Physiology Shmisiology

Ok. My recent slump I fell into this week has been given a proper ass kicking. Back to old me and I am fully energized.

                                                                           Finals. Get it.

Reason? My Physiology final no longer exists! My teacher gave us the option to take it or not depending on our current grade. There is a God in OT school!

Oh and a little BC powder (green pack) and 12 hours of sleep always helps... going running because the weather is amazing and I added some new songs to my workout list.

Royal Wedding part-tay tomorrow. Will be eating my first ever crumpet and talking with an English accent the entire evening, possibly tipsy? Perfect weekend here I come!

Just a little procrastination

Hello! I have returned from Easter break, more unmotivated than ever. I consumed every temptation thrown my way over the weekend. You name it, I ate it. On the positive, I did run in the park while I was at home which was not easy, the hills and humidity killed me! Anyways, I don't have much to write about other than I'm ready for semester break. Only a few slow slow slowww days left! This post gets the award for the most worthless post ever. 

I'm tired.

I'm unmotivated.

I can't focus. blaaahhhhhhh

Proper punctuation is both the sign and cause of clear thinking

I love lazy Sunday's and usually take the time to catch up on my reading. I have 4 books on my shelf right now I have started and not finished. However, one book I just HAVE to tell the world about is called " Eat's, Shoots, & Leaves" by Lynne Truss, a columnist for "The Times" (a newspaper in London) and she is absolutely brilliant! The book is about her zero tolerance approach to punctuation. As I am typing this post I am trying to take caution in my own punctuation and spelling (as to not dissapoint my new hero Ms. Truss). Anyways, I won't ruin the book by telling what all it entails but I will leave my favorite excerpt from the book so far:          

   "Part of one's despair, of course, is that the world cares nothing for the little shocks endured by the sensitive stickler. While we look in horror at a badly punctuated sign, the world carries on around us, blind to our plight. We are like the little boy in The Sixth Sense who can see dead people, except that we can see dead punctuation. Whisper it in petrified little-boy tones: dead punctuation is invisible to everyone else -- yet we see it all the time. No one understands us seventh-sense people. They regard us as freaks. When we point out illiterate mistakes we are often aggressively instructed to "get a life" by people who, interestingly, display no evidence of having lives themselves. Naturally we become timid about making our insights known, in such inhospitable conditions. Being burned as a witch is not safely enough off the agenda."

 ***The title of the book was chosen after Lynne noticed a panda defined in an encyclopedia as 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves.'****

As an added bonus the book even comes with a punctuation repair kit full of stickers for comma mistakes you may see everyday on signs! This book is a must read and I am ordering her other book from Amazon "Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today". I promise you will love the book, let your inner nerd run free!

Happy Sunday!

To Do List: Get it together!

Good morning! It is Thursday morning and I have already finished 30 minutes of yoga, eaten oatmeal, and am drinking a cup of green tea this very second! I slept a total of 8 hours (this is rare ya'll!) and feel ready for the day. I have a physiology test tomorrow on the Gastric System (such a lovely system!). I don't have class today and will be studying the entire day. I studied in a Starbucks yesterday and I was suprised how much I accomplished studying outside of my room or the library. I will probably go back today too, I just hate to pay for that overpriced latte-con-fatttay-shiz. I have my own coffee maker at home and my own fat free vanilla creamer...Anyways, yesterday I also bought a Brita water filter! Only 10 bucks and I'm hoping to save some money on water, I drink (and am proud!) about 4 bottles a day! Something about the New Orleans tap water, it's sick, gross, and I can't get used to it. So now we both win, with the Brita filter.

                                                     Water that is!!!!!!!!
*Update on my workout life. I ran in the park 2 days ago and really surprised myself with how far I ran outside. I normally run on the treadmill but the weather has been so nice lately I went to the park and I plan to keep training there. It opens at 5 am (yes! a.m. workouts ROCK) I am such a morning person it's crazy annoying for all you cranky sleepy heads out there. I ran the 1.8 mile loop twice! Ok, some I walked, but only max a minute and it was mainly to look at ducks or to pet a Great Dane named Tiger. Also I am recommending Jillian Michaels' Shred video for anyone who wants to tone up and has little time for a workout. the workout is only 25 minutes long and a killllllller. I moved up to level 2 yesterday...it's painful! I'm so sore STILL and am dreading shredding again.
*Update on OT school: Only 2 weeks left in this semester! WOOHOO! Not that I don't like school, I love it, I do not however share the same love for physiology and am ready to be over and done with that class. I just need a break and luckily we are getting one for Easter next week and I can go home! Some of my classmates went to the AOTA conference in Philadelphia this morning so I will be interested to see what all they learn when they get back. Also it's share a poem day for my interactive reasoning class...We have to "whip out" a poem and read it to people. So here's mine! There was a specific format we had to follow and literally had 3 minutes to do this:
                                                      Smile
                                                  Hello, teeth
                                       A welcome without words
                                                    Open

Cheeeeese! Over and out have a PRODUCTIVE day!

I'm all over the place

Hello bloggies! I haven't written in a few days, and it's because I have been out and about all weekend!To summarize my weekend, I worked the French Quarter Festival here in New Orleans selling Abita beer most of the day Saturday and it was so fun. I really had a good time, and saw lots of new foods, some were questionable in appearance but nothing I wouldn't eat!!! One of my classmates had a friend in town from California so we had a fun weekend going out (indulging) on various alcoholic beverages. I also got to catch up with one of my very good friends yesterday over coffee and he introduced me to my new obsession. WHOLE FOODS. I know, where have I been? The only grocery store back home though is Kroger and Walmart! I've been deprived. I went early this morning to buy groceries and just had the most amazing salad for lunch. Ingredients included:  Quinoa, Bell peppers, Black beans, Sunflower seeds, Zucchini, Mustard seeds, Pico de gallo, Cilantro, and Lemon juice. It was absolutely fantastic!!!
I normally hate salad, but this was more nutty and not so leafy it was perfect.

                                                      It kind of looked like this!!

In other news, I got 4 miles in early this morning before my WF adventure, and I'm not gonna lie, I only ran 3, and walked the last mile. I don't know what was going on but I was just out of whack this morning. Maybe it has something to do with the copious amounts of alcohol that entered my body this weekend?? Nah! I did however walk on incline the whole time for that last mile, and progressed it eventually to a big hill. So I didn't completely wimp out!
*Also a special thank you is in order for Mr. Dewayne Carter, many of you may know him as Lil Wayne. He keeps my butt in line at the gym and I think I can sing every word of his songs on my ipod. If only people knew the vulgarities blaring in my ears as I'm running!

                           Anyways, thanks Lil Wayne, couldn't do it without you.

Hurt so good

I just read my Monday blog and realized how annoyingly peppy I was. Or maybe my drained state I am in today is putting me in a funky mood. I have so many assignments pile up on me. The good thing is none of them are hard, just time consuming, and I am the world's worst time manager. I have no energy today. I am going running after I finish this and maybe it will wake my grumpy butt up. One important NEW update is that I am running a half marathon in October....(gulp). It made my stomach hurt writing that sentence, but I know it will be the ultimate way to achieve my goal to be a runner! The race is in Mandeville, LA and is for Leukemia and Lymphoma research, which I am an advocate for! Hopefully this will be an empowering journey and I can really learn a lot about myself and what my body AND mind can handle. I'll be running with a classmate who's father was diagnosed with Leukemia last year. We have to raise $1,000 dollars a piece because it is a FUNDraiser, but I'm hoping we can turn it into some service project for school. I've been thinking about running a half marathon recently after reading a blog I found http://halfasstohalfmarathon.blogspot.com/ (<----it's HILARIOUS and inspiring! You'll be addicted). So, when my classmate asked me if I was interested in the half marathon in October it was like it was just meant to be!! This means my butt has to be in tip top shape before october. Currently I've bumped up my milage to 4 miles. I also became a member of Runner's World today! I'm going to check out the site for training information.

                                                  One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!
*In other news, I went to my first ever fieldwork site at a mental health facility last Thursday and it was so interesting! I can honestly say mental health is one of my favorite subjects, but it could be because our teacher for a class is in mental health and makes the class so interesting. Either way I am learning a lot about disorders and therapuetic interventions. During my observations I sat in and participated in 2 interactive group settings and we discussed communication skills and work settings. I also observed a group performing a meal preperation activity (pancakes!). I really liked how we learn about so many social and emotional disorders in class but I really learned more from sitting next to a schizophrenic patient in the communication group more than sitting in a classroom. I really understood the barriers these patients have to fight each day just to perform a simple task! Everyone smoked, I mean every patient I saw! It was kind of interesting. Everyone liked coffee too. I am going back to the facility this Friday, for "Fun Friday". The patients get to play games and extracurricular activites in the gym on the campus. That should be fun and we will be able to interact better with the patients.

ALSO Jillian Michael's Shred DVD hurts so good. My entire body is sore from that 25 minute workout!

Monday Funday

Hello! Well I am back from my much needed beach weekend sunburned, relaxed, and focused. This morning I woke up and ran 3.5 miles in my best time yet! I am going to try to run at least 4x a week and cross train 2 days of the week. I'm a Jillian Michaels SUPERfan and just borrowed the Shred video from a friend to use for my crosstraining. I'll be sure to update as to any of my results. So far today has been fantabulous and I feel awesome (was I whistling a minute ago?). Hope you all are starting your weeks off to a FUNday and not a monday. I've trained myself to appreciate Mondays, yeah they have a bad rep, but they are the beginning to a new start to the week.

Me! we took this picture this weekend

TGIF!

It's FRIDAYYYYY! And that means in less than 2 hours I will be taking my physiology test.

Help.Me.

  I guess I should be studying right now instead of writing this but I just wanted to write real quick before I enter the physiology battlefront. My saving grace this entire week has been our beach trip! We decided to leave a day early and are heading out today after the test. We are bringing some assignments to work on (how studious!) with us, we are also bringing tequila so, something will get done.

Anyways everyone have a wonderful weekend and be on the look out for April Fool's pranksters...like me!