Sleep...

I had my 19 year-old cousin sleep, D, over at my place last night because today we had a graduation to go to for our other cousin at USC (so proud of you, E!). We stayed up until 3:00 a.m. watching "Pride and Prejudice". :) It never gets old....

But this sleepover made me realize something about myself: I like my own space. I don't know what my husband would say, if I were to get married. I think I would want my own bed, in my own room. I don't do so well with other people sleeping near me. My cousin slept on my (pooey evil) bed, while I was in my usual spot on the floor. Why, you ask? 2 herniated discs. The bed is evil, I tell you. It looks so inviting and coaxes me to lay down, rest my weary head. And then, it sucks me in, and makes a mess of my back, and laughs at me, with no mercy.

I warned my cousin about my sleeping "routine": I sleep on the ground for 4 hours, after which I wake up in immense pain. I get up, very slowly (I think I timed it one time: 12 minutes), make my way to my desk and eat my half peanut butter sandwich and take my meds. Then, a bathroom run (um, more like a crawl), and then I sit in my office chair, tilt it back, and prop my feet up on my bed for about another 4-6 hours of sleep.

My cousin made me crack up when she said, "Oh, okay. So if I wake up and see you crawling around, I shouldn't freak out that it's a paranormal activity, huh?"

Gotta love my cousin.

But as much as I love her (really, D, I love you to death), I didn't sleep much. I think I might have slept for about an hour or two after I woke up and relocated to my chair. By the way... I only use my bed to prop up my feet on the bottom left corner. So... on a queen sized bed, why do my cousin's feet have to be in that bottom left corner when I relocate? I'm just wondering... that's all.

I ended up not going to my other cousin's graduation at USC. I forgot that that would require me to walk. Which is something I'm not really good at right now. And I am reminded of my injury every moment of my waking (and sleeping!) hours. So what in tarnation would make me think that I could endure sitting through traffic to get to the university, look for parking (mind you, this is a very big school with many different departments' graduations), walk through a parking structure, across a busy street, through the campus, sit through the speeches, wade through the thousands of people to find my cousin, stand to take pictures, walk back across campus and the street to the parking structure to the car to the next celebration location... you get the picture, right?

I had convinced myself up until the last night that I was going to attend the graduation today.

I must be delusional.

I treated myself to some Starbuck's iced Americano, in case you're wondering why I'm not napping and rambling on and on....

Whew....

It's a lot of work, keeping up with a blog. Mostly because I keep forgetting that I have one. Which doesn't make sense because every other minute, I'm thinking to myself, "This would be great to post on my blog!" Or, "How can I make this situation interesting enough to post on my blog?"

Only thing is... I now don't remember what those things are.

Meh.

Bazinga!

Beep beep!

I've been dreading going to the store to run my errands because it takes so much effort to walk around the store (pooey on my 2 herniated discs). It takes a lot out of me, even though I'm taking my time, leaning on the shopping cart, etc. Plus, it doesn't help that I get so easily distracted - I know what's down each aisle, but... I still feel the need to look at everything.

Yesterday, I finally went to Target with my friend. Oh, how I love that store. Oh, how I had missed that store!

I was a bit worried how I was going to get around the store.... until I saw a woman parking an electric scooter with a basket in the front.

Yippee!! Have you ever tried navigating a scooter? It takes some time to get used to driving those things around....! Well, I guess it doesn't help that I had taken my meds before going to the store.

Hehehehe.....

Sorry, Target, for the mess on aisle 4. Really, I didn't know how to stop my scooter from running into the boxes of Kleenex. Really. I couldn't... stop. Muahahahaha!! :)

Earth Day - Save a Tree...

In honor of Earth Day, I'm looking at possibly changing my reading habits....

I am a reader. I love to read. But I also just LOVE books. I love the feel of the pages, the weight of a book in my hands....

I have had to move more than I would have liked in the last couple years, and I've realized that the majority of my boxes are books (first is shoes, second is books, third is clothes)! Some of them got damaged from being in my parents' garage for too long, and I was sad to part with some of those.

Now that I have had a bad back for a few months, moving these boxes of books.... not gonna happen. I need bookshelves. They are all stacked on the ground, piles and piles of stacks and stacks, waiting patiently for a home.

I am willing to part with many of these paperbacks that I've collected over the years. I admit that I fell into that whole "vampire" craze and after finishing "The Twilight Saga", and I felt the need to fill that void somehow. And I ended up reaching for "Undead and Unwed".

Yeah.... I don't see the connection either, but it somehow worked. Plus, it was the first of a series of books. Part of my OCD personality always requires me to buy the whole collection. Therefore, I had to buy all 6 at once (I believe there are now 3 more out in the series... Damn.).

I also became a big fan of teen books (perhaps at this point in my life, I didn't want to think much? Or maybe I was going through a stage where I felt like I was dealing with someone who thought like a teenager...?) and started buying "The Heir Chronicles" and "The House of Night" series.

In any case, these were all paperbacks that I read once, and... I'm pretty sure I'm not going to read them again. So spending $5-9 per paperback... I could probably have 2-3 stacks at least up to my shoulders....

:( That's a lot of trees.

So... I will entertain the idea of getting an e-book reader!

Hmmm... IPad vs Kindle vs Nook....

Home Sweet Home

Today was fun, overwhelming, crazy... and just plain weird!

Being an OC girl, anything LA just feels... overwhelming! I went to visit my cousin today, have lunch with her. We went to Taste on Melrose... cute place! Very cozy, good service.

I should probably preface this with the fact that I was in traffic for an hour going into LA, 36 miles, according to Google maps. And I got lost. I was going back and forth on Melrose because I couldn't find the restaurant. And street parking?!?! What the heck is THAT all about?? I don't carry coins in my purse for metered parking! The OC has these things called "parking lots" in front of their stores and restaurants.....

Yummy butternut squash soup with a BLT! And fries. That I wanted to eat with chopsticks. Because they were cut flat.

Afterwards, we decided to go to Sweet Lady Jane Bakery. It started raining. Actually, it was raining off and on since the morning, but what I meant to say was that it started raining when we stepped out of the restaurant.

We were greeted by 2 elderly gentlemen seated by the window speaking very loudly into a phone. They appeared to have very much enjoyed their desserts. And they made sure the waitress knew. And the waitress made sure they knew that she was a writer, writing a play, and there would be something on stage on Thursday, here's a flyer....

And... in walks JANICE DICKINSON. Wow. Ordered a cookie and a chocolate tart that she scarfed down while ordering a cake and a few other goodies. She ordered the cookie after seeing my cousin get one with her "light" tea (apparently, our waitress doesn't drink the tea that is served in the bakery - she was unable to make any recommendations....).

Janice is... in her own little world. She talks to anyone, everyone, and appears to enjoy eating pastries. And while she was there, in walked 4 people wearing all black. FOUR BEAUTIFUL people. Sunglasses, scarves, IPhones... beautiful hair and eyes. The waitress said, "Fashion police? Geez, let me fix my hair!"

And then we decided to leave - no, actually, we HAD to leave, because our meters had run out (see my comment above about meters and parking lots... sigh). It was now pouring. It was a little before 3 p.m.

It took me a while to get to the freeway - streets are so narrow in LA with cars parked on the right side, so people are always weaving back and forth... And it was completely bumper to bumper the second I got on the damn freeway.

Did I mention that I had to pee? And that I got home at 5 p.m.? 2 hours, on the freeway. While I had to pee.... When I finally did get home, I was scared to get out of my car, because I knew that my bladder would shift a little..... :/

Home sweet home.....

Reads....

Currently reading "Eat Pray Love". Hoping to finish it before the movie comes out. Considering I have a couple months, I'm hoping for the best.

For some reason, I like to read multiple books at the same time. But... this prevents me from actually finishing a book in a normal amount of time.

So, on top of "Eat Pray Love", I'm also reading "Inkheart", "Thyme of Death", and "The Riddle-Master".

Well... "reading" is a loose term. Very loose term. Considering that I've started a couple of them, oh... uh... don't actually remember when I started them. Actually, I don't think I even remember what the books are about....

Dang. Guess I gotta re-start a few of those.

Stress

I am so stressed out...! This blog, Twitter, Facebook.... there are so many places for me to update my status and write about the world around me. And it's freakin' stressing me out!

Some people have themes, and they choose to write about movies, bad pictures, travel. Many write about their motherhood or marriages.

I am not a mother. I am not married. I don't travel enough, watch movies enough, or take pictures enough. I feel the need to write about something witty, funny, interesting, meaningful. But I'm not always feeling witty, funny, nor do I find everything interesting or meaningful.

Thus, I am stressed.

You would think that I would have better things to be stressed about: my 2 herniated discs, being on disability, not having been to work since mid-January, trying to manage my pain, trying to pay bills....

But no.... I have my priorities straight.