I have the Cold from Hell, and it is driving me insane. I spent the entire workday apologizing to patients for my uncontrollably drippy nose. I was about to do a finger stick on a kid and I said to his mom, "You'll have to forgive me if I have to grab for a tissue in the middle of doing this... I'm having kind of a rough day!" Fortunately, they laughed. I thought working in pediatrics was supposed to make me immune to this kind of stuff? I mean, I guess it sort of has -- I think this is only my second cold of 2009 -- but it's a doozy. The pesky sore throat and runny nose have spent the past 24 hours morphing into some serious congestion, and my whole head is pounding with the pressure. Not to mention I can't taste anything at all, which is a true shame when there's so much good food in the house (try fresh bruschetta!). The sole moment of relief today was when I went for a (very easy) run this morning before going in to work... the exercise just opened my head right up. I'm supposed to run a half marathon on Sunday, so I'm crossing my fingers that this bug remains a simple head cold (which I can run with) and doesn't migrate to my chest. I've been coughing more than I usually do with a cold, which is making me nervous. But I've had both flu vaccines already, so that rules out the two most annoying contenders. And my temperature has been hovering between 99 and 99.5, which isn't even technically a fever, so there's some more good news. If I can just make it through work tomorrow and come home and rest on Friday and Saturday, I think I'll be okay to run on Sunday.

Liz is at a conference in Knoxville this week with the Meredith study-abroad folk, so I've been entertaining myself with online Christmas shopping, minor household projects, and old kiddie movies on VHS (try Air Bud and The Indian in the Cupboard. I am such a dork). She'll be back tomorrow evening, and then we're going to spend the night at Norma and Terry's on Friday night (we're doing Halloween a day early so that I can be in my own bed the night before the race). Norma promised to make grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato-basil soup (which sounds sooooo good right now!), and there was even mention of a fire pit and s'mores, which should be lots of fun... almost like a summer camp flashback! :)

Oh, and one more thing (since if I can't brag on my very own website, then where can I brag?)... I stopped at Ann Taylor two nights ago on my way home after seeing that my favorite non-jeans pants were finally on sale for nearly half their original price. I have a pair in brown, which are size 8 -- I bought them in the middle of my "Biggest Loser" program, and was very stoked at the time to be able to wear an 8 instead of my usual 10. I had wanted a pair in gray as well, but didn't have the money for two pairs, so I contented myself with one. Well, they are super comfy and cute to boot, and I've barely taken them off since I bought them, so I've kept my eye on the website to watch for sales. And one finally came along this week... BUT... you may notice that gray is no longer listed on the website as an available color. In the store, there were countless pairs of the brown, pebble, and khaki colors... and exactly TWO pairs of gray left. Both in the same size... which was... a... six. Ugh.

But, on a whim, I tried them on. The waist was a teensy bit tighter than I'd hoped for -- not in an unsightly way, just more like my clothes used to fit, fifteen pounds ago -- but the length was perfect, as was the fit through the hip and thigh. I asked the salesgirls' opinions, and they both told me they looked great and that the size eight (which I also had in the dressing room, in a different color) was too big. I told them that I already had a pair in size eight that fit fine, but they furrowed their brows and shrugged their shoulders and made skeptical noises and basically told me to just buy the damn pants already. So I did.

So... I now own a pair of (gorgeous, comfy, amazing) size six pants. That actually fit. Me.

I never thought I'd see the day.