Empower Your Inner Architect: Building a Life of Epic Wellness

Meat. Pasta. Seafood. Cereals. Dairy. Breads. Rice. I think I would be hard pressed to find someone that hasn’t eaten one of these.  TODAY.  And if you haven’t consumed any yet, it’s what’s for dinner. Hold that thought. ADEK. BC. This is the acronym I memorized in nursing school to help me recall the fat or water-soluble vitamins. I put the FAT in the ADEK (see what I did there? Yep. I am a goober.) Once the fat was there, I knew what was up with the others. In simpler terms, fat soluble vitamins can be stored in the body, so it is possible for one of the ADEK vitamins to build up to toxic levels. With vitamins B&C-the body has limited storage, so excess gets excreted in urine, earning its water-soluble title. If, on your favorite dating app, the question appeared: “What is your favorite vitamin?” What would you say? (Ok. Maybe not. Lol. For heaven’s sake, swipe left. Or right. Or whatever way you swipe to reject this individual immediately. HAHA.) Weirdos like me act...

My husband and I met, courted, and pretty much lived the first half of our marriage on some kind of volleyball court (get it? COURTed? Haha.) Now, if he knew that you and I would never meet, he would tell you that he taught me everything I know. Let the truth be known that I have been playing since I was in the 6 th grade, and he pretty much sucked when I met him. Fortunately, he picks most things up VERY quickly, so he can fabricate bragging rights to strangers and make them seem legit. Oh, how I love him. Most of my early volleyball career in California was spent on an indoor court; in fact, my high school had the only air-conditioned gym in our league (that information will be important in a minute.) Once we met, married, and moved back east to Maryland, I was sad to be moving away from a region that championed the sport I love so much.  But little did I know that the Delmarva area (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) had a dense volleyball following, and although there were indoor...

I saw my vocal cords yesterday. They kinda looked like one of those funky-looking sea creatures that is found in the deep, dark abyss of the ocean…where no one ever goes…SO deep that it comes equipped with its own built-in flashlight—except it didn’t need a flashlight, because the flashlight was dangling…from my NOSE. The otolaryngologist (say that 5 times fast, or one time correctly. I will be impressed…) was kind and shot my right nostril with lidocaine before feeding a thin camera with a light attached through said nostril to get a closer look. I actually did quite well, until the camera touched the back of my tongue ever so lightly. I only retched and gagged three times during this five-minute procedure. Yay me. Now, this is not a procedure that people have done every day. Without going too deep into my respiratory issues, as I am saving those for Respiratory Awareness Month in November, I do have a couple of conditions that led me to the otolaryngologist’s (ENTs) chair. I have...

Social media entertains me. I don’t post much on Facebook or Instagram, but I do like to watch (ok, stalk…) the people that DO post. It is interesting to see what petty little things might be important to others. Haha. Occasionally, Facebook is brilliant, in that it becomes this one little spot where OTHER stalkers like me can get information in the blink of an eye. This CAN be very helpful—especially when you need to reach a large group of people very quickly. A long post written by me four years ago popped up in my Facebook “memories” this week. It is pertinent to my topic today, so I will attempt to share it, in brief (Have we met? When have you ever known me to be brief?) My then 15-year-old son was on a camping trip (under duress, I might add,) when I received a call from one of his youth leaders informing me that he would be taking my son to urgent care because he had been whipped in the eye by a tree branch. (I immediately began forming images in my head of his attempts to d...

I have always appreciated the 4 th of July as a holiday of true celebration. I mean, not every holiday goes out with yells and cheers over the bangs and booms, or the zips and zooms of vibrant fireworks! That is not the pull it has on me though. It’s not the POOL that has the pull either—my kids grew up around family members with inground pools, but since my skin is fair, the sun and I are NOT friends. So, you can keep your chlorine and bug-filled water holes. Are you dying to know what has me holding Independence Day in such high esteem? There are two things: The knickknacks! Not mine, of course. Aunt Doris sure does it up, though! The red, white, & blue (RWB) pitcher with the fake RWB flowers and mini flags sticking out. The Longaberger candy basket with the RWB flag trim. The wood & wire 4 th of July RWB cool-lookin' thingy that hangs from the hutch in the dining room. The Uncle Sam sittin'-with-a-teddy-bear candle holder. The ceramic Betsy Ross that is complet...