Back to School!

I start orientation tomorrow at UNC School of Public Health for phd school (epidemiology)! I'm so nervous to be going back to school after such a wonderful year of working during the day and having my evenings and weekends to myself. Now I'll be working full time and in school full time.

One day at a time....

Breakfast

I made a green smoothie like Jancie! This is my new very healthy breakfast.

I throw in:
1-2 bananas
handfull of frozen or fresh strawberries
handfull of frozen (or fresh if you can get it) peaches/raspberries/mango/pineapple
and then 2 handfuls of baby spinach
1/2-1 cup of water or milk if needed

BLEND on LIQUIFY!!!!

It was good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!

August is Maggie's birthday month. Since we obviously don't know which day is her actual birthday, we celebrated with her when we visited her (and Ben's family) in Kentucky. Look at how much she loves her new Nylabone circle thing!!!



Ok I think we might have pushed it on her too much, she kind of lost interest in it and played with other toys, but it is still fun to put it on her nose.

Starbucks Man

I cannot hold back anymore. I was going to let my frustrations with the Starbucks man go, but after today I JUST CAN'T!!!!

I usually stop into the Starbucks near my office sometime around lunch with my own mug. I ask for a refill if I'd already had a Starbucks coffee that morning and I usually ask for the dark roast. EVERYONE but the evil Starbucks man knows what this means. Take my cup from my hand, fill it with coffee (ask if I want room for cream), hand it back and charge me $.54.

Every SINGLE time I go in and ask for a refill from the evil Starbucks man he puts me through my own personal hell on earth Starbucks experience.

First it's the size question: oh is this a tall refill, a grande refill, or a venti refill?

I don't know! It's a refill of my mug and it always costs me $.54! So I tell him that. Then he says "Ok...and what is the discount for having your own mug."

I don't know! But since the charge ALWAYS comes to $.54 I assume that the discount is included.

This alone wouldn't be that bad but then he always proceeds to talk me through each thing he is doing when he rings me up. First it takes him at least 20 seconds to find the button to press to charge me for a refill, and his finger drifts over every single button before he decides.

Then it is the monologue: "okay I better take your card, now I am going to run it, I just ran it, I am tearing off the receipt you will need to sign, will you please sign this reciept? Ohps! I gave you the wrong one to sign! Will you sign this one instead? Oh, I better give you your card back now, haha."

This is an almost verbatim transaction. Luckily he is only in there about once a week.

Try and order a low-fat caramel latte with no whipped cream like the guy ahead of me today? You've got no chance in hell of getting out of there in under 10 minutes.

Man: I would like a low-fat caramel latte
Starbucks Man (SM): would you like whipped cream?
Man: No thank you
SM: would you like the caramel drizzle we usually put on the whipped cream when someone does want whipped cream?
Man: Hmmmm, okay
SM: Okay, now let me see (looking for 'caramel drizzle' button on cash register) I don't think we can do that.....would you like low-fat whipped cream so we can put the drizzle on?
Man: no I didn't want whipped cream
SM: Oh ok, I guess you will have to go without the drizzle unless you would like me to call my manager up and ask
Man: THATS OKAY I DONT CARE!
SM: Oh and what size do you want? We have the tall which is 12 ounces, the grande which is 16 ounces and the venti which is 20 ounces?
Man: the Grande
SM: Ok, are you sure?
Man: Yes

Then SM goes through the whole hellish payment process with the card, the receipt, the signing of the receipt...etc.

I'm going to start recording my every encounter with him so keep your eyes open.

Kate and Anna take on Kentucky and Germany

NEW BLOG ALERT! Click here: Gym Shorted Chums


Check out two of my favorite buddies/sistas from St. Olaf (Kate and Anna) on their quest to train together while living in two different countries (Dresden, Germany and Kentucky, USA) for their first half-marathon ever!

I love you Kate and Anna!

If the above link doesn't work use the one below:
http://www.gymshortedchums.blogspot.com/

Summer Vacay: Three Lakes, Wisconsin

We left North Carolina early Saturday morning to make the most of the first part of our vacation: Northern Wisconsin. After renting a car at the Central Wisconsin Airport we drove directly to Nueskes to pick up huge packages of bacon, sausage, cheese, and beer. After a quick stop for dinner at my grandparents house we drove on up to Three Lakes.

After a restful night's sleep I was up early excited to get the boat in the water. I really wanted to teach Ben to water-ski! But he did not seem to share my excitement....
After rousing him out of bed I strapped him in to a tiny life-jacket:
And got the boat ready:


He was nervous so I showed him how easy it it (obviously not disclosing the fact that I hadlearned when I was 7.)
It was now Ben's turn so into the water he went.
"I'm readyyyyy"
Front view of the cottage from the lakeBen actually did get up after a few tries and even skied for a good 8 seconds but I have no evidence because I was so excited I forgot to take a picture.

Anyway, we decided enough was enough so we pulled out the bright yellow tube which turned out to be wayyyyy more fun:

And with that we were done for the day!

Back from Vacation

Before I dive into the stories of Three Lakes, Madison, and Louisville, I had to show these pictures Ben took of Maggie and I napping on each other (her head is on my legs and my head is on her side) on a four hour drive from Ohio to Louisville.