Pulled Pork Perfection

Today was the beginning of barbeque season!

My catechumenate group all met up at the dean’s house for a party of sorts to celebrate the end of our course together.  It was so great to see everyone again because I feel like I was going through withdrawal!  Haha.  Like I said, we all met up at the BEAUTIFUL home of our dean for a barbeque.

I seriously wanted his house. Oh. My. Gosh.  It was incredible.  It felt so much like a Spanish house with tile and multi-levels and just awesomeness everywhere.  I would have taken more pictures but I didn’t want to creep anyone out.  When I got inside I snagged a Summer Shandy to start.

Whoever thought to combine beer and lemonade was rockin’ it.  We eventually moved into the kitchen for dinner after some long conversations.  I explained what genetic counseling was about four-ish times.  Apparently I explain it really well.  One person even said “finally a person in the medical field who didn’t use any big words so much so that I actually understood!!”  It felt so great.  Anyways, dinner!  We had coleslaw, potato salad, green beans with mushrooms, and some of the best pulled pork I have ever had.  It was made dry so you could add whichever BBQ sauce you wanted.  There were legit ten different kinds on the table!  There were also some veggies and I took some cucumbers, carrots, grape tomatoes, and even a bleu cheese stuffed olive.

I went back for a bit more pork and even, lo and behold, a few more olives!  I also had some cookies.  Okay, make that a lot of the cookies selection.  They were melt in your mouth delicious peanut butter ones and some iced sugar ones too.  Oh man, good.  After dinner we had some ministry discussion and eventually I excused myself from the casual conversation after to come home and study.

The rest of the day was fun too.  I started off with some chai latte oatmeal in an old cottage cheese container which had about a fourth cup left in it.  I added flax seed on top and some honey.  It was heavenly.

Work happened in the morning.  More tubes, more relabeling, more being cold in the freezer room.  Lunch break was again, as always, a welcome time.  I had a salad with honey roasted peanuts on top.  It was kind of addicting and delish.  I’m fairly sure I inhaled it.

I went to preclinic conference shortly after I clocked out of work.  I was doing so well and then this happened on my way out of the student room.

I allowed myself a miniature Reese’s.  Mmmm, it was perfect.  Kept me going through my case presentations of the two patients I’ll see tomorrow.  I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some work on teratogens.  I tried to call the person who left a message yesterday but I ended up leaving a message of my own.  Before heading out to catch the shuttle I downed an orange.

Once I arrived home I changed and did 15 minutes on the elliptical.  Then I moved to the weight room and did two quick circuits before doing another 15 on the elliptical.

• Chest press – 40lbs
• Leg press – 120lbs
• Lat pull – 40lbs
• Calf press – 120lbs
  ____________________________________

• Bicep curl – 10lb dumbbells
• Standing weighted oblique crunches – 10lb dumbbells
• Dumbbell swing squats – 10lb dumbbells
• Tricep press – 10lb dumbbells

Satisfied with my burn, I hopped in the shower real quick and ate some string cheese to hold me over until the BBQ and give my muscles some protein to rebuild.

I then walked to my car.  Who did I bump into but Miss Mary herself looking incredibly fresh faced and boho on this spring afternoon.  We caught up and chatted for a few minutes and then parted ways.  I love casual run-ins.  I love good days.

Questions: How was your Thursday?
What are your plans for Mother’s Day this weekend?

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this weekend.  Mine was both powerful and emotional, tasty and relaxed.  It started last night with Easter Vigil at my home church.  It started at 8:30 with the first two thirds of the service being candle lit.  I got a few drops of wax on me during the whole thing, which was a bit hot and uncomfortable but really there is nothing quite like the the whole church lit by tiny little fires.

After the candlemas we all went downstairs for a reception for the newly baptized.  The Catechumenates hosted the party and brought some of the food.  I brought frosted brownies and there were two other people who brought brownies (one batch of which was gluten-free!) and others brought several kinds of cupcakes.  There were also several different kinds of crackers and cheese, my favorite of which was the double cream brie.  A lamb cake was the centerpiece, how cute and appropriate.

I had a plate full of a bit of everything and I snacked on the table decorations because they were Peeps after all and malted chocolate eggs.  I couldn’t resist!

One of the highlights of the night though: root beet floats!  I couldn’t tell you the last time I had one of these.  It was so good, so creamy and delicious.

By the time everyone cleared out it was well into the evening, we’re talking midnight.  I slept soon after getting home and woke up at 8am to head to meet up with my second year Bekah and her husband for Easter service at their church.  I walked in and it had stadium seating, no joke.

Needless to say, it’s HUGE!  I was a bit intimidated.  Also, the composition of the whole service was really different than my cathedral.  We spent the first half or more singing praise and listening to the choir (and semi-full orchestra) perform as well as some dancing performances by the young girls of the congregation.  Then, the second half was the message.  They went all over the bible and pulled passages and I was honestly kind of lost through the whole thing.  I was struggling to find a common vein.  Anyways, it was long enough that I sort of wandered in my mind.  Ooops.

Once we left service we headed to Bekah’s parents house for lunch.  I don’t have a lot of pictures because I didn’t feel comfortable whipping out my camera.  I wanted to fit in, not have to explain a whole bunch to people I had literally known thirty minutes.  Here’s what was on the menu though:

• Honey baked ham
• Tenderloin steaks (cooked to a stellar medium)
• Mashed potatoes or baked potatoes, individual preference
• Steamed asparagus with roasted grape tomatoes and feta
• Roasted green beans in olive oil, garlic salt, and basil (HOLY COW GOOD)
• Hawaiian rolls
• Two salads: one with Caesar dressing and the other with cranberries, feta, and nuts

All this was had after a round of appetizers including salted cashews, bean and cheese dip, queso, tortilla chips, and roasted sweet peppers stuffed with sharp cheddar, bacon bits, and bread crumbs.  Dessert came later in the form of ice cream rhubarb pie and cupcakes along with the Berger cookies that I brought.  I had some of every single thing and wow, it was so nice.  Everything was delicious.

We spent the afternoon watching The Masters Tournament on TV (nothing like Sunday golf), helping Bekah’s sophomore sister with her practice SAT questions, chit chatting, and we even had an Easter egg hunt.  The “grown-ups” all were competing for the same egg colors [blue, green, and white] and I ended up with eight out of sixteen.  Not too shabby.  They were filled with things like Sprees, Twizzler nibs, and some milk chocolate eggs.  I promptly ate all of the candy…  Yea, it’s Easter, no calories right?  I also had this lovely bunny…  We all got one for our participation.

The day stretched out and there was Scrabble and such and more golf.  Around 8p we all snacked on leftovers.  I had more mashed potatoes and green beans.  I ended up taking home the leftover asparagus/tomatoes/feta dish.  Bekah’s family was incredible wonderful and honestly made me feel like part of the family.  I had such a relaxing afternoon with everyone.  It was nice to spent the day with people instead of with my computer and TV like I always do.  Basically, it was a rejuvenating day. 

Before I go I wanted to share the most powerful part of last night’s Easter Vigil.  One of my friends has been going through a rough time because he found out one of his really good friends needed a kidney transplant.  Everyone wasn’t sure when she was going to find a compatible kidney so when she did a few days ago, everyone was thrilled.  However, she spiked an infection late Friday and her status was uncertain.  I was keeping her in my heart and in church we were reading from Exodus (the following script is 14:14) and I was struck by this line:

“The LORD will fight for you;

you need only to be still.”

Wow.  All I could think of was that poor girl, stuck in a sterile room, wondering if she was going to make it, if her fever would come down, if she was going to be able to keep her transplanted kidney, if she was going to live to see 19-years-old.  The Lord was is fighting for her.  Of that I’m sure, especially after I heard tonight that she has been released from the hospital.  What a great Easter present, right?

Questions: Does your family do ham for Easter?
Do you prefer a smaller or larger church?

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?

Three Things Thursday

1. I may have a peppermint problem.

Haha.  I get these at my chiropractor’s office and they are the perfect combination or hard peppermint candy and butter mints.  Seriously delicious.  Now, trust me, I didn’t eat all of these today but I’m fairly sure I have at least one per visit like today when I had an adjustment and a massage.  It was blissful…and then I had a peppermint and it was sweet too.

2. Pesto on pasta is scrumptious.

Catechumenate dinner was spaghetti with a choice of sauce: meat ragu or pesto.  I choose the pesto, obviuosly, and it was really good.  I also had half, or more, a plate of salad which was also nice.  The garlic bread almost stole the show though but that pesto really stuck with me.  I dipped my bread in it for the WIN.  Yum!

3. People matter and when you have good ones around you, everything is better.

I say this for two reasons today.  First, at Catechumenate tonight we shared our stories about encountering God and such.  It was a powerful sharing experience and it was made all the more perfectly intimate by the sharing, caring, and calming presence of the others there.  The women at my table all are so respectful and encouraging.  They are curious and open.  It was a nice time.  Then, I came home and had my second people experience of the night.  Mary and I devoured this s’more bar (with a side of ice cream)…

…and had a delightful time talking about our weeks with each other.  It was nice to take some time out of my night to spend with her.  We actually ended up spending almost two hours!  The truth is friendships take fostering and added sugar never, ever hurts.  =D

It’s a pure coincidence that all three of those points began with P: peppermints, pesto, and people.  Honestly, completely unplanned.  Haha, and as I continue to chuckle to myself, I should tell you had I have pancakes for breakfast.  They had bloobs, strawbs, and a honey drizzle on top.  Oh, wow, what a day!

Questions: What are your three points for the day?
What do you have planned for the weekend?

Quick And Dirty

It’s going to be a quick and dirty post tonight.  My bed is calling me pretty loudly and I’m all sorts of ready for bed.  So, here it goes –>

Today’s deliciousness:

Breakfast of a chocolate peanut butter green monster.  In the mix: frozen banana, almond milk, Sunwarrior chocolate protein powder, chocolate PB2, and spinach.

Lunch of whole wheat spaghetti, leftover roasted vegetables, and chickpeas in a goat cheese & tomato basil sauce.

Mini Valentine’s cupcake with do-it-yourself frosting in honor of April’s 30th birthday!  [That’s a water bottle cap for some size comparison.]

Dinner at Catechumenate of vegetarian gumbo over rice and a veggie plate full of multi-colored peppers, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, orange cauliflower, cucumber, asparagus (I could have eaten the whole platter of this stuff!) and a few tater tots with Western dressing for dipping.

Desert at Catechumenate of flaming bananas foster over vanilla ice cream.  Freakin' delicious like you wouldn’t believe.

Today’s awesomeness:

We first years got our clinic rotation schedules!!!  These basically run our lives for the next year so we were really excited to get to see what was going to happen.

Behold the beauty of my church.  Seriously, it was so hallowed and gorgeous tonight.

A super cute giant heart lit up on the side of a building by the church tonight.  So cute.

Questions: What was your awesomeness today?
Ever had a flaming dessert?

Hello Honey!

After a long start to the week, and a full eight hours of sleep last night, today was better and the evening was much more laid back.  It started out with a big bowl of overnight oat bran (yes it works the same as rolled oats) mixed with plum and banana, topped with wheat germ, homemade sunflower butter, and a drizzle of honey.

[In the mix: 1/3 cup oat bran, 1/3 cup Chobani
plain yogurt, 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp almond milk,
1/2 tbsp chia seeds, 1/2 tsp Stevia]

Seriously, the honey made this whole breakfast! It has been so long since I’ve had straight up honey and I had totally forgotten how stellar and sweet it was.  Nomnom!  When I arrived at school I worked on patient prep all morning until Cytogenetics class at 10am.  We learned about mitotic and meiotic checkpoints along with cyclin and CDK degradation.  It was a major review from Molecular Genetics class in undergrad but I was thankful for it.  It has been a while.

After class I went back to the student room for, you guessed it, more patient prep before Preclinic Conference.  I looked up information about the possibility of a familial form of cerebellar angiomas as well as the potential laboratories to do testing for the causative genes.  Sadly I think insurance may be an issue in this case which poses a new problem for me to deal with tomorrow.  Superwoman patient calming skills ACTIVATE!

Lunch was eaten at my desk while buried in a book about human malformations.  I dug into a turkey, Swiss cheese, sweet & spicy mustard sandwich along with a side of new parmesan & herbs Sun Chips I scored as a free sample being handed out in the city this past weekend.

When I presented my research at Preclinic I got grilled about specific test results when it comes to cavernous hemangiomas.  Basically they are occult to particular type of MRI because they are "slow flow" vascular lesions.  It felt great to show how much I knew to my supervisors.  After doing a bit more work in the student room before heading home I snacked on some raw broccoli and hummus before talking a brisk walk with Mary to Sweet Tooth Bakery for cupcake happy hour like last week.

This time around I nabbed a red velvet cupcake (their best seller) while Mary picked up one each of cookie dough and Xtreme chocolate flavors.  We may just make this a weekly date because one can never go wrong with $1 confections!  Shortly after returning from the bakery, I headed to Catechumenate.  Carl had cooked up another great dinner for all of us tonight.  The menu included ham and white bean soup, whole grain flour cornbread, and veggies with Western dressing.

Prayer in the nave post-dinner was interesting.  We learned how to make our way through the Book of Common Prayer picking out the proper psalms for the day, the proper readings.  I like this part but I was a bit put off by the message that prayer needs to be structured and needs to have a set-aside part of the day.  She said the more we pray the better we get at it, the more good it does us.  I’m not sure I agree.  I think some of my best prayers are the unplanned ones, the ones that come straight from the heart (do not pass go, do not collect $200), the ones that are raw and uncensored.  Those are the ones that best express my needs, my fears, my wants, my gratitude.  Anyways, I suppose everyone is entitled to their individual opinions on prayer, just as everyone is entitled to their own favorite form of prayer.  After all, prayer is pretty exclusively between you and God, right?

During the lesson for the night, on the nature of the Gospels, we had dessert.  I tried small slices of both pies available: key lime and berry yogurt.  I also had two blobs of perfectly whipped cream.

A delicious end to the day wouldn’t you say?  I liked both though honestly, the key lime couldn’t hold a candle to the those key lime pies from Key West, FL.  My family loves to spend Christmas vacation there so believe me, I know my key lime pie!  Oh well, one day I’ll get back down there for some of that goodness again, I’m sure.

When I got back home after Catechumenate I had my nutritionist appointment for the week.  We discussed nourishment of the adrenal glands in order to allow them to better handle stress.  Another thing we talked about again was doing a vegetarian week.  After some thought (we have been throwing this idea around for the last month), I decided I am starting tomorrow!  I’m going to be listening to my body to see if it feels any different when I take out meat and poultry.  I will, however, be eating dairy and eggs mostly because they are very important protein sources of me.  Cross your fingers!

Questions: Have you ever gone vegetarian or vegan?
What are your favorite vegetarian protein sources?
What’s your favorite vegetarian meal/recipe?

Swap Me Something Good

Hi everyone!  I hope your Friday was awesome.  Mine was fairly decent.  I think today started out so great because last night was really nice.  Catechumenate started off with a super delicious dinner of pot roast; baked potatoes; sautéed carrots, parsnips, and onions, gravy; and salad.

I washed my plate, sans gravy, down with a cup of tea.

After dinner we went up to pray and used the Book of Common Prayer this week.  We did an evening devotion as a group.  There is honestly something so calming about sitting in the choir pews right up next to the altar in a dark church.  It’s almost angelic the way we sit under a halo of lights.  Pretty ethereal I must say.  When we made our way back down to the parish hall, there was dessert waiting in the form of ice cream, sorbet, and cookies.  I had a bit of the vanilla ice cream, a taste of each of the sorbets (mint, pineapple, raspberry), and a chocolate chip cookie and a peanut butter cup cookie.  Perfect end to a lovely meal and the perfect kick off to our night of discussion.

We talked about the bible, what we though of it, how we thought we should read it/treat it/present it and such.  I liked the discussion and the line that most resonated with me out of the hour and a half was “In human beings we encounter God.”  My journey to the church is 100% proof of this.

Today’s joys were in seeing my second patient ever.  The 10 month old baby boy was so adorable and an absolute pleasure to be around.  He was on his best behavior.  I was also pleased that I was able to keep up with the neurogeneticist during this exam.  For not knowing all the cranial nerves and how they’re tested, I did pretty well… And by pretty well I mean that I scribbled everything that he uttered and then sorted it out later.  Hey, don’t knock it, it worked!

Other awesome parts of the day revolved around friends, new and old.  First off, I had lunch with my good friend from undergrad, Christina.  She works in the research department of my current grad school and interviews subjects for alcohol and obesity studies.  It was nice to catch up with her, especially about my patients.  Second off, Mary invited me to a clothing swap at one of her friend’s houses.  If you have never been to a clothing swap, or you’ve never heard of one, here’s how it works:  get a bunch of ladies together; open a bottle or two of wine; feed them salty meats, creamy cheeses, and delicious dips; have everyone pile their donated clothes and have at it!

All the ladies at this party had a blast.  We all rummaged around and then tried everything on, slowly creating piles of clothes we were claiming to take home.  I made out like a bandit.  Seriously, apparently I was just the perfect size for everything.  I ended up scoring some sweaters, long sleeve/short sleeve t-shirts, tank tops, two dresses, and a nice pair of dark jeans!

I also snagged a bright yellow purse for a nice change of pace.

On the whole it was a great day.  I really enjoyed getting to know some more wonderful young women.  I sincerely hope to see them again and hang out.  What a way to kick off the weekend!  Now I’m off to bed for some good rest! Sleep well world.

Friday French –>

OLD ONE
Phrase: Bonsoir. or Bonne nuit.
Translation: “Good evening” and “good night” respectively.
Story: For when you need to round out conversation at the end of the day.  =D

NEW ONE
Phrase: Voulez-vous danser?
Translation: Would you like to dance?
Story: This week I drove up with David to surprise Jack up at a weekly swing dance jam where he goes to school.  We had a great time so I figured I should learn how to ask people to dance.

Questions: Have you ever been to a clothing swap?
What is the hardest piece of clothing for you to buy?