Down with DOMA

Today, the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, and California's Prop 8 as unconstitutional. I am so proud of our country for finally recognizing that there can be no freedom without equality. What a monumental victory for human rights.

Congratulations to all my dearest friends and family who can now enjoy the same rights and privileges their heterosexual counterparts have been enjoying for centuries.  It's about damn time.

Gyming It

Back in March, E and I decided that it was about time I joined back up with the gym. I feel like the gym is one of those things you really have to be ready to commit to and actually want to go to or you never will. I used to go religiously almost 10 years ago and even had a personal trainer I met with twice a week. I was on a strict no carb diet and was at my absolute trimmest, but I only went for about two years until I left for college. Then I had no time for anything lol.

Now, I have both the time and the motivation and I'm hoping to get healthier and possibly trimmer in the long run. I've been going six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and taking a mixture of Body Works, a body sculpting class, and Zumba.

I wish my gym looked like this. It definitely doesn't.

Zumba has turned out to be a great deal more fun than I was expecting. I knew it was popular, but for some reason I wasn't sure if I'd like it. I've now taken it with a handful of different instructors, and a good teacher makes all the difference. My favorite instructor has a more dance oriented style that feels really hip and fun,  I love taking her class twice a week. I take classes with another instructor as well, but I am not as big a fan of her style and music choice. You can dance to pretty much anything with a good beat, but it helps if you like what you're dancing to. It's basically a crapton of cardio and strength training in the form of squats, many many squats.

The Bodyworks class is more of a necessity than the Zumba class. It also involves a great deal of cardio, but adds weight lifting and other things in as well.  Squats, lunges, bicycling, push ups, sit ups, running, steps etc. I always feel like my ass has been kicked after that class, but it is paying off. In the beginning I could manage one girly push up and used the 2.5lb weights with great difficulty. That doesn't sound like a lot, but believe me, when you have to do a set of 300, it Hurts. I can now manage about 50 girly push ups in the middle of the work out, and recently did an entire class with 5lb weights. I thought my arms might fall off, but I was able to get it done :)

This is a tiny fraction of one of my classes, doing one of our songs after class. 

During class, that room is PACKED.

My one hang up for working out is that I haven't stepped on a scale yet and have no intention of doing so any time soon. I really want working out to be something I do regardless of what the scale says, and if I make it about the numbers I feel like I'll get disappointed and lose my motivation. Right now, that motivation is being healthy, having fun, and getting into better shape for having a baby. I don't need numbers on a scale for that :)

Introducing...Cillian!

Introducing....Cillian!

We met Cillian, formerly Johnny, a year ago at our vet's rescue. He and his siblings were adorable fuzzy kittens and we were sure they'd all be adopted in no time. Fast forward a year, we head back to the vet for something and unbelievably, Cilly is still there! Most of the other kittens from his litter were long adopted but there he was, having lived the whole first year of his life in a cage. We decided to adopt him since he seemed like he'd be a great "family" pet and new companion for my sister, but surprise!

We brought him home and it was immediately clear that he was meant for me and E. He bonded almost immediately with E's chest and it feels like he was designed for our family. Since he grew up at the vet/rescue, he's super dog friendly and comfortable around barking and noise. At a year old, he's no longer a super needy kitten, he's playful enough to adore Milou, but not pesky enough to drive Button crazy. He's also out of the scratchy/bitey/picky phase which is wonderful. 

Cillian is equal parts spunky and cuddly, super talkative and sweet, is obsessed with my Macbook and Milou's bed, and we're so happy to call him ours.

Happy Mother's Day 2013

I haven't been posting much lately, since I've been keeping pretty busy and most of the things I'd like to post about are just a leetle too personal for a blog that's read by family members. I apologize for being away for so long and will hopefully get to update about everything soon!

I hope that all the mommies out there had a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day. E and I had quite a lovely day, even though he had to work in the evening. To kick Mother's Day off, E and I went to a delicious brunch with his mom and some family friends. We ate at Eveleigh, the new "it" restaurant in the heart of West Hollywood, essentially a jasmine filled oasis in the middle of the city.

Everything was delicious, from the mimosas to the steak and eggs, and although the service was a little bit less than stellar, I'd highly recommend it for the ambiance and food.

To celebrate with my mom, we asked her to pick her favorite restaurant for dinner. E unfortunately couldn't come since he had to work last minute, but my mom chose a delicious Italian restaurant, Spumoni, to get take out from. They're one of our favorite spots and we hit them up on a fairly regular basis for their spaghetti bolognese (insanely delicious OMG) and lobster ravioli.

My sister and I also brought back a dozen delicious mini cupcakes from Yummy Cupcakes to cap off the celebration. By the time we got there, they were nearly sold out and we had to forgo our usual full size cupcakes in favor of the adorable mini ones. Their case had maybe 4 of the large but boring cupcakes and maybe three mini ones. We almost left empty handed until the cashier told us she had two boxes of the minis left behind the counter, so we snapped one of them up.

For a little gift, E and I made some beautiful Shutterfly books with our wedding photos in them for my mom and my mother in law. It's only been two years since we officially tied the knot but we figured it was about time people got some hard copies haha. My grandma received a beautiful potted Gardenia as well as a little brag book of wedding photos to keep with her photo stash in her purse. All in all I'd say it was a wonderful day celebrating some pretty special ladies. E and I were hoping to celebrate Mother's Day on a more personal level this year but it wasn't in our cards. Hopefully next year will be our year!

RIP Devlin

RIP Devlin

March 23rd, 2006 - April 1st, 2013

Early this morning, we had to put down our beloved kitty Devlin. He was only 6 years old and I can't believe that we're losing him so soon. Late Saturday night, Devlin had some sort of neurological episode - a rapidly progressing crypto infection, an autoimmune disease, or a brain tumor growing large enough to compress the vessels in his brain.

 

When Devlin was a kitten, he fell or jumped off my sister's bunk bed and broke both his hips. We weren't sure if anything could be done and my mother pushed hard for him to be put down. Instead, our wonderful vet operated on his hips and he was able to recover as good as new.  He was such a little fighter, we thought we'd have him with us for at least 15 years.  He used to love playing with Pippin, and when we lost Pip, Milou adopted Devlin as her own long lost puppy. She absolutely adored him, would cuddle him and clean him, and play with him all day.

Saturday night, he went from a sweet, spunky little boy to absolutely catatonic. We were devastated and readied ourselves for the worst, rushing him to the emergency vet who kept him overnight. Instead, he pulled through the night and morning and we scheduled him a neuro consult the next afternoon. Again, we were prepared to hear bad news but the vet was optimistic. We took some blood to test for crypto, started him on steroids to reduce the swelling in his brain and crossed our fingers, hoping for some good results to point us in the right direction.

      

While his condition had been comatose but stable to that point, around 10:30pm Sunday night he took a sharp turn for the worse.  He appeared to be herniating is brain stem and we rushed him back to the neuro vet. This time, there was nothing they could do and early Monday morning, we had to say goodbye and help him cross over the Rainbow Bridge. He had so much personality and spunk, our family will forever miss his presence in our lives.

RIP Devlin. We miss you so much.

 

2 Years Married and Marriage Equality

Yesterday E and I celebrated our second year of marriage, on the same day that Gays and Lesbians took their fight for equal rights to the supreme court. I have to say it felt bittersweet to celebrate our happy, nationally recognized union while so many of those dear to me don't have the right to marry the people they love.

E and I were hoping to celebrate with some lovely, much needed massages, but as it turned out there was no availability at the massage center. Instead, we went to a delicious Italian dinner and got some amazing gelato, not a bad replacement if I do say so myself.  We had a lovely time, fairly low key, and it felt just perfect.

Two/eleven years in and E and I are so ready to take our family to new places. We're itching to expand, to buy some property, add a new fur baby, add a tiny human etc.  I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life being married to E, as all couples should have the right to do, and I hope that this next year will bring with it big changes for equality and for our little family. 

12 Day Update: Gum Graft

After poking around my blog I realized it had been far too long since I'd posted a TMI update photo of my gum graft. Thus, in the interest of documenting the healing process, I present to you more zombie/Frankenstein gums:

Raaaaaawwwwwwrrrrr!

As you can see, the palate tissue (light pink) is kind of a funny shape but seems to have remained successfully attached to my gums. It's completely invisible unless I pull my lip down so I think we can call it a success. My periodontist has offered to use microdermabrasion to sand down the graft in the future, but I can't imagine that would be particularly pleasant so I think I'm gonna pass. I don't think it's included in the original price either so it would probably be expensive.

My next appointment is on the 18th so I have a bit more time before I can call it healed. The donor site on the roof of my mouth is improving, I can't feel the edges anymore and the area feels smooth, but it's still a little tender and sore. It looks about the same even though it feels much better. Chewing anything on that side of my mouth is usually a bad idea but I've been okay to eat crunchy stuff as long as I'm careful.

Interestingly, I haven't received my bill yet. Don't worry, I had no doubt that they would NEVER forget to bill me lol. I know they submitted the report to my (old) dental insurance company but I haven't received any information on what they're willing to pay and what my portion will be. I've got my fingers crossed that it's not too much but I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least the price of a new macbook air. That sucks in all sorts of different ways because E actually needs a new laptop since his broke and I would much rather spend the money on that. Bleh.

I'm Insured!

When I woke up this morning I had an email from Kaiser waiting for me in my inbox.

The verdict?

I'm insured!

Apparently it is possible for a young, healthy individual with no pre-existing conditions to fork over a crapton of money each month for health care coverage. Honestly I can't believe how expensive it is, I'm going to be paying over four grand a year for the privilege of continuing to never go to the doctor lol.

My choices were the $25 co-payment plan or the $30/$1500 deductible plan. Both Kaiser, since there was no way I could afford the higher deductible plans offered by Anthem or Blue Shield. Those plans have $5000-$15000 deductibles which makes the insurance pretty much useless.

With Kaiser, there's about $100 difference per month between the plans. But, if we want to have a baby in the future it seems to pay to go with the $25 co-payment plan. With the $25 co-payment plan, a pregnancy and delivery is about $500. With the $30/$1500 deductible plan the same pregnancy and delivery would be about $2500. We're only talking about maybe an $800 difference when you factor in the higher monthly cost, but E felt it was worth it for the time being.

Either way, I'm really glad that I was deemed an acceptable candidate and offered insurance. There are so many people in the US who can't get insurance either due to a pre-existing condition or inability to pay the insane premiums. I'm so thankful that E and I are in a position where we can afford(ish) to pay for decent coverage. This way if I'm ever in an accident or we do decide to add some tiny humans to our family, we won't go completely broke paying for medical bills.