Travel Anxiety

Deeeeeeeeeep breath.  Ok, so I'm leaving on my trip to NY later today.  I somehow made it out of the house alive (an hour later than I usually leave in the morning), so that's good news.  The thing about me is that I love to travel and see new places, but I HATE packing, and it totally stresses me out!  I'm an awful packer.  I always bring way more stuff than I need and cram it all in to my suitcase.  Then, even though I've brought everything I think I could possibly need, I somehow still don't end up bringing something that would have been useful, such as a certain pair of shoes, a dressier top, etc...  Ugh... It's a problem. 

 (source)

Add the fact that I'm going to a wedding, the weather in NY looks colder and questionable (it's probably going to rain!), and that my brother wants to go running, and you can imagine the crap I stuffed into my carry-on sized suitcase!  Fun stuff!

Anyway, there's no turning back now.  Good thing my sister-in-law is about my size and willing to provide clothing if I need anything :).  I already know I need to borrow a clutch from her for the wedding.

So, I am slowly trickling down the last few days of the 30 Day Challenge.  Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile.

I've showed this picture before, but had to use it again.  I love this one :)  Jen took this for me with her phone when she took Clyde out for me one day.  I just love how cute and happy Clyde looks in this picture.  It makes me smile :)

Aside from packing, leaving Clyde is the hardest part about traveling.  I definitely snuggled him an extra bit this morning and hope he has fun with my friend Michelle this weekend.  As usual, he seemed to know something was up, and did this:

That would be the preventative, if-I-sit-on-your-suitcase-you-can't-leave-without-me strategy.  He does it to Greg every week when he's packing too.  Or maybe our clothes are just really comfy...  

In any case, I'm going to try to have a great time and not worry about my baby!  I'll try to blog while I'm up north, but may be too busy to get anything down until my trip is complete.  

Hope you guys have a great weekend!!

Shudder At The Thought...

Day 28 of the 30 Day Challenge is - A picture of something you're afraid of.

Well, I'll tell you this, it's something Indiana Jones and I have in common...

 Yup, that would be SNAKES! 

Confession: even these pictures are creeping me out big time.  Ahhhhhhhh!  Yikes!

I think I've always been afraid of snakes.  Even dead, run over snakes in the street freak me out and I've been known to shriek and hop around til I'm safely away from them when/if I see one!

Where I grew up (in rural NH), there were frequently snakes around my house and in the yard, and I definitely remember stumbling over a few sunning themselves on our walkway when I was a kid and totally loosing it!  I just don't like how they appear out of no where and they are all slithery!  Even little ones really freak me out!

It's safe to say, you're never gonna see this Brit doing this....

Ugh!  Eeeeeeek!

Oddly, bugs don't bother me in the least...  Go figure.

What freaks you out?

My Sister-In-Law

Day 27 of the 30 Day Challenge - A picture of yourself and a family member.


I've actually done some posts on all of my primary family members:  my brother, my mom, and my dad.
 
I figured I'd highlight someone I haven't really written about that much before, my sister-in-law, Ashley, who is my brother's wife :)
 
 

I remember the first time we met Ashley, we all immediately saw why my brother liked her.  She's very personable, beautiful, funny, and kind.

 

We actually have a lot in common too, we both love running, yoga, healthy food (she sometimes reads blogs!), and of course, my brother.

She fits in with our family very well because she's always up for fine dining, a couple drinks, exploring new places and goofing around.  It's what we do best :)

I was so flattered and excited when she asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding.

She's really become a good friend and the sister I always wanted.

And now she's going to make me an Aunt!  She and my brother are expecting a baby in September!

I get to see them, and the BUMP, this weekend!  Can't wait :)



My Education

Day 26 of the 30 Day Challenge is - A picture of something that means a lot to you.

For this one I'm going to go with the fact that my parents paid for my education.  I know I'm really lucky to have parents that cared about my education and offered to pay for four years of college.  It's not something I fully grasped the greatness of at the time, but now I know that it was a really awesome and rare thing that my parents did to put me through college.  I know that not all parents do that or can do that, and I was lucky to have parents who did.  Thanks Mom and Dad :)

Adventures in Kayaking!

Howdy blog world!  So it's already Thursday!  I'm looking forward to this weekend with a couple fun things happening and also some good down time.

I'm way off track with the 30 Day Challenge, but oh well.  We'll just keep trucking along the best we can, right?  It may not happen in 30 days as intended, but I'll do my best to still do ALL 30 days.  So this one is supposed to be Day 25 - A picture of your day.  I'm going to do yesterday as my day, since I have a lot of great pictures.  Yesterday, I got home and Greg, Clyde, and I took our kayaks out for the first time this year!  Here's some pictures of our adventure.

See the blue heron??

Truth be told, I actually wasn't too psyched to go kayaking and Greg really had to twist my arm to get me to go, but it was absolutely beautiful once we were out on the river, and it was probably the best time I've ever had kayaking.  The water was so peaceful and calm, we saw great wildlife, the weather was perfect, and Clyde was funny to watch as he checked everything out.  So glad I got out there :)
 

Hoping For Change

Day 24 of the 30 Day Challenge- A picture of something you wish you could change.


I wish I could change this...
 

To this...

But you guys already know that.

I took yet another pregnancy test last night (I think I've taken 3 now) on a whim, but alas there was only one line.  Ehhhhh....

Not being pregnant when you want to be sucks.  It's something that's suddenly on your radar all the time and it seems like everyone in the world but you can get knocked up. 

The other problem is that if you're like me you're in the constant state of "pregnancy limbo" where you don't know if you are or aren't pregnant half the time in the two weeks in between ovulation and your period, so you find it influencing everything.  Even yesterday, I was doing something for work and potentially could have been exposed to something that would be a problem if I were pregnant, so not knowing for sure if I am or am not, I decided to sit on the side lines, even though it was something I would have enjoyed participating in.  That kind of stuff DRIVES ME BATTY!

Anyway, I haven't really figured out how to deal with all this very well (which you can probably see), and even though it's only been a couple months, it's just really frustrating and hard.  I find myself losing hope all ready, as the month go by and there is nothing to show for after carefully tracking, using an ovulation predictor kit, and seemingly trying exactly when I should be, because Greg was magically home at the right time.  Still, no results.

Last night I got home and while taking Clyde out, I glanced over at this area in my landscaping where Greg and I had planted a lilac bush the first year we moved here.  The joke was on us because every year we have just gotten nothing but LEAVES and no lilac flowers to show for and have been wondering if it would ever flower.  Well, this year we got lilacs!

It really made me smile to see those flowers.  I'm hoping this is a good sign and that this is how our trying to conceive journey will go- after a while of nothing, we will all the sudden get a blossom...  That would be really great.

My Favorite Book

Happy Monday!  It was really gorgeous here in Charlotte today, about 80 and breezy.  I took Clyde on a long walk around the neighborhood where he played with other dogs, kids, and even a couple adults.  He's quite the social dog, that Clyde ;)  He's pretty worn out now. 

Day 23 of the 30 Day Challenge is - A picture of your favorite book.



I have to go with The Time Traveler's Wife.  I absolutely loved this book.  It's such a great story and I could relate to Clare being apart from Henry all the time, with my pilot husband.  I finished the book about a year and a half ago.  I was on a plane and remember holding back tears.  If you haven't read it, you really should.  It's excellent.  Be prepared for a story that jumps around a lot (I often had to turn back to the beginning of the chapter to keep track of where I was, who was there, and how old they were), but it's really complex and cool.  And for the record, I didn't love the movie, but I literally watched it a week after finishing the book.  I'd give it another chance now that I have some distance from the book and see if I liked it any better.

What's your favorite book??

Tropical Muffins and Spring Allergies

I'm really hoping to avoid anymore downer posts, sorry!  The 30 Day Challenge has a couple topics that are no so great.  Maybe if another downer topic pops up I will change it and just do my own thing. 

Anyway!  So this morning I decided to cut up a big pineapple I had sitting on my counter. 

I decided I kind of wanted to bake something with pinapple in it, so I made:

Tropical Muffins


1 cup (a little over) fresh pinapple (or one can pinapple)

1 splash apple juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup coconut butter, melted

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup toasted coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.


Blend pinapple and apple juice in a food processor.

Combine 1/2 c flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and 1/4 c melted butter; stir well. (Cinnamon mixture to be used later).

In a large bowl, combine the 2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, remaining 1/4 c melted  coconut butter, and reserved pineapple juice; stir well.

Mix dry ingredients with the liquid ingredients, add the pureed pinapple and about 1/2 of the toasted cocount stirring just until moistened (do not overmix!).

Spoon batter into greased and floured (or lined) muffin tins, filling 1/2 full.

Sprinkle each muffin with the cinnamon mixture and more of the toasted coconut.

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.

They were pretty yummy!  I might add mashed banana or even some white chocolate chips or something if I made them again.

I also had a side bowl of fresh pinapple with some of the toasted coconut on it.

And a cup of Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Decaf Tea

In other news, even though Spring is my favorite season, Spring allergies are hitting me HARD this year! 
Since I'm behind on the 30 Day challenge, and Day 22 is - A picture of something you wish you were better at, I'm going to go with coping with pain/allergies, since I've been sulky and whiny about my allergies all day and wish I could handle it better.

Flowers you are so pretty, but you make me SNEEZE!

To make matters worse, while I'm trying to get pregnant (or could BE pregnant), I'm extremely hestitant to take any medication unless I absolutely have to, so I am kind of suffering through it even though I'm dying to pop an allergy pill and be over this. 

Tissues are my best friend

I use my neti pot like twice a day and stay close to tissues.  Today was particularly rough though, because the allergies seemed to cause a migraine and I was seriously suffering, since migraine meds are another no-no.  I took a nap and even had an ice pack on my head for a while.  I feel better now, but still have some dull pain.  Blah!  It is SO NICE outside today too, but I'm hestitant to spend much time out there for fear that it just causes me additional issues. 

Do you guys have Spring allergies?  Any other coping tips??

Butter

Hi guys!  I was feeling a need to be a little bit more unplugged the last few days.  I just kind of needed a break!  Friday night I stayed in and snuggled Clyde and watched Love In The Time Of Cholera.  I read the book a loooooooooooong time ago in high school and honestly didn't really remember the story.  I actually liked the movie and recommend it if you're in the mood for something different.  There's a bunch of famous people in it- Benjamin Bratt, Javier Bardem, John Leguizamo... 

Yesterday I got my haircut and then had round two of "Michelle gets acclimated with Clyde".  My friend Michelle is staying with Clyde in a couple weeks when I go to NY for a wedding, so we're trying to get them used to each other.  We took a walk and got coffee and then I gave her the house tour and told her all about Clyde's quirks, such as that he likes to have a raw hide for about 15 minutes before he goes to bed at night, and likes a drink of water after the rawhide.  I think they'll have fun together.

We went for sushi for dinner and then met some friends for ice cream before calling it a night.  I was actually in bed by 10pm last night.  I know, a wild Saturday night, right?


Ok, so since I haven't posted in a couple days, I'm way behind in the 30 Day Challenge.  Again, I appear to failing the challenge!  Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.  I think this one is not as simple as it appears, because I firmly believe that everything you go through is part of who you are, good or bad.  Things that come to mind are the death of my grandma, September 11th, seeing Greg go through getting furloughed, the death of my rabbit, Butter.

Since I've talked about the others on the blog before, I'll tell the story of Butter.  Growing up the only pets I ever had were fish.  My parents aren't big animal people and I was never allowed to get a cat, dog, rabbit, hamster, or any furry friends, even though I desperately wanted some.  By the time I was a sophomore in college, I decided I would get a rabbit.  I went to a feed store in New Hampshire where they rabbits and picked out Butter. 

She was the only one in the bin with her coloring and once I picked her up, I did not want to put her down.  She was a Dutch rabbit, and I loved her.  She was affectionate and would lick your hand like a cat.  She loved to be snuggled and was always so cute.  I took her with me to Ohio when I transferred schools, she came with me to the DC area when I moved there, and lived with Greg and I when we moved in together.  We went through a lot together.

Greg worried she was lonely, and one day I came home to a SECOND bunny that Greg had gone out and gotten without my knowledge, to keep Butter company. 

Butter and Oreo loved each other and got along really well.  They were always huddled together snuggled up.  They were an adorable pair.

Eventually, after about 9 years, Butter got a respiratory condition.  We literally paid thousands of dollars in vet bills getting her treated, admistered IV's to her (the vet showed us how), and I remember sitting in a bathroom with a humidifier trying to help her breathe.  We probably should have put her to sleep sooner than we did, but I had never lost a pet before, and couldn't bear the thought.  I was willing to try anything to save her.  Finally, one night, she was not doing well.  I rushed her to the vet and they gave me the options.  It was time to face the fact that I needed to let go.  Greg was on a trip and I couldn't reach him.  I was alone at the vet when they put her to sleep and I just remember bawling as I pet her soft fur and let go.  I guess that is one of the memories I wish I could forget, because it was just so tough to decide to let go and be there alone when she died.  I was able to reach my friend Melanie and she stayed on the phone with me while I cried for a while. 

I think losing a pet is a really awful thing.  They are just all love.  I've lost a few more rabbits since Butter died, and none of them hit me quite as hard, but they were all awful just the same.

Weeknight Diversions and US Travel Destinations

Hey guys!  I'm happy to report that today is going better than yesterday in terms of health, and today's post is not a downer.  Sorry if yesterday's post was sad.  I did get a little teary writing it.

Anyway, back to this week.  So in the nights I wasn't staying in ill I had some fun things going on.  Tuesday night, Greg and I had dinner with Erin and her husband at a local Chinese place.  Erin and I were so gabby at dinner neither of us took any food pictures!  Bad I know.  We went back to my house for dessert and so the men could talk about their RC hobbies.

We had a great time with them!  It's rare to find another couple we both have so much in common with.  Fun!

Tonight, I met some of my girls out at The Wooden Vine for some food and vino.  We shared this bottle of Quattro Mani, an Italian red.  It was very good.

We also got five small plates to share:  white bean hummus, asparagus/procuitto salad, a cheese plate, corn/jalapeno dip, and herbed ricotta flat bread.  They were great, as evidenced by our empty plates.

It was a great week night diversion :)

So today's post for the 30 Day Challenge is: Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

I really should read ahead on these, since I'm finding that I've already posted something that could answer this...ooops!  Well, the good news is, there are LOTS of places I'd like to travel to that I haven't been to, and since my other list was all over seas locations, this time we'll go with places I would like to travel to in the US:

Seattle, WA:

Portland, OR

Arizona

Colorado

Alaska

Of course, I'd pretty much go anywhere I haven't been, but these are some of the places I'm most curious about and would like to see.

Ok, I'm off to watch the musical Grey's episode.  Not sure I like the singing so far.  It's distracting.