Being Sick.

Yesterday was great.  Jeff and I went golfing with friends (I've never been) and food shopping for BBQ essentials before barbequing back at our house.  It was the relaxing Sunday that I needed before starting at a new job on Monday morning.  Technically, since I'm freelance, I'm always starting new jobs...but this one was different.  More advertise-y than television-y.  More scary. (Scarier?)

-Anyway-

Whilst sitting out on our deck, I basked in the sun and enjoyed our company before speaking these fated words:

"I never get sick."

It was true. I really don't ever get sick.  Even when I worked in an office everyday, I didn't catch the bugs floating around or even acquire the occasional runny nose.  It has probably been 4 years since the last time I was actually under the weather.  How lucky.

An hour after our friends left, Jeff started to complain that he felt too full.  We had eaten A LOT so this wasn't at all weird.  Then, around 10pm he called it a night.  We turned off Mad Men, peeled ourselves off the couch, and walked toward the kitchen to shut down shop.  Well, before I could even look behind me, Jeff veered off into the bathroom and started to vomit.  Loudly (Ew, boy vomit!).

He must've had too much of...something. Obviously.

Two hours after falling asleep, I was woken up with a pain in my stomach.  Then in my throat.  I was nauseous, my stomach felt full and acid-y, my body ached and I couldn't get to the bathroom quick enough to revisit our bbq extravaganza. I was sick...with a stomach bug.

This is the first time in my life that I've had to call out of a job BEFORE my first day.  Talk about a nightmare for someone with anxiety.  What if they think I'm faking it?!  Will I ever be okay again?  I kept having flashbacks to calling out of school "sick" and nobody believing me (because I was lying).  Guilt, anxiety and a stomach bug.  That's me. 

Being sick sucks.  But I think the real moral of the story is: never say never.

Damn.

On the plus side, this picture of Remy from last summer makes me happy.  So at least there's that.

Listening To...

Flo Rida and Sia - Wild Ones

The youtube video keeps making me watch a commercial beforehand, so I went to the official Flo Rida website.  I feel like such a groupie.

This song is perfect for my daily 3pm visit to comatose land.

Holiday Fun: Happy belated Earth Day!

Celebrate Earth day with a meatless Monday!

Here's a neat-o article highlighting some benefits to going meatless.  

http://foodbabe.com/2012/04/22/eating-less-meat-can-save-the-environment/

Obviously, I eat chicken (as seen from my salsa chicken recipe post), but I still love to be informed.  Here are some things that I read and loved (in a depressing-but-I'd-rather-know-than-not kinda way) finding out:

• Feed more people – We have one billion people on earth already that don’t have enough to eat and a projected 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years. The fact that you can feed 2000 people the same amount of grain it takes to feed only 100 cows should help people wake up, but it hasn’t.
• Reduce pollution dramatically - The meat and dairy industry contributes 18% more climate changing pollutants than all modes of transportation combined.
• Save water -  It takes 60 pounds of water to produce one pound potatoes, but it takes 9000 liters to produce one pound of beef. A vegan can keep their shower running all year long and still not surpass the amount of water a meat eater consumes.
• Improve your health – Over-consumption of meat has been proven to cause heart disease, cancer, and diabetes more than any other food we eat.  If you don’t believe me – read The China Study. Also, you can dramatically reduce your exposure to cancer causing dioxins which are found in chemical pesticides that are used to grow animal feed.

Check out her blog to learn more!  Happy Belated Earth Day! 

xoxo

L

Home Grown - Dining Room Hutch Makeover

HOLY SMOKES! I officially know I'm an adult now because of how flipping proud I am of this project.  I love it. LOVE it. I may marry it.

So, we decided to paint ourselves a hutch.  A dining room hutch.  We have no experience with such things, but we also have no experience in restraint, so we went for it.

It was an old handmade piece that a friend of my Mom's gave to her years ago.  My Mom kept it in her basement, in pieces, so we decided to put it to use.  Also, there is a gaping hole/empty wall in our dining room that needs some covering.

Diving right in, we grabbed our little sanders and began to sand.  Every side, every shelf, every door, every...thing.

Then, we got to painting.  Martha Stewart Heavy Goose.  We had no clue where to start, so we just started everything. At once. 

Hardware - For this, I went to the seemingly massive spray paint selection at Home Depot.  They have about a million colors to choose from and they're all unbelievably boring aside from about 5 vibrant/cool ones.  I went with "Candy Apple"...which incidentally was a green, even though candy apple's are red.

After 2 coats of white on everything and newly greened hardware, we left the hutch to the garage and forgot about her for the past week.  Finally, it was Friday again and time to bring 'er in.  We thought working on touch ups from inside should be fine and not too hazardous.  We were sorta right.

One more coat of touch ups...

Then, it was time for...(wait for it)...ASSEMBLY!!!  Wooooooo!

Dog sitting and hutch assembling go very well together.

My stick-arms got a pretty good workout.

Of course, there were still a few paint fixes to be had.

But once that was done, we were finally, almost at the finish line.  We let it dry before drilling in our new little wine rack things from Bed Bath and Beyond ($9.99).

And then what do you know, VOILA...

We were done! Our dining room is complete!

Since the hutch was free, this whole project cost under a hundred bucks.  It was kind of a pain, especially since the doors didn't line up perfectly (please ignore the hair tie holding them shut for now) but it was completely worth it.  Our dining room feels so different/cozy/us/amazing.

Things that Make Me Laugh...

In lieu of a flashback today, I'm posting this: Pictures you need to see before you die.

Yay!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/pictures-you-need-to-see-before-the-world-ends

Please note:

#2 Are you kidding me?

#6 Reminds me of Remy.  The resemblance is totally there.

#16 Are you kidding me?!?!??!?!

#23 I can't take this one.

#27 ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

#30 They must be kidding. Me.

Relax to Survive.

This morning, I boarded the train, took my seat by the window and pulled out my notebook, ready to get some script-writing done before work.  A man walked by me wearing a hilarious jean jacket circa 1984 that attracted my eyeballs.  I stared as he passed and saw that all down the backside of his jean dream was embroidery that read, "Relax to Survive."   I thought about it. 

It struck a chord.

Reason being: I have anxiety. I'm not someone who you would think has such a thing (because I'm pretty even-keeled and laid back most days), but I do.  It hit me like a brick to the face in 2005 as I walked down the grassy aisle of my college graduation field, changing me in an instant.  I was about to take my place among my fellow hungover about-to-be-graduates when I suddenly became dizzy.  Within minutes of finding my seat, the president of my college took to the podium and something inside me burst.  I had to get out of there.  So, I ran. Off the field, through the crowds, hyperventilating, searching high and low for a bathroom, and basically dying. Or so I thought.  

I used the bathroom, ran back out onto the field and sat. Things turned black.  I became dizzy again. Nauseous again.  Heart pounding again.  I was about to die again.  Once more, I ran off of the field like a mad-woman cloaked in a black cape to search for the bathroom again.  Afterwards, I ran to the ambulance that had been parked on the sidelines in case anybody happened to be dying. Like me.  The paramedics checked me out and told me that I had heat exhaustion.  I disagreed, telling them, "No, It's not the heat, it's everything. Everything is wrong."  


As my graduation continued without me, I remained on the sidelines, head between my knees, with someone else's grandmother applying a wet cloth to the back of my neck.  Then, my number was up. It was my turn to cross the stage into graduation land.  Other-persons-grandma told me that I didn't have to go, but I did.  Shaking like a leaf, I stood up, I crossed the stage, took my diploma and shook the president's hand.  Every step felt like an eternity and every thread of my being begged me to stop because I was obviously having a heart attack. 

My hand escaped the president's and as I turned to the graduation day photographer waiting for me, it was gone.  The shakes, the nausea, the heart pounding, the dizziness.  All of it was gone.  I was no longer dying. Just like that.

That was my first full blown panic attack even if I didn't know it at the time.  Since then, I've had some years where my anxiety acted as a hidden ninja, pouncing only every so often...and other years were plagued with constant anxiety mind games brought on by myself.  Nowadays, it's mostly gone.  I have ways of dealing and overcoming, but that doesn't mean I don't think about it. Often.

Which is why today, when I read that man's coat, I couldn't help but think how correct the words are.  We have to relax or we're not going to make it.  To survive...and really, really live, we need to relax.  A little more each day.

Thanks for the insight, jean jacket man.

xoxo

L

Things that make me laugh...

http://trextrying.tumblr.com/

I feel so bad for the poor T-Rex!!!

Go to the above blog if you need a good (work appropriate) laugh.  These illustrations are awesomely creative and funny, funny, funny.