Blog Hiatus

I'd like to say that my life has been so busy that I haven't been able to blog. Well that is partially true, but the other part (I am now realizing), Writing my blog was a "constructive" way to procrastinate my studying, and since I haven't been studying, hence, I have not blogged.

Here is what I have been doing for the past 4 months...

 Angel's Game right before I moved out of my apartment with Chris.

 Visit to San Fran on the way up the coast

 Bye San Fran…Hello Oregon

Above are some pictures from our road trip…complete with a stop at Tillamook (and yes we ate cheese and ice cream and it was delicious)

I lived in Astoria Oregon for 2 months. The town is beautiful and I enjoyed everyone I met.

I visited Portland (and friends) a couple of times. I was lucky enough to meet Baby J (Ryder) one week after he was born. He is a rebel. Already flipping off the camera.

I graduated (not officially until the end of next Friday), but I walked and I sang the National Anthem at my graduation.

Shipwreck on the coast of OR

More fun times in Astoria. I took many hikes and my parents (not pictured) and Chris came to visit me while I was there.

 Victoria Buenotodo's bachelorette Party in Bellingham (only photos I can show ;)

And finally, We went to see Chris Issak at Chateau Ste Michelle. Yes I got that close to him (and I shook his hand) and yes I look creepy in this picture.

So that has been my last 4 months. I am officially done (and a doctor) in less than 2 weeks. I am finishing my internship at an outpatient facility in Normandy Park (near the airport) and then…I get to study for my boards (which I take at the end of Oct) and THEN…I will be a real PT.

I will probably be posting way more when I am studying for my boards, see 1st paragraph for why and since I am home now and there is no need to keep up with my "exciting" life in California, I am going to try and post about exercises and health related things that people can do to keep themselves pain free.

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try and answer them.

Have a wonderful day!

Well I'm Moving to Astoria

Astoria Oregon that is…and only for two months. Let me explain. I am fulfilling a rotation requirement for school at a local Nursing Facility. Then, I move back to the Seattle area and finish up my last 2 months of clinicals in the Seattle area!

It will be an interesting and exciting experience. I will be able to say that I lived in Oregon (even if it is for a short amount of time); I will really get to concentrate on physical therapy because I won't know anyone there (lots of time to study and review); I am very close to Portland and will be able to visit my friends that live in the area on a more regular basis (you know who you are, all of you be prepared for me to stay with you at some point during the months of April through June); My temporary residence will most likely be in walking distance to work (because downtown is very small); And finally, I will have a new and exciting place to run. That last one seems a little weird, but I love running in new cities. I feel like it is the best way to intimately get to know a place and I get really excited when I find new routes!

Source

Look how beautiful Astoria looks! If anyone knows of good places to check out while I'm there, please let me know.

On the other end of things, I have 4 weeks left of classes. Wow, the past 3 years have flown by! This last month will not be easy. Just for sympathy sake, I have 3 presentations, 2 online tests, 4 paper tests (one of those tests I have to get 100% on to pass the class), 1 research project and I have to plan my move all at the same time that need to be completed all within the same 28 days.

Some of the "stuff" I am doing is interesting...The research project is looking at how yoga affects posture. No I did not get funky implants. Those are markers that a computer will digitize and measure angles to determine "what" my posture is. I am not actually a participant, they were just practicing placing the markers on me, but for our participants, we will look at their posture after 6 weeks to determine if the poses we prescribed made significant changes to their posture.

As for the rest of what I am working on, not quite as interesting.

In my social life, I did have Chris and my mom come visit me in the past month.

Laguna Beach

Chris and I on the ferry from Balboa Island to Balboa

It was nice to have them both in town. The next time Chris comes into town, he will be helping me pack up my apartment and ship me up North.

Wow time does fly.

Senioritis

Well, this is the 3rd time I have experience this disorder (senioritis). The first time was in high school, the next episode was in college, and finally, I have contracted it again.

It has been difficult to sit down and study for any extended period of time.  My time in Southern California is winding down, I want to experience as much of it as I possible can. Studying totally gets in the way of this. And to top it all off, I have experienced the real world of PT and being back in school feels like a regression. I want to be in the field, working (making money), and having guilt free - free time on the weekends again.

I had a midterm on Wednesday (my 1st test of the semester) and it was brutal. Hours were spent reading hundreds of pages and countless nights (okay 6) were spent in the library. Provisions were needed to get through the many hours of torture.

This is what I succumb to…We are taught that sitting for long periods of time and eating refined sugar and process foods are bad for us…Well, why do the professors make us sitting for long periods of time and eat crappy food? Okay, I admit the food part is my choice, but the glucose is necessary for the long study sessions.

Here is what else I have been doing in class:

Yes, that is a fettuccine pasta and marshmallow castle that is absolutely fabulous (dragon included)! You might ask, why are we doing such arts and crafts in class when we are receiving our Doctorate in Physical Therapy? Well currently we are enrolled in a leadership and Administrative class. We had a guest lecturer that discussed organizational structure and the importance of finding the right structure to run a business. We were put into groups, someone was the CEO and he/she directed which job we would perform in the building of this castle. Each group was structured slightly differently to illustrate the drawbacks and benefits of each type of business structure. Needless to say, I still have no clue how any of the business structures truly work in practice and how I could apply them if I ever open a business. But hey, each to their own.

The next few weeks are going to be equally as brutal. But…drum roll please…only 6 more weeks left of the didactic portion of my program! And, even better news, the last 8 weeks of my clinical rotation will be in Seattle! The 1st 8 weeks have not been assigned yet and they could be anywhere, but at least I know I will be moving home at the end of JUNE!

Long Commute and Pepper Spray

I just finished my 2nd week of my pediatric rotation. I am enjoying the clinic, my clinical instructor (CI), my "co-workers",  and the program, but my rotation is about 40 miles away and takes me an hour and a half to get home every day:( It is only for 12 weeks (officially 10 now) and I know I am going to learn a lot at this clinical rotation, so that is more important…right? I am working with children who have neurological insults such as Cerebral Palsy (CP), brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and Spina Bifida. Most of the kids have CP and are relatively high functioning, but it has been a challenge to find a way to not take home my emotions at the end of the day. I had a long talk with my CI about dealing with the emotions of working with this population and she put it into a nice perspective. There are going to be children that have these aliments and it is our job to make them as happy and comfortable as possible, then I am doing my job and I feel happy about that.

My knees have been hurting me since I ran that trail run (aka my 28th half marathon), so I have taken some long walks instead of running. Last Sunday my knees were feeling better. No pain with walking, squatting or going up stairs, so I decided to knock out 8 miles. I told myself that if my knees started to hurt I would turn around, well my knees did decide to start hurting about 1/2 way through my run. I did turn around, but walking 4 miles sounded miserable, so I decided to run until my knees hurt then stretch out my quads then start running again. My knees would feel good for about a half mile and then I would have to stop :( Urrrr this is so frustrating because I have another half marathon coming up in October and I would like to be decently trained for it. I haven't run since then, but I can tell that my quads are super tight.

On my long run last Sunday, I ran on a (cement) trail. I have become a little more paranoid lately about running alone and especially in a place that does not have a lot of people traffic. So, I brought pepper spray with me. I don't really know how to use it (I don't think it is that hard and I bet I could figure it out), but it still made me feel a little better about running alone.

This is what the trail looks like (Source)

Source

This is what my pepper spray looks like. Yes it is pink and fits in the palm of my hand. What precautions do you take when running or walking by yourself? Or are you not concerned that anything is going to happen? 

I am so happy the weekend is finally here because I am sleep deprived. I am not use to waking up so early, and even though I have been going to bed earlier and earlier every night, I am using a lot of brain power right now so not only am I physically exhausted, I am also completely mentally exhausted. I am going to sleep in as late as I can tomorrow, which might be a challenge because my mom is coming into town! I am excited to see her and I bet we will go to bed relatively early tonight. The plan for the weekend is to be active and eat good food, but I am just excited to get to hang with my mom.

I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Anyone have exciting plans for the long weekend?

Bon Fires and Wipe Out

Well School has been stressful. This semester was easy breezy (well as easy as 7 classes can be) until this last month. Then all hell broke loose. I was so tired on Thursday that when my classmates were giving a presentation, I did not even attempt to keep my eyes open. It was good sleep though.

Finally this week was over, and on Friday afternoon, Leslie and I decided to do a 10 mile run since the rest of the week had been a good temperature for such an event. But about 2.5 miles into the run, the weather changed and it turned from a nice overcast to blistering hot. We finished, but not without some complaining and an ice stop along the way. Plus, I changed races…I went from white to beet red. Seriously, I never learn my lesson.

After relaxing for a couple of hours or so after our excruciating run (but hey, we did it), I headed down to Huntington Beach for a bon fire with my classmates.

It was a nice change in scenery and a great way to be able to relax for a little bit.

The night was complete with a BBQ and s'mores

Huntington Beach Sunset

I went home early and straight to bed because I had to wake up at 6am Saturday morning for a race. Okay, it wasn't a race, it was a 5k run, but it was well worth waking up that early!

This was the Ridiculous Obstacle Course (ROC) race. This run involves running a 5K with obstacles placed about every quarter mile. The obstacles included things such as jumping over barricades, monkey bars, rope walks, rope swing, trampolines, tires, and ending with a large water slide into the finish. They even had a Wipe Out style station called the wrecking ball. It was so much fun and I highly suggest participating in this event.

We had a team of 8 all from the Chapman DPT program and we dressed as Minions from Despicable Me.

Here is the before picture

This was after the race

The Silly Minion (burnt face and all)

We won these huge metals for our awesome costumes.

I may or may have not gone home after the run and took a nap from 1pm to 6pm later that day. Apparently school, running 10 miles, and then waking up early the next day to participate in a fun run is exhausting.

Needless to say, this weekend has been much needed and I am feeling much more relaxed and ready for the last 2 and a half weeks left of school.

What did you do this weekend?

Midterm Time!

My only excuse to why I haven't posted in a while is because I have had a few midterms, and on top of that, I have had some fun that kept me busy.

The last two weeks have rough and wonderful at the same time. Friday June 28th, I flew up to Portland to help celebrate Kissy French's Last Dance aka as Kylee's bachelorette party. I flew out of Long Beach airport, so I got their a little early to avoid traffic and decided it was time to start celebrating right then and there…

The rest of the weekend was spent dressing up 80's style, going to bars, eating at Pok Pok, singing karaoke, watching a drag show and then seeing male strippers. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Our Wonderful 80's attire. 

The club we attended on Friday had a trampoline floor. So you had a little spring to your step. At first I thought the floor was collapsing, but then someone told me the reason for the bounciness.

The Club on Friday night. This is how I remember it ;)

These are the only pictures I can show from Saturday night.

Bride to be in white

Me singing karaoke! 

"Beyonce" at the drag show

Fireman stripper - yes he took off his jacket

Sunday morning, since I was in PDX, I decided to take a late flight out of town so I could see some of my college ladies. Bonus, a Seattle lady was in town as well, so it was a fun little reunion.

Chelsea, Nichole and I buying cupcakes for Jenny's second annual 28th birthday!

Kappa girls (minus Victoria) unite!

I was so excited to be able to spend time with these girls.

I flew home late Sunday night, crammed for a test and practiced for a presentation that was pending the next two days. Luckily right after that we had Thursday (4th of July) and Friday off. A much needed break!

Chris flew into town late Wednesday night, and I got to spend the entire weekend with him.

4th of July was spent in Newport Beach with some buds!

The crew!

Lots of beers flowing

'Merica! Fuck Yeah!

With my love

Friday was spent studying…Oh did I mention I had a test on Monday. Oh wait, not just a test, a final. So during the hot summer day, I spent it inside studying pediatrics.

Friday night, Chris and I needed to get out of the house so we went to a near by driving range. I suck at golf :)

 Saturday we woke up late and took a mini hike at Peter's Canyon in Tustin.

The view from the Vista Point

And after spending the entire rest of the day studying, Chris and I got some beers at Provision's in Old Towne Orange

We were a little hungry (and slightly drunk) afterwards, so we went to Felix's down the road. This is a little Cuban/Spanish restaurant with delicious food, huge portions, and wonderful prices. Needless to say I have wanted to try this place for a while and I was not disappointed. In fact, we had so much food, we had lunch the next day and it was just as good, if not better the second day.

My dish!

Chris left mid afternoon on Sunday and the rest of my day was spent cramming in the library.

Today (Monday), I took my final (I don't think I failed), came home, ran a hot sweaty 4.5 miles (hey, it has been a while) in 80 degree weather and then took a yoga class. I needed to sweat the studying out of me.

So that is why you haven't seen a blog from me in a while. The past two weeks have been a little stressful with all the tests and projects, but I know looking back that I will remember the fun I had and not the stress of having to cram for school.

YOLO! (Sorry, I had to throw that in there)

I have 3 more weeks left of this semester and…this year. Soon I will be a 3rd year (where has the time gone) and in my second clinical rotation.