Holy Pictures Batman

This is going to be one of those posts with a lot of pictures complete with Gabe-ified commentary. 

First. I have yet to completely finish a book. I have checked out probably 20 books from library in the past 6 months and can say I haven't finished, or even make it through half of them. Isn't that the pits??? I'm in a slump. I requested a book I saw in a bookstore while I was home, The Postmistress, and started it yesterday. It seems interesting so let's hope this one turns out to be a winner. However, tonight I found myself reading one of my favorite things: 

cookbooks

Yes I read cookbooks, from cover to cover. It's fun! 

Anyway. I went home last week (here's where I blow up your screen with pictures)!

I brought Scotty back to New England and into the loving arms of my brother and sis-in-law. He's back to stay. Lucky pooch!

 So. To make this brief, I was going to give Scotty some happy meds to make the flying experience a little better for him (because last time it most definitely was NOT enjoyable). Well, we were sitting a few gates away so Scotty wouldn't freak out being around a lot of people and all of the sudden they made a final boarding call over the PA system and that the doors were closing. FREAKOUT!!!!! So I ripped open my bag and tried to get Scotty to eat his happy meds. Well. He didn't, but he did eat his treats. Punk. I shoved the stuff back in my bag and ran to the gate, boarded the plane, got situated, and then realized the pills were in my backpack. In the overhead compartment. And I was sitting in the window seat. Great. Once again we were flying with Scotty un-medicated. I was so nervous that my leg was shaking and shaking so hard that the nice elderly gentleman next to me kept looking at me. Oh boy. Well, by some miracle, Scotty was actually very good on the plane and even managed to sleep for 45 minutes. He was none to happy with me as we tried to get off the plane but I can't blame him. I hate his stupid carry-on bag too. But we made it and that's all that matters. WAHOOO!!!!

Cuddling safely in my bed at home. Cutie. 

To say I was happy would be a vast understatement. 

 

 

 I got to have Squamscott Soda! 

The raspberry lemonade is delish!

 

 On one of our adventures, we went to Newburyport, MA. I love this quaint little place, especially their antique shops!

And whattayaknow I found this while I was thumbing through some golf cards-Prestwick is in Myrtle Beach! Whaaaaaat?

I bought some new sandals. Don't mind the outfit but daaaaang I love those flats!

We went into the Best of British shop where Emma and I coveted Hunter rain boots and then we overwhelmed our noses with the delicious scents of Crabtree and Evelyn. I want this new one! OHMYLATNUS it smells sooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!

 And I also had to get my pound of chocolate covered raisins from the general store. I opted out of getting 2 pounds because I'll be back next month (bad sadly they are already gone...maybe I shoulda gotten more...?) 

I found this in my favorite antique shop, Flukes & Friends & Finds, and fed my anchor obsession. My mom also found an anchor skirt at a consignment shop...$12 later it was mine. Oh happiness! And thank you Mom for letting me get it!

Miss this furball. 

I was delighted to be a part of the surprise retirement party for my high school English teacher Mrs. Miles. 

She taught at my high school for 40 years. I doubt I will see that kind of commitment with my generation. The lives she has touched! She's a dynamic lady, if I've ever met one. A rare gem and a woman who has influenced me in more ways that I could ever say. It's a very special thing being part of a small community that becomes your family and I just can't describe how happy I was to be a part of this special landmark and to celebrate this amazing woman with the rest of our Sanborn family. 

Now. Tangent time. This is my grandmother Barbara.

She's a babe and also one of my absolute favorite people in the whole world. She's the best cook and baker I have ever known. She's also sassy and funny and I hope to be as witty and awesome as she is when I grow up. Whenever I go visit we like to go through her closets and play dress up in some of her old fur coats and things. She has the coolest clothes. I LOVE HER. I actually found that picture on my mom's phone (thanks Mom) and then as I was going through some of my old things from college, found some old pictures she had given me during a visit while I was in college. So, it's throwback Thursday time.  

Eh hem. Back to New England.

I like my traditions. And for the love of ice cream I have only be thinking/talking/dreaming about my favorite ice cream place since Christmas: Lago's. My mom tried to talk me out of it. Have you lost your marbles???? 

                          

 I got cookie monster and oatmeal cream pie with chocolate jimmies!

 It's all homemade ice cream and the flavors are sinfully wonderful. I can't wait to go back!

Home was great. Wonderful. Amazing. Exactly what this girl needed. I honestly can't be without New England for greater than 6 months and even that is stretching it. Someday New England, someday we'll be together again.

Can we talk about surprises for a moment? I love surprises (good ones...obviously). I have been and am being tortured by upcoming surprises. My mom has a surprise which she is very elusive about and usually I can crack her for information. Not this time. I'm going nuts. Then, Mark has some surprises and won't tell me, though I have been given some useless hints. My curiosity-meter is OFF.THE.CHARTS. I'm going to go mad!!!! THEN a few weeks ago, Amy said she had a surprise for me too but I would have to wait. Let me tell you friends, I cannot crack her. Nope. She is tight-lipped. She doesn't even humor me. Well. I got home Sunday morning and she came over with my surprise because she finally got it and couldn't stand waiting any longer!!!! 

She got me a Garmin. 

OH.

MY.

LANTUS.

I teared up after she left. 

A) That's extremely generous. EXTREMELY. B) Ohmygosh it's a GARMIN. That's for legit runners. And Amy, who I respect, admire, and deem a legit, hardcore, and amazing runner, called me a runner and said it was time for me to have one. That's a high compliment friends. Whoa buddy. C) She even got it in the color I had been eyeing. I've already used it a few times this week and it's SO COOL!!!!!

 I get to see Mark in 3 weeks.

FINALLY. 

By the time we see each other it will have been 3 months. Three. That's practically an eternity. I am not a fan. If I could even tell you how excited I am, if I could even somehow allow you to feel the excitement and anticipation that are bubbling inside of me, I would. But I cannot. 

Plus. We'll be in New England. Together. HAPPINESS!!!!!

AND! He's never been to New England before. 

He doesn't even know what's about to hit him.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And. I went to the doctor's today. I don't think my experience is blog appropriate so I won't share (sorry), but I will just say, Brian Regan was right. When they say, "you're going to feel a little pressure," IT'S A LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy catscans. Lies. But it was hilarious, albeit someone embarrassing. Jeepers.

Oh! And I  have a Dr. W story from today. I had a patient who was ordered to start TPN today (total parenteral nutrition aka feeding someone through a vein where they just absorb the nutrients because it's already "digested" for them). TPN is more of a last resort option and really only for patients with a gut that don't work because of surgery, obstructions, fistulas, etc. This patient does not fall into the TPN-appropriate category but some doctors love to order TPN willy nilly, which drives me NUTS. It's expensive and really not that great for the body in the long run. Well. I get really riled up when some of the docs order TPN because 80% of the time it's not appropriate. I was riled today because it was absolutely not appropriate. So. I fumed with the pharmacist about the TPN and had my case ready to argue. My argument was rock solid. I was ready to fight this one. So, I patiently waited for Dr. W to finish chatting with a patient and then said hello to him and asked about the patient and started to argue my case (calmly, despite the fact that I was totally ready to bust out the facts, especially since this patient is rather complicated), when 3 seconds into my prepared argument Dr. W said, "You had me at Hi Dr. W. That's fine. Cancel it."

That's it? That's all?

Why can't all doctors be that awesome?!?!? I'll admit I was speechless for a second and then skipped (yes, yes I did skip) merrily down the hall to the charting room to inform the pharmacist that there would be no TPN.

Gabe-1 TPN-0. SUCCESS! 

Throwback

Sorry. I'm not going to post throwback pictures of me or something. At least not for this post. Maybe another time. BUT. This week has been a throwback week. At least the last few days have been. Mark and I were reminiscing about the good old days after reading 50 Things That Look Just Like Your Childhood. We were delighted to be reminded of orange VHS tapes (Harriet the Spy!!!), French Toast Crunch, AOL Instant Messenger, the Pierre Escargot, Heads-Up 7 Up (still one of my favorite games), Gigapets, and other wonderful things from our childhood. This led to a fun reminiscent discussion about the good, quality Saturday Morning cartoons and our favorite shows on the Disney channel and Nickelodeon. GOOD times! The shows these days just pale in comparison. It's sad really.

So. Saturday morning I woke up, took Scotty out, poured myself a bowl of cereal (with chocolate chips because, hey, it's Saturday) and watched one of my favorites: Rocky and Bullwinkle. Thank you YouTube!!!

Today I think I might watch Gummi Bears. I LOVED that show. 

I also did some baking because...I love it. Because it makes me happy. Because it relieves my stress. Because I enjoy it. Because I was craving some things. Etc., etc., etc.

My new faaaaaavorite thing is "ice cream" made of just frozen bananas and peanut butter. I LOVE IT!!!!! 

2 overripe bananas cut into coins and frozen thrown into a food processor with 2 generous spoonfuls of peanut butter (or however much PB you desire). Toss with chocolate chips and voila!, a healthy version of ice cream. Friends, it's the bomb. I am going to try it with just bananas and strawberries too. 

THEN. I found a recipe for pretzel buns and decided it was a MUST. Super easy to make and holy catscans are they good. I brought some into work and froze the rest...except I ate the last one today and am going to make some more...today. They are THAT good. Recipe at the end of the post!

Friday Amy created a training plan for my next half marathon in October. Whoa baby. It's definitely do-able, but it's going to push me. Yikes! New kickin' PR here I come!

Yesterday karma and the world were against me. I blame the heat and humidity, paper-thin patience, and fatigue but OH MY LANTUS it was ridiculous. It was one of those days where it was one annoying thing after another. I'm not going to waste your and my time talking about it because the day is over but let me just say, I am not a fan of shopping at Wal-Mart to begin with, but I HATE it on Saturdays. Plus some lady with a MAAAASSSIVE cart full of things cut in front of me. I was fuming. THIRTY minutes later, I finally left Wal-Mart. Yeah, not a happy camper. BUT I did get these beauts!

And I have discovered my new favorite Greek yogurt (of which I am obsessed): Dannon's Light and Fit coconut vanilla. HOLY MOLY it's so good. It was my first time trying it--I think it's brand new--and I only bought three. DRATS! Next time I go, I am clearing Wal-Mart of their supply. So. Good. And with chocolate chips...pardon me while I die of happiness. Oh and, BONUS, it's only 80 cals. Yes, indulge away! 

And another good thing from my Wal-Mart experience, my chocolate chip jar is now restocked and therefore all is right in the world. And I even got some PB chips so now I can finally make my copy cat chocolate PB Levain cookies! 

AND. HOME IN TWO DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(To come: Mom, Heath and Emma, Soucys, GP, Lagos, Shake Shack, seafood and so much more). I AM READY TO BURST I AM SO HAPPY! Oh New England I love you.

Pretzel Buns (from Yammie's Noshery)

Makes ~12 (I think you could get about 16...they get pretty big)

2 cups milk1 1/2 Tablespoons (2 packets) active dry yeast
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
4 1/2 cups flour (I used 5-5 1/2...maybe because it's so flippin' humid right now...)
2 teaspoons fine salt


1/3 cup baking soda
3 cups warm water (I'd recommend boiling the water because my pretzels didn't get that nice brown "pretzel" look...but they still tasted wicked good)!
Coarse salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Warm up the milk in the microwave or on the stove for just about one and a half minutes. It should be about 110º. If it's too hot it will kill the yeast. You should be able to comfortably keep your finger in it. Stir in the yeast and let it sit for about 3 minutes. Add the butter and sugar. Add the flour about 1 cup at a time and the add the fine salt. Kneed for about 10 minutes with a stand mixer, or by hand. Put it in a greased bowl and cover with greased cling wrap. Let rise for 1 hour in a moist, warm place until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 375º. Punch down dough and divide into 12 lumps (I like to divide it in half, then divide each half into three, and then divide each remaining one in half again). Roll them into balls. Combine the warm water and baking soda in a wide bowl. Dip each ball in the baking soda water and then cut a slit in the top with a serrated knife. Place on a greased baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for about 9-15 minutes or until browned. Brush with melted butter. INDULGE. Good, huh?

CB comes to MB

Clary came!! 

Prepare for a picture overload...

(and I promise we did more than eat...these are just the moments I happened to think to take out my camera. Basically I've been slacking in the photo-taking department. And the blogging department. Sorry!)

Thursday, I picked her up from the Charleston airport and then we headed to our hotel, which was in North Charleston. We contemplated going into Charleston that evening but to be honest, we were both pretty tired (I was wicked tired from a very long work week) so we went to a Greek place for gyros and stuffed grape leaves and chatted, caught up, hung out. Love Greek food. I mean, if you read this blog you know I love food but I especially love Mediterranean food. Then we went to the Tangor Outlets near our motel where I got some SWEET new Nike running kicks for a grand whoppin' total of $32, originally $90. WHAAAAT!!?? I know, I know. Beam with me here. I love a good deal. And the shoes are so cool. Then we hit up Wal-mart for some ice cream and we just couldn't decide so we got these:

I am happy to tell you we did not finish them all. The new Greek Yogurt Ben and Jerry's flavors are good. The peanut butter banana was pretty tasty, though I thought the small amount was perfect; any larger and I might not have liked it as much. 

Friday we slept in (yaaay!) and then wandered around downtown Charleston. It's very cute. It has a lot of fun shops, neat architecture, history. It was very cool.

I love these trees!

We had lunch at an Italian place and then we wandered around a little more and then decided to head to back to Myrtle Beach. We didn't stay in Charleston too long because a) it was blasted hot with the sticky humidity, b) we both wanted to get home, c) we wanted to beat the traffic because it was, after all, Friday on Memorial Day Weekend. 

But first.

We stopped at Whole Foods because this is the closest one to me and as we were wandering around we came upon gelato and we tasted some (a must!) and then we decided to be crazy and taste this weird flavor they had: pineapple basil.

OH. MY. LANTUS.

TO DIE FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we split one. Oooooh so good!

We got home safely and in good time and hung out. We were pretty tired. It was nice! Clary recommend the series "Once Upon a Time" so I started watching it a few days before she came. I LOVE it. I have no qualms admitting that I love fairy tales so I was hooked on this new show that weaves in all the fairy tales into one rather complex but well done story line. It's quite clever. Well, we finished the series while Clary was here. I can't wait for the second season! 

Saturday I had originally planned to take Clary to Wilmington, NC but being that it was a holiday weekend and I didn't feel like getting up early to beat traffic, nor did I want to spend most of Clary's vacation here in the car, we opted to just hang out here in Myrtle Beach. I took her to Broadway at the Beach (aka Redneck Riviera...bahahahah!) and showed here one of the hot touristy spots. I really don't care for this place but everyone needs to go and see it. We went into the crazy candy store "It's Sugar" and had some fun in there. 

I found this particularly amusing on a GIANT box of gummy bears!

Ok. Let's talk about Black Biker Week. This is my first time experiencing this and let me tell you...it was something. I'm glad it's only once a year. Bikers/motorcyclists in general make me nervous because they weave in and out of traffic as they want (and are apparently the exception to several of the driving rules???), but when HOARDS of them show up in loud, revving, obnoxious groups, I am not a fan. Nor am I am fan of their lady passengers who are scantily clad in booty short, thongs, and/or bikini bottoms because these bikes are not your typical motorcycles; they slant up so you get a very unfortunate view of booty. Again, not. a. fan. 

Our tradition whenever we are together is to get sushi. This dates back to when Clary and I first became friends and she introduced me to sushi. I am indebted to her for my love of this stuff!!!!!

Monday I had to, very unfortunately, work so Clary bummed around my apartment all day. When I came home we worked out and then decided to go see "The Avengers" since she had not yet seen it. But first, we made Margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella and fresh Basil from my little plant. We weren't super hungry so we snuck it in to the movies (I have some very sneaky skills) and dined while we watched the film. If you have not seen "The Avengers" you need to go stat. It is very well scripted with excellent dialogue and fabulous humor. Plus it's action-packed! REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good. Go see it!

Her visit was, of course, too short but I'll be venturing to Tucson in August as we are both bridesmaids in a friend's wedding. She left early Tuesday morning and I had to get to work so it was kind of a rip-the-band-aid-good bye. Sometimes it's better that way. 

And now I have a doctor story. 

I worked this weekend and was consulted to manage a patient's tube feedings. This patient has been on tube feeds for 3 years and in situations like this, these patients are typically pretty stable so I figured it would be quick and easy. FALSE. The patient was pretty underweight so I wanted to alter his regimen a little to give him some additional nutrition. Well, his wife would have none of it. Every single thing I suggested was shot down completely. I'm learning to very carefully pick my fights with certain patients and this one was one I bowed out of because I could tell she wasn't going to let me do anything. So, I made my suggestions and told her I would let manage his feeds. I was looking for his chart to write my notes in and the doctor following him had it. I hadn't met him before, though I've heard/seen his name several times and know this doctor is one of our regulars, well-respected, etc., so I approached him, introduced myself and told him I was going to continue to allow the wife to manage the feedings because she wasn't interested in letting me take over.

"Chicken." 

My thoughts: Chicken? Give the patient chicken? What? He's NPO. He'll aspirate. I can't do that!

"What?"

"Chicken. You're a chicken aren't you?"

It dawned on me he was teasing me so I laughed and told him I had spent about 30 minutes throwing out every suggestion I could think of and she wasn't buying it. He laughed with me and told me it was a smart move. Whew. I didn't want to look like an idiot, you know????

I bought this beaut at Home Goods yesterday. Pretty right?!

I'm in charge of a youth activity in a couple of weeks and I'm going to teach the girls to make homemade rolls so naturally I had to try out the recipe first. 

Mmmmmm.....fresh rolls! Sunday baking is one of my favorite things!

And in other news.... 

*I am running a half marathon in October, October 21st to be exact. Training is coming along. I've been really busy so it's been tricky to get started but I'm PSYCHED for this. I hope I'm ready.

*This month is going to be insanely crazy: my youngest brother's high school graduation this week, my mom's wedding the next weekend in California, and then my other brother's wedding in Washington state the weekend after that. This is a partying month! So, you'll be sympathetic if my blogging is a little sparse this month, right?

But what I'm most excited for is....

*HOME!!!!!!!!!! NEW ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!*


P.S. Apparently I can no longer use playlist.com to play music on my blog. This angers me.