I was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy on August 1 and have not blogged at all or Facebooked or Twittered  while recuperating. But now that I am back to 100%, the words, I am hoping, will start flowing again.

I have much to say about this Bell’s experience. Not only from a patients point of view, but also from someone who has had it, gotten fantastic advise from friends, and have moved past it to a place of learning. For this I am very grateful. Because of this appreciation, I want to share what I have learned and experienced with others, as it was shared with me, to hopefully make the illness less scary for someone who might be afflicted with it.

So I will be posting little bits and pieces in the next week, documenting the 2 weeks of the toughest part of this illness and the process I had in my recovery.

The 1 thing I must say now, is thank you… Thank you to my best friend and partner John, for all the caring and nuturing he has given me through this, at a time when his plate was so very full. Thank you to my Mom & Marty, my Dad and Shari, my sister Tina & Steve and my niece and nephews, John’s family and all my caring and wonderful extended family and friends who all have been so thoughtfull with well wishes and prayers… I shall name you all in the postings to come! Your love has made all the difference in the world. I love you all….

So the thought of having some friends over to watch the festivities started… and grew. We ended up co-hosting this event with our best friend Steve, who also had a list of friends to invite. All in all, an evite went out to about 50 people!

So now we need food, lots of snacks and of course a BAR! So by the end of the planning stage, we had hired a caterer. Her name is Karen and she is wonderful. The food was out of this world. She made about 10 appetizers, 2 main meat courses and lots of sides. We had enough food for an army.

Between John, Steve and myself, we took care of the full bar and 3 different types of Sangria…Red, White & Blue(berry) TASTY! We also made all the deserts, 7 in all.

Of course we thought we would have too much food, but by the end of the party, we figured we had about 75 guest, and 5 of those were party crashers! We still have no idea who they were. The amazing thing is we had leftovers!

In short, it was a great party, great food and great friends. The perfect way to celebrate the 4th and our independence in this great country of ours! Enjoy the pictures below.

I hope I have redeemed myself for my past negligence of blogging current.

I think this gets me a little more up to speed.

There will be more to follow – just need to get to bed now and prepare for another day.

Peace and love to all…

R

First, Marie and Mark Murtagh’s beautiful wedding in London

Second, John’s nephew Christopher and Nikki Williams fantastic wedding in Cincinnati ( see blog posting below )

Third, Mike & Nancy Voticky’s 3rd  daughter Gilly and her husband Rick Mathews 2 weeks ago in Austin TX.

This last wedding was also incredible. Nancy, the MOB, did an outstanding job creating yet another over the top event for their daughter Gill. Nancy should really think about going into event planning, as after 3 wedding in no less than 25 months, she has become an expert on all things wedding. Nothing, not even the smallest detail, gets past Nancy. It is no wonder, since she planned the wedding for their eldest daughter Allie in Montreal back in May 2007 and second daughter Candy in Austin in June 2008, she has had lots of practice.

So here are some pictures of the wedding held at the Four Seasons with video as well.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful

The Hora dance is a traditional Jewish dance in celebration of the Bride & Groom as well as the parents of both Bride and Groom. I took this in 2 parts – total dance time over 9 minutes!

Watch the dance off between some of these men… including John and Mike!

Who knew these guys had such moves? ( I knew John did, after all, his dance card was full of requests from the ENTIRE wedding party a week before the event! )

And finally, Ryan Kasprzak, a dancer from season 5 and season 6 “So You Think You Can Dance” was a guest at the wedding, as he and the groom Rick have been friends since high school, and as a special gift to Rick and Gill performed a tap dance for all the guest, which was fantastic… video below – enjoy!

It was a beautiful wedding and amazing family gathering. One of the wonderful things about John’s family, as with my own, is the love and connection they have for one another. Every event, wether it is a wedding, birthday party, holiday or just Thursday night dinner, it is done with love and togetherness. I am lucky to be included in their family, for this is a blessing.

I keep meaning to post all sorts of pictures and videos of the last several weeks, but before you know it, the day has gotten away from me and a new day has started.

So I am working on it… the postings may not be in chronological order of when the event happened, but I will try and put them in a timeline so there is a little bit of order to them.

In the meantime, take a look at this great video from Dave Letterman and stupid pet tricks that John’s sister Lizz sent to me. It is so funny!

There were many highlights that I will be posting about later today with pictures and videos. Stay tuned.

There is finally an actual release date for Whitney Houston’s long awaited (and delayed) comeback album - September 1st! (originally it was due last November) The album is still untitled but rumors are suggesting it will be called Undefeated. After waiting for what seems like an eternity – I seriously hope it’s half-way decent! Below is a video announcement / promo for the release date!

The end was a wonderful dinner prepared by John and myself for my Dad to celebrate a belated birthday and an early Father’s Day. We had a wonderful time over dinner – 4 hours total! Was really great!

Today will be spent doing some much needed blogging and a little time at the Hillcrest’s Farmers Market. 

More to follow….

Wow – another day down, Tuesday, and another stressful day – 2 in a row… It has been a long time since I have exerienced this amount of stress in a concentrated 2 days! But enough of my belly aching. John and I are on our way for a nice long walk through the park and get rid of that stress… More blog posting to come tonight!