Back in action and feeling good

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was sick last week. Really sick. I hadn't been sick in ages, but lately I've just been really feeling rundown due to lack of sleep and an all-Cheerios diet (yeah, I know, not healthy). 

I don't really know what I had. It started with a headache that lasted three days. When it finally went away, I developed this weird cough. A few hours later, I was hit by the fever train. I had the aches, the chills, the loss of appetite—everything. Last Tuesday I woke up and I felt AWFUL, but I somehow managed to drag myself to work, trying hard to keep myself propped up on the bus. I was at work a total of 25 minutes before I asked my boss to go home. Then I went home, slept and watched daytime TV (I love reruns of The O.C.). 

I managed to get back to work on Wednesday, but I should have stayed home. All I could do was sit slumped over at my desk and will myself not to pass out.  I finally felt better by Friday, but still had no appetite. And thankfully by now, I'm almost as good as new, minus my pretty gross chest cough.

Luckily, I pulled myself from my sick bed just in time to head up to Wisconsin for the weekend. I hit up Milwaukee on Friday night and was greeted by J and the sweetest/cleverest/most thoughtful birthday gifts ever. 

Oh yeah, did I mention Tuesday is my birthday? Because it is! I LOVE my birthday. Well, I love birthdays in general, so naturally mine falls under that category. 

Anyway, more on that tomorrow.

So then early Saturday morning, J and I got up and drove to the high school where he teaches. He had to attend graduation so he dropped me off at a nearby Starbucks for a couple hours. That way, I didn't look like the random creepy girl sitting alone at a high school graduation.

When it was over, J took me to Madison to continue the birthday festivities. I had only been there once when I was 9, so I didn't remember much. Which is a shame...I love it there! We just meandered all over town, making quick stops for ice cream (of course), drinks and a quick moment at the lake. It was so relaxing and it was the perfect escape we both needed. After taking a quick nap back at the hotel (I still wasn't feeling 100%), we went out for some margaritas and dinner. It was perfect.

And now I'm back in Chicago, in my very messy apartment, getting excited for the week ahead. I was sad to say goodbye to J today, but I'm also so excited for him. He's jetting off to Germany this week with some of his students as part of a high school exchange program. He'll only be gone 10 days, but I know he's going to have an amazing time. I only wish they needed an extra chaperone. I would have volunteered in an instant. 

I hope you all had wonderful weekends! Anyone do anything fun? Gosh, it's good to be back in the blogging world. I missed it last week!

Lying gets me all hot and bothered

And not in a good way.

I cannot tell a lie. It's like I'm George Washington, only without the cherry tree. And the fancy powdered wig.

When I try to lie, my voice gets all high-pitched, I start to sweat, my eyes dart back and forth, and I tend to ramble on and on and one without making any sense at all. 

Late yesterday morning I had a doctor's appointment in the suburbs. It was just an annual checkup, but one that I had to make 6 months in advance. She's like a celebrity doctor or something (Actually, she kind of is. A Chicago Bears player and his wife went into labor while I was there last time). You have to schedule appointments with her months and months in advance—it's crazy.

So my appointment was at 10:30am on a work day. I don't know what I was thinking when I scheduled it, but with really inconvenient train times back to the city, there was no way I was going to be able to make it in to work for even half a day. I had no personal days left and there was no way I was going to use a precious vacation day to sit in a waiting room...

I knew I had to take a sick day. I've never played hooky before, so I was pumped. I felt like such a badass. But as last week progressed, I got more and more nervous, especially after the dreaded layoffs. Starting on Tuesday afternoon, I had permanent knots in my stomach. I saw that I had projects due on Monday, I saw that everyone was super stressed and I kept trying to go over my "sick" excuse a million times. 

Should I say I had food poisoning? A cold? Lack of sleep? Black lung? The plague? Ulcer? Ingrown toenail? Cramps? I was freaking out. 

So when Friday rolled around, I was a wreck. I was SO nervous to tell a lie, especially to my boss. I felt like I was walking around with a huge dirty secret or something. My nerves kept building and building and building...

And before I knew was I was doing, I marched right into my boss's office late Friday afternoon and had an explosion of disgusting, nonsensical verbal vomit. In one long, run-on sentence, I told him that my doctor's office had just called to remind me of an appointment I had on Monday that I made 6 months ago and I just had to go to because I had to get something checked out and it's impossible to see her and I was going to call in sick and...

Yeah, that didn't sound sketchy at ALL. I was SO embarrassed. Luckily, he gave me the okay (along with a look that said, "why the hell didn't you just call in sick?") and I ran out of there like a scared little rabbit. And then I sat at my desk and hung my head in shame. Why the hell didn't I just tell a little white lie? It would have sounded better than the lame excuse (AKA the truth) that I came up with. God only knows what he thought I was really doing yesterday...

So I was out "sick" yesterday and when I came back today, every single person in my office asked how I was feeling. I forgot that people would notice my absence now that my office is tiny. And I didn't know what the heck to tell them. I told one girl I had to see my doctor, another guy I was too tired, a handful of people think I had a nasty cold and one guy is now wondering whether I had a run in with tainted peanut butter. Toward the end of the day, my reply was something like, "Oh you know...fine. Just one of those things, you know. Going around. Better now. Just the weekend, you know. Things like that." Completely vague. A total Michael Scott answer.

And that is why I completely suck at the game "Two Truths and a Lie". 

Sniffles

Oh how I love this cute little sinus infection I've developed over the last couple of days. I think I've gone though about 2 boxes of Kleenex in the past 24 hours. Good times.

I'd love to say I'm staying in bed and resting all day, but I've got way too much to do. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Oh and thanks for all the great restaurant suggestions everyone! I can't wait to get out there.