Not-so guilty pleasures...

It might be sick. But there are things I love... that I know aren't terrible, but that are still a little creepy. So, here's my fess-up...

• I love Law & Order. LOVE. B and I watch Law & Order together on Netflix. We enjoy the one-liners from Detective Lenny Briscoe, certain defendants, predicting the outrageous antics of Jack McCoy, admiring Assistant District Attorney Jamie Ross and discussing the cases.

• I love reading about surgery. It's really, really amazing that doctors can cut someone open and fix them, sometimes. Here's a secret: nurses help! There are scrub nurses and circulating nurses, and nurse anesthetists, and others. Surgery is as sterile as can be (though, really -- we're filthy dirty things, us people -- nothing is really clean.) and the rules to keep it sterile are really strict and serious. This semester I get to stand-in (I don't think there's any sitting in surgery) on a surgery.

• I love to read People magazine.

• I could get up to dance and sing to The Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast (which stars Detective Briscoe -- no joke!). In fact, after visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium on our honeymoon, B and I listened to the Little Mermaid soundtrack on our way to our next stop. I'm proud to say I know all the words to many of the Little Mermaid songs, and I have since I got a tape of the soundtrack for Christmas in 1990 (along with some awesome markers).

• I like to eat peanut butter off a spoon. I typically make my own peanut butter, which is sick and totally grosses most people out. My peanut butter is just peanuts. Seriously. I take a bag of peanuts and grind 'em up in my food processor. It's gritty and peanut-y -- nothing else. I like to eat a spoon with breakfast -- it keeps my blood sugar levels even and gives me a nice dose of protein. But I know that's skeevy to some people, so here it is.

• While we discuss food, I love candy. My dad does too. Maybe it's genetic. I don't eat a ton of candy, obviously, but I love the 25 cent boxes of Ferrara Pan candies from corner stores or bodegas. It's hard to find places that sell Lemonheads, Red Hots, Orange Heads and such, but those spots are my favorite. I'm a loyal customer to any place that sells these treats. The candies are the best for walks. I like to open a box in my pocket or in my shoulderbag pocket, then grab a candy one by one as I move. I swear Ferrara Pan confers magic walking powers.

Amazing

Life is pretty amazing these days.

I've been able to walk home from school twice this week -- a terrific treat in January. And, I've walked 10 miles this week. Tomorrow should be warm so I might get closer to a summer-caliber walking score for the week.

Clincals are terrific.

I've been able to show off my skills with little ones in community health. My group sees some toddlers with asthma. It's not a lot of medical work, but it's a lot of relationship building and communication, both things I'm good at. Adding the medical stuff to something I'm already comfortable with is great.

My clinical at the hospital is really amazing. This week we saw a complex, interesting case with one of the sweetest sick people I've ever met. I felt more confident getting vitals and talking to the patient this time. We heard what the doctors had to say to the patient and we sat in on the floor's daily conference with nurses, doctors, social workers, pharmacists, etc... (Yeah, seriously, they meet and talk this all out! Who knew?!?)

I'm feeling really good. Life is busy, but getting into a decent swing. We've got our slow cooker bubbling away with some chicken for tacos. We're hanging out on Saturday with no major to-dos. Hope you're feeling good too!

Winter Must-Do List

Before spring creeps up...

• Go ice skating -- B and I both have our own skates.
• Take several snow walks -- We like to venture out in the snow and work our legs with a walk. It's amazing how much work it is to walk through that fluffy stuff.
• Use the slow-cooker more.
• Drink more cocoa, tea, and coffee drinks.
• Use my new bathtub goodies from my sister-in-law (tonight!?!)
• Not drive my car during inclement weather at all. Hooray for the El train, buses and my own two feet!
• Eat more citrus since it's in season. I've got some clementines and a few grapefruit, but I should probably make lemon-y or lime-y dishes or drinks.
  
• Bake cookies, muffins, and a pie. Not all at once.
  
• Make some plans for spring break.
• Clean my closet!
  
• Stay at home all weekend (might be accomplishing this presently).

Happy winter!

Semester 2, Week 1 - done!

Since I'll be a nurse in less than a year, it seems very reasonable that things are getting a bit intense on the school front.

This semester I have just three classes, two with clinical components. I've got school 5 days a week, but my Friday afternoon class only meets in-person once more so I'll still have an early start to the weekend. My classes will definitely be tough, but since I'll be seeing patients and feeling more like an almost-nurse I'm feeling pretty confident:

• Community Health -- This class goes over school nursing, home healthcare nursing, healthcare law and lots more. We have a handy course packet and our professor is terrific. She's taught the course for years and since it's an extension from last semester's community class it's not all-new. The clinical component for Community is also wonderful. I'll be seeing a child with asthma at her home on the north side. We work in groups so I'll see another little one with asthma as well as an older man.
• Med-Surg/Adult Health -- This is a biggie. The lab component for Adult Health is on a real floor of a real hospital (Northwestern Memorial for me) with real patients. There's a lot of hard work ahead for this course, but it's the nitty-gritty of nursing and I'm excited for it. Plus there are about 40 little writing assignments -- hooray for a little thinking and writing!
• Pharmacology -- I should love this since my grandpa is a pharmacist! We learn about pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug interactions, all sorts of crazy chemistry, as it applies to patients. I've got to keep up with the readings, use the study guide and figure out some smart drug-learning techniques too. But I will get to learn why insulin has to stay in the fridge, so that's exciting.

This weekend B and I are hunkering down at home with public television food shows, home cooked food, studying, laundry and wine. Hey January, we've figured you out!

Clinicals = Excellent

My first day of clinicals was terrific!

I could hardly sleep the night before. I kept waking up thinking I might be forgetting something or sleeping past my alarm.

I finally stopped pretending to rest at about 4:30 a.m. I got dressed with longjohns under my scrubs, combed my hair into ponytail, packed my white shoes in my backpack along with my lunch, and felt ready to go.

I headed out the door, then realized it was raining. So I ran back upstairs for a plastic bag to put my shoes in, just in case.

I headed out again, got halfway down the block and realized I left my cell phone and my continuous glucose monitor on my beside table. I ran back for that stuff, and a hat, while I was at it.

I dashed (literally running more than halfway there) to the bus stop, hopped on and got to the hospital early enough to grab a coffee before things got underway.

The morning went quickly. A classmate and I shared a patient, who was very nice. I got an ID badge. I got to know my clinical instructor -- a neurosurgery advanced practice nurse. I ate lunch in the cafeteria. I learned the routine and the schedule, a little bit.

I've got an online hospital orientation, IV lab, classes aplenty, community health clinicals, a 9-page critical thinking worksheet to fill out, and some readings to pick up, but I've already knocked on my first patient door, introduced myself to my first patient, taken my first real set of vitals, taken my first listen to a stranger's lungs and heart, and did a good job at it. And that's big.

One day to go...

Tomorrow I start spring semester in a serious way. I'm meeting my clinical instructor at 6:30 a.m. at Northwestern Memorial and starting up my Adult Health clinical rotation for real. I'm very excited! I'll report back on it post-haste. Before school starts tomorrow my list includes:

• a grocery trip -- we need to do some serious stocking up!
• cleaning up some junk, including all remaining holiday decor.
• set up the printer -- check! Now I can print wirelessly.
  
• clean the bathroom
• order textbooks -- check! Thankfully this semester I only need to get two packages of textbooks (with study guides and whatnot) -- one is on its way from Amazon right now.
• rest!
• keep making plans for working out at school, bringing snacks to school, staying on top of my studies...
• clear my head. That might be the toughest thing on this list. Yikes.
  

LA, CA -- Beautiful! (And warm!)

California is beautiful. How beautiful, you ask?

Amazing! At every turn there is something decidedly beautiful and unavailable in Illinois:

Sunsets along the ocean!

Rolling hills!

Vineyards along rolling hills!

Vineyards!

Huge mountain/hills (involving switchbacks and a lot of might from a Ford Fiesta) with beautiful views, lakes, forests, farms, etc...)

On Monday Julie and I had a terrific journey to Santa Barbara wine country. We drove through some winding hills and amazing views. We sipped some decent wines. We ate some delicious sandwiches (at a cafe and homemade for a picnic). We listened to ridiculously wonderful Julie & Amanda music in the car.

Here I am at a lookout along the way home from Santa Barbara Wine Country. Below is a vineyard in January -- pretty sad. Don't worry though, they'll perk up and make some terrific grapes to make into terrific wine soon. These vines belong to Cambria, a Santa Barbara winery that's actually sold in stores nationally.

Tuesday Julie had to go back to work. I decided to go walking in Los Angeles. Besides a few wrong turns and confusing a golf course for a park because of Google Maps mis-labeling, I had a delightful walk. I walked up and down Larchmont Avenue where there are tons of shops and cafes. I walked through a fancy neighborhood and sat in a lovely park reading.

When Julie was done with work we drove to Griffith Park and took a beautiful vista-view hike. We had Korean noodle soup for dinner and went to bed early.

Here's Julie along our hike. The trail was pretty wide and easy, but we covered a lot of elevation (especially for Illinois-born people unaccustomed to hills and whatnot). Below is a view from the hike. City, smog, hills, sunset -- wow!

Wednesday we're up early and here at KPCC! Southern California Public Radio is pretty cool, even though Julie won't explain anything to me about how all this works though.

A Bowl of Roses and Fleas!

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena isn't too far from Julie's house and it's really close to her workplace. Despite my confusion about maps and directions, and the general confusion surrounding all these ridiculous freeways, we found the Rose Bowl, parked and paid our $8 to get in to the monthly flea market.

What do they sell at the Rose Bowl Flea Market? Everything. Seriously. New stuff, old stuff, really old stuff, newer old-looking stuff and weird stuff from around the world whose age I cannot determine. We considered buying embroidered pillowcases, beautiful glass bowls, a toilet-shaped plant pot (Julie shut it down - sad!), rusty keys, fancy old dresses, tiny speakers to be hooked up to iPhone, some cool succulent-type plant, ruffly aprons, giant shoes and creepily long scissors.

Julie and I saw maybe a third of the stands, but we go the idea of the place. It was incredible fun to look at all the odd items for sale, check out what people were buying, and barter for a few great things ourselves.

Julie bought a terrific green glass jar, which she plans to use to make either pickles or infused vodka. Yum! I got a few little Pyrex bowls and I almost got a juicer (not a machine, just a glass dish made for squeezing lemons) but the price was too high.

We got to sit inside the actual Rose Bowl stadium for a little while and the weather was perfect. Afterward we ate lunch in Pasadena and went to Trader Joe's for groceries. Now we are at Julie's California apartment in Koreatown considering some dinner-making, movie-watching and chit-chatting.

Here are some photos from our day:

Behind the glass boots are a bunch of cool cartoon character glasses for sale for $15 or more -- I swear we had several of these when I was a kid!

Julie considers some glassware -- near these fine pieces we also saw a set of glasses by the Florida Egg Commission which detailed what personality traits your egg-preference indicated. Sunny-side up mean you're happy and wise.

These are Buck Boxes, which as far as I can tell are just full of rusty junk. I took this photo for B!

Some roses in front of the Rose Bowl. The flea market surrounded the stadium. Even in January there were some beautiful roses around the grounds.

LA, CA - Day 1

After two very uneventful plane rides and quick change of clothes in an airport bathroom, I was sitting outside in flip-flops (and a little bundled up, but whatever).

Julie and I headed up the Pacific Coast highway to Malibu (where Barbie hails from). We ate a late lunch, then checked out some Malibu homes from the beach. We also stopped for a cocktail at a sushi restaurant where celebs have been spotted, but we didn't see anyone famous - totally OK. We also got a beer with a former DC-collegue of Julie's at a new brewery near train tracks. When the train honks and goes by everyone clinks glasses, that's a thing!

Today we are off to the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

It's definitely not warm-warm, but I can still get away with flip-flops. More importantly I'm having some wonderful far-away-from-everything time before 2012 gets busy.

A wonderful lake

It's just Lake Michigan - the Chicago side.

But it's just beautiful.

On cold days, warm days, stormy days, windy days, calm days, whatever. And it's completely unpredictable -- despite a sharp cold outside and a mild breeze the lake was calm and blue today. And there are sunny days when the lake looks mad as hell.

There are plenty of things I love about Loyola. Particularly that I'll be a nurse in a year, that I can get there by train or bus or foot or bike, and that it's a terrific school. But sitting in the library to study with Lake Michigan right out the walls of windows? It's just wonderful.

Thankfully living in Chicago means we've got lake paths to bike or walk down, Lake Shore Drive for the best drive ever, and plenty of fun to have along the shores of Lake Michigan.

I stopped by Loyola today and it's desolate there since hardly anyone is in class right now. The library was nearly silent and the lake reminded me that I can't wait to get back to classes. Even if it's just for the breaks when I can find a good seat and stare.

Exactly 16 days of break left...

Break started with (apparently) just enough time to get Christmas in order, then Christmas rolled quickly into the week-between of seeing friends and staying with family. Now it's January 2 -- I've got 16 days before I'm back in the swing of nursing school, complete with clinical rotations and pharmacology. Here's what I've got planned:

1. A trip to Los Angeles to see the wonderful Julie! I head west January 7-12 and I'm excited for some sunshine, some LA-wackiness, time with by BFF and new adventures.
   
2. Book-buying -- To be ahead of the game, I plan to get my book-buying -- or at least my plans -- in order. I'm also trying to sell at least a few of my old books. It only took me 31 years to realize that no one looks back at old textbooks, ever, for any reason. Except for Abnormal Psych, because it's helpful when diagnosing crazy people you meet.
3. A new bank -- B and I have chosen a local bank nearby to replace Citibank. Citibank sucks for many reasons and we are (finally) getting ourselves settled at a new bank so we can feel a little better about where our money sits. I also get to re-organize our online bill-paying stuff, so that will be nice.
   
4. Cooking -- While I'm hanging out I'll also get us stocked on some food. I'll make a big batch of granola, check out any long-lost goodies in the freezer, and maybe make some frozen items for easy reheating on busy nights.
   
5. Laundry -- Boring! I'll do all the big stuff like sheets, blankets, coats, etc...
   
6. Gym -- Not as part of some goofy resolution, I just want to get myself to the gym more frequently. I'm actually quitting the neighborhood gym in favor of the gym at school where I'll do some between-class swimming this winter.
7. Toss old junk
   
8. Drink coffee
9. Get a massage (an awesome friend got me a massage as a gift -- my first ever!)
10. Send thank you notes
    
11. Use my slow cooker for something awesome
12. Revise our recycling setup
13. Throw away some containers -- I'm fearful that they'll attack us in the night -- there are so many of them.
14. Keep reading all my library books
15. Take down Christmas decorations (sad!)
    
16. Work on my blog!
    

2012 - Let's Go!

Somehow it's 2012! Happy New Year!

We're happy to welcome the new year with a few days of laziness at home. This year is going to be an exciting one -- we need to rest up:

• This year I will finish nursing school! Less than 360 days until I'm done! I'll have clinicals all year -- first at Northwestern for adult health and also all over Chicagoland for community health.
• On May 26 I'm going to run 10 miles. I signed up for the Soldier Field 10 Miler. I've already started my "training" with some jogs around Winnemac Park. I'm excited for the race as a motivation for me and to get running back into my routine. It'll be a nice break from schoolwork. B wants to do a few 5K runs in the spring too -- awesome!
• I'm reading more this year. After a pretty terrific run at the library I've got a nice stack of books for the rest of break. And I've realized that no matter how busy life gets, it's heavenly to go to bed with a book.
  
• As usual I get to start fresh with a new Moleskine planner -- no matter how much technology we've got, I love having things organized on paper. And my planner is good place to put stickers, notes and other goodies.
  
• B and I plan to keep up our excellent eating! B's been loving Brussels Sprouts and I'm committed to doing something interesting with cauliflower this month. Maybe something interesting every month with a new veggie. Who knows.

And now, I'll get back to my relaxing -- I've got a David Baldacci, Law & Order on Netflix Watch Instantly, an awesome husband and a glass of chardonnay! Happy 2012, friends!