Seeing things. Or not really seeing things.

I can't see.  No, really. I'm as blind as a bat. Probably more than a bat. Probably more like a bat whose eyes have been removed.

Terrible eyesight runs in my family (although mine is the worst at a -9.50). Since nearly everyone in my family has had Lasik eye surgery and has loved it, I decided I would finally do it.  Oh, but guess what! Remember how I am as blind as a bat with no eyes? Lasik won't work for me. Go figure.

Instead, my doctor told me I could get something done called Visian ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens), where they insert a cool lens into your eye. Which is HD (high definition). And has UV protection.  I will soon have bionic eyes!! Maybe I should ask if they could put x-ray vision in there, as well...

Anyway, in preparation for this procedure, I was told that I need to go without contacts for the next 3-4 weeks. To give you an idea of what the next 3-4 weeks of my life will look like, I will use a picture of my dog.

As you all know, this is my dog, Madison. (Woof.)

1. This is how I see Madison with contacts. 

Pretty dog!

2. This is how I see (or don't see) Madison without contacts or glasses.

Yes, I promise there is still a dog there. 

3. This is how I see (AND don't see) Madison with my glasses.

Picture No. 1 is clearly the preferred choice (no pun intended). However, since wearing contacts is no longer an option for me, I obviously choose to see Madison while wearing my glasses (picture No. 3 above).

Here I am, with glasses. 

(I apologize for any hint of a duck face. 

I just feel awkward when taking selfies.)

The problems I have are that (a) the glasses are about 3-4 years old, so the prescription is about -1.5 weaker than what I need to see well out of (which is why Madison in picture No. 3 is not as clear as in picture No. 1); so (b) it makes driving difficult; (c) not having my full strength prescription gives me a headache because my eyes are constantly straining; and (d) I am only able to see straight in front of me, so if I look down (at my zipper or shoes), or to the left, or up, I have to turn my entire head that direction to see anything (again, see picture No. 3).

Solutions?

(a) There is no solution. I have to tough it out.  Helloooo blurry world.

(b) I have discovered that Casey's glasses are a -1.00 prescription... so if I put them over mine, I can see quite a bit better! I do this when I drive, so I'm not as much of a danger to those around me. Just call me "Six-Eyed-Sally."

(Another awkward selfie facial expression...)

(c) I have been drinking lots of Diet Coke to cope with my headache.

(d) Take my glasses off so everything is at least the same amount of blurriness?

These next 3-4 weeks are going to be so much fun.


In other news, Kennedy and I made some delicious cookies:

And she gave me a sweet present for my birthday. Gosh, I love her.

(It was a re-gift of some old movies she had gotten for free at Girl Scouts. She is so thoughtful. And it's the thought that counts, right?)

And the countdown to perfect vision begins!! Huzzah!

Things that happened

Oh, hi there. Here are some things that have happened recently.

Halloween happened.

Kennedy was a U of U zombie cheerleader:

I was a zebra and Casey was a devil ghost guy:

Maddie was Queen of the leaf piles on our lawn:

 And I made Oreo pumpkin treats. Yum.

The Ute game happened.

The Ashleyes posed for a picture.

The 4 of us posed for another picture.

We paid tribute to the Veterans by "oooh"-ing and "aaahh"-ing at the flag and balloons.

This super amazing gorgeous sunset happened. (It kind of makes up for the fact that we lost the game.)

My birthday happened. 

We went out to dinner with a whole bunch of my friends. Whom I love dearly.

Hello friends!

Hello, sexy fiancé!

Kennedy's school picture happened.

And I almost died because she looks like she's 15.

Flowers happened.

My amazing man bought me these lovely flowers. *SNIFFFFFF* Yum.

My garden happened.

Fresh lavender. From my garden. *SNIFFFFFF* Yum, again.

Some wedding planning happened.

We found our wedding location! And here is a sneak peak...

And finally - 

Our dog learning to play "Fetch" happened.

And she wanted to play it. Over, and over. And over.

Really badly.

And I have a hard time saying "no" to that face. So I obliged. 

Hashtag latergram hashtag fall

For the technologically impaired folk out there (not that there's anything wrong with that), I'd like to explain a few things before I continue on with my blog post. 

First of all, I'd like to welcome you to the interweb. And also to my blog, which I am resolving to update more regularly due to super high demand. (Meaning one or two people have been highly demanding it of me.)

Second, if you were not aware, there is a social networking program of late called Instagram. It is similar Facebook (if you don't know what that is you might be living under a rock, and I am not sure how to help you), but instead of sharing opinions, game requests, and drama, you only share photos. Which is quite nice. It is generally used for real-time photo sharing, like "[insert picture of food] this is what I am having for lunch! #lunch #tacos".  (Hashtags ("#"), which are widely overused and can be highly annoying, are ways to link to other pictures which contain the same hashtagged word so you can search for them.) However, if you decide to post a picture from an earlier time, perhaps because you forgot to post it in real-time, you would post the picture and include the hashtag of "#latergram." For example "[insert picture of lunch from last week] This food was disgusting! #latergram #grossfood #mademesick". 

The reason I am telling you all of this is because of the title of my blog post. I am posting a blog entry about something that happened a little while ago. (But not so long ago that I have to label it as a "throwback," which generally only get posted on Thursdays (a/k/a "#tbt" or "throwback Thursday").) Therefore, this blog post is so appropriately entitled "#latergram" and "#fall".

So. If I haven't lost you with all of my blabbing, now I will continue on with my post. With an annoyingly excessive use of hashtags. Because they are annoying. (#hashtagsareannoying)

A few weeks ago (#latergram), Casey (#fiance) and I went for a little hike (#hiking) with our cute puppy (#goldenretriever #madisonsparkleprice) to enjoy the beautiful changing leaves (#fall).

It was gorgeous. I really love the beauty of this state. I think I take it for granted all too often. (#utah #beautiful #nature)

Maddie was so happy to be out and enjoying the fresh mountain air. (#tongue #happydog)

Seriously! Stunning (#stunning). I wish I had brought my better camera because my iPhone camera simply doesn't do it justice. (#camera #firstworldproblems)

And of course we had to take a picture of ourselves, for posterity. (#selfie #cutecouple #price2014)

Two posts within 24 hours?!? I think I'm on a roll. (#onaroll)

N'awlins

Alright! Another blog post! I am so proud of myself, I think I'll go eat some chocolate.

...

Ok. That was delicious.  Now I will tell you all about our adventures in New Orleans. Or, as they say it there, "N'awlins."  We saw the major stuff that people said we HAD to do - like see the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and eat some beignets at Cafe du Monde. Done, done, and done. Yet there was more to be done. And we done did it.

We ate at a cute little cafe called Cafe Beignet on Bourbon Street (more on that stinky street, later), in the New Orleans Musical Legends Park. They had some incredible live jazz, of course, while we ate our po' boys and other authentic N'awlins food.

We walked along Bourbon Street for a little bit, and quickly realized that it was not what you would consider "child-friendly." But not before we took a few pictures...whilst plugging our noses.  Man, that road is stinky. And I'm really not sure why. Probably a mixture of urine, alcohol, vomit... just nasty.

We walked passed it later that night on our way out to dinner, and it was still stinky, and much livelier. And even less appropriate for children. But entertaining, nonetheless.

We walked through Jackson Square (pictured), toured through the St. Louis Cathedral...

And of course stopped and had a beignet (or 2) (or 3) at the world renowned Cafe Du Monde. Delicious.

There were street musicians, EVERYWHERE, and some of them even allowed the audience to participate.

When we had asked where we should go for some yummy food and amazing live jazz, we were told to go to Frenchman Street. It didn't disappoint. We went to the Maison, which had some incredible musicians.

Now this place I had never heard of, but we went, anyway. Because how could you not go somewhere named Dreamy Weenies that had a big hot dog guy out front? (Plus, it had really good reviews.) It was delicious.

We stopped by the St. Louis Cemetery. It was pretty dang creepy.

We even had a zombie sighting.

We took the trolly to the city park.

The park was absolutely beautiful. (But very hot.)

Mmm. Pineapple tree.

In the city park, the have a free sculpture garden that you can walk through. There were some pretty neat sculptures.

On the last night in N'awlins, Brandon and Jen stayed back with the kids so Casey and I could go watch some good ol' football at some of the famous Bourbon Street places.

Well, that sums up the rest of our time with my lovely brother and his wonderful family.  We were so sad to have to say goodbye, but we were very happy that were able to spend so much time with them.

And now I am seriously hoping that I will be able to make myself blog on a more regular basis, i.e., not once every 3 months.  Haha. Yeah right. We'll see, Ashley. We'll see.