And the photos from May...

Here are the photos to accompany my May post.

The Flight of the Conchords show (Arj Barker opened) was awesome. They came out dressed as Robots and then did the rest of the show as seen in the last few photos. They were amazzzzzing!:

These are from our vomit vacation at Wolfcreek. The first two photos are my favorite. Nate was reading "The Zombie Survival Guide" to Zeben. He was actually really interested, and even asked about what a split level escape was about. These photos are all pre-sickness of family and celebrating Griffin's 1st birthday:

Our new place is awesome, we looove it. It's not together enough to take photos and share yet. One day, hopefully very soon. Here is Nate using Archimedes as a pillow in our tableless dining room and also Archimedes enjoying his new favorite perch, at the top of our twisty stairs.:

One of my Mom's cats had kittens a few weeks back. They are adorable! The little orange one reminds me of baby Archimedes...sigh...:

Nancy is gone and it makes me want to cry. The spa will NEVER be the same. Come back, Nancy, come back!

I said goodbye to the primary presidency on Sunday and I am going to miss these lovely ladies!:

May

Thus far in May, I have

• decided I don't like my living conditions.
• found a new home and relocated with my husb and kitty.
• realized I have too much stuff.
• found a great new pizza place that makes a killer "queenie".
• been grateful for strong men in my life to do the heavy lifting.
• taken a weekend getaway, where vomiting by all was the main activity.
• eaten out a lot less.
• remembered how much I like to be with just my husband.
• been thinking having children may be an activiy I'll save til my thirties.
• spent an entire paycheck on medical bills.
• quoted something from Flight of The Conchords at least once a day.
• watched those amazing New Zealanders live.
• been dreading the move of a friend.
• lost 6 pounds.
• been obsessed with bejeweled on my blackberry.
• played "spastic raquetball" with Jann.
• watched another Disney/Pixar film that made me laugh and cry, that I simply adored.
• been sad to leave a group of lovely ladies, who I will miss terribly.
• loved "smoothie dates" with Nate.
• read 6 books, thanks to the delay of our cable and internet hook ups.
• prepared and storyboarded my very first film, written (although it's a silent film), filmed, edited, directed and produced by yours truly.

How was your May? I'm ready for June.

10 Thing I love on a Monday...

1. My sister in law, Becky and mother in law were in town this last week and I'm feeling very crafty and inspired after their visit. My mother taught me how to crochet, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I am still working on my first pot holder, but it's a nice relaxing hobby that I can do anywhere.

Now these women are MAJOR seamstresses. I'm talking, crazy awesome things are produced from their magical fingertips. They make beautiful clothing. For example, my mother in law made her two daughters wedding dresses and they looked like they came straight from a professional. I guess they kinda did, because she practically is one.

Becky has sewn her own formal dresses, couch covers, etc, etc. They are introducing me to this other side of "domestic goddess"-ness. My fear of the sewing machine is slowing dwindling away. I can now sew on my scrapbook projects without breaking anything or passing out.

It is now time to take the next step. Luckily my mother in law instilled some sewing talent into my husband, the seamster of the house, so he can help me along as I undertake my first big project.

I am making myself a dress.

It is the middle, black jumper with the elbow length ivory blouse underneath. I'm pretty excited. I just have to finish a few more projects before I start this one (and lose the last few lbs to make it a smaller size!)



But then I might have to buy one of these beauties I've had my eye on to wear with it, out on the town. Both found on etsy. Here and here.





2. I'm extremely excited to play with the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist that I just bought in turquoise blue. Check out their gallery, it's awesome what they do with stuff!




3. Becky is an angel. Coming to visit us from Germany, she brought us a nice stash of Lindt chocolate. The best chocolate in the world. They converted us, while we were there visiting. She brought over some dark chocolate for Nate and a new favorite for me, Lindt Fioretto Himbeere. A crispy milk chocolate truffle, covered with while chocolate and filled with a raspberry creme. It is so beautifully decandant. I indulged in the last one today. It's probably a good thing we can't get these in the states.





4. Loving these boys.



5. I have acquired a whole stash of these Mead composition books and they save my life. With my excessive list writing, scrapbook page sketching and note taking...they make me happy.

6. I'm pretty excited that 3 books I've read recently are being made or have been made into movies. I'm very excited for My Sister's Keeper to come out in June. I really enjoyed the book so I hope the movie is well done. I'm a little late on Confessions, but happy that it's coming to DVD soon! I loved that book. And I don't think much needs to be said about the 3rd one :).
Finally!!!!!




7. I've inherited a new laptop from my husband. I've spent the last two days starting over with itunes. Rediscovering old favorites and finding some new ones too. I'm especially loving old Death Cab, Greg Laswell, Coldplay, Acceptance and some old soundtracks to The O.C.
Also gearing up for some May concerts, Flight of the Concords, Anberlin and Taking Back Sunday. Yay!



8. Starting my mornings with these pretties on my cereal. Being that they are frozen, they turn my milk purple and make it slushy. Nothing is better. I've been enjoying them on Frosted Shredded Wheat, Special K and Rice Chex. I recommend.



9. The color combination: dark sparkly grey, light aqua blue, and dark pink. I couldn't find a photo with the 3 to do it justice, but I'm working on a layout right now with only these 3 colors and it makes me happy.

10. This website, as always.

Happy Monday!

Lisa

An apple a day...

If only it were that simple.
Let's start from the beginning.

On Tuesday, April 7th I had my routine yearly "woman doctor" appointment. Being the paranoid girl that I am, I usually psyche myself out pretty bad.

I told myself this year is going to be different.

I went feeling good about my health. I've been exercising, doing yoga, drinking my Seven + and feeling really good over all. I went over each step of the procedure in my mind while driving there; I'd wait in the lobby, be asked to come back, wait in another lobby, get measured and weighed, wait in a room, change in an impossible paper vest thing, breast exam, hmm mmm exam...

During my exam, my Doctor stopped at my neck. His voice changed. He asked me to swallow several times. My palms got sweaty. My heart began to race. This isn't how it's gone before, this is different.



"It seems your Thyroid is enlarged."



"Uhhhhh... Ok?"



"I'd like to run a blood test and schedule you for a Thyroid ultrasound."



What? What? This has never been done before, I've never needed a blood test, let alone an Ultrasound! Those are for very pregnant people, whom I am not one of.

My eyes get a little teary, but I hide it as best as I can. I'm scared.
The rest of the exam is fine. It goes according to plan, but now I'm the "paranoid Lisa of the past". The one I vowed not to be today. They do a quick and painless bloodtest, thanks to an experienced nurse who knows how to take blood and schedule my Ultrasound for the following Monday.

Here is the worst part.

Waiting. Waiting. Paranoia. Pessimism. Waiting. Paranoia.
It's a vicious cycle.

Through the week my mind would constantly wander and access "what ifs?". What if it's cancer? What if they tell me I have 6 months to live? What can I do in 6 months?! That's NO time at all! 6 months! Not leave my husbands side. Well, we'll have to plan a trip to Disneyland! Stay with my husband every other second, the cat too, scrapbook the last things I can so he'll have something to remember me by. And visit everyone that's not near. Say goodbye. Maybe plan a big party...

These are things that are literally going through my head, these long strands of connected thoughts and pretty soon I'm planning my own funeral. I have to stop and breathe. Remember that "LISA YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF ANYTHING IS WRONG!". And then I talk my own self out of that thought.

It's a pretty emotional thing to not know what's going on with your body. Especially when nothing has ever been wrong. I come from one of the healthiest families, relatively speaking. Our genes are pretty great when it comes to not having weird diseases, diabetes, cancers, etc. Because of that, I think i've taken my good health for granted. I had it in my mind that me, or my family would never deal with things like major sicknesses or disease. It would not be our burdan to bare in this life.

Then I read this post. And it made me a little mad (no offense Carly, I was in an intense emotional state of mind). "To Endure to the End", Would I get an end to endure to? This beautiful couple has come to a hard place in the end of their life, but they had a very long and I assume, happy life together. Would I get that? I want more than ANYTHING in this entire huge crazy world to grow OLD with my best beloved. To start a family, to watch them grow. To be old together, sitting on the front porch on our rockers petting the cat. For the neighbor kids to love me, because I'd make hot, fresh chocolate chip cookies for them and be scared of Nate as he'd yell at them to stay off the lawn, they'd call him "old man Cunningham".

I thought long and hard about this kind of stuff. Screw the botox. Screw the plastic surgery. I'm excited to get old, as long as I can do it with my best friend. And this week I thought that had been taken away from me. And then I realized I had it all wrong. I suppose the enduring part is done by the ones who survive. Some ends are shorter than others.
(for the record, I'm not mad anymore).

Monday came. My husband and I walked hand in hand in the hospital. We were there for about 20 minutes total, that included the paperwork, waiting and ultrasound. It was a very short process.

I got a call on Tuesday, from the most lovely woman. It's not cancer. She even said that specifically, like she knew that word was sitting on the edge of my tongue. It's not even a lump, tumor, knodule, whatever you'd like to call it. I have thyroiditis. Yes, go ahead, click on the link. I didn't know what it was either. Inflammation of the thyroid gland. All of that for inflammation of the thyroid gland. Thank goodness, thank you Lord, heaven, glorious angels, Grandpa, whomever is watching down on me, because I can assure you, someone is.

I have an appointment in 4 weeks with an Endochronologist (gland specialist). There they will diagnose my exact prognosis. There are around 6 different types of thyroiditis. I can easily narrow it down to which specific one I think I have.

It's not drug-induced, postpartum, or radiation-induced. That leaves a few options, one that's considered hereditary, one that's caused by bacteria and one that's a virus. Let's all pray it's one of the latter two. Hopefully something that can be cured with a simple antibiotic or something of that nature.

It's not over, but the hurdle in my mind has been cleared. I suppose this still could be something bad. But, hey, my harp teacher is still living and she doesn't have a gall bladder, kidney or thyroid. And she laughs about it. She makes me feel better.

It's amazing what a little scare will do to ones attitude and outlook on life. I recommend it. It will show you what's important, bring things into perspective and make you take a long hard look at yourself and your life.

I'm now seriously considering writing our own bonafide bucket list, we never know when it will be over. Most of us won't even get a 6 month warning.

Lisa

I love to funkify.

1. In the dry, wintery weather we are experiencing in spring, you, Blistex Silk & Shine have been my saving grace, I thank you. If not for your moisturizing properties, I would no longer have lips.

2. Yesterday I stumbled across a very cool site, befunky.com. If you are looking for a good time waster, this one takes the cake. As you can see from below, I spent quite awhile funkifying a few of my favorite photos. The best part of befunky is that it's free! And you don't have to register. Just upload a photo and play. It allows you to save for free as well. I think I'll do a whole series of warholizing for my hallway, I've been looking for something colorful to add to that boring while wall.

3. I've headed back to my roots lately, listening to a lot of Tom. His voice takes me back to long road trips in the car, cleaning the house in California and my very first concert experience at age 8. This music sounds so much more real and organic to me. Tom was an intregal part of my classic rock upbringing and education provided by my parents, who just so happen to have impeccible taste in music.

I would suggest starting with Full Moon Fever it's amazing. And very singalongable, which is always important. I just purchased Zombie Zoo as my new ring tone and it makes me smile everytime my phone rings, something new for me. Then onto Into The Great Wide Open, another instant classic. Then slow it down with Wildflowers, a slower, more mellow, run and/or fall asleep in a meadow sort of feel.

You could alwasys just cheat and go straight to Greatest Hits, you can never go wrong with a greatest hits, although you do miss all the little treasures along the way. 4. I have diagnosed myself with a serious addiction. It's something my husband might force me into rehab for. A terrible thing that is taking over my life and my wallet. The $5 dvd bin. It is a complete and utter rush when I walk into a Walmart or Target and see that glowing $5 sign over a stack of freshly stocked (if I'm in Target and not Walmart) dvds. So many options of grade b or lower films. But what's $5, right? So what if I have to put back that package of toliet paper so I can own my very own copy of The Truman Show or Uncle Buck? So be it.

The biggest plus is that the $5 dvds have started to include a very wide range or chick flicks new and old. This is what has been giving me a giddy rush the past few weeks. Ever since I realized I could put our portable DVD player in my scrapbook room I have been watching every chick flick I can get my hands. It's good "background noise" for creating. And since I've already seen these classics mulitply times, I don't really have to pay that much attention. It helps out with the creative process. From Sabrina to The First Wives Club, to The Devil Wears Prada and My Best Friend's Wedding, I now have a stack of over 20 (and growing) films I have found in the last few months alone sitting faithfully next to my desk.

I now have been given a limit, 1 purchase per store visit.

5. And finally...the real thing you've been waiting to hear...drum roll please......................................

I can now play "Yankee Doodle" on the harp. Thank you , thank you. Possibly the least graceful thing I could play, but then again the harp at least lends some grace to anything. This week I'm tackling "Are you Sleeping?" and "Lavender Blue".

Peace.

I Love...Tattoos?

Well, I'm not. So you don't have to guess. I have gone through many stages where I thought about and almost went through with getting a tattoo. Luckily, one might say, or with my undecisive behavior, I never did go through with it.

My religious beliefs now keep me from getting one, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to. Or wouldn't love to, for that matter. If I lived a different life than I do now, I would be a walking piece of art.

I had a client a few days ago who just got the most beautiful fairy on the entire right side of her back. It made me start to think what I would get IF I were to get a tattoo.

1. I have this fantasy where I have a secret treasure map tattooed on my back. Pirates kidnap me because they know about the map but can't kill me because I AM the map. Is that a movie?

2. I've always wanted a mermaid tattoo. Not only for my love of The Little Mermaid, and my obsession with mermaids since a young child, but they may just be one of the coolest "fantasy creatures" of all time. Maybe a combination of these two. Although I do like the silhouetted look of Ariel. Maybe a little less volumptuous from the second. I would maybe even have her playing a harp...

{If you are as much of a mermaid fan as I am, then check out this article. It made my dreams come true. Nate, Christmas isn't too far off...}

3. It would also be pretty sweet to have a tat of a poem or some song lyrics that are meaningful. At this stage in my life I'd most likely do a verse from one of "our songs", as in Nate and I. Maybe "this is the correlation of salvation and love". That would be awesome as a bracelet or maybe a few short rows on my shoulder blade. I would do it in my favorite font, cezanne. It is beautiful and makes anything look romantic and poetic.

4. A few years back at Warped Tour, I saw a girl with the coolest tattoo. It was a stretched out barcode around her bicep. Now, i'm not normally a fan of arm bands, but this was unique. You had to sit and stare for awhile to figure out what it was. You would have to have killer arms, though, to bring that kind of attention to them.

5. Or maybe something really delicate like this. Great font, simple and to the point.

The End.

Lisa