Another year!

Happy not-birthday to me! Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a simple yet wonderful day. I took the day off of work, which has become a tradition of mine. I got up relatively early so that the day would feel as long as humanly possible. I fixed breakfast, drank coffee and caught up on some pointless TV shows.

I met a friend (KZ-turned-KB) for lunch. We had Mexican, of course, which was delightful. After lunch, I went for a birthday run outside.

RA left work early so that we could go get massages. It was honestly one of the best massages I’ve ever had. (I feel like I say that every time.) The massage therapist asked when I last had a massage, and I told him it was about a month ago. He responded, “Wow, you must be under a lot of stress.” Ahem. We then hurried to freshen up before dinner.

For dinner, we went to an amazing restaurant called TOP FLR. I had never heard of it, but I have been spreading the word ever since. It was absolutely amazing! A cheese tray was involved, which is the way to my heart. I also had some of the best macaroni and cheese ever created. Oh man! I am salivating just thinking about it again.

 

After dinner, we headed to Marlee’s Coffee. Every other Friday, there is one of those BYOB painting things, which I had always wanted to do. It was so much fun! We had a bit of a competition going on with our paintings. I’ll let you judge for yourself, but please make sure to look closely at the leaves. (Disregard the “Terri” painted on the left one. That was a pseudonym.)

I also set a fundraising goal for my birthday, and my team blew it out of the water. Drew’s Crew is amazing!

Thank you to everyone who made my day special!

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.

Pain now...beer later.

I just got home from watching my brother-in-law, sister and sister's friend run in the Atlanta marathon. What a morning for it! It's the coldest morning we've had all year, I think, and it's starting to get a little wet from Hurricane Sandy. Brr! Several of us were there holding signs, and it was fun to cheer for the runners. We definitely amused ourselves!

The Falcons play the Eagles today in Philadelphia. The Falcons are actually the underdogs, but I have a good feeling about it. I think it has already started raining in Philadelphia from the storm, so it might get pretty messy today. I wore my Falcons hoodie to the marathon and waved a Falcons flag, so that's got to bring the team some good luck. Goooo Falcons! The Eagles are 13-0 coming off of bye weeks under this coach, but every streak must come to an end.

One of my best childhood friends (KZ) got married two weekends ago, and it was a blast. The wedding was in Rome, which is quite a beautiful little town. It was so low-key and full of awesome attendees. The ceremony went off without a hitch. I was responsible for carrying the groom's ring, which was somewhat nerveracking, but I made it to the vows without losing it! I only have one more wedding to attend this year, and it's my cousin's (EJ) next weekend. Until next spring...

My doctor's appointment went okay the other week. I ended up getting put on oral antibiotics, and I go back in about two weeks. I'm not surprised it wasn't my best, but I thought it would have gone slightly better than it did. You win some; you lose some!

Yesterday, when getting dog food at PetSmart, I saw a little jester collar and hat on sale for $1.97. Of course I had to get it for Noodle, and I had her wear it for much of the day yesterday. I think the collar might be the key to the Falcons' victory today. I like the sound of the little jingle bells on it. Aww!

Well, I hope the Falcons make me proud today. Rise up!

So this is where the title goes, huh?

This is my first time using Blogger since some apparent updates were made. Hopefully I won't get agitated.

So, I've done my infamous wait-forever-between-posts trick, which is getting pretty old. (Blogger just made me agitated.) Every time I write, I make the resolution to write more frequently, yet I still seem to fall into my old ways. Maybe it's a sign of aging. What? Did someone mention aging? That's funny because my birthday starts in 21 minutes. I'm sure I've probably said t(Blogger just made me more agitated.)his before, but I am not a birthday person. I don't run from birthdays or anything, but I sure don't expect much on my birthday. I take birthdays with a grain of salt (or multiple grains of salt on the rim of a margarita!), and I am fine if it's like any other day. I prefer that my birthday be as non-stressful as possible, but that's pretty much the only requirement. (It's really unfortunate when Blogger auto-saves and loses everything I type in that 3-second window. For someone who types a billion words per minute, that's a lot of text.)

What all has happened since April 8, you ask? I'll give the rundown of the things I can recall at this moment. The weekend before last was my sister's bachelorette party. A group of us went up to a house in Dahlonega and went to the wineries. It was a lot of fun! We reminisced about Free Willy, played Cranium, ate queso, etc. I seriously had a blast! I cannot believe that Claire gets married in just over two weeks. Insanity! Speaking of looking good in my bridesmaid dress...

I went running on Sunday and took a tumble down an asphalt hill. That was pretty unfortunate, especially for my left leg and hand. Thankfully I'm still all in one piece, but my leg is pretty skinned up, and my palm is to' up from the flo' up. I've been healing quite nicely! After having an approximately 15-year streak of not skinning any elbows or knees, my success has come to a[n asp]halt. A big thank you goes out to the cars that slowed down -- I'm not sure if they were being helpful or laughing too hard to drive.

My birthday now starts in four minutes. (I know you're probably thinking I don't type a billion words per minute, but Blogger has been acting out this entire time.) I feel like I should post this now.

I will say more very soon. I mean that. SENDING LOVE!

LKAJSLKDFJALKEJA!

It's Saturday morning!

Well, this week had a heavy water-on-the-floor focus. The workers came and picked up all of the dehumidifying equipment on Tuesday. Then, by the end of the day on Tuesday, I noticed water was back. Hoping it was simply residual, I tried to give it until Wednesday morning to panic. The water remained pretty steady on Wednesday and into Thursday, so I was convinced that there was something new happening. I realize it sounds like I was taking my sweet time, but I kept unsuccessfully trying to get in touch with my claim representative.

It turns out that my neighbor's water heater started leaking. Yes, for real. The worker who came back on Thursday said, and I quote, "I've never seen anything like this before." When my neighbor got home from work, she and I looked around her place to confirm, and there was a continuous stream of water coming from her heater. She had it replaced yesterday and GUESS WHAT! THE WATER HAS STOPPED! Knock on wood (which is easy considering it's exposed all over my place!).

Given all of the shenanigans and the fact that I was stressed out, I made exercising a big priority over the past week. I ran three miles every day and, MAN, I feel good. It's hilarious that I hadn't exercised consistently in a while and then I went and ran 20+ miles. I'm actually going to exercise after I finish this blog.

One of my best friends (AM) moved to Atlanta yesterday. I have to say that it's all kind of surreal to me because I haven't seen her yet, but I will today. Ahhh! We have been reunited!

Man, I want some cheddar cheese.

I feel like I have more to say, but it's tough when I wait so stinkin' long between blogs lately. The festival shows on Sunday were a lot of fun despite the 95-degree weather. It was easier than last time because the tent was smaller and wasn't positioned next to anything too loud. LOVED IT!

Well, I better channel this hyperactivity into my workout.

HAPPY JUNE!

That's heavy

Today I had one of those moments when I looked at the calendar and wondered where the last several months have gone. Although this year has had its share of inconveniences, there's a lot that makes me happy, too.

I really want to rant about the things that are stressing me out, but instead I'll list some things that made me smile today:
-Drew's Crew is going to hit the $30K fundraising mark by Saturday's event, and I'm absolutely amazed. I'm less than $500 shy of my personal goal, so if you'd like to contribute, click here.
-I ate Willy's today and they fixed my order without me uttering a word.
-I ran 3+ miles today, and it was a breeze.
-Hines Ward is still on Dancing with the Stars.
-The Braves came from behind to win in extra innings thanks to two home runs by Brian McCann.

It's probably best that I go to sleep. Sleep well, world!

What I need to doooo....

Hi! I'm doing my vest!

Well, this week has been great so far! On Monday I ran 3+ miles without ever even stepping foot on the rails of the treadmill. Monday evening I met a complete stranger (MJ) who just moved to Atlanta, and that was a lot of fun.

Then, yesterday evening I met MV for coffee at Starbucks. Before we met, I spent probably an hour typing things from handwritten notebooks, so that made me feel pretty accomplished. After we met, I saw The Social Network with ES. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. I never even started to doze off, which is a gigantic accomplishment for a movie-watching failure like myself.

I'm headed to a doctor's appointment this afternoon. It's for a new study I started when I was in the hospital. Yeah, you'd think I'd be on a study hiatus given my recent experience, but oh well. I can't imagine getting hurt by drinking protein... Knock on wood!

My book is coming along! I am really excited to work on it this afternoon. :-)

I am grateful for good people, cheese, and headache medicine.

Dinosaurs are my favorite

I have no idea why I am up late looking at dinosaurs online. I am thinking of purchasing a dinosaur t-shirt. Can you tell that maybe I've been removed from the real world for too long?

Well, I had a productive weekend! I ran four miles last night and four again tonight. I haven't done strenuous exercise in a while, so I am definitely feeling it. The fact that I don't believe in stretching also contributes to that, but I don't mind it; it's a constant reminder that I did something worthwhile. I might need to take tomorrow off of exercising if I'm walking like this...

Today my mom came out to see me and we ran some errands. I got a new pair of skinny jeans and some boots. We also got air in my tires and washed my car! Then we went to Starbucks and I got a vanilla latte. It felt like I hadn't been in forever!

Yesterday a longtime friend (SW) came to see me and we went out to lunch. We had such a great time catching up with each other and talking about all sorts of things. It's funny how I can still have so much in common with someone I met 15(ish) years ago. I loved our visit!

I guess I better try to make myself go to sleep.

I will guard and protect your heart

That title is from last night's episode of the Bachelorette. All of the girls (almost all!) at the beach house watched together last night while enjoying glasses of wine. We decided to use "rose," "weatherman," and "here for the right reason" as drinking keywords. It was a lot of fun. I think I need to apply to be on there. I would be so ruthless.

In breaking news, my roommate called last night to let me know that a large branch has fallen on my car. WOOOHOOO! She was unsure as to whether or not there was damage, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it now... kind of like the regrettable decision to book on Spirit.

The other night I played Apples to Apples for the first time. I always thought it sounded a little questionable, but it was so much fun! I can't explain it, but I promise that you'd have to be a real loser to not like it. Take that! I think we're going to play it tonight.

The weather in Florida is very, very hot. It's weird because the sunlight was so much more direct in the Dominican, but the breeze there was much stronger. I can hardly stand to be outside here. Plus, I'm not really in the mood to go in the water to get bitten by a shark. I'm not having the best luck lately. I did find my first shark's tooth yesterday, followed by five more.

My cousin Becca and I went for a run yesterday and it was 98 degrees outside. WOW! We ran about 1.5 miles because it was entirely too hot. I am glad to have gone out and gotten some exercise, though.

I wrote all of that early this morning and then got interrupted and didn't finish.

I had my first hint of good luck today! Some of the guys have been trying to catch fish, sharks, etc. I literally caught a fish in the ocean on my first cast. My total for the day was five fish. Everyone was pretty impressed and a little envious. My dad acted as my caddie. We might get up early and try to catch some sharks before sunrise. WATCH ME GO! All of my fish were pretty small (6-10 inches), but they were really cute. I am satisfied.

I guess we're about to start getting dinner in the works, so I'm outta here.

Roadblock

Yesterday was CRAZY!

My bathing suits shipped! I just went and tracked the package and it appears to be in the ATL. Guess who's getting her bathing suits on time! Awww, snap. Now let's just hope I got the right sizes.

I got up and worked for a while and then decided I wanted to go pick up something from Starbucks, so off I went. I quickly grabbed an Iced White Chocolate Mocha Latte (mwahahaha!), which kicked the day off right.

Then, for my lunch hour, I went to the fitness center where I witnessed a miracle. I'm being overdramatic, but I did run 3.36 miles without ever even slowing down. In fact, I increased the speed after two miles. Usually I end up standing on the side of the treadmill for a few seconds several times, or may even turn the pace a little slower for a bit. Yesterday, I was ON FIRE! I honestly couldn't believe how energetic and unfazed I was. There wasn't a single moment when I thought I needed to stop. In fact, I only stopped because I needed to get back home. Maybe Starbucks for breakfast helped...

The afternoon was consumed with work changes that are under way that I'm probably not allowed to mention. It's good, though.

At this point it was almost time for the Braves game debacle. Well, I had a drink or two before we hopped on MARTA to ride down to the game. It was raining when we got on MARTA, and my sister decided we should bring an umbrella. I'm very glad she did because I said I was willing to tough it out, but didn't realize it was going to be a monsoon. When we got down to the Five Points station to hop on the bus to the stadium, it was raining so unbelievably hard. Everyone was standing under the awning waiting for it to stop, but we made a run for it with the umbrella. It was a pretty bad call because we were sloshing water everywhere. Then, I proceeded to get on the bus and sit in a seat next to a leaking window, so I sat in water and it continued streaming in the window and getting on my pants. We moved across the aisle.

We got off the bus and hurried to a covered portion at one of the ticket gates. Our parents were in a parking lot tailgating (inside the truck) nearby. We were going to wait it out because we didn't think we should even try the long walk in the pouring, horizontal rain. Well, I asked the Atlanta Police Department officer if we could drink beers and he said no because we were in public. So we decided we were ready to venture to the truck. Our dad met us halfway, but it was a long journey. We got to the car and I ate a footlong (yes!) Publix sub. I also drank three Bud Light Limes. Finally, at about 8:45 p.m., it seemed to be clearing up so we headed to the stadium.

Thankfully our seats were in the club level and were covered. The game was a good one, and I improved my seasonal record to 3-0. It was 7-3 in the top of the 9th with one out when the bottom fell out of the sky. So, they called a rain delay at about 11:30 p.m. I wanted to stay and wait it out, but then they announced that the Friday night fireworks were canceled due to a noise ordinance (since it had gotten so late). With that information, I really didn't push back on my family because they were ready to go.

We took the long journey back on MARTA and got in the car a little after 12:30 a.m. Well, when we got to my sister's place, there were tons and tons of cop cars on the road. It appeared we had stumbled upon a roadblock. It was just past my sister's place and just before mine (we live less than .2 miles apart). They were letting cars through one at a time and talking to everyone, so needless to say, I did not feel prepared to drive. Instead, I fell asleep on my sister's couch. I woke up at about 1:30 a.m. and went outside to look. The roadblock was still in-process. So, I went back to sleep again and got up at 3:30 a.m., just in time to realize I'd missed my vanilla for the first time since the study began. Oops. Stupid cops. I finally headed the .2 mile home since the cops were done.

Is it just me or am I interacting with a lot of cops lately?

I'm getting ready to go down to the theatre for a lengthy shift on camera. Let's. Get. Energized!

Wow

Sooooooooooo, this is really random, but I literally happened upon a guy on Facebook that I met about 12 years ago - maybe even 13. It would be a little bit embarrassing if he were reading this, but I met him back in the late 90s (so weird to say) when I attended a CF camp in the Florida Keys. I haphazardly clicked on this CFer on Facebook and this other guy's name stuck out like a sore thumb. I met him the summer before seventh grade, and he was about 31 years old if I remember correctly. I just really idolized him because he would try to get us all to go running in the morning before breakfast. I wrote some letters to him after camp and have pictures of us on a snorkeling trip. Anyway, I remember searching for him on Facebook a long time ago because I've never forgotten meeting him, but I couldn't find him at the time. I hope he remembers me. CFers have this weird bond; it's kind of like that bond that twins have that can't be explained.

Well, last night didn't quite go according to plan. I'm not sure if I wrote this or simply thought it, but I had every intention of going to bed early last night since I was home early (before 10) and knew I had a long day ahead of me. For some reason, when I laid down for bed, I just wasn't tired at all. I was trying to think of every trick in the book for getting to bed, but nothing was making me tired. I truly can't remember the last time it took two hours to fall asleep after I laid down, but it was frustrating. I also woke throughout the night, and found myself really restless. It looks like that's the payback for staying up too late on the weekends.

I don't have a whole lot to say about today. There's work-related things that I could elaborate on, but that wouldn't be a ton of fun. I had some meetings and what not. The perk of the day was that I had some steak nachos at Willy's. Dang, I want some right now.

It's tough because I'm getting tired and don't want to miss this opportunity. After last night, I feel like I should start trying to sleep as early as possible. Wow, it's after midnight.

Well, today was an okay one. I didn't work out, but I did try on a bathing suit I received from an online purchase and it fit okay. I wonder what I'll think of it tomorrow. The bottom line is that tomorrow will involve an intense workout.

SMiLe!!!!!!!

Placebo effect in effect

Here I am... all vanilla'd up. So, I had my study appointment today. My arms decided not to give blood at the study appointment, which seems to be the norm nowadays. I drank water all morning to make sure I was hydrated and did the best I could, but my arms were not interested in cooperating. I ended up getting 8 sticks for not much blood. One of these attempted areas is gonna be a WHAMMY because I insisted on continuing to try. In the team's defense, I'm the persistent one who wants to keep fishing around until they get in the vein.

I learned today that I will actually never be told whether ot not I was on the real drug. Here are all of the reasons why I already think I'm on the real thing...

1) It tastes absolutely awful. If this really were just some kind of vanilla extract, I can't imagine it tasting this bad. It tastes so bad that it's GOT to be real!
2) Right after I took it I was feeling a little weird - just like a slight disorientation as though I had taken a chemical of some kind.
3) My throat has been hurting although I haven't been coughing... Just a few minutes ago I pulled up the list of side effects reported in the last stage of clinical trials and 'sore throat' was one of them. Please note that I was 100 percent unaware of this until moments ago, but my throat has been hurting for a few hours...

All of my reasons are kind of funny because they're so placebo-esque. I mean, I realize reason #2 is just me deciding like I 'feel' like I took something. I am just trying to use the power of my subconscious to make this drug for real! Another thing to note is that I also just started exercising hardcore.

So, with that in mind, I might start feeling better independent of the vanilla, but we'll see. I did end up getting up this morning and exercising. I was a hair away from skipping because I knew I hadn't gotten much sleep. However, I really didn't want to miss a day and knew that I wouldn't have the option later in the day, so I went for it. I ran 3 miles - almost 15 minutes of continuous jogging and about 15 minutes of sprints/short bursts. It sure wore me out!

YES! I might have just heard thunder...

Tonight's show was a lot of fun. The audience was a really good size for a Thursday night - the biggest I've seen in a little while. I played Emo Interview (changer), ABC Buzzer, Meet the Experts (Barbara Buchanan on "Going Green"), and Repeat Scene Direction (dumb blonde and stoner). I had a great time! I talked to some really nice folks after the show.

It's time to sleep!

Yawn

What a day! Well, today I got up and hit the fitness center before work. I surprisingly ran two miles without stopping, and then walked for a couple minutes before heading back home. I reset my alarm a few times, so I didn't have as much time to exercise as usual when I go before work. Oh well! It was better than nothing. I was really excited to run for 20 minutes without ever even stepping my feet on the side of the treadmill; I haven't done that in a bit!

I went to work and knocked out a TON of stuff all in a few hours of time. I was in the office from a little before 9 until a little before 1, then headed to my CF study appointment.

So, the appointment went really well. Well, it didn't, but it did. When I did my PFTs, they were surprisingly low - lower than my appointment last week, and about on-par with my first study appointment. The doctor basically told me there were two options... 1) try IV antibiotics and see what happens, or 2) have him declare me 'stable' so I would be eligible for the study. Since a drop of a few percentage points can be attributed to many things other than my true lung function, I went with the tell-me-I'm-stable route.

I then proceeded with my EKG, bloodwork, nasal PD (measuring electrical activity in your nasal cells - WILD!), sweat tests, etc. All in all, it took about five hours to complete all of the necessary testing. It looks like I'm good to get randomized as long as today's results come back looking good! It's funny because, after all of the things that could have kept me from being in the study, the biggest issue today was getting blood out of my arms. We moved from arm to arm with multiple people trying to get a good result. Finally we got a good vein and, of the nine tubes that needed to get filled, we got to the ninth one and my arm gave out. Someone else had to come save the day by poking and prodding around to get that final BIG tube filled. Thankfully I don't mind needles in the arms.

After all of that, I met a few theatre friends at El Azteca (Midtown area) before the improv show tonight. It was a showcase put on by the folks in the Improv Studies group, and I had a lot of fun. I probably stayed out later than I should have, as you can probably tell, so I'm about to hit the hay. I have a crew shift at the theatre tomorrow night, so it looks like it will be Saturday before I can relax.

Get outta my dreams

Well, good morning. Let us all give a moment of silence to the hour of sleep we lost last night. ARGH!

Mm, so I am writing because a particular dream has me feeling a little jarred this morning. You know when there are certain things in your waking life you really don't want to think about, and then they find a way of making you think about them anyway by subconsciously inserting themselves into your dreams? Yep, that's the story of my most recent dream.

This dream was honestly just weird. I basically dreamt that I got home and a lot of familiar people were in my house. I walked into the kitchen and the refrigerator was gone and there was some significant structural damage to the walls, but no parts of the fridge anywhere. I asked someone where the refrigerator went and the person explained to me that it exploded because of something involving pressure, jargon, blah blah blah. It was just odd because, even though the fridge had vanished into thin air, we were happy to see each other and it was kind of sweet for a short minute. The end.

Somehow in this same string of dreams, a colleague had been planning things on the wrong dates because she was looking at a calendar for 2011.

And, while I'm on the topic of dreams, let me mention the one from Thursday night, I believe. I had a dream that I traded my car in to get a beat up, old, red SUV, which would not have been a smart choice because I didn't get any money in return. Then, though, I was at my parents' house and noticed that someone had parked my car literally up against (side-by-side) another car, where there would probably be no way to move the car without damaging it much more. Somehow I go do something else and come back, find that the car is gone, and my mom tells me she's sorry, but the car was totaled and they did away with it. I was crying, talking about how I couldn't get anywhere, and my mom showed no remorse. I woke up as I was bawling, trying to figure out how I would get to work and improv without a car. Weird.

So, off of dreams and onto reality...

The Dark Cherry Mocha was a good choice. I won't act like it was the best thing I've ever had a taste of or anything, but it was good and fun. It was a nice change of pace with a fun kick to it. It must have helped me get through the night because I don't recall ever thinking about how tired I was.

I started losing my voice yesterday afternoon and, by nighttime, it was practically gone. I haven't spoken yet today to see if it's still messed up, but I just said 'hello' to myself and it's definitely not at its full potential. I also lost my voice on Wednesday, so I tried to look at my dorky pollen alerts to see if there was something in common that might have triggered it. Then I saw that I didn't get one on Wednesday because the pollen level wasn't high enough, so I got confused and gave up.

OH! Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time in a week after the allergy shenanigans. I ran two miles and then walked a third, which was pretty good. I didn't know how I'd handle it with the allergies, the antibiotic making me groggy, etc. But I trucked on through!

I better shut up and get dressed because I have a friend coming over at 12:30 p.m. Then, at 5:00 p.m. I am meeting another friend to discuss health history for a study she's doing. Here I come, Sunday!

I. Am. Robot.

Welcome to the busiest week I've had in forever.

Staying up late on Tuesday was a poor choice, but sometimes it's hard to get home from improv and feel tired. Needless to say, I've been super-exhausted for most of the week.

Wednesday was an okay day. I am finally in the midst of accepting that what used to be a 40-minute commute has turned into a 60-minute commute over the last two weeks. I can't even explain how frustrating that is because it's time that I didn't feel like I had to spare in the first place, but...oh well. Complaining about it isn't going to change the fact that Atlanta's traffic is ridiculous. It feels good to whine, though.

The highlight of my day Wednesday was that I went to Chick-fil-A before improv. I got an 8-pack of chicken nuggets and a chocolate milkshake. Guess what! They accidentally gave me 10 nuggets, one of which was gigantic, so I count it as 11. It's a little sad to say that this was the best thing that happened to me, but it's true. That milkshake was the bomb, too.

Improv was fun on Wednesday because, for the first time since I became apprentified, we got to practice on our own with only the other apprentices. It takes some of the pressure off and makes it a bit more 'free.' Anyway, we worked on some fun stuff, my favorite of which is Script in Hand. I can't wait to perform that game sometime. I thought it gave us a little bit of bonding time, too.

Thursday was no different from the other days this week...LONG! I got up and worked out for 32 minutes before work - a combination of running, Stairmastering, and sprinting. I stopped by Starbucks on my way to work because I felt like I deserved something to start off my day. I saw a sign for this dark cherry chocolate latte or something and decided I would try something new. However, when I tried to order it, they said it wouldn't be available until Tuesday, so it looks like I'll have to make another trip. I ended up with a vanilla latte, which was a nice perk to the last weekday in the office of the longest week known to man. That isn't very readable, but whatever.

Work was a blur, but we did go to lunch for a colleague's going-away. Today is her last day, but several of us are home on Fridays, so we planned it for yesterday. We went to a bakery in the Highlands and it was pretty good. I got a vanilla cheesecake lolli as an afternoon treat. I've got to admit...it wasn't all that great, but it was still worth having.

I ended up getting a ton done at work before I headed downtown to work my second of three volunteer shifts of the month. Woooooo! I was on camera/suggestions and was supposed to be training someone, but apparently he forgot to come, so that ended up being a blessing in disguise considering I was in no mood to speak to people. Anyway, I got kinda Monsterfied before the show and then tried to get suggestions from the cocktail party of accountants, which didn't fare too well. Then I worked the camera for the show. It was fun to be an audience member, even though I had limited responsibilities. I just can't imagine having performed after this week's craziness. Anyway, the show was a lot of fun and it was the first five-person cast I've seen since we've been apprentices, so that looked fun, but exhausting. Everyone was on stage the whole time, or so it seemed. I enjoyed watching!

Today I am home, which I've needed now more than ever. I don't know how I could have gone into work today. Everything just seems so exhausting, and the lack of sleep has got me feeling a little blah physically. I'm glad because I'm meeting my old boss for lunch today, and we haven't seen each other since right before the holidays. I always love catching up with him because he's so insightful.

Finally, one last thing for me to complain about - I was excited because, after having run myself into the ground all week, I was ready for a weekend of doing NOTHING. I decided to make one plan, which was to catch up with my neighborhood friend over dinner on Saturday. Then, though, I forgot I'd said I could do this theatre-related gig on Sunday. It hadn't been confirmed yet, but then we got an email telling us the specifics, so I was kind of disappointed. Then, I found out about a family get-together on Sunday afternoon and, as much as I don't mind going to those, my weekend sort of vanished in a matter of moments. I've still got tonight and most of tomorrow, but Sundays are always the most critical in getting off to a good start for the week. Ahh, what a whiner.

Oh, and I have confirmed the first portion of my research study pre-screen for Tuesday. Let my body go to science.

Hit me off

Man, tonight at improv I was reminded of the singing group New Edition and got excited. Perhaps that CD will have to journey with me in the car tomorrow...

Speaking of tomorrow: SHOWTIME! I am actually getting really excited for tomorrow's performance. My favorite thing about improv is that it is constantly challenging; there are always so many different areas in which I can improve. There really is no limit, which is pretty cool. It keeps it lively! I have a lot of awesome people coming to support me tomorrow, so I'm really pumped! I'm looking forward to an AWESOME show.

I got up this morning and went to the gym. Boy, I am quite the overachiever! I have exercised four consecutive days - I think it's been quite a while since I've done that. Don't stop counting now, though, because I'm going to make it five tomorrow morning. This morning I ran a mile, then did sprints for a mile, then hopped on the Stairmaster for a few minutes. I cut it a little shorter than usual since I was a little slow to get up. The best thing about exercising in the morning is that I already feel accomplished before the day has really begun...

I'm surprised at how exhausted I feel right now, but it's awesome. I know I'm going to be asleep within minutes of putting my head on the pillow. I love that feeling; tossing and turning is LAME!

Well, I better get on that before I have a second wind. I need to find some cohorts tomorrow morning to help me fulfill Operation: Nachostitious. Everyone knows I need Willy's steak nachos on show days.

Rain, rain, go away

As if the cold weather isn't enough to force me into hibernation mode, it is raining and gross outside. I'm pretty bummed because I planned to run outside today. Not only will that not happen, but I will also probably talk myself out of even walking over to the fitness center since the rain is gross. I know I am totally looking for excuses here, but nothing will bring me out of this house today. NOTHING!

I always become more of a homebody during the winter. I dislike cold weather with a passion. I'm one of those people who wants it to be summertime year-round. I would be happy if it was steadily 80 degrees. Seriously. I looked at the 10-day weather forecast and it's going to be pretty chilly in the coming days. BLAH. I wish I was at the beach!

I got my new glasses on Friday, and I must say I make them look pretty good. They are super-cute and I definitely feel like I can see better with these than with any of my other pairs. I don't notice that they are correcting my astigmatism, but I have noticed that my eyes have been watering a bit when I wear them, so my eyes are probably adjusting to the change.

Yesterday I watched a CF friend compete in an Irish dancing competition. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. It's always incredible to learn about something new and see that there is a whole different world out there to which you were unaware. I was oblivious to the Irish dancing 'circuit' until I met my friend. Then, last night, I was eating dinner at Outback and saw a girl who had clearly come from the competition because she was wearing a curly wig. Had I not been to the competition yesterday, I would have just thought the girl had a ton of hair and would have wondered how long it took her to get it that curly. Anyway, I had a good time and have deep respect for Irish dancers.

I'm super-excited to head home for the holidays. I am heading to my parents' house immediately after work on Tuesday and hanging out until the weekend. It will be nice to be at home, enjoying a break from it all. I also look forward to eating some PANCAKES. On Wednesday night, we are playing Bunco at Gran's house and we're celebrating Thanksgiving at Gran's on Thursday afternoon. I am beyond eager for this mini-vacation.

Well, perhaps I'll go start enjoying my lazy Sunday - The Falcons play at 1:00 p.m., so I'll probably watch the game and lay around like a worthless one. I bet it will be everything I dreamt it will be!

25 Hours

Well, we earned an extra hour today. It would be so awesome if there were 25 hours a day. I realize I'd probably still find a way to feel as though there isn't enough time to accomplish everything, but it is so nice to get that extra hour. Too bad it only happens once a year; it ought to happen every Sunday.

Halloween just blows my mind. It seriously does. Maybe it's that I'm not very celebratory regarding holidays in general, but I just don't understand Halloween. I guess it's a socially-acceptable way to act like a child and play dress-up, but it amazes me to see how much effort people exert. It's fun when you see a clever, creative costume, but that's rare these days. It's more like people come up with a generic costume and then find out how to convey the idea with as little clothing as possible. I'm pretty glad to have not gone to anything costume-related this Halloween.

My improv show is rescheduled for Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Woohooo! I'm really excited about it, although I had a dream that everything under the sun went wrong during the show. I was late and missed the first half, then was doing scenes with people from work, and it was just disastrous. Thank goodness it will be awesome in real life! I also had a dream the other night that everyone was telling me my eyes were green. Hmm...

I went running Friday and today, so that's an accomplishment for me. I like exercising and all, but just haven't made the time to do it lately. I did sprints on Friday and longer distance today. I guess I feel pretty successful! I remember when I used to work out 5-7 days a week. I enjoyed it, but it's nice not to feel so obligated anymore. It's good when it fits nicely into your schedule, but not so much when it adds unnecessary stress.

It's almost bedtime. I need to get a good night's sleep so I'll be fully energized for another FUN MONDAY!!!! Last week I did really well getting good sleep, so I'm hoping to continue my new found routine.

Party like it's 1989

Well, what a long weekend!

Friday night I worked at the Class of 1989 mixer at Atkins Park. It was a ton of fun! There were probably about 90 attendees, so it was a really good time. It's so funny to see these 44(ish) year olds talking about playing beer pong at their fraternity houses [not in college, but Thursday night with college students] and watching them take tequila shots. It was definitely one of the livelier crowds. In fact, when I saw most of them on Saturday, they did not look as though they were at full potential. I was surprised they remembered me.

So, after working from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., I was so excited to head home. Long story short, my roommate had my house key and was bringing it to me at Atkins Park. However, in all of the 1989 chaos, I forgot to ask her for it when she arrived. I got home just before midnight to remember that I didn't have a key to my house. My sister wasn't home with my spare, so I ended up hanging out at her house until I could finally get in my place at about 1:30 a.m. Longest. Day. Ever. It's so funny that this would happen on a day where alllllll I could think about was getting home and getting in bed.

On Saturday, it was looking pretty muggy outside, but we lucked out and really weren't experiencing any rain. We got all set up for the tailgate party and the homecoming parade was making its way around campus. At that time, it started to rain. Then the bottom fell out of the sky at almost the exact time our tailgate was scheduled to start. We ended up moving everything inside, but people still had a good time, I think.

Then, I worked at the Class of 1994 reunion on Saturday night. It was a smaller, more intimate group, but we had a good time working it. I ate entirely too much food, some of which was hilariously difficult to eat. I'm just thankful to have all of my teeth today. It was a loooong day. I was kind of energetic after the reunion because I'd had my game face on, so I ended up staying up until at least 3:00 a.m.

Needless to say, my sleeping patterns have been so dysfunctional this weekend. I napped for about three hours today, so I'm hoping I can fall asleep soon. It probably doesn't help that I just walked in from running 3.5 miles. Oh well, I'm exhausted.

Oh, and the Braves are out of control right now. They have won 14 of their last 16 games and are only 2.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race. I am hoping we can will the rest of our games and maybe Colorado will see some upsets. Gooooooooo Bravos!!!!!!!

Labor Eve Day

Well, tonight offically marks the end of my looooooong leave from work. It really went by pretty quickly, but I'm sure I will have forgotten it in no time by the time I get to work. I have already made a decision to get an iced vanilla latte on the way to work in the morning. I've also already taken an Ambien so I can hopefully sleep through the night. I clearly enjoy substances that regulate my energy levels.

I got up really early today and ran 5 miles. It was a successful run - I felt pretty good and nothing was hurting, which is very rare. Of course my first rib has been aching off and on all day and, ironically, it's the one opposite the one I displaced. Life has a funny way!

Then I prepared for what would end up being a somewhat mediocre pool day. I went to the store and got some snacks, cocktail materials, etc. and came home and got all coolered up. My friend got here a little after 1:00 p.m. and we headed to the pool. Within minutes, the mosquitoes started pool day infestation. We really tried to tough it out, but after ravaging the house, all I had for us was some Benedryl anti-itch gel (that we got to extinguish my sunscreen reaction at the beach). I mean, that helped stop the itching after the mosquitoes had already accomplished their missions. So, pool day didn't last all that long and was mainly spent being paranoid and swatting. Oh well!

The rest of the day was very anticlimactic. In fact, I did nothing except eat two turkey dogs and drink a little Gatorade. Now that's what I call sending the summer off with a bang!

Ooh, one other exciting thing was that I checked my mail today and the county criminal court was looking for another resident that lived here previously. There have been several tenants with records in this place, apparently. I get letters from law offices, letters from court, FedExed letters from CarMax asking for stolen cars back... Wooohooo! I feel like a rebel just living here!