Monday, June 27, 2011

Clean Up Day

Still not feeling too stellar today, but I was trying to smile through the day... even if it did mean a pit stop at MedExpress on my way home after getting off work at 7.

There was at least one moment today though when I really had to fight back a laugh.  I'm starting to think I should start keeping a record of all the hysterical things my kiddos say at work.

Kiddo: It's clean-up day.
Me: Oh, do you have to clean up all your toys and room and things today?
Kiddo: No, I have to clean up my act.

That kiddo is only maybe all of 5 years old.  I was dying of laughter on the inside.  Those parents also win my unofficial "Parents of the Day" award for creativity!

Medication- check
Bowl of soup- check
Chocolate milk- check
Bed and Lights out... on my way!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Cookies fix everything

Let's just be honest and get this out of the way: I had a really stinky Friday.  I feel like I'm coming down with "something" and just nothing was working in my favor today.  When I got to my car after work I kind of just wanted to sit there and cry in the clinic parking lot.  Instead of crying though, I called the hubs who agreed to pick up dinner on his way home.  I was home in my sweats and eating dinner on the couch as fast as I could manage.  I haven't left the couch yet and not sure that I have any intention of ever doing so.  Especially after eating that raspberry cheesecake cookie; my hubs knows just how to make me smile after a rough day- hugs and cookies! 

With that out of the way, and today considered over as far as I'm concerned... let's think happier thoughts.

Since my camera battery died shortly after arriving in National Harbor a couple weeks ago, I was anxiously waiting for someone to post pictures of the foundation gala dinner.  Aha, they're slowly appearing!  Thanks Lauren.

Enjoy your weekends readers.  I'll be spending mine working and studying but pretending neither work nor studying actually exist...

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

It ain't always Pretty

The hubs is in the home stretch of his Biggest Loser style weight loss challenge, and he's pushing hard to the end.  Even if I wasn't ridiculously biased, I'd still say he's kicking some major booty when it comes to the competition.  Aside from just aiming for first place though, our household is majorly benefiting from his hard work.  We've got fruits and veggies coming out of our ears, and I've felt major peer pressure lately to get a daily work out in, even when I don't feel like it.

I've ventured into the world of P90X workouts recently.  Let's just clarify upfront that I am in no way actually doing the real 90 day deal, and I have no interest in the nutrition plan or whatever it is they try to sell at the end of the workout.  I like a lot of the workouts though, and they keep me focused for a solid hour so I pick and choose when I'm looking for something different.

Last night I got home a little late and didn't have much time before I needed to get to sleep, so I reached for the AbRipperX workout, which is only maybe 16ish minutes.  Um, and despite having what I think is pretty decent core strength, I struggled to achieve or maintain a lot of the positions, let alone actually getting reps in that position.  Maybe I'll give it a second try, but my thoughts now are that I can put together a better core workout on my own.  All I got from AbRipper was red cheeks and a bad hairdo.
 My goal today was easy enough- have a better workout.  Step 1?  Eat a cookie.  Which is more impressive, the fact that I managed to self-portrait w/ my Iphone while my camera is taking residence elsewhere or the fact that it's June and I still have half the Girl Scout cookies that I bought?
I tried KenpoX for the first time tonight, and I actually kind of loved it.  I was able to do everything and even able to complete most reps.  I had my heart rate up, and I was definitely breaking a sweat.  I see myself coming back to this one often when I'm bored.  Bonus, I now know how to throw a jab-uppercut-backkick-punch-supercalafragalisticexpialadocious
Be afraid, I would be.

More importantly though, I felt FANTASTIC after my workout.  I didn't look pretty (and probably didn't smell it either) but I sure felt great, and that is what matters!






Anyone else still hoarding Girl Scout cookies?  By making it to June I think I've beat any previous record by at least 3 months.  Oh Samoas, how I love thee.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Monday Favorites

Friday Favorites sure is a catchy name, but really, Friday is already special enough.  Friday, stop being so selfish.  Share some of your awesomeness with Mondays.  Mondays are so hated; they really need some love.  Now presenting Monday Favorites, until I forget about it next week.

1. Sleeping In: Alright, so I understand I may be alone on this one, but I get to sleep in a little on Monday mornings.  Don't worry though, I make up for it by being at work until 7pm every Monday night.  The good news is that traffic is pretty darn light by 7pm, and I can still make it home in time for......

2. The Bachelorette: I;m actually not all that into television.  I can always think of a list of 10 other more productive things I could be doing besides sitting in front of the TV.  The Bachelor/Bachelorette though, they are my weakness.  I can't get enough, even if I spend half the show yelling at these silly boys for being such jerks!

3. The Chocolate Drawer: In the clinic where I am interning, there is a chocolate drawer.  I don't eat much chocolate, but when I do crave it, I need it immediately!  Enter, the chocolate drawer.  I'm in love.  My current fave is Dove chocolate covered caramels.  Partially because they are so very delicious, and partially because they come packaged with happy little sayings.  Today's, it made me smile a big cheesy smile; hopefully no one was looking or I may soon be referred to as the creepy intern instead of the awesomest one.  No mind that I'm also the only one.
...and no I can't figure out how to turn that the right way!

4. My Patients: Not to be confused with my patience, my pint-sized patients make me smile on a daily basis.  I was working with a 4 year old little boy this morning whom I hadn't met before.  I had my hand on his knee while we worked on some seated strengthening exercises when he whispered, "Hey, this looks like a train!"  The "this" he was referring to?  My engagement ring.
 Ring = Train.  Creativity points to the kiddo.  Then he told me he liked my necklace because it had so many pretty colors.  Holy Moly do I love my kiddos.  I dare you to spend a day with them and not smile.

5. Looking Back: One of my favorite parts of Mondays is spending time daydreaming about the weekend past.  It's too soon to look ahead to the coming weekend, but it's nice to think back about the fun already had.  This past weekend's highlight?  Taylor Swift at Heinz Field with my 2 "baby" sisters and a few other lovely ladies.  Caution: You may be blinded if you look any lower than the hem of my shorts.  They are either glowing with some white radioactive material, or my sisters and cousins are just spending way too much time laying by the pool! (Thanks Amanda for the picture I stole from you without asking)

And there you have it, Happy Monday!

Man up Cupcake

I was really close to finally starting my studying for the big, ominous Comprehensive Exam I have coming up next week.  No matter that every classmate I've talked to actually started studying weeks ago.  I'm really unsuccessful at doing things I don't want to do; I'm stubborn.  Studying will be on that "don't want to-do-list" everytime.  So it seemed the perfect time to pop back in for a post!

In case anyone was wondering, it was NYC that I woke up in on Saturday morning.  Ok, ok, so it was really Jersey City, NJ because the Plaza was all booked (I wish), but we were on the Path and in NYC as soon as we were out of bed!

We spent the weekend walking miles upon miles to burn off the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding (heaven in a cardboard container FYI) and Crumbs Cupcakes.
We finished off the weekend with the original reason for this trip... for me to see, in concert, the heart-throb crushes of the first grade version of me.  Yes, my husband is really so awesome that he manned up and took me to see NKOTB.
While we were in NYC, we also checked out Times Square.
Explored Little Italy, which I looooved!

 And of course, ate more cupcakes.  Fuel, cupcakes are obviously the best kind.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Fast train to 1st Place

Attempting to post from my phone for the first time, and doing so while crossing the Chesapeake on a train nonetheless. I am actually just making assumptions about the Chesapeake; all I really know is that I am somewhere between Baltimore and Philadelphia, and if I miss one of the million of spelling errors I'm making, it's all the train's fault. Though it may make for a more interesting post if I left all the errors.

So how did I end up on a train anyways? Remember the big Pitt Marquette Challenge I posted about a few months ago? Well the winners were notified in May, and all the awardees were celebrated at APTA national convention in National Harbor yesterday. It was with great joy, excitement, and relief that we proudly walked across the stage at the awards ceremony to shake hands with the Physical Therapy Foundation president as we were announced as the first place school. As co-coordinators of this year's challenge (the challenge each year is named for and co-coordinated by the previous year's winner), we shared in speaking duties. I eagerly volunteered to speak, but I may have died a little inside when I came around th curtain at the ceremony and saw how many hundreds? Thousands? Of people were there. Eek. Not so much as a stutter though, and I made it on and off various stages in a strapless dress and some crazy heels with no mishaps; that's a win in my book!


We were there to have fun and celebrate though, so that we did. The real fun comes after the awards ceremony, at the gala dinner and dance. All the top winners are again recognized, but more importantly, the super secret totals are announced. Unfortunately, I forget the exact amount, but the total for this year's challenge was somewhere around $265,000! That brings the all time total to over $2 million dollars raised for the foundation by PT and PTA students. That's a phenomenal number coming from the work of students!

From Pitt's end of things, we took place with a total $56,800! That's a jump of nearly $17k from our winning total from lay year and a greatreflection of the tremendous amount of work we put in. That was a lot of late nights, and super early weekend mornings to get us ther, and I couldn't be more proud of my team of classmates and our accomplishments.

Now back to the gala. Starting last year, the foundation also began awarding a trophy cup to the first place team, awarded to each year's winner and engraved with the winning school's name. The cup had taken up residence at Pitt for the last year, and while we had to send it back to have the new winner engraved, we were happy to have it back with us last night!

The cup, imagine it as the Stanley Cup's itty bitty baby brother. When you have a cup though, the only obvious thing to do with it is, fill it with something to drink, dance with it over your head, and take lots of pictures. Pictures to come soon!

It should also be said that there was some fun smack talking coming in our direection at last year's gala, and I'll be honest guys, we were a little nervous. The night honored a great number of other schools that put out a phenomenal effort, an impressive 62 schools in all participated! A big congratulations as well to Sacred Heart University and Emory, who took home 2 nd and 3rd place respectively. And good luck to University of DelawAre I believe it was who couldn't keep their eyes off the cup and swear they will be chasing down the legacy next year.

For more information about the Pitt-Marquette Challenge:
Visit Pitt's site at www.pittmarquettechallenge.com

I promise more links and lots of fun pics when I get home!

Not on my way home though- who wants to guess where I am waking up tomorrow?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I love my (almost) job

Yesterday I had a 5 year old take me across a rickety bridge, climb up and jump off a mountain of rocks, leap over the mysterious hole, jump into a pile of green leaves, and climb the spooky mountain.  We also used a plastic phone as a flashlight because it's obviously dark on the spooky mountain.  We also squirted one another with Monster Potion to keep the spooky mountain monsters away, but we grabbed the wrong bottle and accidentally turned ourselves into "butterfly monsters".  Being a monster makes you hungry so we also ate imaginary Raisin Bran out of a cone with a plastic fork while standing on one foot, because that's the only way to eat cereal.

Today, I started the day with crawling around on the ground with a 1 year old for half an hour, and followed that by singing the Alphabet Song approximately 25 times.  Then, my new favorite kiddo brought me a grape slushie from Sonic, which was so very appreciated after spending a half hour running, galloping, and climbing a giant pirate ship with him outside.  (And don't worry, my favoritism is based solely on how many frozen drinks I receive and how cute their tag-a-long baby brothers are.)   Then I wrapped up my Wednesday in the same way I always do, in a 92 degree pool, having push-contests with a 7 year-old boy and talking like a horse.

I also received my first stipend check in my account today.  I almost forgot that they're actually paying me to do this.  And to think they'll pay me even more when I have a degree and a license next year!