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!!!!