I'M BORED... WHY NOT BLOG???

the following is a list of things i have learned since january 2008

~ following your dreams is a lot harder and so much more expensive than they tell you it's going to be.

~ wasting time on the internet is both stupid and enjoyable at the same time

~ diane keaton movies are, by far, the best movies to watch when you are sick

~ it is much easier to assume that he doesn't like you rather than hope that he does... chances are... if he really does like you, you won't have to guess... or do any of the 'work.'

~ boston winters are like having to go to the dentist once a week to get a tooth pulled

~ the movie IRON MAN was way better than i was ever expecting and far funnier than i could have hoped for.

~ every day is a good day to eat fondue

~ you know someone is a good friend when after a really long time of not talking to them, you spend an easy hour picking up where you left off... oh and you tell them that if they really loved you they would come to visit you in boston and then they book a flight!

~ the D riverside train on the green line ALWAYS smells like poop. always.

~ when you have CR, the best thing to do is to go shopping and throw out everything you have ever worn previously.

~ i hate the bus.

~ i love diet coke.

~ i CAN lose 10 pounds when i put the effort into it and make better choices. i really did. i lost the 10!

~ if you are really poor and really sick and need to go to the doctor, but can't really afford it... just get rear-ended on the way to the hospital and then the other guy's insurance will foot the bill


~ RED BOX is my most favorite invention in the new millennium. i have almost seen every movie it stores and i am chomping at the bit for new releases all the time!


~ i'm really into the color teal/blue-green/cerulean/aqua these days... i'm quite obsessed.

CRYBABY!


so i know i've talked before about turning into my mom and being more tearful than normal (see here). those of you that know me, also know that i am the most ridiculously nostalgic person on the planet. i LOVE reminiscing, watching old home movies (even other people's... i know that's weird), looking at pictures, talking about past adventures with loved ones. i LOVE "reliving" the past in my head.

however, you take me (the nostalgic crybaby) and you tell her to move thousands of miles away from a place she loves with all of her heart and you've got so much more than a crybaby... you've got a blubbering mess.

lately i find myself crying at the slightest thing. a piece of paper i found in a old purse that was from one of my adventures to maine, a drawing that russell made for me when he was 2, cleaning out my car to sell it and hanging from the rear view mirror is a plastic snowflake a friend gave me at my first relief society christmas dinner here. TEARS for each one. LAME!

it doesn't stop there though. how about conversations with friends that i have known ever since i moved here, pictures galore of the many wild and crazy cavortings and all of the many many great memories that somehow fill my mind as i am sitting quietly on the bus... MORE TEARS.

so today was the perfect peek into what i will be like come sept 3. i took the red line to work today and i got on at kendall. from kendall one goes above ground on the longfellow bridge to see only the most amazing view of the charles river and the boston skyline ever! IMMEDIATE TEARS! it was actually kind of embarrassing.

but i can't help it. these reactions are coming from a very deep down place. i feel like i am breaking up with boston and yet i am still in love with it. and it's so hard!

anyhoo- for those of you that are forced to put up with me for the next two months- i'm so sorry in advance but i just don't see me changing!

WHEN YOU HAVE PICTURES LIKE THESE...

...YOU KNOW IT'S BEEN A FUN WEEKEND!!!

this post was brought to you by the social binge i went on this past weekend. i think i was making up for the 6 days stuck in bed being wicked sick and the social-life killer of a job i have!

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT


i have been waiting to post this announcement publicly until my employer had officially been told of my plans. now that that is out of the way, i feel more comfortable making it known to all the world about what i am up to in the next few months!

go HERE to read my cute little poem and if you don't already know, to find out what my big announcement is!!!

SWEDISH FISH FOR THE SOUL


sometimes i just need a few days to indulge in all of the little things that make me happy.

going on day trips
spending time outside just being- sitting quietly and soaking in the sun.
working on a project that makes me sparkle
diet coke
going to the movies with a really good friend
eating swedish fish
watching waves crash up on the shore
eating dinner outside in a park
taking things at a slower pace
sitting in my favorite spot on the bus
wearing skirts
sleeping in
painting my nails
organizing my closet- it must be colored-coded
kimball farms ice cream
talking girl talk til the early hours with really good friends
shaved legs and clean sheets
reading past entries in my journals
checking things off my "to do" list
learning something new

so i did all of that. it feels good. i feel good. life is a small bowl of swedish fish once again!

DO YOU HAVE A SPARKLE?

today i, for the first time, watched

despite what you may or may not have read in the reviews, i give this movie two peggy thumbs up! i LOVE that it's a really clean family friendly movie with no "potty humor" additives to "make the kids laugh." and i am really starting to fall in love with this up and coming writer/director ZACH HELM, who was also writer/director of another favorite film: "stranger than fiction." good writing. great directing. can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

of course because this is where i am in my life and brain right now, i saw very significant lessons at the heart of this little story that resonated with me... shall i tell you what they are?

alright, follow me into peggy's parallel land!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

mr. helm starts off his story introducing us to a character named mahoney. played rather sweetly by natalie portman. the narrator (who is also mahoney's 10 year old friend, eric) begins by explaining that:

"when she was younger everyone thought she was a musical genius, a brilliant pianist. and she believed them but now, as she became a grown-up, she wasn't so sure i don't know why grown-ups don't believe what they did when they were kids i mean, aren't they supposed to be smarter? what mahoney needed was the opportunity to prove to herself that she was something more than what she believed"

mahoney, apparently has fallen victim to that disease that many of us eventually succumb to as we grow up... that fear that we really aren't all that great at the things we love to do.

rubbish.

later in the movie, as mahoney is riding on the bus she comes across a sign that makes her stop.

it reads:
DO YOU HAVE A SPARKLE?

obviously the writer isn't asking us if we've brushed our teeth. he wants us to stop and think about whether or not we are fulling the measure of our creation or just living. he wants us to question ourselves as to whether or not we still have that same passion for the things we love, our talents, because when we submerse ourselves into those passions- we sparkle


so mahoney asks a friend. if when he looks at her he sees a sparkle... in attempt to make herself more clear she says

"[a sparkle] like something reflective of something bigger that's trying to get out"

he responds honestly with
"it might not be so much a sparkle maybe more of a twinkle?... a glint?"

so many times i look in the mirror at myself and wonder what happened to the sparkle i used to have. it's still in there somewhere... but like mahoney, it's more a twinkle or glint these days. it's like my diamond got a little dusty.

earlier in the movie mr magorium has given mahoney something very very special... a block of wood. he tells her that the key to all of her magic lies within the block. she doesn't understand... it's just a block of wood!

often in life doesn't it seem that what we are given feels like a block of wood? either it's as boring as the daily ins and outs that don't get much more exciting than who's going to win on american idol, or sometimes the trials we have to face may feel like that same old block of wood- keeping us where we always are, in a pit. but what if the block of wood has so much more potential than just sitting there being a block of wood? what if you could turn that block of wood into anything you want and make it exciting?

through the help of a friend:
"what you need to believe in... it's not the block of wood, it's not the store,it's not me.
maybe what you need to believe in... is you"



mahoney realizes that she was the block that just needed to believe again that she could be anything that she wanted to be, that a block of wood has potential to have millions of possibilities- as long as you believe they can be. and before she knew it-

SHE GOT HER SPARKLE BACK!

so here i am at this same place as mahoney. i had a few good friends point out that i was only twinkling. helped me to see that i needed to trust myself and believe in all the magical possibilities that my block of wood can be. i'm not 100% great at it yet. (even mahoney started out a little shaky) but i get stronger each time i believe just a little more in myself.

so what did mahoney do next in the story?



she created! she made magic happen! she brightened the world with the talents she has. all of her possibilities unfolded and now there was nothing to stop her.

that is the natural next step. a sparkle only works when you shine it on something. sparkles are meant to brighten others and we only get brighter the more we shine on!

okay so i am taking a cue from her- i'm going out, to create to make magic happen and watch the world become a little brighter because i am sparkling!!!

YES, THIS REALLY IS MY LIFE!


WED APR 23
i started feeling sick around lunchtime. by the end of the day, i was miserable. my throat was in bad shape. on the way home i stopped at the local mini-mart that is just across the street from my bus stop. i grabbed all the comfort foods i could find and then asked the guy to snag me those nyquil tablets from behind the counter and i was all set.


THURS APR 24
around 2amish i was awakened with horrible joint pain and a fever... not to mention that my throat was now sore enough to start complaining about it. boo. i took more medicine and tried to get more sleep.

then somehow i managed to get myself to work that morning, only to discover that i had used every last bit of energy i had left trying to get there. and at this point my throat was so swollen that i had a hard time talking and swallowing. as i walked into the office one of the producers looked at my and said "OMG what happened to your throat???" further verifying in my mind that indeed i looked like the elephant man! (i tried to take a picture of the elephant man when it was in it's full glory, but i was too drugged up and they all came out too fuzzy to see anything)

so i went home. at 4:15 i had my doctor's appointment. he took a culture (that wasn't due for a couple of days) but was almost positive that it was strep throat. he started me on antibiotics and pain killers and sent me home.

the rest of the night was a nightmare... trying to find the least painful way to sleep and not swallow. the pain killers only seemed to be making me drowsy. the pain was still pretty intense.


FRI APR 25
after a restless night of waking up every 2 hours, making my way to the freezer to put more ice in my water, shuffle back to bed, take more 'non'-pain killers and try all over again to sleep... i was a wreck.

friday by far was the most miserable. i couldn't talk. i couldn't swallow. this wasn't working, something needed to change. i called my doctor who sounded a bit too concerned that it sounded like i was getting worse. he told me to double up on the pain killers and add some aspirin and then to add an extra anti-biotic to my diet. he also said that if i wasn't improving by the next morning to call him- because he wanted to see me again.

that evening was very drug-induced. i remember nothing about it.

SAT APR 26
i woke up this morning. weary from the inability to swallow... still. i felt like i had just been beaten up and left for dead. my head was pounding and now my tongue was swelling from the lack of moisture. i called my doctor's office only to hear the words "we are closed until monday... if this in an emergency, please call doc so and so at the following number" confused at why my doctor, just yesterday, told me to call this morning for him to see me- WHEN THE OFFICE IS CLOSED, i dialed the number left for emergency purposes.

frustration is not a strong enough word to use as i tried with all of my swollen might to tell the doctor on the other end of the phone my whole story only to have her hem and haw on the other end of the line and finish her mutterings with "well dear i don't know what to tell you to do."
WHAT? BUT YOU'RE THE DOCTOR!!! IF I CAN'T ASK YOU- who else am i supposed to ask?

i lost it. even though it hurt like hell, i cried and cried. so tired, in so much pain, so sick of not being able to swallow or eat real food... SO DONE!!!

lucky for me i have really good roommates who offered to take me to the walk-in clinic. my even typically really slow roommate actually was ready to go in 5 minutes... and we were out the door

and this is where the story just gets so... well you'll see.

as we made our way past harvard toward the lovely hospital and were just about to turn WHAMO! we were rear-ended from behind by a large work truck... see pictures of mindy's car below.




for those of you that know me, you won't be surprised at this story. like the immortal words of my home-teacher (who also just so happens to be mindy's boyfriend): "peggy this just fits into your life!" so right you are dane... so right you are!

so instead of the walk-in clinic we were now both directed to the ER.

my roommate rachel and i were laughing so hard as we were taking this picture... mindy later said i looked like i was from the movie star wars- yeah, i can see that!

turns out that not only did i come out positive for strep throat and now whip-lash, i also was severely dehydrated... cool... real cool.

several bags of iv fluid, an intravenous dose of antibiotics and a nice touch of morphine later and i am now home and i've lived, once again to tell the tale!

just chalk this one up to yet another amusing anecdote i have in my back pocket to tell at parties... seriously, when we all get to heaven... come over to my house- my earth video is going to ROCK!