My first time, sadly.

So guess what I discovered at Kaiser today?? I have bronchitis. BOOOOOOO!!!!! I don't think I've ever had it before. Luckily since my cold was nearly two weeks ago -- and the cough has lingered -- I'm in the early stages of acute bronchitis. The positive to take away here is that I am no longer annoyingly coughing, there's a diagnosis and I've been given a prescription now.

After my hour and a half jaunt at the doctor's, my throat hurt from all the coughing. Armed with my new meds, I needed food to wash it down.

You know what I'm going to say, don't you?? I ordered a nonfat frozen chai from Starbuck's ;)

I returned home just in time for dinner... and our weekday dinner plans had already been made in advance! I bought so much fun stuff at Trader Joe's (shocking) that we agreed on trying it all each day of the week. On the menu for tonight's meal was home-made orange chicken sort of like in a stir fry bowl. I bedded mine with brown rice and tossed in edamame, green beans, broccoli and some almonds.

P.S. Trader Joe's orange chicken is DELICIOUS!!! It's much healthier than the Panda Express orange chicken. I did use the chopsticks for a bit, but the edamame proved tricky so I eventually opted for a fork. Usually whenever we go out for Asian food, hot tea is always served out of cute little kettles. I was feeling in the mood -- and so was my throat! -- for some green tea. Enter my giant box 'o tea. From France (also, shocking, right??).

After dinner and getting owned by Jeopardy! (usually it's the other way around, guys!!!) my throat still bugged me. Despite amoxicillin. Despite Robitussin. Despite Halls cough drops. What's Monique's remedy then??

That's right.... frozen yogurt!! I mixed a little bit of blueberry, pomegranate and tart yogurt together and adorned them with dark chocolate chips, blueberries and kiwi at the yogurt shop. When I got home I dumped in the remainder of yesterday's mango. It's a surprise I'm not orange after all the mango I've been eating today!

And that's all she wrote, folks. Hopefully I'll get a better night's sleep now that the dog is accustomed to his cone and I'm on cough meds. (Yeah right....)

What's your favorite fro-yo flavor and topping combination?? I looove anything fruity, tart and dark chocolate-y.

I wanna be sedated (too)

Like my puppy, I've been sort of groggy today with an overall feeling of just  going through the motions. It could be due to Woodstock's lack of sleep and overall discomfort with the cone around his neck. Poor little guy kept me up all night. Well, more like the combination of him moving around and me hacking up a lung. Eventually I fell asleep around 6ish, then slept through my alarm until about 9:30 a.m. Oops.

I told my boss I'd be in late today (he knew about Woody's surgery) and then dozed a bit longer. Then I finally hopped in the shower, braided my hair and assembled some breakfast to bring to work.

Apparently I was in luck the day I went to Trader Joe's -- they just got a first-time shipment in of these little beauties:

Unfortunately, I only bought one. But oooooh my gooooodness, I will be back for more! I topped mine with the last stolen muffin, freshly cut-up mango (has anyone ever cut up mangoes??? that's a chore and a half) and craisins.

I had two decently-sized projects going on at work today to keep me busy until 1 p.m. When I finally reached a good stopping point, I went home to feed Woodstock his first real meal since 10 p.m. the night before his surgery. In case you're wondering, he's doing fine today! He's much more animated and jumpy again -- not too much since I'm supposed to keep him calm -- and he even ate!!

As did I. First, I soothed my throat with some chocolate soy milk... in a "juice box"!!!!

Then I repeated last night's dinner. The microwaved leftovers really weren't pretty, so I'll just show you some photos from dinner. We had peppercorn garlic crusted pork tenderloin, asparagus and rosemary roasted potatoes.

Oh. My. God. I'm not a pork fan (exception being pulled pork), in fact I steer clear of tenderloins and pork chops. But this made me rethink my entire stance!!!!! We plopped it in the oven for 25 minutes and let it do its thang. The result came out being tender and juicy and fulllll of flavor. I'd buy it again!

For dessert after lunch I continued my theme of feeling like a little kid with sliced apples dipped in peanut butter ;) Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Since I forgot to snap a photo, I leave you with last night's dessert. One of the best things I've had in a loooong time!!!

They're premade sorbets in fruit cups. This one was orange mango in a hollowed out orange. I topped the cups with fresh mango and blueberries. It tasted so fresh and tropical and awesome. My sore throat loved me.... for a little bit anyway. My only regret is that just one cup remains in the freezer.

Anyone with a Costco card want to buy me some new ones?!?!? I'll pay you back, I promise :)

In a couple of minutes I'm actually going to the doctor. J.D. and my coworkers are annoyed concerned with the coughing fits I've been having. One lasted for several minutes last night and left me with strained abdomen muscles. It really sucked, slash, hurt. So I guess I'll go get it checked out just to be on the safe side. I mean, it has been nearly two weeks since I've been sick now.