How To Rally Against Those Sick Days

(image courtesy of seethecup.com)

Remember when being sick was fun? It meant a few days off from school with minimal work to catch up on and all day marathons of Jerry Springer. It meant napping all day long and those candy-like 'Feel Better Bear' lollypops and Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. I remember my mother used to set up a turquoise antique television table (the kind that I'm sure people used to eat their TV dinners on back in the 1950s) with every remedy needed for my ample recovery. Feel Better Bears. Soup. Haagen Daaz sorbet. Ludens Berry cough drops. Vicks chest rub. Vitamin C drops. Puffs tissues with aloe infused into the paper goodness. It meant getting whatever you wanted to eat when recovery finally arrived because Mom was just too happy to see you feeling better, so she could get her life back to normal again with the sickly one back at school. Those were the days that are no more.

Today, while everyone and their mother within a 30 mile radius of the city of Boston is coming down with some nasty cold, let Mommy M give you a few tips of what to do and how to act around those who are feeling a bit congested, cloudy and sniffley. I can't provide you a tray of feel better goodness, but this is second best, don't you think?

1.) As seen below. Teavana. Wherever you are, go out or send someone out to get you a hot cup of their White Needle/Rooibos/Peppermint tea blend. With lots of honey. It costs a pretty penny but the 45 minutes I spent drinking my cup were the most bearable 45 minutes of my workday.

2.) Airborne. A lot of it. Buy it. Take it. Love it.

3.) Don't try to engage in any serious conversation. You'll find that you hear things wrong, pay no attention and generally make a fool of yourself if you try to.

4.) Take a walk! I forced myself out for a hour this afternoon into the nice, brisk, forty-something degree (ooo heatwave!) Boston afternoon. And you know what? I felt better.

5.) Skip the after-work festivities to relax in. Afterall, The Millionaire Matchmaker is on Bravo tonight, and that is reason enough to not go out and drink.

Enjoy. Stay healthy and send some anti-germ filled wishes my way!

-M

Tea Heaven

(image courtesy of www.teavana.com)

Although the Prudential Center has taken away my beloved Mango, there is still Teavana to keep me satisfied. I have long been a tea and coffee addict. When I feel healthier, I go for teas. In high school I was the Starbucks Chai queen. I drink tea nightly while curled up on my couch, watching Friends reruns. It's delicious and I blame the Asian in me for being hooked.

Introduce Teavana to my tea fixation. Walls of tea of every flavor imaginable. Last week I tried the 'Sour Cherry Serenade' which tasted like a neverending red Sweettart (always a good thing). With A in tow, I tried the Raspberry Sangria flavor. Again. Delicious. Today I tell my trusty Teavana man that I have the start of a scratchy throat. He whips up some white tea peppermint blend with lots of honey. Hopefully it'll get the job done.

With prices comparable to Starbucks, Teavana isn't a cheap thrill, but it's worth the penny for the rest of you tea lovers out there. And if you can get away with it, just linger by the wonderful sample stations located in every store - I suggest the Chai they always have available - and drink to your hearts content.

-M