The Way I'm Running Has Sure Got Me Down On My Knees Next Stop Vegas Please

I have a dilemma. It's not a bad dilemma. I'm definitely not complaining. It's just something that has been circling around in my head, distracting me from my (stupid!) (almost complete!) (but not quite!) accounting course. I need guidance so I can stop thinking (fretting) about it.

Shawn and I are going to Vegas in September for my lovely friend Cat's wedding. We booked our hotel (MGM) a few months ago because we wanted to take advantage of a promotional rate they were offering. So we booked the hotel but then our schedule changed a bit and it was significantly cheaper to fly into Vegas a few days earlier than planned, which has resulted in my dilemma. We are going to be in Vegas for a week, from Saturday to Saturday. We have a hotel room booked from Monday to Saturday. The Saturday and Sunday for which we do not have accommodation booked? Are the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend. Meaning all the rooms in Vegas are stupid expensive for those two days. As in, it will cost us more to stay in Vegas for those 2 days than it is costing us to stay for the following 5 days. And we got a suite for those 5 days! A suite that is 24 square feet larger than our condo! So do we bite the bullet and curse the long weekend and just stay in an expensive hotel room? Or do we stay off-strip in a dodgy hotel (keeping in mind that I have an active imagination and I watch CSI and I do not want to get murdered.) Or do we rent a car the minute we land in Vegas and spend 2 days driving to the Grand Canyon? Renting a car and driving to the Grand Canyon really appeals to me (I've always wanted to go there and so has Shawn) but realistically, it will end up costing more than the 2 nights in a hotel in Vegas. Though it will provide more of an experience, right? Road trip! Grand Canyon! Route 66! Has anyone done the drive from Vegas to the Grand Canyon? Has anyone been to the Grand Canyon and been disappointed? Before this dilemma arose, our plan was to take a full-day bus tour from Vegas to the Grand Canyon - has anyone done a bus tour to the Grand Canyon from Vegas? I need stories, people. I need stories and experiences and informed advice.

There's A Blueberry Pancake Flying In The Sky

I am deeply entrenched in schoolwork. Yesterday my course completion deadline was moved up by a week (a week!) meaning that I have until Friday (Friday! As in, three sleeps from now!) to submit my coursework. I am grounded from fun. I am grounded from non-fun (I hit a new low when I started looking forward to doing laundry as a break from studying.) I am a studying machine.

Machines need fuel; however, so the one thing I am not grounded from is making blueberry buttermilk pancakes with fresh local blueberries and topping them with fried eggs and bacon.

Priorities, people.

We Were Wasted And Happy We Were Laughing In The Sunshine

A little sunshine to balance out my lightning:

I just finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I was crying by page eight but the tone lightened after the first chapter and I really enjoyed the story. The story isn't light but it's a light read, if that makes sense. Without giving too much away, the story is told from the point of view of an old dog and the first chapter is about him trying to convey to his master that he wants to be put down. Sad, yes, but still a good summer read.

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Stella will do anything for food. She's half beagle and half pug - two breeds known for their voracious appetites. Shawn cannot resist her charms, though I can't really blame him when she pulls stuff like this:

"Please may I have some peanut butter and toast?"

She makes me smile. Constantly.

"LADY! I do not think you realize how badly I need some of that white cheddar popcorn!"

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Wolf Parade, Stars, The Black Keys, Hannah Georgas, and She & Him are providing me with an awesome summer soundtrack. I've been doing a lot of car-dancing is what I'm saying.

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It's Thursday! Which means that tomorrow is Friday! Which means that it's almost the weekend! My weekend will be spent studying (grumble grumble grumble) but I also have plans to drive out to the berry farms in search of local raspberries and blueberries. Local berries make my heart happy. Smitten Kitchen featured a raspberry recipe this week that I'm planning to make for a gluten-free dinner we're having next week. It would be irresponsible of me to not test the recipe this weekend, right? Basically my life is seriously lacking in raspberry brown sugar gratin and I need to rectify the situation immediately.

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Alright, who has some sunshine to share? Or lightning bolts - we are equal opportunity here at two L's. Ready? And go!

And I Love That Little Game You Had Called Crying Lightning

Lightning bolts, in bullet points:

- My time with the Darth Vader mask has been extended for another 2 weeks.

- My follow up appointment to talk about the additional 2 weeks? Is in mid-September.

- The additional 2 weeks is necessary because of a data reporting error. Not because of anything I did, not because the Darth Vader mask is a feasible treatment option, but because the clinic needs a full month's worth of data.

- I finally went out and bought running shoes and started running. Things were going really well and I felt good so I (stupidly) pushed myself harder than I should have and now I have a stress fracture in my foot. Moral of the story: I am old. I should not exercise. Real moral of the story: I have no business running on concrete.

- My accounting final is on August 7th. Between now and August 7th I need to finish my 9th assignment, do all of the reading for the 10th module, complete the 10th assignment, and study for the exam. I am so behind and I have no one to blame but myself. Lightning! Bolt!

- Shawn and I have both been really busy lately and it's starting to affect how we treat each other. We've both been snappy and impatient and I'm not sure how to break the cycle. It's our anniversary on August 4th and I would love to go away for the weekend but my final is on the 7th and he's got a gig on the 6th and we work different work schedules (me: Monday - Friday, him: Tuesday - Saturday) so it's difficult for us to get away. August is going to be ridiculously busy for both of us and I'm worried that we're facing a bickery, hostile month.

- Shawn installed a dual-flush converter on our toilet so now there is a "small flush" button and a "big flush" button where there used to be a lever. We're going to conserve so much water and we're going to save the environment and aren't we fabulous people?! Except that I hate the dual-flush converter. You can't just flush the toilet anymore, you have to stand there and hold in the button until the toilet is finished flushing and I know, I KNOW, poor me having to spend 7 seconds flushing the toilet. I just hate it. I won't be shamed by this.

- Unbloggable family shite. People are crazy. That is all.

We Should Try A Little Harder In The Tedious March Of The Few Every Day's A Different Warning

I want to write about sunshine and barbecues and hikes with the puppies and days at the beach. I want to write about the fun that I'm having with Shawn and the big plans we have for our second anniversary in just a few weeks. I want to write about summer and watermelon smiles and sangria nights but I can't because all of those things exist only in the corner of my brain labelled "what summer should be" and not in the corner of my brain labelled "reality: of the stark and cold variety."

I admire people who write about the tough times as well as the bright times but I hesitate to admit it when I am having a dark day (or week, or month, or season as the case may be.) I don't want to be a whiner. I don't want to be negative. I want to throw positivity out into the universe so the universe will bounce some positivity right back at me. Right now I kind of want to punch positivity in the ear, unfortunately. My attempts at positivity have failed and a tantrum is brewing. It's sunny and warm but my eyes are lightning bolts.

The Outlook Was Decidedly Blue But As I Walked Through The Foggy Streets Alone It Turned Out To Be The Luckiest Day I've Known

I try to be an efficient person. I make lists and I plan and I think of possible outcomes and different scenarios. I spend a lot of time thinking. I scheme.

I keep myself busy. I spin from one project to the next, barely allowing myself time to take a breath. I often don't finish a project before I hurl myself into the next, leaving a trail of inefficiency and unfinished projects in my wake. The unfinished projects pile up until I am paralyzed at the thought of how much time they would require to complete. It's silly. If I just buckled down and completed the tasks, I could check them off my list and move on. Instead, I avoid my old / incomplete / difficult / uncomfortable projects for new! fun! exciting projects like painting the bedroom or reading the Stieg Larsson trilogy. Which is why I have three weeks to complete two modules and assignments before my accounting final but I could talk in depth about Lisbeth Salander and my bedroom walls are the perfect shade of dove grey with a deep turquoise accent wall.

It's something I struggle with - the self-discipline and willpower to accomplish the boring stuff. I'm trying to find the balance between the mundane and the exciting. I'm not always successful (clearly) but I am getting better (says the lady who is blogging instead of reading her accounting textbook. *sigh*)

Like Gravy To Potatoes Luke To Darth Vader I'm A Souped Up Sucker And I'll See You All Later

In one week, I will (hopefully) be able to return the Darth Vader sleeping mask. I don't think the sleep specialist or respiratory therapist will recommend that I continue using the mask - the quality of my sleep has not improved. If anything, the quality of my sleep has declined because of my inability to adjust to sleeping while wearing the mask.

I'm not complaining about my lack of sleep again, I promise - just sharing a picture of Stella being ridiculous. For some reason she's drawn to the continual flow of air from the mask. Weirdo pup. Either that or she wants to be a Star Wars villain. I smell next year's Hallowe'en costume!