The Last Week in Photos

The past week was a fun one. On Friday, Feb 15th, Chris flew down to Orange to visit. Here is what we did.

Thanks to Josh and Melissa, on Saturday afternoon we were able to hang out on their boat in Newport. It was the first nice day in Southern Cali in a while. Perfect timing on Chris's part.

Sail boat race 

The boys enjoying the boat

Virgin/Google Explorer Boat

Romantic kiss on the boat

The next day, Christopher, Andrew, Pete and I went a nice Sunday Brunch.

The boys enjoying bottomless mimosas at Brunch.

Chris left on Tuesday, but on Wednesday night, Shelly arrived in LA. Since I have Thursday off, I headed up to Manhattan Beach to visit with her. It was a long day at work, so we stayed in and watched a movie.

I also got to visit with Lily (the cat). Isn't she adorable (or slightly scary)?

Sriracha Chips. We thought they were a legend till now. 

Our movie snack included Sriracha chips! Thank you Sam!

The next morning Shelly forced me out of bed at the crack of 10am. On my days off I have reverted back to college style and I usually don't get out of bed till at least noon if not later. We decided that we would take a walk from Manhattan Beach to Marina Del Ray. Shelly informed me that this would only be a 3 mile walk one way, we could stop for lunch and then walk back.

Well it turned out that from the place we were staying to Marina Del Ray it was a little more than 3 miles. Here was our route:

Notice the actual mileage that we walked. It was a beautiful day and we both had nothing to do, so we decided to walk the almost 10 miles.

Once we actually arrived in Marina Del Ray, we were starving, so we ate at Tony P's right on the water. We shared Ahi apps and a chicken salad. To get back, we called a cab. There was no way we could take another step.

Shelly and I met up with her friend Erin in Hollywood at a sushi place for happy hour. After a quick bite, it was getting late and I had work the next day, so I headed home.

This past weekend was not quite as eventful. I watched Scrubs, did a major clean around my place and ran 6 miles on Saturday and a slow 4 miles on Sunday.

At work today during lunch, I stepped outside and saw a Road Runner…Meep Meep

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Next weekend I have a fun event I will be attending. More on that later :)

Sick as a Dog

I have been laying in bed for the past 2 days, this is the first time I have been vertical (and by that I mean sitting up) for more than 20 mins since I laid down Monday night. Everyone in my clinic was sick, the people that work there and the patients, so I was bound to get sick. I thought I might get the sniffles because that is what I usually get when I am sick, but was I wrong.

My big adventure yesterday was getting out of bed, heating up some soup to eat and then heading to the couch to fall back asleep. I was half afraid I was going to die and half hoping I would die because of how horrible I felt.

my hang out spot for the past two days

Above are my two companions. They have kept me company in my time of need.

There are some benefits to being sick:

1.) I got to catch up on my sleep (even though it was fever ridden, it was still sleep).

2.) I saved money because I didn't eat as much as I normally do the past couple of days.

3.) I probably lost some weight, one from not eating as much and two from coughing so much, I burned calories and gained some abs.

4.) Now when I work in a hospital, I will have empathy towards my patients when they say they don't feel well and don't want to do physical therapy, I will know how they feel and not make them work as hard.

I am feeling better, but not quite 100%. I have to mail a letter and the thought of standing up seems miserable, but who knows, maybe I'll have a moment of strength.

Here is a little something to leave you with that is happy:

Guilt Free Banana Ice Cream

Not the prettiest picture, but it was delicious. I found this recipe off pinterest (AKA heaven). 

If you have banana's that are overly ripe, peel them, cut them into slices and freeze them over night. The next day, blend them. Add anything you like. I had some chocolate caramel pieces that I added, but the "ice cream" is delicious by it self. It tastes like real ice cream. Plus there is no milk in it, so if you are lactose intolerant, this is a great way for you to eat "ice cream" I highly suggest trying this. 

Okay, time to head back into bed. Sorry if there are some grammatical errors, I am still a little groggy, but hey, I am getting back to my normal self.

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?