Happenings.

Long time, no blog.  I'm starting to wonder if anyone really reads this thing anymore!  School and clinic are keeping me super busy, which leaves little time for fun activities that would be in any way blog-worthy.  Sorry friends.  I will share with you what my dining room table looks like these days:

I spend quite a bit of time in this spot.  The good news is that out of my first round of tests, three of the four are finished.  Huzzah!

I did see some sunlight today, however, to go to Malak's birthday party!  He turns one this coming week! And he's super freakin cute, no?

Silas T. was there too, wearing one of Malak's presents...

Malak, of course was very busy, what with the birthday phone calls and many visitors to greet:

See what I mean?  Malak held court while he opened presents.

And then came the cake.  I would say yum - but it was so healthy (sweetened with apple juice!), I don't really know that it was yummy.  But the birthday boy liked it, so who cares?

So, a fun morning indeed.  In other news, I got my assignment for my second rotation and I'm super jazzed about it because I got exactly what I asked for - I'll get to work at a preschool for kids with cochlear implants.  Muy exiciting!

Today I put my hair in a ponytail to go to the gym, and the hair that's growing from my surgery is now long enough that it sticks up through and is really ridiculous looking.  I fixed it about five times before I decided that I was going to the gym and it really didn't matter if my hair looked weird.  I tried to take a picture to show you, but this is what I got.

Mad skills, I tell you.  I should go pro.

Girl in 14G

Alright, so I don't live in 14G, but I do have new neighbors with yappy dogs that drive me insane.  Anyway, my plight reminded me of this song that Kristin Chenoweth sings, and I want you to hear it too, because she's fantastic and everyone should love her.

I'm it.

I was tagged by Blair, which is lovely because I'm quite behind in my posts.  But first, let me share a delicioso (and ridiculously easy) recipe that some sweet classmates shared with me, which I made for the first time this evening...

Almond-Oat Energy Bites

2 1/2 cups rolled oats, divided

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds, divided (I didn't have any, and substituted walnuts)

1/2 cup raisins

2 Tbs. raw sunflower seeds

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 almond butter (peanut or cashew butter work, too)

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbs. honey (I used 1/4 cup)

2 Tbs. raw agave nectar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Grind 1/2 cup oats and 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds in food processor until powdery.  Transfer to medium bowl; set aside.

2. Combine remaining oats, remaining pumpkin seeds, raisins, sunflower seeds and cinnamon in large bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients until soft dough forms. 

3. Moisten hands, and roll dough into 1-inch balls.  Coat balls in oat-pumpkin seed powder. Place in freezer 20 minutes to set, then serve or store in the fridge.

Nutritional info, per "bite": 148 cal, 5g protein, 2g fiber, 8g sugar

And, I'm it:

A - Attached or Single?  Single

B - Best friend(s):  I have so many great friends, I can't even name them all. 

C - Cake or pie? Umm, neither?  I'm a cupcake person - without the frosting.

D - Drink of choice? Hmm..alcoholic or non?  Alcoholic =  snake bite (Guinness and hard cider mix)  Otherwise, hot tea.

E - Essential item: Sigg water bottle.

F - Favorite color: Green.

G - Gummi bears or worms?  Let's Do Organic vegetarian gummy bears

H - Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC

I - Indulgence: Dark chocolate

J - January or February?  February...duh.  It's my birthday month!

K - Kids: None, at present :-)

L - Life, for me, is incomplete without: friends, good books, and Jesus.

M - Marriage date: See "A"

N - Number of siblings:  2 brothers and 1 sister-in-law!

O - Oranges or Apples? Clementines

P - Phobia/Fears: I hate spiders like woah.

Q - Favorite quote: Anything Madeleine L'Engle has ever written, basically.

R - Reasons to smile: changing seasons, great music, crossing things off my to-do list

S - Season:  Autumn.

T - Tag Ten:  Oh geez.  I think I will just tag Sarah Seegars.

U - Unknown fact about me: I honestly can't think of one.  I'm a pretty open book.

V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals?  Veggie all the way.

W - Worst habit: Procrastination.

X - X-rays or Ultrasounds:  They just couldn't come up with another word for "X", right?  I dislike both, but ultrasounds more...

Y - Your favorite foods:  Roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetable fajitas marinated in the VegTime's mojo chili marinade...yum.

Z - Zodiac:  I'm on the cusp between Aquarius and Pisces, so I guess I'm a little of both!

Missing out.

This may sound immature and/or absurd, but I am sad to be missing out on the first hurricane to hit SC in quite some time.  When you grow up at the beach, you learn to get pretty excited when hurricanes come because although we don't get snow (and the accompanying snow days) we do get hurricane days!  I always stayed glued to the Weather Channel coverage, and our own local weatherman Ed Piotrowski, waiting for it to come and for my school's name to scroll across the top as closed.  School closings weren't the only exciting part, I love the whole deal.  The power outages, lighting candles, playing card games, etc.  This is probably due in part to the fact that we had a generator and could keep the fridge cold, and if need be, the TV on.   My dad always reminds me though, that these situations lose their fun when there is a decent chance your property is going to be damaged...

In other weather news, Oklahoma experienced it's first Autumn-esque day this week, and it was absolutely lovely. The high was somewhere around 71 degrees.  I wore a sweater, drank hot tea, drove with the window down, and cranked up the music I save for this particular season change; stuff like Nickel Creek, John Gorka, Sandra McCracken, and Nick Drake.  Now that it's heating back up, I've decided to enjoy it while it lasts, because all too soon I will be complaining about the cold.

So, that is your weather update, free of charge.  Classes are in full swing these days, along with clinic, and so far it is all going very well, I am truly enjoying most of it.  

Back to School.

It is good to be back!  I am all settled into my apartment and ready to start another year of school!  It's been nice to see my friends again and to have my apartment back...oh how I missed it.

I got my stitches out, not the most fun, but it's over and soon my hair will be long enough that I don't have to plan my outfits around my headband selection.  

School starts tomorrow morning.  I am ready.  Once it gets going now, there are no more big breaks until I'm finally finished in May 2010, so I'm anxious to get started on that.  My lunch and school bag are mostly packed, so that should make it a little bit easier of an adjustment to get up rather early (if I want to squeeze in a work out, at least).  Sorry I've been a bad blogger, there just hasn't been much to blog about - but tomorrow night is a crafty night, so if we succeed in making some reusable shopping bags out of t-shirts, I'll let you know.