I'm...too sexy for the the plane...

We arrived hours early for our flight, and about five minutes before boarding, I started having a horrendous coughing fit. I'm not sure what brought it on, but it caused TJ to quickly escape from my side, and for Darcy to come over and loudly announce that "it's a good thing I'm not contagious anymore!" LOL. The poor things.

I know everyone was staring at me thinking "God, don't let me sit near HER!" I was coughing so hard that I almost threw up repeatedly, but I managed to avoid that, thankfully! I pre-boarded with the families and the people with mobility issues, as I was still in the middle of my coughing fit when pre-boarding started, and I wanted time and room to try to stop the coughing. I swigged some robitusson with codeine, and put my foxy mask on as soon as I got on the plane.

The stewardesses looked at me sympathetically, as though I had just had a bone marrow transplant, and I couldn't breathe in public air. The mask worked, and I didn't get any more sick from the plane, for the first time in my adult life. Around hour three of the trip, I was allll set with the mask, though. It made my face hot, I felt like I couldn't breathe, the elastic was irritating the tops of my ears, and yes, I looked like a freak, but I didn't care about that. Still, I stuck it out, and it was absolutely worth it.

I slept for the last hour or so of the trip. I could have slept the whole time, as being out and about exhausted me yesterday, but I didn't want to be up all night, so I waited it out. I was so tired yesterday, I wanted to kiss the floor of the hotel room when we finally arrived. I didn't, though, because that would be gross.

When we arrived in the room, we quickly discovered that the entire room was laden with feathers. Down pillows, down comforter, down mattress pad....I do not understand, for the life of me, why hotels assume no one is allergic to this stuff. I know so many people who are! We called the front desk, and they quickly sent someone up to redo all of the bedding, and she was really nice. Still, it took forever, and I was soooo tired. I sent an email to the corporate headquarters, letting them know of my troubles. LOL

I woke up feeling pretty good today. I'm still sick, of course, but each day I'm getting better. I'm really hoping to make it through the presentation without having a coughing fit like I did at the airport yesterday.

Oh - something really cool happened on the plane! I had the shade down most of the trip, but I happened to open it JUST as we were flying over the Colorado Rockies!

The horizon was pink and yellow and blue, and the mountains were glorious. The picture does nothing for the scene I saw, but hopefully it gives you a glimpse. It was absolutely amazing.

We are meeting TJ for breakfast at 6:30 (PST). I've been up since 4:30, and I'm starving. We had a late lunch before our flight, but that was really all we had other than breakfast yesterday, and a few silly snacks on the plane. The restaurant here serves a buffet style breakfast, but I'm sure there will be healthy options - it's California!

The hotel is equipped with several skinny mirrors, and I'm liking that!

I couldn't help but think last night that this whole thing would NEVER have happened if I hadn't lost the weight I did. I never would have flown coach to California, I never would have agreed to speak at a large national conference...it just wouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have let my weight hold me back, but I did. I'm still overweight now, but I won't let that stop me from doing anything I want to do. Life is too short. Hopefully someday, I won't be overweight at all, but even if I stay at my current weight for the rest of my life, I'm going to live each day to the fullest.