A Run Down

Things that are bad:

-My yahoo e-mail has apparently been hacked. If you get any weird looking e-mails from "me" @yahoo.com don't open 'em.

-My "lower back injury from like five years ago never ending annoyance" has reared its ugly head again...and this time its something new. I usually just have a stiffness and muscle spasm flare every few months, but this time it decide to show up as nerve pain. Blah. Picture lightning bolt shooting from my lower back through one or both hips down one or both legs with. every. step. It's been bad for about a week now. Surely it'll let up soon, right?

-I start interning in June and I'm starting to feel like I don't know ANYthing. What happened to all the stuff I've crammed into my head over the last three years? I don't know. I can't find it.... I've heard this is normal at this point in my schooling though, so I'm gonna try not to worry too much about it.

Things that are good:

-I learned at the start of this semester that I can purchase and download books onto my PDA and then read during class instead of sitting there drooling in utter boredom. I like to think of it as my own little ghetto Kindle. It feels great to get back into reading seeing as I haven't read for pleasure for any good chunk of time in at least the last couple years. Speaking of, read any good books lately?? I'm about to start "In the Woods," but am always looking for the next to add to the list since I spend at least three hours in class a day (=reading)...I go through them pretty quick.

-LOST is FINALLY on TV tonight. My sisters are coming over to watch and we're going to eat popcorn and it will be fantastic.

-I think I'm gonna go get a new phone today! This excites me immensely. It will be the first phone I've ever shelled out some real dough for (singing in head: "I'm a big kid now!" from the pull-ups commercial).

To iphone or Not to iphone

So, I think I want an iphone. I've had the "get a new phone" itch for about a month now. In the past I've always been stingy when it comes to phone expenses. I always go for one of the free models and never get a new phone until it's time to upgrade. I guess I don't mind coughing up the 200 for the phone because I've played with my sister's and decided it is totally cool, but I'm hung up on the 30 dollar a month data plan fee. Will it really be worth it? What do all you iphoners out there say? Worth every penny? Other pros/cons you care to share??

This week stinks.

But this little gem has helped turn my frown upside-down:



(Disclaimer: I still hate cats, though.)

Anyone need a shot?

Unfortunately I don't mean the alcoholic kind.

Yesterday I got certified to immunize! It was a little nerve racking at first jabbing a needle into my partner's arm (and then her into mine!), but now that I've done it a couple of times it feels like no big deal. Oh, and we were just dosing each other with normal saline, no actual vaccines while we were learning (and using each other as test subjects). I've been begging Blue to let me practice on him to no avail. I guess I can't blame him. Oh well, I suppose I'll have to wait until the next flu season when I'm out interning.

Blah. It's Friday, but since I have to work this weekend it doesn't feel like Friday. It is also the beginning of the "slow" season at the hospital, which means long, slow, boring shifts. I guess I'm glad that I have a job at least. Though there has been talk of cutting back on people's hours...Yikes! When this recession stuff starts to hit the healthcare field you know we're in trouble!!

"Can I take your order?" "Yes, I'll have a KATV-channel 8 cooked extra lame with a side of tremendous idiocy, please."

Really, channel 8? Really?

I was pretty frustrated last week when instead of showing the LOST season premier you had a basketball game on, but then I sit down last night to watch the television program that I most look forward to each week and, guess what...

YOU ARE ONCE AGAIN SHOWING A BASKETBALL GAME INSTEAD OF LOST!!

I could cut you a little slack if these were playoff games or even if an Arkansas team was playing in either game, but since neither applies all I can say is that I am beyond infuriated. If this happens again next week....I don't even know yet, but it won't be good.

All Work and No Play

Sheesh!

Christmas break was a complete blur. Actually, I'm gonna extend that blur out to the past 2.5 months. Busy, busy, busy! It was still a decent break though. I made it through finals and passed all my classes (phew!). Then it was on to wedding cake and celebrating E&J's fabulous wedding. Great times!! A few days later I was on a jet plane to MN for the Dad's family Christmas. Then it was back to work for the entire last week of vaca. including new years eve AND new years day. (Grrr...not my intention...never again will I tell work they can schedule me as much as possible during a certain time period.) Now I'm back in school looking forward to the last semester of classes! Woohoo!

The new year this year has felt a little strange so far. Not sure why. I just feel kind of old I guess...not in an "OMG, wrinkles and gray!" hair kind of way...just like my life isn't where I pictured it being when I was younger...and I don't mean that in a bad way, just that it is different. I sense this underlying feeling of time running out. Yes, I know in the grand scheme of things I'm still quite young, so in all reality I have many, many years left to do all the things I wish to do with my life (knock on wood)...it's just interesting how your perspective can shift from one year to the next. That's all.

I've never been one for resolutions, but I am looking to get things organized around the house. After living somewhere for almost three years the clutter builds up in the nooks and crannies and it is now time to tackle it...Spring cleaning, if you will since the weather down here already feels like it's about to turn in that direction to me. I don't know how you people tolerate such a lack of frosty weather!! :)

Finals spells evil backwards and in a different language

My brain hurts. It is Friday, but to me it feels like Monday. What kind of horrible torture is that? Three down, four to go. Arrrrgghh.

It's that time of year again...

Hooray! December is finally here. I am about two thirds through my Christmas decorating and am starting to really get into the seasonal spirit...especially with this glorious cold front that has blown in!! With X-mas fast approaching that means it is once again time for the annual Christmas Party!

3rd Annual Christmas Party!!

When: Saturday December 13th, 7:00PM

Who: You and any of our other friends--the more the merrier (kids and babies are 100% welcome)

Where: My house

Food: Please bring an appetizer to share. I'll have lots of Christmas sweets as usual.

Drink: BYOB

Gifts: Please bring a wrapped, unmarked gift to play Dirty Santa. What type of gift is totally up to your imagination (just don't spend too much).

Turkey Love

We are at the starting line of my most favorite time of the year. It all starts with T-giving tomorrow. Turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and pies...mmmmmm. Even more than the holiday meal, I think I like the days following becuase my mother always sends me home with tons of leftovers and I get to eat T-food for days extending the enjoyment. My mother banned me from desserts this year...I think because she is a traditionalist at heart and I tend to be a little more adventurous and never bake the same thing twice for the holidays...she just wants good ol' pumpkin and pecan pie this year. I do get to bring a delicious green bean casserole though, one of my faves of the season. It's a Martha recipe and it's fantastic. Homemade sauce and everything...no cream of mushroom soup here, though the old standard is just as delicious in its own right. All my siblings have made it into town too, so hopefully there will be lots of fun times over the next few days.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Blue is my hero.

The stress is almost over. I've got one more test to go and then after tomorrow I can breath again for a little while. Then I just have to get through rounds 3 and 4 and then the grand finale that is finals and I'll be home free.

Despite school stress, a lot of other things have been going wrong and adding to the stress. This is where Blue has swept in and saved the day...on numerous occasions. It all started with our dryer. It just quit working one day a few weeks ago. I know nothing about dryers, so therefore I went back and forth for about a week on whether or not to call a repairman or just go buy a new one as the mountain of dirty clothes kept piling up (I also had a big test this week, so the dryer did not receive my full attention). It got to the point where I had to towel off after showering with two washcloths because we had run out of clean towels. Blue ended up doing some research and went and bought a new part, took the dryer apart and ta-dah!!, it now works perfectly.

Around this same time I started to notice that my brakes weren't working as well as they usually do. I mentioned it to Blue and when we looked under the car there was a large pool of brake fluid under one of my tires. He took the wheel off and we discovered that my brake fluid line had split and fluid was leaking out in copious amounts. Long story short Blue also fixed this. I'm just glad we discovered it without me having to crash into someone or something when my brakes failed!!

About a week after all of this we started to notice a stinky smell on the back porch. A few days beforehand there had been a fight between the neighbor's dog and a racoon that Blue witnessed. Apparently said racoon decided to crawl under our porch and die. It found the one small opening between the wood and the brick of the house. Thank GOD Blue was here for that one, because I don't think I could have psyched myself up in anyway to begin to even go near it. I did decide to watch when he pulled it out, mind you I was at least 10 feet away. It was the. grossest. thing. I've ever seen. Let's just say that it wasn't the only creature(s) that were present....bllaaaaaaaaach...okay I'm stopping there.

Last night our oven broke. No worries though. It broke once before and Blue fixed it. What a guy! I've been more thankful than ever to have him around lately.

So much drama in the LBC

Uggghh. My family is driving me crazy right now. If you didn't already know, my mother and step-father are separated and have been for over a year now. Oh yeah, and this is the second time in the course of their marriage that they've been separated. It has turned into this big stalemate with neither of them taking any action to end the marriage (which in my opinion is the only realistic option at this point)and the whole thing has become completely disfunctional and it aggravates me because I'm tired of hearing about it and tired of having it mess up holidays and family get-togethers. And I'm tired of the way it is affecting my brother and sister.

On top of that my brother and mother are currently involved in WWIII. To make a long story short, my brother isn't satisfied with what he is currently studying in school and wants to make a change. My mom doesn't want him to and voiced her opinion in a very confrontational and kind of mean way. My brother then responded back with hurtful statements and now they are not speaking and he doesn't want anything to do with her which includes not coming home to visit, apparently ever again....and I'm now stuck in the middle of all this. Soooo not what on my plate I need right now.

On lighter, less annoying note Fall seems to have finally arrived!! And October is here too which means its almost November and December, my two favorite months of the year. So many fun holidays coming up. I can't wait!!!!

Swimming in a Sea of Infectious Disease

Infectious disease has been my life for the past several weeks. We're studying it in therapeutics. We've got about a week and a half to go, and then we'll take what will probably be the biggest test of the semester (aside from finals of course). I've had the pleasure this week of actually contracting my own infectious disease. I think I caught the respiratory virus that everyone else seems to have. Normally I can handle a such an illness, but this particular bug knocked me out yesterday. I had to call into work and skip school and everything. Thanks to my Mr. T-like immune system though, I think I'm starting to win the battle. It feels like things are breaking up in my chest and sinuses, so hopefully I'll be back to normal by the weekend. I better be because Blue's mother and sis are coming to visit on Friday, and thanks to this illness I haven't started cleaning yet. Yikes!

Shoot me now. Just go ahead and get it over with.

I'm embarking on a new form of torture thought up for my by the people who run p-school. I'm sitting here waiting for my 2:20 appointment at the clinincal skills center where I'll be taken in and presented with a mock patient case. Then I'll be given ten minutes to prepare after which I'll enter an exam room and converse with either a patient or a doctor (actors) about the case I was just presented. Oh yeah, and they film us during this lovely session of make-believe. And I have to do it twice. I'm not being graded for todays session which takes a little of the anxiety off. This one is just practice for the real session in Dec. where we'll have to do six patient cases and it counts for a sizable portion of our grade in therapeutics. It's just freaking me out that I'm gonna be filmed. Too much pressure! They said it would get easier our third year. They lied.

Don't call me sugar and Don't try to escape from the psych ward. P.S. I've decided that I need a personal assistant.

I'm back in school. Studying is my life. One exciting thing, though, is that this is my last year of classes (and tests, well except for a few big ones at the end). Next year I'll be tossed out into the real world to fend for myself during my nine intern rotations, but I'd rather not dwell on that right now. I've also gone back to working a regular schedule at the hospital. Right now I'm doing one night a week and every other weekend....more than I've done before in previous years while in school. We'll see how that goes.

So, yeah, last night I was at work taking the delivery at 6pm to cover for the courier while he goes to dinner and one of the transport techs (the people who push patients around the hospital when they are moving to different units or going to get scans, etc.) passed by me in the hall and said, "Hey sugar, how are you doin'?" And this is not the first time I've experienced this sort of thing whether at work or at school when I have to walk by the construction guys on their lunch break or walking back to my car when I have to walk past the detention center where prisoners are out doing yard work. I, of course, responded with a cold stare and a monotone yet somewhat bitchy voice and said "Fine" as I kept on walking by. I just don't understand. What makes these men think that speaking to women in such a baseless and childish manner will get them anywhere? Are they just that desparate? Anyway, it's just something that really annoys me, and I'm not a violent person but if I could go around and punch people in the gut during these situations, I would! Arrrrghh.

I'm a little behind on posting photos that I tagged in the back of my brain for the blog, so, don't laugh, but let's head on back to May (this is why I've decided I need a pers. asst.!!) and take a look at a little cake that I made my mom for Mother's day:

It was vanilla cake filled with lemon curd and raspberry jam, topped with vanilla buttercream and sprinkled with coconut on the sides ('cause she loves coconut). I've should have taken a close-up because it was very pretty once cut with the different colors inside. Maybe next time.

This was the first time I officially had the fam. over for a meal. It was quite fun. I got to play house and set up the table and everything, complete with fresh flowers:

Around this same time Blue and I took some snap shots of the garden he put together this past spring. We like to keep a pictorial record of what we do each year. Check out his handiwork:

He's got a knack for this stuff. We had good produce all summer. I'm already getting excited for next years plans. I think we're gonna try and grow most things from seed because I've found some really cool heirloom seeds catalogs that have the most amazing stuff in them. But even before that, hopefully in a couple weeks when this incessant, miserable heat leaves, I'll get to do our fall landscaping and fill up the yard with pansies and violas. Hooray!

I'm craving the smell of cold air

I'm at work waiting to go home. I've got an hour left. It's 10PM. That's one of the bad things about working at a hospital...they never close.

I'm heading to St. Louis tomorrow with Jill to visit Peter and I'm very excited because the weather there is supposed to be slightly cooler (read low 90's...nothing amazing but any little bit helps). This super hot weather lately is killing me. I'm starting to get the fall itch. When I was putting some syringes away in the freezer earlier I smelled a hint of "winter smell." I can't wait for the season to change!!

I was also thinking earlier about winning the lottery. I started to wonder if I would quit my job. I'm pretty sure I'd finish out p-school because I not going to have done all this hard-a@@ work for nothing....but would I work after that??? It's hard to say. I might give it a try and see if I like it. Would you quit your job if you came into a large sum of money? And if you (or me, or anyone) says no, what does that mean? Does that mean you are not doing what you are "supposed to be" doing? Not really trying to get all philosophical or anything, just kind of speaking in stream of consciousness cause I'm bored. Oh heck, I'm pretty sure I'd start up a bakery either way just like I'm going to end up doing anyway one day, so there, question answered I suppose.

I've been tagged

Here's my list:

1. I have a giant hairy nevus (yes, that is the actual medical term) on my left ear. What is that you ask? Well, its a congenital melanocytic type of birthmark. It's flat, dark brown, and yes, it grows hair. It has made for some funny looks and remarks like, "hey, you have dirt on your ear," but other than that it doesn't bother me much. I have to have it checked by the dermatologist every once in a while becaues they are more likely to produce melanoma. At least it's not on my face.

2. If I could go back and be re-born as a singer with a deep sultry, soulful voice from the 1970's, I would.

3. The fear of the dark that most of us have when we are little and eventually outgrow...well I haven't outgrown it. I'm okay when at home, but I travel with a night-light if I'm going to be sleeping alone just in case I get freaked out and can't sleep.

4.I HATE fresh tomatoes! Hate them. They make me gag. I can eat fresh salsa if it's not chunky, but on sandwiches and in salads...never.

5. When I'm bored I read menus online at random restaurants in different cities. I find it highly entertaining and educational.

6. When I start eating a meal I first analyze the food and decide on what will be the perfect last bite and then eat the food accordingly in order to save that bite for last. Anal retentive, much?

Why does food taste so good?

I'm home. Back from Minnesota. It was the usual kind of trip: hanging out with the Dad, seeing all the extended family, celebrating small-town 4th of july with a parade, family dinner, and fireworks.

On a side note, I'm totally on a hot dog kick lately, which is weird because I've never been much of a hot dog person. I always go for the hamburger. They certainly have their ick factor, but lately they are all I want when it comes to summer, outdoor, grilling, picnic food (no crude jokes allowed).

While we are on the subject of food, I'm milling around the idea of starting a separate food blog or at least committing to doing a weekly food post featuring the stuff I've made that week. The only problem is photos. Food styling takes effort and time and when I'm cooking and start thinking about doing a post about it I always get lazy and don't take pictures. I want to start making an effort to pictorially document my most fun hobby because I love to share ideas and get opinions and such. Like take this week...I could have a totally fun food post if I'd just taken some pics because so far I've made:

-buffalo chicken strips with buttermilk blue cheese and chive dip

-grill eggplant and portabello salad with fresh mozzarella

-creme brulee (with vanilla beans from France!)

-twice-baked potatoes with roasted red pepper, corn, and cheddar cheese

-and I have plans later in the week for some steaks with blue cheese butter and a roasted chicken

I just love making things with food. I gonna consider this a little more. If I really wanna do it I'll just have to make the time for photos to share. Too bad blogger doesn't have scent sharing. Now that would be fun.

Summertime

This summer is turning out to be a busy, but good one. Lots going on lately.

-more travel coming up in the form of a little trip to the homeland (aka Minnesota) to visit fam up there

-starting to renovate the office, painting first, pictures to follow sometime soon

-Little Nate Hills made his debut a few days ago to proud parents Kat and Karl. So happy for you guys, and I'm coming to meet you as soon as I get back from MN, little guy!

-Celebrated E & J's engagement with a little party the other weekend and got to go bridesmaid dress shopping this weekend. Hooray! So fun.

-Finally sat down and finished up the Europe posts. See below.

Final days in France

On day five we hopped on a train and went to Versailles. I was very excited for this excursion because I didn't get to see the palace my first time through France. The main gates were under renovation, so we didn't get any good shots of the front facade, but here's a small side view.

We toured the main palace seeing, of course, the hall of mirrors,

the king's bedroom,

and Marie Antoinette's bedroom. This is were all the public births took place in the palace. We were told they did it that way to ensure that a switcheroo didn't occur with the royal babies.
Then it was on to the palace gardens, which were amazing!

They were also huge. They made a footprint about eight times the size of the palace. This is the main promenade. It went on for forever.
We did lots of walking and toured the Grand Trianon, a vacatioin home on the grounds. Then we made it to Marie Antoinette's hamlet, the farm-like village she created to get away from the palace atmosphere.

Its been completely restored (except for the inside, can't go any buildings) and it is run as a working farm with gardens and animals.

It was so cool and peaceful that we all decided we wanted to live there.
We lunced at a restaurant on the central canal and then hiked back up to the palace, which was a treat because they had turned on all the fountains in the garden.

Day six started off with another train ride. This time we were headed to Lucerne, Switzerland for an overnight stay. This was much needed at this point. The hustle and bustle(and dirty air) of Paris was all starting to wear on us, so we were very excited to head to a smaller more refreshing area. We loved it. If you ever go to Europe I highly recommend a stop in Lucerne. It's a great little city.

After we checked into our hotel we decided to take a boat cruise around the lake(which is huge). It was a great way to see the countryside.

We headed back to town to do some shopping and touring. We walked across one of the older attractions in the city, a covered wooden bridge that spans the lake in the center of the city.

We, of course, had to have some fondue, and we fed the swans that live on the lake too.
We got home late the next night back to Paris and had to get a few hours sleep in order to be ready for our next train ride bright and early the following morning to the Normandy coast to tour all the WWII sights. We started at the beach where the US built a giant harbor to bring in all the supplies it needed for the big attack. These are the remains of some of the floating structures that were built so that ships could dock out in the deeper water and then unload supplies that were trucked to shore on floating bridges.

We moved on to tour some of the german gun holds. A lot of the things the germans built back then are still intact.

Next we stopped at one of the more heavily hit sights on the coastline. It was interesting to see that the landscape is still scarred.

Then it was on to Omaha beach (think the scene in Saving Private Ryan where they ride in those boats to the shore to make the initial attack). I can't describe what it felt like to be there...a mixture of sadness, awe, and pride. During the first two hours of the attack, no Allies survived. Thousands of soldiers died that day. This is a monument to the first group that arrived. You can see the beach in the background.

Next we stopped at the American cemetary. The land was gifted to the US by France and is considered American soil. If you had a baby while you were there it would have dual citizenship.

There are some 9,000 graves here. All the markers are evenly spaced in a way that they are in rows from all directions. You can kind of see it in the picture above.

Then we made a stop at the German cemetary. It had quite a different atmosphere. Over 22,000 remains are contained here. The mound in the center is a mass grave and the marked graves on the grounds often contain multiples soldiers.

Well, that's our Euro Vaca in a nutshell. We had a blast and I think now that we've all had a couple weeks to rest up we're ready for that next trip.

The sight seeing continues

Day three started out with a trip to the Louvre.

We saw all the major works...couldn't see everything, obviously, because there are like 5 days worth of art in there...

We decided to have some fun with Les Trois Graces (the three graces). It's one of my favorites pics from the trip.
After the Louvre we headed down the river and walked through Jardin des Tuileries. The obelisk in the background at Place de la Concorde is the sight where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded.

We continued on and lunched on the Champs Elysee. We walked the length of it looking at all the pricey shops and made our way to the Arc de Triomphe.

After that it was on to the Eiffel tower.

My mom really wanted to go to the top, so we all accompanied her even though it was kind of scary...well all of us but Jill that is. After her incident on the bell tower at Notre Dame she wasn't up for any high rise adventures. Views from the top:

It was great to see the city from such a vast viewpoint. I want to go back one day and do it at night. I bet the lights are beautiful.

Day 3

Day three began at Musee d'Orsay.

It's set in an old re-modeled train station and stocked full of pre-Impressionist and Impressionist art work and sculpture. We saw all the big names like Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, and so on. It was great.

After lunch we headed to the Catacombs. Long ago the cemetaries of the city became very unsanitary and a plan was hatched to excavate tunnels under the city and move the human remains there. Hence Paris has catacombs.

It was quite a long walk down tunnels and passageways to get to the main entrance above which it reads "Stop. This is the empire of the dead."
It was an interesting place to see. Its hard to explain what it was like to be among that many skeletons.

We headed back out into the sunlight and took a long metro ride up to the north end of the city to explore Mont Martre, the bohemian-like artists quarters. We toured Sacre Coeur, the famous white church at the top of the hill.
On our way out of the neighborhood we made a stop at the Moulin Rouge for good measure.