My poor blog has been neglected the past several months with the typical busyness of life. The holidays have come and gone and I enjoyed my wonderful month-long college professor Christmas break.
One thing I managed to accomplish over Christmas break was to FINALLY visit an allergist. After years of having random bouts of anaphylaxis and ending up in the hospital over an unknown allergen, I finally went in for testing. As it turns out, I was allergic to essentially everything on the panel except for the foods they tested me for. I've never had issues with food allergies (except for the occasional problem with some food dyes) so I was happy to hear that I could keep enjoying gluten, but I was severely allergic to all the animals and plants they tested me for as well as mold and dust mites. So my doctor said to avoid further situations where I can't breathe and have to be rushed to the hospital (which could end up happening more and more as time goes on), I needed to start an allergy shot regimen. I went in a few days later for a series of 16 allergy injections and have been getting one weekly ever since. Is it a pain in the butt? Absolutely. I just hope it helps relieve my symptoms. I've got 8 more weeks of weekly shots to go and then shots every two weeks for awhile and then shots once a month.
Also, my husband and I have made a huge lifestyle change. I've been vegetarian for close to 16 years, but at the beginning of the year, Justin and I decided to start a plant-based, whole foods diet. (I'm not completely vegan. I don't do eggs or milk, but I still do cheese. And Justin does white meat three times a week). We've been doing it for a month and a half now and I feel great. We've been trying to do mostly organic foods with a big part of our diet being fresh fruits and veggies. I'm also sticking to only water, unsweetened tea, or almond milk. We've been making lots of trips to the local Farmer's Market (love it!) and find ourselves at Whole Foods 2-3 times per week picking up various items. It has been wonderful! I love feeling healthier and committing to supporting the local economy and organic farmers. I think this new diet is here to stay.
Also, I started teaching an art and humanities class this semester at Indiana Tech and I LOVE it! Art is a huge passion of mine and I love being able to teach my students about it. It's definitely my favorite class that I've had the opportunity to teach so far. I really do love my job!
I've been staying plenty busy with work and teaching at two different campuses and trying to write as much as possible. This past week, I had two of my poems published in Dead Flowers: A Poetry Rag. Here's the link to the magazine. My poems are on pages 5 and 6!
http://www.bohemianpupil.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/VOL2_NO6.pdf
There is something so satisfying about seeing your work in print. I'm so excited to see where my writing career takes me.
Justin is in Florida this week on a business trip (lucky him since we are supposed to get a ton of snow here!) and I've been staying busy with Super Bowl parties, working/grading, writing, sketching, etc. But I miss him and can't wait for him to get back! Oh, and I've recently become addicted to the show "Orange is the New Black." What can I say, I can't stop watching it!
