What a week. What a crazy, crazy week.

Life lessons, y’all. Life lessons.

Remember how last week I was all, I’m back! I’m ready to write! Then life happened, as it so often does and threw everything off the rails. This post isn’t about food, or books, or art. This is just a crazy story.

Last week my brother and sister-in-law came to visit. It was awesome. Visits this good make it harder to be so far away. We ate lots of good food, saw fun stuff, and went on an adventure. We spent the weekend at Steven’s Pass and Leavenworth. For those who are not in Washington, that means that we drove about two hours east and wound up in the mountains, where there was still snow for skiing, despite the 60 degree temperature. It was so beautiful. Sunny, warm (we were melting in our ski gear), and lots of fun.

Look! I’m on skis!

That is, until the next day.

You know how you are supposed to wear sunscreen when you ski because the sun reflects off the snow, doubling the sunshine that wants to burn you to a crisp? Yeah, I learned a valuable lesson. (Don’t worry. There aren’t any gross pictures posted.)

This is me and my brother before everything went terribly wrong.

We show up to ski around 1PM and the guy renting me my skis asks if I remembered my sunscreen. I was like, oh no! I forgot! Oh well, we’ll only be here for 3 hours or so. I’ll be fine.

Wrong!

Wrong!

So by that evening I was bright red. I looked like a demented sad clown with the white around my eyes and bright red face. Next day, too burned to ski. But, a normal burn. Sunday, also a little better. By Monday my face looked reasonable, but something weird was happening. The burn on my chest seemed to be getting worse. It was spreading. It was itching. It kept me up all night on Monday. Itching! Burning!

And did I mention that Monday was my first official day at a new job? Awesome.

By Tuesday morning, the itching was near unbearable. I went to work, but by 1PM, I went to my boss and was like, I have to leave right now! I need to go to my doctor! I can’t take it! I pulled down my scarf that was covering up the terror on my neck and she kicked me out of the office. (She told me this morning that she thought she could literally see it spreading as I was standing in her office.) Then I went straight to my doctor, trying to not cry from the burning, painful, itching.

She gasped. When your doctor looks at you and gasps, that shit aint good.

Apparently, I had developed an extreme allergic reaction to my sunburn. I didn’t know that was a thing. So, I’ve been loaded up on antihistamines and steroids for the last few days. My doctor warned me that the steroids could cause insomnia and psychosis. She hesitated for a minute before writing the scrip, looked at me again, and then said, “yep. We’re doing this.” I have to say, I was a little freaked out, but not too freaked out to do it. I would have done about anything at that point to make the itching stop.

Luckily, I haven’t felt any crazier than normal. (Though you’d probably have to ask my beau for a realistic view of my crazy levels.) I’ve been sleeping (probably due to the benedryl). And best of all, I no longer feel like a poison ivy covered leper.

What a week.

And like I said, started a new job this week, which is exciting. For the next few months I’ll be splitting my time between catering for Lishfood.com, which I love, and working as the Interim Environment and Culture Manager for WGCells, a video game company in Bellevue. Friends and former PopCap coworkers reached out to me to come in and cover for a friend who is going on maternity leave. It has been so long since I’ve worked in an office! But, I feel like I’m right at home. I think that this job will provide a great opportunity for me to step back from the kitchen and get a good view of what I want to be doing. Also, provide time for me to think about my blog again! And hours on a bus every week to read books!

Certainly an exciting week. And we’ve got more company in town this weekend, which will certainly equal even more adventure. But one thing I know for sure, I’m wearing lots of sunscreen.

Sunday in Leavenworth with my sister-in-law, brother, and beau. Notice how we are on the shady side of the street?

Happy Friday!