A Very Long Week ...

Rommel was set to go out of town on Thursday and even though I knew my anxiety could be controlled, I honestly did not want him to leave. Since my RA has flared up again, I do not want to have to deal with anything more than the usual day to day stuff. But I also know that Rommel has work commitments and that if I asked him to stay, it might set back the progress I have made with my anxiety.

I saw my hypnotist on Thursday morning for what you might call a refresher, to build up my confidence. Then I came home to get Rommel and take him to the airport. I was feeling unusually calm, so I decided to run all the errands on my list. By the time I got home I was in pain and exhausted, so I crashed on the couch and watched movies the rest of the night.

Friday I kept myself busy after work by having dinner with the girls. I have not been able to have dinner at a busy restaurant in so long because it always made me too nervous. It was absolutely amazing to see my friends and catch up. I think this will definitely have to be a regular occurrence.

Saturday was going to be a day to get stuff done at the house after work, but it did not go as planned. I ended up taking a very good friend to the emergency room after she had been sick for two weeks and not responding to antibiotics. After they admitted her to the hospital, I just tried to keep myself busy knowing that she was in good hands.

I went to work Sunday morning to finish up a few things and then headed to the airport to get Rommel. It was so nice to have him back!

As a kind of reward for getting through the weekend, Rommel and I had tickets to the Supernatural program of Paleyfest 2011. To raise money for the Paley Foundation, they have several programs where the actors/directors/writers of particular television shows talk about the show and answer questions. I do not watch many fictional shows, but I do really enjoy Supernatural and it was great to get to go to the event.

We decided to sit in the balcony, but I still took a few pictures -




My only complaint about the event was that it was general admission, which means we ended up standing in line for quite a while before the doors opened. Not the smartest idea for a girl whose RA is acting up. My whole body was feeling it and I was completely drained by the time we left. We had planned to go out to dinner too, but decided to just pick something up instead.

As for the last two days, it has been filled with a lot of worry for my friend and I keep checking my phone for updates. I want to do everything I can for her, but there is not a lot to be done at the moment. I just hope she knows how much we love her.

A Day at the Getty Center

One of my goals for 2011 was at least once a month to do something I would not normally do / go places I would not normally go because of my anxiety. We already went to Disneyland this month, but I want to keep my confidence level high so we headed to the Getty Center today.

It was absolutely amazing! Between the tram up to the museum, all the buildings, the gardens, and the outside sculptures, the place is so huge that it would be impossible to get a good look at everything. The nice thing is that you only have to pay the $15 for parking and admission is free, so we could potentially go several times without putting too much of a dent in our wallet. Although I was definitely tempted to spend the money on a Van Gogh doll with detachable ear.

The were so many great parts of the Getty. One of the current exhibits is on early photography in China, which we could have spent hours looking at. I am always interested in learning about people's lives and this exhibit was definitely an aspect we would never have found out about otherwise. There was also the exhibit of Medieval manuscripts. It is unbelievable to me to see something so fragile that has survived hundreds of years.

My favorite piece was probably Van Gogh's Irises. It is so vibrant and stunning when it is right in front of you. No book or poster could ever do this painting justice.

The central garden was also fabulous and it was wonderful that they had so many places to just sit and hang out. People were playing with their kids on the lawn and enjoying the view of the city. There are several cafe carts, so you can buy lunch and just relax outside.

We only spent about two hours walking around before I felt like I needed to leave because my pain was getting bad, which was actually good timing since Rommel can get bored rather quickly and we were getting hungry. We picked up lunch and then relaxed for the rest of the day.

I took several pictures while we were there with both my digital camera and the new Holga I just bought. Hopefully the Holga pictures turn out well and I can share them with you later, but for now here are a few of the digital ones.


















We will have to go back in April or May when the gardens are completely in bloom. I am sure it will be breathtaking!

As I mentioned, I have been in quite a bit of pain lately. I made the mistake of wearing cute ballet flats yesterday at work and after a short walk with Rommel my feet were in serious pain, along with my hips and hands. I did not get much sleep last night because it feels like my feet are constantly cramping up, like they are bound or something.

After experiencing that short "remission" I had a couple of weeks ago, I am definitely eager to get back to that point. I am enjoying all the wonderful experiences, such as the Getty, but they will be that much better without the pain.

Please Show Support for a Fellow RA Blogger

The other day I read an article from Health.com called 15 Things Not to Say to Someone with RA. Not only did I think it was a great article, I also recommended it on my Facebook page and suggested it to a few people that have made the kind of comments talked about in the article.

Then today I check out RA Warrior, a blog on Rheumatoid Arthritis, like I do every day. I was unbelievably disappointed to find a post called Three Things Not to Say about Plagiarism to a Blogger where Kelly shows that the author of the Health.com article stole from her site. After reading the two articles side by side, it is extremely difficult to deny that the content originally came from the RA Warrior post months ago.

When I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis over a year ago, Kelly's blog was the site I went to for all my questions and she was incredibly supportive, even taking the time to answer my questions personally. I urge everyone to head over to Health.com and leave a comment showing their support for Kelly.

A Hair Cut and the Zoe Zoe

I have been growing my hair out for quite awhile now but the ends were looking pretty rough, so I went to get it trimmed today. I know prices are going up for everything lately, but it kills me a little inside each time I pay $45.00 for a hair cut. Maybe it is growing up in the Midwest and never paying more than $12.00 at any salon for a cut. But then again, this is LA.


I am definitely still digging the pink hair. I thought about switching to purple for a whole two seconds, but pink is my thing.

Since I had my camera out and Zooey was looking cute as always, I took some pics of her too. I really need to include more photos of the pups next time.


And then she got annoyed by the camera in her face ... and she bit me ... more than once.

Holga, Holga, Holga

I finally received my new Holga camera in the mail today and I am just dying to try it out! I am particularly excited to try out the features that let you expose the film for longer time periods and expose a frame several times. There are also four color lenses for the flash, which I have no idea what to do with yet.


The camera is completely made of plastic, even the lens, which is why it is considered a toy camera. As far as I am concerned, it just adds to the charm. Although I am a little worried about breaking it since I can be rather klutzy at times. But it is not like it costs hundreds of dollars like other cameras. Plus any cracks in the plastic can be taped up and light exposure on the film supposedly adds to the originality of the photos.


I spent the day running around town looking for the 120mm film the camera uses. But guess what? It's not so easy to find film anymore let alone high quality film. Only specialty camera shops carry 120mm (probably should have checked that out earlier). I finally just ordered some online because it is so much cheaper.

But I am so impatient and I want to try it out as soon as possible. After reading the lomography book that came along with it, I found out the you can adapt the camera to use 35mm film by taping the film to the spool and stabilizing it with a couple pieces of foam. I will definitely have to try it this weekend when we visit the Getty!

Dumb Ass

There are many reasons why your Rheumatoid Arthritis may flare up. There are so many that sometimes it seems like there is no real reason and the RA just feels like making you completely miserable.

But every now and then, you can pin point exactly what brought the pain back.

In this instance it was feeling so great that I did not take my medication several nights last week.

I feel like someone has been repeatedly beating the bottoms of my feet with sticks all because I did not take two seconds to swallow some pills before bed.

Not again.