The Lady Doctor

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH HEARING ABOUT PERSONAL STUFF OR FEMALE ANATOMY. JUST WARNING YOU NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT, DON'T READ IT....

Okay consider yourself warned. So I don't know how all of you started your week out, but my week began this morning with a trip to the lady doctor. Now don't be jealous. It was a fairly quick visit, just not quick enough. I had a six month check up to have a Pap in order to follow up with a small procedure that I had done in January. For several years now, I have had abnormal/ pre-cancerous cells on my cervix and am at a high risk for cervical cancer. I have had numerous biopsies, culposcopies, and in January finally had to have a LEEP procedure. Google it if you must to find out what it is, I promise it is not pleasant and is as bad as it sounds. Now I don't usually talk about my personal body with people, especially so publicly, but I think it is important that I share this if only to encourage more women out there to take more caution with their body and to make sure they are healthy. Cervical cancer is known as a deadly killer mainly because most women don't know they have it until it is practically too late. The best way to protect yourself is having regular Pap tests. Now we all know the lady doctor is not a pleasant experience and is always awkward, but it will save your life. Today, the doctor told me that my "cervix has healed nicely and is looking good". Now if I had a dollar for every time I heard that, well I would have a dollar :). Fingers crossed that the Pap finally comes back normal and "looking good" too. But seriously, all kidding aside, we all need to be more proactive in taking care of ourselves and our bodies. I work in a field with hospice where cancer is literally a death sentence, but it doesn't always have to be. I was deeply inspired this month while participating in the Relay for Life cancer walk with how many strong people out there fight cancer and (sorry in advance for the potty mouth) "kick cancer's ass". There are so many inspiring people in my life who are examples to me of how to fight and what it means to be a true survivor. I am grateful everyday that things are not worse and that I have a great doctor who is keeping me in check. Now for all my female friends out there, keep yourself in check and if you have been putting off your yearly exam, please promise me you will stop that right now and get your bum to the lady doctor so that he can tell you your cervix looks good too :).   



Do you have a BFF?

So the company I work for just received an award for a Great Workplace and it states that we are one of the most engaged workforces in the world. One of the questions they had us answer on a satisfaction survey we did was whether or not we had a best friend at work? At first, I thought is seemed like a funny question to ask, but then I read an article that talked about how people who have friends at work and get along well with those they work with are more successful and productive in the workplace. I discussed this with several of my co-workers and we all honestly felt that we care for each other as individuals and we really are friends. I know they all have my back if I need it and they have mine. One of my co-workers, Stephanie and I have decided that we will be each other's best friends in the workplace. While I hate the term BFF we use it quite frequently to greet each other in the morning or when we are leaving for the day. My BFF and I have a lot of fun at work and I honestly understand what they are talking about now with asking if you have a best friend at work. I also have a lot of "moms" at work and that is great too.

This summer our office has also been involved with a Summer Slim Down program and I read an article about being active at work and for even a few minutes a day it helps you burn more calories and also helps you be more productive with your job. So I instituted "dance time" at the office at 10:00 and 4:00 everyday. Sometimes we are not exact on the times, but it has been fun and it does help wake me up for that last hour of work. I love our dance time with my work moms and my BFF. So if you don't dance at your work, give it a try. I have created our own dance mix and am happy to share some of the happy tunes that we get down to and if you are ever nearby our office feel free to come join us for our dance minutes. I think Ellen DeGeneres would approve and honestly how do you argue with research that says it makes you more productive :). Happy Dancing to you all!

Sunday Cravings

Not sure if this happens to anyone else, but I get the most random cravings on Sundays. I think this stems from my childhood. We use to eat Sunday dinner right after we got home from church in the afternoons. This meant Sunday night we would either eat leftovers or fix whatever we wanted. Growing up, my dad would frequently fix us scrambled egg sandwiches on Sunday nights and we would top it off with a Pepsi float. We had the coolest dad. Forget the rootbeer, we had Pepsi :). To this day, there are some Sundays when I crave an egg sandwich or a Pepsi float. I smile and think of my childhood and my dad. I am now a diet coke drinker for the most part, but every once in a while I make sure I have a cold Pepsi in the fridge for just such an occasion. In fact, I am going to go have a Pepsi float right now to celebrate today since it is National Ice Cream Day! What weird cravings do you have?

The Harry Potter/Twilight/Any Movie Obession Craze

This week as I have heard all about all the people sleeping out, dressing up, and waiting hours for the newest Harry Potter movie I find myself wondering what all the fuss is about? It isn't just with Harry Potter though either. I know the same goes for any pop culture movie craze. The same can be said for all the Twi-hards out there that love the Vampire series. I find myself thinking about a time a couple of years ago, standing in line to go see the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in downtown LA and wondering what the deal was with all the people dressed up and why we were waiting hours for such a show? Why people took it so seriously and why they insisted on painting red V's on my cheeks for Virgin since I had never seen the movie. These people meant business.

I love movies don't get me wrong. I also love to watch a lot of them over and over. I can't count how many times I have seen "Grease" or "Grease 2" and yes, I have all the songs and lines memorized and could recite them as well as the actions while watching the movie. There was also the time that my cousins, sister, and I reinacted the entire "Adventures in Babysitting" movie and made it in to our own live play. I can also remember  going to see "Robin Hood- Prince of Thieves" at least four or five times in the theater and many more after it came out on VHS. I even still remember my favorite line from the movie. Here it is to prove it: "He fancies you my lady. I am blind, but there are some things I can still see". I do love movies. But I have yet to 1. sleep out for one 2. dress up in a costume for one and 3. wait in line all day for one. That even includes movies that my man Jon Bon Jovi is in. I just don't see the point of it. I will go see a movie on the night it comes out if it is one I really want to see, but I draw the line with waiting hours for it. In that case, I am sure the build up would be better than the actual movie. I guess I just haven't caught "the vision" of what it's all about. What are your thoughts on movie crazes?

Women and Sports

As I was watching the All Star baseball game this week and loving every minute of it, I started to think about women and sports. Not every woman loves sports. Not every man does either. It just seems to be more prominent among men. However, I am such a big sports fan and I have my teams I cheer for and I know that women can be just as fanatical as men when it comes to sports. What I don't understand is the women who don't really care for sports until a man comes along and then they cheer for the teams their man loves. All of a sudden, they are buying the shirts and the gear from those teams and make you believe that they have always loved that team when in reality they could have cared less prior. Why do women do this? Why can't you make up your own mind and cheer for a team you want to even if it is the opposite team your man might love. I think it helps add spice and diversity to your relationship and also shows that you have a mind of your own and can decide who you do or don't like. I just can't stand people who jump on the bandwagon. Is it just me or do others feel this way also?

Welcome to my Mind

Hello everyone, It has been awhile. I know I have been a blog slacker on my other blog and I promise I am working on updating that. It just seems that I kind of wanted a fresh start. A place where I can share all the thoughts or opinions I have everyday. I have started to notice that the older I get, the more opinionated I get. Whether that's good or bad is yet to be determined, but I wanted a place to write them. Living alone has it's advantages, but there are disadvantages too. I am not able to share my thoughts on something I hear on the news or something that happened at work with anyone at home. Trust me when I say that Peaches really doesn't care about my opinion :). I am doing this in hopes of getting feedback and in hopes of hearing what other's think as well. I love to hear other people's opinions and I know that my opinion is not always the right one. I hope to use this blog as a sort of discussion for everyone on what they feel about particular subjects. You are welcome to give me your opinion as well as suggest things you might want to hear other people's opinions on and we can discuss them.

So, that being said, here is the first thing I want to share. I went swimming on Monday night with my family since my nephew's that live in St. George were visiting and we don't get to see them much. We had a lovely time. Afterwards, we went to dinner at a well known restaurant chain which will remain nameless. There were 9 of us so immediately 18% gratuity was added to our bill. I understand why restaurants do this and I don't have a problem with that aspect of it. The thing is our service was terrible. They were extremely slow for a restaurant that really wasn't all that busy and the waitress rarely checked on us. My poor niece who is 4 was starving and there wasn't much we could do about it. My dad being the gentleman that he is, merely asked the waitress after she brought our bill why everything took so long. She never once apologized and merely said that there was a bigger group in the restaurant that had ordered just ahead of us and that is why it took so long. I might be fine with that, but it appeared to me to be a lie. I had gone to the bathroom in the restaurant and it was small enough that I had seen everyone that was in the restaurant and I know we were the only big group. I pose this question to all of you do the waiters/waiteresses and the restaurant themselves think they don't need to give you good customer service since the gratuity is already included in larger groups? What do you think? I tend to believe that might be the case in this particular example. Anyway just some food for thought :)