As seen in my recent posts, life is great. I've got adventure, I've got happiness, I have a fabulous family and friends. My life is rich, and full, and amazing. Yet this weekend I spent a good part being anxious. I can tell I am anxious because I get SUPER busy.
Friday-
Work all day, run 3 miles, dinner with mom and Michael, laundry, and clean the apartment top to bottom for 2 hours.
Saturday-
Work out, get new tires, take a friend birthday present shopping, pool, grocery shop, make chicken curry to freeze for meals, Chinese wedding and reception, movie and ice cream with mom and Michael.
I'm exhausted. I'm anxious. Life is going to have a subtle change in the next few weeks...joining the family ward relm of the world (a ward is a congregation at church, currently I attend one for singles ages 18-31...my birthday is in September, so time to move on). I have been full of hope for the future, an excited anticipation! But this weekend I am anxious.
Step one, turn off the computer and get a full night's rest! Anxiety, you will not get the best of me!
Wow, George Strait was the first to greet me! Ok, so he greeted me from the overheadpaging system in the airport. The second person to greet me was Chanda Vaniman, health coach and (coachchanda.com) yoga instructor extraordinaire!
Nashville was cooler than Austin. Thank goodness, I needed a break from 107 degrees!
Friday night we attended the Nashville Temple. Dang it, I didn’t get a picture. It is a small one, but very pretty! No wonder I have been in a great mood all of July and August, I’ve been to 3 temples, 5 times.
Saturday morning I attended my first hot yoga class. The room was between 100 and 102 with 30% humidity. It actually felt pretty good.Chanda was an awesome instructor. The only thing I couldn’t do was the rabbit pose. Can’t believe how much I sweat!
The fun continued with a nice hike. We hiked around a lake and through the woods. I saw a few deer, including foals! I found it cute, Shaleen made cocking shotgun sounds.
Saturday afternoon we toured the Grand Ole Opry. It has the 2nd best acoustics in the world, do you know what is #1? Last year it was flooded, they have it restored it and it is up and running. I didn’t really know anything about the history. The tour was cool. Part of it was a video with country singer Blake Shelton talking, (I think I am sold on a man with a good southern accent!) We saw the dressing rooms, all themed, the mailboxes for the Opry members. If you want to send an Opry member mail, just put their name, and Grand Ole Opry USA. I learned all about Minnie Pearl and Little Jimmy Dickens. Ever heard of the song "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose"?
The end of the tour you get to stand on the famous circle on stage. So the circle is made from the stage of the old theater (Rinehart?) where the Opry started. The idea is that everyone who every performed there walked on this spot. During the flood the wooden circle was found floating in the theater, recovered, and restored.
Too bad I am not brave enough to really sing. I was singing “At Last” loudly in my head! (and later realized that isn't a country song at all. Oops!)
Saturday night we went to Centennial park in downtown Nashville. They had free dance lessons, followed by a few hours of big band music and dancing.I danced with strangers, men old and young. It was pretty cool actually!
Sunday was good hanging out time and attending church of course. Shaleen works in the nursery. I had fun reading 2 and 3 year olds books and teaching the girls how to skip!
Another former Austin resident, Sarah Compton, stopped in. Chanda made us a delicious pot roast, there was arm wrestling, and a good time by all!
Thank you Nashville! I had a great time.
Lesson learned? Life is rich and full and has a lot to offer! Chanda and Shaleen approach life with grace and happiness.
Who is tired of seeing my icky packed wound on this blog? I am, I am!
I’m sitting here in the Austin Airport, waiting for adventure #3 of the summer of
“I’m 30 and single, and look what I get to do!”.
Adventure #1 will be blogged about when I get the pictures,
because what fun is a blog without pictures?
Adventure #2…Maryland/Washington D.C to see my former BYU roommate Lisa Creer.
I decided earlier this summer that when you are 30 and single, you get to do things like take 4-day trips to visit friends. First trip was to Maryland to visit Lisa.
She was my roommate for two years at BYU.
We went to the D.C temple the first night I was there, thanks to her husband who stayed home with her two cute kiddos Linnea and Connor.
The next morning I treated Lisa to a pedicure as a late birthday present. Funny how we are in different stages of life, she read Family Circle and looked at recipes, while I looked at gossip magazines. While we were there her husband packed lunches and the 5 of us got in the car and headed to D.C.
We ate lunch with the Washington monument on one side, and the Capitol on the other.
We visited the Natural History Museum were Linnea and I went through the butterfly exhibit. Too bad that cute four-year old couldn’t stay still enough and giggled every time a butterfly tried to land on her. One landed on me though. It was cool to have butterflies flying all around you, so many varieties!
Sunday I shared my greatest talent, I made chocolate chip cookies. Lisa napped on the couch while Linnea and I made cookies. She suggested we add M&M’s. I thought that was brilliant. They were delicious!
Sunday evening we went to the boardwalk at Cheseapeake Beach. I did manage to get one picture of Lisa and I.
Here is the unexpected lesson learned on this trip. There is so much I have to learn, so much I can prepare for, so much to get excited for when it comes to my future family. I had a great time watching a young family. I picked up yummy recipes, got read to by a smart 4 year old, got sang to, and caught up with a dear friend. I came home blessed with this gem…although I don’t view being single as a punishment , I certainly never thought of it as an amazing blessing of time. Time to become even that much more prepared for my eventual role as a wife and mother. This time of my life is a very special blessing!
WARNING, SOME GROSS PICS! NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!
I just came back from a fabulously wonderful try to Maryland/D.C. It was just what I needed right now. I am going to blog about that very soon. But first I am going to get the complaining out of the way....
On my way home Monday at 5:30pm my plane was grounded for over an hour on the runway. Thunderstorms were moving in over Baltimore and in our pathway to Memphis, TN. I didn't bring anything to eat. Luckily the man next to me gave me his extra granola bar. We arrived in Memphis an hour and half late, by then my plane to Austin was long gone. Nothing else was going to Austin and they had a flight for me on a different airline the next morning. Delta put me up in a DoubleTree hotel. A shuttle would take me there, I shuttle would bring me back the next morning, I got a $100 credit to a future flight, and I had a voucher for a dinner and breakfast at the hotel. Sounds good right? Well, the shuttle was a 10 passenger van and there were 30 of us heading to the hotel which was 15 minutes away. It took me an hour to get to the hotel. I arrived at 10:00pm...the restaurant was closed, including room service, and would not open till 6:00am...my flight left at 6:50...and the hotel shuttle didn't start until 6:00am, so I had to call up a taxi. Good thing I had an extra package of cookies from the plane as my dinner. My bed at least was comfy and had internet. I was at the curb waiting for my taxi at 5:30, sharing it with another girl. I almost had a heart attack when he arrived at 5:50am, but luckily I arrived to a short security line and made my flight to Dallas. My breakfast was my second granola bar. Finally I arrived in Austin by 10:00am and in to work by 1:00pm.
To top it all off...this is what I came home with...
It is an infection on the back of my thigh. Possibly a staph infection (lab results pending). No clue how I got it. (Maryland friends not to blame, it started Friday before I arrived) It started as a tender bump on Friday. By Monday my was red, tender, swollen, and really really hurt after sitting on planes. After work I went to the urgent care clinic. Here they numbed me up, drained the wound, packed it, dressed it, and put me on antibiotics.
I can't remember the last time I wanted my mom so bad. I'm 30 for goodness sake! When they were about to put the needle in that would "pinch and burn" I wanted my mom next to me. And then my second thought was I wanted to call my favorite guy friend to have him distract me on the phone. But my mom is in Argentina, and my guy friend would probably have thought I was being a silly girl. I asked the nurse on a scale of 0-10 how bad was it going to hurt? She said, a lot. Gee thanks! It did hurt, a lot!
This is Day 1 right after it was drained. That is packing strips hanging out.
Today I had to return to have it looked at again. The doctor thinks the redness around it has not gone down, but I think it has. He repacked it and it really hurt again! I wanted to cry, and I still wanted to cry in the car on the way home. Let's pray it heals, and heals quickly! Come on antibiotics, do your thing!
Day Two before the re-packing ... the square is the print of the dressing put on it.
Day 2 with the new packing in and an outline to watch the redness.
