friday

I was right about the snow. It never really came. I'm sure people who live at higher elevations had some issues, but down in the city everything was fine. Maybe a little slush on the roads but nothing more. My boss offered to cancel my 8:30am class but I declined and showed up anyway. Only 4 people came, normally there's about 25-30 people in that class. School was closed so I didn't teach the kids, nobody showed up to my 5:30 class at Adidas, but I had 34 people in my evening class. The city just completely shut down and there wasn't even an inch of snow on the ground. The temperature was above freezing, for pete's sake! Even the buses had chains on them. So silly.

Today was a long day. I taught my early morning class and gave Chris a ride home afterward. This morning (whole day, really) was beautiful, clear and sunny and as I was driving through Chris' neighborhood I had the most glorious view of Mt. Hood and the rising sun behind it. I couldn't believe how visible the mountain was all the way from Tigard. That mountain is just monstrously huge. Hard to believe!

After yoga I came home and watched some tv on the computer. Jersey Shore and The Biggest Loser. I also did some cleaning, folded and put laundry away, and of course enjoyed a couple cups of coffee. It was a great morning, but by noon I was ready for a nap! I'm now sitting on the couch watching Roseanne and waiting for my fries to come out of the oven. I'm hoping to be asleep within the next hour!

Tomorrow will be another long day but Saturdays are always easier than Fridays because I know I have Sundays off. This Sunday I'm watching the Oscars with Julia. Should be fun!

Keith has started working at the Rose Garden and I'm loving it. Between him not getting home from work at 4 in the morning, and me giving up my super early yoga classes, we might actually be able to get on a regular schedule.

xoxo-
T

wednesday

Good afternoon. I thought today was going to suck, but so far it hasn't. I actually slept well last night and didn't attempt a nap between my two morning yoga classes. I'm tired, but not overly tired. It was nice to enjoy a lengthy breakfast between my classes. I had a bagel with coffee, orange juice and water. Mornings are my favorite time of day. I love when I have 2-3 hours to myself with nothing to do but surf the net, drink my coffee, practice putting flows together, etc. Mornings are my time. Keith is never awake and I really enjoy spending time alone. I often think about how much my life would change if I ever had kids. I am one of those people who deeply values alone time, and in most cases I'd rather be alone than with others.


Allegedly it's going to snow in Portland starting tonight and into tomorrow. I'm skeptical. This is the third time they've been sure we were going to get snow this season. Events cancelled, buses chained, the whole nine. Part of me is really hoping for snow, but only if it's enough to cancel my classes so I don't have to drive in it. I already hate to drive as it is. I do teach in the Pearl tomorrow night, so I'll be able to teach that one regardless of the weather because I walk there.

Speaking of snow, Monday when I was at Meadows the roads were clear when we got there, and when we left they were snow covered. Amber has a Subaru and was able to handle the conditions just fine, but still! It was crazy how much it snowed while we were there. And it was crazy how much the snow hurt as it hit you in the face on the way down the mountain. I was riding at times with my arms in front of my face to shield myself. When we were on the lift it was most intense because you're just sitting there completely still, getting beaten up by the high winds. Conditions were wintry, that's for sure. I love the mountain. My soul feels happy there. I could see myself living on a mountain like that one day, when I'm much older and able to afford a really nice mountain cabin with all the luxuries my heart desires. I love the city too, it's hard to say which one I prefer. Don't think I could pick.

I have to say I think it's bizarre how mainstream it is to post ultrasound photos on facebook. I can not tell you have many friends I have who do this. Not everyone needs to see up close and personal photos of your uterus. But, that's my opinion! To each his own. Or her own, I guess.

xoxo-
T

tuesday

I thought I was going to sleep well last night because I was so exhausted from my first day back at yoga and a few hours of snowboarding at Meadows. Wrong. I was up almost all night long coughing. I am so sick and tired of being so sick and tired. I emailed my boss last Friday about finding someone new to teach my super early classes, but I haven't heard back from her yet. I guess I will give her until the end of the week and email her again to make sure she got it. Although I don't know why she wouldn't, it is in my sent folder. Maybe she overlooked it? Or maybe she's ignoring it? I just want that class off my plate. I didn't sleep last night, I won't sleep tonight because I have to get up at 5, and tomorrow is a really busy day for me. I hate my sleep patterns. I feel like I've tried everything short of Ambien. Last night I even took two Nyquils before I went to bed so that I could sleep through the night without coughing. Not only did I not sleep through the night, but I coughed all night as well.

Needless to say, I am in a really bad mood.

monday part two

I went snowboarding tonight with Amber and Sarah. We were going to go to Ski Bowl but decided to go to Meadows instead. Lucky for us, there was some fundraiser event and lift tickets were only $10! We had quite a few really great runs. It was snowing and completely freezing, and the snow was coming down like little pellets that just smacked you in the face as you were riding. When you breathed in you inhaled snow pellets. It. Was. Awesome. Sarah's the one in red, Amber is the one that fell. I'm recording.

monday

So I'm sitting here having a great morning, watching the Today Show, and a segment comes on about taxes and how returns are bigger than ever this year, averaging about $3,300. Then they go on to talk about all the ways you can spend your tax return. I turned it off because it was irritating to watch. Keith and I didn't make a ton of money last year and we ended up owing taxes. For the second year in a row. Ever since I moved to Oregon I've owed taxes. Annoying!

I had the day off yesterday and it was so nice. Keith and I went to Coffeehouse Northwest, which was interesting because it's hard to go out for coffee with someone when you don't have much of a voice. Going out for coffee for is so appealing to me because the whole idea of it is to chat with whoever you're with over a delicious caffeinated beverage. Almost everyone else in there was alone with their laptops. I pointed out to Keith that the whole scene felt like an episode of Portlandia. As I looked around the coffee shop I noticed that almost every piece of art adorning the walls had a bird on it. Ha! If you don't know why that's funny, open a new window and go to www.hulu.com, search 'Portlandia' and watch the 'Put A Bird On It' clip.

From there we walked a little bit on 23rd and then we came home and watched a bunch of Roseanne episodes. I found it on Netflix and I've been watching it a lot. She is so funny. I saw her on Oprah a couple of weeks ago. She now lives on a nut farm in Hawaii. A macadamia nut farm.

By the way, if you know Keith, you might find this funny. After a couple of classic Keith moments yesterday, I asked him if I could start a blog called Keithisms. He said no. But that doesn't mean I can't go buy a notebook and make one that I don't plaster all over the internet. I really should do that.

Here's an update on how I feel: This morning I woke up for the first time in a week feeling almost normal. In the evening, through the night and into the morning my couch is really bad, but other than that I feel just fine. And of course I am still waiting for my voice to be back to normal. I think for the most part it has returned but it sounds funny. Maybe a little squeaky? I haven't said much today because I'm awake by myself!

xoxo-
T

sunday

Last night I met Julia's Mom & Dad (visiting from Bellingham) and her aunt and uncle (visiting from Tahoe). Such a lovely group of people! It made me wish my family would hurry up and visit! And then when I fell asleep I dreamed of La Jolla. Really, I did. I wish Keith and I could go there for our anniversary, or for any reason. If I could have an all expenses paid vacation to anywhere in the world right now, that's where I'd pick. I have such great memories there and it's my favorite place I've ever been. Every once in a while I wish I had one of those jobs where I could get transferred to a new city and the company would pay for the move. Not just any city, of course. It would have to be somewhere I wanted to live.

On that note, how about a list of places I'd like to live? Maybe not long term, but at least for a little while.

• Salt Lake City- It seems like such a cute little mountain town, and they get more sunshine than we do in Portland. It's really pretty and there are lots of outdoor things to do and see. I dream of waking up and going out for coffee, taking in the exquisite mountain views and then going snowboarding for the day. My source in SLC says it's "about an hour from futon to chairlift". Sounds good. Plus, it's a drivable distance from Las Vegas, so when I tire of mountain life I can enjoy a quick getaway.
  

• La Jolla/San Diego- I could settle here. Ideally, my life here would go something like this: I have a cute little bungalow in the La Jolla Village area. I wake up in the morning and sit at Goldfish Point Cafe drinking coffee until I feel like being done. Wait back up, before coffee I go to yoga. After coffee I take a long walk/jog from La Jolla to Pacific Beach along the coastline and then back to La Jolla, stopping to hang out on the beach whenever I want. Then I come home and watch Ellen. I shower and go to another yoga class, then I come home and put on an adorable dress and go out for rooftop dining at some fabulous restaurant. Then I do it all again the next day.
  

• Vail/Telluride/Aspen, Colorado- Same reasons as Salt Lake City. In the summer I would hike and all winter long I would snowboard. I've never been to Colorado but something about it strikes my fancy.
  

I guess that's it. After writing about La Jolla, very little else seems appealing! Notice I do not dream of living in New York. Maybe if I were a millionaire, but even then probably not. My allegiance to the west coast is strong. Plus, I really found New York to be quite dirty and a little depressing.

xoxo-
T

friday...part two

What a day this has been. I woke up around 7:30am to a screaming Simon (he was hungry), drank lots of orange juice, ate a banana, drank more orange juice, drank a cup of coffee (my first in five days), ate a bowl of cereal, watched last night's episode of Joisy Shore, took a shower and came to work. While I can say this day is possibly the slowest Friday I have ever seen, it certainly hasn't been uneventful. I decided to email my boss and tell her I was no longer able to teach my 5:45am class. That's a decision I have struggled with for at least a year. I feel connected to the group, which is why I've continued to teach it for this long, however I do feel that my health and sanity are being compromised. I can take it no more. And then, Shannon and I thought Suzy was missing. Suzy is our coworker. We both adore her, which is why we became alarmed when Shannon called to ask her a quick question and a strange man answered and said, "She fell down again" and then hung up. We called our boss, who has connections to her family, we called her home number, we called Julia to ask her if she knew what Suzy was up to this weekend, and we called another coworker to ask the same question. At this point it's safe to say we were panicked. If you know me, you know that I'm a big worrier when it comes to those I care about. I wanted someone to go to her house and make sure she wasn't being held hostage! I was just thinking she would appreciate our concern if she was truly being held hostage, and even if she was fine and some wacko just stole her phone, she would still appreciate our concern. Well, about an hour and a half or so goes by and Suzy finally calls us from her home phone. I answered like this: "Suzy? SUZY?!" She was fine. Some doofus broke into her car while she was at the Japanese Gardens and stole her purse. Her phone was inside, but her wallet (thankfully) was not. She tucked the purse under the pedals on the driver's side thinking it wasn't visible, but apparently it was. Let that be a lesson to you purse-tuckers. Put that sucker in your trunk or take it with you!

My eyes feel like they're burning. Suddenly I feel very tired and I can't wait to get home. My nose hurts really bad, perhaps from sniffling? As a precaution I got a sub for my class tomorrow morning and now I'm really glad that I did. Rest is the word of the day. R-E-S-T.

I can't stop listening to the Mumford & Sons album. I think I've listened to it five times today.

I am so le tired.

friday

Sick...again! This is the fourth time this winter season that I've been sick. And I don't just mean under the weather, I mean full-blown sick. The first two times were really bad colds, the third time (the worst) was the flu, and this time it's some weird multi-layered virus. It started out with a throat so sore I thought I had strep, and now it's somehow evolved into a sneezy-coughy-chest congested cold that's stolen my voice. It really is getting me down that I've been sick so much. I hate to be that person. I've had to get subs for more classes than I'd like, and I'm getting tired of hearing people say, "you're sick again?". Trust me, I'd rather be practicing yoga and snowboarding. But I have to wonder if maybe that's why I've gotten so sick so many times? Maybe I don't give myself enough rest. My schedule is so erratic between teaching 11 classes a week, trying to squeeze in a class or two for myself, and trying to get up to the mountain as often as I can. It's hard to give it a rest because these are all things I love! I don't want to give up any of it. And snowboarding season isn't going to last forever, especially at SkiBowl (lowest resort on the mountain). If I had to choose a culprit for my constant exhaustion, I'd have to point the finger at my 5:45 am class on Wednesdays and Fridays. I can never sleep well the night before that class, and I always want to go back to sleep afterward but now I have other obligations that prevent me from doing so. There have been times when I barely slept the night before class and I came home and went back to sleep for a solid 5-6 hours. My sleep schedule is a mess, and it has been for a long time. I love my 5:45 class and all the people in it. These people have been a part of my life every since I moved to Portland and I hate to give that up. Yes, I can still see them and sub the class every now and again if it becomes available, but it just won't be the same. It will truly be the end of an era if I decide to give that class up. I didn't teach it this morning because I don't have a voice, and I have to say that it's nice to actually feel rested. Sure, I'd rather be healthy and able to speak, but more than anything my body needed the rest. Oh, decisions. I keep threatening to give that class up, but have yet to find the heart to do it.

xoxo-
T