UW Street Fair

Today I went to the UW street fair with great friends! The forecast was 30% rain so I spent all morning praying to the weather gods to hold back the rain until after I left the fair. And guess what? It worked. The rain fell on the rest of the fair go-ers 20 minutes after I stepped into my house.

Oh, fairs are so fun. There are babies and dogs everywhere, it's warm out, live music is on every street corner, and everywhere smells yummy. The entire street is closed off to traffic so everyone is free to roam around openly in the street. I always forget how much I love fairs until I'm at one at the beginning of the summer. This time, I got excited as soon as I saw the tops of the white vendor tents from 3 blocks away, and then even more giddy (and hungry) as soon I smelled the food. I love fair food. Everything is fried and fast, and there's a ton of different foods in one place. There's just something about fair lemonade and elephant ears, or a giant cube of fries and a foot-long corn dog. There are two challenges to eating fair food: 1) deciding what to eat, and 2) not getting too full too fast that I can't eat anymore. There's just so many things I want to try, and I never remember what I have tried before, so I really have no solution to my problem.

It's fair season, people, and I am stoked.

Jenny is really happy about some totchos.

^There is something about a man with a banjo... and mismatched socks and no shoes.^

^Kicking this elephant ear's butt^^

Smoothies

The weather this week has been so amazing! I've been sleeping with 1 (count it, ONE) blanket and waking up with a sticky face! Hooray, I am so ready for that beautiful hot weather so I can do fun stuff like paddleboard yoga with my roomie and simply be in the sun. I took two midterms Monday and Tuesday so after class yesterday I took a 30 minute walking detour on the way home yesterday because just because I could and I wanted to feel the sun on my skin. It was fabulous.

 Another thing I am excited for this summer is smoothies! My mom got a magic bullet from Costco for $35 that I am permanently borrowing. She has a Vitamix, so I feel no guilt borrowing this from her. I've been using the magic bullet for the past two weeks and it is totally awesome. Last summer, my old roomie had a blender, but it was always such a hassle because I'd have to clean the entire blender every time I used it and I'd always make too much smoothie resulting in feeling so full that it hurt and I would just lie down and wait for the abdominal pain to pass. I'm less lazy about making smoothies now because there's so much less to clean, it's easy to bring with me when I'm walking out the door and it makes the perfect amount for one person. I know I'm sounding like an advertisement, but yeah, I am.

I've been experimenting with things I can put in my smoothies. Sometimes I do carrots and kale and random veggies for a green (actually probably more like brown) smoothie, but usually I do fruits because it's so much yummier! Frozen berries and mangoes are easy because you can leave them in your freezer without worrying about them going bad, plus they keep your smoothie colder for longer. Also to keep things cold, refrigerate everything! That means all your fresh fruits, because warm smoothies are not very yummy. Other fun things I've been trying are chia seeds, coconut water (mmm potassium) and kombucha.

Also make sure to match your smoothie to your outfit

Happy hump day! Have a smoothie!

Busy busy busy

It's starting to feel like spring and I have been a busy little buzzing bee!!! I am so busy juggling all my assignments- I feel like I can only focus on what's coming the next day because if I look more than a week out, I get anxious and go watch a TV show instead... I think this is the quarter where I'm having a reality check and literally laughing out loud at all the nursing memes on the internet because ugh. That's all. Ugh.. I laughed out loud when I saw this. Maybe I am just tired, I don't know anymore.

I went to the farmer's market last weekend, and the food was so pretty I just have to post pictures. It's Friday which is my weekend, so that means studying and working. Hooray!

Handwritten notes

When John moved away, we started sending each other letters and cards through the mail. The ACTUAL mail, not Facebook or texts or email (although I really do enjoy getting emails that aren't work-related!). At first, we were really good at writing back and forth, but we don't write as regularly anymore which makes it even more exciting each time we do. Every time I look into the mailbox and see my name written out in John's scribbly hand writing, I get a giddy feeling in my gut before proceeding to rip apart the envelope. I have a smile on my face the whole time I am reading it. It's fun to see what card he chose that he thought I'd like or get a glimpse into John's head a couple days ago. With the internet and cell phones, everything else we do is very instant so it's nice to get a tiny time capsule.

I love writing the letters too. Since we talk on the phone regularly, we usually write to each other about little things like what we're doing at the moment and how the weather is. It's like journaling and I think it's therapeutic so I write them all the time, but maybe half of them never get sent because I get too lazy to send them and then forget what I wrote in them so I feel like I shouldn't send them anymore. I've been starting to address my letters in more fun ways. I feel like it makes letters feel even more like a present!

I wish I could post a picture of some of envelopes! But no, because it has real addresses on them.

I starting thinking about letters this week because I'd gotten a couple of birthday cards with little notes written inside that I truly adored! Also, I was pre-menstruating so I was probably hormonal and emotional, but really, most of my birthday cards were only a sentence or two and I loved them! I put them all up on my bulletin board in front of my desk as inspiration. I didn't really want anything for my birthday this year--- I figured I can buy myself anything that I really wanted, but I can't buy myself a sweet handwritten note from a friend. Also, I love reading handwriting!! I feel like everyone's handwriting has personality and all I ever read now is type! 'Happy birthday' in scribbles or cursive is way better than 'Happy birthday' in Times New Roman.

This is a little reminder to myself to write more birthday cards, no matter how short. I'm never too busy to scribble down a sweet sentence or two!

Another outfit ruined by nursing shoes

my pants were so neon they're white in this picture.

Today was May 1st and it was absolutely beautiful today! I woke up with greasy sweat on my face and the back of my neck sticky. It was a Seattle summer preview! The weather gods were saying, "hey, don't move away, remember this???" and reminded us with sunny 85 degree weather. I was not going to let this opportunity to wear cute close slip between my fingers, so I put on high waisted shorts and a peasant top, packed my scrubs in my backpack and headed for the door.... when I realized I had to wear nurse appropriate shoes. Damn it!

In terms of nurse shoes, I have Danskos and a pair of Nikes. I wear my Danskos to clinical because things in the hospital are disgusting and I want to be able to wipe away any crap that ends up on them with a bleach wipe. I wear my Nikes to the lab where everything is fake blood, urine or poop. Neither are cute if you are trying to be cute, and honestly, when is anyone ever not trying to be cute? Ugh. Because we were at the simulation lab today, I opted for the Nikes which made me feel like a 12-year-old boy (There's something about being 5 feet tall and wearing shorts, a t-shirt and tennis shoes with white socks that makes me feel like a little boy). So there goes another cute outfit ruined by nursing-appropriate footwear!

On another note, can I just gush about John for a second? John is so wonderful- he flew in last weekend just for my birthday. He even surprised me with a pet balloon (uh, obvious key to a girl's heart). He is smart, funny, and honest. He always answers his phone with an upbeat "Hi!", and he never yells (unless it's about sports). He can make friends with just about anybody. He is a man and a friend, he is my manfriend. Okay, enough, gross, sorry. 

Good night!

Kim Kardashian calls this a CÉLFIE