T-shirt = Scarf???

Today I was crafty…

I know that’s not a term I use to describe myself very frequently but I would say that this afternoon/evening, it qualified.  So I was looking through my Pinterest account this afternoon and I found a website that explained how to make an infinity scarf out of an old t-shirt.  I took one look and had to try it.  With that, I grabbed an old large t-shirt that I never ever wear.  [It was a shirt that had to fit over my winter coat because I wore it during an outdoor campaign for the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be The Match Foundation of which I am a part.]  The website called for an XL or XXL shirt but all I had was a L so I just rolled with it.

I chopped off the bottom seam.

Then I sheared off the top section right under the armpits.

With only a band remaining, I stretched…

And stretched…

And stretched it.

I don’t know how much it helped honestly, thanks to the composition of the shirt, but it worked a bit.  And there you have it, a cute little infinity scarf.

It was a nice pick-me-up after my long day at work.  I spent four hours alone in the lab doing DNA extraction and back-up segregation.  I was alone because all the full-time employees had a meeting, that unfortunately lasted three hours, and no other hourly people were in today.  Sadness, right?  I even had to have lunch by my lonesome.  Anyways, this craft picked up my spirits and fueled my workout and the rest of my night.  I think I’ll wear my creation tomorrow.  =D  Now I’m off to bed because I have Cancer Genetics at 8am and I still technically have stuff to read…  Whoops.  I should do that right?  Later friends!

Questions: Do you craft?
What do you do when you need a pick-me-up?

Dates & Drinks

What a lovely weekend!  I had such a great time.  Friday night started off with a date to one of our favorite places to eat Italian food.  Of course, we started off with the obligatory bread basket with oil and pesto to dip in.

We were going to get a starter but we opted out of that seeing as the bread would be plenty and honestly, most of the appetizers were different variations on blood anyways.  We decided to get drinks instead.  I got the special of the night, the Hemingway daiquiri, and Jack got a red-headed martini.

Our greens came out with the drinks.  I got a house salad with balsamic vinaigrette on the side and Jack, predictably, got the Caesar salad.  If he ever has a choice, he picks Caesar every time, hands down.  It’s kind of cute.

Shortly after, our entrees arrived.  I get one thing and one thing only when I go here: the lobster and shrimp mac & cheese.  It’s beyond delicious.  Jack is a bit more adventurous than I am so this time he chose a signature dish.

Both dishes were fantastic.  I ended up taking some of mine home because I was saving major room for dessert.  We both got gelato (he had double Belgian chocolate and I had cinnamon fig) and split a cannoli.  Nomnom.

Following dinner, it was time to shake our groove thangs…haha.  Jack and I headed to a formal dance being held by the swing dance scene we’re a part of.  It’s always so much fun to see everyone all dolled up and pretty, dancing the night away.

By the time we got home after the event, we were pretty wiped (Jack especially) so we crashed into bed and slept really well.  The next day Jack spent some time with friends so I had a friend date with Stephanie.  We got lunch at Camille’s Sidewalk Café and I ordered the Veganini with grilled eggplant, feta, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomato pesto, red onions, pesto-mayo, and balsamic glaze on focaccia bread.

It was really good and I really enjoyed the mesh of flavors.  I would totally order it again.  After lunch we did some girl stuff (a.k.a. shopping and perusing the racks for cute clothes) and caught up on each other’s lives.  It was a nice afternoon and when I made my way back to Jack’s apartment I started work on my confined placental mosaicism/chimera presentation.  I made decent progress before Jack got home and then we started our second (my third) date of the weekend.  We decided to have dinner in so ate my five bites of leftovers from the night before and Jack joined in with some pasta leftovers of his own from earlier in the week.  We also spilt a plate of strawberries and blackberries.

When we had finished our light dinner, we hopped in the car and headed to a local bar/restaurant for drinks and dessert.  We had to wait a bit for a table but finally seated ourselves at a high top and ordered dill chips while we checked out the drink menu.  You cannot go wrong with fried pickles, ever.

For our first round, Jack got a Blue Moon Winter Ale and I got a Skinny Girl Margarita with salt on the rim.  The beer was nice and heavy, in the best way, and my drink was light and lime-y!

For our dessert round, we noshed on the German Chocolate Cake which was rolled in toffee pieces.  Man, this was good.  It is made without coconut so I’m not sure I would call it a German Chocolate variety but it certainly was a kick-butt chocolate cake.  =D

To drink, I had the s’mores martini and Jack got the chocolate martini.  Mine had graham cracker dust on the rim and Jack’s had fine chocolate powder on the rim.  Both drinks were smooth and velvety.

We paid the tab and departed for the movie theater because we already had tickets for This Means War.

It has been a long time since we’ve seen a movie together in the theater.  I feel like it actually might have been back in the summer when we saw Harry Potter at the midnight premiere.  It was nice to catch a flick on its opening weekend though man, the theater was packed.  The movie itself was very cute and funny.  I really liked it though I would have ended it differently.  I would recommend it for a cutesy night out, certainly.

Again wiped after a long day, we headed to bed and woke up this morning for a nice brunch.  I chopped up some onion and whipped some eggs while Jack shredded some spinach and chunked up mushrooms.  We scrambled the eggs into the veggies and served those up with pepper and garlic powder.  Also on the plate, half a banana smeared with peanut butter (oh so good) and some blueberries.

It was a scrumptious brunch that held me over while I did more presentation work.  I finished it up, e-mailed it off, and then we headed over to the fitness center to get our sweat on.  I did some elliptical and bike cardio and then a weight circuit filled with V-raises, skater lunges, weighted squats, and push-up rows.  Jack did weights the whole time.  By the time we headed back, it was already 3:30p so we made refueling sandwiches and watched another Stargate episode.  I had a mustard, guacamole, colby jack, and chickpea grilled cheese with plum, pretzels, and chocolate almonds on the side.

A bit later I headed home and stopped at Meijer to take advantage of some great deals on strawberries, blueberries, and bread.  Once home I was hungry so I spread some refried beans and guacamole on a piece of toast and inhaled it before my camera made the scene.  Whoops.  Haha, now I’m relaxing on the couch, clearing out my DVR, and indulging in some chocolate frozen yogurt, strawberries, crushed graham crackers, and chocolate sauce before heading to bed to kick off this work/school week.

Questions: When was your last date?
What’s your favorite drink to order?

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?

WIAW: The Lovely Edition

When was the last time you gave a gift just for the heck of it?  For me, the answer was yesterday.  I was thinking of all the people in my life on Valentine’s Day and a certain someone came to mind that may be in need of some single-lady lovin’ on such a romantic day.  Therefore I did what any sane woman would do: I filled a tin full of Nutella single serve packets and dropped it on her doorstep last night.

Oh yes, it was an epic moment.  She must have thought so too because I got this super cute Facebook post today.

Smiles all around I would say!  What a lovely way to start the day.  You know another lovely thing…a What I Ate Wednesday post!  I admit, it’s sadly nearly devoid of veggies.  Sorry, maybe next week.

Food-wise my day kicked off with a chocolate banana breakfast cake topped with peanut butter and chia seeds.

The rest of the day had more “bits and bobs” of lovely throughout like talking ethics in Psychosocial class plus leftover red curry and rice for lunch along with an apple (eaten while buried in primary literature about benign hypermobility syndrome).

Bone Dysplasia Clinic in the early afternoon was neat too though fairly cut and dry.  My report basically wrote itself.  So yes, lovely clinic experience followed by a delicious chocolate peanut butter protein bar (again, buried in research on my desk).

I caught the 4:30 shuttle home and spent the immediate following time working on my confined placental mosaicism/chimera presentation.  When I had a moment to break, and my tummy started to grumble, I went to the fitness center and did 18 minutes on both the elliptical and reclined stationary bike.  I read Whole Living (courtesy of Jack’s mom) while I was getting my sweat on and then came back home for a lovely dinner.  I had two pieces of whole wheat toast slathered with homemade refried beans (thanks to Vera the Vitamix last night and this awesome recipe I will never go back to canned if I can help it!), homemade guacamole (another score from last night’s solo Mexican fiesta), and goat/feta cheese.  I had some buttered lima beans topped with nutritional yeast along with a handful of party mix (generic Chex mix) to round out my dinner.

This scrumptious fuel kept me going through another two-ish hours of work on my presentation.  I sipped a mug of Yogi Immune Support tea (with a dash of Stevia) and kept plugging away.  I feel pretty good about it, especially considering that I don’t deliver it until the 28th.  Oh, the ambition!  Too bad I have two other ones that are also due on that date or within two days of it…  For a sweet note, I sucked on two pieces of heart chocolate and a Nutella-banana “smudgie”.

For those of you wondering what a “smudgie” is, let me fill you in.  Take a banana (the riper the better) and mash it with a nut butter/mix in of your choice.  I obviously used Nutella this time but may I just say that Biscoff or Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter is stellar as well.  Sandwich your mash between two graham crackers and immediately freeze.  Enjoy just out of the freezer and I swear it’s like an ice cream sandwich.  Nomnom!

Anyways, I hope your day was all full of lovely like mine.  Tomorrow is all about preclinic conference for Friday’s Medical Genetics clinic so that’s what I’ll be doing all day: patient prep.  I think I need some good sleep to tackle that!  G’night all.

Questions: How was your Valentine’s Day?
What is your favorite Mexican dish?