One of my favorite sayings.

I want to frame the picture at the end of this post and hang it on my wall.

Remember the things you learned as a child? Or the stuff people told you but you didn't know what it meant until later? Stuff like this:

Believe in yourself. Don't hide your ideas, thoughts and feelings. Others will disagree. That is okay. Don't take things personally. People will hurt you. Be who you are. If someone doesn't like you, find someone who does. Choose your friends wisely. Think carefully.

I need to remember these things.

I have an idea.

Let's cancel Today. Let's go get a slurpee at 7/11.

I barely even know what day it is. All the days feel the same this week.

We all have our moments. I guess this is one of mine. Once I get a good nights rest I am sure I will be all right again. Or even after just one hour to think. In fact, writing this post is sort of helpful. Thank goodness for nap time.

I will try not to even be apologetic about complaining a little bit to the whole world right now. I am an adult and have relatable problems. For example, I'm guessing there are other spouses of medical interns who are dealing with 75+ work hours too. And other people who had to uproot their lives to move to a new place for work. And other people who have to sacrifice time and energy for the sake of someone else, like children.

So to all of you going through those things, or are just tired like me:

I can relate.

I will never be able to get a complete picture of what a person is going through, just like they will never see mine. I will not assume another persons life is super swell compared to mine, or worse compared to mine. I'm just not going to compare. We're all just striving to stay afloat.

Last Wednesday was my birthday. Nothing really exciting happened. That is okay. I am 26 now. Micah surprised me a beautiful rug. It was very thoughtful.

Lots of people love Micah. But I am the most important one. I like that.

WHEN I USE ALL CAPS

A clue into my “blogger writing style”.

(A style that is by no means my formal writing style. I love writing formal essays. But I started a blog partly to improve my creative writing skills, which are, in my opinion, somewhat lacking.  Judge me as you will. Actually, don’t judge me. Please. I beg you.)

If I push that little caps lock button, this is probably what I am attempting to do:

1.) Create a sense of mild sarcasm

2.) Be obnoxious and over-the-top

3.) Be slightly insecure, but, at the same time,

4.) trying really hard to be candid and forthright

5.) Probably trying too hard

6.) Get your attention

7.) Express my exuberance.

 

Many people around the interwebs have expressed a general distaste for the excessive use of caps-locked writing. I am usually in agreement with them. I cannot really understand why a usually nice, calm, loving sounding grandma would think it’s funny to write something like this:

IT IS ONLY 32 IN SYRACUSE....IS THIS A JOKE? IS THIS REALLY WINTER? WE REALLY COULD PLANT FLOWERS IN THIS WEATHER HAHAHAH!!!!

…So this is why I try to refrain from using caps lock ad nauseum. But I still do it sometimes, from a lack of self-control.

 

SEE?!?!

 

When do you use caps-lock? Never? Good for you. Now get out.

A snowy day in January.

I feel very happy when:

1. The world pauses for a snowy day (even if the snow isn't that bad, it's considered "extreme" for Seattle, and it makes me giggle. Click on the archives for last January. I am too lazy to make a link.)

2. The dishes are done

3. I have all kinds of ideas to bake something yummy today.

4. Pippa scoots around the floor looking for things to grab. She is much too adorable. And she is mine.

5. We had our friend come over and watched a movie and ate popcorn. Delightful.

6. I am drinking peppermint tea.

And now for some pictures.

If you can think it, you can blog it.

Pretty scary, huh?

I’ve been meaning to post about my special room.

We moved to our apartment about 7 months ago, and one of the bedrooms presented an interesting challenge. One corner of the room had a small alcove that was deep enough to be a closet but not wide enough to put a large desk. We were somewhat puzzled at first about what to do with this extra space, so I obsessed over pinterest for ideas for awhile. Eventually this is what we came up with:

^ ^ ^Can you find the baby?!

 

Micah sawed off a portion of our old desk to fit in the narrow space. I “hacked” an ikea lantern and added hanging paper cranes. We put up shelves and our nifty dry-erase calendar.

Pinterest worthy?! Perhaps. I am still working on it. So far though, I love it and I love spending time in this room.

People sometimes ask me what I do when Micah is at work. Oh, you mean besides RAISING UP A RIGHTEOUS GENERATION?!

I MAKE STUFF!!

This is my work table.

This is my new craft lathe.

WHAT?!

A CRAFT LATHE!

Micah got it for me for Christmas. What is it?! What does it do?

Well…

REMEMBER THESE?!?

Yes sir! I can make even better, more precise, and even more beautiful Pysanky! (Ukrainian Easter eggs!)

Other random things I like in this room:

A fox tail hanging from Micah’s guitar…

Cool monogram “C” my BFFFF Krischelle made… ^_^

Creepy mask Micah put on the wall?!

…

Sometimes I miss our apartment in Chicago. This is how we left our tiny kitchen. Such memories.

OHO!

Look below! Did you see that?? Micah made a blog post! Trying really hard not to make a big deal of it!
I failed!
Other news.
I forgot to mention the amazing thing that happened during the Christmas break. I WON A MAJOR AWARD!!!

No not that major award…

WE WON THE

IRON

CHEF
COMPETITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for being overly bombastic. I just never win things.
Oh man! you know why I forgot to post about it? Because I didn’t take any pictures!! None whatsoever! Therefore it didn’t happen!
Oh well. It did. And at least I can give you the recipe that won.
Oh and before you get too confused, the iron chef competition is a tradition family does every Christmas, or whenever we all get together.
The secret ingredient was: LEMON.

WE MADE:
Pan fried Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi
Taken from the Steamy Kitchen

THE RECIPE!!

1 cup whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup freshly grated parmegiano reggiano (plus extra reserved for garnishing)
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon lemon zest (use a microplane grater) (plus extra reserved for garnishing)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)
3/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted + more for dusting
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (plus extra reserved for garnishing)
1/2 teaspoon finely minced chilli (or red pepper flakes) – adjust chilli based on your tastes
2 tablespoons clarified butter (or just regular butter, but the clarified butter works much better)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1. Combine ricotta, parmagiano, yolk, zest and salt in large bowl. Mix well. Sprinkle half of the flour on the mixture, gently turn with spatula a few times to incorporate. Dump mixture on clean, lightly floured countertop. Sprinkle remaining flour on top of the mixture. Gently knead with your fingertips, just bringing together the mixture until flour is incorporated through. This only should take a minute or two. Any longer and you will be over-kneading. *If you are using skim milk ricotta – you may have to use more flour, as there is more water content in skim ricotta.

And, on top of that we made a lemon cream sauce:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
• 1 cup beef broth

In a sauce pan or skillet large enough to hold the pasta when it is done, combine the butter, cream, and beef broth or bouillon and simmer over medium heat until reduced by about half. Add the lemon juice, lemon and lime zest.
But I have to say, the other contestants (my mom and my sister) did very well with their lemon cookies and lemon pound cake. It was a tasty Christmas at our house, indeed!

Illumination

On our trip to the Getty Museum I was excited to see the exhibit Gothic Grandeur: Manuscript Illumination, 1200–1350. It was amazing to see the beautiful art of these very old manuscripts.

Here are two samples from their website:

It was a fun exhibit.

In other notes, I am very excited to be rotating back onto psychiatry, starting on January 4th. It has been an interesting 3 months, rotating through general medicine, and adult and pediatric neurology, and I feel like I have learned a lot. And now on to more learning!!!

Oh! And happy new year to all! 

A photo dump post

YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT!

This picture was awhile ago. We went to a bonsai garden:

Pippa discovers the magic of Christmas. Her first present was a bottle.

That’s our fireplace ipad app in the background.

Pure joy. She liked the wrapping paper best.

Then we went to California.

Pippa and her cousin Abby

LOOK HOW STINKIN SUNNY IT IS!

Eating a lemon. She liked it, I think. It was Micah’s idea. (Just kidding. It was mine.)

At the Getty museum.

DON’T YOU WISH YOU WERE COOL LIKE US?!