meet johnny

I know, I have been absent, but for a good reason. I’ve been spending a lot of my free time with the wonderful man I’m dating. And now that things are official, I think it’s time that you meet him.

This is Johnny and I.

And here are all the juicy details. Yeah, right. Like I’m going to tell you all the juicy details:) We met back during the holidays when our mutual friend Robert introduced us. The three of us went out a couple of times and watched LOST together every week. And about a month ago, Johnny and I started dating. I can’t exactly explain how it happened because I don’t really understand exactly how it happened. It just did:) We went to see He’s Just Not That Into You on our first “date” (though neither of us were 100% sure it was a date). But we both agree that it was Casino Night (the next night) when we knew this was going to be something.  That’s right, Casino Night. Think “The Office.” It was just like that. Only without all the awkward moments.  (My neighborhood had a Casino Night at the community center to raise money for the Neighborhood Association).

Here we are at Casino Night

And we haven’t stopped having fun since! Here are just a few of the amazing dates that we’ve been on (all planned by Johnny- he spoils me rotton):

-El Torito and playing pool at Jillians (I stink but he’s an excellent teacher)

-Brunch at Petit Chou and a 3D movie at the IMAX (Under the Sea 3D- you MUST go see this. It is sooo fun!)

-Dinner at a great little Italian place, Mama Carollas  and meeting his sister and brother-in-law

Johnny has jokingly dubbed this week  the “Tour de Parents.” I met his sister and brother-in-law this past Saturday, we had lunch with my parents on Sunday, last night I met his mother, cousin, niece, nephew, and brother-in-law’s mother! And this weekend we’re going to Chicago where I’ll meet his dad (and everyone else will be there too). Definitely look for pictures of that coming soon!

So I think you can probably tell that I’m pretty happy really happy. And I hope you haven’g gagged yet. Now you know where I’ve been lately:)

*The content of this blog has been approved by Johnny:)

Happy Birthday, Mr. Woodward

Chase in the LCHC hoola-hoop contest

Today is my friend Chase’s birthday, and since blogs have played an important role in our friendship, I thought it would be appropriate to wish him a happy birthday here. Chase and I met during our time at Lawndale Christian Health Center in Chicago. We were summer health interns there during the summer of 2007. I wrote about our time here. We only spent a month at Lawndale, but while we were there, I convinced Chase to start a blog, and we’ve been keeping in touch ever since. Another testament to the coolness of blogging.

So Happy Birthday, Chase “The Wire” Woodward. You’re one of the good ones.

The LSMP gang minus Jess

allow me to introduce you

www.toothpastefordinner.com

As many of you know, I love blogs. I would definitely consider it a hobby, and probably one of my favorite ones right behind cycling. This doesn’t just include writing on my blog, it also means reading other blogs. Some belonging to people I know, some belonging to people I kind of know, and some belonging to people I have never met.

Today I would like to introduce you to two of my favorite blog things. Ok, maybe three.

1. Google Reader

Google Reader is great if you like to read many blogs on a regular basis. You need a Google email account (Gmail) which  you can get at Google.com. Once you’re signed in, there’s a thing at the top which says “Reader.” You can “subscribe” to blogs and then when someone posts something new, it automatically adds it to your reader. So instead of actually checking blogs to see if there was anything new, Google Reader puts all the new blogs in one place for easy reading. Check it out if you haven’t already.

2. Pioneer Woman

I think I may have mentioned her in a previous post. She has a very popular, very elaborate blog which is actually several blogs in one. One about cooking, one about photography, one about home and garden, one about homeschooling, and one just about her everyday life on a cattle ranch. She’s married to a hot cowboy whom she calls Marlboro Man and she periodically posts new chapters in their incredibly romantic story. Warning: This blog is highly addictive and may make you want to be a pioneer woman yourself.

3. Post Secret

If you live under a rock and don’t know about Post Secret, you must check it out. People send in postcards which they have decorated with their secrets and then the guy who runs the site picks some to post every week. It helps people to see they’re not alone in their secrets. It’s eerily cathartic.

Happy Blogging:)

a long long time coming

Have you ever gotten everything you ever wanted? Me neither, but a week ago last Friday I got some news that came close. After two years of being rejected from medical schools, I got my first acceptance!

It isn’t everything I ever wanted. I wanted to go to IU. I think this is the time to pull out one of my favorite quotes. I saw Dana Buchman, a fashion designer on Oprah about a year ago. She was talking about putting her career on the back burner to spend more time with her child with learning disabilities when she said this: “You can have it all, but the it may not be what you think it is.” I don’t know if Dana was speaking from a place of faith, but I am. I thought that having it all was going to IU Med School right after graduating college. Now I can see how the timing of the past few years has been perfect. I got a masters degree, lived with my best friend, and learned a lot about myself.

Now the knitty gritty: The school I was accepted at is Lincoln Memorial University Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, Tennessee. I also have interviews in Arizona and Missouri and expect to get a couple more. So I don’t know for sure that I’m going to Tennessee, but I know I’m going somewhere! Which is a little bittersweet- I’m excited to be going to medical school, but sad to be leaving Indianapolis.

Here are some facts/my thoughts about Lincoln Memorial:

1. It’s an osteopathic medical school. Check this out if you’re interested in what that means. But basically, I’d have a DO after my name instead of an MD. DOs can do absolutely everything that MDs can do, it’s just a different type of school with a different philosophy- more wholistic.

2. This school is brand new. I would be a member of their third class. This has pros and cons. Since the school is new, they want to graduate successful students to demonstrate that their school is a good one. They will do whatever it takes to make sure their students succeed. It also has all the latest technology: 4 simulator dummies, very nice clinic areas, an incredible lecture hall with push to talk microphones at every seat, and tablet laptops for all students.

3. Harrogate, Tennessee is a very small town. It’s right by Cumberland Gap and the Cumberland Gap National Park. Lots of opportunities for great riding! But it’s in the middle of nowhere. No sushi. No Starbucks. No Target. There is, of course, a Walmart. The school is literally nestled in the mountains. It’s the building in the middle of the aerial picture below with the undergrad campus behind it.

 

Obviously the area is beautiful. I think I would be happy there.

what a morning

5:15 My alarm goes off and I am sad because I think I was having a nice dream. And because I had only been in bed for 5.5 hours.

5:30 I put on my boots and leave my house for spin class a little earlier than normal because I need to take an alternate route to the YMCA due to the lack of snow plowing in my neighborhood.

5:31 I see that our street has been plowed! Guess I don’t need those boots after all.

5:32 I curse because I realize that my car is plowed in. And I go get the shovel…

5:34 I curse again because the show is all hard and packed up against the side of my car. I’m so glad I wore my boots.

5:40 After minimal shoveling I decide to try and gun it out of my parking space. I do not want to be late for spin. I hate being late.

5:41 Stuck. Half way in the middle of the street. Get out to start shoveling some more.

5:45 Truck is coming down the street and I wonder if they can get past me.

5:45 He can’t get past me so he helps me get my car out. This is the second time in two days that a nice man has helped me get unstuck. Thank you.

5:50 I’m on my way to spin. Maybe I’ll make it after all.

5:56 I arrive at the YMCA and recount this story to my friends in the class.

5:58 I curse again when I realize that my smart plan of wearing my boots has been foiled. I left my shoes at home. I cannot spin in boots.

5:59 I throw a towel on my bike to save my place and run back to my car. I am going home to get the stupid shoes. I did not go through all of this to not go to spin class.

6:00- 6:15 I speed through several very yellow lights. Park in the middle of the street in front of my house. Run upstairs and get my shoes. Speed back to the YMCA, up the stairs, change my shoes, and get on the bike. The class claps for me. My heart rate monitor is going crazy.

6:15-7:00 Spin class. Man that felt good.

7:00-7:45 Get ready at the Y

7:45-8:00 Uneventful drive to work.

8:00 Clock in and decide that even though I’m supposed to be good, I need cheesy potatoes and sausage with syrup for breakfast. I so deserve it. I go to the cafeteria.

8:15 Yum.

8:16 I realize that I don’t mind having such a crappy morning if it provides justification for cheesy potatoes.

*Credit must be given to my friend Brian Doyle for this blog post format. I know other people have done it. But I’m giving credit to him.

25 Random Things About Me

I did this for Facebook but I thought it might be a good way to jump start my blogging again. Even if you’ve read it- there are some special “blog only” facts at the bottom. And some links back to previous blogs and websites explaining these random facts

1. If you want to be my best friend, scratch my back or play with my hair
2. But I actually don’t like to be touched by people I don’t know that well
3. I speak Spanish pretty well thanks to my friends in Mexico whom I miss dearly every day.
4. I’ve wanted to be a physician (OBGYN) for as long as I can remember. There’s even a paper from when I was little where we were supposed to fill in what we wanted to be when I grew up and I wrote “obstitrition” or some other horrible spelling of obstetrician. Spelling was never my strong suit.
5. In fact, in elementary school, the only C I got was in 5th grade spelling. It was devastating. If only I could have forseen Physics and Organic Chem…
6. I have a tattoo of angel wings on the top of by left buttock
7. My favorite piece of clothing I own is my brown eskimo coat. It cost $20 on clearance at Target.
8. I went to a conservative Christian university and became a Democrat:)
9. If I were choosing another profession, I would be a high school English teacher
10. On that note- I hate it when people use the wrong form of your/you’re, there/they’re/their, too, to, two, ect.
11. I have a phobia of team sports. I’m afraid to let other people down. I like cycling:)
12. I have never particularly wanted children, but maybe someday I’ll be like Rana and want them when I find the right man.
13. I have a hard time falling asleep without socks on. Even if it’s 80 degrees outside. And I still sleep with my teddy bear.
14. I love reading the blogs of people I don’t even know.
15. I LOVE LOVE LOVE television.
16. I love small things. Small versions of things. Like fold-up bags or little boxes or litte people and animals
17. Someday when I have money I want to own lots of art.
18. I was in showchoir in high school. It was drama but I loved it. I’d be happy to show you my DVDs anytime:)
19. When I was in 4th grade I won honorable mention in a “Say No to Drugs” poster contest and got to go to the City Council Building for a ceremony. It was probably my proudest moment up to that point.
20. My proudest moment at this point is that I did the Hilly Hundred last fall.
21. I am fascinated by birth-order psychology
22. I love it when it’s about 60 degrees outside
23. I did an undergraduate thesis presentation on “Post Hysterectomy Sexual Functioning” at Indiana Wesleyan University. In the program they replaced “sexual” with “secual.” Accident?
24. My favorite flowers are peonies.
25. When I was 3 or 4, I didn’t want to go inside to go pee, so I just went outside. But the neighbor saw me and called my mom and I couldn’t watch Scoobie Doo. I think that’s a good note to end on.

Special Blog Facts

26. I am buying a new car. I’m thinking about a Kia Sportage!

27. I interviewed at a med school in Tennessee last week. You’ll hear more about that if I get accepted:)

28. I’m starting a new craft project/hobby that I’m really excited about. More about that to come as well.

29. Stay tuned for my next post about how I have a crush on the guy that works at the drive-in at McDonalds!

puppies!

After such a long time of no posting, this isn’t that exciting of a comeback. But I find it thouroughly enjoyable.

Check out this website. It is a live streaming video of these puppies! Maybe you won’t have this problem, but I am addicted! It’s like having puppies at your desk all day long!

fall makes me really happy

This is right in front of my house.

I love driving down my street:)

I also love driving to work when it’s already light outside.

changing the world one cup at a time

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Starbucks is giving away free coffee tomorrow if you tell them you voted! From what I know, Starbucks seems like a really great company and I think it’s cool that they’re encouraging people to vote.

Check out this commercial. It almost made me cry. Not really. But I am gonna get free coffee after I vote tomorrow morning!

Thanks to my friend Josh for sending me the link to this commercial:)

Go Obama!

one of the other best moments of my life

I have been riding since May or June and I purchased my beauty (my road bike) in July. I started out riding the tandem bike with my dad, and then when I was convinced that I wanted to stick with it, I took the huge step of buying my beautiful bike (almost paid for!). So I guess I’ve been riding for about 6 months now. Back at the beginning of September (but ashamedly only a few posts back), my parents and I did a ride in Kentucky that was 50 miles on Saturday and 50 on Sunday. I wasn’t really as prepared for that ride as I would have hoped. There are just no hills in Indianapolis so it’s hard to prepare for a ride full of them. Despite my discouragement from this ride, after much self-convincing, I decided to do the Hilly Hundred. The Hilly Hundred is the same format as the first ride, only with more (and harder) hills. Since the first ride, I’ve been going to a spin class at the YMCA 3 mornings a week (equals about 50 miles a week). This is a big deal for me to have stuck with this. Spinning is great hill training since you are on a stationary bike where you increase the resistance.

So I knew I was more prepared for the Hilly than for the first ride, but I was still unsure as I set out on the first morning. Could have been the temperatures in the upper 30s too. The big thing in these hilly rides is- can you ride up the hills or do you have to get off your bike and walk? If you remember, I walked several hills both days on the first ride. On the first day of the Hilly, I walked part of one of the first hills, but after that I didn’t walk anymore. I got better as the day went on (I think I got more confident). And on the second day I only walked one hill, Mt. Tabor, the hardest hill of the whole ride.

I had some great riding budies with me too. My friend Kate and I rode together the first day, and I tried to keep up with Shane and his crew on Sunday. Mostly that meant riding with his dad, Marty, who was riding at a slightly slower pace and was nice enough to watch out for me.

So all in all, I was really proud of myself. No asthma incidents (look for an upcoming post on my feelings about having asthma). Minimal walking. And a goal for next year (Mt. Tabor). I’m just gonna keep on spinning!


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