Coming Back

I find it really difficult to come back to blogging after a long time. I wrote the short little post about how excited I am to be married, but I made the semi-subconscious decision to put the blog on the back burner for an extremely busy time of my life 2.5 months ago and now here we are.

In theory I know I'm not supposed to feel guilty for not posting. It's my blog and it's here for me in whatever capacity I need - but in my heart I do feel a little sad for letting all this time go by. Still, I think it was right for me.

The dilemma I now have is how to start again?

I want to give a proper update, but there's so much to cover and I'm not sure where to start.

So I've made a decision.

I may at some point write some historical posts about things that happened this summer and give more details about the Sub-I month, or the wedding, but I decided I'd mostly focus on just starting with my current life and go forward.

I really missed you.

_________________________________

So at the beginning of August John and I got married and we went on an amazing honeymoon to Cancun. Then I spent a couple wonderful weeks with my new husband in our new apartment. Then it was time to come back from vacation and be a medical student again. I was accepted for a Pediatric Infectious Disease rotation at Dayton Children's Medical Center and so for the past 3 weeks I've been living in Ohio with Shannon! 

We took this while stopping for gas in a tiny nameless town. I seriously have no idea where we were.

She found me some delicious Thai food.

She recently adopted an adorable dog. We named him Dobby. He has house elf ears.

Last weekend we made the scary stormy drive the 6 hours to Chicago to visit our other sister Emma. We crashed her crew practice, went to a farmer's market with the prettiest produce, ate some good meals and I finally got to see her in action at college. I love when my sisters and I are together. Of course it wasn't complete without Nicola (the youngest) but it was a great trip. We listened to an audiobook in the car which made the drive go quickly and it was so worth it. 

Love you Emma!

It was beautifully cool and really got me feeling like it's fall. 

This picture is from a trip I took to Starbucks while in Chicago. It was so wonderful and cool and fall-like I just wanted something delicious and fall-flavored so I got distracted from my usual coffee and order a soy chai tea latte. It was amazing, but I sort of forgot about my caffeine addiction. I realized chai tea was no match for my potential for caffeine headache and I had to go back through line for a black coffee as well.

I drank both and it was awesome.

This week Shannon and I started watching an old season of The Biggest Loser and a couple days ago we ironically enjoyed some pints of vegan ice cream at the same time. 

The rotation is good. There are lots of different kinds of patients and everyone's really helpful. 

And it's beautiful here.

In other news, the application service for residency opens for submission on Saturday, and that means I've recently had to be a grownup and decide with John where we might want to go for the next three years. 

So life is going on. 

See you soon. Promise.

Happy Happy

I'm newly married and happy happy!

It was so much fun, like a dream. The wedding itself was everything I'd been imagining, and most importantly I finally get to be married to John.

It's also been so busy.

I promise to be back soon with regular posting, but in the meantime, check out our photographer's blog for some Wedding Pictures!

P.S. Happy Birthday Husband. I love you.

What to Eat During Boards

I survived the USMLE Step 2!

There were no power outages. I answered all the questions. I don't know about the number I answered right, but all the questions got responses. 

And so I thought I'd share my snacks and hydration. They're planned fairly carefully - too much liquid and your bladder distracts you, too much food and you fall asleep, too little and you crash.

The USMLE Step 2 is a 9 hour test - 8 one-hour, 44 question blocks and 1 hour of breaks to distribute throughout the day, so I broke it up like this:

Block 1, Block 2

Break. Snack 1: Zone Simple Cranberry Almond Bar

Block 3, Block 4

Break. Lunch: Ezekiel Bread White Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich

Block 5, Block 6

Break. Snack 2: Apple

Block 7

Break. Snack 3: Raw Almonds, Golden Raisins

Block 8

So all this disappeared directly into my brain as fuel:

With each break I sipped from a thermos of coffee. I didn't probably drink enough water, but I survived.

And even though I felt very brain-tired at the end, I was never too hungry or too sleepy. I think it worked out well.

There is a distinct lack of vegetables, but I made up for it at dinner with some quinoa and veggies. 

And now since I start a pretty intense rotation on Monday (Pediatrics Sub-Internship!) I'm just trying to enjoy my weekend. 

And maybe review a couple important things for Monday. 

Oh and tomorrow I have a bridal shower, and guess who's coming to see me (okay, lots of people) but especially this girl: 

Happy Sabbath!

The Day Before the USMLE Step 2

Did Googling bring you here? This isn't really instructional, or advice-based, just a real life explanation about what I did before I took Boards. And I kind of had a lot going on, as I'm sure you do as well, so there you go. 

Wondering about Step 1? Check out my post about that from a year ago. 

It's the morning of the second half of my Boards.

As many of you know, I'm getting married in 5 weeks.

Yeah. I know.

And so it being the week before Boards, I of course also had to fill it up with all kinds of things that I couldn't fit in while on rotation. Last week I was home in Oregon for the wedding dress fitting and did a lot of studying, so this was my only week here with lots of "free" business-hour time.

So we left from the Inland Empire Tuesday and did a tasting with our caterer in Calabasas (so many decisions made, so much great food!), then up to Ventura and picked up my wedding band, then down to San Diego (traffic!) for the next couple days.

Fortunately John drove and I did my best to study, but it was pretty tough.

Yesterday (the day before) I did the following:

5 am: Woke up in San Diego for another set of the UWorld Question Bank before breakfast.
6:30 am: Made coffee and breakfast. I don't mess around on serious brain fuel days, it's always oatmeal.

7 am: Ate with John, did our premarital counseling homework. This is the reason I woke up in San Diego - we were doing a bit of a crash course because this was our best time window before the wedding. 

9 am: Went to our session with the pastor. I'm so glad we fit it in, I think it's maybe the most important part of our wedding prep. 

10:30 am: Stopped at a market to pick up supplies for lunch.

11:00 am: Another set from the QBank. 

12:00 pm: Cooked, ate, packed and got on the road back to Loma Linda, it's about a 2 hour drive.

3:00 pm: Got in, unpacked, made a snack, settled in and reviewed a couple topics I had decided to look at again. [Skin! Rashes are going to be the death of me.]

5:30 pm: Stretch yoga while watching House. That's like studying right?

7:00 pm: Dinner, internet dabbling. Printed my updated Test Permit (from the NBME website). 

8:00 pm: More internet.

9:00 pm: Having said good night to my almost-husband, I headed to bed.

So to summarize...I studied for maybe 4 hours? I honestly don't know how much more I would have if I hadn't been so busy with other things. Probably more, but hard to say. I don't want to make comparisons about what "my ideal pre-Boards day" would be, because days aren't ideal. They're not supposed to be. We just do what we can, and I'm happy with what filled my day. 

My philosophy with day-before studying is that it should only boost your confidence. It's not a time to learn all of oncology. Unfortunately...

And in just 12 hours, for better or worse, it will all be over. 

See you then.

And expect a "What to Eat for the USMLE Step 2" post up later. I'm all decided on the food I'm taking and I'll snap it soon. 

Prayers please, it's kind of a big deal. Maybe less than Step 1, but still  Thanks.

Back to the Heat

It's a little after 4 am and I'm about to head to the airport for my return to California. 

I say "back to the heat" both figuratively - I'm pretty much sweating Boards - and literally.

I'm going from this: (High of 70, Rain!)

To this:

 

I will choose the following points of positivity to dwell on:

1. Temps have not yet hit 100. They will, but not yet.

2. I currently live in a house with (mostly) working AC.

3. John and I got the apartment and it also has working air conditioning!

And so I suppose there's not much to whine about. It's more a surrogate complaint because I'm sad to leave Oregon.

See you on the other side!

Tachy Med Student: Latest Blog Posts

Just thought I'd share that there are a couple new posts from me up on the School of Medicine student blog if you're interested in that kind of thing.

That would pretty much be my Mom and maybe those of you who are/want to go into medicine.

One talks about the end of third year, and the other's similar to my last one here - bit of an update, a bit more med school focused.

One Week Left

Hunker Down and Learn

Happy Friday friends!

And since this is a food blog...this post feels sad without any pictures.

I give you this picture of a gorgeous pot of tea my mother made me this morning while I sat and studied.

Yes she is the best.

Mid June in Photo Highlights

In the recent past the following has happened:
1. I finished my third year of medical school, complete with some multi-hour finals that made my brain tired.
2. I went to San Diego and got showered with love (also presents) at a Bridal Shower with my future in-laws and friends.
3. John (maybe, likely?) found an apartment in Loma Linda that he'll move into soon, and I'll move into after the wedding.
4. I came home to Oregon for a wedding dress fitting and also to hunker down and study because I take the second half of boards in a week.
5. I ate lots of good food:

Native Foods Cheesecake. I split this with John, practicing moderation. 

Got my nails done. It's gel so this was a week ago, and it still looks the same! I love it. 

One of the best potato mixtures I've ever made. With veggies, Little Links and mashed potato/cauliflower combo topped with salt, pepper, ginger and garlic powder.

Almond butter oatmeal never gets old.

Nutrition of Almond Milk. Tastes like coconut. I'm in heaven. 

I made the spaghetti bowl that was accidentally far too big for a normal size bowl. 

I love mixing bowl meals.

Indigo Grill in Little Italy in San Diego. This. Was. Amazing. 

These were disaster pancakes. John and future-sister-in-law were very kind to try to eat them. Idk what happened, but they looked pretty at least.

New Zone Perfectly Simple Peanut Crunch. 

Super tasty.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Oskri bar in the airport on the way home.

Venti's! Salem's vegan friendliest place.

Gelato makes everything better.

And in between it's all books books books and squeezing in the occasional workout. But it feels good to have lots to do and be working hard to get it done. 

See you soon!