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!!