Confessions

I am not Catholic, and I'm certainly no expert on the origins, or purpose, of going to confession, but I think that on some level I understand its appeal. There is a sort of relief that comes from confessing things - whether to a priest, a good friend, or even to the vast world we know as the blogosphere (I did not make up this word. It is on Wikipedia. I swear. But I do think it should be changed... it sounds a bit like a publicity gimmick created by a corrupt Illinois politician). Where was I? Oh right. Confessing. Here is what I need to confess tonight:

1) It has been almost a year since I last posted (again, not an expert on the subject, but isn't that kind of how you are supposed to begin a confession?). This is due to a number of reasons, including (this is embarrassing) the fact that I forgot how/where to log in to my blog. Several times I thought of things I wanted to post, but alas, I failed (see previous post entitled Bad "Blogger"). I did stash bits and pieces of thoughts and stories elsewhere, so I may dig those up and see about posting them now that I have mastered the art of logging in again (turns out, it is NOT that hard).

2) I just took a bath/shower during a thunderstorm. I realize this was an ill-advised move on my part (although a brief search just now revealed conflicting information as to the exact risk of being struck by lightning whilst bathing). However, it is April and the forecast shows a chance of thunderstorms every day for the next week straight, so I figured the lightning risk had to be equal to (if not less than) the risk of being reported to HR at work for a lack of personal hygiene.

3) I made carrot/zucchini muffins last night and they turned out AWFUL. I'm kind of baffled as to why. They sounded so promising! And healthy! I was actually feeling rather impressed with my culinary/health skills last night. I invented a bean salad with tomatoes and avocado that is actually very tasty (and by "invented" I mean I looked up a recipe that had somewhat similar ingredients and then adjusted according to what I had in my pantry). And then I thought I would use the leftover carrot pulp I had from juicing the night before and make these muffins. I thawed some shredded zucchini I had in the freezer from last summer's garden, all the while basking in my resourcefulness and kitchen goddess-ness. I mixed up the batter, distributed into the muffin cups, and spent the baking time brainstorming a Facebook status to brag about my soon-to-be muffin masterpieces. Pride go-eth before a fall. Apparently. I now have a tupperware box full of overly dense, sort of squishy, carrot/zucchini globs. Oh well. At least my bean salad turned out well!


I think that is all I need to confess right now. But before I sign off for the night, let me briefly review what has happened in my life since my last post. Let's see... Oh, I got puppy last July 4th weekend. He was actually a belated Christmas present from my husband (Paul) from the first year we were married. He is a silver lab named Gibbs and he is a riot. This is Gibbs as a puppy:


This is Gibbs more recently:


Gibbs joins our other dog (Macy), and two cats (Phantom and Hugo), pictured below:


I am not sure what they were all discussing in that last picture. I do think that whomever was in possession of the black rubber dog toy got to speak. Anyway, all of the animals are getting along fabulously now and yes, I am aware that they are all gray and white. We did not plan this. Well, except for Gibbs. I really wanted a Silver Lab.

Aside from the puppy, the rest of 2010 was a blur of grad school classes, a road trip that included visiting friends in Kentucky and Georgia as well as my parents in North Carolina, and starting a new job. Yes, it is official, I now write for a living! I am very excited about this. No, it is not blogging or even writing articles or books (all goals I have for myself in the future). But it is writing nevertheless. My title is now Medical Writer and I write cancer research protocols. I could probably fill several posts explaining how this all came about, but suffice it to say that I love my new job and am very happy to have gotten this opportunity.

I am sure there are many more things I could write, but as this post has already gotten quite long, I will close with a thought that has been nagging at me lately, and which will likely be the subject of many more posts to come: God wants us to be healthy. Being healthy (in all aspects: physical, mental, spiritual, and so on) is something that I have been striving for over the past year or so. And I do not mean just in a New Year's resolution kind of way. And in addition, I have been pondering (yes, I tend to overuse that word) what, exactly, it means to be healthy. Only recently have I started to explore and understand how the various aspects of health are related, and in particular, how being unhealthy in any one aspect can severely affect my ability to be healthy in others. I will likely dedicate some of my next posts to my thoughts on this topic and my own personal journey in search of good health.