Head Over Heels

Lately, I've been getting excited about shoes. Why, you ask? Finally (finally) my knee seems to be handling shoes with a little height so much better. Yay! Don't get me wrong, I'm not an every-day-high-heel-wearing kind of girl, but I've certainly been missing a little variety over the last year or so. Flats can be kind of blah when you wear them day after day... after day. In the early days after my surgery, I would even wear sneakers to the office. I felt like such a slob! The priority was my knee healing so I sucked it up and just wore what was comfortable.

Now that I can choose to wear heels if I want to, there are lots of new possibilities for my twinkle toes! Shoes don't need to be super expensive either, by the way. This is a photo of my new Old Navy sandals I bought last month. Aren't they cute? Quite comfy too. Three cheers for Summer sandals! Hooray, hooray, hooray!

Chattanooga Choo Choo

During the second week of June I traveled to the state of Tennessee for the very first time! I went to Chattanooga, TN to print my company's upcoming school uniform display. The week I arrived (via a plane change in Charlotte, NC) there were limited hotel rooms available due to the upcoming weekend's River Bend Music Festival. My rep at the printer I was working with managed to find me a room at a bed & breakfast in Bluff View, the arts district of town.

The Charlotte, NC airport. It had been a long time since I had been here. I had forgotten all about the rocking chairs!

The Bluff View Inn. I was in the Highlander Room.

A way-finding sign nearby

The area turned out to be really quaint and quiet. The weather was hot and humid in the 90's and thunderstorms were expected. I was glad the storms didn't arrive until the second day I was there. The inn was right up from the Hunter Museum of American Art, which if I had more time, I would have liked to see. It was only a short walk to downtown Chattanooga and the river.

The Hunter Museum. A mix of old and new.

A view of the river. This bridge is for pedestrians only.

My favorite find in Chattanooga was Rembrandt's Coffee. My stay at the inn gave me a complimentary breakfast and coffee each morning at this lovely place. Besides coffee, they sold hand-dipped chocolates and served cafe style lunches and dinners. I ordered chicken-salad with fruit for dinner one night that was to die for! It was chicken-salad sandwich style (without the bread), but had a lovely mild Indian spice that made it just a little more special than typical chicken-salad. Rembrandt's was also a great place to bring my laptop and get online. It was a crazy week at work so I wasn't exactly relaxing in the evenings. The cafe had a wonderful atmosphere though and was great for people-watching. I hope to go back there sometime soon.

Indoor and patio seating at Rembrandt's.

A fruit, yogurt, and granola breakfast. My Mom would love this!

The Historic W Foshay

Continuing my obsession with W hotels, I was finally able to stay at the W Foshay in downtown Minneapolis, MN. The last time I tried to stay there was in the dead of Winter so the reps from the printer I work with in the Minneapolis area pleaded with me to not stay downtown. There happened to be a snow storm and it would have been a slow traffic-laden drive from downtown to the plant in the suburbs. OK... I agreed. Next time though!

The first week of June was "next time." I was not disappointed. I've stayed in some pretty great rooms in W hotels, but this one was really cool and historic. The Foshay building, completed in 1929, was originally an office building and was considered the "first skyscraper West of the Mississippi." The 32-floor building was modeled after the Washington Monument in D.C. In 2006 it was purchased and renovated into a W hotel which opened in 2008.

I loved it! My room was so quiet and comfortable. I wished I was going to be there more than one night. Here are some photos from my stay:

An artist's rendering of the 1929 Minneapolis skyline.

The view from the street 2010 (I pulled this photo from the website, it was not a sunny day when I arrived).

The observation deck on the 30th floor. It was like a mini-Empire State Building.

My corner room! Each floor only had 6-8 rooms.

The desk, TV and bar

Comfy bed

Moragn and Piper Just Before Dinner

I'm sorry for the TMI conversation at the beginning of this video, but Morgan and Piper are so cute I have to post it.



The salad Meg made was really good! : ) Hearts of palm, delicious.

Travelin' Fool

I've been traveling like crazy these days, both business and personal. I spent the weekend of 5/28 in Spokane, WA visiting my sister and her family. These are my favorite photos from the weekend.

Morgan was in time out... but, doesn't she look sweet? "Who me? I didn't do it."

Happy girl Piper!

Me and the girls. : )

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

I can't say I've been super consistent about my walking. I do have to mention that my knee seems to be standing up to more activity lately. Stairs are now doable, but I only attempt a flight or two up at one time. I'm not going to run the Lyon Street stairs anytime soon! Where I used to kind of limp up or down stairs, my pace is much more smooth these days going in either direction. The muscles around my left knee are getting a little stronger and more stable.

Rather than trying to keep to a regular "every other day" schedule, I find trying to walk a mile or so 2-3 times a week tends to work for me. Some weeks I travel for work which sometimes throws off this plan. Treading on concrete pressroom floors tend to make my knee ache a bit so during those trips I usually skip my walks.

Overall, my knee is beginning to feel more normal. By "normal" I mean I don't feel very much more discomfort in my left (the bad knee) knee compared to my right knee. I figure this may change once I decide to up my activity level. When will I do so? I'm not sure. I admit there is some fear involved. My fear is beginning the slow increase from walking to running and that my knee won't seem any better than before the synovectomy. I know, there were no guarantees with the second knee scope and, no matter what, I need to get back to some kind of regular exercise. I'm thinking about trying some yoga and now that the weather is getting a little warmer getting back in the pool. One step at a time... literally.

Welcome to the World Gage Dalton!

One of my very best friends, Angie, and her husband Mike welcomed a new baby boy into the world! I attended her baby shower back in March and after finally making it to 37 weeks (more than half on bed rest), Gage Dalton arrived on April 17, 2010. Isn't he cute? I'm looking forward to meeting him soon.