101 list finale

The timeline for my 101 list just ended. I was able to cross off a couple of other things from my list before the time was up.

• Leave a note in a book in a library (Hopefully some eventually finds it and enjoys it).
• Write in my journal at least once every 5 days for the whole project (I do like journal writing. It keeps me same).
• Ask for someone's advice and take it (I'll admit... I don't have an exact time I remember this happened, but I know it had to have happened at some point, so I'll count it).
• Say yes to 10 things I'd rather say no to. (This was hard. A lot of the things were social events I didn't really want to go to, but went to anyways. Overall, I'm glad I said yes to the things I did and probably should do that more often. But it is hard for me, when in the moment of decision, I'd rather be at home.)

So, all in all, I completed 63 of my 101. Not as many as I would have liked, but not too shabby, either. And I did definitely do some things that I wouldn't have done otherwise if they hadn't been on my list. It provided some good motivation.

I do plan on doing another 101 list, but I think I'm going to wait to start it until January 1 again. I like starting a new year with a list of goals that I get to conquer over the next 2.5 years. Who needs New Year's Resolutions when you can have a 101 list? Anyone want to join me in this endeavor? :-)

Ogden, Peach Days, and Sutton Foster

(Another late-to-post blog.)

The Friday after we got back from Seattle, I drove down to Brigham City after work, where I met up with Karen (who took the TRAX up) at my grandparents' house. My grandmother fed us a really nice dinner (because she can't help but be a fantastic hostess) and then we hung out a bit and went to bed (driving really wears me out).

The next day, we went to the Ogden Temple Open House. It was the last day of the open house (and a Saturday), so it was pretty crazy. I was a bit disappointed because on the tour, we were right behind a big group that kept talking to each other the whole time, so it was a little hard to appreciate the peace there. But it was super beautiful and I would love to go back and do a session one day... if for no other reason than to enjoy the beautiful domed celestial room.

After the open house, we spotted a Farr's Fresh Ice Cream and stopped to get some and it was delicious. (And we didn't feel guilty because it was almost 11am. Definitely not too early for ice cream, right?)

After a quick stop at the Ogden hospital to get Karen's TB test read for her new job, we headed back to Brigham City to enjoy Peach Days. We mainly just went on a few rides, because we didn't have a ton of time to explore. And it was getting really hot, especially since everything was just set out on the blacktop roads.

We then went back to my grandparents' to grab some food to hold us over until our dinner plans, but we ended up having a full meal. It's really hard to say no to my grandmother's cooking, especially when it involves food fresh from their garden.

We met up with Aubrey and Tyler for dinner at Rubio's. I had a birthday coupon to use and they don't have Rubio's in Idaho! And it was good to catch up with them, even though I had seen them about a month before when Tyler had a work thing in Boise and Aubrey decided to join him.

We stopped at Julie's and hung out and watched a bit of the BYU game, and then headed to BYU to watch Sutton Foster perform. Karen and I became more aware of her when we watched Bunheads together earlier this year on Amazon Prime. (I quite liked it, minus the last episode... I don't recommend the last episode.) Anyways, it was a fantastic performance. Sutton is a talented performer and also really hilarious when she was talking between songs. I always appreciate when artists are like that. (And Karen took a picture before the performance because cameras weren't allowed during it. We were pretty far up, but still had a great time.)

And it was really nice that on Sunday, I didn't have to drive back on my own. In fact, I didn't have to drive back at all. Karen was heading back to Boise to help her mom finish some stuff with the house before it got put on the market, and since I was tired, she said she would drive. She ended up driving the whole way, as I rested and we talked. It was great and it was even more fun because Koda joined us... We laid down a blanket in my backseat and he rested there so serenely. Life is good when he's with his pack. (And wish I had taken a picture of that. It was adorable.)

Seattle

So... a bit behind in posting this, but better late than never, right? :-)

For some reason, I've always wanted to go to Seattle. I don't know why, but I've wanted to, and so I put it on my 101 list. As time went by, I figured it wasn't going to happen. But Karen figured out a way to make it work--over Labor Day/my birthday weekend. And it was fantastic. Karen, Jenna, and I had a blast.

We left Thursday after work and arrived in Seattle really early Friday morning. (My birthday!) We stayed with some family friends' of Karen's on Capitol Hill. It was a beautiful house with a fantastic view and close to everything.

Once we got some sleep, we got going on Friday. We started out by going to Volunteer Park and exploring a bit and also checking out the gorgeous dahlia garden. After that, we went to Ballard Locks and wandered around Ballard a bit before going kayaking on the Puget Sound and kayaking through the Locks. Super cool.

We then got a bit more fancy and had dinner at Skycity Restaurant, which was a neat experience. A nice birthday splurge. And they even have a photographer that comes around and takes your photo and you get it e-mailed to you for free.

Saturday, we started out by going to Smith Tower. I took a seat in the Wishing Chair. Tradition is that a wishful single woman who sits in it will be married within the year... I'm looking forward to proving it wrong. (Or maybe I'm just not wishful enough.)

We then went on the Underground Tour, where we learned some really cool facts about Seattle. Pretty fun stuff. We wandered around Pikes Place Market and then went to Chihuly Garden and Glass. Most of my pictures didn't turn out that great, but I'm super proud of this one. (Not the one labelled Chihuly...that was another photographer they have that takes your picture and then e-mails it for free. I'm not that professional.)

Sunday, we went to a sacrament meeting with the people that we were staying with in a beautiful and unique chapel. I wish I had been able to explore more. We then visited the Seattle Temple grounds and then visited Discovery Park. We had a little picnic on the beach, and then napped on the grass near the lighthouse. It was a beautiful day. Oh. And we visited Bruce Lee's grave. Random, I know. But it was super close to where we were staying. And why not? :-) 

Monday, we woke up and drove home. Kind of a long drive. Especially when ALL of Oregon has a 65 mph speed limit.

But I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Even the crazy roads that made for crazy driving. So grateful for GPS that would give me a bit of warning to get over because a lane was about to end or I suddenly had to take a left exit, Seriously...it was nuts.

And with this trip, I crossed off 3 more things from my 101 list... buy dinner that's at least $50, take a trip every year in honor of my birthday, and go to Seattle. Woot!

101 list (and other) updates

I haven't blogged in a while... and I have lots of updating to do, apparently. With Karen leaving, we were fitting in a lot of fun things (along with some not-so-fun-things...like moving). But quite a few of the fun things we did had to do with my 101 list.

I've never been shooting, and I've wanted to. So my home teacher took me, Karen, and a couple of other friends to go shooting with him. I didn't actually break any of the clay pigeons, but I did come close a few times, apparently... even though I've never held a gun before.

We were supposed to go paintballing, but it didn't actually happen. Karen bought a Groupon for it, and when we went for our scheduled time, apparently it only paid for part of it and we would've had to pay a lot more money. So the group of us went and got crepes instead. But we tried. And Karen found a tiny paintball and smashed it on me. So... maybe I can count it?

Karen and I went to the Western Idaho Fair...and somehow managed to not get any pictures of the two of us. Whoops. (Though you can see lots of pictures of some things we did see at the fair at Karen's post about it.) But it was a lot of fun, wandering around, seeing the shows and animals and contests. And I did take a picture of a quilt that reminded me of my family. A missionary's mom had taken quotes from her e-mails and made it into a quilt. Super fun idea.

And because I haven't blogged about this 101 list item yet... I am getting laser hair removal. So... that's in process and I think it's helping. But I still have several treatments to go and hope to see even better results!

But other than 101 list stuff, we did lots of other fun things. Like go doing some aerial yoga, watching Merry Wives of Windsor at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, seeing Nickel Creek in concert at the Idaho Botanical Gardens, watching Paula Poundstone, going to the World Center Birds of Prey Museum and the Boise Aquarium, and floating the Boise River. Good times. :-)

But yes... I have officially moved. Just to the next town over. My commute is pretty much the same to both stores (I'm not right by a freeway entrance any more, which I miss). But the location is still good, I like the house I'm living in and my roommate (Jessica) seems really nice, plus she has a couple of super sweet cats. And I'll be in a new ward (we'll have to see how that plays out). Work is still keeping me busy, but I got a new boss recently and I really like her. I've been very fortunate to have great bosses. 

Sleep Study

I've been sleeping rather terribly lately. I can fall asleep just fine, and I'm getting 7-8 hours a sleep a night (on worknights, I generally go to bed between 10 and 11pm and wake up between 6 and 7am). However, I can't seem to stay asleep. I wake up at least 2-3 times a night (that I remember) and just feel pretty exhausted a lot of the time. And with the lack of sleep, my emotions get a bit haywire, and my brain sometimes just didn't seem to function.

I was thinking it was a bit problematic how tired I was (and how emotional I could get and how my brain didn't always want to work), but I figured I'd just talk to my doctor at my annual physical that was scheduled in July. I thought I could last until then. My mind changed when my alarm went off one day and I just wanted to cry (I really almost did). So I called my doctor to see if I could move up my annual physical, but apparently that truly has to be a year apart, so that wasn't possible. Then they tried to see if I could get in to see my doctor sooner, but she didn't have any availability in the next two weeks. Once I decided I needed to see a doctor, I didn't want to wait any longer, so they booked me at a different clinic with a different doctor (that was conveniently located closer to both my work and my house) that was still in the same health care system.

I went to the doctor and was really impressed with him. He talked to me for almost a half hour about my concerns and gathered information. Based on everything I said, he determined that it was possible that I had sleep apnea (I had thought that might be a possibility), so he arranged for me to do a sleep study. I also did some blood work (he wanted to rule out some other things), but that all came back normal.

I finally had the sleep study. I didn't entirely know what to expect, though I did a bit of research about it. I was doing a split-night sleep study, which means that they monitor my sleep for the first part of the night, and then if they detect signs of sleep apnea, they put a CPAP machine for the second half of the night and figure out the right pressure. But I went to the center, and I got ushered into what was basically a hotel room. I had a queen-sized bed (covered in a bunch of wires) and my own bathroom.

After I changed into my pajamas, my tech attached all the wires to me. I had wires on my legs, chest, face, and head, as well as two belts. As she attached all of that, I watched a video about sleep apnea, then I was able to watch Castle (they had a lot of channels...it was great). Once I was all hooked up to everything, I was able to just relax and do whatever.

I did try on a nose pillow CPAP machine, to see what it would be like if they did put it on me during the night. I was surprised how well I could breathe through it (as long as I didn't open my mouth). I sometimes struggle to breathe through my nose at night, but there wasn't an issue with the CPAP machine.

When I told my tech I was ready for bed, she added a few more sensors (a finger sensor, as well as a tube that went in my mouth and nose to monitor breathing). And then I went to bed.

I was a little apprehensive about being able to fall asleep with all the wires and things attached to me, but it really wasn't that hard. Unfortunately, I did wake up several times in the night, some because my tech had to come in and adjust things, and other times just on my own. My tech came in and told me around 1:30am that they hadn't seen any major signs of sleep apnea by that point, so they were just going to monitor me the rest of the night and not do the CPAP.

When I woke up the next morning, I was really frustrated and almost started crying. I felt like I slept worse than I normally did, and I still wasn't closer to getting any answers as to why. However,the sleep study did collect about 800 pages of data for the sleep physician to interpret and I would get the results in a few weeks.

Well... I got the results the brief results a few weeks ago, and met with a doctor a few days ago to go over the results. Apparently, I have mild obstructive sleep apnea. I had 9 instances of central sleep apnea and 60 times of hypopnea during the night. One frustrating line from the write-up of my study was that, "Given the mild nature of her sleep apnea it is unclear how much of her current symptoms and daytime sleepiness are a result of the sleep apnea." It is a bit frustrating to have paid a significant amount of money and still not be sure what direction to go. There are a few different ways I could possibly treat it, including getting an oral appliance or a CPAP machine. But they aren't sure what may work and they said it's possible that other issues may be at play (such as mental health issues or stress). I'm going to have to spend more money (which is fine), but I really want to make sure what I spend money on works. So... we'll see what I decide. I just really hope this isn't all in my head.