Venice, Freakshow, Cassie 17th Bday

Freak show, Sushi, Venice and lots of fun. Today was my daughter Cassies 17th Birthday. I had to come to Santa Monica for my one month testing after Surgery and since it was her Birthday we thought what fun lets bring her down here!!

Our day started off with sleeping in which none of us have done in forever. We got a vacation rental near the ocean as they are inexpensive compared to staying at the hotels. Check out Airbnb if interested. You can find homes all over the world to stay at. So fun. Our place is a cute 2 bedroom apartment one block from the Venice Boardwalk! So we made the treak out.

On Venice boardwalk we looked for some breakfast. Walking along the Ocean and people watching is so much fun. Found a good place to eat and Cassie was excited we let her have a RedBull. Hey why not...its her birthday. We loved watching the people as they go by and all the "characters" of Venice.

Ryan and I have been to Venice before as I had my surgery in the neighboring town. We got to know it pretty well since we were here for almost 3 weeks a month ago. We wanted to show Cassie the sites on the walkway like the famous skatepark, muscle beach, all the shops and lets not forget the Famous Venice Freak Show that is on AMC and Netflix all the time. As we were walking to show her the skatepark....we were walking along the actual bike lanes (its hard for me to walk in grass or sand right now) we saw the singer PINK and her husband Cary Hart and their daughter. Its not like we were watching for famous people. I saw the little girl first because i thought oh how cute she is on front of bike with pink helmet. Then I looked up and it was Cary Hart (dirt biker) and before my mind could register to grab my camera PINK was right behind them! I was like OMG and told Ryan and Cassie to look look look as they peddled right next to us but then by us. By the time we got camera out. This is the shot we got haha! We were starstruck probably because we all love her music so much! So talented! Thank goodness for recovering from Surgery or we might not have seen that.

PINK!

We went to the skate park to show cassie as all her brothers called to say happy birthday to her. She was telling them about this cool Batman Character she saw and how their were rollar blade guys dancing in front of her. It was pretty fun to see so many things. was happy boys called her as they are with MIL back at that house. They were happy because they said they could do "man things" haha.

Taking Call from her Brother

Our next adventure was going to Venice Freak Show were you see oddities and two headed animals. You also see Larry the Wolfman, The smallest man in the USA, Bob the Bubble Boy, Sword Swallowing and other interesting things inside the Museum. This is something Cassie really wanted to go see. It actually changed our lives in a positive way but I am going to write about that in my next blog as want it to be a feature. Lets just say it was amazing and we met the most fantastic person in the world. Make sure to subscribe as I will be writing it tomorrow with tons of pictures! We had a great time there. Its been featured on AMC and its on Netflix also. Cassie was amazed and we even went back to retalk to some of the people later. AMAZING so stay tuned tomorrow. You will be so thrilled.

This took a couple hours of our time. Even though the show is maybe 15-20 minutes. Here is a sneak peak though....

Morgue is amazing

Larry The Wolfman

It was a good day. We saw a lot of acts on the walkway. A 17 year old boy flipping over 4 people, glass walkers and saw tons of artwork and shops. It was a fun walk for sure. We went out for breakfast and it was already almost 5pm. Had to rush to get to our massage appointments. Love Venice as they are only 35 dollar an hour!

To end our night we took Cassie to her favorite food of all time. All you can eat Sushi! I think she loved it as we left super full and she got sang to by the whole restuarant. Got that on video it was so funny! Love Embarrasing our kids.

All in all I would say she had an amazing birthday. I cannot believe my only daughter is already 17. As of today I now have two 17 and two 15 year olds. For couple months it will stay this way and then bam we end up with 18,17,16 and 15 year old. Crazy how that works out. Cassie is growing up to be a strong, independent, fun, smart, beautiful young lady and we are so proud of her! Happy Birthday Cassandra!

To Subscribe to this blog you can do it several ways. By going to the top of the page and putting your email in. Then check your email and confirm. By google plus or by bloglovin. Its up to you but remember tomorrow I am writing the amazing events and people of the Venice Freak Show. You WONT want to miss that!

Why was I MIA for a month?

Long story short....I was kidnapped and taken to an exotic place to have an amazing time. Ok Wake up RAE! That is not what happened! As you all know I have Cushings Disease. Its a tumor that secrets this crazy amount of Cortisol in my body. I have gained obscene amount of weight, lost muscle, have extremely high blood pressure, pre diabetic, and the list goes on. All because of this crazy 4mm tumor on my pituitary.

Lets make this story short okay or your eyes might roll into the back of your head like mine practically did. I was headed to Texas from California for my Brain Surgery. 3 hours before we were leaving to go to the airport I get a call from the hospital and said my insurance (which they had for a month) would not pay for out of state. NOW you tell me???

Sobbing, crying, sniffing, and then picking myself up off the floor I started to make another plan.

Long story short.... Looking at tons of Neurosurgeons we find Dr. Kelly in Santa Monica who is the head of all Neurosurgery there and had TOP RATINGS! So I contact him. God was in my corner as usual and he said he would see me. He has a waiting list but he would see me. He would have to make his endo see me, he would have to see me etc to diagnose me himself with Cushings.

Again long story short. MIL watched the teens and we headed out to Santa Monica only expecting to be gone 1 week for testing, and seeing all the doctors, new MRI, cat scans etc. While we were there though he scheduled surgery (YAH!) It was still a couple days away but not really enough time to drive 13 hours back and then come back again. So MIL said to stay. Between my dad and stepmom, MIL and my husband I everything got taken care of so I could have my surgery.

October 1st I had surgery. Oct 2nd my cortisol plummeted. I was in remission! That tumor was gone! I had the best team of doctors anyone could even ask for! I cannot even express how thorough and amazing that team was!!! I do not have high blood pressure anymore, not diabetic, lost 15 pounds in one week, and slowly will gain muscle back. I am sure I am missing a lot of important details but I just wanted to get all of you back on track to where I am at now.

Did help that we had gotten a vacation rental to stay in while recovering and while we were doing all the testing in Venice Ca. Nice to be able to hear the ocean and we got a mini vacation before hand which will be another blog. :)

I am in remission! I am so thankful! I will be resting and getting better day by day! 3 weeks in bed to start with and I am only on week two. I finally put make up on because its my husbands bday. ha! So that is where I have been. Tried to make it short and sweet and to the point. I am going to write a blog when I am feeling better that's more detailed as I am not really suppose to be up yet but I snuck downstairs while everyone was sleeping this morning. Better get back to bed before the MIL comes after me :) PS she saved our lives watching four teenagers for 3 weeks!