My 2-favorite men

For women, coffee can keep blues away

according to this study - none of the women in our family should ever be depressed:

For women, coffee can keep blues away: A few cups of coffee a day may help keep the blues at bay. According to a large new study, women who drink caffeinated coffee are less likely to become depressed -- and the more they drink, the more their risk of depression goes down.

Reading is fun: Choke

I read "Choke" this weekend by Chuck Palahniuk who is also the author of Fight Club.  Turns out they made this book into a movie - unfortunately the trailer does not look much better than the book.   Nope, not a fan of Choke.  Way too dark and depressing - see the synopsis below. 

Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. All of these statements about the protagonist of Choke are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk.

"Art never comes from happiness." So says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich.

Almost a star

My weekend

I spend the past 4 days in Orlando for a Chief Resident Leadership Seminar as part of the AAFP Scientific Assembly.  It was fun to network  nd meet other chief residents.  I certainly can't complain about the lazy river, delicious cuban food, or trip to Islands of Adventure.  However, I did arrive home with a nasty case of largyngitis combined with some stiff and sore muscles from the Harry Potter ride. 

To prepare myself for the week ahead, I booked myself for a nice hour long massage today.  Just what I needed!  I also sipped on an effervescent Vitamin C packet and made some delicious white bean, bacon, and tomato soup from a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Wicked

I just finished reading Wicked - almost made it through the entire book on the plane ride to/from Orlando and then stayed up rather late last night to finish.  I was always such a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz and this grown-up version did not disappointment.  I'm packing it in my luggage to drop of in Hutchinson this weekend when I moonlight.  Any takers?

by Gregory Maguire

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Reading is cool

Does anyone remember Book-It where you used to read a book and get a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut?  They also had these sweet purple optical illusion buttons?  Anyways, I used to be a very avid reader.  Lately I've only been reading tabloids (which are quite entertaining reading.)  However, if there are more pictures than text I don't think it actually counts towards enriching your mind.

Based on inspiration from Dr. Suess and a random blog I've decided to expand my horizons.  I found a reading list from someone much more literate than myself and went a little crazy on half.com (ordering almost half of the list.)  Half on Half, what can I say, I'm such a sucker for combined shipping.

Craft Day

Had a super fun craft day with the ladies munching on milano melts and spray painting tchotchkes and jars.  I'll post some pics of the finished products once I get them arranged in mi casa.

Grilled vegatable salad

A super-delish grilled veggie salad from Vegetarian Times.  Of course, everything is better with kielbasa.

vegetarian

Pretty cool

an image from fukung.net

Fellowship

Interviewing at KU for geriatrics fellowship Thursday - wish me luck! 

Fel and I are going to celebreate with dinner at Room 39 - yummy!

Elo vs Jackson (round 2)

This morning it was a little chilly, enough so that I made myself a warm cup of green tea w/ honey and pulled out a nice cozy blanket to curl up with while I did my online spanish lession.  Elo decided to take full advantage, climbing onto my lap and curling into a soft little furball.  Of course, my lap immediately became the best perch in the house and soon enough Jackson was trying to climb on too.  In theory my lap is big enough for 2 sweet kitties, but just doesn't quite work when they happen to be brother and sister.  After some encouragement on my part Jackson decided to be patient, and waited for his turn.  Sure enough, after about 20 minutes Elo got up to get some breakfast and he quickly stole her spot, curling up on my lap into his own purring furball.  When Elo got back and saw him on "her" lap she was livid.  She climbed up on the desk as close to him as she could get, gave him the stink eye, and started growling.  Jackson just rolled over and ignored her.  This infuriated her further and she began jabbing at him with her vicious left hook.  Luckily I had trimmed her nails over the weekend and not much harm was done prior to me breaking up the brawl.

door to door organics

"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants."
A. Whitney Brown

 

Felipe and I's first box of organic produce arrived yesterday - I took inventory and was delighted to find:

1 cantaloupe

1 bunch carrots with tops

2 nectarines

1 spinach bunch

1 cucumber

2 gala apples

3 red plums

3 early girl red tomatoes

0.5 lbs purple beans

So far we have tried a tomato which was absolutely divine and so much fresher than anything we've bought at the store all season, it almost tasted homegrown.  I munched on an apple this morning for breakfast, and was pleasantly suprised to find out how much better organic apples taste sans waxy preservatives.  I always have such high hopes of eating more fruits and veggies, yet they always seem to wilt in my refrigerator uneaten.  I'm thinking door to door organics may be the magical and delicious answer.

p.s.  Think i'll use the carrots for these cookies!

Jam Session

At the Hollenbeck's baby shower on Saturday the boys had an impromptu jam session.

Irish Fest

This weekend I have the honor of being a judge for the knitting competition at Irish Fest.  The theme this year is "green" - anything goes as long as it's green.  Let me tell  you, I was in for a suprise yesterday when I showed up to judge irish beer in hand.  Competitive knitting is intense - these ladies do not mess around.  Forget the cute grandmas with their rocking chair, knitting a blanket, offering sweet words of encouragement.

These ladies meticulously inspected every stitch making catty comments about gauge, tension - even debating if something was "green" enough to count.  Whew!  I was in over my head.

Luckily, the Knitting Guild Association offers a 2-year course on how to be a proper judge:

CERTIFICATION FOR KNITTING JUDGES
This course by Janet Johnson Stephens develops skills you will need to become a successful knitting judge. Syllabus includes learning the criteria for judging knitting while studying different types of competitions and how judging methods vary. There is a two-year time limit to complete the course (extensions may be requested). Janet has more than 25 years of judging experience and is co-author with Donalene S. Poduska of The Blue Ribbon Manual of Competitive Needlearts Events.

Knit wit

"There is practically no activity that cannot be enhanced or replaced by knitting, if you really want to get obsessive about it."
— Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much)