Retail therapy

Just a quick check in to share that I'm feeling much better, thank you.  The guy situation still feels sucky but I'm not crying about it anymore and am not feeling so lonely (packing my schedule with things with friends helps!).  I'll get back out there soon enough.  ;)  The upcoming oral surgery (day after tomorrow) should be smooth and easy enough.  In the grand scheme, I've dealt with much scarier things.  I'm not that worried about it.  And the work stress is still there but I'm trying to get a handle on it.  It'll be fine.  I'll be fine.  I really am feeling a lot better than I was a week ago.

Life?!  It's crazy.  But I'll be fine!

All the shopping I've been doing (a new Shark vacuum and Shark steam mop, casual Sorels with an employee store discounted price, Nordstrom personal shopping, Stella & Dot earrings to replace my favorite lost pair, new art for my bedroom, my first CAbi party and purchase, etc.) has been helping.  I'm cleaning house and updating my life (and wardrobe!).  :)

Tardy Dallas observations

I intended to do a (quick) 2nd Dallas observations post back when I was in Dallas... 2 months ago... but never got around to it.  So here it is!

There is a delicious wings place called Pluckers that started in (Austin?) Texas and is deeeelicious.  Get the boneless wings, get some tasty sauces, get some sides like mac n cheese and onion rings.  And get a giant jar of sweet tea.  Yummm...

A whole days' calories, all in 1 meal!  So efficient!

Everyone coordinates their outfits.  We called this colored denim day.  (Okay, it actually was a coincidence...)

At Girls Night Out with Sharan and Wendy

In Dallas they have 5 choices at the gas station!!  Not 3, BUT 5!  I went to fill my rental car up before returning it and got confused by all the choices.  Blows your mind, no?!

Gas was approximately 75 cents cheaper in Dallas than Seattle... sigh...

Dallas has some "interesting" approaches to enticing the ladies to buy clothing.  I'm just not sure how effective it is.  I prefer my clothes to NOT make me look like a farmyard animal.  But that's just me.

At the farm.  I mean, airport.

Okay kids, that's all I've got for Dallas.  Yee-haw!!  My next trip is to San Francisco next month for 2 weeks with a weekend in Portland for the Brain Tumor Walk sandwiched in there.  I'll keep my eyes peeled!

Nice little Thursday

After getting the good news from Dr. M on Thursday, I had a lovely little day.  I met my friend Lynn for lunch and some quick shopping and celebratory froyo on Upper Queen Anne (have you tried Homegrown? Yum!!).  I picked up a fantastic new candle and some adorable little earrings at the cutest shop Dispatch.  A couple hours later, I had a 90-minute relaxation massage at Gene Juarez.  I was SO relaxed that I nearly fell asleep on the massage table.  That NEVER happens to me.  I followed that up with a really nice steam shower... ahh...  Then I hit up Nordstrom for triple points and got a couple pairs of sandals (I'm trying to put warm weather vibes out there) and some lady undergarments, if you will.  It was such a nice day.

The other good news is that these MRI appointments are getting easier.  While I was definitely nervous beforehand, I wasn't nervous as early as I have been for past appointments.  And the day of, I was less nervous between my MRI and the results appointment (as we waited about 45 minutes).  Plus, when Dr. M gave me the good news, I did not immediately burst into tears like I did each time before.  (I had promised him last time that I'd try not to cry this time.)  The funny thing is that when I'm not as nervous, the relief does not feel as big.  But I'll take it!!  Less nerves is less stress and that is always a good thing.

This should be a nice week, with happy hour, a Groupon deal dinner, a crab feed, Hunger Games, a haircut, my sister's bridal shower that I'm hosting, and a Mad Men premiere party.  Whew.  I hope everyone has a good week too!

Potty mouth crafts, hats, and romance novel covers

I have had a busy week!!  Let me fill you in on some highlights.

I did some crafting.  I stumbled across Subversive Cross Stitch randomly and found a pattern addressing cancer.  I emailed Julie, the owner, to ask if she could tweak the pattern for tumors.  She did (for free) and told me that her brother had died of a very aggressive brain tumor.  She said lots of words of support and I was off!  After receiving my cross stitch kit in the mail, I created this beauty.

Pardon my French, but it's deserved

This little ray of sunshine now hangs in my bathroom

I sent these pictures to Julie to show her how well it turned out, since it was the first F Tumors cross stitch to be done (I'm such a trailblazer, I know...).  She asked me if she could share it on her site's Facebook page, and I told her of course she could.  Well, it got a REALLY great reception!!  I was SO touched and teared up at work (right after she posted it) with all of the wonderful things all these random strangers had to say.

I think my favorite is the guy who says "She looks much too nice to have such a potty mouth, but I have to agree with her on this point."  HA!!!  

I've also been continuing to clean the clutter from my life (and physically from my apartment).  I had a large pile of hats and scarves that have lived on the floor next to my couch since May.  With my new 'do, they are officially retired!  

My head feels cold already!

Some of these are getting donated and some I'm keeping (and may wear casually, for fun! nuts, right?!).  There are just too many for me to keep.

On Saturday, besides enjoying the company of my out of town guests Mindy and Casey and prepping for my party (details in a post to come), I also received what may be the greatest wedding save the date magnet of all time from my seester Amy.  OF ALL TIME.

GENIUS!

This magnet will likely live on my fridge forever.  Past the wedding, past more cleaning out the crap from my life, FOREVER.  I canNOT get over it!  I LOVE IT!

Alright, I'm almost caught up.  Details about the best birthday party ever coming soon!!!

My missing internal compass strikes again

Friends have asked me if my directional issues are getting better with time.  No, they are not...  I am relearning the ways to get places (so that I can remember them at a time when I'm not actually on my way there), but it takes repetition and I can still get disoriented easily enough.  Yesterday I had an instance that is typical of my new always-lost lifestyle.

I was in a department store doing a little Christmas shopping, grabbed a few things, and went to the checkout line.  Of course, one of the items I grabbed was missing a tag.  Typical.  The checkout lady asked if I would go grab another one real quick or if she should.  Trying to be helpful, I said I'd go get one.  There were a few people in line behind me, so I hurried off to keep them waiting as little as possible.  Well,  I wandered around for about a minute and couldn't find the table with the items.  At all.  Not even close.  I barely found my way back to the checkout stand.  I apologized, told the lady I get lost really easily and couldn't find the table, and asked if she would go grab one instead.  (I apologized to the people in line behind me too, but they just seemed annoyed.)  She walks off, goes about 30 feet in clear sight, and grabs a replacement item with a tag.  And I proceed to feel like an idiot...

Honestly, I didn't really let it get to me, but I just felt silly.  I've accepted my new shortcoming and am pretty much fine with it, but I wish that I could somehow get random people that don't know me to be fine with it too.  Once people know about my tumor, they are so much nicer to me, I can tell (and trust me, I don't tell people about my sitch unless I actually want them to know).  But I'm NOT going to advertise to random strangers in line at a department store that I have it, so instead I just ignore the annoyed looks and let it roll off my back.  Everyone's brain works differently (seriously... I cannot emphasize this enough) and people cannot help the way theirs functions (or doesn't function, like my missing compass).

At least I have a really cute haircut covering up that dysfunctional brain of mine!  :)

An infomercial, brain tumor style

I love shopping, and tis the season for shopping.  Well, and family and love and celebrating holidays and recognizing what we have to be thankful for, but let's put all that aside for the moment.  ;)  I recently stumbled across a couple wonderful things for sale whose proceeds (or a portion of proceeds) go towards brain tumor and brain cancer research and support.  Plus, they're items that you'd actually want to buy!  I can't think of much I'd rather spend my money on.  (Well, maybe a trip around the world, but let's start slowly.)

Bracelets For A Cause by EvelynJay on Etsy sells really beautiful beaded leather bracelets, and a portion of the proceeds are donated to the National Brain Tumor Society.  You know, the organization that my team helped raise over $8,500 for earlier this year?  I'd love to help them out even a little bit more.  Plus you get a super cute bracelet!  She even takes special orders.

Triple-wrap loveliness

Darren Tieste, photographer extraordinaire, very recently published a coffee table book of celebrity photography called The Beauty Book for Brain Cancer.  It is over 300 pages of photos he's taken of some little-known celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, and (my personal favorite) Jojo.  They're no big deal.  Proceeds from this book go to brain cancer organizations Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group (SNOG) and Headrush.

She kind of looks like Badass Brain Tumor-Kicking Barbie, don't you think?

I have the triple-wrap gray and silver bracelet and this book on my wish list this year, and will be making purchases shortly.  In all seriousness, if you have someone on your list to buy for that would like one of these products, please consider making a purchase.  Your money will go even farther than at the shopping mall!

In great spirits! 'Tis the season!

I feel a little like a switch has flipped inside of me, and I've been in really great spirits lately!  Not that I was all bummed before, but I just feel different.  Positive.  Perhaps it's the holiday season and all the Christmas lights up and NSync Christmas songs I've been listening to.  I feel optimistic, happy, and it's nice.  (Part of it probably relates to feeling like Jeff is a part of my past, not my present, and being okay with that... but who knows for sure.)

This may be the worst music video of all time.  YOU WILL LOVE IT.

I'm a little bit nervous for my MRI this Thursday, but not too nervous.  I'm feeling confident and optimistic and expect nothing but clean results.  (I hope I'm not setting myself up for failure, knock on wood.)  I'm also ready for my big haircut.  It'll be a nice, fresh start for me.  My friend Sydnie told me last night that she thinks I'll look like a supermodel; how awesome would that be?!  I must remember to exude confidence after I get the chop.  ;)

I spent this weekend enjoying a show (The Kooks at the Showbox at the Market with Sydnie) last night, acupuncture today (getting my qi flowing on all of my brain and eye points), doing a tiny bit of shopping in downtown Seattle (not recommended while the suburban moms in minivans are occupying the area), good Thai food (shout-out to Thai Siam), hanging with my BFF Carl and his wife Maria and eating the super delicious Oreo truffles she made, and even an exciting Saturday night trip to Target.  Love it.  Tomorrow has Urban Craft Uprising, a kickass huge indie craft fair, on the agenda.  YES.

Feeling good!!  And looking forward to a big but good week.

San Francisco! Woo!

I got away this last weekend with a semi-last minute plane ticket to San Francisco.  I went to visit my good friends Lynn and David and their kitty Lola.  It was sooo nice to get out of Seattle!  Although I did take the rain with me, but it didn't affect our fun too much.

We enjoyed a fancy dinner at Maverik on Friday night, then on Saturday Lynn had to work (ahh, the glamorous life of an accountant) so I met up with my friends Jacqui and Richard to go to the Wazzu football game against Cal.  I didn't know there was a game when I booked my plane ticket, but it ended up working out perfectly!  They played at AT&T Park (aka where the SF Giants play) so it was a little different watching football in a baseball stadium, but we had a good time.  We went to a pretty fantastic WSU tailgate (complete with the giant WSU flag that gets flown atop the Space Needle flying at the tailgate, no joke) and then tried to enjoy some Cougar football.  It POURED and the Cougs sucked but we had a good time, as evidenced by these lovely photos.

E-Drid (as in "say go, say Cougs"), yours truly, Jacqui, and half of Richard

Lurking in pics is even more fun than being the subject of the photo!

With the terrible score and ridiculous rain, we peaced out at halftime and watched the rest of the game from the comfort of 21st Amendment.  Still a really fun day though, I LOVE away games!!  And I made it all the way home on the Muni all by myself.  Take that, poor sense of direction and disorientation!

On Sunday, Lynn and I had breakfast at Chow and headed downtown for some shopping.  And oh, it did not disappoint.  I did a little damage, BUT everything I got was on my short list of things I wanted to find and have been looking for a while: an army green, parka-like winter coat with faux fur trimmed hood and a fun and special shirt to wear for my birthday (details to come).  Check and check!!  We also had a tasty lunch at Lynn's old friend Tom Colicchio's restaurant 'Wichcraft.  One bonus of visiting Lynn and David is that they always know the delicious places to eat!

Lynn and I didn't get any pics together, so here's an oldie but a goodie from our previous lives where we audited Holland America cruise ships.  It was a rough life.  ;)

Aboard the ms Oosterdam, October 2006... So young!  Pre-braces!

It was a great weekend, as it's always great seeing longtime friends again.  I hadn't seen Lynn and David since before surgery, or Jacqui and Richard since this summer, and I miss all of them.  Perhaps you should all move back to Seattle...?!  Okay, okay...  Can't wait to visit again!!

Hats a-plenty

My sister Amy helped me a do a little damage and grow my (non-existent) hat collection the other day.  Luckily it's nearly summer (perhaps not in Seattle, but there are rumors it might get sunny one of these days) and hats are IN, so my future half-bald head of mine and I are jumping all over this!

So far, my new collection consists of:

The "Spring Beanie" - Picked this up in both this camel/white color and a black/gray/white version

The "Babushka" - I have this exact print/color

The unnamed "50 SPF protection" hat - I have something similar in thick straw and gray stripes

The "Graphic Butterflies" scarf - The print is actually quite a bit smaller in real life

I think I'm off to a good start!  I'm also meeting up with my hairstylist Eric prior to surgery to go over my short hair options.  After I get through my hat and scarf phase (when my shaved hair has grown out an inch or 2), I'm chopping the rest of it off!!!  Think longish pixie, like Katie Holmes or Carey Mulligan.

This is the fun stuff, friends.  :)