Wednesday, October 31, 2012

mid-week pick me up

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are my blah days and I'm sure most of you can agree. Ironically, I do not mind Mondays. They encourage me to work herder. A new week, new beginnings, new chance to do good.  

But today is not Monday and the weather has been devoid of sun for the past week or two. I have turned into a fat hermit. Eating my feelings and all. I googled cupcakes this morning to get me started today and this is what I found! I love how neat some of these are, but I'm sure I wouldn't like to taste the fondant. I always try it and always end up not eating it. But it makes everything look clean and polished! Have a happy hump day and there's a new REAL blog post coming soon! haha :)












Sunday, October 28, 2012

Eid Ul-Adha

Friday was a Muslim holiday, Eid ul-Adha, which basically is celebrated at the end of the holy pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia. It also celebrates the story of Abraham and Ishmael. The last few days have been quite hectic, which is why I haven't been able to update or even schedule blog posts. But I hope anyone celebrating this had a wonderful Eid and if you don't celebrate Eid I hope your weekend is going fabulous!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Mid-week Pick me up

I am very intrigued by finger art. Some of these people got super creative! I'll let the photos speak for themselves. :) {edit} Scrolling through them, I realized a lot are kind of gory or gross. But they were more creative then the lovey dovey ones. Haha. {/edit}













Monday, October 22, 2012

Laughing Out Loud


My friend had an exam around this time and I told her I hoped the exam is so easy that she laughs through it. I didn't want to stress her out so I didn't mention the time I actually did laugh through an exam. I thought I'd share my anecdote on here. :)

Back in med school, we had an anatomy midterm. I studied for it like crazy. Usually histology accounts for about 2 points out of 40 for the exams so I didn't focus on that. Instead, I studied the gross anatomy like the location and relation of the organ to the rest of the body, blood supply, nerve supply, venous drainage, function etc. Basically everything except histology.

Everything is essay format, by the way. You either know it or you don't. There's no multiple choice so there is no process of elimination. Drawing are important as well as charts and graphs. And neatness! I could never be neat on my exam, there's too much to write and too little time! I had this fear of not getting everything out of my head and onto paper fast enough. Two and a half hours was never enough. And it made me feel so when I wrote 15-20 pages. I am such a nerd.

Exam day comes and as soon as we look at the exam the class just bursts out in laughter. Because every single question on the test was histology. People just stood up and handed the professor a single sheet of paper with their names and ID numbers on it. Some wrote down the questions over and over in nice handwriting. I made up stuff and walked out early. Most of the class walked out soon after the test started. Some sat in their seats doing nothing until time was up.

I miss med school. 

Friday, October 19, 2012

Smarty pants

I need to be super productive today; actually, everyday. I love reading quotes and that's one way to get me started. I'm going to pump myself up here and hopefully pump you up, too! Have a good Friday!

"I never cut class. I loved getting As, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world." 
"I'm not smart, but I like to observe. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why."
"Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart."
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." 

And my favorite of the bunch:

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

Monday, October 15, 2012

Pray for me :)



The last few days have been gloomy and full of rain showers.  I usually LOVE the rain, but after a few days of no sun, it can really get to me. I think I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm studying all day errday that makes me sad and stressed. Taking away the sun just adds to my mood.

Muslims also believe that the rain is a mercy and a good time to ask God for help, stuff or anything else.  Usually when it's raining I'll get a text, read a tweet or get an email from one of my Muslim friends saying, "It's raining, remember to pray for me, too!" I'm also guilty of doing the above. 

 I do love thunderstorms, though. I like it when the whole house gets quiet and peaceful, despite the cracking thunder outside and the flashes of lightning. I like to be at home curled up with a good book and some herbal tea. I also like to go online and read blogs, maybe even get inspired to posts here. 

Which reminds me: we received a comment on an earlier post regarding our presence in the blogosphere by Silly Billy, "i missed the stories here and there but you guys need to update and let others know you're updating too"

I am going to reply to that here, because I'm sure others might be thinking and suggesting we do the same. I know I did. I am trying to make an attempt to be regularly posting on here, but I'm not really commenting on other blogs, nor am I promoting new posts {I am not sure about the other authors} because I myself am pretty busy and can't expect much traffic or comments from our readers and other bloggers simply because I do not have time to write comments on other blogs. I don't want to be at the receiving end and not give anything in return. So I'll probably be a lot more active in the blogging world soon after my last exam. Which will be soon, I hope!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fitspiration

Hi, Everyone! I'm in need of a little motivation. I gained weight over the last few months and seem to be going uphill on the scale.  I didn't check because I didn't want to find out, but my jeans definitely felt tighter. I started running almost everyday and started to feel good about myself. Eating healthier came automatically and I wasn't craving as much sugar as usual. Then I finally got the courage to weight myself and found that I was 3 pounds over my pre marriage weight. I wanted to lose about 8-9 pounds and still do.

For some reason I just stopped. Within a few days I noticed a dramatic change in my mood and how I felt about myself. I went from a pretty healthy diet to one filled with junk food. I feel depressed and lumpy. So I am going back on treadmill and hopefully will stick with this. I mean, I should since it made me feel so good. This time a huge reason is because of the positive impact healthy living had on every aspect of my life. 
I was running every morning for about 30-35 minutes and walking a few minutes to cool down. I am on a time constraint now so instead of adding time to my running schedule I'll add speed. 

Breakfast was usually a homemade fruit smoothie or cereal and chai. I drink the chai for the caffeine but I'm switching to coffee for two reasons. One being chai doesn't work for me anymore and I need something stronger. And I tend to add more calories to my chai than my coffee in terms of evaporated milk vs sugar.

Lunch I try to put off until about 3 pm, but I realized irregardless of how late my lunch is, I will end up eating a little dinner. So there's not point in eating so late for lunch and eating again before I give those calories a chance to properly digest. I eat a huge portion of veggies that I microwave and season myself. And add a serving of carbs. 1/2 cup of brown rice, seasoned. Or a slice of bread. Sometimes soup. I like to eat a LOT. For me, it's quantity over quality. A small heavy meal will not do it for me. I'd rather have a large meal the same calories so I stay full for a really long time. 

Dinner is usually a little Indian food, which is pretty oily. I try to not eat much around dinner time, but I usually have to eat something

I snack on baby carrots and try to drink a lot of water. I don't like drinking a lot and get a lot of kidney pain as a result, so I really need to and try to drink as much as I can when I remember. If I'm craving something sweet I grab some dark chocolate because that's the only thing that curbs the craving. But if there is cake in the house...I cannot resist. I still have to learn how to stay away from it. I should probably just not take the first bite. 

I am going to add a few minutes of abs, squats and arm exercises to tone up a little. Oh! This is important! Support groups, exercising buddies, etc help you keep on track, if you can't do it alone. A bunch of girls have a thread where we try to help each other stay on track and it helps for the most part. I feel bad eating something knowing other people out there are trying to be healthy and are relying on me for support. :) I also need to keep in mind that results aren't going to come in a day or two. Like the picture below says, it took time to gain the weight and will take time to lose it. At least my mental health will benefit quickly. 

Anyways, what are some ways you keep healthy? Please share your tips, we'd love to hear them :)









Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Friday, October 5, 2012

Happy Friday!



When I'm studying, I'm in the zone and do not like being disturbed. Not even for a moment. That's how I've been since I started med school and that's how it's going to be until I take my next exam. Le sigh. Study-wise, I guess that's a good thing, because I tend to stay on track. But it's also a  horrible thing because so much stress comes along with it if I don't stick to my schedule.

Things on my to-do list when I finally have enough time to do it

1. Burn my books - I'm kidding. Knowledge is very valuable to me and feel like I'm dissing intelligence by doing so. I would never ever do that. But I am looking forward to putting them away, out of sight, as well as removing the desk from the bedroom.

2. Work out. I was running but stopped. I am totally going to join a gym and repair my body from months and months of sitting around for hours at a time.

3. Cook! I love cooking and want to try out fancy stuff that takes time and patience. I don't know if I'll be able to follow through with this one, but I'll definitely try.

4. Read. I have not read a novel for fun in about a year and a half. It's time. There are so many books I have in mind.

5. $hopping! This I'll do after the gym and after I lose 5 pounds. There are some things on my wish list, but I think I'll hold off until I drop a few pounds. This'll be motivation to get to work!

6. Garden. I was hoping to get some gardening in this summer, but that proved to be a fail. Hopefully this coming spring/summer of 2013

7. Pinterest. I take breaks and go on pinterest, saving recipes, DIY projects and other things. I want to actually do some of those and even post them up here!

8. Go places with my husband. When he's lucky and gets two days in a row off, we naturally want to go and take a day or two trip somewhere, but can't because I am not off. We have a list of a few places in the States we'd like to visit and hopefully we can do that one day. Lucky for me, he also has his boards coming up so I won't feel as bad because he has to study, too!

9. Give my closet a makeover. I am super excited to do this. We have a walk in closet, but it definitely can be changed to make the most of the space.

10. Redo the bathroom. Paint, retile, and change the mirror, lighting and countertop. I might as well change everything. :) It's not so bad, but I want to do something drastic to something. haha.

I think my brain is ready to get back to my books. Peace :)

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Little Stuff

Here are some of my week's amazing things in my life. I don't know what I should call this segment. I'm not a creative cat so if anyone can think of anything aside from thankful thursday, let me know!

1. Evaporated milk. It makes my chai so yummy. It's not great for me, and I am trying to cut down on a lot of fatty things, but I don't deprive myself of three things: evaporated milk in my chai, dark chocolate and carbohydrates. Good tasting chai makes me feel all warm and happy. dark chocolate tastes good, but also a little goes a long way and curbs further cravings for sweets. And carbohydrates because, if I did deprive myself of them, I'd go crazy when given the chance to eat them.

2. My health. I know this is a general topic, but I was thinking about it today. Living in India for a few years, I've had my fair share of infectious diseases; but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. However, I don't get sick often and I am grateful for that. I'd rather have one unusual illness every few years than many small ones throughout the year. I was thinking how awesome it was that I don't get sick often and I finally caught a viral infection a few days later. I guess I jinxed myself, but it really is a blessing. I do have seasonal allergies, but it can all be prevented.

3. Today's special people {and everyday!} are my friends. The ones who I can talk to about anything without feeling judged. The ones who will give me honest advice. The ones where I can meet after months or even years and feel like nothing's changed. Those people are hard to find, so if you ever find one of these gems, don't take advantage of them.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Anywhere but here



I'm having one of those days where I'd like to be alone and not talk to anyone. Actually this is day two. I just want to get away from everything. I wish there were good nature parks nearby. I'd grab my books and lunch and hang out there most of the day if I could. Phone and mind turned off. This photo is so beautiful and just looking at it calms my soul.