Turkey Shmurkey

Happy day-after-Thanksgiving!

I had a nice Thanksgiving. I watched some of the parade, ran 3.5 miles and ate the best mashed potatoes known to man. I watched some football and took some naps, but most of all just enjoyed the simplicity of the day. I love this time of year. Aside from the people who are probably strangling each other for televisions right now, I really do think the holidays bring out the best in people.

This year RA and I adopted two families for Christmas. If I do any shopping today, it will likely be for them. We need to get a sewing machine, bikes, an MP3 player, etc. When I was little, we always picked angels off of a tree at church and went shopping for gifts for people who might not otherwise get them. I look forward to continuing a similar tradition as an adult. I've been fortunate to always have gifts under the tree on Christmas morning.

I've had two doctor visits over the past few weeks, and they both went surprisingly well. At the CF doctor, my PFTs were down a bit from baseline, but up a bit from the previous visit. Perhaps the doctor was feeling generous because I don't have to go back for three months. Hooray! I also went to the ENT so he could have a look at my sinuses, and I was relieved to hear that they "don't look too bad." I haven't been to the ENT in more than a year, so I figured the possibilities were limitless. Hooray for healthcare and decent reports at the doctor!

The Falcons are 9-1. They lost their first game to the Saints about two weeks ago. UGH, THE SAINTS. They played an ugly game of football last weekend to beat the Cardinals. On Sunday, they play the Buccaneers, and I hope to see none of last weekend's shenanigans repeated.

In fantasy football news, my team is 8-3. I'm going to have a tough week considering 7/13 of my players were injured as of yesterday. I'm hoping that the holiday spirit heals their sprains/strains/pulled muscles so that I can get another win this week. I think I'm pretty set to make the playoffs regardless, but I'd like to finish the regular season strong. GET IT TOGETHER, BOYS!

Well, I guess it's time to make the most of my day off. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Weeeeeeeeeee belong

I should probably be asleep right now, but I took about 2-3 hours of naps today, so I think it's fine that I'm up late (Yes, 10:30!).

Life has been crazy crazy crazy, but when isn't it? I don't even know where to start.

My sister's wedding is fast approaching. We've still got about seven weeks, I think, but the time has just flown by. Yesterday we went to her first dress fitting, and I spent the majority of the time fanning her because she was hot. She then stated, "I hope it cools down by May," which got a good laugh. I'm pretty sure it's going to be HOT outside by May, considering the thermometer has already hit 80 and it's March. That reminds me that I should probably check this week's weather; it's about time that it gets freakishly cold or blizzard-esque. Nevermind. It looks like tomorrow will bring a high of 80 again. I'm not complaining! Yet.

The CF walk is also fast approaching. I am a bit behind schedule on everything, but I'm going to kick it into gear this week. Hooray! I've had a handful of walkers sign up for my team so far, but I'm hoping to get some more! Just for recordkeeping purposes, my team is sitting pretty at $2,502 right now. My page can be viewed here: http://www.cff.org/great_strides/drew. Go Drew's Crew!

Things are going really well on the health front...knock on wood! I've been doing surprisingly well allergy-wise (I've attributed this to knock-off Zyrtec.), which is awesome...especially since Atlanta had a record-shattering pollen count of 9,000-something last week. The whole stomach fiasco is hopefully drawing to a close; today has been the best stomach day I've had in weeks. I had an endoscopy on March 12, and the doctor pretty much said my stomach was inflamed, but that he didn't see an ulcer. I had a good week or two, and then it really started bothering me again. Yesterday was a bad day, but today was a good day.

In case you were wondering, the mouse on my laptop quit working, so I busted out an old-school mouse that is attached to my laptop. Please don't lose any sleep over it.

I have been exercising, kids! It seems like lately I exercise in waves. I get in a good routine, and then I jack my back up or something along those lines. Then things get hectic for a bit, and I take some time off. Then I have another good week, and then I fall off the horse. (Is that a phrase?) Last week I decided I would keep track of the time I spent exercising, thinking that it would help hold me accountable. I knocked out a surprising 184 minutes of exercise, which makes me happy. I'm hoping to beat that this week. I'm already at 45!

A few things have happened recently that make me remember how precious life is. Someone recently gave a presentation at work, and she said, "When your head hits the pillow at night, you're the one who knows what you did that day." (I'm sure she said it more eloquently, but I didn't lose the message.) Anyway, I try to do the best I can every day, and, if I have a day that didn't quite measure up, I know that I don't need to dwell on it. Instead, I can use that as inspiration to do better the next day. Cherish the days!

It's pouting time

I'm in an unexplained bad mood right now. I really can't rationalize it, but I think it's probably a combination of being tired and having a long to-do list. WHATEVER.

Thursday's show was awesome! It was sold out and we got a standing ovation. Hoorah! I was in a straight scene, ABC Buzzer, Emo Second Date (not changing emotions), Meet the Holiday Experts and Oscar Musical. The audience was great and had a lot of energy, so we responded with a lot of energy. I enjoyed myself! 'Tis the season...

Friday I telecommuted for a bit and went into work for another little bit. One of my colleagues (HA!) was having her going away party, so we all went to El Azteca for happy hour. Me, TO, and a couple work friends (KQ and SS) then went to the theatre to watch the show. It, too, was a sellout, so we watched it from the cafe.

Yesterday I made myself useless for a lot of the day and then covered someone's lights shift at the theatre. That definitely wasn't in my plans, but duty called. Soooooo, I stayed up way too late again. I did get a present, though, from ES! I got the Elf DVD (LOVE IT!), some rum (LOVE IT!), and the Jimmy Eat World CD (LOVE THE TRACKS I'VE HEARD!).

I'm pretty sure it's nap time.

Roaaaura

Daaaaaang, it's been a while. Tell me the last time I didn't start off by saying something like that.

Well, Wednesday I took my car to Nissan to get the brakes checked out because they were making unusual noises. Basically, the dude gave me a paper explaining that Nissan brakes sometimes make unusual noises. So, I guess that resolves that ... unless my brakes go out. KNOCK ON WOOD!

Wednesday afternoon we had a university-wide marketing/communications meeting and holiday celebration. We went bowling at the new mini-alley they opened at an on-campus hotel. I was hesitant to bowl because my SC joint was hurting, so I drank a beer before bowling. Self-medication. Then, I got children's-sized shoes with Velcro on them. Then, between addressing comments that the bowling ball was bigger than me, I proceeded to bowl an 83, which is pretty phenomenal for me.

I performed some improvisational comedy on Thursday night, so that was fun. One of the cast members got sick, so we had a last-minute substitution in the form of TO. I played Conducted Rap (rapping about Mexican food... how appropriate), Buzzer Interview, Repeat Scene Direction (gansta, paranoid valley girl), Sit Stand Lean Oscar, Meet the Experts (Barbara on travel), and Musical Styles (80s Rock, Jazz, R&B, and Southern Rock). We had a lot of fun, and I was excited to have some friends in the audience.

Yesterday I had to go into the office because it was an office clean-up day. After getting my Eggnog Latte, I headed to work. When I was almost to work, it happened ... I started to see the 'aura.' I was seeing a lot of ripples and it was getting progressively worse. I made it to the office and then hunted down someone with Excedrin Migraine. I took pills and borrowed some sunglasses, but I was pretty much down for the count. I tried eating lunch and started to get nauseous, so I came home. We were getting off early anyway because we had our holiday party last night, but I missed that, too. Oh well. I had a great nap, and that helped a little. Then I slept 12 hours last night, so I'm hopeful that it's gone.

I'm about to go to the gym. YEAAAAAAH!

Have a satisfying Saturday!

I rememba. In Decemba.

The Falcons make me proud! We (yes, I am on the team) just improved our record to 10-2. AWESOME! I still have on my Falcons hoodie.

Well, I'm probably about to go to sleep and it's just after 8:00 p.m. I stayed up pretty late last night AND the cold weather makes me want to sleep. I just saw that the morning wind chill is supposed to be in the teens tomorrow. That's absolutely absurd if you ask me...

The ENT said my nose looked pretty bad, so that's just wonderful. He put me on a steroid for six weeks, so hopefully that helps with the inflammation. The noseroid goes straight into my nostril. CRAZY!

I had a fun weekend! I took it easy on Friday night because I was just so exhausted from the week's shenanigans. Saturday I tried a new drink at Starbucks - the Gingerbread Latte - recommended by AM. It was awesome! Then I headed down to the theatre to work the box office at the kids' show.

After the show, MJ and I tried to go to the SEC football championship game at the Georgia Dome. There were absolutely no tickets when we arrived there, so we went and watched it at a bar instead. Then we went to a wine party. I had a good time and stayed up LATE.

Today I've been good for nothing. I really only accomplished two things: 1) I did a load of laundry, and 2) I fixed shells and cheese. I also took two naps if those fall into the 'accomplishments' category.

Happy December!

That's all they really waaaaaaaant

It's Tuuuuueeeeeesday.

Well, I had my eye doctor appointment yesterday and it went pretty well. My prescription was unchanged from last year, so that's good news, even though it doesn't answer any headache questions. I did get scheduled for a visual field exam test and a follow-up appointment with the eye doctor, so we'll see if that provides any answers what-so-ever. Yesterday was really rough headache-wise, so I pretty much had to sleep for the entire afternoon.

I met up with a friend (AP) for dinner yesterday, too. We used to work together at Wolf Camera, so it was fun to catch up.

Today was surprisingly good, though! I got up and noticed my head wasn't hurting, so I went to the gym. I did about 30 minutes on the elliptical, and my head didn't bother me at all. AWESOME! The rest of the day was pretty much pain-free, so I'm knocking on wood here... I did get unusually tired today, so I did some napping.

Anything else? I met MV and her son for lunch at Chick-fil-A, so that was fun. He is almost a year old and is absolutely precious. I'm usually not a baby person, but he makes it easy to make an exception.

I've got kind of a long day tomorrow, so I better get a good night's sleep to make it through the day. I can't wait to sleep!!!

In over my head

Holy headache. I really don't mean to be a complainer, but something is truly wrong with my head. I don't think it's okay that I've had a headache since October 12. The pain gets better and worse throughout the day, but there's never been a time that I thought my headache was gone. It's pretty unfortunate that I don't go to the neurologist until next Monday (the earliest appointment I could get) because I'm starting to think there might be a real problem. Tomorrow I'm going to try to negotiate my way into something sooner because these tingles and warm sensations in my head don't seem like they could signify anything good.

Well, I've been working on my book and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Creative endeavors are hard, especially when you get so close to the work that it's impossible to view it objectively. I'm trying not to let myself read too much of it until I get to a place where I'd be comfortable handing it off. I know from previous experience that I tend to be very hard on myself when it comes to stuff like this, so I'm trying to put that off as long as possible to keep from getting discouraged.

I've had a great couple of days, though. I've noticed that my headache seems to worsen as the day goes on, so I've tried to make the most of the days, knowing that the night might get rough.

Side note: I love the song "Nothing Lasts Forever" by Maroon 5. I just listened to it twice.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving! That is so crazy! That reminds me that I am thankful for meeting new people, getting a good night's sleep, and having access to health care.

Well, I think it's about time to take a nap. The light is bothering me more than usual today. I sound like a vampire. I've never jumped on the vampire bandwagon, but I'm pretty sure they don't like light. Happy Sunday!

Vrooooom. Vroooooom.

First and foremost, sorry for the delay. I don't actually think that people care that much, but I do realize that this is how most people have been keeping up with the hospitalization/surgery, so I figured I ought to break the silence.

Well, I got out of the hospital on Friday at around noon. I was having mixed feelings about it, as I usually do when I'm leaving the hospital. I don't exactly know what causes me to feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster when I'm hospitalized. In a way, the hospital setting is relieving because you get a free pass to feel however you want to feel. At the same time, though, I've noticed that the hospital breeds pity parties, which isn't something that interests me. Anyway, I said all of that to say that the last few days have carried with them many ups and downs - fluctuations that seemed acceptable in the hospital, but are a little harder to carry back into real life.

When we left the hospital, my mom and I went to a few different pharmacies trying to get a handle on the prescriptions that I needed. By the time we got home, I was wiped out and took a nap while my amazing mom went to the grocery store to get me some things. My IV medications got delivered Friday evening and the nurse came by to make sure I had everything under control. I wasn't quite feeling up to being alone, so my mom spent the night with me. We slept on the couches and I was very thankful to have her company.

I sat around a lot on Saturday. We got up and my mom headed back to her house. I took my plethora of medications. Then I sat outside writing for a little bit. I was in a very 'deep' mood, and that has continued into today. Then I took another nap (I'm good at that lately) and my mom came back and took me to my parents' house. It was good to spend one more night with company. My mom and I made a quick stop by my grandmother's house on the way here this afternoon.

I had some visitors today. Two friends from the theatre stopped by (LG and EG), and it was good to talk creative with them. We talked about creative endeavors, but we also talked about life, so I was in hog heaven. PLUS, they brought me some queso from Willy's. AWESOME! Anyway, I really enjoyed their company; it got my creative juices flowing. Another friend (JM) also stopped by for a bit, and I continued my philosophical discussions with her. It's days like today when I remember how fortunate I am to know such caring people.

Tomorrow will be my first would-be-workday at home. I think my brother plans to come by WITH HIS DOG!, so that will be fun. I'm hoping this post-hospital funk has almost passed.

TOMAHAWK CHIZZZOP!

I am in such a great mood today. I'm really not even sure why, but I feel awesome. I mean, physically my face is aching because my sinuses are my worst enemy. But mentally? I feel spectacular!

I just got home from Starbucks. If you need a decaffeinated option at Starbucks, I highly recommend the Spiced Apple Cider. I can't remember if that's the name of it, but it is AMAZING! I chatted with my friend (MV) and it made me think about a lot of life-related things, which often gets me energized. Woooohoooo!

Today I went to Willy's, which is par for the course on Tuesdays. I don't think I've ever used that saying, but it felt good. Anyway, my steak nachos were off the chain. I don't think they could have been any more incredible than they were. True story.

THE BRAVES ARE ONE STRIKE AWAY FROM WINNING!

Umm, last night was way enjoyable. I read some, I watched TV, I took some naps, and the night dragged on forever. I ended up falling asleep pretty early, and woke up to a pleasant extra-innings win for the Braves. Come on, boys!

THE BRAVES WON! (Right now.) While the Phillies clinched the NL East last night, the Braves are in the running for the Wild Card. I have a GOOD feeling about it! Now I just need the Cubs to beat the Padres tonight.

I'm pretty sure I'll stop talking right now. It would be the first time I've done that all day.

Off on the wrong foot

Happy Sunday!

Well, let us see.... Yesterday wasn't the most productive day of my life. I took about three naps which totaled to probably four hours of resting. I guess I needed that. Despite my naps, I did a few things of substance...ish.

I did end up going to the library, which was fun. I checked out five books. Two of the books are nonfiction and are about creativity, and the other three are fictional. I started one of them yesterday evening and am almost halfway done. What can I say?! Reading is fun!

I stopped by my grandmother's house and saw my uncle and mom for a bit.

Last night I made a last-minute decision to go out to dinner with a friend (BA). We went to Taco Mac and had a blast. We had some nachos and wings and I was just in hog heaven! Then we went to Coldstone to grab some ice cream before heading home. Although I have gotten sorbet with gummy bears every trip for several years, I switched it up last night. I got coffee ice cream with Reese's peanut butter cups. It was pretty delicious. We were literally laughing the entire time! Man, I laugh when I think about watching the ice cream cone hit the pavement. Sorry!

I practically have no voice today. It's kind of interesting.

Just a small town girl

Hmm, it's late. Guess why I'm still up?! We had late rehearsal! I have only been home for a few minutes. I did take advantage of the late rehearsal start by napping during the time that I normally would have been at earlier rehearsal, so let's hope I can conk out tonight.

I worked from home today so I could get some handyman projects started during my roommate transition. Most of a ceiling fan is put up in the other bedroom, so that's nice. It is lightless and bladeless right now, but it's up and functioning.

What else? I am really trying to get in a good exercise routine for several reasons... 1) I feel better by all definitions when I'm exercising. 2) I've sounded kind of junky the last few days. 3) I am going on vacation in a few weeks and feel kinda blah. Today I exercised for 38 minutes, so that's a good start. I also lifted some weights. I don't know that I did enough to be sore tomorrow or anything, but, again, it's a good start. I'm going to be in gung-ho mode these next several weeks. I'm already trying to plan when I might exercise tomorrow... before or after work? Hmm.

I think tomorrow I'll pull the early-to-work move so that I'll have the whole night ahead of me. My sleeping patterns have been kind of unusual, so I should probably get home, exercise, and have a restful evening. I am blabbering for no good reason.

Oooh! I think I am starting on the study drug/placebo on Thursday. I think for my ego's sake, I'll begin referring to it as 'the vanilla.' All I know is that it's vanilla-flavored regardless and it will save face for me in the chance that I receive the placebo. Ugh, it sickens me to even type that. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. Give me the REAL vanilla! Now that defeats the purpose of calling it by a nickname... Vanilla. Period.

Time for bed. I don't have much to say today.

what a day

At least the Braves didn't lose 17 to 2. Oh wait, they did. Darn.

I'd say the Braves score is indicative of my overall day. I know that's kind of melodramatic, but oh well. Today was one of those days where it was hard to snap out of it. ARGGGGH! At least it's about over...

Surprisingly, I was able to sleep through the night like I hadn't taken 6 hours of naps immediately before laying down for bed. I'm just amazed that I could sleep from almost 3:00 p.m. until 6:22 a.m. That's quite the accomplishment. Sadly, it's probably the biggest success of the day.

I did get up and exercise this morning, although it was extremely difficult to wake up this morning. I did about 32 minutes of varying activities in the fitness center, experiencing some of the same exercise ADD that I had yesterday. I then headed off to work where I kicked off my day with a lovely 1.5-hour meeting that we have once a month. I went out to eat for lunch (Mexican), so that was a highlight.

I went to Starbucks on the way to rehearsal because I figured I needed some kind of fake enthusiasm in order to do a good job. It's getting increasingly difficult to go to rehearsal with an open mind on Mondays after work. Mmm, maybe if I anticipate it on Mondays from here on out, it won't take me by surprise. Anyway, rehearsal was a lot of fun. We played ABC Buzzer and Blind Scene, and the fact that I hadn't had a good day didn't cross my mind once!

Well, tomorrow's the big day at the doctor. I have to do a two-hour glucose tolerance test, which means I am beginning to fast. BLAH! I will never be as hungry as I will be tomorrow morning. Anyway, I need to get my blood drawn at 10:00 a.m., then I'll drink the orange drank and get blood drawn again at noon. I need to get a DEXA bone density scan somewhere in that time, too, so that the doctors can tell me I have osteopenia. Then, I have my pulmonary function tests (PFTs) at 12:30 p.m. and my actual appointment at 1:00 p.m. Yeaaaaaaaah, it's gonna be a pretty long day. While the optimist in me wants to say that it will go well, the pragmatist in me doesn't have very high hopes. Whatever happens, I will handle it with grace... and probably IV antibiotics.

Umm, what else? That's all. No money raised online for Drew's Crew today, but one of the crew members should have made his first push tonight, so I'm hoping I'll see an increase when I check the total in the morning. Unless you beat him to it....

Have a good night. I will report on judgment day tomorrow.

Snoozer

At what point does a nap no longer classify as a nap? Does it depend on what time it starts or its duration? Either way, I basically slept from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m. this afternoon, with the exception of one or two little stints of waking up for 30 minutes. I mean, that's incredible. I'm afraid it could be difficult to sleep tonight, which is why I'm going to be quick-like. Gotta keep this napping momentum going!

Today I got up and hit the gym first thing. I experienced the worst cast of gym ADD that I've ever had. I would get on one machine for a few minutes, feel like changing to something else, then repeat that again. All in all, I did a little over 30 minutes of stuff, but it was really hard to stay focused. I have no idea why!

Then, I got picked up to go eat an early lunch at El Azteca (Peachtree). I was graced by my two female apprenti, which was fun. We chit-chatted and had a few margaritas before heading to WWIT for the monthly teen performance. It was a lot of fun to watch! I was also excited because I knew that a fellow CFer was in the show (small world, I know), so I got to talk to his mom. CFers just have this inherent bond.

That reminds me that I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I'm not exactly worried about it, but I'm definitely feeling some hesitance. I just don't know if it will go well. I haven't felt GREAT in a while.

Speaking of not feeling great, the Braves are kinda sucking. I mean, they could be doing worse, but they have 3 wins and 3 losses right now. I'm kinda thankful that I fell asleep for most of today's game. I started off with a feeling that this season was gonna be different, and it's starting to dwindle. COME ON!

Well, there's more I could drone on about, but I really didn't have a productive weekend. It was just kinda there. I tried to write and had no success. I just kind of piddled around, but I guess I'm entitled to that considering how busy I've been lately.

I'm hoping for a good week of fundraising. Drew's Crew is at $8592. I hope we can pick up some momentum this week and hit maybe $11 or $12K. We'll hit the one-month-out mark on Wednesday, so we've gotta get it going!

Good night, y'aaaaallllllllllllll!

Alllllllergies

So, this allergy thing isn't faring too well for me yet this year. I have literally limited my outside time to running to and from the car, and haven't had any luck yet. Sunday night I had to forego a theatre-related opportunity because it was taking place outside, which didn't sound like a good use of time. I ended up trying to go to bed pretty early, but had a difficult time going to sleep because laying down was making me cough more.

Yesterday I got up and went into work early, knowing that, with allergies like this, they tend to elevate as the day continues... I was in the building by 7:30 a.m. and got started on the million mass emails I need to get done this week. Supposedly there was a middle-aged man stranger roaming the building carrying a big duffle bag. It's weird because, at the time, it was only me and a lady from another department in the building. I doubt it was anything to be concerned about and I didn't see the man myself, but the cops came and what not. These are the kinds of bad things that happen when I get to work early.

I went to Willy's for lunch, hoping that eating would help rid me of some of my allergy-in-the-face pain, but it didn't quite work as planned. By about 1:30 p.m., I couldn't take it anymore and headed home to work the remainder of the day from bed. I swung by the post office to pick up a piece of certified mail from my incompetent homeowners association, telling me that my doorknobs were brass. As much as I wanted to send the nastiest email known to man, I kindly emailed the property manager and said, as you know, this issue was corrected on December 6. Please do not mail me anything else. Or I will slap you silly.

After I finished up working, I dozed off just before 5:00 p.m. for what turned into a three-hour nap. I'm not sure at which point a nap becomes sleeping, but it sure was a doozie. I got up for about an hour and a half or two and then went back to sleep. I am a sleeping machine.

Today I go for the screen for my research study. I'm not exactly sure what it will entail, but I imagine I'll do a pulmonary function test and some other random test. It's supposed to take several hours, so I took the afternoon off. I hope my allergy issues don't jack this up.

HAPPY TUESDAY.

Oh my face

My face tells me that it's allergy season. I have been fearing this time since last year's shenanigans. It's funny (not 'haha' funny) that allergies paralyzed me more than this silly disease of mine ever has. Oh man. It's scary to even think about when I got taken to the ER and missed almost an entire week of work. My face has been aching and I have slept more than should even be humanly possible. The counts are telling me to stay indoors.

Yesterday I took four - yes, you read it right - FOUR naps. They totaled about six hours, which is just ridiculous in its own right. Last night, I went to bed before midnight and woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was burning alive. I ended up sleeping another 10 hours last night, and truly only got up because of all of the stuff I have to do today. I am finishing up my breathing treatments right now.

As you might have been able to infer from the uncanny amount I've been sleeping, this weekend hasn't been very productive. I've tried to write on a few different occasions, but it's hard to feel inspired in the few hours that it fits into my calendar. Any of you artsy people out there know what I mean. I wish I could just be inspired when it works with my schedule, but that's not how it works... back to the drawing board.

I'm excited because a friend and I are in the midst of planning a vacation for this summer. Her aunt has a timeshare that she's not going to use, so I truly can't pass up the opportunity. I have been on short weekend excursions here and there, but the last REAL trip I went on was the family cruise we took in July 2008. I mean, that was the last trip where I truly got to be away for an entire workweek. I plan on doing it up big this summer because I feel like my mind's going to explode.

Umm, I just forgot what I was going to say. I don't know why I'm commentating now.

Oh yeah! It's nearing time for the CF walk. I'm not quite ready to launch the fundraising campaign since my video is in its final stages. I'm hoping the video will be inspiring and that it will be best to really get my raise on when I have that as a visual aid. We'll see! I have a reaaaaaally good feeling about this year.

Time to go see what kinds of sinus medicine I have up in here. I pray that I'm done with sinus surgeries.

Kick it to the curb

So, Thursday was an eventful day; that Cortisone injection made it more painful than I imagined. I took some Aleve in the morning, hoping that the soreness would wear off as the day continued. However, I was horribly wrong. By 2:00 p.m. when the pain wasn't subsiding any, I decided to take half of a Vicodin. I'll tell you that definitely did a trick or two. I was at least able to relax a bit, so my shoulder stopped twitching and my neck loosened up a bit.

I met a friend at El Azteca before Thursday night's show. Dinner got started a little late considering the zebra running around on the Downtown Connector, which held up traffic quite a bit (it's no wonder Atlanta was just ranked third in the worst traffic among metro areas). Anyway, we had to move quickly, but we got in some good catching-up before we headed to the improv show. It was super-fun being spectators together, and the show was quite amusing!

I was relieved to work at home Friday so that I didn't have to sit up in a chair and/or walk around as much. Thankfully, I woke up Friday feeling remarkably less sore, but it was still nice to get to work from bed. I got a lot accomplished before I headed downtown to meet a friend at Willy's. We were both on the volunteer schedule, so we got to visit over dinner before we went to fulfill our duties. I was originally slated as the camera girl with her doing suggestions, but we flipped responsibilities since I knew my SC joint wasn't going to be happy about having to work the camera.

Today has been a really lazy day. I'm not sure if I'm just exhausted or if I'm still kind of fighting something, but I haven't felt up to much today. I slept in pretty late, which was nice since it's been a pretty jam-packed week. My mom ended up heading this way and we went to the Goodwill to do a little character-outfit shopping. I got a few good things to solidify some characters. Then we swung by El Toro (third Mexican reference in this post - I also forgot to say I had Willy's for lunch Thursday) and ate a late lunch.

This evening I haven't accomplished much. I dozed off for over an hour. I tried cleaning up a bit, too, but that didn't work out quite as planned. I got a bath, which was nice, but honestly I have no idea where the night has gone. All I know is that I'm feeling pretty drained.

Tomorrow I think some of the apprentice actors are meeting for lunch. Then, in the afternoon, a friend and I will be doing some filming for my CF video. I'm pretty excited to see the outcome of this; it's gonna be cooooool!

Way down yonder

Well, where to start... I got up at about 7:30 a.m. and stayed up for a little while writing. Then, I took a nap from 8:10 to 8:50 a.m. I'm truly not sure how I can take a nap before 9:00 a.m., but I did. I went walking at the Chattahoochee with my roommate and some friends. It was pretty nice outside and we walked for almost an hour and a half. It wasn't vigorous, so I plan on really pushing myself tomorrow.

When I got home, I showered and ate a snack. Then I watched Georgia Tech destroy Duke in football, so that was good. Georgia Tech officially clinched their division, so that's good news to a typically disappointed fan. I took a nap (again!) during halftime, and then got up to get ready for my MASSAGE.

Let me tell you...the massage was fun. In retrospect, I kind of wish I told the lady to focus a bit more on my back because that's where I hold the most stress. It was kind of creepy being in the massage place. It felt surreal in a very strange way... I couldn't see outside to civilization and nobody was really speaking. I just kind of felt like I had been abducted. Calming music was playing and it was so dark; it just felt like I was in a strange dream.

I spent most of the time during the massage thinking about how much I wouldn't want to be a massage therapist. I just can't imagine wanting to touch people like that. I mean, I bet she was relieved when my little harmless self came in, but imagine the types of people she might see in a given day. I was surprised at how comfortable I felt and could definitely get used to that. "Get a massage" was on the bucket list I created in May, so I officially get to mark something off!

After the massage, I went to For Eyes to look at spectacles. I'm nearly positive I successfully chose the craziest pair of glasses they had. The color of the glasses is called "prism" and is a mixture of orange, blue and purple. They are pretty awesome! When I first went to For Eyes in March of 2008, a worker invited me to her 21st birthday party. She was there, so it was fun to reminisce and get an honest opinion on the glasses I was considering!

You think my day ends there? NOPE. My sister came to get me and we went to Marshalls and the mall. I found some comfortable khaki pants at the mall, so I'm really excited about that. I can almost never find things that fit me and, of course after spending most of last Saturday looking for pants, I accidentally stumbled upon them today. On the way home from the mall, we got some queso to-go from El Toro. That's called addiction.

Now I'm getting ready to go to bed. We watched a few episodes of The Office and I'm watching the end of the Auburn vs. UGA football game. It's tied at the moment, but anything could happen. It's been a long but productive day.

Stop the clock

The last few days are such a blur to me.

Sunday was a pretty lazy and relaxing day, but I can't say the same for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

Monday I struggled through the day for some reason, feeling an overall exhaustion. I went straight from work to my final improv practice, which was fun. We did a faux show to prepare for last night's performance. There was not a single thing I did in the faux show that I did in the real show last night, but hey. You live and you learn! I guess I was just getting those out of my system.

Tuesday was just a loooooooong day. I got up and went to work like usual, and had to be at the theatre at 6:00 p.m. When I got to the theatre, we went through the line-up. That's when I found out that I'd be in two games I'd never played before and in two singing games. Surprisingly, I was too tired to realize what was happening to want to gouge my eyeballs out. In fact, I was somewhat anxiously excited to see what would happen. I thought the show went pretty well. I keep having flashbacks to random things I said or did and I'm afraid to watch the DVD next week. Oh well! It was a lot of fun and feels so much more natural than it did 7 months ago.

Today I finally feel the worst I have in several weeks. I know I haven't felt up-to-par in a few weeks, but today I can officially say I feel a little lousy. I am coughing, my throat is starting to hurt, etc. Then again, that seems to be the norm these days; a lot of people seem to be a little ill. Speaking of sick, I think I am getting the H1N1 vaccine tomorrow. I am in the high-risk group and can get it for free at work. I'm a little skeptical for no good reason, so we'll see what I decide.

I came home from work and napped for almost 5 hours. Now I'm getting ready to go back to sleep. Tomorrow I am giving a speech at a CF Foundation event. I haven't made an outline yet, but an outline seems trivial after I had to rap in front of an audience last night. An outline seems like a good project for...tomorrow.

Time to go back to bed. Like a log.

Laaaaaaaaazy day

Today has been an incredibly lazy day for me. I felt like I was starting to get sick last week and my sinuses were killing me yesterday. I got some "Severe Sinus Pain" type medicine and it has made me feel a lot better. Anyway, I am sharing all of this info to say that I napped for almost five hours today. I didn't even know that was feasible, really, but apparently it is. I think it's indicative of the fact that I've been fighting something....and simply feeling exhausted.

The doctor went well on Friday, so that's good. I didn't have to wait an hour like usual; this time it was only about 30 minutes. I had a good report and got in and out of there in record time, so I'm happy about that.

Yesterday I went to Kennesaw Mountain for the first time in my life. It's kind of surprising that I've lived in this area almost all of my life and haven't yet ventured to Kennesaw Mountain. Then again, I guess it's not exactly a hotspot. Anyway, I didn't go up the mountain very far - just went on some trails. It was nice and the weather was nice, too. It felt good to get out and do a little something because it just hasn't fit into my schedule lately. My roommate and I are going to the gym as soon as she gets home.

Tomorrow is my second-to-last day of my improv class. The end is going to be bittersweet. I have really enjoyed it, but it will also be nice to come home after work on a Monday for the first time in six months. It will be a little sad, too.

I am watching the Twins vs. Yankees right now. My Cardinals (ha!) got swept and my Angels (ha!) swept the Red Sox. Looks like I'm rooting for the Angels, although I am also willing to root for the Rockies. Decisions, decisions.

I hope I can sleep tonight after sleeping the day away.

I <3 the WEEKENDS!

Well, it's Friday. I have had an incredibly productive day....not. I went to sleep last night at around 11:00 p.m. and didn't get out of bed until 10:30 a.m. I'm proud of myself. I used to be envious of people that could sleep so late, but it looks like I've become one of them. I don't know that I could do it regularly, but I can at least do it when I'm so sleep-deprived that I'm slurring my speech and getting dizzy.

I headed to Smoothie King late morning and got a smoothie because it seemed like the appopriate thing to do. Then, I stopped into Marshalls to see if they had anything to complete my golfer outfit for tomorrow's bachelorette party. Well, the Marshalls gods took care of me today. I walked over to the little girls' section thinking there might be something ugly and golferesque and BOY, was I right. I got these hideous yellow Ralph Lauren shorts that have pleats on the front. To seal the deal, there is a navy and white belt attached to them and it has a polo horse on it. I was truly embarassed to buy them, but I know I'll get a hole-in-one with these. HAHAHAHA!

I haven't done much of anything else all day. I did go to the pool for a while, then came home and took a two-hour nap (pathetic). I am about to go out to dinner and gorge myself shortly. I am totally looking forward to that. Perhaps I will wear the new brown dress I got at Marshalls today. I never pay full price there.

This weekend ought to be ridonkulous.