Before anything else, you need to listen to my new favorite song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCW3Qpi56GA…well, it’s new to me, but it’s actually an older song. Now as you read the rest of the post, you can have my most recent personal soundtrack playing in your mind!! Tell me, can you listen to it and not dance? Chichi Peralta is from the Dominican Republic and used to be in Juan Luis Guerra’s band (Paloma, I’ll always be so grateful that you introduced me to JLG!!). Apparently Chichi started playing drums when he built his own at age four!!! Pretty incredible.

I had a wonderful week, as you can see from the many photos below. On Thursday, the day of my last post, I went to see Dr. Orloff to show him the marks on my face. He agreed they didn’t look like pimples, but neither did he think they were evidence of GVHD (which is great!). He suggested I use more lotion because my skin looked dry. I use lotion pretty much every day, and I always apply sunscreen specifically made for the face. I’m not convinced it’s dryness. When I was outside playing with the dogs yesterday, I noticed a couple clouds of gnatty looking bugs, and now I’m wondering if these are bites because I spend a couple hours outside almost every day. Either way, they’re still popping up, and I’ve found other marks on my arms and legs. Typically they go away quickly, but several on my face refuse to do so.

Judy wondered if maybe it could be poison ivy that I may have gotten from petting the dogs and then touching my face. That would certainly make sense! Dr. Orloff told me not to apply a steroidal cream to my face, so the itchiness continues. I don’t want to take a Benadryl during the day because I’ll end up curled up on the couch, asleep.  We’ll see what he says tomorrow when I go in.

By the way, when I wrote about what a wonderful week I had, visiting the doctor is not wonderful in itself, but it is a good reason to get out of the house!  Also, the “wonderful” part of that visit was that he did not think it was GVHD.  After the doctor, I decided to drive down to Georgetown because it was a perfect spring day, and I thought Kathy might enjoy some cupcakes for her birthday.  I’ve heard many a person mention “Georgetown Cupcakes”, so I just had to see for myself just how good they were!  The shop is tiny, and there was a line of customers waiting on the sidewalk in front of the bakery.  It went quite quickly though.  Before I knew it, I was inside, staring at the cupcakes, feeling a little nervous because I wasn’t sure what I wanted…the kind of nervous you may feel in a NY deli if you’re not sure of the menu, and you know they don’t want you asking lots of questions.  Whenever I would visit Ronnie and Kathy in NYC, I would make sure I knew exactly what I wanted before standing in line so I didn’t get yelled at…they don’t take any of that “Hmmm…what do you think I should get?” or “I dunno…I love roast beef, but the smoked turkey looks delicious” crap.  I memorized what I wanted…my worst nightmare would be standing there saying “Umm….ummmm….uh, I don’t know”.  Wow, that was a long aside, wasn’t it?  Anyway, as I was saying, I felt a bit of the NY deli fear while standing inside the shop, so when I was still three people away from the front of the line, I quickly surveyed all the cupcakes, reading the various flavors as fast as I could.   Banana chocolate?  Mmmm…can’t skip that one! Red Velvet, Chocolate, Vanilla, and finally Peanut Butter and chocolate.  I paid and stepped aside.  The next customer asked if they had any Key lime…key lime?  How could I have missed that one?!  Mom would love it!  Oh, good thing, they don’t have any at the moment.  Perhaps next time I should study the flavors in advance. 

They were quite delicious HOWEVER all the icings tasted like they had cream cheese…yah, that’s right, I tried at least one of each…what of it?!!!  I would have loved a buttercream icing or plain old chocolate. Oh well…I had a great time going down there for a quick visit, and the cupcakes were gone by the next evening.  I drove home from Georgetown via American University because I love the area so much.  It brings back good grad school memories!

On Saturday morning, Terri, a friend from my young adult support group, came out to visit.  It was great to swap Seattle stories, and chat about anything and everything.  Thanks so much for coming out, Terri (and for the delicious apple, excuse me, Dutch apple bagel)!!  :)  I had a wonderful time chatting, and I hope we can do it again sometime!  Next time I’ll make waffles!!  No matter what you’re talking about, there’s something so comforting in talking to another young cancer patient…it kind of feels like you’re talking in a shorthand, because you’re part of the inner circle in a unique experience.  It was fun to start my day talking to a friend–it seemed to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Speaking of, I walked around Burke Lake for the first time since last year!!  Laura and I took all the dogs out there late Saturday afternoon, and we had a wonderful time.  The dogs got along very well which made us quite happy!  We’re planning a hike on Thursday to White Oak Canyon in the Blue Ridge…good practice for Old Rag, right?  The pups get to partake in that as well, so I know they’ll be pretty darn happy!!!

On Sunday (another gorgeous day!), my mom, Laura and I went to Lisa’s wedding shower.  It was a lot of fun, although it still feels weird sometimes to see all of Laura’s friends (and Laura!) married and having children…she’s only three years younger than I am, but when I think of “Laura and Lisa, the duo”, I automatically picture them as they were in the early years of high school.  I guess what I’m saying is that I feel old!  :)  It was nice to catch up with everyone and to meet some new faces.  Laura and I are ready to dance our butts off at the wedding!  We’ll have to create some special routines between now and August 1.

Well, I’m getting pretty sleepy, so I’m off to bed.  It is 1 am, after all.  By the way, I discovered tonight that I’m really Swedish on the inside.  I took a test on facebook, and apparently I’m Swedish at heart!  Those tests crack me up.  I’m a bit confused though now…it says I’m Swedish, but the other test said I should live in Ireland!  You think they’d match up, wouldn’t ya? 

I wish it would rain harder so I can fall asleep to the sound of it.  I’ll just have to put on my sound machine and fake it!

Enjoy the photos–I have lots for you today!!!

Lots of love,

Julie