Archive for December, 2009
A whole new world
So as you may have noticed, I’ve made a few changes on the blog. I was getting sick of the old background, and I thought I would mix it up. The new theme is fairly basic, but the same part of me that loves Real Simple and my Pottery Barn great white plate set, really enjoys the simplicity. What does everybody think?
I’ve also made a few changes behind the scenes. As I mentioned last time, I am now using Ecto to edit/update the blog. If you have a Mac and a blog, I HIGHLY recommend it. The time I save not having to upload every image is incredible. I also don’t have to have my internet browser open so I don’t get distracted by Twitter and gmail. I can stay focused!
After writing my last post, I did a little research on ways to resize pictures on my Mac in batch format. I was eating up my wordpress space limit like crazy. Much to my surprise, I realized a had a program already installed on my computer that could resize my pics VERY quickly. Automator is this handy little app that you can have do just about anything for you. One creates “workflows,” hits go, and the computer does what you tell it to do as many times as you tell it to do. For example, I’ve created a file that I can drag and drop my pics into, the computer will resize them all, and spit them out in another folder. I’ve also used Automator to change file formats. I’m sure there’s a lot more that I haven’t discovered yet, but the image scaler in it self is awesome!
In other news, today pretty much involved more studying. I wasn’t feeling very well this morning, so I spent the morning and early afternoon at my apartment, and headed up to the library after 4 (when my parking pass takes effect on week days). I think I somehow managed to catch a cold. I guess when you’re in a hospital everyday, you’re bound to pick up something here and there.
To help with my sore throat, I drank tea ALL day. I love the Teavana Strawberry and Kiwi and Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls Green Tea.
My Teavana Perfect Tea Maker.
Makes the perfect cup every time! Just set it on top of the mug, and the tea drains right in.
I also splurged and added a little agave nectar to sweeten it up. Using the Broad mug made me thing of work and Boston….and how much I miss Boston 
I’m not sure if there is actual any medical merit to Zicam, but I keep taking it anyway. It can’t hurt.
Since I was home during the day, I also took the time to make me a pizza to munch on today and tomorrow. I got to use the special pizza pan I got for Christmas last year. It was amazing. It gave my Bobli whole wheat crust the perfect amount of crunch!
My Pizza Man Cutter. I’m oddly obsessed with kitchen items shaped like plump chefs. I’m up to 8.
The plan for tomorrow is pretty much the same. More studying. I can’t wait for this exam to be done and over with. Not only do I get to spend some time in Fonda, but Vicki, my friend who has been living in Australia for the past 9 months, is back in the country as of 4PM today. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet, but I get to see her sooo soon. This is the longest I’ve gone without seeing her in about 10 years. I miss my Vickles 
I love this pic of Vicki and I. We’re both looking a little less than awesome, but we were freezing at a Lehigh/Colgate Football game circa 2003. Brings back good memories, and makes me smile
And on that note…time for bed!
Start me up
So maybe I was a little off when I said my next post would be after the exam. After yet another busy day of studying, my brain needed a rest from physio, and blogging always seems to get me out of the post-studying haze so I can get back to work. This will also be my first time blogging with Ecto, a feature-rich desktop blogging editor for MacOSX. So far, it’s about a million times easier than blogging on the web based wordpress editor. I still need to figure out the best mac program to resize photos. My camera takes awesome pics, but the files are HUGE. Suggestions?
Study break #1. Upped my afternoon latte from a grande to a venti. I really needed that third shot of espresso.
Study break #2 at Syra*Juice (get it? ) It was my first time stopping by, and I was pleasantly surprised. Nice selection of smoothies, juices and wraps.
Definitely will be stopping by again sometime soon.
Got the Berry Coolio (strawberry and raspberry) smoothie with a calcium add-in. Perfect afternoon pick-me-up!
In an effort to not let this exam consume my life, I made my self a tasty and somewhat healthy dinner when I got home from the library around 6. Turkey meat balls with roasted red potatoes and green beans in a rosemary butter sauce.
In other exciting news, I officially started training for my half marathon. I know I said I was going to start last week, but with all the pre exam craziness, it didn’t quite work out. I did an easy two miles on the treadmill while watching a rerun of the Vampire Diaries. Love that show! As of yesterday, I have 6 months to get in shape for the race. My overall plan is two spend about 2 months basebuilding, a month working on picking up my speed, and then kicking up the training using one of Hal Higdon’s training plans. I think it looks very doable, especially because I’ll have to do the majority of my running before 8:40 am classes. The longest weekday run is only 5 miles, and I used to do that before work back when I was living in Boston. I’m also totally open to suggestions, and if anyone knows of a better first half marathon training program let me know.
Everybody’s working for the weekend
I’m currently in the process for studying for yet another exam. For those of you who are counting, that would make this #5. It’s the first physio exam and probably one of the more difficult MCP (molecular and cellular principals) exams. It involves a ton of detailed memorization (glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, pentose shunt etc). It’s all material I’ve seen before, but the amount of material that we need to know is crazy. It’s somewhere around 600 pages of notes we need to have memorized. But on a much happier note, NO ANATOMY PRACTICAL!!! All throughout anatomy I would rock the written portion of the test, but the practical portion score would kill my grade. Thank god physio doesn’t have a lab component!
I knew I would be spending the majority of my weekend at the library studying, so I decided to take a day off from studying and have some fun on Friday! Classes finished up around 2 and Erica, Tara, and I headed over to Marshall Street to start talking to local business owners.
I’m currently on a committee planning the Doctors for Global Health Dance Marathon. As their website says, “Doctors for Global Health (DGH) is a private, not-for-profit organization promoting health, education, art and other human rights throughout the world. DGH is comprised of hundreds of health professionals, students, educators, artists, attorneys, engineers, retirees and others. Together we build long-term relationships between people and communities around the world to find effective solutions to social justice issues.” The Dance Marathon will be 12 hours filled with music, dance performers, prizes and free food! Hopefully it will all come together, and be a good time for all involved that also will help a lot of people. We had some success with store owners and picked quite a few raffle prizes. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us, but things seem to be shaping up nicely.
Tara’s awesome poster. Can you figure out what dance the little guy is doing?
After spending the afternoon working on asking for donations, we headed to the store to pick up wine for the night’s festivities. I didn’t end up getting this one, but my inner nerd LOVED the label.
When I got back to my apartment, I was pleasantly surprised. The bowls I ordered from open sky had arrived! They were such an amazing deal. Another blog I read, KERF, offered a $24 coupon for the bowls. They ended up only costing me just under $2! God, I love a bargain!
My Friday night started at a restaurant in Syracuse called The Mission. The restaurant is actually located in one of the cities oldest churches. There’s a ton of history behind the building. It was built in the 1840′s and was even a stop on the underground railroad. In an effort to revitalize the downtown and use some of the older buildings, a local artist transformed the store into a Mexican style mission. I met up with Anna, Tara, Tony, Justin Jenny and Tara’s friends Tom and Givanna around 6.
The bar. You can even see the original stained glass windows.
The view from our table.
A picture of the back of the restaurant from their website.
The Mission serves Pan-American Cuisine… a combination of fresh, homemade Mexican, Southwestern, and South American specialties featuring Latino ingredients. The menu includes Mexican favorites such as burritos, tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas with a variety of house made salsas. Yum!
I decided to try the pollo enchiladas. They were pretty tasty!
After dinner, Tara, Tom, Anna, Giavanna and Andrea stopped by my place for Friday Night Wine Night. It’s our second wine night, and I have to say it’s become one of my favorite parts of med school. It’s great to get together with classmates outside of the class room and fave some fun. Tom and Giavanna are grad students at SU, and it’s also nice to get together with people who aren’t all wrapped up in med school.
The view from my kitchen
A few of the bottles we sampled throughout the evening.
Old vine zinfandel that Tara brought over.
I used to get Santa Cristina at Trader Joes all the time. I was pleasantly surprised to find it here in Syracuse and even a little cheaper! Santa Cristina and I had many a good night together back in Boston
I whipped up some of Hanley’s favorite dip. Soooo cheesy!
Giavanna and Tara. Tara is holding one of my raspberry brie bites. I made them from scratch! It’s my not so secret recipe
Tara, Erica, me, and Rikat
My camera got passed around for a bit so I’m not entirely sure what Tom and Tara have such varying opinions about…
It’s clearly not the Jersey Shore because who doesn’t love that little piece of TV genius!
Tara and Anna…a little blurry, but still super cute!
Rikat and Frank, Rikat’s boyfriend.
Andrea, Anna, Rikat and Frank on the couch.
Empty wine glass and Anna. Art shot!
Matt and Mike also stopped by, but I somehow managed not to get any pictures of the two of them! I’m sure Mike isn’t too upset…
Post wine night aftermath.
Some of the empties.
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After a fantastic evening, I unfortunately had to get back to reality and work Saturday morning. I spent the reminder of my weekend sitting at my favorite study carrel in the library. Between Saturday and Sunday I was there for a total of 21 hours. I know some people prefer to study at home, but I really like getting my work down at the library. Not only does it eliminate all the distractions (primarily TV) of my apartment, but I find it incredibly motivating to see all my classmates studying hard. It keeps me focused and on track knowing that everyone else is in the same position I am. It’s also interesting to observe the 3rd floor subculture that has developed. I’ll see the same people every time I go there and people tend to sit in the same spot every time. I guess I’ve totally become one of those people…
I only made 4 coffee runs during those 21 hours, and I finally tried two things at Starbucks that I’ve been dying to try. The oatmeal was delicious with the mix-ins. I added brown sugar and dries raisins, cranberries, and cherries. I also tried the awake tea latte that Anna is always getting. It was good, but a little too sweet for my taste.
Well that’s about it for now. I’m not sure if I’ll get a chance to post again before the exam on Friday. Things tend to get pretty crazy, but I’ll definitely be back with a full report next saturday!
Party in the USA
It’s December 8th and as many of you know, that means today is Vicki’s B-day! Since Vicki is currently in Australia (until December 18th), Em and I decided to throw her a birthday party…over ichat. Out of context, the party may seem a little on the crazy side. Ok, I admit it IS a little on the crazy side. We wanted to have some fun with it, so we made it as cheesy as possible. Em and I are both psyched for Vicki’s return to the states and what better way to celebrate this upcoming event then making a “I heart America” themed online shindig!
The “party” set-up
I’m ready to party! Walmart didn’t have the best selection of party hats (thus the “1st birthday” winnie the pooh hats). And yes, that’s the Swedish chef, a moose, Darwin and my football player bear.
I had a whole package of hats and only one of me. Somebody else had to wear them
The cake wasn’t so much a cake as a pile of BTS cookies. The cookies have a special meaning to my friends and I. Too long of a story to explain here…
After Vicki “blew out the candles,” the cookies promptly went into my freezer. They’re too dangerous to have sitting around.
The festivites! Trevor, Emily, Vicki and I. Apparently Emily’s walmart didn’t have a good selection in party hats either. Trevor and Em (and the snow man) are wearing Bratz Party Tiaras. PS. Trevor might be the best boyfriend ever for going along with our ichat birthday party plan.
Just one of Emily’s patriotic gifts….a Nascar poster. The others included a western DVD and a Lisa Frank notebook. Vicki also got American Flag flip flops, a “God Bless America” calendar, and an Elvis stocking full of candy from me. Did I mention these weren’t serious gifts….
All and all it was a fun night, and I CAN’T WAIT until Vicki gets back. Just over a week left! In other exciting news, Emily has decided to get back into the blogging game. She had the fantastic idea to chronicle her adventures in decorative baking. Check out Emily’s brand new blog!
I spent the rest of the night napping and studying at Strong Heart’s Cafe. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it in the blog before, but I love this place. It’s a super chill coffee house and cafe that is 100% Vegan. It has a great atmosphere for studying and some of the best baked goods I’ve ever had. I highly recommend the “chicken salad” sandwich if you ever stop in. Tonight I opted for some tea and a vegan raspberry muffin. Delicious!
After sampling a few of teas they have at the cafe, I’ve decided the Jasmine Green is my favorite.
I have to say, I’ve been way better about my blogging recently. Tara and I made plans to have another wine night get together on Friday and this time I’m not going to forget my camera. Wine nights are the best for future blog posts…..
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
No more studying tonight! I’m cutting myself off! After several hours of learning about hemodynamics, I had to put the books away and do something completely unrelated to school. I never thought I would say this, but I think I actually may miss Anatomy. We had our final exam in Anatomy the day before Thanksgiving, and moved on to Physiology. I’m a big fan of not having to change into smelly old scrubs everyday, but this new unit is pretty lecture heavy. Including our medical literature class and bioethics seminar, we’re at about 20 lectures per week. So much material to review….
On a happier note, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Syracuse, and I’m pretty excited! The holidays are definitely my favorite time of year. They put decorations up all over campus, and Syracuse actually does a nice job decorating the parks and downtown area. Here’s a few shots from this past week:
Quad decorated for Christmas! The pictures a little blurry (I think my iphone camera lens needs some cleaning) and it doesn’t look all that exciting, but in person it was a very pleasant surprise.
Even Wegman’s got in on the holiday decorations.
My beverages are festive too! I picked this up at Starbucks (obviously), and I can’t even tell you how many compliments I’ve gotten.
Adorable cookie Erica picked up before class one morning.
Another VERY pleasant surprise this past week involved a text from Kelly. I got a message from her Thursday afternoon saying that she was going to be in town doing some shopping with her boyfriend, and she wanted to do dinner. Um, yes! I adore Kelly, and even though I just got to see her over Thanksgiving, I was psyched to see her again. Jason was also VERY excited for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Now, this was my first time at TR, and I was exactly sure what I was getting myself into. I’m not much of a meat person. I haven’t had beef since I was 16 and I only it pork on special occasions. It actually turned out to be everything I thought it would be and more! Lot’s of Nascar, country music, southern paraphernalia and giant cuts of meat waiting for you as you walked in the door. Apparently, Texas is a lot like Fonda. I tried to keep it healthy, but as one might expect from a place that has the word Texas in it’s name, it was rather difficult. The green beans I ordered came swimming in butter and bacon, and the sweet potato was served with butter and brown sugar. Oh well, when in Texas, do as th Texans!
Kelly and Jason looking a little surprised. I’m so sneaky with my iphone camera
In other news, besides my little trip to TR, I’ve been trying to eat little healthier. Tomorrow I start my official training for the half marathon, and this past week I tried to make a big change in how I’ve been eating. My thought process is if I’m going to do this race (and do it well!) I need to cut out a lot of the junk I’ve been eating since starting school. School takes up so much time, and it’s just easier to grab something in the cafeteria than plan ahead and bring lunch and dinner to school. Unfortunately, the cafeteria doesn’t always serve the healthiest food. I made a big effort this past week to bring my lunch everyday, and I tried to make it home for dinner as much as possible. I think I did a pretty good job:)
Started my mornings off with an amazing grass shake. I forgot how good they made me feel!
Typical contents of my classy polka dot lunch bag.
I’ve been so much better about drinking a ton of water. Since transitioning back into the student lifestyle, my diet coke intake has probably tripled. Hello, my name is Sarah and I am addicted to diet soda! But I’m proud to say I’m down to a glass a day. Also, I LOVE my camelbak. Thank you Michele for turning me on to its awesomeness.
One thing that I can proudly admit I’m addicted to is Woodstock Farms cashew butter. After leaving behind whole foods and Trader Joes, I’ve been trying to make the best of it with what Wegman’s has to offer. Usually the selection is awesome, but they do not carry Barney Butter:( After speaking with the health food department manager about my favorite nut butter, she actually let me taste test several different types of nut butters. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that cashew butter is DELICIOUS. It’s so creamy and rich, and I didn’t think I would ever say this, but I might actually like it better than almond butter.
I know I was just back in Fonda for Thanksgiving, but I made the trip back home again this weekend to hang out with Merilee and help my mom put up Christmas decorations. I had a ton of studying to do, so I don’t know how much help I was. I did get to come out of my room every once and a while and see my house get transformed into a winter wonder land. As all my friends know, my mom goes a little crazy with the decorations during the holidays, and I LOVE it! I drove home Saturday morning a little later than expected. Let’s just say I had a little more wine than I was planning on at Tara’s end of week get together, and sleeping in sounded like an excellent idea Luckily, I sill managed to beat the snow.
This is where I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday. The weekend was actually quite productive, and I’m entirely caught up on MCP! Unfortunately, I sill have a ton of work to do for physio…
Best part about going home has to be having my parents cook for me. Mom made cranberry nut bread…
…and Dad made a super tasty brunch Sunday morning. Veggie omelette and home fries!
Mmm potatoes!
One more exciting thing before I head to bed. I just want to congratulate my friend Kyle Dolan on his crossword success this past weekend. Kyle has become quite the crossword enthusiast, and he actually had one of his puzzles published in the LA times. Yay Kyle, and if you’re interested in trying some of Kyle’s puzzles click here!
Yay Kyle!
Gotta get back in time…
First off, if anyone gets that song reference, you get +10 points life points. I’m 100% sure Em will
Anyway, it’s good to be back on my blog. Turns out, med school takes up most of my time. But after the Thanksgiving break (aka 4 days of educational freedom awesomeness) I’m feeling recharged and energized. It’s really easy to fall into the med school time suckage trap, but I’ve decided I’m not going to let unit 5 get the best of me. I’m reprioritizing and reorganizing. School, of course, is till one of my top priorities, but running and blogging have definitely made their way back up the list.
As I mentioned, Thanksgiving was fantastic. I had the opportunity to hang with the family and catch up with some of my favorite people in the world (Pioneer <3). After driving home Wednesday night in bumper to bumper traffic and in a rainstorm (yeah it sucked), I crashed. Not my car, but into my bed. I had another exam Wednesday morning, and I was physically and mentally exhausted. From Saturday morning to Wednesday 8:30 am, I studied nearly 50 hours. Needless to say, my brain hurt. I slept better that night than I had in days…and then the alarm went off at 6 am. It was Turkey Trot time! Unfortunately, I really didn’t train for this run. Like I said, med school was sucking up all my free time. Luckily, the Troy Turkey Trot is pretty low-key run. Em, Kelly and I met up and, of course, Em had made us super cute T-shirts waiting for us.
I don’t have very many race day photos, as I left my camera at home, but it was a good time. I ran my slowest 5k ever (that’s what I get for not training), but it was still an awesome experience. I got to spend time with 2 of my favorite people, and I got a medal:) The race also was a major source of inspiration for a new goal in my life…
After the race, I headed home for Thanksgiving dinner. This year we mixed it up and went out to eat to a local restaurant called Charley’s. The food was delicious and it was great to see and spend time with my family.
Thanksgiving Dinner…family style at Charley’s
Jeff enjoying the food, but not enjoying me taking a picture of him
The rest of the weekend went by incredibly fast. It included spending more time with friends and family, a whole lot of “Falalala Lifetime” (christmas movie marathon on Lifetime) and sleeping.
Another highlight of the weekend was signing up for my first half marathon! I know. As if I don’t have enough going on, why not train for a 10+ mile race? I needed some type of goal when it comes to my running. The race Michele, Kelly, Em and I signed up for isn’t until June so I have plenty of time to prepare. We’ll be running in the Lake Placid half marathon, and hopefully all the training for the race will keep me in shape for all 4 weddings I have next summer.
Anyway, hopefully this will be the kick in the butt I need to keep going with my running and blogging.
Had a bad day…
So I originally wrote this post back in October after our second exam. For some reason I never got around to putting it online, and its time to change that. Better late than never
I survived…kinda. We finished up the practical portion of the unit 2 exam yesterday, and I’m not going to lie. It was rough. I hate coming out of an exam and just praying I passed. Needless to say, it’s somewhat of a new feeling that I’m still getting used to. But that’s what med school does to you. The experience constantly reminds you that you’re not nearly as smart as you think you are 
After 2 days of pure test taking hell, the girls and I headed over to Faegen’s for lunch to celebrate it at least being over with.
Post test: Rikat, Tara, Andrea, and Caitlyn
Sam Adams Cherry Wheat at noon…yup the test went that well
Tasty cheesy potato soup
The chicken panini was also quite delicious
After lunch we picked up Chris headed over to a local apple orchard in hopes of getting the exam off our minds. Of course the first stop was the Beak and Skiff Apple Farm Winery!
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So much wine…definitely helped my mood:)
Tara and Chris checking out the tasting menu
We tasted three apple wines and 3 hard ciders.
My favorite was a sweet Gala apple wine.
Beautiful view outside the winery.
The leaves are starting to change! I love fall in central NY.
After the winery, we headed over to the vodka distillery.
Vodka making machines…not sure what they’re called.
Whatever it was, it was impressive…
…and really tall.
Finally it was time to head over to the orchard to get down to the apple picking business.
Anna, Rikat, and Tara on the wagon out to the picking area.
Erica, Caitlyn, me and Chris on the other side of the wagon.
Apple time!
Some apple picking action shots. First off, me in search of the best pie making apples.
Caitlyn in the trees.
Andrea still had a smile on her face even though it was much colder in Syracuse than beautiful SoCal
Anna and Rikat’s hilarious Snow white shot
After spending some time outside, we decided to head over to the country store.
We warmed up with hot apple cider and doughnuts…mmmm!
After a fantastic afternoon enjoying some of central NY’s best fall festivities, I called it a day and prepared for classes on thursday. It seems unrealisitc that they start right back in with new material the day after the test because who can concentrate on all this new info when we’re still recovering from the last unit???
Anway the first day of post exam classes went allright. I made it through without falling asleep so I guess it was somewhat of a success. Mike, Andrea and I eased our selves back into the study mode by having a wine, pizza and Gray’s night at my apartment Thursday night.
Shoofly, an Australian Shiraz, was ridiculously good. Also, I discovered Mike’s weak spot…red wine. Mwahaha
BBQ chicken pizza and tasty tasty red wine.
We finished the night out by opening a bottle of Charles Shaw. Oh two buck chuck, I miss you and Trader Joes something terrible.
Even though the exam could have gone better, these past couple post exam days turned out to be some of my favorites since I moved to the Syracuse:)
