BREAK!

have to start off with a NEWT photo dump since he has yet to make an appearance on the blog...

ANYWAY, 4 months of blood, sweat, tears, and cadaver juice later, i can finally say i survived my first semester of medical school! SUPER pumped. also pretty proud of myself for how well i did! exciting news: i scored the highest grade in the class on one of my finals :) - i think that might be a first ever. like including since kindergarten - haha, sad but true!

it is crazy how this time last week i was a ball of stress, and now i'm mellow as can be. i have no earthly idea what to do with this free time and have found myself taking 2 hour naps and going to be ridiculously early! i also started reading the hunger games and have done some baking. this past weekend, i got to celebrate lindsey's wedding with her and also enjoyed a mini-maas reunion with kara, cecilia, megan, and maddie! i also got to run back to galveston for a few days to play with my friends there, and we had the best beach bonfire! so fun! already looking forward to a repeat before school starts

it is definitely strange being back home, and i already miss my galveston life and friends! friday i am jumping a flight to pennsylvania to spend the holidays with my mom and her family, and then i'll be back for new year before heading back to galvy a few days early to party it up with my friends before the next semester

9.375% MD

survived yet another test! - which brings me one step closer to that MD :) - i'm officially up to being 9.375% of a doctor... yes, i do celebrate the litte things because if i didn't, i might go crazy!!!

we are down to a lab final, a practice of medicine final, and a biochem final. and then christmas... aka THREE weeks of NOTHINGNESS. guess who is excited?! especially since we are kicking off the break with lindsey's wedding! so excited for her and for a maastricht reunion!

in other news, if you haven't seen my facebook or twitter, i randomly decided to get a cat a few weeks ago. one morning, i saw a lizard dart across my kitchen floor. the next day i came home with a cat. logical? i'm not sure about that. but i haven't seen a single roach or another lizard since i've had him! anyway, he is a siamese mix with pretty blue eyes who i got from the galveston humane society. and while he is absolutely crazy cakes and drives me all sorts of insane, i love him terribly and don't think i could go back to living all by my lonesome. the con: everyone now seems to think i'm the crazy cat lady. and my friends totally like my cat more than me. but i think i can deal with that!

i'm learning entirely too much about my parenting style though, and it is scaring me! first off, i have definitely learned that i am NOT ready for a baby. i was starting to think that could be cute or whatever (i know, don't ask me why? must be my biological clock speaking), but having a cat has made me realize how selfish i am. so NOT ready to be completely about another person. additionally, i found myself feeling guilty for studying so much last week and ignoring the cat. so i bought him toys and a bed and other treats. why do i have a feeling that this will be me when i get older? "here kid, sorry i missed your _______. i was popping out a baby. but here's a ______ to make up for it" -- i really don't want to be THAT mom!!!

other exciting things lately:
- last night was our italian themed dinner party! all i have to say is that my friends are wonderful. and great cooks. and super hilarious. and it was exactly what i needed after the test! -- did i mention that i was so stressed that my muscles started aching, and i had acid reflux the morning of the test?! yah, ridiculous. never had these issues in undergrad...
- we also decided that we are going to have a friends thanksgiving on sunday! which has been abbreviated to "F-giving" -- kind of hilarious. i'm also converting all my friends over to pioneer woman. i just can't seem to understand why people would use any other recipe?!
- my friend Yara and I have decided to get on a gym kick. you know, with that whole bridesmaid thing coming up in a month. probably shouldn't have slacked off so long, but my life has been just a LITTLE bit busy
- super excited because my mom and sister are coming to stay with me on tuesday! and then wednesday i head home for thanksgiving. andddd NEWT gets to meet CLOE. should be all sorts of hilariousness since cloe has never had any other pet interaction in almost 12 years! eeek

okay, that's probably enough babbling. hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirit! i definitely did once i saw the red cups at starbucks :) - that, and i can't wait to start baking pies! so happy!!

dinner parties!

so it seems my friends and i have started an awesome new tradition! last night was our 2nd dinner party! the theme was "fiesta," and we went all out with fajitas, beans, rice, guac, tortilla soup, dessert, etc - add to that hilarious convos, and it was an awesome night! have i mentioned how awesome med students are? so funny. and dorky. we may or may not have been criticizing grey's anatomy for their medical (in)accuracies.

AND we've already planned an italian themed dinner "partido!" for after the next test... bring.it.on.

also, i had my first skills exam this week... we learned how to do the head/neck exam, musculoskeletal exam, and heart/lungs/abdomen exam, and then we had to rotate through stations and perform the exams on standardized patients... well, this braniac attempted to feel for the heart on the RIGHT side. now i'm not sure how much you know about anatomy, but the heart definitely points towards the LEFT. luckily, i corrected myself and laughed it off. even better, i almost told the patient that i felt the heart beat on the right side, bahaha.

so we started a new unit called MCT: molecules, cells, and tissues. good news: we only spend 2 hours a week in lab instead of 10. bad news: i already miss anatomy! development, biochem, and histology are about to eat my lunch! but on the plus side, we only have 1-2 hours of lecture a day. and lots of days we have even less! bahaha - i'm really not sure how my friends go to class 9-5pm: CRAZY. i complain if i'm stuck in class past noon...

other than that, life is good! andddd halloween shenanigans are happening all weekend! hooray! pro for being in med school: you can still be immature college kids, and no one judges you for it.

sweet, sweet freedom!

just got out of my anatomy final, i can't even begin to tell you how happy i am right now! we had a 2 hour written exam this morning, followed by 2 (more) hours of cramming for the lab practical, and then a 2 hour lab practical.. BUT NOW WE ARE DONE!!! no more anatomy! no more formaldehyde!

and i am now 6.25% of a doctor :) - 1/4th of the way through my first year AND 1/2 way to christmas break :) - hoorayyyy!

it feels so good to lay on the couch, watch tv, read blogs, and NOT feel guilty about it for the first time in a whole month!! that's a LONG time to be so high-strung! i got out of the final and was hugging everyone and jumping up and down. and like yara says, i'm not a "huggy person!"

anyway, the plan is to clean my disgusting apartment then head to houston for the weekend. hana wants to carve pumpkins, go shopping, and play :) - i'm thinking that baking, running, and sleeping also need to happen! hopefully i'll snap a few pics to spice up the next blog entry. hope everyone enjoys their weekend!!!

why am i blogging

so it is wednesday night, and i have a test on friday morning... i should NOT be blogging. but i am... why? because i'm in a particularly good mood and figure i should document such an occasion.

have i mentioned how utmb is pretty much the perfect school for me? and how i'm so thankful that i did NOT get my way and end up at houston's med school? i totally love the people here. i love only going to class until noon. i love the atmosphere. i'm even kind of in love with galvatraz. i've only been off the island ONE day since school started, and i actually missed it while i was gone.

today was our LAST day of cadaver lab. kinda bittersweet. i do love dissecting. however, after 8 weeks in lab this semester, and 6 weeks in lab this summer, i'm a little bit over smelling like formaldehyde. so while i'll miss it, it will be nice to smell decently. and have more free time. CON: not having an excuse to wear scrubs to class on the daily. and see all the guys in scrubs. yes, i'll admit it. i'm a med student, and i find guys in scrubs to be 10x hotter.

other than that, life is good. i've been cooking a lot, have a trip to houston coming up this weekend, a "fiesta" with my friends on tuesday, and hopefully some beach time!

did i mention that as of friday's exam, i'll be 1/4th of the way through my first year?! that is UNREAL. we are like 10 days away from november. when did THAT happen?

oh and for kicks, i have been suffering from the plague all week. i have no idea what it is, but basically when i try to sleep at night, i wake up every few hours with insane coughing fits. it has been so bad that my abs are sore.

okay i really should go study now so that i DON'T have to write an 'i hate med school' post next week when i find out i failed my final... k bye!

drowning

it is saturday night here in the galv, and i'm spending the night at home. studying. like i have been all day. the test isn't for 2 weeks, but I AM DROWNING. it is amazing how much we have covered in 2 weeks.... ahhhhhh - do you know how many nerves and tiny muscles are in the head/neck?? about a million. believe it or not, med school is NOT as glamorous as you may think...

anyway, to catch-up, last weekend i ran home to houston and went to lindsey's first wedding shower! it was really fun getting to see her and finally help out with the wedding!

this week was busy busy. lots of class and studying. you know, the usual.

we did take a study break thursday night and had a dinner party + carved pumpkins!! let me just tell you, nerds take pumpkin carving seriously. we had a drill attachment specifically for hollowing out the pumpkins, a drimmel for more precise carving, and a probe stolen from anatomy lab. yep - it was pretty awesome.

last night, there was a fancy white coat dinner put on for the 1st years and utmb faculty. everyone got dressy and enjoyed a few hours away from textbooks!


anyway, i've probably wasted enough time now. back to the grind :X -- already counting down until the 21st!!! hurry up, freedom!

week 5

i swear my blog post titles are always in reference to time. but let's be real: med school is all about time. or the lack thereof. or the mismanagement of. or or or... you get my drift...

ANYWAY, test scores are in for round one, and the verdict is: i scored above average! while the psycho, almost 4.0 in undergrad inside of me was slightly put-off by being JUST above average, the logical side of me rememebered that the competition has obviously escalated since my baylor days. my days of easily being in the top of the class are OVER. womp womp. 3, 2, 1: I'm over it. good news is, the only real incentive for being in the very top of the class is if you want a specialty like dermatology or opthamology. yep, nope. so life is good!

so this week has been head and neck week. and unfortunately, that is continuing into next week as well. what is the problem you say? well, there is an unreasonable number of structures/tiny holes/vessels/nerves/details/details/details crammed into a TINY amount of space. and for someone who has never taken a neuro class, i feel like i'm learning a new language! zygomatic, orbicularis oris, pterygoid, depressor anguli oris, epicranial aponeurosis...... yah, you get the point. SO many new vocab words!!!

EVEN WORSE: my small group guilt-tripped me into being their contestant for med school jeopardy. i agreed before thinking i'd have to get up in front of people and attempt to regurgitate all these words that i can't remember let alone pronounce. should be all sorts of amusing.

in other news, headed to houston on friday! for the first time in 5 weeks! yes, i have been on this island for FIVE weeks. we were joking about how med school was like survivor... and how it was even funnier since we are literally ON AN ISLAND.

okay, so my brain stuff isn't going to learn itself. happy hump day!

freedom!

so i'm enjoying 2 sweet days of freedom after our first midterm! it is so nice to do NOTHING and not feel guilty! today is the first day in an entire month that i haven't had to study - woah. speaking of which, i have survived an entire MONTH! - honestly though, time is flying. i can't even believe it will be october next week! hoorayyy - bring on cooler weather, all things fall, AND what i'm most excited about: THE TOURISTS GOING AWAY!!! - you don't understand how obnoxious they are! guess i should have anticipated that moving to a beach town...

anyway, like i said, we had our first midterm yesterday! we had a 2.5 hour written portion, then a lunch break (i got subway and ate on the beach!), and then a 2 hour lab practical... grades are posted next week: crossing my fingers :) -- overall, i felt okay. the questions are obviously harder than undergrad - they don't test facts; they write clinical questions that you have to apply what you know to try and understand. if that makes any sense...

speaking of trying to apply what i've learned [which seems like a ton for a month!]... i went to walmart today and overheard the cashier talking about going to the doctor for shoulder pain. we had just gone over the shoulder joint and all the associated problems, so i definitely asked her for the details.... she asked me if i was in nursing school: NO!... anyway, apparently another cashier overheard our convo and stopped me and asked me about an ear problem she is having... UM I'VE ONLY BEEN IN SCHOOL FOR A MONTH. she seemed to think that that was adequate schooling to diagnose her and recommend medication. i told her we haven't even studied the ear yet... fail

other updates:
- this week was crazy cakes. everyone was super focused and went into lockdown mode. i spent THIRTY hours by myself in my apartment. embarrassed to admit this, but a lot of talking to myself happened. i didn't realize how psychotic i seem to go without social interaction!
- i also SINGLE-HANDEDLY cut out my cadaver's GI tract this week. tied off the esophagus and rectum and cut that baby out! liver included! i might love anatomy lab.
- went on a night walk on the beach! i was surprised to see how many people were out there swimming and stuff. it was fun!

anyway, off to enjoy more shenanigans before the whirlwind picks up again monday! hope yall have a wonderful weekend!

chugging along

today i logged NINE hours of studying. and i still feel way behind. and still overwhelmed by everything i need to learn by friday. BUT i know i'm not the only one!

started the day at the library at 9am - pretty sure i was the first person there: gunning! haha... hung out there until 2pm and then decided i desperately needed OUT!

after studying at home a few more hours, i started going a little crazy. limited human interaction + reading about testicles + realizing it is saturday night = STIR-CRAZY. luckily, my friend katie wanted to go walk along the beach! it was fun wandering along the beach at night - minus the random crabs and birds that were running around! sadly, that was my first time on the beach since i lived in galvy this summer. pathetic considering i only live 1/2 a mile away! but i guess that's med school for you...

anyway, enjoying some downtime before bed... i have a date with cadaver lab at 9am - woooooo.... (ps: did you know cadaver lab is open 24/7?? how creepy would it be to go at 4am?!)

3 weeks down!

i survived another week :) - in college, you celebrate semesters... in med school, i celebrate weeks :)

we are now officially one week away from our first test: the anatomy midterm! i can't tell you how excited i am about next friday night and NOT feeling like i should be studying 24/7!!!

on the plus side, i was sitting in the library this week, and i thought, "wow. i think i might actually like medical school" - i'll probably retract that statement soon, but for now, we are only studying anatomy, and i love it! please tell me what is cooler than studying yourself? totally useful, applicable info. and i love anatomy lab. if you asked me before school started, i would've guessed i'd be one of the kids that stood back and watched. FALSE. i want to dissect the entire 2 hours straight. SO FUN. i'm so weird... did i mention that i woke up one day last week with really sore shoulders and realized it was because i had the most intense day of dissecting the day before? yep, embarrassing.

and so that i remember this embarrassing story, we were in lab today talking about plastic surgery. one kid said he would hate to do boob jobs the rest of his life. another kid mentioned that plastic surgeons can specialize in other areas, like focusing on the hand. naturally i blurt out, "I'd rather do boob jobs than hand jobs!" -- WOW. 5 seconds later and i was TOMATO red, and my entire group was dying laughing. note to self: think things THROUGH your head before you talk.

also embarrassing, i definitely woke up at 4 am one day this week really tense and focused. i couldn't figure out what was going on... and then i realized that i was studying my anatomy atlas IN MY DREAM - wow. nerrrrrd.

hmm, what else... oh yah! i started running again! i ran a 5k in march, but i slacked off running after that. now that it is cooling off and i have a track outside my apartment, i'm starting back up! i'm halfway through couch-2-5k (same program i used last time), and i'm feeling good! i think running is a good outlet to have :)

anyway, going into crazy study mode for the next 6 days - eeeek.

staying afloat

survived week 2: hallelujah! talk about the longest 4 day week EVER! - i thought having a day off would make the week fly, but somehow i was wrong!

so thankful that UTMB only has half-days of class. i can't imagine going to school 9-5 like some of my friends! at the same time, i've found that extra time = extra procrastinating ;)... nap? walmart? kardashians? baking? -- it's all happened this week.

this week's wrapup isn't too exciting...
- anatomy continues... this week we tore apart the back and brachial plexus
- my allergies are in full swing. didn't realize this before moving here, but apparently galvy has massive amounts of allergens. lovellyyy. i need a frequent shopper card at walgreens.....
- held a study group at my apt last night! is it sad that is the first "get together" i've had at my place?
- first test is in TWO weeks. aka: everyone is starting to panic! i'm not freaking out yet because a lot of the material we covered this summer. so luckily, most of this is a review, but i'm sure the adrenaline will start pumping soon!
- decided to bring running back into my life! cooler mornings = super motivational! it's also pretty convenient that the track is a 5 second walk from my apartment :) -- it is hard to get up at 6am, but once i'm up, it's all good! watching sunrise is nice too! -- hoping to run along the beach soon :)
- speaking of the beach, i live HALF a mile away. and i NEVER see the beach. sad day.

hope everyone has a lovely weekend! i'm planning on studying, r&r, running, and cooking :)

picture post!

so i officially survived my first week! and was rewarded with a wonderful 3 day weekend! super happy. even happier that a 3 day weekend = a 4 day school week! hallelujah! -- after a busy, exhausting week, i've enjoyed a relaxing weekend. i went out with some friends on friday for pizza and to hangout. then saturday, my dad brought my sister down to stay with me, and we've just been hanging out. watching the kardashians of course. for some reason, E! has been showing a kardashians marathon, and it is totally killing my study time. i just can't turn it off, ugh.

anyway, thought i would share a few pictures! here is my lovely kitchen! teeny tiny (there is a counter and sink on the other side), but not much counter space! oh well, less to clean :)

lots of de-stress baking happened! luckily, i have friends who have no problem taking cookie dough and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins off my hands!

THREE weeks after my couches arrived, my end tables and coffee table FINALLY arrived!!! so nice to not have my lamp sitting on a rubbermaid storage box! happy day.

picture day (yes, we had to wear our white coats)! too bad my self-portrait came out better than my real picture :( - not to mention that the photographer suggested i smile WITHOUT teeth. what is he trying to say?

and for kicks, a picture with Cloe on my last night at home. miss that furball already!!!

hope you all enjoy your labor day weekend! i know i am! although i do have more studying to do (ALWAYYYS!)

skooool

so today is wednesday! we are halfway through the first week - although i feel like i've already been here a whole semester! unlike undergrad, med school started for real on day one. we had a 2 minute "welcome to utmb" speech, and then we had an hour lecture and headed into anatomy! not to mention that studying started day one :(( -- oh undergrad, i miss you!

highlights of the week so far:
- CUTTING OUT A HEART AND HOLDING IT IN MY HANDS!!! - wow. one of the coolest things of my life. i don't even know how to describe it. especially when you realize that kept someone ALIVE for 73 years. at (an average) of 70 beats a minute. wow.
- holding a pair of lungs was also cool. super squishy! but compared to the heart..
- my awesome small group mentors - one is a pediatric ENT, and the other is a surgeon - they lead our group called "practice of medicine" and basically teach us doctoring skills and how to think like a doctor... and they are both really fun and eager to teach!
- fun classmates!

low points:
- being EXHAUSTED.
- not being used to studying. even in undergrad, i could get away with taking days off. NOT true anymoreeeeeee
- feeling overwhelmed! and feeling like some of my classmates already know everything.

anyway, i should probably stop procrastinating, turn off the kardashians, and get to work on learning all this cardiac anatomy! only 3.98 more years until i'm a doctor, ha.

last day

so today was my last day of freedom! until the afternoon of september 23rd at least! while i'm sure i'll have a spare moment here and there, it will definitely be high stress until then! (our anatomy midterm)

anyway, tomorrow is the first day of class - we have lecture at 8, lab from 9-11, small group from 11-12, lunch 12-1, and our practice of medicine group from 1-4! -- it is definitely going to be a longggg day!

tomorrow is also a big day because we meet the cadaver we will be spending the next 8 weeks with! keeping my fingers crossed for a good one! that sounds weird, but let's just say some are easier to dissect and identify things on than others...

so just for memory's sake, i spent my last day at home this morning, then drove back to galvy, shopped at HEB, baked cookies, watched the kardashians, and pretended to read over stuff for tomorrow...

hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon! i'm STILL waiting to post apartment pics because my coffee table and end tables have yet to arrive. they are only TWO weeks late. and will end up being THREE weeks late if they arrive as expected (not holding my breath!)

ok - need to go to sleep. day one of being a medical student happens tomorrow. i still can't wrap my brain around that!

year one!

so my blog "a year reclaimed" is hopefully going to end up chronicling my first year of med school! i'm going to attempt to check in every so often, but i'm not making any promises! i hear life is about to get nutzo, and i've heard the "time management" lecture about 100 times now...

anyway, i drove down to galveston on friday and moved in the last of my things! i'm still waiting on my coffee table and end tables to be delivered this coming friday, but other than that, my apartment is starting to feel homey :) - planning on a few more decorations here and there, but i've definitely made progress from just having a lawn chair in the living room!!

please check out the lovely packing box end table i set-up to improvise in the meantime! will post more apartment pics once everything is in place!

saturday was our first day of orientation - nothing terribly exciting. however, i did get to meet lots of my classmates, and everyone i've met so far is really chill and easy to talk to! i'm excited to have ended up somewhere with a good sense of community instead of a super competitive place! school is hard either way, but i think it will make it a lot more bearable with fun classmates!

this morning was our white coat ceremony! up to this point, i didn't really feel like a medical student. but after being coated and introduced as the class of 2015, i'm starting to warm up to the idea of being a MS1!! weird to FINALLY be a medical student after saying i was pre-med for like a decade (or more!!)

big thanks to my dad and sister for coming in to town for the ceremony and helping to set-up my apartment! it was nice having family in town even if it was just for the afternoon!

anyway, we are continuing orientation this week through thursday. lots of exciting sessions about hippa, safety, and how-to sessions to come... luckily they've scheduled lots of fun things as well! class officially starts on monday the 29th - first up is gross anatomy!

the traveler

so i know i've been rather absent from the blogworld lately, but my summer vanished before my eyes -- last thing i remember, it was may, and i had weeks and weeks of nothing ahead of me. now it is august, with a week until the start of school, and i can't believe how fast the time went!

i just got back to houston from pennsylvania and am entirely too excited to sleep in my own bed! i feel like i have been such a nomad lately! while flying home today, i was thinking back to one of my first blog entries detailing my travel goals for the year, and i was surprised that i actually hit most of the spots on my dream list!

this gave me the idea of doing a little "year-off blog recap" -- so i decided part one would be my travels!

i originally set out to visit: dubai, the caribbean, waco, pennsylvania, and colorado...

1) dubai: remember that time (december 2010) that i coaxed myself onto a 14 hour flight to the middle east ALL ALONE?! still can't believe i did that, but it was AWESOME!

2) the caribbean: did NOT happen. not even close. unless you count my 6-week stint in galveston this summer. nope, didn't think so.

3) waco: YES! multiple trips happened - went back for my first homecoming as an alum, ran my first 5k at the bearathon, and other random weekend trips! i don't care what people say, waco will always have a soft spot in my heart :)

4) pennsylvania: SO MANY TIMES. i'm pretty sure i set a record for number of visits this year, which is fine by me! it's nice escaping to the country every once in awhile! i think i ended up visiting 5 times since graduation? including the most recent 24 hour roadtrip there. i will NEVER complain about flying EVER again!

5) colorado: went skiing for the first time (march 2010)! i was hilariously bad. especially considering that my sister went from the bunny hills to the black trails in 2 days. pretty sure she took ALL the athletic genes in the family...

6) turkey: was not anticipating a eurotrip (july 2011), but how could i say no?! it was exciting getting to travel with my sister for her first time out of the country! istanbul wasn't bad either ;)

hoping to recap some other year-off happenings soon! also want to post pics of the new apartment (furniture comes tomorrow!!!)... so stay-tuned!

perfectly ordinary

today was a surprisingly lovely day! my program keeps us busy; we are usually in class 9-4pm with an hour or two off for lunch. today though, we only had 2 hours of class because we have a neuroscience test tomorrow. sounds scary, right? well, the good thing is that the program doesn't count towards our med school gpa's, so as long as we pass, life is good!

this means i had a wonderfully chill day! which was much needed after long days of lecture and 7 hours of anatomy lab! i took the morning off working-out and instead enjoyed my coffee during the today show. then i went to class for an hour, had lunch, headed to starbucks with my friends to "study," ate dinner, watched tv, had a chance to catch-up with leigh anne (!!!), spontaneously decided to go to the beach, and then treated myself to an ice-cream cone!

loving life without grades :) - too bad that has to change come august!

week 2

after enjoying a long memorial day weekend at home, i headed back to galvy for week 2!

this week has been SO MUCH BETTER than last week! for starters, coffee is back in my life! totally makes life happier. and keeps me awake. and i'm used to the schedule and being in lecture. slowly falling back into the school groove. hallelujah!

this week of dissecting has been really fun! yesterday we attacked the brachial plexus and axillary region. who knew the armpit contained so much important stuff?! - the brachial plexus is a network of nerves that start near the neck and move towards the arm. they cross and get different names and are basically a confusing mess.



see what i mean?!? -- well, i made it my mission last night to get learn this! and after some help from my anatomy atlas, youtube, and about a million practice drawings, i got it :) - not sure why, but it totally made me feel accomplished. probably because it is the first thing i've really had to study in FOREVER.
today in lab we took apart the forearm. SO FUN. seriously - the 2 hour lab flew by! once the skin and fat are removed, you just keep finding ligaments and muscles and nerves and arteries and veins, etc etc etc - so it made for a fun dissection.

i know that next year is going to be insanely hard and very trying, but i'm feeling better about it now that i'm getting back into school mode and finding that i'm enjoying (most) of the material!

galvatraz

sunday afternoon (nearly a week ago), i moved down to galvy. not into my apartment but into a dorm to save some money before august. location wise, it is totally awesome. but as far as amenities go... there aren't any. i woke up sick the first morning there, and we've decided it is due to a mold allergy. i'm pretty sure there are globs of mold festering in the walls and window-unit a/c. galvy is ridiculously humid, and i'm sure that doesn't help matters! not to mention, the shower is lukewarm & lacking in water pressure. the carpet has unidentifiable stains. the key to my room is messed up and takes me at least a minute to unlock. i'm afraid to touch the walls/carpet/dresser/etc. but other than that ;)

ANYWAY, room aside, the week got off to a decent start! as expected, i've had the world's hardest time getting re-motivated to study. completely miss my study mojo! it probably didn't help matters that i was in a lethargic trance the entire week. initially i decided to trade out coffee for diet pepsi. complete & utter fail. the coffee maker will be going back with me on monday!

the best thing about going to UTMB is having the beach 2 blocks away. one afternoon, i just needed to detox a little, so i wandered down and strolled along the beach.

this is a view of UTMB from the beach. yes, it is THAT close!

i went to walmart one day this week, and i thought it was so fun that this was the view leaving. i love driving down the seawall!

but the REAL highlight of the week was GROSS ANATOMY! there are 4 students/cadaver which means lots of chances to cut! i made the first incision in my group, and it was awesomeeeee. i know that makes me sound like a crazy person, but using a scalpel is really cool. especially since you can't kill your patient ;). but craziness aside, it is really interesting to finally get to see structures that you had previously only read about in textbooks. like nerves. for some reason, in my head, i imagined nerves to be invisible. yep, totally wrong. and the best part is, we get to wear SCRUBS! and we have to wear name badges 24/7. it's weird. but makes me feel official, so i'm okay with it.

anyway, it has been interesting seeing what next year is going to be like. weird to think that i'm a grad student now. or even worse, a MEDICAL STUDENT. bahhhhhh.

steal of the day!

i have been shopping around for sandals for quite some time. unfortunately, everything i liked was over-priced or sold out in my size. last night i stumbled upon a link to a coupon at old navy. apparently oprah/old navy held a makeover show, and old navy was offering 50% off one regularly-priced item this weekend for the audience at home. well, i'm not part of the audience at home, but i printed off multiple coupons :) -- i headed over to old navy (first time in at least a year), and i found the super cute sandals i had been looking for!


i snagged this pair, originally $23, for $12-something. AND i had a $25 giftcard one of my sweet friends got me for my birthday. so i actually didn't pay anything!

naturally, i made my dad go back with me after dinner so i could get 2 more pairs! each of these came out to about $10.


so thanks to my giftcard + coupons, i only spent $10.79 for 3 pairs of sandals!!! - mission accomplished.

in other news,

• this week was awesome! wednesday i was able to have brunch with my friend monica. yesterday i had lunch with my friend emilie (shout-out!). and tomorrow my friend kate from oklahoma is coming to town! -- this is crazy social for me considering my friends are rarely in town!


• i'm moving to galveston in 8 days -- i'm attending a 6-week med school prep program. it is basically an overview of the first year's courses. i decided it would probably be a good idea to reaquaint my brain with the idea of studying. i'm already dreading sitting through lecture. after a year and a half of NOT studying, this will be a major shocker! but better now than august!


• my dad, sister, and i are officially headed to TURKEY in july! i'm so pumped! i really wanted to go to turkey when i studied abroad, but we didn't make it. we are going to spend one week in istanbul & one week on an island off the coast! so excited.

i hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

miserable monday

everything felt off today. my breakfast was gross, my target trip was a fail, my brownies were a flop, my throat feels funny, i poured lemonade all over myself before walking into work, I GOT PEED ON at work, a kid i was supervising got hit in the eye with a wii remote, and i managed to pour lemonade on myself AGAIN on the way out of work. and those are ONLY THE HIGHLIGHTS.

so instead of complaining, i'm going to laugh at myself and share a picture of the pee-incident. i had this 9 month old sitting on my lap, and i thought she suddenly felt warm, but i shook it off since she was obviously wearing a diaper. 5 minutes later, her mom picks her up, revealing this nice pee-puddle on my leg.

here's to a happier tuesday!

obsessed

let me introduce you to my phone. fondly known as "the blueberry" - because it's a wannabe blackberry. blueberry's only capabilities are phone calls + texts. but not picture texts. and certainly no internet. well, i was completely content with blueberry...


but then verizon got the iPhone. and i've been holding off for almost 3 months since its release. but between a quarter-life crisis + upgrade eligibility... my willpower went out the window


and suddenly i don't know how i used to function without it. i mean, how could i possibly have gone to the gym without being able to stream episodes of scrubs on netflix? imagine, i used to watch the gym tv. and have to settle with whatever was on. completely absurd, i know. the netflix app even tells my netflix at home where i stopped during an episode so i can pick right back up during lunch. AMAZING.

and now i can take pictures of my cat whose hair is finally coming back after that tragic haircut i gave her.
and i can document my love of wednesday mornings. because you can't beat overnight oats + the weekly grocery store ads. i'll pause now while you laugh at the fact that i am a 40 year old soccer mom hiding in the body of a 23 year old.

and i could go on and on and on, but let's face it, i'm just now realizing what everyone else has been enjoying for years. i remember being at a study group at baylor, and all my friends reached for their phones. i was like "what? did i miss a text?" - they all laughed at me and told me baylor had just sent a mass-email. embarassing. well, i've finally caught up.

galvy

in exactly 4 months, i'll be starting med school orientation. people keep asking me if i'm "excited" - i always say, "i'm not sure i'd say excited, but i am warming up to the idea.." -- i am excited to be moving forward with my life, have my own place, and be more of a grown-up; i'm not excited about being shackled to studying. especially when i've had so much free time to cook, work-out, and play. but hey, that's life. and i certainly don't want to work at my current minimum-wage job forever, so i'll deal.

ANYWAY, that wasn't the point of the post. the point was that i went to galveston today with my dad to apartment hunt! i had been down last summer to look, so i knew what was there, but this time we were looking to sign. and luckily, we were successful! i signed on a one bedroom/one bath apartment within walking distance of campus. and while the building itself is old, thanks to hurricane ike, the entire inside has been renovated! new appliances, countertops, tile, carpet, cabinets, etc. the only disadvantage is no washer/dryer :( -- when i saw the laundry room with the coin-operated washer/dryers i had flashbacks to dorm-life freshman year! oh well - it is worth the trade-off for being so incredibly close to campus! AND my friend Yara is living in the same complex! i'm sure she will be banging on my door & forcing me to class every so often!

we did get to drive through campus on the way-in and way-out, and i got super excited seeing everyone in scrubs and white coats! i think finally signing on an apartment and getting a move-in date makes it feel a lot more real! i fully intended on taking my camera but forgot - so google/images will have to do...

1. loved seeing the white coats everywhere :) - i get mine august 21st!

2. aerial shot of campus

3. another aerial shot - utmb is in the far left corner. apparently the WORST thing about going to UTMB is that you can see the cruise ships coming and going (as you can see in the left corner) from campus... that is going to be such torture!

4. just a pretty building on campus :)

anyway, i'm off to lounge + do nothing now in preparation for august :)

routine

so after 2 weeks of waking up when i please, lounging around, and getting little to nothing accomplished, i decided that my life was in dire need of some structure. i hate to admit it, but i love routine. it makes the days predictable and productive.

since i wasn't in school this year, i never bothered to buy a day-planner. so instead, i went online and printed off a calendar. i have tons of appointments and things i need to get accomplished before med school (only 4 months away), so i decided it was time to start chipping away at that list. nothing says fun like eye appointments, car inspections, and hunting for next year's housing...

anyway, i'm happy to report that the calendar is working already! this morning i did the first half of my TB test (i had to wait 25 minutes in the waiting room for a 15 second visit with the nurse: annoying). but hey! that's one more thing i can cross off the list.

i'm also making myself wake up with an alarm clock. i've been getting up at 7:30am, eating breakfast, enjoying the today show & my coffee, and then going to the Y. today i went to a really good spin class. want to hear the best part? i looked over at the guy next to me, and i assumed he accidently spilled his water bottle all over the floor. then i realized he didn't have a water bottle. and that he was sweating so much that he had formed a massive puddle on the floor. granted, it is a sweat-tastic class, but that just can't be normal!

anyway, after the Y, the TB test, and a trip to the grocery store, it was time for lunch!



on the plate: sandwich thin topped with a spicy black bean burger, spinach, and ketchup with a side of strawbs, broc + ranch, and blueberry chobani for dessert! yummmm.

deals and meals

this week we got some great coupon offers in the mail, both to stores i don't generally frequent. however, the offers were too good to pass up, so i thought i'd give it a shot.

• first up: sports authority. land of the incredibly overpriced activewear that i can buy for 1/2 the price at marshalls. well, let me tell you, i hit the lotto here today. i found these nike shorts, originally priced at $28. sports authority had them "on sale" for $21.98. combine that with the $15 "instant-cash" coupon, and i walked out with these for a mere $7.56. that's a savings of 75% (pre-tax). WIN.

• next stop: kohl's. i have a major issue with this store because you never know the price of an item until you price check them. every single item in the store is on some sort of sale, but good luck because the signs don't match up with the items. anyway, complaints aside, i scored big-time here as well. i picked up this travel mug (originally priced $9.99, marked down to $7.99) and card ($2.49) -- i decided it was time to invest in a travel mug since i'm going to be hooked on a caffeine IV come august. and i needed a birthday card as well. my subtotal was $10.52 with tax. i had a $10 cash-reward. i paid $0.52. yes, that's right: fifty-two cents.

anyway, all that deal-hunting worked up an appetite. i came home and whipped this up to enjoy along with an episode of GLEE! on the plate: sandwich (turkey, french onion laughing cow cheese, spinach, & whole wheat sandwich thin), carrots & ranch (i make my own ranch using light sour cream & a ranch packet), and fruit salad (grapes, oranges, & strawberries

is it weird that i post food pics? - my friend Diana got me hooked on a few healthblogs, and they document EVERY SINGLE MEAL. i'm not that crazy, but i do like to share when they are so pretty + colorful :)

happy friday!!!!

fast food

i agreed to ride along to a doctor's appointment with my mom this afternoon. since we were in a rush, she asked me if i wanted to eat out - being the crazy person i am, i said no. instead, i threw together this little feast in about 5 minutes.

on the plate: PB2 slatered on a toasted, whole wheat sandwich thin with a side of broccoli, yellow pepper, & ranch. and chobani peach yogurt for dessert! yummm.

unemployment update

so in my spare time lately...

• i've taken on the role of head-chef at my house. which includes meal-planning, grocery shopping, and meal-preparation. i've relegated my mom to sous-chef & dishwasher. LOVING IT. i'm perfecting recipes and trying out new ones all the time! so fun! i took on the challenge of replicating the couscous salad at my favorite meditteranean restaurant -- SUCCESS. it is SO good.


• i've become addicted to GLEE! - why do i always wait until the 3rd season to start watcing a show? -- my family got netflix though, so i've been knocking out 3 or 4 episodes a day... obsessed


• houston humidity and heat have set-in, so i've semi-given up on outdoor running for the time being... and since i absolutely can't run on a treadmill, i'm switching to p90x, group exercise classes, and the gym (last resort) -- 2 days of p90x, and my thighs are SO sore. i guess when they market something as a "shread," that should probably be a clue...


• in a continuing effort to healthify my favorite foods, i stumbled upon PB2 - a powdered peanut butter that contains 85% less fat and 1/4 of the calories of regular peanut butter! you may not find this exciting, but you have to understand that i'm one of those crazies that may very well choose peanut butter if forced to eat only one thing the rest of my life. seriously. i'm that obsessed. but PB2 is great - you can either mix it with water to make regular peanutbutter, or you can just add a scoop to smoothies, etc - SO YUMMM.

hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

an unlikely couple

so i've spent numerous hours lately skimming health blogs. in an attempt to be more health-conscious, i've been seeking out ways to "healthify" various recipes. today, as a baker and chocoholic, i set out to make a satisfying dessert. the result: chocolate chip fudge brownies. now you're asking yourself, how could this possibly be even moderately healthy? well, shockingly, they are. and they only require TWO ingredients:why yes, those are black beans. crazy? i thought the same. but it really works! all you do is drain & rinse a can of black beans. throw the beans back in the can. fill the can with water just so the top of the beans are covered. puree the watery bean mix (i magic bullet-ed it). stir into dry brownie mix (omitting the usual eggs/oil/water). sprinkle in chocolate chips if desired. bake according to the instructions but monitor the timing. mine took less time than expected.

The result: dense, fudgy, chocolatey goodness! My sister and I both thought they tasted like Cosmic Brownies: TOTALLY ridiculous. and tasty.

why hello life

so now that i've quit my day job (literally) & only work at the Y two nights a week, i've been showered with hours upon hours of free time. loving the freedom, not missing the commute, but still trying to figure out how to structure my days so that i'm semi-productive.

so far, that has taken the form of:

1) laying in bed, eating breakfast, & watching the today show

2) working out: spinning yesterday + jogging today

3) getting ready. as in, shower + lounge clothes + NO make-up

4) making a colorful lunch... houston decided to be extra nice out today, so i ate poolside. too cold to swim but just right for sitting outside!

5) talking to/harassing the cat. and for those of you who asked, no, it was not an april fools joke. i really did shave her, and she seems rather pleased with herself. my sister went so far as to say "she has more self-confidence" - i think that's pushing it, but... i shaved her because she is a long-haired cat and her fur gets matted when it gets too long -- and apparently it costs $60 for a professional. i'm sorry, but i only pay 1/4th of that for my OWN haircut. definitely not spending that kind of cash on the cat

5) afternoon time: the gap between 1-4pm is kind of awkward. and here is where i need YOUR input. i feel like this is the time where i need a productive activity/hobby/other. yesterday i knocked out my laundry + today i cleaned the kitchen, but stuff like that gets old after awhile. of course, i've thrown in naps both days, but i feel like i'm just wasting time before i need to start dinner. any suggestions of things to do would be much appreciated!

6) cooking dinner followed by either working at the Y or hanging out with my family. it's good i live at home, or else i'm pretty sure i would go psychotic sitting in an apartment all alone all day + night. today my sister and i went to walmart & then my dad (the engineer) rigged up a double tea kettle that would allow the tea to brew while staying warm. genius.

7) lay in bed + blog + surf the web. but let's be honest: that happens like 8 times during the day.

8) going to sleep + NOT setting an alarm clock. now that's all sorts of glorious.

anyway, it's crazy going from working 41 hours a week to 6. i think i'm probably experiencing the same shock people do who retire. it's nice having time to do things, but it is hard coming up with things to do. i definitely want to maximize this time because i'm only months away from ZERO freetime for the next decade, so... like i said, any suggestions are more than welcome :)