Feeling the Effects of Gravity

And I don't mean in the metaphysical way, I mean in the scientific, physical way.

Thursdays are my day off, so I have the opportunity to sleep in and workout. Wednesday night, after work, I was hungry and tired and did not feel like making dinner, so I walked over to this chain burrito place called Cali Taco. The burritos are huge.

And I ate the entire thing. Needless to say, today when I went for a 5mile run, I felt very heavy, like gravity (or a large burrito) was weighing me down. Sometimes when I run, I feel light and that I could run forever. Today was not one of those days. I finished my run and felt much better once I laid down.

Plus I was tired all day and I may or may not have woken up at 12:30pm this afternoon.

Later I went to yoga, and again, sometimes inversions come easy and I can stay in a handstand for a couple of breathes, but today, I was barely able to get my feet in the air.

I am going to chalk up my heaviness to tired muscles and a tired brain. The clinic has been busy and I have been able to perform quite a few evaluations on patients, which means that I get to determine what is wrong with them. The combo of being on my feet for 12 hours and using my brain in new and exciting ways definitely is exhausting. That can definitely add poundage to my steps.

The clinic has been fun. When a patient doesn't show up or at lunch, we can work on ourselves.

At lunch Ryan (my classmate that is at the same clinic as me) decided to perform lumbar traction on himself. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

My eating healthy has been difficult (see huge burrito above) due to Girl Scout Cookie time. I DO NOT buy Girl Scout Cookies (I will give them money to buy cookies for themselves), but someone at my clinic bought Samoas (which are my favorite) and I had to support the troops and eat a few.
I have managed to make some creative and healthy dinners that are delicious and tasty.

The above recipe was found on pinterest. Have I ever mentioned how much I love pinterest? I made eggplant pizza. Instead of dough, I used an eggplant. I bake the eggplant for 10 minutes on high to soften them up, then I added tomato sauce, cheese (I actually used soy cheese for this meal), mushrooms and arugula and put it back in the oven until the cheese melted. This meal was wonderful and filling. I highly suggest it. You can also grill the eggplant to soften them up.

That has been my exciting week.

Do you have days where you feel the effects of gravity more than other days?

Fake it Till you Make it

On Friday I will have a total of 3 weeks in the clinic being a real PT, well SPT (student), but still, I actually am treating patients and have patient load. Every morning when I wake up, I feel like I can't wait to go back to bed, but once I am in the clinic, I am having fun and time flies by. Now all I need is a little more confidence in myself.

I found this on pinterest and felt it was completely relevant to my life at this very moment.

So true. I am doing my best to treat every patient that I see with the best care that I know how to give, but with all of my experience (which is very little), my care is not that great. All I can hope for is that my patients don't know what I am doing, so as far as they are concerned, I am a master PT with magic hands. Plus I treat them with a smile!

Chris and I received our contract for our wedding venue. We are signing it this weekend and turning it in. Now it is official! I should be getting my dress at the end of March and I want to be toned and trim for my 1st fitting, so as a faux New Year's resolution I decided to eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk food through out the day. So far I have been pretty good at keeping up with this resolution, but it has only been less than a month.

But I kind of feel like this. At work, my boss brings in trail mix, yogurt covered pretzels, and doughnuts. I will say I completely resisted having a doughnut (okay, I had 1 tiny bite), but when I am hungry, it is easier to grab for trail mix than my carrots in the fridge. Okay 1st world problems, but really, I have been much healthier lately.

Okay, off to bed for me. 

Have you ever been the "expert" in something, that you weren't really an expert in?

Back to the Daily Grind

My month off is over and now I am back in So Cal working hard! Right now I am at a clinic full time. My schedule is MWF 7am-7pm & Tuesday 9-1pm. Long days, but so far so good. I just have to tell myself "fake it till I make it." I had a patient that I worked on all by myself today and I wouldn't say I made stuff up out of the blue, but I definitely tried to sound more confident that I really am. I think she bought it ;)

My December was relaxing and fun. I may or may not have spent the first 2 weeks waking up late, sitting on the couch, and watching TV. I think my brain and body were exhausted. After recovering from finals (2 weeks later), Chris and I headed to Portland to meet up with some friends and meet a new (little) friend, Jayden.

This is Chelsea and her little baby boy Jayden. I was so excited to meet him. He was excited too, because as soon as I picked him up, he threw up all over me. For some reason, baby vomit is not as bad a adult vomit.

We headed out to the Zoo to see animals and lights. The night was chilly, but it was fun to see all the decorations and even some furry animals.

The group at the Zoo

All of us have a little animal in us

A few days later, back in Seattle, it was CHRISTMAS. I got my first stocking ever!

Christmas was fun! This was my second Christmas ever and I am excited to start this new tradition

Christmas Eve games with Marilee

Permanent Red Solo Cup (notice the stem)

Colonel Sanders?

White Elephant gifts galore

Avery and I

Chris being goofy

The Pilkey Brothers with Grandma Lol

After Christmas I managed to go skiing twice and hiking as well.

 Here is a lovely picture of me skiing at Crystal Mtn

 The magnificent Mt Rainier as our back drop

 What a beautiful blue bird day at Crystal!

Mt Rainier from a hike that Shelly and I took! - Poo Poo Point

Skiing at Alpental. Not as sunny as Crystal, but still fun!

Lastly, NYE! I was lucky enough to get invited to a friend's "cabin" a little south of Seattle. 20 of us drove down, brought alcohol and food and packed into a 3 bedroom house. It was perfect. I did not want to spend NYE at a bar and I was able to fall asleep at 12:30am on 1/1/2013. Yes I am a total dork, but at least I made it to midnight.

That was my break! Now I am going from sleeping 12 hours a day to working 12 hours a day (1st world problems - I know).

Here is a picture to leave you with:

Mickey and George love sitting in these boxes. It is just too cute.

Did you have any fun Holiday plans or trips?

The End of The World as We Know it

Sorry, I have had these lyrics stuck in my head all day and it seems fitting since the Mayan's "predicted" the end of the world tomorrow. Or as I like to think, they stopped charting the calendar because it was so far in the future that why should they continue? But here is the REM song so you can all get it stuck in your head too!

I had another thought on this matter as well. If the world is ending as we know it, maybe that means there will be peace and the world will be a better place? Just an optimistic thought.

Break has been relaxing. I may or may not have been sleeping in till noon everyday. I think my body needs all this sleep.

But mostly I have been cooking, relaxing, working out and seeing friends.

Here are two examples of my lovely dishes. They are zucchini lasagna and beef pad thai (See Shelly, I can cook).

On Friday night, for my friend Lance's birthday, we all dressed up in our finest (some of us were in our prom outfits) and heading to Targy's on Queen Anne. The night was a blast and it ended with some of us at Dick's (the burger joint in Seattle).

source

Tomorrow, Chris and I are heading to Portland to see some friends. I will keep you updated on my travels.

Is your holiday season going well?

Ten Things About Me

Here are ten things that most people don't know about me. I thought this post would be fun!

1.) I prefer plastic silverware over metal. My mom bought me re-useable plasticware from Crate and Barrel one year for my birthday and if given a choice, I would always use plastic over metal.

2.) My two favorite foods are chocolate and ice cream, but I don't like chocolate ice cream.

source

3.) I love bananas, but I don't like banana flavored things. I love watermelon flavored things, but I don't like watermelon.

source

4.) I read magazines from back to front. There are less ads in the back, so it keeps my interest up.

5.) I have worked construction - okay, it was in the office, but I did get to go onto the job site once and a while.

6.) I don't like mustard or mayo, but I am trying to get into mustard on my sandwiches.

7.) I am professional singer in the shower and in the car. I don't get paid, but I should.

8.) I can play piano and guitar. I am a little rusty on both, but as you can tell, I am really into music.

9.) I ski, run, cycle, and I was a gymnasts. Theme? Yes, I don't play team sports

10.) I don't like board games...that is why they are called BORED games. I endure them with friends and family because I have fun hanging out with them, but I would NEVER suggest playing a board game EVER!

What are some quirky things about you?

Down Time

I'm done with my semester. Let me tell you, it was a doozie. Classes from 8am to 6pm most days with more projects than ever before, but I still had to find time to study (sleep, eat, and exercise). Yes, I am looking for sympathy, so feel free to give me cookies, chocolate, and presents (or just say, that sounds like it sucked :) But I am done, I passed all of my classes and starting in January, I am in the clinic for 3 months, almost like a real PT. Scary huh?

My 6th out of 6 finals, which happened to be on Dec 6th (you see, my program is satan), finished up around 9:30am, so naturally, a few of us went to the store to buy mimosa makings. It is totally acceptable to drink mimosas and bloody mary's before noon! Later that evening, we partied like we have been studying for 3 months straight. It was awesome.

The next day (Friday), I headed up to L.A. to see my entire family (Ben flew down from San Fran, and My mom, dad, and Shelly were in from Seattle), including my faux family the Corre's. We had dinner together at a lovely restaurant in Manhattan Beach, then headed back to the Corre's house in Brentwood.

Bonnie and her daughter, Melissa started making one of the kind jewelry. My mom bought beautiful gold and platinum earrings. http://loveandpiecejewelry.com/. Check out their stuff. It is all beautiful and both Bonnie and Melissa are personal jewelry's that can customize any piece of jewelry.

On Saturday, the Short family headed to the Valley to see some cousins we haven't seen in 20 years. It was amazing to see them again! They live on a lake and we took a Duffy (party boat) to a cute little restaurant. Our two families (well we are really one family!) talked as if we see each other every weekend. It was so fun to catch up! It is really nice to re-connect with family.

Swans from the boat

The Fam on the boat

The "kid" cousins at lunch 

Sunday, my mom and I ran 8 miles. We ran from Brentwood, down San Vicente to Santa Monica (the beach). Sitting on your butt for 2 weeks straight is a really great way to get out of shape fast. I ran a half marathon 2 weeks ago, and running 8 miles was extremely hard. I ended up having to walk a little bit of it, but moving felt so good. I am so excited to get back in shape this next month.

Currently I am catching up on my television programs (Dexter!) and spending as much time relaxing as possible.

Here are some fun pictures to end this post :)

photo credit: Shelly's FB

 Here the story of George meeting Lyla for the first time. He was confused to what "that" is

A picture of the Seattle Space-needle the day Pot became legal to smoke. Overdoing it a bit Seattlelites?

Thanksgiving Week

This past week was Thanksgiving. We had a brutal presentation on Tuesday and a final right after that. The presentation was for my ortho class and we were "presenting" to doctors, so we came up with a Physical Therapy clinic and I created a website for that clinic: http://leanonourshoulderpt.blogspot.com/ - just for laughs, here it is. The presentation was nerve racking, but at least I had fun making this website!
Tuesday night after the beating, I headed home to Seattle!

The weather was cold, crisp, and at times, rainy, but I loved every second of it!

Plus I got to see friends and family!

Including all of my cats. This is George!

On Saturday after Thanksgiving I completed my 26th half marathon: The Seattle Ghost Half

And here is the medal to prove it (and it is a beer opener). The Seattle Ghost half marathon is the "ghost" of the Seattle half and full marathon from 26 years ago. It was the same route and on Saturday until the current Seattle Marathon changed to the Sunday after Thanksgiving and starting/finishing at Seattle Center.

This was a really nice race. Only about 300 people can sign up. There is a half marathon, full marathon, and for those crazy folk, a 50k. It is along Lake Washington Blvd from Seward Park to Leschi and back, so not only is it beautiful, it is completely flat. I highly suggest this race to anyone who is looking to avoid the crowds, burn off some Turkey dinner, and loves beautiful scenery. http://www.nwultras.com/ghost_main.htm

There were 2 water stations, so I brought my own water bottle, but at the end of the race there are bagels and cream cheese (typical post race food), coffee, hot dogs, chili, chicken noodle soup and beer. Amazing, especially after running 13.1 miles and especially at 10am!

When I got home, I placed my new medal in my collection of medals. I am missing 5 from this board (two are hanging on my wall in California and three are Tiffany necklaces), but it is fun to look back at the races that I have done and how much fun they have all been.

I am currently back in Orange where I have 2 practical tests this week and 6 finals next week, but then I am done for 3 weeks! I have been spending a lot of time at school studying and so have all of my classmates

I don't think this classmate made it. Oh well, at least they don't have to go through finals week.