Can't We All Just Get Along?!

{ Disclaimer: this post is likely to turn into a rant halfway through. consider yourself warned. }

Over the past few years I have spent a fair amount of time in doctors offices.  Always wanting them to help me, trusting that they knew what they were doing, and not really questioning whether our individual visions for optimal health actually aligned.

I finally - on a whim - scheduled an appointment with a naturopathic physician who specialized in inflammation.  I figured it couldn't hurt anything (aside from my bank account!) to try it and see if she had a different take on my health.  My paranoia around prescription medication aside, she spent an hour and a half with me going over every detail of my health as far back as I could remember.

After she ordered a few additional tests, she smiled at me and told me that she had no doubt that she would be able to get to the bottom of what was ailing me.  A simple, kind sentence. But hearing those words were extremely encouraging, especially for someone who had only gotten "best guess" diagnoses for the past several years.

The results of those blood tests confirmed all three of her suspicions.  I was suffering from adrenal fatigue and I tested positive for both a gene mutation, known as MTHFR, and the least likely: Lyme Disease.

My Contribution

Every once in a while (okay, it's actually much more often than that), I stumble upon a source of inspiration that seems like it was made just for me to find.  And I have to admit, I love that.  I love finding things that speak to me, that get me thinking, push me out of my comfort zone or remind me to return to a more intentional life.

Grateful For Good Neighbors, Take: 372 (okay, four!)

Okay, so I know I have said this many times before, but I really could not be more grateful for our neighbors.  We really lucked out in that department.  So what amazing thing did they do this time?!  Well, allow me to tell you the whole story.  

Chris has been in England for the past week, catching up with friends and family, and although it is strange to have the whole house to myself, I have managed to keep myself pretty busy.  Of course, his absence couldn't be punctuated more perfectly than with a sad, sob story (like that one time he was in Philadelphia...).  '

Monday morning, I dragged my sore, DIY-addicted body out of bed, got ready for the day and headed to Whole Foods in search of all things tropical for my fruit salsa I was bringing to a BBQ later that day.  When I returned home, I was getting the groceries out of the car when neighbor, Maureen, came out of her house. "Did you know that one of your sprinklers is broken in the back yard?"  she asked.  "Ummmm, no.  No, I did not."  She went on to explain that when she went to take the dog out at 5:30 that morning, she noticed a big 'fountain' coming from our back yard!  Goodness gracious.  Chris is gone, and yet again, I always pretend to fall asleep when he tries to explain how these things (ahem, sprinklers!) work.  

So, of course I picture something like this...

I am, however, very resourceful so I did what any sensible woman in my situation would do: I texted Chris in England.  Before I could even get a response from him, the doorbell rang.  Maureen!  She said that her and her husband were on their way to Lowes and would pick up whatever part I needed to fix the sprinkler and then they would fix it for me when they got back!  What?!  "Nevermind, hubby, I have help!"  After me insisting several times that I was happy to go get the parts myself, they really didn't need to do everything, I gave in. I think secretly they figured they would be better off getting the parts themselves, lest I come back with some unknown sprinkler parts that had nothing to do with the problem.

I decided to use my time wisely, I whipped up my pineapple, mango & papaya salsa at record speed, then decided I better tidy the rest of the kitchen and family room, should they accept my neighborly offer to come inside for some lemonade after they saved the day.  I didn't actually have any lemonade, but nevermind.  It sounded like a good idea in my head.  

After several rounds of trying the sprinklers (of which I had to FaceTime Chris for him to show me how to turn on that section of sprinklers!), we had successfully fixed the problem.  At least for the time being.  Chris will have a bit of work to do when he returns, but at least the fountain situation has been resolved in the meantime!  

One of many signs that I have allowed myself to be 'taken care of' since finding my hubby.  I would have taken charge and figured things out by myself in the past, but it's often easier to let someone else handle some things, or as I like to refer to it: divide and conquer!  Unfortunately the headlight and indicator bulbs on my car all burned out this week as well.  I hear you, Universe.  Figure. It. Out, Sarah.  Or just drive the other car until Chris returns. (Ha!)

I still think it's okay to loosen up the control strings a bit and not do everything yourself, but I will definitely be paying closer attention the next time Chris wants to explain some seemingly boring home-related system to me.  

Oh, and the best part?  I asked my neighbor how much I owed them for the parts.  "A glass of wine one evening!"  Done!

The Knee Non-Update

Well, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I had an appointment scheduled with a Rheumatologist to see if I had any autoimmune diseases that were causing the pain and swelling in my knee.  I thought I would post a quick update for those that are interested...

I met with the Rheumatologist last Wednesday, where she promptly said her best guess was Rheumatoid Arthritis, based on a number of factors.  She gave me a steroid shot in the knee (ouch!!), drew a bunch of blood and asked me to come back the following week.  

Well, that follow-up appointment was today, and we really didn't get the answers we needed.  She said my blood work came back normal, but that sometimes it takes a while for an autoimmune disease like this to present itself.  She feels fairly strongly that it is autoimmune-related and said that I should come back if/when it swells up again.  I am feeling a bit disappointed with myself, as the doctor wanted to draw fluid from my knee last week but my reluctance led her to say that we could wait on that and just do the blood draw this visit. Apparently the fluid in my joints would give a more clear-cut answer on whether RA (or any other autoimmune disease) was present.  Now that the swelling has subsided, she will have to wait until it flares up again to draw the fluid out.  A bit of a mistake on my part.  Lesson learned.

Overall, a bit disappointing as I was hoping to get some clear-cut answers, but the steroid shot (though it caused a lot of pain for the past week as it worked its magic...) definitely did its job.  The swelling has subsided, the pain lessened, and I am able to finally start physical exercise again.  Hallelujah!  

So I guess I will return to living my life like I'm used to, and head back to the Rheumatologist if and when it flares up again.  

What's In A Knee...

That's the saying, right?  No?  Well, that's been my saying as of late.  What's in my knee, to be more exact.

I want to start by apologizing for being so mysterious about my knee issues of late.  It was in no way intentional, I just figured it might be a bit boring to post about.  But as several people have asked me lately, I thought I would do a quick update on the details (or lack thereof).

About a year ago I began having pretty severe pain behind my right knee.  It wasn't unbearable, it mostly hurt when I tried to fully bend or extend my leg.  I didn't think into it too much, as I hadn't had any sort of obvious injury.  A few months later, it began to get worse, and one day, as I was standing up from our kitchen table, I felt some intense movement (though not painful) in my knee.  I looked down to find it immediately swelled up on the front of my knee.  

So off to the doctor I went, where she told me I had a bakers cyst that ruptured.  

A Baker's cyst, also called a popliteal (pop-LIT-e-ul) cyst, is usually the result of a problem with your knee joint, such as arthritis or a cartilage tear. Both conditions can cause your knee to produce too much fluid, which can lead to a Baker's cyst.

I asked if I should limit physical activity, upon which my (incompetent) doctor told me no.  Once the swelling went down, I could return to whatever physical activities I wished.  Wrong.

A few more months went by and I was cautious with my knee and activity, but by no means did I stop exercising.  In October, I began to feel the tightness and pain behind my knee again.  It continued to get worse and worse, and the night we returned from visiting family in Washington, the same thing happened: the cyst burst.  

{ courtesy of good old WebMD }

By this point (nearly 11 months!), I was losing my patience, so I scheduled an appointment with another primary care doctor to get her take on the situation.  She seemed concerned that there was no obvious injury and that I was a bit young to be experiencing a recurring cyst typical of older, arthritic patients.  So she referred me to an orthopedist.

One X-Ray and one MRI later, he sees a few questionable things in my knee (3 bakers cysts!), but nothing that clearly says, THIS is the issue, let's fix it.  So after a very critical review of my MRI, he has referred me to a rheumatologist to rule out any type of systemic autoimmune diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.

Other than the obvious impatience to just figure out what is going on with my knee, I have handled this whole process fairly well.  But this latest referral to the rheumatologist has gotten under my skin a bit.  I am fairly certain that it is none of these things (though this is a completely uneducated guess), but the potential that it is something chronic like this has me quite nervous.  

I lead a fairly active lifestyle, and have been going crazy the past few months having to just sit around and get no physical exercise.  I can't imagine incorporating a chronic diagnosis into the type of lifestyle I am used to living.  

I understand that I am getting ahead of myself here. I do.  But as "cool" as I try to remain about it, I am extremely anxious to rule this out, and even more eager to actually figure out the cause of this pain, fluid and swelling.

The top doc that he referred me to is super in-demand, so I opted for a different doctor in the same office in order to get in a bit sooner.  So now the waiting game.  I am pretty confident that the next week is going to crawl by.

Apologies to anyone who is not interested in the inner workings of my knee, I just wanted to inform those who have been asking about my brief references to the trouble in previous posts.

Fingers crossed that next Wednesday comes quickly and brings good news!

Colorado Floods

As most of you know, Colorado suffered a pretty severe storm last week which resulted in unprecedented flooding.  While my office was affected, Chris and I feel especially grateful that the area around our house weathered the storm just fine.  We were a bit soggy for a while from the rain, but there was no signs of flooding in our neighborhood.  We were a bit worried there for a bit, as we live near a lake and stream that we thought could breech if the rain continued coming down at such a rapid rate.  But thankfully, that nightmare never came true for us.

I work just a few blocks from the mouth of Boulder Canyon, and two blocks over from Boulder Creek, where so much of the flooding came from.  To give you a bit of perspective on how fast the creek (which for all intents and purposes became a roaring river) was moving, it normally flows around 200 cubic feet per second at this time of year.  It peaked at over 5,000cfs, with what the USGS called 'water walls' up to 20' high at times.  Roadways completely washed out, bridges demolished, and sadly, too many lives lost.

 { Boulder Creek as it normally is. }

{ Boulder Creek during the flood, though I am pretty sure this was not at the peak, as it would not have been very safe to be near the creek during the flash flooding. }

So what did we do?  We hunkered down for 4-5 days, I worked from home, which Chris enjoyed, and waited for the sunshine to reemerge and dry everything out a bit.

They have been discouraging volunteer efforts just yet, instead asking for donations to the Red Cross.  But as the sun returns, and folks start to understand the damage and devastation that occurred, I am really keen to help those who were not as lucky as us.  People whose homes were badly damaged, some even completely destroyed.  The initial estimates say that 19,000 homes were either damaged or destroyed. I can't imagine being in their shoes, and hope that I can find a way to be helpful in putting the pieces back together again.

The local search and rescue operations, as well as the National Guard, Coast Guard, etc. have done a great job of keeping order, as well as rescuing those who have been stranded in the mountains or in their homes.  I have no idea how they managed to do it, but they deserve all of our gratitude for what they have done.

Looking back at all of these images the news has been showing, it still shocks me that water can do so much damage.  I really never understood the power it could have until last week.

Feeling lucky and grateful today...

Breaking the Rules

I realized this morning that I completely missed my regular Sustenance Sunday and Language Barrier Monday posts again this week.  I had plenty of time to write over the weekend, but decided to spend my time doing other things.  And you know what?  I'm okay with that.  It is, after all, my blog.  I'm allowed to break the rules every once in a while, right?  

My regular posts will be back next week, but today I am happy to find myself okay with not doing things the way they are supposed to be done.  I am finding this so much more important the older I get, and this quote sums up my feelings on the subject of perfection, well, perfectly.

I think growing up, I always assumed I would reach a point where I had it all figured out.  As many before me have done, I have realized through many ups and downs, that that is not the case.  That likely (hopefully!) I never will have it all figured out.  And being okay with that is another one of those growth opportunities.

For so long, I invested so much energy in making sure things turned out the way that I wanted them to.  Even for something as asinine as the dining room table not having any visible mistakes.  I had to stop myself as I was reviewing my paint job of our dining room table, when I found myself disappointed to find some obvious places that I had messed up (i.e. it didn't look perfect).  I realized that I had the expectation that it would look flawless, as though it had been purchased white, instead of being an old wooden table that we decided to transform with white paint.  It sounds silly, but I really had to make a conscious effort to stop myself and be like, "who cares?! you still accomplished the task of brightening up the dining room with a bright white table.  and those signs that you see as blemishes or mistakes, will only point out to friends and family that dine at the table, just how hard you worked to make this table look beautiful."  

Cheesy?  Absolutely, but sometimes we need to give ourselves a good-old-fashioned pep talk and remind ourselves what is really important.  So the table doesn't look perfect, sue me.  :)  I'm cool with it now.

Repeating my mantra (learned from a meditation/breathing course a few years ago): Expectations reduce the joy in life.

Weekend Recap

Chris spent the weekend working on a big project, so I spent some much-needed time around the house doing fun (and some not-so-fun) projects.

I finished all of the chair cushions for the dining room (so exciting!), and the table is all finished, with the exception of some wax I need to polish it with before we use it.  And I made a teeny bit of progress on the actual chairs.  They became quite the pain to paint, as they have a lot of great detailing.  It really made me wish I had a sprayer to paint them with.  Or someone who could do it for me!  Kidding.  Kind of...

So the dining room is coming together.  I have a few more small-ish projects I want to do in there before I do a before & after post.  Stay tuned!

I also spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend.  Cleaning and cooking!  Since Chris had to spend the entire weekend working, I decided to make it as pleasant as possible for him by making some tasty treats.  

For dinner on Friday, I made mexican chickpea tacos, which were a huge hit!  Though I will not take credit for the recipe, as my friend, Claire, introduced me to it from a blog she follows.  I did mine slightly different than the recipe on the blog, and really liked the simplicity of them.  Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the chickpeas once they were in the actual tacos, but here is a look at them marinating.  Yum!

{ click here for the link to the recipe I used/adapted. }

I used regular taco shells, as opposed to making them into lettuce wraps, though I may try that in the future. I also only added guacamole, lettuce and tomato.  The marinated chickpeas are so delicious that I wanted them to have the spotlight, rather than add a bunch of other flavors that would drown them out.

Saturday, we had leftovers, while I slaved away on the dining room, and Chris continued work on his project.  Then I made dark chocolate covered strawberries as an afternoon treat!  I think I may have been more proud of my clean kitchen, then my strawberry efforts, as you can barely see the strawberries in the photo!  Ha!  A clean kitchen island is definitely my happy place, though it doesn't look like this as often as it should!

Sunday, I made a delicious (faux) chicken salad on top of a bed of spinach.  I have shared the recipe before, but here it is again.  So simple!

Beyond Meat (lightly seasoned "chicken")

0% fat greek yogurt (I like Fage)

diced celery

grapes, halved

pepper, to taste

Use the combination that you like best (I like extra grapes!), pour on top of spinach, and enjoy!

And for dinner last night, I made a great vegetarian chili with corn on the cob (even though there is corn in the chili as well...

It was a bit of a random assortment thrown in to make the chili, but it actually turned out pretty good.  The nice thing with chili, is that it doesn't need to be a precise recipe.  Just know your key ingredients, and throw them into the pan to simmer away all afternoon.  Here is my rough recipe.

2 cans kidney beans

2 cans black beans

1 diced white onion

4 cans fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies (medium)

1 16 oz can tomato sauce

1 packet taco seasoning

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1/2 package frozen corn

Combine all ingredients, simmer until beans and onion are tender.  Enjoy!

All in all, it was a great weekend!  I got some great exercise in, and spent some much needed time at home, tackling several "chores" that have been neglected the past few weeks.  

Although we were disappointed that Chris had to work, we are looking forward to the long weekend so we can get out and do some day trips exploring more of Colorado!

What did you do this weekend?  Any big plans for the holiday weekend?

Meditation Download

Success!  We went to the meditation course last night and I got exactly the result I was hoping for!  

During our first foray into meditation, our instructor told us one of life's lessons: "expectations reduce the joy in life."  So with that sentiment, I went into it with an open mind, knowing that whatever happened, I just wanted to feel better afterwards.  And I am happy to report that I did!  I still do!

This particular course is only $5 and starts with a 20-25 minute "lesson" on meditation, followed by a 30 minute guided meditation.  Last night's talk focused on how well-known Colorado is for being one of the healthiest states.  Physically.  But that we don't always do the necessary "exercises" for our mind.  Insert meditation.  We focused on the importance of being able to control our minds when toxic or negative thoughts threaten to take over.  Sounds so simple, but in all honesty, I think we allow these types of take-overs more often than we may realize.

Our instructor gave a very simple example, and again, it sounds so obvious.  Yet, I have found myself in this situation more than I care to admit.  Say your car breaks down on the side of the road.  You have a problem.  If you allow this inconvenience to take over your mind, you now have two problems.  And the one you added to the mix does nothing to help you.  

These are welcome challenges for me.  As I have mentioned before, Chris is so much better at this than I am. The first time we traveled together, I remember getting in late to our destination after missing our first flight. Chris called the rental car company from the terminal to figure out how to get to the rental pick-up.  He was so polite and nice to the person on the other end, thanking them for their help before hanging up.  I looked to him for direction, asking which way we needed to go.  His response?  "They're closed. We can't get a car." You never would have been able to guess that this was the answer he was given on the phone, because he was still so positive and happy.  

This continues to be a lesson for me, one that I call on quite often.  It is easy to let things bring us down, but how much better will we feel if we roll with the punches and laugh our way through it?  I have some really good friends who are pros at this.  My hope is that I can continue to learn from their example.

I left last night's class feeling more calm than I had in recent memory.  Peaceful, really.  It was a welcome surprise for me, and I hope I can continue to make this a priority in my life.

Well, another thing checked off my Summer Bucket List!  Feeling energized and motivated to continue my journey of self-growth.

Operation: Rock Removal

I want to start by saying that I consider myself to be a pretty hard worker.  When I set out to do something, I tend to work really hard at it until it is done.  This is something that Chris constantly teases me about, because I will skip all meals without even realizing it when I get wrapped up in a project.

However, two weekends ago, as Chris and I began the back-breaking project of removing all of the rock from the front of our house (aka Operation Rock Removal), I realized that I draw the line at serious manual labor.  Or at least, serious in my opinion.  First world problems, I know.

Spending a total of 15 hours (over two days, don't call my union rep...) hunched over shoveling rock into a wheelbarrow is not my idea of fun, to say the least.  And on top of that, we encountered well over 250 spiders and bugs as we scooped and raked the rock around.  

{ side note: as sad as it may seem, I would like to pat myself on the back for how calm I stayed despite all of these bug encounters (though I assure you, it did give me nightmares...)! }

We finished one side of the house (though we will have to go back over it once we go over it with a rototiller because some of those rocks are really wedged down into the ground), and had planned on finishing the other side this past weekend, but we just didn't have the energy or motivation.  This is a problem, because I am not sure when the motivation will appear!

Ever since we bought our house earlier this Spring, I keep saying that I don't mind putting a little sweat equity into the house. But after this past weekend, I have to admit I was trying to figure out a way that we could afford to have someone else come finish it, without having to win the lottery first!

And to top it all off, the small, but significant amount of weed (& ivy!) removal we had done earlier this summer in our back yard, has all returned (and then some!) because we haven't had the time to spend back there in several weeks.  Sigh... where can I sign up for an hgtv save my yard contest?  I'm so embarrassed by the back yard, that I won't even post photos!  That's when you know it's bad...

My family is probably thanking the lord that we don't live nearby right about now, or I would seriously be recruiting some help!

Reason 3,763,089 That I Love My Husband

I must admit, yesterday was a bit of a long day, and despite my best efforts to turn the beat around, I had a few more unfortunate setbacks (and tears).  But the best lesson that could have come out of yesterday's post came from my husband.

Not only had I booked a return flight for September (instead of July!), but it also cost us $200 to make the change in his ticket that would allow him to fly home last night.  $200, I might add, that we don't exactly have at the moment.  It also meant that he would have to kill 10 hours of his day which would now include a long layover at Washington Dulles airport.  So I sent him a few dramatic apology text messages apologizing and inquiring about what his options were.

Imagine my surprise when my 'make-lemonade-out-of-lemons' husband had already figured out his tour of DC by the time I had finished my morning coffee, and he seemed genuinely glad to check both Virginia and DC off his "states (and districts!) I have visited"  list. 

Wow, lesson learned.  Here is a guy who knows how to dance in the rain.  The funny thing?  If I were to tell Chris this, I already know what his answer would be.  

"It isn't easy... I have to work at it, too."  (in his best Mr. Rogers, lesson-of-the-day voice, of course.)

How do I know that this would be his response, you ask?  Because anytime I give him a compliment on how good he is at things, or how well he handles situations, his humility gets in the way of him being able to just accept the compliment.  

And while I may tease him about this, it is also one of the reasons (reason 3,763,089 to be exact) that I married him.  

The unexpected reward Chris received for his positive attitude?  He got to tour around this bad boy for the afternoon.

{ that's right, the space shuttle Discovery. }

I am chalking this all up to another one of life's lessons.  Here's hoping I, too, can learn to dance in the rain, no matter how gray the clouds might get...

{ stay tuned for a Philly post... }

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

It is my intent with this blog to keep the content upbeat, lighthearted, and fun.  In my everlasting quest towards self-growth, I am trying to become the person who embodies this quote:

It is easy to be happy and optimistic when things are going well, but when the going gets tough, how can we grow and become stronger, more resilient human beings?  Well, my friends, this is probably one of the biggest challenges I face, but I have faith that I will get there eventually.  In the mean time, I am growing through every attempt at achieving this.

What is the point of all of this?  I think, in addition to the funny and exciting adventures, it is important to also share the struggles.  It is easy to look at others and think they have it so easy, they have the perfect life.  But in reality, everyone faces hard times, and I think (I hope!) that these commonalities can truly bring us all closer together... if we let them.

The past few months have been a quite tough for us, and in an attempt to add a bit of humor to this post, I will share a story with you that might have a really cheesy metaphor or two involved.

Last night, I was home alone (Chris was still in Philly), and I decided I was going to tackle the paint job in our downstairs half bathroom.  We had a few different colors painted in stripes on the wall, and Chris and I had both agreed on our favorite color for the space.  So, I did all of the prep work, changed into my "painting clothes," and opened a fresh can of paint. 

{ this is obviously not our small bathroom, but it is  the color we chose to paint it. what do you think? }

It was difficult working in such a narrow small space -- it is a half bath, afterall... but I managed to get a nice first coat on, and had moved on to the tedious part of painting around the crown moulding.  This required me standing on the small countertop, and once I had covered the area with its first coat, I gracefully (at least that's what I keep telling myself... gracefully...) took a big step down to the floor from the counter, small paint jug and paintbrush in hand.  

For those who don't know me, I am known to be a bit clumsy (In fact, Chris calls me clumsy clogs. Charming, I know..), and although I landed just fine, my momentum pushed me backwards just enough to knock me off balance.  Luckily the bathroom is small and the toilet was right behind me (lid down), so I allowed myself to fall backwards onto the toilet, putting all of my concentration on not spilling the paint.  I was pleased with myself for about three seconds for not spilling, before I noticed that the toilet had quite literally, sprung a leak. 

I started freaking out, grabbing towels from the laundry room (which did little to stop the several inches of water that were accumulating in the small bathroom), and realized that I had no idea what to do.  Now, I pride myself on being good in a crisis, I can usually figure it out.  But I had no idea how to stop the water from pouring out and I literally lost it. I was definitely not 'dancing in the (toilet water) rain...'

Now here's where my cheesy metaphor comes in.  I had spent the past few months 'holding it together' through some stressful times, and right along with that toilet, my cool, calm and collected wall, had cracked. The tears flowed more dramatically than the leaking toilet and I frantically called Chris, though I knew he was two hours ahead and likely already asleep.  Voicemail.  So I called my always-good-in-a-crisis Dad. Despite being in a board meeting (so embarrassing!), he answered and somehow deciphered what the problem was through my frantic sobs.  He told me how to turn the water off behind the toilet (I know that I should already know how to do this, but I didn't. I do now...), but despite turning the water off to the toilet, it was still spraying everywhere.

So my Dad told me to go grab my (law enforcement) neighbor for help.  This next part is even more embarrassing because I am pretty sure I had mascara running down my cheeks right along with those tears, but my neighbor happened to be playing with his young daughter in the front yard.  To make a long story a bit shorter, he came to my rescue and figured out that the tank on the back of the toilet had popped a screw (bolt?) and that was allowing the water from the tank to come out the bottom.  Several towels and one flower vase full of water later, the water had stopped.  

My neighbor assured me that that was what neighbors were for, before giving me a hug and wishing me luck with the rest of my paint job.

Well, the painting was just going to have to wait because I had no energy or motivation to continue with that for the rest of the night, and I had a lot of cleaning up to do first anyway.  I managed to collect myself and do damage control -- cleaning up all of the water (using every last towel in the house), toss the towels into the washer and throw myself in the shower before I crashed into bed.

Tomorrow's a new day, right?  Wrong.  Chris texted this morning to tell me that the return flight I booked for him to return from Philly was accidentally (by me!) booked for September 18th, not today.  Wow.  I feel the rest of that wall coming down sometime in the next 24 hours... 

Praying for sunshine today... I am not sure I am capable of dancing in the rain right now...