31/365: Supermarket Hatred

We only go to the grocery store when we absolutely need to (i.e. starving, having a party). Now, granted we are on our last roll of TP, have no milk, and no food to cook for dinner, but that is ok because we have an unopened bottle of champagne from new years, a pint of heavy creme that is about to turn, some beer and burger buns, and a jar full of pickle juice with probably only one pickle left. We can concoct something out of that, right?

I don't know why, but I have found myself to develop a strong hatred toward the grocery store. Between the slow, aisle hogging people, to the long annoying lines, to the carts that somehow always end up a tad bit too close to my car in the parking lot, I really would much rather go hungry (temporarily, of course) than deal with that. I always leave pissed off. Sad, I know. But true as you can see!

*Whispers* we will probably end up going later tonight once all the slow old people are sound asleep and the run away germy carts are tucked in for the night .That's the joy of having a 24 hour Safeway. Now, if only i will be awake myself to go...

Oh, and one more thing....this blog has successfully posted a picture a day, everyday, for this entire month of January! So far so good. I am proud :) Now, I am off to eat some burger buns....

30/365: A Pizza Without Sauce? BLASPHEMY!

We found this really good Italian restaurant that makes excellent pizza but whenever we go, and this is the second time so far, we have to specifically ask for our pizza Margherita to not have sauce, which is how a pizza margherita is supposed to be made in the first place....with no sauce. That's what its known for! But for some reason they act like it's blasphemy to not want sauce on the damn margherita pizza. They must have confirmed "so, NO sauce? you sure no sauce? no sauce??" three times.

According to Foodfuckingnetwork.com here are the ingredients for a pizza Margherita:

* 1 cup crushed tomatoes
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped or julienned
* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
* 1/2 pound mozzarella, sliced 1/4-inch thick
* Basic pizza dough, rolled out for 2 (12-inch) pizzas, recipe follows

And for back up, here is another reference from myrecipies.com

• 1 (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
• Cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 garlic clove, halved
• 5 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 3/4 pound)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

do you see fucking tomato sauce in there anywhere? NO! someone needs to go back to cooking school. thanks!

Something adorable I wanted to share

This video is so stinkin cute I had to share....Wild Dog :)

29/365: Huh?

It's how i've been feeling lately...................

28/365: Dog park

I had off today so I cleaned the entire apartment and took cy to the dog park. Here he is after the park waiting to come out of the car. He always has that sad pathetic face like I am going to forget to get him out or something.

27/365: Breathe.

I got this necklace from seller, Charms by Me on Etsy and I love it! She is a great seller and very accommodating in my request. This necklace means a lot to me because sometimes i get so worked up about something that i really do forget to breathe and this is something to remind me to just let things go.

If you order something from her, tell her I referred you :)

Since I took this picture in the mirror, I was planning on flipping it around to show the right way, but I don't think my photo editing program has that option!

26/365: Hate it

I really really really hate studying for facial bones and the skull. There are so many little bones in your skull and face, and you need to know where to center and angle the tube on them for the xray to come out good for the dr. And on top of that, you need to know the evaluation criteria that the film must have in order to even send it to the dr or else your ass is on the line for sending a shitty image and letting the patient go when they will eventually need to come back for an additional better picture. It gets confusing when there is the same view that you would use for the skull as for the face. This isn't making any sense but ugh, i'm just really hating this last bit of positioning.

And I'm starting to feel stressed on things that I should have down by this point and I am still struggling with, like ribs, sternums, and breathing lateral T-spines....

25/365: In the break room

This weekend was pretty slow. Slow enough that we got to do some homework in the break room, and had a little more time to watch some Rambo. The end of the semester is coming up Thursday so all us students are making sure we have our papers, comps and test outs done in time. All i have left to do is my test out which i need to do in the next two days because I'm off wednesday. Maybe I'll make some more clay creatures *cough* DORK! You know it.

24/365: Still raining

It's still raining and really gray out. Our deck has this huge puddle from where the cement must have settled before it dried so the water pools there. It sucks because if i sweep the water off, it will only go on the neighbors deck below (not that I really care, but that is just kinda mean) and when the water does eventually dry, it leaves this disgusting permanent residue that makes the deck look filthy.

Anyway, nothing really happened today. Bri went snowboarding and I worked. Tomorrow i work the late shift which completely sucks but hey, only 7 more weekend rotations till graduation!

23/365: Keeping busy on a rainy day

It's been rainy the last few days and I'm off today since I have to work the weekend shift. I was feeling bored so I went to Michael's and picked up a few of these really cute jars, some moss, pebbles, sculpey clay and put together this mini terrarium and the little mushrooms and owl :)

I got my inspiration from etsy, which is my new favorite site.

And I am satisfied :)

22/365: Venipuncture!

Today was our day to learn venipuncture for CT injections. We had to do two successful sticks on our classmates after a practice run on this dummy arm. It wasn't anything close to the real thing, but it helped me to learn my technique so I knew what to do and wasn't killing my partner during the real thing. Surprisingly, it's not all that hard. I just had to overcome my fear of hurting the patient. Me getting stuck twice on the other hand, OUCH! And I didn't pass out so that's always good.

21/365: Pedometer

So i got this cheesy-ass pedometer in a box of Pops cereal. And its funny because i was just thinking about how i'd like to get one to see how many steps i take a day, if i get the so called recommended 10,000 steps.

Well, unfortunately when my pedometer got to around 8500 steps, it reset to 0. At the end of the day, and a crazy day in CT at that, my new amount was 7032. So when you add 8500 and 7032 you get 15,532 steps. Yea, that's a tad bit over 10,000 I must say. No wonder I come home from work and all I want to do is sit on my ass...

20/365: Hi. I'm Alycia and I'm an onychophagist .

According to Wikipedia: "Onychophagia or nail biting is a common oral compulsive habit in children and young adults, affecting around 30% of children between 7 to 10 years and 45% of teenagers. "

That's funny, because I haven't been a teenager for almost 8 years. How sad. For as long as I can remember, I've been a nail biter. I'd bite my nails to where they'd cause me tremendous amounts of pain. They'd look horrendous and I'd be embarrassed for anyone to even look at my hands. I've only had my nails long 3 times in my entire life. Once when I was around 13; that lasted a few months. I started back up because it was summer and i'd swim a lot so my nails would get soft and tear. So i would just have to bite off the tear to smooth it out which would lead to a full on chomp fest. The other time being after my wedding when I took my acrylic nails off and saw my real nails underneath I was inspired to stop for a year. This time it started back up because of stress from school and work. And now, my inspiration to stop being to avoid getting sick by putting my fingers in my mouth while working in the hospital touching sick sick SICK patients. Blech.

I know they still look short as hell to you, but to me this is a complete accomplishment I can hardly believe it. It's so hard for me to not cave in and bite that delicious white part clean off. I am so preoccupied with looking at my new nails and feeling them that it's an obsession. Maybe I should always keep gum around so I can chew on that instead of getting ideas to bite again. It's beyond habit, it's an addiction. I've relapsed in the past and I'm hoping this will be the end of it.

19/365: Being Crafty

So a few months ago I stumbled upon the cutest little stuffie in the world, Sigmund the Octopus from futuregirl.com. She was kind enough to send me the pattern, along with a few other different sea creatures i have started working on but have packed away with my christmas decorations. I named him Fezziwig because he was created around christmas time and he lived in our christmas tree. But being that it took me around 8 hours to complete him, I decided against packing him away with our christmas decorations. He is sitting out in our living room for a while. Hard work like that needs to be showcased lol!

Unconditional Positive Regard

This video is hilarious. I love his voice :)

18/365: My patio garden

Ok, i promise this will be my last pic for a while of my patio "garden" but I am excited to finally have some new plants :) Today i got a pony tail fern, pothos ivy and a mini jade tree to add to my already planted box of cacti, single bloom orchid, and mini pine tree.

I'm surprised my mini pumpkin gourds from halloween are still looking good too!

17/365: Wishing I had a green thumb

Yea, nothing really exciting happened today. I tried to figure out what kind of succulent i have to see what i'm doing wrong to cause it to wilt. Other than that, we went shopping with our gift cards from christmas today. Spent about 10$ on things that shoulda been 60$ so i'm happy. And we watched My Best Friend's Girl with Dane Cook. I'm not really into him anymore, he's kinda overrated now i think. That is all. Good night.

16/365: Typical

Nothing good came out of today. Even the internet failed me, up until now. At least I cleaned the apt so I don't have to tomorrow....Hooray for a three day weekend!

15/365: Smooch

Well, nothing interesting happened today to take a picture of. I was in class from 9 till 4 learning about venipuncture, ct, and rad protection. So that left me to take a picture of my next best subject, Cyrus. Either he really really loves me or he tasted the cookies I just ate. I will tell myself he really really loves me.

14/365: Attack of the killer lamps!

Our original lamps were from Ikea *cough CRAP cough*, and had made it through two moves unscathed. But sometime last year, both lampshades managed to break within a few months of each other and my lamp was the only one that had a working bulb. So i rocked a ghetto looking lamp for a while. Well, bri ordered two of these humungo killer lamps from jcpenny.com and i just put it together right now and was like uhhhhh. I mean, it's like, '*yaaaaaaawn* i'm gonna go to bed now.......WHAM! Lamp in your face!!!"

i like the way they look but it's gonna take some getting used to...

13/365: My drive to work

On the days when my shift rotation is later in the morning, like 9:30, i take hwy 280 instead of 101. It's a tad bit longer, but it's much much faster moving than the 101 at that time of day. Taking 280 is definitely the scenic route, especially when I take my exit for the hospital. This is a picture soon after I merge off the highway. It's a pretty steep hill so my ears pop all the way down, but the view is fabulous. You can't see the hospital in this shot, but you can when you go down a bit farther. Yesterday was even clearer than today. It's been really gorgeous out lately :)

12/365: I tried to avoid it....

Last week, when Bri was sick, i pretty much avoided any sort of contact with him. I would wash my hands all the time, no kissing, no sharing food or drinks. I'd even sleep facing away from him. But did that even help? NO. I caught his cold, especially the cough, minus the fever....so far at least. Let's hope it doesn't get any worse because i feel like crap :(

11/365: Picchetti Winery

I wanted to do something outside today in this absolutely gorgeous & sunny 70 degree weather. So we went to the Picchetti Winery with some brie, crackers and fruit for a picnic. Hiked up some trails, took pictures of the skyline and had our picnic :) Gotta love these California winters!

10/365: Why can't I keep anything alive?

A few months ago I bought a window box and some cacti, purposefully because I knew cacti would be hard to kill knowing my previous track record with neglecting plants. And cacti live in the desert where there is hardly any rain, right? So it made sense to get them and set myself up for success. Well, lately the one cacti that has sprouted these two long antennae-like stalks is starting to wilt. I have no idea why because I'm not doing anything different than when they were thriving. It makes me sad because i was proud of myself for actually helping a plant live rather than die, but alas, it looks like I was wrong.

9/365: Rug cleaning today, unsuccessful.

Bri rented a rug doctor to clean our incredibly dirty rug. And of course it doesn't clean for sh!t. But why would it? Nothing seems to be made with good quality anymore. It's always half ass so THEY can save a buck. I don't understand why a company will sell you a product and lie through their teeth that it will work if you buy this and buy that, yet has no intention of actually working. I would be willing to pay top dollar just to know that what i am purchasing will work 100%. I guess they figure it's the thought that counts? I would just appreciate a little honesty.

8/365: because Dooley's Anatomy just sounds...weird.

I thought this would be a fitting picture for the day, being as tonight is the premier of Grey's Anatomy!! It's not like i'm too excited or anything.

TiVo hasn't been checked twice to make sure it is going to record just in case i have to miss a second of the show.
I also thought it would be a good pic for the day because someone at work pointed out that i looked like Meridith Grey with my blue scrubs and new chucks :)

I'll take that as a compliment, thank you!

7/365: My pug is sex nuts.

I got this saying from Clerks II when Randall was describing someone as being "sex nuts and retard strong" and it pretty much describes Cyrus to a T. Last night he wouldn't stop scratching himself and when he scratches himself, he makes these annoying audible pug breathing noises which woke me up numerous times. Apparently he was scratching intensely all day (making him "sex nuts", even tho it has nothing to do with sex, just the idea that when he has something on his mind there is no changing it. idk it makes sense to us). So when I came home from work, I took him outside to the deck and brushed the hell out of his coat, as you can see from the hair flying around. I even cleaned out his ears, eyes and gave him flea medication. I'm hoping his little "spa" treatment is enough to keep him quiet tonight.... or else!

Update at 9pm: Cy apparently had an allergic reaction to his flea medication so it only made matters worse :( Gave him a bath, and hoping it will calm his itchy skin down, poor baby.

6/365: This pic a day nonsense is proving to be hard...

IMG_0456-1, originally uploaded by alycialeanne.

As you can tell by my recent shitty pictures, this pic a day thing is proving to be hard already. I work everyday, so by the time I get home it's getting dark and I have no daylight to take a pic of something cool. The other con is that......... wait for it..........I'm at work. So that leaves my only other photo op place to be.....work? uh, no. I think you'll see the best pics on the weekend, but I don't want to jump the gun with such promises so soon...

5/365: Back to school

I haven't touched my books, book bag, scrubs, or anything else related to work for over a week, until now. Break is over and it's back to school, and i am exhausted. And it's only been our first day back! There's only 25 weeks till graduation and it's finally hitting me that this is the year I will be done with school forever and will finally get to make a living doing something I really love doing. Night review starts next month and I couldn't be more happy.

So here's to cracking those books with 6 months left to go! Breathe.

4/365: After Hours Clinic

I am so thankful that there is an after-hours clinic nearby us so if ever someone gets sick, like today, we can go right away and not have to miss work on a weekday or something. It kinda restores my faith in the health care system, that some health care providers care about you and your schedule. If I sound overly excited, its because I never had an opportunity to go to a doctor on a weekend, so for that I am grateful.

It was really dead there today but thats always a good thing; get in, get seen, and hopefully not catch any germs on the way out!

3/365: Pug Meetup

We went to the San Jose pug meetup today. Cy was in heaven. He always seems to only play with other pugs, i think he is a "breedist" (dumb joke). After an engery-filled car ride to get to the park, he is already out of breath and panting, and all he really does when we get there is run around with an aimless endeavor with his only mission being to pee on as many things as possible. I think its so cute to see so many pugs that I can't wipe the smile off my face the entire time.

2/365: New flips, free pug

New flips/free pug, originally uploaded by alycialeanne.

I got these awesome, incredibly comfortable flip flops yesterday at my favorite surf shop in Santa Barbara for 30% off and because it is still too cold to wear them, i wanted to take a picture of them because i love them that much. I also haven't unpacked from the trip yet, as you can see by the unzipped red bag, though i did manage to take down the Christmas tree. I don't usually unpack from a trip until I desperately need something from inside the bag. And being that I'm off today, incredibly lazy and still in my pj's, i haven't had the need to get anything out (i.e. hair brush, makeup, heck I'll even admit it - deodorant).

Cy seems to be into my flip flops too, or maybe he is just attention starved from being at doggie daycare for 4 days and is following me around to every room in the apt in case i magically produce a treat from my pocket or something...

1/365: A new year!

Santa Barbara, originally uploaded by alycialeanne.

So, as the title of this blog says, this photo blog is an experiment to see if i can keep up with taking a photo a day. It seems easy but i have a feeling it won't be only because once i am back from break and start working/studying, i will be too lazy to or forgetful, but as of now i'm going to try my best. So here is a picture i took today on our last day of our trip to santa barbara...