Yes, ok, I'm sitting here waiting, waiting, waiting for The Police to play on the Grammies. I should have pulled some strings this week to go see them, but I'm saving those strings for when they tour (hopefully) this year. Even though they are my FAVORITE with U2, unlike U2 who I have seen many times, I never got to see them live (although I've seen Sting multiple times solo). I am salivating at the thought. I love every single album. I'm a child of the music of the 70s and 80s...sigh...
Other stuff:
- I'm trying to sell my house (and buy a new, bigger, one with DB). Today was my first open house and so I had to pack up the pets (Doglet and Polar Bear...dog and cat) and head over to a friend's house for the afternoon. Problem is that Polar Bear always but always makes a mess in his carrier when he travels...this leads me to putting off vet visits, frankly, because I'm embarrassed. In anticipation of today and (if house isn't sold...send magic thoughts) next Sunday, I got a sedative for PB so he hopefully wouldn't do his thang in the carrier. So...this morning, I (with a lot of trouble) got the pill down him and he seemed very sleepy/sedated when I put him in his carrier...NOT. Oh well. When we got to my friend's, we let him out in her garden with Doglet (she has 4 cats and her garden is cat-proofed so no one can get out...not that Polar Bear could...he's diabetic, old and can barely walk)...he loved it! What a character! But he was very happy to be home to "his" room (he lives in a room in my house since DB is allergic)...although I will definitely be letting him out in my yard in the future because he had fun. :-)
- Had a really good time with Mommy yesterday. She didn't feel like going out to shop to replace the QVC sweater she got me for my birthday (it fit, but hit me in a bad place on my hips!) so we stayed in and chatted. And I shopped on QVC and got some great earrings to replace the sweater (I love Diamonique). A good friend of hers from college died suddenly on Thursday and I know how hard it is to lose a friend...she is feeling low. I am happy I got some time to spend with her. :-)
- I haven't been great with food or drink this weekend. When the weekend rolls around since I "can" drink I still am overdoing (although I must say that I had nada this afternoon at Friend's house -- although she did - while we watched a movie). Even though it's not that fun...hmmm...I think it's similar to the "I've got to eat all of it because I may never get it again" weird thoughts. I feel SO much better during the week when I'm disciplined, but...
- Can I just say how much I'm LOVING Netflix?! Friend got 6-months for me for my birthday and it's SO fun!! I registered on Monday, got my first flix on Wednesday, sent back one on Thursday, got an e-mail from them before 7 am on Friday saying they got it (!) and got a new one replacing it on Saturday! Wow. I wonder if it's this fast in smaller towns. Anyway, it's a truly fun gift.
- Saw The Last King of Scotland. I'm glad I saw it (because I try to see all the Oscar-nominated stuff). I love Forest Whittaker...think he's amazing in everything. This movie was interesting, but very very hard to watch. He was great and so was the Scot guy who played opposite him. Good movie, but difficult.
- Last but far from least, DB is due back tonight after three days in Nearby Town with his parents. Is this more exciting than The Police? Yes. ;-)
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Friday, February 9, 2007
Friday weigh-in
Not too bad for post-vacation -- up 1.4 pounds. I'm still on the "loss" side substantially overall and back to eating well and exercise so I should be down more next week...and no more "eating holidays" for a while so maybe now I can make some real progress!! :-)
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Very important information
I just got an e-mail from a colleague of mine that I think is very important to share so am getting it out as widely as I can:
Some of you have inquired about my absence and I wanted to let you all know that I was out because, unfortunately, I was diagnosed with breast cancer--"invasive lobular carcinoma" to be exact--which required immediate surgery. Thankfully, the surgery went well.
The reason I am making this public is to make all of you aware of perhaps a lesser known indicator of breast cancer called "thickening". Due in part to my own ignorance, my diagnosis was delayed by about 18 months!
I discovered what I later learned was a thickening in one of my breasts. (It actually feels a little ropey, but "thickening" is the proper term.) I pointed it out to several of my physicians who dismissed the thickening as nothing to be concerned with. Only recently, when it grew a nodule large enough to be detected in a mammogram, did it become a matter of concern. At that time, a biopsy was performed, which proved positive to be cancer.
Apparently, infiltrating/invasive lobular tumors have a tendency to look normal on a mammogram. When I was told not to worry about it by the first two physicians and because it did not show up in any of the mammograms or ultra sounds, I was content to be sent off with a clean bill of health. I have since discovered they could have performed what is referred to as a "blind biopsy", which in this case means they do a biopsy on something that isn't detected in the mammogram but you can definitely feel it.
We all know to look for lumps in our breasts, but how many of us are familiar with thickenings? Had I known about this back then, I would not have let my physicians pass the thickening off as harmless. The purpose of this writing is for you, your loved ones and everybody you know to become aware that a thickening can be an indicator, and if any of you are ever told with complete certainty by a physician the thickening is nothing to be concerned with, to treat it with the same seriousness as it would be treated if it were a lump.
Some of you have inquired about my absence and I wanted to let you all know that I was out because, unfortunately, I was diagnosed with breast cancer--"invasive lobular carcinoma" to be exact--which required immediate surgery. Thankfully, the surgery went well.
The reason I am making this public is to make all of you aware of perhaps a lesser known indicator of breast cancer called "thickening". Due in part to my own ignorance, my diagnosis was delayed by about 18 months!
I discovered what I later learned was a thickening in one of my breasts. (It actually feels a little ropey, but "thickening" is the proper term.) I pointed it out to several of my physicians who dismissed the thickening as nothing to be concerned with. Only recently, when it grew a nodule large enough to be detected in a mammogram, did it become a matter of concern. At that time, a biopsy was performed, which proved positive to be cancer.
Apparently, infiltrating/invasive lobular tumors have a tendency to look normal on a mammogram. When I was told not to worry about it by the first two physicians and because it did not show up in any of the mammograms or ultra sounds, I was content to be sent off with a clean bill of health. I have since discovered they could have performed what is referred to as a "blind biopsy", which in this case means they do a biopsy on something that isn't detected in the mammogram but you can definitely feel it.
We all know to look for lumps in our breasts, but how many of us are familiar with thickenings? Had I known about this back then, I would not have let my physicians pass the thickening off as harmless. The purpose of this writing is for you, your loved ones and everybody you know to become aware that a thickening can be an indicator, and if any of you are ever told with complete certainty by a physician the thickening is nothing to be concerned with, to treat it with the same seriousness as it would be treated if it were a lump.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Withdrawals are not fun ;-(
Coffee: I almost never drink caffeine. I used to drink tons (coffee, Diet Coke, etc.), but went off it in 2003 soon after I quit smoking. The physical withdrawals from caffeine were worse than those from nicotine! So, I almost never drink it. But I do have it in my pocket when I really need a pick-me-up. Last week, I drank coffee every single morning for over a week. The result? The past two days when I haven't had it, I am sloooooow, tired, feeling very slooooooow (yes, I'm sloooooow!). Can't concentrate. Yuck. This is why I quit. Back to my decaf coffee and decaf green tea!
Food: I was very shall-we-say "generous" with myself and food over vacation. It is SO easy for me to fall into the trap of just eating what looks good (although I still can't grab a handful of full-fat chips, for example...I'll grab a BAG of low-fat ones!). My stomach clearly got stretched out. I had a very hard time yesterday sticking with my "usual" plan. Overdid a bit last night and had some reduced fat triscuits (which, I should note, I don't even really LIKE) during the day. Today I'm back on track, but feeling hungrier than usual. Gym tonight should help me be "good" during the evening.
Alcohol: I also was generous with myself and booze over vacation. Back to drinking every day. After the first couple of "yee haw, I can drink!" days, it got a little old so I didn't overdo. BUT, last night (the first night back on plan), I fell. Had a martini. Told myself I was EASING back into "real" life. The effect of this was not only the martini calories, but also eating more than I would had I not had the 'tini. Lesson noted. Hopefully someday it will be Lesson LEARNED. No more alcoholic drinking until Friday.
Gym: Pretty much the only exercise I had while on vaca was skiing. Went back to PT today and the bike was a little more challenging than usual. Interesting. Back to the gym tonight for regular workout.
Crossing fingers that weigh-in this week won't be TOO bad. :-)
Food: I was very shall-we-say "generous" with myself and food over vacation. It is SO easy for me to fall into the trap of just eating what looks good (although I still can't grab a handful of full-fat chips, for example...I'll grab a BAG of low-fat ones!). My stomach clearly got stretched out. I had a very hard time yesterday sticking with my "usual" plan. Overdid a bit last night and had some reduced fat triscuits (which, I should note, I don't even really LIKE) during the day. Today I'm back on track, but feeling hungrier than usual. Gym tonight should help me be "good" during the evening.
Alcohol: I also was generous with myself and booze over vacation. Back to drinking every day. After the first couple of "yee haw, I can drink!" days, it got a little old so I didn't overdo. BUT, last night (the first night back on plan), I fell. Had a martini. Told myself I was EASING back into "real" life. The effect of this was not only the martini calories, but also eating more than I would had I not had the 'tini. Lesson noted. Hopefully someday it will be Lesson LEARNED. No more alcoholic drinking until Friday.
Gym: Pretty much the only exercise I had while on vaca was skiing. Went back to PT today and the bike was a little more challenging than usual. Interesting. Back to the gym tonight for regular workout.
Crossing fingers that weigh-in this week won't be TOO bad. :-)
Monday, February 5, 2007
Vacation...All I Ever Wanted!
With apologies for taking Lori's idea to name posts after songs... ;-)
Everyone (also in real life) has been asking for details of the trip and the 10 days I've been pretty much away from the blog so I want to try to get this done today before I forget anything good! Here we go...
Friday night (1/26) I went home to pack and planned to get to bed early since we had an early flight to Reno...didn't happen. I was in the middle of packing when I went to get something out of my car and slammed my fingers in the hatchback. The door latched so I had to open it while my fingers were trapped in the door. OW. I ran into the house and got ice right away even though I was crying and knew that it was pretty bad. I tried for about 15 minutes not to call DB (I was telling myself that I used to take care of stuff like this by myself all the time before I met him), but the blood was running down my arm (I was wandering around my house with my hand in the air) and I felt it all swelling so I finally called. He came right over and after looking at it thought we should go to urgent care in case my index finger was broken.
We headed to the urgent care that I had seen close to my house (and right next to the hospital where I had my knee surgery in September) and it was CLOSED. An Urgent Care closed at 8 p.m. on a Friday night?! Yup. Seems it's not "urgent" to them if it doesn't occur before 5 p.m.!! Argh. So we went next door to the hospital ER -- they told us to get ready to wait because they had had 4 ambulances just arrive. They suggested we head down by the airport to an urgent care there. We did. They took me right away and were very nice. The finger wasn't broken and they taped up the flesh wound and gave me a tetanus shot. We had some sushi for dinner then went home to finish packing. We got to sleep after midnight....and had to get up before 6...good thing it was vacation!!!
Our flight to Reno was pretty uneventful (although I do hate flying and grab DB's hand at the slightest bump). We got in and got upgraded on our car because they didn't have ski racks -- to a brand new bright red 4X4 4-door pick-up! It only had 13 miles on it and we fit in very well up in the mountains. ;-)
We stopped at the grocery store in Reno to get groceries and to try to get discounted lift tickets. Unfortunately in all the grocery excitement (we bought basically snacks, sodas, booze and breakfast food...and a lot of it!), we totally forgot to get the discounted tickets!! Oh well.
Then we were off to Tahoe...my first view of the lake elicited a gasp! It's impossible to explain how gorgeous it was. Wow. The house we rented was in the Kingsbury area (beautiful houses, close to casinos and skiing) and we loved it. It felt a lot like a cabin (lots of wood and windows looking out on the pines), but was a big house: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, dining room, laundry room, loft, kitchen, living room, 2-car garage (yes, I felt my house was pretty teeny when we got home last Saturday night!). We unpacked then danced around the living room until our first friends showed up around 4.
Since that Saturday was DB's birthday, we got ready for the special dinner out that I had planned...at The Summit which is probably the best restaurant in Tahoe (maybe in all of Nevada after eating there!). It is on the top of Harrah's and it was beautiful. The meal was definitely one of the best I've ever had: lobster tempura, a yummy arugula salad and lamb chops for me, scallop appetizer (yes, ONE scallop!), soup and bison for DB and other stuff for our friends. Each course had an accompanying wine that was totally delish. Dessert was souffles (chocolate or Grand Marnier) but we were all too full to really eat them all. After dinner we hit the casino for some fun roulette action then headed home for DB's presents. DB and our friend Aaron stayed up in the hot tub smoking cigars and drinking Grand Marnier until 1:30 am (we girls headed to bed a few hours earlier!).
Sunday was just cruising around getting the lay of the land. Checking out Heavenly (the ski resort where we were set to ski), the towns (Stateline, NV and South Lake Tahoe, CA) and the scenery (we cruised around the south of the lake to Emerald Bay which was frozen over...a very rare occurrence we were told). Had a late lunch on the lake then headed "home" to meet our other friends for snacks (no real dinner) and chatting before heading to bed early since 3 of us had to be at our ski lessons at 9 or so.
Monday was our first ski day -- FUN! Aaron, Brooke and I had a great beginners lesson (it was their first time...and my 10th or so!). Our instructor was fantastic -- really gave me confidence and I was so much more comfortable than ever before. We practiced the rest of the day when our class was over and left around 3:30 or 4 to go home for our soon-to-be-typical evening of snacks, showers, dinner and hot-tubbing. We were all really tired, but DB was exhausted -- he went to bed at 8 (I think he was fighting a cold too -- I was also doing that all week). The rest of us stayed up to play Apples to Apples (which DB had gotten me for my birthday -- I love it!) before tub and bed.
Tuesday was my Designated Birthday (we had to pick a day when we were all there to celebrate!). We got up later, got to the mountain about 11 and skied all the rest of the day (Brooke and I stayed on the main bunny hill to really get used to it). Then after cocktails, Brooke and I headed out shopping -- the outlet mall was disappointing, but the naughty erotic shop we hit afterwards was fun! ;-) We got back in time to change for my special "birthday" dinner -- DB had made reservations at a Japanese place -- we had a private "tatami" room and a wonderful sushi dinner! :-) After that, we headed back to town to gamble some more (I did really well with roulette -- I always bet birthdays and anniversaries and that's fun!) before home.
Brooke and Aaron had to head back to Texas on Wednesday so they, DB and I hung out in town (shopping for souvenirs, etc.) while our other friends went skiing. We were so sad for A&B to leave, but soooo happy that they came!! That evening, I cooked steak and salad and garlic croissants for dinner...yum...and then we all watched Love Actually (which I had bought for DB for Xmas and he hadn't seen...we loved it!) before hot tub and bed (do you hear a routine here?!).
Thursday and Friday were back to the slopes...by Friday I spent the whole day up the hill (they have "green" trails up there where I could practice rather than on the bunny hill at the bottom) with DB (our other friends left on Friday morning). Thursday night was another birthday celebration...our friends took us to a buffet dinner then a wee bit more, yes, GAMBLING. ;-)
We were missing our friends on Friday night, but it was great for DB and me to have one night to ourselves! We had had lots of snacks post-skiing, but got dressed to walk down the hill for dinner at a Thai or French place...we got to the bottom of the hill and decided we weren't really in the mood to sit in a restaurant so headed back home, got in our jammies, snacked and were in bed by about 8:30!!! Sooooooo relaxing.
We had to check out of the house on Saturday at 10 so we decided to drive around the lake -- it was such a relaxing day!! We saw all the scenery, houses, the dam, the incredible clarity of the lake, another casino, then went back to Reno for our flight home.
Words really can't describe how great it all was...I feel like a new woman. And a woman who is lucky to have such amazing friends and the best lover/playmate/partner EVER.
Yesterday (my actual birthday), we went shopping for glasses after our beach breakfast, then I went for a pedicure (wonderful!!!) before my mom took us for Indian food to celebrate our birthdays. It was a special treat that my hometown team won its first Super Bowl on my birthday...although I'm not really a football fan...I was more into the Halftime Show...wow PRINCE!!! :-)
Gotta get back to work...it's good to be home...back on the food and WOW wagon and raring to go!
Everyone (also in real life) has been asking for details of the trip and the 10 days I've been pretty much away from the blog so I want to try to get this done today before I forget anything good! Here we go...
Friday night (1/26) I went home to pack and planned to get to bed early since we had an early flight to Reno...didn't happen. I was in the middle of packing when I went to get something out of my car and slammed my fingers in the hatchback. The door latched so I had to open it while my fingers were trapped in the door. OW. I ran into the house and got ice right away even though I was crying and knew that it was pretty bad. I tried for about 15 minutes not to call DB (I was telling myself that I used to take care of stuff like this by myself all the time before I met him), but the blood was running down my arm (I was wandering around my house with my hand in the air) and I felt it all swelling so I finally called. He came right over and after looking at it thought we should go to urgent care in case my index finger was broken.
We headed to the urgent care that I had seen close to my house (and right next to the hospital where I had my knee surgery in September) and it was CLOSED. An Urgent Care closed at 8 p.m. on a Friday night?! Yup. Seems it's not "urgent" to them if it doesn't occur before 5 p.m.!! Argh. So we went next door to the hospital ER -- they told us to get ready to wait because they had had 4 ambulances just arrive. They suggested we head down by the airport to an urgent care there. We did. They took me right away and were very nice. The finger wasn't broken and they taped up the flesh wound and gave me a tetanus shot. We had some sushi for dinner then went home to finish packing. We got to sleep after midnight....and had to get up before 6...good thing it was vacation!!!
Our flight to Reno was pretty uneventful (although I do hate flying and grab DB's hand at the slightest bump). We got in and got upgraded on our car because they didn't have ski racks -- to a brand new bright red 4X4 4-door pick-up! It only had 13 miles on it and we fit in very well up in the mountains. ;-)
We stopped at the grocery store in Reno to get groceries and to try to get discounted lift tickets. Unfortunately in all the grocery excitement (we bought basically snacks, sodas, booze and breakfast food...and a lot of it!), we totally forgot to get the discounted tickets!! Oh well.
Then we were off to Tahoe...my first view of the lake elicited a gasp! It's impossible to explain how gorgeous it was. Wow. The house we rented was in the Kingsbury area (beautiful houses, close to casinos and skiing) and we loved it. It felt a lot like a cabin (lots of wood and windows looking out on the pines), but was a big house: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, dining room, laundry room, loft, kitchen, living room, 2-car garage (yes, I felt my house was pretty teeny when we got home last Saturday night!). We unpacked then danced around the living room until our first friends showed up around 4.
Since that Saturday was DB's birthday, we got ready for the special dinner out that I had planned...at The Summit which is probably the best restaurant in Tahoe (maybe in all of Nevada after eating there!). It is on the top of Harrah's and it was beautiful. The meal was definitely one of the best I've ever had: lobster tempura, a yummy arugula salad and lamb chops for me, scallop appetizer (yes, ONE scallop!), soup and bison for DB and other stuff for our friends. Each course had an accompanying wine that was totally delish. Dessert was souffles (chocolate or Grand Marnier) but we were all too full to really eat them all. After dinner we hit the casino for some fun roulette action then headed home for DB's presents. DB and our friend Aaron stayed up in the hot tub smoking cigars and drinking Grand Marnier until 1:30 am (we girls headed to bed a few hours earlier!).
Sunday was just cruising around getting the lay of the land. Checking out Heavenly (the ski resort where we were set to ski), the towns (Stateline, NV and South Lake Tahoe, CA) and the scenery (we cruised around the south of the lake to Emerald Bay which was frozen over...a very rare occurrence we were told). Had a late lunch on the lake then headed "home" to meet our other friends for snacks (no real dinner) and chatting before heading to bed early since 3 of us had to be at our ski lessons at 9 or so.
Monday was our first ski day -- FUN! Aaron, Brooke and I had a great beginners lesson (it was their first time...and my 10th or so!). Our instructor was fantastic -- really gave me confidence and I was so much more comfortable than ever before. We practiced the rest of the day when our class was over and left around 3:30 or 4 to go home for our soon-to-be-typical evening of snacks, showers, dinner and hot-tubbing. We were all really tired, but DB was exhausted -- he went to bed at 8 (I think he was fighting a cold too -- I was also doing that all week). The rest of us stayed up to play Apples to Apples (which DB had gotten me for my birthday -- I love it!) before tub and bed.
Tuesday was my Designated Birthday (we had to pick a day when we were all there to celebrate!). We got up later, got to the mountain about 11 and skied all the rest of the day (Brooke and I stayed on the main bunny hill to really get used to it). Then after cocktails, Brooke and I headed out shopping -- the outlet mall was disappointing, but the naughty erotic shop we hit afterwards was fun! ;-) We got back in time to change for my special "birthday" dinner -- DB had made reservations at a Japanese place -- we had a private "tatami" room and a wonderful sushi dinner! :-) After that, we headed back to town to gamble some more (I did really well with roulette -- I always bet birthdays and anniversaries and that's fun!) before home.
Brooke and Aaron had to head back to Texas on Wednesday so they, DB and I hung out in town (shopping for souvenirs, etc.) while our other friends went skiing. We were so sad for A&B to leave, but soooo happy that they came!! That evening, I cooked steak and salad and garlic croissants for dinner...yum...and then we all watched Love Actually (which I had bought for DB for Xmas and he hadn't seen...we loved it!) before hot tub and bed (do you hear a routine here?!).
Thursday and Friday were back to the slopes...by Friday I spent the whole day up the hill (they have "green" trails up there where I could practice rather than on the bunny hill at the bottom) with DB (our other friends left on Friday morning). Thursday night was another birthday celebration...our friends took us to a buffet dinner then a wee bit more, yes, GAMBLING. ;-)
We were missing our friends on Friday night, but it was great for DB and me to have one night to ourselves! We had had lots of snacks post-skiing, but got dressed to walk down the hill for dinner at a Thai or French place...we got to the bottom of the hill and decided we weren't really in the mood to sit in a restaurant so headed back home, got in our jammies, snacked and were in bed by about 8:30!!! Sooooooo relaxing.
We had to check out of the house on Saturday at 10 so we decided to drive around the lake -- it was such a relaxing day!! We saw all the scenery, houses, the dam, the incredible clarity of the lake, another casino, then went back to Reno for our flight home.
Words really can't describe how great it all was...I feel like a new woman. And a woman who is lucky to have such amazing friends and the best lover/playmate/partner EVER.
Yesterday (my actual birthday), we went shopping for glasses after our beach breakfast, then I went for a pedicure (wonderful!!!) before my mom took us for Indian food to celebrate our birthdays. It was a special treat that my hometown team won its first Super Bowl on my birthday...although I'm not really a football fan...I was more into the Halftime Show...wow PRINCE!!! :-)
Gotta get back to work...it's good to be home...back on the food and WOW wagon and raring to go!
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Happy Birthday to ME! :-)
45 is looking fantastic so far! :-) Don't forget to check the youtube link below -- that's me skiing! :-)
Thanks for all your good wishes...we got back last night and are just back from a bike ride down to the beach for Birthday Breakfast. Now a wee bit of shopping, a pedicure (yay!) and dinner w/ Mommy.
More as things get back to normal (I think/hope that I've done ok on weight over vacation -- despite eating a lot, we also skiied several days -- crossing fingers!)...
Love to all from The Birthday Girl! :-)
Thanks for all your good wishes...we got back last night and are just back from a bike ride down to the beach for Birthday Breakfast. Now a wee bit of shopping, a pedicure (yay!) and dinner w/ Mommy.
More as things get back to normal (I think/hope that I've done ok on weight over vacation -- despite eating a lot, we also skiied several days -- crossing fingers!)...
Love to all from The Birthday Girl! :-)
Friday, February 2, 2007
So much fun, so much beauty, so much LOVE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2JgPTSvl0eY
Tahoe is/has been beautiful.
Tahoe is/has been fun!
Tahoe is/has been LOVE.
Happy birthday to US! :-)
Thanks to all who have sent happy vacation messages...all your energy has been manifested. Elle n'est pas belle la vie? SI. :-)
More when I'm home...
Tahoe is/has been beautiful.
Tahoe is/has been fun!
Tahoe is/has been LOVE.
Happy birthday to US! :-)
Thanks to all who have sent happy vacation messages...all your energy has been manifested. Elle n'est pas belle la vie? SI. :-)
More when I'm home...
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