The Dreaded Lurgy

There were kids coughing in the waiting area for the plane to Seattle, and clearly remember thinking, Please don't make me share a big flying germ box with them. Please let them be on another flight. And then I heard coughing when we boarded the plane.

By the end of the trip, I had a nasty sore throat, but I convinced myself it was allergies. Then it got worse, and the cough started. On Monday, I went to the doctor because I couldn't stop coughing, and she sent me home with a fist full of prescriptions. I am not a graceful sick person. I have no patience for it and it makes me crabby.

One of my dear British blog friends, taught me the term "dreaded lurgy" to describe this kind of ick, and it fits so well with my need to be overdramatic when I don't feel good. "I have an upper respiratory infection" doesn't sound half as good as "I've caught the dreaded lurgy."

Luckily, I have a little bit of downtime before I hit the road again, and I'm on the mend.

If you haven't checked in on the events page, we've added a few dates, including Chicago! (Chicago! That toddlin' town! - Thank you to my 3rd grade chorus teacher for the fact that I can't even think Chicago without starting to sing the lyrics in my head), and an outdoor reading in Glens Falls, NY where dogs are welcome to attend too! Next stop - Holland, MI!

Anyway, despite my acquisition of the dreaded lurgy, the rest of our Seattle trip was fantastic.

We spent two nights out at Snoqualmie Falls, at a certain familiar hotel.

We had breakfast with a high school friend who moved to Seattle after college. I love the way it's possible to feel comfort with old friends even when you haven't seen them in fourteen years. And meeting her husband and little boy - just amazing.

I happened to be in town for Allison Winn Scotch's Seattle reading and signing (She's so great - go see her if you have the chance!) and met Sarah Jio and Theo Nestor, too!

Getting to spend lots and lots of time with both J and Lady was absolutely wonderful - two of the best parts of my life together at the same time. It was so hard to leave.

And then, literally, it was so hard to leave. Our flight got cancelled due to the storms in Chicago, so we ended up at an airport hotel by SEATAC for the night, even though our checked suitcase left us for Rochester. We got switched to another airline, that insisted on checking our carry-on, and flew to JFK, only to have our connecting flight to Rochester cancelled until the next day.

At this point, we had no overnight stuff left, and couldn't get our carry on back. So, we rented a car with a fellow Rochesterian who was also stranded (and turned out to be darn good company), drove back, and got home safely - only 25 hours later than scheduled. Then, of course, we had to go about getting our luggage back from two different airlines. Travel is just so glamorous, isn't it? But it was an adventure, and it's not like I wanted to be stuck in a big giant germ box flying through tornados or anything.

Links!

First up - if you're in a book club, you'll want to check out this amazing contest - Four Book Clubs will win a years worth of books! STAY is in the mix of prizes, and the line up of authors involved is staggering!

STAY is the Crazy Sexy Life newsletter pick of the month!

Ashley at Our Little Apartment (is so adorably pregnant) and would totally throw gum drops out the window too.

Liz from Mabel's House and wrote about STAY, too (be warned, one can spend hours looking at Liz's pictures - so gorgeous!)

Kate from New Life ignored the laundry for awhile while she read STAY.

S. Krishna's Books, Chick Lit Club, & Bookviews review STAY.

If you missed any of my Penguin Blog series - including a video of Argo & Stella - you can catch it here.

And, if you missed any of STAY week at The Greenists, you can catch up here.