I Went to Hawaii

So, I went to Hawaii. Thanks to the graciousness of Tiffany and Jared Feller, I was able to go to Hawaii. Simply put, it was amazing. Despite getting sick on my first day due to the broken air conditioning on the airplane and having to breathe everyone else's air, it was a great trip.  Here are some pics. But before you all go getting jealous because I went to Hawaii and you didn't, remember that I was sick and alone most of the time. My advice if you ever go to Hawaii: don't get sick and go with something to enjoy it with you.  Ok, enough words, here are the pics:

Honolulu from Diamond Head. I had no idea Honolulu was a big city.

A wild chickens. They were all over the place.

Me swinging on a swing on Secret Island

The sunset at Sunset beach. Seriously.

Spam Musabi. mmmmm

Jared and Tiff eating Spam Musabi. mmmmmm

The view from a lookout on Oahu. I forget exactly where, but it doesn't really matter. It's pretty.

Me eating Mochi Ice cream-one of my favorite Hawaiian treats.
(sorry I was too lazy to rotate the picture)

A beach on the north shore. 

I went hiking a bit while I was there. This is the view from one of my hikes. It was amazing.

And that is a brief recap of my trip in pictures. I highly recommend going if you ever have the opportunity.

General Conference

One of my favorite things in the world is coming up in a couple of weeks--General Conference. I have so many happy memories associated with General Conference. One of them is when I got to sing with the MTC choir at conference when I was a missionary. SUCH an amazing experience. This morning I came across this video. I was excited to see that the choir singing was the one I was in! If you look carefully at approximately the 1:00 mark you can see me in the top left corner. Exciting!

But for a Small Moment

I read this talk today and thought I would share. It's long, but worth the read.

Carpe Diem

A month or so ago I was talking to a patient who had previously been in severe car accident that almost took her life. It was a miracle she had survived. As I was asking her how her appetite was, we somehow got on the subject of how precious life is and how it should be enjoyed. She told me of her younger years when she would spontaneously take road trips with her girlfriends and go out dancing and other fun things like that. She encouraged me to take advantage of my youth--if I happened to find myself with a little extra money, "don't save it, go spend it on something fun!" she said, "like some new underwear!" :) 

I was inspired by the conversation, although not so much in the "I'm going to buy myself a new pair of underwear" type of way. I left feeling like I wanted to go do something spontaneous or fun or just let go of some of my many stresses or worries. Like I said, this was a bit ago, and I can't remember exactly what I did that day, but it has stuck with me. 

So, in the spirit of this conversation, I have decided to do something a little spontaneous, perhaps even a little irresponsible, and certainly out of my character. Are you ready for it? I decided to take a trip to Hawaii. Yep, I did. And I feel so good about it. Through a series of fortunate events I found myself able to take an extended vacation to visit some of my favorite people, Tiffany and Jared Feller. I booked the flight today and come November 7th I'll be on my way! I feel like one lucky little duck. :)

Product Review: Uncle Sam

As a Registered Dietitian (RD) I feel it is my responsibility to provide accurate, practical nutrition information to those I care for. So, in an effort to do that, I thought I would occasionally include on my blog accurate, practical nutrition information. To start, I am providing a review of a product I recently purchased.

The product I wish to review today is:

What originally attracted me to this cereal were these things: 10g of Fiber, Less than 1g for sugar, 7g of protein, Omega-3 Fatty Acids-from flaxseed (good as a laxative and for reducing total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol). 

WOW! What a combination: high fiber, low sugar, high protein AND omega-3 fatty acids all in ONE cereal.  Not only that but it is guaranteed to help you with...well you can just read the newspaper add.  You go Uncle Sam.

Sadly Uncle Sam did not meet my expectations. The very reasons I was attracted to it ended up being the very reasons I hated it. High fiber, low sugar--ick. I ended up putting large amounts of brown sugar in it just to get it down. The flaxseeds were completely useless as they sank to the bottom of the bowl. And, you know what? Whole flaxseed aren't really digested by your body so you don't even get any benefit from them.

The breakdown (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):

Nutritional value: 10

Palatability: -2 (5 with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar)

Appearance: 3

Fulfills promise to "help" me: 5

Would I recommend Uncle Sam? Not unless you really need it

Happy Sabbath

So encouraging.

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

So, I have a few talents that I pride myself on. One of those talents is baking. I have made many a good cake in my day. This year when my sister, Kelley, asked me to make a cake for her 30th birthday I was, of course, happy to do so. She sent me a couple of recipes with pictures and here is the one I decided to make.

Doesn't that look yummy?

Sadly, this it what happened when I made it.

I'm still not really sure what happened there.

But you know what? 

It still tasted really good.

So what is the deeper meaning of all this?

Don't judge a book by it's cover.

You can miss a lot of good things in life if you do that.

What I did over summer vacation

J/k I didn't have a summer vacation because, well, I'm an adult now and have a real job.
BUT! I did do some fun things:

I went on my first backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail with some of my favorite people.

Yep, that's me petting a wild pony.

I got my very first bicycle--only 55 buckaroos on craiglist. It's a 1980-something Peugeot, which means it's old, but very awesome.

And I got the bike to...

 do my first triathlon. I've dreaming about it for years and now finally it's done.

It's true what people say about them being addicting. I can't wait to do another one!

ALSO,

I got accepted to grad school @ the University of Alabama. (And I just now found out that the angry elephant is their mascot when I searched for pics for this post. huh.)

Anyway, so this has been a goal of mine for awhile. What's great about it is that it's a distance program so I can keep my job while doing it AND my work will reimburse me for it.  How did I get so lucky?

And the grand finale!

I have a brand new baby nephew. He's so new I don't have a single picture of him. His name is Holden and he's perfect.

So that's a summary of my summer. Ha. summary of my summer....

Something New

For my birthday I got an all-expense paid kayak adventure off the coast of NC.  The trip included kayaking to a deserted island, a picnic dinner, and a beautiful sunset over the water as we returned to the mainland.  

It was such a fun little trip.  Although I will admit I got a little tired, it was so nice to do something new and get out of the hustle and bustle of "city" life.  It motivated me to start doing things like this more often-things that I really enjoy and make me happy.   I don't know about you, but I tend to get into little ruts (ok, sometimes big ruts) where I do the same things over and over again.  For example: sleep, eat, work, eat, work out, eat, sleep.  And really, how fun is that?? Life is too hard not to take a break and have some fun.  So, at the beginning of the summer I am committing myself to doing more fun things.  For example: riding my bike, playing games, going to the beach, hanging out with friends, camping. And anyone is welcome to join me. 

Thinks on Being Alone

For a long time it has been one of my biggest fears to be alone.  I like being around people, not necessarily a lot of people, but just enough.  I'm not necessarily one who has to talk all the time, but I do love some good conversation especially the kind that make me laugh so hard I cry or that inspire me in one way or another.

When I moved to Fayetteville I knew there would be a lot of time to be alone, seeing as I really didn't know anyone.  I first had a roommate, but now I have moved into my very own apartment all by myself.  And you know what?  I'm not afraid anymore of being alone.  It's so wonderful, so freeing.  I'm realizing that being alone does not necessarily mean that I am not loved or not cool or that I don't have any friends or that I have to be lonely.  It means rather that I have time to think, to breathe, and find some much needed peace.

Some time ago I came across this video.  It's an oddly profound tutorial-poem on How To Be Alone.


Here are some of my favorite lines:

You're no less intriguing a person when you're eating solo dessert to cleaning the whipped cream from the dish with your finger. In fact some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.


Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

It's okay if no one believes like you. All experience is unique, no one has the same synapses, can't think like you, for this be relieved, keeps things interesting lifes magic things in reach. 

........

So, next time you find yourself fretting that you are alone or lonely, embrace it, and you might find out, like me, that there is nothing to be afraid of being alone.

**With this said, I must add that I'm not a supporter of being a hermit and secluding yourself from the world.  There is great worth in being with people, serving people and having relationships with people. Nor do I believe that we are ever truly alone. You get what I mean right?

Happy Anniversary

Four years ago today I returned from serving as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I can't help but think of those times and what I learned.  A lot of people think it was really cool that I served in Germany and some look at me with compassion knowing the challenge it must of been.  I would have to agree...with both of those.  It was very cool.

  I mean, how could you not love exploring a new country where they have things like this:

GIANT chocolate covered pretzels

(sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture)

or amazing beautiful buildings like these:

Everything about Germany was exciting, down to how they separated their trash for recycling.   It was cool.

But it was also hard.  It was hard to teach people about something so personal to me in a language I could barely understand let alone speak at first to people that didn't want anything to do with us. And on top of that, it was cold and rainy about 83% of the time, which is hard especially when your umbrella breaks.

I often felt like this at the end of every day:

But above being cool and despite being hard, serving as a missionary taught me valuable truths and gave me priceless experiences that are better than any piece of delicious European chocolate and worth any amount of hard work or heartache.

For example:

-learning to truly love an individual

-experiencing miracles

-discovering that God knows you, hears your prayers, and cares about you

-learning that it is possible to find joy in any situation

-feeling the joy in sharing the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ

-doing the impossible

-seeing how the Savior can change people's lives

Rounds

No, this post will not be about these kind of rounds:

nor these (although, I kind of really want one of these right now)

Instead I will be talking about medical rounds aka the really boring meetings I have to attend Tuesdays-Thursdays.  I had always wondered what rounds would be like.  I had always heard about doctors "making rounds" on patients and for whatever reason it sounded really cool and was excited when I found out part of my job included going to rounds 3 times a week!  As I have learned with other things in my life, my imagination is usually a bit more exciting than reality.  The rounds that I attend look pretty much like this:

The doctor sits at the head of the table and the various staff from each discipline report on how the patients are progressing. The MD gives the commands, tells people to hurry up if they are too slow and declares the discharge date.  

For my part I usually just say what diet the pt is getting and how much they are eating.  Every once in a while I will say a little more, but more often than not the nurse will actually say my part and I will mutter something like "no nutritional concerns." 

Today I had something important to say.  A pt was receiving an inappropriate diet for their condition.  I confirmed this with my co-workers and they agreed so I knew I could confidently go in there and make my professional and educated recommendation.  So, when my turn came I said, "doctor, this diet is not appropriate for the pt. I recommend this instead!" (in actuality I was a little nervous because I hate having all the attention on me and I said it  more like "Doctor, this diet is not appropriate for the pt. I recommend this") And then he said something unintelligible

(he has a thick accent and mumbles, which I'm not really sure anyone really understands him), but what I think he said was that he didn't really care what I said because he was right about the diet (although he actually wasn't).  It really was unfortunate (but a little funny, too) because part of me wanted to say something back but I couldn't because I didn't know exactly what he said!   So, I just pretended I understood and agreed. I then left early because I felt unappreciated as a professional, which was very liberating and the best part of the day. 

Weekend in a Nutshell

This weekend Wade and I went to Waynesville (for those of you unfamiliar with Waynesville, it is a small town in the mountains almost to Tennessee where Wade grew up).  I always forget to take my camera, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures.  But! Here are some of the highlights:

Wade's dad telling me that I was "full of crap" because my eyes are brown...I guess that's what "they" say about people with brown eyes.

Tea party with the nieces, Madelynn and Mackensey. It made my day to see all those mountain men drinking juice out of tiny tea cups with their pinkies out. (as that is the one and only way tea is to be drunk)

Hiking to the tiny old house where Wade's grandparents lived when they first got married-it was

 about 12ftx24ft and was WAY up on a mountain.  It was no easy hike. It's amazing how they ever lived there.

Hearing Granny's (Wade's grandmother) story about seeing the bobcat on her way back to the aforementioned house from getting groceries like it was no big thing.

Uncle Lonnie.  He talks so fast and his accent is so thick I have to have Wade translate for me.

Learning how to shoot a gun, thanks to Burl, Wade's dad.  (#1 rule: treat every gun as if it's loaded #2 make sure all the dogs are out of the way before you shoot...and that's it....haha)

Forgetting about the precious steaks in the car we brought from Raleigh for Wade's parents.  We ate them anyway.  What's that you say about food safety?  There are some things even I will eat in spite of potential risk. (so far we haven't gotten sick yet)

Sunday dinner: 2 pieces of chocolate pie and popcorn that we were supposed to give to the chicken's but decided was still good enough to eat.  Mmm mmm goood.

And that was my weekend in a nutshell.

Friday Morning Surprise

Today was a great day.  It's always a great day when I start it off with a run with a good friends.  Since I've been living in Fayetteville, I have only been running on a treadmill because I would probably lose my life if I went alone outside.  SO, I was so happy when my friend Anjuli was able to go with me today.

It was a warm, sunny February morning with a nice breeze.  PERFECT for running.  Along we were going having good conversation when all of a sudden a naked man ran across the trail.  A completely...naked...man.  First we were shocked, then we were afraid , and then it was hilarious.  Fortunately I didn't have my contacts in so I couldn't see anything, but from what I could tell he seemed pretty confused. I'm pretty sure the words,"how in the world did I end up naked in a park?" were going through his head.  I've been pondering all day how one could end up naked in a park without knowing why or how.  Baffling.

We didn't linger very long. Another passerby was calling the police so it seemed like it was getting taken care of, plus, seeing as he was a little unstable we weren't sure what he was going to do.  After our run we saw several police car and what looked like the naked man clothed in one of the cars.  I'm glad he was ok.  I mean, what an awful thing to happen, if you really think about.  But, maybe you shouldn't think about it too much.

Although I'm sure none of you will have more exciting stories than this this weekend, I hope you all have a nice weekend.

Sweet Potato Sydney

This is my niece, Sydney.  As of right now, she is my favorite little baby.  I just can't get enough of her, nor can the rest of my family.  It's kind of funny how happy she makes all of us.  If ever anyone in my family is down all we have to do is mention her name and we instantly smile.  Why is that? I mean, she's just a little baby that makes all kind of messes (see above).  I guess it's because she's just so dang cute about all of it.  You can't help but love her. I'm especially excited for this weekend because Kelley and Sydney are coming over on Friday and staying over until Saturday! Hooray!  

Happy weekend to all!

Details

Last night Wade and I decided to be a little social and go to the Institute activity to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  I wanted to see my friends I don't see very often since I live in Fayetteville, Wade wanted to get free dinner.  So, we got there-Wade excited to eat and me excited to see my friends.  Much to our surprise instead of finding YOUNG single adults, we found just plain old[er] single adults.  You know you're in the wrong place when people come up to you to tell you that they are friends with your parents. I should have checked the details on the facebook event.  So, how did we get out of it?  Well, since Wade technically falls in the Single Adult category, he felt that he had every right to eat the food.  So, we did. We mingled a bit, and then we went on with our night.

From Happy Valley to Cape Fear Valley

Good news!  I got a job. I know that's news to most of you, but it's the best way to introduce my topic for this post, which is how I ended up in Cape Fear Valley.

So this new job is actually the perfect first job for me in every way...except for the location.  I feel so blessed to have found a job not long after finishing my internship and it's so nice to be able to be productive. It's just funny how life turns out sometimes. 

When I lived in Provo (aka Happy Valley), I would have never guessed that I would end up here.  I'm sure here has its redeeming qualities, but what I'm most afraid of is ending up at the bottom of the lake somewhere like the guy I heard about on the news the other day.  Scary stuff happens down here. 

At orientation we learned about how not to leave ANYTHING valuable in our cars while we're at work because break-ins are frequent and they are so sneaky about it security doesn't always catch them. 

Also, when I checked the reviews for my apartment complex they said, "DON'T MOVE HERE"  "FREQUENT BREAK-INS"  "HEARD GUNSHOTS."  Oddly enough I live on Elm Street.  I think there was a movie about a nightmare on Elm Street????

Fortunately in the week I have been here, I haven't had any problems.  I diligently keep my car empty of anything, except a little trash to make it less appealing.  I walk with purpose. I pray morning and night for safety.  I try not to make people mad on the roads.  I only go outside in the daylight.  I still need to get some pepper spray (or wasp spray as a woman in my ward suggested, since it shoots further).  Maybe I'm a little paranoid.

Krissy's New Year's Resolutions circa 1992

All I can say for myself is that at least I was goal oriented.  :)