Smells Like A Midsummer's Night...

The rest of June was pretty uneventful. Although, Friday the 28th is the last time I felt happy and the following day marked the beginning of the end to something that had come to mean the world to me. Here is not the place to go into detail about the ensuing events but I'll just say that July was an incredibly difficult month and I spent it crying, hurt, angry, and depressed. Unfortunately, these feelings will persist for a long time but I've learned a lot about myself. At this point, I just have to let it go and take the advice of everyone I've shared this stuff with...there are things that are out of my control and beyond my understanding; I have to continue living my life and doing what makes me happy and the rest will follow. It will be if it's meant to be. I'm focusing on family, friends, running, career changes, and upcoming events that I feel excited for.

We had significant rainfall the beginning of July with subsequent flooding and washouts. This area had enough damage that we qualified for national aid, signed by Obama. Independence Day was not very dry...

July 5th was Cora's birthday so I went to visit and made her and my mom dinner (macaroni and cheese, green beans, and hot dogs). She likes carrot cake so I bought one which turned out to be quite tasty. We had a nice visit and we all ended up talking to Grammy Fran, passing the phone around. She informed us that she was coming to visit, flying in on July 29th and staying for 2 weeks. I haven't seen her yet because Faith and I were getting back from CA ourselves that day and I had to go back to work. Tomorrow, my mom, Jeff and I are headed over to Ludlow for dinner...so excited to see Caligram! Last Wednesday, my mom went gambling with those 3 sassy ladies lol.

I was on call the Saturday night following the holiday and it proved to be interesting. First of all, I had spent the majority of the day crying so it was actually a relief to get called in because it occupied my mind until 4 am. We did a couple of ortho cases and then Amy and I started a brain death organ procurement shortly after midnight. My first, start to finish. That had always been my greatest on call fear from the beginning but it actually wasn't that bad. It was a 24 year old female who hung herself...so sad. I can't imagine how badly it feels in order to go through with taking one's own life.

Faith and I jetted off to California on the 20th and came home the 29th. The day before we left, I took Xander to SAVES to an appointment with Dr. Kelly. We discussed his status, next steps, and he got a steroid shot before we left and headed for Claremont. It seems to have made a difference...he improved throughout the week and he seemed almost normal when I brought him back home. Since then, he's sneezed some, had some snot, but his nose is crust-free. He's going back if it gets worse.

We had a great week in the San Francisco Bay area. We got in late Saturday and pretty much went to bed because it was 3 am east coast time. We got up the following morning and walked to the best farmer's market I've ever been to. We had savory and dessert crepes for brunch and just walked around looking at displays. I bought amazing strawberries but they didn't last very long because they were eaten quickly. Fruit here does not compare to California fruit. Grocery stores are amazing too...we went to Piazza's for breakfast food for the week and I bought the best peaches I've ever tasted. We had a late lunch at a yummy build your own burger place. Sunday night, Annie and Frank came over for dinner and brought some stuff from their garden. I forget what they made but it was really delicious. Afterwards, they took us out for pearl drinks...yummy. On Monday, we got up, showered, and headed into the city. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, took some pictures, visited the gift shop, and partially walked across it. It was really foggy so we were unable to view the entire bridge. We ended up driving around quite a bit and finally settled on having lunch at the cafeteria in the DeYoung Museum. We parked, walked and found that it was closed. We finally found food in the Japanese Tea Garden nearby and by then, we were starving lol. We drove to Lombard Rd. and inched through a couple blocks to drive down the crookedest street in the world. By that time, we needed to leave the city to go pick up Nathaniel at the San Jose airport. Nathaniel is a new grad from RPI and is staying with Cynthia until he gets settled in Palo Alto at his job at Google. He spent the previous two summers doing internships at Google. We picked up food from La Bamba on the way back and just hung out for the night. Nathaniel ended up spending the rest of our visit hanging out with us. On Tuesday, we headed to Big Basin to see lots of Redwoods, taking interesting winding scenic roads to and from. We then went to Santa Cruz and walked along the boardwalk and beach. We had In & Out Burger (my west coast staple) for dinner and ice cream at Rick's for dessert. On Wednesday, we went to Stanford University, drove around the campus and checked out some artwork. Afterwards, Nathaniel and I attempted to run the Dish...it was unpleasantly hot and hilly. Needless to say, I had to stop a few times. It still felt good. We got back to Cynthia's, showered, and ate some food before Annie, Nathaniel, Faith, and I headed to San Francisco to walk around Haight-Ashbury for a bit. I bought a nose hoop, a dress for Betsy's wedding, and something from a smoke shop. We found a Korean restaurant for dinner and had Korean BBQ. Thursday was kind of a low key day...we went out and got some coffee and doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (another west coast staple) and brought it back home. We headed out and walked around Google campus for a bit, went in to some of the buildings and rode Google bikes...good times. We relaxed for the afternoon in the backyard then went to Chipotle's for dinner. Nathaniel made bananas foster for dessert...delicious. I really wanted to tour Alcatraz but the entire month of July was sold out. I could kick myself for that. On Friday, we headed to Frank's parents house in Groveland, stopping on the way for Subway and Starbucks. We hung out at the beach on Pine Mountain Lake for a bit then headed to the Iron Door Saloon for dinner. We relaxed afterwards for a bit, spending some time on the back porch looking at the stars. We got up early Saturday to head to Yosemite for a 10 am tour but we didn't make it lol. We ended up going on the noon 2 hour narrated valley tour which was pretty cool. It made some stops so we were able to get off and take pictures. Afterwards, we walked around and went to the hotel for lunch. We got back to Groveland in time to hang out at the beach again for a bit then we headed back to the house and decided we wanted dinner from the local pizza place. Yummy calzones. One of my most favorite things about vacation is food...can you tell? We ended up going outside to look at the stars again and we also befriended what we thought to be a stray cat and got dive bombed by a bat. Sunday we ventured back to Palo Alto once things were in order at the lake house, stopping for lunch at In & Out then Starbucks for me. We went to the Palo Alto Creamery for dinner then made our way to the airport in Oakland going through San Francisco stopping near the piers to get out and walk. It was dark but we heard then saw sea lions. We drove across the Bay Bridge and made our way just in time for our red eye. Check in and security was long and irritating, respectively. The flight was sleepless for me but I was able to doze on the bus to NL. Eric picked up Faith and I made my way home by way of Ctown to get my boy. I was ready for bed as soon as I was unpacked and showered. Vacation was over...back to reality and I regressed a little bit to my pre-vacation state of being. The trip came at a good time, removing me far from this place, my mind and body was occupied with constant social interactions, new experiences and perspectives. Going back to work is good, also for similar reasons. This past week, I was feeling more like myself at work. I have no choice but to move forward.

Speaking of moving forward, I must find a new book for my kindle and hopefully slip into a dreamless state of unconsciousness. Tomorrow, my financial fitness will be reaffirmed followed by some beach time, a pedicure, and the rest of the afternoon in Ludlow. Putting Nine Inch Nails radio to rest...