Our perception of beautiful?

How do we define beauty?  After a nice weekend in Colorado for Davis Phinney's Victory Summit, I got to visit an old friend.  As we sat down for breakfast to catch up, I was happy to hear that we both have had a great year of good health.  The only catch is that along with a great year, came weight gain.  Due to situations out of our control, we had given up being thin for a good quality of life.  

Something disturbing is that we both admitted to having the most compliments from others at our lowest weight.  When I was wearing a size 2, I had many people saying how great I looked.  I graciously accepted the kind words, knowing how wrong it truly was.  I  was malnourished which led to my hair thinning and my nails breaking, but to other's I looked the best I ever had!

So now, jumping to present day...I have noticed I have gained weight and others have made comments about it.  But the ironic thing is that I am the healthiest I have been for quiet sometime!  I have officially been out of the hospital for one year, I am able to tolerate most foods and my nails and hair are amazing.  How is it that others viewed me more attractive when I was at my worst health?  I may never know, but I have had an eye opening experience not to judge a book by its cover.    

Painting for Parkinson's 2nd Annual Unity BBQ

My second attempt to the Unity BBQ with a Painting for Parkinson's theme and it was a major success!!  Over 100 people came together at Mason Park and enjoyed painting messages of hope for our group art project.  I could not have done it without the support of my Parkie friends! 

Don't think about it and keep moving forward

There are times that I feel like I can not show my fears.  I must stay strong for those around me, because I have many Parkies that look to me for support and if they see me depressed and scared, they feel hopeless.  But the truth is, when I have a bad day, full of symptoms, I get a glimpse into my future and although I can not share it with everyone, I can blog it....I am terrified of how bad it could get.  So while I remain strong for others, it in turn helps me to know I am not alone.    

Too Much

"Too Much" is the only thing that I can say to describe the feeling that I get when my medication is off and there is too much "noise" around me.  This can be as simple as the television and dish washer going at the same time, or my dog crawling on me when someone is trying to have a conversation with me.  Sometimes, the only thing that I can think of is finding a quiet place and trying to regain my thoughts.  If there are too many people around me, I can almost feel like I can not breath and everyone is looking at me.   It scares me when I see new symptoms coming out because the only thing that I can think of is the fact that it will only get worse....Sorry for the gloomy blog today, it was just my mood.

My mom always told me I was a Superstar

I am heading to NYC for the Parkinson's Unity Walk. Thank you to my family and friends for nominating me! I am now a superstar!

http://parkinson.org/Community/Parkinson-s-Superstars/Allison-Smith-Conway

Sitting in a dentist chair is not my idea of a fun time!

Note to self:

After 6 hours in the dentist chair, I realized that my Parkinson's does not like being in pain!  She was acting like a Diva and made my body shaky and rigid.  In the future, I will floss and brush 4 times a day so I will not have to endure that torture that again!!

Sitting in a dentist chair is not my idea of a fun time!

Note to self:

After 6 hours in the dentist chair, I realized that my Parkinson's does not like being in pain!  She was acting like a Diva and made my body shaky and rigid.  In the future, I will floss and brush 4 times a day so I will not have to endure that torture that again!!

Getting a little easier...

Well I am happy to say that running has finally gotten a tiny bit easier.  I am increasing my amount of time running and lessening my time recovering.  I also officially signed up for the mud run on March 31st and created my support team....Poop on Parkinson's.  That is really our team name!  

I am back and ready to get dirty!

I know it has been a long time since my last blog, and for that, I am sorry.  But I did do something good with my time....I wrote a book!  Which is going to be published this month.  It is a very exciting time.

My next adventure is the Spring Break Irvine Lake Mud Run!  That's right!  A 5K run with muddy obstacles in my way.  I have an all ladies team that is going to help me make it to the finish line.  Seeing as it is February 5th, I am limited on the time I have to train.  So I thought what a better way to keep on track and reach my goals on my neglected blog.

Dear running diary, Ha-Ha!  I crack myself up.  Today is my very first day running and my goal was to run 1 minute and walk 3 minutes.  Repeat 4 times.  How did I do you ask?  Well, I am bright red and breathing hard.  I noticed that uphill sucked, but downhill was not that much easier.  I did complete the 2nd minute, but I made up for it in the third minute.  My conclusion for the 1st day?  It was pretty hard, but I was expecting it to be.  I had great energy after I recovered.  This is going to be a little harder than I expected, but I got this!