Frenchie!

Here’s the slideshow!

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:24:00 -0500

Here’s the slideshow!

2011 in Review

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:07:12 -0500

Looking back, it has been quite a lovely year. I don’t remember too much about winter and spring, except that they were crazy busy. I got to go to Boulder, played lots of ultimate frisbee with our campus crew, made some new friends in my class, and saw friends. I enjoyed hitting up the driving range a couple times, working in the ED, and even saw some of my Australian buddies.

Summer was the highlight of the year, when I headed to Cape Town. On the way there, I got to see my old friend, George in London! Once in South Africa, Ashley, Christina and I had so much fun seeing animals, drinking wine, touring the city, surfing, emergency-medicining, researching, and running on the promenade. It was by far one of the best trips of my life, and I can’t wait to return! I got to travel to Jeffrey’s Bay, a life goal, and watch the best surfers in the world, made new friends from all over the world, and really just enjoyed the heck out of life. I got back and celebrated my good friend Michelle’s wedding, and moved into a beautiful new house.

Fall has been lovely - school is better than last year, I live with Sayruh, Stephen, and Ryan and we have so much fun together, running is back in my life in a big way, and I have been taking more time for friends and myself instead of signing up for everything medicine related. I held a bone marrow donor drive, went to a conference in New Orleans, and got to relax so much for the end of the year.

Thanks to all my friends and family who have made this year so special, and I’m looking forward to a new one!

This year’s resolution: Cultivate a positive attitude. I could use some help in reacting better and being more positive. Subgoals include creating a new routine (flossing more, and reading more articles), thinking before speaking, and running 500 miles this year. I’m excited!

Check out these pics for what was really an excellent year for photos in my life!

December 31, 2011

Winter!

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:57:07 -0500

There really hasn’t been too much for me to report lately, just the normal Fall shenanigans. Denver has been super cold, so that has resulted in many a snowy run. I’m still enjoying jogging in my spare time as much as ever, and I’m very glad that we live in the neighborhood that we do! It is lovely being so close to City Park and having beautiful houses all around. Also, I have developed an obsession with mapmyrun.com and would suggest it to any and all who like running, walking, or tracking data.

Other than that, I’ve been seeing friends, cooking up Pad Thai and cupcake feasts to go along with incessant Survivor watching. When I’m not doing that, I’m reading the Hunger Games which is glorious, and kind of like the book version of Survivor. Weird.

I’m so happy to be on break for a short while here before my last semester of school. Woo! Without further ado, here are the most recent pictures.

Winter 2011

Fabulous Fall!!

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:03:31 -0400

My how time flies by!

Fall has been wonderful this year. I have been having heaps of fun with the roomies, and they are keeping me healthy! Ryan and I have been riding bikes to school sometimes, and I have been running a lot with Sayruh and Ashley, so that has been wonderful. We upgraded to a beautiful neighborhood for fall, filled with big trees with nice leaves. I love it!

We have had some fun at home as well. When the weather was nice, we played a lot of washers in our back yard, cultivated our garden, planted new tulips, and had some fun BBQ’s!

I had a fun weekend in Breckenridge a few weeks ago for the Colorado Medical Society fall meeting, and we had heaps of fun voting on important issues, as well as trail running in the mountains! Win!

Ryan and I headed to Boulder for a weekend to hit up the Farmer’s market and go jogging on my favorite mountain, Flagstaff, which is always really nice to go back and visit.

Alex Roth came for a fun weekend - we rode our bikes all over denver and got delicious brunch.

My winter baking habits have been picking up full force; it appears to be a cupcake year. And, I learned how to make Pad Thai! After craving it for so long, I hit up the Asian market and made it happen! Hooray for new life skills!

Other than that, I haven’t been up to too much else besides school, which is dandy and keeps me busy as always. Hope everyone has a fun Halloween!

Fall 2011

End of Summer!

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:41:00 -0400

As always, it has been a whirlwind since I last wrote. Picking up in Jeffrey’s Bay, about a month and a half ago. After we finished in Cape Town, I took the Baz Bus up the coast to watch the Billabong Pro surfing tournament in beautiful Jeffrey’s Bay. It was amazing. The best surfers in the world were there, and they make surfing look so easy! I sat on the beach and took pictures, played lots of pool, read my books, and enjoyed relaxing. It was glorious.

After a few days I headed to Knysna, where I met a Dutch medical student, Marieke, and a nice British boy named Luke. The three of us took boat tours, saw the townships, made delicious dinners, and explored the town. It was super fun.

Marieke and I continued down the Garden Route together doing fun things like sand boarding, girls nights, checking out museums, having delightful dinners on the sea, and exploring places like Wilderness. I went shark cage diving in Hermanus, and then we split up after a week when she had to go to Cape Town and I stopped back by Stellenbosch for the Stellenbosch Wine Festival, which, needless to say, was delightful. I learned about cooking, had a bunch of pinotage and learned all about it, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. I met up with friends that I met in Jeffrey’s Bay, and enjoyed the cute small town vibe.

For my last couple days, I headed back to Cape Town to hang out with Michael, Monisha, and Claire. Claire and I climbed Table Mountain again, this time the safe way. It was beautiful, and quite the workout! I took Claire and Monisha to Big Bay for the best views of Table Mountain, and Claire and I took a mountain biking wine tour. Good times were had by all. I was definitely sad to leave Cape Town and the friends I made there, it was the best summer ever.

Here is an album of my travels and the end of my time in Cape Town:

South Africa Travels

When I returned home, there was no shortage of good times to be had either. I immediately started moving into my new home, which I LOVE. I’m living with Stephen, Sarah and Ryan in such cute house, and I love our neighborhood. I started my garden, and we are always grilling together, running together, and having fun dinners and chats. It’s great!

Michelle got married at the cutest wedding ever the day after I got home, and I am so happy for her and Joe! Congrats, lady!

I’ve been having lots of fun with my girlfriends trying out cross fit, having girls nights, running, going out, and stooping (hanging out on the front porch). Sarah and I went and watched the finish of the Colorado Pro Cycling Challenge which was really neat to see, and we all went wine tasting at our friend David’s winery. Yum!

School started back up, and we celebrated our first test by a fun night having a picnic at the Botanical Gardens and at Mezcal. This weekend is a long one, so I am excited to get caught up with life and have our housewarming BBQ in the back yard. Good times ahead!

Here is an album of what life has been like since I’ve been back:

End of Summer, 2011

Happy end of summer to all!

I heart Cape Town, part two

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:48:17 -0400

Apologies for the long delay in posting my whereabouts and happenings. Life has been amazingly fun and exciting that I have not had time!

I left off about a month ago, and so incredibly much has happened since then. Ashley, Christina and I settled into our life in Sea Point where we were always exploring new delicious restaurants, and my favorite, jogging on the promenade. Every night at 5:45 pm there was a spectacular sunset, guaranteed. Naturally I have 1.5 billion pictures from it. Life at Jooste continued in a great way, we are all so excited to have gotten to learn there. We learned so much, particularly about diseases that we don’t see much of at home, and we became much more confident about a lot of procedures. We took so much blood, learned arterial blood gases, femoral blood draws, lumbar punctures, and the gals even tried their hands at chest tubes! It was amazing. We got a new set of fabulous teachers there, and we are all going to be counting the days until we return!

When we weren’t at Jooste, Tygerberg, or Sea Point, we were the busiest Cape Town enthusiasts ever. We spent a fair amount of time in the mountains enjoying their beauty. We hiked Lions Head, and took the harrowing route up Table Mountain. When we weren’t mountain goating and scaling sheer cliffs, we also took trips up Signal hill and went to the botanical gardens (Kirstenbosch) to enjoy the views of the mountains. I’ll say it again, Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities ever.

We took a couple of tours to explore some new areas, mainly the wine lands and the townships. Both were fabulous- the wine lands are just beautiful and produce my favorite beverage, and we got to pet a cheetah. Win. The township tour was very neat and helped us learn more about South Africa’s history and what life is like for our patients here. We also hit up the District 6 museum for another dose of history one day, and it is filled with lots of great pictures. I would recommend them to one and all!

We went to an ostrich farm, where I fell in love with a small one named Justin Bieber who got to roam free because of his meek and mild nature. Also, the countryside is equally as beautiful as every other part of South Africa.

We also tried to enjoy night life a few times, and discovered some real gems downtown, complete with ping pong tables. I had my requisite dance party, so that was great. We also became quite fond of heading to Camps Bay, a beautiful stretch of beach with trendy and touristy cocktails. We definitely watched Wimbledon from our sea side vantage point, and got Ashley a party bowl on our last night for her birthday. Additionally, we watched a rugby game at the Waterfront and even found fabulous hole-in-the-wall locations in Sea Point with amazing happy hours.

Then, we ended up just doing a random assortment of things as our time got shorter- touring the Castle of Good Hope, checking out Hermanus for its whales. Funny story, we went to Hermanus to see whales, and there were none. I did buy a cute dress though. Then, on our gorgeous coastal drive home, we saw a whale. Then, we kept seeing them from our balcony at home! And our friend’s balcony in Table View! And here in Jeffreys Bay! Whales are everywhere, and I like it. We tried lots of Asian restaurants to help me with my Thai/sushi addiction, went to High Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel for Christina’s addiction, tried to get into the stadium several times (and failed), took pictures of Bo Kaap (the colorful neighborhood with more interesting history), and probably did a bunch of other stuff. We seriously never stopped moving.

And, how could I forget, SURFING! I went twice in Cape Town, and it was fabulous. I first went at Muizenberg with Michael, Claire, and our new friend Colin. The water was positively frigid and we couldn’t get out, but it was still pretty fun. We compensated with lunch at Kalk bay, literally on the sea eating seafood. It was dreamy. Then, I went the next day at Table View with my friend James, and it was perfect. There are views of all the mountains in Cape Town, crystal clear water, birds, and slow, small waves. It was glorious.

On Wednesday, I departed from the girls (which was sad, because I spent 1.5 months straight with them, 24/7, and love them) and headed for Jeffreys Bay. For those who don’t know, it is one of the top ten surfing spots in the world, and the Billabong Pro Surfing Contest is occurring. Now. So, I have been spending my days watching the best surfers in the world tear it up in a beautiful location. Lucky me! I am backpacking again, so I have naturally met lots of nice people, played a lot of pool, and had more dance parties. Tomorrow is the final, and after that I will be moving on to Knysna to enjoy more of the Garden Route. Things are just going so great! Hope everyone is happy and healthy! x!

I heart Cape Town, part One

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:37:54 -0400

It has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks since we arrived in Cape Town!

Actually, the whirlwind started slightly before that for me- I stopped by London to see my long lost friend George and his wife Tomoko. Due to some airport issues, I only had an afternoon to spend with them, which we made good use of having coffee and croissants, walking through Green Park, to Buckingham Palace, past Parliament, and having an early dinner of Indian food before a quick stopover at London Bridge and heading back to the airport.

Christina, Ashley, Dr. Richards and I met up without a hitch at the airport in Cape Town the next morning, where our adventures began. For me, that meant overcoming some serious anxiety about driving on the left. As we cruised around mountainous bends, through winelands, and along the sea, things got better. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen, complete with all the features listed above. It is lush and beautiful, and it helps always having a view of mountains, ocean, or both. I highly recommend it to one and all. We spent our first day getting acquainted with our own neighborhood, Sea Point. It is a hip, densely populated area squished on the side of Signal hill, leading four blocks down to the sea where there is a promenade with absolutely gorgeous sunsets. We have spent all the chances we have going down there at that time for a run/walk/photo shoot, if we aren’t enjoying it from our balcony. We finished off the day with dinner at the Waterfront, a touristy but quaint center of the city.

After that, we spent our first few days trying to get oriented, running around from the hospital we work at (GF Jooste) to the universities (Stellenbosch and Tygerberg hospital) trying to sort out our clinical and research schedule. We interspersed our meetings with touristy delights, which have been most wonderful. We saw African penguins at Boulder’s beach, where all 3 of us girls took an unreal amount of photos of the cute birds. We wine tasted at Groot Constantia, the oldest vineyard in Cape Town, which was gorgeous with its changing leaves and mountain backdrop. We went to the Old Biscuit Mill, a Saturday morning farmers market and foodie paradise. It was so much fun- there was delicious food of every variety to choose from, delicious sangria, and seriously cute and cheap clothing. After whiling away our morning, we drove down to Cape Point to see the views down to Antarctica (if using imagination), and topped off the evening with a wonderful BBQ with Dr. Richards’ friends. As a sidenote, everyone here has been so nice and wonderful to us. It is amazing! Other than that, we went to Mzoli’s, a Sunday afternoon drinking + BBQ held in Guguletu, one of the townships near Jooste, have gone shopping in many a market, walked through the Company Gardens (where the original fruit trees are for those sailing around the cape hundreds of years ago to prevent scurvy), to Llandudno beach (gorgeous), and finally dinner at Bukara, one of the fanciest and most delicious Indian places in town. Most recently we visited famous Robben Island for a dose of history and amazing views of Cape Town from the sea. It has been just glorious. We really have enjoyed exploring, but we also have loved working, which we have been doing quite a bit of.

Jooste is where we have been doing most of our work in the Emergency department. It is crazy. The patients have totally different diseases and problems than what we see in the US. It is pretty normal for our patients to have late stage cancer, infections associated with advanced AIDS, or be the victim of trauma (lots of stabbings). It seems that most people have TB, and many people have epilepsy as a result of medication withdrawal. We have been doing lots of IV’s, suturing, and drawing bloods. I have been joking that our medical education involves stabbing needles deeper and deeper into people: IVs, arterial blood gases, lumbar punctures, chest tubes. Ashley was bold enough to do the first lumbar puncture in our group (which she did great), so Christina and are up next. The best part of our training has been our teachers here. Everyone has been so generous with their knowledge; we have been learning a ton! It is really a great environment and we are so happy that we chose to spend our summer here. More soon!

Spring Pics

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 01:14:22 -0400

Well, there hasn’t been too much to report other than the usual studying/frisbee-ing/hot-tubbing. A few fun parties here and there, but mainly I have just been trying to squeeze in seeing as many of my favorite people as possible before I leave.

Thank you to all of my new friends, old friends, and family for making this such a special year!!!

I must admit, I am very excited to have finished my first year of med school, and I am even more excited for a fabulous summer in Cape Town! Ashley, Christina and I are all ready to go, hooray! I am also looking forward to a quick reunion with an old friend in London, more adventure updates when I have internet! Happy Summer!

This weekend was the CMS conference in Vail! The usual fun was...

Sun, 01 May 2011 18:31:12 -0400

Sarah vs. Sara

Jumpy

Jumperoo

Snowy

This weekend was the CMS conference in Vail! The usual fun was had by all- learning about Physician wellness, mingling with docs and other medical students, hot tubbing, and jumping all around Vail. Whew!

Spring, Whee!

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:47:46 -0400

Oh my. It has been a long time since I have written. Spring has really been quite busy for me!! First of all, I got a new camera, which I love, so be ready for excessive amounts of floral pictures! And/or pictures of zebras and giraffes in the not so distant future.

More than a month ago it was spring break, which I really enjoyed. Ryan, Charley, Nina and I visited Boulder for a trip to the tea factory, brunch at my favorite ever Brasserie 1010, and shuffleboard with Brock. It was a real treat! We also spent a couple days in Avon where I thouroughly enjoyed hot tubbing, snow shoeing, and chilling out in Vail. Sigh.

School started again with a new block- cardiovascular, pulmonary and renal. I have really liked it so far- we are finally starting to use our brains!!! As always, I am getting ready for my South Africa trip, which I am insanely excited about! We even learned how to splint! Here is a pic of Ashley and Christina- my partners in crime for the trip. We are going to run up and down Signal Hill, along the beachy promenades, and hang out in an ED all day together!

I have been doing my best to be a happy and healthy lady (although it has proven to be somewhat of a challenge). I got to celebrate lots of birthdays this month, including delightful meals with Moats (@ Root Down, yum!), Ryan (@Cheeky Monk, double yum), and with the girls on Sunday night.

Other than that, I have been keeping up with the boxing and frisbee-ing, and I even started teaching Abs class. Let’s just say I am really sore all the time because I work out hard and infrequently :) In other geekiness, I have learned an extra lot about EKG’s, ultrasound, and internal medicine lately, and I really like all of them. I also went to a personality workshop and confirmed that I am still an ENFP. Guess who else is? Brooke! And we even dress the same, creepy….

Other than that, I have just been trying to have lots of fun, including pot lucks, girlie manicure/martini evenings, meeting new kids for second look day, taking heaps of jumping photos, and celebrating with Michelle her future marriage.

Up next is the spring Colorado Medical Society conference in Vail, focused on physician wellness and payment reform, right up my alley. Overall, it has been a glorious spring so far, and I can’t wait for summer!

Spring!!!!!!

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:21:51 -0400

Spring!!!!!!

Thanks, heart!

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:51:25 -0400

Will beat 100,472 times, pump 1,474 gallons of blood, and push that blood nearly 8,818 miles throughout my body!

Created by MyFitnessPal.com

">Thanks, heart!:

I mostly believe it, although the cardiac output is questionable.

Dale Dubin is my hero. Thank you, sir!

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:36:35 -0400

Dale Dubin is my hero. Thank you, sir!

Colorado- not as healthy as we'd like to think

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:33:00 -0400

Colorado- not as healthy as we'd like to think:

Check out the 2010 Colorado Health Report Card:

“Colorado’s reputation as the leanest state in the country masks the fact that it fares poorly when compared to other states in many other health indicators. For example, the state lags behind in prenatal care (34th), dental care for children (38th) and children’s health insurance coverage (44th). And many of the health indicators for Colorado are declining more rapidly than the rest of the nation.”

Yikes!

I wish I knew about this in undergrad! Check out Kahn Academy...

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:15:55 -0400

I wish I knew about this in undergrad!

Check out Kahn Academy to learn about all sorts of interesting topics- finance, genetics, math, you name it!

Desk stander

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:57:52 -0400

Desk stander