Hello New Year

Whoa, I haven't posted in a while. Oops. Things happening recently:

~Finished the semester. 1/2 way done with my dietetic internship :)

~My BFF, Anna, is now engaged :) :)

~I'm working at the bank this week. I swore this past summer would be the last time....but I'm flat broke :(

~Hanging out with sophomore year roommate and friend, Jenna, this weekend :)

~Going to Jackson for New Year's Eve :) :) :)

Oh my gosh. I am sitting here thinking "what should I write about"...isn't that sort of defeating the purpose of having a blog?? I feel like if I have nothing to say then I should not be attempting this post at this exact moment. I guess I began writing it because I vainly thought people missed reading it.

Well, one thing I know to write about is this: sometimes I wish the whole present giving thing wasn't a part of Christmas. Not because I'm a procrastinator and wait till the last minute (I just finished my shopping today) but because it takes our minds off of what we should actually be thinking about. I know, I know. Giving is not necessarily a bad thing because of all those reasons we're reminded of when we go to church the Sunday before Christmas. But I have seen firsthand what the stress of the season does to people, and sometimes I just wish we could eliminate all of that. You know what I mean?? My family likes being together. Just the 5 of us (Good luck to whoever marries into this bunch). That's my favorite part of the holiday. This week I hope we all remember why we have this holiday in the first place...the love and grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father...and forget about all the things we need to do before Thursday night at 12 a.m.

Wow, I think I just had a bit of a Libbie moment. Not quite as good as her though.

Love and miss.

41-27

MY DAWGS JUST WON THE EGG BOWL!!! And they didn't just win it. They creamed Ole Miss!! Hopefully all those recruits that were in Davis Wade today are getting their pens ready.

I can't believe I wasn't there. I wanted to be in two places at once. Mama and I enjoyed watching it in our p-jammers and dancing around the house.

Go A.D.!!

Go Chris Relf!!

Go Dan Mullen!!

I guess there is no need to mention the fact that our basketball team lost their game yesterday by ONE point because TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO BE A BULLDOG!!!!!!

Gobble Gobble

I love Thanksgiving. I mean, why would you not love a reason to eat and eat and eat some more?? Beats me. I sadly missed out on Turkey Day last year because of a b-u-g, so I am p-u-m-p-e-d about this year and eating my face off.

I have fallen back into my old ways of procrastinating. Oops. With only 4 more weeks until Christmas vaykay, my new philosophy is "it will get done." Hmmm, not sure if that's the way to go, but hey...it'll get done.

Um, is it bad if I'm not coming back for the Cholesterol Bowl?? The idea of hanging out with my mom is way more appealing.

Hmmm. I'm trying to think of any funny internship stories that have happened recently. I remembered that telling stories from these 9 months was why I started this bloggy in the first place. I don't know why I would think people would be interested in hearing about how I flip through my planner instead of writing papers or learned how to Gchat with 5 people at once and make it look like I am doing work in case someone important walks in. ???

Sorry. No funworthy stories to tell at this exact moment. These first 2 weeks at my new rotation have been uneventful. I'll report back as soon as something happens.

I asked Santa for a new cam for Christmas, and when I get one (I think Santa wants me to buy it myself) I am going to figure out how to start putting pics on this here bloggy. Will that make things more interesting?? (Hmmm. guess it depends on what said pictures are of.)

I jumped on the bandwagon and am now a Twitterer.....or Tweeter.....or whatever. Again, I have no idea why I think so highly of myself and would think that people would care what I am doing. I think things are always more amusing to me than they are to others. Oh well.

Love and miss.

Sweet Relaxation

Indeed this weekend has been relaxing and it has been sweet. Thursday I finished my rotation at Baptist in Columbus. My final assignment for food service was to plan, prepare, and serve a theme day meal. Tangy chicken fajitas, rice, and guacamole made up my Mexican theme day menu. (If you want recipes I have them.) If you know me at all, you know that this theme day caused some anxiety at first because I am not very domestic (in the words of my mother), but it turned out really well. After a good evaluation I drove away from that hospital one last time. Where did the last 6 weeks go? So, needless to say, I gave myself permission to do nothing internship related this weekend.

This needs to be shared: A couple of weeks ago I went into the women's restroom and in there was one of the women who works in the kitchen. She was already washing her hands and while I was in the stall (sorry, I can't think of a nicer way to say that. I mean, I was in the restroom after all) she says, "When we release our bladders, we release our minds." BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I have no idea how I held in my laughter!! It was ha-lar-i-ous. What a profound thought, right? Think about it.

Where did October go? I'm not a fan of wishing my life away, but I seem to be living for the next evaluation because that means I have one more rotation under my belt. May is going to be here before we know it and then the real real world (you know, the real world where you no longer are in school or dependent on your parentals) begins. I'm excited to see where I'll end up, but after having this 5th "transitional" year where I still get to see friends in Stark and the ones who don't live here anymore when they come to visit, I am somewhat afraid of exactly how far away I'm going to get. I don't like the idea of only seeing friends twice a year. I have issues with change. However, if I move somewhere cool (which is totally the plan) that is all the more reason for y'all to come visit me. :)

FYI Bully Bikes are hard to come by these days. Becca, Butler, Stacey, and I wanted to go on a bike ride this afternoon. We parked at Allen and decided to walk around to find said bikes. Becca found hers at Rice, I spotted one by Ruby, Butler stalked a guy back to McKee and got his, and Stacey finally found the 4th bike in front of the ATO house. If you know the layout of campus, you know that by going to these places you are pretty much hitting every part of campus. It was quite the adventure but totally worth it. We got our PA for the day and realized just how many Bully Bikes people have stolen/destroyed since January when they first appeared on campus with their bright orange flags. We spotted a total of 8 bikes out of the 100 that are supposedly on campus. Hmmm.

So, it's 10. I don't have to be at Oktibbeha County Hospital until 9 tomorrow. The plan is to get up at 6 (since I am so use to it now) and go work out. I'll let you know how it works out.

I'll leave you with a tip: go to iTunes and download "Somebody to Love" on the album Glee - The Music Volume 1. I love it, and it's stuck in my head. Probably because Stacey burned me a copy of the CD and I have repeatedly listened to that song since Friday. I make Glee references in my posts because I am trying to make you curious enough to start watching it. Yes, it's that good.

Love and miss.

Makeover

I knew when I created this blog it was not a good thing. Yet I did it anyway. With the help of AC (I am a moron when it comes to templates and backgrounds and such), last night was spent making my blog look awesome...which it totally does btw...instead of going to sleep. Oh well. Life's short, blog first.

Actually, as I type this post I am procrastinating from doing an assignment that I could totally have complete by tonight if I would just pull myself together.

So this weekend was CAH RAE ZEE fun! There was a reunion of sorts. Okay, it was definitely a reunion because EVERYONE was in Stark! Sixteen girls packed out the back corner of The Hat...or whatever its new name is...and gave Luciando a night to remember. JK. I just wanted a reason to type Luciando. It's even better when you say it. State coulda, shoulda, woulda beat Florida...that's all that needs to be said. And that I am proud of us and how we held the magnificent Tim Tebow whom I wasn't all that impressed with on the field...but I still love him. (Sorry Amy, he's mine.) Dancing at the game with Emily and the random dude beside us was a good time. Listening to Emily entertain a room full of us after the game was an even better time. I stayed up past my bedtime, but it was worth the headache I had at work today. I was sad when everyone had to leave. :(

For your entertainment, I am attaching a video. My older brother, John, asked me this weekend if I had seen this commercial. I had not. He said, "Well, it's this pothole, and it reminds me of you because I think you could have done the voice." In my head I'm thinking what the heck does a pothole sound like that it would remind him of me so much?? WATCH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjMUfIKktWU

I do believe I say "K. Bye" a good bit. Gah, I hope I'm not that country. If I am, I am sorry you have to listen to me and thank you for being my friend.

Alright, I am being a flapper girl for Halloween. Just thought you would want to know. 7 days of food service at Baptist left. Glee is not new this week which makes me very sad. If you don't watch that show...where the heck have you been?? And now I am seriously going to do my homework. Maybe later.

Love and miss.

Studying Issues

I am suppose to be making out a study guide for my midterm Tuesday night, but I am finding it very difficult. I haven't actually studied since...hmm...April?? Done lots of homework and spent many hours on assignments but no studying. After this form of procrastination that I fondly call my blog it's back to the drawing board. (I'm not entirely sure if that's relevant here.)

Things that have happened recently:

Walked in on a patient who was buck naked on the bedside toilet (he said come in!).

Tried to teach carb counting to an 80 year old lady during outpatient counseling...it didn't go very well.

Had my shoulders unwillingly rubbed by a male nurse on the 5th floor - he is married. Yuck. I avoided him after that.

Went home for the one time this semester.

Was frustrated with the Bulldogs.

Made it through the 3 weeks of clinical at Baptist in Columbus.

Got a good evaluation for clinical.

Celebrated Butler's birthday.

Worked out...oh...maybe 3 times in three weeks.

It's gotten cold. I had to turn the heat on today. I, unlike many people, do not like when this happens. Being from the coast, I tend not to accept cold weather until it's absolutely necessary. That is why I still wore shorts to class yesterday morning. Then I surprised myself today by switching out warm and cold weather clothes in my closet. My reasoning was that I will not feel like doing this in the next 3 weeks, so I had to do it today. Monday I start the food service part of the rotation in Columbus. Tuesday morning I will be in Columbus at 5am, then take my midterm Tuesday night from 6-9, and be there at 5:30am Wednesday morning. Please pray for brain cells. I don't mind being tired, I would just prefer not failing the midterm due to exhaustion. You can do anything for 3 weeks. Right??

Today, I was sitting upstairs in Barnes attempting this study guide thingy, and I hear the guy behind me whistle down at someone/something. So I look down and there is a chocolate lab walking around Barnes!! He had on a collar but didn't appear to be with someone. He was super friendly and well-behaved. I'm pretty sure he just walked in the automatic doors. This made my day. A worker put him back outside, and when I left in my car I saw him running along with this guy on a bike (he was very friendly. the dog, not the guy on the bike.) who did not appear to be the owner. I should have just taken him home with me. We already know he can handle being an inside dog. Dang it, why didn't I?

My parents are going to the beach tomorrow for the week. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is jealous.

Gah, I guess I really do need to study. I'm sure in about 30 minutes I'll begin one of my other forms of procrastination: eating, TV, the internet, mindlessly flipping through my planner, or all of the above.

I will leave you with the always present "love and miss" sign off and the question of what should I be for Halloween?

Love and miss.

Here you go & Why am I doing this?

This post gets two titles because an adoring friend wanted me to update and because I am wondering why I am doing this when I should be in bed. It has indeed been awhile and some funny things have happened along the way. Last Tuesday stands out in my mind. Some, if not most, of you have heard these stories, but for those of you that have not I hope you get some laughs out of this. Tuesday morning was spent with some of the football players again. I love bugging guys while they are in the middle of trying to devour an omelet. These guys really are fun to be around. They pretty much take everything in stride (especially coming from a little white girl), so they just laughed when I called them out on stuff. Like when they say "man, we know all this stuff already" and I say "oh really, is that why you keep losing football games?" One such player did ask me if I was going to call him later that day since we were friends now. I said, "Brandon, I don't call boys." Brandon replies, "Ah man, Mary. Well what your number is then? I'm gonna call you today." Hmmm was he joking? Nope. Did I give him my number? Yep. Has he called? Nope. Did I cry myself to sleep last night? Yep. Just kidding. Telling Anthony Dixon to lay off the alcohol during football season was entertaining. Even I had to laugh at what I was saying as I was saying it...mainly because he was also laughing at me. I also busted it while trying to walk down a wet concrete sidewalk that afternoon (I told you Tuesday was eventful). Sometimes I wish someone was following me around with a video camera. Does that make me conceded? (Is it conceded or conceited? I'm dumb.) Okay, maybe a little. I just like to laugh at all the dumb things I do/say. Is that such a crime?

I was not into Bulldog Bash this year. Sorry all you lovers of having sweaty drunks rub up on you and breathe down your neck. We did however break into a house (we knew the person, no worries). That was quite eventful. Saturday brought the 100th day of rain to Starkville. I rather enjoyed myself the 1st half in the luxury of Jane Gray and Allan's living room. When the rain went away, the mud came out for all to play (in). That reminds me, I need to wash off my Chacos. I don't really want to talk about those inches that took away our chance of victory over the purple-lovers.

Okay, I seriously have to wrap this up. I started at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Columbus today. This is a 6 week rotation. 3 in Clinical, 3 in Food Service. I'm starting in Clinical while Natalie is in FS first. She has to be there at 5am tomorrow. Yuck. That will be me in 3 weeks!!

I hope all my friends know that I love them....I'm not sure why I said that. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

Love and miss.

Focus

Hello friends! I can't even really tell you everything I've been up to lately. I loved my rotation at the hospital in Eupora. Learned a lot. A whole lot. And I got to know the awesome Amy Farnsworth better. Plus. My current rotation (which will remain nameless) is extremely frustrating, so I'm not even going to tell you about it. Let's focus on the good, shall we? Only 5 more days there anyway.

Funny patient story: Go into this lady's room (I can't even remember what's wrong with her, which is probably a good thing. not sure if I would be breaking some form of law if I told you) and she is quite overweight, which we already determined by calculating her BMI from her chart. She hears the word "dietitian" and immediately says, "Don't y'all be putting me on no sugar-free diet!! I won't eat it if it don't have no sugar!! I got to have my sugar!!" (HAHA I am laughing out loud retelling this story.) Then she goes into this story about how some dessert was "slap-yo-mama" good followed by this confession. Amy asked her if her weight was steady at 218 and she said, "Yeah, it is now, but when I got married I weighed 298 but you wouldn't ever known it." (BAHAHA) Okay, here are my thoughts: I'm pretty sure if I weighed nearly 300 pounds you would be able to tell. Too bad she doesn't care that she once weighed 300 pounds. And, congratulations Mississippi. This is why you are the #1 state in obesity.

I thought of a perk of my current rotation: I get to see a lot of athletes throughout the day. I mean, a bunch. Yesterday we counseled some of the football players at 7 in the morning while they ate their breakfasts. Can I just say that I really wish I was a football player? I mean, they get to eat alllllll day loooooong. Whatever they want pretty much. Dream. Terrell Johnson cussed out a fly that was obviously bugging him while I told him about carbs. I met Barry Stewart today. He's been sick. Sad. And Riley Benock is crutching around on crutches (isn't that what you do on those things?) FYI. Oh, and the guys on the tennis team are still hot. Just saying.

I am struggling loving people that bug me. On the other hand, I was thankful this week for Luke 6:16...the last four words. "who became a traitor." This detail was needed for God's perfect plan to unfold. For that I cannot be grateful enough. And I was encouraged with Luke 9:10. One word: withdrew. We all need to find shelter in Jesus and rest in Him. Just like the 12 did.

Got to go to the Union to promote something. Don't you love harassing people with information they don't want to receive?? That's what I thought. I am having serious friends withdrawals. Good thing Supper Club starts tomorrow night. :)

Love and miss.

Bambi is no good

Who wants to hear what I've been up to the past week?!?! Not everyone all at once.

We finished up with the Extension Services rotation Thursday. Got good evaluations. You can stop worrying. Friday, Erin and I traveled the awesome road to Memphis and had din with Emily Orr Vanderpool. Weird. The name, not the dinner. Saturday was just like Christmas morning!! It was the Mr.'s birthday so the three of us made the biggest breakfast in the history of the world. Then two, yes two, hours later Emily and I met with some awesome friends (Anna, John, Erin, Lori, Greg, and Greg's new roommate. His name is Peter.) to eat some Memphis pizza. I'm glad I'm a big girl so I can enjoy such luxuries as eating humongous meals every couple of hours. Sidenote: I'm eating one of those little Laughing Cow cheese things and I'm pretty sure I just consumed some of the aluminum foil. Mmmm. End sidenote. We had a little reunion that night for the b-day. It was great seeing lots of friends whom you never see all in the same room. Pretty exciting. And Windham got a puppy boxer. Martin was very popular with the ladies. Have you ever not gone to church because you couldn't find it?? Me either. Until Sunday morning. Emily and I drove around for 30 minutes trying to find the church where Erin, Lori, and Greg went to and couldn't. That's Memphis for you. So we went home and watched two episodes of Mad Men. Hmmmm Sort of the exact opposite of going to church.

The hospital in Eupora is awesome!! It's Wednesday afternoon at 3:41 and I am not still at work as I normally would be. Until 4. We got to leave at 2 today!! Woo hoo!! (Dang it, I just ate all the Wheat Thins.) So yesterday morning Natalie and I get on 82 to head to Eupora. She is driving, we're behind this 18 wheeler (which make me even more nervous as of 7/30/09) and she is waiting on this Jag to pass so she can get over into the left lane. Once she does, the Jag and the 18 wheeler both break hard, Natalie does too, and this rather large deer goes sprinting across the road. I turn around as she keeps driving to see if Bambi makes it across the other side of the road and she disappears. Yes, my friends, this deer was taken out of this world by a dump truck. Neither of them ever saw it coming. Thank you guardian angels. We made it to work without any more excitement.

I am pumped about this weekend. I don't have class Friday morning. Anna is coming. First football game. And we get Labor Day off! No, we weren't suppose to. We get 2 weeks at Christmas and that is our only holiday. Officially. So we hope and pray that our preceptor gives us the holiday off. I will be hoping and praying this again at Thanksgiving.

I'm enjoying these weeks that are more laid back because they won't all be like this. Off to continue enjoying a long afternoon not at work!

Is that why they moved to Mississippi??

So today Natalie and I were asked to write two monthly articles, one for September and one for October, and turn them in by Friday morning. No biggie. 200-400 words is not a lot when you are a master of fabrication like myself. Anyway, we have this awesome preceptor this week who just lets us work on our assignments the whole time we're there which means no homework at night. I like this set up. A lot. Well the nutrition building, fondly called the Herz...I actually just made that up but think I will begin using it...got a little old after being there the past 2 days. I have this brilliant idea to go over to Barnes and work (it was more of my dying need for coffee that sent us there but whatever) and off we go. I don't know if you know this but there are lots of things to distract you in a two-story building. For instance, we were at a table on the second floor and a wasp suddenly appears beside Natalie's head. Not cool. The bathroom is always a good excuse for wasting time because you have to go back down to the first floor. Which leads me to my first story:

The only way to know if said bathroom is locked is to just turn the handle and push. If it opens, you simply hope and pray that no one is in there because this will inevitably lead to an awkward encounter. This is what I do, turn the handle, push the door, and as I am hoping and praying I see a woman of Asian descent right in the doorway (I see nothing) and hear multiple Asians freaking out that the door has just been opened. Do they have locks in Asia? Just wondering. Of course I apologize and close the door. And then I wait....and I wait....and I wait some more. I am beginning to wonder what in the world these people could be doing in there. I mean, come on. Others need to get in there too you know. After about 8 minutes of waiting and reading the flyers on the bulletin board numerous times over, they come out. Who knows?? That was a lovely way to use some minutes of my morning.

It has amazed me this week how quickly the hours fly by now. We didn't go to lunch until 1:30 because we thought it was still around 11:30. I kind of like it. We only have one more day with Extension Services p.s. Woo hoo!! For those of you who are wondering where the title of this post came from I will now put you out of your suspenseful state of being. This afternoon, still at Barnes, Natalie and I were discussing the two physicians from India who are in our Tuesday night grad class (there seem to be a lot of ethnicities in this post). We were saying how nobody could understand a word they said, even the teacher. And I'm sure the content is knowledgeable because they are physicians in their homeland, but we will never know because we can't interpret. I wondered, out loud, if they could understand us since we cannot understand them, and Natalie says, "I guess that's why they all move to Mississippi...because we talk so slow it's easier for them to understand us." Of course I die out laughing, and we both decide that this has to be the reason for them to move to such a random town as Starkville, Mississippi.

I'm not sure, but I think this post is getting kind of long. Hmmm (or Mmmmm....that's for you Libbie). I am off to my kitchen in my humble home to decipher cooking a chicken breast. Please pray I don't get salmonella. I don't own a thermometer.

Love and miss.

1 Down

Hello Amigos!!

So much went on this week. We started our rotations for DI on Monday. My partner, Natalie, and I started off with the MSU Extension Services. The Office of Nutrition Education is through Extension and they were having their annual training this week. So we helped with that all week. Monday was overwhelming (hello assignments) but each day got a little better in terms of how exhausted I was. I just have to get into this new routine. Some have heard me say this already, but I figured out a great way to explain what it is we're doing this year: I have a full-time job but instead of giving me money they give me assignments and on top of that I have my night grad class on Tuesdays and intern class every Friday morning. One good thing is that I don't think my grad class is going to be as stressful as I thought. Two papers, a midterm, and a final. I can handle that. So Natalie and I got to know each other really quick. I'm happy to have a partner that I didn't know so I can make a new friend! She is 3 years older than me so I guess I need to start acting more mature.

Sidenote: Last week during training I took a Coke with me when we went back for the afternoon. Okay, so I usually never drink Cokes because I don't like the way they taste, but I was out of DC. So I drink this Coke during our first lecture, that RD leaves, Dr. Lee starts going over something different. After about 10 minutes I start saying random things and wondering where they are coming from and laughing about nothing. Every time I look at Jane Gray I start giggling and CANNOT stop!!! Fortunately, Dr. Lee knows me well and just laughs at me, but I am on a serious sugar high at this point. I start crying I'm laughing so hard (again let me say that nothing funny has happened. I'm just laughing for the heck of it). Then, just like a 5 year old, I go from high to low in about 60 seconds flat. After that I'm ready to lay my head down on the table and take a nap. Okay, that was a typical Mary story that I thought I would share. End sidenote.

I think Thursday nights are going to be my new favorite thing. I felt like I had conquered the world yesterday at 5 o'clock and it was only the first week. I don't care though because every week that goes by that I don't get kicked out of my rotation is an accomplishment. So last night we had a girls night which I used as my celebration time. :)

Alright. More to come later.

Clever thinking lives here...

Hey friends! I say "friends" because I know no one else would probably be interested in reading a blog written by yours truly. However, if I don't know you personally and you're reading this, I think we can include you in that category as well.

So I did it. I decided to be like some of the cool people I admire most (Jane Gray & Libbie) and start my very own blog. I'm not sure how interesting it will be, but I do know that I will probably be finding time for this when I should be living the life of an intern instead. But with that said, raise your hand if you would like to hear stories from my hectic and jam packed life over the next 9 months. That's what I thought. No one raised their hand. Oh well, I'll be telling you anyway.

This year is going to be different to say the least. Same Starkville, a good majority of my lovely friends still being here, but no more college life. Getting up to be at work in Columbus at 5am or Tupelo by 7 for free. Anyone jealous yet? Graduate classes with the word "theory" in the title aka scary amounts of papers due on top of the gazillion assignments for each rotation. Hello Real World, my name is Mary and you make me want to cry.

With that said (not complaining, just giving you a picture of my upcoming life), I couldn't be happier to be in Starkville another year, living with my baby sister and loving the relationships God has blessed me with over the past 4 years. This internship that is most certainly going to break me down time after time this year is also a major blessing. No, I'm not playing as a Princess in Disney World right now, but God's plan was greater and He saw to it that I would be here again this year. And I am pumped to find out all the reasons why.