Empower Your Inner Architect: Building a Life of Epic Wellness

Wow. That was painful. August, I mean. I hope you know, that was all a façade. I don’t parade around with a silly crown on my head for my entire birthday month. I think I have one picture of me in a princess costume…and I was six years old. I traded that PAPER crown in for a sweatband long ago! You do what you gotta do when you when the month doesn’t present any national awareness days you are familiar with. Looks like I have some studying up to do, lest I besiege you with “all about me” next year as well! Note: I’d like to take a year off and have no new crazy conditions pop up, please. At age 51, I realize it’s a tall order, but throw me a bone here… The person that developed the national awareness subjects for the month of September must have had kids that returned to school, because the list to choose from is monstrous. And SHE must have been pretty excited to enjoy a meal by herself, because the food day celebration list is SAWEET. September celebrates guacamole, peanuts, cheese...

Happy Thursday! I had a needle jammed in my neck today. No, there wasn’t a mishap at work. This was actually an anticipated and welcomed event—a treatment for one of Carey’s Crazy Conditions. To wrap up the month of August, I will tell you about two of them, as one leads to the other… From October 2013-October 2014, I had bronchitis FIVE times. Some folks, when they feel a cold coming on, feel it all in the sinuses. ANY type of cold/infection would go right to my chest. This is not something I wanted to harass my PCP about, since I knew the symptoms by heart and could just buzz on into an urgent care and get my Levaquin (antibiotic), steroids, and nebulizer treatment. A very kind nurse practitioner decided to look at my history while I was there for visit number five and said, “Hey, you have been treated for bronchitis five times at this location since October of last year. Has anyone ever mentioned asthma to you?” Yep, it was time to bother my PCP. I was diagnosed with exercise ...

I have been pretty active as long as I remember. Running around outside, organized sports—I have never been afraid to sweat. I preferred sweating to dating in high school, as a matter of fact. The elimination of that particular distraction, and my love for good ol’ practice, allowed me to excel in a couple sports—volleyball being my favorite. I developed some ambidextrous skills along the way, which was SUPER fun. Though I am dominantly right-handed, I dribble a basketball much better with my left hand. I can shoot the ball with either hand, although I am more accurate with my right. In volleyball, I can serve and hit with either hand. Hitting especially causes extreme confusion for the opposing team when they are setting up their defense to cover a right-handed hitter. Just a quick switch to the opposite hand, and everyone is left standing where they aren’t supposed to be, and the ball is hitting the floor “over there.” Makes me chuckle every time! There ARE things that I love to ...

Wow. And just like that, another week of my birth month has gone by. Way. Too. Fast. Wait. Where is my crown. Oh, there it is. Behind the…toilet.   rrrrRRAAAAYYYYY!!! The crown is a figment of my imagination. But as much as I gloat about how every day in August is MY day, I am sure that is where my husband would put it. IF I had one. (Ray’s birthday is in August, too. But he doesn’t get a crown. Just…because. Let’s talk about something else…) I promised a month of Carey’s Crazy Conditions. Let’s get started. I have three sisters—My older two and I are boom, boom, boom in age, one right after the other. In fact, the sister that is just older than me is my “Irish twin”. She was born in September, and I was born in August of the following year, just 11 months later. I also have a sister that is 6 years younger than me. You can imagine the sharing of clothes, the exchanging of makeup, and the fighting over just about everything else—EXCEPT the front seat of the car. Now, I grew...

  August. Summer. Hot. Back to School (For some of you. Disgraceful. Haha.) Month of Leos. Some Virgos. But mostly Leos. Roar. Happy. Birthmonth. Carey. Yep! I wear the crown. All. Month. Long. ROAR! The most exciting “specialty day” in August is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, which happened to be yesterday, August 4th. But that day is fired. And I can do that Cuz I like cookie DOUGH. And it’s my birth month. And since this is a health blog, dip your ONE spoonful (moderation) of cookie dough in dry oats (healthy) and enjoy. PS. I have never even tried raw egg-free cookie dough, and I am not dead yet. I was all over the board in July, so I was pondering a theme for August. And I selected one that allowed me to be all over the board again. Cuz it’s my birth month. ROOOAAARRR!! This month I am affectionately referring to as “Carey’s Crazy Conditions.” Now, some of these health conditions aren’t so off the grid. You might even suffer from a couple of them yourselves. But...