Ode to the Neti Pot

So this little story that changed my life starts on the day we celebrated Ian's second birthday in early January. We were having just a couple (literally, a man and a woman who are married) of friends over to have cake and ice cream with us. Minutes before they arrived, I began not feeling so hot. Long story short, I had to excuse myself (quickly) to the restroom for impromptu vomiting twice during the "party". (Luckily they are good friends.) And they were only here about an hour. Anyhooskie, it was a Sunday and the good times continued well into the night, so needless to say I stayed home from work the next day.

Of course my "day off" included some quality time with Oprah who that day was featuring posse member Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz spoke of this thing I had never heard of before - the Neti Pot. It was actualy the second time it had been featured on Oprah (this was an apparent follow-up to the orginal segment). If you are not familiar with it, this is a little device that looks like a cross between a tea pot and a genie lamp. The process is called "nasal irrigation" and you add salt and warm water, turn your head sideways over a sink, pour it through one nostril and it comes out the other.

The demonstration looked pretty freaky - but people were swearing by this thing! Said it was the best thing ever and had changed their life. Being someone who has suffered from major sinus issues my whole life, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of something simple that could help me breathe easier. But I was not immediately convinced. So I did some research, and sure enough, saw a lot of rave reviews on this thing, including "scientific evidence" that it is proven to help alleviate sinus/breathing/general nose issues. Still, I was a little weirded out by the whole thing and dropped it until our local NBC station did a story on it recently. And then I saw the NY Times had done a story on it. Now I'm convinced. About a week later, my shiny new ceramic Neti Pot and salt arrives in a box at my office. I couldn't wait to test it out! That was about two weeks ago and I'm a believer!! My nose has never felt more clear after I irrigate!! (which I do usually once, sometimes twice, a day) It's as easy as brushing your teeth once you get the hang of it. I love it, love it, love it and am recommending it to anyone and everyone who has sinus issues of any sort (they also say it's great when you have a cold).

Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and couldn't easily figure out how to post a picture of it here from the Internet, but the most popular one is sold from the Himalayan Institute on their Web site (watch out - they are often on backorder since all the recent publicity), and I got mine through iherb.com (same one, just cheaper).

Long live the Neti Pot!

Starting off 2008 on the right foot?

The other day I was reflecting on my accomplishments so far in 2008: all 22 days, that is. But believe it or not, I felt sort of proud of myself. First of all, on January 10 we celebrated Ian's second birthday which is in-and-of-itself a huge accomplishment since it means I have successfully (well, sort of) navigated through two years of motherhood now.

Second, on January 5 I rejoined a gym and have started exercising again. It pained part of me to be "one of those" people who joined the gym right after the New Year hit, but on the other hand, it has bothered me for quite some time now (for nearly two years, to be exact) that for some reason I was never able to incorporate exercise back into my newfound life (minus one period of time when I was doing walks/runs with Ian along the GW Parkway during maternity leave before the horrid humidity of summer hit). I can't tell you how many times I missed excercising and thought to myself that I would have never thought I'd be a person to give up exercise. But I just couldn't seem to get over the hump in my mind that I was no longer able to go before work in the morning (being as how that routine has been replaced with getting Ian up and ready for daycare) and find a way to make it work otherwise. Finally, something hit me and I couldn't let myself down anymore - so I went in and joined the gym (a nice one, I might add) and I'm back at it! For now, I'm just aiming to get there once or twice a week - targeted around the weekends - but hey, it's better than nothing and it feels GREAT to be moving again!

Third, since moving to Portland (part of it due to job and insurance changes), I have been on a major procrastination kick in locating and visiting new doctors - namely eye and the dreaded DENTIST. I'm so overdue for a cleaning, I can't even think about it. But it's easy to procrastinate when you're not sure who to call. But I promised myself that I had until January 31 to make these appointments, and I'm proud to say that I have an eye appt. tomorrow and a cleaning scheduled for early February.

Last, but not least, this months marks my eighth month at my "new" job and well, things haven't been going so well. At first, despite my strong opposition to going back to a PR firm, I thought things were actually working out okay. And then sometime around Thanksgiving, for a variety of reasons I won't go into here, unhappiness started to set in it's rapidly gotten worse. Just the other week I spent the morning with the door closed crying in my office. For you Cat, perhaps just a typical morning (:-)), but this was not like me (or the old me, at least). Besides the actual work itself, the culture of our office sucks. In fact, I find it depressing to be there every day (despite my nice office with a gorgeous view - my only saving grace). And then a couple of recent things happened that really rubbed me wrong.

One of them was that one of the things Jeff got me for Christmas was a digital picture frame, which I thought was kind of silly at first, until he told me the thought behind it which was this: One of the things that had been getting me down lately was the fact that no one I interact with at work - coworkers, boss, clients - has kids. So, I have no one to relate to in that respect, and no one really ever even asks about Ian. Not that I'm dying to talk about him, but really, you would barely know that I have a kid because there's just rarely ever reason to mention him unless I proactively decide to. (Jeff, on the other end, is always coming home with how he was at work comparing toddler stories.) So, the picture frame was to take to work to have fun rotating pics up of my family and of Ian to help me smile at work, and to perhaps help spur conversation among coworkers or whomever every once in a while about my son/life outside work. So, the first morning I bring it to work, my boss is at my computer looking at something on my screen and saw the picture frame next to it and here is what it inspired her to say: "Don't you find that thing distracting? I would." I think that was the morning I started crying. (The other isn't worth going into detail about - but it happened just last week.)

My poor husband has served as as counselor to me on my job-related challenges for too long now, and as great as he's been, we both recognize it's time for me to either shut up or do something about it. So, while I've spent A LOT of time thinking about it, this past weekend I spent a particularly good amount of time reading a couple of books and doing some online research. One of the things that has become painfully clear to me is that my career is not a match with my personality. In fact, your typical PR firm job description really goes against much of what makes my personality type happy (I'm talking Myers Briggs stuff here.) Duh, no wonder I hate going to work. Yesterday, I took the additional step of making an appointment to see a career coach/psychologist I located through some research. My first appointment is not until early February, but I'm really looking forward to it and hope it will set me on the path of finding something that will truly make me happy. All things are on the table, really. One day I think maybe I should be a professional organizer to becoming an ice skating choreographer to becoming a real estate agent to going to work as a furniture salesperson/interior design person for Crate and Barrel (I do already have half their catalog, after all) to being a stay-at-home mom. Anyway, we'll see how it goes, but whatever it is, I hope it leads me on a new path to being happy and fulfilled with what I'm doing with my life. And for the time being, I'm going to feel proud of myself for finally trying to do something about it.

To end on a happy note - we enjoyed a wonderful holiday this year with visits from grandparents and some relaxing days, including an outing up to Mount Hood for lunch one afternoon. I hope you girls all had a happy holiday season as well and Happy 2008!

Is the Universal Language Actually...Miming?

What is it about communicating to a foreign language speaker that makes us turn into people with a 2-year old vocabulary in our OWN language and apparently become instantly hard of hearing? For the record - I am the foreign speaker in this instance as I live in a country that speaks Dutch and I do not. I respond to this challenge by speaking in broken English, made up words and at top volume - and preferably just keep repeating the same thing over and over when they look at you like you're nuts. IT NO WORKY! ME COLD! BRRRRRR!!! NO WORKY!!!

This type of communication usually is accompanied by a series of erratic hand gestures and arm waving so you can appropriately demonstrate the urgency of your point, whatever it may be.

My latest experience with this dummed down form of communication came today. My attempt to tell the plumber that my boiler is out and I have no heat or hot water came in the form of pantomime/charades-style acting of me shivering. I thought this would accurately convey - "I'm cold, how about you look at the heat source?" Seemingly my shivering and shaking conveyed to this man that either I had fleas or was suffering from epilepsy given the awestruck looks he was giving me and his slow but steady backing away. hmmm. Not the result I wanted.

Amazing how otherwise very smart and self-reliant individuals turn into complete idiots boiling down communication to nothing short of a serious of grunts and hand movements!

As for me and my hot water problem...i'm on meds for the shaking and the plumber is flea-bombing my house.

The Great Pumpkin Outing(s)

Well, now I'm feeling inspired to get in on today's DC Five blog action.

This past Saturday we had a scheduled outing to a pumpkin patch at a place called Sauvie Island just outside of Portland. This was an organized outing as part of Point B's annual Fall Family Fun Day. Actually, I just made up that name. I don't know what it was called. But it was a Point B outing. Anyway, I'm learning that Sauvie Island is the place for all things U-Pick around Portland. You may remember some shots from strawberry picking in the spring...

So, Saturday morning we wake up to one of those really crummy, stormy winter days where it started pouring before dawn and just didn't stop. These are the days where I normally like to sit by the fire with a little Neil Diamond on, but instead, we were headed out to the muddy, cold pumpkin patch. Okie dokie. Well, at least we'll get some good pics (and pumpkins) out of it, right? I'm big on the Halloween pics and celebrating this year since Ian was jipped out of his first Halloween last year due to that whole moving thing. (Halloween day was the day the movers were at our house, so while kids were coming around trick or treating to our doorstep, we were - okay, I was - tearfully saying our goodbyes to our then-empty house and heading off to a hotel - with sick child in tow, no less. )

It so turns out that pumpkins in the rain and mud can actually be kind of fun when dressed appropriately. Jeff didn't want to lug his nice camera, understandably, so we decided on my little one for the all-important pumpkin patch shots. And I got some great ones! For once, Ian actually seemed into posing (instead of running toward, or grabbing for the camera). It was wonderful. We got pics in the cart surrounded by pumpkins. Pics in the patch with a sea of pumpkins behind. Pics next to the mooing cow on the farm (Ian's first real cow experience). Pics sitting on bales of hay. We had an organized barbecue dinner on the farm and then headed home where I enthusiastically downloaded the goods...only to find out that apparently my camera broke sometime in the last couple of weeks. My one-of-a-kinds were merely shots of black. Major bummer.

Muy disappointed, I was, needless to say. Until, Jeff brings up, jokingly, well, we could go back on Sunday and just snap some shots. Hmmmm.... not a bad idea. So, of course on Sunday morning I make us all trek back out there to relive the experience. (Actually, Ian needed an outdoor outing anyway to burn off some energy, so a pumpkin patch is as good as the park...) But we all know that you can never relive the glory days. First of all, the farm we went to on Saturday is not open on Sundays. To that I say - who the *bleep* runs a pumpkin farm and closes two Sundays before Halloween??? But never fear, pumpkins are a plenty on Sauvie Island and I found another one that was open. Apparently, so did the rest of Portland because this place was a madhouse - and a marketing machine, I might add. Unlike the quaint little place we had been the day before - this place had a (very crowded) petting zoo, they had the corn maze, they had the hayrides (which were necessary to get out to the pumpkin patch approximately 15 miles out), they had the $2 cow train. You name it, they had it. Along with the people to prove it. They did have a lovely fresh produce market, though. So, between the mud, the people and the fact that Ian was being slightly less cooperative than the day before, we didn't stay long - but we did get some fresh produce at the market, and oh yeah, a couple of pics.

oh my dear good Lord

Hello Ladies! I am posting this information for two reasons: 1) to remind Melinda of just how glorious the last month of pregnancy is, and 2) to encourage the rest of you to use condoms! Seriously -- look at what happens to you. Those aren't even cankles - they're their own animals. Disgusting. Now in week 37, I am waddling around San Francisco in flip flops, the only shoes that still fit, smiling politely as people stop and make various exclamations of my enormity. I realize they're trying to be friendly, but it just makes me want to comment on their appearance, e.g., "Wow! You're ready to pop!" "Yep, and you're losing your hair!"

On the positive side, we got the good news today that we don't need a C-section this week, so Little Miss Murray can hopefully be delivered vaginally. While I do view this as a positive development, we've been told since July that we'd likely need a C-Section, so I'd gotten prepared for that, and I'm having kind of a hard time making an immediate mental shift. By6 tomorrow I will be on board with the whole contractions, birthing ball, breathing thing. Today I'm just wallowing in the fact that it could be another 3-4 weeks. I am just so ready for her to arrive and to not be pregnant anymore. And, we've been given three Steelers onesies, a Steelers baby hat, a Steelers pacifier, and a Steelers rattle, so Andy's ready for her to arrive too.

The official due date is November 13th. I hope she's not born on Halloween, because that's a sucky birthday I think - she'd never get to choose the theme of her parties, it's already a fun & special day at school, and even when she gets older, people will always have other parties/stuff to go to. But then again, a birthday involving candy corn can't be all bad.

Soooo... pray to the stork for me, and know that if I don't write you back in the next week or so it's either because I've gone into labor or because my balloon trunks & sausage feet have given out on me and I am flailing around the floor, unable to get up.

Not Your Mama's Hamam!

A few weekends ago I headed off to sunny Cyprus for some much needed vitamin D exposure as experiencing an Amsterdam summer has turned my skin the color of slightly-off mayonaise. Coupled with the whistful looks of longing whenever the golden orb is mentioned this is not a good look for Kate. I also got to see the little squirrels Sophie and Max who just get more adorable and fun everytime I see them - arguably the cutest kids in the world but I'm willing to concede a slight bias when it comes to my niece and nephew.
I stepped out of the plane Thursday night feeling the lovely warm night air that usually accompanies a far away holiday locale only to have my sister tell me "Wow, can you believe it? We're having a cold snap!" Having shed my 49 layers of clothing down to my singlet standing in teh airport parking lot I looked at her like she was crazy. Little did she know this "cold snap", which was temperatures in the low to mid 80s, for me was equivelant to standing on the surface of the sun!
The next day Claire and I decided to go to a traditional Hamam in town for a little R&R and sister bonding time. We were both looking forward to a little relaxing retreat to catch up sans children and be pampered a bit. We'd spotted Hamam Omerye on one of my previous visits - a beautiful renovated spot in the Center of the Walled City in Nicosia. At first glance it does look like something out of Star Wars, but it's incredibly gorgeous inside. We had read a bit about what the traditional Hamam experience was like and lucked out we'd come on a lady's only day so were ready for the full sweating and bathing experience. Stepping inside we were in a circular stone room with a ceiling that seemed to stretch on forever. The perimiter of the room was fitted with tranquil little cubbies for lounging, changing, chatting, etc. and in the center a tea service was highlighted both by sunlight and the long colorful fabric lamp hanging from the peak of the ceiling. Claire suggested we go for some luxury and in addition to getting the Hamam (which basically means access to the facility including the hot sauna rooms, etc.) and we sign up for massages. "No no" I said. "We're here at a Hamam let's go for the traditonal scrub - seems like it would be fun!" [background noise of my skin screaming out in protest of my unwitting decision].

The woman at the front took our request and then gave us our Hamam Kit which consisted of a wicker basket filled with two towels, a robe, flip flops, a bottle of water, a small steel bowl with a loofah and a small little packet of underpants. I have to pause a minute to discuss the undies. These are provided for those who are a little modest and would like to not be completely naked. Fine. However, the feat of engineering that holds this gauze and string contraption together cannot possibly be helping anyone's modesty. Not only are they uncomfortable becuase they don't actually fit - they seem to just hover somewhere around you - but they must be made of those travel soap papers because when they get wet the pants basically turn to paste. And ain't nothin more uncomfortable then wearing a pair of paste pants attached to a string that keep migrating! Needless to say I routinely reject the paste pants and opt for al fresco.
Claire and I stepped inside after reading the "rules" of what we were and were not allowed to do in the Hamam which included, i'm not kidding, No Smoking. hmm. ok. The inside of the actual Hamam was 38 degrees Celcius so a nice humid temp and consisted of one large circular room with a giant pentagon shaped marble slab in the middle. Around the sides were 6 vestibules with smaller marble slabs and a sink for filling your steel bowl. Not quite feeling up to being center stage we chose a vestibule and settled onto the heated marble. It was very relaxing (and hot!) but we were finally getting into the groove of the relaxation and chatting we'd been missing living so far apart. We were the only two in the Hamam at this point so we didn't really have any guidelines - do we lay on our towels or not? What do we actually do with this loofah and steel bowl? So many questions.
Feeling used to the scene now we moved to teh center slab (which actually had it not been so tranquil in there could have been reminicent of some sort of ritual killing site but thankfully no such thoughts entered our minds.) After a while a woman walked in and asked who wanted to go first. I volunteered and in I went for my scrub! Yay! this was going to be great I love spa scrubs! She took me into one of the vestibules and pulled a curtain. The room was the same as our smaller one with a stone slab and a stone sink. I hopped up on the table and she took my steel bowl (ahh that's what it's for!) and ran the water and poured it over me in swaths. Then...the scrub. ow...ow...Ow. OW OW OW WOWWWWWWWWWW! OUCH!! Jesus this woman wasn't fooling around! She was scrubbing like I'd been in the jungle for 18 months. I started to think this was going to be less like a spa experience and more like a Silkwood Shower. I knew when it got to the point where I couldn't tell if the burning was actually hot or cold that I could be in some trouble. This lasted approximately 20 minutes and I emerged shiney and raw...and approximately 10 lbs lighter due to skin loss. I hobbled out of the vesitbule and met Claire's wide eyes as she passed me going in to face her fate in the skin removal machine. After soothing our seaping wounds and sitting in our cubbies drinking tea and chatting we both vowed to next time get the massage! The rest of my trip in Cyprus was, as always, great. I was there for my sister's birthday and on Sunday we went to gorgeous Konos beach with the kids and then Laurent had a party with their friends that night. It was so much fun and as always I cannot wait to go back! Photos from this latest trip below!

Labor Day Roadtrip. Check.

Ladies!

Okay, I'm writing this posting for two reasons:

1. To report on our lovely weekend; and

2. Because no one has written in anything in nearly three months!!!!

This weekend marked the official close of our first summer in Oregon. And, as I'm learning, what would a summer in Oregon be without a good old-fashioned family roadtrip to some outdoorsy location? Luckily we got one in just in time!

It all started a couple of weeks ago, really, when we were in Napa for the weekend. Point B hosts a company getaway for all associates and their partners each year, and this year's was at the Silverado Resort in Napa. So, down we flew, dropped off Ian at the grandparents and spend the weekend eating, drinking and participating in the Point B Olympics, which included the now-famous "crab catch."

Now, I know you are all wondering what Napa has to do with an Oregon family roadtrip. Well, Jeff was recently appointed the Point B "Culture Director" (all positions with the company are voluntary and contribute to your annual bonus). In the role, he was immediately informed upon our return from Napa that Point B was already behind in planning next year's getaway, which would preferably be somewhere in Oregon given that the Portland market is getting sizeable enough at this point to do its own thing. So, being the helpful, event-planning, resort-finding spouse that I am, I put my handy skills to work and hopped on the computer to locate some perfect options for next year (i.e., nice resorts in OR where I would most like to go).

Enter Sunriver Resort. This is a name that seems to come up often in these parts. Family-friendly resort with lots of activities outside of Bend in Central Oregon. With a little convincing, we decided a mini family getaway was long overdue since our trek out West and booked a condo at Sunriver for Labor Day.

It was a wonderful little getaway. We left around Noon on Friday. The drive there takes you out of Portland and immediately into the mountains around the base of Mount Hood, which is amazing beautiful. Then you drop into a valley and follow along the Deschutes River for a bit until you eventually come into Bend - which, you probably know, is the hoity toity place to be and be seen in Oregon these days. Sunriver is just on the other side about 15 miles outside of Bend. It's a very pretty area with quite the woodsy feel. The resort itself is huge with a main lodge, three golf courses, several pools, a spa, it's own airport, river rafting, horseback riding, miles of bike trails, kids' playgrounds, a nature center and many condos and vacation homes. We had a two bedroom, two bath condo with its own deck that overlooked a lake and clear views of Mt. Bachelor. (Molly & Erica - It reminds me a little bit of Yosemite Valley, but bigger, I think.) The weather could not have been better as there was not a cloud in the sky all weekend with daytime temps in the 80s.

Friday evening we ventured back into Bend for dinner at a cute little Italian place, then sitting out under the stars, wine in hand, after Ian went to bed. Saturday morning we took a long stroll to the village to check out the restaurants and shops and then back to the condo for Ian's lunch and nap. Midday our friends Zach and Brianne joined us where we hung out lazily on the deck most of the afternoon and then went to gather nuts for dinner (just kidding - we went to the grocery store). I tried to push for Tater Tot Casserole, but the group instead voted on hamburgers, with Tater Tots. Close enough, I guess. Lots of wine and amazing star gazing/meteor showers that evening as well. Sunday more laziness and walks, with the required trip to the playground, of course.

And the Monday morning - back to reality - time to pack up and head back to Portland. But not before a Dairy Queen stop along the way. (Cat - you know how I love the Dairy Queen!!!)

All in all, lots of fun and hopefully just the beginning of all the beautiful places along the coast and in the mountains we have to explore in Oregon and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Next up: A visit to Timberline Lodge this winter for skiing on Mount Hood.

I hope everyone else enjoyed a labor-free weekend!