My Cousin Died

This is not a pleasant post; feel free to skip it.

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Isn't it weird that one day someone's there and the next she's diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and a couple weeks later, she's gone?  I think that's weird.  Especially when she's only 47 years old.

My cousin had an exceptionally hard life.  Her mother committed suicide when she was only about a year old.  Her father eventually married my aunt (a widow by suicide) and my aunt raised her and her plethora of siblings.  I grew up with them.  I attended so many funerals as a kid, as one by one they committed suicide.  The inherited their mother's illness (bipolar? I don't know the diagnosis). 

I was a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding.  I won't be attending her funeral.  I've done my share of funerals.  I'm sorry she went this way, but I'm glad her ordeal is over.  And I don't mean the cancer; that was a short ordeal.  I mean the mental illness.  She (and everyone around her) really suffered from that.  I'm glad she went "naturally" (not that I mean cancer is "natural") and didn't kill herself like most of her brothers and sisters.  It's weird, the things to be grateful about in these situations. 

Death is weird, but it has nothing on life.

Busy Busy Busy and Farmer's Tan

Oh unholy poopsicles, I am so stinking busy.  I had to stop for a minute just to sit down and decompress by blogging it out.  I have a lot of things going on with my business right now, which is great, but why does it always have to come in waves?  Shrug.  And why, oh why oh why oh why did I sell my background stand when I left Virginia?   Todd and I are building a makeshift one tonight until I order a new one.  Or who knows?  We might just like our homemade one better.  Ah, that reminds me, I need to do some hemming tonight.  Can I borrow your sewing machine?

And on another note, I got a farmer's tan today while at the park with Bryce and our friends.  It's soooo o o o o o o sexy!  :o\

Magical People

In Monterey in 1990, I met a girl named Lisa De Avila.  She radiated light.  She was fun, sweet, positive, outgoing, adventurous, creative, magnetic...think of any positive adjectives and you can most certainly use them in a sentence about Lisa.  Not to say she was perfect; no one is, but if ever there was a magical person that you could be around 24/7 and not feel for a moment anything less than bliss, that was Lisa. 
And guess what?  That is still Lisa! 

I had breakfast with Lisa on Tuesday, after not seeing her for almost 20 years.  Light still shines from her.  She is still creative and smart and amazing.  She makes me want to improve my life, improve myself especially.  And not because she would ever send out the vibe that someone should change, you know what I mean?  You just want to because in Lisa you see the potential for happiness that exists in the world. 

And before I start sounding like a weird stalker, I will just stop there.  Do you know any magical people?  Do they make you want to be more positive or somehow make changes in your life?  I feel so seriously blessed to know one of these special creatures.  She's coming out for some girls' time soon and I just can't wait!

Have the most wonderfully beautiful day ever!

Smooch!

Gaining Bicep

So, I've been in LA on some errands the last few days.  Well, errands is the wrong word.  I've been in LA for some serious treats!  One, I spent two days with my favorite photographer (and a group of cool chicks) and learned some snazzy shizzle (see below) AND as an added bonus, I got a little oomph in the biceps.  Carrying around 6 lbs of camera and lens for 4 hours, it turns out, is pretty good exercise.  

On Wednesday I'll tell you about my other treat.  Until then, here's what I've been up to:

Sleep Talk Antics

Have you seen this guy?  http://sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com/

I saw a piece about it on The Today Show and wanted to look it up.  Space-brain that I am, I completely forgot to.  Thanks to my dear friend, Dr. Brian Dickert, for reminding me!

Bwaaaaaahahahahahahaha! Sure Cure For a Cough

My 3-year-old crawled up next to me in bed this morning and said:

"I'm going to choke the cough out of you now.  Are you ready?"

I was admittedly a little concerned, but curiosity won in the end.  "Yep, ready!"

Bryce then slapped my left cheek twice. 

"Is it gone?"

I tested.  Nope, cough's still there.

Bryce then proceeded to slap my right boob 8 times.  "Did that fix it?"

I took a deep breath...no cough.  "Yep, that did it!"

Bryce sat looking very pleased with himself.  That kid's a doctor in the making, I tell you.

Warning: May Walk or Talk in Sleep

I've had a nasty cold this week.  I'm not one of those people who get "mild" colds.  When I get one, it b!*c# slaps me.  And I'm not a fan of medication, but when it comes to a cold and not being able to breathe through my nose, I will guzzle Theraflu and shoot Afrin up my nose like a drugstore junkie.

So, for the past two nights, Todd reports that I've been animated while in my drug-induced sleep.

On night one, I raised both my arms in the air and frantically cried, "WHERE ARE MY RINGS?"  Then I got up and went to check the place I normally keep them, saw that they were safely there, reported as such to Todd, climbed back into bed and went to sleep.

Then last night, I yelled, "WATER" in the middle of the night.  Todd jumped from bed and ran to the kitchen for water (in all fairness, I sometimes get crazy dry throat at night and wake up choking; that's why he rushed).  He brought a glass back for me but I was sound asleep.  Sweet man. 

I wonder what shenanigans I'll pull tonight.  We really should set up a video camera.  I would like to see this.  And I'm sure you would, too!  Hehe.

Missing Home

Bryce (age 3) just walked into the living room and informed me that this house stinks (it does, it really really does, despite several rounds of carpet cleaning) and that we need to get a new one.  We've all been missing our old house lately.  I've had customers come over whom I've never met before, and I'm always embarrassed and have to tell them that this isn't our house.  Ugh.  It's pretty bad when even the 3 year old notices  :o\

That's depressing.