Mammogram

A few weeks ago I went to the lady-parts doctor for my annual exam and to ask her some questions about pregnancy. She suggested that I get tested for the Rubella and Chicken Pox vaccines to make sure I had them in my system. She also recommended that I get a mammogram done since I'm in my late 30s and they don't do mammograms on women who are pregnant or breast feeding.

I couldn't remember if I had ever had a mammogram done before, and anyone I said that to said "Oh, you'd remember if you had."  Since I don't remember, then I guess I haven't?

I went in on Wednesday for my mammogram.  I had it done at the Scripps Polster Breast Care Center in La Jolla, which is a very nice facility.  Almost like a spa, except for all the medical equipment and whatnot.  I even got a chair massage after my mammogram!  The technician who performed my test was very pleasant.  I have to say, the mammogram didn't hurt at all.  It wasn't even that uncomfortable.  Probably the weirdest thing was having her man-handle (woman-handle?) my breasts to get them situated properly on the machine.  Yeah, they got squished, but it didn't hurt!  I asked her about it and she said that women with smaller breasts probably feel it more, but those of us who have the bigger boobs (even after a reduction!) maybe don't feel it as much.  Any thoughts on that from those of you out there who have had a mammogram?

The Polster Center is also where I went in 2008 to have an ultrasound done on a lump in my left breast, and then a surgery to remove said lump (benign) in 2009.  So being there again definitely brought up some thoughts about cancer.  That and the fact that the night before I went, I found out that a friend of mine has cancer.  Supposedly it's the "good" kind of cancer to get, and once they remove the tumor and do something radioactive, she should be fine.  And we don't know for sure.  But I am definitely sending lots of positive thoughts and energy and love her way.  I'm not a big fan of cancer, and I'm looking forward to the day (hopefully very soon!) where some brilliant scientist somewhere out there comes up with a cure.

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A Haircut

This morning when we were lounging around in bed (yes, we're taking advantage of the fact that we can do that since we don't have kids!), I was noticing how long Donovan's hair was getting on top, and I decided that I wanted to try and cut it myself.  Every time he goes for a haircut I go with and I sit and watch them cut his hair.  I realize that cutting hair is an art.  I realize this every time I watch my friend Gea cut my hair.  So no, I don't think that suddenly with no training whatsoever I'm going to be a world-class hair stylist.  And, at the same time, Donovan's haircut is not that complicated, and I wanted to give it a try!

Lucky for me, he was game to try it.  So tonight, before we went out to dinner with our friends Melinda and Heath, I took a stab (pun intended?) at hair cutting.  We decided that the kitchen would be the best place to do this, since we have tile flooring that we could sweep up afterwards.  We wrapped Donovan in a sheet (no fancy capes here!) and I got to work.  First I started with the electric hair clipper with a #4 attachment, and I gave the lower part of his [big giant] head a pass.  Then I took off the attachment and used the clippers to shave his sideburns, the back of his neck, and around the ears.  Then came the real fun part.  The scissors!

I have no idea how people hold the comb and scissors in the same hand and actually use them.  That SO did not work for me!  I quickly gave up on that attempt, and just mostly ran my fingers through his hair instead.  We were going for finger-length hair on top, so that's what I did.  I cut and I cut and I cut and I sprayed water and I cut and I cut and I cut and I sprayed more water and I cut and I cut...for like forty-five minutes!  Me being the meticulous perfectionist that I am, I needed to make sure that I got it right and didn't miss anything (which of course I did anyway!).  Donovan was very patient with me, and seemed to be enjoying the experience, as I certainly was!

In the end, his haircut turned out really well!  Ironically, finger-length turned out to be about the same as if I had just used one of the attachments on the electric clippers...kind of like a long buzz cut.  But it still looks good, and now I have more confidence in my ability to cut hair!  I'm unclear why it turned out a little shorter than we wanted, but we're both happy with the end result, and that's all that matters!  I'm looking forward to the next time!!  :)

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Thursdays are Good!

Last fall, Donovan brought up the idea of working four-tens, which means that he works ten hours a day for four days, and then gets one day off each week.  At the time, we had a lot of weekend trips planned, and the extra day made those trips easier for us.  Still, the idea of his working ten hour days when he had a hard time getting to the office by 10:00am was a bit daunting for me.  I wasn't sure how this would affect the time we would get to spend together in the evenings, but we decided to give it a try.

Here we are several months later, and I have to say that I'm mostly a fan of the four-tens.  There are days when it doesn't work out great and Donovan gets home really late, but for the most part, it's pretty cool.  Donovan's regular day off is Thursday, though sometimes we change it if we have travel planned.  Thursdays are fun days!  It's another day where we can hang out or do stuff, or Donovan can get stuff done (if I let him!).  We've gone on bike rides, gone to Disneyland, gone for long walks, slept in, gone for sushi...

It's really fun to be out and about doing stuff with my husband on a day where he's "supposed" to be working!  Or staying in bed till noon, or just relaxing the day away, or whatever!  Donovan tells me I should feel free to schedule appointments on Thursdays, but I try to keep my Thursdays open since we have so much fun on these days.  There's something almost scandalous about hanging out together on a weekday!  Yay for Thursdays!!!  :)

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The Hunger Games

A week and a half ago I started reading the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy.  I'm a little behind the times, apparently.  I hadn't really heard of the books until I first saw the preview for the upcoming movie.  My good friend Roz recommended that I read the books, and then my cousin Sigal wrote a blog post to the opposite effect.  Even with as busy as we were last week, by Wednesday night I was done with the first book.  I immediately bought and downloaded the second book onto my Kindle and started reading it on Thursday morning.  I was itching to read it at every possible opportunity, and we were happily otherwise occupied for most of the rest of the week.  By Monday afternoon, after sitting and reading for almost four hours, I finished the second book.  After doing a few productive things, I started the third book on Monday evening, and finished it this morning.  I'm really glad that I waited to start reading the books until all three were published (kind of like I did with the Twilight books), or I would have gone nuts in between!

Having read all three books in a week and a half, I was pretty immersed into the world created by Suzanne Collins.  I'm actually feeling at a bit of a loss right now that there isn't more to read about these characters.  I really enjoyed the books...they are very readable, the story is very engaging, and the character development is great.  I really feel like I personally know these people and what they went through.  What I don't quite understand, similar to what my cousin wrote in her blog, is how this is a young adult book.  It's quite violent, and addresses some very adult topics.  It was fine for me as an adult (of sorts...), and I can't imagine reading it as a twelve year old.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Hollywood brings this world to life.  There's a lot of opportunity for some pretty amazing effects, costumes and acting.

If you haven't read these books, I do highly recommend them.  But be warned, you may get sucked in and be totally unproductive and anti-social while you're reading them!

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A Really Good Week

Last week Donovan and I went on a vacation of sorts.  We flew up to the Bay Area, saw my family, saw his parents (who were visiting from Hawaii), he attended a huge game developers conference in San Francisco, we went to Napa, had dinners with friends, ate lots of food...it was fun!

It was the first time that we, his parents, and my parents all stayed under one roof, and it worked out really well.  Although I have to admit that the first night, as we were laying in bed, I was a little weirded out at the fact that his parents were in the room next door, and my parents were in the room above us.  :)

I got to play tennis with my dad three times throughout the week, which was really fun.  In the past I've complained about how small his court is (it's a mini-court), but this time I was able to play really well in it...guess my tennis is improving!

We had a great time in Napa with Donovan's parents, complete with wine tastings, good food, and a really nice hotel.  They get special privileges at some of the wineries, so we got special treatment (and discounts!), which was cool.  I got to thinking about living in wine country and owning a winery, so we're going to put it on our list of places to try and live for a few months somewhere down the road.

I took the whole week off from blogging and doing any school work (except for the calls I had scheduled), and I'm very glad I did!  It feels like I was incredibly busy the entire week, either going places and doing things, or hanging out with family.  Not a bad thing at all, and I'm glad I didn't have to find time for those extras!

I've noticed something before on my visits up north, and noticed it much more this time since it was an extended trip.  I tend to spend much less time on the computer and online when I'm up there.  Probably because I'm always busy doing something or seeing someone.  This past week, I checked e-mails and Facebook on my phone, and occasionally posted pictures from my phone of our adventures.  My laptop made it out of my backpack for less than 24 hours, and I didn't really even use the computer at my parents' house.  It's not a bad thing by any means, and I enjoyed the break.  And it makes me wonder if I spend too much time on the computer when I'm home.  It seems to be the default thing to do...sit down at the desk and either do something productive, or just piddle around on the Internet.  Something to pay attention to, and see if I want to make any changes.

We had a really great week last week, and I'm very happy to be home!  The kitchen is coming along very nicely, and should hopefully be mostly done by this weekend.  Countertops are being installed on Friday!!  I'm very excited!!!