Coincidence?

I find it kinda ironic that I'm studying to be a speech pathologist and one of my favorite breed of dogs happens to be the French Bulldog, who commonly are born with cleft palate. I did not know that til now.

Oh Tennenbaum

I just had my first final for the quarter (1 down, 2 to go), so needless to say, I was exhausted. But, I came home today in utter surprise to find a Christmas tree in the middle of my living room!

And all thanks to baby C. He's a tricky one, that one. I knew that he picked me up a tree and we were trying to coordinate a time for him to drop it off. But I was on the phone with him no more than 20 minutes ago trying to figure that out, and the punk plays along and is like, "Yeah, ok, I'll bring it by later". I get home and I find that he's already dropped it off 2 hours ago! ^_^ Not only did he set it up with water and everything for me, but he and his friend also vaccuumed the area for me as well. What a great bro. Now my apartment smells like Christmas, and it's soon to look and feel like it too, hehe!

post-edit: here's the after, with decorations! I think I'm gonna either finish that chain or make a popcorn garland though.

When are we ready to move on?

Despite what I said earlier, I went to Jak's Grill for my birthday after all. And as always, it was delicious as ever. The bread came out soft and warm, the calamari were the size of delicate french fries, and the merlot kept on pouring. Jak's never fails to satisfy my meatiest of urges. Hell, I have to prepare for a meal at Jak's, and by "prepare", I mean I willingly starve myself all day just to make sure I can engorge, yummm!

My family has been going there for damn near 8 years now. We're very loyal customers, since we have a big family we definitely bring in a good deal of business, and we've treated others there bringing in some new business. Admittedly, their portions have gotten smaller (last night's briquettes certainly weren't as big as days of yore), but it's a recession so it's pretty expected. This by no means has stopped me from dining here.

However, something occurred last night that's beginning to shake my faith in this otherwise fine establishment. I always order the briquettes with the Moroccan spices because not only is it tender and delicious, but it comes with 2 skewers, so it's really easy to eat half of it and doggy bag the other half for the next day (they box your food for you). This morning, I went to prepare my leftovers for lunch and saw that my second skewer was packed, but none of the potatoes with it. And because I was expecting my sides, I didn't bother to cook rice or some other starch to go with my meal. This may sound like a petty complaint or that I'm spoiled, but hear me out.

This was my birthday dinner in which I spent over $100, and in the spirit of "it's my party, I can cry if I want to," if I only ate half of my meal with the full intention of saving the second half, I damn well want it! Plus, I'm a broke ass graduate student--I do what I gotta do to save food whenever and wherever necessary. Secondly, this is not the first time this has happened. I took CL there for his birthday back in May, again ordering the briquettes. That time, however, I didn't even finish as much as half of it because I had eaten a little bit beforehand so I wasn't as hungry. When the server cleared our table, she asked if I wanted a box, I told her yes, she said she'd be back with my leftovers, but they never came... That time was even more annoying because I basically paid $30 for 2 bites, which I could've gotten at Dick's for a mere $2.

I didn't want to think too much of it then because I've always otherwise been highly satisfied by this place, so I thought, maybe it was just a bad night. But this has happened twice to me already: fool me once, shame on me, but fool me twice?! Shame on YOU! And for what I'm paying to eat at this place, I have to say this is simply unacceptable. I can't say that I've completely written off Jak's, but I'm certainly a lot less inclined to come back. And I know my family and friends will most likely come back here, so if it's the case that I happen to tag-along, I'm definitely packing my own food!

Christmas is coming to town!

What's cookin' good lookin'?

I came home from the dinner party today to be greeted by a mysterious Amazon box at my door step. Upon opening it, I saw a card reading:

"Happy Birthday! Here's to many recipes to be cooked in your new pot (do you notice how it also matches the color??)"
"Happy Birthday! Recipes for your farm share. =)"

It was an early birthday gift compliments of my absolutely amazing big sis!! Now with my new dutch oven, I'm super excited to get some (hopefully) tasty stuff cookin' in my kitchen. I see a lot of eating in 2011, hehe!

Looks like snowman approves

ANTM cycle 15 *spoiler alert*

I just watched the season finale to America's Next Top Model (guilty pleasure, I know), and for once, I was happy with the results of the season winner Ann Ward! Yes, she's tall and awkward and skinny as all fuck, but she fits the bill for high fashion, she makes clothes look amazing, and she's humble. Regardless if the person is "beautiful" (it's all in the eye of the beholder anyway), she seemed to have good intentions and be a generally good person, so I was definitely team Ann all the way.

Plus, after it was confirmed that Chelsea and Ann were in the top 2, I secretly suspected that Ann won because, though it hasn't been confirmed, I could've sworn I saw Chelsea less than a month ago here in Seattle. Bellevue, to be specific! This was well before the final 2 were even announced, so I originally thought she didn't even make it that far because why would the winner of a modeling contract, a spread in Italian Vogue, and a $100,000 contract with Cover Girl Cosmetics just be chillin in Seattle like it ain't no thang?

hats off to you Miss Ward. Simply stunning!

Breaking bread

Last night, I used the bread machine for the first time. I just made a basic white bread, and voila!

The REAL Mario Brothers

*via

A week early...

I am now the proud owner of a dutch oven. Happy early birthday to me! I opted out of the usual birthday dinner at Jak's Grill. I figured since mom & dad will be on a cruise for the next 2 weeks, birthday dinner wouldn't be the same without them anyway. So instead, I bused down to Sur la Table to pick up a Le Creuset oval oven, 3.5 qt for 50% off. Even better, my name was still on their register for working at Market Spice, so the lady gave me an additional market discount, even after telling her that I don't really work there anymore. I'd have to say, this was one of my rare moments that I didn't even feel a tinge of buyer's remorse. Throughout the whole bus ride home, I just kept telling myself I'm a grown ass woman. 'Bout time I own some grown ass things!, haha.

Now I feel obligated to have the girls over for a special meal and wine... perhaps if I find time in my schedule and a recipe that's both tasty and amateur-cook friendly, I will. Maybe something in the realm of Julia Childs?

e-Waste

Early this morning, baby C and dad actually went to Wal-mart and Frye's to dare the Black Friday crowds in hopes of picking up a laptop for something around $150. To no surprise, they were all gone and no one was available to help them out. Secretly, I had hoped they would come home with a story involving fistacuffs and hair pulling, but in reality, this Black Friday seemed rather low-key. In fact, every Black Friday since the dawn of internet has been low-key. Whatever happened to soccer mom's getting ugly or strangers holding each other at gunpoint for a Furby? It doesn't really feel like a Black Friday without a story. I think I was trying to live vicariously through them--you know, like experience the long lines without actually experiencing the long lines.

But anyway, since dad didn't get the laptop he wanted, baby C and I were thinking that maybe the four of us kids would combine our funds to buy him a Macbook! I mean, mom and dad are terrible when it comes to virus protection and compressing their computer, so at least by switching over to Apple, they'd never have to worry about that. Plus, there's the built-in webcam so they can Skype the Philippines, and I let dad borrow my laptop for a week and he seemed fine with the Mac interface. I haven't run this idea by N yet, but big C is definitely down. Hell, she was so down she went out to buy a MacBook Pro herself, hah! I'm glad she's converting to the likes of Apple, meh heh heh!

And speaking of electronics, since I was sick & bed-ridden all day, I was left to do some Black Friday shopping on Amazon, which btw, has awesome deals! I ended up getting a new printer. I consider it a school investment. I couldn't pass it up--it was 74% off and laser! I currently have big C's old printer, and when I say old, I mean like more than 8 years old. The trade off to getting a free printer was getting a printer that eats paper and is completely unpredictable when and how it'll print. It got to a point to where I had to print each page individually and for each one, I had to turn off and on the printer, insert a "sacrificial" page, and keep my fingers crossed that the printer wouldn't totally fuck up. At that rate, I could no longer consider it "free" when I was losing out on wasted paper, time, energy, and hair being pulled out as a result of frustration. I would end up having to get up early to print at school anyway and invest a good $40/mo just to print at the clinic.

But now, I have a new printer coming on Tuesday, yay! I also just learned that Washington and Oregon's Department of Ecology provide a free, environmentally responsible e-Cycling program for old printers and other electronics, including computers, monitors, and televisions. I may try to convince my parents to take advantage of this program for their old TVs, especially since they've been in talks of getting a new one for their room anyway. Hell, some of the TVs they have at home date back from our Houston days. I think one of them is so old, it isn't even compatible to the new digital format that took over the state, yikes!

post-edit: oops, I just learned that the e-Cycling program does not include printers, but Staples has a recycling program where you can take old electronics in and they send it out to recycling plants. You have to pay a $10 handling fee for bigger items like printers, but I figure that's not so bad considering I'd be getting rid of clutter and it's environmentally sound!

SNOW DAY!

Today was pretty awesome because not only did it snow (before Thanksgiving too! Looking forward to a white Christmas), but UW also decided to close campus. In fact, we just got word that it'll be closed tomorrow (Wed) as well, so I don't have to worry about my clinic, yay! *does happy dance* I don't care how old I am, snow days will always make me giddy as a school girl. To make things even better, baby C came home after graduating from basic training. To celebrate, dad treated us to rodizo lunch at the Ipanema Grill. Nothing to fight off the cold like warm, lightly charred hunks of meat served freshly sliced tableside, yummm.

During my trek downtown, I also managed to visit some old friends at the market, stock up on bulk spices, and pick up new jars to store said spices, so now my cabinet is occupied by more than just peanut butter, salt, pepper, and vanilla extract (what? I like to bake...).

The only downside really was that CL was sick, and being cooped up together in my little apartment, it was inevitable that I got sick too. Plus, I did dance around in the snow last night, so I suppose I could've gotten sick from that... but actually, due to my dancing in the snow, my upstairs neighbors saw me out their window and invited me up for some warm cookies and a cold beer, it was quite cozy. And speaking of cookies... now that I don't have school, I may just bake a batch of my own. I was thinking of staying up, knitting little snowmen into the wee hours anyway. How lovely would it be to have cookies baking in the oven, sitting on the couch knitting while watching "Pride & Prejudice" on the color-box?

No 2:30 feeling later

Lately, my daily schedule has consisted of the following:

• around 1200a: pass out, usually while doing homework. This often leads to falling asleep in awkward positions and drooling on textbooks
  
• 300a-400a: wake up to finish work
• 700a-800a: get ready for class
  
• 800a-900a: head to class
  
• 830a-600p: function anywhere from zombie-esque levels to euphoric exhaustion
• 600p: fight urge to pass out
  
• 605p: "nap" on desk (by which I really mean, pass out again. Beginning to get accustomed to textbooks doubling as pillows)
• 800p: dinner
• 930p: homework
• around 1200a: pass out
  
• repeat cycle

I'm really trying to regulate and get caught up on everything, but at this rate, I might just have to get use to something like this, yikes! While this style of living certainly doesn't seem to be the healthiest, I really do have to wonder if it's optimal. Hell, if it works, it works, so why fight it right? Or is this the sleep deprivation talking...?

Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty murder

I got my first organic produce bin today! I'm so excited to cook all sorts of things with this stuff now. I'm not a very good cook, and I know even less about preparing vegetables, but I just ordered this vegetarian cookbook on Amazon. CJ and I have made some real delicious stuff from this book (i.e., amaretto cake, sweet potato au gratin, cream of leek soup), so it was about time I owned a copy for myself.

What I'm really excited about with this company is that each bin is already set. They own various local farms and whatever they deliver depends on what's in season and ready to harvest. It's like a fun mystery of organic fruits & veggies! I don't know what I'm gonna get til it arrives, it exposes me to crazy & fun food items I probably wouldn't have thought to buy otherwise, and lets me experiment with different recipes. In fact, their site offers a "Recipe of the Week" with each bin, so one of my goals is to make what they're featuring. And this week is:

Roasted Winter Squash and Spinach Salad With Toasted Almond Dressing

Courtesy of Gourmet

post-edit: in case it wasn't clear, I do eat meat, mmm

Of hotdogs & peglegs

I'm reminded yet again why I'm doing what I'm doing! Let me clarify: I just had another session with my client today, and it went really well. Not only did he rock it out, but I felt like I accomplished what I set out to do. Admittedly, I still felt hesitant during the session, but after getting feedback from my supervisor, it gave me confirmation and more confidence in what I'm doing. In fact, she even commented on how my approach addressed some issues that I had not originally even intended it to, but that it was beneficial in the end. I don't mean to sound so cryptic, but that's the nature of my job (HIPAA). I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I came into today's session with some goals, and I accomplished them & then some.

We also got our first exams back today. Unfortunately, I didn't do so hot in that... surprisingly, though, I'm not too phased. I think I'm still riding this post-session high, hehe! Perhaps not the best approach, but with how crazy school has been, at least let me indulge in this glowing moment of accomplishment, hee!

Disbelief

Sometimes I feel like such an imposter in grad school. Today, we had our first midterm for our "Childhood Articulation and Phonological Disorders" class, which we were all equally stressing about. Still, my being overwhelmed must've been apparent because a few of my classmates commented on it. I know I was stressed because for one reason or another, I didn't study as much as I would've liked. That's natural. But I think on top of that, I have this secret, underlying anxiety and sometimes I wonder how I got in.

For instance, studying with some of my classmates today and in the past, I feel that though everyone is more or less struggling, that they have their study habits down and can retain information easily. There's some stroke of genius amongst my peers. I think I lack that. Ever since I could remember, my grades and performance in school have been decent because of working really hard to achieve what seems like par for others. Like, for example, in middle school, I was that kid who stayed up til 2 in the morning to complete what my classmates did til 900p.

Granted, I don't want to sound dramatic here. To be fair, I've been warned that this is a common feeling/insecurity felt by first year grad students the world round. But I guess I've always felt pretty slow, and that was really apparent today. That's what makes me wonder how I got to where I am because it seems like most people need a balance of natural genius and hard work. I worry that being older, I just don't have the energy I use to to work hard and if I don't have that, what am I left with? Perhaps this is a sign that I need to start drinking coffee... nnggg.

Gap face

I was really hoping for this weekend to be productive, and it certainly started that way, but man am I exhausted right now! I've still barely had anytime to study for my exam this Monday and I was hoping to get some in now, but I've been entertaining a kid and that's exhausting. Did I mention that I don't even like kids? So trying to entertain one is like working at the mall: you pretend to enjoy what you're doing to make people you don't even like happy. It's mentally draining, but I suppose I'm at least getting good practice for when I'm gonna have to work with kids in the clinic.

First session done!

I saw my first client today! Obviously, I can't give away too much because that'd be a serious violation of HIPAA, but what I can say is that it actually went pretty well. What I hadn't anticipated, however, was how long the work post-session would be, yikes! You spend so much time and energy preparing, lesson planning, gathering materials, and nervously anticipating for this moment. Once it's passed, you feel amazing and accomplished and then all that adrenaline that was driving you vanishes, and swoosh, now comes the crash. Or lull. However you wanna put it.

But don't crash too fast, oh no. Unfortunately, you can't celebrate because you have SOAP notes to submit, transcriptions, collecting & double checking data, all on top of papers to be written and articles to be read/studied in preparation for quizzes for other classes tomorrow. And more specifically in my case, I already have to write the next session's lesson plan. I was just thinking how nice a nap would be or how therapeutic knitting a couple more tentacles on my cuttlefish sounds... but not tonight. Oh grad school--what have I gotten myself into? :p

Hurrah!

I have a new apartment, and a cute one to boot! It's one bedroom with a good sized kitchen, gas stove, living room, bathroom with full tub, bedroom, closet, and on-site washer/dryer. It got dad's seal of approval (his words: "it's so cute!"), and it's really close to school. Lord knows how long I've been doing the 45-60 minute commute without a car, so to be able to get to school in under 15 minutes is a dream! At this point, the only drawback is that it still kinda smells like new paint, but nothing a few candles can't solve!

I'll post pics later when I've settled in, but for now, here's one of the pics from the ad:

Another one bites the dust

Last night, us speechies went roller skating, and it was sooo much fun!! Apparently, every Friday night, our school's gym turns one of the basketball courts into a roller disco. And the best part, admissions and skate rental are free for UW students, awesome!! I definitely see a lot of roller skating in my future, especially now that I have my own skates, hehe. (sorry for the picture quality. I forgot my camera, and all I had otherwise was a phone)

that's how we roll

I've given it some thought and while the idea of being in roller derby sounds pretty badass, I think my ultimate goal is jam skating, haha! I won't lie, I watched and actually enjoyed Roll Bounce. And I suspect I skate better to a beat anyway because I ignore the possibility of falling and just start bopping (mind you, last night, this resulted in many a face plant...). I don't have the muscle tone for such an endeavor, but hey, everybody's gotta start somewhere.

But just for shits & giggles, if I ever did roller derby, I already have my persona picked out:

Introducing... the Cunning SLINGuist! She's [+badass] and [-shit] cuz she don't take no shit from NOBODY!

hrmmm...

Last night, P's boyfriend called me to "remind" me of the Sounders final this Tuesday. I was totally caught off guard because I hadn't realized I was going to that... but apparently, they bought me a ticket, probably as a friendly gesture and probably as a thank you for taking them to their first Sounders game a few weeks back.

As nice as it was for them to do that, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. Weeks ago, he had contacted me about it and I really don't remember ever telling him I wanted to go. In fact, I said I didn't because (1) I may have a lot of school work (which I do, as I had anticipated), (2) I may be in the process of apartment hunting/moving (which I am, as I had anticipated), and (3) I wanted to save money because at the time, V & I were planning on going to Arcade Fire. The third option didn't go through, but in my mind, that money I saved "not" going to the game nor Arcade Fire, we were gonna spend on a couple of shows at the Showbox that we really wanted to go to.

Now I'm in this predicament where I grin & bear it, set my stuff aside and go, or come off like an ass and tell them last minute that I can't go after they bought me a ticket. I can't decide what to do and thinking about this annoys me more & more, but I don't want to get to the level of resenting them. This is probably an easy issue or light matter to deal with, but still, I hate being in this position.

WIP: Cuttlefish

It's coming slowly, but surely. With school having started, I'm going at about the rate of one tentacle a day, so if this is a precursor of the next couple of years, I think I can reasonably aim for completing 1 project a month. Even that may be a little ambitious, so realistically, let's aim for 1 project every 2 months.

Ambitious goal: 1 project/month
Reality: 1 project/2 months

Sometimes you feel like a nut

I may already have a mentor should I do a thesis! During our break today, I spoke to Dr. O about my ideas on different service delivery models and treatment efficacy, and she seemed pretty intrigued. I did warn her, however, on how I somehow flew through my undergrad and post-bacc thesis- & research-free (which, at a research institution like UW, 499 is almost a rite of passage) and of certain anxieties I had as a result, but she reassured me that we'll be discussing thesis logistics in our seminar and to come talk to her when I've signed up. Granted, that doesn't happen til spring quarter, but I've kinda been thinking about this for a year now, and I'm both excited and scared to jump into a big research project like this... but how cool would it be to have something published?!

BUT I mustn't jump to conclusions. I fear that I'm beginning to romanticize this idea, which I often do. Hell, as soon as I got knit & purl down, one of my first projects was the Bird's Nest Shawl from Cheryl Oberle. Needless to say, that project haunted me. In fact, it still haunts me! Lord knows how many times I've started it, frogged it, restarted it for one reason or another, decided I didn't like my adjustments, and frogged it again. Something tells me that I can't treat my thesis like my knitting.

Let the wild rumpus begin!

Today is the official first day of school, and I couldn't be more excited!! Perhaps it was this excitement that woke me up 4 hours earlier than I needed to be or perhaps it's the simple fact that my Wednesdays consist of only 1 class from 1230p-230p. I don't know which it is, but already I feel productive. I decided to dress in my finest purple & gold, I finally got my financial aid figured out, I cooked a new batch of rice, washed all of the dishes, and cleaned the kitchen! If things continue to be like this, I think I can certainly dig this Wednesday schedule.

Sweater: check. Lunchbox: check. Crusts cut off my PB&J: double check. First day of school, here I come!!

nnggg

I'm not used to these early morning routines...

wake me when it's the weekend

With pants like these, no one'll know what to block!

Hurrah! I've just discovered that I can still purchase the cuttlefish pattern by Hansi Singh on Ravelry!! *happy dance* I had previously purchased her patterns via etsy so one could only imagine my regret & disappointment when she had put her shop down and I was still without her cuttlefish pattern. But alas! now I have her pattern in hand and 2 more days before school officially starts! hehe

die Fledermaus

I was hoping to spend my last day of freedom out & about in the city, but unfortunately, I feel a bit of a cold coming, so instead I'm gonna rest indoors and fight off bacteria with a bowl of veggie pho, mmm. Also, I just set up my Ravelry account, so that's been keeping me distracted. I love how it keeps an inventory of everything, as well as current & upcoming projects with progress on the former. Now I just need to figure out how to put that progress on my blog...

protecting my files

Speaking of projects, I made my first attempt at pattern writing! It wasn't an original design, but I suspect it was just as tedious and time-consuming had I made my own design from scratch. I took a stab at Mochimochi's Boo pattern with modifications inspired by Eskimimi. With Halloween just around corner, I too shall soon have my own defense league, bwahahaha!

who needs a firewall when you got a BAT!

trick o' treaters beware...

All cats look the same in the dark

Even though school hasn't started yet, I feel like it's already begun. Orientation is this Monday, so I had to come in and pick up a folder in my *new* student mailbox, how exciting! The not so exciting part however is having a last name at the top of the alphabet and thus, having a mailbox a whole foot higher than my 5' frame. fml.

Mailboxes aside, I already have a lot more paperwork to do, on top of 5 articles to read, and homework, 4 days before school's even begun. I guess this is grad school. One of my biggest worries is the transition from having 4 sunny months of no work and all play to 2 years of no play and all work. I keep telling myself that I mustn't let work take over my life though. All work, no play make Carmel go something something...