29 is the new black

WEEEE! Six days until my birthday!

It’s been a busy, snowy few days. My skin and hair hate the winter, almost as much as I do. But it’s only the beginning; we have a long way to go.

Lately we’ve had lots of holiday parties mixed in with cozy relaxation. (Sean and I started Orange is the New Black on Netflix, thanks to Julie who recommended it; I made kale chips; and over the weekend we helped Paul and Marisa and their kids make gingerbread cookies, which seriously was like the most fun I’ve had, ever.)

My homemade kale chips!

The cold weather and cloudiness really is depressing me so I’m trying to keep active. I’m running at the gym about 10 miles a week but really my goal is to be doing 10-15. Plus I started up yoga again last weekend, but didn’t make it this past Saturday due to 6 inches of snow. So I’m trying to keep up my running, although it is REALLY hard to get to the gym in the dark after work when I’m so cold and tired and hungry. BUT, I feel amazing afterwards, and I have to remember that pushing myself to run at the gym over the winter last year is what helped me get to where I am now. Last winter I forced myself to run after work at the gym about 3-4 days a week, which is what I’m doing now, and because of it, when spring and summer rolled around my running had improved drastically and I was able to easily tackle a bunch of 5Ks in the spring and summer and also my first 10K. Not to mention it helped me better prepare (and make training easier) for Tour de Pink. So I HAVE to keep running through the winter. I will literally crumble if I don’t. So running plus yoga, plus keeping up with my juicing and 5 fruits a day will help me feel OK and power through the winter. Hopefully. Winter is just so dark and cold and heavy. And Vatas need their warmth. And they also need their routines.

The Gingerbread men we made at Paul and Marisa's Saturday night! YUM!

I got my results from the NIH study in the mail. The doctor had called me the day after to tell me they didn’t find anything in my brain or body MRI, so I knew about that. These results were the descriptive, in-depth of literally everything. In my brain MRI: all the vessels and the white matter and whatnot. And in the body: liver, kidney, spleen, etc. Plus I was able to see (and read some of, thanks to my childhood Leukemia experience) some of my blood work, like platelet, red blood cell count, white blood cell count and hemoglobin. All within normal range.

Non-eventful MRIs. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL THING. A boring MRI. Yes, yes, PUH-LEESE.

On the front of the report, in summarization, it read: No evidence of malignancy. Also known as NED, no evidence of disease. An amazing thing to see on a report.

Our mailbox buried in the snow

So it feels good to go into my 29^th year in great health. And now, for no reason at all other than it came to me to make a list of this, here are my top five things I find the most satisfying (These came to me over the past week and I decided they were important enough to write them down):

1.       You know when you peel an orange and then break it in half right before you eat it? That sound.

2.       Drinking coffee with the sunrise. Especially when I have no place to go and nothing to do.

3.       That first sip of coffee in the morning.

4.       Filling the coffeemaker with water. I don’t know why. It’s just extremely satisfying to hear the sound of it “filling up” and “warming up.”

5.       Slathering my feet with coconut oil and then putting on socks to lock in the moisture.

Short post this week. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season!