082 - Time to Kill

My little brother is borrowing my car today because his is in the shop. The agreement is that I'll get it back in a couple of hours... We'll see how that goes :P

I bought this awesome book about "acupressure," and I'm really having fun looking through it. It maps out certain points on your body that, when pressed, help relieve all sorts of aches and pains. It's awesome. I learned about a place on the pinky toe that, if pressure is applied, is supposed to help women during labor. SO STRANGE but really cool. My favorite point is in the "webbing" between the thumb and the index finger, right where the bones seem to meet, close to the wrist. If you apply pressure there, pushing up and away from the thumb, it helps relieve stomach cramps. Isn't that cool?!

Now I'm off to work on Thank You cards. I want to get caught up before our Wedding Shower this evening so I don't have too many to do this weekend!

079 - The strictest of diets

Mom and I drove three hours to Florence, AL for a visit with Dr. Rawdon, met with him for an hour, and drove three hours back. I'M TIRED.

Dr. Rawdon put me on a really strict diet again. It's not too much different from the one I was on a couple years ago: 88 oz of various fresh vegetable juices + 50 supplemental pills + one high protein smoothie each day. And when I have room to eat between all the freaking juicing, I get to eat only raw foods and the occasional cooked fish. An adventure, to say the least.

Oh, also, doc says i HAVE to go outside and exercise every day... ha. I wish I liked running or something, but I just don't.

Admittedly, I'm not looking forward to 32 oz of fresh carrot juice every day. I'm not looking forward to being forced to plan ahead when I'm not going to be around the house. I'm not looking forward to swallowing a million pills every day. I'm not looking forward to the detox symptoms I'll experience. But it's totally worth it, because I know I'll feel better. And I won't have to have surgery this way. That's a big deal..

I got a couple recipe books for raw and gluten-free vegan food! I'm excited to start working through those. We also picked up an acupressure guide to "potent points" for "self care for common ailments." Super interesting! I'm looking forward to trying out the techniques next time I get a headache or stomachache. :D

Just 34 more days and I'll be married, dude! I can't believe it. I'm ready to be married and to be done with planning this wedding, haha. True.

So now Josh and I are sitting here sifting through the unbelievable amount of information I got today. I think I'm going to look up what each of the supplements do for me...

074 - Learning.

The internet around her was spotty for a few days, and then I just didn't bother to get online for a few days.

I'm still learning to pay attention to my body and understand when it's telling me to slow down. I hate that I get worn out so easily, and I hate that I have to sit out on some things when I do get worn out. I guess I haven't gotten enough sleep this week (I don't regret the reasons for less sleep, but it does contribute to the tiredness), and of course planning a wedding is stressful enough without the addition of health concerns, major diet changes, starting the process of moving out, and family stuff. Lack of sleep & stress = my worst enemies.

So tonight, I'm laying low. I was going to go out to Brentwood with Josh for a video shoot, but now I'm being "responsible" by staying home and getting to bed early. SIGH. I've got such a hard life! haha. Just kidding.

I'm ready to move into that little townhouse. It already feels like my home, so I'm just itching to get out there. 39 more days!

I'm going to bed. G'night.

068 - Happy 15th!

I woke up to my mom shaking me with the phone in her hand, saying, "It's Dr. Briley's office; they need to talk to you." She scared the fire outta me. Thankfully, they were just rescheduling my appointment that was supposed to be tomorrow morning; a mixed blessing. So, I called Josh to let him know the good news: no 8:00 doctor's appointment downtown = no need to get to sleep super early = we can go see Eclipse tonight like we had planned earlier this week. WIN :D Since he was on his way to work (and a little early) he said he could stop by for a few minutes. DOUBLE WIN. I love starting my day chatting with my best friend. It makes the rest of the day so pleasant.

Since I didn't really need to be awake yet, I went back to sleep and slept in (wonderful).

After I woke up the second time, I jumped online and started researching the Green Smoothie detox "challenge." Since I'm going to go see my naturalist doctor-friend in a couple weeks, I wanted to get a head start! ha ha. I like smoothies, but if we're being honest, that mushy consistency gets to me. However, I plan to persevere in the name of health!

A quick visit to Josh at the station and a stop by the townhouse to "check in" rounded out my afternoon (Who am I kidding, I'm obsessed with the place. I cleaned up the kitchen and sat in the living room for almost half an hour, dreaming about what I'll do with it. It's really starting to feel like home!). I also stopped by Grace Ministries to pick up our certification of pre-marital counseling, so we can save 75 big one$ on our marriage license.

I'm looking forward to this evening. One of Josh's coworkers kindly donated a bookshelf, so we're going to take it over to the town house for safe keeping. Also, it's the 15th, so Josh and I are having a date night ;) Eclipse, here we come!

[EDIT]

- Eclipse was the best of the Twilight movies so far.

- I just got my first taste of coconut milk ice cream..... OH MY GOSH. <3

- Going to bed. G'night :)

067 - Again

I have to share how incredibly wonderful my sweet fiance is for helping me through all the overwhelming stuff going on right now.

Thank you, Josh, for being patient while I picked a fight with you (until I realized what I was doing), for letting me cry my eyes out and for letting me talk about everything that's been stressing/scaring me, for holding me 'til I calmed down, and then for giving me the sweetest goodbye kiss ever before you left.

I can't wait to marry you, Josh.

067 - *Insert cliche apology for abandoning my blog*

But, I mean, it's true.

Yesterday, I had to go to the third doctor in two weeks. You'd think that after so many different doctor's visits I've lived through, a new doctor would be a piece of cake. You'd think I could get through that process without crying even a little bit on my way to the doctor. Shrug. It's scary. And I don't like going downtown on my own. Anyway, yesterday, I was forced to go by myself to an unfamiliar place full of unfamiliar faces, and I just broke down. I said, out loud, "God you have to bless me today, because I'm not going to make it through today without you."

And he did. The nurses were the kindest and friendliest nurses I've ever encountered, the doctor was also the kindest and friendliest, easy to understand (seriously, so important to me), and very gentle. I really appreciated him. And he finally helped me understand why I keep dealing with some of the symptoms I've been dealing with for three years, now.

It was honestly a little frustrating.. it's like, I've been to how many different doctors and told them all the same information, and you're telling me it's the Crohn's disease (and not the other, scarier, impossible-with-my-lifestyle cause?)? Three years. Man.

Anyway, I'm going to see ANOTHER doctor on Friday. But this time there's a bit of hope in understanding. There's hope that since the cause is something that actually makes sense in my life, it's something that can actually get taken care of in my life.

Sorry this is so vague. I'd give you the details, except they're terribly personal and inappropriate to have just lying around on the internet, ha. I just wanted to share how God blessed me when I came to the end of myself and asked him to take care of me. I'm learning all sorts of new things about myself and the way that God loves on me these days.

Also, an aside: we worked out program details yesterday and they are a w e s o m e. seriously, I love 'em. I can't wait to see what they'll look like on the right paper and all assembled and such. <3

Now, off to work. Eesh.