Have no fear...

...I'm still here!

I've been a little MIA the last half of March. Partly because I've been a little "under the weather" and partly because life flies by faster and faster!

But I'm back with a vengeance. (Not really, but I am back.)

First things first--I'm sorry if this post is all over the place. I have a thousand things I want to share and I think I have a mild case of ADD this morning.

Well where do I begin?

I guess I could start with my horrible day yesterday.

I didn’t get a very good night’s sleep because I’ve been fighting head congestion/sore throat/runny nose since Sunday morning. So I haven’t slept through the night in about 4 days and I woke up with a headache and stuffy nose. Then I realized that my mouth was in a lot of pain. After closer examination, I discovered a bump on my tongue, a bite in my lip, a cut in my cheek, and a bruise on my gum. (I do have good dental hygiene, I promise!) I have no idea how all of that happened at once, but it sure did hurt. (The bump is now gone from my tongue and my gum is feeling a lot better!)

So, I started to get ready for the day and I thought I would try something different with my hair. (Bad idea.) Instead of going straight, I opted to do my “summer curl” look. After applying the mouse, Aqua Net hairspray (yes, they still make that stuff), and some curling gel I set out to diffuse my hair. And diffuse I did! When my hair was completely dry I flipped my head over and WHOA! I looked like a lion! I had Kelly look at it and he said, “You might want to start over.” YIKES! So I hopped back in the shower at 7:00 am (when I was suppose to be heading out the door for work) to start my morning routine over.

Fortunately I was only 45 minutes late to work. “FORTY FIVE minutes you say”…Well, I’m suppose to get to work at 7:30. But that rarely ever happens. I usually get there by 8:00 and yesterday I arrived at 8:15. So, you look at it however you want to.

Nonetheless, I was frazzled when I arrived.

Wait, let’s back up – wouldn’t want to forget running into the door on my way into the office.

OK, so I had a 10:30 meeting on Budget (boring!) and when I got out, I had an email from Kelly (which I opened right away.) I’ve inserted it below (with names and location deleted for security reason), but let me set the ground work first. We’ve been planning a trip to San Diego for our two year wedding anniversary for over a month and a half now and we’re scheduled to leave this weekend! I have been planning our every move, with maps, phone numbers, reservations numbers, and everything else you could possibly think of.

Here’s his email:

Natalie,

Please see email below from Yvette. I’ve already tried to talk to here about it and tell her that we have made reservations and car rentals, but she still won’t approve my time off. I’ll call you later to talk to you about it once I have “cooled off”. Just trying to be optimistic, but maybe we can still go for Saturday and Sunday.

From:Yvette
Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 10:03 AM
To: O'donnell, Kelly

Subject: RE:

Kelly,

I hate to do this because I know that you have a trip planned this weekend, but we are going to need all hands on deck with the HELOC loans transfer to MetLife. I’m going to need you to be here on Monday and Tuesday of next week to assist with the volume that we will receive. As you know, flexibility is a big part to working in our department and we need you to be here. Again I’m sorry to do this, but it is necessary.

Yvette


So immediately I hit the roof. I didn’t know what to do, so I emailed him back letting him know I was extremely upset, disappointed, etc. offering back-up plans and everything. Oh, and I was crying at this point. Once he got my e-mail, he called me at the office. After a few minutes he says, “Are you crying?” I said, “Of course I am! I was so looking forward to this trip.” And then he says, “What day is it?” I said, “Wednesday.” And he said, “No, what day is it?” And I said, “April 1st.” And that’s when it hit me. I was filled with fury knowing he had just punked me at work and I hung up on him. My boss came out of her office and closed my door because she was afraid something terrible had happened. Kelly called back and told me the whole thing was an April Fools Joke. (Did I mention I HATE April Fools?)

I had a headache the rest of the day because of my ride on the emotional rollercoaster.

After that, my day seemed to get better. I still wasn’t feeling 100% when I left the office so when I got home we grabbed a bite to eat at Chicken Express (YUM!) and then went to Walgreens to get some Musinex D (which is now my BFF) and some Excedrin Tension Headache. I could feel the effects almost immediately. I mean to tell you, that stuff is amazing! I took 2 pills last night at 7:00 am and I woke up at 5:00 am bright eyed and bushy tailed! I felt like I was on speed! For the first time in days I’d actually slept through the night and it felt amazing!

OK, well I’m going to have to wrap this up but stay tuned for more updates on:

• Cooper
• My newest book purchase
• Our San Diego Trip
• Chicago Roomie Trip

April’s a busy month!