If you think Anatomy is hard to stomach...

I thought that anatomy took the cake for gross and disturbing. Well, a challanger has made it's way into the arena. It's name...Microbiology! Have you ever seen what is living on your hands, tongue, under your fingernails, or inside your belly button? Have you stopped to think what kinds of things might be growing on your kitchen sink or the sheets on your bed? Let me just tell you this. I believe that after I have completed this course, I will be a more paranoid and disturbed person. It's so repulsively intriguing. It is only two days into the class and I am already freaked out of my mind! In the case of medical science, what you don't know can hurt you, so I guess it's for the greater good to willingly expose myself to this microscopic world of living, crawling, life-endangering, and mostly, life-saving world. These little creatures actually do a lot more good than harm. It's honestly fascinating thinking about the days when they didn't know what spread communicable disease. Now we know that it's bacteria, viruses, etc. Can you imagine being the first to discover the microscopic world of millions and zillions of little organisms occupying everything you see? I mean, how freaked out would you be?! Anyhow, I am hooked in a terrified sort of way, so we'll see how it goes. I am also in physiology. I am going to be extremely busy, but after this semester I will be done with pre-req's. Que Coisa!

Mind Binders

When I was younger, my best friend Sjauna and I would pretend that we were mind binders to our other friends. Meaning, we would approach a group of people, declare we were mind binders, then one of us would think of a number or a name, and the other one would prove she knew what the other was thinking. Of course, we had hand gestures to signal to eachother what the answer was. Now, I don't know if our peers to whom we showed our "trick" truly believed we could actually read eachothers minds, but we thought they did, and we thought we were really awesome for thinking of such a cool thing to do.

Well, some recent events have made me wonder about true mind binding. Tell me what you think about this. About 4 nites ago, I had a vivid dream where I was interrogating someone with a yes or no question. The question I was asking is totally irrelevant, probably something that didn't even make any sense (you know how dreams are). I don't remember who I was asking the question to, or what the question was, but I do remember passionately asking the question multiple times in my dream, really wanting to know the answer. I was awoken by Grant sleeping next to me answering my question out loud. Something like, "yes it is". When I heard this answer, it immediately woke me up in a panic wondering if some supernatural thing had just happened where Grant knew what I was dreaming. I said loudly, "what?!" to him and I looked over and he starting doing some mumbling and I realized, he too, was sleeping. I calmed myself down, realized that it was a stange coincidence and fell back asleep. I told him about it the next day and he didn't remember a thing. The next nite, I was having a hilarious dream where someone was telling me jokes, and I was telling some jokes that were just the funniest things. I was laughing hysterically and having a really great time in my dream. Well, I woke up again to Grant laughing hysterically in his sleep. Weird.

Now, when I talk in my sleep I always wake myself up with the sound, so it's extremely rare that I talk in my sleep and not know it. Someone said that maybe I was talking and Grant heard me and subconsciously incorporated it into his dream and also started talking. I don't know, but I'm almost positive I wasn't making a sound, especially since I awoke immediately when I heard him talking. Then, the next night I woke up to Grant with his head on his hand staring at me sleeping. I made eye contact with him. He had this intense look in his eye like he wanted to communicate something, but he said nothing. He just layed back down and drifted off to sleep. I asked him about it the next morning and he didn't remember a thing. Maybe we are mind binding in our sleep! Another theory is we're both members of The Bed Club and we meet together on an island in our dreams (haha). I don't know, but it's weird. Does anyone know what is going on here?!

My GPS System

Thanks to modern technology, I can get directions online to anywhere I might need to go. I usually try to find a piece of paper near the computer (that usually happens to be a post-it pad) onto which I might write the directions. One day, I had this piece of paper stuck to my fingers as I was driving along and decided I needed to stick it somewhere I could see it other than my fingers. I saw my dash board and thought that was the perfect place. As I put it there, I realized how more modern technology has put my "invention" to shame. Maybe one day we will know what having a real GPS is like. Until then...

Chef Boyardee?!

Grant turned the big 28 (don't be jealous) on December 7th. Well, I thought it would be funny if we turned my mom's house into a wonderful upscale restaurant affectionately called the George Washington Inn, which was named after a painting on the wall of George Washington praying next to his horse. Anyhew, Grant worked that day and so I went over to my mom's house as soon as he was gone to start preparing for the day. After all, I was the secret chef du jour. I carefully picked out some Bobby Flay recipes (a tomato and mozzerella salad for an appetizer, bbq ribs and sweet potato fries as the entree, and a cake for dessert which was carefully mastered into an image, Ace of Cakes style). Everything turned out amazing and I recommend the recipes, but I did spend all day slaving over the stove. The ribs call for all these chili spices that you mix yourself accompanied with homemade BBQ sauce which also called for spices. The problem was, this was all going to be a surprise for Grant so I didn't want him to know I was cooking everything, he thought we were going out. SOOO, he called me at the end of the day and I was still at my mom's. I rushed home and beat him there so layed on the couch and looked like I had been just watching TV waiting for him to get home so we could leave(like I usually do, haha). Well, he got home shortly after and I didn't have time to take a shower or anything after working with chili spices all day. So, Grant comes and gives me a hug to greet me and we were just sitting there for a second and he says, "you smell like Chef Boyardee". I tried to act like he was crazy (I couldn't play it off like I had eaten or cooked any because I NEVER buy chef boyardee and I don't eat pasta anyway and our kitchen was spotless since I had been gone all day...no excuse for the smell). I was honestly dying inside, partly because he was so off base(I mean, "you smell like taco bell" would have been more accurate), and partly because I was freaking out that he would get suspicious. Luckily, he didn't think much of it. Apparently, he's used to coming home to his wife smelling like random Italian chef's that make tomato mush. I told him to get ready to go and I did the same. I also told him we had to stop by my mom's house really quick because she had a Bday gift for him. This is what we found...

Our wonderful host and server Lane was there to greet us and cross our reservation off as she sat us. She also took our orders and introduced us to the cook in the kitchen, Flow (that's what her nametag that Lane had written said)

The other diners at the Inn

The Birthday boy and his wonderful wife (and secret chef)

The crowning moment was presenting the cake... (whichFlow (my mom) made. We thought it would be so funny to make the cake into a suiting image that Grant could relate to)

The Bed Club

Luckily I have a 7 year old sister who requests that I tell her stories at night to help her go to sleep. Usually, I need a couple minutes before I can even come up with a subject to tell a story about so one night I was really drawing a blank and I told this story called The Bed Club. After the story was over I had really low self-esteem because I realized how uncreative I was. To my surprise, later that week, she requested the story again by name. I wrote it down in an actual book with illustrations and all per Bailey's request. I thought you might have a good laugh as I did.

C'mon shake your body, baby do the conga

Grant feeding a giraff

Grant horseback riding...

Paddleboats...they let us get a closer look at the pink birds...

A couple months ago Grant's employer forced him to do the conga in West Palm Beach, FL. Luckily, he wasn't the only one shakin' his body because if they fly Grant out, they fly me out too. I made sure he wasn't having too much fun without me. I studied at the hotel while he was at work, and then we hit the town at night, hard. We went up to Miami Beach which was really cool. It has this Art Deco theme and all these crazy restaurants lining the coast. We ate at a quiet Cuban restaurant which was pretty good. We ordered ropas viejas (old clothes) which is a traditional cuban dish resembling a pot roast. As you can see, Grant is having a hard time controlling himself, just like Gloria Estefan said. (She actually has a cuban restaurant on the strip that is quite good from what Grant says.) We also went to Lion Country Safari and loved seeing all the lions, rhinos, monkeys, zebras, etc out in the open as we drove around. They give you a CD to listen to while you drive around telling you all about the animals that you are seeing (what they're called, where they usually live, etc) I usually don't like the zoo because you have to do so much walking and it is usually pretty hot but this wasn't having any of that. Also, if your windows weren't up, you could reach out and touch these animals. We obviously have a ton of pictures from the trip but these are some of my fav's.

Then, you can get out of your car and they have a regular zoo where you can walk around. I fell in love with Flamingos as I realized "how cool is a pink bird." They had a Ferris Wheel, Merry-Go-Round, and paddle boats that were all included in the admission price. We also got one ticket for free because if you turn in an old cell phone, it's good for one free entry.

Free at last!

But not for long... Well, Anatomy is over and I'm proud to say I received the second highest grade in the class! I guess my abondonment of the blog for three months was worth it. I am starting again in about 3 weeks. This time, I am bringing on physiology and microbiology. This means I will be able to apply for the nursing program in a few months which I am extremely anxious to do. I am really looking forward to being an RN. Hopefully this will take place sooner than later. Thanks for your patience and patience to come...

Not for the qweezy

http://anatomy170wfb.blogspot.com

content may be disturbing, so if you feel up to it... This is what I have been doing with my life for the past couple months. Hence, no blog updates. I will get back to it soon. Meanwhile, enjoy if you dare. mwah ah ah.

Why is it called Labor Day again?

For Labor Day, we were invited by the Hexburg's to a BBQ. We enjoyed swimming, ping-pong, eating delicious food, and the company of friends and family.

Watch out seamen...the sirens are in full effect.

"I'm gunna shoot it. I'm gunna shoot it."

Here Sara and I are getting ready to beat Levi and Grant in a ping-pong match. Our strategy? Distraction. It works every time.

We be grubbin'

And Kelly be gluggin' and Lori be gabbin'...

and Tom and Cinnamon be grinnin'

and the group be gatherin'...
(okay, that's enough)

Right on Levi! Hangin with the big dogs.

Dynamic duo number one

Dynamic duo number one, too.

Deutschland in the OC

There is this little German village tucked away right in the heart of Huntington Beach. It is called Old World Village. It's actually really random where it is situated. It sits right between a huge, new outdoor mall and a huge, new 24 Hour Fitness. You would never know it was there unless you had German Vision, which Grant happens to have. So, we went to check it out for our "date night"(we have our "date night" every friday, but we unofficially go out during the week :) The whole village consists of about 15 shops and businesses and a German restaurant called... Old World Restaurant (who would have guessed). Our waitress was about 60 years old wearing a dirndl, which Grant's wearing in the picture above. She had a German accent and was serving all the tables in the entire restaurant by herself. So cute. I thought the food was good, but Grant was a little disappointed. I guess European food just isn't as good in America, no matter who's cooking it. After dinner, we took advantage of the photo op that presented itself on our way out. I think we make a pretty good couple.

Then, there was the Orange International Street Fair that is a traditional labor day activity here. Finding a parking space was a lot more difficult than we thought but when we walked up we realized why. They allow you to drink beer in the street! This privilage draws quite a crowd. There were tons of booths set up with food from all parts of the earth (which basically translated into a sausage with trimmings from all parts of the earth). Good fun. Grant liked wandering around German street and we treated ourselves to a norwegian cookie for dessert.

This German explosion has really had an effect on Grant. Now he is considering applying for Deloitte Germany "just for fun". Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone gets a job offer!

3D Harry Potter

I was a little scared to see Harry Potter in an IMAX theater in 3D. The last movie kinda scared me, but it actually was really cool. I'd recommend it, if not for the movie experience, for the fashion statement.

Grant was showing no fear as we waited for the action to begin.

Watch out Lord Voldemort, you don't know what you're up against.

Dinner Parties

The boys helping out in the kitchen.
Pictured: Anne, Carne Asada, Zach

Safety first. You can never be too careful.

Anne, are you ready to eat?

Housewarming! Jim, Grant, Mom, Anne, Bailey, and Levi.