Scrappin' mojo is back!

{Credits: background solid paper by Holly McCaig; flower brush by
Jason Gaylor at Design Fruit; middle spirograph circles by me}

I feel like my scrappin' mojo is back! I haven't felt too creative in the last month, but the last few days I've done a bunch of digital layouts. I even made some layout templates for myself. I done good! ;-) The above is just some art that I call "Science and Nature". I'm still working on the photo book for our next door neighbors Fred & Annie. I've made 10 pages so far and I'm planning for it to be around 20 pages or so. Halfway there!

This morning I had a follow-up visit with my doctor's nurse practitioner at Sharp. I told her that I was doing well with the medication at 10 mg, so I didn't go up to the 20 mg dosage. She said that's great because you wanna take the least amount of medication that's effective. They still want to keep me on the medication for a while. They also want me to go back in 3 months and see how I'm doing. They also took my blood for fasting glucose and lipid (cholesterol) tests. Glucose because they took a non-fasting test last time and it came back kind of high. I don't have a family history of diabetes, I'm thin, and I exercise. So, just another test to make sure I don't have pre-diabetes. I hadn't had my cholesterol checked in 6 years, so I guess it's about time.

I really like the processes and the people at Sharp Rees-Stealy in RB. They are really customer-focused there! You hear the horror stories of not being treated like a person when you go to the doctor/hospital, or having to wait a long time to see anyone. I'm so pleased with the services there. When I went to urgent care, I waited maybe 5 minutes and I was seen! I've never had to wait long to see the doctor there either. Also, they just treat you so pleasantly there. The nurses are super-friendly and smile all the time. My doctor is attentive and answers questions, jokes, makes sure I understand everything. My nurse practitioner today went over everything with me, and made sure all my questions were answered. They actually treat you like a person and take time to listen to you. What a difference! The past two years I've had some pretty terrible experiences with doctors, from when Todd was ill for a few months, and when my mom had cancer. Those doctors were really bad. They had no bedside manner and treated you like a number instead of a person. They added to the stress of already being sick. Sharp is definitely doing something right!

Another happy thing is that the NEW ROAD by my house opened! It goes into Rancho Bernardo now, so I can get to work in 10 minutes via local streets! I've been waiting for this for over a year. The project had been delayed for several times, months at a time. FINALLY it's open! While I'm on the subject of roads being open... yet another happy thing is they've finally opened up Miramar Lake ALL the way around the 5 miles! It had been closed with a fence at the 4 mile mark ever since 9/11. Finally Scripps Ranch secured some funding to build a fence around the actual water reservoir, and now it's open all the way around again. So happy. I think I'll try to run the 5 miles sometime when it's not hot.

Guess what else cool is going on? Todd & I are having our photo session with Tara Whitney on Sunday! I can't wait, it should be fun, and I can't wait to see the photos. Go to her website and look at the general style she's done.

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Dodgers vs Angels

{Credits: Thao Cosgrove "Hana" papers; Scrap Simple template "Fancy Folds"(ScrapGirls.com); Times New Roman, Ballpark Weiner, and Arial fonts.}

Two weeks ago we took my dad to Dodger Stadium to see the Dodgers vs the Angels. It was for Father's Day and he had never been to a major league baseball game before. We had fun even though it was hot because our seats were in the sun. We kept waiting for the shade to come down to our row, but to no avail. We brought Subway sandwiches with us, and we each had a big bottle of water as well. The traffic getting there and back was horrible, as it always is in LA. But after the game we got to go to our favorite Chinese restaurant Canaan in Rowland Heights. It was a fun day with Dad.

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Deals & Steals

Todd & I went shopping yesterday at North County Fair Mall and I got some really sweet deals! Aeropostale was having a huge 50% off already on-sale prices. So I got these for SO cheap! I don't know how they do it, but it seems at these prices it doesn't even cover the fabric and materials to make them. The original prices on all these were $39.50!





I didn't do too much this weekend. On Friday night we had fast-food Chinese at Dragon, then walked around Carmel Mountain to some stores like Ross, Circuit City, Barnes & Noble, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Last night we watched the Will Farrell movie "Taladaga Nights". It was pretty funny, if you're in the mood for stupid jokes and slapsticky comedy.

I signed up for another online class for Photoshop Elements, this time to make collages. It starts in a week, should be fun.

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Thirteen

Thirteen years ago today, Todd and I got married. It's hard to believe it's been that long, but at the same time it's gone by so fast! We celebrated with dinner in La Jolla at George's rooftop overlooking the ocean. The view was incredible and the food was equally good. I had skirt steak with garlic spinach & onion rings. Todd had herb-encrusted halibut. We both had dessert, yummy! Afterwards we took a sunset stroll past Ellen Browning Scripps Park to the Children's Pool, where we watched seals swim around and lounge on the sand. It was a nice way to celebrate Lucky #13.

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This N That

I've been quiet lately if anyone's noticed. Besides work, I've just given myself permission to take the pressure off myself to not HAVE to do stuff. I ran at Miramar Lake for the first time in 3 weeks yesterday. It felt good, because I wanted to run, not because I HAD to run. On the way there, we drove by the fire at Penasquitos Canyon Reserve. There were lots of news vans there and firetrucks. We actually saw the fire and it was creeping up towards some houses at the top of the canyon. When we arrived at Miramar Lake, we noticed lots of people there watching the reservoir. Turns out the firefighting helicopters were getting their water from Miramar Lake. It was fascinating to watch. The helicopters hovered above the water while a big tube was inserted into the reservoir to suck up the water. When they have enough water, they take off. It was like watching a big mosquito land on water. Fortunately, the fire was contained in about an hour, and no houses and people were hurt.

The last few days I have been working hard to finish all my homework for my Make Your Photos Pop class. I fell behind during those two weeks when I was inundated with work and had to work extra hours to cover for a vacationing coworker. I finished all the homework for all 6 lessons, and I received my certificate of completion. As an example here, I learned to sharpen photos to get more details to come out. The photo is of Hanauma Bay on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. We were there last December.

Before:


After:
Here the reef looks much more defined. Anyways, here's a link to my online gallery from my class assignments, if you're interested in all the things I've learned and done in the class.

I've also just been laying low because three weeks ago I had a panic attack. It happened out of the blue. I had just finished exercising and I suddenly felt really dizzy/faint. My heart was racing, I had cold chills, and I felt very weak, nauseous, and my arms and legs felt tingly. I was very alarmed because I thought I was having a heart attack. I laid down and was better in 10 minutes, but had no idea what happened to me. For a few days after that I was anxious about my health, not knowing what was wrong, and when it would happen again. A few days later I was driving to work, when it occurred to me that it could happen while I was driving. As I drove I got more and more nervous, and finally I started to feel dizzy, my heart was racing, and I couldn't catch my breath. I turned around and went home. That afternoon Todd took me to urgent care and they did an EKG and it was normal. I had done some research on my symptoms and all my symptoms matched panic attacks. All the literature I read said this just happens out of the blue sometimes, when someone has been through a lot of emotional stress, like losing a loved one. It made sense to me, but I didn't know why the body would have a mind of its own like this. I felt anxious all the time because I didn't know when the next panic attack would come. A week after urgent care, I went to see my regular doctor and described my symptoms and what's been happening with me. He agreed that I had panic attacks, and was suffering from anxiety from them. I got some medication. I've been a lot better since then. I feel normal now, as opposed to two weeks ago. I have driven by myself and it went fine. I'm not anxious anymore.

So that's been the story. I'm off all caffeine now, for the time being. Caffeine can trigger panic attacks. During this time, I've had some fun too. We took my dad to a Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium for Father's Day. Todd, Sally, and I went to the Taste of Gaslamp and ate some good stuff. I'll be writing and showing some pics soon.

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