The Body is Amazing

For the past year, I haven't felt like I was 24 years old. I felt my joints swelling all the time, then I developed chronic costochondritis (the inflammation of cartilage between the ribs and the breastbone), and then abdominal and lower back pain that the doctors were unsure of what it was and what was causing it, but gave me meds for it anyway that helped slightly.

Feeling like I'd have all this pain forever, holding me back from things I used to enjoy without having to sit down to rest after 20 minutes or even just making me feel miserable almost everyday--the pain suddenly went away.

Yup, it was those stupid wisdom teeth the whole time. I kid you not! As soon as they were extracted from my mouth, the pain I had been experiencing since last April was gone. They must had been striking a nerve that was causing my body to react the way it's been.

It's amazing the weird things the body does and just how small of an object can cause such huge pain and problems. Not to mention they were causing me to have migraines every day for several months on top of all that. So if I ever seemed grumpy to you for the past year--you now know why.

Needless to say, despite the fact that I developed a slight case of dry socket which really sucks and hurts like hell (not to mention the medicine my periodontist gave me tastes god-awful), I am so thankful I got those teeth out.

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING!

Best Nap of My Life

So, I had my surgery and it wasn't that bad. The anesthesia knocked me out within a minute and when I woke up, it was as if I was asleep for only a second. I think I did wake up for a split second while they were working on my teeth 'cause I remember hearing drilling and bones cracking. But it was one of the best naps of my life. :)

I'm still numb from the anesthesia and my surgery was about 6 hours ago. Needless to say, drinking has been an adventure, as some of whatever I've drank has dribbled down my chin without me knowing, lol.

The doc put a stronger dosage of Tylenol in my IV while I was under, so the pain's not supposed to wear off until about 9:30. I feel it on my right side right now, but I have a high threshold for pain. I have vicodin and also an antibiotic I have to take to prevent a risk of infection.

The pharmacy was a pain in the ass. Since I can't talk due to gauze and risk of ripping my stitches, Kyle had to speak for me. The guy who took the drop offs was very helpful and understanding. He told us to come back at 6 to pick up the script. Well, the woman at the pick up counter was a huuuuuge bitch. Kyle told her I couldn't talk 'cause I just had teeth surgery. She then proceeds to ask questions, like, "What's your date of birth?" expecting me to answer. So, Kyle answers for me and she suspiciously says, "She doesn't know her own birthday?" And Kyle, annoyed, repeats, "I just told you she had tooth surgery. She can't talk." And the woman goes, "Oh, I didn' t hear you." She was so rude and just ignorant.

I treated myself "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" to help me feel better 'cause that movie is hilarious and I've been wanting to get it for awhile. I rarely ever buy anything for myself other than food and anything we need for the apartment. I'm happy.

And I have Kyle here. Since I can't talk, we've reverted back to the old days of using AIM to communicate, lol. I love him.

Gonna go make a smoothie in a bit before I change my gauze. I'm sooooooooooooo hungry!!!!! On the bright side, I'll probably lose a lot of weight during my soft food/liquid diet. Not to mention NO MORE MIGRAINES AND INFECTIONS!

I'm ecstatic. Hopefully the healing process is smooth sailing. :)

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

I'm Losing A Bunch of Wisdom Today

It's amazing how many problems pain from just your teeth can cause you. Between migraines, infections, swollen jaw--you name it--I cannot wait to get these stupid wisdom teeth out of my head today. However, I'm getting pretty anxious about it, as I've never had surgery of any kind before and am nervous about how I will react to the anesthesia.

My appointment isn't until 2:20 today, but I took the entire day off of work to get some cleaning done around the apartment, as I will most likely be too incapacitated to do any work or want to do any work, and to allow myself to calm down before going to my appointment. I feel all jittery and probably will until I am put under.

Kyle's staying by my side the entire weekend, and I love him so much. Hopefully I won't be too much of a pain in the ass this weekend; I hate being needy.

Anyway, wish me luck. Hopefully the healing process will be really quick and I'll be functioning well enough to feel all right at work on Monday.

PEACE~LOVE~HARMONY!

Forgiveness

Forgive:
1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, debt, etc.); absolve.
2. to give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, etc.).
3. to grant pardon to (a person).
4. to cease to feel resentment against: to forgive one's enemies.

Many people in life never learn how to perform this action. And it's a sad thing when forgiveness is a forgotten trait, especially among friendships. Over the years, I've endeavored many hurtful scenarios ranging anywhere from family to friends to coworkers. However, all of these moments I have forgiven, as we all make mistakes and no one is perfect. We are human.

Certain individuals remain out of my life despite my forgiveness toward their previous actions, only because they continue to adhere to those actions. Unfortunately, some people never change and it's difficult to maintain a friendship when heads are going to be butted constantly.

Others have slowly drifted from my life, as interests have differed and the real world has swept us into its relentless routine that allows very little time to even breathe. Many of them I miss, and many of them I wonder if they are holding a grudge against me and refuse to forgive me for whatever I may have done. I may never know, but I know not to let the thought rule my life.

Needless to say, I don't believe in holding grudges, no matter the circumstances (unless of course it involves absolutely life-changing devastation, such as murder or identity theft, or even any kind of theft). Sure, it's okay upset and mad for a small period of time, it's only natural, but burning your bridges is only going to bite you in the ass later in life, especially when you least expect it. Forgive. Accept your friends, your family members, and other folks you encounter in your daily life for who they are, including their flaws. All of my family, friends (and myself) and other individuals whom I encounter often have their flaws as we are not perfect, but I love them for them, which includes flaws, because I would not have them any other way.

One of my favorite quotes comes from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and it speaks so many truths:

"Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be a part of who you will be."

Things happen, things change, and mostly for the better. So forgive the past, let be a part of who you are today (as I'm sure it has strengthened you in many ways), but don't let it rule your life.

Everyone lives only once, so don't dwell on the past, don't submerge yourself in regret, but most of all don't live in anger and hatred.

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

I Feel Special

This morning, Google was having some issues where every site listing on a search would have this link listed underneath it: "This site may be harmful to your computer." It did this on every search I did. To make sure this wasn't a fluke or a possible hack, I decided to search my name to see what happened.

Of course the same thing happened, but I discovered something very cool during this little Google adventure. Back when I interned for Where Magazine, I had the opportunity to interview and write an article on an up-and-coming jewelry artist--Abigail Seligsohn. I was very nervous about interviewing her, as it was my first official phone interview as a writer. I remember she was very sweet and very passionate about her entrance in the jewelry world. Not to mention her jewelry line is very original, very edgy, and very awesome. Anyway, I found on my Google experimental search that she put the article I wrote on her and her jewelry (short as it was [I was limited to 50 word, if I remember correctly]) on the press page of her website, and I feel very honored. :)

To see the article, visit her press page: Abigail Seligsohn. Be sure to check out her jewelry, too!

Love, Love, Love

I've never had a song dedicated to me on the radio, ever. Today, Kyle told me to turn on 93.3 WMMR on my way to meeting my friend Cathy for lunch. Over the radio, Pierre Robert read a beautiful message from Kyle. Kyle dedicated an entire "workforce block" of Alice in Chains (one of our favorite bands) to me for our 2 year anniversary (which isn't until Monday, but it was one of the sweetest things he could have done).

Needless to say, I felt very happy for the remainder of the day and incredibly loved. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be marrying him--my best friend. I love you, Kyle.

Long Time, No Post

After my 2 month hiatus from moving and the holidays, I'm ready to blog and back in action. The holidays were nice, very lazy, but nice. Kyle and I enjoyed having our first holiday together in our own place, which by the way, is amazing. We love it here.

Allow me to give you the grand tour:

LIVING ROOM:
DINING ROOM:


KITCHEN:
BATHROOM:

BEDROOM:




Also, here is our "Charlie Brown" tree that we got at The Dollar Store:



Isn't it cute??? Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour. I will be updating again sometime soon. Perhaps when my Dad sends me pictures from his visit here for the week. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Till next time . . .

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

Things Happen For a Reason . . .

As of Monday, we will have an apartment (we sign the lease Monday afternoon). Today we went next door to the complex next to the complex we had applied to and been lied to, and were approved--with no cosigner--within a half hour. The apartment is much bigger than the one we were originally going to sign for, has more parking, lots and lots of big walk-in closet spaces, is $40 a month cheaper, plus we only have to pay a $99 security deposit (well, also $250 for Gem [my cat]), and our first month's rent is free.

When we told the landlord what happened next door (our cosigner we found out has a credit score of 850 and their "too much" debt is a mortgage and car payment, what almost every American has today), she was shocked and told us her son has been living there 3 years, had no rental history when he initially signed, and didn't need a cosigner.

As my friend Cathy had inferred, we were discriminated because of our age. I believe Kyle's Pup-pup said that, too. That is so wrong. And to make that process so stinking difficult on us like that and then let us down in the end. A lot of people who live there love it, and I'm happy for them, but the actual process of getting into that place was just nonsense and completely draining. When the landlord asked us for a different cosigner, we laughed and had decided we were sick of the complex already and hadn't even moved in yet.

So, we're going over there the weekend after we move in, get our good faith check back, and tell them we moved in next door and we didn't need a cosigner. I'm still in disbelief that our cosigner got rejected because of a mortgage and car payment. The whole family was yesterday at Thanksgiving. I guess the majority of our nation would have gotten rejected as our cosigner. I just don't get it. Oh well, we found a new home, and the situation is even better. :)

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

*Sighs*

So, we basically lost the apartment. Our co-signer had excellent credit, but they rejected us 'cause they had "too much debt." How do you build credit without debt?

Our landlord asked for another co-signer, but we're honestly sick of them after running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and having packed our boxes 3 days before we were promised we could pick up our keys tomorrow and that everything would go through okay. If you're a landlord, do your potential tenants a favor: don't promise things you can't keep, please.

Anyway, there's a complex right up the street that's cheaper, has a good reputation as well, allows pets, and has more space. Not to mention they're currently having a $99 security deposit with first month's rent free as their current special.

We're going to try and check them out later tomorrow after the funeral, if there's time. Otherwise, we'll go on Friday. When we go, I'm going to be upfront with the landlord, explain what happened to us next door, and ask that since we have no rental history, would we need a co-signer, and if so, could they be from out-of-state. That way, we'll get the bullshit out of the way and hopefully be on our merry way to signing a lease and moving in our already packed boxes.

Tonight was the wake, and the service was beautiful. However, it made me realize how almost "outcast-ish" I feel in a religious setting. During all the readings, I was the only one who didn't have a clue what to recite during the chants and when to bless myself. I grew up in a non-religious household, and am totally clueless whenever I go to church on that rare occasion. I always feel like I'm being disrespectful or rude of those situations, especially at a service for someone who we lost. But, that's just me over-analyzing myself and being overly paranoid, I guess.

All righty, must try to get to sleep since we gotta wake up early for the funeral tomorrow, especially since Kyle is a paul bearer.

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

Delicioso!

Now here's a real delicacy for ya:

Freshly ground pines into a delectable treat, now cinnamon-flavored!

'Cause IIIIIII'M MOVIN' OUT!

Turns out Kyle's Aunt co-signed instead, and we're going to be moving out the 28th. We're all packed and ready to go, except for having signed the lease, which has to be done by Wednesday so we can pick up the keys and pay the rest of our security deposit and all that fun stuff.

Since we're moving out, I may not be updating this for a week or so, depending on when we get settled and get our cable/internet set up.

Unfortunately, on a sadder note, there has been a loss in our lives, as Kyle's grandmother passed away on Saturday morning. I did not know her very long, but she was a very sweet lady, and hopefully she is happy wherever she is now. RIP Anne Janulewicz.

On a happier note, I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. Eat lots of turkey, and enjoy time with your loved ones. Gobble, gobble.



PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

HELP!

Well, we got approved for the apartment . . .

. . . but we need a co-signer. Originally, my Dad was going to co-sign, but the co-signer has to be a current resident of New Jersey. Now we're trying every possible, trust-worthy resource to help us.

My Dad's trying my Uncle Paul (my godfather) and Kyle's trying his grandparents and aunt. No luck yet.

The co-signing is for only 1 year, and it won't affect the person's credit at all. I'm hoping one of our family members won't mind . . .

This would really, really stink if we can't get this apartment just because we can't find a co-signer, even though we have awesome credit and good jobs, but no rental history. Can't start any rental history if we can't find a co-signer, 'cause other apartments will most likely require the same thing. This is just so ridiculous. I want to start my life. Am I not allowed to start my life? Am I just trapped in limbo forever????

I'm fearing the worst . . . and that's never getting out of the house. :(

FINALLY I PRESENT TO YOU

Halloween Pictures (almost a month later, heh):

Above is a photo showing how awesomely fun my co-workers are: (from left to right) Donna as the Bride of Frankenstein, my boss Justine as one of the medical examiners for our sales contest (real life clue of Who Murdered Janice Klumpp (our human resources manager), and James as a werewolf.

Above: (from left to right) Kyle's friend Drew as a Scottsman, his girlfriend Melissa as a fairy, and Kyle as Ron Burgundy, attempting to sneak-attack on the happy couple with a fly-swatter.

For more of these wondrous pictures from both my Halloween workday and get-together, please visit my Halloween Album.

My Car Is Sickee

My mechanic just left me a voicemail and my car's misfiring, which means my coil burnt out. He said he's gonna call me with a price tomorrow and it's not a cheap job. Surprise, surprise. Anyway, it looks like the expensive part is the labor, 'cause I looked up the cost of parts (spark plugs, coil insulator, coil boots) and they should be no more than $30-$50 put together.

Don't get me wrong, my mechanic is amazing, and even when we're living all the way out in our new apartment (which will be 40 minutes away from him), I'm still taking Roxanne to him. I'm just getting tired of my car having issues this year. The water pump was slowly going when I first got her about 3 years ago, and then I needed new tie-rod ends, and then last month my vacuum tubes went on me (which is a cheap job), and now the coil blew. I need new brakes soon (and roters, but with GM cars, it's a cheap job), and my power steering pump has a slow leak (again, back from when I first got the car).

Poor Roxanne, her previous owners didn't take very good care of her, so I gotta pick up the slack.

Oh well, we find out if we got the approval or not on the apartment tomorrow. Aaaand, I found out my friend Jay from college who currently lives over an hour from me will be living in the next town over from our apartment--10 minutes up the road! I'm so excited! I'll get to see him lots instead of every 3 months 'cause of the distance. Yay!

Oh, Oh It's Magic, You Know . . .

Finally, we are moving out! Yep, Kyle and I applied for an apartment today and although the approval isn't "official" until Tuesday, she told us we basically have the place due to making adequate monthly income and having awesome credit. We move in November 28th, and although that's Thanksgiving weekend, we only have to pay for December's rent and plus we have off from work Friday, so we have three whole days to get settled. Not to mention stores are gonna be having all sorts of crazy sales on stuff we're gonna need. :)

I thought it was funny that the landlord refers to us as the "handsome couple." She was trying to convince Kyle to start a modeling career, lol! I need to start warding off the ladies from my man, hee hee!

But, of course, as my life always is, if one thing's going right, another goes wrong. Since they need proof that you've had at least one job for an entire year, our landlord wanted to see a paystub from Car-Tel for me, and a paystub from Herff Jones for Kyle. So, we went home (we had Kyle's car), and got in mine to drive it back. Well, my baby Roxanne's engine starts thumping around really violently and when we got onto the main highway, the shaking got worse and the "Service Engine Soon" and "Trac Off" light went on. Immediately, we called our mechanic and he said he'd look at this sometime this week, which means Kyle and I are carpool buddies for a few days. I tried researching online what the problem might be, and it's a sensor of some sort having to do with the transmission. It's most likely the speed sensor, which looks like it should cost me no more than $200, which I can handle.

I know I haven't posted the Halloween pictures, yet. I'm working on it, I'm working on it! Maybe I'll post 'em tonight. For now, I'm gonna go eat the yummy dinner Kyle cooked. :)

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

PS - I totally added that picture of Kyle sticking out his tongue for you, Preston! Ha, ha, ha! :p

Never-released Song Magically Ends Up in Movie . . .

I went to go see Zack and Miri Make a Porno with Laura tonight and what a fantastic movie it is! Hilarious (all I have to say is: "Shut Up Before I *bleep* You In the Mouth!), awesome acting (Justin Long is particularly awesome in this movie), unique story line, and most of all: amazing soundtrack, which brings me to the point of this post.

In the main love scene of the movie, a song by Live (Ed Kowalczyk's beautiful voice is ever-so-unmistakable) I had never heard of plays and I fell in love with it. When I got home, I looked up the movie soundtrack. No songs by Live. Then I figured, "Well, it must be off an album I've never really listened to" [I really looooove Live]. Found tons of spam-filled sites with the lyrics to the song, but no signs of discography origin. So, after lots of research, I found out it's called "Lift Me Up" and was an unreleased demo song off the original Throwing Copper--which I do not have, dammit. I have Throwing Copper, but not the demo!

I am quite disappointed that this gorgeous song is impossible to find. The closest thing I could find to satiate my desire to hear this song is this very raw-sounding YouTube video of "Lift Me Up."

Enjoy this wonderfully rock-a-dellic song and I will be posting Halloween pictures sometime this week, for those who are anxiously awaiting to see this holiday's festivally hilarious get-ups.

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

Today's Lesson: Adverbs

The latest find, by my best friend Ally while she perused one of our local farmer's markets, makes me wanna add a little extra cream cheese to these extra bagels:


So, they didn't have bagels in the first place? I thought they were just bagels! Now they're bagels, too? I'm so confused--I don't know what to do. If you're in the same boat as me, don't give yourself an aneurysm. We'll survive. Maybe we'll get a bagel . . . too.

Despite the misuse of both a negative and an adverb, looks like they've got a nice selection. Although, I'm pretty disappointed about that only hot dog.

I hope you all learned a great lesson here today: There's always not just bagels . . . too. There's a big world out there to explore. A world outside of bagels. A world without a single hot dog. Take risks, and don't let adverbs get the best of ya.

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

Oy Vay

So, just when I thought I was getting better, the pain flared up again. I'm going to another doc for a second opinion as soon as possible, but this is getting just goddamn ridiculous. I know I keep whining about it on here, but this is my place to vent. So here I am. Venting.

Anyway, in other news, my mom just biked 200 miles over 3 days. I am so proud of her, and she could probably whoop my ass with her pinky, lol.

Kyle had his first day at Panasonic and he said it went very well, which included him meeting/making an impression on the President of Panasonic, which is incredibly awesome. I'm really proud of him, too.

He's writing a science fiction/fantasy novel, and it's really great. He asked for my fantasy writing expertise tonight, and I didn't realize how knowledgeable I truly was on writing the subject. Now if only I could get my lazy bum back to working on The Fall of Euphoria. I basically decided to rewrite the entire thing after 3 years 'cause I've deemed it as "sucky." And I think I've only gotten about half-way through the second in the series. Maybe I'll finish the third one by the time I'm 40.

All righty, I'm going to write a separate entry on the latest grammatical find, which my best friend Ally found during her Farmer's Market adventure--strictly for the enjoyment of the grammar whore deep down inside all of us. :)

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING

Why I Deleted My Facebook and Myspace

Since everyone's been asking me this whenever they see me for the past two months, I figured I'd explain in one simple sentence on here for those of you who actually read this:

It stole my soul.

Strange response, correct? But none too strange for moi. I would spend hours on both of those damn profiles, communicate with friends through it, and most of all--it was a huge frickin' popularity contest. It made me sick; still does.

I prefer to go and do better things with my time, communicate over the phone, and actually hangout with people in person. Way too many of my friends were using those profiles as a communication device or would just look to see what I was up to instead of even contacting me. And it annoyed me. So, I deleted them, and after the deletion, I see who my true friends are. Not just my facebook and myspace "friends."

Anyway, now that that's out of my system, I'm feeling much better abdominal pain-wise. It was pretty scary for the past week, being able to barely walk and have docs tell you they don't know what's wrong with you. Everyone's telling me it had to do with the ovarian cyst they found, which makes sense 'cause the pain emanates from my left side, which is where they found it. Got blood work done yesterday, so hopefully they find out what's wrong through them. The tiredness is fading, too. Still pretty sleepy though. And I still hurt, but can move around and take care of myself now.

As for fun stuff, here is a wondrous picture of my friend Erin at the Dollar Store when Kim, Donna, Erin (work buddies) and I went there on our lunchbreak:


Good times, good times. Found some awesome stuff for Kyle's and my apartment, too! Anyway, I love my co-workers; they're awesome people.

Pretty much been chillin' around the house after work since I had been in too much pain to really do anything or go anywhere. Hungout at my fuffy buttmuffin (Ally)'s house last night watching Wife Swap and Crusoe.

Going to Olive Garden today with Kyle for lunch for the never-ending soup, salad, and breadsticks, and I am whoah excited. Barely ate all week, so now that my appetite's back, it'll pay off today, lol. Then next week we have his friends' wedding, and of course Halloween. Pumpkin smashing good time!

All righty, I leave you all for now. Sorry I've been too lazy to post anything on here lately. I'm gonna post some artwork on here soon. Stay outta trouble!

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING!

A Very Happy Unbirthday!

As promised, here are the pictures from last night:

My Mad Hatter attire turned out amazing, especially Kyle's suggestion to put reddish brown eye shadow underneath my eyes to emphasize lack of sleep, just like Disney's delightful version of him. :)

Kyle's Ron Burgundy? Yes, he is the arrogant, yet sophisticated and talented personality that is Channel 4 news in San Diego's own Ron Burgundy.

























Posing between rocking out to the band at Kyles friends' house. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the band's name, but they were a pretty decent cover band:






The first video clip is of their version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The second clip is of Kyle's rendition of Weird Al's "Smells Like Nirvana." Enjoy!

PEACE~LOVE~EDITING!