Massage

I am a sucker for a good massage.

Sam used to rub my shoulders for me when we first started dating, and my dad used to rub my back before bed during water polo season when I was tight and uncomfortable.

It wasn't until college and really after graduation when I moved to Orange County that I grew to appreciate a really great massage.  And we had massages at least once a week while we were in Southeast Asia three years ago.

Since I took my high pressure, high stress agency job, I have been meaning to book myself a massage... but like all the stuff I do for myself (ahem, blogging, the gym, etc.) I seem never to be able to find the time to make an appointment.

So I finally called up my former masseuse and was disappointed to hear that he's got a great gig working on the NASCAR circuit.  He did refer me to a colleague and I'm going to see her on Saturday.  I cannot wait.

Even Sam said earlier this week that my shoulders are off-center because I am holding so much tension in my upper body.  He must have taken pity on me because he did rub my shoulders a little bit for me that night.

I just want to be able to relax and actually feel my stress melt out of my body.

Hopefully after Saturday I'll be able to sleep better and feel more like working out!

A Trip to the Doctor

My new healthcare kicked in at the beginning of this month and I was running super low on all of my prescriptions so I made a few calls and somehow picked the practice my former doctor's receptionist went to when they parted ways a few years ago.  It was wonderful to reconnect with Stacy, and she actually booked me with a doctor she regards very highly.

I really, really enjoyed Dr. Stults (I even recommended her to my digital and social media marketing mentor).  She was incredibly detailed in the notes she took about my increased anxiety and was more than open to switching me to Lexapro, which tends to have better results with anxiety.  In fact, I have at least two friends who take it and have had great results.

Dr. Stults recommended that I start with a half a pill for the first five days or so while continuing my current anxiety medication (Wellbutrin), then going up to a full pill of both prescriptions for 5-7 days, and then a full Lexapro every day and alternating Wellbutrin before cutting the Wellbutrin altogether.

I'm a bit of an overachiever, so I went with a full pill from the very start... and wow was that interesting.  I immediately noticed that I was having trouble sleeping through the night... and still am.  Falling asleep is no problem, but I seem to be waking up around 1:00 a.m.  Luckily it's not a problem going back to sleep, and I've been able to sleep in just like before I was taking the medication, but it's very strange to continually wake up just after midnight.

I am incredibly thankful I haven't had any increased anxiety, which is one of the side effects most complained about online.  The second night I took it, I did wake up in a complete state of panic thinking that I hadn't sent an email to one of my clients.  Thankfully, I was able to talk myself down and be reasonable... what could I possibly do from my bedroom at 4:35 in the morning, after all?

I'm incredibly hopeful that this will help minimize the stress and pressure I have been feeling since taking my new job in December.  Best case scenario I would like to be able to have a better work life balance!

Mental Health Days

Everyone needs a mental health day sometimes.  Today is mine.

I haven't had a day to myself since April 14.  Since then I've either been traveling and participating in wedding festivities, working, or entertaining out of town guests.  Please don't misunderstand me, those are all very exciting things that make me very happy, but they do wear me down too.

Sam went back to work today after his week of vacation so that left Hunter and I at the house.  How very relaxing!  The only bummer was that Hunter seemed to think it was time to get up when Sam left for work at 5:30 this morning.  C'est la vie.  It got me up, out of bed and started my productive day.

What have I done with my day?  I started off my cleaning out my briefcase and purse of all the miscellaneous stuff I'd been collecting during the last couple of weeks.  I was able to file my bills and paychecks away in our guest bedroom, clean out our stationary drawer and make room for the new thank you cards and greeting cards I ordered from Papyrus earlier this week, and stripped the guest bed and bathroom linens to be cleaned before my parents arrive next weekend.

Funny anecdote, twice I tried to start the washing machine with the guest bed sheets and twice I accidentally turned on the drier instead.  Boy, did I need a mental health day or what?!

I also have been catching up on my blogging (both reading and writing) and downloaded some new material on my nook.  Which I swear I am going to go and read once I'm finished with this post because I am racking up a ton of unread stuff on that little device and I'm itching to read it all.

I also met with a colleague of mine and spent a couple of hours with her hearing about her job hunt, catching up on what's going on in her love life and just enjoying not having a time-schedule that I had to follow.  When we were done I ran into Target to buy more dishwashing detergent (the kitchen is getting cleaned as soon as I get though the piles of dishes in our sink), razors (summer weather is here and I definitely can't wear shorts with the fuzzy legs I am sporting), and birthday and mother's day cards (which will all be slightly belated).  All in all, it was a good trip.  I just need to run to Petsmart and get Hunter some new chewy sticks to entertain him when we're having company over or take him somewhere for dinner.

It's odd because I would think all these errands would be stressing me out more, but having accomplished so many of my To Do items has really relaxed me and made me feel in control of my life again.  I even took some time to write cards to a few friends and family members because I believe snail mail brightens everyone's days.  It actually seems that many people like to accomplish things on their days off: How and When to Take a Mental Health Day gives you ideas of how to schedule time off as well as what you should do to help yourself recover from the stress in your life.

Lazy Saturday

I'm typing this at 11:08, on the couch in my PJs with Hunter passed out in my lap and Sam next to me reading the NY Times.  We are having our first lazy Saturday in a long time and enjoying Sam's Golden Weekend.  Yes, we were on vacation for a week, but Saturday morning Sam got up and went sailing with his parents and I was up early doing my laundry and packing for our drive back to Southern California.

So, this really is our first lazy Saturday at home in a few weeks.  How did we spend it?  We slept it until 8:45- a huge luxury for Sam!  He pulled up HBO-go on the iPad and we watched 50 First Dates until Hunter needed to bet let out, at which point I made us pancakes and coffee to enjoy during the second half of the movie.

When the movie was over, we just didn't get up from the couch... Sam started reading the paper, I thought it would be a good idea to keep working on my LinkedIn research, but decided I would blog instead.  We have definitely earned this lazy Saturday, we were out late last night with Ryan (and kind of Jenna too).  Ryan picked me up around 5 and we headed over to Morton's for Happy Hour.  Jenna was cocktailing the bar and patio so we sat outside and watched basketball until Sam joined us from work.

Man, there were some really douchey guys at the table next to us.  The kind of guys that took every opportunity to make Jenna feel like she was screwing up their service when in fact she was doing a great job.  Then they started going off on politics.  Let's put it this way, our table and theirs did not vote for the same candidate in the last election.  And they sounded so entitled to their money.  Don't get me wrong, I think that hard working Americans deserve to live comfortably, but you don't have to be a jerk about it.  I mean frankly, we are all eating at Morton's so life can't be too difficult for us.  They had this mentality about work too.  At one point one of them said, "Look, I run a successful construction company and these kids come in and try to tell me what to do.  I don't think so.  Sit down, shut up, and hold the f*ck on."  Excuse me?  Are you so self-agrandizing that you actually believe there is only one 'right' way to do things?  Maybe you're missing out on a great new technique because you're too busy putting everyone down to hear anyone out.  I mean they give Republicans such a bad name it's pathetic!

You know, entitled people exist everywhere.  But it really does seem like there is a higher concentration of them here in Orange County.  Perhaps that's just because we were recently home for a week and surrounded by people who have money and don't drive Bentleys and Rolls Royces or enroll their children in private schools.  Here it just seems so opulent it's ridiculous!  Anyway, I'm going to get off my soapbox now.

What They Didn't Tell Me

So here I am, it's 9:09 PM on Tuesday night and I am flying to Vegas tomorrow for my first-ever Sin City business trip.  What am I doing up?  Packing?  Preparing for our big awards dinner tomorrow night?  No.  I am up washing Sam's White Coat.

Why am I up doing laundry at this hour?  Doesn't Sam have two White Coats?

Well yes, he does in fact have two White Coats; however, the hospital laundry service got some kind of pink stain on one of his coats and I just can't quite get it entirely out.  Ergo, Sam refuses to wear that particular coat.  Ergo, we have to do laundry after work when Sam spills his freakin' coffee down the front of his coat.  Goddamn it.

Because Sam is post-call tonight, he was pretty comatose by 8 when Hunter and I got home from his makeup training session with Kate.  So he got up off the couch, rinsed off his dishes and put them in the dishwasher (huge victory post-call, let me tell you!) and then realized he had forgotten to toss his coat in the washing machine.

So now, I am awake, watching The Adjustment Bureau while Hunter naps on my lap.  It was a great afternoon for us- the first afternoon walk of our year.  And I even jogged a little bit!  I need to get back in shape, and these little jaunts are just one part.  I am going to shoot for the morning spin class tomorrow at 9:15 before our plane leaves.  And then there's another spin class Thursday evening.  Back in the saddle for me!

March 4 starts the big Making the Cut program with Amanda, my former personal trainer.  She is hosting a variation of the Jillian Michaels diet + workout plan.  I'm kind of nervous but also really, really excited!

Ski Trip Recap

Sam, Hunter and I are back from our week long ski vacation.  Man, what did we come back for?

We drove up Sunday, spent a few hours with Sam's parents for dinner, and then headed to bed early.  I went home to my parents' house with Hunter and he was SO much better than he was when we went home in December.  He slept through the night, didn't scratch at the door every 15 minutes, and didn't keep me up.  THANK YOU, HUNTER!

Monday we all enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then we headed up to Northstar.  Man was it cold!  But there was NO snow.  

Thankfully, we took it easy on Tuesday and enjoyed several flurries of snow throughout the day and night.  Wednesday we had a pretty substantial dusting of powder for our skiing pleasure.  To our surprise, it snowed again on Wednesday night and the skiing was even better Thursday that it was the day before!

We ate at Tavern 6330 (not impressed) and Manzanita up at the Ritz Carlton (okay, Sam's dish was world's better than mine) but our best meal was probably the ravioli and salad we made on Monday upon our arrival.  

Friday we drove home and stopped in to visit my grandparents.  Papa, the daredevil, fell off a ladder on our anniversary and has been recovering from a fractured skull and some compression fractures on his spine.  How the man is up and walking around escapes me!  Sam came over for dinner that night and Mom made her signature pizzas.  Mmmmm.

Saturday I got to visit the O'Briens and hear all about their wedding planning and advice.  Then I ran some errands for our class reunion ad went shopping with Mom.  Dad hasn't been feeling so great so she and I went to dinner by ourselves that evening which was actually really nice.  Hunter spent most of the day with Dad and Max.  After dinner, we all settled in to watch the finale of Downton Abbey which Mom and Dad missed the weekend before.  Such a fun and relaxing way to cap off the week.

Sunday we drove back to SoCal and restocked the fridge, unpacked and generally got our lives in order.  Tonight Sam is on call and I am trying to prepare for my business trip on Wednesday (overnight to Vegas).  I have an early morning meeting at work, so I prepped our favorite chili and have everything set to go in the crockpot stoneware in the fridge so all I have to do tomorrow morning is pop it into the crockpot base and turn it all on.  Yippee for amazing and delicious meals made easy!

I managed to get the car washed tonight after work in addition to washing a load of laundry and running a load of dishes.  Tomorrow I need to get gas for my car, pick up more coffee beans (whole) from Peet's Coffee and buy some more kitchen trash bags.  My work is never done!

Walking Dead

I haven't been watching as much TV lately... Sam is trying to be more productive and study more.  He is also fighting off a cold, so he's just been a little overwhelmed.

I am not trying to incite anybody, but I have been bummed by this season of The Walking Dead.  I mean really, it's been much more graphic and violent than the previous seasons and the characters are really starting to strain under the zombie apocalypse environment.

I watched the mid-season premier tonight and I was shocked by the scene where Glenn stomped in the walkers head on the abandoned road in the middle of the trees.  I mean yes, I think Glenn is freaking out under the stress of being kidnapped and everything, but JESUS that was really graphic!  Like unnecessarily so.  And I'm not really a sissy, but that just seemed like it took away from the show- I mean I was taken out of the show's momentum and stopped to realize how gross it was.

10 Years Together

Today Sam and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary.

I guessed that Sam would be exhausted since he was on call over-night on Friday and Sunday.  I was prepared to make us dinner and relax on the couch together, but Sam completely surprised me!

He texted me that we should go out to dinner rather than me cook.  Then he walked in the door with flowers from my favorite florist- 30 minutes out of his way home!  Wow.  Aren't they beautiful!?!


We decided to go to 'our place' The Cannery.  We had drinks, we ate dinner and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  It was like old times, before second year of residency, back when Sam had energy and spark!

He drove me to dinner and told the whole while how great he thinks I am and how much he appreciates that he gives 110% at work (where he gets so little appreciation) and then can only give 20% at home and yet I am so supportive and understanding.  I cannot even tell you how nice it was to hear him appreciate me!  And to his credit, his 20% estimation is probably a little too harsh.  I so appreciate being appreciated!  Sam is such a sweetheart and nights like this one make being a ortho widow so worth it!

What a great way to start off our vacation to Tahoe- although it doesn't technically start until next week and Sam is fighting off a cold!  What the heck, at least we have each other, a cold and a long rest of the week until our trip are nothing compared to that.  :-)

Belated Christmas Update

7 Rib Prime Rib = 15 pounds
(Twice as much food as 5 people need)

The whole family, Christmas Dinner 2012

Sandy Eggo

Tonight, Sam and I are headed to San Diego with Matt & Emily for the Carrie Underwood concert.  Matt bought tickets several months ago and they are generously taking us along for our first ever overnight trip together.  I am so excited!

Matt booked us rooms in the W hotel, which I have always wanted to stay in, and this is going to be our first vacation not spent sleeping on couches reliving our college glory days since our trip to Tahoe in February.

Let me see:

• Nice, comfy hotel room
• Sleeping in
• Night out with friends

I am so excited!  Pictures to come!

Walking Dead

No, this is not a reference to me being overly exhausted.  Quite the opposite, I have been feeling much more energized since I started taking the hypothyroidism medication.    The title of this post refers to the AMC Zombie series based on the comic books.

I am not much for watching TV shows the night they air because I am generally trying to spend quality time with Sam or Hunter if I'm not working in the evening.

Tonight, however, I decided I was going to give it a rest because I worked two hours extra last night expanding on some web page additions that a co-worker had started.  Sam is working late, so I have no obligation to entertain him.  Thus, with this time to myself, I am catching up on The Walking Dead season 3 premier and playing fetch with Hunter.  Good Lord, this puppy loves to play fetch.

And don't think it's all play for me tonight, I am also in the process of washing our sheets and drafting our holiday letter.  Last year we didn't send our letter out everyone, but complaints were lodged and this year the situation will be remedied.

So now, enough blogging and back to holiday letter drafting and laundry!