Tryon State Park, getting reeeallly sick of rice + a mind wipe machine

Wednesday morning I woke up not feeling like the walking dead! After some more delicious rice cereal (oh boy!) and some reading, I felt a strong urge to get out of the house. I put on my waterproof boots, put Santo’s collar on, and we were off to Tryon State Park!

One of my absolute favorite things about the city of Portland are the densely wooded areas right in the middle of the city. At Tryon you really do feel like you’re lost in the woods..and it’s only a 20 minute drive from my house! I have a feeling Santo and I will be returning there quite often. He could not believe all the smells there were to smell.

“Mom didn’t let me eat the mushrooms. She sux.” -Santo

Wednesday afternoon I took Stevie to gymnastics and Kai and I hung out and played legos. Their parents told them they’d take them to see the “My Little Ponies” movie that night if they behaved…so they were extra sweet and easygoing. I see how parenting works…bribery. 😛

Thursday morning was another volunteer shift at OHSU! I really need to download an audiobook again for my commute there. Even though it’s not super far, I have to leave at rush hour and especially with this rain…it’s been taking me over an hour to get there. I met one sassy little boy who was so hilarious. Right when I walked into the room to check on him he said, “I’ve been waiting for you for so long!” He was also very disgruntled that I couldn’t be with him Wednesday evening when he got “poked” (his shot). I didn’t think reasoning with him (I just met you five minutes ago, I am not here on Wednesdays!) would cut it, so I brought him a bunch of PlayDoh and we rolled snakes. Then he wasn’t so mad at me 😉

(howtobeadad.com)

Nannying yesterday afternoon was really fun! I helped the boys get all their homework done, we did some reading, built some legos, and then we played outside. Well…until the downpour came along. We got soaked and pretty chilly, so we ran back inside and I made the boys some hot chocolate and we all snuggled up under blankets to watch a show.

Elimination Diet Update

David made the most delicious meal on Wednesday night! Ginger and garlic crusted tilapia, butternut spaghetti squash, green beans, and baked sweet potato fries. My taste buds were in heaaaaaven screaming “omg flavor!!! what is this!!!”

However…after that my game has declined rapidly. Last night when I got home from work I just fried up a tilapia filet in nothing and ate it by itself. Then I ate some dry, plain rice cereal. Currently munching on dates and rice cakes for breakfast. I desperately need to go shopping..I feel like I’m force-feeding myself at this point. But today is day 5! I feel like once I get through the first week, the rest will be easy. 🙂

My sister is here!! And my besties Phoebe and Steph arrive this evening. Looking forward to an amazing weekend with my girls!

Even though I’m not drinking ;). TGIF!!! Have a great day!!!

Ice pack of death…

David took Santo out for his walk on Wednesday, and he attempted to improve Santo’s mood by putting his rain poncho on. I bought this for him at Target and I think it’s SO adorable and I love it so much. Santo and David share a dissenting opinion.

“Curse you.” -Santo

On Wednesday night we finally had our date night! Our friends from Missoula sent us a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory and to the movies, and we are splitting these into two separate dates this week.

Much photography skills. Wow.We had the crab dip, gumbo, veggie burger, and Red Velvet cheesecake between the two of us. David brought home half of his gumbo, I brought home half of my burger and we only polished off about a quarter of the cheesecake haha. Their serving sizes are no joke!

Thursday morning I finally got to return to OHSU to volunteer again! Thankfully, I did not slice my finger off right before I needed to leave. I had a physical therapy appointment beforehand so I had no knife-wielding time. I’m absolutely loving it there. If you’ve ever wanted to volunteer, I can’t stress it enough! Find anything you like and I guarantee there’s an area where your help is needed. I’ve been volunteering every week for years now and nothing gets me out of a funk faster than realizing I can still be helpful even when I’m not feeling my best, and nothing enhances my mood more when I’m already feeling good!

Plus, I mean, I get to wear that chic blue polo. Blue polos are so hot right now. The woman I volunteer with is so amazing! She remembered that it was my birthday last Friday even though I’d only met her once, and she brought me a card! She also knows the names of everyone on our floor and it inspires me to pay extra close attention to the people who surround me.

The four hours of volunteering absolutely flew by, and my stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten anything since 5am! I drove to a Starbucks that’s between OHSU and the house where I nanny to get some grub and read for a while.

The last paragraph on that page struck me so much that I had to take a picture. I feel it perfectly sums up for me the balance I am trying to maintain between my desire for a family and to be a physician. I love it when an author can take a vague feeling you’ve had for years and sum it up in just a few sentences. You read it and just think yes. 

Nannying went wonderfully, Kai was feeling really well yesterday so we played superheroes while Stevie had another playdate.

When I finally got home (I was out and about for over 12 hours yesterday) I sat down on the couch to enjoy a Black Butte porter and watch an episode of “The Killing”, the new show I started on Netflix! I also grabbed an ice pack for my leg and Santo settled in next to me. He was sniffing the blanket that was sitting on top of my ice pack, so I picked it up and held it close to him so he could get a good look. He leaned in to sniff it, and the instant his nose touched the frozen surface he bolted from the couch and started cowering on his bed like I’d hit him or something!

He refused to come back up on the couch for the rest of the night, and once he was done cowering he just shot me dirty looks for hours. HE IS THE WEIRDEST. I slept in his bed last night (yes he has his own queen-sized bed) and we got 8 hours of snuggle time in so I think he forgives me today. My goodness.

I just got home from CNA-ing this morning, and now I’m typing this while I eat lunch before I head out to nanny! David and I are going to a movie tonight, date night part two!! Also, be on the lookout for a “cook-up” how-to this weekend on the blog, I need to do a bunch of food prep so we can have healthy options around all next week. Have a great Friday!!

 

 

Labor Day Weekend

Happy Tuesday to you all! I hope you had a wonderful three-day weekend, or for those of us that had to work on some of the days..a wonderful regular weekend! hah.

On Friday morning I had my first day as a volunteer at OHSU. I’ll be spending four hours a week in the pediatric oncology/hematology unit playing with the kids, cleaning toys, giving parents a break, or anything I can do to be helpful. It was an unpleasant shock to me to see kids that sick. Kids stuck in bed, not able to run around or play, with tubes in their arms and noses, some too weak too even roll over. I had to keep myself from tearing up a few times..the last thing they need is some stranger reminding the families that they’re in a sad situation. It’s probably not something I’ll ever get “used to” but I will know how to handle myself.

After I’d finished up at the hospital, I drove work as a CNA. I was in a new unit, assisted living, and it was a pretty crazy night! We had a resident take a bad fall and paramedics were called in. I was one of the people who found her. The entire day Friday really helped put my own “problems” into perspective.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early, at work again! Since I didn’t nanny last week I signed up for a bunch of extra CNA shifts.

The face of someone who worked until 12am and then had to be up by 5 am to make it BACK to work. Which was totally my own, dumb decision. Black circles are so sexayyy. After my shift I returned to OHSU for an 8 hour day of volunteering. I needed to get in 8 more hours of partner volunteering before my first solo shift on Thursday, so I wanted to get it out of the way. I changed into my polo in my car, ate a Starbucks salad, and hit the floor!

That night when I got home I was absolutely exhausted. 14 hours of being on my feet, moving residents, playing with kids (which I LOVED don’t get me wrong), and walking over 20,000 steps. I was bone-tired and my back was murderously painful. I was supposed to work again Sunday morning but I knew I needed to give my body a chance to calm down otherwise I’d be laid up for weeks. I slept long and hard Saturday night.

Turned out to be a good thing I did, because on Sunday I randomly caught a bug! I must have picked up some weird thing while being at the hospital, and I couldn’t keep any food down from noon until around 7pm. Fun fun fun. David came home from work and we decided to stick with our plans of heading to the beach anyway. I was starting to feel slightly better and able to keep stuff down, so we packed up the car and headed out!

Our friends Rachel and Harrison live in an adorable beachside neighborhood and we LOVE to go visit them. Two of our other friends were there and we loved catching up! It’s crazy how many of our friends from Montana are in Oregon with us now! #NoNewFriends. Friday night we went to a tap room called “The Black Squid”. They had board games, all sorts of drinks and snacks, a cool atmosphere, and great music. I had two pints of Kombucha and left looking like I was 6 months pregnant. THERE YOU GO SILLY STOMACH CALM DOWN OK GEEZE.

Monday, after a light breakfast, we headed to the beach.

heh. heh. Santo was PUMPED.

We relaxed, played with the dogs, played Polish horseshoes, and visited. There’s something so calming and wonderful about being next to the ocean.

We had to pack up and leave around 2pm. We thought we had a potluck to get to but halfway through the drive we realized the potluck was NEXT weekend. Oops! I had even baked a cake on Saturday….more for us I suppose!! We relaxed at home and the, per my mom’s suggestion, started the show Broadchurch.

(3rd-strike.com)

OH. MY. LANTA. You guys, we finished the first season. We were up until 2am. I NEVER DO THAT. Seriously…never. No matter how good the show is I always get tired after two or three episodes. With this show it wasn’t even an option. One episode would end and we’d just look at each other and click “next episode”. We couldn’t stop.

There’s two more seasons but I don’t think we should start the second one tonight…I really need to be up before 10am tomorrow!!

Today I am picking up the boys’ after their first day of school!! I can’t wait to hear all about it!! Happy Tuesday!!