Black and White

As you might know, the world is not black and white and while I would like it to be sometimes, I have found that "living in the grey" is often a profound experience.  I recently started my second to last internship at Craig Hospital in Denver and will be an intern here for the next sixteen weeks.  I am working on the brain injury team and I can already say this will be one of the most challenging things I take on (academically, emotionally, and professionally).  But, I am so excited to be at Craig and feel very blessed to an intern at one of the top 10 Nationally Ranked rehab hospitals (Craig was #7 this year).

All that is to say, at Craig, nothing is black and white.  Especially working with patients with brain injuries.  In school, we learn techniques a certain way to establish a baseline and "master"a skill.  However as I learned today, the way we were taught in school is just that, a baseline.  For example, we learned how to transfer patients from one surface to another in situations where they cannot do it themselves (be it weakness on one side of their body, impaired muscle function, etc).  Today, I had to brainstorm through ways to transfer a patient who has no control over one side of his body, complete lack of cognition, clonus and spasticity in lower extremity muscles and decreased range of motion in his ankle. Frick! I was not taught how to do that in school.  And thus, we begin the journey of living in the grey, where nothing is simple and concrete.  No one patient will present like another and all patients will progress in very different ways and on different timelines.

Though I have only been at Craig for three days, I am excited for what is to come.  I am going to try and figure out a way to consistently blog about my time there.  Whether that be funny stories, success stories, life lessons learned, etc.  I havent decided the format yet and it might take me a little while to get my feet under me, but you can look forward to something :)  Maybe a short blog every Wednesday?  We will see!

A complete side note, I have five or so blogs that are all half written and I am going to work on getting those published in the next few days.  Some are stories about recent adventures, a blog about the 10th Anniversary of Sept 11th and various other things... So be looking forward to those as well!

Summer's Ending and Yogurtland

This weekend was our first taste of fall in Denver.  I woke up on Saturday morning and it was at least 20 degrees cooler than it has been.  I instantly wanted to pull on jeans, my riding boots and a scarf.  I love fall- it is my favorite season and after the heat this summer, it is most welcomed!  

Then came Monday- it was suddenly summer again!  I made a last minute decision to go to an afternoon Rockies game with Camille, Josh, Betty, Brandon and Jenna.  It was really fun, but also very hot!  Sunscreen does not help one bit when at altitude in the Rock Pile :)  Here are some pictures from the game!

Our view from the Rock Pile

All 6 bikes locked up together!

The game was awesome and it was really fun to ride down to the game!  While at the game, we had a conversation about frozen yogurt that I have to share.  We decided there are some unwritten rules to frozen yogurt- but the funny thing was we all have our own little things that we do EVERY TIME we get frozen yogurt.  Here are mine:  

• I always get three types of yogurt and place them into a triangle.  Usually I get red velvet cake batter and two fruit types of yogurt.  
• The toppings always include cookie-dough chunks and heath bar.  From there I waver on M&Ms or Reeses bites.
• I always have one sour gummy worm AND always eat it last

Jess and I met up after the game at Yogurtland and here are some pictures of my adventure!

Red Velvet, Blueberry and Blackberry Lemon Mint

Toppings with my sour worm

Waiting to eat the wormy :)

So, what are you "quirks" about eating frozen yogurt?  Though I love frozen yogurt on hot days, I am very much looking forward to fall!!

Adult

What makes one an adult?  Is it when we turn 18 and go away to college?  Some might make a compelling argument that those first days "on our own" are the first steps into adulthood.  Or, is it at 21 when we are legally able to drink?  Some could say that brings a fair amount of responsibility and thus makes us even more like adults.  Or, is it when we get our first job, get married or buy our first home or car?  In essence, these are all small steps that track the transformation from teenage years to adulthood.  For me, it wasn't moving to Portland to go to college, graduating from said college, moving to NYC or starting graduate school.  Adulthood was finally donned on Friday when I bought my first piece of real art!

Brooklyn Bridge at Sunset

Pardon the crappy photo, but I was so excited to write this blog, I had to settle for a photo from my phone.  Since moving into the studio, its been fun to incorporate things that are all "mine" and decorate exactly the way I want.  Though a lot of my life is still in transition (I will move again in five months), its been fun to see what things I am most passionate about- as those are the things that are represented on my walls.  As I look around, there are photos of places I have travelled, friends that are both near and far and books- lots of books that have challenged me at different points in my life.  Arguably, these are all moments of my transition into adulthood.  Looking around, I realize how many memories have been made along the way and how many more have yet to be made!

How have you transitioned into adulthood?  What moments or memories stand out to you as part of the transition?

Recipes from pinterest

When I was in Montana, we had a little fun with some of the recipes that I have pined on Pinterest.  I thought I would blog about a couple of the ones that we made!

Lydia and I made Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies for dessert night.  They were amazing!  Here are a few of the pictures we took while cooking them.  Click here if you want the recipe!

Lydia making the dough into round balls

Nutella properly swirled into the dough

So amazingly delicious!!

We also made Spinach Lasagna Rolls for dinner one night.  They were super easy and fun to make.  I would say these were even better than Lasagna :)  We added chicken to ours to add some protein and served it with grilled asparagus and garlic bread.  Click here for the recipe!

Lydia with the garlic bread prep!

Sooo amazing!!

Finally, for the Oregon Ducks season opener, I made a black bean salad with avocado, also from pinterest!  Here are a few pictures and of course, the recipe!

Yummy! 

Add avocado prior to serving!

And YES, the choice on color of bowl and cutting board were on purpose because its GAME DAY! Go DUCKS!!! :)