resurrecting Dawn

so ummm... yeah. this is what i get for promising to be back on the blog more often.

first, i was getting ready to travel. which means... less time to play online.

then, i was travelling. which means... less time to play online. (they really need to start putting WiFi on airplanes by the way. i would pay for that kind of entertainment on a 5+ hour flight. just sayin'.)

then, i was enjoying Thanksgiving with Nichole & Daniel...





(i meant to take a photo of my various plates as they were presented, but really, the food was too yummy & i forgot. oops. here is the aftermath of dinner though.)

all of which means... less time to play online.

then i was shopping on Black Friday. or, well, mostly observing the shopping. and then tagging along for the Christmas tree selection. but that still translates to... less time to play online.

then i was at Disneyland, seeing it all decorated for Christmas, which i have never done before...









(the gingerbread men were so cool! they made the costumes flat on the back, just like a cookie would be, and even "browned" the edges!)







so while i was definitely gathering things to share on my blog... there was no time for playing online.

all of this would have been fine. but then... Saturday evening, we went to dinner at Hook's Pointe. i was having a hard time deciding what i wanted for dinner. i almost got the Mahi Mahi. but then i picked (cue ominous music here) the salmon. i should have gone with my original gut feeling. because then i could have avoided the feelings i got in my gut later that night. oh. my. God. i thought i was going to die. i was mildly uncomfortable after dinner, but chalked it up to just being too full (even though i only ate half my dinner... and thank goodness i only ate half), and when we got home, i went to bed, dozing restlessly until i awoke around 2am by the unmistakable Very Unhappy Tummy feeling. the waves of nausea just kept rolling over me. by the time Nichole & Daniel woke up Sunday morning, this had been going on for hours. i couldn't talk or move or even so much withstand a comforting pat on the hand (although, strangely, i could read, which provided some measure of distraction between waves of feeling ill.)

this whole time, i am alternating between praying it would just end and wondering how on earth i would be able to get on the red eye that night. finally around 11am, i was able to go about twenty minutes between waves of nausea, so i took a shower to at least try to feel somewhat human again. then i camped out on the couch, while Nichole & Daniel took care of me and did some decorating for Christmas. as my stomach slowly began to settle (all i ate the whole day were five crackers and three canned pear slices, and some water--no way was i "re-loading the gun" thank you very much), my nose? started to run. turns out that sore throat that i thought was just from dry air decided it was going to be much, much more than that.

oh goody.

by the time, they put me on the plane, the war of the worlds in my abdomen had all but subsided, but they had to send me off with a box of Kleenex for the faucet on my face my nose. the guy in the seat next to me gave me a couple of unhappy looks as i proceeded to blow my nose at roughly four minute intervals. i was just waiting for him to say something, because i would have informed him that he's just lucky we weren't flying the night before. (not that i would have even attempted to get on the plane like that but considering it would have hit mid-flight? wouldn't have been a fun night for *anyone*.)

so, i got home and have spent the rest of the week muddling through the progression of a cold. from the runny nose to the plugged up head to the coughing, which is where i am now. but for you? i have dredged up enough energy & ambition to download photos, edit them, upload them to my web albums and compose a post.

so all in all, i wasn't really able to be online, due to a variety of circumstances. we're on the upswing now, but no more promises.