Awesome week!

Mark and I resting

Whoa, rock climbing was pretty awesome!  A group of us went to Mission Gorge and hiked two routes.  I got up both of them although the part pictured below took me two tries before I got it.  I actually sort of muscled through it because my pride would not let me NOT do it.  Everyone had gotten it easily and even though it had been 13 years since I climbed, there was no way I wasn't going to make it. So... I did it!  It was an awesome, beautiful day and I had the best time.

Some rock...

Later that night, I went to SMS' sister's Christmas party.  It was a lot of fun, my dress looked great (yay!) and I met his parents who are the most delightful people.  I love holiday parties and even though I was on my dumb diet, it was still fun.

Oh yeah!  I finished Whole30!  I felt/feel awesome and I'm so glad that I stuck to my guns and saw it through!  I've definitely gone off-plan at this point and had a mini-holiday.  I'm paying attention to portion sizes and not eating too much bread but other than that, I'm just going to eat what seems good (which also means not necessarily healthy although most of what I eat is).  I can't wait for Hawaii and a shave ice, but I'm definitely not craving sweets as much as I used to .  I DO want a glass of wine, but that has to wait until tomorrow when I'm off call.  Yay!

The work week was pretty easy and I got some good cases.  Two ears, a neck dissection and parotidectomy- it was awesome!  On Christmas Eve, I went over to Mark's parents' for lunch followed by dinner with Zen that night at Banker's Hill.  On Christmas, I went to the Boswell's for lunch and had a pot roast dinner here at the apartment with Matt, Bryon, Julian and Chase.  It was a lot of fun and great company all day.  

Last night, I went to a climber party/Angela's birthday at Bay Ho and met the nicest people.  Chad and Jennifer were a super cool couple that I spoke with for awhile.  I also met Michelle, a former L&D nurse and current acupuncturist.  

Today, I meant to write my paper but instead, got caught up on errands and sleep.  Two more days 'till NYE and three more days until Hawaii!!!

Upcoming travel excitement!

I can't wait!  After taking WAY too little leave (not since JazzFest really), I have several exciting trips coming up!  I initially refrained from asking for one of my allowed weeks off and then I thought, "What am I thinking?!"  So, I asked for it and when I talked to Brady later that week, I found out that it's her Spring Break!  Sister trip!  I think we'll head over to Switzerland together!  That way, we can hang out during the day and then I'll find stuff to do at night when Uli is off.  We'll all go out to dinner at least once but I want to make sure they have their time too.  I've travelled independently before so it's NBD.

BRADY!  Let me hang out with yooouuuuuu!

I also have two awesome February trips.  On President's Weekend, I'll be heading out to Breckenridge to Jenny's brother's house with Jenny and Brooke.  SUPER exciting!  I've never skied on a Big West resort and I cannot wait.  I may rent skis since it'll save on bringing them AND my skis are so old that the rentals will be much nicer.  Hmmm, what to do?

The weekend after that, I'm heading to Pittsburgh to see all of my close college friends.  HOORAY!  I am really hoping Hilary will be able to make it since she'll be close to 7 months pregnant at that point but my fingers are crossed for her!  Well, they're crossed anyway but I do hope she'll be able to make it!

Finally, I'll head out to Nova Scotia in June where Mom and Dad have rented a house for two weeks.  Seems a little random but the place is gorgeous and I always love seeing them and hanging out with family so I'm really looking forward to it.

This week was pretty mellow.  I had a super tough case in the OR- it was the hardest tympanoplasty I've ever done.  The guy had recently been in an IED blast (<3 months ago) and there was just a lot of inflammation, bony irregularities and shredded drum.  Ultimately, I got the graft in and positioned appropriately but it was really difficult and not tons of fun.  Clinic was pretty easy this week- not too mentally taxing.

Socially, a little quiet since people are gearing up for the holidays and leaving town.  I watched Elf and cooked salmon on Thursday.  I love the movie and it makes me feel so Christmas-y.  I may even watch it again that's how much I love it!

Ok, off to go round.  I'm going rock-climbing today and then to a Christmas party tonight.  I think I have my outfit set to go.  I'm wearing a dress which looks good and not too fancy but it's easy to overshoot the dress code in Southern CA so hopefully, it won't be too much.  The dress is flattering but pretty simple.  My shoes are totally awesome and really give a pop of color.  I'll write the verdict later!

December Weekend

I had a great weekend!  On Friday, I went out to the Tractor Room with Jenny, Jim, Carlin and Jeremy.  We were celebrating Jenny’s and Jim’s birthdays and the food was delicious.  I had the wild boar stew.  The carb-y things smelled heavenly but I’m still going strong.  Day 23/30, yay!  I can’t wait to be done although I can’t really figure out what I’m going to eat afterwards either.  Do I go back to oats and yogurt in the morning?  I think not, but I need to figure something out!

On Saturday, I went up to North County and biked from Solana Beach to Leucadia and back after a delicious brunch at Claire’s on Cedros.  That night, I went to a Christmas party where people were so nice and had REALLY amazing Christmas sweaters.

On Sunday, I got my ass handed to me by a hot yoga class.  I thought I was going to hurl and pass out at the same time.  I managed to push through the last 8 minutes, but holy hell.  I went back to bed and it sort of wiped out my whole afternoon.  Then I went to game night, was tempted by cookies but succeeded and played poker with my friends, which was a lot of fun.

Today has been two ear cases.  Now, I’m off to work on the discussion section of my paper before moving on to typing up an IRB for my planned Mercy paper.  Ooops, held up by the fact that there's scant literature but I'll get it done!

Christmas Time!

Small boat during the Parade of Lights

I love Christmas!  On Sunday, I answered a last minute text from Dave.  He was offering two tickets to the USS Midway to watch the Parade of Lights.  It was awesome and so much fun.  I took Evan, Tawnne's kiddo and he was so cool.  Some of his comments and insights were awesome!  I should do borrow-a-kid more often!  Although I loved the Midway (I was on the biggest boat in the water, ha ha!), I definitely wouldn't mind riding in the Parade of Lights since that would mean I knew a big baller who owned a yacht!

Sprekels Pavilion Christmas Living Tree

The day prior, I went to December Nights.  It was beautiful and I met up with two groups of friends, one on purpose and one accidentally.  The accidental one was awesome b/c it included Jenny and I was wearing the scarf she gave me.  Score for inadvertent thoughtfulness!

Cabrillo

Also on Sunday, I went for a jog up in Cabrillo, had a grilled sword salad for lunch (the halibut sandwiches are SO much better, dumb diet!) and went to my sewing class where I made a pretty awesome apron.

EKA-3 on the Midway.  I thought I was being cute
and taking a picture to show Dad but in fact, it's
even cooler b/c he flew a few hundred hours in this plane itself!

Monday, I had an AWESOME TMC fracture repair.  It was super displaced (case of Mr. Knee meeting Mr. Cheekbone while doing a flip on a trampoline) and I really had to york on it.  But guess who looks better than he did?  My patient!

The Killers and other fun!

The Giving Tree reference?  I think so.

I’m reading a delightful book.  That adjective will likely give you pause when you consider that the title is The End of Your Life Book Club, a memoir by Will Schwalbe. It documents the books read and conversations had with his mother while she received palliative treatment for terminal pancreatic cancer.  Mrs. Schwalbe is (present tense b/c of the book although she has since died) a vivacious, insightful, dynamic, intelligent woman who seems to have an unwavering commitment to beauty and transformation in her world, which ranges from her immediate family to international refugee issues.  I love reading all the anecdotes that reveal truth and resonate deeply, whether it’s from conversations or selected passages in the books.  It’s a marvelous book and I deeply recommend it.  

The Killers- they started with the lights up.
"Mr. Brightside"

So awesome!

 Last night, I went to Wrex the Halls, sponsored by 91X (local radio station).  It was awesome!  I went with Sean, Tawnne and Jenny.  We had great seats!  The headliners were The Killers who are so awesome!  I definitely have a mini-crush on Brandon Flowers.  I love his solo work and the band is also amazing.  Most of the songs were from Hot Fuss, but I really enjoyed the three new songs they played: “Here With Me,” “Miss Atomic Bomb” and “Runaways.”  I love the forlorn hope in his songs.  They tend to center on love and changes that happen to it over time or commitments/statements that things won’t change.  The songs are really beautiful while being totally rocking.  I also saw Tegan and Sara, whom I really liked.  My favorite songs  “Messed Up” and “I’m Not Your Hero” are from the upcoming album.  I’ve re-listened to them today on YouTube.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of Passion Pit.  Finally, I saw a French Band M83 who were mostly electronic.  New discovery (to me) that I liked but I won’t be downloading every song.

This week was pretty fun.  On Monday, I went to a sewing class and made the cutest bag!  I’ll see how I like the second class but maybe a sewing machine is in my future!  On Wednesday, I decided to have a spa night since I’m on call this weekend.  I went back to Va Va Varnish for a mani/pedi.  My pedicure is super cute although my mani is already chipped-chipped but it’s my fault.  I am rough on my hands.

My new bag- I made it myself!

I also got Dr. Laughlin back after he wired my office door shut and taped it up (separate incidents).  I stole his chair that he LOVES.  He, apparently, flipped out, dropped a bunch of F-bombs and tore apart his entire clinic trying to find the chair.  It wasn't there though...

Ha, ha, jerkface!

Apparently now, there's a truce.  Yeah, I believe that.  But his chair is back in his office.

Whole30 continues.  I’ve stuck with it even though I was tempted to throw it in when I bought some Winter Ales that are delicious from Telegraph Rd.  But I’m saving them for after even though I’m not planning on drinking a lot of beer after this.  Winter Ales are my favorite though.  I’ve also wanted a glass of wine twice.  There were also some delicious-looking sweet treats at work that were tempting (Oh, magic bars, I heart you!) but I stayed away.  What this diet is teaching me is that I need steady, maintained commitment to a diet if I want results.  Sometimes the days seem so long that 3-4 day stretches seem like enough and then I treat myself which is more appropriate for a maintenance mode, not weight-loss mode.  I’ve already lost approximately 5 pounds.  I was seriously obsessing about wanting to see scale results so that’s the one deviation from the plan.  I’d definitely say some of that is water weight but I do feel better in my clothes already.  And my hands look great!  I’ve started wearing gloves when I wash dishes but my knuckles are no longer chapped!  Yay!

Our speaker system in Thursday's OR

I’m planning on continuing eating Whole30-lite after the month, apart from my HI vacation.  I haven’t decided if that means one treat a day (alcohol, sweet or bread), 2 drink events/week, a splurge day or some other variation.  I really plan to avoid wheat and baked goods though.  Oh well, plenty of time to decide!  Day 14 today!

Delightful December!

Whole30 is still going well.   I've gotten through my one non-call weekend pretty well so far and still managed to hang out with people at the office Christmas party and at one of our favorite bars.  Overall, it's been pretty easy since I've committed to saying no to non-Whole30 treats.  Don't get me wrong- the desserts looked AMAZING last night but I wasn't even tempted.  A huge part of that was eating a nice, filling meal before I went.  Otherwise, I would have been in trouble.  I also brought my own seltzer water- grapefruit La Croix.

Friday, I went out to 30th on 30th, which is great since I've always wanted to go.  It was a little dampened (ha, ha!) b/c of the rain so I'll go again when I can partake in good weather and all the food but I had fun with my friends.

Yesterday was an all-day airway course followed by the office Christmas party and a brief post-party stop at Imperial House where Rick Lyon was in excellent form.

Today, I'm going to Cabrillo for a long run, Encinitas for a sewing class via Groupon and getting a tree with my roomies.  It's been a full weekend but I got a great night's sleep last night so I feel wonderful.  I'm excited for the Redskins vs. Giants game tomorrow night too!