Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life! Justin, I love you.

We exchanged gifts on Saturday. Justin gave me a digital photo frame and a handmade necklace. He is so thoughtful and caring. He puts a lot of thought into all gifts. I wish I could be as thoughtful when it comes to gifts. I got him a gift certificate to Tower Wines. He loves wine and I wanted to get him a nice bottle, but he's so particular when it comes to wines.

My sweet hubby also surprised me with a bouquet of pink tulips. He came inside the house without flowers. I kind of jokingly said, "What, no flowers?" He asked if I expected flowers and I said, "No, but they would be nice." He ran to his car and came back with the flowers. He likes to surprise me.

How did I get so lucky?

Best Picture Movies 2

The third film we watched is Midnight in Paris. I think we all enjoyed this movie. It was only an hour and a half long, which about the length of my attention span. It was fun and light and made me want to sign up for French lessons and book a trip to Paris. This is a movie that I could see someone wanting to watch multiple times. Fun!

We watched Hugo (in 3D) yesterday. This film was cute, but not something I would want to watch again. It lasted just over two hours, which really pushed my attention span. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I fell asleep for a short time near the beginning of the film. It wasn't boring; I was tired. The 3D effects did add some enjoyment to the film. At one point, I felt like I could reach my hand toward the screen and touch Sacha Baron Cohen's face. Because the film was in 3D, several of the previews were also in 3D. I liked Titanic when I saw it fifteen years ago (geez, I can't believe it has been that long!), but the 3D preview almost made me sick. Everything was moving too fast or something because I thought I was going to be sick. I finally had to close my eyes.

We've seen the following Best Picture nominees:

• The Artist
• The Decendants
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball

We still need to see the following nominees:

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Honestly, I'm not all that excited about seeing the last three movies. I've heard War Horse is very slow. The previews of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close didn't interest me. I know nothing about The Tree of Life.

Best Picture Movies 1

Each year, Justin and I watch the Academy Award Best Picture nominees with another couple. We started this year's movies with The Decendants. I enjoyed the movie and everyone else seemed to, too. It was a drama, but had a few comedic moments. I recommend The Decendents. One downfall was that I left the theater in tears. Sad things make me cry.

The next movie we watched was Moneyball. Moneyball is a movie that I enjoyed, but would most likely not watch again. I can certainly see why this movie was nominated, but I think I enjoyed The Decendants more. Of course, watching Brad Pitt for a couple of hours isn't all that bad.

The third movie we watched is The Artist. I did not realize this movie is a silent film. There were no spoken words throughout the entire movie! It was also in black and white. Criticize me all you want, but I am not a fan of black and white films. Honestly, the movie lost my attention after about thirty minutes. We went with a group of five other people and there were slightly mixed reviews. Some liked the concept of the the film but not the storyline. Others thought the film was pretty creative and enjoyed it. And then there is me. I wanted the two hours I spent in the theater back.

I'm on a roll!

Last week, I had blood drawn without an audience. This week, I got a shot without an audience. I'm going to overcome my needle phobia!

I scheduled a physical with an internist since I had never had one before. I liked the doctor and plan to use her when I'm sick or when I need to see a doctor. At the end of the visit, Dr. Monahan said I needed to get a DPT shot. I haven't had a tetanus shot in about thirteen years, so I agreed to get one. The last one I got was when I was seventeen and about to head to college. I remember it hurting, but I didn't remember much more than that. Maybe I blocked the pain. That tetanus shot hurt. A lot. I'm a big ole' baby anyway, but this was exceptionally painful.

The phlebotomist who gave me the shot prepared me for the discomfort by saying I could expect some pain shortly after the injection. She also said some people develop a knot where the injection is given. I experienced both. My arm felt like it was on fire shortly after the injection. I would describe that as a discomfort. Seven days after the shot, I still have a knot. It's slightly warm to the touch and is somewhat painful when touched. The redness has pretty much gone away. A little bruising appeared a few days ago, but it went away after a day or two.

It is generally recommended that you get a DPT every ten years. I now realize it takes that long to work up the courage to get another one.

I had my usual "nearly passing out" reaction. I hung out in the lab and chatted with an older gentleman who was having blood drawn, and his wife. I turned my head and stared at the wall while his blood was drawn. We talked about Christmas trees. I recovered after about six or seven minutes and headed out.

Honestly, I'm considering going to get a flu shot. It's probably a little late in the season to get a flu shot, but I'm still thinking about it. I will overcome my needle phobia.

All By Myself

I did something today that I've never done alone before. It is something that most adults do without an audience. I had blood drawn without my mommy or hubby being present. This is not a big deal for most people, but for someone with a needle phobia, it is a big deal.

I try to avoid needle sticks if at all possible. Sometimes, that's not possible. I am petrified of needles. Anytime I have blood drawn, I plan on spending at least twenty minutes at the lab. The actual procedure takes the usual twenty or thirty seconds. It's the recovery phase that takes about twenty minutes. I always request to lay down for the procedure. After the phlebotomist does her thing, I have to remain lying down for about ten minutes. After that time, I sit up for a few minutes and then lie down for a little longer. I'll make my way to the chair in the room and sit there with my head between my legs for a few minutes. Then, I'll stand for a minute to make sure I can walk without passing out. At that point, I'm usually ok.

Today, I laid on the exam table for about four or five minutes. Then I sat for a minute and then I moved to the chair. After sitting down for a minute, I walked out of the doctor's office and headed to the elevator. While waiting for the elevator, I realized I got up too soon. My lips went numb, my hearing became muted, and I started seeing spots. I made it to the lobby and found a chair. I was on the verge of hitting the floor, but I sat for a few minutes and allowed my blood pressure to get a little higher. While waiting in the lobby, I began sweating. That's usually one of the final things to happen before I get ok. Once I got up, I was good. I walked to my car without incident.

I have always been like this. I don't know why, but I'm petrified of needles. It's not so bad that I avoid medical care totally, but I usually think twice before visiting the doctor's office. This summer, I was stung by a bee. It was at this time that I discovered that I'm allergic to bee stings. I kept telling Justin that I was fine. He encouraged me to go see a doctor. I tried to get the doctor at the urgent care facility to allow me to take the benadryl orally. He smiled and said, "Um, no." I guess I had so much adrenaline pumping through my veins, that I really didn't have my usual reaction to the injection.

I hope I don't need blood drawn anytime soon, but I hope it gets easier the more times I have it done. I really wish I could donate blood. I'm healthy and I think my blood would useful. Maybe I'll be able to one day.

Vacation 2011: Castries, St. Lucia

We spent our fourth full day in Castries, St. Lucia. St. Lucia is a Commonwealth realm, like Barbados. They're an independent nation, but Queen Elizabeth II is their queen. Honestly, Justin and I were quite disappointed with St. Lucia. I think we were expecting something similar to Barbados. St. Lucia seemed to have a lot more poverty than I've ever seen before. The residents weren't totally poverty-stricken, but I was depressed and sad after seeing the conditions that some of the people live in. I'm sure not everyone on the island lives like this, but it's what I saw and that image is stuck in my head.

We decided to walk from the port to the downtown area. Several taxis stopped and tried to give us a ride, but we preferred to walk. During this walk, we walked through a particularly poor area. The dog lying outside one of the structures tugged at my heart. The fact that humans lived in such poor conditions made me sad, too, but animals tied up and being forced to live like that is beyond sad to me.

We eventually made it to the town. There were lots of buildings with vendors and booths. The vendors would physically pull you inside their booth and seemed mad when we said we just wanted to browse. "You're not going to buy anything," which was said with total disgust and shock, was uttered to us several times.


Digicel works in St. Lucia, too!


We literally spent about twenty or so minutes walking around the downtown area before we headed back to the ship. Once again, we were asked by several taxi drivers if they could give us a ride.

These are some photos taken from the ship.












Everything was so lush and green.










A water taxi:





I will say that I got a very lovely tan while walking to and from the ship. I kind of expected to peel, but I did not. The redness subsided within a day or so and I had a nice tan on my shoulders and face. It's not much, but I'll take what I can get.

Happy 16th Birthday!

My niece turns sixteen today. She has really grown-up so fast. She has a boyfriend, which makes me feel so old.


She had just turned six in this photo.

Now she looks like this:

Happy birthday! I love you!