This week has been full of so many ups and downs!
On Monday, I joined RandomCathy for dinner and Painting with a Twist. We had always talked about doing the painting while drinking wine (or whatever beverage of your choice) activity, but never got around to doing it. Recently, we agreed - Let's Do This! NOW!
The "Painting with a Twist" franchise is very cool. You can go to their website, Painting with a Twist, select your location, then check out their calendar. You can pick out what painting will be done for a particular day. I think that was the hardest part - picking out the right painting. We chose the May 18th date, which was Moonlit Cherry Blossoms.
We met for dinner at Mi Cocina, which was great because it was only two doors down from where we were going to do the paintings. It was wonderful to decompress from work stuff and relax before going in to paint. To be honest, I was excited, but also a little worried. My artistic skills are not the best in the world. That is just my opinion because I am my worst critic. I figured the worst that could happen was that I would have something that was just a huge mess.
Now, the "Twist" is supposed to be that those attending these classes bring wine and drink it while doing the paintings. We ran over to Starbucks (as always) for something to drink, then headed over to the event. At this particular location, since there are several restaurants, you have the ability to order food and eat while you are painting as well. One couple ordered a pizza from next door and it was delivered right when we had our first "drying break."
It was small group, but I was good with that. Everything that you need to do for making the painting is there for you. The painting we were doing was $35 and that is a lot cheaper than having to buy all of the materials that we used before attending the class. I loved that I just had to walk in, sit down, then start painting.
Overall, the class was a lot of fun and very relaxing. It was so nice to take my mind off of all of my issues for about 2 hours. I remembered some of my 8th grade art class lessons and tried to mix colors for the right shade. Somehow, I think I may not have used enough paint. Some people asked for more paint, but I did not. I tried to make the most of what I had and make it last.
The teacher really put me at ease by stating that not everyone's picture would be the same. It is just like handwriting - no one's handwriting is the same, so when you draw, that is your handwriting. I try to mimic as much I can with what the teacher was doing, but in the end, I did what I wanted.
I admit I was highly critical of the painting I did at first. Everyone else's moon was much larger than mine. What helped me was to take a picture of it with my iPhone. When I separated what I was seeing before me and looked at the picture, I thought I did pretty well. In the end, I am quite proud of the painting. I just need to get it framed and hung up in the apartment.
RandomCathy and I both walked away from the experience with very positive thoughts. One of which is that we do it again, but next time, definitely get the wine and order pizza!
Wednesday was the downhill ride on the week roller coaster. I met up with a former co-worker to catch up, which was great. It was what happened afterwards that started a really rocky ride.
We met up at Chili's for lunch. I had a burger with fries. I *thought* no harm in that. How I was so deceived. We left the restaurant and I headed to get gas. As I was getting gas, I noticed I was not feeling so well. It is close to that monthly deal, so I blew it off and headed off to work.
Once I got there and started working, I started to feel worse. I turned the fan on to cool off a bit, then I would start freezing. Again, hot flashes before menopause, eh? Great. When I headed off the bathroom, that was when I sorted out the issue was more of a digestive one and not a reproductive/hormonal one.
What did I do? I popped two Imodium ADs in my mouth and continued with work. For whatever reason, it started to get worse. I got another Imodium AD down me, but it was time to just give in and go home. I have to say, that had to be the hardest 45 minute drive home EVER!
When I got home, I had to attend to whatever it was making me sick before walking the dogs. Once I was past that, I hurriedly walked the dogs, got them settled, and laid down in bed. I was in terrible agony. It had been quite awhile since I had experienced something like that and my stomach and other parts of my body were extremely sore. I did not even bother with eating dinner. It was not even worth the effort and I was not hungry. I just kept drinking lots of water.
I got little sleep that night, so I worked from home the following day. To make matters worse, that little monthly friend showed. Talk about sore stomach - I could barely walk straight.
I did manage to eat some oatmeal and a chicken dinner, but was still very guarded. Friday was a little better. I had lunch with a co-worker which consisted of a salad and french onion soup. I ended up having Japanese Hibachi that night and was quite happy that the digestive area was beginning to settle down a bit. The reproductive cramps, however, were in overdrive.
Saturday, I had a mini-reunion with a group of women I used to hang out with when we were in middle and high school. Even with lunch, I was very guarded on how much I ate and making sure digestive wise that all would be well.
It was wonderful to see these friends. I saw many of them back in October during the 30th reunion, but a few were unable to attend. It was wonderful catching up with these friends. I loved how they fell back into the old groove and felt comfortable enough to open up about their struggles. Since I am not married or have children, I do not feel I have much to bring to the table in that arena. However, I do understand some of the struggles. I felt the honest pain one friend was having with feeling that everything was caving in on her and she was feeling inadequate. What was she doing wrong? Was it hormonal? Was it depression? All she knew was that she just wanted to stay home and hide. She had not wanted to see all of us, but came anyway. I am very happy that she did. First, she found others with similar struggles. Second, she needs a break. Many times, we all need that step outside of our routine and get away from it.
Mainly, I hope that with that frankness, it has given us thought to come back together in a different form. Allow us to come together to help one another. Back in the day, we were together in friendship and experiences of learning life while in school. As many of us went off to college, got married, and started working, our lives led us away from one another physically. Now, even though there may be physical miles apart for all of us, we have the ability to come back together and provide that help that heals. Who knows for certain, but I do know I would like to be there if anyone of them needs help. Of course, I say that for many people, not just this group of women.
I know that we all cannot meet every weekend, but we can do something every now and then. I just need to sit back and see how the dynamic of this group will generate itself.
Now, I plan on getting some pretty mundane tasks done around the apartment. I do not mind. I count my blessings every day that I am able to relax a bit where work is concerned. I no longer want to be buried with work that it consumes my very being. I want life to be balanced. No one gives you any awards or promotions for working day and night.
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