Day 239: Wellness, Meetups & Books

Monday, May 12

I had a really early start this morning.  Not long after my Zen alarm let out its series of gentle gongs, I found myself crying.  Not a crazy, sobby, messy cry.  But a feeling of overwhelming stress and exhaustion hit me.  I felt knots in my stomach and couldn’t really put my thumb on what it was, exactly, that was making me feel such gloom.  I left by 8:00 a.m. to pick up print materials then attend a meeting.  When I got to work I juggled a couple of mailing projects.  I also discovered a wellness center in Portland that offers therapy and counselling for people with eating disorders and Celiac. 

I called my insurance to find out what it’s going to cost me to go out-of-network.  I feel good about connecting with one of the physicians at this center.  It just seems like time to work out some of the issues that have manifested as part of the many symptoms of Celiac.

This made me feel a bit more light today.  I have tried the self-help approach since the beginning.  I finally realized I need more help and support than that.  It’s not fun feeling alone with my symptoms and issues.  I feel like I’m on to a healthy ‘new’ beginning…

My mom returned from Austria today.  I called her mid-day just to say welcome home and that I missed her.  I knew she’d probably be asleep by the time I left work, so, it was worth the abreviated conversation to hear her voice.  I’ll hear more about her trip tomorrow.

I went to the winery for an intensive Pinot Blanc tasting.  We tasted wines from both the 2006 and 2007 vintages, and from Oregon; California; Alto-Adige, Italy; Alsace, France; and Burgenland, Austria.  It was an interesting tasting with just a few stand-outs.  Otherwise, lots of flavors of lime, orange blossom, honey, clove, fig and quince. 

Later, when I was driving home I chatted on the phone with Susan, who mentioned a cool website where you can meet up with people in your town to do just about anything.  It’s called meetup.com.  I already signed up for the Italian Language meet up, to help me practice my Italian language skills and introduce me to others who embrace Italian culture.  I also signed up for a Hiking meet up, an Outdoors meet up, and I’m waiting for a Celiac Disease meet up to commence.  This is pretty cool.  Another great way to meet new people, too.

I went to the gym and finally finished Unpredictable.  I had put the book down and finally got back into it.  It was definitely entertaining in a romantic comedy chick flick kind of way.  I think writer Eileen Cook did a nice job with her debut novel.

The next books in queue:  Ursula K. LeFuin’s Lavinia, Katie Crouch’s Girls in Trucks and Tracy Chevalier’s The Virgin Blue, which I’m borrowing from a co-worker.

Going through my book list makes me even more excited to finish my edits for my novel.  I have had some pretty incredible ideas come to me lately to really round it out.  I feel confident that I will have an improved version to show literary agents.  I feel really good about my work.  And that’s something that gives me real peace right now.

I dozed off on my sofa, after my workout, after I had a salad for dinner.  I don’t know, I guess waking up at six this morning and working until 6:30 p.m. kicked me down, a little.  When I woke up, I started taking notes from an out-of-print textbook on viticulture for my novel.  I’m looking for interesting quotes to head up each chapter.  I think this will be a cool way to pull the book together.