Lunch Date
Starting tomorrow, I will be doing Pilates once a week during my lunch hour with a group of women from my office. I’ve never done Pilates. Should I be nervous? Maybe, considering how I’ve misspelled it twice in a row so far and that doesn’t bode well for my understanding of the word.
I’m excited because I’ve been wanting to try a different sort of workout for a while now but just haven’t pulled the trigger. My gym offers classes and I’ve done yoga there a few times now but they don’t offer Pilates (at least, at a time that works for me. How dare they). There’s a studio dedicated to it in my neighborhood but I’m stingy and don’t want to shell out good money to workout after work when I’m already shelling out good money to workout after work at my gym and I clearly can’t do both. So the Pilates offers me a way to sneak in a workout in the middle of the day AND try something new!
Wait. Is this Pilates? Oh crap.
Apparently I need to bring a yoga mat (check), 2-3lb hand weights (umm…maybe I can steal some from my gym?) and a large foam roller (which I own but am not lugging on the train into work). I’ll pack my bag tonight and be sure to take my ibuprofen tomorrow before I go! Surely it can’t be that strenuous or these ladies wouldn’t be able to return to work without a shower.
Oh god do I need to bring shower shoes?
Well, we’ll see. Bring on the burn!
Dozing Over and Out
Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Museum
Another season of the overnight program at The Field Museum has drawn to a close and my sleep patterns can finally return to normal. These events (where kids and families/Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts/groups come to stay a Friday evening in the museum) are always a blast but they’re often exhausting, especially since I work overnight after a full day of my real, actual job at the office. The kids have a complete blast though and that makes it more than worth it for me (or at least worth it enough to keep going!). I stayed the entire night more this year than I have any other and here were some of my own, personal highlights:
- Sleeping above a (real, dead) mummy in a giant stone mastaba
- Spending two hours in the middle of the night consoling a sick kid while her dad broke down their camp and tried to contact an Uber for a ride home – on the coldest night of the year
- The conversations said sick kid and I had about the entire Harry Potter universe
- The phenomenal soy butter and jelly sandwiches we served at snack (because allergies)
- Seeing a beetle that Darwin himself collected on a behind-the-scenes tour
- The hall with various haunted artifacts that made some weird noise on our last overnight – the security guard eventually said that since no motion detectors were going off, we were going to ignore the noise and hope it went away
- The little girl who borrowed a few pennies from me to use in the penny press machine and then returned to give me one just for myself
- The parents who (sort of) jokingly ask about sneaking Bailey’s into their coffee
- The little boy who came up to me all night long to let me know he could still see me and my dinosaur shirt – we ended up getting a picture together of our matching dino tees
- Trying to go take a picture of the mummies in the middle of the night and being too scared to go in there by myself (this was a recurring event)
- Walking through different exhibit halls armed with only a flashlight to do my nightly rounds
- The way one particular room smelled with a group of pre-teen boys sleeping inside (this wasn’t a highlight but the combination of sweat, dirty socks and body odor is something I’ll never forget)
- The little boy who had a nosebleed from hell that took almost an hour to end
- The mom who freaked out about having to sleep in the bird exhibit and demanded to be moved or suffer a panic attack (we moved her)
- Another little boy who had the most glorious mullet I’ve seen this far of Southern Indiana – and a shirt proclaiming him to be part of a wolf pack to match it
- Changing into pj’s and brushing my teeth in public restrooms before bed, only to wake up 2.5 hours later
- The little boy who found a rat tail in his owl pellet and then donated it to the museum so we could show other kids
- Really – pretty much all the interactions with the kids were my highlights. They had so much fun and it was awesome to be able to see science from their point of view. The parents…most of them were cool but acted worse than children themselves!
All in all, it was a successful season and I’m grateful that I was able to be a part of it. Now I have half a year off to just focus on regular Docent duties…and if I can remember to leave my pj’s at home for the next few months, I’ll be okay!
Time Flies
It seems like only yesterday that I met my future husband, Scott. That’s not true though because we’re celebrating our five-year anniversary in a couple of months and HOLY CRAP WE’RE GETTING MARRIED IN EXACTLY SIX MONTHS FROM TODAY!
This is your brain on a wedding.
We’ve been engaged since January 2015 so it’s felt like I’ve had eons to plan and prepare for the wedding. But since I’m me, I’ve had most everything done or at least planned for a while now. However, this is the time things really start happening and I’ll be walking down the aisle to meet my best friend before I know it! It’s a crazy, exciting, daunting time and I’m trying to enjoy it while I can. I’m nervous too – not to marry Scott but to stand in front of so many people while trying to speak meaningful, coherent words is a bit intimidating. I’ll be lucky if I don’t sweat through my dress! But it’s sleeveless, so at least I can avoid pit stains.
We even mailed our Save the Dates last night (apologies if you don’t get one but…well, not everyone I know is getting one). As an aside – the abbreviation you see everywhere for Save the Dates is ‘STDs’ and I think that’s just wrong. Anyway, Scott and I walked them to the corner mailbox together and while we didn’t mark the occasion with a selfie or anything like that, we did jokingly call each other husband and wife after sharing a little celebratory kiss. And before I know it, that’s what we’ll be doing in front of everyone we know!
Well, not everyone. But you get the idea.
Let the official countdown begin!
Third Time’s a Charm!
So my Girls Weekend was phenomenal and fantastic and everything we hoped it would be!
Something else phenomenal and fantastic? MY COUSIN GOT A KIDNEY TODAY!!!
Go go gadget kidney!!
My cousin Lindsay is just a couple of years older than me and she’s been dealing with various health issues for over a decade. She’s also had two previous transplants – one kidney came from my dad (her uncle) and one came from my uncle (her other uncle). Unfortunately, her body rejected both kidneys due to various reasons, medical incompetence and surgeon error being the biggest. This means she’s been undergoing kidney dialysis six days a week for years. She has a home dialysis set-up so she’s more comfortable but she’s still been sticking needles in a port in her arm and having to stay in a chair while her body recycles its fluids – for three or four hours, every single day. She brings everything with her when she travels to my grandparent’s house at Thanksgiving and has been able to do some traveling herself, but only after researching and coordinating with local hospitals so she can continue with her treatment. Needless to say, it’s been a huge pain in the ass for her and she deserves to live a normal, healthy life. And now she has her chance!
So far, this third kidney seems to be working far better than any other ever did. She’s going to be heavily monitored for a while and will likely be in the hospital for a good chunk of time but we’re all hoping it’s worth it and she never has to deal with any of this again. Lindsay is a strong woman, an amazing mother, a hilarious friend and just plain awesome all around. And this kidney better continue to be awesome for her because she absolutely deserves it!
Webpaige's Blog 