Hawaii!

A few weeks ago John and I came back from a trip to Hawaii. We went to Oahu and stayed in Waikiki.

We got to see friends and family and it was a great vacation. A couple dear friends from college that I haven't seen in ages were there.

   

Morgan, Me, Kitra. I love you girls!

My Mom was also there, along with my Aunt Carolyn who lives there and my grandparents. Hi Mom!

Living in the real world is weird. Granted, I have maybe a juvenile perspective on this because after high school I stayed in ongoing education for 8 more years, so at the age of 25, I started the first year I'm not in school since age 2.

All that to say, part of my real life residency job is that schedules are set way in advance. I requested all my vacations for the subsequent year last March and this one has been in the works for a long time.

Although it rained a fair amount and was kind of cloudy, it still was great. Here's a little photo diary.

We bought a fresh coconut from a guy selling them out the back of a truck.

It was awesome.

Acai bowls are still all the rage. This one was my favorite: Island Vintage Coffee.

More Acai bowls.

View on the North Shore. We rented a car for just 24 hours or so to drive around the island - and so we could get to Morgan who was staying on the North side.

It was pretty windy.

There's an awesome Thai place in Haleiwa called Opal Thai where the owner will ask you about Thai dishes you like, dietary restrictions, etc. and then just start bringing you plates. 

It was amazing, and totally affordable.

Above are lettuce wraps and below is a drunken noodle-esque dish.

Obligatory sandy toes and ocean.

The view from the Edge at Sheraton Waikiki.

Hiking! Koko head is an old track for a tram. You can hike straight up the railroad ties to a 360 degree view. The elevation gain is about 1200 feet and it's over 1000 steps.

We were so confident. 

And then we were super sweaty but it was really fun. There were some crazy people running time intervals up the thing, but I was happy just to survive the climb. 

Later that same afternoon we went to Manoa falls with Kitra and her fiance Darren.

Part of Jurassic Park was filmed here. And Lost.

Yay falls! It was an easy hike but it did start pouring on us on our way back.

And then we were drenched.

It was over far too soon and I was back at work. Immediately after returning I wrapped up my Development rotation and went back to the Wards and we've already had almost 3 weeks of that. We had intern retreat in there which will be its own post, but now it's back to real life. 

Thanks for reading!

Are you taking any fun vacations in the next year?

When You Don't Feel Like You're on Vacation...

...Santa Barbara is the cure.

I was feeling better about my Boards on Sunday, but today I finally really feel like I'm in the vacation groove. I really think it took getting out of town.

Last night I arrived safely in Santa Barbara after dropping Katie at LAX (she's headed to Kenya for break...lucky). Boyfriend took me out to dinner.

What else? Thai food. It's called Your Place. I got a pineapple red curry with brown rice and Boyfriend got pad thai. They were awesome, but we both now have leftovers in the fridge. I mean, look at these portions!

Today Boyfriend had to work, so that meant spending a little time with this lovely town on my own. I went to college here, so I've lived here before, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Thing 1: A long run from Boyfriend's apartment down past the bird refuge and along the beach past the wharf. I just ran until I felt like turning around. I now have a sweet tan line, and it ended up being 7.2 miles. That's the farthest I've run since the April half-marathon I think. I went back by car for some pictures along the route...

Thing 2: Lunch at Sojourner Cafe. I love this place. It appeared in the form of pie and hot chocolate for Valentine's Day Dessert, and again the next week for Mulligatawny Vegetable Stew.

Today though, it was a Tempeh Reuben Sandwich with Turkish Lentil Soup.

Sauerkraut, tempeh and vegan island dressing. What a combination. And this soup wasn't overly complicated, just a really flavorful yellow lentil stew. Exactly what I wanted. 

After lunch I spent some time walking around downtown, but all I bought was a pair of sunglasses at Forever 21 - I forgot mine. 

And now? Honestly all my fun has made me really tired. I might nap. Boyfriend's taking me out to dinner tonight, and I don't want to fall asleep in my plate.

Ducks-in-a-Row Daily Schedule...and April Goals

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Today I'm getting my ducks in a row. I hope that by writing out these details, I'll be increasingly motivated to actually stick to it. 

Last night I had a dream that I had a beard. I was relieved to find when I woke up that I do not have hair growing from my chin, and I thought, "Well Subconscious, Happy April Fool's Day to you too."

So it's the first of April and 57 days until Boards. It was a great day to write a schedule and some goals. 

Ducks-in-a-Row Daily Schedule

Morning

5-6:30 (or earlier) Exercise/Get Ready/Devotion

6:30-7 Boards Study (DIT, Qbank or First Aid)

7-7:30 Breakfast, Pack lunch

Late Morning

7:30-12 Class or Class-related Studying

Afternoon

12-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1 Boards Study

1-6:45 Study (or go to required labs/lectures)

      (2-4 hrs) Class: Review lectures, Make Flashcards

      (2-3 hrs) Boards: First Aid, Qbank

Evening

7-8 Dinner and a break

8-9 Boards Study

9-9:30 Relaxing activities: Reading etc.

9:30-5 am Sleep

Total Study/Learning Hours:

   Class: 6-8 (including lecture)

   Boards: 4-5

   Overall: 10-13

__________________________________

Boards Weekly Goals

Working 6 days a week

150 USMLEWorld Qbank Practice Questions with review (separate from practice test)

90 pages First Aid USMLE Step 1

30 Doctors in Training Review Q's

30 pages Pathology or Physiology Review

1 Practice Test with 150 Questions

________________________________________

April Goals

1. Family: Talk to them every week (continue)

   I want to keep doing this like last month; I feel it was pretty beneficial.

2. Fitness

   a. Enjoy the half-marathon in just a little over a week. 

   b. Maintain some kind of exercise schedule after the half-marathon, but give my ankles/feet some time off to rest. I'd like to increase my strength training to 3x a week, because I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to strength training, but I really like the results. 

3. Boards

   (see above) I'm not setting goals in terms of scores for school or Boards, because the only thing I can control is how much time I put in, and that will hopefully reflect in my score, but I'm going to have to be proud of myself if I put in the time I want, whether it leaves me feeling completely prepared or not.

4. Expense Tracking

   This is a new one for the month - I want to track all my food expenses to see specifically what I'm spending to most on and whether I want to cut back or increase certain areas. I'm going to do it by category: groceries, eating out, coffee shops and we'll see how it turns out. 

Besides writing a schedule and studying, it was also a gorgeous day with some great food.

Lunch: Salad and an apple in my undergrad cafeteria. I was visiting a professor, but it was strange being back. It made me feel old. 

Some campus, beach and bluff-walking:

And for dinner, we went to California Pizza Kitchen. It was surprisingly vegan-friendly: the thin crust is vegan, all their soups are vegetarian, and the spaghettini is vegan. I got the Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant (no cheese) on Thin Crust, and our server, who was also vegan, suggested I add the balsamic on top and it was a great touch. I ate 2/3 of it, so I'll have some for a snack tomorrow. Another vegan in our group got the Pear Gorgonzola with No Cheese, add Balsamic, on Thin Crust as well. 

On other cheeseless pizzas, I've felt the flavor's been lacking, but this was everything it should have been.