dear diary

Dear Diary, 

Life continues to move at a crazy fast pace. In the last few days I have registered for college classes (prerequisites for my masters degree), picked up 2.5 freelance part-time jobs, which includes promoting another movie (which is a ton of fun to do, and a ton of work), gone on real job interviews,  applied for more jobs, worked as an extra on 2 different projects (1 movie, 1 commercial), written (and got it published) a letter to the editor, prepared for the trip to Greece, and recorded my audition pieces for a choir. 

Oh the things I am capable of when not saddled with a 9-5 job. Speaking of jobs, as crazy as it sounds, if I can keep working as an extra 5 or so times a month, plus do these 2 freelance part-time jobs, and then also work a 10 hr/wk part-time job in social work, I may be able to actually support myself, and not get a "real" job. It's not as bad as it sounds. And it would give me a lot of flexibility as I start taking classes again. 

Who would have ever imagined I'd finally bite the bullet and go back for my masters at age 42? I won't finish until I'm 45, which seems absolutely crazy. But I'm glad I'm doing it. It's relieving and exciting to finally pursue a dream I've always had. I will no longer just be a volunteer doing humanitarian work. But I will be able to eventually do humanitarian work full-time for a cause I greatly care about (fighting sex trafficking). 

I think this year I will also break my personal record for number of countries visited and trips abroad. Technically a few years ago I went to Russia, Romania, Serbia, and Mexico all in a 1 yr period. That was my previous record to beat. If all goes according to plan, I will have visited England, Germany, Holland, Greece, and Canada within this year. (Still working out a possible layover where I might get to add a 6th country to that list.)

The world just keeps spinning faster and faster on me. I've never been more grateful for my diverse set of skills that allows me to do so many things. I just never would have guessed that I'd be drawing on my marketing, creative/music, and medical skills all at the same time. 

Be gentle with me, Universe. Sooner or later I'm going to spin off my axis. 

I'm no Runaway Bride

When I was in high school this popular "Mormonad" hung in my bedroom for years. It's probably the reason I love daisies far more than roses. I don't know that I really learned the lesson it was trying to teach until the past few years though.

I watched [most of] the movie "Runaway Bride" again today. (Netflix keeps me entertained while I attempt to work and write from home.) The underlying point of the movie is that the "bride" (played by Julia Roberts) doesn't know what it is she likes, and just goes along with her fiance's preferences. She supposedly doesn't know herself well enough to have strong preferences, all the way down to how she likes to eat eggs (she always takes it the same way her fiance does).

I didn't finish the movie. I never liked it much. There's something about it that just doesn't sit right with me. It doesn't take a psychotherapist to figure out why.

I once had a guy/relationship candidate/possible ex-boyfriend tell me that it bothered him how I "stalked" him by liking all the same things he liked. Apparently it never occurred to him that we really did just like a lot of the same things. (See, for me, that was the appeal of the possible relationship. We had a lot in common. For him it was creepy that we were so alike. Go figure.)

One of those things that we had in common was a love for all things superhero and sci-fi tv/movies. As I watched "Runaway Bride" today I also texted several girlfriends to see who might be game for going to the DC comic con with me - while I wore this shirt-

Which got me to thinking about my collection of superhero t-shirts (that I've had long before I ever met that guy)-

(I have about 10 more shirts I don't have pictures of myself in.)

But possibly the best proof ever that I loved the Justice League and all things sci-fi long before I loved men-

Yeah baby, that's the 4 year old me getting R2D2, and Spider-Woman Underoos for Christmas. 

And this dude has been hanging out on my desk for 8 years now.

So let it be known. I'm no "Runaway Bride." I know who I am. I know what I like. 

(And there's a long list of ex-boyfriends who wished I didn't like country music as much as I do as proof!)

I'll see y'all at Comic Con!

How Not to Do Christmas, Surgery, and Recovery. Or Maybe How You Should Do It. I Can't Decide.

Last week I had sinus surgery. The week before that I was diagnosed with pneumonia.
This made things interesting.
To try and sum it up as neatly and simply as possible, the surgery was something I have wanted to do for years. I finally have health insurance that would cover the surgery for me with almost nothing out of my pocket. (With my old insurance I would've had to pay close to $8000 out of pocket for the surgery.) It was important that I get the surgery in 2013 before my employer-provided health care plan changes in 2014 to meet ObamaCare requirements, and I suddenly would have to pay more for the surgery. (I will never understand how ObamaCare helps anyone. I'm just screwed every which way with it!)
But I digress. Getting sick out of the blue, and getting severely sick so suddenly, complicated things a bit. The surgery was tentative right up until the moment I arrived at the surgical center and got cleared.
The surgery itself was fairly simple, textbook, nothing big. I've had chronic sinusitis for years, and my sinus infections are now antibiotic resistant staph infections. Fun stuff. So the surgery was ordered to fix a few things so I can finally, for the first time in about 3 years, NOT have a sinus infection! Yay!
My little sister, Steph, was my caregiver and driver for the day. I think she was more worried and concerned about everything than I was. The surgery went well, and I was fine.
My doctor (a guy I think is fabulous and would recommend him anytime) tried something new on me. He left a steroid implant in my sinuses. It's a time-release capsule that delivers the anti-inflammatory steroids directly in the sinuses. (I don't feel it.) I have had absolutely NO bruising, no swelling, nada. It really had been great.
I felt so fantastic the first few days after the surgery that I agreed (like a crazy person) to host Christmas dinner for several friends on Christmas day. At first the general idea was that I wouldn't feel well, and wouldn't be able to drive, and therefore, wouldn't be able to go anywhere for Christmas. (I was okay with that.) When the idea came up to spend it with friends, I said I wouldn't mind having 2-3 friends over who would understand my situation, and they could do all the work and food.
Ha. Well, I've never been good at saying no. 2-3 people became 6 or 7, which became 10-12. And then the day of there were 17 people in my house. 2 days after I've had major surgery, I had 17 people in my tiny one bedroom apartment.
Insanity.

Doggy Blur. I saw a lot of this last week. Dogs moving very fast in circles.

Oh and a second dog. A dog bigger than my own dog.
Thankfully the visitor dog was great, and got along with my own dog beautifully. The two of them kept each other entertained for hours and weren't a problem at all. (Except for the part where they took over my bed and kicked me out.)
My sister did a ton of decorating in my apartment for me. And helped me prep Christmas dinner.
Remember how I love to brine turkey? Of course I had to do that too. Two of the guests coming to dinner brought over turkeys in advance for me to prepare and cook. Just to illustrate how crazy this whole situation was, one of the turkeys had to be delivered a few hours after I got back from the surgery. I was completely out of it, still under the influence of the anesthesia and oxycontin. Completely loopy and delirious. I texted the girl that I did not know and had only met very briefly one time, and told her I left the door open for her, and explained my situation. This poor girl had the unenviable task of letting herself into an apartment she's never been to before, not knowing if I was awake or asleep, and put a turkey away. And there are two large dogs in the apartment. Who doesn't love the awkwardness of that situation?

How perfectly beautiful is that turkey? No basting. No roasting bag. Nothing. Just brined it. (I had already started to carve it when I stopped to take this picture.)

Well, thanks to the anti-inflammatory steroids, (which if you don't know is completely normal to be prescribed after surgery, the implant part is the unusual part), I was completely WIRED the first few days. We're talking I was up doing laundry, cleaning the apartment, cooking, decorating, etc. I couldn't see why I couldn't do everything in the whole wide world. I felt fine!
There was some pain. But I had plenty of painkillers to take care of that. I really thought I had lucked out! I felt better than ever before! Woohoo!
Many thanks must be given to Sam, Candace, Molly, and Tonya, for making dinner go so smoothly. Sick or well, I wouldn't have been able to do all of it by myself. And there were portions of the day where painkillers were very needed! By the end of the day, I had many physical reminders that I technically still have pneumonia and just had surgery. And I had no trouble pulling back and relaxing and sleeping. Prior to that, I hadn't been able to sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time for 2 nights. I was EXHAUSTED.

The melted snowman in my bathtub.

Besides the dinner, Christmas was very nice. I got to talk to every member of my family, and in a few cases open presents with them on Skype or FaceTime. We were all spread out all over the world this year, so none of us got to be together. It's nice to have free technology that keeps us together.
When I say I slept on Thursday, I mean it. Other than getting up to walk the dogs, I didn't do squat. I stayed in bed, watched Netflix, and slept. A lot. One of my friends brought over a humidifier for me that made it much easier to breathe and sleep! Bless her!
I kept thinking that I didn't feel like I had had surgery or pneumonia at all! I totally lucked out! (With the exception of the whole not sleeping thing.) 
On Friday I attended the wedding of one of my original YW. I've been looking forward to this wedding for a while now. She's been off at school in Idaho while planning a wedding in DC and Roanoke. I've enjoyed serving as a lifeline for her, helping to get different things in DC planned and organized. (Fun fact: I also helped her with her college homework. She would email me her papers to proofread and help with. I'm happy to say WE got an A in English. This is important to me because I didn't get an A in that class when I was the student.) You know how much I love my YW, and I'll be thrilled to attend all of them. But since I got to help with this one a bit, and it is the first one I got to attend (she's my second one to get married, the first one got married in Canada, so I didn't get to attend), so there's a special place in my heart for this one.
I ran into my uncle after the wedding and told him I had the surgery. He's had it twice before. He was surprised to see how well I looked and that I was out running about. He mentioned that he was out of commission a good ten days after his surgeries. I patted myself on the back, pleased that I was still doing so very well after the surgery.
It was probably just a few hours after that that I hit the wall. The figurative wall, not a literal one. Although, it truly feels like I ran face first into a literal way at this point.
I do believe all that fun energy the steroid implant was giving me is gone now. Because wow do I feel like crap. The last 2 days have been all about staying in bed with ice packs and painkillers. It's just plain awful.
I'm going with the fairly logical assumption that I don't feel as bad right now as I would have felt without the steroids earlier in the week. And I've healed up some obviously. I am so incredibly glad I didn't have to feel that bad, because this is bad enough. If I had had to feel worse than this all week, I don't know if I could have survived it. My coughing and pneumonia symptoms have also resurfaced.
In spite of just how easy last week felt, right now I can't forget that maybe I'm not the bionic woman, and maybe surgery and pneumonia take some time to heal from. It's not so fun feeling like you've been hit in the nose with a baseball bat.
But you know what is amazing? Being able to breathe through my nose and feeling the air hit places in my sinuses for the first time in years.
(Not so amazing: non-stop nosebleeds for a week that are apparently totally normal during this process)
So there you have it. My completely unconventional Christmas and surgery.
I'm going back to sleep now.

So I went to Las Vegas and saw Clay Walker, and all you got was this little blog post.

The story starts out like this-
a few day before Thanksgiving I saw a post on Twitter by Clay Walker (one of my absolute all time country music singers) saying "retweet this to win free concert tickets and meet and greet passes." Knowing absolutely nothing beyond that, I retweeted it. I didn't know when or where the concert was, or even when the contest ended.
Thirty minutes later I got the notification that I won!
Turns out I won 2 meet and greet tickets, 2 nights at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, and 2 tickets to a Clay Walker concert (also in the Venetian).
For the very next week!
A few phone calls to BFF Jules, and some Christmas present hints about plane tickets to my generous parents, and boom! I was on my way to Vegas.
Being a fairly seasoned and smart traveler, I booked my flights via Dallas. Because when flying in December, always fly through Denver instead of Chicago, right?
Famous last words.
Due to snowstorms and ice storms in nearly every city except Washington, DC, my flight was delayed, and I got re-routed through Chicago. Go figure.
I flew to Salt Lake City, where Jules picked me up at the airport, and we drove to Vegas. Some people may think flying to the wrong city and driving seven extra hours was crazy. I say that was 7 more hours with my BFF, driving through some of my favorite memories, and not making Juli drive down there alone.

I waved at my old beloved neighborhood as we drove past. Sadly there was no time to stop and visit. But I really wanted to!

I'm going to gloss over the part about hotel room foul-ups when we first arrived in Vegas. Suffice it to say there was one.
It was around 10 or 11 pm Pacific time, which means it was 1-2 a.m. in my East Coast head, after nearly 21 hours of traveling, and no sleep. Needless to say the foul-up was not fun, and didn't bring out my better side. Thankfully, Juli is smarter than me, and cooler heads prevailed.
We ended up spending our first night in town at Treasure Island (and not the Venetian). I may or may not have told my sob story to the check-in desk at TI. The clerk (who probably saw straight through my crocodile tears) took pity on us, and gave us a few fun perks- including complimentary champagne, and free breakfast buffet. (We changed the champagne to sparkling cider.)

First thing on Saturday morning the hotel foul-up got rectified, and the Venetian/Palazzo bent over backwards to get things right. We were checked in and upgraded over there by noon.
If you aren't familiar with the Venetian Hotel, it is connected to and affiliated with the Palazzo Hotel. In theory, the Palazzo is nicer than the Venetian. But really, both are about as luxurious and gorgeous as you have ever seen. The very wonderful person who scurried and worked on a Saturday morning to get us sorted, put us in one of the nicer, higher-up floors, and fancier suites at the Palazzo. For which I will always be grateful. You don't get to stay in that kind of opulence every day, let me tell you!
The view from our new room-

And as for the room?
HELLO!

Juli models one part of the bathroom.

And this is my first and only ever bathroom selfie. Is it a selfie if Juli is in the picture too?
The bathroom alone was bigger than my bedroom.

And here's Juli modeling the lovely marble wall divider between the bedroom and the living room.

And here I am  modeling the chaise at the foot of the bed.

And a better view of the room without us modeling it. 

See how in the picture of Juli the drapes in the back are closed, but in the picture below they are open? One of the fun features of the room was the remote control that moved the 3 sets of drapes, up/down/side to side. It was fun.

After we convinced ourselves to leave our amazing room (did I mention it had a printer in it? And not 1, not 2, but 3 televisions? One in the living area, one by the beds, and one in the bathroom- that was strategically placed so you could sit at the vanity, and see it in the reflection bounced off 3 mirrors, so that it wasn't a inverted reflection directly in front of you.), we decided to tour the hotel. We half-had plans to actually leave the hotel and go do more Vegas-y things, but that never happened.
There was so much to do and see in our hotel, that we just never left!
One of my favorite things was a rare book store. It was less a bookstore, and more a small museum. It had some incredible books in there. I was in heaven!
If you know me, (or if you've read "You Heard It Here First") you know I have been hunting down the original versions of the "Anne of Green Gables" books for years. I used to own several early editions, of most of the series. ("You Heard It Here First" fans- you can guess which is the one book I've never been able to find!) Sadly, I no longer have them. This is the one and only thing I regret about letting my storage unit go. My limited edition Anne books were in that unit. But I digress.
I cried when I saw this in the bookstore. Ask Juli. I really did get all teary-eyed and squeaky voiced.

A 1908 rare, first edition copy of "Anne of Green Gables."
A mere $30,000.
I may or may not have said a silent prayer that if I could win $30,000 in the slot machines, that I would promise to spend it on this book.
Alas, this did not happen.
Another incredible find in the store-

An extremely rare second edition of the Book of Mormon. I was very impressed that it read "Joseph Smith, Translator" not author or writer.
Did you know the second editions are more rare and valuable than the first? True story.
Funny thing about this book. I called my dad and told him I saw it. (I get my love of rare books from him.) When I told him the price he got excited. I could hear the wheels turning in his head, as he was plotting how to send me the money to buy it for him. That's when I realized that the bad phone connection had played a trick on us. He heard $6,000. It's actually $60,000.
I didn't buy it. But I did make another silent prayer that if I won $60,000 ($90,000 really) in the casino, I would buy it for my dad.

Other cool sites and decorations in the hotel-

The Palazzo really was beautiful.
And we dined like the princesses/queens/divas we are! I didn't take any pictures of that though. But trust me, I had the best shrimp and lobster risotto I have ever dreamed of!
One of the other highlights of our stay was the "Cowboy Christmas Expo." I never would have guessed that Juli and I would have spent the bulk of our time walking around a cowboy expo and shopping, but we did. And we loved it. I have no pictures from that either. We both bought a few things in there and really enjoyed the booths and vendors.
And oh we did we enjoy gawking at the Wrangler butts. 

And now for the whole point of it all-
The Clay Walker Concert!

 

(I bought the pink cowgirl hat at the cowboy expo. It seemed like the right thing to do!)

The meet and greet was before the concert. I was not surprised that Clay Walker took a minute to speak with each person, and seemed to have a genuine conversation. I wasn't sure what I would say to him when it was our turn, and then it hit me- tell him I/we were the contest winners. So I did. He told me to be sure to take some pictures and tweet them so he could retweet them later. And asked if we were having fun and what we thought of it all. 

Something tells me he didn't know that the audience was about to be asked not to take any pictures. The concert was being recorded for TV playback, and photos/video was forbidden by the audience. (And then the "guards" said much quieter, "and when you do sneak a picture anyway, make sure the flash is off.")

And so I did-

 

It was very different and fun to be in a show being recorded for TV. There were interesting stops and starts. At one point the lead guitar wasn't quite in tune perfectly. Normally in such a loud venue no one would have noticed. And the guitarist could have fixed it during the song I am sure. But since it was being recorded for TV, they stopped the song, let him fix it, and started over again.

The venue itself was very small. My high school auditorium was bigger. We were in the 5th row I think? Maybe the 8th. I can't recall now. But close enough we could actually make eye contact with Clay Walker and his band. (And let me just say, his band is AMAZING! Those are some very talented dudes!) Again to Clay Walker's credit for just being a truly nice guy, I noticed he would make eye contact with some of the meet and greet people from before the show. I'm sure he was doing for them just what he did for me. He made eye contact and smiled at me, made me feel like he remembered exactly who I was, and threw a guitar pick at me during the song I said I liked the most. When the guy in front of me caught it, he (Clay) threw another one my direction. I missed it again, but that's okay. I was just impressed that he made the personal effort like that.

The concert was a part of the National Rodeo Finals (being held at the Sands Expo and the Venetian), and was televised last week on RFD-TV. Unfortunately I don't get that channel so I didn't get to see whether or not Juli and I made it into the footage. But the camera sure spent a lot of time right on my pink cowgirl hat...

The concert was just a ton of fun. By far the best country concert I have ever been to. There were confetti cannons, beach balls, dancing in the audience, and more. And the music was incredible- of course! I've been to a LOT of country concerts, and this was my favorite one ever.

Getting gelato at 1 a.m. and not having to fight parking lot traffic on the way out were definite perks. But the best part was that it was all part of a dream trip and getting to share it with Juli!

I could bore you with the ridiculousness of the traffic on the way back, delayed flights, and bizarre weather situations, but I won't. Let's just say not one flight went according to plan. But who cares? In the end, I made it home. And really it was a phenomenal, unforgettable trip!

Woof

I know I am way behind on blogging lately, and have many fun things to share (like the awesome trip to Vegas). But I'm mostly in denial and refusing to spend time with my laptop. 8 hours of screen time at work is enough, ya know?

But I discovered this today, and I'm in love with it enough to make mocking pictures of myself.

You can play with it here - http://woofmaker.com/

Brilliant!

Lemme tell you a little story, friends. The story of a day that truly caught me completely by surprise.

It started out this morning with a doctor's appointment. In a nutshell, I've been dealing with a small medical problem that I knew could potentially be a very big, bad medical problem. So off to the doctor I went. The end result is that we won't know 100% for sure for a few more days, but it is likely a very small problem, and is probably the result of a crappy doctor's misdiagnosis, and possible neglect a few years ago.

I can't begin to tell you what a bad mood this put me in. The misdiagnosis (that the doctor had multiple chances to catch and correct at the time) caused me a lot of grief then, and it's extra irritating that it is coming back to give me problems again now. Word to the wise: if you ever get a gut feeling that your doctor is wrong, go get a second opinion. Don't be polite and give second chances to your doctor. Go get more opinions. Because if you are right, and your doctor is wrong, you really don't want to waste time being polite in the long run.

So off to work I went still feeling quite crappy (the medical problem gets to stay with me for a few more weeks until the corrective diagnosis will make a difference). <Insert sarcastic 'woo-hoo' here.>

But once at work things began to turn around. One of the products I market had a crazy great day. This was not expected by anyone. It was very fun to see it really sell well and work out. This helps not just the bottom line, but me, and a few other people as well, meet our goals. All in all, this alone was cause to declare this a good day.

Somewhere in the course of the afternoon I checked Twitter, and saw a tweet from one of my favorite musicians that said to retweet the status for a chance to win concert tickets. So I did.

Just a few minutes later- POW!- I won the tickets! (To be completely honest it happened so fast that I wasn't convinced it wasn't a scam. I made them prove it before I would believe it.)

Hello! I just won tickets to see Clay Walker at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas for next weekend! Including free hotel rooms and backstage passes!!

(This isn't my first time seeing or meeting Clay Walker. You can see my previous blog posts on him here- 2009 and 2007 pt 1 and 2.)

Talk about good days! I'll take it!!

This is now the ONLY "Doctors" picture that will make me happy. If it doesn't have John Hurt in it, it doesn't count.

And then, as if things weren't already fantastic, it was time to go see the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, "Day of the Doctor," in 3D in the theater. Some things are just too awesome to be seen at home on TV, and should be in the theater. I hadn't planned on paying for the 3D ticket, but all other showings were sold out (I bought my ticket last week). If you are on the fence about seeing it in 3D- do! There are extra jokes, and a whole funny 3D intro with Matt Smith and David Tennant, that makes it completely worth it.

Oh my heavens. As a Whovian, I can't begin to tell you how much I loved the special. It was so good. I loved every second of it, and didn't want it to end. I want to go see it again- tomorrow! (But alas, I cannot because I have to save my pennies for Vegas next week!)

Oh and did I mention I saw "Catching Fire" twice over the weekend? Plus re-read "Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire" and I've started "Mockingjay" again?

My little book-loving, sci-fi/fantasy loving, pop culture-loving, country music-loving heart, is about ready to explode! You have no idea how much I have loved living in my imagination these last few days! There's just something fun and enjoyable about being able to just LIVE in another world. (And then get to have a fun wish come true like going to Vegas!)

Sigh. Le Sigh.

I don't want my fun little dream world to end when I go to bed tonight...

A little Clay Walker for you- one of my all-time favorite songs!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

This also happened while hanging out with the little people today.

I had the fun of hanging out with two of my favorite little cousin people for a few hours today. The following conversation ensued.

Little Person Aged 4: Erin, why is your hair yellow and black?
Me: Um... what do you mean?
Her: It's yellow on the bottom and black on the top. How come?
Me (realizing I didn't wash my hair, and I'm overdue to touch up my roots): Well, my hair grows out of my head black, and then I put yellow dye on it.
Her: Hmm... You missed some spots.

The Tender Mercy of Darth Tater

I found a reason to smile in the silliest and simplest of things this week. It was one of those "tender mercies" moments for me.
2 simple little things happened at work. One was the office fantasy football draft. The other was a bet. It turns out my co-workers love to bet on just about anything.
Do you remember the long-since-gone TV show, "Ed?" I loved that ridiculous show. So cute. One of the more charming parts of the show was how the titular character and his BFF would dare each other and bet on just about anything. My co-workers are not unlike this.

And I'm not complaining. It's amusing.
This week I launched a new campaign this week. And therefore, my co-workers placed bets (in a spreadsheet, shared on the company network) on how well it will go. I suppose this could intimidate or bother some people. It just made me happy. First, I know I have their support. And second, it's just nice to be a part of a team again.
The fantasy football draft was nothing spectacular or different. It was just a fantasy draft. But it made me happy to get to be a part of something simple and social again.
These are the exact sort of things I have missed these last few years. I missed being a part of something, part of a team, part of a group dynamic.
I got a little sad and down in the dumps today. I don't even remember why. It was just a fast pang of homesickness, and I missed my "Baby Ducks." So to distract myself from my woes I cleaned my office. In doing so I decided to change "Darth Tater's" outfit. (Yes, my office has a Darth Tater in it. Doesn't yours?) (Further proof of the betting thing- Darth Tater is our team prize we pass around to who got the best sales that week.) And then I decided I didn't want to look at Darth anymore. So I put him in my spare office chair, and turned the chair to face out the window into the hallway. And raised his light sabre. He was quite menacing for a Potato Head.

He got a few laughs from co-workers as they passed by. But I knew I liked my office when one guy walked by, saw it, and knelt down before Darth Tater. And I don't even know that guy's name.
I like being in an office again. I like being on a team. I like the funny atmosphere of our office. (And that people have velvet Elvis paintings, and pictures of the Rat Pack in their offices, and that Darth Tater's omniscience is not questioned.)
It sure beats working from home.

Summer Loving

The past few days have been filled with very high highs, and nearly unexplainable lows. And right in the middle was a very fun time.
The highs included unexpected blessings coming from nowhere and landing in my lap. Job interviews, potential leads, and other opportunities I hadn't sought out came to me. I'm very grateful.
The lows include cancer, death, illness, and sadness, of an almost unfathomable depth.
And it all danced around a fun trip to the river with friends for tubing and boating.  The picture above is my favorite of the weekend because it shows exactly what it was like- lots of laughter, high speed boating, singing (karaoke), and even a little on the boat dancing to my iTunes. And there was lots of good food too.
I leave the weekend with an aching heart, a full heart, and absolutely no voice at all.

Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money?

I saw this today-

And naturally it made me think of this-

And then obviously I couldn't help but think of this-

And while getting happily sucked in to the internet looking for just the right Calvin strip, I discovered this-

That would be Calvin and Susie fanfic. Yes, it exists.
And that's when I decided to get off the internet and go do something else with my life.

You can laugh if you want to

Earlier today something a little insulting happened to me. I realized at the time that once the sting wears off of it, I'll find it funny. But first, I had to find my sense of humor again. And I just wasn't in the mood. While sitting here stewing about my bad mood I came across this absolute gem on YouTube. And suddenly, everything is hilarious.

(I miss my dear sweet Kara, Sionnie, and Emilie that I lived with in Cambodia, who are all from Oz. There's something about knowing some Australians that make it that much funnier to me. I love their nonchalant attitude about everything. I should move to Australia.)

So what was the big insulting thing?
I got offered a job.
But not just any job!
The store I've been working at offered me a job after a high schooler quit this week. I've never been so proud. All those years of professional marketing experience, college, and working hard to be the best at my little minimum wage retail job, and I am now qualified to REPLACE A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT!
On one hand- I got a job offer in 2011! Yeah me!
On the other hand- seriously??
In case it doesn't sound insulting enough, let me also explain that for the second week in a row I didn't get paid due to an HR error. Stand on your feet all day, working holiday retail, for pennies, killing your back, all just to make an honest buck, then you don't even get paid, and then they offer you the chance to replace a high school student.
You can be insulted, get depressed, whatever you want. Or you can just laugh at the absurdity of the situation, right?
In the same week I managed to write a piece that got syndicated by a well-respected publication and got picked up for reproduction by another well-respected authority AND I got offered the chance to replace a high school student in a cashier job.
I'd rather just laugh. And watch that clip again.

Help Me Pick!

I won a blog contest over at (NO) Sex in the City today. My prize is a bathing suit from Shabby Apple Swimwear. And I can't decide which to get!

It is really hard to tell what these suits would look like on me, or how they would fit. The model is, shall we say, not anywhere near as endowed as I am in the chest, hips, or butt regions. I really like the red and white striped one, but she's so flat chested she doesn't fill out the suit. It makes me wonder if I would look obscene in it, or if it has any support.

But I love them all. And I love input!