10 things on a Thursday

In the past when I have felt down I would think about all of the recent things in life I'm thankful for.  Today is not one of those days.  I have actually recently taken to making lists a few times a week, sometimes written sometimes mental, of at least 5 things that were wonderful about my day.  Today was a wonderful day all around.  I'm going to sleep with a smile on my face after another couple hours of pharm studying.   Why so lovely you may ask?  Well here are 10 reasons

1.  My day started with a 6 mile run with 3 ½ miles of intervals in the middle of it.  All in under 52 min.  So great to be feeling well again.  I woke up with so much energy and just had to run!  I'm normally not the speediest runner, something I'm working on, but I'm so happy with an average 8.66 min / mile pace today after a few ill days

2.  I have an appetite again and got to start my day with my favorite protein shake.  This is the first real protein I’ve had in about three and a half days.  With all those carbs from saltines/applejuice/and Gatorade no wonder I had so much energy for that run.  (Regarding that protein shake:  Choco whey protein powder, ground flax seed, lite soy milk (choco, vanilla, or original) frozen banana, ice cubes, 2 shots espresso… it is even better if you add some peanut butter, like a frozen reese’s.  But I usually reserve that for long training run days)

3. POM lab was wonderful for the second week in a row.  Last week we had a lab on newborns, this week it was adolescent cases.  Lab has been run by a practicing pediatrician from the area instead of the pregnant family practice doc that barely manages to put a lab together.  Most weeks I leave lab and say a prayer that she goes into labor before the following Thursday.  I attribute any clinical skills I have to my Thursday nights at CHC.  Also, we had no lecture portion of lab today so it was only an hour and a half instead of three!

The "Meditation Room"
This pic is actually from the Chicago Mag.
The calm feeling is a little lost with the lighting they added

4.  Due to lab being short I took the opportunity to spend the afternoon at the Art Institute free day for an adventure with a friend.  To add to this I am so excited the Chagall Windows are back!  If you are in Chicago and haven't seen them, they are a must.  So beautiful.  And I'm always happy to just walk through the meditation room and I love even more getting to share it with any company I bring with me. For those wondering what the meditation room is, if you are familiar with the AIC it is the dark room all the way in the back of the Asian Art Section.  There are about 4 rows of wooden pillars at the entrance and all the art has lights on it in a glass case.  They regularly change this exhibit, currently it is beautiful clay vases.   My all-time favorite exhibit has been Japanese screens  

5.  I won a $10 starbucks giftcard in a raffle = guilt free soy chai lattes!

6.  Great conversation with a relatively new medschool friend all afternoon and so much of it not resolving around school.  I truly valued the opportunity to learn new things about an interesting individual, and so happy he was willing to come along on my afternoon escape and skip our regular spin workout.  Thanks so much for coming Gayan!

A gram stain of mine from my college years,
gotta love micro, but really, kind of cool

7.  I did decently (at least I think, though maybe not excellently) on the micro lab quizzes (plural...) today despite not being aware of one of them and not studying for the other. 

8.  I received 2 new emails in a chain that goes around my college girlfriends, one email from Kristie in La Jolla and the other from Kait in Baltimore.  These emails always make everyone seem just a little bit closer.  Girls, if you read this,  I want you to know your emails bring happiness to my day every time I receive one.  

Saba Khan :)

9.  Anticipation for new blonde colors in my hair and brunch with my mama tomorrow.  Mmmmm baked fluffy egg-white omelets.     I am a natural blonde, just throwing that out there, but we can all use some sunlights added to our hair here and there especially when the sun doesn't seem like it wants to shine in Chicago.

10.  Such great memories of jazz and pilates class with Saba last night, not to mention sharing that gelato

and 11. Just because the radio is currently playing recordings of Zack Brown Band live and the current song is about a gypsy.  

~~~~~~~Sweet dreams all ~~~~~~~

Artsing up a Macbook camera shot I just took.  Call it influence from the AIC Modern Wing