Monday, March 28, 2011

LA LA Land

I spent the weekend in LA visiting my friend cherrybombrandy. Brandy moved down there last summer and I've been wanting to get down there and visit her. We actually haven't seen each other in 6 years, even though when she lived in the bay area, we only lived an hour from each other. LOL. We were just running in different circles and our paths never managed to cross.

We didn't really have plans other than to hang out so we just went with the flow, got lost a few times, got caught in traffic a bunch of times, did some shopping and a lot of walking (I have the blisters to prove it!!).

My diet also went to shit, but whatever. I was on vacation. LOL. But I'm going to have to start a detox tomorrow. LOL.

On Friday night, we were at the shopping center at Hollywood and Highland to check out some shops. I saw some actor pass by us when we were having dinner at Johnny Rocket's, but I can't figure out his name. When I find it, I'll update my post because it's really bugging me that I can't remember his name or what movie it was that I saw him in.

Saturday we went to the FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise) Scholarship Store and tore that place up. I got 3 tops, and 2 shrugs from Torrid, plus 2 necklaces, a bracelet, 4 or 5 pairs of earings and 3 rings all for $110. Big name retailers donate overstock and sample items to the store and all the proceeds go to a scholarship fund for the FIDM students. I was so excited with my find. I should find out if the FIDM school up here has the same store, too.

That night we went to the Santa Monica Pier. Brandy and I traded boots. She got these over the knee leather boots that are kind of biker-style. I had mid-calf boots with a low heel that were very girly. We made a permament trade, but with a condition that if either of us has need for the other boot, we'll mail them back and forth to each other. LOL. The funniest part is that her over the knee boots came right up just over my knee cap, and my mid-calf boot go to her knees. LOL. Weird. But they weren't the wisest shoe choice as we ended up walking around the shopping district across the street and both ended up with some blisters. It's painful to be hot. LOL.

Yesterday we had breakfast at this awesome French Restaurant/Boulangerie in Culver City. We both picked up some macarons to take home, too. LOL. Then we shopped a little more at Target and Ross while we killed time before we went to the taping of RuPaul's Drag U. Being at a taping of a TV show is really interesting, but there's A LOT of waiting around. And we couldn't leave because once they started taping, there was no stopping. We all got a chance to pee before we went inside the studio, but then we were stuck for another 3 hours.

Lady Bunny is one of their judges. She's so dirty and so funny and gorgeous! The other drag queens that they have on the show - Carmen, Raven, and Tyra are stunning. I wish I was that pretty. Seriously. It's a crime that drag queens are that beautiful. Other than that, I can't talk about the show. I'll watch the website and let you know when the episode will be on and maybe you'll get to see me. Hah!

I finally left LA at 9. I didn't have too many stops on the way home, but I still didn't get to Mom & Dad's until 3:45am.

It was a weekend of a lot of adventures, but that's how we like to do it. LOL. Next time I hope the weather is more forgiving. I really want to do the Hollywood sign hike. It sounds tough, but the views look spectacular. Be prepared, Brandy! We're doing it the next time I come down!!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

I'm so bad at this

I'm such a horrible blogger. I could never do this professionally. I guess that's why I have so many readers. LOL.

Anyway...this is what's been going on with me:

After my ER incident, I made an appointment for that same Friday to see a doctor at Stanford about my blood pressure. She put me on 5mg Amlodipine to start immediately. She also did a blood draw to test 500 different things to see if there was any other cause for my blood pressure and obesity (yes, I said it). On Monday morning, I get a call from her office stating that they called in a second script for me to pick up at CVS. It's hydrochlorothiazide which is a diuretic.

So now I'm on 2 meds because I have a family history of high blood pressure that was bound to hit me at some point and unfortunately it hit me way early because I'm fat.

I've come to terms with the fact that I'm on pills. I have alarms on my iPhone to tell me when to take my pill. I haven't missed one yet! It's impressive because I am horrible about taking medications of any kind. I mean, I've had a cold for the last 4 days and have forgotten to take my DayQuil I don't know how many times. LOL.

On Monday night, at about 9:30, my electric water heater shorted out and caught fire. I was watching TV when I heard a couple of pops and some hissing. It took me a minute to figure it out, but then I saw my water heater on fire. I ran into the store office to grab a fire extinguisher, then put it out. I was so freaked out I don't even remember finding my phone to call 911. I was grateful that I still had a bra on when the fire department showed up. They were hotties! The fire was tiny. The worst of the damage was that my entire house ended up covered in Chem Dry from the extinguisher. It took a few days to clean up the entire mess, but only 1 to get a new water heater.

Believe me when I say I prayed to the Lord that night for allowing me to be home when that happened. If I wasn't, I would have lost everything, including my cats, and the business would have caught fire.

I was supposed to have a follow up doctor's appointment on Tuesday, but had to deal with the fire situation and wait for the plumbers to replace my water heater. It's been rescheduled for this Thursday morning. I do feel like the meds are working. I don't feel hot all the time. I feel normal temperature now. And I haven't had a headache in a week!

This week I've also started monitoring my calorie intake and working out on my elliptical. I downloaded the LoseIt app for my phone and am tracking everything. I set the weight loss pretty low so that I have a realistic expectation for weight loss. 1.5 pounds per week. My daily budget is still 2100 calories. Honestly, using this app has made me realize just how much I over eat. I knew I did already, but this pretty much slapped me in the face. But I'm eating better. Making wiser choices. I'm measuring food! LOL But I'm doing OK. I think this app may be the best thing to help me in watching what I eat. I'm still eating "normally", but I'm making better choices in how much I eat and making better choices about what I put in my mouth.

On Friday I received a copy of my blood test results. Everything's freakin normal! I don't have high cholesterol or any bad numbers of any kind. I also don't have HIV or Hepatitis.

So this is what's happened to me since my last post. Exciting, huh? ;o) haha.


OH! and I am making plans to hit up Vegas in late September to visit my Las Vegas Girlfriend Joyce. =o) I haven't seen that woman in over 4 years. October 2006 was when I was there last and I got to hang out with her for a night. Now she's gonna get me for 4 or 5 days! I'm so excited. =oD I'm crossing my fingers that I'll bonus this quarter and I can get my plane tickets next month. Woot! Told you I was getting on a plane this year!