Long time, I see.

In reference to the post below, I still haven't seen the results.  It's been almost a year.  I still remember that day-- I curled up on the floor of my apartment and cried.  I should have remembered that science takes forever.  Not their fault, I understand that.  I just should have known to not count those chickens just yet.

Hello world! I don't post much for a few reasons but primarily because I grew tired of it.  Occasionally, like today, I'll decide the posting isn't sure a tough thing to do.  It's nice to be heard every so often.  I do have a second "blog" for my personal thoughts and feelings. Things that don't need to be shared with the world around me.

I also don't post as often because a lot has changed in 10 months (shocking, right??).  I moved home in June of 2012 and finished out college commuting back to my college town.  I also took a few classes from home and held an internship at a local gym for the final two quarters of college.  Then, on Nov. 17, 2012, I graduated college early by two quarters.  *high fives all around*  Backing that time-table up about a month, I also started a "big girl job" in mid-October.  After I graduated, I went on a graduation cruise with my mom, and began working full time (8-5, M-F) the Monday I came back from my cruise.  Very exciting, very busy.

I also shifted away from the blogging world with my new job because, like a fellow blogger (Unknown Cystic), I don't want to put my career in jeopardy just because of my health.  The internet is an incredible thing, but has the potential to ruin lives.

I also recently turned down the chance to be a local "face of CF" as a part of a really great fundraiser locally.  I've supported and attended the gala they host when I'm able to, but this would have made me the key speaker and face in the media.  I was all for it until I was employed.  I'm sorry, but I just can't.  I was a recent speaker with my mom on the Mother/Daughter Perspective of CF for local CF families hosted by my clinic.  It was a great event and we had fun doing it.  It's on YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, my work did a Harlem Shake video.  We're the first in our industry to do one and the other companies got called out by observers.  It was tons of fun.

Ironically, after noting that I would like to keep my job despite my genes, I'm home sick today.  It's the first full day I've taken off for feeling UGH.  Remember all that belly pain I've had since late elementary school? It still haunts me.  I actually had a recent colonoscopy to see what was wrong.  Verdict? "You have a normal colon. Nothing is wrong with you."  WRONG.  Just because we can't see or determine the problem does not mean nothing is wrong.  The highly respected doctor who performed the colonoscopy suggested it might be my diet.  I mentioned this to my CF doctor who scoffed.  "Doubtful."  Still back on square one, in pain and still "nothing wrong."

For the record, I cried before my colonoscopy many times.  Was I afraid? Was I in a lot of pain? No and no. I was HUNGRY.  I was waiting for them to put me to sleep and tears are running down my cheeks.  The nurses were great and worked to console me letting me know that there is nothing to fear and it will all be over soon.  I just looked at them through my teary eyes and said "I'm not afraid, I'm hungry.  I just really want to eat."  I'm not sure they quite knew what to do with me.

Think about it! I couldn't eat for 24 hours.  ME.  Or drink Dr. Pepper.  ME!! I had a lot of juices to choke down the solution to "clear me out."  I got so physically sick of sweet drinks that I started sucking on the cajun sweet pickles that my mom makes at Christmas time for some spice.  Sad, I know.

Recent doctor visit revealed that I would benefit from some IV antibiotics, but it wasn't an emergency.  I made a deal that she let me wait 6 weeks and be reevaluated because I was beginning playing soccer again and running once more.  I was making a serious effort to improve my cardiorespiratory health and I wanted to see if that would help before we made any decision to send me to the hospital.  I've been running every day since.

My running partner, aka the boyfriend, has been great.  When our work schedules allow us to run together, he meets me at the gym closest to me and we run.  He gives me the push to keep going without pushing me to a breaking point.  I've also lost several pounds over the last few months and he's declared that I'm going to eat as much as he does, if not more.  We'll see how that works out!

Speaking of the boyfriend, all is well in that department.  ("well" is the understatement of the century, actually.)  We're extremely happy and things just make sense.  It's nice when your best friend is also your boyfriend. :)

Speaking of friends, one of them (aka Emmons) is turning 21 in August and someone in her family got the great idea to have a serious celebration... IN VEGAS.  Come late August I will be flying out with her family for a 21st birthday party in Sin City.  I'm sure there's nothing that can go wrong.. haha!

Two of my other close friends are getting married in November.. on the same day... in different cities! Bummer! I'm very excited for them both and can't wait to celebrate with them!

On that note, I think that's all the updates I've got so far.  Well, I'm sure there are plenty more, but that's all I've got for today. One more reason I don't blog, before I forget: I spend all day at work at a computer.  I really don't want to get on my home computer once I leave.  It's just not appealing to me.

Ciao.

Body talk

So as of late I've become more aware of my body shape/size compared to my peers. It helps that other people like to comment on it too. Don't take me as vain, I'm not, but it's nice knowing that my good and bad genes are working together to create something that isn't half bad!

I'm the friend my friends like to dress up. Seriously. I'm the Barbie of some of my friends. It's actually really fun though. I'm the size of most mannequins, seeing as I like to take the clothes off of the mannequins and buy them! I'm thin, not too thin, and actually have some shape and character to my body. I'm not a twig (anymore). Finally, FINALLY, I like my body.

The only thing I don't like is my lack of muscle tone, but guess who just started doing circuit training again!! Oh yeah, I'm getting those legs back. Can't wait.

However recently I had a bump in the road. I went to a store, that shall remain publicly nameless, to find a dress for meetings. I found a really cute one, grabbed the small, and went to try it on. It was way too small for me. It also came with a belt that wrapped around the smallest part of the waist: I couldn't clasp it.

Hear me out: I'm a size 3 and couldn't fit into a SMALL at a normal store that I have bought clothes from before. I was livid and gave the store a piece of my mind. I didn't fuss at the employees, it's not their fault, but I stood outside of the store and fussed to the general store opening. Pathetic, maybe, but think about it for a second: if I was a "normal" 20 year old girl, I might have serious body image issues and might feel I'm too fat, since I can't fit into a small, despite the fact that I'm a size 3. It's moments like those that feed the body image problems of anorexic girls. Touchy subject, but it is a REAL subject and a REAL problem. And putting me, and girls my size, into a medium dress may not sound like a big deal, but even I was embarrassed for myself. It took me a minute to come back to reality (that maybe the dress was shaped different that I am, that maybe it was labelled wrong, that maybe it was just that style of dress, etc.) but that minute was long enough to hurt my feelings! And I'm TRYING to get fat!! Just think, for just a moment, how if that scenario can mess with MY head, how much damage it can do to a young lady's mind who already has body issues. Yeah, now we're on the same page.

Enough body talk for now.

Have a great day. :]
It's FRIDAY!
-Andrea

Sleep, Zenpep, and new walking shoes!

How many hours of sleep did I get Saturday night? 10, and woke up still sick, but not tired! I was miserable Sunday morning.... again. Mom gave me a mani/pedi to help make me feel better. That combined with my puppy helped. I tried eating some food, since I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, and I felt so incredibly sick afterwards. Luckily everything stayed on the correct course south, if you know what I mean. Sunday night, I hung with some of my very favourite people: Casey, Alissa, and Vizza. We had a girl's night at Alissa's house and had a great time catching up! I felt just slightly sick last night/this morning too. Not ok! I'm taking all the meds, so I should be feeling fine. We even upped my enzyme dosage... ugh I'm keeping an eye on it.

Sunday my mom and I went new walking-shoe shopping! We both needed good shoes for walking all over Boston and we found some! I got the Asics Strike 2 and I love it. (The colours aren't right on the link: I got purple and silver; I searched online for 20 minutes and never found my shoe in the right colours online, so that's the best I can do for ya!) They are the most comfortable shoes I've ever put on my feet. My mom also got a pair of Asics and she loves them.

I joined the Z-points program! It's for those people who take Zenpep enzymes. After I registered and logged in all of my Zenpep bottles, (including one I went recycling bin diving for thanks to Mom) I had enough points to order two $50 Amazon Giftcards!!!!!!!! I'm saving up for a Kindle! Almost every month I'll have enough points to order another card, and I'm really excited about this. It's kinda like back when TOBI used to allow us to order a $5 Blockbuster card or a $5 McDonald's giftcard with each TOBI refill, except 10x better (literally). Thank you, Zenpep!

If you are not a part of this program yet take Zenpep and want to be, LET ME KNOW because I get a lot of points for each person I refer.

Time to Wii Fit!

-Annie

"..I'm addicted, it's a crisis"

So I do have a new addiction. But it's not a crisis. I am so totally sold out on the Wii Fit. See, I got really tired of running outdoors (hot, gross, bleh) but I didn't want to stop working out. So I switched to running with the Wii Fit (along with other workouts). The runs do make me cough, so I figure they're doing their job. I also regularly do yoga, strength training stuff (ab work, leg work, etc.) play games that make my calf muscles hurt the next morning (ow!!) and play some Wii tennis/boxing to beef up those arms. I love it. I really do. As soon as I finish this post, I'm going to do another hour on it. I do about an hour each day. It burns, I really do get a workout from it. And it keeps track of my weight and BMI. It SAYS I gained 5 lbs yesterday, but knowing me, it probably has something to do with when I ate. But the Wii Fit was pretty excited!

Another reason I love doing with Wii Fit is that I know I'm working on getting the body back I used to have. I used to be so strong and so toned, but then I got fat, old, and lazy (haha) and lost most of it. I want to be back in shape, and not just being able to run a mile without too much strain but have my awesome leg strength back, my amazing abs once again, and maybe actually build up some arm strength. My right arm is already stronger from all that Wii tennis I do, but my poor left arm is getting left out. I'll balance it out though.

Ok, seriously, I really want to go play so I'm gone.

Beach in 4 days.

Chris comes home in 3 days.

4 days left to organize the boxes brought home from college.

*sigh*

-Annie

Day of Rest

Today, Sunday, is my workout day of rest. Mostly because Sunday is one of the busiest days for me, ironically. I have church in the mornings from 9-12, choir from 3:45-5, meeting from 6-7ish, and tonight we have Sorority Sunday from 7-7:30ish. On Sunday, the gym closes at 8. And I know when working out, I need to have a day where my body can just recover, so I decided Sunday would be the day. I can feel I'm sore, but it's not impairing me in any way, thankfully.

Yesterday, I hit the gym again! The boyfriend and I did a bunch of arm machines, including some new ones (pull ups, dips, rowing machine). Even he worked legs with me, including this new machine that is difficult for the vertically challenged. And then, cardio time. I powerwalked 1.5 miles!! It was hard walking that far because my shin splints reared their ugly heads about 0.3 miles in. But I kept going. Again, good productive coughing about 0.7 miles in and on, including afterward. The boyfriend walked/ran a mile on the treadmill, and then ran at a heartier pace a few laps around the track while I finished my 1.5. He's really putting a lot of effort into this, and I'm super proud of him.

Together, this is our plan:

We work out every day, except Sundays.

We always do a full-body: arms, legs, abs, cardio.

Next quarter, months I'm not on TOBI, we go to the gym when it opens if we can. If not, we work out later that day.

I enjoy working out with him. I didn't think I would, and I didn't earlier in the year, but I do now. It's time we spend together doing something we both need to do. He'll push me, but somehow knows when to back down; I do the same. The hardest thing to get him to do is cardio, partially because he has messed up knees, but he'll do it with me. I think working out with him was the final push I needed to get myself back in the gym and getting back into shape, and to get that cardio going. Finally.

Jason/Anjea, I know one/both of you read this often, so I have a question: since I'm spending a week with y'all soon, do you have free weights I could use? I'll try to run, but always walk, with the dogs daily, but I need to keep up the weight-work. Let me know!

Oh! And I'm a dark-red head now! I forgot to mention that! It's subtle until you get close, and I like that. Check it.

I was sitting outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather from Saturday doing homework. It was way too nice to sit inside.

-Andrea

"We don't feel pain"

Finally! A good day in college town! I had had a pretty great 7 day break (snow, family, home cooked food, etc.) but yesterday and today were back to the grind, and they turned out pretty great! One day during break, I did a little retail therapy to help lift my spirits. I spent most of it on make-up and other g.irly items (weird, for me) but I'm so glad I did. I will actually put forth the effort in the mornings to make myself look decent! That helps motivate me to get up out of bed after doing TOBI. That, and my new hair dryer. I'm in love. Just look at it! I pretty much leave the little attachment thing on because the stylists use it on my when I get my hair cut and I love it. The shower-head looking thing makes me a little nervous! I'm off-topic now. Yesterday, both of my morning classes let out early. While I normally groan when my 8am gets out early because I just sit in the same building until 10am, I have found that I really enjoy chatting with some of the people who are also in both of my morning classes. They can be pretty entertaining! After my second class let out, I did some homework and waited for the boyfriend to make the drive from home to college. We made a trip to SuperOne (much needed!) and I baked a cake (yummm). While it was cooling, we went to the gym. YES you read right. I finally made it back to the good ol' gym. The boyfriend is helping me with arm muscle building machines so I can gain my arm strength back, and I always work on my legs. However, while I was doing one machine, my knee popped funny. It doesn't hurt unless I put a lot of strain on it, but I was nervous about running. So I ellipticaled (lol) a mile instead of running. I was proud of myself, but disappointed with the time and respiratory results. So...

Today I made it back to the gym! Yayyyy!! 2 days strong and I'm proud of myself. Today I did the treadmill instead of the elliptical machine and I could feel a difference. The pounding of power-walking (I dislike running on a treadmill) definitely loosened some junk up and I was coughing away (much to the worry of nearby joggers). I had a lot of good, productive coughing for the next 20 minutes after that too. Oh, and before the treadmill, I did all of the arm/leg machines again. Got to put weight on me somehow! And I miss my strength from being an athlete.

I was encouraged by Lauren's post (Read here), but I haven't yet had the time in my day to add in extra miles. With adding all of the weight work too, and working with a partner, it takes up a lot of time. That's not a complaint, but when I have the time, I'll definitely up the distance. It may be some serious power-walking, but it helped! Baby steps....

So the boyfriend has put himself on a diet. Using my amazing new Kines knowledge, we have worked out a calorie amount for him to lose weight to, along with working out. So less about the "weight" and more about the "fat", if that makes sense. Anyway, because of our VERY different needs in calorie intake, we've come across some problems that will only get worse with time: how do I feed both of us together?? I need excess calories/sodium/fat and he needs just the opposite! We're trying portion differences if we share something cooked (I eat 2/3; he gets 1/3). He's cutting out most snacking (unless it's healthy/low calorie; and then it's limited) while I eat constantly. Me eating makes him want to eat too. Poor guy... I really do feel badly about it, but there's nothing either of us can do right now. I need to gain weight and he's trying to shave it off. I'm the one who is really pushing the gym right now, and I know he'll always go if I go. So go we shall!!

Oh, and the gym. So two days now, and there's only one part of my body that hurts: my hands. I'm building my calluses back and they HURT!!! Working out was so painful today, but mostly in my hands! Oh well. Another day at the gym with the phrases "We don't feel pain" and "I ha.te you Chase Wooten" running through my head.

Time to explain. Chase Wooten was one of my keeper trainers/off-campus soccer coach/soccer camp keeper coach over the last 8+ years of my life. He was the only trainer I've ever had who I actually wanted to keep pushing myself for. He was a great motivator and a hilarious guy. (Oh! I'm saying "was" because I'm "retired" and he moved away.) If the training started to hurt, "Nope, we don't feel pain. Let's go." I don't think I've ever pushed myself harder than when working for Chase. He made training so much fun with his dry sarcasm and comments that made me laugh and want to do better. So, I personally adopted the phrase "We don't feel pain" as my workout slogan for when I don't think I can lift another weight or take another step. And I don't actually ha.te Chase, not at all, but that's another thing I would say to him as I worked because it hurt and he was the one pushing me. Just another joke to get through the pain.

So, if I was a great author like Betsy, CG, Ronnie/Mandi, or Lauren, I would end this post in a cute way, tying in "we don't feel pain" to some metaphor of life. But I'm not, so I'm just going to end it with this: tomorrow morning, I dye my hair. Goodbye brown. Hello red.

-Andrea

A Full Day of Sub-Freezing Temps

Wow. Just wow. For Louisiana, this is COLD! I can't remember a day when it was below 32 all day long. There are ice patches all over campus. When I walked to class this morning for my 8am, it was 18 degrees, 10 mph wind, felt like 6 degrees. Let me see if I can explain this... I DON'T DO COLD. I am not a cold-weather creature, by any stretch of the imagination. I have been wearing full-body underarmour as a base layer of my warmth. But the wind is unbearable. Southern cold is different from northern cold, and I've been in both more than once. Northern cold is dry. Southern cold has humidity that sticks to you and "chills you to the bone" (as I heard from a Northern lady visiting). Today, the humidity ranges from 60+% to about 30% throughout the day. That's enough water in the air to make anyone very very cold, without wind. Then add in the 10-12mph winds... ugh... needless to say, I didn't want to leave my covers this morning.

On a different note, it was roughly 2 days until I heard my upstairs neighbors use water again. And since my bathroom is not a rainforest anymore, I'm assuming it has been fixed. Yay!

Oh!! Last night was the College Football National Championship game! I cooked dinner for the boyfriend and his best friend (came out HORRIBLE. The recipe was just awful; not my fault. Never cook 3-cheese pasta bake from Campbells recipe book EVER. Smells good, but don't be fooled.) as we cheered on Bama (Sorry Anjea!! Nothing against Texas, but I like Bama more) as they won the National Championship! Roll Tide! It was a fun game to watch.

After I finish this post, I'm going to wash all the dishes from last night (and the tray we cooked the pizza on afterwards), load up Dora, and head home! Celebrating boyfriend's best friend's birthday tomorrow.

So I've been unable to run all week. For the first few days, I had a random hip-flexer injury where I couldn't even walk well. Once that healed, I now have very sore quads from my kines 292 class where we've been doing muscle strength trainings and workouts. So I still can't walk well. *sigh* Maybe Monday will be better.

-Annie

Weekend!!

It's Friday folks and that means the weekend is starting!! I haven't been feeling too great today, but hopefully that will pass in the next hour or so. I have a party tonight!! It's a gi.rls-PJ-game night-party at one of my sorority sister's apartment. It's going to be fun! I can't wait. Hopefully I'll be feeling at the top of my game!

I went swimming on Tuesday! I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm also going tomorrow morning (ugh) and hopefully will start working out with the boyfriend and his friends regularly. They go to the gym MWF and swimming TR. Whew. 5 days of workout, but it's what I need! So, swimming. I started swimming a little bit when I had to quit suddenly thanks to that chlorine burn. And not the usual burn that last a few seconds. Oh no. This was chlorine that decided to explore every nook and cranny of my sinuses. It BURNED. So I stopped swimming for a bit and ran in the water, which is way harder than it sounds. While the guys swam laps, I ran the same distance trying to beat them. In the end, I tried swimming again and it wasn't so bad. Hopefully it will work out.

My gym days will be spent running and either doing weights or machines or both. And then abs. I would love to have the toned body I had last year, and all during my high school soccer seasons. I've lost a significant amount of muscle, and I h.ate that. I also h.ate my lost of lung capacity. I was right about these kines classes getting me motivated. It's just what I needed!

Once I get my routine set and I'm actually sticking to it, I'll update here again on it.

-Annie