MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Today marks the official date of my full year in Boston.  I didn't start working in the Boston office yet, but it is when my plane touched down in the Boston Logan airport and Zoey and I hit pavement for the first time ever in Boston.  Alot of people asked me have I ever been here when I first announced I was transferring here.  My reply.....NOPE.  The question that immediately followed was "Well why do you want to live there?".  The answer to that at the time was many reasons why, to be closer to my boyfriend (who I'm no longer with), to be closer to my mother and well to be able to move and still have a job.  Yes I'm still with my company, third office 17 years 9 months and going strong.  (WOW can't believe I've been here for almost 18 years!!!)

This last year has truly been a life experience and starting over when you are 39 years old is alot different when you do it at 28 years old.  When I moved to Texas I was a carefree twenty something year old with nothing holding them back, still in the hanging out stage.  So by doing that I made a ton of friends very quickly some have come and gone, but one of my first friends I ever made was Julia.  She worked in our Dallas office but then ditched me two weeks before I moved there but we lived in the same apartment complex and I couldn't have asked for a better friend.  AND her family pretty much adopted me so I consider her family and I can't forget my little niece Olivia...what a joy!  My next friend I met...well we are no longer friends BUT I became friends with one of her friends and to date Nikki (my Homey!) whom I call my sister and she is the best friend anyone can have.  She has been there through my worst of times, all of my health issues, many trips to the emergency room, always had a shoulder to cry on and she is probably the keeper of all of my secrets.  Except one which my other best friend is Kara she has a secret that better not slip from her lips...although I got stuff on her too so I think it's safe.  You know what they say...loose lips sinks ships!  Ha ha ha!  Then it was nice to have family move to Texas, my sister Angela and my niece Keisha....it was strange not spending Thanksgiving with them last year...but I got to spend it with my mother and it's been so long since I was able to do that so it was nice.  And I can't forget all of the other AWESOME people I have met, if I list them all this blog would be a MILE long!  But you all know who you are and that you all have a very special place in my life and my heart!

I love the people I work with here too.  My boss Cristina is awesome and it was so nice to finally see Lisa after all of these years again...probably about 16 but who is counting? There have been alot of scary times, happy times, confusing times, tough times and hilarious times.  Most of the hilarious times has been with my co-worker Brian....what can I say about Brian?  Well being that when I moved here I had NO family, NO friends and I had NO idea where or what I was doing, he took me under his wing.  He has called me on weekends to get me out of the house because he knew I didn't know anyone and has taken me on some adventures.  The most memorable one was when we went to Dedham to pick up my washer/dryer.  It seemed like we were going around in circles and if Brian were to tell the story he died for a brief moment when he was carrying that thing down the stairs.  Oh and the trip to Topsfield Fair...Brian has stated he will NEVER go to another fair!  Every day in the office we crack up...Brian is always saying something hilarious and it really brightens up the mood in the office at times.  So I guess it would be fair to say that Brian is officially my first friend here in Boston.  

It's kind of weird because even though things here are really different, things happened the same, when I moved to Dallas I moved with my beloved dog Muffin RIP 1994-2010.  When I moved to Boston, I moved with my now beloved dog Zoey...which I'm sure all of you know who that is.  And I started a new chapter in my life who knows where I'll be next!

Well I know that I didn't do everything on my Top Ten Bucket List...but I hope to achieve some of them this year so we will see.  I'm trying to decide if I should still continue to write this blog being that it was only to be about my first year in Boston and how I've adjusted but I've been told by several people that they want me to continue so should I?  Should I complete the final episode of War of the Neighbors?  Should I complete my Boston bucket list?  Should I continue with my experiences here in Boston?  If I get enough requests, I may continue this blog...but this blog may come to an end. 

So officially for now, this is my last entry.  It has been great doing this and it has been a pleasure for all of you to read my entries.  So I end this by saying farewell my friends....until we meet again.

Well until next time....

HAYMARKET FARMERS MARKET

So today for my lunch break I walked over to this market that Brian took me to when I first moved here.  We went over there during lunch and it reminded me of the Farmers Market like Downtown Dallas except bigger.  (See not everything is bigger in Texas)  Anyway I was going there to try to find one item....EGGPLANT for the no pasta lasagna recipe I'm trying this weekend for dinner.

So I ask for directions to get there since I still don't really know my way around here other than going around the corner and off I go.  Boy was it crowded!  It was bad enough that there were alot of baby carriages there but on top of that everyone seemed to have their little old lady cart or back pack on wheels.  All I know is the next time I go I need to invest in something to carry my stuff back in. 

I made out like a bandit....I got a pound container of strawberries, , a bunch of scallions, 2 eggplants, 4 oranges and 2 pounds of grapes all for $6.00!!!!  What a baahhhhhgin!  So I definitely will be going back again at another time.

Next time I will get better pictures of all the great produce!

Well until next time....

FIBROMYALGIA - MY SILENT ILLNESS

Ever since I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2010, the previous 5 years of my life started to make alot of sense.  The sleepless nights, the fatigue, the joint and muscle pain, and the depression because I always felt like crap.  Alot of people do not understand and have told me I need to move more and it will be better.....this is NOT true.  I have also been told oh maybe if you lost some weight you won't hurt as much....this also is NOT true...just ask all of the people who are thin who have fibromyalgia.  I have also been told, go to bed early and get a good night of sleep....this would be nice if I could sleep through the pain that I'm in some nights.  Or what about when someone tells me just take some Tylenol, Advil, Aleve or Excedrin for the pain.....that would be great if Tylenol worked, Advil and Aleve didn't upset my stomach and Excedrin didn't have caffeine in it.  


I know you are probably thinking I have an "excuse" for everything but don't judge if you haven't walked a mile in my shoes.  I could never explain to someone how I feel sometimes so if you don't know what Fibromyalgia is, here is some information from this website http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/fibromyalgia-the-silent-disease-2008793.html below:

There have been numerous theories and to the cause of FM varying from viral illness to leaky gut syndrome to food intolerances and even to suggesting that it is an affliction of a particular personality type but, to date, no theory has been proven. The difficulty with diagnosis and treatment is that the diagnosis is one of exclusion; that is to say that the diagnosis is made when all other possible causes of the symptoms have been out-ruled. The other difficulty is that no two FM sufferers have the exact same array of symptoms. This makes treatment extremely difficult as an individually tailored approach is necessary for each patient. 

The typical onset is in females aged 30- 50 years, female sufferers outnumber male by 10 -1. Usually the person has lead a very healthy active life prior to onset of symptoms. The primary symptom is pain in the upper and lower quadrants of the body with numerous "tender points" at specific areas in the body- in particular in the neck, shoulders and lower back. What happens with symptoms as the illness progresses is quite baffling and remains a mystery to the medical profession. Numerous other symptoms arise which cannot be directly associated with the main symptom of pain. These symptoms are as disturbing as the pain itself and can make life almost unbearable for the sufferer. In addition, friends and family cannot understand the difficulty associated with having the illness and this adds additional stress to an already over stressed sufferer. These symptoms vary from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, constant headaches, developing allergies and sensitive to allergens which previously posed no problem to the sufferer, a feeling of being "drunk" and a bit " out of it", this is referred to as Fibro fog by the FM community. Fibro fog can be an especially difficult symptom to deal with as it also causes extreme forgetfulness and the sufferer appears absent minded. Sleep disturbance is another key feature. It is purported that people with FM fail to reach the state of deep sleep which is necessary for rebuilding and repair of all cells. Following on from this, the FM sufferer is very prone to every bug on the go- their bodies just don't have the resilience to fight off the common or garden bugs that we are all exposed to on a daily basis. This leads to multiple courses of antibiotics which upsets the natural flora and fauna of the digestive tract and irritates an already irritable bowel. Candidiasis takes hold which throws the patient back into the doctors surgery and so the negative spiral goes on and on.

It goes without saying that patients with FM are prone to episodes of depression but one thing about the incidence of depression is quite clear; FM patients do not have a higher incidence of depression that any other patient group who suffer from a chronic illness. FM sufferers are depressed because of their illness, the depression comes after the symptoms and it is not the other way around.   Doctors who may mean well by suggesting that the sufferer is merely depressed insult both the patient and their profession. FM has been recognised as a disease by the World Health Organisation for many years now and to doubt its' validity is just downright ignorant. Thankfully, this attitude is dying off now but there is still the occasional doctor/physician who doesn't believe the disease exists. Doctors base their decisions on scientific  evidence, well the evidence that the disease exists is more than abundant- just because orthodox medicine cannot find the root cause and therefore cure the illness does not invalidate the diseases existence and it merits the same attention and patience as any chronic debilitating disease.

One other particularly difficult issue for FM sufferers is that the patient may look relatively well, indeed they may look really well and so family and friends find it difficult to understand a disease where the symptom seem invisible. FM is known as a silent illness and generally the patient has but a few friends and family who truly know and appreciate what the sufferer goes through on a daily basis

So the next time you know someone who has this illness, give them a break because you really DON'T know what they are going through.  And because people don't take this illness seriously most of us suffer in silence just so we don't have to listen to what we should be or shouldn't be doing.

Well until next time....

I THINK I OWN A TASMANIAN DEVIL!

So it's been awhile since I have blogged about Zoey....I know I talk about her all the time but she is my pride and joy.  And Brian entertained the idea to me at work about doing a blog about her so here we go.

Zoey pretty much destroys everything in her path that she thinks is hers...mainly her toys.  Well last night she drags her blanket out of her crate and starts shaking it.  I go to put it back in her crate pick it up and what do I see????

Just so you know where that hole is used to be a stiched in picture of a chihuahua.  Guess she didn't like it since this is a perfect circle!  LOL  So all night last night I kept saying what did you do to your blanket?  I guess she got tired of me saying it because all I got was the look of "Will you just let it go???  It happened...get over it."

That dog has so much personality and I often wonder why she is so destructive at times.  Sometimes I wished I named her Tazzy...short for Tasmanian Devil because when she blows through my living room she can sometimes leave a path of destruction.  But I love her!

Well until next time....

FRENCH FRIED FAT TUESDAY!

I know...I know....you are probably wondering why I'm doing a blog in March for Fat Tuesday last month.  I've been thinking about what I should blog about since it's been a while and a thought popped into my head what about when I went to Saus!

I first heard about this place from my manager when she went some time ago.  The both of us are "TRUE" foodies and are always swapping experiences when we go to an awesome place.  So I told her that we have to walk over there for lunch one day.  We never went for lunch but we were going to a Fat Tuesday function and since we didn't know what they would be serving there what better thing to do than go to Saus! 

Now on the inside this place is VERY small....and you probably will enjoy more if you take things to go.  Let me just start out that the specialty of this place is their waffles and french fries...and even though I've been doing Weight Watchers since January I didn't care how much the points value was...I was gonna eat me some FRENCH FRIES!!!!  So I get there and I order the LARGE size and they were large

I was in heaven when these fries arrived....with every crunch of each french fry I ate it was so worth it.  Now I didn't eat all of these fries, I ate about half of them.  The small size would have been enough but like Brian said I got caught up in the excitement and it would have saved me $7.00!  Yes their fries are really expensive but so worth it because they do have about 12 specialty sauces (I had the Truffle Ketchup) and that is the topper for these awesome fries.  Brian didn't care for this place as much as I did but you have to be a true foodie to appreciate the awesome chrunchy deliciousness (is that a word?) of these fries.  And had just the right amount of salt added too...not too much....not too little.....it was juuuuusssst right!

But Brian ordered the chicken satay

I tried it and it tastes like teriyaki chicken that you get from the chinese restaurant and it comes with some type of peanut sauce to dip in.  We all didn't try this.  Lisa ordered the waffle and she really enjoyed it but I forgot to take a picture of that.  All in all this was a fun experience and being able to go out with people in the office was nice.  I definitely will see myself eating there again...just as soon as I drop some pounds!

Well until next time....

FAT TUESDAY FUN!!!

Soooooo my office was invited to an agency function on Fat Tuesday.  I'm constantly comparing Boston to Dallas and this will be my first Fat Tuesday on the East Coast.  Let me say it was different but has fun at this function...the free drinks, meeting new people that I talk to on the phone or e-mail with, free drinks, wearing beads and funky hats, free drinks, looking at all the costumes people wore (not many), food, and by the way did I say free drinks?

Well all in all it was a fun night, it was nice to get out and do something different and best of all I got a new hat and a set of beads added to my collection

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful and fun!

P.S.  I didn't have to flash anything for the new set of beads...don't be jealous!

Well until next time....