Whirl Away

What a crazy week it has been.  So much studying and work in the lab and presentation giving.  Man, I cannot wait until this time next week.  I will be officially done with both midterms and my last presentation.  Here’s to that!

Yesterday night was Catechumenate and after a delicious dinner of shrimp and corn chowder and a plate full of veggies on the side with some pita bread we all shared our faith stories and had some great conversation about how we feel we are doing as Christians and such.  I was actually really excited to find that I shared a lot of similarities with the other lovely ladies at my table.  We chomped on fruit plates while we talked too and I could not get enough pineapple for the life of me!

Like I said, I had a really nice time and I feel like I am building all sorts of connections with the women there (and with the men, I just didn’t sit with them this time around…).  The church is feeling more like home the more people I get to know and open up to.  It’s incredible how much you learn about yourself through interaction with other people.

This morning was a clinic morning so I was up and out of the apartment by 7:30 with a peanut butter and jelly smoothie in hand.  I mixed some frozen fresh strawberries, frozen banana, superfruit protein powder, chia seeds, almond milk, PB2 powder, and stevia for a great morning starter.  I added in the last of my spinach too at the last second.

Clinic went well this time around.  The name of the game today was Ehlers-Danlos type 1 (EDS1).  This condition is typically characterized by velvety soft and very stretchy skin and hyperextensibility of the joints resulting traditionally in a history of multiple dislocations. You can also have things called subcutaneous spheroids, basically little hard “grains of rice” or “beads” under the skin that are freely moveable.  They feel weird and seriously, how can you not like the name SPHEROID?? 

After I finished with my patient I was really proud of myself that I didn’t snack on the assortment of foods that Kayla had brought in for clinic.  I avoided the cheese, crackers (even my favorite FlipSides!), fruit, iced cookies, donuts, and  hummus and went back to the student room to eat my own lunch instead of munching mindlessly.  For lunch I ended up having the last bit of my cold sesame noodles while I worked on my clinic report.

After post-clinic I was hungry so I picked the least “awful” of the food/snacks and grabbed a big cup of grapes, both red and green.  I popped these while I studied multiple endocrine neoplasias before heading home on the shuttle.

Speaking of the shuttle, by the way, not today but yesterday our regular driver showed up in a white stretch limo.  That’s right, I got driven home in this baby.

It felt kind of silly.  I felt sadly underdressed but in the end it really didn’t matter at all.  I got the whole back seat to myself and I stretched out on the way home.  Lots of room.  =D

Once I got home today, I headed to the fitness room for an elliptical and bike session followed by some weights:

• Pushup V-raises: 3 x 10 reps x 10 lb dumbbells
• Lunges with Olympic press: 3 x 10 reps x 10 lb dumbbells
• “Stir the pot”: 3 x 10 reps each side x own body weight
• Chest press: 3 x 10 reps x 10 lb dumbbells
• Squats with hammer curls and tricep kickbacks: 3 x 10 reps x 10 lb dumbbells

All sweaty and such I headed back to make a semi-early dinner.  It involved Vera, my Vitamix, whirling up some delicious broccoli cheese soup.

I love that I can throw in all whole ingredients, let it blend away for 5-6 minutes, and it comes out silky smooth and hot.  Awesomeness.

I ended up having my soup paired with a refried bean, goat cheese hummus, and roasted red pepper grilled sandwich.  The soup was good but it need salt and pepper so I added some and then the panini needed a dose of something so I smothered it in mustard.  Greatness.

I spent the rest of the evening studying for a while, fully believing I was going to die because the CRAZY wind was going to shatter the windows.  I honestly hunkered down in the bathroom to get away from the windows.  It was awful.  Around 9:30 I had dessert and watched some One Tree Hill on the new Wii through Netflix.  I dug into this delightfulness and vegged away.  Chocolate frozen yogurt topped with a crumbled homemade chocolate chip cookie, peanut butter sauce, and chocolate syrup.

Not a bad way to take a break from studying, huh?  I thought so, obviously.  And with that, I should probably get through X number more pages before I sleep tonight.  I’m so thankful I get to sleep in tomorrow.  Yay!!  Well first, here’s my promised French for the week.

Friday French –>

NEW ONEPhrase: Tu peux le faire.
Translation: You can do it.
Story: This statement is funnily from when Jack and I played Zelda: Skyward Sword for the first time.  I forget the exact context in which it was used but I figure the contexts in which it can be used are endless.  Who doesn’t love to hear those encouraging words?

Questions: Plans for the weekend?
How do you take breaks from studying?