give thanks

“One of life's gifts is that each of us, no matter how tired and downtrodden, finds reasons for thankfulness: for the crops carried in from the fields and the grapes from the vineyard.”--- J. Robert Moskin

you and i have a lot of things to be thankful about and being a pinoy here in america who has never celebrated thanksgiving for the first 26 years of her life i am not exempted. i've been here for three years now and i have yet to celebrate thanksgiving with a dinner with family and friends and the much celebrated turkey. i've always been working on thanksgiving night and tonight is no different. so while you and your family celebrate thanksgiving tonight and i am with my pediatric patients, let me greet you a happy thanksgiving!

ready for winter

i spent most of my day today at home only going out for an hour and a half to go to the gym and the rest i spent puttering around the apartment. the weather was pretty blah anyway to really enjoy it outside. there was a wintry mix of rain and flurries that makes one not care about going outdoors.

so i did something productive. i cooked, sorted my laundry, checked my emails, made sense of the mess that is my desk and waited until my roommate left for work so that i can dig in through my closet and boxes of clothes and say goodbye to summer and fall. i had been putting this off for a while now, hoping that winter wouldn't be here for a couple of weeks more. that, and i really didn't have time to be alone at home. it took me almost three hours to sort through my clothes contained in two extra large plastic boxes and one big luggage. in a way it's a pain to have to go through this task every year but it's also one of the things that i look forward to come winter time. to gear up and accessorize for the cold weather which i don't have the luxury of doing when i was still in tropical pinas.

yes, the perks of living in the northeastern. please remind me to read this when i'm shivering outdoors in below zero temperature trying to dig my car out of waist deep snow. 'coz i'd be really too pissed and frustrated to remember.

today

the sun is shining brightly outside. temperature is on the high 60's and i actually drove with my windows down, can you believe that? i went out for a quick trip to the post office a while ago and dropped by borders to get a little bookstore therapy for myself. before heading home, i stopped by my favorite bakery to buy something that i have been craving for for several days now. something that is sinfully good which is gonna make me pay big time on the elliptical and treadmill this week.

i bought this.

(my favorite brown derby cake. a chocolate cake filled with strawberry and banana custard filling.)

anyways, i got three new books from my short trip to the bookstore
which is reason why i shouldn't be going out of the apartment at all. i step out and i end up buying stuff. come to think of it, i shouldn't be allowed to have web access too because shopping is also as easy as clicking a button. hopefully those books will tide me over the days that i plan to just bum around at home. so on my "to be read" pile of books is nick hornby's newest fiction SLAM, murakami's collection of stories blind willow, sleeping woman and david sedaris' barrel fever. i'm so excited, i can't wait to start reading them.

last time i wrote about an NBA game that we were planning on going this december right? well, just the other day i got a normal looking envelope from the mailbox and guess what's inside? seven tickets to the knicks vs. nets game! woohoo! it's official... we are going to be at madison square garden on the night of the 15th of december. he he he... super excited! i know it's still a month away but its reason enough for me to behave myself and be a good girl at work.

thank you mario, but our princess is in another castle!

i downloaded the old school super mario brothers game on my wii and have been playing a bit of that for a couple of days. i can't believe i still remember some of the cheats on the game, like where to get the 1up mushrooms, the shortcuts, those kind of stuff. anyway, i stumbled upon this video on google and i was doubling over in giggles because i could relate on the guy's frustration.

so what does it sound like to play the hardest mario levels of all time? watch this.

gym drag

i went back to my gym today.... yay for me!

after not waking up for our 9 am step class and having stood up hannie (to which she's probably mad because she hasn't replied to my sorry text yet) yesterday, i dragged my lazy ass to the gym after work. it took a lot of determination to drive to the gym on a cold, rainy morning after a 12 hour shift at the hospital but i did it anyway.

on my way there, i kept thinking of stupid reasons not to go to the gym. visions of my unmade bed, my comforter and my pillows kept popping in my mind. i was really tempted to go back to the apartment when i stopped at a red light, but i was already halfway there so i kept on driving.
despite the muggy weather, there were still a lot of people sweating it out at the gym. the regular old ladies who works out in groups and who i have a high respect for were already doing warm ups. i mean, here i am, a strong energetic girl who just turned 30, thinking about cutting my usual 1 hour gym time to 45 minutes and these grannies are practically at the gym every morning and seems to be enjoying it.

it's not that i don't enjoy working out. it actually kinda relaxes me and keeps me up and about most of the time. it focuses my mind on becoming healthy. it gives me the drive to stay away from evil, evil chocolates, not to mention that it updates me on the latest about britney spears, lindsay lohan, brangelina etc. while on the treadmill. it's the drive going to the gym that is such a drag for me. i almost always feel like there's a lead weight on my feet while i'm going up the stairs that leads to the locker room. changing into my gym clothes takes a lot of effort on my part. but once i'm up on one of those elliptical machines with my ipod on, trying to ignore the chatty mother of two beside me while browsing the latest copy of us and people magazine, there is no turning back for me.

i hope i could will myself to go to the gym tomorrow. good luck na lang sa akin!

taking a breather from fun

"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." Eleanor Roosevelt

i was supposed to go to florida to attend the christening of kyla, my college friend's daughter. dennis was bugging me about my schedule for the longest time. sadly it didn't worked out so i will be stuck here to sort out the stuff that i've been putting off for long. the summer months were hectic and it was definitely one of the most fun i've had, but i should slow things down a bit and take some time off from having too much fun. that is until december comes along and we start the ball rolling again with an NBA game between the knicks and our very own nets.
until then i will be this person who will while away the cold, boring days and nights watching tv, playing wii and accomplishing the important stuff that needs to be done.

damn it...i can't wait for december!