note to self

delicious lentil soup made by my friend Rachel

+

delicious flamin' hot cheetos I was unable to resist at the grocery store today

+

going for a run shortly after

=

having a really hard run and feeling nauseous.

lesson learned!

Plus maybe I need to start wearing a visor or something, half an hour outside and my freckles are multiplying already! :(

Today is a big 'catch up' day. This weekend I had clinical on Friday night, spent most of Saturday helping my friends with a landscape project and hanging out with them, and Sunday all I did was go to church, watch Les Mis with Jill and try to read about respiratory diseases. But during reading one chapter I ended up taking 2(!) naps and then decided to go read The Hunger Games for the fourth time instead of my homework. So now I have to buckle down! Only 2 weeks left!

Appreciation Day

The other day was National Assistant's day, and although I'm really a paralegal, my boss celebrated me :) A few weeks ago he said his club was doing a fancy appreciation lunch and he sent me an email about it asking if I wanted to go. I wrote back with one thing:

He was like, "seriously?" and Yes, always Yes.

I used to go every Sunday after church with Andrew, but no one to go with anymore. My cholesterol is probably thankful, but so good.

So he took me there and then later in the day he calls me into his office and gives me this:

So pretty. Some of my favorites tulips, pretty zinnias, some pretty purple thing, and none of the stinky lilies that I hate. And a card that said: "To a great assistant - I guarantee that no doctor or hospital will appreciate everything you do as much as me. Thank you!" So nice. And probably actually true. I hope I'll have the occasional grateful patient, but it seems like most nurses are overworked and under appreciated. Can't wait ;)

Last night I found out my patient lived on exactly the same street as my parents, small world! She was suffering from MS and I just felt so bad, there wasn't much I could do for her. I mostly just sat, and fed her, and let her know she wasn't alone.

This morning when I got to my paralegal job I saw that the door was open to the roof.

It always looks so inviting.

One time I asked the guy if I could climb up there, but got denied. "Too risky". Not sure how, me climbing up there doesn't mean I'm going to run to the edge and jump off. One time I started climbing up there, but just stopped short of peeking my head out. Too chicken I guess. Maybe someday!

Pet Advocate

Not only do I advocate for my patients in the hospital, I also advocate for my fellow roommates that happen to be pets. Becks treat jar had been getting lower and lower (he gets one after he goes #2) and then it was empty. A day went by, and he needed treats! He gets very forlorn if you don't give him a treat after he goes. So I helped him out and made this sign:

Haha, it made me laugh whenever I would look at him.

Anyway, Jill came home that night and she already had stopped by to get more treats anyway, so the sign was unnecessary, except for laugh purposes.

Speaking of pets, so I have a new facebook friend. One of the guys from my program added me today and I looked at a few of his pictures. I guess he's into horses which is pretty cool, I don't really know much about him so I didn't know that. Anyway, there is this picture of him riding a horse and he's smiling and it's a nice picture- and I see someone commented "You both look happy!" It seemed so weird to say that as if it was like him and a girlfriend or something. I thought that was so odd, I mean he looks happy, but his horse just looks like a horse to me. Anyway, made me laugh.

Weekend Review

Another busy weekend. Clinical on Friday night. I had another good patient and I watched my nurse share her faith with the patient, I thought that was really cool.

Made some eats

Bean and rice enchiladas with green beanies

Next day roasted peppers, onions and garlic and sweet potato fries

made a favorite: tostados. A corn tortilla with refried beans, roasted veggies, cheese, salsa, avocado.. so good

Ate this feast and watched me some Notebook. Good times.

My classmates eat dinner together as a clinical group and this one girl asked me if I was Indian because I was eating a lot of curry that week. (the week of the Daniel fast of course). But I'm surprised she doesn't ask me if I'm Mexican (or Tex-Mexican) because I eat like 90% that way. LOVE IT. I did think that was kind of funny though, I clearly do not look at all Indian, what should I be eating to proclaim my Americanism, hot dogs and cherry pie??

This weekend my cousin had her wedding shower and I drove out there with my mom. It was far away, and we ended up having some really good conversations. It's always good talks with my mom, but these ones seemed especially needed. I had had another hard day about the divorce stuff and it helped to cry to her and talk about it. She continues to point me back to Jesus and remind me that this divorce, although it still confuses me a lot, served a purpose and taught me lessons that I needed to learn. She was like "you're not perfect, I know that for sure, boy I know that..." Then we laughed, okaaaaayyy - I get it! But it's true, I'm not perfect, and will never be - but I am thankful that God doesn't leave us where we are at. And He can use a terrible thing for His good. And I'm thankful for continued healing. Anyway, it was a good weekend and good to spend time with my mom, and my cousins, and aunts. So many women I love and respect.

We played this fun shower game of making wedding dresses out of the used wrapping paper. My group's won, oh yeah. Alas no one posted any pics on facebook for me to steal and post, but it was a work of art.

We talked about marriages and our grandparents and what a beautiful thing love is. For 70 years my grandma took care of my grandpa, and now that she is suffering from dementia it is beautiful to see him cooking for her, giving her breathing treatments, taking care of her. I'll never forget how I watched him lean over and kiss her and hold her hand when she was going in for her leg surgery in December and calling her sweetheart. So sweet. At the shower they read a letter from my cousin's future husband describing how he fell in love with her and their story and you could tell how much he loved her. And even my patient the other day told me his wife of 50 years was now in a nursing home and he said, "I miss that ol' bat." Also sweet :)

Jill went to a women's conference this weekend and we talked for awhile when she came home. I definitely still believe in marriage and love, and I still want that for my life, but we talked about how that is not God's biggest plan for us. We were created not just to be wives and mothers, but for a bigger purpose to love and serve Him. It was real encouraging just to keep walking with Him, keep reading His word, keep seeing what He has for me day by day. What a privilege to figure out what that bigger purpose is!

And in other completely unrelated news, another new year's goal will come true this year - I officially signed up for the Detroit half-marathon! I hope they don't change the route because of that bomb stuff because right now it is so awesome, you run to Canada and back over the bridge and thru the tunnel. What makes me think I can run 13.1 miles I don't know, I've never run furher than 6 miles, but I'm excited to try!!

AND I was reading a blog on Friday with this cool yoga pose and I wondered if I could do it, so I tried at my desk when no one was around, and practiced some more this weekend. Fun! I would totally do more yoga if it was cool poses not just stretching. Yawn!

It's facebook official!

I'm going to be an aunt!!!! Woooooo!!!

My brother told me a few weeks ago he & my sister-in-law are expecting. And I was sworn to secrecy, but now the secret it out! They posted this beautiful verse to their wall to announce the news:

I thank God for this precious baby that He is creating right this very second! What a miracle. And I pray that this baby will grow to know, love, and follow Jesus.

Carpe Diem

Call the WNBA scout – I signed up for a basketball class! This was a big step for me, and I momentarily regretted it minutes later when I saw the sports page of the newspaper with arms in faces and people falling- but too late. I’m doing this.

As previously mentioned, I didn’t do many sports while I was a kid. I remember in 5th grade there was a girl who had broken her nose during some sport and now had a big bump nose. I remember asking my dad if I broke my nose would he get me a nose job, and he said ‘no’, and I said to myself ‘ok, I’m never going to play sports’, and I didn’t. That might sound vain, but when you’re a fifth grader with pre-contacts coke bottle glasses and a pre-braces snaggletooth, you protect the one thing you have going for you.

Anyway, I’m excited.

Last year for me was pretty much just surviving being divorced. I would say to myself, come on Anne get out of bed, you can do it, ok, now go eat something, good job… and thankfully God brought me through it. This year is more back on track and doing things that I want to do again. I can’t believe I have one year of nursing school almost done, woohoo!, only one year and 8 weeks to go! God has been so good to me and I am thankful.

Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:6-7

Movie Break

Today was one of the few nice sunny days so far of April. But did I take advantage of it? Besides a short walk with Becks, I squandered the sunny day away eating some peanut m & ms and watching Taken 2.

Which was actually a nice break after a very busy weekend. Parent's on Saturday, had to go get my snow tires off and an oil change. It was kind of annoying with the car people asking me permission to do stuff on my car, and when I said 'no' they told me they already did it. I must have sounded really irritated because they ended up giving me a really good deal, but that is terrible business. Will not go there again. Then a birthday party on Saturday and Sunday night. Fun, but busy. And my new 4 week class started today. It's going to be a hard one, arterial blood gasses, waaah??

Anyway, Taken 2--- seriously kidnapped daughter? You failed your parallel parking test 3 times and then the next time I see you - you are driving a stick shift in a high speed chase thru tiny sidewalk streets in Turkey? That is more far fetched than the plot was. But otherwise a fun movie.

Now back to studying!

Becks

Little buddy was acting weird the past couple days. I was laughing when I heard Jill call the vet "well he usually sits on a chair in the window and now he's being clingy and won't leave my lap - I know this doesn't sound like an emergency to you, but it is very weird for my dog." Haha. But he was being weird, and trembling, and breathing fast. In humans that is usually very bad. I tried to listen to his little heart with my stethoscope, but all I could hear was him panting. And we took his temperature. Kinda gross. First rectal temp = check. She did take him to the dog er and they said he was fine. But still the next day, so clingy! I was in the shower and I saw the shower curtain being pushed in at the bottom, it really scared me and I actually said out loud, "that better be you Becks because you're freaking me out!" And a few minutes later I was in there drying off and in he hopped! A dog is definitely unnaturally clingy if he hops in the shower to be next to you. Anyway, he seems like today he's back to normal, so that's good. I don't want anything to happen to him!

I passed my super hard class! Woohoo! One 4 week session to go and then summer break. I am looking forward to this weekend. It will still be busy with 2 bday parties, but I am looking forward to sleeping in at least tomorrow! :)

Summer Dreaming

I’m in my finals week, and then one more 4 week session and then I’m done for the summer! Woohoo! I wish that we went year-round to get done quicker, but since that’s not an option, I am getting excited for the break. There are so many things I want to do! Last night I went with a couple friends to watch the basketball game, their church was showing it on the big screen, and on the halftime break everyone started playing basketball. It was mostly guys and my best friend who has awesome-guy-playing abilities so I just watched. But when the game was on again, and we were losing, and the court had cleared, I went to shoot some hoops. It was really fun!

I never played anything competitively growing up. I’m not sure if it was that my parents worked full-time and couldn't drive 3 kids to 3 different sports, or that they weren't really that sports-minded themselves, regardless, but as a result I don’t really know how to play anything. And now there are not that many options to ‘teach’ adults how to play. Even the rec leagues are people that know how to play already. I already have fears of being picked last and being boo'd off a team, so it's not really the best option.

So anyway, I thought I might look into what the community college offers. I took a tennis class a few years ago and it was really fun and now I know the basics of tennis, so why not basketball or soccer!

There is just so much I want to do this summer:

• Mission trip to Guatemala • Practice at least 500 NCLEX exam Qs • Finish my kiteboarding lessons, if possible • Possible week of volunteering at Cedar Campus (?) • Jill wants to take a trip to DC • Finally take that motorcycle certification class (?) • Join a women’s Bible study/small group • Learn soccer or basketball

So much I want to do, so little time!

life lately

So when I moved out of my apt last August I knew I was going to be moving in with a friend. I knew that I was going to be going down to PT at work, and school full-time, so I couldn't afford to live by myself. I didn't know how long it would be- but I was guessing at least 2 years with school and 'recovering'. I knew I was moving a whole apt of stuff into one already furnished, tiny bedroom. So I packed up almost all of my stuff. But lately I have been looking for some things and I get so irritated that it's packed away. And stupid stuff, I clearly remember Emo Anne packing it away thinking I wasn't going to want it for 2 years. The other day I was looking for these pink socks to wear under my boots and when I couldn't find them I remembered I packed them away thinking 'they have hearts on them, I'm not going to want to look at any hearts for 2 years'. And then for Easter I was looking for my fake tanner to remedy my pasty white leg situation in my Easter dress and I couldn't find it. Did I really think "wa-wah, no one will be looking at my legs for 2 years..." Kinda funny now, but I can definitely see how I was feeling by how I packed. Oh well. Fake tanner is cheap.

This last week I've been watching Becks since Jill has been on vaca. It's been nice to have this little guy's company.

he's a worthy staring contest competitor

Normally he sleeps with Jill, but since she's gone he has to come in with me otherwise he'll bark all night. I'm not a huge fan of sleeping with dogs, so he'll start out on the floor on a blanket, but every night he makes a little noise and up he comes. When I got out of the shower I came in to see this

awww! so cozy!

He was a good little buddy this weekend.

Last night I made my favorite delicious veggie burgers before I got down to my studying

So good!

One of the best things about Becks is that if I'm studying and he's annoyingly barking in the window he gets to come sit in my lap. It's a win-win. He's quiet and he keeps my hands busy.

Otherwise I will sit there and absentmindedly pull at my eyebrows and eyelashes. I don't really notice it, but the last time I was at my parent's house studying, I hear my mom "stop that!" and she even smacked my hand like a little kid. Well I have news for you mom, I can't help it, it's a disease called trichotillomania- "there are millions of us!" But probably a good idea to try and not do, I don't want to have bald patches!

Easter

One thing I loved about my old church, we would say to each other "He is risen" and the other person would reply "He is risen indeed!" I love that. So true.

This week I had a mini break from class and clinical and I barely did any studying at all. It was glorious. Although it means I will have a very busy week this week. The weekend was still super busy. I went to 2 Good Friday services, then I took Becks up to my friends with me for a "doggy play date" while we watched a movie, Saturday I helped with the Easter setup at my church, took Becks again and we prayer walked around the church, Sunday went to my church for Easter and then up to my parents and had dinner with a couple friends of theirs from church. It was really nice. I did think about Andrew a lot though. Last Easter Sunday he came to church with me - and then on Friday he filed for divorce. So I thought about him this year and wondered if he still felt like he was wanting to come back to church like he had said back then. I just plain old wonder about him. And hope he's ok. I really do pray God will get a hold of his heart again. I think through Him, and Him only, is where he will find what he is looking for. So yeah, still care about him and miss him. Sigh.

I was talking to my mom earlier in the week and she mentioned her love for lemon meringue pie, so I thought I would surprise her with one. It sounded really hard, but the girls at work overheard me talking to her and assured me it was easy to make.

Squeezing and zesting the lemon

Sugar, water, lemon juice, zest, flour, cornstarch

adding in the yolks for the lemony middle, that part was very tasty

beating up the egg whites

I never thought they would, but they finally beat up into the "stiff peaks" as described by the recipe!

so meijer sells two brands of piecrust: pillsbury with lard or meijer with lard :( gee thanks, I figured no one else would care because they were going to be eating ham anyway, but I was not very happy about it. Not that I eat piecrust anyway, but still --- anyway, good thing they come in a box of 2 because the first one I forgot to poke holes in and it puffed up and sank down and was no good for a crust

the finished product!

And off I went to church. Everyone liked the pie, I was happy. I liked my church service, and 30+ people raised their hand to say they accepted Jesus that morning. Awesome! But I did miss the traditional Easter hymns, it's just not Easter without Jesus Christ is Risen Today!