HALLELUJAH THERE IS A GOD!

So my wedding diet so far has been an epic, mindblowing fail.

But I'm not ready to give up just yet....

And today I found a glimmer of hope.....


Apparently there is a RICE DIET.

At first, my Asian little eyes got as big as saucers. I was like "HAIL YEAYUH, BITCHEZZ. DAS WHAT I'M TALKIN' 'BOUT."

But then I thought: Umm. Hello? What does this diet entail since all I do eat rice errday anyways and my ass has been expanding exponentially. I've pretty much been on a dadgummed rice diet for the past 25 years.

To those who clicked on the link above, it's complete crap. It doesn't tell you anything about the diet; it just pressures you into making an appointment -- in DURHAM, North Carolina.

Yeah, no thanks.

But after some google searches, I found an example of what the rice diet would consist of. Check it out.

Phase 1 -- one week
1 day: Basic Rice Diet (800 calories and 50 mg sodium)
2 starches and 2 fruits at breakfast, lunch, and dinner
6 days: Lacto Vegetarian Rice Diet (1,000 calories a day and 300 mg sodium)
 Breakfast: 1 starch, 1 fruit, 1 nonfat dairy
 Lunch and dinner: 3 starches, 3 vegetables, 1 fruit 

Phase 2 -- one week
1 day: Basic Rice Diet
5 days:  Lacto Vegetarian Rice Diet
1 day: Vegetarian Plus Rice Diet (1,200 calories per day and 500 mg sodium)
  Breakfast: 2 starches, 1 fruit
  Lunch: 3 starches, 3 vegetables, 1 fruit
  Dinner: 3 starches, 3 protein (or 2 dairy), 3 vegetables, 1 fruit

Phase 3 -- Maintenance. Same as phase 2, adding about 200 more calories per week, until you stop losing weight.
1 day:  Basic Rice Diet
4 days:  Lacto Vegetarian Rice Diet
2 days: Vegetarian Plus Rice Diet

**The authors of The Rice Diet Solution note the diet is too low in calcium and vitamin D and suggest a once-daily multivitamin.


In short, you're pretty much maintaining a less than 1,200 calorie diet/day type of thing. Ouch.

But I'm thinking about trying week 1. A diet on starches, fruits, and vegetables? I could totally do. Might as well. Gots nothing to lose but pounddddss.

Updates to come!

TWO DAYS!

Two days til I'm reunited with the yonce.

One day til my dreaded pediatric care final.

15 hours before my developmental assignment is due.

Life is such an obstacle course.


In GREAT news, Brian was able to get almost NINE days off! We've been talking about what we want to do and have talked about a few things. I think we're pretty sure we want to take a roadtrip across Washington and Oregon. I've never been camping before and there are some amazing little spots sprinkled along the coastline. I think it's cheap, and fun as well.

When I think of outdoor camping, I think campfire, tents, no showers, and singing kum-ba-yah. I think bugs and snakes and bears, oh my. When I mentioned this to Brian, he explained that campsites were designated and equipped with showers, bugs were scarce on the west coast, and if you saw a bear, you should play dead because you can't outrun them. Somewhat comforting.

Still, I'm super excited to embrace some outdoorsy time. Honestly, it was a toss up between this and going to Vegas for a few days (Vacation packages to Vegas are SO STINKIN' CHEAP!). But obviously we opted for the less sleazy, however fantastic, of the two. (Vegas I will see you soon.)

One of the places that Brian has mapped out is Cannon Beach, Oregon.

I am going to LOVE camping along here! Horseback riding on the beach would be a plus!

I think Brian mentioned that we should drive a little ways into Cali, depending on how we feel and check out these awesome redwoods!

And obviously we'll have some city time built in for Seattle and Portland. I'll be a road-trippin' guru before you know it!

Any other suggestions for stops along the way?

Bittersweet Moments in Life

I have officially completed my first round of clinicals.




Without killing a single soul.



It's a bit nervewracking to have to be responsible for a very sick person all by yourself for an entire eight hour shift but by golly I did it. For six weeks. Go me. And it wasn't always pretty. I've never seen so much stool and urine in my entire life. I'm officially a pro at cleaning feces and urine in under 5 minutes. Bring it onnnnnn.

Enemas? Totally not my cup of tea.

Anyways, today was our last day of clinicals and we had a little celebration with donuts and cookies and banana bread (Major yum) and we got our clinical instructor a group gift for putting up with our incompetent asses.

Observe.

Our patient and ever loving mother bird. Shelia.

Mother hen and her brood.

Plus me... lookin' like I'm straight off a Robinson Crusoe raft.

It was pretty exhausting but I think we all got the hang of things towards the end and I've definitely gotten a lot more comfortable in the hospital setting.

Which takes me to my next set of news......




I GOT THE JOB IN THE PULMONARY STEP DOWN UNIT!!!!!!

I am super stoked! It was my first choice unit and I've been trying to get a student nurse extern position for quite some time now. As an added bonus, I don't have to start until September 1st, which lets me enjoy the entire summer! (Oh happy day! Oh happy day! Oh happy dayyyyy!) This is pretty major because it will not only get some much needed experience onto my resume but also will significantly boost my chances of getting an RN job in intensive care and thus pave my way to grad school! Thank you Hay-zeus! Brian is pretty happy for me and he's been so encouraging and supportive during my interviews and application processes.... Couldn't have done it without cha babe! :)

Countdown to Vancouver -- 6 days!

Seriously the most INSANE weekend EVER.

I am STILL exhausted from this weekend.....

But it was TOTALLY WORTH IT. Definitely one of the more craziest weekends of my life. Ever.

So my gf Jenn is a beautiful mother of two. She and her fellow mothers wanted an official Moms Weekend at the Beach and so we had been planning this little getaway for a while.

Babysitters were arranged, days were called out at work, and beachhouse was booked. It was perfect.

I went down expecting a somewhat low key day at the beach with a more mature crowd and evening of simple pleasantries.

Well I ended up getting a lot more.

A lot more drunk than I have ever been in my entire LIFE.

Yep.

Those who know me know that I. NEVER. DRINK. I hate the taste of alcohol. Absolutely abhor it. Blech. Makes my stomach turn just thinking about it.

So why the sudden change?

Two words. Jello. Shots.

They tasted like heaven.



Here's a pictorial timeline:

All the girls arrive at Jenn's beachouse (Kym is inside breast pumpin'. Seriously.)

Leone brought JELLO SHOTS. They were uh. Mayzing. Main reason why I almost died. There were hot chocolate, red velvet cake, and raspberry lemonade shots. YUM.

This is how hot moms get baby seats out of their pimpin' minivans.

Yummy jello shots on the way to Seacrets.

Final destination!

Happy to be in the nasty ass water.

Here's trouble.

Still feelin' fine.

Whatever this was.... hurt.

A lot.

Andddddd.... I'm gone.

Pulling ourselves together.

Seriously almost upchucked my kidneys out during dinner.

To make a long story short, we were at Seacrets for SEVEN. HOURS. It was insane. And I almost drowned in 3 feet of water. Not my classiest moment but definitely a learning experience. I'm surprised that none of us got sunburned because the sun was scorching.

Oh yeah. And I got super sick towards the end of the day but did. not. puke. Why? Because I was the designated driver. That's why. And I can't puke and drive. I drove and my gf who I won't name puked behind me.

We were all in bed by 9:45pm.

I woke up the next morning at 7:30am, wrote my ten page hypnotherapy paper, went home and studied for my pediatric exam. Got up this morning at 5:30am, studied some more, took the exam at 9am, passed with flying colors.


Like I said.


Awesome weekend. :)

Flowers from Afar.... :)

I'm one lucky gal. :)

Wedding Hairstyles: Braids

I'm definitely lovin' the braids trend right now. So boho beautiful!

I love how versatile braids are -- they go from polished and sleek to casual and playful....

Not sure how good they'd look with a full veil, but I'm open to blushers! :) 

Elie Saab. Just kill me.

Too beautiful to even be fair. Sighhhh.....