Soundtrack Saturday - Christmas Edition

It is the winter solstice today, but 70 degrees here in Memphis! I prefer cold weather, so I'm not particularly happy about this. Regardless of the weather, it seems like the perfect time to share some of my favorite Christmas songs. I tried to narrow it down to just one, but that's definitely not possible. I love Christmas music, and this year I've been drawn to the old classics. They make me wish I still knew how to swing dance!

Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

This song is about as close as we get to snow for Christmas. Someday I hope to live somewhere it actually snows in December!

Dean Martin - Let it Snow!

These are two of my favorite Christmas hymns. I can't sing O Holy Night to save my life, but that doesn't stop me from trying to hit that high note every single time! Trying to pick a version of this song is like trying to choose a favorite cupcake flavor - they are all so good!

Celtic Woman - O Holy Night

If you haven't heard of The Piano Guys before, consider this your introduction. They are seriously talented. After you listen to this, go listen to their version of Carol of the Bells or their Lord of the Rings Medley. Or any of their arrangements. Trust me you won't be disappointed!

The Piano Guys - Angels We Have Heard on High

I bought a $50 planner and it changed my life

One of the biggest decisions I make every December is what planner I will use for the upcoming year. Every year I go in search of the perfect planner, and every year I am disappointed by what I find. My ideal planner is a one page per day design with both an hourly scheduling section and a to-do list section, plus month-at-a-glance and year-at-a-glance pages. Evidently the people who make planners don't realize what level of busy my life usually is, because I have never found one with the detail that I need.

Enter The Day Designer...

Not available at your run-of-the-mill office supply store

About a month ago, I was poking around on Pinterest and I found a pin of something called the Day Designer. I don't remember what the description was or who pinned it, but I clicked on it and it took me to the Etsy shop of Whitney English. Suddenly, angels started singing the Hallelujah Chorus and a light from heaven shone down upon my computer. THIS was the planner of my dreams. Exactly the layout I had been looking for - it even went from 5am to 9pm instead of the usual 8-6 time slots. The price was the only thing that kept me from buying it that instant. $50 for a planner? It seemed like an awful lot of money. I thought about it over several days and decided it would be worth the money to have a planner that was exactly what I was looking for.

LOOK AT ALL THE OPPORTUNITIES TO PLAN!!!!
It's even got a thought of the day and a place to write one thing you are thankful for!!!!
I'll do another post on how I use the daily pages. Actually, I'll probably do several
planner related posts, because I love it so much.

What I didn't realize at the time was that the Day Designer was more than just your average planner. In the description on Etsy, it said that there were worksheets in the front to help plan out your year, set goals, etc. So I assume she means maybe a financial planning sheet, maybe a long term goals sheet, nothing special and probably nothing I would really use.

Oh, how wrong I was!

When I finally got my new (beautifully packaged) Day Designer in the mail, I opened the cover and was immediately confronted with the realization that these were not your average planning pages. As it turns out, Whitney English has made a business out of helping people develop their personal brands and define their goals, passions, and strengths. She even created a webinar to walk through the Day Designer and how to use the worksheets in the front. She specifically targets women who are creative entrepreneurs, but it really is applicable to everyone, especially if you are in the midst of a major life transition (looking at you, fellow twentysomethings!).

Let me tell you, I was SO FREAKING EXCITED! One of my goals for the end of this year was to do exactly the sort of reflecting and planning Whitney had in mind when she created the Day Designer. With my classroom career behind me, and my clinical rotations beginning in January, I knew some serious soul searching was in my near future. Now I get to do soul searching with worksheets!!!!

How I spent my afternoon - coffee and planning for the future

So today, I went to my new favorite coffee shop (Tamp & Tap), ordered me up a Cannonball Express and some Nutella toast, and began my journey with my Day Designer.

Lovely blank pages ready to be filled with my hopes and dreams for the future.

The worksheets basically take me from brainstorming my big dreams to defining my passions, strengths, and goals.

Narrowing down your goals into 3 Big Ideas that define who you are
and what you want to accomplish in life

"Dream big dreams" - writing down all the crazy dreams and hopes,
even if they seem impossible

Defining core values based on how you spend your time and money.
There will probably be a lot of feelings involved throughout the whole process,
but I think this part will be the most difficult.

Listing your passions. One thing Whitney said in the webinar that I really liked
 was that not every passion has to become a career.
You should keep some passions for just you to enjoy. 

As I watched the webinar, I realized this was not something I was going to do in one day.  So I've decided to do one worksheet each day, so that I have time to really sit and think through each step of this personal development process.

The final project, where it all comes together. Even though I won't
share most of the worksheets on this blog (they are just too personal
to be putting all over the internet), I will post this one when I finish it.

Even if you don't need or want a planner of this magnitude (it's not a small planner, and if you aren't super busy like me, you probably don't need something this extensive), I highly encourage you to consider buying just the webinar download from Whitney's Etsy shop and doing some of the exercises. I thought people were kidding when they said in their reviews that this planner changed their lives. They were definitely not kidding. This planner is going to change my life. I can feel it. And that is so exciting!

The Race That Wasn't

This was supposed to be a post about the race. I was supposed to be telling you all about my running and how cold it was and what my finishing time was. There were supposed to be pictures of the race, of me celebrating with my friends and parents at the finish line.

But there are none of those things, because the race was cancelled.

No race day for me!

Friday night, Memphis experienced a rather spectacular - and much earlier than normal - ice storm. Around here we usually don't get that kind of weather until the end of January. Except this year. The roads never got that bad, but tree limbs were falling and lots of people were without power. So St. Jude cancelled the race.

Who let Grumpy Cat be in charge of the weather?

When I got the news, I was texting another friend who was also running the half marathon. We were shocked. We knew the weather was bad, but we never expected the race to get cancelled. Not with all the planning that went into it. Not with 20,000 runners from across the country and around the world already in Memphis. But there it was. First on the news, then on Facebook, then via text, then via email. The race was cancelled.

Well said, Charlie Brown

I WAS DEVASTATED. After all the work I put in, all those miles I didn't want to run but ran anyway, all that time. I was ready to finish the race and be done with running. My friend Ashley was also supposed to be running her first half marathon, and we pretty much spent all night Friday and most of the day Saturday moping about our houses, texting each other about how upset we were, and online shopping in our pajamas. (We were supposed to be studying for our finals on Tuesday.)

Me on Saturday

Of course, the most important thing is that the money the Heroes raised still goes to St. Jude, so they can continue doing what they do best - caring for children with cancer and researching new potential cures. St. Jude, being as great as they are, have done a wonderful job communicating with us about what our options are now. I chose to have my finisher's medal and gift bag donated to a family at St. Jude, because I don't deserve to have it since I didn't get to race. All of the runners have been given the option to transfer our registration to one of three other races benefiting St. Jude in the coming months. I put in to have mine transferred to the Nashville Country Music Marathon at the end of April. I should know by next week if I will be going. If that doesn't work out, Baylor has a half marathon in the spring and I will travel to Waco for that.

And so the training continues. As soon as I know which race I'll be running, I'll draw up a new training schedule. I don't want to keep running. I wanted to be done with this. But I've got to run SOMETHING so all this training didn't go to waste. Also so I can hang the 13.1 ornament I bought on my tree...next Christmas (sooooo sad).

Thank you to everyone who supported me in this crazy (and apparently never ending) endeavor! Thank you to everyone who donated to my Heroes fundraiser! 

You cannot simply finish a half marathon.

Where did November go??

I am still slightly amazed that it is already December. I'm not sure November actually happened - it went by so fast! So much happened last month that I felt like I was flying faster than the speed of light through each day.  Here is a photo tour of some of the things I've been up to in November.

The girls at Electric Cowboy for Michelle's birthday

Tour of St. Jude with my Phi Delta Chi brothers - just the motivation
I needed when I was at a low point in my training

Girls night out with my Lifegroup - Dessert at The Melting Pot

Anwesa's birthday brunch at Monsieur DeMarcus

Full on fangirling for The Day of the Doctor

P3 Pinning Ceremony - I have my nuclear rotation with this awesome lady in January

I don't know where I would be without Ashley and Aleia

More post-pinning ceremony fun

Accidentally matching with Mom on thanksgiving

Put up my Christmas tree - there may be an ornament themed post in the future

All of this in addition to finishing up my final semester of classes before kicking off rotations in January has kept me busy busy busy!

More importantly, race day is Saturday and it is going to be FREEZING COLD!!! Literally, a cold front is coming through tomorrow and it's going to sleet/ice/precipitate and drop down to the low 30s. I may need ice skates for the race, but regardless of the weather, I will be running 13.1 miles.

My awesome boss Cecilia over at MommiesRun wrote a great encouraging post about having a NO FREAK OUT ZONE about the race and reminding us why we are running. We are running for the kids of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. These kids are going through much worse than running around in below freezing temps. So I can run around in the cold for a couple hours.

And then I get to go home and study for my finals, which are on Tuesday. So obviously, I have been procrastinating by writing this blog post. Now back to learning about Parkinson's disease treatments.

Soundtrack Sunday!

Well, the race is one week away and I only feel about 70% prepared. Today I ran 10 miles, the longest distance I’ll run before Saturday.  I know, theoretically, I am physically capable of running 13.1 miles. But I don't quite feel mentally prepared to run 13.1 miles. This sounds like a job for The Most Motivational Song Ever!

I think “Don’t Stop Believing” is one of those songs people of my generation are just born knowing.  Kind of like we just sort of know “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Wanted Dead or Alive” without ever consciously learning the words or remembering the first time we heard that song. It’s imprinted in our collective DNA and permanently etched in our brains, ready to be belted out off key and at top volume at a moment's notice.

I really need to do a "my life lately post" since I've been doing such a bad job at posting regularly in November. Sorrysorry!

In other news, this is my last week of class EVER!!!!!!!

Soundtrack Saturday: We Were Us - Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert

These weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are a swirling vortex of business for me. I'm barely able to keep up with the pile of assignments due next week, not to mention studying for my test on Thursday. Somewhere in there I've got to fit in some running, eating and sleeping. And I should probably shower at some point. It's times like this when I'm busy I can't catch my breath that I reminisce about college and how much easier it was back then. I wasn't studying every second of every day. I could read for pleasure. I could relax and spend time with my friends without feeling like I should be doing something school-related.

"We Were Us" is a perfect song to remind me of the past and all of those memories. It's a duet with Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert, two of my absolute favorite country artists. I feel like this is one of those songs that everyone will listen to and it will remind them of some part of their past. It's like an auditory time machine to a sweeter, simpler time.

Soundtrack Sunday: Team - Lorde

I don't know how I've gone this long without writing a Soundtrack Saturday/Sunday post about Lorde. She is probably the most talented new singer/songwriter to appear in the last several years. She's only 17, she's from New Zealand, and she writes her own songs.

Also, she has amazing hair. I want to meet her just so I can ask her what she uses on her hair.

So without further ado, here is her second single, "Team"

If you want to hear more, I recommend "Tennis Court" and "White Teeth Teens." Or any other song really. She's brilliant and I can't wait to see how her career progresses.

I Am Not A Runner - A.K.A. Running Does Not Have To Cost A Fortune

I do not self-identify as a runner. I have been running (mostly) regularly since April, but I do not call myself a runner. Before I began this mad experiment, I read story after story of people who started running and it changed their lives. They found a new passion and a new love. They became lifelong runners.

Definitely not me

I am not one of those people. When I started running about 6 months ago, I hated every single step. And I felt like a failure, because I thought that if I wanted to run, I had to become a "runner." Everyone I talked to was telling me about all of these things I had to have if I wanted to run, that I had to pour both time and money into running if I wanted to do it right because running is a lifestyle, not just an activity.

"You need to get these fancy hydration tablets (that look suspiciously like Airborne)." 

"How can you say you don't love running?! I can't live without my runs!"

"Buy these energy tablets to fuel your long runs because if you don't you'll never make it farther than 4 miles!" 

"What do you mean you don't feel better after a run? I always feel so full of energy!"

"If you don't wear compression socks, your legs will literally fall off your body mid-run."

"You shouldn't eat that today, it could affect your run tomorrow!"

"If you buy long sleeved running shirts, they need to have thumbholes!"

I went out and bought fancy running shoes from a fancy running store (well, my parents bought them for me...thanks mom and dad!). I paid more for a pair of socks than I normally do for a pair of jeans. And I ran. I ran in the blazing heat of July. I ran and accidentally stepped in the mud in my fancy running shoes. I ran on the treadmill after class. I ran farther and farther (but never faster, 12:30/mile is my body's only pace).

But that earth-shattering spiritual awakening never came. I never started loving running. I don't look forward to my runs. I don't feel energized or exhilarated before, during or after my runs. They are just another check mark on my to do list. The more I ran, the more I realized I was never going to be a "runner." And that doesn't make me a failure. It means that I had approached running with the wrong mindset.

Pinterest images, like the one on the top,
only add to the problem by making you feel
like a failure if you don't love running.

I started off on this endeavor assuming that once I started running, becoming a "runner" would be an automatic byproduct of my training. I thought that if I had all the right gear and the right training program, I would suddenly love to run. But that is not true. I do not love running. I will never find it an enjoyable activity. I still dislike every step of my runs, and now there are many more steps involved (I'm looking at you, 8-mile-run-tomorrow).

My inner monologue while running.

The reality is, I don't need special shoes or special equipment to run. My second pair of running shoes were a far less expensive brand from Academy, and they work just as well. Some good ol' blue Gatorade is just as good for hydration, and I've yet to pass out from lack of special fuel while I run. If I do ever take snacks on a run, it will probably be Scooby Doo fruit snacks. My workout clothes come from the sale rack, and none of my sleeves have thumb holes. And I am doing just fine in my training.

I'll give the expensive compression socks a pass, though, because they are awesome and totally worth the money (as long as you have a discount code).

I am not running for myself - I am making myself run. All of this training I am putting into this half marathon is going toward one goal: raising money to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I am running for the kids, the doctors, the pharmacists, and the researchers. I am running for the friends I have who work there and the parents whose children are patients there. I am running because I know my body has the capacity to do it. I am running to check a half marathon off my bucket list.

I am running because I can. Not because I want to. Running will never be my lifestyle, just a thing I do occasionally. And that is OK.

Conferences and Difficult Runs

I spent the weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, at the APhA-ASP Midyear Regional Meeting. This is a yearly regional pharmacy conference that takes place in each region. It's specifically designed for student pharmacists like me to interact with other students from around the region, share ideas, and develop policies for the upcoming year. I had a wonderful time! I had such a great time that I forgot to take any pictures. The only two pictures I took were of food.

I ate Chuy's twice on Saturday! At dinner we probably demolished 8 baskets of chips
before our meal even showed up. Creamy jalapeño dip + queso = love. 

My school's ASP chapter had a great MRM this year. One of my friends successfully ran for Regional Delegate, so congratulations to Lauren Bode! She's going to do an amazing job in her new position!

This is not a picture of Lauren winning Regional Delegate.
This is a picture of my lunch at Milo's on my way home on Sunday.

My body is very confused by the time change, which has made the last few days especially difficult in terms of running. I didn't get an opportunity to run while out of town, so I had planned to run when I got back home on Sunday. I forgot about it getting dark earlier, so by the time I got home, I couldn't run outside. I had scheduled a long run, so I tried to do it on the treadmill while I studied, but I only made it 2.5 miles before the logistics of trying to turn pages while running got too difficult.

I knew I had to make time for this run on Monday, or I would be an entire week behind. Fortunately, I was able to go run in the morning before class. I was scheduled to run 7 miles. And I went 7 miles, but there was definitely some walking involved. But 7 miles is 7 miles. And I have to remind myself that my goal for this half marathon is to finish the race, whether by running the whole thing or by running and walking. Realistic goals are the key to happiness.

Words of wisdom from the lovely Amy Poehler

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who donated to help me reach my fundraising goal! I am now over my goal of $500! You all are awesome!

Honoring My Grandma Through Baking

I have had the blessing of having all my grandparents and some of my great-grandparents living until I was in my early twenties. When I talk to my friends, I realize how rare that truly is - many of them have only one or two of their grandparents still living, and some have never known any of their grandparents.

Me with my Grandma and Grandpa at Christmas

My grandpa passed away just a few years ago, after a long battle with cancer, and we lost my grandma this past July. As we sifted through all of her stuff, I remembered all the times we spent together and all the memories I had of them. One of my favorite memories was every Christmas, Grandma would make all kinds of baked goods. My absolute favorite was pizzelles, these pretty lacy cookies that I would dump inordinate amounts of powdered sugar on. So when Grandma passed away, I knew I wanted to carry on the tradition of making these wonderful cookies.

Grandma's well-loved pizzelle maker

I don't have the original recipe Grandma used, so I used one I found online and modified a bit to suit my needs. Traditional pizzelles are made with a strong anise flavor. I don't really like anise, and Grandma didn't use very much in her pizzelles either. I decided to use cinnamon in place of the anise, because cinnamon is my absolute favorite spice and nothing says autumn like cinnamon. 

My KitchenAid doesn't get used often, but when I need to bake, it is a lifesaver

Cinnamon Pizzelles

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Powdered sugar

1. Sift together flour and baking powder and set aside
2. Beat together the eggs and sugar, then add the melted butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. 
3. Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth.
4. Preheat the pizzelle maker. Once it's preheated, spray the plates with Pam. Make sure to get a good coat on the design part so it doesn't stick. 
5. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the center-ish of each design. It takes a couple tries to figure out how much batter you need and where to put it.
6. Close the pizzelle maker and wait for them to cook. You will burn/undercook the first few until you figure out the right timing. On mine it was about 1 minute 40 seconds.
7. Use a fork to gently lift the pizzelles out of the plate and put them on a cooling rack. 
8. Once they are fully cool, put them in an airtight container in the fridge. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when you're ready to eat them.

The inside of the pizzelle maker. It's kind of like a waffle iron
but with more intricate designs. Hence, you need lots of Pam.

How the first few looked - burnt then underdone. 

This is what they should look like, minus the one on the left trying to ooze out the side.

My recipe made about 15, not including the first few I messed up.

You can never go wrong with powdered sugar.
NB: I added more powdered sugar after taking these pictures,
because there should be a visible cloud puff of sugar when you take a bite.

Grandma always stored all her home-baked Christmas cookies in the fridge.  As a kid, I always knew where to find those tupperware containers full of goodies. I have no idea how I didn't gain 30 pounds every holiday season, because I pretty much ate only baked goods when I was at Grandma's house. Now my own cookies are residing in the fridge (or they were before I ate them all) and come Christmastime I'll carry on the tradition of making these cookies for my family and friends. 

Soundtrack Saturday: Pompeii - Bastille

I think this past week has been my most hectic week all semester. I maybe got through half of the things I needed to do, and that was still a ton of things. I thought I'd be able to ease back into the business after fall break, but it was more like getting thrown in head first. Somewhere in all the craziness I found the time to download the new Bastille album, Bad Blood. I'd only heard one song off of it, and that was "Pompeii." The rest of the album turned out to be just as brilliant, and now I've got another band to add to my Hipster Bands You've Probably Never Heard Of collection.

Incidentally, I have been to Pompeii. It's an eerie place, especially when you see all of the casts of the bodies of people who died when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The entire city was destroyed and buried, only to be rediscovered hundreds of years later. And Vesuvius is not an extinct volcano, it could still erupt again.

Soundtrack Saturday: "Chillin' It" - Cole Swindell

I have very much enjoyed doing nothing the last few days. Fall break is just what I needed to get revitalized (read: sleep a whole lot) and ready for the rest of the semester. This song goes right along with the relaxing I've been doing. I realized I hadn't posted another country song since my very first Soundtrack Saturday post! Can't be neglecting genres now, can we? Especially since I like country music enough to have it as a preset on my radio.

This is a great song for fall, especially since the weather has gotten nicer.

Today was my longest run to day, a full SIX MILES!! And 100% spider free! Next week is a pull back week so I won't have a long run, just three shorter runs. 

I never said it was a fast six miles. 

I also exercised my bank account this afternoon with a shopping trip to use my birthday money and all of the birthday coupons I got in the mail. Everything I got was either on sale, used a coupon, or was free. Now that is what I call a successful shopping excursion.

Look for a post in the next few days about my baking extravaganza from this evening! 

Everyday Happenings

Things have finally calmed down here in Kristinland. After my test yesterday morning (and a very long nap), Fall Break officially began and I am enjoying doing absolutely nothing. I'm cleaning, getting organized, and just enjoying having no pressing matters to attend to.

Spontaneous fun thing of the week:
Went to a Jimmy Eat World concert with some friends.

A local dog rescue brought puppies to school.
I wanted to take this one home. His name is
Smudge and he is going to be enormous.

This is Faith. She looked like a golden only black.
I'm still trying to talk my parents into adopting her.

Yet another bloom on my rose bush. I love this little plant!

You have probably been wondering how my running is going, since I haven't really talked about it in a while. I am happy to report that everything is going according to plan! I ran 4 miles today, and the cooler weather is making it much more enjoyable to run. I'm going to 6 miles this weekend, so that will be an exciting milestone!

Stats from my (spider-free) run today. 

I've had to change the place I run, though. I had been running on the Wolf River Greenline. However, when I tried to run on Sunday, there were massive spiderwebs occupied by extremely large spiders EVERYWHERE. I seriously saw probably 6 or 7 in a quarter mile. I had to stop and turn around before I either cried or had a heart attack. I do not do arachnids! I relocated to a nice flat lake path in Shelby Farms with very few trees and (thankfully) no spiders. I won't be venturing onto the Greenline anytime in the near future. Or ever again. I had nightmares for the next three nights. It was not good.

Excellent representation of me around spiders by Hyperbole and a Half
If you want to read a truly hilarious post about spiders,
click on the picture (warning: some strong language).

In other news, the BBC has released the first pictures of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special!!!!! November 23rd can't get here fast enough!

Three Doctors in the same shot: Matt Smith, David Tennant, and John Hurt.
BRB, hyperventilating.

That's all for now! I'm going to get the ingredients to make pizzelles while I'm at work tomorrow, so I can experiment with my grandma's pizzelle maker this weekend. I'm thinking of making a plain batch, a cinnamon batch and maybe a chocolate batch.