First meeting - a success

After feeling like I had elephants instead of butterflies in my stomach, I'm happy to report that the first meeting with JP's dad went very well. We had a nice visit and dinner out, and I must say, I'm thinking about taking a French class now. JP was VERY good about being my personal interpreter. When put on the spot, I busted out the few phrases and random words I knew, but other than that I was pretty much at JP's mercy to follow a conversation.

Later tonight is dinner again, which should be fun. His dad is such a nice guy and I think is confident (already) that I am taking good care of his youngest son. However, he did give me a list of fruits and vegatables, with instructions that I must incorporate more of these in JP's diet. Thank goodness, too. I've been trying for quite a while, with limited success. :)

On another note, I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to be getting a dog anytime soon. I'm dog sitting a friend's dog, Oscar, while they are in Florida. I've had Oscar here before, and never had any problems. In fact, he kept me good company shortly after my surgery. This time is another story. Let's see. First, he VOMITED ALL OVER MY ROOM LAST NIGHT. Yeah, vomited in four spots on my bedroom floor. I was rushing around trying to get ready for dinner, and had to stop to clean up dog throw up and try to comfort Oscar since he clearly wasn't feeling well. GROSS!!!!! My room pretty much has smelled like dog since he got here, but that was icing on the cake. This afternoon, since it was pretty nice outside, I opened a bunch of windows in attempt to air out our apartment. I cleaned, have had candles burning and spraying Febreze (best invention ever) at regular intervals. Not sure how excited I am to get a dog, or have children for that matter... :)

Oh yeah. Running...

... as you can probably tell by the title, I haven't been running a whole heck of a lot. It's not that I don't want to. It's more like, other things seem to get in the way. Working late, the holiday frenzy, it's dark outside and going home to put on comfy clothes sounds so much better... You get the point. Actually, I was pretty good about getting to the gym last week but not so good this week. I need to sit down and figure out upcoming races so I have some goals ahead of me.

At my last doctor's visit, he told me I could definitely continue working out, but no marathon training. My body needed some time to rest and try to heal. Bullshit. I don't need to "rest" for a year and a half now. Does he want me to apologize that my "normal activies" just so happen to often including going on 10 mile+ runs? I'm sorry, but that is not my fault. If anything, to me, it seems like that should have helped prevent this all. (Yes, I know it doesn't actually make sense, but throw me a bone here.) I love working out and the feeling of being in tip, top shape. It's a sense of accomplishment and a sense of who I am as a person.

I got the okay today from the doctor to up my little white pill dosage. I'm pretty sure it's going to make me pretty groggy in the morning, but we'll see how it goes. I HATE being on meds, but if it'll bring some relief I'm okay with it. No changes so far but, as always, I'm trying to work on my patience.

So, I'm going to get back into it full force. I dread going to the gym though - with all of those who's New Year's resolution is to workout and get into shape. I think it's great that people want to be healthy, but it is so crowded for the first few weeks of the year.

Merry Christmas

Hope all had a wonderful holiday! Mine was absolutely wonderful, although very exahusing! Christmas Eve started with church with my family, dinner and opening gifts with my extended family. JP fit right in, and my little cousins became very attached to him. From there, we drove the hour back home to spend the rest of the night with his family. Their tradition is to open gifts at midnight. It was a lot of fun, but made for a long day. I think we got to bed around 3am. His whole family spoiled me and gave me some wonderful gifts.

Christmas morning, a mere five hours later, we woke up and headed back down to my parents. We had breakfast, opened gifts and had a huge dinner. Later that afternoon, we drove back home and had dinner with his family. By this time, both of us were completely exhausted and feel asleep at his sister's house. We felt so bad, but there was no way either of us could keep our eyes open for one more second.

We have enjoyed being able to spend so much time together this week, as both of us are off of work. And, with friends home for the holidays! And... since his gift didn't arrive on time, Christmas has been extended a little. It just came this afternoon, so he'll get it tonight when he comes over for dinner. Finally! :) He was so good about it when I broke the news to him. Actually, he ended up comforting me more than anything because I was so bummed. I did print out a picture and wrapped it up. And, since I felt so bad I ended up getting him a book, too, so he'd have a little more to open on Christmas Eve.

His dad comes into town tomorrow, so the next few days should be fun. Still really nervous about meeting him, but also looking forward to it. I'm sure some interesting tales to follow.

Worst girlfriend ever

Yes, I am the worst girlfriend ever. JP LOVES Christmas. Like, little boy loves it. And, my gift to him isn't going to be here on time. Ugh! Yesterday, I was upset because I didn't think it was going to be here. Today, it's pretty much confirmed. I have a few smaller gifts that were going to be from Santa for Christmas day at my parent's, but his main gift won't be here. I printed out a picture of the gift, and I might give that to him, but it won't be the same. I'm so disappointed! And, well, a procrastinator. I always have to have the "perfect" gift and sometimes that puts me in a bind. When it comes to work, I always meet my deadlines. Always. But, with my personal life I always seem to be late. Not quite sure what I'm going to do yet, but hopefully I'll think of something soon.

Today is a "work from home" day. I was suppose to have all week off, but due to work load, I needed to go in. Tankfully, I was far enough along to be able to not go in today. Our office is closed next week, and hopefully I won't have too much to do from home. We hired a few new people that start at the begining of the year, and I'm anxious for some help.

It really doesn't seem like Christmas is this weekend. I usually have this week off, we don't have our tree up yet, I haven't been able to help my mom bake cookies and I haven't wrapped my gifts yet. Oh, and it's raining instead of snowing. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to Christmas!

Well, better finish up some work and start doing all the things I've been neglecting lately.

Any ideas!?!?!

So... I thought all of my Christmas shopping was done. Then, I realized I had one that I would like to get. You see, JP's dad decided instead of flying everyone down to Florida, he'll come up to Michigan. He's coming in on the 28th and leaving after the first of the year. It just dawned on me that a small, simple gift would not only be appropriate, but that I'd like to do it. (You know, bribe him a little bit into liking me.) Here's the problem: I have no freaking idea what to give him. Here's some examples of gifts that would normally be perfect, but won't be for this particular instance:

* A nice bottle of wine -- He can taste a sip of wine and tell you what flavors are in it, date and region of the vineyard.

* A CD of his favorite type of music (jazz) -- He was a professional musican and owned a radio station.

* A gift certificate to a favorite resturant -- He lives in another country.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Little White Pills

So here's the lowdown (briefly) on what's been going on in my life:

Well, I went back to the doctor on Monday for a follow up appointment. The general story is that, after the nerve block, I had about a 30% reduction in pain for about three hours. While it was the lowest pain level I've had since the surgery, it didn't last long and the procedure itself was horribly, horribly painful. The good news is that since there was a reduction in pain, he is pretty sure it is nerve damage that we're dealing with here. One option was to do another diagnostic nerve block, but hit two nerves on each side of my back. The other option, to go back on medication.

I wasn't crazy about another nerve block. I just couldn't justify, in my mind, going through that again (only this time, it would be double the pain) for such a small rate of return. I wasn't crazy about meds either, since last time I felt like the side effects were going to kill me. I opted for the lesser evil and am back on meds to see if it'll help. This week hasn't been great, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The side effects haven't been as severe since I'm taking them in a different way. One thing about being on these meds is no alcohol. Not a huge deal, but it is the holidays. I got bombarded with questions at my office party last night because I didn't have a drink in my hand. I ordered water and everyone kept bugging me. I really don't want everyone to know, although it would probably be much easier, so I kept trying to avoid the situation. I was getting really pissed off though. Okay. I know it's unusual for me to not drink, but LEAVE ME ALONE! I did tell one group that I was NOT pregnant, only because they looked at each other with a funny look, looked at me and didn't say a single word. Good god. That's all I need - rumors going around that I'm pregnant.

In all seriousness though, I do hope my body adjusts to the meds in the next couple of weeks. I don't want to be out of it for Christmas and New Years. Oh no. No drinking on New Years! I just realized that. Hmmm.... would it hurt if I just didn't take a pill that day or can I still not drink because it's in my system from the other days. Hmmm... I know you don't have to drink to have fun, but come on - New Year's Eve!?!?!!? I'm going to have to come up with a plan for this one.

Started running again tonight. I haven't been to the gym for about two weeks now. Partially because of my abdomen hurting so badly, and partially because it's so easy for me to be lazy right now. Ran 4 miles on the treadmill and felt so great. I lifted some and was still feeling good, so I jumped on the eliptical for a little bit. Okay, I'll admit having, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" on the TV during my workout helped.

Work is crazy busy. So crazy busy that I ended up turning in 5 days of vacation. Guess I have to work for that promotion I just got... :) We did end up hiring two new people (one being a friend from college), so I'm really looking forward to them starting after the first of the year.

That's really about it. JP had a boys night tonight, so I'm enjoying catching up on some of my stuff. Hopefully, early to bed tonight so I can get to the gym early tomorrow morning.

Lots of Holiday Cheer...

Last weekend was JP's company Christmas party. Lots of fun, and it was great meeting everyone he works with. It was (way the hell) over in Port Huron, but his company graciously put everyone up in the Thomas Edison Inn, which overlooked the Blue Water Bridge.

Lots to good stories of our first trip together, but here's a picture to show how I made a fool of myself in front of a room full of strangers. I was terrified when I learned we would be playing "games" throughout the evening. Rightfully so.

More to update on what's going on, especially with my health, but it'll have to be at a later time...

Only 20 shopping days left

And, I only have two gifts so far. People are so hard to shop for. I'm one of those people that has to find the perfect gift for each and every person on my list. As though that isn't hard enough, everyone just goes ahead and buys everything. Seriously. Whatever happened to waiting for Christmas so Santa could surprise you?

We went into Toy's R Us this weekend with JP's brother and his girlfriend. The boys were like two little kids who had just experienced Toy's R Us for the first time. They were pulling things off shelves, calling one another to come look at the G.I. Joe/Transformer/Lego set/etc. they had in their hand, putting gifts in the cart... for themselves. It was pretty funny. JP really wanted a G.I. Joe that was similar to the one he had as a little boy.

In my best "mom" voice I told him, "Okay. We can get the G.I. Joe if you are good while we're here. You have to hold my hand, no wandering away, no putting toys in the cart that aren't on our list, and you need to listen to me while we're here." He and his brother (now and architect) did end up getting some Lego sets, but otherwise they were pretty good. True to my word, I bought him a G.I. Joe.

After our shopping trip, we met up with his other brother and his girlfriend and we all had dinner together. The girls were all in the kitchen getting dinner ready and what were the boys doing? They were all sitting on the floor, putting together the fire truck Lego set. It was so cute, and pretty funny. After dinner, the first thing they did was pull out the remainder of the set to finish it. And then proceded to play with it. After all of this, JP looked at the box and noticed it said for ages 5-8. Great. I'm dating a 5-8 year old. :)

Well, I've procrastinated enough and need to get back to studying for the GMAT. Ugh. I. Hate. Math.