>Nurse Lauren to your service

>HOWWWDYYY HOOOO,

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope your day was spendid. I had my FIRST DAY OF CLINICAL TODAY!!! I seriously can’t believe how much my life has changed in the last month! In case you don’t know I left my PhD program (currently declaring my MS) for a career as a physician assistant (PA). You can read more about WHY I made this decision here. A requirement for PA school is a TON of DIRECT patient care experience. At first, this really bummed me out as I had NONE. But now I think having this experience will make me a much better and compassionate PA in the future.

To obtain these hours I’m completing a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course at the Red Cross and this is our week of clinicals! I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t a liiiiitle nervous – OK petrified (!) but that all subsided after the first hour and I REALLY LIKE IT! I can tell this is going to be a great week and can’t wait to report more later on 🙂

^How cool is this old ad I found?? source

Now that I’m home I’m completely EXHAUSTED. 1) I slept in waaaay too late the day before so I was wide awake when I should have been sleeping and 2) I was antsy in anticipation of the day. Thankfully, my lovely Manfriend decided to cook us dinner while I caught up on these girls (since I was busy gettin ready for class last night):

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Seriously, what could be better after a long day? Kourtney, Khloe, vino, and a Manfriend cookin’ up a feast sounds pretty good to me!

Action shot:

Vino:

^I usually don’t order Malbec, but as Seth’s much more the wine connoisseur then me, I trusted his choice. And it was GREAT! I’d say it’s somewhere between a syrah (my favorite!) and a Zin. Smoky start and smooth/fruity finish. YUMM.

Meal:

^Trader Joe’s Tomato and Basil Chicken Sausage with sauteed onions and peppers in a whole grain pita. SO GOOD!

Traditional (aka PIG) sausage normally creeps me out. The thought of ingesting pig intestines makes me squirm, BUT CHICKEN sausage does nothing of the sort! In fact, it’s GREAT!

Aiiiight peeps, gotta get ready for tomorrow. Clinical STARTS at 7am! Early bird over here!!!

Have a great Tuesday!!!!!

Lauren

>Need you now

>Hiiii,

How was your weekend? I was phone-less since I left my charger at my friend Ally’s from our sleepova on Thursday. Great time, but I totally feel stranded without it. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I recently joined the Crackberry world??? But alas, it’s back safe in my arms.

Soooo a little rewind…Who watched the State of the Union Thursday night?? You can imagine here in DC it’s a big deal. Most bars had viewing parties and drink specials! Nuts! I went over Ally’s house for a viewing party. It was a lot of fun. Check out the game we played:

Aaaaaaand, I won! We drank lots of good wine (Shriaz for me) and had some delish brownie dessert.

Friday night I stayed in and lounged because 1) I was beyond exhausted from the week and 2) I had to be up super early to set up an experiment/run a 10-miler. Buuuuut, I woke to 6 inches of snow so scienceland was postponed and the race was cancelled. You may be thinking that 6 inches is nothing (and I agree; I’m from NH) but DC literally shuts down when it snows. So you can bet I spent the rest of the snowed-in day watching movies and having ice cream. Aaaah.

Today was pretty wonderful. Quick lab trip to set up some experiments, then kicked my butt spinning, followed by some much needed Bikram Yoga. I love Bikram. My muscles/joints instantly feel better and I love the serious detoxing. Every try it??

I returned home to make some sweet potato fries and enjoy this gem I found in Whole Foods today:

I visited Cline Vineyards in Sonoma two summers ago, and after tasting it instantly began my love affair with members of the Shriaz/Syrah family.

The roomie made some Au Natural gluten-free brownies (Trader Joe’s brand; with added dark chocolate chunks and PB drizzled topping) to accompany our night of Bill & Gulianna (love them!), The Grammys, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Perfecto way to end the week, eh?

Oh, and he came too:

Well, I’m off to bed to wake up early and run a (hopefully) 7-miler. I leave you with some Lady Antebellum. I absolutely love this song, it reminds me of the manfriend, because long-distance is wonderful! ha

Night ❤

>Salsaa

>Hey Hey,

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty fantastic. Fantastically productive yet fun 🙂

Friday was beeeautiful weather in DC so in between experiments I snuck out for a quick 3-miler. It was glorious. I only wish I didn’t get so darn sweaty when I run or I’d run over lunch break everyday…I always wonder how people manage this. First, I’m generally starving before lunch so my energy levels are next to zero. And second, let’s say I run for 45 mins. I generally need 15 mins to stretch/stop profusely sweating and then another 30 to quickly shower and get ready. Hmmm…Any suggestions???

Saturday I worked in the labski until 9pm! Not the most exciting night, but I did get some wonderful results so it’s okay in my book 🙂 But you can bet the first thing I did when I returned home was make some of these:

Skinny margaritas on the rocks: White tequila, splash triple sec, splash OJ, fresh lime juice, dash of stevia.

I even hand delivered one to Kels (sistah) in the shower. Ahhhhh, shower drinks. Reminds me of being in undergrad 🙂

The night started and ended with those and a whole lotta salsa dancing in between.

Sunday was a blur I think I slept until 3pm…made some food and slept some more. Oh, and watched 23894329 episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. What better to do on a rainy day???

Monday was also pretty epic. The manfriend is moving to DC in a couple of weeks (!) so Kels and I switched rooms as her’s is muchhhh bigger than mine. Losta work but big payoff. In between moving, I went for 7-mile run around the Lincoln Memorial, National Mall, reflecting pool, and Jefferson Memorial. There is something different about running in DC than other cities. For me running is really a time of clarity and reflection. Being surrounded by beautiful statues, memorials, etc. recognizing heroes of our past really puts what’s important into perspective. I returned from the run refreshed and motivated for the week 🙂

For dinner last night, I modified Fitnessista‘s Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili. It was quick, spicy, and delicious.

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^Lean ground turkey, black beans, corn, 1 medium yellow onion, 2 cans diced tomatoes (1 fire roasted if you like it hott), 4 medium sweet potatoes, 1 clove diced garlic, 1 tsp cumin, 2 tsp red chili powder, sea salt/pepper to taste. I served it over brown rice and a new favorite around la casa, Greg Norman Syrah.

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Who knew golfers were so wine-savy???

Whelp, back to scienceland…Have a great week!

L

>Say it ain’t so

>
RIP

In sad celebrity news, it seems my favorite couple has confirmed they have broken up.

Is there really hope for the rest of us now?

On a happier note, my talk is D-O-N-E! I don’t know why I get so nervous before public speaking. I used to love it in high school/college but something about presenting my data to a room full of PhDs/MDs is kinda intimidating…

So tonight, scienceland is not invited to the party, but I shall see you:

Aaaaah.

And maybe you:

Have a great rest of your day!!

Lauren