Thrihyrne

Yesterday was my last day at CompView. I gifted myself with two days off in order to have some down time before transitioning to full-time work next week. As a super-special gift to me, evannichols also took Friday off, and I'll be taking him to a belated birthday breakfast at Slappy Cakes. He also generously gave me a decorated envelope that said "Kristi's Massage Fund" so that I can get a much-needed full-body massage during my time off. Portland is full of places to go, and since he knew I'd have a much better idea of where I'd like to go than he would, he gave me the self-created gift certificate Tuesday evening as a part of my sleepover. I had a stroke of genius thought Wednesday morning, which was to contact another massage therapist friend (I did get to know a few during my time living with Julia, who ran in acupuncture and massage therapy circles due to her career) and I was able to schedule an appointment with a lovely woman named Karla. I'll simply go to her apartment this morning where she has her own treatment table and get my very sore body worked on.

I've managed to sustain some mystery injuries, including my right shoulder (no idea) and hips (probably from a combination of the jogging and lots of inner- and outer-thigh work), the omnipresent knots and tension in my upper back, and being generally sleep-deprived and continually sleeping on a mattress with only 3 slats. Anyway, this morning I treated myself to a hot soak in the tub with epsom salts, something my massage therapist friend Joseph has recommended for literally years. They had the salts at the dollar store, which at last prompted me to do this. I'll plan to have another soak post-massage on Friday in the upstairs bathroom at evannichols's house when his sister and her family are out for the day. Self-care. What a concept! I'm not sure what to do about my innards, though; I'm still suffering from a loud stomach, often unhappy bowels, but thankfully no actual pain. Today I think I'll stick to jello, yogurt, a banana and oatmeal. Maybe I'll lighten up on the celery, too; I thought it was innocuous, but perhaps not. And maybe switch to tea for a few days, rather than my beloved coffee.

Soon I'll put on casual clothes and walk up to the closest grocery store to do my recycling and mark that off my list. Shouldn't be too many other people there around 6:50 a.m.!!

I went jogging yesterday! Three and a half miles, even! Planning to do the same today and through the weekend— until it next rains, even. It felt so good to get some cardio and slow down when I needed to in order to keep it at a jog. Heh. Oh, and the plasma center yesterday was a bust. After three hours I'd still not seen anyone, so I gave up and decided my time could be much better spent than hanging out in their office. Seems ridiculous that the center in Harrisonburg was so much more sophisticated. Maybe another day.

This morning I've been super-productive for whatever reason; maybe a solid night's sleep, though I was deep in the midst of a dream when my alarm went off. I was so on top of things by 7:30 a.m. after doing my laundry and hanging it outside on our impromptu clothesline (ie: the chain link fence in the backyard) that I finally took a couple of pictures of Cooper, the boxer who is so adorable, all cozied up in his favorite chair. The first is with the flash, but the second captures the ambiance better as the curtains are drawn and the room is rather dark.

( Cooper, the sweet boxer, in his habitat )

This morning I'm determined to apply to 5-7 positions (four down thus far), do laundry (done), type in the last of the Gimlific I'd been writing on prior to the holidays last year, and some other things before going to catch the bus and meet evannichols for lunch. It will continue on to be a productive afternoon as well. I'll try and post my knitting WIP, item one from my Secret Endeavor that has had its starts and stops. I'm especially excited about more dyeing once I have my own mini-set and can do it here, or at Evan's.

Happy Friday!