I love Salvation... Army

I went to the Salvation Army on Harry Hines and Inwood the other day to look for a headboard and although I was not successful in my search, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of quality home furniture they have. Examples: sets of wing chairs for less than $200, giant sturdy armoirs for $250 to $3o0, and sofas for under $300. They did have some things that were a bit vegas (matching faux-marbelized bed set- the headboard had two attached night stands and an overhead light!) but they also had a lot of cute kind of granny-ish furniture that would be really pretty if painted. I got a giant 60s beach housey lamp for $8.00:


My sister, Ben and Anna visited this weekend and they brought me a chair that they won't need at their new house. It's upholstered in a way that was very stylish in 1993 and there are a few cat scratches decorating it it, so I decided to rig up a makeshift slipcover using an extra sheet and then threw a scarf on it that I will have to borrow next winter because I usually use it on my neck and not on my furniture:

I'm not sure what to do with the trunk that I have next to it. I need the trunk to store my winter sweaters, and it doesn't fit under my bed. But it screams college like nobody's business. I doubt that I'll ever be ambitious enough to actually paint it or cover it with paper, but I wish that could somehow just happen automatically without any effort on my part.
This is my office closet. I have a very big closet (it even has a window!) that would otherwise have held a vaccum and little else, so I decided to make it into a study nook. I haven't used it yet but I hope to in the future.

Here are some pictures of me and my cutie niece from this weekend. She thinks I'm the funniest person ever. or maybe it's just how I look.

Seatbelt Check!

When I was six or seven, my mom used to do this thing that I thought was SO funny where she would slam on the brakes in the car and yell "seatbelt check!" Then I would ask her to do it again and again because it felt a little bit like a roller-coaster ride and it was just so spontaneous and fun! She would never oblige me. I now know that the seatbelt checks weren't thrown in because I thought they were fun; it was because someone cut my mom off in traffic and Previas maneuver like a pregnant walrus. on land. Which brings me to my next point; Previa is a disgusting name for a car. I'm sure Toyota was trying to find a word that seemed lofty and yet attainable at the same time, but the only context I have EVER heard the word "previa" in is in the condition "placenta previa" which can lead to early delivery or even miscarriage. why would you name a minivan that?

things I love and hate.

I'm not creative today but I am feeling contemplative in a very self-centered and simple kind of way. Ergo, here's a simple love/hate list from me. Because of course you were dying to know. Only shallow things are included because you already know I love God/My Family/the USA and hate cancer/terrorism.

Things I love:

• Half Price Books
• reading cookbooks for fun
• Alfred Hitchcock movies (newly discovered love)
• English Muffins
• Goljan audio files (yay passive learning)
• Mondays. I'm not even kidding, they're my favorite
• getting up before sunrise
• big trees
• salsa bars (not to dance, like they have at taco cabana where you can mix and match salsas for your taco)
  

Things I hate:

• being less than 0.5 points away from the next grade up in Clinical Medicine AND Microbiology this year (Micro was less than 0.1)
• Lactose intolerance
• the egrets (or whatever) on our campus that poo all over the place and make it smell awful outside for 5 solid months out of the year
  
• picky eaters
• the speed limit signs that start to blink at you when you go 31 mph in a 30.
• the continued coverage of gas prices in the news. We don't need interviews with some random person complaining about gas prices. That isn't news. I see like ten gas stations on my way to school every day. I know that the rise in prices is annoying--there is no need to assign a reporter to cover the "gas crisis" unless there is actually something new to say.
• when I go running and get really sweaty and then I take a shower but I'm still sweating after the shower even though I used cold water so it's almost like I never showered at all.
  

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.

let's see if I go crazier

my mom was here last weekend because I moved to my new apartment in UP and she was helping me to figure out where to hang things and what I needed to purchase in order to make my little back house into a back home. She also financed a trip to Costco, which means that I don't have to buy groceries for like two months. Which is good because today was the start of my hardcore buckle-down Step 1 studying. My general plan is to read from 7-4 or so, work out, eat dinner, and then do questions in the evening for a few hours. I'm also listening to Goljan when I drive to/from school because he's the bomb.com and I have fun imagining the images he's talking about.
I went for a run directly from my residence for the first time in several years. It was amazing, but maybe would have been better if the weather hadn't decided to shoot up to 98 practically overnight. But I still love being able to walk out my door and not worry about getting yelled at by drunk/homeless/otherwise unsavory types. Also, the streets here are actually LEVEL, free of the enormous potholes of my former neighborhood that made driving down the street in a car uncomfortable, and riding down the street on a bike impossible. I may try and go for a bike ride in my neighborhood later this week! today I passed a really pretty park (I think it's called University Park. It's at the intersection of University and Park. In University Park. are we sensing a theme?)
In other adventures, I don't have a microwave. I'm actually having to turn on my stove in order to heat things. I feel like I'm in the seventies.
I take the USMLE on 6/23. After that, a 6-day summer and I start with Pediatrics on 6/30. I hope I get off July 4 weekend.

Alert. Alert.

Ten years ago, in 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they did not commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortunes. If you had a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire ... The A-Team!

It's my duty to inform as many people as possible that the entire first season of this marvelous show is available for free viewing on NBC.com.
I know that Face is supposed to be the looker that all the gals fall for, but honestly I find Hannibal much more attractive. I think it's because Face has a high-pitched voice like a girl and he has a disproportionately small head (see above picture). Hannibal is a master of disguise! and he smokes cigars, which is awesome.
I think that Murdoch is more attractive than Face because he was the pilot, and you know he has to be the toughest one because he lives in the psych ward at a VA hospital. Also, he has a brown leather bomber jacket with a tiger's head airbrushed on the back. I would pay a lot of money for that jacket. What a statement piece!