Rebooting My Main "Frame"

Last Monday I woke up with a sharp pain in my neck that extended from the base of my skull, down under my left shoulderblade. I couldn't turn my head to the left. I couldn't ride in the car without screaming each time we hit a bump or pothole...it was ugly. Steve suggested I go see the chiropractor who has been helping him with his sciatic pain over the past couple months.

Long story short - I am very wary of having anyone mess with my neck. I actually worked for a for a company that sold malpractice insurance to chiropractors for four years and have heard every horror story in the book! I have always said that I believe in the fundamentals of chiropractic, but had never been to one, and if I DID go to one, I wouldn't let them touch my neck.

...and then I woke up with debilitating pain in my neck...

So I let two days pass by until I was in brutal pain on Wednesday and caved. Steve set up the appointment for me. Thankfully, the Dr. is a very nice man who completely understood my hesitation. He was very thorough and took x-rays first. When he showed me the x-rays, I kind of freaked out. The 2-3 vertebrae just below my skull, are sort of compacted onto one another. Even I could see it with my untrained eye! He asked if I'd been in any accidents, fallen, or bumped my head in such a way that I would have sustained this sort of "whiplash" style injury. He said it looked like it could have been like this for 10 years or longer!!! Well then, let's see, as a teen I was a competitive skater and fell many times, banging my head on the ground. In college, I flew over the handlebars of my mountain bike and landed on my face. In '96 and '03 I was involved in minor car accidents...

Then he asked if I ever get headaches...oh boy. DO I EVER! Needless to say, after a twist to my neck (that sounded like someone stepped on a bag of doritos!) I was sent on my merry way with instructions to ice it well.

Three appointments later...I am happy to report full range of motion in my neck. No pain in my shoulder, and significantly fewer tension headaches. NICE!

In other news... I mentioned a few posts back that I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel as far as my big work project was concerned...I guess I was jumping the gun. It's still very much on my plate, and growing into a bigger monster every day. I am asking the universe to help me complete this project before the end of March so I do not go insane. Wish me (and the universe!) luck on that.

Rick Springfield Lullaby Album

For all you Rick Springfield fans out there (come on, ADMIT IT) Rick has a new album of children's lullabies coming out March 10! Here's the details:

My Precious Little One: Lullabies For A New Generation

Rick decided to head in a different direction with his newest album, My Precious Little One, by sharing the lullabies he created for his own family. "I wrote these original lullabies for my two sons during the heady days of brand new fatherhood. As a songwriter, I wanted to do something to commemorate the birth of our children. Since neither of them were good sleepers, it seemed like a good idea to write some lullabies, " says Rick. "I rediscovered them last year, stuck in the back of a drawer in my music room. They brought back so many good memories of our kids when they were babies, that I decided to rerecord and share them." The ten beautiful and heartfelt original tracks on this album create a peaceful atmosphere that is sure to sooth and relax all who listen. Perfect for Mothers and their children.

I heard some of the tracks off this, and if you like Rick, you'll dig this album for your kids (or yourself!) Tracks off this album can be heard at Rick's website. YAY!

Surprise Flowers

Steve surprised me on Friday night with a mini red rosebush. He said it was a late Valentine's Day gift...and something to add to our garden (once the snow finally melts). So my challenge now is to keep it alive until it is planting season.

I decided to take an up-close photo of one of the blooms, and discovered I had also captured our new living room artwork (a.k.a. Buddha) in the background. Look at me taking the "artsy" photos:


In other news, my sister is back to chemo so check our her blog and send some extra love her way this week. Also, my friend Megan has jumped on the blogger train this week with all sorts of product insights to share. Things at work are a bit nuts this week as I try to wrap up a project I've been working on for nearly a YEAR. Wish me luck... :)

So I'll be an entertainment blogger for a moment...

I've had some questions and quite a few comments about my Rick Springfield photo and what I was up to, etc. Basically, as part of his radio job, Steve was invited to attend a music industry event at a swanky resort down in San Diego this past weekend. Since it was Valentine's Day weekend, Steve's (very cool) boss was going to bring his wife, and suggested that Steve bring me along as well (for just the price of my plane ticket!) So off we went. This event is an annual three-day festival/event put on by music promoters and record labels. It features concerts every evening from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. from (mostly) "up-and-coming" recording artists and some who are well known, but have new music being released soon. It's a chance for the folks in the industry to preview the artists and their music, and decide which folks they might add to their playlists, etc.

Anyway, our first night down there, it turns out that Rick Springfield was one of the featured artists (he has a new CD out). As we checked in to our room at the resort, we noticed a yellow ribbon on one of the doors next to our room. Yes, it turns out the yellow ribbon signified Rick Springfield's suite! Long story short, Steve has been in the radio business for over 25 years, so he has met Rick before (in 1985), and was able to chat him up while I got my photo taken. Rick was completely gracious and down-to-earth. :) Later that evening, he played a show for about 100 industry folks (including me - eeek!) and since the majority of industry folks there were men, there were only about 25 of us women who went nuts when he played. Our own private little R.S. concert! He played two new songs (which were great!) and then "Affair of the Heart" and of course, ended the show with fan favorite "Jessie's Girl". I was literally about 5-10 feet from him the whole time (as my slideshow photos depict!)

I also had the chance to chat later that evening with Chris Isaak, who has the cutest little maltese dog that travels everywhere with him (including onstage!) and wears a rhinestone-studded jacket similar to Isaak's. I told Chris that I recalled him playing at the children's hospital where I formerly worked a few years back - and thanked him for doing that. He said lately they have been playing a lot of veteran's hospitals for guys coming back from Iraq. He said sometimes he thinks the guys are more excited to see his dog than to hear him play, but he is totally OK with that! Nice guy, no crazy ego there... He played some new songs and also "Wicked Game" which was terrific.

Also in the audience at the event were legendary MTV Veejay, Mark Goodman - and new Americ@n Id0l judge, Kara DioGuardi.

Some of the other artists/bands who performed throughout the weekend included Eric Hutchinson, Third Eye Blind, and a band called Tamarama (whose singer Jay currently has a leading role in the MTV reality series "The City") - Steve and the band's manager literally had to beat back about twenty starry-eyed fourteen-year-old girls in order for me to get a picture with Jay - haha. He was cool about taking a photo with an "old lady" such as myself...and when I thanked him, he rubbed my shoulder and said "you're welcome" in a very soft Australian accent...(I can see why the young girls are so smitten!)

Saturday night's highlight (for me) was an amazing Beatle's tribute band called the Fab Four. By the end of their performance they had the entire room up on it's feet dancing and singing along to "Hey Jude" it was great fun.

In the mornings, Steve had to attend and speak on some panels on industry trends. I slept in. In the afternoons we had some free time. The world-renowned Deepak Chopra Center is also located at the resort, so on Friday we engaged in a meditation session there, and bought an amazing little blanket for Lia that literally made me cry when I saw it. It is pink and imprinted with dozens of positive child affirmations, some of them seeming especially loving for an adopted child. On Saturday afternoon, we used our free hours to drive down to Mission Beach, where Steve lived when he worked in San Diego years ago. He showed me the house he lived in (literally a half-block from the beach). So beautiful. I definitely fell in love with San Diego, La Jolla, Del Mar, and the surrounding areas.

Sunday we took a quick drive through Balboa Park, then had lunch at a restaurant right on the bay near downtown San Diego, where we took in the public WWII and Bob Hope exhibits near the USS Midway. Then, after spending way too many hours in a PACKED San Diego airport yesterday (there we many flights delayed due to strong storms up in the Bay Area) we finally got home around 11 p.m. last night to fresh snow falling in Spokane (yuck). Thankfully, I was off work due to President's Day today...so I've had a bit of time to regroup and readjust to the two "W's" (work and winter).

It's an "Affair of the Heart"...

Rick Springfield...and ME...yesterday...

...enough said. :)

22 Months

Today is 22 months since my log in date in China. I don't really have any other comments about that...the wait just continues... On the bright side, my former "secret" and still-a-pal Marcy received her Letter of Acceptance this week from China. So she and her family will be traveling soon to get their little girl! EXCITING.

For Christmas, Steve bought me some very cool beads at a local shop that sells gifts from around the world. He also got me a gift certificate, so I could go back to the shop and have them strung in to a necklace. So last weekend we ventured to the shop and the woman there actually taught me how to string them myself! It was so fun, and my necklace turned out really pretty... I think this could turn into a really fun hobby for me:

I even made a bracelet to match. They also offer classes in jewelry design and I think I am going to sign up for the next one.

We are off the southern California later this week. It's a work trip for Steve, but it's a radio/music festival being held at a really cool resort, so I am going along to enjoy a mini vacation for the Valentine's Day weekend. The weather is supposed to be somewhat cool and cloudy, but 60 degrees and overcast is still a HUGE improvement over 30s and snow flurries...so I'm happy!

Do we sense a "theme" here?

When we were in Seattle last weekend, we visited my cousin, K.C. who presented me with this ADORABLE fleece hat for Lia that she picked up on a recent trip to northern California...

After we left K.C.'s place, we ducked into S@m's Club (which we don't have in Spokane)...where we typically buy our dog treats in bulk. We didn't find the dog treats we were looking for, but with ladybugs on the brain...I nearly went nuts when I saw the children's clothing area:

All I can say, is that whenever our sweet Lia is finally matched to us, she's going to be one well-dressed kid (and she'd better like ladybugs!) :)