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?