Blood work, dog chases and more than just a little sad..

I'll start with blood work. Mine came back from the lab today. I have good news and bad news, so let's go with the good first.

My cholesterol is perfect and I don't have Diabetes (yet, at least). My thyroid, both kidneys and liver are normal. Yay for good news.

Now for the bad - I have mono, strep and a UTI. All at the same time. The mono actually tested positive for a past outbreak and it's not active, which likely means I'm recovering from having had mono at some point in the past couple of months. The strain of strep I (still) have is not either of the the most common two types, but they think the antibiotic I'm on not should help with it regardless. And where the UTI came from I have no idea, as I have experienced none of those symptoms. Apparently the antibiotic is amazing because it should help with that, too.

I'm quite honestly glad to know I wasn't going crazy thinking something might be up. I couldn't figure out - for the life of me - why I just couldn't get better. This makes me wonder if I've actually had mono a handful of times over the past couple of years, as this isn't the first time I've had a hard time feeling healthy.


Aside from that, the weather has been amazing and Mike spent his afternoon off doing some yard work. We have sago palms for sale (they sprout new ones all on their own!) if anyone has an interest in adding one to their landscaping ;) At some point in the course of the evening, Fozzie and Kirby both got out of the backyard. We have absolutely no idea how or when, but Mike found Kirby playing in the neighbor's front yard and took off on a goose chase to find Fozzie -- by listening to other dogs barking in the neighborhood. This is our second opportunity to chase Fozzie around the neighborhood in the past month or so -- needless to say we'd rather get our exercise another way. I keep asking Mike why he wants to leave us, and Mike thinks he's just looking for adventure. In any case, we need to stop doing whatever we're doing that lets him get out. I think it has something to do with the garage doors and house door opening at the same time, because the backyard fence is secure all around. Hopefully we'll figure it out before he escapes and doesn't come back.

My other sad story for the day is more about perception. Today I was sitting at the intersection of one of the city's busier streets and a major highway feeder road, windows down and music playing (loudly I'm sure). I saw in my side view mirror that there was a person walking along the side of the road asking people for money, so instinctively -- being a girl, alone with a purse on the seat next to her -- I reached for the button to roll up my window. My hope was that it would be up before the man reached my car, but that was not the case and the man looked in at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen as it rolled up to the rubber seal. It really wasn't that I didn't want to help him, but my first thought was for my own security. I don't know if I'm that cynical, if it's Mike rubbing off on me (he's always on me for being aware and alert and protecting myself), or my paranoia with the fact that there have been an unusually high number of kidnappings and murders of women in the area, mostly from parking lots and cars. None of this really went through my head at the time, I just - for better or worse - thought the best action was to roll up the windows. And now I can't get those sad eyes out of my head. Maybe it bothers me so badly because I know if he was eating at a soup kitchen, I'd have never thought twice about myself over him. I'm naturally a giving person and having done something to make someone think I don't care about their situation or that I'm just your typical 20-something rocking out to Lady GaGa with designer sunglasses and a cell phone (yes, I do do and have these things, but I promise you - I'm really not very typical) makes me more than just a little sad.

Today seems to be just another lesson in life -- you have those good days full of reasons to smile and you have those days you're really just glad to see come to an end.

Reasons to Smile

While the beginning of this week started out on a pretty poor note, it ended better than I could have ever expected. Minus the weather ... and still being under the weather ... there are many reasons to smile today.

1. We found out about an amazing opportunity to install a solar array on our administrative building in Houston on Tuesday from a company that is owned by a board member of a foundation we submitted to in February. Long story short - we've sent about a dozen proposals for a reflective roof overlay since January (it would cost about as much to make hurricane repairs as it would to complete this project, and the overlay will save us quite a bit of overhead in coming years) and one of these proposals was to said foundation. Their decision on this project is pending and we'll hear back in May, but in the mean time their board member contacted us about this different opportunity that his company was doing in partnership with a Texas energy company. There were lots of phone calls, some e-mails, an application submitted, more phone calls and e-mails regarding an agreement ... and at end of day Friday, we learned that all had gone through. We will be installing a solar array at the office in June! :)

2. We also learned on Friday that full funding came through for our new riflery program at camp. I'm not sure how many of you know that I actually took a riflery class in college, but I loved it and am very excited about this. Securing the funding means we can set up the range, buy equipment and have girls learning gun safety and shooting positions during Resident Camp!

3. Although I've been sick, I was able to submit 8 proposals so far in March. While the economy may be bad and declinations likely, I really do enjoy increasing our odds and writing compelling proposals that really show why we're a good organization to support. The little things - as in each and every proposal/phone call/e-mail/lunch - really do matter, and celebrating these is more important than ever when the bottom line seems so far away.

4. Mike and I are taking a trip to Brenham in April to run the Blue Bell Fun Run -- in and over a bunch of hills covered in wildflowers! This is also the weekend of the Bluebonnet Festival. I'm excited to train, to travel and see a new part of Texas, to run the race, to see the flowers and to eat free Blue Bell at the finish line :) PS. No fundraising for this one, so don't worry - you won't receive any e-mails, phone calls or letters to donate! ;) Thanks again to all of you who DID support me in the Stride4Stroke, as it was my very first 5K and for a cause that will always be an important one to me.

5. My flight to Ohio leaves on Wednesday! I'm so excited to see family and friends. The 5 days are already jam packed with exciting things to do, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

6. Ash's wedding is in almost exactly one week! No one deserves this day more than she does, and I'm so happy I get to be a part of it. I can't wait to see her in her dress, the smile she'll have all day, to wear my own beautiful dress, to get our hair and makeup done together, to watch Shawn's face when she walks down the aisle, to watch their first dance and her father/daughter dance, to eat a great meal and fabulous cake, and to dance the night away with some great friends and adopted family. I can honestly say the only thing I'm not excited about is giving a toast --- I AM excited that I get to give one, just very nervous about actually doing it. I still hate public speaking ;)

7. Our taxes are filed. I'm a bit irritated by how much I owed to the Commonwealth of Virginia seemingly because I left mid-year, but overall we'll get a decent return and be able to pay down some debt. I won't complain.

8. I fell into bed last night around 9:30 with Kirby and Mo and didn't wake up again until 9:30 this morning. And all the dogs were cuddling with me. There is nothing better than a good night's rest and cuddly puppies. Especially when it's gray, rainy and cold outside.


What are your reasons to smile today?

As cliche as it may be -- I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!!

Let me start on a positive note. Today's typical 2-hour all staff meeting at the administrative offices was made a full-day all staff open space session at camp.

About 70 of us met to discuss "how we can better communicate with our membership" and it seems as though some good ideas have come about. I guess the real test is whether any of those ideas come to fruition, but the process, interacting with different staff and looking out over Galveston Bay for most of the day was great regardless.

There are definitely many more communication barriers than I could even begin to describe with such a diverse audience that includes girls ages 5-17 (we all know they definitely do not communicate the same way!), troop leaders, parents, juliettes, staff, volunteers, alumnae, donors, community partners, Board and Committee Members ... not to mention the ethnic diversity and need for translation. I think it's safe to say that you can't please everyone all the time, but hopefully we'll make some changes and make more people happy most of the time -- and maybe cut some costs at the same time. It'll be interesting to see where we go from here. And the real lesson I've taken away is ... never keep doing something simply because "it's always been done that way."

Now the not so good news.

I was home from work AGAIN yesterday with a fever of 101 and what is the closest to a migraine I've had since 2007.

I went to the dermatologist on Friday and he prescribed Bactrim, which is the antibiotic I was taking for that toe injury back in February. I was on this medicine then when my 104 fever, chills and rash broke out and I ended up in the ER at 4 am on a Wednesday morning. But the doctor there diagnosed it as strep, gave me some shots and oral meds and sent me on my way. Sunday night I took my first dose of the new Bactrim prescription and woke up around 2am with a fever, chills and the horrible headache. No rash this time.

I called my family doctor because I was concerned about having two high fevers in just a month, explained the situation .. they looked through my files, realized they never received my strep culture results from the ER and asked me to call and have them faxed over. This took entirely longer than necessary due to the ER trying to fax to the phone number instead of the fax number .. but long story short, the strep culture came back negative. Which isn't exactly what I was hoping to hear.

This means the high high fever and rash was caused by something else, and I'd like to know what. It means I may or may not have an allergy to Bactrim, although fevers aren't typically a sign according to my nurse. Or it means there's something else going on that we haven't discovered. My co-workers have suggested mono, which would explain the relapse after a weekend full of activity and my almost constant feeling of exhaustion. And walking pnemonia. I don't know much about that one, but it might explain the persistent cough?

I am going in tomorrow to talk with my family doctor in person, maybe to get some bloodwork done and to see where to go from here. All I know is that I'm ready to figure it out and feel normal for more than a week ... once and for all! I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!!


PS. I walked in a local 5K on Saturday, the Stride4Stroke, and finished in 45 minutes! It was a great day - beautiful weather, great cause, good exercise - and I'm more motivated than ever to train and run more events this spring, including one in Brenham on April 18. However, this requires all the sickness to go away. Keep your fingers crossed ... and if you know of any home remedies aside from zinc tablets, a multi-vitamin a day, drinking about 72 ounces of water a day, eating lots of fruits and veggies and multi-grains (all of which I already do), please send them my way. Oh, and I've been sleeping 8-12 hours a night ... and all day yesterday, so I suppose this is a home remedy already on the table as well...

Three Things

Now, here's what you're supposed to do...and please do not spoil the fun. Create a new note, copy and paste this message, delete my answers and type in your answers. Then tag a few good friends and family INCLUDING the person who tagged you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little unknown things about your friends and family. Have FUN

THREE NAMES I GO BY
The not-so-creative ones:
Jessica (not a fan really)
Jessie (select family and friends only)
Jes (what I prefer)

The creative ones (what happens when you have the most common name on the planet...)
Lefty (even though I am right handed)
Goose (not really sure how this started)
Bub (not sure about this one either)

THREE JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE
Development Manager (non-profit)
EMT-Basic
Newspaper Editor

THREE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
Columbus, Ohio
Chesapeake, Virginia
Webster, Texas

THREE TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH
LOST
Gossip Girl
Lipstick Jungle

THREE PLACES I HAVE BEEN
Coronado Island
Mackinac Island
Siesta Key .. you may notice that I like islands...)

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO
In the US:
Arches National Park
Adirondacks
New Mexico for the hot air balloon festival

In the world:
Ireland & Scotland
Eastern Europe (can't pick just one)
Greek islands

THREE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
The Willow
Asian (again, I can't pick just one .. but this does not include sushi)
Do-si-dos (it's cookie season after all!)

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
The next hug from Gramps
Ash's wedding
Seeing friends when I'm home for Ash's wedding

THREE PETS THAT YOU HAVE OWNED
long-hair blue dapple dachshund
long-hair black & tan dachshund
short hair chestnut dachshund

- and they live to be 16, so this will hopefully be the only pets i own for quite some time.

THREE FRIENDS WHO WILL REPLY
likely no one ... but .. maybe...
Tiff
Andrea
Jacqui

THREE FAVORITE BANDS
I have more than three, but here goes:
Goo Goo Dolls
Lifehouse
Counting Crows

THREE FAVORITE TEAMS TO WATCH
THE BUCKEYES
Indy
Whatever teams my cousins play for at the time

THREE FAVORITE DRINKS
Water
Bad Ass Coffee lattes
Bellinis

What kind of Girl Scout Cookie are you?

You Are Peanut Butter Sandwiches / Do-si-dos

You are easy going and naturally happy. You don't need a lot to make you smile. You genuinely care about people and are a great friend. You're always doing your best to make the world a better place. Even though there isn't an immature bone in your body, you still are like a big kid sometimes. Why make life complicated when the best parts are actually quite simple? You enjoy the small joys of life.

What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

This is the perfect result for me because it describes me almost perfectly AND it's my favorite Cookie :) By the way, it's totally a Do-si-do and I think "Peanut Butter Sandwich" is a far too uncreative name for something so delicious. Although my current Council partners with ABC Bakers and sells the Peanut Butter Sandwich, I will always be partial to Appleseed Ridge, Little Brownie Bakery and the Do-si-do :)

When it's all said and done, I really do love Girl Scouts :)

So what kind of Girl Scout Cookie are you? Click the link above, answer 5 short questions and share your results!

For the Love of Words

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read.
2) Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X+
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible - X (only not in entirety)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X (I thought he used numbers in the title?)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X+
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X+
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky X
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X+
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini *
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X++
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving X+
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X (in French, no less)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville X
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert X
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn X+
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X (also in French)

So I've read 25 of the 100 listed. And actually just bought The Kite Runner last weekend. However, I can't help but feel as though I need to read more. Or perhaps simply higher quality books as opposed to "Confessions of a Shopaholic" - which was hilarious, by the way. I'm never happy with fewer than 2 books on my nightstand, but apparently I'm not tooo too fond of the classics. Although there are several on here that I absolutely love (Little Women, The Da Vinci Code - I finished this in one day!, Gatsby, A Prayer for Owen Meany .. such good books). There are also a few I think should be added to this list, such as The Giver and The Wave. The Wave would be a particularly good read for many these days considering the current political situation in several countries.

Currently on my nightstand: The Kite Runner and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

To be added shortly: The Shack, Daughter of Fortune and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

I absolutely love books, and sincerely wish that it was possible to run on a treadmill and read at the same time. Or drive and read ... that might be even better! Anyone read really great books lately?!

In the hunt for a creative team name...

In a few weeks, I'm "running" my first 5k with a small group of ladies from work. Running is in quotes because I started training - yes, training, I'm not even close to being a runner, so a mere 3.1 miles requires some effort - at the end of January, disobeying doctors orders to not wear close-toed shoes while a toe injury healed. In my defense, I listened until it no longer hurt to wear tennis shoes. That meant flip flops to the office ... I was still taking the antibiotic for this toe injury when I broke out in a high fever and a weird rash and was told to do nothing but rest in bed for a week. Needless to say, I haven't exactly been training for this race.

However, I'm almost back to feeling 100% and am going to start going back to the gym on Thursday morning. When I stopped after my first week of training, I was able to do about 2.5 miles on the treadmill in about 35 minutes. I'm not aiming for a particular time in this 5k, but it would be nice to run most of it and finish under 40 minutes. That sounds so slow, but I figure it's a good start.

In order to register for the 5k, I need to come up with a creative team name for the 4 to 5 of us. Ultimately, I would like to use this team name for several 5ks down the road, so I'm not looking for anything race specific (in this case, stroke related). Here's what I've come up with so far:

Inspired Striders
Elite Feet
Sweet Soles (or sweaty soles, lol)
Non-profiteers
Curacers ("Cure" "Racers")
Fundracers (play on "fundraisers")
Fabulous Feat (play on the word feet)
Right, Left Repeat

Or any combination thereof. I also found a few websites full of fun ideas:

http://insertwittyteamnamehere.blogspot.com/2006/06/team-name-ideas.html

-- I'm particularly fond of "Agony of DaFeet" and love all of the midwestern slang. If I was in Ohio and had longer hair, I'd totally steal "Pig Tails and Corn Tassels" ... alas, I'm in Texas and have short hair. And I'd try for something related to cows or blue bonnets, but Houston is really just a bunch of cement. And oil tycoons. Hmmm...

And then there's this list of successful teams:
http://www.hoodtocoast.com/documents/07Results.pdf

But using one of these somewhat seems like cheating.

At any rate, here's the background: currently all ladies, willing to add men down the road; currently all working in non-profit development (including events management); most of us will not be running this one, but walking/jogging instead; we all obviously live in/around Houston. Do you have any suggestions for a creative team name?!

Really Sick ... and a little restless.

Two days ago, I started feeling pretty awful at work. Chills, then sweating, the chills, then sweating. And everything ached - my head, my legs, my back. It started around 3:00, bu I pushed through it thinking if I just focused on projects and kept drinking my water, it'd get better. Knowing this likely meant I was running a fever, I took my temperature as soon as I got home -- it was 103. Needless to say, pjs and an early night called my name.

Yesterday morning, the thermometer read 102 and the aches had gotten worse. I stayed home from work and slept nearly all day long. By the middle of the afternoon, my temp had dropped back down to 97 and I was starting to feel a little better. I did some work from home and cleaned up a few things around the house, but then the aching came back. And my temperature rose again to 100. Around 7:00 or so, I also noticed that I'd been itching a spot on my arm pretty regularly and that the itch was not going away. I looked down and saw it was covered in little white bumps. And in a matter of about an hour, the little white bumps went away and were replaced by this awful red splotchy rash that burned more than it itched. And it wasn't just on my arm, it covered my entire body.

Through the night, my temperature rose to 103 again, the aching continued to get worse, the rash was burning and I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. My plan was to call my doctor at 9 and try to get in for the first available appointment, but by about 5am I was so miserable and getting really lightheaded and dizzy even laying down that Mike decided to take me to the ER.

Where we spent four hours going through triage, seeing two nurses and finally a doctor (who was really great). I had been imaging all of these worst case scenarios, like toxic shock syndrome since I just had that toe injury or a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was taking to treat it. Turns out I have a really bad case of strep -- my throat doesn't really hurt at all, but it's strep bacteria that are causing the rash. So the nurse gave me two shots, one of which is suppose to be so painful she added a numbing agent. So far it's the other one that hurts. And unfortunately these are not the kind of shots you get in the arm ... so sitting down or laying on my back doesn't feel so great. I've also stopped taking the other antibiotic and am starting a new one. And I have to take heavy duty motrin for three days. Oh, and I'm not allowed to go back to work until Monday. I'm suppose to rest and stay in bed for at least three days. Which isn't the best news as I get restless very easily, already spent most of yesterday in bed, have lots of things to get started at work and my butt hurts from shots ;)

I think I might stop by Blockbuster and Barnes and Noble to find some entertainment to enjoy from bed. I have to go out and get my prescriptions filled, so I'm trying to defend these two added stops. Otherwise, maybe Mike will feel bored for me and at least go for me?

What a week. Is it Monday yet?!

i needed to update

So here is a fun survey for you all to read:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
I don't believe so -- but there certainly are enough people with my name in the world.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Just a little this afternoon -- Fozzie got loose and ran 6 blocks away. I chased him but he'd take off again as soon as I got close to him. Luckily, he heard another dog barking behind a fence and stopped to jump up and bark back. I'm still a bit upset about this. Mostly because he almost got hit twice and probably would have if the car didn't see me and slow down. :(

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
not usually .. but sometimes it's not so bad.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
peppercorn chicken or peppercorn turkey -- the chicken sounds right, but for some reason i think it's turkey..?

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
3 furry kids ... warming up little by little to the human kind.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
probably so ... loyal friends are always good to have.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
who, me? never... ;)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
yes ... and i've never really had a tonsil related illness. how amazing is that? knock on wood..

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
i like to say i would, but i've never gone out of my way to do it...

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
fruity pebbles and peanut butter crunch -- but i eat cranberry total for the vitamins...

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
you know.... i only wear two shoes that tie. and i'm going to say i usually untie them. probably not always though.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
blueberry cobbler from handels, buckeye blast from tofts (they put little buckeyes in it!) and world class chocolate from baskin robbins. i'm not a fan of marble slab or cold stone and absolutely cannot eat coffee ice cream anymore.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
usually eyes and smile ... and i can usually tell within a minute or two whether we will get along well or not. there are a few exceptions to this.

15. RED OR PINK?
pink .. unless it's combined with grey and it happens to be football season.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
my "lazy" days and how hard it is to get to the gym at 5am even though i actually really want to do it.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
a better question might be who DON'T i miss....

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
sure .. though Andrea already did on FB.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
red and grey plaid pj pants, no shoes.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
absolutely nothing ... which is definitely a rare thing.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
turquoise.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
cherry blossoms, freshly cleaned house, the air when it's about to rain, good things cooking in the oven or on the grill, mike after he showers and puts on cologne ;)

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
mike when fozzie was running away

25. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
it wasn't technically sent to me ... i kind of just took it off her facebook page... but i met her back when we lived in VA because i was friends with her sister Tiff. Then Tiff moved to Georgia, but we still hung out with Andrea and her hubby Brad. They did quite a bit of puppysitting for us, hosted game nights that were a blast and loved Hell's Kitchen (esp. the purgatory!). I miss her.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
football .. and the olympics. that's about it.

27. HAIR COLOR?
light brown or blonde, depending on the season and how i feel when i go to the salon.

28. EYE COLOR?
blue

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
yes .. and i actually need to place an order for some more.

30. FAVORITE FOODS?
ice cream, BLT and corn in the summertime, asian, mexican, italian....

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
i'm a secret lover of the "chic flick" ... but i also prefer comedies, dramas and mystery/investigative stuff. scary movies are not my thing. i once watched stigmata at 2am by myself and was tormented for a week when i tried to sleep. i don't think i've watched another scary movie since then.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
marley and me ... and i bawled. i'm telling you, if you love dogs -- DO NOT watch this movie.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
navy blue camisole, black and white sweatshirt thing

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
actually, i think i'm a fan of winter. winter down here is definitely mild and i really miss snow. i also love summer and spending days by the pool or at the beach. i'm a fan of real seasons i suppose.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
almost always hugs. you can share them with more people.

37. DESCRIBE YOUR PENCIL CUP.
i don't really have one -- though i think i am going to get one for the new office.

38. FAVORITE ARTIST(s)?
ansel adams and possibly a few other photographers. music wise? lifehouse. they're lyrics almost always hit home. also matchbox 20, goo goo dolls, blessid union of souls and oar.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
tortilla curtain and confessions of a shopaholic (my guilty pleasure is smut. it's brainless and sometimes i just need a night of that. unfortunatley, gossip girl is only one once a week)

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
not currently using one. though we do have a neat blue one for the desktop even though our mouse is laser and doesn't really need one.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
people playing wii :)

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S).
my grandpa's voice, a baby's laugh, good music, rain on the roof when i can sleep in and stay in my pjs all day ... pretty much anything but my alarm clock and dogs barking incessantly is good.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
either or

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
from ohio -- california. from texas -- probably canada. i really want to visit mexico and a few other countries sooner rather than later...

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
possibly a few. i am now amazingly good at weaving in and out of traffic to pass drivers going under or at the speed limit. i think they may be a bigger hazard on the road than some others going 90.

46 WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
coldwater, ohio

47. FAVORITE PIECE OF JEWELRY?
my grandma's sapphire ring -- it's the first thing my grandpa bought her.

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
well ... first i worked with his sister for a summer, and then i made a friend at college when i rather spontanously signed up to take "history of war"whose roommate and friends knew her brother ... and that's how it stayed for about a year. then i wrote a blog about having dinner with her and her parents and he was apparently bored enough one night to read my friend's blog, click on mine, read it and leave a comment saying "i think you might know my sister." we exchanged IM names, chatted online for a bit, started talking on the phone, talked for hours upon hours every night, and i met him when he came home to visit his family for two weeks that June. then i quit my summer job, went to virginia with him for six weeks .. and he proposed before i left to go back to school.... turns out a good handful of my college friends were his high school friends and we both spent an enormous amount of time at Cedar Point growing up (him more than me for sure)..... needless to say, i honestly never know where to start with this story when randomly asked by new people i meet. i usually say "through family and friends" because it's not a lie. just not the full story either.

Greg Laswell

I've been a bit introspective the past few weeks, which leads to personal posts as opposed to public ones... I guess at times I just need to think about what I'm doing and where I am .. and where I want to be. This generally leads to an internal struggle over whether to go back to school, and if so, what to study. And then there is the big question - when do we want to have kids. Ultimately because this affects what I can realistically hope to study and whether it is financially worth it at the end of the day. Ad they also say you should never pay more for an education than you anticipate to make in your first year of work post-graduation. If this is the case, I'm pretty sure forking over $36,000/year for an MBA isn't the smartest idea. Then again, I spent that on a year's worth of gen eds at Northern. I'm still astonished at what it can cost to take aerobics, pilates and a survey course ;)


These types of thoughts also generally lead me to great new music, and this time was no different. I discovered a neat indie-type artist who composes music with some really moving lyrics. My favorite so far is a song titled "I'd be lying."


Here are the lyrics:

won't you let me give you a hand

i have an extra I'm not using

won't you let me lighten your load

i mean after all your legs are shaking

and i can understand

all i need is your hand

oh won't you take the fall

it is me after all

won't you let me match your stride

i can slow down if you want to

we can handle it side by side

what do you say girl don't you want to

and i can understand

all i need is your hand

oh won't you take the fall

it is me after all

I'd be lying if i ran away

i'd be lying if i ran another way

and so I'll stay

but won't you let me be your man

I'm strong enough you know that i can

be the one to ease your mind (ease your mind)

and i can understand

all i need is your hand

oh won't you take the fall

it is is me after all

I'd be lying if i ran another way

I'd be lying if i ran another way

and so I'll stay

won't you let me give you a hand

i have an extra I'm not using

won't you let me lighten your load

i mean after all your legs are shaking

and i can understand

all i need is your hand

oh won't you take the fall

it is me after all

there's not much that you can do

to get me to run away from you

I'd be lying if i ran away

I'd be lying if i ran another away

And here's a sample of his work, which goes along well with my introspective mood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVs_IARPZ70

And his website:

http://www.myspace.com/greglaswell where you can listen to "I'd Be Lying" and a few others.

Tomorrow, I am flying to Ohio for a weekend full of family and good friends. I am so excited to see snow, to be wrapped in my grandpa's big bear hug, celebrate my best friends upcoming wedding at her bridal shower and enjoy a few relaxing evenings with a good book in front of the fireplace. I hope you all have a great MLK weekend!!