It’s that time…I owe everyone a blog update and I owe myself
the tranquillity that the writing brings me.
Things have changed since I last blogged, but my life is
always changing and that’s why I love it! My photography is still slow going
and will be a continual work in progress, however I have met up with a Wedding
and Event Planner! It was a great coffee date that went in nothing but the
right direction; we will be working together this year on building both of our
portfolios! I am super excited and although it might be work that’s not paid…it
will one day all pay off!
I am still working in retail at the children’s clothing
store Ivivva and honestly love my job there. The company is really inspiring on
the basis of goal setting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I’ve always had
goals in the back of my mind…but writing them down, showing the world what they
are, and making a “by when” finish date makes the goal seem more achievable.
I’ve got some goals I’m aiming to complete in 2014; I will share one from each
category personal, career, and health!
Personal: Scuba Diving Certification by August 2014
Career: Shoot one Wedding as the main photographer or second
photographer by December 2014
Health: Have my percentage of body fat at or below 20% by
July 2014
My only complaint is since Christmas I haven’t been getting
enough hours. This one complaint has me on the lookout for another job, one
that’s flexible!
Recently I was in Hawaii with a friend from College…She
conveniently decided to run her first marathon in Maui. Also convenient that
she had no one tagging along for the adventure! I gladly stepped up to the
plate and so happy I did. I had an amazing time in an absolutely gorgeous
place. If you haven’t been I highly suggest you put Maui on the list. It’s
incredible and warm and perfect and I want to be back there!! We got to go
surfing, snorkeling and kayaking. I have a soft spot for surfing, I find it
incredibly fun and have now been three times…and can’t wait to go again. I
hadn’t been kayaking before so I found it fun and the spots we stopped to
snorkel were neat! I swam with some turtles, literally could have touched them
if that wasn’t frowned upon! We also lucked out completely and had the luxury
of being present to a baby humpback whale and it’s “playtime”. I couldn’t
believe it, probably 20 feet away from us out popped a baby whale slapping in
the water, twisting, turning and just having a grand time. You could see the
shadows of mom and dad under us…absolutely massive animals. It was impressive and
truly a unique experience! I’m a little sad I am already back home in the cold,
but these trips are the ones that give me the motivation to save my money for
more travelling!
My life is full of workouts these days as I try to lean out
and build upper body strength. Since summer I have lost about 20 pounds and
feel better about myself and happier in general. I have a great friend who
works out with me 6 days a week at the Universities gym. It’s a huge help to
have someone to go to the gym with, it’s motivation to finish the workouts and
to stay on track. My social life is rather boring, everyone is back in school
and broke…actually we’ve always been broke we just pretend we have money during
winter break and the occasional weekend. Funny enough on one of those “pretending
to have money” weekends back in October I ended up meeting a guy I am now
dating. Turns out boys don’t have cooties; a lie I was told in kindergarten
only to find out at age 20 that some guys are pretty all right. My dog seems to
like him and he’s been rather kind to me so I’ll keep him until given reason
otherwise. Haha.
In the world of narcolepsy and meds…
Slowly but surely cataplexy has entered back into my life,
nothing of the collapsing sort or the disabling type. Just the face weakness I
remember from high school. It could be from the simple fact that I find myself
and my friends to be hilarious… or the actual and pure fact that I am tired. It
never seems to happen in the day, but usually at night and late and it’s
usually from reading a ridiculous text from a friend, joking around with
someone or just plain funny things. It’s almost as if I go to giggle and laugh that
my face lacks control and causes me to frown. It’s like cataplexy hates
laughter or seeing you happy and it’s got to let you know…either way it’s not
debilitating or anything and I am perfectly fine.
I did however get a new prescription yesterday. I’ve always
taken 54mg of Concerta…occasionally I’ll take 72 mg or low doses like 18mg on
days of naps and no driving. It’s been working but I’ve been also feeling like
I don’t realise that I need the 72mg until it’s too late in the day. Since
Concerta is 12 hour medication I can’t really take it past 10:30. It’s been
between 12-4 that I’ve noticed “I might not make it to the end of the day”.
Medicating with Caffeine isn’t ideal because of the crash I feel after and the
broken sleep it causes on an already broken enough sleep. All this being said
my doctor has prescribed me the regular short acting Ritalin. Just the low dose
of 5mg…hoping it helps and I am able to make good use of it on the days where I
am struggling at noon! Will keep you posted on this in future!
Last but certainly not least I wanted to introduce a new
blog I have found. It’s just up and running recently and I’m inspired and happy
to see a young narcoleptic taking the time to blog. His family is helping him;
clearly doing a great job at supporting him with school and extra activities.
Normal is all we want in our lives, especially when we are young and trying to
fit in. I wish him nothing but the best in his journey and look forward to reading
the blog!
Enjoy your day!
