Under the Weather

Hi, readers! {I'm looking at you, SRK.} I'm sorry I've been a little bit MIA this week. Since Tuesday evening I have been dealing with some intense stomach pain that I can't seem to kick. Last night I was up from 3:30-5:30am doubled over and misreable. I'm not sure what the cause is, or how to get rid of it, but I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so hopefully we'll be able to get it sorted out and gone. Boo pain!

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In the meantime, here is a video of a baby goat attack. I very much want to be this lady. {Thanks, WB!}

Dog GIF Friday

Well, another week has come and gone. I wish I could say this week has been happy and grand, but I'm not one to lie. Here's hoping another few days of rest and lazing around will get my hip over its grumpiness.

Since I didn't have all that many exciting or happy things to report this week, this Friday you get five of the best dog GIFs {all sourced from BuzzFeed, thank you BuzzFeed}.

This dog getting ready for bed {top 3 all-time favorite GIFs, by the way}:

 This dog who is too fat to get into his bath:

This dog freaking out over a lime:

This dog grabbing the mail:

 And these mops that are actually dogs:

Have a happy, love-filled, and puppy-filled weekend. xx

Five Smiles For Friday

I know, I know. I've really been falling down on the job lately. I still want to recap my week at camp! I also had a pretty fun and nacho-filled evening last night: JM is leaving for Seattle tomorrow for the rest of the summer, so we went out to celebrate a little bit. And I got us a huge plate of nachos. Obviously. {Side note: they had jalepenos and were insanely hot and I was this close to asking the bartender for some milk.}

Since I didn't do much blogging this week and don't have much to link up with, this Friday I will share with you five smiles from happy dogs. If only we could all be this happy.

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Five Thumbs Up Friday

Friday again?! The week sure flies by when you're dogsitting an incredibly naughty pup and you get very little sleep because said pup keeps waking you up during the night because she constantly walks from one room to another and then sticks her gigantic head in your face just to make sure you're still there. Not like that's happened to me this week.

It's been another good week of life, despite some hip frustrations (yesterday was the 8 week mark, by the way!) that I'm hoping to talk out with my therapist when I get back there on Tuesday. Here are snapshots of 5 things making me happy this week:

Itchy pandas-

The ramp my dad made for our dog so he doesn't have to go up a step to come inside-

 Roly poly fluffy puppies-

Swirly margaritas for a Friday lunch with my bestie SK-

My own sweet adorable {15-year old} camouflage pup-

 Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! Enjoy the extra day!

Question of the Day:
Any plans for the Memorial Day weekend?

Zoofari

Thursday already? This week is flyin' by. Just one week closer to freedom. It probably helps that I have two huge furballs taking up all of my attention this week.

I spent yesterday morning exploring the National Zoo. My mom bought her & I a membership last year that expires at the end of June, and with that membership comes free parking - so I wanted to take advantage of the one definitely sunny day while I was home this week. Whenever I go to the zoo, I spend most of my time feeling terrible for the animals - how unhappy many of them probably are, how horrible humans are for continuing to destroy their habitats, how many of these species might be extinct within our lifetimes or the next.

But, I still love watching when they do adorable things like this:

Tai Shan

 And when they scratch themselves on rocks because they are itchy:

Mei Xong

 And when there is a whole family of otters named after foods (think Radish, Chowder, Rutabaga, Pickles... and Kevin. Love animal Kevins!):

And when there are elephants getting pedicures with gigantic nail files:

Come on girl, I know you have treats somewhere in there

 And when orangutans are actually climbing on the O Line:

The weather was fairly cool for the majority of my visit, so I enjoyed wandering around {and avoiding the hundreds of school children} for a couple of hours. Though my hip did not.

After lunch, I was able to meet up for lunch with my bestie JG, who lives and works in DC. While my parents live "close" to DC, it is always a big production to get into the city, so I don't do it often {though I should}. So it was wonderful to be able to see her while I was in the city.

We went to a restaurant called Chef Geoff's, which is located very close to American University. They had plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, and while we chose to sit inside to take advantage of the all-day happy hour special, the outdoor area looked like a wonderful place to enjoy a few drinks after work.

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I enjoyed a "Straight Up" pizza, which was a modified margherita pizza, and JG had the Bistro Burger - cheddar, monterey jack, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. We supplemented with kiwi-melon sangria and Shocktop Belgian White.

A delicious end {mid-point?} to a lovely day!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite animal to see at the zoo?

Carolina Tiger Rescue

On Saturday morning, I took my friend JM on a little date to Carolina Tiger Rescue, a non-profit wildlife sanctuary in Pittsboro, NC. I spent the summer following my graduation from college as an animal care intern at CTR, so it will always hold a very special (exotic, even? Funny funny) place in my heart. I haven't been back to visit since my internship ended, so I was very excited to go - even though JM snoozed through her alarm and it took me 10 minutes of banging on her door/calling her phone before we were able to head out the door. Luckily, we arrived just in time for our tour!

Rajah tiger

Carolina Tiger Rescue began in the 1990s as a breeding for conservation facility, but soon the vision and mission changed and the team turned towards rescue and protection. While CTR is home to many tigers, there are also lions, ocelots, servals, caracals, kinkajous, bobcats, cougars, panthers, and my favorite animal, the binturong (which I think is ADORABLE but apparently that sentiment is not common):

Becky the binturong

One thing that I really love about CTR is that even though they allow the public to tour the animals, their enclosures are made to feel as real and natural as possible; and, unlike at zoos, a tour is just about as busy as life gets for the animals. Tours are 2x/day on the weekends, and of course at other times for particular reasons by appointment. I was actually just at the zoo this morning, and it just struck me anew how horrifyingly loud and disruptive busloads of screaming children would be for the animals.

Collins bobcat

The staff of Carolina Tiger Rescue also tries to make well-known their mission and their viewpoints on various exotic animal-related issues. Wild/exotic animal facilities are not always so transparent, so it's nice to know what they are all about. On public tours, the staff also wants to make sure that the public is learning about the various species and each individual animal, as well as ways to protect, conserve, and improve, rather than just looking at the animals.

Roman lion

While it was supposed to be cloudy yet dry, it actually ended up raining on and off throughout our entire 1.5-hour tour. Sometimes a downpour, sometimes a drizzle. But - worth it. I love these guys!

Question of the day:
What is the most unusual animal you've ever seen or heard about?

Physical Therapy ... and Puppies

So what does physical therapy look like when you are two weeks post-surgery and still on crutches? Not much. Right now my therapy sessions look like this:

Heat

Manual therapy - hip rotations and movements

Small ab holds/ab engaging exercises (small press ups/hip flexor stretching, angry cat stretch, quad sets, glute sets)

15-20 minutes of non-resistance biking

Ten minutes of icing

So, in short, it's really exciting. But when you can't put full pressure on your foot, it's pretty difficult to do exercises. Once I'm off crutches (next week, we are hoping), things should get more exciting, and hopefully we'll be making more progress.

It's hard to be going so slowly and feel like nothing's improving, but both my surgeon and therapist have emphasized how important it is to take it slowly and not strain or push through pain. Doing recovery correctly the first time is easier/better than developing soreness/ additional pain/ stress reactions. Patient recuperation is so hard for athletes, but considering I haven't exercised without pain since last August, I think I am going to survive. I'm just waiting for my emotions to catch up with this mental acceptance of the situation.

I tried to do a search for some of the manual hip exercises my therapist has been doing with me, but I don't think they really have names so I couldn't find anything. However, Google did return this incredibly relevant photograph. So here you have it:

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A New Blog Is Born

Hey, y'all! My name is C and I am twenty-something southern lady from Maryland who's made a home in North Carolina. I use the word "y'all," and this is my blog.

Why is the address In Roy We Trust? Well, because, in Roy we trust. Proof (from many years ago):

Why am I starting a blog? Great question. I have always been terrible at keeping a journal - even when I studied abroad - and sometimes technology eludes me (I don't have a smartphone and struggle to understand how to work any sort of Apple product. I like to pretend this is endearing rather than shameful.). The short answer is because I just had hip surgery and my life has turned into a lot of laying on the couch. Since I just finished watching all three seasons of Downton Abbey and life has suddenly turned dull and empty without Lady Mary and Anna Bates, I need a fresh outlet of diversion while I recover. And, hopefully, to continue down the road when I return to graduate school this fall and embark on a path of becoming a high school social studies teacher. In theory, this will be a blog about running, teaching, graduate school, post-surgery recovery, and life in the South.

But, let's be honest, in practice, the only real reason I started a blog is so I could have a place to post all of my favorite photos, memes, gifs, links, and funny e-cards about baby animals, Harry Potter, and Disney.

A tasting:

And, finally, the truth we've all been avoiding:

(Coincidentally, this is all actually true. Especially the parallel parking part. In Maryland, you have to successfully parallel park to get your driver's license. In North Carolina, you do not.)