22 August 2011

Weekend Windup

The last post I had wasn't exactly the most positive I've written. So I just want to say its not all bad, there's just days where it all hits you like a ton of bricks. In between those days the sun shines, life is full and certainly SO worth living.

The sun really came out on Friday after a week of pure cold...so cold it snowed in Auckland last Monday. That kinda never happens. Except about 70 years ago. But mostly never.

This is what my boy and I did that day...our "mummyjohnny day" as he calls those ever fleeting days we have together before we head to school and pick up the girls.

We went for a walk,


and picked some flowers,



took them to Ashley and her wee man for me to do a shoot for my assignment. They are so beautiful.





Then we went to the local cafe for a hot chocolate and then to the beach to soak up some vitamin D. It was bliss to feel the warmth of the sun again.




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On Saturday I had the pleasure of putting faces and names online...to real life faces and names with a blog meetup at my parents favourite restaurant The Mediterranean in Birkenhead (excellent value and there's even belly dancing on Friday nights. I will neither confirm or deny if I joined in once).
All those wonderful women who have cheered me on from the sidelines through my year, encouraged and supported what I do and are just generally super duper souls but who I've only ever communicated with online I actually got to meet! Kristy, Jackie, Penny, Sammy and Jaz and the other new friends I got to meet like Meg, Greta and Tanya and Lisa and Rachel. Seeing Lyns, Leonie and Simone again was super lovely too! We all had to make name tags for each other to break the ice...look at mine!!


So cute - its got my little gingerbread man!! Thanks Greta!
The lunch was wonderful and I think just the start of regular hook ups with like minded wonderful women who all have something unique to offer. Here's a piccie of us all taken by the worlds most polite waiter. Seriously! I'm looking like a bit of a dork trying to practice my best non double chin pose.


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Other stuff...please bear with me, this next part sounds like I'm a desperate soak needing my fix of wine. But I'm not I promise, I just enjoy the stuff.

During the week I had kinda worked out my face swelling happened after drinking white wine...even if it was coming up the morning after. Its taken me a while to figure this out, despite having a glass of wine rather regularly - probably 2-3 nights a week and a few more on a weekend.
So last weekend I had some Lindauer and sure enough on Sunday my lower eye area was swollen. So it wasn't connected to the coldsores as I am still on medication without a trace of coldsores (yay!). Back to the topic...On Monday night I had a glass of red wine...next morning I was fine. Tuesday night just a small glass of white...next morning swelling under my other eye. So to make 100% this was it I had another glass of white wine (well it needed to be finished!) and on Thursday my cheek was swollen. Aha! I'm allergic to white wine...still or sparkling. NOOOO.
But on Saturday night we had some friends around and since I announced I'm not drinking, because I think I'm allergic, my girlfriend produced a bottle of sparkling grape juice. About an 1/2 hour after my second glass however I started to feel my lip swelling, worse than it has for ages. So I looked up the ingredients and they both shared the same preservative 220, which is sulphur dioxide. This is an allergen, even causing anaphylaxis. Would make sense for some of the other times I had swelling after eating dried fruit from the pick and mix at New World. I just never connnected the dots. Despite the lack of readily available wine (I have to now research organic wines) I'm just so relieved I have an idea of what it is. Tell you what, I'm gonna be reading way more food labels now.

More on my medical dramas, all my tests (bloods, heart echo etc) have come back great for me to start the trial drug. I had all of these last Friday. So I start this coming Friday...if anything its going to be interesting!


So yeah I think that just about wraps it up. If you are reading this, thanks for hanging in there with that long update!

8 comments:

Leonie said...

It was so lovely to see you again on the weekend Mon!! And your name tag is gorgeous, and unfortunately I didnt get a photo of it!!
Glad you have figured out what is causing your reaction, its always a relief to pinpoint these things.
Love your photos!! you are very talented!!
Good luck with the trial, will be thinking of you x

Becky said...

So I guess we can still drink red wine together. I am in love with your photos and all your posts. Have you thought about getting it made into a book?

Anonymous said...

Loved meeting you on the weekend - and what a great choice of venue!

P.s. also glad you dont have to stop drinking wine completely and that there are some without the offending preservative

Sophie said...

gosh that's scary with the whole wine/preservative thing. Good thing it wasn't to the grapes themselves!
loving your photos as ever... are you doing a photography course? I've been awol so have missed a few posts!

Hootnz said...

I would have loved to have been there at the bloggy get together... would have been cool to catch up.
How unusual to have a reaction like that? though it seems you have definately figured it out... that would be a relief.

Lovely photos of your lil man enjoying the quiet moments before school pick up, so sweet.

Cat said...

What AMAZING photos - love the one with the hot chocolate dribbling down his chin ~ bless ~
I lunched with Leonie today and she was telling me about the evil 220 -
Warm Wishes to you xxx

Shaheen said...

Your photographs are beautiful, show warmth. i especially love the black and white ones.

jacksta said...

I love that shot of Jonny with the hot chocolate dribbling down his chin.
Speaking of chins..I thought I was the only one to try and avoid the double chin shot!
What a crazy thing to be allergic too! My hubby developed an allergy to shrip at age 37..after eating loads in his life time. The Body is a wierd thing!