Im home and Im Tired

Derek and I spent the weekend in Houston- were tired, a little hungover and our wallets feel pretty empty but it was a ton of fun! Im so glad to be back home, with the dogs catching up on blogs in my pjs and fuzzy socks. Oh how I love a lazy Sunday!

Friday night at a bar within walking distance of our friends house

Me and Derek at the St Arnolds Brewery Saturday afternoon

Our group at the brewery

Me and Derek with our Houstonians

Saturday night was spent at a local bar watching the Aggie basketball game- and we played about 6,000 rounds of Jenga.

I decided to pick up a copy of Dear John for the car ride on Friday and plan to have it finished by Wednesday when Michelle and I are using sneak peak passes from my friend Dan (many of you may know him as Lunchbox on the Bobby Bones show) to see the movie. Its such an easy read, Ive had a hard time putting it down.

In other news, the precious and fabulous fellow blogger Amy gave me two awards while I was away. You have no idea how much I love getting awards! Im going to majorly break the rules and not tag anyone this time around only because frankly, Im too damn lazy. Forgive me, I usually follow the rules but Im not in the mood today.

Terra Buger- Friend or Foe?

Hey all you Austin foodies, any of you tried Terra Burger yet? I drove through and had a turkey burger for lunch today and I was shocked at just how tasty it was! I wondered if its as healthy as Im assuming but cannot seem to find the nutritional information online (which makes me nervous)- any of you have the inside scoop other than the obvious organic ingredients?

Son of a Bitch, That Hurt

Today was my first visit with the physical therapist. I can sum up our appointment with one word: OUCH.

I was under the impression I was going to be given a few exercises to do at home over the next few weeks. Boy howdy was I wrong. After an initial talk, lots of history shared and a quick exam I was told I have deep tissue damage all around my knee.

How does one cure such damage you ask? By crawling onto an exam table face down with one leg on the ground and one wrapped around said table. With one leg on the table, the back of your thigh and knee cap is exposed- and I assure you, severe pain will follow. Im talking the full body weight of your therapist pressing into the tenderest of all spots- grabbing at the skin and moving it around so fiercely the only pain you can equate it to is a serious Indian rug burn. When this is over and the tears are dried, the therapist will ask you to roll over onto your back and she will proceed to administer the same flesh grabbing, knee cap twisting pain to the second most tender spots all around your knee cap. She will look at you with pain in her eyes and apologize profusely as she continues to grab at your skin, reach under your knee cap and twist your muscles so bad you start to cry again. She will feel sorry for you but forge onward- for FORTY FIVE MINUTES.

She will tell you when its all said and done that it will feel like you have bruising inside your muscles and that you may need up to 1000 mg of Ibuprofen to sleep that night and that ice and heat will help with the swelling.

You will hate her for all of this but know she is just doing her job. You will still be inclined to imagine kicking her in her shins.

I am supposed to do the same stretching and massaging to myself every night for 5-10 minutes and next Thursday I will go back to confirm whether or not weve been able to make any changes pr progress. The woman I saw said that she has never worked on such tender or tight tissues and she can say with her utmost professional experience, nothing but surgery will fix me.

Surgery, please come sooner. And please, someone give me pain pills before next Thursdays session of the same agonizing procedure. Anything really.

Im No Dog Whisperer

I may not have a PhD in dog training but Im going to act like it for a second.


Last night, Derek put our dogs in their kennel per usual and I guess the latch on Mollys kennel didn’t completely click… because…

When I got up at 6 AM, there she was in her kennel with the door wide open. Nope, you read that right. She stayed in her kennel with an open door all night. She even looked at me and waited for me to call her out of before she stepped her paw across the threshold. If that’s not a well behaved dog, I don’t know what is.

Master of Blogging and Friendship

My love over and Handbags & Handguns gave me an award and I couldnt be more excited- mostly because Ive had jack crap to talk about lately and it also excites me that this directly references Always Sunny, but I digress.

(This award is all about recognizing friendships that have been made while blogging.)

The Rules:

1. List 6 things you are a master in.

2. Pass it on to 6 bloggers you think are masters at friendship, and make blogging so awesome.

My Six Things:

1. I'm a master judger. Yea, I said it. I can be a nice, good, wholesome person when I want, and I can also pick people to death if given the chance.

2. I'm a master organizer- everything has a place and that place is exactly where you will find it- unless Derek moves it… =/

3. I'm a master of procrastination. I can be extremely lazy when I want- especially if its raining outside. If only I could get paid to watch tv all day (that makes me sound like an under-achieving sloth, no?)

4. I'm a master of story telling- my ability to exaggerate and act overlay dramatic play into this well.

5. I’m a master of spoiling the crap out of my dogs. Until I have an actual human grow inside of me, these are my kids. Deal with it.

6. I'm a master of celebrity gossip- Ive GOT to steal this one. Though I don’t blog an impressive Talk of Tinseltown, I pride myself on knowing all sorts of useless information.

And now for other Masters out there:

Organic Meatbag
A Gurley Girl
A Real Housewife
Confessions of an Enginerd
Dare To Be Domestic
Tobin Tales

Tuesday Tidbits

Im happy to report Ive lost 7 pounds. My hard work and daily buckets of sweat filled yoga are paying off. With less than 90 days to go until Justin and Jos wedding in Playa Del Carmen, Im considering this go time. I have been watching what I eat but certainly not dieting- I still want to eat yummy stuff, just in moderation. I may try a cleanse as a last ditch effort within a week or two before we leave but will continue what Ive been doing until the last possible second aka until I go under the knife for knee surgery.

Now for the DUH moment of the century, I have cut out beer as much as possible. Im sure youre thinking that’s such a no brainer but you have to remember- my job is to sell beer. No, its not required that I drink but it is required that I taste new beers, competitive beers and when on a crew drive (reps from the brewery come to Austin and we team sell) its pretty much a given that well drink together each evening, sharing notes on sales calls and make fun of people who don’t buy our beer as they prefer loyalty to Natural Light.

I wanted to say thanks again for all the support and happy thoughts. I know everything will work out fine with my surgery and itll be such a blessing to have a working knee. It’s the pain, the rehab and the no working out that gets me down when I start to think about it. Ive worked really hard for the last 3 or 4 weeks and Im bummed that right before we leave I may gain it all back simply because I cant get up and move around.

Work has been pretty busy lately which is nice after such slow holiday months. I have lots of projects up my sleeve and have had a hard time squeezing it all in. Better to be busy and have a job then be bored or not have a job at all, right? Right!

Anyway, I know this post was one of the worlds most boring- I suppose Im just not feeling all inspired as of late. Hopefully something amazing and fantastic will happen so I can tell you all about it. Am I the only one that when something funny happens, I automatically start writing a blog entry about it in my head?

Rude Awakening

You know how Monday mornings are pretty yucky as is? Well I can guarantee that today I experienced one of the rudest of all awakenings.


I awoke somewhere near 5 AM to a high pitched beeping sound. At first I thought maybe it was my phone, or even Dereks but then once the sleep wore off I was able to figure it out. THE DAMN SMOKE DETECTOR.

Sure, thanks for always being there to save my life. I appreciate knowing I can count on you to alert me of any danger while I sleep, but cant your batteries die at a more convenient time? Say after 8 or 9 AM?

Thanks,
Desiree

Yay

Amy gave me an award today- lets all celebrate!

Thank you all, from the bottom of my bloggy heart for all your sweet comments about my knee surgery. I cant tell you how much it eases my mind to know I have a support system in place, ready to catch me when I fall. I love you all and appreciate all your kind words. As soon as I know more about the surgery and when it will happen, youll be the first to know!

No Good Knee News

Turns out I have something called plica syndrome in my knee.

This is a condition that is the result of a remnant of fetal tissue in the knee. The synovial plica are membranes that separate the knee into compartments during fetal development. These plica normally diminish in size during the second trimester of fetal development. In adults, they exist as sleeves of tissue called "synovial folds," or plica. In some individuals, the synovial plica is more prominent and prone to irritation.

The plica on the inner side of the knee, called the "medial plica," is the synovial tissue most prone to irritation and injury. When the knee is bent, the plica is exposed to direct injury, and it may also be injured in overuse syndromes. When the plica becomes irritated and inflamed, the condition called "plica syndrome" results.

In my particular case, surgical removal of the plica is necessary. This surgical procedure is performed using an arthroscope, or a small camera, that is inserted into the knee along with instruments to remove the inflamed tissue.

As if thats not enough, I also have an off-set knee cap. My knee cap is closer to the outside of my leg than it is to the center and its believed that the plica is located underneath the cap, thus causing further irritation. This will also need correction during surgery- the cap will be moved back into its proper location at the center of my knee and into the grooves it is supposed to rest.

My next step is to see a physical therapist next week to learn some exercises to hold me off until the surgery. In four weeks from now I will see the orthopedic surgeon again to schedule my surgery, ask more questions and of course, learn more about the procedure itself.

I drove 45 minutes in rush hour traffic this morning, paid a $20 copay and $2 for parking for 5 minutes with the Dr and only bad news was given. Im more poor than when I got up this morning, in a terrible mood and stressed about what all of this means for my job. I essentially work out of my car and Im pretty sure it goes without saying I wont be able to drive for a while as the recovery time is 4-6 weeks.

This is just really not my day.

Needy Knee

I need all of you out there in the cyber world to send happy thoughts my way tomorrow morning at 8 AM. I had an MRI on my knee last Wednesday and tomorrow I meet with the orthopedic surgeon to determine whether or not surgery is necessary to fix the part of me that’s broken.

When I was about 13 years old, I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and was told a regular intake of ibuprofen would soften the pain and I would eventually outgrow it. I saw an orthopedic surgeon every six months to have regular x-rays taken of my knee and my spine- I also suffer from scoliosis (yay!) As luck should have it, I stopped growing shortly after my double diagnosis so no further testing would be necessary beyond the x-rays and exams. Id like to add that this was not before I had a twelve inch needle stuck under my knee cap to drain the fluid trapped in my joint. This fluid is usually a clear or yellow in color- mine was black. Does that give you any idea of how much pain I was in? Maybe, maybe not. But it was awful- the procedure and seeing that fluid.

A few weeks ago my knee started to bother me again- no injury, no incident, it just hurt all over again. I called my pediatric orthopedic surgeon to get a referral to one more equipped for my grown up- but not any taller self =). After an initial exam, a round of x-rays and a strong suggestion of taking 800 milligrams of ibuprofen each day, the Dr. asked me to come back for an MRI. He would need to see more of the inside of my knee to determine what the real problem was. Its possible I have either bruised or torn meniscus.

And thus this leads us to tomorrow. Obviously Im hoping I wont need surgery but I feel a little torn (no pun intended). If surgery is not an option, that means Ill need physical therapy. Which I did for YEARS and YEARS growing up. Sure, it helped at the time, but once I stopped going, my knee was back to its old shenanigans. So no, I dont want surgery, but I do want to have a fully functioning knee and to be able to walk up and down stairs without cringing or perhaps Ill actually be able to run someday like Ive always wanted. Im hoping that the 13 days of yoga will have strengthened my knee in some small way but if its that easy of a fix as that I will kick myself for waiting 14 years to start taking classes!

Im really pretty nervous. Think happy thoughts.

Taking Chance

Did any of you watch the HBO special 'Taking Chance'?

Derek and I are watching it right now while our dinner cooks in the crock pot and I cannot stop crying. Every single scene has made me tear up. Such a great story of honor, grattitude, respect and deeply moving. I only wish Id watched it sooner.

THANK you to all of you wives with members of the Air Force, the Marines, the Navy and the Army as your husbands. Thank you to all of you in the service for all of your hard work and your absolute selflessness. Thank you.

Dinner With Macey

Yep, I got to see Miss Macey last night and of course arrived armed with my camera. Feast your eyes!

(she really likes my blackberry)

Shes talking up a storm and always makes us laugh- so much fun to watch her grow!

Thats all. Just wanted to brag.

On my Nightstand

I finished reading Still Alice last night. It was an amazing book that made me cry and taught me a very valuable lesson at the same time. Alice Howland is a successful and intelligent professor teaching at Harvard when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 50. The story is told from her point of view and while very very sad, its a book I was unable to set down- seeing what this disease is like from her point of view was truly remarkable. I highly recommend reading it- Ill even let you borrow my copy!

Up next...

(Yes, its true, I am obsessed with Jodi Picoult books)

Yoga

Today was my 9th day of yoga. I feel healthier. Im sleeping better. I have more energy. I have lost inches off my waist and my arms (yes, already). I drink more water. I care more about what I put in my body. My skin glows a little extra. I am proud of myself.

If any of you have a chance to try out hot yoga, I would highly suggest it. Now, Im sure in a few moths (once Im post Playa del Carmen bathing suit weather) the excitement will wear off like any form of exercise eventually does. For now, I am completely committed, sold, and convinced of all the power yoga has to offer.

Namaste.

Lucky Number 8

Kelly over at Dare to be Domestic tagged me to play Lucky Chinese Tag. Wahooo (watch as my head swells!) I love surveys and love that It counts as blogging when Ive done so little of it lately.

So here is all the Lucky 8 Chinese Tag info you could ever want to know about me!

8 TV shows I watch
1. Dexter
2. The Office
3. Brothers & Sisters
4. Desperate Housewives
5. Ugly Betty
6. Chelsea Lately
7. Nip/Tuck
8. Teen Mom- no lie.

8 favorite places to eat and drink
1. Frank & Angies
2. Baris
3. Opal Divines
4. Pei Wei
5. Tomo sushi
6. Janets house (Dereks mom)
7. Tokyo Steakhouse
8. Casa Garcias

8 things I look forward to
1. Derek coming home at the end of his day (the sound of the garage door opening)
2. Sleeping with the dogs when Derek is out of town
3. Joannas wedding in Playa Del Carmen in April
4. Being Sarahs Maid of Honor
5. The Weekend
6. My Mom coming home off the ship in just a little over a week
7. Seeing Macey tonight
8. Getting married/spending my best years with the man I love

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Ate breakfast
2. Went to yoga
3. Ate lunch
4. Had a sales meeting at work in which I did not consume one single beer (yes, they serve beer at our meetings)
5. Drove home
6. Made dinner
7. Watched Good Will Hunting
8. Laughed with Derek

8 things I love about winter
1. Being inside cozy and warm
2. Christmas
3. Fuzzy socks
4. Soup
5. Hot Chocolate
6. Pictures from Sarah of just how much rougher she has it and just how much snow theyre burried in
7. Naps
8. Scarves
8 things on my wish list
1. New pots and Pans
2. Staying motivated and focused to continue on with yoga
3. An easy fix to get skinny
4. More closet space
5. Better landscaping in our yard
6. To be taller
7. My hair to grow faster
8. The ability for my dogs to talk- Im insane, I know.

8 things I am passionate about
1. Karma
2. Compassion
3. Honesty
4. Derek
5. Family
6. Friendship- what you get out vs. what you put in
7. Reading
8. Pizza
8 words I use often
1. Seriously
2. Meh
3. Damnit
4. ‘Can you…’
5. Derek
6. REGGIE!!! (In a mad tone when he bounds in from outside)
7. Bitch
8. Thank you

8 things I have learned from the past
1. You will always learn from the tough stuff- you wont see it then, but you will later
2. Smirnoff Ice is disgusting
3. You will never have enough money so get used to what you’ve got and make the most of it
4. Getting an education is ESSENTIAL to your future
5. I was too good for him
6. True friends never let you down or leave you when you need them
7. Netflix is better than Blockbuster
8. If you lie, people will find out

8 things I want/need
1. I need to work harder at my job
2. I need to nurture my relationships as much as necessary and whenever possible
3. I want a new laptop
4. I want a better digital camera
5. I want a diamond ring (but more so what it represents)
6. I need my dogs to live very very very long and healthy lives
7. I need to love and be loved
8. I want to be skinnier and know how hard Ive worked at it
8 people I want to tag
Katie
The Blogivers
Peace Love & Applesauce
The Joiners
Llama Tales
Live. Love. Laugh.
Leaving and Loving on a Jetplane
Happy Meals and Happy Hour

Bedding

Derek and I have been looking for new bedding for quite some time now. You see, he likes plain, simple classic bedding and I like more colorful, loud and patterned bedding. (Insert months and months and months of looking) We finally found bedding we both liked. Although Im more convinced Derek was sick of looking, we found something we could both live with. I wanted to share it with you all, despite taking a hasty picture with not all pillows in place and improper lighting (I dont think the shams are even facing the same way).... Voila!

I wish I had a before picture for you, but alas, youll just have to imagine a duvet in a chocolate brown cover and multi colored pillows. It was nice, dont get me wrong, but the duvet was such a damn struggle! Making our bed was easily a two person job.

Oh, and Reggie helped me put the new bedding together (and by helping I mean he followed me from room to room constantly at my feet and laid on every piece of sheet and blanket I needed so I had to physically move him off of what I needed when I needed it).

I tried to sit on the ground to be at his level for the photo shoot and this is how he repaid me. By raping my face.

A Very Good Monday

Every now and then something happens in my day that stops me in my tracks and forces me to thank my lucky stars. Today was one of those days. These two events made my Monday so much more tolerable.

Macey asked Rhonda when she was picked up from daycare if she could go to Uncle Derek and Dezs house.

As if that wasnt enough to make me grin from ear to ear until bedtime...

When I got home from my 90 minute yoga class where the room is kept at 98 degrees, Derek had drawn me a bubble bath.

I wish every Monday was this wonderful!

Day 5

Just wanted to drop in and let all of you lovers that Desiree has indeed completed 5/10 days of hot yoga. I am halfway to reaching my goal of 10 consistent days. Once the trial period is over I will decide if its something I want to do full time- so far Im leaning towards yes. Feeling so good about it so far.

Tomorrow is already Monday again? Yuck.

2010 Wants (and Yoga)

I was hoping to write about hot yoga hours ago. Like right when I got home. Before I showered and all the positive energy and happy thoughts dripped off of my overweight naked body that looked back at me in the mirror (youre welcome for the mental image).

I arrived, paid my $10 for ten days of classes and walked back into the room. My friend Tiffany met me and laughed when we walked in to a completely pitch black room. We literally could not even see past our own noses- we had accidentally planned on attending the class taught in the dark, with NO TALKING. Sure there was the typical wind chimey, babbling brook music, but the only voice you could hear was a recorded one that named off poses and stances.

Im not going to lie- 90 minutes of yoga was tough. Add onto that the fact that the room is kept at 90 degrees. I was sweating before I even lifted a finger but still left feeling like Id successfully kicked my own butt without feeling the need to vomit, cry or pass out. Tomorrow I plan to try a 60 minute class where the room is set at 98 degrees. If I never blog again, youll know why.

Im in the whole new years kick of taking better care of myself. I dare not call them resolutions because were all aware those don’t typically last long.
Im talking about claiming my body back, making healthier choices about not only what I eat but what I drink, what I put in my body. I want to file my nails instead of chewing them off when theyre ragged and uneven. I want to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, make more of my day. I want to walk my dogs more, not for me, but for them. I want to cut back on the foul language. I want to devote more to my job. I want to continue my kick of dry cleaning nicer clothes. I want to love myself more. I want to read, and not just when I travel. I want to brush up on my Spanish. I want to be a better friend and a better phone- answerer. I want to learn more knock knock jokes. I want to be a better girlfriend. I want to not text or email and drive. I want to drink more water. I want to floss more. I want to laugh louder, harder and more often. I want to make the most of my blog.

I want to make the most of 2010.

Award! AKA Im Famous!

The very talented and funny Amy gave me an award! This one came with no instructions or specifications so rather then be generous and share the love, Im keeping this one all to myself.

Who am I kidding? Im just too damn lazy today to think of anything ;)

Tonight starts day 1 of hot yoga for this little butterball, its kinda all I can think about- Ill let you know how it goes if I dont melt into a puddle of pure fat first.

Grrr

You know what really annoys (What really grinds my gears- a la Peter Griffin) me?

Getting a text from my boss at 7 AM Monday (before Im even out of bed) saying that we will have a meeting at 6:30 AM Tuesday.

As if Mondays after a holiday and after coming home from vacation arent difficult enough.
So today I got to think about how horrible the following morning would be... ALL DAY LONG.

Attention Jersey Shore Fans

This made me laugh. HARD.

Youre welcome.

Reading

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is read. Derek is not a reader at all so I think sometimes my nose being in a book for hours at a time confuses him. While traveling back and forth to Miami, I finished my third Jodi Picoult book- I have to say that her books, all that Ive read, are amazing!

Now that Its finished (it was wonderful, heart breaking and impossible to put down) I picked up a new book and plan to start it tonight after I hit up my treadmill.

What are you guys reading these days?

53

I cant believe I have 53 followers! What on earth makes what I have to say so interesting?! Either way, thank you all that stop by and leave comments- you truly make my day everytime I hear from you!

(I did a Google image search for 'surprised' and this came up- too funny to leave out.)

Hello World

Hope your holiday season was as eventful as ours and that you survived as well- I have spent the better half of my morning reading about all of your adventures over the last week or so and I cant wait to fill you guys in.

We survived Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and a trip to Miami on New Years Eve for my cousin, Eric's wedding. I have so much to tell you all, so many pictures to post and a TON to catch up on. As soon as we got home last night, the dogs were picked up, bathed and suitcases were unpacked.

Is it silly that the thing I was most excited to fly home to was my dogs? I missed them so much!

My friend, Sarah, who I have known my whole entire life receved a sparkly diamond ring on Christmas Eve from the love of her life- in addition to that, I know of 3 friends that got engaged on New Years Eve- Derek and I shared a good laugh at how just when we think its all over and our bouts standing at the altar with our nearest and dearest are over, someone else signs us up. Sure wre honored and happy to take part in such special occasions, but in April, I will be standing in my 14th wedding. FOURTEEN.

Heres to 2010 and all the advantures ahead!