A different type of week....

Hey all!

I know I've been MIA lately. It's been a very different week for me.

*Aaron was out of town all last week-- he went out to San Fransisco for work, and didn't get home until yesterday. I don't' want to sound like a baby, but every night was so so long. I slept on the couch every night with my cat because I didn't want to be alone in a cold bed. I hate being in the dark alone, and I hate the cold! I didn't mind it, and I was super comfortable.

*My back has really been bothering me for 2 weeks now... I have been working in a bad desk chair since this summer when I moved my office down to the basement temporarily. I didn't realize it wasn't a good chair until my back started hurting, and I started getting migraines. It's nice down here in the basement, but sitting and editing or emailing for hours with the slouchy posture that I have isn't good on my back. I had to spend a couple days just laying down (which was totally boring) because I couldn't sit for longer than 15-20 minutes without the nerves in my back getting mad at me. Even driving places hurt... or SITTING on the couch hurt. The only thing that felt good was lying down with a hot pack... that way the pressure was off that part of my spine that was hurting.

*My friend Matt is in town. He's in the Air Force and is home for one last "leave" before he heads off to his final tour in Iraq. He'll be there for 6 months, and then home for good-- which he, and everyone else, is looking forward to. This week, I took some photos of his little girl for him and his fam, so he can have some good photos of her to bring with him. We've hung out a couple more times, just to get in some fun before he leaves again. Sarah, Dan, and Marie and Matt came over and played Wii one night. Not my Wii... Dan brought his over. I WISH I could even FIND a Wii at the store!

*My parents took me out for dinner on Thursday night, so that I wasn't too lonely (I seriously was pretty lonely... I'm a people person, so I was thankful for their company, and my friends' company!).

*I've been having orchestra rehearsal the last month (Northern Symphony Orchestra) in which I play the cello! Long rehearsals were hard on my back the past couple weeks, but we played a lot of fun music. Saturday, we went up to St. Cloud for the day and played there for the man who was doing the piano concerto with us. He was celebrating 60 years of being a concert pianist. Isn't that AMAZING?? Our home concert was at the local high school tonight, and everyone loved his playing. We had a lot of notes in the concert, and we were all exhausted but satisfied at the end!

*I went to a funeral out of town this morning, and it was sad, but happy, as well. A celebration of life, AND, life after death... exactly what I want my funeral to be someday.

*I have been on a pretty "opposite" schedule since March. It started off with going to bed at 2-3am when I was out in Vegas for WPPI. When I got home, I didn't adjust back very well (2 hour time difference), then I went back to Vegas 2 weeks later with Aaron for work, and I got more into that schedule. With not having to be up in the morning, except for on Saturdays, it worked well for while. Now that it's November and I don't have any weddings this month, and only portrait sessions later in the day, I had no reason to try to get up. Only a month ago, I was sleeping 10-13 hours a day when I was fighting some sort of virus that a doctor said was either a relative of Mono, or my body was just fighting hard to get rid of something, and it was making me exhausted... and so, that really threw off my sleep schedule more. When Aaron was gone this week, and with having to rest for a few days in a row because of my back, my sleep schedule was "at it's worst." I was getting enough sleep, but it was just at such an "opposite" time of everyone else. This last week, Tuesday, I went to bed at 8:30AM, and woke up at 5pm, and then I worked at night. I have tried SO many things to get back on a regular schedule, and according to my cousin's sleep specialist (she was having similar problems), I need to adjust it little by little. Well, last night, I fell asleep after "eating dinner" at 11:30pm... why? I have no idea... other than it was perhaps an answer to prayers. And so, tonight, I hope to get to bed at perhaps by 2:30AM... and I hope to FINALLY slowly work backwards to the sleep schedule I would prefer. (Wake up at 9AM, go to bed at 11:30pm).



So, tonight, after I am done editing in this grumpy desk chair, I hope to get to bed at a decent hour, wake up at a decent hour, and go shop for a new desk chair... so that I can enjoy orchestra... and sitting... and life. Because life is really too short to not enjoy, and too long to have back pain at the early age of 25.