1. traveling home to Europe and my sister's wedding
Traveling home at the beginning of May was absolutely awesome (even though it's one of the reasons I didn't post anything on the blog for so long). My trip was very strictly planned around my sister's wedding and I could only take 7 working days off from work so it was really busy and mostly planned down to hours.
Naturally, the wedding was wonderful, my sister was a beautiful bride and everyone had a great time celebrating their marriage. I just wish the bridesmaids wouldn't have to wear that terrible green color! When my sister first announced that I have to get a green dress I was like NO WAY! I seriously considered not dressing in green, which was quite well supported by the obvious lack of green dresses all around Massachusetts and the Internet. But then I found the dress from the photo bellow (the only one in different shade of green) and liked it and was willing to wear it. So problem solved.
The rest of my really short trip was mostly visiting my entire family (the size of which I described last time when counting all the presents I had to buy and was carrying over the Atlantic for them). I also had 1 and a half day for a trip to my old college city and meeting with my best friends. Then I did some shopping, packed all the stuff I can't buy in the US and really miss, and off we went to Prague with my parents to catch the flight again.
While at home I realized again how absolutely perfect my family really is. I can't wait to see them again next year. And hopefully my parents will finally come visit me for the very first time. My mom really tries to overcome her fear of flying and we already planned something for next spring. Can't wait to have them here!
2. no more coffee for some of us
Last 2 weeks of packing for the trip to Europe I felt really weird and it went on the entire time I was there as well. Every day, sometimes couple times a day I was having these short episodes of sudden fast heart beat, sometimes it felt like it skipped the beat, or I had very short (but still!) chest pain. I got really scared and went to see my doctor, who said that there is some blockage (huh?) on the EKG and that I should go see a cardiologist. At this point I was even more scared and couldn't wait to get the appointment as soon as possible. The only other thing my doctor told me was that I might want to stop drinking coffee until I see the cardiologist.
So I stopped with drinking my favorite beverage. And I mean FAVORITE! I love coffee, the good kind of coffee, preferably Italian coffee served in a beautiful way. This is how I make my latte at work. Myself!
But I made it and didn't drink any coffee until my appointment.
Then I came to see the cardiologist feeling better then ever, not having the chest pain and heart beat problems for over a week. He did the stress test with me (I didn't run that much since high school!) and said that all is good and he doesn't see anything concerning. You can imagine how happy I was.
The very next day I came to work and made myself another perfect coffee. And then while driving on the highway it came again - chest pain and rapid heart beat. That's when I realized it was my beloved coffee. I used to drink it every day even when I was at home for vacation.
I don't really understand why the problems started so all of a sudden, after years of almost everyday coffee drinking but I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna dare my heart. I bought decaf coffee (which doesn't smell as good as the regular one) and can't touch the good stuff for some time. I'll give it another try in a month or so.
3. Joe's working adventures
My Joe had some serious thinking to do in the past month regarding his carrier. It started when I was in Europe and all we spoke about during our daily phone calls was work. Tree weeks and many sleepless nights later he decided to quit his job. He's been working for the same company for over 13 years but things got somehow crazy over there and we figured out it might be the time to move someplace else.
Then the toughest week every workaholic can imagine came. My Joe is one of the most hard-working persons I know and he couldn't imagine staying home not doing anything. Fortunately for him he was between jobs for only ONE week because I really think he would get insane. The first day of his first longer-than-two-days vacation in 3 years Joe cleaned the entire apartment, swept and cleaned ALL floors. The next day he dusted every inch of every shelf he could find and studied hard until the night for his construction licence test,which he took on the next day. The fourth day was get-rid-of-all-junk day - Joe went through all the sporting equipment he bought in the past and didn't use for years prepared everything for selling. If you know about someone in need of complete diving set, or hokey set, or bike holder for car, or anything else, just let me know. There's a good chance we have it and don't need it.
Then Joe picked me up at work on Friday and we had a wonderful weekend having 2 barbecues and spending some time with our friends.
Luckily for Joe he started at his new job the following Monday, otherwise I'm not sure what else would he do at home. He might have started selling furniture or re-painting the whole place!