What Got Me Through

I saw this picture and it made me smile from ear to ear - something that has been hard to come by lately.

So the past 2 weeks have been rough ones - the ones where all I want to do is run home and snuggle with my mom and dad and tell them everything. Although I don't have my parents close, my sister Jamie and her husband Jon live about 5 hours away in CT. They were so gracious to come to D.C. last weekend to get my mind off of some things. I love what my remarkable family can to do lift and strengthen me.

While they were here we talked about life - we did other things but the details don't matter. What matters is that they were here for me when I needed them the most.

Thanks for coming Jamie and Jon. You two are wonderful.

We are nerds together. I love Jamie's face, Jon's prominent chin, and the fact that I look like I drooled onto my shirt. Best picture ever.

Sour Milk

My brother Trevor (Mr. T) had to write a creative story about a topic assigned by his 5th grade teacher. He got sour milk. I have to remind you that he is 10 years old. Pretty sharp vocab for his age. He's adorable. Love him.

I trudged up the long, steep hill that led to my house. After a long grueling day in Mr. Malmrose’s classroom, the thought of a tall, cool glass of chocolate milk filled my mind. I took the last step, opened the door and excitedly sprinted toward the fridge. I opened the fridge and grabbed the milk and Hershey’s Chocolate syrup. Once I grabbed the cup, I carefully poured the milk into the glass. Then I added the delectable chocolate syrup to the perfect amount. I raced to the cupboard that held the spoons and grabbed one. Then I vigorously stirred, making sure that the chocolate was completely mixed in. I lifted the glass to my lips and took a huge gulp. Immediately my taste buds sounded an alarm saying, “This tastes dreadfully wrong!” Could this milk be rotten? I looked at the expiration date and, sure enough, the milk had expired two weeks ago. To make sure, I took a long whiff of that putrid gallon of milk. My nose hairs curled at the terrible stench of sour milk. After dreaming of chocolate milk, my expectations went down the drain, just as that sour milk did.

My Morning Run

Although I haven't been exercising regularly recently, I had the chance to get a morning run in last Friday.

Most clinical mornings (Fridays) go like this:

-wake up at 4:45, 50, 55 - 5:00 can't wait any longer

-shower and get ready

-pack a lunch for my long day

-catch my bus at 6:15 am

-read scriptures while riding for 25 minutes

-run across campus to the hospital

-start clinical at 7 am

A run before clinical sounds so refreshing right? SO - you're probably thinking that I was a maniac and got up even earlier to get a run in before clinical. If you were thinking that I actually did that, you apparently don't know me that well (but we should be friends because you have great expectations).

Last Friday I was taking my time getting ready and realized it was time to go. Thankfully I still had PLENTY of time before my bus was supposed to come (about 3 minutes). Most of the time they are late so that left me even more time.

As I meandered out of my apartment I looked down the hill and noticed that my 6:15 bus was already at the stop. My stomach dropped. The next bus wasn't scheduled to come until 6:45 and I would definitely be late for clinical if I waited and caught the later bus. Shoot. SO, backpack and all, I started to sprint. I J-walked/ran dangerously through the busy Patrick Henry & Leesburg Pike intersection and ALMOST caught my bus. I was about a half block away when it pulled away. BAH!

At that point I almost gave up. I thought about just paying $25 to park my car at Georgetown for the day or to just catch the later bus. Then I realized that with option a) I would lose $25 b) I would be extremely late for clinical - neither option I really wanted to occur.

So, I continued to run. And run. And run. My legs were wobbly from muscle fatigue and I felt my knee cap play with the idea of dislocating a few times. I was scared but I just couldn't stop. Apparently money and time are great motivators for me (my weakness is exposed - you can manipulate me later). I said a fervent but not very reverent prayer as I was sprinting to catch the bus. I asked Heavenly Father to allow me to catch the bus and for my knee to cooperate in the process. Thankfully my knee cap stayed in and the Arlington Blvd traffic light kept the bus waiting for a solid 5 minutes just in time for me to catch up with the bus. I knocked on the door and the bus driver was kind enough to let me in. Prayers are answered! Even if what you are asking for seems dumb. If it is important to me it's important to the Lord. Blessings.

You bet your bottom dollar I studied my scriptures for that whole bus ride while trying to catch my breath.

The irony behind this whole story - there was road construction on Arlington and so our bus sat in construction traffic for about 5 minutes. We finally got going again but were forced to take a random detour that added another 5-7 minutes to the bus ride. 12 extra minutes on the bus. Great. I got to Rosslyn station at 6:55 and had to catch another bus from Rosslyn to Georgetown (about a 7 minute bus ride). Guess who was late for clinical anyway? Me.

I should have waited for the 6:45 bus. The end.

Chinos

If I had a dollar for every pair of men's chino shorts I have seen on Georgetown's campus I would probably be approaching millionaire status.

Welcome to the land of well-dressed boys. Georgetown boys A) know what chino shorts are B) wear chinos regularly C) have chino shorts in every color - I have seen mint green, green, sea foam green, emerald, butter yellow, bright yellow, purple, navy, baby blue, white, pink, salmon, orange, and EVEN seer-sucker D) on occasion have their shorts embroidered with sail boats, anchors, or anything preppy E) wear belts, watches, and Sperry's to match these chinos.

To top it all off, their hair looks like this:

For all of you Bachelorette lovers, Ames would fit perfectly here

It's a different world over here in the Eastern part of the globe.

Georgetown

This is where I go to school. It's neat. I kind of like it.

Humidity

Call me a baby but this humidity + heat is just killing me. Sure I am inside most of the time but when I'm running to class because my bus is 15 minutes late I'm sticky and sweaty by the time I reach St. Mary's Hall. Sick.

My hair has also been a victim of this weather. When I first moved here in August I tried to do my hair every morning. I would blow it dry, straighten it, and even put a little hairspray in it. Then I would walk outside and the humidity would undo all of my work. I learned my lesson quickly. Just over a month later my blowdryer has become obsolete and hair elastics and bobby pins have become my NEW best friends. Here's the morning process: I let it air dry, it becomes wavy, I pin my bangs back, and if it looks too horrible [notice: too horrible, not horrible, too horrible] I pull it up. Ethan even commented about it one night...he said, "Marie your hair looks good." Me, "Really?" [E starts snickering] "It just looks like you have been walking outside in the humidity all day." It's sad when an unobservant boy starts noticing. My hair = beast that cannot be tamed.

So for all of you reading this blog - I haven't let myself go yet [I still shower regularly]. I just blame the humidity.

Apparently your skin doesn't age as quickly with the humidity though so - CHEERS to horrible hair but absolutely NO wrinkles!

Things I'm currently putting off:

-Online Hospital Training

-studying for clinical tomorrow (7-5 tomorrow)

-studying for Pathophysiology (Professor suggests 15 hrs/week)

-making dinner

-writing my talk for Church on Sunday – Topic: Importance of Living Prophets – any ideas for me?

-coordinating the cleaning of our Church House (my new calling)

-studying for my test on Monday

I'm busy in school and I love it!

Disaster Response

I got a “HoyAlert” text message 30 minutes after the earthquake. It read, “It has been confirmed that there was an earthquake about 30 minutes ago.” Love it. I felt much safer after reading that! Phew!

There are 4 of these holes in my wall now because of the earthquake

Hurricane Irene came next – Saturday afternoon to be precise. The wind howled all night. Church meetings were cancelled for precautionary purposes and the store shelves were emptied. I was lucky to snag one of the last cases of water after waiting in an hour-long grocery line. Although the hurricane ended up simply exhibiting as a tropical storm, there were some damages in the surrounding areas of D.C. Big branches and leaves plagued the streets around Alexandria, a transformer blew, and a tree in my apartment complex was ripped from the ground. Yikes. I’m glad I was tucked safely in bed. I’m also glad that I was inland. Sure it was only a “Cat 1” (Ethan was teasing me because he said “Cat 1” and I didn’t know what he was talking about – I’m from Utah, we don’t get hurricanes. How am I supposed to know that “cat” is short for category? Gimme a break ok?) but the winds were still really strong and I’m counting my lucky stars that they weren’t any stronger.