2 More Shots, Really?!?!

So I ventured to the Lewisville Health Department yesterday to acquire two more shots that I needed. The place was packed but the whole trip ended up taking like half an hour. Hep A shot was awesome, didn't even feel it. Hep B hurt like a son of gun. And I get to get another one of those in a month. Yay!

I also found out that now I also need to get a typhoid shot and a polio booster. What the h? Luckily the Health Department is wonderful and offers these shots for somewhat low prices.

I figure I'll give my arms a week to rest before getting my next round.

Shots

Have I ever mentioned that I hate needles? Because I do. So much so that I don't even give blood. I know this probably makes me a terrible person, but I can't stand them. This is one of the many reasons I have never gotten a tattoo and why it took me 24 years to get my ears pierced.

So imagine how I felt when I realized that traveling to Africa would mean, you guessed it, getting shots. After checking with the CDC I realized that I would need 3 vaccinations for my journey. Yellow Fever, Hep A, and Hep B shots. I went for my yellow fever shot a little over two weeks ago. Sit back and let me tell you the tale.

As I mentioned above I hate needles and I get extremely nervous whenever I have to get a shot. Knowing this I asked my friend Paige to go with me to get my shot. So Paige and I set out to the Health Department to get my first shot. I was only able to get the yellow fever because they were out of the others I needed. So we're patiently waiting for my number to be call (24 in case you were wondering). As we're sitting I started to get more and more fidgety. Paige finally looked at me and asked what was wrong. It was at this time that I informed her of my hatred of needles. Finally one of the nurses came up to me and handed me the info sheet on yellow fever. I began reading over the sheet out loud to Paige. When I started reading the possible side effects section (you know this could cause fever, headache, severe nerve damage, etc.) she ripped the sheet from my hands and told me to calm down. A couple minutes later the called my number. Paige asked if she needed to go back with me and I told her that I think I could be strong and do it alone.

So the nurse escorted me back to what looked like a regular office and sat me in a chair. She looked at me and asked if I was in any way pregnant. I told her "no" to which she responded, "are you sure?" Yeah lady I'm positive. 10 seconds later I was back out the door. The shot hurt just a tad. It was quite a pinch if you ask me. Then of course my arm burned a little bit afterward. But the important thing is I survived and didn't suffer from any random side effects.

Yay me!

Tomorrow afternoon I will venturing to the Health Department in Lewisville to get the rest of my shots. I'm not sure what to expect though. I looked into getting these shots at a couple of places and it seems that Hep A could possibly be a 2 shot series and the Hep B a 3 shots series. Ask me how excited I am about that.

45 days to go.

Countdown to Africa!

For those of you who may not know, in 50 days I'll be winging my way to Africa. That's right, I'm crossing the big blue ocean and going on what's sure to be the vacation of a lifetime. Granted, I've already been to some amazing places across the globe but what makes this trip stand out is that I'm making the journey there and back solo. I'm not gonna lie, that makes me really nervous. Sure I've traveled many a times but always with my family or a large group. It's safe to say though that my excitement outweighs my nervousness.

Some might wonder why I'm traveling to The Dark Continent. But if you know me at all (which if you read this blog you must because I doubt that I have a secret following for this thing made up of strangers) then you know it's to go and visit my best friend Sarah and her amazing husband Matt (that's them down below). They've been working in Sudan for the last year doing amazing things for Samaritan's Purse. Since they moved over there we've always talked about me going for a visit and that time is finally here. So, I thought it'd be fun to use the ol' blog to document things I'm doing to get ready for the trip.

As you can probably tell, if you're a dedicated reader, Insanity didn't work out so well. I think we lasted all of two weeks with that little venture. Oh well, I guess you could say it's better to have started and failed then to have not started at all.

Anyways, from now on I plan on updating you with all the little tidbits I feel like sharing as I prep for the longest vacation I've taken in awhile. Some fun things have already happened so I'll share those is other little blurbs.

We Won!!!!

Last Thursday the Kickin' Friends took the Co-Rec Intramural Kickball Championship. We ended up playing the Rec team again. You remember the Rec team, I wrote of them in an earlier post. Turns out the guy with a the really poor attitude still has a really poor attitude about losing. We were playing like champs from the start. We were the first team to kick. In the first inning we scored 8 runs. Matt kicked a grand slam. It was awesome. Khaki Cap (that's what I call poor attitude guy) started out as pitcher but after we scored so many runs he decided his talents were being wasted so he moved to the outfield. It didn't really help the team much. We ended up winning 10-1 I think. Here we are below with our awesome t-shirts.

Needless to say the Kickin' Friends will be back to defend our title. It was a super fun season and well worth the rec fee to be able to play.

The Holidays Are Upon Us

And I couldn't be more excited. I am so ready to go home tomorrow for my most favoritist of holidays. I can't really say why, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas but there's just something about Thanksgiving that makes me love it more.

I'm very excited about this year because of my desire to try new things. I plan on trying everything that my mom makes this year. I'll report back with new likes and dislikes.

The RAs are currently shutting down the building. There's nothing I love more than an almost empty residence hall. Everything is so quite and peaceful. It makes me wish that it was already the end of the semester. That's the only bad thing about Thanksgiving, it's such a tease for the Christmas break.

I'm actually looking forward to my drive home tomorrow. I've got my iPod ready and am ready to sing until my little heart's content. Granted I can't carry a tune in a bucket but when I'm alone in my car I'm a pro. I'm so ready to see my family and spend time with them. I am also excited to see Amy's new house. Now I'll have two places to visit when I go home.

Tonight will probably be an early once since I'll be hitting the road bright and early in the a.m. But not before I get my fill of Glee for the evening.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We Just Can't Be Stopped

Last night the Kickin' Friends took the field yet again and walked away with wins in both our games. Sure the first game was won by forfeit but the second was a true competition. We played the Rec Sports team in our second game and it was by far the hardest game yet. It some ways it was also very sad. You would think that the Rec Sports team would be very friendly and set the example of good sportsmanship. Man was this the wrong assumption to have. Although I shouldn't pin their awful sportsmanship on the whole team, just one of their team members. There was one guy on their team who had a poor attitude from the start. He was questioning plays, rules, and calls. Come to find out at the end of the game he's the guys who actually wrote the kickball rules so I was surprised that he seemed to be so confused about the way the game worked. He was also such a spoil sport that after we beat them he didn't even shake anyones hand to say "Good Game!" In fact the whole team seemed in shock when we started approaching them to do this. I mean really people, it's kickball, not the World Series or the World Cup.

Anyway, everyone did an amazing job last night. I think the final score ended up being 2-0 or 3-0. Matt had an awesome homerun that really pissed off a couple of their players. I had the best game of the season last night. Granted it started off not so great. At my first two at kicks I had to try to beat the ball to first base. Instead of just throwing the ball to the baseman the jerk from above thought it more appropriate to try to peg me as hard as he could. The first time I'm not sure what happened I just know I ended up rolling on the ground. The second time I got pegged in the head after crossing the base but they still called me out. (Don't worry my memory is still in tact) Again this hit also resulted in me tumbling on the ground. But I brushed myself off and took my position in left field and ended up making two catches in the outfield. It's funny, and you wouldn't think it would, but catching a pop up kickball is kind of a rush. Especially since the balls were pretty high on both catches and the fact that both were kicked by guys who thought their "shit didn't stink." Pardon the expression.

I'm pretty sure that this secured us a place in the championships. Our next games won't be until December. I'm sure we'll be playing the Chi Alpha team or the Rec Sports team for the Championship game. Playing Rec Sports would be a more intense game but Chi Alpha is so much more fun to play with because they're competitive without being jerks, so we'll see.

That's all I got for now. As you can tell INSANITY was kinda put on the back burner this week. We're hoping to get a couple of days in next week then really hit it hard after Thanksgiving.

Trying New Things, In This Case Food

For those of you who know me well you know that I am somewhat of a picky eater. Granted my tastes have changed quite a bit over the past few years. I thought some might enjoy hearing about some of my most recent food adventures. (And just so you know what I find adventurous, 90% of the population finds ordinary.)

First on the list, vegetables. I used to hate pretty much any vegetable. Now I find myself craving and enjoying corn and various steamed vegetables. I have gone so far as to try green beans, asparagus, squash, and various other things. I don't get what the fuss is all about with the asparagus, can't say it really knocked my socks off. But corn is becoming a new favorite, especially when it's on the cob.

Next is desserts. I'm much more of a salty than sweet person but lately the sweet tooth has been kicking in. I now LOVE peach cobbler. I would say it's one of my new favorite things. I used to hate cooked fruit, mainly because of the texture. Now I find myself trying various fruity desserts. Still not a fan of cherries though. I've also branched out to various pies and puddings. Before I could always go without a dessert or something sweet but now it's a little bit harder to pass it up.

Now the next thing I'm about to talk about might upset a couple of people. Mainly Ben and Sarah because for years they have tried to get me to bend on this and I never would. I would always say NO! when they offered this as a lunch option so I want to apologize to them for always being so firm on that answer. This week I went to lunch with my friend Zack. Lately I've been choosing where we eat so when we were discussing where to go he mentioned wanting Panera. I have always been adamant in my stance against Panera because I've never been a huge soup, salad, sandwich person. Especially with Panera because I believe their sandwiches to be "too fancy," which if you know me you know what that means. Granted this has slowly been changing in current years thanks in large part to Sarah and only taking me to sandwich shops when we went to DC. Anyway back to the point I'm trying to make. So Zack suggests Panera and at first I tell him that I would prefer to go somewhere else, but he pleads his case for wanting soup and a sandwich. I realized as he was talking that almost every food suggestion Zack has made to me I always say no or say that I don't like something. Feeling bad about this I felt it was time to give in and finally go to Panera and give it a shot. I ended up enjoying my Panera lunch experience very much. (Don't get me wrong, I've always loved Panera for breakfast, I'm not that crazy.) Granted all I had was a turkey sandwich and some mac & cheese but it was quite tasty. I also tried Zack's Tomato Basil soup which I ended up liking very much. So, Panera can now officially be added to the places to go for lunch list. Again, Ben and Sarah, I'm sorry for always saying no. I should have been a good friend and sacrificed going so many years ago. Please forgive me.

Now on to coffee beverages. Just today I discovered that I might enjoy a latte from time to time. Paige and I went to Starbucks and their special holiday menu caught my eye, so I decided to order a Caramel Brulee Latte. Turns out it is quite a wonderful beverage. Although after awhile it got to be too sweet. Paige ordered the Gingerbread Latte which was also very tasty. Granted I don't plan on making Starbucks a habit because I still believe that paying $4 for a cup of coffee a day is ridiculous. But it is a nice treat from time to time.

So those are my food tales. I hope you enjoyed them. I'm very much looking forward to Thanksgiving and possibly adding more to my plate than just turkey, potatoes, and a roll.