enjoy every day

Crazy productive day…and still had time for fun stuff with my honey.

My ear infection is getting better (car rides still make me feel nauseated, but other than that.) It was a beautiful COOL morning and I opened up the windows. We have orange cosmos blooming in the garden now…I didn’t think they’d do anything!

I went to church on my own and then went on a nice walk in a nearby park with G. and the pups. Did a little quilting…YAYYY! It had been so long! It seemed to go really smoothly too!

Then G. and I went to see a movie at the fancy-schmancy suites downtown where you lie around in a cushy recliner while they bring you food & drink, like you’re a Roman emperor :) Very nice day.

I’m feeling sort of sad today, because we messed up a date and missed dinner with G’s uncle…and we didn’t go to Peoria for the 4th, as we had planned, because I have an ear infection and am too nauseated for a long road trip.

It just kind of sucks.

But I want to figure out something fun to do today, to cheer myself up :)

I’ve been grind, grind, grinding away on finishing the revisions of my haunted house romance. And I knew it needed one more scene near the end, but I just couldn’t figure it out.

I took a long walk as it was getting dark. I was wearing new shoes, which naturally tore up my feet (I have the most fragile feet of anyone alive), but it was a lovely walk anyway. All the fireflies were out and I asked the muse to tell me what to do with that scene. AND SHE DID. I went home and wrote it, and felt so much better about the project because while I still have revising to do, I feel like it has all the parts that it needs now.

Today was a wonderful day i guess…weather was a little bad but besides that it was great.
1. Went on date with boyfriend and then we hung out with my friend.
2. EATING WATERMELON!!! :D
3. went biking/spying on suspicious house with brother lol.

I needed a couple of dresses altered to accommodate my big muscular arms :) G. suggested a tailor shop owned by his co-worker’s grandmother, who had just spoken at Hallmark (on a day I was out of the office, unfortunately) about her experiences during the Holocaust.

G. told me her story as we drove there: Nazis put her and her family in a death camp when she was 14. She saw her mother being taken off to the gas chamber. The day British soldiers freed the camp, an SS guy shot her in the chest, and her sister held her up so that as she died, she could see the place being liberated. But the bullet just missed her heart and she survived.

We didn’t expect the woman herself to be working there, but we came right when she was opening up the shop. Maybe she’s the only one who works there. I felt teary-eyed meeting her after just hearing her story from G., who told her how much he appreciated her talk the other day. I got the pinning done for the alterations and we talked to her for a long time.

It was amazing to hear her stories and her perspective on things. When her kids were little, she made up stories about why she had those numbers tattooed on her arm…too awful to tell them the truth. Spielberg did Schindler’s List, he interviewed her, and she also recorded her story for the Holocaust Museum in D.C., which we want to visit next month. She’s started to give more talks about her experiences because of groups who deny the Holocaust happened.

While we were talking, a guy walking by waved at her and said “Shalom” and she said “Shalom” back. She told us, “He’s not Jewish, he’s Muslim. They say ‘Salaam,’ which is the same thing.” She talked about what a great gift the earth is, and how she appreciates every bit of it, “every little flower.”

The concentration camps had already been on my mind because G. and I recently watched HBO’s Band of Brothers series, which was fantastic. The scene in which the soldiers come upon the death camps was so powerful. The soldiers hadn’t heard about these things before.

She is such an amazing person and it was really an honor to talk with her. I’m looking forward to picking up my dresses so we can talk to her some more.

I know that was yesterday, but I must talk about it. The wonderful things that happened to me yesterday…
1. I spent time with my brother aka I played basketball with him, went biking with him. :D I can actually spend my time being happy with my brother rather than always pissed at each other.
2. My friends and I went to the mall yesterday. :D We tried playing hide and seek, but it didn’t work out that well. The fire alarm went off which is even weirder.
3. I got my first boyfriend ever. :D

Don’t know about my awesome new Led Zeppelin tee shirt. It made my Friday at work feel really Friday-ish.

I overcame my vast shyness to go to a somewhat-craft, somewhat-picnic-themed happy hour. I was glad I did. Romantic times with my honey after that. Not bad for a weeknight!

This summer, for the first time, I’m really enjoying the sun. I bought a chaise longue at a drugstore for $20 and it’s my favorite thing. Yesterday I worked at home, and at lunch I lay out in the sun in my swimsuit with a book and felt like the queen of the world. If my dermatologist knew, she would never stop slapping me.

I’ve been afraid to try running again ever since I tore my calf muscle two months ago, but late in the afternoon I felt antsy and I just did it, even though it was very hot out. I went 2 miles, no problem. :)