My To-Do List

So, after I finished my last post I got to thinking about something I posted back at the beginning of the year - March 1st, to be exact. My 29th birthday was coming up (April 22) and I wrote a list of things I wanted to accomplish before turning 30. Here it is:

My list of to do's:

1. Run more
2. graduate from PA school and get certified
3. vacation after graduation - nothing but quality time with my Mr
4. get pregnant**
5. get a job and start paying my student loans
6. have FUN!!!

Well, look at that! I can check off almost all of those things!! If that doesn't make you feel good, then I'm not sure what will.

::contented sigh::

Smile,
Damaris

So much has transpired

So, it's been 5 months since my last update and a TON has happened since then.

I graduated from PA school. (fireworks and happiness!!)

I bought a house and moved in. (more fireworks and happiness!!)

I got a job. (even MORE fireworks and happiness!!!!)

The past few months have been very busy and very exciting, to say the least.

Here are some highlights from all of the awesomeness. Enjoy. :)

 My parents came up to see me walk and get hooded for my Master's degree. The week after this, I presented my Grand Rounds presentation and ROCKED IT!

May 12

 Celebrating at Blue Sky winery

 I absolutely love this photo <3 p="p">

Our offer was accepted!! So exciting!

May 25 

 Natalie's wedding - so much fun

June 2

 Canoeing at Turkey Run in Indiana

June 24

 Move in day in our first home purchase!!!

July 13

 Last day as a student with some AWESOME people. I'll miss all of you guys!

July 27

 Celebrating with classmates after lots of testing

August 3

 I love these people

 White Coat ceremony

August 4

 Roomie love

 Two fo my favorite ladies

Mom and Dad - who celebrated 35 years of marriage this summer!

My happy family :)

August 11

Hanging out back home (Miami) with my favorite munchkin <3 p="p">

August 22

My new buffet

My new dinner table set

 Hiking at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL

September 7-8

 Busch Stadium watching the Cards v Reds

October 2

 Fall has come to Illinois - Allerton Park in Monticello

October 9

Well, that's a quick summary of my last 5 months. Things have been very good. We moved about 45 miles north of where we have lived for the past 6 years. This means that my husband is a lot closer to his job. His commute is now 15 minutes instead of an hour.  I'm now officially licensed as a Physician Assistant in the state of Illinois - very exciting. Once I start working, my commute will be 10-15 minutes too! My official start date is November 19, so until then I'll be enjoying my time off and working on a bunch of ideas from Pinterest (I've already finished some and will post pics). I'll also be reading and just relaxing.

I recently fell in love with the HBO series Game of Thrones (EPIC) and am currently reading the second book in the series. I'm also in the midst of planning my annual Halloween party. I realized that I never posted pics from last year's party - maybe I'll do that soon.

I'm trying to get started running again. I've been kind of spotty with it - but I'm just finishing week 2 of a boot camp session. It's going pretty well, so that's good.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well. I promise I'll be posting more often now that school is finished.

Be well,

Damaris :)

This just blew my mind

Seriously. Fan-freaking-tastic cover of "Sour times" by the Civil Wars. Originally performed by Portishead.

Sour Times (Unplugged) - Music Videos - Live Performances

Enjoy,
Damaris

IL half marathon - a new PR!

So, you may remember that I began training for the IL half marathon back in January. Well, yesterday was the big day. The last time I ran a race was Spring 2010 (PA school has kept me way too busy to get the training in). My PR, or personal record, for the half marathon is 2:30:01. My goal for this race was just to beat that time.

I started running again back in January with my Vibram Komodo Sports. Then in February I bought myself a Garmin Forerunner 210 (amazingness). I did pretty well with sticking to my plan and felt really good about my training. I headed to the race expo on Friday afternoon with my husband and just wasn't that jazzed. The weather forecast was calling for 48 degrees with 20 mph winds and 30-40% chance of rain. This is not the kind of running whether that I consider optimal... to say the least. That, and the fact that I didn't see any of my running buddies at the expo, just had me feeling a bit "blah". Nevertheless, I set out all my gear and made sure I was in bed by 9pm. It took me a while to fall asleep, and then 4:30am arrived and my alarm was going off.

I suited up in my new CWX 3/4 Stabylx compression tights, lightweight Under Armor running jacket, and Vibrams, etc and made the drive up to Champaign. I hit some patches of rain, but then it died out. I stopped at the first group of porta-potties I saw and then met up with my running buddies. I was starting to get more excited at that point. It was pretty cold and I'm really glad I remembered my gloves!

The race started and I was feeling good. I finished my first 2 miles way under goal (9:40-9:50). I took a 1 minute walk break at 3.75 miles and then again at 6.5 miles. That's when I ate some energy beans too. We were winding through a park on a narrow path for most of miles 7 and 8. This is when I started getting tired and a had to take some short walk breaks. Mile 9 seemed to go on forever, but mile 11 was worse. At mile 12 I knew we were getting close to Memorial Stadium, where we would finish at the 50 yard line. At that point it was all about pushing myself mentally. I saw my friend Randy cheering me on right before the turn to enter the stadium and I gave my last kick of energy to finish strong.

I crossed the finish line at 2:22:00 and scored a new PR!!

Congrats to Jaymie (who also scored a new PR of 2:06), Paula, and Kathy for finishing strong. I hope to one day be like Kathy - she's 61 and finished the full marathon in 4:45. Pure amazing.

Here are some pics:

Happy, happy, happy!!

Jaymie's a rockstar and ran a 5k on Friday night and the half marathon on Saturday, so she got 2 medals. And she PR'd on BOTH RACES!!!

Randy and Jaymie. Unfortunately Randy pulled a muscle last weekend and was unable to run the half marathon.

Jaymie, Kathy and Randy

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Now I'm off to work on my master's paper and powerpoint. Ugh.

-Damaris

Here's some funny for your funny

this blog has me laughing every day. if you need some laughter in your life then click the link...
no seriously... click the damn link!
http://textfromdog.tumblr.com/

here's a sampling:








Go hit the damn link already!! Enjoy and have an awesome week. :)

It's my Birthday!!

Hey guys. It's my Birthday today!! This means I'm just a little closer to 30. This is actually my 29th - so my last year of the 20's and I have plans to make it a fantastical year. Lots of good stuff coming up. Namely... graduation in 104 days!!!!!

Anyways, I got some new shades this week and I went to dinner with the family last night. So, here are some pics. A few friends that I used to work with are all getting together today with our husbands and little ones (minus us, of course - we don't have any midgets yet), so that should be fun.

oh, and i got a mani pedi today too! 

Everyone have a fantastical day!!!

Lately... some running, some reading, and some music

I've been really keeping up with my running lately, and I'm feeling pretty good. I did another 10 mile long run yesterday. Next week will be a cut-back week, so only 8 miles on Saturday. I had planned to run Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday but have only run 3 times a week for these last two weeks. I was actually outside stretching before my Wednesday evening run when a friend stopped by. We just sat outside and chatted and then went for ice cream with eyes (at my suggestion ;) Mine was lemon and it was yummy! Sometimes it just feels good to step away from the schedule.

Despite the indiscretion, my weight loss is going well. I'm down 9.5 pounds since the beginning of the year and I already feel sooo much better.

In other news, my brother emailed me an electronic copy of The Hunger Games this week. He finished Book 1 and was thoroughly impressed. I've been hearing so much about this series and how good it is. So I decided that I would not study on Friday or Saturday and would take these days to enjoy myself and read The Hunger Games. And I'm really glad I did. The book is riveting! I'm hoping to see the movie in the next few days. 

I hope everyone takes a little bit of time this weekend to do something for YOURSELF. It'll make you feel so much better. :)

So, I'm just gonna leave you with some music - again, brought to you by my brother's great taste- this time in music. When I visited him 2 weeks ago in Miami we listened to The Roots album "Undun" and it's been stuck in my head since then. I bought the entire album last week and it's really good.

Make My - The Roots ft. Big K.R.I.T. and Dice Raw

One Time - The Roots ft. Phonte and Dice Raw

Kool on - The Roots ft. Greg Porn and Truck North

Enjoy and have a great week!

A very chilly run

So, I got my Garmin Forerunner 210 yesterday!! YAY.

It took her for a spin today on a very cold 6 mile run through Lake of the Woods. It was 33 degrees with about 17mph winds - so the wind chill was about 22 degrees. Ugh. It was my first run in the cold in a looooong time. It was also my first training run in this weather wearing my Vibrams (and injinjii socks). My toes were numb for the first 2-2.5 miles, but then they warmed up and thawed out. Thankfully!! Today's run is the highest mileage I've run in the vibrams, and I'm pretty happy with them. I don't feel any more sore than when I ran in my Brooks. My step may not be as springy, but what can you do? No biggie.

It was great to meet up with my old TNT buddies - Jaymie, Randy, Kathy, and Coach Mike. A few of us went to Panera afterwards, like old times. I was really conscious of the caloric value of my meal, since I've been logging all of my calories on MyFitnessPal. Let's just say it was a good thing I ran today, cause my breakfast sandwich (bacon, egg & cheese on ciabatta bread) was 510 calories!!! But it was damn good. Pure yum. And I had a cappuccino too.

So I came home and plugged in my Garmin to upload my info and look at all of the info it gave me:

And it's really easy to plug in and upload all of the info to GarminConnect

In case you can't tell, I'm pretty stoked about this investment.

Anyway, I'm off to study like a good PA student. Happy Saturday!!
-Damaris

Excitement!!

Okay, so I've been wanting a Garmin running watch with GPS functionality for a long time now. Last time I asked for one was right before PA school started (about 2 years ago) and then came the school-induced hiatus from running. Now that I'm back on track and I have a plan, I've decided to take the leap and make the investment.

I'm so excited! I just ordered my Garmin Forerunner 210. They have a bunch of really neat models, but after doing some research and reading some reviews (namely this one, http://www.dcrainmaker.com forerunner 210 review and this one http://www.dcrainmaker.com forerunner 405 review), I decided that the forerunner 210 more than meets my needs.

Check it out:

If you're at all interested in getting a sports watch for running, check out the links to the reviews I referenced above. They're really thorough and provide all the information you could possible need when deciding on what product to purchase.

You can get the Forerunner 210 with a heart rate monitor and foot pod - i didn't get either one (due to price), but I would really like the foot pod. It's for use when training indoors on a treadmill (yay for training in Midwest winters).

Anyway, I should get my lovely device tomorrow - which means I'll have it when I go to Miami next week. I'm really stoked about this because it means I can run to the marina near my parents' house, and wherever else, without having to map out my route ahead of time to ensure that I cover the correct mileage for my training plan. Sweet freedom!

Another piece of happiness: being back on a training plan means that I get to meet up with my old runner buddies at Lake of the Woods (LOW) this Saturday morning. It'll be like old times (except that Joanna won't be there). This also means that we will definitely be hitting up Panera for post-run sustenance. 

Next Friday I'll be taking exams for the end of my Surgery rotation. Weird, right? It's the end of my 7th rotation out of 9. I'm stressing a lot less because I've realized a few things: 

1) Test day will come. No use freaking out, because that won't postpone the inevitable.

2) I WILL pass my tests - there isn't really any other option for me.

3) I know more than I give myself credit for. Relax and breathe.

4) I will be home in Miami in 8 days. This is what those 4 days will look like for me:

My parents' amazing backyard

Tiki bar @ Islamorada

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and stays positive
-Damaris

Back on track

So, I've mentioned before that I put on a good chunk of weight during PA school. 18 pounds to be exact. Ugh.

On January 1st I started logging my calories with an app on my iPhone called MyFitnessPal. I love this app. It's helping to keep me accountable with my food intake and motivated with my workouts. I've been working out 4-5 times a week and sticking to 1250 calories a day. So far I've lost 7 pounds. :)

I also started running again in January. I started slow for a few weeks, but I just registered for the Illinois Half Marathon in Champaign, IL on 4/28/12. The last time I ran a race was Spring 2010, right before PA school started. I'm stoked to be on my way back to the pre-PA school me. 12 pounds to get to my goal weight of 125.

Here's a look at my training schedule for the next 9 weeks: I'll be running on Mondays, Wednesday and Thursdays with long runs on Saturdays.

The Vibram Komodosport's I've been running in

        week ending   3-Mar      3,4,3 and 6 miles
        week ending   10-Mar    3,4,3 and 8 miles
        week ending   17-Mar    3,5,4 and 10 miles
        week ending   24-Mar    4,5,4 and 11 miles
        week ending   31-Mar    4,6,4 and 12 miles
        week ending   7-Apr       4,5,4 and 9 miles
        week ending   21-Apr     3,4,3 and 8 miles
        week ending   28-Apr    3,3,2 and RACE DAY!!!

Another piece of exciting information... I'll be home in Miami in < 9 days!!!! WooHooooo! I haven't been home since July of last year and I reeeeaaalllly need some sun on my skin and some sand between my toes. Can't wait to see my family and friends.

The Civil Wars

I am currently listening to The Civil Wars on repeat. Their album is titled "Barton's Hollow".
They're a duo - a male and female song writer with hauntingly beautiful harmonies. Not a couple, like most people think. Their music is absolutely beautiful.

Poison and Wine - The Civil Wars

My Father's Father - The Civil Wars

Barton Hollow (live) - The Civil Wars

I've Got This Friend (live @ Eddie's Attic) - The Clivil Wars

Enjoy!!!

Less than 6 months to go... and here's some music!

Can you believe I have less than 6 months until I graduate as a Physician Assistant! Nuts.

We'll be having our program's white coat ceremony and pinning on August 4th, but we recently found out that the school cancelled the August graduation ceremony. So, we'll have to walk in the May ceremony- which is terribly anticlimactic considering we'll still have to do our two month preceptorship before we're actually finished. Oh well. They were going to make us wait until December to walk. But it sucks because a fair few of my classmates have decided that they're not going to walk in the May graduation. :(

Anyway. I just finished my 6th rotation last week. It was internal medicine, which I was lucky enough to do with our local Hospitalist (who is amazing). It was a really great rotation and I feel like I learned a lot. I started rotation 7 this Monday, which is surgery. I've already gotten to see some really interesting procedures - like a loop ileostomy takedown (look it up on youtube). My attending is a firecracker and I really like her. She also listens to really great music in the OR.

Just so you know, I'm currently obsessed with Gotye and Kimbra - they're both musicians from the Australia/New Zealand area. Really great stuff. Here's a video or two... or four ;)

Someone that I used to Know - by Gotye featuring Kimbra

Save Me - by Gotye

Settle Down - by Kimbra (looooove this one!)

Two weeks by The Grizzly Bears/ Head over Heels by Tears for Fear - Mashup of the two by Kimbra

Enjoy!! And I hope everyone is staying warm this winter. I can't wait for warmer weather!!