly often. It's a nice walk and fun to see animals that you can't see in your backyard. I can go as many times as I want and the cost is $0 because my parents got it for us for our anniversary.

What are you thankful for in your life, today?

Family Pictures

It's been a few years since we, as a family, have gotten pictures taken. Since before we all got married. Next month we have an appointment with Kama, the photographer who took my Trash the Dress Shots and Erin's wedding. I love her so I'm very excited to get EVERYONE in front of her camera. Here are a couple of examples.

This last shot made the cut for Kama's business cards. Let me tell you how quickly that made it in to my scrap book! Love it!

Thankful Thursdays!

It's Thursday and Earth Day! Do you do anything differently on Earth day? Feel any different? I am aware of Earth Day and I'm trying in general to become a more Earth/environment conscious person.

Thankfuls:

• For people that are motivated to promote things (ex: Earth Day, MS, Animal abuse)
• cool green grass under my toes
• soft, warm spring breezes
• spring storms
• the smell of flowers in the air
• sleeping with the windows open
• SPRING!!!!!!!

Thankful Thursdays!

Hurray! It's THURSDAY! That means tomorrow is Friday!
Oh how I love Fridays.

Here's my thankful list.

• Beautiful weather - who can NOT love this weather. I only wish I had more time to enjoy it, or widows that opened at wish.
• Supportive family
• A husband who is willing to develope joint goals that we can work towards together, even if I have to remind him to work towards them.
• Glee - oh I love it so much

Short and sweet. Your turn.

GLEE!!!!! I'm a Gleek!

Tuesday is a busy night for me.

I teach dance from 6 until 9 pm. Due to this fact I always am a day late on this show.

I encourage you not to be.

Tomorrow night! 9:28 pm! FOX!

GLEE RETURNS!!!!!!!

Sigh. It just makes me happy.

My Feet

Throughout my life I have been to doctors and physical therapists for my feet multiple times. From dancing for 20 years my feet are BEAT UP! My biggest issue has always been my arches. It started as a pulling sensation when I was dancing and has now progressed into cramping. When I first went to the podiatrist they said that the issue was plantar faciitis. I got a bunch on exercises to do on my own to stretch and strengthen my feet.

Now if you have ever seen the kind of dance I do, strengthening my feet doesn't seem like the right course of action. I went home and looked up Plantar Faciitis to see what the symptoms were and if I had them. Big fat negative on that one.

A few years later ..... I went to a new podiatrist. Told them what was up and what they had diagnosed me with before. They said that my achilles tendon was too tight and sent me home with some different stretches. This made more sense to me, however the stretches didn't help.

Last year..... I went to a sports doctor for knee pain and my feet. He sent me to physical therapy for my knee and had them work with my feet too. Chris, my physical therapist, was baffled by my feet. He watched me walk (no real problems, slightly pronating), watched me dance, watched me just point my feet, looked at my dance shoes, everything. He got together with a friend of his that works with the local professional ballet company to talk about my feet. After all that we tried stretches, ultrasound, massage, manipulation, taping techniques, stuff in my shoes, soooo many different things. Taping my feet worked .....sorta. The rest felt good but didn't do anything for the cramping or hurt and didn't help. He eventually kind of gave up on it. I went back to the sports doctor and he started doing ART (Active Release Therapy). This is basically deep sports massage and some of the most painful therapy I have ever received. 6 to 8 sessions later I wasn't noticing a difference so I stopped going for that.

Last week..... My mom was headed to a oriental medicine center that offers acupuncture along with it's other treatment options. Acupuncture is covered under my insurance, so I figured I would give it a try. I have been for two treatments with my third one today. I haven't noticed a difference yet, but I don't know how many treatments they suggest. I"m going to ask her tonight. I thought you guys would like to see what my feet look like during these treatments. :) So here is a picture for you. There are a few needles that you can't see, but most of them are visible in this picture. I also have to add that this has been one of the least painful treatments for my feet so far.