"It's not a doughnut!"

Last night was the first time we have had guests over since I went vegetarian. It was just a regular hang out, most everyone played games, and I made dinner for everyone. I made BBQ chicken (for everyone else), Felafel, Broccoli, and Mashed Potatoes. I'm actually really suprised that I didn't have an overwhelming urge to eat the BBQ chicken. I had always wanted to make it (it's Mom's recipe), but I never got around to it. It figures I would finally make it when I can't eat it! Part of the recipe calls for boiling the chicken, then shredding it by hand. The smell of chicken normally doesn't bother me, but while I was shredding the chicken, I didn't like the smell very much. I was able to complete it though, and without sampling it even the least little bit (yay!).

Next was the Falafel. I had never made it before, and had only even eaten it one time. I happen to find a recipe for it while browsing vegetarian recipes online. I decided to make this because in the many of articles I read before deciding to make the switch, all of them said to make your friends aware of your new eating habits, and to even cook dishes for them so they could try it, and so you would have a main dish to eat, as well. Jose had said one time that he wanted to try falafel, so I decided to make that instead of something else. It didn't take long to make at all, and we actually pretty simple. Zoe sat in the kitchen and talked to me the whole time while I was making dinner. At one point, Buri came in wanted to know what "those" were. At the time, I had them rolled into balls, floured, and resting on wax paper on the table. The highly resembled powdered doughnut holes, and that is precicely what we told him they were. Before he could pick them up to eat them, we told him what they really were, and they were not ready to be eaten. Then we decided to take the joke a little further. We told Buri to go back to the room, where Jose was still playing a game, and tell Jose to come try one of my doughnut holes, that they were so delicious. After Jose finished playing the game, he came into the kitchen and said Buri told him to come in there and have a doughnut hole, so we played along. He looked at them, picked one up, and Zoe started laughing. I said to him "Jose, don't do it! Don't eat it!" and he moved it closer to his mouth. I said "Don't eat it! It's not a doughnut!", and then he popped it into his mouth. He chewed one time, had a discussed look on his face, and spit it out in the trash. We were laughing so hard, and couldn't believe he had eaten it, despite me even telling him it wasn't a doughnut hole! That was our big laugh of the night. 

Overall though, dinner was wonderful and everyone loved it! I will definitely make it for them again. And I was so glad that I didn't have any troubles with being tempted by the meat.

My Internship- Day 3

So, Monday I started my internship at the hospital. It has been quite an adventure, and it never ceases to amaze me what can walk though my door. In the three days I have been there (Monday, Tuesday and Friday), I have had so many interesting things happen. 

On my first day, my first patient was the dean of a Washington D.C. college, and I got her on the first try, and she was absolutely trilled. She said no student has ever gotten her on the first try (she has REALLY bad veins), and that I was doing great and I would be perfect at this. I have also had a guy pee in my chair, a 55 year old woman scream to the top of her lungs just from being touched (she didn't like needles, to say the least), and I have had to clean up blood from all over the place from a lady laughing, and the needle pulling out. Everyday has been an adventure.

Today things went really well. I only missed on my first patient of the day, which technically I didn't because I got one tube from her, then she stopped bleeding so I had to stick her again, and missed that time because I got her only good vein when I stuck her the first time. Other than that, I got every single patient on the first try, and I have around 20 patients today. We were very slow. Nothing compared to Monday, lol.

My site manager is going on vacation next week, which means I am on vacation next week too! I have a 10 day labor day vacation. I can't complain with that!

First Blog

I decided to create this blog because I deleted my myspace, and facebook really has no formal blogging spot, or at least, I haven't found it yet.

I suppose I will start by naming a few new things happening in my life. First, I am finally finishing up with the phlebotomy class I took over the summer. I am doing my internship at a Winchester Lab, which I couldn't have been placed in a better location. My site manager is very knowledgeable, as she has been doing this for 30 years. I have learned and experienced a lot in just the two days I have been there. I think I really lucked out with scheduling, seeing as how I only have to work there Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, from 8am-5pm. Everything is going extremely well, and I am doing great at drawing blood. Also, my site manager spoke with her boss about possibly getting hired on at Winchester Hospital, and I have to fill out an application Friday for that! I really hope I get the position! Not only because I need to get a job in my field, but because Winchester Hospital was rated the number one company to work for in the state of Massachusetts!

I start school working towards my nursing degree on September 8th. It seems that we start school a lot later here than in North Carolina. I know students went back there this week, and I believe students go back here starting next week. My college starts late, and it also ends late as well. I think our last day of classes is December 20th, or somewhere around there. I think I have some pretty easy classes this semester, though. I am taking Writing, Math, and Intro to Psychology. Isaac (Buri's youngest brother) and I are taking the same math class this semester, so that will be fun I suppose. I am not looking forward to buying my books though! For only two of my classes, my books are almost $300 total! I am not sure of the third classes books though. I don't really want to know either. Hopefully all goes well with school. I don't think it is going to be a problem going to school three nights a week, and working full time. I haven't decided yet, but I will either be working first or third shift, hopefully. I would like second shift, but I have classes three nights a week during those hours, so it would be hard to get full time hours on that shift.

OH! Another big change in my life is I have recently decided to become vegetarian. Not because I am a hardcore PETA follower (though I do have high respect for animals), but because it is a much healthier lifestyle. I have done lots of research on vegetarianism, and have decided it is the best thing for me. I have never been a very big meat eater in the first place, and I think the hardest thing for me to give up would be beef, but that was actually the first thing I gave up. I haven't had beef in over a week, and before that, I had dramatically cut back on it after hearing that beef can cause the risk of heart disease to increase by 60% in women. I have been completely meatless for 4 days now, and I haven't even had a craving for it. I know it is going to happen though. I have prepared myself for it mentally. More than likely it is going to happen while I am out with friends having dinner, or cooking something with meat for the guys. Since I love to cook, I always cook a lot of homemade meals for the guys, which normally means I at least have to taste test it. I guess Buri is going to have to be my little taste tester from now on, at least when it comes to meaty meals. I haven't completely taken all meat out of my diet though. I still intend to eat fish, but eventually I would like to eliminate that as well. I will continue to eat dairy products though, because going vegan is not the smartest (or easiest) thing to do, from what I have read.

Buri and I have been doing very well, as always. He has been very helpful in helping me convert to vegetarianism, and I could not have done it without his encouragement and support. The only thing really new with us is that hopefully by November or December of this year we will be moving out and getting an apartment with Jose and Zoe. We decided that the only way for us to be able to move out of his father's house was to move out with roommates, and Jose and Zoe were looking to move out too, so who better to move out with?! Other than that, nothing new with us. We are going out to see an advance screening of The Final Destination in 3-D tomorrow night, so that is going to be fun. I worked REALLY hard to get the tickets for us. I checked websites at least 20 times a day to find codes and get passes. 

Other than that, nothing too extravagant going on here. Just staying busy and having fun at the same time!

I will post more pictures and whatnot soon.