Gemini + Gemini

On my iGoogle homepage I receive my daily horoscope and today's entry also had a link where you could put in your sign and your partner's sign and it would tell you how compatible you are. Kind of like a virtual palm reading or that fortune teller machine from Big. So, of course I took two more minutes out of my work day to see what California Psychics had to say about Lawrence and I.

Gemini & Gemini:

There are two sets of twins in this pairing. You both love to flirt, talk, socialize, travel, and are curious about a wide range of subjects. Restless and bored easily, your challenge will be to stop talking long enough to access your feelings to create a deeper intimacy. You need to plunge into stormy emotional waters that occasionally arise in every relationship. Without the courage to explore the depths of your feelings, your relationship will remain shallow and lack commitment. However, if each of you can be still and listen to your hearts, your relationship will be a source of inspiration and laughter to you both.

Hmm... for two people who were voted Biggest Flirt in their high school graduating class, this is probably pretty right on, down to the source of inspiration and laughter. Interesting.

Some days my horoscope is so dead on, I have to look around quickly over my shoulder to make sure some techie with a sense of humor isn't just screwing with me behind the curtain. And other days, I'm sure that the psychic was out sick and they just picked some random thoughts out of a hat. I'm still not sure where today's horoscope falls:

Gemini (May 21 - June 21) Thursday, Sep 17, 2009
Even if things might seem a bit confusing or hard to sort out on the home front today, just realize that you should have the opportunity to improve some difficult situations involving your family before the day is through. And it'll definitely be in your best interest to do everything you can to prove your dedication to your loved ones right now.

Maybe it means I should call my sister back even though she hung up on me last night. Or maybe it's talking about taking care of the stacked up dishes in the sink without making a fuss. Or maybe it was just one of those random hat days and I should get back to work without reading anymore into it. Where is Zoltar when you need him?

Bowl Full of... Betsy!

Our last summer trip was out to Ohio and back to visit family, but along the way we got to visit two of my very good friends, Anne (& her family) near Peoria, IL and Betsy (& her husband Jack) in Ft.Wayne, IN. Although Ohio was great, seeing Anne & Todd and Betsy & Jack were definitely the high points of the trip for me!

Anne and Todd graciously let us stay at their house on the way out to Ohio and we had a great night with them and their kids catching up. Anne was one of my advisors at Bradley and we've been close ever since. She has definitely been a support over the years and I think I cried more seeing her at my wedding than I did seeing Lawrence. Together Anne and Todd are one of the most remarkable couples I have ever known. After their third child, Meg, was born with Down syndrome, they chose to go through the difficult process of adopting a little girl Meg's age from Ukraine who also has Down's. They are amazing, inspiring and so grounded. Not to mention they have four of the funniest, cutest, most energetic kids I've ever known! You can read more about their family here.

On the way back from Ohio we got the chance to see my old college roommate, Besty, and the love of her life, Jack, in Ft. Wayne. Even though the visit was brief, we had just enough time to see their new perfect house and hear the great news of their expanding family in person! Betsy and I are determined to do a great crafty venture together someday, but in the meantime I'll settle for any time I can get with her! And while we were at her house visiting, I saw these amazing pinecones in the shape (I swear!) of cherries, stem and all. I couldn't get enough of them and when we left, I begged Betsy for a baggie to take some home with me. Lawrence and Jack looked at my like I was crazy but Betsy lovingly obliged and I finally had something perfect to fill the little antique bowl I got from my grandma. So now I have a bowl full of Betsy, er, I mean cherries, that not only looks great on the side table but reminds me of some fabulous people I have the priviledge of having in my life. Thanks Betsy & Jack & Anne & Todd- for everything!

Step Off, Pig

Either an alien has entered my body and is trying desperately to get out by turning into straight liquid form and violently excaping my body through various orfices OR I have the flu. I was betting on the alien up until about 3am and now have given up all hope against hope and have resigned myself that I have just become one more statistic in the H1N1 reports.

The CDC's website (what else do I have to do at 4am when waiting for the next bout to come on than surf the internet to verify my symptoms- yes, I am turning into my mother!) states:

What are the signs and symptoms of this virus in people?
The symptoms of 2009 H1N1 flu virus in people include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting.

Yup, check all those twice. Awesome.

The good news is, I could eat whatever I want right now because everything just comes back up. The bad news is, I don’t want to eat anything because everything just comes back up. It started last night at dinner. We were out at a really nice restaurant with Donna and Bernardo (who graciously came to visit this weekend to help us with our landscaping!) and I had to get up twice to go to the bathroom and it hasn't stopped since. I felt fine when I ordered and by the time the salad came, just looking at made me want to puke. So I did.

Yuck! I want my mommy (although truth be told, she's never been good around puking people so I really just want her in theory). I'd rather have a really hot male nurse who will stroke my hair back and tell me everything is going to be okay. Until he shows up, Lawrence makes a great stand in.

Panda? Poodle?

I'm pretty sure that neither of my dogs would EVER sit still long enough (or have the right hair to begin with) to be able to do this, but I have always wanted a panda bear of my very own and this might be the closest I could ever get...




Click on the photo to see the full story and even more pictures! I haven't ever wanted a buffalo of my very own, but if I did, this one's pretty cute!

It's Game Day Baby!

So in the midst of all of these crazy workouts I've almost lost track of the fact that the Cyclones first game was coming up so quickly! That's right folks were only hours away from kickoff and I can't wait. Nothing like a Thursday night game under the lights at Jack Trice Stadium!

Hope to see you there! Yaaahoooooo!

Boo!

I was searching through pictures this morning on our camera and ran across our great group costumes of Halloween 2008 and I realized- we have less than two months to figure out this year's costume creations, folks!!! Any ideas? I'm sure Lawrence would love another reason to dress in drag- he had such great luck with those heels all night!

Psychology of Sweat

Just in case you thought it might be getting easier into week 4 of The Challenge, let me tell you a little story of class this morning.

There I am, halfway through class, sweating like crazy (did I mention there's no air? ah, but have I mentioned that they got a noise citation in the Saturday class so now they no longer open the big garage doors, either? it's like a SAUNA, even when it's pleasant outside), and the instructor tells us to do a plank. Ugh. Quite possibly my least favorite word during the workout (particularly when she says lets do pushups to planks, which are a cruel version of torture that should be reserved for terrorists and screaming children, but I digress, this was just a plank).

So, there I am, halfway through class, sweating like crazy, attempting to do a plank and hold it for a minute. And as I'm holding, my arms are quaking underneath me and I realize as I look at my shaking hands (that I firmly believe were not created to hold half my body weight on top of them as they are at that moment) I realize even the creases in the back of my hand are sweating. I didn't even realize there were sweat glands there to begin with, but apparently when you're this hot, tired, and out of shape, sweat comes out all over. And as I'm still...{grunt}...planking... sweat begins to roll off of my neck (note, I have a bandana on to capture the swamp that is my forehead, so this is extra sweat) and fall down onto the mat between my hands. And after a few drops form together I realize that my sweat looks remarkable like those ink blots that they always have in the movies in the psychologist's office. So I start to concentrate on what shape my sweat blots are forming (whatever it takes to get me through that minute, folks!). And after a few more gather, I swear they formed a smirky little smiley face which if it had a voice bubble coming off of it would have been saying "Looks like you're a little hot and sweaty? Having trouble with that plank there? Ha ha ha ha {cackle, cackle}." And then I stopped imaging what my sweat blots were trying to tell me and fell out of the plank. Because really, there's only so much inner psychology you can take from your body at 6:30 in the morning.