jetta 2.0

so today i took a big step into the grown-up world: i signed on my first car! well, it's my 3rd car, but the first one that i am financially responsible for! i'm sure this excitement will wear off when the first payment is due... which just so happens to land on my 23rd birthday - lame. anyway, this pearly white baby is now mine :) - and apparently i need to upgrade my cellphone as well because these pictures are terrible...

i actually had a hard time saying goodbye to my old jetta - i've had it since sophomore year of college & have lots of good (and maybe not so good) memories in it - 2 trips to oklahoma, my brother backing straight into it in our driveway, that time i decided to sideswipe another car, countless trips to waco, touring around texas for med school interviews, etc etc etc ...

anyway, it was so wonderful that i decided to buy an updated/upgraded model of the same car! and i was able to let them meet each other, ha. what cuties.

well, i hope that old jetta finds itself a nice new owner. as for the new jetta, i'm totally in love. which is probably good since it'll be sticking around until i start making a doctor's salary. aka like 8 years. OMG - I'LL BE IN MY THIRTIES: FREAK-OUT. just writing that is enough to cause me a mid-life (or quarter-life) crisis!

one last thing: i'm thinking about upgrading the jetta to these rims. pretty sure they could cut other cars... i spotted this beauty on the way home from work this week

hope you all enjoy your weekend!!!

the little things

- today i got to work on time. yes, this is monumental for me. when you have a 30 minute commute, there's lots of room for error as far as traffic is concerned. unfortunately, i beat my boss, so she wasn't able to observe my timely arrival. we only seem to cross paths on the mornings i'm like 7 minutes late. yep.

- i love workplace drama. seriously. we currently have an issue with a little food bandit who eats things out of the fridge that he/she did not bring. i have been labeling my things with big letters, and so far, so good. my coworker's fresh pineapple fell victim though... sad day

- i'm on week three's workout of couch-2-5k... yayyyy! it is fun to see how quickly your endurance builds!

- today the psychiatrist at work said that ANY type of doctor can get trained to give botox. she said it only takes a 4 hour training. i fully plan on getting certified the day after i graduate med school & hosting "botox parties" to pay back my debt. book now, and i might be able to offer a discount!

- people mount the weirdest things on their car dashboards. today i saw a full-size clock attached to the dashboard. i can understand needing to tell the time if your car clock goes out, but wouldn't a cellphone or wristwatch suffice?

happy almost wednesday!

things i'm loving

because it is always good to focus on the positive, i've decided to blog about the things that i'm currently loving about my life:

- being back on the workout bandwagon. gotta love those little endorphins. they really do make you happy. also loving that i power-walked/jogged the entire 3.11 miles today - the exact distance of a 5k. now i just need to get to where i can jog the whole thing! 54 more days...

- not having any commitments. i mean, i have work, but i don't really count that. i love that i can do whatever i want. a wonderful freedom that i will savor for the next 8 months.

- the rainy day today. yes, the traffic was a pain, but i do love the rain. i feel like it is cleansing.

- fruit!!! - instead of going for that piece of dark chocolate (aka: my favorite thing ever), i've tried to reroute that sweet tooth to fresh fruit. so far, so good! i can't wait until summer when strawberries are back in season!

- wonderful coworkers who make work enjoyable. well, enjoyable might be an overstatement, but bearable sounded a little too harsh. so somewhere in the middle.

- houston's gift of cool weather - i love wearing scarves!

i'll stop now. but this should be proof enough for the existence of those aforementioned endorphins... because let's admit it, i'm not the queen of cheery lovey dovey blogposts :)

recommitted

so i'll be the first person to admit it: i fell off the working-out bandwagon.

i was doing so well on my couch-2-5k, but then thanksgiving/a trip to pennsylvania happened, then i was back for 2 weeks, then a trip to dubai happened, and in the meantime, the gym became a distant memory

but now i am getting back on track! i have NO excuses this time! AND i was given the advice of finding a race to run so I would have a deadline to accomplish my goal... well, drumroll please, i've decided to train for...

THE BEARATHON! well, maybe not the bearathon itself, but the 5k that goes along with it! for those of you who don't know, the bearathon is a race put on every year by the student foundation at baylor as a way to raise money for student scholarships. this year the race is on MARCH 19th! which gives me 56 days to prepare. and of course, the icing on the cake is an excuse to visit waco - duh.

anyway, i went to the Y this morning and was excited to pick back up on week 2 of the program instead of starting from scratch... only a few more weeks to go! and then 5k!

brown bagging it

one of my wonderful co-workers and i have started having communal lunches - we both bring food, then we share & enjoy lunch together! much better than microwaving something and then eating alone in the corner. not that i ever did that...

this week, we invented an amazing sandwich that fits in with our new year's resolutions! i don't have a name for it yet, and i should probably patent it before sharing, but what the heck...

here's what you need:
- one sandwich thin (those buns that look like someone sat on them - i use the orowheat brand)
- one laughing cow cheese wedge (have i mentioned how obsessed i am with these?! i love them all! but for this sandwich, i would recommend a mild one like garlic & herb or french onion)
- spinach, tomato, & any other veggies desired - we tried bell pepper slices one day
- you can load this with veggies, or if you are feeling more carniverous (did i just make-up a word?), you can add some lunchmeat

i'm telling you, this sandwich is epic. laughing cow cheese only has 35 calories & is the perfect substitute for undesirable alternatives such as mayo. it also packs in veggies that you probably wouldn't eat at lunch otherwise. i'm definitely guilty for not eating side salads - so if i can pack the side salad into a sandwich, i'm much happier.

serve this baby up with pretzels and some fruit, and you're golden!

sidenote: for those couponers out there (leigh anne), HEB has laughing cow cheese for $2 dollars this week (ordinarily $3.48) - AND i had a coupon for $1 off. which made it $1. That's a savings of 71.2% -- YES. i love coupons. it's probably good i'm going into a time-consuming career or else i'd probably develop a couponing obsession.

so i think

that i'm too lazy to blog... or that i'm overwhelmed by the idea of trying to write a comprehensive post detailing my 2 weeks in the middle east...

BUT i'll just say that it was an INCREDIBLE vacation. it's interesting to finally visit an arabic country after almost 23 years of existence as a half-arab. it was nice to take in the culture and lifestyle that is inherently mine... genetically speaking of course. and while it wasn't the motherland per se [iraq], it was as close as i'm going to get.

anyway, if you saw the facebook album, you probably got a much better summary of the trip than i can write out. if a picture is worth a thousand words, and i posted 96, that is 96,000 words. a far longer entry than i would ever write...

did i mention that i went for 2 weeks without being snarky? i don't know how to be sarcastic in arabic. it doesn't just happen like it does in english.

did i also mention that my cousin's in-laws told me that i speak arabic with an american accent? i grew up speaking it simultaneously with english. not in a college class. FAIL.

anyway, it's always nice getting out of your comfort zone and realizing that there is a world beyond your suburbian bubble. not that i hadn't ever traveled before, but after 2 years in the country, it was definitely time for a little foray out.

so the count stands at: 3 continents down, 3 to go (i don't count antarctica - i've seen penguins at sea world, and i'm pretty sure that's all that's down there.)

anyone up for a trip?