The Great Pumpkin

The Boy says this is inherently wrong, but Godiva the Dog doesn't seem to mind.

photo from the Orchid show

“The world is extremely interesting to a joyful soul.” -Alexandra Stoddard

Book fair

We went to the National Book Fair, which is on the Mall. This year, I wasn't as excited about the authors as I usually am (except the poets, and Garrison Keillor, who will be there tomorrow). In past years, Alexander McCall Smith and Alexandra Stoddard have been there, and others I was more interested in. But getting to go with the Boy makes anything special for me, and we had a nice brunch at Masa on 14 with his uncle. They had a bacon Bloody Mary there, which was pretty fantastic and potent. I was bummed that Edmund Morris wasn't a very interesting speaker because I was thinking of picking up his series on Theodore Roosevelt...

We're making apple and sage mac and cheese, from a magazine recipe....I'll let you know how it turns out. Here's some photos from the festival, which was a lot bigger than my photos can portray.

Starbucks and Godiva

First salted caramel mocha of the season...and Godiva the dog trying to shake paws with the Boy for a sweet potato treat.

gratitude and the weekend

I'm grateful for:

1. Being done with PCLS
2. Smelling the wild herbs in the cool evening air on my run.
3. Being able to run 2.5 miles and only stop once for a few feet at the top of a hill.
4. A weekend with my boy
5. My new computer (Thanks, Boy!)
6. My art journal
7. Pumpkin lattes and salted caramel hot chocolate at Starbucks.

Above, a new outdoor sculpture at the Phillips Gallery...


Today, I'm grateful for:
1.) The Boy, who read my blog yesterday and decided I needed TLC in the form of...
2.) Jamie Oliver Greek Salad (my favorite)
3.) Strawberry Shortcake (also my favorite)
4.) A trip to pick up art supplies for art journaling
5.) my new supercomputer, being built right now, by my amazing fiance.


Other things I appreciated today:
Quiet time on the bus to read about art journaling
Georgetown cupcakes from an attending for my last day at PCLS
getting to wear my favorite jacket on a cool morning
a Japanese maple on base
lunch with Ryan, Grand Rounds with Shannon....

burnout and mindfulness

I notice that every once in awhile, life seems to get really complicated and exhausting. And every time that happens, I have to remind myself to go back to the basics. I think that happened for me last year, when I felt overwhelmed with too many patients, and felt like I wasn't really doing them or myself any good. I noticed this year, that I felt resentful and exhausted, burned out. I took some leave, spent time with the Boy, puttered around the house, and while I felt better at the time, I felt tired in my soul when I thought about coming back to work.


I've been asking myself if these last three rotations would feel as difficult and painful under different circumstances? Should I have made different choices for my profession -picked something less responsible, something that gives me more time to pursue my interests? Even things I used to find interesting in my profession I dread, and my constant companion, the migraine, has come back -something that started affecting me since starting residency. I've anticipated weekends lately like an alcoholic their first drink of the day!


The night before last, on call, I was looking over my email, and noticed a new book by Thich Nhat Hanh, and was reminded of mindfulness- something I've been preaching but not doing a great job at following. Maybe the answer is moving toward my daily life, not escaping from it. I'm going to try to post a photo or thought of one beautiful thing that I saw or did that day, and something I'm grateful for. In that thought, the photo above is something I saw while I was hiking, propped against a tree.


Today, I'm grateful for having dinner with my wonderful fiance, coming home to a happy, wagging dog, and I found a magazine on making art journals while we were browsing at Barnes and Noble. 

Beauty and today

Beauty is everywhere.

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle."
— Thich Nhat Hanh

iPad stash by Nau

iPad stash

I'm thinking about picking up this iPad cover, as long as it fits the iPad 1...I think it's great. What do you think? It's made of recycled wool, too!

Love and Rome

This is a blog I started about a year ago over on Wordpress.com, that I've migrated over to Blogger since I use Google constantly anyway. I hope you enjoy it. When I was trying to re-design and re-conceptualize the blog, I thought, "What should this blog be about?" I think I might have had a mid-(thirties) life crisis, and thought, "Who am I, anyway?!" I'm living with my best friend, deeply in love, and trying to live life as fully as I can. I'm interested in nearly everything, and a profession, psychiatry, that I generally love, except for the paperwork and politics involved. So that's what I'll write about.

The Boy and I are honeymooning in Rome next month! Besides getting married to the Boy (which I am incredibly excited about), going to Rome to see all the things I've read about and experience the culture (read: food, art and style) is something I've always dreamed about!

Here's our agenda:

• Sunday, arriving before noon at the hotel; afternoon at the Borghese Gallery
• Monday: ancient Roman monuments, including the Colliseum, Palantine Hill, Pantheon, Capital Hill, Forum, etc.
• Tuesday: National Museum of Rome, Appian Way Stroll and Catacombs
• Wednesday: Naples and Pompeii
• Thursday: Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica, afternoon shopping, strolling and eating Gelato
• Friday: Ostia Antica and strolling from the Campo de'Fiori to the Spanish Steps
• Saturday: free
• Sunday: tracking down all the Caravaggio paintings that we didn't see at the Vatican; leaving Rome at 8 pm.

What do you think? Any travelers out there have ideas for our free day that we shouldn't miss?

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."
— Marcus Aurelius