It Comes In Threes...

Michael Jackson AND Farrah Fawcett died today. What? And Ed McMahon died the other day.

I'm sad. Not that I'm the biggest Michael Jackson fan, but I do have some fond memories that included his music.

When I was four or five my friends Leah, Brittany and Brook would come over and we would jump on my bed and listen to "Bad" and "Beat It" from MJ over and over and over again. My parents used to sneak up and watch us and laugh in the hallway.

And then when I was a little older my friend Erica was OBSESSED with MJ and we would watch taped MJ specials every sleep over and listen to every MJ album ever made all night.

Also, I love Ed and Farrah.

Let's have a moment (or 3) of silence...





... (sniff). You know you're getting old when your childhood idols are dying.

Please...

... just let me geek out for a minute here.


I am FREAKING OUT because of the following, which means it's going to be a great week:

1. I found out that Muse is currently recording a new album that should be out this coming fall, which means that they will probably be touring the States soon, which means that I will be spending an exorbitant amount of money on tickets to see them. I cannot wait.

2. The new Harry Potter movie is coming out next month. Has it been that long? Of course I will go see it. What is summer without a new HP movie to entertain the masses?

3. I got some new camping gear over the weekend- and by camping gear I mean eating/cooking gear for camping. I can't wait to use it! Multi-purpose kitchen tools and gadgets are the reason I exist.

4. I'm finally feeling better. I was out of commission for a week and I was getting SO BORED. I still have a cough but at least now I can function without massive amounts of cold/sinus/cough medication and I don't feel like I need to take a nap every three hours.

The world is my oyster... and I have a multi-purpose camping spatula in which to scoop it.

... Still Feeling Ill...

I'm still feeling like junk, which is why I'm not posting awesome/interesting things lately.

I've developed a yucky cough. Stay away from me. Seriously. This cough, I think, is due to all the lovely mucus that's settled into my lungs. I'm blaming allergies and last week's wind because that's when it all started.

I started taking Mucinex to help with the coughing. I think it makes me crazy... or just really dizzy (same thing). I've run into/tripped over countless things over the last few days while on this. No doubt it's helped my coughing fits, but my bruised body is not liking the trade off.

I also sound like an 86 year old chain-smoker named Deb. Don't ask me why her name is Deb, it just is. My throat is toast from the coughing. I answered the phone in my office today and someone said," Oh, I was calling for Heather, but think I have the wrong number!" despite the fact that I answer my phone with," This is Heather, how can I help you?".

The only thing I halfway enjoy is I now have an excuse for taking naps all the time. I miss out on a bunch of social activities, but to be honest I like sleep so I'll catch up on socializing later. If I decline an invitation from you to a social event over the next couple of days, don't be offended... I don't want to share my germs (whatever it turns out to be) and you probably don't want them anyway. You also probably don't want me running into decorative home items as I dizzily make my way around. I'll just be home napping and enjoying a nice popcicle.

What I don't enjoy is that I cannot run or even really take walks because everything makes me cough. EVERYTHING. I walked up the stairs to my office this morning and had to take a break because it made me cough until I got lightheaded. That's 14 not-so-steep stairs that I usually jog up in the mornings with ease.

Another plus- I have crazy animated and colorful dreams when I'm sick. Well, last night I had a scary one, but really they are usually tame. And I usually talk in my sleep when I'm sick and wake myself up.

Feeling ill? Come over and we'll eat popcicles and watch movies and take naps. You can listen to my crazy dreams as I ramble. It'll be great.

Two Things... or More

It's been an interesting few days. My list of pet peeves has grown and I've been able to add a couple of stories to my life history. I say that as if I'm writing down everything that happens to me, but we all know that I'm not.

Anyway, first I should tell you about my latest adventures and then I'll list my newest pet peeves for your enjoyment/musing/discussion.

I went to the mall last night. Not an entertaining story in itself. Mary and I did the usual... you know, browsing the racks until we found the most hideous dresses we could find to try on. Mission accomplished. I looked like a grandma at a spring picnic and Mary looked like Connie Chung. We moved on to the cosmetic counters because M needed a few things, so I made my way over to the Benefit counter to peruse their latest and greatest products.

The Benefit gal greeted me and let me know that if she could do anything for me to let her know. I said thanks and told her I just wanted to look at what was new and I would let her know if I needed any assistance. I grabbed the new catalog and started flipping through it as I walked around to the different stations at the counter. I made my way back to my starting point just as M was finishing up and I was debating on whether I needed a new lip gloss or not. Benefit gal #2 came over and said, "Can I help you ladies with anything?"

"I'm just looking at what's new," I replied.

"Ohhhhhkaaaayyy," she half mouthed, half spoke as she rolled her eyes.

Then she continued to stand and stare at me as I looked. Just stared. And stared.

"Are you sure I can't help you with anything?" she asked with some annoyance.

"Yeah.... I'm just looking right now.... but thanks," I said mildly, but with a hint of annoyance.

"I just don't like it when people are here just looking. It makes me uncomfortable when people stand there and don't need anything and don't want to try anything," she quipped.

"Ok, well, I'm just looking right now." I retorted with control.

And then I proceeded to stand there and reread the ENTIRE BENEFIT CATALOG because she made me so mad. I WAS going to buy some liptint. WAS. But instead I stood there as long as humanly possible just to make her more uncomfortable.

"Hmm... alright, I guess I'm done." I said to no one as I turned and walked away from the counter.

So if you work in the customer service industry and you have to deal with people all day I suggest you learn some people skills. It's probably not a good idea to be rude to someone that is contemplating buying a product from you because chances are they won't. And chances are that if they want that product they will choose to get it elsewhere from then on. I'm just saying.

M and I then went to Stanford's for a late evening meal. We picked a corner table and ordered our strawberry lemonades. Some folks sat at the table next to us and then a couple sat at the bar across from us, and then a little group was seated in the corner by us as well. They all ordered their drinks as well. We sat drinking lemonade and waiting for our food; about fifteen minutes had passed and the table next to us got their food. Then the couple at the bar got their food. Then the table in the corner got their food. Did I mention that every booth on our side of the restaurant got their food? We still had no food.

So I guess our server finally decided that we deserved our food, so she had another server deliver it to us. Fine. We got to eat. And then we were out of lemonade. The rest of the Stanford patrons had eaten long ago and were finishing their third round of refills. None for us though...

No server to be found.

When she finally did show up she took our order for refills and disappeared. We waited for 15 more minutes for refills. I asked for the check. She scurried away... and disappeared. Again. We waited and looked. And waited. And looked. Finally she reappeared, sans check.

WHAT!?

She remembered and hustled away again to actually bring the check. We left no tip. Obviously.

On to my growing list of pet peeves:
1. Incompetent servers/hosts/hostesses

2. Customer Service associates that don't provide any kind of service. They pay you to help people, so do it. And don't be rude about it either. I'm sorry your having a crappy day, but there is no need to try to ruin mine.

3. People who refer to pregnant ladies as "preggers" or "preggo". Stop it. Unless you need to rhyme your sentence with "Eggo" there is just no need for this. If you are scrambling to edit your blog posts/status updates/Facebook notes now because of this, don't worry about it. Everyone gets a free pass, but consider this your warning.

4. People who volunteer me for things without my knowledge and then I get calls/emails asking when I'm going to be doing "X" thing. Don't assume that because someone else said I would do it, that I actually am aware that they said I would or that I am aware of whatever favor/project/service it is.

On a lighter note, it's Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday. Which means the WEEKEND! I'm so ready for that.

...

It's Friday... and it's raining.

And it's cold outside.

And I am dying.

Well, not really, but I feel like I might. Not just because it's raining and cold, which is just plain wrong because it's June, Mother Nature. June. Don't tease me with warm sunny days and then take it all away with crazy thunderstorms, little tornadoes, falling branches and rain.

I digress.

I've been feeling kind of lame all week. Just tired and sluggish. At first I thought maybe it was stress- and maybe that's part of it.

Then I thought maybe it was lack of sleep- so I slept a bunch. That didn't help.

Yesterday I realized what it is... a lack of oxygen.

Just hear me out.

I have crazy horrible allergies. To the point where sometimes I have to stay home and load up on Benadryl just to survive. Some days it looks like I've been up for days crying, but really my eyes are just watering from the pollen and dust that iritate them. Yesterday it felt like I had bricks on my chest weighing me down and I was wheezing.

Yes. I was WHEEZING. I've never had a wheeze before. So I did the only thing I could think of doing- had my mom listen to my lungs with her stethoscope, but only after I WebMD'ed my symptoms. She said, "well, you're wheezy- you probably just need to take some allergy meds or some expectorant and get that phlegm out".

WebMD informed me that I could have asthma, or bronchitis, or some other random ailment that I don't remember. I kind of feel like I did when I was in 3rd grade and got bronchitis, minus the fever and excessive coughing.

Ok, I kind of have a cough.

Point is- I. HATE. ALLERGIES. If there were a miracle cure, I would take it no questions asked if it could assure me no more allergy symptom filled days-

No more sneezing fits.

No more watery eyes.

No more bloody noses.

No more hives.

Until then, I'm wheezing and sluggish like an old lady with emphysema.

Happy Friday.

Nothing New...

which is why I haven't posted anything for a week.

Work is busy and crazy- which I'm fine with because at least I have a job, and am grateful for it! I'm trying to get my running in as often as possible, which is starting to be easier and easier since it's getting darker much later and it's not raining cats and dogs every night anymore. I'm also itching for a beautiful tan... and I've tried three consecutive weekends to work on and it just hasn't worked out so far. I'm the only one not looking like it's summer yet. Sad.

Once something cool happens I'll let you folks know.