Guess what I got for my birthday??

A rash. Yes, I got a rash for my birthday. I finally go see a dermatologist to try to get rid of the little red bumps on my forehead and instead of a clear face, I get a sensitivity reaction a week later (yesterday) that leaves my face red, blotchy and itchy/burny. Happy freakin birthday to me. :P

Oh well, it's getting better and now there is more proof (since no one seems to really believe me when I tell them) that I have sensitive skin. Maybe the docs will be more gentle next time.

Anyhoo, that's the only bad news for my birthday week and I plan for it to stay that way. I had a nice time in the mountains with friends on Saturday; had a few friends over for a "meeting" on Sunday night. I'm finally getting settled into my new home, well at least the main floor is liveable now and I still have a few more days of mellow activity levels to get more cleaning and unpacking done. I'm having a few girlfriends over for dinner and egg dying tomorrow night. And I figured out how to talk with my boyfriend, who is out of town with a bad cell signal.

Tuesday is a way better day than Monday was and Wednesday should be even better.

Here I come 32! Rash and all!

It's been a while...

It's been ages since I posted here and I was thinking it was time to do a little posting.

Now... what to say... hmmm...

Seriously, though, tons of stuff has happened since my last post and I'm not sure where to start. I met a boy. I joined his family for Christmas. I moved in with said boy. And during all that, I became a board member of my local chapter and state for the Jaycees. I became program manager for a really exciting program (OYawards!). Did I mention I moved?! I went cross-country skiing for the first time in years... and LOVED it! Unfortunately now I'm sick of winter and just want to hike. But you never know what the weekend will bring... Winter Park, here I come! :D

So yeah, the last 6 months have been pretty busy. But I've got to say, I'm happy. I'm finding my balance again and getting settled into a new home (did I mention it's a house! A real, full sized, house!). I'm working on figuring out commuting again. I'm working on figuring out how to see my girl friends and my boyfriend and still do all the things I've committed to doing. That is an intersting challenge. AND I have a workout buddy, at least for twice a week. With spring coming, I think I'll start having more workout time with the girls on the weekends. Hiking here I come!!

So to sum up, life is good. A tad bit in transition, with always more changes and aspirations of change on the horizon, but good, very good.

I'll attempt to write here more often in the future. But don't hate me if I don't succeed right away.

Until next time... adieu!

Friday night

Hi! I'm back! And I'm going to tell you about my friday night because it was... curious. So-

It's Friday night. I've had a early work day that ended up really long and really, really busy but I have fun plans for the evening. Some friends and I are planning to see one of my favorite local bands- The Hollyfelds. (I kind of have a little crush on one of the band members too, so I'm hoping to get to chat with him.) So I make it home from work in record time and take a LONG hot shower. It's still not too late so I do the works- makeup, straightened my hair, just get cuted-up for a night out. I then head over to Amy's and we walk up to Pasquini's, a fantastic sort of pizza place in town. We are just sitting down at our table when across the patio this couple stands up and the guy yells "Mary Ann and George!" (or some names like that). Next thing we know a group from a table all the way across the patio is up on their feet practically running to this couple. People are hugging and crying like they haven't seen each other in 30 years! And the whole restaurant is witnessing this. Amy looks at me and swears that we are on Candid Camera as she looks around the restaurant and shakes her head.

Just as the two groups are getting settled at one table, another table in the middle of the patio starts singing. Yes, I said singing. The guys at the table start singing a cappela like a barbershop quartet. Out of the blue! We look over at a table of girls next to us and the girls give us this baffled look. "We're starting to get scared. This is so strange!", they say. By this time I have decided to settle in and enjoy the show and I look around to see what's going to happen next. "Maybe the kids next to us will start a dance line?", I say to Amy. She shakes her head again and looks at the wine list.

We order and enjoy some fantastic pizza with only one more outburst from the singing table- at least two songs just before they left. Oddly they were just singing for themselves, entertaining the people at their table and themselves. They were actually quite good. It was rather lovely dinner music.

After dinner we walk back to Amy's to freshen up before the concert. Oh and on the way we got to be the idiots that ran across the street at the crosswalk because we were paying more attention to the crosswalk button than the fact that the white man was saying walk. Beautiful. I'm sure we just looked beautiful running across Colfax in our flipflops.

The walk over to Bender's Tavern was relatively uneventful- we did run across a woman having a conversation with herself while she crossed the street. Amy was walking in front of me at this point and she noticeable doubled her walking pace to avoid having to cross paths with this intriguing woman. I giggled a bit as I tried to keep up with her. Oh and just fyi for all my Denver readers, there is a Gelato shop on 13th near Pennsylvania. Looked good!

We walk into Bender's Tavern, buy our tickets for the show and the doorguy tells us it starts at 10pm. It is currently 8:45pm. Thank you to whoever does the emails for The Hollyfelds we were an hour+ early. But who should be walking by the front door as we walk in- the guy I "know" in the band! We say hello and he comments on the fact that it's warm and he shouldn't have worn a t-shirt. I glance at him oddly because he's wearing a fancy cowboy long sleeved shirt. Then I see the t-shirt peeking out below. "But there'll be less chafing, " he says. And I thought I was random.

He heads in check-in with the band and Amy and I have a seat. Nicole shows up shortly there after and we are sitting chatting when a young man walks up to our table. "Can I borrow this chair for a second?" he says. Nicole tells him sure and he sits down with us. Hmm. He then explains that he is new in town, doesn't really know anyone and is waiting for a friend. We, being the friendly people that we are, engage him in conversation. He's newly in town from "Greeley, Colorado" and is in a band, or has been for the last 3 weeks. He comments on how he's never lived in a mid-sized city like Denver before and all the things he's learning about city life. Oddly later in the conversation someone asks him where he lived before Greeley and he says Denver. Wait, what? Anyways, he was a nice kid and his band sounds interesting- blues style.

Then about three other friends show up and for a while we have a table of 8! All before the show even starts! Then three of them leave. The two band guys leave to go to a different show. Two more join us. And three more leave. By the time the show actually starts we are down to... did you do your math? Two, again. Some guy announces the show is about to start and the opener is... Limbs.

Limbs is a one man band. He plays the guitar, pounds on the drums with foot pedals, and hits the cymbals with the neck of the guitar while he sings. Well, sort of screams. And the room was mostly empty. The screaming is really loud! When he wasn't screaming his voice wasn't bad and the music wasn't bad but not what we are really there for or in the mood for. So after a few songs, I suggest to Amy that we head back to the bar area for a while. We stand up to leave and Mr Limbs yells out "Don't let those girls go! Stop them! There's a bar and restroom in here, you don't need to get anything. And I'd hate for you to miss something " he adds a little fake friendlier. So I head back to my seat, rather resignedly, while Amy goes to use the restroom he so kindly had referred to. The mistake we had made was that we were sitting dead center, so the guy was looking right at us when he looked into the "crowd". So we stayed, for his whole show, but I don't think we looked like we enjoyed it much. Oops.

The next up was the Hollyfelds and I think this was the first time I would see the beginning of one of their shows. We sat through the sound check and distinctly avoided eye contact with Limbs, who was selling his wares about 10 feet from us.

The Hollyfelds show was great! And pleasantly uneventful. After they finished we did a quick bathroom break in the functioning bathroom that smelled like a public swimming pool restroom. Then we debated. I was a little scared of what the final band would be like after the Limbs experience. And the crowd was getting a bit interesting. Turns out the band was more country than the Hollyfelds but by that time we were done with Bender's Tavern and we left part way into the first song.

We scooted out the front door and started our walk back to Amy's. And I prompty doubled over in laughter. We both giggled for over a block about the craziness that had been following us all night! So we decided to head over to the Irish Snug for a a little nightcap, our specialty drink together- a carbomb. On the walk over, who should we run into but Limbs' two groupies! We carefully avoided them, although they were so drunk I don't think they really knew anyone else in the world existed.

So the evening ended with a carbomb at the Snug. As the waiter brought the drinks to our table, he spilled a bit of the baileys shot which landed on my toes. He apologized and I joked that I had always wanted baileys on my toes. His reply, "it'll loosen them up." Par for the night. It was quiet at the Snug and a nice ending to a very curious evening.

The Hollyfelds website

January 2009

Well the year has had an interesting start, we could even say memorable...

On the 6th, I had surgery. My first real surgery, excluding my wisdom teeth removal. All went well. I handled the mild anesthetic very well (as far as I know!) and the recovery has been good so far. I seem to get more mobility out of my foot every day. It's still rather awkward walking and positively sucks to walk really far but I'm getting around.

And after a week, I went back to work... with a cold. Ugh. At this point the cold is more miserable to work with than the healing foot. I'm actually on my way to bed (you'll note it is just after 9pm here). Oh well, colds come and go and no matter what you or I think, they really do go away at some point. Right? LOL. Yuck. Anyhoo!

Other things... I just heard from my best college friend that she had a baby boy! A wee bit premature but he's a trooper, like his folks, and he should be headed home in the very near future. Must plan a trip to Tucson to meet the new Wallace!!

And my grandmother took a tumble one night recently and broke part of her pelvis. Uh oh. Actually considering how horrible that sounds, it could have been much worse. She broke a non-weight bearing portion so she is already up and around... well, they are able to keep her mobile not bed ridden constantly. Phew! She is where I got my clumsy streak. I love her to death but I think she probably has just as many bruises as I do and on the same regular basis. Eh, there are much worse things to inherit. I also got her pretty olivey skin tone. :D

The list could actually go on (with not so good stuff, unfortunately) but there are some good things... a friend vacationing in London, a friend who's looking at some new career opportunities (willingly), relationships blooming, and many reminders of how supportive my friends and family are.

Someone wrote on a bulletin board at work that 2009 will be the year of recovery. So far, its looking that way. I hope it continues productively so.

I raise my kleenex to a happy, healthy year of recovery for all!!

Oh! I won't post it right now but I do have a couple of pictures of my colorful foot after the removal of the bandage 3 days after surgery. If you wanna see them, just let me know. Morbid, huh? Hee hee.

Refreshed!

It is Sunday evening and I did in fact survive this odd week. It took some work though! My last blog gives the details of what made this week so odd/ unpleasant and now I will follow-up with the "refreshed" part. :D

Yesterday, I was just feeling off. Like my "energy" was out of wack. Mind and spirit not aligned. Something... just... uncomfortable in my world. I, of course, tried to analyze this to figure out what exactly was going on and I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of things that I need to figure out and many are a bit out of my control. Others I just can't seem to get myself to accomplish! My physical energy has been waxing and waning oddly due to the cold and my starting running. The cold and lung issues brought me down; the running I had just starting doing again gave me tons of energy. Unfortunately, the running energy is a bit hyper-like. Hard to explain, really. Anyways, all combined, I was really uncomfortable and really just wanted to run it off. But my lungs still weren't quite up to par so I "lifted" for about an hour. To clarify, when I say "lifted" that means hand weights, fit ball, floor exercises, etc. A start in the right direction, all from the comfort of my own home. ;)

That only calmed me a little so I decided to call my Dad for some financial advice. That talk did help (oops, haven't gotten to that project today!) but as I grocery shopped, I was still struggling with myself a bit. In the end, I stayed in for the night. When it was too late to start another project, I watched some Internet TV until I was tired. I crawled into bed and wrote in my journal. I finished that writing with peaceful, refreshing, new start words and feelings.

It worked. I woke up today and I feel drastically better. I've accomplished a lot, although there is always so much more to do. I went for a brisk walk in the drizzle early this evening and even managed to run for a few blocks without my lungs conking out on me. Yippee!!! Now I must eat and then get back to the projects. But I will do so with a smile on my face and a deep cleansing breath.

Yay for fresh starts!!!

My drama... ugh.

Today has not been my most favorite day, I have had many, many, many way better days. The reason today was not so fantastic, you ask; well, let's go back a few days.

I've had a bit of a cold over the past week. And actually I think I may have been fighting it for longer because I've had some sporadic fatigue the past few weekends. This Monday it finally hit me and I was wiped out. I stayed home and slept a large portion of the day on Tuesday and thought things were better by Wednesday. Before I forget, the odd part about this "cold" is that I barely had a runny nose or anything- there was a little sinus pressure and a scratchy throat but the allergy pill I take seemed to be controlling most of the symptoms. But apparently not all...

Yesterday at work, my chest started to feel tight. (uh oh.) I dictate at my job and was struggling to get all the words out in one breath like normal. I used my albuterol inhaler and by late afternoon was feeling better. But last night my cough (since Monday) and the (new) tightness were back. But I just chilled and did research for my Halloween costume and then tried to get a good night's sleep. This morning on my drive to work... used the inhaler again. (This is not good!) I started working on the morning placentas and stopped after only two to go sit at my desk to try and get some air in my lungs. (UGH!) While sitting there trying to breathe, after using the inhaler again, I decided research was in order and looked up early symptoms of an asthma attack. (Not looking good...) I attempted to go back to work and had a chat with a coworker with asthma about how she knows when to go see a doctor. I then decided that I should probably call the doctor before I passed out and while I could still drive myself across town.

Four hours, a nebulizer treatment, pulse-ox tests, and a trip to the pharmacy later, I finally made it back to work. And of course there was tons of work to do but my pathologist for the day rocked and helped me out with all of it. Needless to say, I'm completely exhausted. Struggling to breathe is equivalent to some really hard aerobic workout- it takes everything out of you. I'm still tired and I can actually breathe a mostly normal depth breath now.

Breathing, while essential to life, should not be taken for granted. Be glad for that deep breath of air. Enjoy it!

Oh and I must say thanks to my buddy Evan who talked to me on the phone while I drove to my doctor's office and successfully kept me nice and calm. Friends are almost as essential as breathing, I think.

A fun list

Interesting things that have happened to me over the past few weeks:

• Avenue Q- Sesame Street for adults, wow.


• Moving into smaller apartments


• Rode on the back of a scooter at 1:30am in a skirt- Brrr! but fun!


• Went to a concert of a band I had never heard- Steven Kellogg and the Sixers ROCK!


• Met a very grumpy ex-new yorker- :(


• Remet a very interesting actor- :)


• Started running again - :D


• Fall colors in the mountains - really lovely!


• Drove over Guanella Pass from I-70 to 285 - I wasn't sure it could be done and it was very pretty!


• Watched a friend lose her first loved one, very gracefully


• Was reminded of how clueless I am about dating, again


• Discovered that make-up really isn't necessary to my appearance


• Forgot my ex- wedding anniversary


• Discovered I'm totally sixteen again and completely boy crazy- :P


• Came to the conclusion that I really want my world to be in a fine fettle

I probably should get to work on that last one.

Welcome to Autumn and October!!

Oh yeah, I also went to a Rockies game!