March 2014

After returning from the shores of Hawaii in early March, I enjoyed the remainder of my vacation block inland. My parents had planned a trip to visit their friends the Wilsons, which coincided with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Dave's trip to Palm Springs. We met up for dinner at Kaiser Grille.

Then we walked down Palm Canyon Drive, checking out the names of celebs on the street and seeing the eye-popping "Forever Marilyn" statue. We were fortunate to get the see the 26' tall, 17-ton work of art in the last month of its 2-year California stay before it shipped off to New Jersey.

Teri (above) and Phil were amazing hosts, letting me stick around for a couple days to enjoy the good company, tasty wine, pool lounging, flea market browsing, and amazing food!

I returned to work in the pediatric emergency department, which is always a fun an interesting time with the little kids. Then the PGY2s (second-year class of residents) headed south to Escondido for our overnight retreat. We stayed at the super cool house of assistant program director Dr. Tanen and made a stop at the Lost Abbey Brewery for some tastings.

We had a late dinner at Phil's BBQ in San Marcos then spent the rest of the evening bonding.

The next morning we had our work portion of retreat during which we received an orientation on the senior residents' responsibilities for "running the board." After a bit more hot-tubbing, eating, and relaxing we went back to work and transitioned into this new senior leadership role.  

Adam and I helped college friend Neelroop celebrate his birthday (below).

Back at home I tried to improve upon my meal-preparation skills and made Ellie Krieger's black and red salad with walnuts and goat cheese. Yum!

On date night Adam and I dined at Rocharin Thai then caught The Lego Movie.

While my blog makes me feel like a multidimensional person, I still had been craving something to make me feel like more than just a person who works, sleeps, and eats. I found just what I was looking for in reconnecting with the Girl Scouts.

I joined as an adult Girl Scout then helped out with "Journey Girls," a monthly event at the local Girl Scout Council office for girls without a troop. Working with Brownies on healthy snacking was so much fun!

In fact I was inspired to eat a bit healthier at home and made an heirloom caprese salad to accompany angel hair pesto and garlic cheddar bread.

To complete the focus on fitness, Juliana, Andrea, and I have kept up with running 4-7 miles every 1-2 weeks. My friends sure keep me motivated!

Speaking of friends, it was great to catch up with high school friend Kami over ice cream at the Manhattan Beach Creamery.

She and her husband Dan were visiting southern California with their sons Logan (age 3- above) and Eli (age 5). They spent a couple days in San Diego, a day in Disneyland, then a couple days in Manhattan Beach.

I was lucky to be able to enjoy the beach with them for some sandcastle-building and Eli-burying.

Finally, I wanted to share one last culinary undertaking: making mom's famous pesto with my new food processor. Easy and delicious!

And I should probably mention... as far as my real work goes, I am currently on my elective block, which I am spending doing teaching/education. So far this has involved running intern conference, co-leading journal club on the use of tranexamic acid in trauma, giving board review on ob/gyn issues, presenting a variety of mini case lectures at rounds, and miscellaneous teaching activities in the emergency department.