Hello 2013, I've Been Expecting You

   I can never seem to get my New Year resolution blog post up until a week after NYE - but better late than never!  Today marks the last day of our three week break from third year clerkships, and I am feeling more rested now, but I am so glad I'm on an "easier" rotation next (primary care).  The first week and a half of break were fun, and were mostly spent flying off to the east coast, running around meeting up with BF's family and friends, which was super fun, but it got a bit tiring towards the end.  Then, when we got back, we went straight to my family's house, and stayed there for a few days, until I got really sick with the flu on NYE.  Unfortunately, I was so sick that I spent all of NYE sleeping and puking, and BF spent the whole time taking care of me and puppy.  Since then, we've been having a nice little staycation, which was much needed to take care of all the boring things we've been neglecting in life, like cleaning the house, grocery shopping, paying bills - but meh, who likes doing any of that anyway?!

   We've had our puppy (Melvin) for exactly a week now, and he is so cute!  Training him has been exhausting and has made me not want to have kids for a while, and sometimes he is such a brat, but then he gives me his little puppy-dog-eyes, and then I just melt. 

Well, let's get on with it.  Here are last year's resolutions revisited:

1. "Continue a healthy lifestyle":  Well, this one was on and off, as it usually is.  I gained some weight during boards and the surgery clerkship.  Towards the end of 2012, I started to get more diet-conscious, and I even lost a bit of weight.  I still haven't been great about exercising though.
2. "Gun it up for boards (in non-malicious way)":  Hell yeah, I did this!  Studying for boards was no doubt the hardest I have ever worked, and it totally paid off.   Mission accomplished! 
3. "Maintain a balanced, happy life with boards studying (and later with clinical rotations)": Yeahhhhh... about this one.  Not so much.  I'm still working on this whole work-life-balance-with-such-little-free-time thing.  I have my ups and downs, and I'm meeting with the school psychologist this week to discuss some better strategies, so hopefully I'll make some progress on this one. 
4. "Blog more": Yay! I did really well with this one.  I blogged double what I did last year! 

New resolutions for 2013:

1. Re-find my happy place:  I really want to fix my work-life balance, and use what little free time I have to do fun, relaxing stuff - and actually enjoy it.  Maybe I just need to change things up, maybe I just need to figure some stuff out, who knows.  This year I want to try new things, be spontaneous, relive old things I once loved, create new traditions.  I just want to live more this year, and not let med school get the best of me.
2. Become an OB/Gyn rockstar:  After a couple of meetings with my advisor, I have a lot of work to do.  I am going to be creating my own research project (GASP!), helping a resident with a separate research project, applying for a regional MSFC officer position, and starting up an OB/Gyn journal club.  Gives me palpitations just thinking about it all.  It's all things I really want to do, and if BF and I want to be super competitive in the couples' match, I gotta do work.
3. Train Melvie:  This is already proving to be harder than I thought.  Having a puppy really is like having a toddler.  Fortunately, after one week of having him, he is already getting better about crate training, walking and potty training, but it's gonna be a long haul, and he has a lot of learning to do.  The next few months will be hard, but it will totally be worth it when he is an adorable and well-behaved dog.
4. Keep a cleaner house: I've been such a slob lately, and I've realized that I feel a lot less stressed when the house is clean.  I need to maintain it at a certain level of clean more often, so it doesn't get out of hand - because that drives me nuts.
5. Be more of a morning person:  I saw this on Bybun, and I thought it was such a great idea.  Every morning, I am an utter zombie, spacing out, doing absolutely nothing, and wasting tons of precious time that could be spent eating a better breakfast, putting on makeup, doing my hair, putting on jewelry, etc.  I used to enjoy the mornings more, but having to wake up at 4am for certain clerkships changed that, so I'd like to get back to listening to good music, enjoying my coffee/tea, pretty-fying myself, and now I'll have to make time to take care of Melvie too!

Looks like I have my work cut out for me!  Here's to 2013!  2012 was full of big changes and milestones, and I know this next year is going to be full of them too.  I can't wait. 

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot, And Never Brought To Mind

(I'm a couple of days late with this - better late than never!)


   Despite what ancient Mayans' calendars may have predicted, 2012 has come and gone (and the world is still here).  This year was one with many changes, full of progress, but with little time for recharge.  When I look back at where I was in the beginning of this year compared to where I am now - mentally, intellectually, romantically, socially - my, how things have changed!

The year I performed at the Wine Auction

The year I passed USMLE Step 1

The year I went to Peru with J

The year  I delivered my first baby (and second!)

The year my friends came up from LA to surprise me for my birthday

The year Yolanda died, and I bought my Volvo

The year we went camping in Oregon... again

The year I fell head-over-heels in love and became attached at the hip after the 3rd date

The year I moved in with my BF

The year my sister graduated high school and started college

The year I discovered HONEY BOO BOO

The year BF turned dirty thirty!

The year I adopted another kitty

The year BF and I got a puppy

The year I went to Connecticut for Christmas

The year I visited high school friends in NYC

   And much, much more.  So here's to 2012!  I'm glad the world didn't end :P ... too much good stuff goin' on!

Hello 2012, I've Been Expecting You

I'm about a week late, but Block 5 has already started out busy, so it took me a while to finish this post.  Before I talk about my goals for 2012, I wanted to look back and see how I did on my goals for 2011.

Last year's resolutions revisited:

1. "Do some serious soul-searching/spiritual discovery": I honestly did give some thought to this throughout the year, but I interestingly ended up in the very same spot I started out.  Which is okay with me, it just means that now I am more sure about how I feel!
2. "Lose weight/maintain a healthy lifestyle": I definitely accomplished my goal of getting back to my normal weight after the holidays last year.  As far as eating healthy and exercising on a regular basis, I tend to go through phases.  At times I eat ridiculously healthy and at one point was training for a half marathon, and then there are other times where I gorge myself and don't work out for over a month.  I think overall, the two phases end up canceling each other out so that my overall lifestyle is about mostly healthy. Also, I have been able to keep off all of the weight I lost in 2010, so I'm really happy about that.
3. "Put more effort into establishing and maintaining relationships":  Friendship-wise, I think I lived up to this goal as good as I could have imagined.  I feel like I've really strengthened a lot of my friendships here in med school, and I've learned to appreciate all my friends for all the different qualities they have to offer.  I've also really enjoyed the cooking/dining out adventures I've had with my friends this year, and I can't wait to have more.  What can I say, we just LOVE food!  I've tried to keep in contact with my UCLA and high school friends as best I can, but this is still a work in progress for me.
4. "Take pictures whenever possible": Along with my diet/exercise goal, I went through phases with this one too.  I think I managed to take a lot of great pictures in 2011, and can't wait to take more in 2012.  I will just have to find more opportunities to take them!
5. "Cook some delicious stuff": I more than exceeded at this goal.  2011 was FULL of cooking adventures with my sister or with my friends.  I grew an appreciation for the Food Network.  I also discovered my FAVORITE cook book store in San Francisco: Omnivore Books.  Towards the end of the year, I stopped cooking as much due to lack of time and excess laziness, but I got a professional mixer for Christmas, so I've been re-inspired to cook again!

New resolutions for 2012:

1. Continue a healthy lifestyle:  I would like to continue to eat FAIRLY healthy.  I also would like to get back into an exercise routine, especially with boards studying coming up, I don't want to just be sitting for 12 hours per day for three months.
2. Gun it up for boards (in non-malicious way):  Since all of our classes are graded Pass/No Pass, I've made the conscious decision to spend less time trying to "get an A" in my classes, and more time keeping my life balanced with friends, relaxation, etc.  After an extremely encouraging meeting with one of the school's student advisors, I am feeling energized and ready to work my ass off for boards.  OB/Gyn doesn't require a ridiculously high boards score, but I would really like to have options when I apply to residency programs. I'm feeling like I can get a really good score if I put in the time.
3. Maintain a balanced, happy life with boards studying (and later with clinical rotations).
4. Blog more: about whatever! Towards the end of 2011, I sort of dropped the ball on blogging.  I got really busy, and also felt like I didn't have much to say.  

So here's to another amazing year!  2012 is going to be a year of hard work, and hopefully worthwhile rewards.