Browse Month: May 2007

exhausted

May and June are always busy for me at work but I feel like it’s much worse this year.  Somehow 8 hours pass before I get a chance to sit down at my computer to answer emails.  I’m running from meeting to meeting during the day and going home to write report after report.  I’m simply exhausted.  On top of that, I tweaked my back during an assessment yesterday as I was trying to help a mother control her child.  *sigh*  So, today I managed to leave work early (around 4 pm) for the sake of my sanity.  I’ve been clocking 12-16 hour work days for the past two weeks and needed a break.  In fact, today was my last darkroom class and I surely made the most of it.  I arrived an hour early per the request of my instructor and made a final print of my OC Fair Photo Contest entry.  I also managed to print 3 other photos that I feel may be worthy of framing and hanging in my home.  It’s nice to have something to “escape” to when I’m mentally stretched to the limits.  Hopefully my photo will pass the first round of judging.  I’ll have to cross all my fingers and toes and hold my breath for that to happen.  Nighty night…off to bed now.

almost a month old

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We had a family lunch today at Pish and Debbie’s house. My uncle and aunt were in town to visit their granddaughter so we all gathered to have some of my mom’s yummy chicken rice together. Little Katie is almost a month old and looks like such a happy baby. So far she’s been on a pretty regular nap, feeding, and pooping schedule and growing quickly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to get some photos of her before it was nap time but I managed to capture this one. I think she’s going to be a fun subject to photograph over the years. I’ll just have to find another day to continue our photoshoot.

Sugar High

img_5790a.jpgI had a sugary day on Saturday. In the morning, I met up with Marie and Cole at the Spectrum. While we were having some breakfast at The Corner Bakery, there was a baking demo going on in front of the ferris wheel. Fortunately for us, they were giving out a variety of samples with girls walking around with trays of treats. So, by the time we finished breakfast, Cole, Marie, and I had some brownie, chocolate cake, vanilla cake with strawberries, and cookies. Yum. With Marie having some shopping to do, I became the Baby Sitter Extraordinaire once again. It was a beautifully sunny day and fun hanging out with the little guy. We visited the puppies at the pet store and bought some little wind-up toys at the toy store. What fun!

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Later in the evening, Johnny had his housewarming and he had a pretty good turnout. His new apartment is much bigger than the studio with two bedrooms and a pretty big livingroom. Knowing that we’d be having a late night, I packed up the X3 with dog food, the dog, toothrbrushes, and running shoes. We were basically going to have a little slumber party in Santa Monica. At the party there was plenty pizza and sugar of all kinds. I started with some tasty kanom krok and mango with sticky rice that Johnny brought from Wat Thai and then some almond jello. Then as if I didn’t have enough, David brought some ice cream and these tasty Dibs that I just HAD to try.

So it was a good thing that I brought my running shoes because I really needed to run it all off. We all got up and ran along the beach. Since my foot is still recovering, Koa and I only ran 3 miles while Johnny, Joy, and David ran 5-6 miles. It was nice to be outside and running again. In my first week back in my running shoes, I managed to run a total of 6 miles this week…not bad. If I take it easy with the mileage increase, I should be back on-track very soon.

I never thought…

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…that dental floss could reunite two old friends. But it did today.

Koa’s best friend is named Fabian Fox (see photo above taken over a year ago). If you haven’t met him yet, Fabian is a stuffed fox that Jes and my brother found at the local Albertsons in the $1 bin. He used to say “Hello, my name is Fabian Fox. Would you like a cafe au lait?” It was hilarious. We thought it would lose its novelty with the dog after a couple days but it has become Koa’s all-time favorite toy. Although it’s now missing an ear and no longer speaks, it’s in a pretty good condition considering how much abuse its taken over the past two years.

Unfortunately, two weeks ago, as a result of an extra exuberant game of tug-o-war, Fabian’s tail ripped off. Oh no! Well, that didn’t phase Koa much until he realized that it left a huge hole, which made it very tempting for him to pull all the stuffing out. What a mess. So, I decided it would be time to put Fabian away until I could come up with a way to fix him.

It’s been at least 3 weeks without his dear friend and Koa seemed a little out of sorts. So, I grabbed a small spool of dental floss and my trusty needle and did some surgery. Koa sat by my feet staring at me – patiently awaiting the results of my handiwork. I decided not to sew his tail back on but to just close up the hole. After a couple quick stitches, Fabian was sewn up and ready to go. Before I could even say “here you go”, Koa snatched him from my hands and ran to the other room. About 30 minutes later, I went upstairs to grab something from my room and and found him napping on the floor of our bedroom with his old pal by his side.

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I guess even dogs can have a Dirty Wow Wow.

Stress Relief

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It’s busy season at work and it’s definitely reflected in what I’m watching on TV. A few weeks ago, I was flipping through channels on the TV and found myself waching a full episode of “The Bachelor”. Wha?! Yep, I was watching Andy Baldwin courting four women and actually rooting for Tessa. Sweet. I’ve also been watching “Dancing With the Stars” every Monday and I’ve been pulling for Apolo and Julianne. Boy oh boy…if TiVo tracks my preferred shows, my TiVo “Suggested Shows” folder is going to packed with reality TV for months. Anyway, what I’m getting at is that trashy TV is a great stress reliever. Last week when I was completely stressed out, I came home, turned on my TiVo and vegged out for three hours. I felt SOOOO much better afterwards and slept like a baby.

Oh by the way, Tessa won Andy’s heart and Apolo and Julianne won. Woot! May sweeps rock.

a good night’s sleep

dsc_6343a.jpgThis morning I woke up at around 8:30 am wide-eyed and fully rested. I don’t think I’ve felt like that in months. I’m used to dragging myself out of bed all groggy and achey as if I had slept only 15 minutes. It actually doesn’t matter what time I get up…it’s the same icky feeling regardless of whether it’s a work day or a lazy Saturday morning. But today was different. I was able to do the classic sit-up-in-bed-and-stretch as I listened to the birds chirping outside. It was awesome. Why can’t I wake up like this everyday? All I know is that I was Miss Motivated today. I finished 6 loads of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, paid all the bills, sifted through a pile of papers that had accumulated over the last 3 weeks, answered some work emails, went grocery shopping, AND went for a run! Holy crap…who IS this girl?!

Speaking of running…after my 4-week hiatus from training, my foot is feeling about 80% now. It’s just good enough to take a quick test-run today. I ran around the hill once and felt really good. I admit I only went one mile but it’s a start. Fortunately I wasn’t as de-conditioned as I expected. I think I could have done another couple miles but I didn’t want to risk re-injuring my foot. I also noticed that I was rolling over on the lateral side of my foot quite a bit but it didn’t seem to bother my ankle. Perhaps I’ve built enough strength in those muscles through four weeks of limping and compensating. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how I feel after a couple more weeks of running that way. So, I revised my training schedule and I have exactly 15 weeks left before the half marathon. I should have just enough time to be ready but I can’t afford any more injuries. I suppose the next thing for me to do is head over to the running store to snag myself a new pair of kicks. I guess I’m long overdue. I forgot that my current shoes finished my last full marathon with me. That was back in November 2005. Sheesh.

So…Brother, Joy…I’m back! Hopefully all is well with my broken wheel. Magic Kingdom, here we come!