Harvest time.

I had to start my orientation this week. The first two days were not that terrible as we were learning Advanced Trauma Life Support (And I start my rotations in the ER, so what we learned is going to be pretty immediately applicable). But today was kind of terrible. I had orientation at the VA and the BEST part of today was a woman dressed up as a giant hand giving us a power-point presentation about how and when to use alcohol-based hand cleaner. I didn't get a picture, unfortunately.
Spending a half a day listening to presentations about billing, compliance, patient safety, hand-washing, coding, fire safety, parking, computer safety, etc is just not my cup of tea. Actually I really spent my time tuning the presentations out while playing on the internet, and I started looking at seed catalogs online. Which brings me around to the topic of our garden!

Today I harvested several jalapenos and a red bell pepper! We are going to roast the red pepper and put it on a pesto and goat's cheese pizza tonight. I'm not sure yet what to do with the jalapenos but they may be pickled.
Our tomato plants started flowering again when the temps got under 100 last week. I tried to pollinate them with my fingers, but I'm not sure if it worked. only time will tell!

The squash that I planted really late in the season (like end of May) have started to flower.

The mammoth sunflowers are almost as tall as our chain-link fence. In the past two weeks they have grown about 2 feet in height.


The top of the sunflower is looking really cool... I'm not a gardening genius but I'm pretty sure this means that it is about to make a flower.


And here is the full view of our garden!


As a reminder, this is what it looked like about a month and a half ago.

my spine!

I'm an idiot. Even though I hired movers, I was too lazy to pack some of my stuff well enough for them to move it (eg kitchen, bathroom) and so I stupidly inflamed something in my spine and am now paying the price. It doesn't help that I'm spending the majority of my day sitting and studying (even though I dorkily sit on an excercise ball at my desk like Dwight from The Office).
I loved rowing, and it opened up opportunities in my life that I would not have otherwise had... but I'm kind of bummed that 3+ years after I stopped, and more than 2 years after having surgery, I'm still dealing with this thing. Also, I'm being lazy and not doing my exercises like I'm supposed to because it's annoying and I don't want to be the person who has to do PT every day in order to not be in pain. The problem is that I am that person and I'm in semi-denial about it.
I guess the back issues did lead to some good: the research I did last summer on degenerative spondylolisthesis is being presented this weekend in San Antonio. I couldn't go to the conference because I'm studying and I just moved and I don't have an extra $350 to go, but the poster is there and someone might read it. I can't give everything away, but here's a sneak preview:

FASCINATING, no? I'll wait to give all the details until I'm published. If that ever happens. Which I really hope it does.
I kind of want an MRI of my spine right now, but I think they cost a ridiculous amount of money (which my college is no longer going to pay for), I'm not sure that they could do anything about the situation if there was something inflamed, and if I did have to get surgery it would be really awkward because then I would have to choose between the different Doctors that I worked with last summer, AND people that I may want to work with/for in the next few years would see me naked (in the OR). One of my biggest fears is to be seen naked by a doctor I've worked with or by fellow students. If I'm ever in a traumatic accident, I want to be taken to a private (non-teaching) hospital so that I don't have one of my classmates cutting off all my clothes and putting in a catheter. how embarrassing would that be?

apartment pictures (mostly for Shannon)

Here's what my apartment currently looks like. I still have a few things to do but it's mostly put together.

from top of stairs: I think it's required for every Texan to have either a giant metal star, a state flag, or a pair of longhorns somewhere inside their house. At the very least, they should have a large collection of Mexican crosses (I have 5). The coffee table is from Ikea and I put it together myself! the wall unit is older than I am--It's built for VHS storage. And yes, I do love books.

looking from dining area into living room. I got the architectural poster from the Uffizi in Florence--It's a plan of the duomo. I got the Uzbek Suzani in Selcuk, Turkey from the man who owned our hotel. To hang it up I had to stand on some molding that decorates my staircase. My mother refused to watch and told me that if I even ATTEMPTED to hang the tapestry that way, I would DIE and then my dream of a career in surgery would be OVER!!! (Seriously)

Here's my bedroom-- this is the other Uzbek Suzani I brought back from Turkey (this one is silk... ooh la la!) the bedspread is from Pottery Barn a few years ago, and the "vanity" is composed of a desk that I had to screw a leg back onto and a mirror that my mom didn't want anymore. I'm thinking of getting a headboard from World Market that's dark wood with a subtle floral motif painted onto it.

The kitchen.. I couldn't get it all in in one shot.

I love my cow-shaped butter dish. It's from Target. I was tempted to buy the matching cow-shaped creamer, but I already have one creamer that I don't use and I don't need two of them.


My next step is to get some black and white photos of friends, family, and pretty places I've traveled to and hang them up like an album next to my kitchen table. After that I think I'll really be finished.