An Isaiah 59 Monday

Woke up this morning to sunshine. Sunshine and Isaiah 59. As I finished my Bible study lesson that culminated in Isaiah 59, I was completely entranced by the last seven verses. The gospel message in 7 verses; depicting our Savior like a knight in shining armor. Beautiful words for a beautiful day.

After a quick workout, I caught a bus to Belltown and walked the rest of the way into the heart of downtown. I live only 15 minutes away from Pike Place Market, but only go occasionally; to show out of town friends or on a particular mission to purchase something.Today, I slowed down and literally strolled the market. Ran into two old nursing friends in Le Panier. Bought some of my favorite tea from Market Spice Tea and a piroshky from Piroshky Piroshky. I still remember my first piroshky at the market with my dad on my 13th birthday date. It was also the day I got my ears pierced for the first time. A good day and a good memory.

I'm now sitting on my patio with a mug of my just purchased tea. Off to do something with the huge bunch of basil I bought last week that will go bad soon if I don't use it. I don't know what led me to buy such a big bunch. And then off to Bible study where I will end my day with Isaiah 59. What a blessing to have days off like these.

bald cupcakes.

A muffin is nothing but a bald cupcake. I couldn't agree more, Jim Gaffigan. Needless to say, I love muffins. On my birthday, my roommate surprised me with a peach/ginger muffin. It was so incredibly yummy. I knew that I had to somehow recreate it. Today, I almost did. I swapped the peaches for lemons and cranberries.

Lemon juice, lemon zest, chopped ginger, plain yogurt, flour..... I give you the Lemon Cranberry Ginger muffin. I don't think it could be better if I tried. This one is going in the recipe box for keeps. [ignore my alien-skinned looking hand, please]

Lately.

I got to spend the evening with this little bright-eyed boy on the left. 4 years old and too much energy for me. I started nannying him when he was 6 months old and could hardly sit up. Now he chatters like a chatterbox and is showing ME how to use my iPhone.

I also was lucky enough to experience one of the most beautiful days in Seattle I've seen yet. On my day off. Woke up to the sun shining through my blinds, caught a bus downtown, and walked back to Queen Anne, making stops at Trader Joes and Cafe Fiore. I ate brown rice sushi outside of Fiore on a lawn chair. With my sunglasses on. With a matcha green tea latte in my hand. I walked back to my apartment and immediately threw on my running shoes. 4 miles later, I had some new freckles. Good, good day.

I also had a wonderful weekend of birthday. I spent my real birthday (3/21) working and sleeping. I slept my birthday away; literally. But it's ok because the days leading up to it were spent eating cheesecake and dancing the night away with some wonderful old PA friends, visiting my family for a Sunday birthday lunch of the best chicken tacos you could dream of, and being surprised by some dear friends with dinner and flowers on Tuesday. It was truly a beautiful birthday weekend of sorts. And this third cute picture is of my sister, Laura. She works at a natural foods store and is as cute as a button.

Two posts in one day?

What? I think I've done this maybe once. What is 2nd post in one day worthy, you ask?:


BAKED KALE CHIPS!

So simple, and SO delicious. Even if you don't like kale, you should try these out. Not one hint of bitterness. SO GOOD.

-Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
-Wash & dry as many kale leaves you can fit onto a baking sheet.
- Cut the kale into tortilla chip sized [or a little bigger] pieces. Cut the center stem out and throw away.
- Toss the kale with enough extra virgin olive oil to lightly coat each piece. Sprinkle kosher salt over everything!
- Bake for 20-25 minutes on a baking sheet in a single layer. They should be entirely crisp/crunchy while still holding their green color.

Let them cool, or eat them right out of the oven! If you were a bit heavy handed with the olive oil, you might want to let them sit on a paper towel first for a few minutes.

So so good.

5:22am

Went to bed at 12:15am, slept until 4am. I've been awake ever since. After tossing and turning for 30 minutes, I got up and ate a bowl of cereal on the floor by my fireplace, looking out over a street-light lit Ballard/Fremont. These nights are catching up with me. Three nights ago, I was awake, running from patient room to patient room, frantically totaling ins & outs. Now that I've paid back my sleep debt from 3 nights on, my body doesn't know what to do with itself. 5:27am now. My alarm is set to go off at 8am. I have a running date with the Burke-Gilman. Then a city day around the U-District with a good, good friend. And daylight savings time. So long circadian rhythm.

At least some things stay constant always:

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Psalm 4:8 (ESV)

Four things:

1) A wonderful, meaningful lesson at Greenlake Pres yesterday on the celebration of the Lord's day. When we remember to celebrate in this day, we allow ourselves to pursue grace, holiness, and delight in ways we otherwise could not. A beautiful, sunny Lord's day of resting.

2) I need one of those stupid little sleeping masks. No bones about it. 0-4 hours of sleep before 12.5 hr shifts just isn't cutting it anymore.

3) One pot will last the week. Just add rice. I could eat out of this pot forever. Curry: yellow, green, red; they're all good.



4) This morning at 0500, I was frantically totaling the I&Os of my three patients for the night and writing up their progress notes. We total our patients for the day early, so that the general surgery residents can round on them before presenting to their own attendings at 0700. I finished my notes. The gen surg resident grabbed one of my patient's chart and pulled out the progress note. A few minutes pass. "Who wrote this progress note?" "Oh, it was probably me," I said sheepishly, thinking I had made a horrendous error. "This is one of the best progress notes I've ever seen. You did all my work for me."

All in a 12.5 hour work night.

V-Day.

I spent my Valentine's day with my little sister and a dear friend. Laura was taking pictures for her photography class, so Leah and I were only too happy to be her models. The pouring rain dampened the photography plans a bit, but we ended up sipping lattes at Metronome Coffee, so it all turned out all right.