Things That Make Me Happy

Even though my body is tricking me into being sad right now, there are still plenty of reasons to smile and I’m grateful for all of them:

1. Baby Viola

Jen and Ron, my favorite people in the world, a love which is well documented on this blog, have procreated. This is great news for humanity, but more importantly, it’s great news for them. She is beautiful, Jen is rocking motherhood, and Ron somehow has even more enthusiasm and energy than usual which, if you know him, is pretty remarkable. I’m secretly a little jealous of this baby because she has some of the best parents a kid could ever have. Seeing them with her made me happier than I’ve felt in weeks.

2. Kendra and Jane and Pi

Jane and Kendra and I try to get together for drinks and dinner every few months. I’ve never had girlfriends that are, you know, “girlfriends” that do lunch and vacation together and stuff, so I get a big kick out of it every time we hang out. They live far away from me so it’s rare that I see them, but it’s always a highlight when I do. They’re so awesome. Also awesome: Pi. Yum.

3. Tennis Balls

Remember this? And my 3-day video shoot? Well, it’s finally up! I don’t really want the video to link back to my blog in the stats, and for some reason I can’t hack a Google redirect anymore. So if you aren’t my Facebook friend, go to youtube and put this after youtube.com – /watch?v=hBOVy5GR4to .

4. What High School Should We Call Me

This means nothing if you don’t live in St. Louis, but I won a caption contest on the best blog in STL (out of 95 people) and got a gift certificate to Nick’s Pub. I can drink $1 draft beers for the rest of my life now!

5. Chauncey is Home

There’s nothing worse than a family member in the hospital, and that includes pets. For about 6 hours, we really thought we were going to have to put him to sleep. A sad Justin is the most heartbreaking thing in the world, and Chauncey is one of the few reasons I smile every day. Even after we knew he would be okay, he was still under observation for 3 days and being home alone was the saddest thing in the world.

6. My Back is Getting Better

I’m not at 100% yet and I’m still too scared to run, but at least I can sit down and bend over without crying. I walked to the store today and carried my groceries home, which was a big deal. I went to a chiropractor this week and while she gave me some great stretches and snapped my neck like Sayid from Lost, I was not expecting the length or massive cost of her care.  Maybe my vertebrae have been scared straight? I’m hoping I can heal on my own with some TLC and good habits.

It also helps that Chauncey has volunteered to be my neck pillow:

Moodboard 5: Just Working Through Some Shit

Not going to lie, I’m depressed as hell. It’s not getting any better even though I’ve been making an effort. The worst part is, I hurt my SI joints and I can’t run for a while. So the one thing keeping me sane is gone. I get home from work and I try to do something, anything, and I end up just crying.

I know there are worse feelings in life, there are people with chronic pain or totally sleep deprived/hormonal from a new baby or they can’t find a job or whatever, but depression doesn’t care about you people with your real stress and/or problems. I’m absolutely not suicidal or anything, so don’t freak out when I say this, but it just hurts to be alive.

It’s been so long since I posted that WordPress changed everything. I posted all these pictures at once and I don’t know how that happened. I don’t even know who I am anymore omg.