Oscars 2011

This was my all time favorite part of the Oscars this year. I was laughing so hard when I watched this, having seen all of these movies. I admit, the Twilight part made me laugh the hardest... HAHA! "She's so glad he doesn't have a shirt...."

I am so proud of Colin Firth for winning Best Actor.  I absolutely find him so talented and yes, I do believe him to be the best Mr. Darcy ever.  Period.  I agree with The King's Speech winning best movie of the year as well and am so glad it beat out Black Swan.  I guess I shouldn't judge Black Swan since I never saw it, but just being part History major (and loving Colin Firth)  I am just delighted they won.  If you haven't seen this year's winner, I highly recommend it!

The Fullness of a Bladder.

(Sometimes I wish I really could make an appointment with the handsome Dr. House because I know this fictional character would solve my medical mystery.)

Hello dear friends and family!  I hope you are all well as you're reading my blog.

Just a quick update on the my fun medical adventures...  I went in for my Peek-A-Boo doctor's appointment (which was fine, by the way, just the usual awkward/eww-ness like normal.  And yes I DID treat myself to Cold Stone (and suffer later), but it was well worth it to reward myself for the annual violation.)  Anyhoo, I told the Nurse Practitioner about some of the pain I've been having and she referred me to get a pelvic ultrasound performed.  Great.  Excellent.  This way I can rule out if the problem is reproductive instead vs. digestive.

They made me drink 32 ounces of water an hour before my appointment and I was not allowed to pee until after it was done.  Excuse me?  Do they not realize that I rarely drink water?  My body is not used to such a task!  When I do drink water at work, which I've been trying to do more of lately, I have to pee within an hour.  To not be able to is NOT going to be fun.  I spoke with my sister and a couple of friends about it and they told me their horror stories, which even included one of them (I won't point fingers) looking for something in their car to pee in on the way to their appointment in case it came to that!

I was nervous to say the least.

As soon as I got there, I was dancing.  It took all of my effort to sit down in the waiting room, trying not to pace the floors.  I was texting people, reading, doing almost anything to distract the thought of my bladder.  Heaven forbid I heard the sound of rushing water!  Finally, what seemed like hours, my name was called.  I could barely make it on the table, my bladder was so full!

After the procedure was done, the ultrasound technician told me to go ahead and empty my bladder and come back and we'll do the inside next.

Um... Excuse me??  No one told me I was going to be violated yet again in this procedure.  I know she was laughing at me in the inside for being so naive, after all, it was a pelvic exam checking out my lady bits, but she was professional.

Anyway, I'll spare you the details but I went in for my recheck yesterday and there are no problems with my womanhood (thank heavens, since I would love to bear children someday).  So yay!  That means it's all in my guts.  I go in for my next gastroenterologist appointment next month, so send good vibes my way that they'll figure out the next step in finding out what my sitch is!

Single Awareness Day!

Last Saturday I decided to have a Single Awareness Day party with my single (and a couple of not so single) girl friends.  I have decided to embrace my single-hood and what better way to do it than to celebrate my happiness with my closest girl friends?

My friend Jenn helped me host the shindig at my house.  After getting a couple new pieces of furniture and some flowers and decor, my house was suitable to have such an event.  We were very excited and of course bought way too much food!  I take after my mother in that way, learning from the best hostess I've ever known.  We had apples with caramel, a veggie platter, cherry cordial chocolates, Diva conversation hearts (they were sparkly too!), cupcakes and ordered pizza.  Oh and Sprite as our bubbly. ;)

(Jenn and I, the hostesses with the mostesses.)

We talked and talked while playing Friends in the background, which is one of my all time favorite TV shows.  when everyone had arrived we put on the very appropriate film My Bloody Valentine.  It was hilarious watching the flick and just making fun of everything.  After all, it was the original 1981 movie!  It was such a great time!

(Laughing my heart out with Jaime and Steph.)

It's evenings like this where I am so happy to be single; where I can just decide to do something like this without asking permission or worry about leaving someone out!  Where all of my girls can come together and share laughs about laugh and help me remember why I love the friends I have!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Single Awareness Day (S.A.D., lol) or, if you celebrated with a loved one, a happy Valentine's Day!

(I didn't get pix with everyone, but I think you get the idea.  Oh yes and it was pajama attire!  Got to be comfy on Single Awareness Day!  HAHA!)

Song of the Day.

I heard this song about a year ago from my friend Marisa. My sister Traci then played it for me on our road trip to Grampa's funeral. And tonight I heard it on the radio on the way home from Disneyland. I love it!

Sometimes, Traditions End.

Every year we drove up to my grandparents' house in Stockton, California.  On the way up we'd stop at Andersen's Pea Soup for lunch.  I always got The Traveler's Special which included a bowl of endless pea soup.  I never got past one bowl.  After out bellies were full, we'd hit the road again.

As the years went on and I started driving this trip in my own car, or with a sibling or two, we'd continue the tradition.  After eating we'd hit the road again.  In order to remember the exit for Gramma's and Grampa's, we had to include the ending:  Hammer (Lane) don't hurt 'em.  We never forgot that exit.  After exiting, we'd pick up some See's Candies for the visit.

Last week I woke up at 3am for some random reason.  I decided to check my phone and i had a text from my sister Traci:  "Did you know that Gpa died?"  I was in a little bit of shock.  I checked my email and discovered one from my brother with the same words, but as a statement.  He forwarded the obituary link after finding out from our cousin, Nat.  My Aunt's friend came upon the obituary and called her.  Harsh.

A few years ago, we discovered my grandparents weren't actually married.  To me, it didn't matter.  Blood or not, married or not, Grampa GG will always be my grampa.  He was there for me at every important event in my life.  He came to all of my Grandparents' Days in elementary school.  He came to my graduations.  He came for Christmases and Thanksgivings.  He was always there.

After a bit of research, we found out the funeral service was the upcoming Saturday.  Traci and I were not going to miss it.  We were going to support our Grampa like he supported us.  Gramma would have wanted us to be there too, so how could we not drive the 6 1/2 hour drive one last time?  We took half of Friday off, packed up the car with Gina and Traci's husband, Chris, and made the familiar trek.

It was mandatory to stop at Andersen's...  It will also be the last time.  I got so so sick from The Traveler's Special that I almost missed the funeral.  (Still trying to figure out my whole guts problem.  Btw, I have another ultrasound next week.)  Anyway, somehow I made it through the night (sorry siblings that I shared a hotel room with) and we went to the funeral.  It was nothing but a sea of blue hair, haha!  Obviously, Grampa was well loved.

The service was very nice.  Lots of people stood up to tell everyone a few things about Grampa GG.  Lots of stories about cards and coming to things super early.  He wasn't on time, he was ALWAYS early.  It was just his way.  His son, Jeff and his daughter, Lynn spoke too.  One of the best stories I'd like to share is that of his military service.  He served in the Navy in WWII.  He actually supposed to be stationed on the USS Arizona but fell ill and another man took his place.  Unbelievable right?  I get chills every time I hear that story.  He could be at the bottom of Pearl Harbor right now...

Traci and I cried the whole entire time.  We couldn't help it.  It was just this past Christmas we'd called him and sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

After the service, we approached Lynn.  With tears in our eyes we re-introduced ourselves since it had been 10+ years since we'd seen her.  We let her know we so glad to have made it.  She apologized profusely about not getting in contact sooner to let us know.  She wanted us to know he was only on hospice for 30 hours before he went peacefully.  It was definitely time, she said.  We hugged her goodbye and that was probably the last we'll see of Stockton, California.  Home of my grandparents.

(Gramma and Grampa at my cousin Mimi's wedding.)

(The last picture we have of Gpa GG.  Tiffer and her family were able to introduce him to their little girl, Jaiden.)

Civic Duty.

Yesterday ended my last day of my 3 day trial as a juror.  It was such an amazing experience and I am proud to have performed my civic duty.

Jury Duty began last Wednesday.  I've done Jury Duty a number of times, but it's been years.  After the orientation, they began with the first selection.  My name was the fourth one read aloud.  I thought it interesting that they called us by name instead of number.  Apparently, if you haven't been called for several years, they make sure they get you by calling out your full name.

I made my way down a level and mustered in the assigned courtroom.  Sitting in the audience, I listened to everyone answer all the questions that were asked, deciding my own answers.  I was soon called into the seat of Juror #6.  Apparently, they were fine with my answers, knowing people in the police force and also knowing people in jail.

The trial began that same day.  An older man, I'd say in about his 60's, was the defendant.  He was found sleeping in the back seat of his daughter's car.  The car was parked in front of the Embassy Suites in Irvine, blocking part of the driveway.  It was almost 1:00am.  When a young officer knocked on his window and woke him up, he was distorted.  After he agreed to her searching his car, she came upon a black bag which he immediately denied was his.  The contents it held included two used pipes, used and new syringes, a lighter, a little bag of 4 Hydrocodone (Vicodin), 4 little bags of a crystal-like substance, a scale with a granular substance, and a spoon with a cotton-like residue.

Obviously, a pretty experienced druggie.

The case was to find out mainly if he had the intent to sell the drugs or was just using.  We listened to 3 witnesses, all within the police force.  We came back the next day to continue and finally deliberate.  We had Friday off and then returned Monday to try to come to an agreement.  Finally, with my excellent reasoning (yes, I'm taking the credit here) we all agreed he was guilty with the intent to sell.  Intent to sell is a far worse charge than just possession.  Not to mention possessing Vicodin without a prescription is a felony.

Let's just our streets have one less druggie on them for a looooong time.

I have to be honest though, as I was walking with a few of my fellow jurors, I felt so sorry for the man.  We even got teary-eyed because his case was so sad.  We know we made the right choice because the evidence was all there.  We had to remind ourselves that we didn't put him in jail, or make his life turn out this way.  He was the one who went down that path.  His choices led him there.