Hi there! Happy Tuesday night!
How are you? Posts have gotten pretty sporadic around here as I transition into summer semester. I’m onto week 2 right now, and so far… it’s a bit rough, if I’m honest. I’m pretty tired, and don’t have any free time during the week. But! I love love LOVE the curriculum, my field placement, working with clients, and every day am more and more sure that this is what I want to do with my life. I went to an amazing conference on military mental health, and I feel so inspired to finish my degree and get out into the field. It’s a busy time, but I’ve got a great support system, and have managed to spend time with my family, friends, and love. I can honestly say that I have never been happier in my life.
My grandmother sent me a surprise gift last week of Martha Rose Shulman’s The Very Best of Recipes for Health, and I immediately made five recipes to help get me through my first week of summer semester. Shulman writes a great column for the New York Times each week, detailing simple, nutritious recipes for the home cook using seasonal and local ingredients. Two favorites so far:
Oven-Steamed Salmon with Pan-Cooked Mushrooms (served with asparagus and quinoa):
And Mushroom Soup with Barley and Kale (I used buckwheat instead of the barley.) This was so comforting during our week of rain last week.
My current schedule doesn’t leave much time for exercise, and when I do have time on the weekends, there are so many things I’d rather do. You know the drill. But… I feel so much better when I’m getting my move on, so I decided to cash in on a gift card I received last year for my birthday, and picked up this Run Swiftly tank and Breeze By shorts. They are both extremely comfortable, and I love how they look, but unfortunately I bought the “shortcut” tank instead of their signature long version, which I love, and the result is my stomach hangs out when I run.
Oh, yeah, did I mention I went running? FOUR TIMES! That’s four times more than I ran this past year. I’m not making a “thing” out of this, because whenever I do I seem to scare myself out of keeping up the reignited habit, but yeah… I’m liking these little two mile jaunts.
There are many positive parts of the accelerated MSW trajectory (being done in 16 months as opposed to 2, 3, or even 4 years), but one downside is that I really only have the weekends to see B, and I’ve got work to do a lot of that time. But we’re making it work! We haven’t been getting “crazy;” most of our nights together look like this (we recently started both Homeland and Damages so staying home isn’t too bad!):
We did go out on a date last Saturday to Ovelia, which was fun. We sat outside (!) and split an order of spinach pie and seafood linguine. (As far as the FODMAPS go, I’m being a little more lenient… I haven’t been able to determine any noticeable patterns with what I eat, so am going to be a little more laid-back until I meet with my GI doctor in a couple weeks.)
Speaking of spending time with B, we celebrated 1.5 years together in May! Time is f-l-y-i-n-g. We opened up one of the bottles we brought home from California to commemorate it.
We also celebrated a milestone birthday for my dad last week! My parents, B and I went to dinner at Gotham Bar & Grill for an exquisite meal. Below, the dessert special of the night: key lime pie!
Each day, I try to find a way to treat myself and practice self-care. Today, that meant stopping at the Soft-Serve Fruit Co (remember when I interviewed one of the founders?) for a crunchy salty sundae. (It also meant wining down the evening with sauvignon blanc and Mad Men.)
And a final, random note: I’ve also become committed to finding the perfect shade of red lipstick. I’m 25… it’s time. Please share your thoughts!
Hope this finds you all happy, healthy, and enjoying this very moment. Check back in soon!
