KICKING OFF 2012 WITH A WHIMPER

Two years in a row now I've found myself huddled over a toilet emptying the contents of my belly. Let me tell you, this is not a positive way to ring in the new year.

This year we went to my friend's house on the other side of town. Earlier in the afternoon I was feeling alternately cold and then hot. I took some Excedrin for a headache that was threatening to go hog wild and then I felt better. We cooked dinner at home (Alan's favorite meal - braised chicken, roasted brussel sprouts, and fingerling potatoes) and afterwards I felt a little nauseated, but I thought it was just my GERD so I popped some pills and figured that'd be all.

We get to my friend's house and we're having a lovely evening sitting outside by their fire pit. Alan brought chestnuts and our roasting pan and I ate a few but one made me almost retch so I didn't eat any more. Then when people started roasting marshmallows I had to bow out because the thought of the gooey chocolate and marshmallow was making me kind of queasy. Unfortunately, I didn't lay off the champagne. In fact, I drank a lot of champagne, which in hindsight was a terrible idea.

Shortly before midnight I thought I was going to be sick, but nope. Then after midnight I got sick but thankfully I made it to my friend's bathroom in plenty of time. I walked back outside, sat down, and then proceeded to throw up everywhere. It was disgusting and mortifying and embarrassing and all things terrible. We immediately left and I continued to throw up in the car on the way home. And then when we got home, I threw up in our bathroom. I climbed into bed sometime after 2 a.m. shivering and feeling like I'd been hit like a semi.

We woke up around 9 a.m. to go to dim sum, a New Years Day tradition we started ten years ago when we first moved back to California. I felt fine. I was surprised how fine I felt given the night before. I scarfed down some delicious dumplings and noodles and all things that I love and am not supposed to eat and then we came home and I crashed. I took a nap for a couple of hours and when I woke up I felt terrible. I had an enormous headache which threatened to turn into a migraine. And then the nausea came back. All day I felt off. Gross. But I didn't throw up again, thank goodness.

Then I baked a pacific rockfish and it was delicious. We ate our New Years Day dinner while watching reruns of Friends. (My goal is to see all 250(ish) episodes this year.) Before dinner was even over I started to feel queasy again. I ended the night curled up on the couch moaning and feeling disgusting. Alan went to bed and I stayed in the living room because I felt better sitting up than laying down. Around 1 a.m. I went to bed. Immediately I could smell the fish and the smoke from the campfire and I ended up getting sick again. Just typing this out makes me feel queasy.

I slept until 11:30 a.m. this morning and felt fine when I woke up. But now I can smell the fish again so I have all the windows open and have peppermint oil in the diffuser going to clean out the air. I had errands I was going to run today since I have the day off but I'm thinking I might just sit here and relax. My head is pounding and I feel like crap.

At least I know that I wasn't throwing up at my friend's party because I am that girl that can't hold her alcohol. I hate that girl. Nope, it's because I have the flu. I am exonerated!

Next weekend we're going to take down the Christmas tree and put the decorations away until next December. I'll be kind of sad to see the tree go since I really do love it so much, but I'm looking forward to giving my house a nice deep clean. Or maybe I'll hire someone to do it for me. Yeah, that's a  good resolution for 2012. This will be the year I finally hire a housekeeper.

So I've got two concrete resolutions now:

1. Watch all episodes of Friends
2. Hire a housekeeper

I like to keep things doable.