guilt trip

a few people have mentioned that they actually check my blog, and i hate to be the girl who never updates, so here is an incoherent post just because...

- i hate when people drive below the speed limit. i also hate when people get to a stoplight and sit in the right lane even though they are going straight.
- apparently UTMB just released the details of the scholarship deal i received. even though i was offered it over 2 months ago, the whole deal was shady in that no one knew how many deferments were offered or anything like that. i guess it went public because i was watching the news the other night and saw a story on it. funny because i'm one of "the 15" - yay for sorta being on the news! you can watch the little segment here: http://www.khou.com/news/investigative/UT-Campus-Overadmit-Students--Offers-Full-Scholarships-103892033.html
- julie told me about a cupcake/muffin recipe where you mix a cake mix and a can of pumpkin. i tried it out with devils food, and the muffins turned out pretty good! they were a brownie-like texture, and i was impressed given the fact that there were no eggs or oil. just pumpkin. need to try it out with spice cake mix.
- last weekend was waco weekend! hana and i's excuse was that it was premiere, and now that she is a junior, it was imperative that she visit baylor as a prospective student. not that she hasn't seen the campus a million times before. anyway, it was a wonderful weekend and went by far too quickly.
- following my recent fage yogurt craze, my engineer of a dad decided it would be smart to learn how to make yogurt. he found directions online and embarked on a yogurt making journey. he converted our oven into an incubator, had to monitor the temperature hourly, and he had to meticulously control all the variables. the thickness was right on, but it lacked the creaminess of fage. i'm impressed, but i don't know why i can't just buy yogurt at the store.

anyway, happy wednesday! hooray for only 2 more days of work. this whole 40 hours a week thing is grueling. it's been 2 months, and i'm still not used to this...

schizo

not sure if i mentioned this or not, but after watching the TODAY show, i diagnosed myself as a schizophrenic shopper: frugal about most stuff but willingly splurges on random items. i don't see how this isn't logical. save money on what doesn't matter and spend money on what you love. anyway, i've decided to make a list of my schizo splurges because i can't think of a different blog topic, and i think it might be funny to see how crazy people think i am...

chocolate chips: must be ghiradelli. must be 60% cacao. unless it is for puppy chow or something else where the chocolate flavor is disguised anyway. then any old nestle or hershey will do.

greek yogurt. ate it in athens and just discovered it in the grocery store. after eating fage, i just can't go back to anything else. this stuff is incredible. it's the thickness of sour cream and so creamy with a slight tang.

cute shoes. within reason. sometimes you just can't say no though...

starbucks... especially for frappachinos. i tried drinking a local coffeehouse's frap, and it was terrible. all wrong. made me beg to drop the $3.50 for an authentic one.

cellphone. i've realized that spending more on a phone is totally acceptable because that device remains glued to you 24/7. cannot wait to upgrade. and no, i'm not getting an iphone. thanks verizon for totally making up the fact that you were going to start carrying them...
colas. must be name brand. i don't go for dr. thunder, etc. and i also don't count diet RC as name brand - you wouldn't either after 4 years of being subjected to that at baylor & having them claim it was a diet coke equivalent. FALSE. after trying to choke it down a few times, i finally transitioned myself to DDP, and life was good again.

ice cream. why bother if it isn't blue bell?

interestingly, clothes do NOT make the list. i'm not sure that i have ever bought anything full price. i can't justify doing so whenever i know it will go on sale. that being said, i can see having jeans on the splurge list. i'm sure i'll cave one of these days. those designer pairs are just so cute...

anyway, what makes it on to your splurge list?!

lesson learned

this week i learned that even if you're working full-time, you should take time during the week to enjoy yourself. before, i used to just come home and nap, eat dinner, and lay around until bedtime. it's true, working all day is exhausting. even though you're tired, i decided that is a sorry approach because then you are only allowing yourself to have fun on the weekends. and why restrict yourself to 2 days of fun? especially whenever this isn't your real job, and this is supposed to be your fun year off... so i took a different approach this week!

monday, caitlin and i went to chuy's after i got off work, and she got off jury duty! it was fun just sitting around talking. there's something really cool about having had a friend for 11 years. woah, that is half our lives! this pic was taken senior year. caitlin, please don't kill me!

tuesday, i got to skype with leigh anne! (insert happy birthday shout-out to mrs. swarbrick!) -- i love skype. and leigh anne. and sharing deal-saving ideas, haha.

wednesday, i failed at doing something fun. was too busy cleaning and getting ready because on...

thursday, cecilia came into town! the future dr. benz had an interview at UT-Houston Med, so she stayed with me for the night, and i took her out for meditteranean food. we also made a little pitstop in highland village - super nice part of houston that i had underappreciated until this point. after drooling over anthro's clothes and wandering through central market, we came home and crashed.

friday, cec came over after her interview, and we had pizza, then she went to stay with her old roomies. i wrapped up the night with a batch of homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a good book.

overall, it was the best week i've had in a long time! caitlin and i are already planning an adventure in houston this week! then i'll be in waco next weekend :) - glad i'm finally starting to figure out the whole time management thing! happy weekend, blog friends!

simplicity

i love how a simple day can turn out to be wonderful:
- enjoyed my coffee instead of my weekday habit of chugging it while getting ready
- deposited my paycheck since i crashed a mile before getting there yesterday
- organized a huge pile of coupons that had been stacking up
- floated around the pool [the one pro for 95 degree weather in september]
- tried out a new chicken parm recipe. dad thought i made the sauce from scratch with fresh tomatoes. my secret: sauteed fresh garlic in olive oil then added a jar of barilla's tomato basil marinara
- decided i owed it to the jetta to wash & vacuum it - note to self: stop eating your breakfast in the car on the way to work. the crumbs were out of control

nothing spectacular, but it was such a perfectly low-key day. i've found that after working nonstop all week, by the time the weekend rolls around, i want nothing more than to slow down and relax. looking forward to another day of the same tomorrow!

oops

well, today marked a semi-monumental day in my life. i got into my first legit car accident. back in high school, i knocked the bumper off my old red volvo, but insurance wasn't involved, and there was no damage to the other car, so i don't count that. sidenote: everyone in high school was totally envious of my sweet ride: false. pretty sure i was the only one without a mustang.

anyway, i was driving home from work and headed to the bank to deposit my paycheck. i went to change lanes, looked, didn't see anyone, went to move over, and either i completely didn't see the car or it sped up - nevertheless, i sideswiped him...

so we pull over, and this kid who looks 14 gets out of the car. we're both fine - it was a super minor crash. he asks for my insurance, which i already have out. instead of us just switching info, he says he first needs to go call his mom because this is his first wreck. apparently mommy told him to call the cops. after waiting around for an eternity in 98 degree weather, the cop and his mom show up on the scene. the cop got both our stories and looked at our cars. he was rather annoyed that this kid decided to involve him whenever it was a minor crash. honestly though, i was glad he was there because i would NOT have wanted to deal with that kid's mom by myself. mediator = great.

anyway, so once again i offer my insurance information. at this point, we have been standing around 30 minutes. instead of switching info and moving on with our lives, his mom insists that we wait for her to call in the claim. seriously?! i'm annoyed. cop is annoyed. cop threatens me with a ticket because she is taking too long (apparently if an accident report is written and a ticket issued, the person at fault gets the ticket even if they weren't the ones to involve the cops)... 30 minutes LATER, we finally wrap things up.

oh, i forgot to mention the best part. the kid was driving a buick lesabre. AND it was purple. pretty sure he was trying to get in a wreck just so he could total it and get an upgrade. can't blame him. it looked something like this:

it was certainly no match for my beautifully engineered german car.

while the jetta emerged relatively unscathed (except for a dent by the front tire and a few small scratches), his buick was not quite as lucky. i made him show me what all happened so i would know when i talked to insurance, and i asked that he point out what was pre-existing (but of course NOTHING was there before) - funniest thing was that he was concerned that his buick emblem got scratched. really?! i could understand if i broke off someone's mercedes symbol, but are we really crying over the buick symbol? -- lesson: vws are sturdy. lesabres are not.

anyway, all is well, and my parents were overly chill about the whole thing. it actually ended up being a good night. dad got take-out kabob, our cousins came over, and we booked our plane tickets to pennsylvania for thanksgiving! absolutely cannot wait to go enjoy cool weather!

year off

there's so much hype surrounding a year off. i feel like i need to do a bunch of really impressive stuff before i start school in august (2011), or else people are going to think i'm super lame (which i will be if i just sit around working for a year straight). while i don't plan on backpacking through asia for 6 months or solving world hunger, i am hoping to take a few trips. ideas currently simmering in my brain:

1) dubai: no, i wouldn't dress up in ridiculous outfits like these. yes, i would go ride a camel. besides, i haven't been to the motherland yet... and while dubai isn't technically the motherland, it is part of the mothercontinent... which is enough for me because i don't plan on going anywhere near baghdaddy even if obama says "mission accomplished"

2) pennsylvania: for probably the millionth time. but how can you not love it?! just look at that gorgeous lake! i'm thinking maybe a thanksgiving trip (that would actually be a first) as well as a summer trip

3) carribean escape: i would love nothing more than to get the maas girls together for a trip before back-to-school. needs to happen.

4) colorado: can't believe i had never been until last august. ohmygosh: so in love with that state. after our summer trip, we talked dad into a ski-trip the following march. that was only 6 months ago, and i already feel the need to go back asap.

5) waco: i'm not sure that this counts as vacay, but i plan on heading up at least 3 or 4 times. i LOVE waco. and baylor. and my friends. and how could i possibly miss my 1st homecoming as an ALUM??? - and probably the last one until i'm OLD.

anyway, that's what i'm working on for now. definitely not the whole list. i certainly wouldn't say 'no' to a trip to HARRY POTTER WORLD. or a cruise. or hawaii. or... well, you get the picture. now off to bed. yay for only having a 4-day work week!

you don't go to med school to be a:

1) nurse
2) surgical tech
3) sonographer
4) ultrasound tech
5) physican assistant
6) physical therapist
7) vet tech
8) psychologist

people have asked me if i am going to med school to be all of those things. i don't know why they don't just call it doctor school; it would clear up a lot of the confusion. everyone else gets a clean-cut school name: nursing school, dental school, PA school, law school, etc.

also interesting to note that half the people who hear the word "cadaver" don't know what it means. i've had to explain countless times that dissecting a cadaver means a DEAD HUMAN. oh euphemisms.

wednesday's ramblings

- pumpkin spice lattes are back! too bad it is still 98 degrees outside. i can't imagine drinking one without it being cool outside and bundled in a scarf. aka: houston, cool front, now. and you're probably thinking getting it iced is a good solution. nope, tried it. not the same.
- i feel like a work-a-holic this week. working both jobs everyday. i get home from job #1 at 4pm and have to be at job #2 at 6pm... but then i realized i'll be working more than double this many hours a week in residency. and lives will be at stake while i'm running on coffee vapors. awesome.
- i saw an old man driving a mercedes convertible today. i decided that i fully intend on having an extravagant, unnecessary car when i get old. no grandma cadillac for me. kids don't need inheritances anyway - it'll just make them lazy... well, according to bill gates at least. and he's quite the smart guy. or at least i think so.
- i've decided to try & get into a workout routine. i want to pick-up reformer pilates again... and maybe some kickboxing and whatnot
- my dad just mentioned something about a disney trip this fall aka HARRY POTTER WORLD. i'm so excited you'd think i was a 5 year old.

well that's all for now. we're mid-week!!! hooray!