Somehow, as of recently, my parents have acquired part ownership of a produce stand.

We all are still wondering how exactly it came about.

I think it started sometime after they planted 13,000 tomato plants and had to have a venue to sell them.

Just as confusing was how exactly I found myself voluntarily rising at 7 am Saturday and going with Meredith to open said stand.

Mama D and Pops took the little ones to Savannah for the weekend, getting in a much needed vacation mixed with a little business. Yes, produce related business. They bought a produce trailer.

Anyway, Meredith, Linden and I offered to run the stand for them on Saturday.

Within the first five minutes I had sat in a puddle of water and picked up a box of rotten cantaloupes that promptly gushed rotten cantaloupe juice down my thighs.

I stunk for the rest of the day.

Within 45 minutes I had crashed the cash register, and was sent to Dunkin Donuts to get breakfast. I’m not sure when I will be invited back to the produce stand.

So I stocked up on local honey and itty bitty plums while I had the chance.

Not to mention all the plump, juicy blackberries I ‘sampled’.

Yeah, I’m not sure I will be invited back anytime soon at all. But it was fun while it lasted.

*All photos by Linden Claire Photography.

**Become a fan of Morning Sun Farms on Facebook, and be sure to stop by if you are in the area!

I can’t believe a week ago I was in San Francisco. Since I got home Thursday I’ve just been living and loving. Relaxing. Kissing this lil face:

Eating cookies. And cake. And diet soda.

It’s all about balance, people.

Since I don’t care to inundate you with a plethora of photos from my trip, I made a flickr set, and you can view them there if you wish. Or if you just want to see the ones I post here, do that. Whatever floats yo’ boat!

Flickr Set

On Tuesday after I blogged, I set off on foot, determined to cover as much of the city as possible that way.

It turned out to be a big undertaking.

San Francisco is not a little hick town like where I’m from.

I went from Union Square,

to Yerba Buena Gardens,

scooted by the Cable Car Museum,

hiked up Lombard Street,

sampled chocolate at Ghirardelli Square,

and finally, wandered out to North Beach and stuck my chucks in the sand.

Then it was time to head back and go to dinner with BROOKE!

Hummus, falafel and pita, I ate it all.

Then we drove around San Francisco in a borrowed car, while I ran my mouth about my life, my family and my family. [I kinda love my family, ya’ll.] Now that I think about it, not sure if Brookie got a word in edgewise.

Just a reason for her to come to Charlotte.

Wednesday, I was determined to pack as much into my last day as I could. I rented a bike around 8:30 am, and set off toward the Golden Gate Park.

Hai, beeyootiful!

I detoured by Ocean Beach.

Stuck my feet in the sand again and went back the way I came. Those hills looked steep!

I took the bike route up through Presido National Forest,

and right across the Golden Gate,

down a mountain,

and into Sausalito!

I stopped at a market, bought a sandwich and some fresh cherries and sat on a bench, popping cherries in my mouth and drinking in this view.

It was.so beautiful.

But cold.

I hopped a ferry back over to San Francisco.

Hey Alcatraz, out my window!

And that was it. I landed back at the ferry building, cycled my way back to the bike drop off and hiked it back to the hostel. By 10 pm I was on a shuttle on my way back to SFO, and by 12 am I was on a plane. Before I knew it, it was 11 am and Mama D was picking me up outside the baggage claim at Charlotte Douglas!

Good bye San Francisco. It was nice while it lasted.

I’m in San Francisco this week on vacation. 6 months ago, when Brooke proposed the idea of running the San Francisco half marathon together, I was all over that. SAN FRANCISCO!! I had never been.

In the interim, however [after I signed up…] well you’ve all seen how my life kinda went down the toilet [figuratively speaking, of course]. I’m the one that flushed that toilet, anyhow. Called the plumber though. I’m unclogged. [How many more toilet comparisons can I come up with? Don’t stick around if you don’t wanna know].

Last Tuesday, my wallet was stolen while I was doing my greeter thang at CharlotteONE. LOVELY. I was supposed to be on a plane Friday and I had no ID, no nothing. I was in a state.

As it was I had not done ONE SPECK of training for the half marathon and honestly it was just going to be easier to not go at all! It seemed like the universe was against it anyway…

Then, Wednesday afternoon, a stranger Facebook messages me:

I have your wallet. It seems that everything is intact. Please call me and let me know if you want to come get it.

~Bob

THANK YOU JESUS! [and Bob!]

It seemed the universe was NOT so against me after all.

So that is how, Friday evening I ended up in San Francisco, checking into a hostel [not a hotel, a HOSTEL. I travel cheap, yo!].

Saturday afternoon Brooke and Pookie picked me up and we headed to the expo. Brooke and Pookie were expo virgins, and I was still on East Coast time, so we did not spend much time there. I wish I could say I lived it up my first night in the city, but no. I was in bed by 9, preparing for my big day.

4:15 comes early, even if your body clock does think it is actually 7. By the time I could get a cab to the start line it was nearly 6. My wave [and Brooke’s!] was set to start at 6:02, but she waited for me, and we started together in a later wave.

The first two miles of the race went down the Embarcadero and through Fisherman’s Wharf. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, this was about the time I started thinking ‘I could throw up REAL easily right now’, so I slowed to a walk and lost Brooke. Mile 3 was mostly uphill toward Fort Mason, but it was really pretty, so the hills did not bother me. Around mile 5.5 we hit the Golden Gate Bridge. This was absolutely my FAVORITE part of the run. I know this seems cliche, but hear me out. It was relatively flat, and…before you knew it, 3.5 more miles were over! Coming off the bridge we hit mile 9 and that was when I started feeling like a superwoman. ‘You’ve ran 9 miles with NO training’, I told myself, perhaps a little to early. As we crossed over into mile 10, it was hills, hills, hills and MORE hills. I began a little technique of walking uphill and barreling down. It seemed to work and conserved what little energy I had left. Before too long, I was meeting other runners covered in mylar blankets, shouting ‘JUST AROUND THE CORNER’. I started sprinting and then it was all over. I tore under the finish line, and grabbed a mylar blanket and FOOD. I was so cold, hungry and achy. But proud. I had just done exactly what I thought I couldn’t.

[PS: This is not recommended half marathon procedure.]

I was completely spent, and finally made my way back to the hostel, where I took a looooong HOT shower and climbed in bed. Brooke and I texted about celebrations, but honestly we were both so tired that we put it off for another night. I found some pizza around the corner and devoured two pieces and crawled back to bed.

So far today I have spent a lot of money at H&M, Sephore and on frozen yogurt, while travelling around most of the city on foot. God, am I going to need a pedicure when I get back!

Most of the photos I took today are of Fisherman’s Wharf and The Embarcadero, just because the rest of the time I was shopping and pictures were not on the mind.

I did however, stop at Boudin Bakery [the smell drew me in] and ate an entire doughy turtle. So good.

Any suggestions for MUST SEE attractions while I am here? My flight leaves Wednesday night, so I have two more full days of sight seeing left. Also, if you are in the area and want to meet up, let me know! whitsgettingfit [at] gmail [dot] com!

PS: This WAS a good idea, even 6 months later.

Tonight Kasey walked in as I was taking a picture of my salad on the floor.

 
Floor salad.

“Heeeeey, LOOK!” she said, “ARE YOU BLOGGING?”

“Why yes I am. I feel like a NORMAL person again,” I replied. Granted normal people PROBABLY do not take pictures of their salads on the floor.

But this was a very delicious salad, and I wanted to share it with the interwebs. [Also, probably not exactly NORMAL.]

GOAT CHEESE AND OTHER DELICIOUS THINGS IN A SALAD RECIPE:

• boston lettuce
• goat cheese
• craisins
• carrots
• salt n peppa
• naturally fresh lite ranch dressing

Make this. You will not be sad.

On the side I had a mocktail that made me think of Emily. VitaminWater Zero and seltzer. YUM. Speaking of Emily, I will be quite sad when she leaves Charlotte and takes her pretty dogs away. She let me play with them the last two weekends and we’ve grown quite attached. [Fo’ reals, Indy slept on my chest last night and snored like a baby. I have to get me a dog.]

Other things I did this evening were GO TO YOGA [I know!!! NORMAL!!!] and wear these shoes:

They are fancy.

New Balance ROCK AND TONES. New Balance sent me these to review a while back, and well, I am just getting around to it.

I will be honest and tell you that A. They are comfortable, and B. They made me walk straighter when I took the garbage to the dump, but I did not notice any outright toning effects yet. We shall see what the future holds.

And with that, I am out. My hair is still wet, which means, HEY I TOOK A SHOWER! See? Told you I was normal.

For the last few weeks I have [had] to be really, really selfish.

I sort of felt bad about it at first.

But then I realized: Hey, my life is about ME. No one else can live it for me, and right now I need to focus on myself and getting into a better place. [With the help of Lexapro.]

I let the medication do it’s job, and I’ve just been doing mine.

Living.

Doing what makes me happy.

Taking one day at a time.

This means that I have been spending a lot of time with my family. A lot of time with old friends. A lot of time with people that get me. Understand me. Know the ‘old me’ and the ‘new me’ and love both. People I can spend time with that don’t judge me, expect more than I can give or do anything but love me.

Just as I am.

And it is enough.

It is enough.

Finally I feel like me. I’m ready to face the world. Really face the world. Take what it gives me and make the most of it. Celebrate.

Today I woke up and felt happy. I cleaned my apartment, took a shower and still felt happy. I can do anything I want to do. I can be whoever I want to be.

I am WHIT, hear me roar.

[photo by Jen Hunt]

This past weekend I spent in Boston. Every single electronic device I owned died a terrible death.

I discovered this fact whilst sitting in the Charlotte Douglas airport Friday night at 5 pm, waiting on my 2.5 hour delayed flight. First it was my blackberry, then my laptop.

BATTERY EXHAUSTED!!!! screamed from every chargeable item I owned.

Fail.

So to say the least, I had a very interesting 4 hours at Charlotte Douglas.

Once finally in Boston, after a $50 cab ride through a construction site and a toll booth, both of which were totally unnecessary, I was greeted by a happy, tired and nervous Laura.

After figuring out who got which side of the bed, we exhaustedly fell asleep, just to wake up by 6:30 the next morning for a quick run. Vacation? Who said vacation?

We were done with said run by mid morning and on to the next adventure, which included Cambridge and Harvard Yard.

“I’ve never been there! I’ll bring my camera,” I excitedly proclaimed.

You guessed it.

Dead.

It would not even tell me that the battery was exhausted, that’s how dead it was.

“No worries! I brought the charger! We can get some good race pics tomorrow!”

Oh really, Whit? Well the charger and the USB cord DO look similar. Except wait. They actually don’t. And you definitely brought JUST the USB cord.

Fail.

But Harvard Yard is pretty, yo!

Very photogenic. I just don’t have any photos.

Fighting a dead battery on my blackberry once again, I rode out to Laura’s race site the next morning. Her team kindly provided bussing for us ‘Friends and Family’ [I’ve never been ‘friends and family’ before. It was nice!] so that was free. Good thing. It was a long ways. God knows what that shady cab driver would have charged me.

Can I just say THE WEATHER WAS GORGEOUS!

The race started at 6 am, and really that was perfect. Just perfect. [Except for the 3:30 am wake up call, that is.]

I got to the race start a little after the gun went off [our bus was later than the actual race participants bus] and so I killed time watching the 5k and wandering the grounds.

I lined up at the finish before the winner came across. WOW! It is a lot different being a spectator rather than an actual race participant. I loved the energy and cheering the racers on.

After hearing from others that the last three miles were TOUGH, and watching for Laura for a little while, I decided to go meet her. I knew that if she was having a tough race, it would mean all the difference in the world to her.

Sure enough, about half a mile from the finish line, I found her. She started waving, and I just gave her a big hug. “YOU CAN DO IT!” I yelled. “I’m here for you!!!”

And she did.

I loved every minute of it, and would do it all over again, just to get this picture with my dying blackberry after she crossed the finish line:

You go Laura! I’m so proud of you.

And really, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. But next time I might charge all my electronic devices before leaving the house.

Right now, I feel like I can honestly say: Yo, life has a bright side, and I am EXCITED about livin’ it!

I finally got everything worked out with my insurance, and faced my pharmacy tech again to get my pills. Yes, it was the same one. And yes, I displayed a much saner side of my personality. Except now he probably thinks I have like, a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.

I am not going to really dwell on that though.

What matters is that I got my pills. Lexapro rocks my socks, ya’ll. That and God. And all the awesome people praying for me. Actually, my list should be more like this: God, prayer and Lexapro. My army. Mighty, mighty army.

The doctor did tell me with the meds that I would see a difference in two weeks, and maybe sooner. Try five days.

She also mentioned something about feeling drunk or high for a few days.

I CAN BE DRUNK WITH NO HANGOVER? WHERE DO I SIGN? Needless to say, that did not really bother me. It only showed itself the first day, and then only for like an hour.

Anyway, all that is gone now, and the little practice of popping a pill while brushing my teeth is becoming second nature.

And yesterday, I could finally say ‘I had a GOOD day’. One whole entire GOOD day.

I’m so happy.

[HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE I WROTE THAT? AHHHHH!]

PS: Laura raised all the money needed for her race. She said the bake sale helped A LOT, and THANK YOU from the bottom of her heart.

PPS: Remember how Linden got married? Official wedding pictures here. [Warning: Gorgeousness Ahead]

PPPS: This song by Chris Tomlin is my favorite right now. Check it.

and to support my lovely cousin Laura, who is running her first half marathon this weekend in Boston. I’m going with. Love it.

This was totally thrown together last minute, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all the lovely people who offered to bake, even if you just offered because you are my [and therefore Laura’s] family. I love you guys.

Ok, some ground rules here.

E-mail me your bids. whitsgettingfit [at] gmail [dot] com. I will then update the page every hour – half hour, as the bids come in. You should be able to see updated prices all throughout the day.

[I wish there were a more sophisticated way to do this. Alas, the thingmadoodle I downloaded to run it with did not work with my theme. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.]

All bids start at $5.00. That seems fair to me. If it does not seem fair to you, email me. We can talk.

The winning bidders will be contacted tonight by 10 pm EST. Because that’s the time zone I live in. Anything else would just confuse me.

All payments need to be made directly to Laura’s donation page.

After I receive notification of payment I will then send each baker the winning bidders info. If you are a baker, please just send a quick email to me or your winner to let me know you got it. That would be amazing. Love you.

Now for the goods. Literally. These things are mouthwatering.

*** All final bids are in and the winners have been contacted!***

• Batch of Lemon Cookies – Laura Eudy – $10.00
• Double Batch of gluten free Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Chocolate Chunks – Kristina – $10.00
• Customizable Scones [whole wheat option] – Sarah – $10.00
• Batch of Teacakes – Meredith Huntley [zat’s ma sista!] – $5.00
• White Chocolate Currant Granola – Julie – $15.00
• Batch of Skor Cookies – Melanie Huntley [me auntie!] – $10.00
• Oatmeal Cookies – Nicci – $5.00
• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies – Heather – $10.00
• Batch of Super Charge Me Cookies [customizable] – Meghan – $10.00
• Batch of Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies – Kelly – $10.00
• Banana Nut Scones – Whit – $15.00
• Blueberry Muffins – Linden [oh look! another family member!] – $10.00
• Customizable Cookie Bars – Brandi – $22.00
• 1 Dozen Almond Toffee Sandies – Daphne’s Simply Southern Bakery – $5.00

A huge THANK YOU again to the bakers! Now let’s get bidding!

Bake sale starts tomorrow at 9 am! If you still want to bake something, it’s not too late…if you like, email me immediately. haha. I am excited about all the fabulous bakers we have lined up. Deliciousness.

Please remember to pass the word tomorrow!

Lots ‘n lots o’ love.

~Whit

Today I had my doctor’s appointment.

It went well. Really.

My doctor was so reassuring, and let me know that it was ok, and what I was feeling was NOT uncommon. She advised me to stop the St. John’s Wort, because while it seemed to help initially, I had developed some anxiety and she did not think that was a good idea to keep taking it.

So she gave me a prescription for Lexapro, and wants me to come back in a month so we can see how it makes me feel.

I’m not sure yet how I feel about taking it. Not that I am against drugs or anything. I’ve just never taken anything stronger than an antibiotic for an ear infection 7 years ago.

I’m not sure what the fact that I had an ear infection at the age of 16 says about me, other than the fact that I did not dry out my ears well after washing my hair. I learned after that. Haven’t had one since.

So anyway, other than the fact that I have a glimmer of hope of being MYSELF again, I am/was not sure how I feel about taking the Lexapro yet.

But I am willing to try. So willing to try, in fact that I went to the pharmacy immediately after to pick it up.

I was early. It wasn’t ready yet. And my CVS was being audited or something. The pharmacy tech confided in a low whisper ‘That’s the VP of the entire company. The VP of CVS.’ about one bald headed gent when I mentioned there were a lot of people behind the counter.

Anyway, I had to wait. The pharm tech was cool about it, but when he called me up to give me the prescription he had bad news. Apparently my insurance company needed a ‘confirmation from my doctor as to why I was being prescribed this medication’. Without it, I wasn’t eligible for my copay, and it was like $170 or something.

Knowing it was not a generic brand, I inquired as to if that was the problem. ‘No ma’am, it is the type of medication you were prescribed,’ he answered kindly. ‘Oh, I guess you need a reason for that kind of medication’ and ‘My insurance SUCKS’ I semi-snarled, all the while digging wildly in my purse, looking for WHAT, I do not know. ‘Yes, ma’am’. He sounded slightly terrified. I realized I had forgotten to turn on the sarcasm with my last few statements.

‘Well, it’s fine.’ My lip was trembling and my eyes were filling up with tears. I looked up at him. He was terrified. ‘I’m sorry ma’am. I know it must be difficult’.

*ding* OHMYGOD!IAMTHECRAZYLADY! was my sudden realization.

Poor dude. Here he is, a wild haired, purse digging girl in front of him, and she can’t have her anti-depressant because of some stupid insurance hang up, or unless she pays $170. He’s just doing his job.

Instead of further proving my case as a crazy lady, I pushed my body wash, go lean bar and vitamin water at him with my $2.50 coupon. ‘It’s not your fault. I’ll just take this and go. Thank you.’

If I had not been on the verge of tears I would have laughed. He just kept apologizing, like it was his fault, and it was obvious he was terrified that I was going to break down in tears or grab the prescription bag and RUN, screaming ‘I NEED MY PILLS!!!!’ out the door.

I bit my lip so that I didn’t do either.

So to the nice pharm tech at CVS?

I’m sorry.

I’ll try to smile tomorrow.

That is if you aren’t hiding from me behind a shelf in the adult diaper aisle.

Because God knows, I am not venturing down that way. No need to put any more ideas in your head.