Card Making

Making Christmas cards this year. A few years back I was in love with using white out but now Ive progressed to metallic. Which one will you get?

Monday night/ side view

Monday night

Almost healed up. One more week of antibiotics.

Hello world!

Sat. morning/ side view


Sat. morning

Friday night/ side view

Friday night/ side view

Friday morning/ side view

Friday morning

Thursday night/ side view

Thursday night



I am no longer contagious!!!!!

Scarlet Fever or Erysipelas?

Thursday 11am / side view

Thursday 11am


Wednesday night 10pm /side view

Wednesday night 10pm

After talking with people and a little more research I might of been wrong when I said I had Scarlet Fever. I may actually have Erysipelas. Erysipelas was also known as "St. Anthony's Fire." Both are complications of Strep. Either way my nose looks almost completely better and I am still thrilled the rash seems to have stopped spreading.

SF: Day two of antibiotics, 12:45pm

Scarlet Fever 12:45pm

Day 2 antibiotics : The rash appears to have stopped spreading!!!!

Scarlet Fever

http://http//www.mayoclinic.com/health/scarlet-fever/DS00917/DSECTION=causes

Well folks,

It looks like I have a case of Scarlet fever. Also known as a bad case of strep throat. I have had a cold for two and a half weeks that turned into a severe sore throat. This weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday I woke up on Sunday thinking, "wow my throat feels so much better, but why does my nose hurt like heck?" After looking in the mirror I realized my nose had swollen almost twice its size and there was a red rash on one side of it. The swelling went down and with concealer I was able to do some merchandising work and meet up with my sister. The next morning the rash had spread to the other side of my nose and then yesterday morning the rash spread to my left cheek. It is not a small rash, but a raised, painful and itchy rash. I called in sick to work and started frantically calling around for rates to see a doctor. Thankfully my friend Lidia, an amazing nurse and friend, told me over the phone she thought I had an infection and basically new almost what it was. She told me that if my fever got worse or if my headache got worse I needed to go into urgent care. A few hours later after my temp. raised a few more degrees I went to urgent care.

The doctor at urgent care was very kind and washed her hands often. She told me about streptococcus pyogenes and that what I have is a complication of a regular case of strep throat. and also informed me that I needed to start taking antibiotics asap. Since the infection was spreading fast she didn't want it to reach my other organs and cause major damage. The asap form of antibiotics came in the form of a booty shot. Have you ever had to have a booty shot? It really isn't like any other shot out there.

So now I am taking my antibiotics, pill form, as recommended. i started taking photos last night and hope that I will be able to see this rash disappear. So far it does seem like it has stopped spreading. Yay!

Felt Fun!

It's costume time!

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Home (JVTP)

Just bought a ticket home to say goodbye to my Papa. City of Angels please watch over him for another week at least please. Thank you.

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (Video)

God, please have mercy on me.

Death.
As you all may or may not know I am 29 years of age. Although it might be strange to most/ some people I am going to admit something new, almost elementary. I have never thought too much about death. Two of my four grandparents are still alive, keeping two dead... still. Many pets have died in my lifetime: Toby, Mike and many more dogs have died. Joe Joe the cat is most likely dead along with Rascal and Twilight. The gerbil my mom accidentally killed from heat exhaustion, the bunny, and probably some fish, all dead. This summer I saw the movie March of the Penguins and learned how old penguins just, "disappear." Listening to the two year old behind me say to her dad, "Baby die daddy? Baby die," over and over again. Growing up Protestant in a Western-Christian-United States of America taught me that life was everlasting. Death was merely a physical death but our souls would remain... forever (with or without God... depending). This is what I believed in, whole heartedly. I am not sure what has changed or how or why... but I was was at church a couple weeks ago and a new thought hit me. What if there was no God? All of a sudden, just like that I was paralyzed with fear. I have repeatedly asked myself, "Have you really never thought about this earlier in life?" I have but never actually with such conviction that God might not exist. A couple days later I boarded a plane to San Diego. Turbulence, never before have I feared dying or even cared where I died or how old I was when I died. But I prayed a really long run on sentence, with care," God I believe in you, well actually you know that isn't completely true so I'm not gonna lie, since you would know when or if I was lying if you are actually there. So, if you do exist, which I really,really, hope you do, have mercy on me. God, please have mercy on me."

Death makes life that much different if thats it. All done, no more. Death changes so much. Murdering someone is that much more horrifying. If an Athiest sacrifices their life for the sake of another it is that much more profound than if a person of faith does it. The Athiest dies thinking that is that. While the person of faith thinks, "this will hurt hardcore but there is more." So the past couple of weeks I have started talking to my friends. Atheist, Agnostic and a couple of Christian friends. One Christian friend who was raised outside of Christianity and one that wasn't. I would love your opinion, especially if you dont believe in an afterlife.
More to come... but now its time to get ready for bed.

I miss San Diego

Mission trails

Last weekend I was able to visit San Diego again. Having successfully grieved the past on my last visit I was able to thoroughly enjoy my stay. Not only was I able to find new joys in forming lists I felt loved by friends. I miss community, I miss the ability to be able to call a friend up and meet them for drinks or dinner within the hour. I miss San Diego.

Lists

I am currently sitting in Ebet's apartment in North Park (xoxo) with Ebet and Anne discussing certain types of lists. Anne has compiled a list of all the men she has kissed. She has included photographs and dates of said events and I have decided I want one too. However, although my list is very short I cant remember the name of one guy and even sadder I cant remember the last name of a guy I actually dated for a solid three months. It is true that both of these guys I did not really like. The nameless guy was too needy. The no last name guy kept trying to get me to sleep with him and when I broke it off with him, because his annoying and pestering discussion on sex just bugged me, he told me it was better for him because I was asexual. Listen up buddy I just didn't want to sleep with you. You, as in singular. It is easy to remember the ones I may have only been on a few dates with but my heart still flutters thinking about them. James Kelly, I went online to find out the name of the nameless guy then I noticed you... you still make my heart happy (even if I our kiss was extremely awkward and I am totally still embarrassed). Thank you for making me feel special, even though you stood me up that night.

*six, just in case you were wondering how short.

Breakfast at the Thompson's after a 5mile walk! Yum!!!

Morocco love

Growing up I had the opportunity to travel abroad often. I rarely traveled with my family but I found a couple organizations that took teenagers abroad to work. My travel adventures include New Zealand, Australia, Mongolia, Venezuela, different cities of China, India and etc etc. I rarely talk about my journeys and have some how managed to conceal the memories to mere photographs. My last travel adventure was 6 years ago and my soul is sad that it has been so long. So, now I am pretending that I, have managed to obtain loads of money, am going to travel and my next pretend stop is Morocco.

I want to shop here:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/morocco/travel-tips-and-articles/70218

I want to see this:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/morocco/marrakesh/images/caf-djemma-el-fna-square$24599-21#content


Want to come with me?

Hypochondria

I'm pretty certain Ive become a hypochondriac. Over the summer I began to notice that the left side of my body had many ailments while the right side seems exempt of sickness. On my left side I have sinus migraines, runny nostril, nosebleeds and just consistant pain. Ive even started to think I have something on the left side of my larynx causing me a gag reflux. Sometimes I throw up a little when I am brushing my teeth which is ubber annoying cause I have to brush again in hopes that I wont throw up again . Ive even noticed that my eczema is located on my left side of my neck and on my left arm. The most recent development is gas. The last few weeks I cant sleep. I wake up about 2-4 and have the worst gas pains. Is this my body telling me I'm getting old? Have the kids smelly farts infected my regular system? Or my brain telling me I'm crazy? Maybe my body is revolting against the clean air of Northern Ca and is trying to tell me I need to be back South where I can breath in the toxins of my youth. Either way I am now a self proclaimed hypochondriac and this needs change.

By the way I'm now back to part time at work which means more posts. Yay!

Processing thoughts of a depressed old lady

Chocolate cake filled my belly for both breakfast and dinner today. Both well rounded meals were a much needed delight after a gloomy weekend in San Diego. Being back reminded me of some of the greatest joys in my life. However, I was also reminded of the sadness of why I left. Reminded of the lost relationships and hurt made the overcast weather that much drearier. After a long day of planes trains and taxis to work, and then screaming children, I am finally having time to process. First, I'll grab the tissue and glass of water. Good night.

Ps. Seriously had to take a car to the airport then flew North to SF then picked up by S who then dropped me off at the train, then took the train East, then got a taxi South East to get to work 45mins late this morning. True very true.

EBET Visits: day one

Arrival: Friday evening at 9:30pm

Bake sale Betty's for Breakfast with ST

China Town and tea tasting time

Little Italy/ North Beach

Fisherman's Wharf

Then a little Indian curry with ST. End of day 1

Ebet's Visit: a sneak peek

Fortune teller

China Town.

Opium Dens

Funny things the kids said this week

"Miss T why are your boobs so fat?"-Avery
This year is a year of firsts and this can now be added to my list. I have never been told I have big boobs. Thanks Avery, you made my day. Heck you made year!

"Show me your feet, come on... please show me your feet... when I am older I am going to be a foot checker." -David
Well David there is a term for that.

Gallery of excuses

It's been a while since my last post. My excuse is excessive. It starts out with my travels back to LA to pack up the rest of my treasures and rubble left at my parents house when I moved in a hurry to Northern Ca. On my drive home my car broke down. In the middle of my stay my exes phone texted me again and he ignored me when I told him to please stop. The ignoring hurt. But now I am getting off topic. My story/ excuses are filled of adventures to, from and since my time back. So let's continues on my journey back to Nor Cal.

While on my journey back to Northern Ca. I witnessed a cult in Salinas, purchased fresh cherries on the side of the road in Gilroy all without a working tape deck. Mariah decided to get stuck a couple months back. WAIT! my story should have started with my birthday weekend. I never filled you in on that. Helen came for a visit. We spent Friday night eating french food from a little cafe and drank a bottle of champagne. Saturday we traveled to Sonoma and did a little wine and burger tasting. Both at separate times. Later that evening we said our goodbyes after a Mediterranean dinner near Haite Ashbury st. Sunday: I ate dinner with George and Monday morning ate breakfast with Stephanie and Erika. The end. Well, the end before the real end.

Back to the other excuses. When I arrived back in Nor Cal I met up with George again and met some of his "cool" art friends. Most were really good people but they are young and fresh out of art school and still carry a torch of insecurity and most seem to be in an unspoken popularity contest. In the weeks in between summer school started, which included a whirlwind of lesson planning. Then I caught an ugly cold I met up with friends and Ebet came to visit. This now brings us up to date.

29

Sushi for din din

I am now officially 29 years old. wooohoooo!

I have alot to share from this weekends adventures but that will have to wait. First of all here are pictures from yesterday, my birthday!

My order just arrived! Let the travels begin.

Red Cross- CPR

American Red Cross CPR training day!

Today:

-Infant, child and adult CPR certification: check

-Dealt with two children with bloody noses: check

-Made a first grader cry and then consoled her: check

-Told lots of 7 and 8 year old children that its my birthday next week so they better start making me cards: check

Oil pastel on chalk board painted wood. 71"x18ish"

Today I drew for the first time in a long time. My Aunt has been asking me to draw her a landscape scene for her kitchen. So I finally did. I am kinda proud of myself for doing it in about an hour and a half. I need to practice my drawing skills but I think its kinda decent. Super different than what I normally do. I've since added two more roosters under the tree on the right. My aunt loves roosters.

Sleep

Bart: Daly City fog

Yesterday I realized I have little patience for elevator music. Especially when I am tired and need to sit for an hour trying to keep my eyes from closing and head from dropping while in the middle of a long performance. When I say middle I mean front and center of the audience, right smack dab in the middle. I have also come to explain and exclaim something else to the world! I NEED LOTS OF SLEEP! I need it. I just don't like it; I need it. 8.5 hrs to be exact. When I don't get that amount of sleep I am not a happy person. My whole body exudes hatred and stress. My need for sleep is not lazy; it's real science. Let me explain...your body needs sleep in order to go through the stages of sleep. In each stage of sleep certain chemicals like cortisol (stress/ anxiety) are monitored for regulated stress in your day life. If by chance you miss sleep your body will not maintain proper cortisol levels. Also, if you are overweight you need sleep. Therefore I need sleep. During slow wave sleep, stages 3 and 4 (the stages where I sleep walk, which is a separate issue), the body is able to keep ghrelin and leptin (hunger and hunger control) levels maintained. For more information please follow this link to the Stanford Sleep Clinic: http://med.stanford.edu/school/psychiatry/coe/ . So if you happen to be around me and and I don't want to go out for the night it probably means 1. I'm tired and 2. go by yourself and stop blaming me for your inability to be happy without me.

With that said I had only 4 hours of sleep Friday night. Friday night I worked at a local winery, Red Feather (http://www.redfeatherwinery.com/Red_Feather_Winery/Welcome.html), for their anniversary party. I had a good time and really enjoy the tips you can get from pouring fabulous wine and $5 Coronas. The next morning I was up at 6 am in order to make a train at 6:42 am to get to San Fran Powell station by 7:30. From there I walked up (very much up) to Erika's apartment. From there we left for her final exam for Esthetician school, where I was her client of choice. I lay there going in and out of sleep on the table for an hour and a half enjoying the bliss of a face massage. OH! we also stopped for some delicious mint mojito coffee at Philz coffee (http://philzcoffee.com/). After our appointment we went to the airport where Erika needed to make a flight and I wanted to figure out the Bart system at the airport before my wonderful friends come for a visit next weekend.

Next step in the posting process... figure out how to put links by clicking the title rather than having to put in the whole URL ). Also! I need to get cracking on taking photos. Its a hard habit to form.

No, not insects but eye lashes; fake ones. Also the new book I'm reading Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Mother's Day

I failed to take a photo of this mornings breakfast so here is a picture of the pots used to make it.

Happy Mother's Day mother's!

Thank goodness I work with children and was constantly reminded Mother's Day was coming up. Luckily I was able to order and send my mom a mother's day present early this year. Usually I seem to forget most of these occasions until a couple days before. This morning my aunt requested chorizo con huevos. Yum! So I made her and my cousin (the other asleep) chorizo and potatoes with yellow peppers and onions. Chorizo never tastes the same without my grandmothers homemade tortillas. Maybe I will have to step it up a notch next year and make them.

Onesies

Three good friends are having babies. I figured Im in NorCal so I would work it like one.

I went down in order to come up

To do list:
-Purchase tourist book of San Fran.
-Volunteer
-Create: craft, bake for co-workers, garden, begin drawing again, sew summer dress.
-Counseling: go to
-Begin and continue to take steps towards a healthier and inspired lifestyle.



The past few years were very much unlucky at times. If I can remember correctly Greek philosophers believed that one must "go down" before they can go up. In Plato's Republic the first few words are, "I went down..." Ive come to decide that all these unlucky circumstances in my life must be meant fo something. What is it that I am supposed to be learning? I dont know. Like many working individuals I too lost my job, then I lost my special someone, came close to being abducted, lost my apartment, my treasures, my independence, my wisdom teeth, my grandfather and mostly a big chunk of confidence. Ive since moved twice and believe that the universe must of needed me to "go down" in order for me to "go up." Although, making your Ex-lover's phone txt me instead of his current lover is a weird way to make me move in a better direction. Maybe necessary? So, I have written a "to do" list that should motivate me enough to move forward. Fingers crossed I will find a little inspiration too.

And so it began...