Got to hit the gym for the first time in a couple weeks today! My doc had changed the dosages on my heart meds and that left me practically a zombie (definitely glad to be getting back to my regular dose!), so there was no way I was going to be exercising. I never thought I’d say it, but I missed working out! I usually feel exhausted afterwards but I also feel like I really accomplished something (much like when I did swim team in HS, which is actually a pretty funny story!). Anyhow, I love listening to ska/”punk” (think Reel Big Fish or Yellowcard) and Will Smith when I work out. What are your favorite gym soundtracks?

Also, I need some advice. As I mentioned before, I have been asked to speak on the Living Successfully panel at the National Marfan Foundation conference in 3 weeks. However, I really don’t know what I should speak about. It’s pretty open-ended…I need to speak on something that relates to living successfully. I’ve got 5 minutes. My question to you is this: Now that you’ve heard some of my story (I still have one entry left in the My Life With Marfan “series”), what should I talk about?

Some ideas I’ve thought of:
– How and why I started volunteering/why it’s important to me to volunteer
– Being a mom with Marfan
– My surgeries (which I’ve had, how the recovery was)
– Something else?
– Some combination thereof?

Any suggestions are very welcome! I need to get writing in the next few days so I’ve got time to send it to Eileen at the NMF for editing. Thanks!

Oh! One other thing! Any advice on freezing fresh veggies and drying basil? And when I’m harvesting basil, how do I do that? Just pluck off the leaves? Cut a certain length down on the stalk?