My Peanut Butter's Tachy

What I Ate Wednesday: Work Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:13:00 +0000

It's What I Ate Wednesday!

I'm on a basic science elective, so I've been packing lunches but have a pretty fair amount of time at home.

Breakfast: A favorite old staple. Banana peanut butter oatmeal. Black tea with milk. Did I mention I gave up coffee? I can't remember if I talked about that. I'm sure at some point I'll write a post on that on its own.

Lunch: Packed to go. Asian salad: baked tofu, edamame, cabbage, lettuce and carrot with a sesame soy ginger dressing. Apple.

For afternoon snack, trail mix. I was pretty hungry and had kind of a lot of this.

Dinner: Pasta bowl. That's whole wheat rotini with a couple Trader Joe's vegan meatballs, broccoli, carrots, marinara and topped with nutritional yeast.

And that's What I Ate.

My food lately has been not what I would like it to be - this is an example of a pretty good day, but I've been eating lots of grease and sugar lately and I'm paying for it in the way I feel. And the way my jeans fit.

Those graduation [May 26!] robes aren't exactly figure flattering, so here's hoping I can feel a little more myself by then.

Run Through Redlands 2013: Stubborn Wins

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:11:00 +0000

I was not prepared to run a half marathon, yet I was registered and I decided I wasn't going to let it beat me - so this Sunday I ran the Run Through Redlands.

I last completed this race 2 years ago - it has a lot of elevation change so it's not easy, but I enjoyed it. See this post for my race recap from 2011.

I've been doing short runs maybe twice a week for the past 8 weeks, between getting a couple of colds, and having a couple rotations with unexpectedly long hours I did not stick to training as I intended, so going into the race I just planned to run for the first half and then walk the rest.

Then the night before I was about to go to sleep and I thought, "What if I can run the whole thing?" And by the time I started running I knew that the tiny little competitive side of me wasn't going to let me walk it.

In the morning I fueled up with a mini banana smoothie, tea and a whole wheat waffle with peanut butter.

And I noticed that my shoes were all paint spotted from the Neon Run.

So by start time I was all set to go.

Many thanks to my most handsome supporter. He brought a book.

Granted, my pace was similar to those who were walk/running but I surprised myself and it felt awesome. The views were gorgeous and it was really cool because over half of the course was on roads I ran frequently in my training. We ran right past my apartment!

Look Mom a medal!

After orange wedges at the finish line [the orange groves here are famous], we stopped by the store so I could get some coconut water. I picked the chocolate flavored one. It was awesome.

Later in the day we went to Baja Fresh and I got a bowl with black beans.

And then I fell asleep for a while. I should be napping more while I still have my weekends.

And for dinner a Mediterranean style plate with pita, hummus, falafel, samosa, and tabbouleh. I didn't really love all of it, but it was pretty good.

And so that was my Sunday. 13.1 miles and a couple piles of food.

This week I'm continuing my Basic Science elective in pathology, working on expanding the materials for the second year students for next year. It's kind of hard because it's been a long time since I've studied it from that perspective, but it's good review.

I don't have any plans for my next half marathon since I don't really know my schedule after the end of May, but I'm sure there will be another sometime soonish - likely in New Mexico.

The Neon Run San Diego

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:10:00 +0000

We spent last weekend in San Diego having a great time with some friends and John's parents.

Happy Birthday Arisa and Bradie!

Although it's never a bad idea to head to San Diego for the weekend, I had another particular reason to be there - The Neon Run. I thought it was really fun, there was plenty of paint.

There were some rumblings that things weren't quite right for the Phoenix one - too dark, not enough paint etc.

I'm told this race was an improvement, so that's great. It was still quite crowded, and I wished I'd known how few blacklights there would be, because I would have gone more "glow in the dark" with my attire. Most of the race we weren't really flourescent-ing. Still, people got really into it and it was cool to see all the wild neon costumes. We got our entrance with a Living Social deal.

I ran with two of my classmates - hi ladies!

We didn't stay long for the dance party at the end - mostly because we were super hungrypants. So instead we went and scared an IHOP. There were lots of other racers there, it was good to see I wasn't the only one with an Oompa Loompa face.

Note the beautiful bronze-y glow to my skin.

It's my first colored or dressed up 5k - most of the others I've done were simple ones just for charity. It was really fun and makes me want to find another wild one to run soon.

I still have orange paint in my ear. Worth it.

Tachy Med Student: What's Next?!

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:10:00 +0000

Match Day has come and gone and left me with a job!

In June I'll be among the many brand new medical graduates who packs up and moves to a new place. For John and I, it's the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for a Pediatric Residency.

I loved the program and I'm really excited about it.

For how much anxiety and work goes into the day, it seems like it came and went faster than I expected. For a video on Match Day [featuring my face - both on camera and on my husband's sweatshirt], see this post from one of my classmates on the LLU Student Blog.

School-wise I've kept busy and completed a rotation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Newborn Nursery - I loved working with babies and thought they were both really fun though lots of work.

And now what's next?

Basically it's like a bittersweet countdown. On the one hand I'm excited for what's next and on the other hand I have a few more relatively easy rotations with a fair amount of free time and I want this time with all my friends before we separate to the corners of the nation to last as long as possible.

To that end, we've been trying to have some fun.

We spent a weekend at Lake Arrowhead:

Look, snow!

And to celebrate Match Day - Las Vegas! We don't go often - gambling and crazy partying aren't really our scene, but it is only a 4 hour drive away, and we had a great time.

The view from the hotel.

Pool time, Hi Maria!

What does a vegan eat at Hooters? That's right. Salad and French Fries. Meal of champions.

The Bellagio Fountains.

Okay it's hard to tell - but that's David Guetta DJ-ing. For reals.

And we saw the Cirque Du Soleil show Ka - it was awesome.

And for Easter we went and spent time with our friends and family in San Diego.

So all this to say, I've been keeping busy, having some fun and really trying to appreciate this short time in my life before the next stage of responsibility.

And I've been eating some good things too:

It's berry season!

Always oatmeal. Nothing's changed about that.

For a weekend treat there's vegan cupcakes at the market about a mile walk from our apartment.

This week I'm on vacation and this weekend it's back to San Diego for the Neon 5k. Meanwhile I have piles of paperwork I'm working on to start internship in June and I got my Pediatric Advanced Life Support certification.

I've recently realized too much "relaxation" without enough to do cuts out that productive component of my happiness, so it's nice to have a few things that need to get done.

Happy April everyone, see you soon.

Guess What I'm doing Today?

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:30:00 +0000

A whole lot of this.

With this post I want to bring you all up to speed on the wild happenings of my life.

That's right, I'm sick.

It started a few days ago. Now the fever of the past couple days has become a snot factory and I'm pretty miserable.

This is one of those times when I feel particularly blessed to be newly married.

[Healthier times this weekend at Griffith Park - that's the Hollywood sign in the background]

And I do mean newly married, because while I certainly hope John and I continue to take care of each other when we're sick for many years to come, I feel like the excellent care he's taking of me now has to be influenced by some newlywed joy - or he's really that good and the silver lining of illness is that I get to be reminded how fortunate I am.

So, point is, I'm sick but taken care of.

Because I'm feeling so poorly, sitting on the couch and reading/watching TV/dabbling on the computer is just about all I can handle. I know this is true because in lulls between my nose running and/or bleeding I tried to do some pilates and it was just not possible. I started the video, did 2 lunges, and collapsed into feverish chills.

So here I am with my kleenex, hanging out with you in the internet world.

Since I'm here, thought I'd share a bit of what's been going on lately.

__________________________________________

For School: My current rotation is 2 weeks on Emergency Medicine. It's a very different way of thinking from what I've experienced on lots of other rotations, but I think I would enjoy it if I weren't sick. As it is, I would probably dislike anything because going in for a shift means I have to put on clothes and get off the couch. Fortunately my shifts are distributed so that I get a little bit of time before I have to go in for my next one tomorrow afternoon.

For the Future: It's the end of February, which means Match Day - when I find out where I'm going to residency - is fast approaching. March 11 I find out if I matched and March 15 is Match Day when we find out the where. That's just 3 weeks away. On Thursday was the deadline to change the rank order list, so now there's really nothing to do but wait.

For Fun: Here's some recent photos:

Baked Banana Bread with the KitchenAid Mixer that I finally found space for on the countertop.

Breakfast out at the coffee shop across the street.

Nights out with my friends. Hi Becky!

Running has taken me exploring the hills around our apartment.

And this weekend we went on an adventure to LA and the Griffith Observatory.

And that's pretty much it.

And...just one more thing:

It's my Mom's birthday! Love you Mom!

See you all soon.

And hopefully the next post I write the number of breaks I have to take to blow my nose will be less.

Responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:34:00 +0000

I consider myself a pretty responsible person.

I mean, I'm trying really hard to be a doctor, and when much is expected of me, I think I rise to the occasion.

That said, I've been known to lock my keys in my car, forget to water plants for ages and not 409 the stovetop right away when my oatmeal boils over.

I think we adapt to the responsibility we have. So in order to cultivate more responsibility in my outside-of-work life, a few weeks ago I bought a fish for our fish hotel.

It's a baby betta. So far I've changed her water twice and she didn't die yet, so that's a good sign, but doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing a great job. We named her Victoria Dragonslayer.

Cute right?

I really hope I don't kill her.

And that's my update on responsibility - I really want my fish to live.

These are the kinds of things that I worry about during the final few weeks before Match Day.

Christmas Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:26:00 +0000

I know Christmas is long behind us, and this will be a short post. I just wanted to celebrate a great Christmas season and throw a few pictures and memories into the internet before I forget them all.

One thing you may notice as I put up pictures is that I cut my hair significantly shorter than it has ever been. It was growing out a little too fast and I wasn't ready to deal with long hair again. I guess it also doesn't hurt that I was hoping it would make me a little more memorable on the interviews.

Anyway, it was my first married Christmas and although it doesn't change everything, it did feel a little different. It was the first time decorating our space together for a holiday, so we set ourselves a strict budget - I'm terrified of becoming a Christmas hoarder. And then we bought a perfect apartment-size tree, lights and garlands, got out the nativity sets and the ornaments I've been getting each year my whole life and when we were done it looked like Christmas.

We also went on a date to a ballet school production of The Nutcracker at Lake Arrowhead, which was adorable and great.

Date nights!

As I mentioned in my residency travels post I wasn't actually home that much of December, but after most of the interviews were done and I was terribly exhausted, John met me in Oregon and we spent a luxurious 10 days of holiday joy with my family.

The house I grew up in. I always liked the clouds, it made it seem like another world.

Baking with Emma

Awesome wrapping job. Also Shannon has a wicked awesome onesie.

Chaucer and Emma.

We walked Chaucer on the property when it wasn't raining.

Family Christmas.

I got out the clarinet I haven't played in at least 5 years and Shannon arranged us Carol of the Bells based on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version that we all played for our church Christmas service.

There was one day we watched Harry Potter 5-8. That's a lot of hours. A lot of knitting happened.

I don't have any pictures of our New Year's Eve and time with John's family in San Diego, but that was also really valuable. It was a very family oriented holiday and I really felt so blessed.

In the end we had to come back and return to real life, but by then we missed our friends a lot and it was exciting to return and see everyone.

There's a lot to be thankful for.

So Merry Super Belated Christmas and I hope your year is great so far.

Tachy Med Student: Interview Travels

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

Okay it's the 21st and we're three weeks in. I celebrate a birthday month, a Thanksgiving month, a Christmas month, why shouldn't the new year get a whole month?

As you may recall, I'm working on becoming a doctor. I graduate this Spring and I'm going into Pediatrics. As a fourth year medical student, in order to get a residency position for next year I got to travel all around the country and interview with different programs. It was an absolute whirlwind.

In all I went to 9 different states and a few more programs in the past few weeks.

I wanted to share a few highlights from my trips, photo style. As I have not yet matched, I won't be sharing my opinions of programs or my rank list, but I went to a lot of beautiful places.

It all started with this bag my friends gave me for my birthday. It came with me everywhere. It's giant but fits perfectly under the airplane seat. With this and a small carry-on suitcase, I never had to check a bag. However, since I flew Southwest which checks bags for free, I frequently checked it anyway so I didn't have to roll it around on my layovers.

This is the view from Morning Report at one of the programs. Wow right?

The southwest was sunny and clear with some gorgeous sunsets.

Snow all over in Utah. Also a surprisingly vegan friendly place, which I loved.

Oregon's amazing tram ride. Of course it felt amazing to be home.

Boston has really tall buildings, and while I was there I got to see Tiffany. She used to live there and just happened to be visiting the same time as me. It was so nice to have her show me around. Bridge over the Charles.

I tried to walk at least a little in every place I went because I think it gives me the best sense of it. Sometimes I took a latte with me.

One truth that became very true in my life is that the buildings all blurred together. I honestly can't tell you where this is. I know about how I felt in different places and whether I had a good sense about living and training there, but if you showed me a picture of each hospital I went to, I could not successfully identify them, guaranteed. That means I just have my priorities straight right?

[Whatever program this is, please don't hold this against me.]

I felt like Eloise at the Plaza in this hotel that the program paid for in Ohio.

There was snow on the Grapevine in California when we went through this past week. Usually it's not a very pleasant drive, but this is the prettiest I've seen it.

I have very few photos of interview food, as I felt extra weird taking pictures of my lunch in such a professional setting, but I certainly had lots of good meals out while I was travelling [and I few I'd prefer to forget].

At most places, they gave us breakfast and lunch (each interview day is about 8 AM to 3 PM). Sometimes if I wasn't sure I'd have a hotel breakfast or grab some oatmeal:

Jamba Juice Fresh Banana Steel-Cut Oats and Coffee

Hotel buffet: Oats, peanut butter, melon and strawberries.

Although I was fed lunch on my interview days, I frequently had travel days and had a great time finding a vegan-friendly restaurant in all these new cities.

Tofu, veggies, french toast in Oregon.

Adzuki burger in Tucson, AZ

Chicken melt also in Tucson, AZ

And...Chocolate Cake also in Tucson, AZ (I flew in and out of there for my Arizona trip so had a couple meals at this place)

Whole foods breakfast bar. Phoenix I think?

Whole foods salad bar and soup. Really couldn't tell you where.

Thai in Boston, MA

I just wanted to share that interview season, while indisputably exhausting, is a blessing. At what other time in my life do I get to travel the entire country imagining what my life might be like if I moved there, see amazing hospitals doing great work and meet piles of people who want to do the same thing.

And after most of them were done and I was bone tired, I got to head home to my parents' house in Oregon for Christmas. My husband came with me, and relaxing there was that much more enjoyable because of the whirlwind.

As I said, I finished my last interview a week ago, sent all my thank you notes, and after some consideration, I certified my rank list and got this email:

You probably can't read that, but it says "Confirmation of Certified ROL" meaning, I'm done! I am of course allowed to change it up until February 20, but I have faith God will send me where I belong regardless of what order I put the programs in. I've done my best to be honest with myself, but messing around with my list isn't going to change where He wants me to go, so it feels good to let it go.

So now that there's nothing left for me to do but wait for March 11 (finding out if we matched) and then March 15 (finding out where we matched) it feels like a strange balance of relief and nervous anticipation.

It would be easy to be anxious, but I'm trying to just enjoy my electives, my friends and this time when my worries are out of my control.

Missed you, see you soon!

Post Call Eating Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:05:00 +0000

Happy November everyone.

I'm currently on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and I just worked for 12 days straight.

I'm started this post yesterday from the post call brain haze.

Then I got distracted, lay down in my bed and woke up 3 hours later. Haha I guess. Post call is unpredictable.

For those of you who are new, I'm a medical student (hi classmates!) and that means that sometimes we have rotations where we take call every 4 nights. We come in at say, 6 in the AM and leave at 10 or 12 the next day - 28 or 30 hours later. If you're Katie you might be scrubbed into surgery that whole time, but she's crazy (I love you.) I sort of love call because I think we learn a lot in the middle of the night, but it's very confusing for my sleep cycles.

Usually I try to sleep either right when I get home or later in the afternoon. I recover from it a lot better if I sleep at least a little instead of staying up until it's time for sleep on a regular day.

I also have less energy for cooking when I'm post call, and my body craves quick-energy sugar. Frequently in the past the post call days are the days I eat far too many cookies or scoops of peanut butter.

Oh sugar.

Lately I've been working pretty hard on making better choices so I don't have to have that overeating guilty feeling.

I know I don't make the best choices when I'm tired, so it's helped a lot to decide an outline for what I'll eat before I get tired. What's been working for me lately is defining 3 meals a day with 1 afternoon snack, so that I don't snack just whenever it feels like a good idea because I know my signals aren't trustworthy. It also works pretty well for me to not eat during the middle of the night even if I'm up the whole time. My body's not used to meals then, and I don't get hungry. In the past I used all the running around as an excuse for sugar, but I feel much better now when I'm not eating that way. And I'm pretty steady on the coffee - I'm completely addicted (withdrawal headache, crankiness, the whole works) but it keeps me running through the night until I get the chance to sleep.

I wanted to have a real picture of my food for you, but I can't find it on my computer right now.

As an example though, yesterday I was post call and I had soup with quinoa for lunch, an apple for snack and pumpkin risotto from this great slow cooker book with spinach salad for dinner.

Sure it's 100% the opposite of my cravings, but it's been liberating to conclude that my cravings lie, and actually this is what I need.

So happy November. I'm trying really hard to post more, but if the PICU keeps me too post-call and tired, I'll see you in a couple weeks.

Married in Real Life

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:50:00 +0000

Hi all.

It's been a time of transition for me lately. I finished up my infectious disease rotation in Ohio and came home about 4 weeks ago. For the first time, my brand new husband and I were living together and trying to have work lives at the same time.

My handsome husband.

I've been on a preventative medicine rotation this past month that's taken me to all kinds of experiences.

I went and got a massage, I did immunizations in the public health building, observed pediatric speech testing and therapy, epidemiology modules from the CDC, watched documentaries and did yoga, all in the name of class. It has actually been a very busy month. With new experiences every day, it was med school as usual. Instead of settling into a routine, I think the norm is the lack of routine.

The advantage is that there's been weekends available for personal development, no overnight call so I'm well-rested, and that's been great for these first "real life" weeks of marriage. The difficulty is that we've also had a lack of routine in our new married life and it's already hard to predict how much we'll see each other. John works sometimes from home and sometimes commutes 1+ hours to work, so his time is unpredictable too. I expect that the complicated schedules will only continue, at least for the forseeable future.

I don't regret going to Ohio for a month, but looking back I probably wouldn't do it 3 weeks into my brand new marriage. No permanent damage done, but it was kind of hard on both of us.

Being flexible is a skill I've been working on, and there's been varying levels of success. Sometimes I have to be very conscious that I'm suddenly feeling anxious when my expectations for time or schedule aren't met and be intentional about making the best of it.

This morning the power went out while I was in the pool for my workout. They wouldn't let us stay because it was dark at 6 am and if we'd drowned they couldn't see us, which is fair.

But I was only 8 laps in, all wet and chlorine-y and kind of mad that my workout plans were thwarted.

So I prayed for some peace for the frustration and anxiety that produced and went running when I got back home. And it was great.

Expectations can be adjusted. That's what I'm learning.

Also John and I did a good portion of 21 day vegan kickstart in the past few weeks and I have food photos and reviews that I'll be sharing soon.

And since it's my first October post (I know right?) happy Vegan Month of Food!

And happy Fall. And all of that.

Last Ohio Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:50:00 +0000

I'm in my final week of my pediatric infectious disease elective here in Ohio so on Saturday I'm on a flight home. That means this past weekend was my last here with Shannon and we made it count. After I woke up on Saturday and applied to residency Shannon and I went out for a celebratory breakfast at Butter Cafe. It's a vegan-friendly place close to the University of Dayton and the blueberry vegan pancakes are delicious.

Also my plate ended up being free because the first batch they brought out weren't quite cooked. I know that might knock a place down on most people's rankings, but I was in no rush, and the second (free) plate tasted awesome.

After Church we had a pretty relaxing afternoon and then went on a fancy sister date to the Dayton philharmonic, which I loved.

Sunday we ran a 5k for the Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Southwest Ohio. It was hot and I was reminded that I have been woefully slacking in the running department. It was fun though, and it was really fun to be there with Shannon.

And now with just 4 more days in the hospital, I think the time will fly and I'll be back home before I know it.

Happy Monday!

Applying to Residency: September 15

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:47:00 +0000

Yesterday was September 15.

On any other year it's just the middle of September.

Fall is in the air.

It's Prince Harry's birthday. Also Heidi Montag's.

However, this year I'm a fourth year medical student and September 15 is the first day that the application service for residency [ERAS] is available for submission to programs. It opens to start adding information during the summer, but this is the first date programs begin accepting the applications.

Therefore, yesterday morning I applied to residency.

I've filled in information about my experiences, research, publications etc. I got a professional picture taken, wrote a personal statement and asked for letters of recommendation. This application has been a point of stress over the past few months and yesterday I paid my exorbitant fees and sent it on its way.

For those of you not as familiar with the medical education process, it's been 4 years of college, now I'm in my fourth year of medical school, and residency starting next July will be 3 years more. (This length of time varies by specialty). It will also be the nice switch from paying to be there to getting some $ - after 8 post-high school years, I'm ready. I've updated the Medical Student Life page with a more complete description of the match process under "The Match."

Letters of recommendation may be assigned to programs later, so I chose a couple to transmit for sure but still have some that haven't come in so I'll be adding them, but otherwise it's complete.

I'm applying to medium-large academic pediatric programs. I have a few "reach" programs that most likely will not interview me, but mostly I applied to programs that I think are realistic for my application. 28 in total, which some people say is a lot for a U.S. graduate going into Pediatrics, but it's hard to know how competitive I really am, and mostly I want the chance to see a lot of different programs and be very sure about what I like. I

John and I talked along the way about the location of each place, because wherever I end up matched, he'll ~~have~~ get to live there too.

And now there's just the waiting. Be sure you'll hear about it quickly if ever an interview invite arrives. I would expect one mid-October at the earliest, but wouldn't be surprised if a few trickle in much later.

Not to worry though - I have a spreadsheet!

Stay tuned - the residency application journey is just beginning.

Haircut!

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:37:00 +0000

Since I wanted long hair for my wedding, I've been putting off cutting it short all summer, even though it was kind of driving me nuts. This week I made an appointment and Locks of Love got a solid 10 inches of my hair. This is the third time I've donated it, and it feels as awesome as usual.

Thought I'd share a picture:

Before

[clearly these strands are kind of tired]

After!

[forgive the grainy iphone pics]

Wooo healthy hair!

And for more information on donating your hair with Locks of Love check out their website here.

Have you ever donated your hair?

Coming Back

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 01:04:00 +0000

I find it really difficult to come back to blogging after a long time. I wrote the short little post about how excited I am to be married, but I made the semi-subconscious decision to put the blog on the back burner for an extremely busy time of my life 2.5 months ago and now here we are.

In theory I know I'm not supposed to feel guilty for not posting. It's my blog and it's here for me in whatever capacity I need - but in my heart I do feel a little sad for letting all this time go by. Still, I think it was right for me.

The dilemma I now have is how to start again?

I want to give a proper update, but there's so much to cover and I'm not sure where to start.

So I've made a decision.

I may at some point write some historical posts about things that happened this summer and give more details about the Sub-I month, or the wedding, but I decided I'd mostly focus on just starting with my current life and go forward.

I really missed you.

_________________________________

So at the beginning of August John and I got married and we went on an amazing honeymoon to Cancun. Then I spent a couple wonderful weeks with my new husband in our new apartment. Then it was time to come back from vacation and be a medical student again. I was accepted for a Pediatric Infectious Disease rotation at Dayton Children's Medical Center and so for the past 3 weeks I've been living in Ohio with Shannon!

We took this while stopping for gas in a tiny nameless town. I seriously have no idea where we were.

She found me some delicious Thai food.

She recently adopted an adorable dog. We named him Dobby. He has house elf ears.

Last weekend we made the scary stormy drive the 6 hours to Chicago to visit our other sister Emma. We crashed her crew practice, went to a farmer's market with the prettiest produce, ate some good meals and I finally got to see her in action at college. I love when my sisters and I are together. Of course it wasn't complete without Nicola (the youngest) but it was a great trip. We listened to an audiobook in the car which made the drive go quickly and it was so worth it.

Love you Emma!

It was beautifully cool and really got me feeling like it's fall.

This picture is from a trip I took to Starbucks while in Chicago. It was so wonderful and cool and fall-like I just wanted something delicious and fall-flavored so I got distracted from my usual coffee and order a soy chai tea latte. It was amazing, but I sort of forgot about my caffeine addiction. I realized chai tea was no match for my potential for caffeine headache and I had to go back through line for a black coffee as well.

I drank both and it was awesome.

This week Shannon and I started watching an old season of The Biggest Loser and a couple days ago we ironically enjoyed some pints of vegan ice cream at the same time.

The rotation is good. There are lots of different kinds of patients and everyone's really helpful.

And it's beautiful here.

In other news, the application service for residency opens for submission on Saturday, and that means I've recently had to be a grownup and decide with John where we might want to go for the next three years.

So life is going on.

See you soon. Promise.

Happy Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:37:00 +0000

I'm newly married and happy happy!

It was so much fun, like a dream. The wedding itself was everything I'd been imagining, and most importantly I finally get to be married to John.

It's also been so busy.

I promise to be back soon with regular posting, but in the meantime, check out our photographer's blog for some Wedding Pictures!

P.S. Happy Birthday Husband. I love you.

What to Eat During Boards

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 17:12:00 +0000

I survived the USMLE Step 2!

There were no power outages. I answered all the questions. I don't know about the number I answered right, but all the questions got responses.

And so I thought I'd share my snacks and hydration. They're planned fairly carefully - too much liquid and your bladder distracts you, too much food and you fall asleep, too little and you crash.

The USMLE Step 2 is a 9 hour test - 8 one-hour, 44 question blocks and 1 hour of breaks to distribute throughout the day, so I broke it up like this:

Block 1, Block 2

Break. Snack 1: Zone Simple Cranberry Almond Bar

Block 3, Block 4

Break. Lunch: Ezekiel Bread White Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich

Block 5, Block 6

Break. Snack 2: Apple

Block 7

Break. Snack 3: Raw Almonds, Golden Raisins

Block 8

So all this disappeared directly into my brain as fuel:

With each break I sipped from a thermos of coffee. I didn't probably drink enough water, but I survived.

And even though I felt very brain-tired at the end, I was never too hungry or too sleepy. I think it worked out well.

There is a distinct lack of vegetables, but I made up for it at dinner with some quinoa and veggies.

And now since I start a pretty intense rotation on Monday (Pediatrics Sub-Internship!) I'm just trying to enjoy my weekend.

And maybe review a couple important things for Monday.

Oh and tomorrow I have a bridal shower, and guess who's coming to see me (okay, lots of people) but especially this girl:

Happy Sabbath!

The Day Before the USMLE Step 2

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:12:00 +0000

Did Googling bring you here? This isn't really instructional, or advice-based, just a real life explanation about what I did before I took Boards. And I kind of had a lot going on, as I'm sure you do as well, so there you go.

Wondering about Step 1? Check out my post about that from a year ago.

It's the morning of the second half of my Boards.

As many of you know, I'm getting married in 5 weeks.

Yeah. I know.

And so it being the week before Boards, I of course also had to fill it up with all kinds of things that I couldn't fit in while on rotation. Last week I was home in Oregon for the wedding dress fitting and did a lot of studying, so this was my only week here with lots of "free" business-hour time.

So we left from the Inland Empire Tuesday and did a tasting with our caterer in Calabasas (so many decisions made, so much great food!), then up to Ventura and picked up my wedding band, then down to San Diego (traffic!) for the next couple days.

Fortunately John drove and I did my best to study, but it was pretty tough.

Yesterday (the day before) I did the following:

5 am: Woke up in San Diego for another set of the UWorld Question Bank before breakfast.
6:30 am: Made coffee and breakfast. I don't mess around on serious brain fuel days, it's always oatmeal.

7 am: Ate with John, did our premarital counseling homework. This is the reason I woke up in San Diego - we were doing a bit of a crash course because this was our best time window before the wedding.

9 am: Went to our session with the pastor. I'm so glad we fit it in, I think it's maybe the most important part of our wedding prep.

10:30 am: Stopped at a market to pick up supplies for lunch.

11:00 am: Another set from the QBank.

12:00 pm: Cooked, ate, packed and got on the road back to Loma Linda, it's about a 2 hour drive.

3:00 pm: Got in, unpacked, made a snack, settled in and reviewed a couple topics I had decided to look at again. [Skin! Rashes are going to be the death of me.]

5:30 pm: Stretch yoga while watching House. That's like studying right?

7:00 pm: Dinner, internet dabbling. Printed my updated Test Permit (from the NBME website).

8:00 pm: More internet.

9:00 pm: Having said good night to my almost-husband, I headed to bed.

So to summarize...I studied for maybe 4 hours? I honestly don't know how much more I would have if I hadn't been so busy with other things. Probably more, but hard to say. I don't want to make comparisons about what "my ideal pre-Boards day" would be, because days aren't ideal. They're not supposed to be. We just do what we can, and I'm happy with what filled my day.

My philosophy with day-before studying is that it should only boost your confidence. It's not a time to learn all of oncology. Unfortunately...

And in just 12 hours, for better or worse, it will all be over.

See you then.

And expect a "What to Eat for the USMLE Step 2" post up later. I'm all decided on the food I'm taking and I'll snap it soon.

Prayers please, it's kind of a big deal. Maybe less than Step 1, but still Thanks.

Back to the Heat

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 11:23:00 +0000

It's a little after 4 am and I'm about to head to the airport for my return to California.

I say "back to the heat" both figuratively - I'm pretty much sweating Boards - and literally.

I'm going from this: (High of 70, Rain!)

To this:

I will choose the following points of positivity to dwell on:

1. Temps have not yet hit 100. They will, but not yet.

2. I currently live in a house with (mostly) working AC.

3. John and I got the apartment and it also has working air conditioning!

And so I suppose there's not much to whine about. It's more a surrogate complaint because I'm sad to leave Oregon.

See you on the other side!

Tachy Med Student: Latest Blog Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:48:00 +0000

Just thought I'd share that there are a couple new posts from me up on the School of Medicine student blog if you're interested in that kind of thing.

That would pretty much be my Mom and maybe those of you who are/want to go into medicine.

One talks about the end of third year, and the other's similar to my last one here - bit of an update, a bit more med school focused.

One Week Left

Hunker Down and Learn

Happy Friday friends!

And since this is a food blog...this post feels sad without any pictures.

I give you this picture of a gorgeous pot of tea my mother made me this morning while I sat and studied.

Yes she is the best.

Mid June in Photo Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 03:06:00 +0000

In the recent past the following has happened:
1. I finished my third year of medical school, complete with some multi-hour finals that made my brain tired.
2. I went to San Diego and got showered with love (also presents) at a Bridal Shower with my future in-laws and friends.
3. John (maybe, likely?) found an apartment in Loma Linda that he'll move into soon, and I'll move into after the wedding.
4. I came home to Oregon for a wedding dress fitting and also to hunker down and study because I take the second half of boards in a week.
5. I ate lots of good food:

Native Foods Cheesecake. I split this with John, practicing moderation.

Got my nails done. It's gel so this was a week ago, and it still looks the same! I love it.

One of the best potato mixtures I've ever made. With veggies, Little Links and mashed potato/cauliflower combo topped with salt, pepper, ginger and garlic powder.

Almond butter oatmeal never gets old.

Nutrition of Almond Milk. Tastes like coconut. I'm in heaven.

I made the spaghetti bowl that was accidentally far too big for a normal size bowl.

I love mixing bowl meals.

Indigo Grill in Little Italy in San Diego. This. Was. Amazing.

These were disaster pancakes. John and future-sister-in-law were very kind to try to eat them. Idk what happened, but they looked pretty at least.

New Zone Perfectly Simple Peanut Crunch.

Super tasty.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Oskri bar in the airport on the way home.

Venti's! Salem's vegan friendliest place.

Gelato makes everything better.

And in between it's all books books books and squeezing in the occasional workout. But it feels good to have lots to do and be working hard to get it done.

See you soon!

I'll Be a Little Sad...

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 18:50:00 +0000

I'll be a little sad in a couple weeks when John no longer lives in Irvine.

Okay that's completely not true.

I'm extremely excited for him to graduate on Friday [Masters of Civil Engineering!] and move to Loma Linda and not be an hour away. Also find us an apartment and start setting it up so when we get married in 7 weeks it's much less overwhelming to move.

But I will miss this:

Veggie Grill B-Wing Salad.

While there's no shortage of great vegan food in Loma Linda, it's mostly grocery store-based. I can get any ingredient I need to cook really anything without any problem, but there are no all-vegan restaurants like Veggie Grill or Native Foods. Frankly, there are some things they just do much better than me. And since I drag John to one of these every single time I visit, my steady supply of this deliciousness is going to decrease significantly when he moves and I don't come out here that much anymore.

So on my perhaps last visit to Irvine for a while, we went out to Veggie Grill yesterday.

Jess at Get Sconed! [click for the reviews] has been really up on the new Veggie Grill menu items through some promotions and I was keeping her reviews in mind. Usually I wouldn't really go that much for Buffalo Wings, but she was giving this one some serious praise, so I stepped out of my comfort zone and ordered it.

Amazing.

I did not leave a single scrap of food on that plate.

It's probably the best thing I've ever eaten there.

Now John and I are just wrapping up a morning of studying at Panera, and getting ready for lunch.

Back to Veggie Grill? Yeah it's likely.

If you went to a restaurant multiple days in a row, which one would it be?

#7 Donate Blood: Check!

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 02:14:00 +0000

So back in February I wrote this post about how I tried to give blood but couldn't because my hematocrit was only 35, and it has to be 38 to donate. This meant I was just very slightly anemic. Although I didn't have the complete analysis to prove it, it was most likely related to my iron levels, because I had a normal complete blood count from 2 years previously.

Yesterday 3 months later I tried again.

Verdict?

I'm missing a unit of blood!! YAY!

The blood bank is actually super nice. Big comfy chairs, country music going. I brought some study materials but did find it kind of hard to focus. It didn't take that long anyway. I made the mistake of looking at the needle, which is unfortunately enormous, but it didn't hurt as much as I expected. I still had a little lightheaded/nauseous feeling when it first started. Medical types will understand me when I say vasovagal, but I recovered with a chair tilt and a cool cloth and felt fine by the time we were done.

Back in my previous post I wrote about some changes I planned to make to try to boost my iron. I tried it, I really did. I have a bottle of iron tablets in my pantry, but I'm going to just be straight with you - they were way too constipating and I couldn't take them.

So I tried to at least take my multivitamin with iron in it, and usually I did an okay job of remembering.

And I didn't really make any other changes. However, my blood apparently made a great recovery, because my hematocrit was 44.

This isn't actually very accurate I'm sure, because it flowed super slow, meaning I was kind of dehydrated, so it just seemed like 44, when it was really probably more low-normal.

But they were able to get it, and that means #7 of my 25 by 25 can be checked off the list! Also that I helped save lives or whatever, nbd.

Afterwards I drank a full bottle of water and balanced my blood sugar with an almond/raisin snack.

I was still really tired for the rest of the day. Like couldn't catch my breath after walking across the house, but John took care of me and today I feel fine.

I'm looking forward to the next one.

Do you donate blood? Or have any stories about it? I'd love to hear.

Peas & Thank You Tempeh Bacon Reuben

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Before we talk about this (amazing) recipe, we're taking a trip back in time.

One year ago this past Thursday (May 31), I was in Santa Barbara visiting my then-boyfriend (now Fiance) and my friends. I had just taken the USMLE Step 1 (Boards), and it took me a couple days to recover emotionally. I was finally feeling like I was on vacation and was spending the day on my own while John worked. I ran, I went out to lunch, I went shopping.

That was the first time I ever had a Reuben Sandwich. Here's the post about that day. Little did I know, John would propose that evening, but that's another story.

At the time I think I wrote that this was pretty good, but really it was kind of bland. I just didn't have anything to compare to.

Until now.

Thanks to Mama Pea, I now know what a Reuben should taste like. This is another recipe from the Peas & Thank You cookbook. Pretty much all the recipes are written for 4, but I often adapt for things like sandwiches that don't keep as leftovers, because I'm typically just cooking for one or two people.

I've been eating it all week, and I just make an individual serving each time. I fry up 3 slices Tofurky Tempeh Smoky Maple Bacon in just a little cooking spray, then transfer to a plate and use the same little pan to make my sandwich. I cut down the Earth Balance on the bread a little - but I think some is an essential part to the taste. You need that salty crispiness on the outside of the bread. For individual servings, I just put the Vegan Thousand Island dressing ingredients directly on the bread and swirl around with a knife, instead of making the sauce separately in a bowl. Also, I'm not always the biggest Daiya (vegan cheese) fan, but this is exactly the kind of meal it's designed for. The only other change is that I'm using Ezekiel 7 Grain instead of Rye.

It sort of tastes like a super grownup grilled cheese.

Usually after about 4 days, I'm glad that my leftovers are gone because I get bored of a dish, but I think I could keep eating this indefinitely.

It's that good.

What's the meal you could eat over and over?

Memorial Day Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:39:00 +0000

I've been busy lately. And when I say busy, I mean my normal life/fun things/3 episodes of Criminal Minds on Tuesday evening. So not really busy. I should be busy - studying mostly - and I'm working on it, but as I ramp up the study hours and scale back the skittering-around-having-too-much-fun hours, here's a post full of fun from last weekend that I can look back on fondly.

When I found out I had all of Memorial Day Weekend free, I was really surprised. Yes, I'm on my Psychiatry rotation. And in general it's considered a little less rigorous than some other ones, but I was still shocked to be getting an extra holiday. It's a third year medical student dream.

So for Memorial Day Weekend I trekked up to Santa Barbara and got to see some of my very best friends.

We had a lunch at Sojourner Cafe - this is the special, a tofu stirfry. And split a Vanilla Chai Cake Trifle for dessert. Dessert is my favorite part of this place.

I got to see my girl Christina's new place. We went to the beach. Bri's baby has grown so much since I saw him 4 months ago. AHHH so adorable!

Me, Kitra.

We also had some Blenders - the best smoothies I've ever had ever. My favorite's Guava. Kitra and I went shopping. I spent $50 at Teavana. How does that happen? Well I'm prepared with enough Wild Orange Blossom/Youthberry tea blend to ice for the rest of my life.

[Photo Credit to Bri and Brennan - thanks!]

And I just got to catch up with my friends. I'm so lucky to have them.

Then I made the trek to Irvine for Monday, where John and I went to Newport Peninsula and rented bikes, took care of some important wedding things (Honeymoon is booked!!!) and of course found an excuse to go to Native Foods.

This was the Veggie Pizza. As Native Foods goes I was actually kind of unimpressed. It was good, but usually I can count on it being amazing. It was a little too oily, and it seemed like something was missing. I saved half for leftovers and added Daiya to it at home, which took it up a notch.

Confession: When I got back Monday night I was dead exhausted, but in the best way. The way that makes you feel like it's because you were really living.

It's a little belated, but I hope you had a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Peas & Thank You Broccoli Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Kari) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:36:00 +0000

Morning friends. Happy Sabbath. Our charming grandmotherly cleaning lady has run of our house and John and I are once again coffee shop working until Church.

This picture is from 2 weeks ago - but it literally looks exactly the same. He's wearing a slightly different checked shirt today.

So I thought I'd take this opportunity to do a recipe update that I skipped over in all the excitement of going to Colorado to see Shannon graduate.

I made this dish last week but never worked it into a post. As you may recall, one of my "25 by 25" - 25 things I want to do by my 25th birthday in October - is cooking all the way through the Peas & Thank You cookbook. I haven't yet made a page with all my recipe reviews linked, but that's coming soon. This is an adaptation of your standard broccoli salad - complete with some fakin bacon.

I used to love broccoli salad. I have very happy memories of rare nights when Mom and all of us kids would go to the Roth's Deli when cooking just wasn't going to fit into the nightly schedule. Along with the chicken fingers and the potato wedges, broccoli salad - though a rare choice - was always super tasty. Around the age of 11, I became a vegetarian, and broccoli salad didn't make the cut.

Until last week, I'm pretty sure it had been 13 years since I had anything so closely resembling the classic.

This recipe combines Vegenaise with some smoky bacon (I used Lightlife), red onion, dried fruit and cashews for extra crunch.

The day I made it, I only let it set up for 2 hours in the fridge and I wasn't so sure about it. Most of it was perfect, but the red onion was little too strong for me.

However, the next day it was perfect. The time to sit and soak up the flavors toned down the sharpness of the onion and it was just right. I loved how filling it was without feeling heavy. I had it for lunch 4 days in a row - and it just kept improving.

I would definitely make this again. Just let it set up in the fridge for a whole day.

Do you have a favorite recipe that gets better with time?