2 in 1 day. Ridiculous. I know.

I should be in bed right now. I know. I'm well aware. If I were to email my friend Carrie right now she would email me tomorrow and tell me that I should go to bed earlier. Oh yes. I believe that too.
I just had one of those epic moments that made me appreciate my mother in my childhood. Today was my boss's birthday. She always goes the extra mile to make sure that we feel appreciated on our birthday. I know she has a particular liking to red velvet cupcakes. I told her I would bake her cupcakes for her birthday. My roommate makes cupcakes for the kids in her class. No big deal, right? I've just spent the last 2 hours baking cupcakes for work tomorrow and the birthday celebration. I'm not so sure that I think cupcakes are worth it if I have to bake them for myself. I'm all for the cute little cupcake shops and stuff. Cupcake Wars? DC Cupcakes? Sure. They're all fantastic and I have a brand new respect for anyone that wants to make a career out of cupcakes. I mean, they're tasty and all, but REALLY? I could have finished my chapter on Christianity and read half of my chapter on Islam. I could have read 16 pages in the Book of Mormon. I could have done any number of different things, but I didn't because I want her to feel appreciated too. The things my mother must have done for me. Thanks Mom! Love ya! I do appreciate the birthday cake/prom dress/early morning sacrifices that you made for me.

***side notes***
During the cupcake project I did do a few things that I'd like to chalk up to experience and add to my cool resume of new things I've tried:
-I made my own buttermilk for the cupcakes.
-I piped frosting with a ziploc bag.
-I ran (literally. without stopping.) from my house to the grocery store behind my house twice (2 TIMES) without stopping AFTER I went running with my running buddy (on her first anniversary of her back surgery.) That's impressive. Ask my parents about my soccer career. They'll back me up on this.
-I BAKED FROM SCRATCH!!! (not going to lie, i was kind of banking on a cake mix, but apparently they don't carry red velvet in march.)
-I tried my first Paula Dean recipe. She REALLY likes to fatten things up.
-I have pink finger prints. Apparently obscene amounts of red food coloring will do that.

I really am going to bed now. And I have a sugar headache from the cream cheese frosting. (PS I have a definite surplus is anyone has a need for frosting.)

laundry list

I feel like I am forever and always posting lists of things here. I really do think in lists. I'm pretty sure that my life is a giant Post-It note. Here are a few thoughts:
1) I have no personal taste in music. I went on a road trip/camping trip not to long ago and had this realization all over again. Every CD that I had in my car was a gift from someone else. When one of the girls asked me what my favorite song was my response was "I sing the 'baby bumble bee' song while I run?".
2) I like food. A lot. I decided the other day that artichoke hearts are not my favorite thing in the world. I'll eat them (I'll eat most anything), but I can live without them.
3) I miss writing. I find it therapeutic. I see some essays in my near future entitled "seeing life through rose-colored glasses". My parents gave me some pale pink aviator sunglasses last summer. This summer I plan on putting them to good use.
4) I also find camping/hiking/'the great outdoors' therapeutic.
5) A sprained is the worst thing that can happen to a new running habit.
6) Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert is the best thing that has ever happened to a sprained ankle.
7) We had a patient call in requesting that their records be sent to Panama. That is very different from the Arizona, California, Oregon, Texas, and Louisiana that we usually get. Hope the new doctor speaks/understands English because my doctor doesn't speak Spanish.
Well. I know this isn't much, but it's a start. I'm amazed by how easy it is to get out of the habit. I'm re-committing to be better.

balance

so i like to do yoga. i think it's good for me. i understand why a lot of southeast asian religions consider it a major part of sacred worship. for me it's more of a method of self mastery and improvement. there is no competition with anyone more than myself. (i tend to back out of competition and almost voluntarily lose because losing is then my choice and not forced upon me. competing with myself? there's no competition, only improvement.) right. there is a point to this i promise. monday night. i went snow shoeing. it was amazing. we left the parking lot about 7:30-well after dark. we had head lamps so we were good to go. we hiked about 25 minutes and we decided to turn off the head lamps. there was supposed to be moon light. i'm sure that if we had hiked longer we would have actually seen it, but hiked into a bowl and were pretty surrounded by mountains. turning off the lamps was kind of empowering. rather than focusing on the the snow 2 feet ahead of us, we were able to focus on the trees, rocks, saddles, landmarks around us. [insert really poor transition] during my undergrad senior capstone class, we wrote about our experience with the english department. one woman wrote a paper that has never left me. she talked about "disabling to enable". you know the concept, taking out contacts so that you can't see the really big crowd while speaking in public. the concept has been floating around my brain for the past 7 years. [transition back]as we wandered around in the dark, i felt like i was more aware of my surroundings. i couldn't see very well, but i was more secure with my feet. even though i didn't have ski poles, i didn't have a problem trekking through the powder. the thing that boggles my mind is that while i'm doing yoga in the dark on a hard flat surface, i have a hard time with my balance. i have to create myself a focal point or else will manage to land on the person next to me. i had absolutely no problem in the snow. it made me think about complexities of the human body and it's innate need to compensate for it's own flaws. the deaf rely more on sight. the blind have incredible hearing. even though i couldn't see my balance was more in tune than normal. i guess it was one of those 'a ha!' moments that was desperately needed in my life.

BEST. FHE. EVER.

I've been working on my math skills.
Thai food (aka pumpkin curry) + snow shoes = one very happy girl + one perfect evening

blank spreadsheets, cheerio shapes, and license plates; or "we're half way to somewhere! we're almost there!"

-so. i work in a brand new office. for some reason we've been having a hard time with our billing office. there's been a communication problem as of late (perhaps it has something to do with the 2400 miles between us), but we're working through it. i've been trying to be uber responsible and very clear in all my e-mails to diane, but for some reason, this week didn't really work out in my favor. on tuesday, i tried to e-mail the deposit to her and somehow managed to send her tuesday's a second time. on thursday i realized the genius of my ways and tried to re-attach wednesday's. this time i sent her a blank spreadsheet. i'm telling you-sheer genius!!! she sent me some smart e-mail about it being the end of the week i refrained from reaching through the computer and throwing a nerf dart in her general direction. in the end i had to track down the hard copy and re-type it all, but she got her spreadsheet. it was kind of a rough week on the excel front.
-yesterday wiggles and i spent a good 35 minutes making shapes out of cheerios on the kitchen table and then he ate them. i had to sneak my cheerios from the surplus pile. we to share a mutual love for cheerios.
-i got my new license plates in the mail!
-so my room has been out of control for the past...oh i don't know-9 months? i grounded myself this weekend. i wasn't allowed to do anything exciting until i cleaned my room. i'm almost done. in the midst of cleaning frenzy i found a video camera that i got for christmas a couple of years ago. i also found it's charger so i charged it and just spent the past 2 hours re-watching the clips on it. can i tell you how much i loved my cruise? it was fantastic. somewhere in the midst of an end of the day interview, one of the girls mentioned something about our tour guide in belize. it triggered in my mind on of my favorite things that i learned in belize.
edwin, one of the tour guides, made the comment "come on guys, we're half way to somewhere. we're almost there!" the more i think about that, the more i like it, and the more profound it gets. edwin, where ever you are...thank you.
side note: can i tell you how awesome it is to be woken up at 7:00am to my roommates walking into my room in formal wear? one was in her wedding dress. the other was in the dress for her brother's wedding. they both looked absolutely fantastic (even if one had just woken up and the other had just finished a 12 hour shift at the hospital). and made me supremely happy.

Remember how I thought my life was going to be boring?

Well. This is what I've got.
1) yesterday morning i got to work to find the rheumatologists in front of the building, one with a camera, the other with a broom. after a second glance i noticed that our pillar in front of the building was collapsing under itself. i asked the camera man what happened and he said said, the white truck happened. i turned around to look at the offending truck. the bumper looked fine. the hood however had a 2'x2' brick square firmly settled in the hood and front windshield. it was exciting. apparently it has happened before. sort of. last time the car went through the front windows and not the pillar.
2) about 2:30 school gets out next door. i may or may not be highly fascinated by the driving range that takes place in the parking lot. (i think it's hilarious to see the kids out of the cars and setting up the orange cones that they just knocked over.) yesterday the excitement did not take place in the driving range. it was in the middle of the road. one of the students rear ended another. it was interesting to see exactly how many students felt the need to congregate until the police arrived. it was a 2 car accident, 3 girls. there were at least 30 kids there. i was amused.
3) my accident was 4 weeks ago yesterday.

And I thought my life was going to be boring...

When I quit my last job, one of my friends was greatly concerned that I wouldn't have good stories anymore. Here are a few of the new ones.
1) Dear Patient.
I do not judge you for testing positive for marijuana. I do judge you for "spilling" your sample all over my bathroom floor.
Love,
Me
2) I walked down the hall the other day and found one of my doctor's leaning against the sign for the women's rest room with his hand. I just looked at him, no questioning, no skepticism. He said to me, "I'm just trying to see if I can read braille."
3) One of the girls I work with told us today that she asks our patients if they have a leg that they prefer to have less hair than the other. Yes. I know that grounding pads will take it off, but really? She does ask in all sincerity. I don't think I could do it with a straight face.