I practice Bikram yoga. I'm entering into my second week...I'm in absolute love with Bikram. I sweat. I vomit (today I threw up). And I love how I feel after we end our practice.
I'm writing more...i'm about to finish my first audio project...like...so close to finishing. I'm excited. I love hearing how the music finds the perfect way to complement the words...oh how I love it.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Breathing, Reading and the like
2011 came quietly for me. K and I celebrated by staying in for the evening, playing a bit of wii and telling each other I love you when the new year actually arrived.
My dear friend Liz wrote about 2011. And I was very much inspired.
This is what's happened in 2011 so far...things i've thought about...read...and the like :)
Breathing and yoga. I've known that yoga needs to be a part of my regular routine for a LONG time. I'm going to enjoy a two-week trial with a new friend and coworker this week. We're going to be friends with Bikram yoga...I love to sweat...I think :).
I am on a teaching sabbatical from the Y. I began feeling bitter when I would arrive to class on Saturdays and one person would be there...and that person would expect me to just teach for ten minutes and then leave. It wasn't helpful for anyone. I'm already ready to go back and teach sometime in the spring. I've enjoyed taking different classes. I went to Council Bluffs to try out a bootcamp with an awesome friend...and then tried out Zumba at the Omaha Ballroom....it was AWESOME.
Welcoming...We welcomed a new dog into the house. K and I took a little staycation in Omaha. I loved planning it and just being tourists in a familiar city. Our first stop was to the humane society...whoops. :) But oh how we love this new dog. His name is Buddy. He's half chihuahua and dachshund. A puppy...year and a half and full of energy. He's jet black and is freaking adorable. Pictures soon. I miss Dolly every single day still. She had such a presence and grace about her.
Work. I enjoy Trader Joe's a lot. It's been somewhat of a place of therapy for me...I arrive and leave without stress or pressure. I'm processing the past five years of my time here in Omaha through bagging groceries, making small talk with customers and giving stickers to rowdy children.
Writing. I love to write. A few writing opportunities came my way recently through facebook and questioning...I'm writing a reflection for a mother who wanted to mark this sacred time of her life. I interviewed her with my computer and writing...and will provide somewhat of This American Life audio....and a written reflection. I will also interview a couple who will be entering into the realms of long-distance love because of circumstances beyond their control. Hmm.
Reading. I'm trying to read a lot these days...from A Course in Weight Loss to the Widow of the South...i'm reading. What are you reading?
Friendships. I've always had this problem...there comes a time when I feel (note, I feel, not think or know) that I've been the only one in the friendship who has done any pursuing..that's not always the case, but sometimes I convince myself that it's the truth. I've made an effort to be more spontaneous with my time - working retail and all of that jazz...:) and that's been a huge joy to me. Going to Delice with Daphne to playing the Wii and having dinner with Cald and B...and lunch with Mar...and more. It's been a fun way of growing friendships :) I've got to get ready for lunch with Liz aka Dotty now!
What's 2011 been like for ya?
My dear friend Liz wrote about 2011. And I was very much inspired.
This is what's happened in 2011 so far...things i've thought about...read...and the like :)
Breathing and yoga. I've known that yoga needs to be a part of my regular routine for a LONG time. I'm going to enjoy a two-week trial with a new friend and coworker this week. We're going to be friends with Bikram yoga...I love to sweat...I think :).
I am on a teaching sabbatical from the Y. I began feeling bitter when I would arrive to class on Saturdays and one person would be there...and that person would expect me to just teach for ten minutes and then leave. It wasn't helpful for anyone. I'm already ready to go back and teach sometime in the spring. I've enjoyed taking different classes. I went to Council Bluffs to try out a bootcamp with an awesome friend...and then tried out Zumba at the Omaha Ballroom....it was AWESOME.
Welcoming...We welcomed a new dog into the house. K and I took a little staycation in Omaha. I loved planning it and just being tourists in a familiar city. Our first stop was to the humane society...whoops. :) But oh how we love this new dog. His name is Buddy. He's half chihuahua and dachshund. A puppy...year and a half and full of energy. He's jet black and is freaking adorable. Pictures soon. I miss Dolly every single day still. She had such a presence and grace about her.
Work. I enjoy Trader Joe's a lot. It's been somewhat of a place of therapy for me...I arrive and leave without stress or pressure. I'm processing the past five years of my time here in Omaha through bagging groceries, making small talk with customers and giving stickers to rowdy children.
Writing. I love to write. A few writing opportunities came my way recently through facebook and questioning...I'm writing a reflection for a mother who wanted to mark this sacred time of her life. I interviewed her with my computer and writing...and will provide somewhat of This American Life audio....and a written reflection. I will also interview a couple who will be entering into the realms of long-distance love because of circumstances beyond their control. Hmm.
Reading. I'm trying to read a lot these days...from A Course in Weight Loss to the Widow of the South...i'm reading. What are you reading?
Friendships. I've always had this problem...there comes a time when I feel (note, I feel, not think or know) that I've been the only one in the friendship who has done any pursuing..that's not always the case, but sometimes I convince myself that it's the truth. I've made an effort to be more spontaneous with my time - working retail and all of that jazz...:) and that's been a huge joy to me. Going to Delice with Daphne to playing the Wii and having dinner with Cald and B...and lunch with Mar...and more. It's been a fun way of growing friendships :) I've got to get ready for lunch with Liz aka Dotty now!
What's 2011 been like for ya?
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2011...what's been good?
What's been real real real good about 2011 so far?
I love that I'm learning to smile more and more.
I love learning to cook more. I love being inspired to eat better and cleaner. I love laughing. I love dreaming!
I love that I'm learning to smile more and more.
I love learning to cook more. I love being inspired to eat better and cleaner. I love laughing. I love dreaming!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Working Retail and Working Out
For those of you who work retail (or have schedules that change fairly often) how do you find the motivation to work out when all you want to do is nap, catch up on emails, watch tv??
For instance, I'll have a 5 am shift, i'll get home around 1 and all I want to do is sleep.
Even if I have time to get up and work out, I'll still want to take a nap.
And then the other question is...if you work a 4-12 shift...do you eat when you get home? I will usually have breakfast around 11, eat my 'lunch' around 2 (which might be a protein bar) and then have my dinner at some point in my shift...and then get home and might be hungry...thoughts?!
For instance, I'll have a 5 am shift, i'll get home around 1 and all I want to do is sleep.
Even if I have time to get up and work out, I'll still want to take a nap.
And then the other question is...if you work a 4-12 shift...do you eat when you get home? I will usually have breakfast around 11, eat my 'lunch' around 2 (which might be a protein bar) and then have my dinner at some point in my shift...and then get home and might be hungry...thoughts?!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Boundaries and no overbooking
I just put it out there all over facebook and twitter that I'm supposed to be doing a pretty time-intensive hair style. And i'm blogging. This will be a quick blog.
I've overbooked one too many times. And I'm feeling it. Today I taught my last Turbo class for a few months. I'm taking a few months off of teaching. I will still continue to take classes, but I need to listen to my body and care for it in new ways. I realized that I kept thinking of self-care in terms of when I used to take care of myself that way or when I was like that and it hit me...this isn't just a new year, it's a new me. I'm tired of living in the past and trying to relive the past...i'm enjoying 2011 already.
Oh and I'm not overbooking myself in social situations. If you want to hang with me, find me :) or i'll find you. Hey, we'll find each other.
Now, I have a date with my hair stylist. Me.
I've overbooked one too many times. And I'm feeling it. Today I taught my last Turbo class for a few months. I'm taking a few months off of teaching. I will still continue to take classes, but I need to listen to my body and care for it in new ways. I realized that I kept thinking of self-care in terms of when I used to take care of myself that way or when I was like that and it hit me...this isn't just a new year, it's a new me. I'm tired of living in the past and trying to relive the past...i'm enjoying 2011 already.
Oh and I'm not overbooking myself in social situations. If you want to hang with me, find me :) or i'll find you. Hey, we'll find each other.
Now, I have a date with my hair stylist. Me.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
A tribute to Dolly and the lessons she offered
I'm sitting in my parents' lovely home in Lexington, KY. There's a basketball game on, but I'm the only one who is watching it. Well, i'm the only one who is awake. Kenley, my dad and Jackson are officially asleep. I'm not really sure where Jonathan went, but i'm certain that my mom is sleeping upstairs, too. I will find a nap soon as well.
Ken and I arrived to Lexington this morning. He drove the entire way from Omaha...to Dale, Indiana, where we had to stop because of weather.
We left Omaha after my morning TJ's shift with heavy hearts. The day before (Dec. 23) we had to put our sweet baby dog, Dolly, asleep. She fought for her life and health the entire time we had her. Even those first few weeks of having her we noticed that she had this slight cough; we bought a humidifier. We noticed she peed quite a lot; we put puppy pads out for her. The vets noticed that she had elevated thyroid levels throughout her checkups. Hyperthyroidism is so rare in dogs we were sent to Kansas State University so an internist could look at her. Dolly ended up having a tumor on her thyroid. She also had quite the heart murmur which contributed to her coughing issues. Ken took Dolly to Kansas State once a week for an entire month so she could receive check ups and more cancer medicine. She seemed to be improving, her tumor decreased in size and she got her bark back. She seemed like a new dog and it was so much fun. On her last check up the vet noticed that she'd lost a pretty significant amount of weight. For a dog who was only around 13.3 pounds...losing 3 pounds was too much for her. So we fed her whatever she wanted.
We noticed that in two weeks she seemed to be carrying a lot of weight all of a sudden. Perhaps she was just gaining that much more weight. She began having a harder time jumping on the couch and the bed. Ken bought her dog stairs...but she just wasn't getting around like she used to. We began planning our trip to surprise my family for Christmas. Dolly was a part of our plan. She was going to be in the back seat just hanging out the whole trip, like last time.
The day before we planned on leaving Dolly fell off of the bed. She's fallen off of the bed before and she would slightly sprain or bruise her leg. She'd always be fine the next day. But this time, the noise we heard from the floor was the accumulation of all of the pain Dolly experienced in her life. It was a haunting and alarming whine...Ken tried to pick her up off of the ground and she yelped and nipped like she was in serious pain. We managed to get her on the bed where she was only comfortable leaning directly on someone's arm, she could not put any weight down on her left paw. We grabbed an ice pack...it didn't work...a pack of blueberries...a wet towel. We debated on pain medicine and remembered the other medicines she was taking (heart murmur, stomach pain and antibiotics) and opted not to give her medicine. We spoon fed her water...then dropped water in her mouth. Kenley put on gloves to pick her up and see if she needed to go outside. K ended up sleeping downstairs with her in case she needed to go outside.
We woke up the next morning, with just a few hours of sleep behind us, to start our early day. We packed Dolly in the car and drove to Trader Joe's. I went to work and Kenley went to the vet.
I waited and waited. In my head I thought that perhaps she just sprained her leg and she needed a shot of steroids or something. In my heart I knew that something was pretty serious. Even when things were happening that evening/early morning, I had a feeling that Dolly was ready to go. So I worked through my shift...and tried calling Kenley (he dropped his phone in water during the chaos), but I couldnt' get through. I ended up calling the vet where I heard the news.
Dolly fractured her leg above the elbow joint. She was not a good surgery candidate, she was actually a poor candidate as the surgery was so risky, even for a healthy dog.
She had retained an enormous amount of water. She had fluid not only on her lungs, but she also had fluid around her heart. They noticed that there was a slight pink liquid coming from her nose which is an indication of heart failure. They saw these pockets of fluid that we noticed on her abdomen. She was low on protein which contributed to her poor health and fluid retention.
Basically, the cancer could've spread. Her health was so poor that there was no point in testing to see if the cancer spread. There was no point in taking her to Kansas State to see what the next steps were for her.
We knew what Dolly wanted and needed. My heart was breaking at work. My sweet coworkers and I did a little 'this one is for Dolly' glass tink before our lunch was over...and Kenley picked me up at 2.
Driving to the vet was a whirlwind. It didn't seem real that a week ago Dolly was her sassy self, sleeping next to me during my afternoon naps.
When we saw Dolly, she was doped up on morphine and without pain. We saw her swollen and bruised little leg. She was covered in a blanket. And she looked so ready to be done. Kenley stepped out of the room after his goodbyes...and I sat and watched her last breaths. I'd never seen Dolly look so peaceful.
I'm not sure if dogs/animals go to heaven, but if they do, Dolly is hanging out with some of our favorite people and other animals.
K and I reflected on the year and two months that we had her.
Ken and I arrived to Lexington this morning. He drove the entire way from Omaha...to Dale, Indiana, where we had to stop because of weather.
We left Omaha after my morning TJ's shift with heavy hearts. The day before (Dec. 23) we had to put our sweet baby dog, Dolly, asleep. She fought for her life and health the entire time we had her. Even those first few weeks of having her we noticed that she had this slight cough; we bought a humidifier. We noticed she peed quite a lot; we put puppy pads out for her. The vets noticed that she had elevated thyroid levels throughout her checkups. Hyperthyroidism is so rare in dogs we were sent to Kansas State University so an internist could look at her. Dolly ended up having a tumor on her thyroid. She also had quite the heart murmur which contributed to her coughing issues. Ken took Dolly to Kansas State once a week for an entire month so she could receive check ups and more cancer medicine. She seemed to be improving, her tumor decreased in size and she got her bark back. She seemed like a new dog and it was so much fun. On her last check up the vet noticed that she'd lost a pretty significant amount of weight. For a dog who was only around 13.3 pounds...losing 3 pounds was too much for her. So we fed her whatever she wanted.
We noticed that in two weeks she seemed to be carrying a lot of weight all of a sudden. Perhaps she was just gaining that much more weight. She began having a harder time jumping on the couch and the bed. Ken bought her dog stairs...but she just wasn't getting around like she used to. We began planning our trip to surprise my family for Christmas. Dolly was a part of our plan. She was going to be in the back seat just hanging out the whole trip, like last time.
The day before we planned on leaving Dolly fell off of the bed. She's fallen off of the bed before and she would slightly sprain or bruise her leg. She'd always be fine the next day. But this time, the noise we heard from the floor was the accumulation of all of the pain Dolly experienced in her life. It was a haunting and alarming whine...Ken tried to pick her up off of the ground and she yelped and nipped like she was in serious pain. We managed to get her on the bed where she was only comfortable leaning directly on someone's arm, she could not put any weight down on her left paw. We grabbed an ice pack...it didn't work...a pack of blueberries...a wet towel. We debated on pain medicine and remembered the other medicines she was taking (heart murmur, stomach pain and antibiotics) and opted not to give her medicine. We spoon fed her water...then dropped water in her mouth. Kenley put on gloves to pick her up and see if she needed to go outside. K ended up sleeping downstairs with her in case she needed to go outside.
We woke up the next morning, with just a few hours of sleep behind us, to start our early day. We packed Dolly in the car and drove to Trader Joe's. I went to work and Kenley went to the vet.
I waited and waited. In my head I thought that perhaps she just sprained her leg and she needed a shot of steroids or something. In my heart I knew that something was pretty serious. Even when things were happening that evening/early morning, I had a feeling that Dolly was ready to go. So I worked through my shift...and tried calling Kenley (he dropped his phone in water during the chaos), but I couldnt' get through. I ended up calling the vet where I heard the news.
Dolly fractured her leg above the elbow joint. She was not a good surgery candidate, she was actually a poor candidate as the surgery was so risky, even for a healthy dog.
She had retained an enormous amount of water. She had fluid not only on her lungs, but she also had fluid around her heart. They noticed that there was a slight pink liquid coming from her nose which is an indication of heart failure. They saw these pockets of fluid that we noticed on her abdomen. She was low on protein which contributed to her poor health and fluid retention.
Basically, the cancer could've spread. Her health was so poor that there was no point in testing to see if the cancer spread. There was no point in taking her to Kansas State to see what the next steps were for her.
We knew what Dolly wanted and needed. My heart was breaking at work. My sweet coworkers and I did a little 'this one is for Dolly' glass tink before our lunch was over...and Kenley picked me up at 2.
Driving to the vet was a whirlwind. It didn't seem real that a week ago Dolly was her sassy self, sleeping next to me during my afternoon naps.
When we saw Dolly, she was doped up on morphine and without pain. We saw her swollen and bruised little leg. She was covered in a blanket. And she looked so ready to be done. Kenley stepped out of the room after his goodbyes...and I sat and watched her last breaths. I'd never seen Dolly look so peaceful.
I'm not sure if dogs/animals go to heaven, but if they do, Dolly is hanging out with some of our favorite people and other animals.
K and I reflected on the year and two months that we had her.
- She was with us for our entire first year of marriage. She witnessed our heated discussions, our lighthearted discussions and our hilarious discussions.
- She was with us when I had to take K to the ER both times (kidney stone and stitches).
- She was with me when I had a terrible day at work and was at the end of myself...
- She made us get to know our neighborhood on our dozens and dozens of walks.
- I saw the sacrifices that Kenley made for Dolly...taking the time to drive her 6 hours roundtrip...and the money he spent on making her comfortable.
- She reminded us to take it easy.
- She reminded us to laugh.
- She reminded us to be present.
I'll post a bit more about Dolly i'm sure :) Let's be honest, I sort of fell in love with her.
She was the best Dolly girl anyone could've ever asked for and I miss her a lot. I'll enjoy my time with my family and the family dog, Jackson!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Thoughts on Health: Sleep
I relished in my day off today. I slept until 8 am and felt heavenly when I woke up. I woke up at 3:40 the morning before so it felt like I'd slept an extra day today.
Sometimes sleep has been an indicator of the stress in my life. When I increase my sleep, purposely, I may be avoiding something. If i'm sleeping restlessly, I may not be dealing with things in the daytime hours.
But you know when you've gotten the right sleep. You know that sweet sleep spot.
And you know when you've gotten the wrong sleep...the amount, the type, everything about that sleep was just off type of sleep. I've had those nights/mornings when I've woken up and I'm almost in tears because
a) my hand/arm/wrist is asleep
b) I can't move my shoulder without wincing
c) It's too early and too cold
d) My alarm was too loud
e) All of the above
I watched Dr. Oz for the first time yesterday and he had a segment on sleep...oh how I needed to hear what he said. The things that I took away from that segment:
a) Sleeping while holding a pillow will help a lot
b) Your head weighs around 10 pounds, why do you think sleeping with your wrist holding your head up for 8 some hours will be a good idea
I slept with a pillow last night...and I was amazed at how much better I felt when falling asleep. I woke up without the shoulder/arm/wrist pain that I can sometimes have in the mornings.
I love sleep...when I'm sleeping to rest from the day, not to avoid the day :)
Happy sleeping!
Sometimes sleep has been an indicator of the stress in my life. When I increase my sleep, purposely, I may be avoiding something. If i'm sleeping restlessly, I may not be dealing with things in the daytime hours.
But you know when you've gotten the right sleep. You know that sweet sleep spot.
And you know when you've gotten the wrong sleep...the amount, the type, everything about that sleep was just off type of sleep. I've had those nights/mornings when I've woken up and I'm almost in tears because
a) my hand/arm/wrist is asleep
b) I can't move my shoulder without wincing
c) It's too early and too cold
d) My alarm was too loud
e) All of the above
I watched Dr. Oz for the first time yesterday and he had a segment on sleep...oh how I needed to hear what he said. The things that I took away from that segment:
a) Sleeping while holding a pillow will help a lot
b) Your head weighs around 10 pounds, why do you think sleeping with your wrist holding your head up for 8 some hours will be a good idea
I slept with a pillow last night...and I was amazed at how much better I felt when falling asleep. I woke up without the shoulder/arm/wrist pain that I can sometimes have in the mornings.
I love sleep...when I'm sleeping to rest from the day, not to avoid the day :)
Happy sleeping!
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