Craving New Habits

Look! I'm blogging again! (At least right at the moment I am.) Since the last time I posted, I have settled down enough to get my footing again...

I spent most of September moving into my new apartment and making it mine. There's nothing I can do about the sort-of-hideous purple carpet (miss my wood floors!) but I think the kitchen and bathroom have turned out pretty well. Pictures sometime in the future.

In October, I worked mostly on settling into my job and getting used to wearing a suit more often. But at least once, I got to wear a different, much more exciting suit:

Surfing might be my new hobby for next summer. The weather was gorgeous and we had a blast. It was just what I needed as an outlet for all of the craziness that had been happening.

November and December were good for playing hard on the weekends and beginning the holiday fun. 

 

 Thanksgiving  

(Okay, this was actually a fake, pre-Thanksgiving in October, but I think the picture can count here. I actually spent Thanksgiving with Kelly and Jason, but no pics-- just good company and good food!)

 

Going to see The Nutcracker in Boston 

December was the biggest adventure of all. At work, we finally submitted an article for publication in a medical journal, on which I am first author! Besides that, I made kites, went skiing in UT, cleared my head, and hit a quarter-century. It was a particularly memorable birthday since I spent most of it in an airport before being diverted to Chicago. (Which was actually fine by me since I got to stay with Ashley and Aaron, whom I hadn't seen since their wedding this summer! Definitely worth the vacation time I wasn't planning on taking.)

As for the new year, it's going to be a good one. This month marks the end of my moratorium on "scheming about the future," so I'll be back to that shortly. :) For all the scheming though, I am glad I've stayed in RI. (I never thought I'd say that!)

I am learning so much about life and how to get where I want to be, and I'm pretty sure it's going to help me change the world. To a new year, new growth, and better blogging... Happy New Year!

Creativity

This weekend was a blast, and I've also made an important discovery: You know those moms who are ultra-prepared and always have exactly what you need in their bags? Well... I used to think I would be one of them, but after this weekend, I'm thinking I'll be the mom who has things 93% of the time... and just makes it up the rest of the time! (A little CREATIVITY never hurt anyone though, right?) This weekend I found myself without antifreeze, without socks, and without keys. Here's my funny story...

Friday was opening night for the play my lighting-designer-grad-student friend has been slaving over for months. So I went to that (it was good!) and got to meet some of his other friends afterwards. I actually didn't forget anything for this shindig, and it was a GREAT START to the weekend.

However, his play was at UConn, which is about 2 hours away from where I was going next. So at 1:00 in the morning as I was driving along, I discovered the first thing I forgot this weekend: topping off my antifreeze. (I know, the leak needs to be fixed. Later.) So around 2:00am I was driving from gas station to gas station until I found one that actually sold the right kind. OOPS #1.

After that, I went happily on my way to Rhode Island to spend the night at a friend's house-- except it wasn't really spending the night because I only slept for three hours before we got up to leave for NYC. And for some reason, I had packed no socks! (Which I hadn't noticed the night before since I was wearing heels when I left my house.) OOPS #2. But Cassidy hooked me up and off we went. We went mainly to see the Rockefeller center, where we ooh-ed and ah-ed at the huge tree and watched all the ice skaters. We did not skate because we had already spent the rest of the day walking around in the sleet and didn't really want to be anywhere near ice. We also saw a bunch of random things things-- Times Square, the public library, St. Patrick's cathedral, FAO Schwartz, etc. I really do get a buzz from rushing around with all the people. :)

And then we came back. The roads were not bad, despite the FIRST SNOW FALL! of the year, and we headed straight for the hot chocolate when we got home and removed our soggy shoes.

After a blissful 6 hours of sleep, back to Providence! It was supposed to be my week to teach the kiddos ("sharing time"), but fortunately we are doing a Nativity play for our ward Christmas party on Saturday so we had planned to practice that instead. This went smoothly and the kids were reverent (and adorable). Phew!

I even managed to arrange alternate rides for everyone I'd picked up for church since I had to go straight to Cambridge for choir after church. Singing went without a hitch, and we sang a piece that is my FAVORITE out of everything we've sung since I joined. Then I tagged along with some friends to a party that featured divine homemade eggnog and singing Christmas carols!

But here's where we're back to the only 93%-perfectly-executed plan: I LEFT MY KEYS in Boston. Yes, I'm serious. I put them in my coat pocket and laid said coat on the bed with all the other coats and... got back to Providence without keys (since I hadn't driven). OOPS #3... Yeah. So, thank goodness for AMAZING AND HELPFUL FRIENDS who will let me borrow a car for a couple of days and will bring back my keys on their next trip to Boston on Wednesday. And thank goodness for a roommate who woke up to let me in when I got home after 11:00 last night.

This weekend was a great adventure. :)

My Life: A Short Story

I know you are dying for the follow-up from a couple of days ago. Here you go! Pictures to follow later. :)

1) Working hard
I just started a cool new project at work. I'm excited because a) it's great experience putting policy into action, and b) I get to work more closely with a whole bunch of CEOs and big-shot hospital administrators. I don't want to work in business (I miss patient care!), but I do get a teeny rush from high-octane work environments... Basically, there might be some new legislation coming down the pike, and we're scrambling to fit a 10-month certification process into 4 months so we can help the hospitals out as well as dominate the niche in Rhode Island.

2) Replaced my car!
Dan and Maddie are the best and sold me their car. It's a white Chevy Malibu, which I have not yet named, but I definitely will. (But I'm proud of myself for still walking to work today.)

3) NYC Ballet
Tony was very sweet this weekend and surprised me with a lovely dinner in Times Square, followed by excellent seats for a performance of the NYC Ballet. We were less than ten rows back, practically in the center (orchestra seating)! They performed a Stravinsky violin concerto, and it was amazing. The last movement was the best-- the pairing of the instruments with the dancers was most striking in this movement, which is my favorite thing about ballet. I love being able to see the group of "low brass" dancers glide around the "violin" dancers, and the perfect, effortless beauty of really good dancing. :)

4) Always wanted to be a writer...
This is a small opportunity, but I've been writing little nutritional "columns" for a wellness intervention in California. One of Brown's research centers is doing consulting work for this intervention and writing all of the newsletters, and I've been writing small pieces on common barriers to healthy eating. Mostly, I like it because my writing is finally reaching people who can benefit from it (and because it's another good way to keep up on nutrition).

5) Hip hop class
I love working out, I really do. But I haven't had a real goal for awhile (besides actually getting my workouts in), and it's sort of demotivating... I mean, I love lifting (especially when I'm using the same weights as some of the boys), but increasing weights only goes so far. Numbers get old after awhile! So mastering a dance combo is a good motivator. :)

Wandering around Washington (D.C. that is)

This weekend was fantastic. Friday, there was a Valentine's Day dance in Connecticut, and I met some new people as well as saw a few people I haven't seen recently. THEN, I went to Washington D.C. Saturday night since I didn't have school Monday or Tuesday! What better place to spend President's Day than in the nation's capitol, right?

Tara (in the blue) lives in D.C. and is one of Ashley's (middle) old childhood friends. Ashley (whom I've mentioned before and is my best friend in my MPH program) went to D.C. on Friday, so I just met up with them Saturday night.

We walked a lot and got to see a lot of cool things-- buildings, museums, and the Mall. (Which has nothing to do with shopping, fellow westerners-- or maybe I was the only clueless one coming out here.)


Ashley and I walked by the White House. The wire fencing is not very picturesque, but what can you do? And the sidewalk on one side was closed off-- according to "locals," this supposedly means that President Obama is in the White House.


I loved the view of the city, and I'll post more fun (though amateur!) pics later. But the best thing about the trip was that D.C. made a good first impression. I really liked the feel of it, and I liked the metro system much better than the one in New York. D.C. just seemed much more tranquil, even though it was still rushed and packed.

I guess that bodes well for my fellowship in 2010, right? (Praying hard that I get accepted!...)

P.S. At one point, I thought maybe I should get a position with the FDA so I could change it from the inside. This is a silly idea, because the FDA runs according to federal policy (duh)-- no underling on the inside is doing any reform! Any doubt I might have still had was removed by talking to a lady wearing an FDA badge on the metro. She said most of their openings right now are really for chemists and inspectors. I'm glad someone holds these jobs, because maybe our food is a little safer, but that's not going to help me revamp agricultural subsidies any time soon.