aaahhh

I'm only 144 questions away from being FINISHED with usmleworld already. I'm going to own those suckers tomorrow. And my friends from church are planning a wine and hors d oeuvres party next Monday night which will be a perfect follow-up to a long day of testing!
During one of my very short but necessary study breaks today, I stumbled upon some lovely gold and chalcedony jewelry from Banana:

I love chalcedony but I don't have any and I probably won't get any for a while (at least not until my new loans come in) but if anyone wants to get me a spontaneous gift of jewelry, you know where to find it. The only thing I might worry about is that last necklace making noise. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in the world when I can hear my jewelry tinkling every time I move. I have a pair of earrings that do that and I only ever wear them if I know I'm going to be someplace LOUD.
I'm off to sleep, because it keeps me beautiful(ish). mwoah!

crackalackin

I don't usually remember any of my dreams, but last night I had a really weird one. I dreamed that I went to Target and bought a bunch of crack and smoked it in my apartment. Except that the crack came in packets like cigarettes. What does this dream mean? I don't habitually smoke anything (hookah for a special occasion, and the occasional cigar when I'm feeling a little like a 50-year-old man) and I obviously don't smoke crack. Maybe this is a sign that I need a vacation.

a bacon follow-up

I know that I've already talked about bacon at length, but I just found a few bacon products (available online of course) that I feel the need to share with the world. Bacon Chocolate bars, Maple-Bacon lollipops, and bacon brittle.

If you think I'm crazy, just remember that I'm not as crazy as this lady:
That's SUCIO.
I am almost finished with my second read-through of First Aid and my practice question scores are slowly rising, which is encouraging and the also the highlight of my entire week. Except of course for looking up fun bacon facts which has also been fun.

I hop, you hop, we all hop for IHOP!!

last night I went with my study group (we don't study together, just next to one another) to IHOP to get breakfast for dinner. I haven't been to one since college. Actually, that's not true I ate at IHOP a little over two weeks ago... but still, it's been a long time. I got the corncake pancakes that came with eggs, bacon, and hash browns. I think I may make corncake pancakes my new standard--although when it comes to IHOP, anything is possible. I think my next meal will be the Swedish international passport breakfast (same thing as a rooty tooty fresh and fruity but has crepes instead of pancakes and the crepes are covered in lingonberries).
I'm becoming like a knowledge meth head from all this studying. When I came home last night I was confused by my light switch. My actual thought was something along the lines of "I don't have time to deal with that right now". I then walked around in the dark for five minutes before realizing that light made living easier. I woke up this morning with my mind racing with different random science facts thinking "I FEEL AWESOME!!! I AM THE SMARTEST PERSON ALIVE!!!" and then proceeded to talk back--out loud--to the tapes of lectures that I've been listening to during my downtime. As if Dr. Goljan could hear me and would appreciate my input.
Also, I think I've gained 10 lbs in the last 2 weeks from stress eating. Food is the bright point in my life right now, and I am eating as much as I possibly can. I've worn sweatpants for the last two days because I don't want to try on my jeans and find they don't fit anymore. This is not a healthy practice. I only have 11 more days until I'm done with this insanity, then I get my wonderful and glorious 6 day summer break and go back to school on June 30.

DC wedding weekend

More to come later (if you're lucky!) but here are a few pictures from last weekend when my cousin Alex got married at the meridian house in DC:

This is when Uncle Dan said that Anna didn't look very Mexican
Three generations of Nelson descendants with the matriarch:

My Cousin walking down the aisle

Me and my sisters in the linden grove with Anna

Um yeah their faces aren't in this picture but that's why they hired a professional wedding photographer.

bacon

I spent an hour and a half online last night at cooking for engineers reading about the different ways to cook bacon and the different kinds of bacon that exist. To summarize: the best way to cook crisp bacon is in a 300 degree oven for several hours, on a cooling rack set over a jelly-roll pan. The best way to cook chewy bacon is on a grill; however, the downside is that you can't save the bacon grease to cook with later (which I am intrigued by but have never done). Cooking bacon in a microwave yeilds an inferior product, but will suffice if there is not time to grill your bacon.
There was an intense debate about the quality of American/Canadian/British/Australian bacons, and also of bacon cured with sugar vs smoked and salted. One southern gentleman suggested bacon with a rind on it (the skin!) which you could then save to chew on all day long to get the bacon taste and to assuage hunger pains. I don't think I'm ready for that quite yet.
Oh, and I don't even really eat regular bacon. The only bacon I ever make for myself is of the turkey variety--but I did enjoy perusing the discussions about bacon theory. I challenge you to read the articles and not immediately want a BLT!

silly donuts

When Shannon and Ben were here we went to a place called "yummy donuts" on Lovers. I was hesitant to try the donuts because the inside of the store didn't smell like grease (which to me means that the donuts can't be that fresh). Then I saw the selection and was FLABBERGASTED. They had donuts with fruity pebbles on top, donuts with pop-tarts on top(!), with Oreos on top, and donuts dressed up as moon-pies, s'mores, éclairs, and other such nonsense. What on earth is the point of having a donut that is trying to be a moonpie?
First of all, moonpies are officially the most random thing that anyone can ever eat. I've only seen one person eat a moonpie ever. I got one for my birthday as a joke because I think they're so weird... it's still in my pantry unopened. It's a banana-flavored moonpie and I'm saving it for some occasion when I feel self-destructive.
Anyways, about the donut experience. I was overwhelmed by the choices and decided to go with a simple apple cider donut. This type of donut is supposed to be sweet (but not sickeningly so) and dense, with a good amount of chewiness. The donut I ate was fluffy like a birthday cake-not the proper texture for a good apple cider donut at all. My sister got a thing that was like the lovechild of a long john and a cream-filled donut which they were calling a donut éclair. She said it was good, but I still think that they're serving too much flash and not enough substance. I'm going to stick with June at Maple Donuts from now on. Besided the fact that it's less expensive, I have actually seen donuts go from the dough phase to the in my mouth phase while waiting for a large order to be filled. Super Fresh. Plus she always gives me extra donuts as a perk. Their simple glazed variety is solid, but the standout donuts are the blueberry cake and the old-fashioned buttermilk. I really don't think you can go wrong with anything from Maple Donuts because they put love in the batter.
Another place I like for sweet breakfasts is Aston's bakery on Lovers Lane near the tollway. I had the cinnamon roll and Erin had a cherry danish when she came and both were excellent. They also had a good-looking supply of cookies and petit fours (however, their muffin selection was limited).