Fun in the Sun

I spent the last 2 days outside and I am sore and my back is completely sunburned. It was well worth it. I had a delightful afternoon yesterday with my small group. We had a picnic in the park and played ultimate and other outdoor activities. I mowed the lawn for the first time as well.

Saturday night my friend M went out dancing for the first time since she had her baby. We've hung out plenty since she got pregnant, but hanging out usually consists of making food and watching a movie at home. The few outings we've had included walks in her neighborhood and venturing to the mall, all with baby in tow. Saturday the girls and I went to Live at PJs sans baby. Halfway through the night I glanced at M and her face positively glowed. It made me happy.

...still snowing...

It's mid-April and still snowing. That's Michigan for you.

I went home for Easter and uncovered a lot of old CDs I used to listen to in high school. You remember the good old days of MWS, Amy Grant, Jars of Clay? Since my musical taste has changed drastically since middle school/high school, I decided to go through all my old CDs again. I'm currently listening to Sixpence None The Richer (their self-titled album) and am surprised by how much I still like them.

I'm still sleepy. So sleepy I slept through my alarm till 8:45 AM and was late for work again. I went to kick-boxing class for the first time yesterday and was really close to blacking out by the end of it. That's what I get for eating dinner one hour before kick-boxing. I guess I'm in shape in terms of Yoga-like sports, but am doing bad in the cardio department. I'll try again next week - but eat a bigger lunch and hold off on dinner until after the class. I've got my first softball practice tonight for the church team (Knox Sox?!?) and then am keeping off my feet tomorrow. My arm is still swollen although it's a little better today than it was yesterday.

M's baby finally learned to smile and coo at me. He took awhile to start doing that since I'm the only Asian face he ever sees. I got so excited I spun him around violently in circles. He cooed more before emptying the entire contents of his dinner on me. I guess I deserve that after pointing and laughing at his parents when he'd spit up or pee on them over the last 4 months.

Tetanus Shot

I got a tetanus booster Monday afternoon and it really hurt. Today I woke up and my right shoulder is twice the size of my left shoulder. I iced it with a cold can of Pepsi at work and received strange looks from my colleagues.

I read that redness and swelling is normal after the vaccine and should only last 1-2 days. Other side-effects that accompany the vaccine include slight temperature, headaches, and extreme fatigue, all of which I'm experiencing. I struggled through Yoga last night before deciding to treat myself to a 50 cent movie at the dollar theater. I almost fell asleep during the movie. (I watched The Queen - it was pretty good!) I got home around 10ish and instead of reading as I often do before bed, I collapsed into bed and fell asleep. I still managed to sleep in this morning. I wish I could sleep it off for a day, but I'm out of sick days till May.

Hopefully I'll be more up and at 'em within a few days.

On another note, I may be heading to Austin one of the first few weekends in May to look at housing. I've got a couple good leads (including living with a girl who's getting a PhD in Counseling Psych) and am excited to check them out. Anyone interested in coming with?

Housing in Texas

I'm not much of a procrastinator, but I've been putting off looking for housing in Texas. As this is completely out of character for me to put off planning ahead, I asked my friend J why I was procrastinating. She responded that it's because looking for housing makes the move seem real and this does two things: it moves my future life forward although I physically can't move forward for another 4 months and it makes more salient the fact that I'm moving across the country...by myself.

Today, I started looking for housing in Texas. Despite all my claims of wanting to live by myself during grad school, I emailed my future colleagues to see if any of them were looking for housemates. I don't expect to hear back that soon, and in the meantime I made some calls to cheaper apartment complexes around the campus to inquire about their singles (I'm to call back in June). But I find myself checking my email every 5 minutes hoping that the current grad students have opening in their apartments. To my surprise, I much rather live with others than live alone. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I've been watching the first season of Grey's Anatomy and I've romanticized what it would be like to have roommates again. Maybe it's because I'm currently writing a paper on the fear of loneliness. Maybe I'm realizing that money is scarce during grad school and I really should live with others to save on utilities and the likes.

I really hope I hear back from them soon.

Little Victories

I've been getting into fights with the cat every morning. This cat is, as Josh from my small group describes, a long-haired cuddle-whore. A long-haired aggressive cuddle-whore. Not kidding you. I walk out from the bathroom and it rolls belly-up, begging for attention. If I ignore it, it whimpers nonstop all morning, jumps on the dining room table and sits on any magazine or books I happen to be reading. Even if I move the reading material around on the table, it follows it around and plops back down. When I'm scooping food into the food dish, it'll try to nuzzle my arm, knocking food out of the scooper every time. And it's a purring machine. If I'm not careful to shut it out of the bedroom every night, it wakes me up with the purring at 4, then 5 AM - if the purring doesn't do it, it'll simply sit on my face. I hate it when it rubs my legs while I'm wearing yoga pants because the pants are like lint magnets. The cat clearly knows my feelings about its hair and my pants, but 2 days ago it still ran figure eights around my legs like it was on steroids. I wake up dreading the cat some mornings.

But I woke up this morning and felt more myself than I have since...maybe July?

I realize there are a lot of things I can complain about lately, but one of the things I'm going to try to is to really take hold of the little victories in my life and see them as blessings and gifts.

Like although the darned cat is a cuddle-whore, I don't have to go home to an empty house. Or like yesterday, my stylist was running late at the Aveda Institute, so they moved me to the actual Douglas J. salon to get my hair cut by a real stylist at the Institute price. Or that I lost my wallet and my phone, and they were both recovered quickly. Or that I was running late to work this morning but managed to snag the last parking spot in the parking structure that was covered, so I don't have to worry about de-icing my car after work. Or that I've been craving a Christian community and not only is my small group awesome, I've been invited to join the church softball team this week. Or that a stray copy of Marie Claire (fashion magazines are one of my guilty pleasures) ended up in my mail.

Little things add up. And I'm determined to take hold of all the little victories in my life and appreciate them at their fullest from here on out.

Isn't it amazing how one conversation can make you feel so insignificant?