Milk Snob No More

Those of you who may have spent some QT with me in my 20's know that I can be kind of a milk snob. Somewhere along the way, in reading all those articles about growth hormones and girls starting puberty at age 10, I decided for the sake of my health that organic milk was worth the cost. (And, unlike organic chicken, I could almost afford it.)
So on my server "salary," I drove about once a week to the Boise Co-op and paid $5.29 for this organic milk. Besides me thinking it was great knowing the names of the cows that it came from, it seriously was the best-tasting milk I have ever had in my life.
Moving to AZ, I have been able to come across some organic milk, but I avoid Horizon because I heard once they aren't "really" organic or something like that, and fresh & easy's milk is cheap and seems just fine if I can't find a good local one.
However. We have reached a new level. A lower one.
See, I've been quite busy lately. And our fridge is pretty crowded, so my roommates and I share milk. And they've been buying it, and I split the cost.
And last month I drank Food City milk. Food City is a good store for buying avocadoes, yucca root, and bell peppers. And for learning Spanish. I don't go there generally because I like to speak the same language as my cashier as a general rule. I don't buy my milk there.
But Gina did.
And I drank it.

Now, a little bit about Great Value. I will buy Target brand iron, paper towels, and even feminine hygiene products. I simply do not think, in general, that the "Great Value," or Wal-mart brand makes a lot of "Great-tasting" food. This is maybe just my stuck up white people-ness. But also I think it's true. And apparently they do to because they just gave it a massive overhaul. Which is good because it makes me feel like it's not all in my head.
And because apparently I now drink their milk. (In my blueberry-pineapple-kale-chocolate protein smoothie as I write this.)
Just for the record. Yes, I can tell the difference. And yes, I'm going to start buying my own stinking milk.

Vegetables Part II- Annoyed

So in my last post I wrote about how much fun it was to eat so many awesome vegetables. And how nice it was to lost 3 pounds in 2 and a half weeks. That seemed like a nice little reward for how good I was feeling.
Then I ate out this weekend. 4 times. Once I ordered a vegetarian meal with a little chicken on top (and ate a little dessert). Next time it was 1/2 a hamburger and 1/2 a milkshake and quite a few zucchini and sweet potato fries (bet your butt I counted them as vegetable #4 and #5). Next was pumpkin bread french toast (amazingly indulgent) and a little bit of omelet. Lastly, I went with seared ahi tuna and a caesar salad.
What do I get for this? Would you like to know?
a) feeling like everything is fitting tighter
b) weird dreams about my nightgown not fitting
and
c) a weight gain of 4 (FOUR!) pounds. It has only lasted 2-ish days, and I did get mad and make chocolate chip cookies and eat a lot of them yesterday, but REALLY? is that fair?
I think it's terrible. And I need to do homework and go work out. But I'm hungry and mad.
So we'll see what I do.
(And yes, I've still been diligently trying to get the veggies in. Really.)
p.s. One nurse I just met (yes, I complain about this to a lot of people) said, "You know what's happening, right? Your body is just holding onto it." Really body? Do you think we're in a famine? We're not. We're doing just fine. You're well-fed! Stop overreacting! You're not going to die! Let it go already!

Vegetables

I don't know what got into me, but the other day I decided I needed to eat more vegetables. Maybe it was not going to the gym very much. Maybe it was trying to calculate if there was ever one day a week where I didn't eat a little too much saturated fat combined with knowing our family heart history. Maybe it was hanging out with single girls who didn't seek out cookies at every opportunity. Or maybe it was something I read from someone in Glamour. Probably all of those.
But I did. I started eating vegetables. A lot.
My goal is 5 servings a day. It's been two weeks, and I've done it almost everyday. There have been a few days of 3 or 4, but that still counts as a massive improvement over my previous routine.
There are three main benefits to this:
1- Things don't go bad. I have always bought a lot of vegetables. I just don't always EAT them. I never throw away my salad anymore. This happened way too much. The carrots and celery from big Sunday dinners don't go bad, and I actually eat my tomatoes while they're still good. AND I eat enough cauliflower and peppers to finish off my hummus for the first time in a year.
2- I've tried lots of new recipes and new foods. Like eggplant in miso sauce (from Brad's garden), pork chops with sauteed kale, and salmon with edamame sauce. And I also put kale in my smoothies, which tastes just fine actually and makes me feel like a rock star. AND I ate a turnip for the first time (with sweet potatoes and turkey sausage for breakfast), which was cool.
3- My health, of course. I feel pretty good eating all this good stuff instead of dessert. It makes me actually look for vegetables everywhere in order to get them all in. One day I was starving at 5pm and hadn't had a single one (this has also happened on more than one occasion.) So I went to Whole Foods and got 3 "salads" from their deli: brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and kale. And it was delicious! And I've lost a couple pounds, which is, of course, very nice.
Speaking of which, I really need to go to the grocery store!! I'm out of everything!

Chase Field

A few weeks ago I got invited spur of the moment to go to a baseball game. Now, I really like baseball live, but the Diamondbacks aren't having a great season, and, well, I've never really been asked to go. So me and the roommates and a few other people went. Absolutely nothing happened for four innings and then with two people on base, 2 strikes, and 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, the D-backs scored two runs to tie the game. I went crazy; it was so great. And then we won in the bottom of the 10th (against the Colorado Rockies.)
It felt so good to be there. Afterwards, there was a fireworks show (the stadium is pretty sweet; it's air conditioned and the roof opens up) and I ate Cracker Jacks while Brad Paisley played on the PA system.
What a great Friday night.

Do colors make you feel friendlier?

My roommate Vanie wears a lot of black. I mean a LOT of black. And she knows it. And jokes about it.
This is her closet:

The picture might seem a little dark, but that's just all the black.
Now, Vanie is not a depressed or "goth" individual. She actually is pretty happy, and laughs more easily than pretty much anyone I know. But, being a convert, she likes to feel like she "fits in" to this whole mormon culture thing, and wearing all black doesn't always seem to help. So on Sunday, she pulled out her only pink skirt and wore it for the first time. This is her with our other roommate Laura. From Provo. Who has no trouble fitting in to the whole mormon culture thing. (Vanie is not in stripes.)

Vanie was so impressed with herself and so excited to wear her white shoes and white purse for the first time.
But the best part was the quote that came from down the hall.
"Christin, I feel friendlier. Do colors make you feel friendlier?"
I almost died.

New House Pictures

Bridget's been on me forever to do this, but between having Brad's stuff in the "bonus room," school, and, really, a ton of other things. It didn't happen. Until now. Today my house is pretty much as clean as it's going to get, so here you go!!
The front:

(no, those are not my windchimes)

The living room (view from the door)



The kitchen: The best part of the house, I would say.


The "Bonus Room" aka the room with no air conditioning. Try that in 115 degree weather. Want to guess what our power bill was this month? (The "office" is on the left"; the "dining room" is to the right")



The laundry room/storage room. It's a little cramped, but at least I found a place for all my ancient kissing pictures! (p.s. Brad and I installed that shelf last night. We got it from IKEA. I love it, and it makes a big difference.


The hallway


One tiny bathroom


My bedroom!!! It's on the right at the very end of the hall. The little nightstand with the fan on it was also a last night IKEA purchase. It is basically the reason we now have these pictures. Because my hair dryer and the fan that keeps me alive while I get ready are no longer on the floor posing a tripping hazard for everyone who walks by. I also finally found my extension cords so all my lamps can work from the area of the room that I want them to. It finally feels finished!


The view from my bed:


The bathroom. I know I complain about this more than I should. Really. I do. But I finally measured it. Because I feel claustrophobic in it every single morning. It is 49.5 inches wide and 100 inches deep. It has two tiny drawers. And it is hot. But at least I have company.

This is Squeakers, the gecko that lives on my bathroom window at night. He likes the little moths that like the little light.
And this is my bathroom. I do love the tile.


I almost forgot our backyard!! Someday it will have "decorative rocks" and a storage shed. I'm not sure what my landlord's definition of someday is. Note the solar powered lamp courtesy of IKEA as well. It was on clearance for $10, and come on, everybody needs a solar powered lamp. Right? right?


It's more like a solar-powered night light, but I'm thinking it might be good for the ward camping trip!

Ocean Warriors

So of all the things we did on vacation, I was most excited to go ocean kayaking.
I think it's safe to say it was the thing my mom was least excited about.
More than once she said, "Now, if we run out of time and can't go kayaking, that's ok."
No mom, that is not ok. That is the ADVENTURE part of the trip. And there always has to be an adventure part.
Friday morning was cold and overcast. We were a little nervous about freezing to death on our kayaks. We called ahead, wondering what to wear. The nice lady on the phone said she would give us wetsuits this morning because it was so cold. Much better than the swimsuits and sweatshirts we considered wearing.
A shuttle picked us up right across from our hotel and drove us down. The shop was total chaos, but luckily, there were a lot of different types of tours, so only 14 of those 100 people were in our group. My mom and I got in our wetsuits, and we headed down to the beach. (Just a side note, my mom and I weigh within 2 pounds of each other. She just lost some weight to get to this point, or she would never have let me take these pictures. It is fun to have someone else's body be so exactly the same as mine. Fascinating, actually.)

We watched 2 of the 3 kayaks ahead of us flip right over in the surf getting in the ocean. And then it was our turn. And we actually did great. It was so fun going over the big wave. And it was crazy feeling like we were in the middle of the ocean. I had never been so far out and the big swells under us were just crazy.
And then a little tiny swell flipped us over. For no apparent reason. Our tour guide held our kayak while we jumped back in. The rest of the tour was really calm and fun. We went in a little cave, saw some cool orange fish, and paddled next to sea lions. Our tour guides were really fun, and they made the whole thing.
We were warned that going back in might be the toughest part, but we did great for the first two waves. And then a huge wave knocked us out of the boat and threw our paddles from us. And then we got hammered by a few more waves. And we both agreed that was the funnest part. We couldn't stop laughing even as we were coughing up salt water. We looked like drowned rats, but we still felt like rockstars. I mean, if you can kayak in the ocean, what CAN'T you do?

La Jolla calls....

As nice as the condo and Imperial Beach was, I kept having flashbacks of Spring Break 2009 and La Jolla was calling. The beach there is beautiful and the place just screams vacation. And, well, this girl needed a vacation. We cleaned up the condo (really, my mom did most of that. I really can't take that credit. That's one of the many pluses of taking a mom on vacation), locked it up, and drove 20 minutes to La Jolla. First stop...the temple.
The San Diego temple is simply one of the most gorgeous ever. That's just the way it is. It is getting cleaned right now, so some of the windows are taped up, but my mom and I did a session there, and it was just beautiful. We also did family names for two sisters, which made it even better.


Next, Burger Lounge. We went there last year also, and, basically, they are the best hamburgers in the world. And they didn't disappoint.

And then. We went to our hotel. Now, finding a hotel in San Diego requires a lot of searching. There are gaslamp district hotels, which are cool, but mostly if you want to go clubbing. There are beautiful resort hotels, but they are miles away from La Jolla and everything else. So finding the perfect hotel in La Jolla can be rough. We stayed at La Valencia. It was built in 1926, it's in the middle of La Jolla, it's kinda fancy, and it looks out directly over the ocean. We decided that if two nights were free for vacation, one $300 night was okay. Especially if the hotel upgraded us to the $500 room, which they did. The view was incredible. The bed was incredible. And the whirlpool tub was incredible. Whoo-hoo!!

The Mormon Battalion, The Island, and, of course, cupcakes.

The rest of Thursday was spent doing random things, trusting the GPS and yelp to get us everywhere we needed to go, and hoping we didn't die while I learned to merge California-style. (Truth be told, it's kind of an adrenalin-rush, but I really don't mind driving there at all. )
We first went to the Mormon Battalion visitors center in Old Town. In 1847, the US Army asked for 500 volunteers to go west for the army for the war with Mexico. Brigham Young prophesied that if they were faithful, they would never have to fight, but that it would be a great way financially to get their families out west. It turned out just like that. It was a rough rough march, but they learned irrigation techniques, brick-laying techniques, and provided a great trail out west. The visitors' center has just been re-done and is really cute. The little movies were so fun, and the little sister missionaries were cute, too.


Next stop was Coronado Island. I'm sure there are things we missed here. It was quaint, but mostly we just drove across the bridge (very cool) and went and ate. Brigantine got great yelp reviews, but it was really just another "ok" restaurant on this trip. It was during this meal that I wondered if I've had too much great food in my life because I wasn't so awesomely impressed. Our service was great. Our Spinach Brig salads were perfection, and I even had two oysters, just for the novelty. They were great, too. My mom had blackened sea bass and I had mahi mahi, both of which were just ok.

So then. We got cupcakes.
The GPS led us through the San Diego jungle until we dropped in downtown to BabyCakes. Really, I was full, but you just can't ignore a store called BabyCakes. I ordered the pistachio and the signature babycake. I think I got a strawberry, which was not good. But the signature one, which was chocolate with cheesecake on the bottom with cream cheese frosting was stinkin' AMAZING. I ate half that night and the other half for breakfast. :-)

Shades of Blue

NO I'M NOT ENGAGED. (And no John and I aren't dating, either. I just realized what putting a tiffany's box might do to the hearts of my dear readers.) The real story is....I haven't written too much about my clinicals (which is really kind of sad). I have been working with a great NP who does only gynecology and she is absolutely fabulous. Really, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. She has taught me so much, and the preceptors who help us out at ASU do not get paid. Last week was our last day together, and to thank her, I put together the coolest gift basket I have maybe ever (and I really really can't believe I didn't take a picture). It included a massage at a great spa, some earrings, some cute little juice glasses with her initials on them, some other little random things, and a gift certificate to Tiffany's. All her jewelry is from there, and even though the gift certificate really could only buy half of anything, it was so fun to buy a little blue box from there. It felt so so fun.
When I gave it to her, she thanked me, and then handed me the keys to her condo in San Diego. I was in shock. That was not what I had expected. But...it was appreciated. There are so many cool places to stay in San Diego, and I knew so little about the town, that I hadn't even booked our hotels yet. So this was awesome.
We rented us a cute little red Nissan Sentra, I got a smoothie (carbs reserved for vacation), and we headed out.

We didn't get in until about 9pm, but we slept like rocks. The condo was very beachy and very blue (she loves dolphins and all that stuff). The master bathroom felt so so gloriously spacious, and the bed was wonderful. We slept with the windows open every night while the ocean breeze (about 40 degrees cooler than AZ) made everything perfect.




The condo was on Imperial Beach, which is about 3 seconds from Mexico, which is crazy. The beach was nice, and we had a great lunch of halibut tacos on the pier. I managed to get a little sunburn in about an hour and a half....proof that I need to get outside more often!

Mom Comes to Town.....VACATION!!!

Tuesday night (the 10th), my mom came into town. A few months ago, we decided to take a vacation together during this school break. I was feeling like I never take vacations since school is in, and she decided she would love to come hang out, so it was on. San Diego here we come!!

My mom loves sushi, so that first night before we left we went to Sushi Roku, after getting their groupon, at the W hotel. We brought John with us, since we were going to abandon him here for the next few days. Sushi Roku was fun. The ambience was great, the eggplant miso was delicious, and the yellowtail appetizer was fabulous, but the sushi itself was actually pretty lame.

If I didn't even bother taking a picture, you know it wasn't all that. We did, however, take pictures of ourselves.

My mom and I also went to Scottsdale Fashion Square in search of some great shoes. Sometimes it takes someone visiting from out of town to realize what you have in your own backyard. Like, "the best Banana Republic store in the world."

WHAT???

Guess what!!?! I'm blogging! Which can only mean one thing...the semester is over!! One more to go until I am officially a nurse practitioner. Whoo-hoo!

On to more important things:

Like my car battery. Because, midnight though it might be, I promised Jessica I would blog tonight. Promised.

So. On Wednesday, my car wouldn't start to take me to work. Nothing. Nada. Nothing. Not a thing. My car gave absolutely no response to the necessity of taking me to work. The roommates and I tried to jump it. It started to click, but that was it. No Altima driving that day.

Vanie (roommate) took me to work, and I got a ride home the next, confused about why on earth my battery would be dead.

When I woke up on Thursday, Vanie and I tried again, letting her truck run for about 5 solid minutes before attempting to jump my car. Again. No dice. The battery was gone.

Now, I am not one to save receipts. I have been known to hand them back to cashiers to throw away simply so they won't accumulate in my car. But for some reason I held on to this one. Deep in my glove box was a receipt from May 2005, faded and barely legible, from AutoZone. For this car battery. With a SEVEN year warranty. Oh I was so happy.

So I threw the battery in Vanie's truck and away we drove to AutoZone. When I brought my battery in and set it on the counter and announced that my battery only lasted 5 years, the guy at the counter said, "Um, WHAT?"

This echoed Vanie's response when I had told her that I thought my battery was 5 years old. "um, WHAT? Batteries don't last that long. They last 1 year out here. Maybe MAYBE 3. They do not last 5 years."

Well, MY cool little DuraLast lasted 5 years. All this being impressed kind of took away the anger I had about it dying in the first place.

The little worker guy was shocked. "What kind of car do you drive?"

"A '99 Altima."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, dude, an altima. It's amazing."

I got $15 for my used battery (apparently it's only a full warranty for the first 2 years). And, also, since I had my receipt I got the 2005 price for the battery which was $49.99 instead of $79.99.

Which means I paid $35.00 for my brand new battery. Of which I will never buy a different brand.

Nor will I ever throw away my receipt.

Later on, Vanie watched in awe as I installed my new battery with my little pink pliers.

Ahhh....the things that make me happy.

New House

Let me be clear:

I did not pick out my new house.

It is gray. GRAY on the outside. There is no grass in sight. It has rocks for a front yard and dead dirt in the back.

There are pretty small closets.

There are tinier bathrooms. Two of them.

There is no garage and no carport.

And there is weird air circulation and weird built-on rooms.

However.

There is a great kitchen.

Cool tile.

Decent carpet.

Decent-size bedrooms.

And it's coming together. I bought some shelves. The last roommate (Gina) just got here from Utah this morning. And instantly went on a jamba juice hunt. (Definitely from up north. I did the same thing when I got here.) I initiated Vanie into late nights talking until 5am (unfortunately, she didn't sleep in the next day. I felt so bad! No more late nights for her). Between work and school and clinicals, it has taken me over a week to have the house look close to put-together. I almost killed Cox communications this week (really? you left the house instead of calling me like I told you to? I have to wait 3 more days now?). It took about 6 days to find the garbage can (in the alley; there are big garbage cans for all the neighbors. Odd, but I like it.)

Anyways, pictures coming soon. Promise. Meanwhile, here's one of Vanie being handy.

Did I mention I bought an electric screwdriver? I love it. It's my first power tool. I bought it right after I swore I was never ever buying any more stuff.

Good-bye, House

So last week I finally moved. It was crazy, as it always is. It's only when I move that I realize just how much stuff I have. I don't have clutter. I wouldn't say my house feels crowded when things are put away, but when you start to pull everything off the shelves you start to realize just how much is there. See, being 30 and single is kind of a weird situation when it comes to stuff. It's like if I had a husband to go with all this stuff it would make more sense. Or actually, even if I just had a house and a garage. That would help. As it is, having all this stuff just seems a little crazy now. But I like to go on adventures, and I've kind of been the mom of whatever house I've lived in for quite a few years. So that means when someone says, "Christin, do you have....
a pasta machine? yes
a raft? yes
hydrogen peroxide, band-aids, a thermometer? yes

a desk? yes
some pictures? yes
a snow cone maker? yes
a grill? yes
a tent? yes
an exercise step? yes
The answer, essentially, is always yes.
Which is nice for living and terrible for moving. Especially when it's just me and John, who, thankfully, was sweet enough to take off two days of work just to help me move. Over two days, probably 24 full hours were spent moving. We rented my Penske and started loading up. Over and over again. Now, the other day, I had asked my co-workers exactly what caused their arguments with their significant others, thinking how lucky I was that John and I pretty much never argue. And then I found out what makes us argue:
112 degree weather
11 hours of moving
Me buying stupid couches at an estate sale that don't fit in Brad's storage unit.
John telling me what to do too much.
A little house.
A 200 pound dresser that the drawers don't come out.
It wasn't like we were truly mad at each other, but we were definitely ready for the day to be over. It was long and crappy and exhausting.
And then while I went to clinicals the next day for 9 hours, John did the rest of it. I will never ever be able to pay him back for all of this.
Saturday I cleaned the old house. I thought of all the fun memories of that house.
Our first (terrible) reaction to it.
My first living-by-myself experience.
Becoming a nurse.
Watching The Office in Brad's room.
All the Dinner Parties.
Ariana's "walk of shame"
Summer with Bridget
Cupcakes
Blue Bell
Meeting John
The Guest Book
Yes, the house was a little dark. And more than a little brown. But there's a lot of good memories in those walls. And I'll miss it. Good-bye little house.