Camping food you can't live without...

Mitch and I are headed off to Yellowstone next week for some good quality outdoor time. We're camping for 5 nights with my Dad and brother Jacob. We've planned a few really good dinner meals but I still have a feeling I'll be in the mood for some delicious snacks throughout the day.
To me the worst thing that can happen when your camping is hunger. I can deal with the bugs, dirt and rain, but don't let me get hungry or I can be a real complainer :o)
We'll be doing plenty of hikes and probably won't spend that much time at the campsite during the day so I need good treats that I can take with me without them melting or getting ruined. Any ideas?...

It's been quite the week...

It all started Monday. I was walking back from the car to our apartment when I felt a little drop...I asked Mitch if he felt the sprinkle of rain. Of course not, there wasn't a cloud in sight. So if not rain, what else? Bird poop! Yep, right down my cheek. I guess I'm just glad it didn't get in my hair or on my lips. Great way to start the week.

Then Wednesday night my eyes started looking really red and irritated. (background info: Back in March I started seeing an Opthamologist and found out I have a semi-permanent eye infection that requires me to use some rather expensive eye drops. The drops have been irritating my eyes on and off so at first I didn't think too much of it.)

Upon waking Thursday morning I realized my right eye wasn't opening very far and I was having trouble seeing. Being too tired to register all this immediately I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and was shocked at my reflection. I really can't even describe to you what I looked like, but trust me, it was not good. The soft portion directly under my right eye was swollen immensly. It looked like I had a golf ball sticking out swelling up over my eye. The top lid of my left eye was equally swollen. This gave me an off balance look sorta reminding me of Quasimoto. I was so shocked I just started laughing, but that laughter quickly turned to fear. It was 6:30am and Mitch was already at work. I was all alone.

After many phone calls between doctors offices I realized that the earliest I could get in would be to go to the Urgent Care clinic at 8am. By 7:15am I couldn't stand to be alone so I called Mitch to see if he could come home. Sweet thing that he is he got off work immediately and I went to pick him up. You should have seen his face when he first saw me. Shock and awe. After comforting me with a big hug he said "Wow, can we take a picture of you when we get home?" Nice, huh? :o)

Seeing how this post is already getting too long I'll try to make the rest of the story short. We showed up at the Urgent Care a few minutes early and spoke to a nurse who advised we go straight to the Opthamologist rather then waste our time and money with a regular doctor. Finally at 11:45am I was able to get in with the specialist. Considering the severity of my allergic reaction he recommended I do nothing but ice my face and eyes and just wait it out. He was afraid to prescribe me any other medication fearing it would only worsen my reaction. So I opted to just take some Benadryl and try to sleep my problems away. That worked, but only for a few hours.

At around 6pm that evening (convenienly timed for when all doctors offices are closed) my eyes began to feel very swollen and watery. I decided to continue icing them to see if that would help but the pressure behind my eyes continued to increase. Mitch was able to give me a blessing which really helped calm my nerves and although I knew everything was going to be okay I was still quite uncomfortable.

By 7pm things became dramatically worse. The whites of my eyes began to swell enormously. It became difficult to look anywhere but straight ahead because my eyes were becoming too swollen to fit under my lids. More then anything it was just terrible looking. It didn't really hurt, it was just really annoying. Mitch did a great job of staying calm but every time he looked at me I could tell he was getting more and more worried. Finally after a call to our parents I decided I needed some medical attention. I've never been to the Emergency room before and I really hated the idea of going but this seemed to merit the need.

After an hour and a half I saw the doctor who said I had Allergic Conjunctivitis which basically means inflammation of the eyes caused by allergy. Not too specific, right? Luckily at that point I wasn't really looking for answers, I just wanted my eyes to be put back in my head. After a quick eye exam to be sure my vision wasn't being effected he sent me to the pharmacy with a prescription for anti-allergy eye drops. $145 later I had the drops in hand and was able to go home.

Finally after another trip to the opthamologist on Friday afternoon and another set of steroid eyedrops I am finally back to normal. Most of the facial swelling was gone by Saturday evening and today my eyes have only been slightly pink. Hooray! Now I just hope it stays this way. I think I'll still be clutching my face the minute I wake up to check for swelling for the next few days but that's okay. I don't think I've ever been so happy for a week to end!

He's still my favorite...

Today's our two year anniversary. Awww.... Aren't we cute. Here's a few random pictures of us.

I know I say this all the time but I seriously love Mitch so much. He is so much more wonderful then I ever could have imagined. During these past couple of years he has taught me so much about life and happiness. Things just keep getting better and better each moment I'm with him and the truth is I really don't deserve him.

Great location (and more)...

So my wonderful father has decided to treat the family to a trip to Hawaii this coming October. He booked our flights last week and now we've just been trying to figure out where we want to stay. Three couples are going (us, my parents and then my sister and her family). We've looked at various hotels, condos, and vacation homes around Oahu and finally decided to stay in Waikiki for all 12 days.
A few nights ago my dad found a condo right off the beach with a price that he just couldn't refuse. He reserved it right away for Mitch and I. It comes with a small kitchenette, flat screen tv, lanai and view of the beach (the picture shown below is from our room). Perfect! It wasn't until yesterday that I was reading reviews about our hotel, the Waikiki Grand, and read this:

"Waikiki Grand is home, on the second floor, to "Hulas" one of the best known Gay and Lesbian bars in the State of Hawaii.
Parking is very limited and expensive.
Due to the location of the Gay Bar and Restaurant Hula's, the Waikiki Grand and Queen Kapiolani Hotel along with the Park Shore Hotel (all next to each other), are slowly becoming a very lively and popular Gay hub."

This just makes me laugh. I'm not homophobic and don't have any problems staying at the "Gay hub" of Hawaii but seriously, this would only happen to my dad.

Definitely looking forward to the trip, condo location and much, much more!