Feeling Better. Vacation Pictures, Part II

I am feeling much better. I think I will go to work today, even if for half a day.

I have the feeling of "I GOTTA GET UP OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I look at Oscar-Tyrone. He is a house cat, and dude is in the house ALL the time. I need to take him for a walk or a ride in the car.

No one, animal or human, should be stuck in the house like this!!

Late yesterday afternoon, I couldn't take it no more... I decided that I just HAD to leave. I was looking at the news, and saw that it wasn't biting cold outside, i.e., around 50-60 degrees, so I decided to get out of the house.

I got winded putting on my clothes. Took me 10 minutes. Not a good look. But I wanted to get out of here and get some fresh air.

So I went and got my taxes done. That took longer than I would like, as my accountant wants to discuss the who, the what, the why, the where... I was NOT in the mood. I was looking at the numbers and after awhile, I was like "whatever, girl... looks good to me."

I must be feeling better, because I didn't fall into a coughing hacking fit or blow snot all over the room... not one time. (Although I reached fast for the tisshas once I got back in the car, lol).

But the Oldgirl got a pretty good clip of bread refunded. I was happy about that.

That little outing had me all tuckered out.

I came home and got right back in the bed.

I'm going to work today. If only for half a day. If I get tired, I'm coming back home.

So on with the Vacation thoughts and pictures...

In this post, I'll be kicking out hotel pictures.

FOOD: We were not blown away by the food. I figured out after a couple of days that the food is more European fare. I don't care for that. There was also some Dominican cuisine. Didn't care for that either. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the food a 4.

I did see a couple of dishes involving chayote (mirlitons) and bok choy that I will be trying at home. I've been trying to figure out how to cook chayote, and I actually bought some when I got back home. So I may hook that up this weekend.

They had a great fresh juice bar. The melon juice was insane! (They could've given me a whole pitcher of that!!) The desert bar was so-so.

I had some steak and chicken once, but left that alone. (I see as time goes by, that I just don't like it at all). I ate a ton of grouper. Nope, not my favorite, but it was good. They had few other seafood dishes, which didn't make me happy... but that's alright.

Maybe by next vacation, my taste for meat will be totally gone!

HOTEL ROOM: We stayed at the Riu Palace.

Hated it!!

It was like some old 1960s earthtone madness. I thought Fidel Castro was gonna jump out of the closet or something. Looked like something he designed, lol...

That was alright, I suppose, but there was a problem with the air: it was stale, and wasn't well circulated.



Very odd... especially since this hotel is only 3 years old. (Maybe they meant to say it was 30 years old.)

Let's just say that I had to REALLY wash up everything in my suitcase and I am still airing out my suitcase...

I refused to take pictures of the room. But I did find one picture. I think I was just testing my camera or something...

That is Kimmie-Kim's purple neck pillow. Never seen one of those before. (This means it's some ol' Diva type of thing.)

Let's just say, they didn't spend money on the rooms...

But they went all out on the hotel grounds.

The hotel exterior and landscape simply blew us away... check out the pictures:

Those were nice weren't they? Makes it worth going again. (Only if I can find a different hotel, though!)

If you thought those were nice, wait til you see the beaches!

(To be continued...)

Still Sick. Vacation pics, part I

Hello Party People...

It's me. LadyLee. Still laying on my back. Still sick.

You know, I NEVER thought there would be a time where I would be like "Gee, I really want to go to work!"

LOL!

That don't even sound right. In the past, I've worked with colds. One time, I worked while I had the flu. This thing here has just knocked an Oldgirl down...

I lay here yesterday, and watched the Olympic Curling events.

That's just how BORED I am. And I still couldn't figure that sport out!

I scared my poor sista Kentucky when she came in from work. She's usually asleep by the time I get home.

"Is everything alright, Lisa?"

"Nooooo!" I wanted to yell. But I told her that the cold was getting the best of me, and I needed to chill out for a minute.

But I am feeling better. We're not sure if it's the cold or the flu. Most likely a cold, busting out some lupus flares.

Doc says stay home and recuperate.

So that is what this Oldgirl will do.

I have 17.5 weeks of sick leave.

I can afford a couple of sick days, don't you think?

The goal today: Get out of bed and go sit on the sofa. Yeah. I think I can do that. Yeah. I'll do that later on. Much later.

With that said, thank goodness for the laptop. I can just sit here in bed and do the darn thing.

May as well cycle through some of my vacay pictures... Starting with the airport.

We arrived at the Punta Cana airport around 2 in the afternoon...

A most lovely place indeed.

Gettting off the airplane out on the tarmac and walking through a tube. Hilarious!

I laughed the whole time! I thought they only did that type of thing when you have private jets.

I had the feeling of "You're not in the United States anymore!!!"

LOL

Then we had to do all this walking.

Uh, they could've parked the plane closer to where the gate entrance. I was sweating like a dog walking in that hot sun!




What a gorgeous airport. I loved the open-airness (is that a word?) of the place. I really liked the straw thatched roofs.


This place was nothing like the busy Hartsfield Atlanta airport!!

A picture of some of the locals.


(What's up with the gang signs, fellas? Cut that out.)
A bootleg band played as we entered.
They kicked a straw basket at me after I took the picture, so I gave them a dollar.

I was more interested in getting to the baggage claim...

Belt 1! Come on, luggage!!!


Then it was off to the hotel...

To be continued...

I's SICK!!

Ugggh...

'Tis a bad time...

A time I can't stand.

I's sick.

Sick as a DOG.

Yep, that's how I feel right about now. Kind of laid out like that right about now in the bed.

I was fooling around with a cold. I blame it on the switch from the beautiful warm 85 degree weather of the Dominican Republic to ol' cold 30 degree ATL. And this happens when I travel. I was a little under the weather on the first day of my vacation, too.

But yesterday, I got out in this cold air and went to work. I showed up equipped with plenty of water and orange juice and lotion infused tissues. I know I had to irk my fellow coworkers with all my nose-honking and coughing...

My cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre looked on in horror as I sliced lemons, held my head back, squeezed the juice down my throat.

(I learned that from BFF LadyTee: "Get you some lemons and drink the juice... cuts all the phelgm with the quickness!).

I woke up this morning feeling like I'd fallen off a cliff.

I sent a text message to Hen-Dog, our interim boss and work group superhero:

"Hark, I am roadkill on the side of the road... chased and attacked by the Mucus Monster, i.e., I won't be in to work today. I'll be at home, sitting in a corner in sackcloth, dumping ashes on my head..."

(Yes, I am dramatic when I am sickly).

And it don't help that Aunt Flo showed up out of nowhere.

*Lee opens window and promptly throws herself out....right after knocking Aunt Flo upside the head*

I could really REALLY use a good bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup right about now.

Oooooh that would be so good right now.

But without the chicken. Can't figure out how to work that out. I have some bootleg fake chicken powder in the kitchen, but uh... that won't be the same. And I am NOT in the mood to figure that ish out. NOT in the mood.

I think I will just stick with my water and juice.

And my puff tissues.



The ones with the Vicks in them are the BOMB. I bought those last night!

And I think I will soak one of my birthday gifts in a little cool water and place it on my forehead.

Yeah, that's what's hot! (Thanks, Southern...)

So hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

If not, I'll be tossing myself out the window for real!

Head Cold Essentials

Wooooo chile...

The Original Oldgirl LadyLee has been fighting a hellacious cold. It has busted up any plans I've had all week for my staycation. UGH.

I'd like to give a special shout to my baby sister Kentucky who lives in the upstairs wing of my house. Whenever she comes downstairs she has to hear me wail.

"Kentucky, I'm a right bit parched here. Brang me my water out the frigerator... and brang me my cell phone if you see it!!"

She brings it all. I can tell she is cussing me out in her mind. She's use to dealing with rowdy little childrens, so...

Luckily, I have all I need around me. I've only had to venture out once this week, and that was to get a few prescriptions filled. (And I was surprised how COLD it is in the ATL!)

But, I try not to be in and out of the house. This is hard when I have to work because the Oppressor don't give a dayum if I'm sick or not. For them, the rule is, I better wake up dead if I'm not coming to work. And that ain't good (or right).

So, although I am off, I do have the opportunity to be at home and have time to get better. I am on the tail end of said cold, so I may venture out today or tomorrow.

With that said...

If you find yourself getting a bit sickly, I have a list of essentials, no, NECESSITIES for the common cold. These things have made life a little easier during these strange times...

1. Tissue. Now I realized that something was REALLY wrong when I was sitting in church last Sunday. I did not only have the sniffles, but my nose was all runny. So after church, I headed straight to the drug store and prowled around for EXPENSIVE tissue. Gone are the days of grabbing a roll of toliet tissue and working it out. I didn't feel like dealing with a raw nose!

So, I go get that Puffs with the lotion in it.

But did you know, there are some Puffs now that got lotion, vitamin E AND Vicks Vapor Rub infused all up in it?

GLORY!!!

I'd like to shake the hand of the shawty that came up with that idea! My nose has sho nuff felt pampered! I declare this the official tissha of the House of LadyLee!

I have only a few sheets left. Shoot man... I'ma make those LAST!

LOL!

2. Lozenges. You gotta have some lozenges, man! My throat hasn't been a big problem, as it only bothers me in the morning. (I need to be slapped for sleeping with the ceiling fan on).

So while hanging out at the pharmacy waiting for some prescriptions to be filled, I saw these:

WOW. When's the last time you've seen some Sucrets. I haven't seen those since the 70s. I bet you young folks under the age of 30 know NOTHING about Sucrets.

And they are "Guaranteed... Made stronger to last Longer"!

Really though.

3. Orange Juice. Now when I get sickly, I know I need to jack up my Vitamin C intake. I usually have a jar of pure Vitamin C powder lying around, but I am out, and I ain't trekking out to the Health store way up in North Druid Hills to get any. I'll have to work that out the next time I'm out that way.

But, my second choice is orange juice. I do like the expensive stuff.

But sometimes, I have to take it to that other level.

Sometimes I make my own juice.

So I break out my trusty Jack Lalanne juicer.

That's right. I peel some oranges, and I get ta juicing.

Ya'll don't know NOTHING about that. You weren't ready for that, were you?

That's what's hot, babes! That's how you do it.


4. A good book. You always need a good book when you're sick. I perused several during this time, but the most interesting was a children's book.



My sister is getting a Masters in early childhood education so she has quite an, uh, eclectic selection of books. I found this one particularly interesting.

I read it twice in 5 minutes. LOL.

I will do an, uh, book review on it, later this month.

5.Soup. There's nothing like a good bowl of chicken soup. I have no appetite right now, but I have to eat something, so soup will do. And you know I can't STAND soup out of the can. It MUST be homemade.

Yeah, that's the good stuff there.

So, there you have it... all that I needed to see me through my cold.

Hope everyone is having a good new year thus far. It's day 2... 363 days to go 'til 2010.

Make it a good one! Make it count!