Spring Break

So this spring break wasn't exactly spring break 2009. I mean, there was no week off work with a pimp beach house in San Diego. There was no skydiving. Instead, it was actually a lot of work. I still had 3 days of clinicals and 3 days of work. Basically a 60 hour work week with a little bit of a paper on Pelvic Inflammatory Disease mixed in.
But spring break has a way of happening even when you don't plan for it. I got almost no homework done that I was meaning to (and subsequently had to take a day off work this week and spend about 24 hours in front on my computer over two days getting crap done). I DID, however, cook every day last week. I made Eggplant Lasagna TWICE and spinach and barley salad from a Women's Health magazine and made 3 caprese salads. And they were delicious. I went to the temple with Brad and my home teachers. I went to the grocery store about 5 times. I watched Meet the Robinson's and went on a late night pizza/Sonic run. I had late-night talks with new friends and old friends and even had two awesome workouts.
In short, I started to feel like me again.
And that was exactly the kind of break I needed.

School

Today I bought some books. Books that look like they're for school, but really they're for me. It's my first such purchase, and it's crazy. It's like buying textbooks because you're actually interested in what they might teach you. Because you're about 10 months from being a nurse practitioner and the homework is piling up and you're wondering what you'll turn to when you're alone in the office.
Just yesterday I switched from 72 hours/pay period to 60 hours/pay period. Turns out I still get to keep my full-time benefits (and possibly my sanity) with this arrangement. I'm doing a ton of clinicals and seeing tons of cervixes and it's still very very cool. I really am looking forward to all of this.
My preceptors have been great. They all have such good hearts and great perspectives on life. One just says, "I just love women. They do so much....." And she's right. Everybody has a story, and it's going to be great to be the person that helps them live it a little better.
And by the way, if, by next week, you have a question on a drug in pregnancy, just ask!! I'll have the book!

Perri Marie Christensen

Candice brought another awesome child into the world yesterday. Really, I don't think I could ever be more proud of her and her healthy babies (and her cool husband, too). I just think they make the healthiest, coolest kids ever, and I'm so excited to meet this one.
Perri was born just a little after 5pm yesterday. She was 8lb 1oz, and 20.5 inches long (just like her brother and sister). She's so beautiful!

I Went!

Sorry to keep everyone in suspense, but I had to play a little catch up in school after this weekend. So my parents flew in on Friday night; Brad had gotten five of our friends to meet them at the airport with us with signs, balloons, and party horns. It had only been like a month and a half since we had seen them, but he thought it would be funny and it was. We all stayed up talking for quite a while and then went to sleep. Byron flew in about 1. I ran to the gym about 11 to work off my extra anxiety and boost my endorphins for the day!!
It was so good to see Byron; his earlier flight had been cancelled so there was a little worry about him getting here at all. But it all worked out and we had such a good time. My family hadn't seen him since 2002 so there was a lot of catching up to do.
My mom and I went to the temple at 3:30. I was so nervous to actually walk through the front door of the temple! Baptisms go through the back! Inside was beautiful, and they had the pink locker room all waiting for me with a cute little sign with my name held up by little wooden heart magnets. It was so girly and so adorable.
The ceremony was good. There were so many thoughts going through my head. Just trying to wrap my head around everything was the biggest deal. Nothing was a huge shock; it mostly felt like things I was expecting. There were parts I thought were beautiful, a little weird, perfect, and a little silly at the time. My favorite part was really just getting to hug everyone at the end. Having people that I loved around me was incredible, and I felt so blessed.
I did go back on Wednesday. I knew I needed to feel the spirit of the whole thing instead of just learning what goes on. It was stake temple night, and I sat next to the bishop's wife, who is adorable. It was such a beautiful experience and did feel so spiritual. I was nice to be able to just feel the peace and spirit that is there.
As a side note, my "G"'s are great; I actually really like them; I'm just glad I waited until Spandex ones existed. And I'm glad I had so much advice on sizes and stuff. I do feel like I wear more clothes than anyone in the world when I start layering things, but it's really just fine. :-)
And...I got my suitcase which I got to use on Wednesday, and, as one person said, it's "pretty snazzy." I'm excited to be able to go to this temple more often and to see Boise's and some others soon.

It does feel a little like being re-baptized, and life seems a little easier to handle. I feel more motivated to do good things, and a little less in a rut. And maybe it's how organized one has to be to take good care of her new clothes, but I do feel a little more organized and grown-up, too.
Thanks to everyone for all your support, and especially to Jessica, who was the most excited not-Mormon ever! Thank you! Love you all!

Goin' to the Temple....

Tomorrow I am going through the Mesa Arizona Temple for the first time. It's kind of a big deal. Which means that little commitment-phobe me has been a little anxious at the life changes this may entail. However, I'm starting to realize that all the life changes it may entail will only serve to make me a better person with a better perspective and a better understanding of the immensity that is eternity.
I have a my cute little white dress and all my temple stuff. I have a little white faux ostrich suitcase coming in the mail. I have said my good-byes to 40% of Victoria's Secret.
My parents are flying in from Idaho in just a few hours.
BYRON is flying in from Texas tomorrow.
John & Brad will be there, too.
I cannot believe how lucky I am to have such cool people going through with me.
For a long time I held out on this because it felt like giving up on going through with my husband, but sometimes growing up is different than you first thought.
That doesn't mean it's not magical.

But Officer....

I could be doing plenty of things with my day today. For example,
My "learning modules" for my third clinical site of the semester
My pharmacy quiz
My Research quiz
Reading my new, unwrapped Glamour
Working out for about 2 hours to jumpstart getting this three pounds I've accumulated this month off of my body
My Discussion Board for my Women's Problems class
Buying a new business casual shirt for my clinicals
Going to Whole Foods to buy some yogurt that ISN'T expired
But, instead, (or maybe also) I will be sitting in traffic school from 8 to 5 because
I apparently cannot tell the difference between a yellow light.....
and an orange one.

Delicious Rain

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain. - Langston Hughes

Apparently Arizona is in a state of disaster. Something about 5-7 inches of rain and wind in the desert over two days doesn't go over very well. Our governor has declared a state of emergency. There is a tornado warning 10 miles away. Right by my work is totally flooded. And flying into Phoenix is apparently a nightmare right now. But I am safe and warm in my home. Little bits of raindrops are falling on my roof. I slipped on my rain boots to take out the garbage. I had the most positively delicious 3-hour nap this evening, made so much better by overcast skies and little raindrop songs.
I know it won't last, and maybe that's why I love it so much.
But for now, at least, I love the rain.

Sunrise

So two years ago, Brad and I went snowboarding. It was my first time. I fell a lot, but still had a ton of fun.

On Tuesday, John and I went snowboarding. It might as well have been my first time.

Luckily, it was his, too.

People often ask me why I never snowboarded in Idaho.

1- I didn't know who would teach me

2- My friends and I didn't have equipment

3- I was stinkin' busy

4- It seemed really expensive

5- Good 'boarders don't have that much fun with crappy 'boarders and I didn't really have anyone to go with

Why Arizona is good for learning:

1- It's not that busy

2- Very few people are that good, so it's not too intimidating

3- It's cheap

4- It's warm

So for $52, John and I set off with our borrowed equipment (thanks, Ariana!), and had an hour and a half lesson (with just the two of us....because it wasn't busy)....and boarded all day. In our cool clothes, we felt like studs.
We fell about the same amount of times and waited for each other, and all in all, had an awesome day. We felt like we did really good on the bunny hill, but we were a little unprepared for exiting the ski lift on the bigger run. After completely biffing it, we crawled out of the way just in time to watch everyone else biff it, too. Except, of course, the six-year-old skier and his mom. But they don't count. Eventually we actually did pretty good on the big run, too. John didn't even fall the second time off the lift. I did. I also kind of mastered my "heel edge", though. But not my "toe edge." That's just a good way to fall for now. We also ran into some people from our ward, which, considering we drove 4 hours to get there, was a crazy coincidence.

Our bodies still hurt. I still have bruises on my butt (who knew that was possible?) and a huge one on my knee. Bruised, but not broken. And totally cool. That's us :-)

Jury Duty

I had jury duty on Monday. I have somehow escaped this phenomenon until this year, when I received my first jury summons. Apparently it's a high traffic month, because John got his two weeks before, so he gave me some tips:

• Bring snacks
• Bring something to do
• Bring a jacket- it's freezing!
• Park in the special juror parking garage

So I used my one big purse (thank you Byron & Tara) and loaded up a day's worth of stuff. Even though John got out of there at noon. I was there from 8am until 4:50! Longest day EVER. However, I did meet a nice girl named Claudia and we ate lunch together at Paradise bakery. And I got to hear a lot of very interesting reasons why people could or could not participate in a meth case. Mostly because some family member had been addicted and was serving time or was being charged with murder (seriously!). The trial was only supposed to last two days, but I really wanted to go snowboarding on Tuesday, so I was hoping to not get picked, and I didn't! Whoo-hoo!

It was enough to get to sit in the courtroom with the defendent, the officer, the lawyers, and the judge. That part was kind of cool.

But snowboarding was cooler. And I'll blog about that tomorrow!

Rockstar Handywoman

Our garbage disposal broke the other day. Let me clarify: I got two frosting decorating tips jammed in the garbage disposal and could only get one out. Nothing on earth could dislodge the other one. There was only one thing to do: take it all apart. Now, there are times in my life where I do things that I think, "Only a single girl gets this opportunity." And it's true, but, really, I do like the challenge. So after a few fruitless attempts at trying to figure out how to take the disposal apart, I went to this e-how video , which is awesome (but doesn't work in Safari if you're trying....).
Anyways, employing the use of a fishbowl, a step stool, 5 washcloths, a bucket, and my beloved pink tool set, I fixed the garbage disposal. And it still took two screwdrivers and a pair of pliers to wrestle that frosting tip out of the blades.
Oh, and here's a picture of the cake I made the day before for my co-worker that is to blame for the whole mess. (It was supposed to look a little like a wedding cake because she's a little pissed her brother chose to get married the week of her birthday. This is the same day I tried on wedding dresses. There was a lot of wedding stuff that day.) The thing about my homemade stuff is that it looks very professional in my head and "charmingly homemade" in the execution. Oh well!!

Pseudo-Wedding Day

Last Wednesday I received the most random phone call ever. My friend Polly (who I don't talk to nearly enough) was calling to see if I was available for an undercover expedition. You see, she and another girl in my ward work at a Bridesmaid shop and wanted to check out their new competition. They were going to act like bridesmaids, but they need a bride. Of course, I agreed. An hour later, I was standing in a beautiful Scottsdale bridal salon feeling like I was on an episode of "Say Yes to the Dress."
After quickly planning my June 25th wedding in La Jolla with colors of sage and charcoal with a wedding dress budget of $4000-$6000, this is the dress I found. Now, I just need to add sleeves and a husband.
Oh, it was so fabulous!!

Now you see it, Now you don't....

In a desperate attempt to use up all my insurance funds before our company changed our benefits on January 1st, I finally went to the dermatologist for the "annual skin check" all of us pale folks are supposed to be doing every year. They took off two moles (both of which I just found out yesterday are fine), but I now have a scar on my back. Luckily, the one on my face didn't scar at all. For someone who is obsessed with monitoring her own cuts and bruises, having 8 stitches on my back that I couldn't watch heal was torture. I kept having friends tell me how it was coming along every few days. This picture is from right after Brad took the stitches out. It actually looks better than that now.

By the way, Lidocaine shots ARE SO PAINFUL!! Who knew?!?!

Toast-R-Oven Phenomenon

Who knew the potentials of a toast-r-oven?

Do you know what you can do with this?

My dad, in his unique little Christmas way, decided we needed one of these. I didn't think we did, but I was excited to try it anyway.

So far, we have broiled salmon, cooked egg sandwiches, baked brownies, baked fish with fennel, and made pizza.

It is the best toaster oven on earth, I have decided.

My kids will all get them for college.

And I will not ever turn on the oven this summer.

Wonderment. Pure wonderment.

Sudoku

I am all kinds of terrible at Sudoku. It seriously gives me a headache equal to that of calculus homework. No one has ever wondered why I didn't become an engineer. Figuring out the unsolvable is not a fun activity for me.

However, I think if I continue to avoid such puzzles and rely instead on friends, common sense, and algebra to solve life's problems, I am destined for Alzheimer's. And so I press on.

We had a little down time at work the other day, so my co-workers helped me do a puzzle. With a little assistance, I completed my first one in 82 min 43 sec. But it's so funny to see who loves these and who hates these and how everybody loves to tell you how they do it. And everybody does it differently. And, really, I just enjoyed the insight into their brains on how they think.

So although I really enjoy the personal satisfaction of doing it all by myself, I'm all for a little group Sudoku every once in a while.

My second puzzle: 60 min 23 sec

Kim's (for comparison): 12 min.

Yep. That's right. I'm learning.

Half-Elf

Last year around April, I posted about how I lived like ELF, on the four food groups of candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup. This isn't exactly true, but to say that sugar is somewhat necessary in my chemical make-up is not an understatement.

Case in point: In early 1999, I decided I had gained a lot of weight and was going to do Marilou Henner's 30 Day Total Health Makeover.

This lovely torturefest includes: No sugar, no dairy, no meat, and no alcohol. The last one wasn't so bad, but the first two almost killed me. I did, from this endeavor, try a lot of new foods for the first time (and plenty for the last time), but it also had an unintended side effect.

You see, a girl in my ward is tiny and vibrant and 19 and hasn't had sugar in like 2 years and loves it.

My mother says sugar is poison and she feels so much better without it.

I turn into a mean little girl who hates the world.

Day 21 of this Total Health Makeover happened to be Easter.

I ate an entire bag of those little Reese's Pieces eggs and then proceeded to puke my guts out from all the sugar.

And I did not makeover my life for the next 7 days.

I have since learned the pleasures of balancing my diet (most days). I still go for the fastest food possible when I am convinced I am starving. Brad has even gone to screaming, "I'll make you a sandwich! I'll make you a sandwich!!" to keep me from living on string cheese, cashews, and whole wheat fig newtons. Or any chocolate we have lying around.

John says I keep the most random food scorecard he has ever heard of. For example, one day Lunch was 2 Rice Krispie Treats from Starbucks (which are, by the way, incredible) and then I met my fellow students for dinner, where I just ordered Deviled Eggs & Ham. Everyone kind of laughed, but to me it made perfect sense. A pure carb lunch calls for a pure protein dinner. (Oh, and I had an apple for my fruit in between. )

Lately, I've restarted my version of the Abs Diet, which, again, I love. It makes me eat real food much more often than the nearest, fastest sugar. But I have a funny habit of eating food in my dreams whenever I'm hungry, which sometimes happens after work.

Last night my dreamland self stirred chocolate chips into her Belly Busting Smoothie.

I guess I really am half-elf.

The Only Smile Wal-mart Ever Got From Me

ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but here's what I did with my New Year's.

I did NOT make any big party plans.

I DID go buy a sparkly shirt from a store named "Hottie" and felt like a cougar, but also really enjoyed it. I've never worn anything so sparkly.

I DID not go on the 3 mile midnight run. Because Brad didn't want to pay $30 to run. This strikes him as completely insane.

I did NOT go to GameWorks for the Mormon singles party. In my humble opinion, 30 year olds do not ring in New Years at a place where you play games for tickets. At least this one doesn't.

I did NOT go to dinner at a fancy resort or restaurant.

I DID, actually, totally want to do this. But Brad had already eaten, John went to the singles event, and I wanted to hang out with them so there's that. No hazelnut creme brulee for me.

.....or was there?

Turns out I have a recipe from last year that I had never made for Maple Cranberry Hazelnut Creme Brulees. And that Brad was up for.

Except it was 9 p.m. and I didn't have glass ramekins or a torch. No dice on Target. Crate & Barrel and Bed Bath & Beyond and World Market were closed.

We also tried Safeway, Fry's, & Whole Foods (which was closed, too.)

Finally we tried Wal-mart. A very helpful lady told us to try looking in housewares. Thanks, sweetheart, I figured that one. But at least she was trying hard.

Brad was led to the plumbing section by someone else. And there we found a propane torch. Whoo-hoo!!! And it's red. And pretty cute. And worked like a dream. (Well, not as perfectly brown as we hoped, but I don't think it's the torch's fault.) )By the way, doesn't this Wal-mart look remarkably clean? There weren't very many people in it. I think that helped. And the lady who checked us out GENUINELY smiled AND said Happy New Year. A completely remarkable Wal-mart experience to say the least.

And then we were off. Back to the grocery store. Because Wal-mart does not carry hazelnuts and they were out of Martinellis.

At 11:22, we were finally back home.

And 2:30 am we had creme brulee. It was stinking fantastic.

Somewhere in between there, we watched the ball drop, shot off little party favor dealies, and toasted in the new year with Martinelli's. And I ate a salad from the Abs Diet. To cancel out the inevitable creme brulee. And we watched episodes of The Office and How I Met Your Mother. I know I need to get out more, but today was not the day...

and yes I wore that sparkly shirt to every single store.

It had to see some action....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Hoodie Story

So sometimes I think that I focus too much on "things" on this blog. So I don't talk about all my things. And then I post birthday pictures and I get two comments that go, "Hey! Where did that hoodie come from?! What's the story on that adorable hoodie."
Ok, you got me. Of course there's a story.
I wanted this hoodie at Banana Republic. It's Cashmere (8%) blend and was $90.
But I had a $44 dollar credit there for returning a shirt.
And they sent me $15 for my birthday, so technically it would only be like $30.
And then I went there. And they had just marked it down to $60 that day.
So I got this awesome cashmere hoodie for $8.23! Whoo-hoo!

p.s. holy crap i need to clean my mirror!

One Last Surprise...

So in 2005, I bought Williams-Sonoma new healthy kitchen cookbooks. I really love them, and tucked within the dessert book is a recipe for Lavender Flan. Now, I had at the time never had flan OR lavender in anything, but it looked so pretty and sounded so good and I've been planning to make it for 4 years now. And every time we passed the L'Occitane store at Chandler mall (with their bunches of fresh lavender for sale), I mention it again. Even though I did finally have flan last year and didn't think it was very good at all. I just thought I could do better.
Well, Brad finally thought I deserved lavender flan.
He snuck both the cookbook and the lavender to Bullhead City in the trunk.
We have the use of two houses in Bullhead City (one house used to be my aunt's....long story), and he made it over there.
So on Christmas morning, Brad surprised me with beautiful lavender flan. The caramel was a little overdone, BUT it was tasty, and more than anything, I appreciated having the only brother in the world who would think to make his sister lavender flan for her 30th birthday.
Thanks, Brad, you're so cool.

We Had a Breakdown This Morning. It wasn't me.

All right, friends, you may have overdone it.
And I need to quit shopping. STAT.
You see, I expected a mellow little birthday at home. But my mom really wanted to make it special and exciting. But after all the amazing things that had already been done for me, she was almost out of ideas. But she read Suzette's blog, saw that I wanted the "Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess" book, and left early in the morning to go and get it for me. She was very excited because not only am I terribly hard to shop for, I also just go buy most things I think I need. I, in short, am impossible.
She drove up the driveway this morning and Brad went out to meet her. And saw the book. And then told her I already gone and bought it last week.
She put her face in her hands and started crying. She came inside, pulled the little Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake she had bought out of the box, threw one solitary candle in it, and walked away. I had no idea what was going on.

For some reason my mom was crying, and I didn't know why. It's a very sad thing to know that you made your mom cry on your birthday. She just started saying how sad she was and that she loved me so much and she was sorry my birthday at home couldn't be so exciting. And why did John have to go and buy me a stinkin' birthday cake, too!? (I'll show it to you in a minute.)
And then I opened my card. Which she was actually too upset to wait for my dad to sign so it just says "Love, Mom & ....."

But, really, I'm really only writing this because, one, it almost made me cry. And two, I love my mom so much. I want her to know that knowing that she loves me so much means more than absolutely anything. I'm so grateful to her for making me and loving me and being an awesome mom. And to tell her that even a 30-year old cannot actually handle three birthday parties in one month. So I love you. I loved my little coconut cake for breakfast. I love you for thinking a dozen red roses on my birthday somehow isn't enough. And I love you for the car mats that I pre-ordered. Even if we do have to exchange them for a different color.
You are the best.
And you, too, dad. You just didn't cry. So this post isn't about you.
p.s. A half an hour later, when everyone had calmed down, we put more candles in the cake in the shape of a 30 and sang. And it was perfect. ;-)




And this is my sweet cake from John from "Nothing Bundt Cakes" :

In My Next 30 Years...

First, I will make this song my ringtone. It actually may have made me tear up just a little this morning.
My Next 30 Years
Second, well, here's the list. I actually could probably at a little to it, but it's a start.
* Take my iron supplements, multi-vitamins, and CoQ10. A lot. Not every day. But a lot.
* Learn to bake bread, rolls, and pot roast. You know, Mom stuff.
* Learn Medical Spanish
* Eat more soup. And lots more salad. And more oatmeal.
* Eat enough almonds to get my HDL in the healthy range. (It's not). Strive for a habit of
a handful everyday.
* Develop a habit of mopping every week
* Get Married and Make Some BABIES!
* Go through the temple.
* Use my crock-pot more
* Swim more
* Bench 100lbs. again
* Learn to let my hot chocolate cool down before I burn my tongue with it.
* Do Doctors Without Borders
* Keep learning guitar.
* Read some more books.
* Become a doctor.
* See A&M and UT play
* Visit another country. Border towns don't count anymore.
* Learn to eat fast food without spilling. (Not that I actually eat fast food, of course.)
* Make my bed more than 3 times a year
That's a start. :-)