tiff of the 'burbs.

I finished my LAST PAPER EVER tonight! I did I little happy dance, tweeted about it (of course), texted my boyfriend in happiness…

AND REALIZED I COMPLETELY OVERLOOKED THE FACT THAT MY STUDENT PORTFOLIO (WHICH MUST INCLUDE ALL MY GRADED WORK—-WHICH IS SCATTERED EVERYWHERE BETWEEN LONG BEACH/CHINO HILLS/HOLLYWOOD) IS DUE TOMORROW.

For the past four hours I’ve been searching for all my crap assignments, reprinting things, filling out over a dozen forms, trying to maintain my composure. Now I just have a giant headache and can’t wait to turn in everything tomorrow and be done FOR REAL THIS TIME.

Sooooo close.

Because of some miscommunication with my fellow work travelers and the lack of available seating on earlier flights, I ended up spending 4 hours in the Sacramento Airport (SMF) on my own. I didn’t have my laptop with me, so I decided to peruse Terminal B and ended up picking up a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for inspirational/ pseudo self-help books, but I tend to gravitate towards those that have to do with faith and Christianity. This book is not the case. The Happiness Project is a memoir of the author’s year-long project to be a happier person in all aspects of her life.

I got to read some chapters during my time in SMF when I finally got to asking myself, Am I happy? I’m getting my masters in a month, registered for a half-marathon, have a meaningful part-time job (which could give me more hours/pay), get a copious amount of support and love from my family, friends, and boyfriend…seems pretty good to me. But I guess there is always room for self-improvement. I’m happy to be almost done with school. I’m happy and proud of the work I’ve done so far with the AAP. I’m happy with my relationship with my family and boyfriend. I’m somewhat happy with my relationships with my friends these days (sorry, this is the honest truth—more about this in an upcoming post).

On Friday Night, I had a really nice outdoor dinner with my boyfriend at Alcove in Los Feliz. As we shared a meal together, we started talking about long-term goals and things we want to accomplish in the upcoming years. We had a great time, but one thing I realized during our drive home was that I have a bad habit of focusing too much on the future, which sometimes gets in the way of truly enjoying the present. I like having dreams and ambitions, but I realize how I get carried away with planning. It becomes distracting and counterproductive. Add in the feeling of being burnt out and there’s a recipe for disaster.

Current thought process: I need to find a job. Why? Because I need to save money. For what? I need to pay off my student loans, save up for a future home, wedding (?), BEBES(?!).

What I really need to be thinking about doing: FINISH MY GD CASE STUDY AND BE DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR REAL. 

I’ve been incredibly distracted from my school work because I’ve been trying to hard to plan everything out and job hunt. Lately, I’ve sat down numerous times with the intention of getting some of school work out of the way, only to write a couple sentences and spend exponentially more time searching for jobs.

Anywho, this is just a prime example of distraction. Back to my case study.

This week’s work assignment was really cool. I went to Sacramento from Monday-Tuesday of this week for the California Medical Association’s 38th Annual Legislative Leadership Conference. I went with members of our AAP chapter and doctors (mostly residents) that are part of an advocacy coalition. Being one of the only non-practitioners was interesting. It’s not hard to spot one of the only people not in a white coat. We learned about current legislation that affects health (mostly pediatrics…because I do work for the AAP). Two of the keynote speakers were Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris (whom I was really excited to see in person, actually). I also got to sit in an Assembly Health Committee Hearing, which definitely tickled the Poli Sci nerd in me. Public Health, Pediatrics, and Advocacy = my kind of work trip.

I’ve gotten a couple questions about my juicing experience from my last post and in my inbox, so I thought I’d just make a post about it :)

First off, I’m not currently doing a juice fast. I still eat solid foods, but I sometimes replace entire meals/snacks with juice. For example, I had half a mason jar of juice for breakfast this morning with a 1-egg spinach omelet and two pieces of turkey bacon. My primary doctor advised me not to do an entire fast because juices cut out fibers and because I’m starting to work out more, she wanted to make sure I get my carbohydrates and protein (in healthy portions, of course…so last night’s kbbq did not count lol).With that said, I love eating whole vegetables and fruits more than I love juicing, even if juicing lets you take in a whole lot more at a time.

My favorite things to juice:

• gala apples
• spinach
• kale
• carrots
• berries
• beets
• cucumber (lots of water/juice from these)

If you are NOT juicing and don’t enjoy eating raw vegetables, remember that the best way to cook vegetables is steaming.

• ORGANICS. Most (if not all) of the produce I buy is organic now. Oh, God, a Los Angeles yuppie/hipster. Because juicing means eating more produce than your normal diet, that translates to more pesticides (in non-organic produce) than usual. People, you can poison yourself with having exponentially more pesticides in your system! No bueno!
• PRICE. Buying produce can sound expensive, especially if you are buying organic produce versus non-organic produce. That is not necessarily true. It really does depend on where you buy your produce. I’m a big fan of Sprouts (formerly known as Henry’s). Sometimes Farmer’s Markets can be good, but you have to look around.
• BENEFITS (so far): The fact that I’m consuming a lot more fruits and vegetables lately, liquid or solid, has made me feel exponentially healthier, lighter, energetic (my boyfriend may argue against this because I just enjoy sleep), and -TMI- regular (Everyone poops, okay?!). 

A couple helpful sites: Juicing for Health, Join the Reboot, and if you have a Pinterest account, you can search “Juicing” and a lot of good recipes show up.

I may do a small reboot soon, but in the meantime, I’m keeping the solids.

Thanks to my dear friends, Nick & Katrina, for giving me the inspiration! You two are hardcore (they did a reboot for the entire month of March)!

HERE.

“Well, you see, what had happened was…”

Growing up, I was into fairy tales. Disney movies were my favorite. Actually, they still are. I was once (or twice) a princess for Halloween. In high school, I liked movies like “A Walk to Remember” and “She’s All That”. I wouldn’t classify myself as a hopeless romantic. I don’t think I ever really was. There was always a little cynicism in me, which was reaffirmed after a number of failed attempts at relationships, a bruised ego, and John Mayer’s “Continuum” album on repeat. Oh, John, you just know how I feel…

When people ask me how I met my boyfriend, I usually laugh because the actual story isn’t that cute. Although we did meet through a mutual friend, we did meet at a bar. And we both got drunk hammered that night (possibly trying too hard to break the ice). I actually wrote a previous post about that night (Surprise! I surprised myself, too).

“Why am I so awkward?” ran through my mind for 5th time. We are on the border of buzzed and drunk. The music is loud, but at least it’s good music. It’s dark and the bar is slowly beginning to turn into a crowded cluster of half-dressed females and all the guys are dressed the same. I probably should have worn my glasses. A drink spills on my favorite wedges. Normally, I’d throw a mini-fit, but I want to make a good impression. He’s my friend’s friend and I don’t want him to think I’m one of those girls. We go through the basics: where we’re from, what we do, et cetera. “Are you catholic?” Wow, did this guy just ask me that right now? I have to admit, I like the candidness. No one ever asks me about that type of thing these days. Who set up these bar-talk taboos anyway? “I’m not very good at this”. This, as in, being set-up. But he seems normal, unthreatening, and genuine. I give him my number. Maybe he’ll call, maybe he won’t. Ugh, my low tolerance. That last shot was definitely a mistake. I hope giving him my number was not.

And it wasn’t. Because he is my boyfriend and I am a happy girl. So when people ask me the details of how we met, I tell them the truth, not some exaggerated fairy tale beginning. I tell people the truth because I want my single friends to know that first meetings aren’t always filled with hearts and sunshine. That’s not how it works all the time.

The hearts and sunshine came later.