24 Hr. Observation

A few weeks ago our little Lexi was under the weather with a pretty bad upset tummy. I can tell when she's not feeling well because she has no interest in playing with her toys & she gets very snuggly; hence the photo to the left. I took it one morning after I took her potty - she ran right back upstairs & got on our bed to go back asleep; I laid with her to rub her tummy & she snuggled right in my armpit. After a weekend of her not eating/drinking, having diarrhea & vomiting in our bed I took her to the emergency room at our vets office. After a workup they came to the conclusion that she had severe gastritis & pretty high liver values which was concerning them. The vet told me that they had to keep her for 24 hour observation so they could get fluids in her by IV, giving her some anti-nausea medicine & taking some blood samples. When the vet told that I had to leave her I wasn't too thrilled. I even tried to negotiate them keeping her for about 5/6 hours & then me coming back to get her; they didn't like my suggestion. They basically told me that there wasn't any other option & that she had to stay. Dan wasn't home during this trip to the ER because he was at Congressional watching Tiger Woods play. I had been texting him throughout the appointment so he knew what was going on. I called him as I was leaving & after some worried crying on my end I made my way home. My afternoon that day consisted of me sitting at home & doing absolutely nothing but worry about Lex. When Dan got home he told me that I needed to find something to do in order to get my mind off of Lexi not being there; I have to say I was depressed & the house didn't feel the same. Thankfully, we got a call on late Monday morning telling us that Lexi was doing much better & that we could pick her up that afternoon, any time after 3:00 p.m. Since I was at work Dan went to pick her up; I had plans to go to the gym & workout after I got off work but once I found out that she was home those plans went right out the window; I drove right home so I could see her.

Now that she's back home with us our routine is normal again - she also has a "battle scar" that Dan likes to call her chicken leg:  

It looks like she's wearing a furry bootie. =) One of our neighbor's little boys even went up to Dan the other day & said, "What happened to Lexi? Is she alright?" It was nice to see that he was so worried about her. We're so thankful that she's healthy & back at home with us. We love you little sweets.

Boot Camp Courtesy of IMP

Afew months ago my friend Lisa brought to my attention a coupon that she found on groupon.com for an unlimited 4-week boot camp class at IMP Fitness in Fairfax, VA. We decided to use it starting the month of June not realizing that the startup gym was not equipped with air conditioning(!!). Yes, we did 2 of the hottest months of the year. On our first night of class I showed up in my work clothes, like I normally do when I go to the gym after work, thinking that I would be able to change in their locker room before class started. When I pulled into the parking lot after circling the office buildings around it for 5 minutes because I couldn’t find it, I realized that the gym was located in an old warehouse that had all of the doors opened with huge fans circulating the air. My first impression was not a great one; I’ve been spoiled with Gold’s Gym for years now so anything less then what I'm used to I tend to get a little bit snobby.
When I walked inside the gym was divided into 2 sections: (1) treadmills & free weights on one side; and (2) an indoor turf type field on the other which apparently was for sports training, i.e. baseball hitting/pitching lessons; volleyball lessons, softball, football, etc. I was then informed that they “didn’t have locker rooms yet” but that I could change in one of their co-ed bathrooms. =/

Our first day of boot camp was a good workout; I was kind of hoping for our instructor to be a little more...well, mean, I guess. I was definitely disappointed that he was so soft spoken & telling us to “go at your own pace.” When I had initially read the words “boot camp” I imagined someone yelling/screaming at me throughout the class; our instructor, John, was not like that. As the weeks went on John grew on me & I really enjoyed going to class every Tuesday night, Thursday night & Sunday morning. Li & I did get some great workouts in when we went there; some stuff I had never even done before & it’s always nice to change it up. I especially liked jumping rope, using the medicine balls, wearing the weighted vests & using the large yoga balls. Before our last class last Tuesday, Li & I gave John a little gift to remember us by – a whistle. =) All of the other trainers had them, except for John; he was pretty excited about it.

I’m totally going to miss having John work us out, but on our last night of class he secretly told us that another coupon would be posted on the groupon website after the month of October. I think Li & I are going to jump on that one too & possibly get our Sandra Lue to join us!

Some of my favorite memories from class:

1. Li: “Do you have a modified version of that because we fat people can’t do that one.”
2. Another trainer filled in for John one day while he was on vacation – his nickname was then “Suicide John” because he totally kicked our asses.
3. Li: “You should turn the AC on because it’s really hot outside.” Front Desk: “Well I would but we don’t actually have AC - we’re getting it though!”
4. High fives in-between sprints.
5. Our manly type sweating that burns our eyes & requires us to bring a bathroom size towel while everyone else in the class is barely sweating.
6. Good job butt smacks.

To quote Lisa - "On to our next adventure!" :D

Pinterest Inspired

A few months ago I was surfing through some boards on Pinterest & even though I only wanted to look for a few minutes my surfing lasted almost an hour...totally addicting! Anyway, I came across a pin that someone had made their own makeup brush holder:  

They actually used coffee beans which would also be a good freshener for a bathroom & for all of you coffee lovers, but since I'm not a big coffee fan I decided to go my own way:

Here's mine! I went with the crushed shells look for a little bit of shimmer. I absolutely love it. I bought the glass container at Michaels for $2.99 (I think it was in the candle section); the bag of crushed shells were $3.99. Not too shabby if you ask me! I had wanted to create this a lot sooner but just never took the time to do it. I finally got fed up with having to search for my brushes in my makeup bag one morning before work so I went on Sunday after boot camp class this weekend & purchased the materials. I don't own/use a lot of makeup brushes, but I figure that when my collection increases I'll just buy a larger glass container. It actually fits in my bathroom well & doesn't really draw too much attention:

Dan saw it after it was completed & he thought it was "pretty nifty." :P