You can stand under my umbrella (ella, ella)

Hola, everyone!

While we had drought-like conditions nearly all summer, this week seems to be making up for that.  It has been either cold or very rainy for the past week.  It was very hard to get any clear and dry time to be able to mow the lawn!

I'm continuing to enjoy my tap dance class.  We will be doing a winter performance on November 18 so we have just begun learning our choreography for the song, "Ai yi, yi!  It's Christmas!" by Ricky Martin.  Be prepared for pure cheesiness.

Last Saturday while Matt was working on homework, I took a short trip to north side to visit my parents and to see my grandparents before they left for Florida on Sunday.  Dad had just returned from China and he said that it was a nice trip.  You can read about his experience here-- http://seitzupdate.blogspot.com/ .  Thank you Dad for the nice gifts from China!  I really like my kimono-style "silk" robe and Matt likes his Chinese soccer jersey!

On Thursday, I was able to catch up and have dinner with my friend Katie.  Katie and I have been friends since 7th grade and she was in our wedding last year.  She got married in January and then moved out to Boston where her husband was finishing grad school.  She and Craig just moved back to Indy in July and she is now teaching the 1st-4th grade gifted and talented class at a local school.  We went out to Steak n Shake near our house as she still hadn't seen our house yet or met Thor.  It was nice to see her!

I have recently started a semi-obsession with crafting.  With inspiration from the website Pinterest (beware: highly addictive!), I am currently working on two homemade wreaths.  I also have supplies to make an Advent calendar filled with dog treats for Thor and supplies for pillow covers for some pillows in our living room.  I also want to start learning how to crochet.  Anyone know how and want to teach me? :-)

On Saturday morning, I received a text from Matt while I was at work.  He had been having excruciating abdominal pain for the past hour and it kept getting worse.  Suspecting a kidney stone, I got my charge nurse to take over my patient and came home to take Matt to the ER.  After a quick CT scan, it was confirmed that he was experiencing his first kidney stone.  A few doses of pain medicine, a dose of anti-nausea medicine, and one bag of IV fluids later, we were on our way home with instructions for Matt to remain active and to drink lots and lots of water.  This was probably the quickest ER experience that we have ever had.  We got there shortly after 5am and he was discharged shortly after 8am.  He is feeling a lot better now!

Well, it looks like my iPod is finished charging which means that it is time for me to go outside for a run.  I am training for a half marathon in Wisconsin that my dad is also participating in at the beginning of November.  Also, Eric has started running more, too.  Keep up the good work, Eric!  I am also considering running the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati in May (my first marathon!).

Have a great week everyone!

Stacey, Matt, and Thor

September 20, 2011

This has got to be some sort of new record for me; it has only been two weeks since my last blog post!

Happy birthday to Grandpa Ward on September 2!

On Saturday, September 3, I was supposed to run the Indianapolis Women's Half Marathon but since I had not trained enough, I opted to run the 5k instead.  That Friday, I went to a hotel downtown for the marathon expo and to pick up my packet.  This was the first annual race so the expo was pretty small but there was a small booth set up to buy last minute running supplies, a fashion show, and free manicures.  I ended up with purple nail polish.

I am very glad that I did not end up doing the Half Marathon on Saturday because it was 95 degrees and sunny.  The 5k was rough enough!  I'm not sure I will do this race again.  It was not very organized, but then again, it was the first annual.

On Sunday the 4th, we went to my parents' house for dinner and to see Eric, who was home from Purdue for Labor Day weekend.  It was nice to visit with them.

On Friday the 9th, I went up to Lafayette for the wedding of our friends Sarah and Aaron.  Matt had some homework that he needed to finish by 11pm that night so he was unable to attend.  I had a good time seeing some old friends from college and dancing the night away.

Congratulations to Matt's brother Rob, who purchased a house back in August!

On Saturday the 10th, I did some shopping with my mom and then we went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Jaripeo.

The next day, Matt and I drove down to Greenwood (southside of Indy) because Matt really wanted Skyline for lunch and that is the closest location.  Afterwards, we went to a store called The Old Pottery Factory and picked out some inexpensive decorations for the tops of the cabinets in our kitchen.

Last Friday the 16th, Matt's friend Ken stayed with us for the night.  He lives in Michigan and was attending a wedding in Evansville, IN (waaaaaaay southern portion of Indiana, near the Kentucky border) the next day.  It was nice to see him, as the last time we saw him was at our own wedding!

I was supposed to work yesterday night but our census has been low lately (aka we don't have a lot of patients) so work told me that I had to stay home for the night.  I ended up going on a nice run outside and catching up on episodes of the show "Modern Family."

A big "FEEL BETTER!" to Matt's Dad, Bob.  He badly dislocated his finger while on a mission trip in Laos in July (when we were in Hilton Head) and has to wear a big, bulky brace for a few more months.

That is all for now!  We are getting ready to enjoy homemade cupcakes and the movie "Bridesmaids." :-)

Love,
Stacey, Matt, and Thor

Squeaky cat--beware, long post!

"Squeak, squeak!"

This post brought to you by Thor's squeaky cat toy!  I rarely buy Thor toys anymore because he rips them all up, but I caved and got Thor a black and orange cat toy full of squeakers from Petsmart because he literally only had one unscathed tennis ball and a bunch of fabric pieces of old toys left to play with!  All I can hear right now is the humming of the computer and the melodic "squeak, squeak, squeak" of that cat!


The 4th of July was pretty low-key.  It was my holiday at work and I had also worked the two days prior, so Matt and I really didn't get to officially see fireworks together.  There was a big display of lightning that weekend, however, which I got to see through the windows of the 4th floor of Riley...a poor man's firework show!  Of course, we did see plenty of fireworks throughout the neighborhood and around town during the week prior and the week following the 4th as it has been legal to shoot off fireworks in Indiana for the past couple years.

On July 15, we left for a family vacation to Hilton Head, SC, to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa Seitz's 50th wedding anniversary!  Matt's parents and brother graciously took care of Thor for us while we were on our trip (thank you again!) and their house was only five minutes off of the route to Hilton Head.  We dropped Thor off, had some Skyline Chili for lunch, and drove to Asheville, NC, where we stopped for the night.  It took us a bit longer to get there than we had anticipated as we hit a very large storm as we were driving through Tennessee.  We had to stop several times as the rain was so heavy that we had next to zero visability.  When we finally made it to Asheville that night, we were too tired to even get anything to eat and fell asleep almost instantly.

We got a late start the next morning as well.  My phone was charging in an outlet far away from the bed, so I opted to use the alarm clock that the hotel provided instead of the normal alarm on my phone.  I set the alarm for 8:30 am and then crashed for the night.  What I didn't realize was that the clock was actually set 12 hours off!  So while I set the alarm time properly, the alarm didn't go off when it was really 8:30 am because the clock thought that the time was really 8:30 PM!  We woke up about 15 minutes before we were supposed to check out (10:45 am) so we didn't get breakfast or time to shower.  We made it to our rented house around 5:30 pm.

Mom did a great job picking out a house for the week.  It had seven bedrooms and was perfect for our large group!  It also had lots of decks/patios, a swimming pool, a hot tub, and an ourdoor bar area!

That night, we went out to dinner at a WWII-themed restaurant called the Big Bamboo (a family favorite both times we had previously been to Hilton Head).  It was nice to catch up with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Susan and Uncle John, my parents, and Eric.  Uncle Tom, Aunt Kathy, and cousins Allison and Scott did not arrive until about 10:00 that night, as they made the trip from Baltimore, MD, all that day.

Here are the highlights of the trip:

• Sunday: Church, hunting for alligators (we couldn't find any!), and spare ribs for dinner at the house. Also relaxing at the beach and at the pool.
• Monday: While everyone else went to Savannah, GA, for various tours, Matt and I opted to explore the island a bit. We went shopping and had dinner at Steamer's Seafood.  It was delicious!  This may have also been the day that Uncle Tom, Aunt Kathy, Allison, Scott, Eric, Matt, and I went to see Harry Potter.
• Tuesday: Beach day! Pool day!  We also had a professional photagrapher take pictures of the family on the beach as a 50th wedding present to my grandparents.
• Wednesday: A group of us went for a trail ride through a nature preserve on the island.  I went on a trail ride at the same stable when I was a sophomore in high school and it has definitely grown!  It was a busy place.  Afterwards, our group met up with the rest of the family for dinner at a "local gem" of a restaurant where they had a lot of Packers memoribilia.  Then some of us went to Harbor Town (home of the famous red-and-white-striped Hilton Head Lighthouse and some famous golf course) and bummed around.  Then of course we came home and went to the beach!
• Thursday: One group went parasailing and I heard that they all had a great time!  While they were off parasailing, Aunt Kathy, Allison, and I went shopping.  Aunt Kathy ended up buying a miniature turtle (I think Scott named him "Koopa.")  We also stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, The Sea Shack, to pick up lunch.  It is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has very little seating, styrofoam plates and plastic silverware, and delicious seafood!  Later that evening, a group of us went kayaking and were able to see dolphins!
• Friday: There were two group fishing expeditions on Friday.  My group went deep sea fishing in the morning.  We all caught something (except for Uncle Tom, but he seemed pretty content just dipping his line in the water and enjoying a beer!) and had a great time.  Grandpa caught a few black sea bass and a shark!  Eric and Dad both caught sharks, and Eric also caught a very strong sting ray!  Matt hooked a big Spanish Mackeral and I caught the largest black sea bass of the group.  That afternoon, another group went out on an off-shore fishing trip.  They also caught sharks and sting rays, but much smaller ones! 

Happy 50th anniversary!

Harbor Town

The group before our trail ride

Just horsin' around

Kayaking

Matt showing off his crab-eating skills

Black sea bass

Aunt Kathy demonstrating the proper way to hold a crab

Uncle Tom.  "Here, fishy, fishy, fishy..."

Dad with a death-grip on his shark

Matt's Spanish Mackeral

We left the island on Saturday morning and arrived home on Sunday evening.  We made a stop in Knoxville to sleep...being on vacation made us very tired! :-)  Thor was very glad to see us when we picked him up from the Drapers'.  He loved playing with his doggy friends, but we could tell that he missed us!

At the beginning of August, I started taking a tap dancing class!  I took dance classes until I was 11 and tap was my favorite.  I had wanted to get back into it since high school but since I was so involved with tennis, horseback riding, and working, I didn't really have time to add one more thing to my schedule!  I found a great little dance studio that has adult classes so I am taking classes with two others who are just getting back into dance.  We are all having a great time and are looking forward to dancing to the song "Ay yi yi, it's Christmas!" by Ricky Martin at our first performance in November!

On August 13, I was supposed to go out with friends to celebrate our friend Alyssa's birthday, but I ended up not going because of bad weather.  Mom and Dad went to the Sugarland concert at the State Fair that evening and I'm sure you all know what happened there.  Mom and Dad enjoyed the opening act, Sara Barielles, but Dad decided that it would be a good idea to leave because dark, ominous storm clouds were rolling in and he figured that the outdoor event would end up be canceled anyway.  As they were getting to their car, Mom turned around just in time to see the large metal stage collapse.  There have been 7 fatalities and over 40 injuries from the stage collapse.  My friend Katlin was there and cell phones for some reason were not working properly at the fairgrounds and it took my friends and I quite awhile to get ahold of her and make sure that she was okay (which she was!).  Here is Dad's account of the accident, and of selfless bravery that the Hoosiers at the fair displayed.  Instead of running away, many ran towards the accident to help.
http://seitzupdate.blogspot.com/2011/08/seitz-update-14-august-2011.html

On Thursday, August 18, Matt and I decided to go downtown to watch our minor league baseball team, the Indianapolis Indians, play.  There was a deal going on that night where for $15 each we got a ticket to the game, a hotdog, unlimited soft drinks, and the choice of either an Indians hat or t-shirt.  We had a great time, even though our team lost.

Go, Indians!

That's all for now!

Stacey, Matt, and Thor

A wedding, an anniversary, and the start of summer

Hi everyone!

My last post left off with Mini Marathon/Dad's birthday/Mother's Day.


May is definitely the month of birthdays, that's for sure!  I celebrated my 23rd birthday on May 17, Matt's mom Sheila celebrated her birthday on May 18, and my cousin Allyson turned 25 on May 31st!  Happy birthday to everyone!

On May 11 and May 12, I took classes at work and can now say that I am certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support!  What does this mean?  If you are a child, I can save you with meds and a defibrillator, but if you are over about 50 kilograms, I can just call 911 for you!  (Just kidding, Pediatric and Adult Life Support are very similar...I just only have a certification card for one of them!)

That Saturday, Mom and Dad came over and took Matt and I out to eat at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate my birthday.  I was also the very happy recipient of a Keurig coffee maker and some Sperry Topsider boat shoes!

On Monday, May 16, I was able to have lunch with my good friend, Emily.  Emily and I met at Purdue our freshman year and she and I were roommates during my junior and senior years.  Emily was on her way to Purdue to pack some things from her old apartment (she finished in 5 years instead of 4 like me because she switched majors) in West Lafayette and stopped by to see our house and to meet Thor.  We enjoyed catching up over lunch at McAllister's Deli and we went to see the movie "Bridesmaids."

Matt and I celebrated my birthday on the 17th by making birthday cupcakes with a mini-cupcake maker that Emily gave me and drinking hot chocolate brewed by my Keurig.  Matt and I are racking our brains right now though and can't seem to remember what he gave me for my birthday!  I think I liked whatever it was, though :-)  We just hung out around the house, had dinner at IHOP, and watched a movie.

Matt with hot chocolate and birthday cupcakes

That weekend, Matt's brother's Rob came up to visit his now-girlfriend, Lindsay.  Lindsay is a grad student at IUPUI.  I have only met her once, but she seems very nice!

The next weekend was a fun one.  I threw Emily a bachelorette party on May 27th.  Five of us took a pole dancing lesson, which was really hard and really fun!  It was a great workout but I was sore for about a week afterwards!  After our lesson, we went downtown and had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  We then stayed the night at a hotel in Indy.

At our pole dancing lesson

Becca and Britt carrying Emily across the threshold in her custom-designed toilet paper wedding dress!

Our Memorial Day was pretty low-key.  I think maybe we grilled burgers for dinner and hung out on the porch.

On Thursday, June 2, Mom, Matt, my friend Britt, and I went to the "Glee" concert at Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indy.  The concert featured the members of the New Directions Glee Club from the TV show "Glee," as well as one of their rival clubs, "The Warblers."  The singing was very impressive and we had a great time!  Dad and Eric served as our cheuffers for the night and we all went out to dinner at TGI Friday's before the show.

On June 3, we dropped Thor off at my parents' house and drove down to southern Indiana for Emily and Ben's wedding.  The rehearsal was Friday night and we had a nice pulled-pork sandwich dinner at the church after the rehearsal.  Saturday started very early in the morning for me, as I was a bridesmaid in the wedding.  We all got our hair done at 6:30am because the wedding was an early one (11:30).  The wedding was very nice and we had a good time celebrating with the new Mr. and Mrs. Wood!  Ben and Emily are now living in Florence, Kentucky and Emily is working nearby for the company Sara Lee.

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Wood!

Old roomies from 419 Harrison Street :-)

Taking a break from the festivities

Over that weekend, Matt and I stayed in Brown County State Park.  Matt enjoyed looking at the clear, open sky through his telescope.  We stayed in a cabin on Friday and Saturday nights and we were having such a good time that we stayed on Sunday night as well.  For our stay on Sunday however, we upgraded to a "real" hotel room in a lodge on the premesis.  We spent all day on Sunday walking around downtown Nashville, IN and exploring the little shops.  It was a nice weekend!

It was a beautiful day to explore downtown Nashville!

Happy 22nd birthday to Alex on June 7!

On June 11, Matt's parents came up to see us.  They brought us one of their old tables to serve as our new kitchen table.  We also all went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Thanks again for bringing us the table!

We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on June 12 by going out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory.  Neither one of us had ever eaten there before, and the food was very good!  Matt got red velvet cheesecake for dinner and I got white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.  Delicious!  We didn't want to spend a lot of money on anniversary gifts, so we set a $25 limit.  I got Matt a book about astronomy and he gave me a necklace that we purchased while we were in Brown County.

With my "bride" glass that we got as a wedding gift last year

Matt and his "groom" glass

Unfortunately, we were unable to see our dads for Father's Day.  I worked all weekend (the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th to  be exact!), but we were able to see Matt's dad when he came up on the 11th and I stopped by my parents' house to see my dad a bit earlier in the week.
That is all for now!  Have a great week, month, etc. until I write again!  :-)

Stacey, Matt, and Thor

We are still alive!

Hi everyone!

In case you are wondering, Matt and I are still alive and well!  I am just a very neglectful blogger...

So in a nut shell, here is what has happened since I last wrote (in December):

-December:

• We spent Christmas Eve and some of Christmas Day with Matt's family.  We enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve dinner at his grandparents' house and saw the rest of his family on Christmas Day, where we had a gift exchange.
• We spent the rest of Christmas Day at my parents' house and with my Grandma and Grandpa Ward.
• I worked New Year's Eve.  It was the most low-key New Year's I have ever had.  I was the only one at the nurse's station to realize that it had even turned midnight, and the only one to say, "Happy New Year!"

-January:

• Mom and Dad went to Disney World, where Dad ran the Disney Marathon.  They stayed in the Pop Century Hotel all but one night, when they upgraded to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. 
• My friend Katie got married to her college sweetheart, Craig.  Katie served as a bridesmaid in my and Matt's wedding and I got the same honor in her wedding.  The ceremony took place in a beautiful cathedral in downtown Indianapolis and the reception was at Union Station, also downtown.  Katie and Craig are currently living in Boston, where Craig is getting his Master's degree and Katie is working as a teacher's aide (she has her BA in Elementary Education).  The two will move back to Indy in July when Craig is done with school (Craig already has a job lined up).  They bought a townhouse in Carmel, so it will be nice to hang out with them!
• There, they could see giraffes and meerkats right out their window!
• I had my last day at Methodist Hospital on January 12.  My coworkers threw a Mexican-themed pitch-in for me.
• I started my new job at Riley Hospital for Children in the Pediatric ICU on January 17, and I have loved it since day one!
• Matt started his Spring semester classes at IUPUI.

-February:

• The Groundhog saw his shadow.
• Eric celebrated his 21st birthday on February 5th.  We went to Logan's Steakhouse for dinner.  It was going to be a bit of a wait if we wanted a booth in the main part of the restaurant, so I suggested that we eat in the bar area.  The hostess commented that "Everyone in the party has to be 21 to enter the bar," to which my mom replied, "Oh, well my son turns 21 today!"  The hostess then looked right at me, implying that my brother wasn't why we couldn't sit in the bar; I was.  Oh well, I am used to it by now.
• I have absolutely no recollection of how Matt and I spent our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.
• Just kidding, I remember: we went to iHop for dinener.
• I think this is when Matt and I went down to Kentucky so that I could attend his cousin Amanda's baby shower!

-March:

• Dad, Eric, and I ran the Big Ten Hoops 5k in downtown Indianapolis.  I was the slowest one.  Bah-humbug.
• The Butler Bulldogs basketball team made it to the Big Ten Tournament finals for the second year in a row and for a second year in a row, they lost :-(
• My friend Emily is getting married in June and I threw her a bridal shower up at Purdue in the church that we attended, the Wesley Foundation.  The building reeked of smoke, however, as there was an electrical fire the night before.  There was quite a bit of smoke damage done to the building.
• I was officially "on my own" and off of orientation at Riley at the end of March.  Granted, no one is ever really by themselves.  Everyone is great at helping each other out, so I feel safe taking care of all of the special kiddos because I know that if there is a situation that goes downhill, I have plenty of great nurses to back me up!

April

• Is it bad that April just passed and I can't remember what we did?
• Matt's cousin Amanda and her husband Matt had their first child, a beautiful daughter named Stella Lyn Raybuck!
• We went down to Kentucky for Easter.  It was nice to see Matt's family and to meet baby Stella.  We had to leave pretty early in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, however, because I was scheduled to work that night.  When I got home though, they called me off for the entire night because they didn't need me!  Guess we could have stayed a bit longer after all!
• Matt and I had fun landscaping our house.  We mowed the lawn for the first time this year.  We also planted some flowers, trimmed the bushes, and put new mulch down.
• Dad went on a two-week trip to Tanzania with other coworkers from Eli Lilly.  The company sent about 200 people to various countries all over the world to do humanitarian work.  If you want to read his blogs about the trip, check out the Seitz Update blog! http://seitzupdate.blogspot.com/

May

• Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
• I picked up some extra hours on my old floor at Methodist on Monday.  They are very short-staffed and are offering a $25 bonus for every 4 hours worked in addition to your normal schedule.  I picked up an 8-hour shift, meaning I made an extra $50, plus I made 4 hours of time-and-a-half overtime pay!  Matt and I are saving up for a trip to Disney World in January, so these bonus shifts really help out!
• I started training for my third half-marathon (the Indianapolis Women's Half Marathon), which will take place in September.  I am also looking into training regimens so that I can run my first full marathon (hopefully the Disney Marathon!), which runs in January.
• Eric finished his last final of his third year at Purdue on Saturday morning.  He will return to Purdue on Monday and stay there until Thursday for a short class and then on Saturday he will leave for a two-week study abroad trip to India!  How exciting!
• Congrats to my cousins Zach and Nathan for finishing their first years of college!  Zach is studying at Ferris University in Michigan and Nathan is at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Missouri
• Dad ran the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon (13.1 miles) on Saturday morning.  He said that the Mini was a great race as always.
• On Saturday evening, Matt and I went to dinner at Bub's Burgers with my parents, Eric, and Grandma and Grandpa Ward.  It is a family tradition that we celebrate Dad's birthday there every year.  Afterwards, Eric, Matt, and I went to see the movie "Thor" in 3D.  It was decent.  I think Matt and Eric were more impressed than I was.
• Happy birthday to my Dad and to my cousin Amy today!  Dad is 49 and Amy is a legal adult now at 18!
• I am looking forward to going running after church this morning.  After that, Matt and I are planning to finish up some of the landscaping.

Good night everyone!

Stacey, Matt, and Thor