Please help a scrub

Me being a scrub, doing scrubby things

Me trying not to be a scrub...

My entire life I have been a struggling tomboy. Struggling in the fact that although my nature is to be one, I secretly wish I were more of a girly girl while being ironically proud that I am not. Strange, I know.

Anyway, I have been feeling like a total scrub. This is not helped by the fact that I wear scrubs to school almost everyday. They are blue and Abe calls me a smurf. I remember there was one lone girl smurf and although she wore lipstick and high heels, that still doesn't make me feel very good about my appearance. Besides, the odds aren't very good that I even get to be her.

My goal this year was to "take more pride in my appearance." I haven't been very successful. I usually wake up as late as possible, choose which pair of scrubs to wear (cherokee or landau...big choice), and put my hair into a ponytail that never stays how I want it. Sometimes I attempt some eye make-up but usually this seems pointless when I am dressed as described.

Anyway, I am wondering the secrets of the chronically beautiful...you know those girls who always look great. They must put in the time and effort to do it but I just feel clueless. Thus, I put together my first featured poll. If you are on the run, as I often am, what do you do to feel as beautiful as possible considering the circumstances? Or, is hygiene and beauty so important that this is never the case?

Please, share some info to help out a poor scrub. I want to enjoy my beauty (or any potential of it) while I am still young and have any to speak of!

Thanks!

Chicago

Like I mentioned before, Abe and I spent a nice short weekend in Chicago. We walked around a lot, went to Potbelly sandwiches, and the Weber grill restaurant. I don't think we would ever have gone there if they hadn't had the giant grill cemented to the corner. Good marketing. I bet the hundreds of other people there and our 45 minute wait were results of the same.

We also went to a show, "Altar Boyz," a spoof on Christian music and boy bands. It was pretty funny.

On the way back we saw the most interesting thing I've seen in Chicago. I may be defiling some pure minds with this post, but it was too amazing you have to see it to believe it. In an interior design store there were some very interesting designs. Yes, the picture is of a "mammary gland" lamp, vase, and art thingy. And, is if that wasn't bizaare enough, the owner or manager, whoever the Jonathon of the "Jonathon's somethings" store was thought they were great enough to lure guests in in 2 windows. Strange.

We topped the rest of our trip off with a day at the Shedd aquarium and Giordano's for real Chicago style pizza. Yum! Overall, a trip well worth the slighlty scary ride home and the interesting Chicago decor.

64 accidents

So Abe and I went to Chicago for a Valentine's Day weekend. We had a lot of fun and had some pretty good Chicago weather...at least it was warmer than Iowa City.

On our way home we were a bit worried. We had heard IC had had a huge storm and that the roads had been pretty awful. We were quite lucky, no probs at all until we hit the Iowa border. There was no snow coming down and luckily things were pretty plowed. However, there were some patchy spots that made us nervous.

But, we could see the devastation of the storm. I counted 64 cars off the side of the road, in ditches or the median. I don't know how many I missed on the other side of the road (I only saw 1). Crazy. That is more than one car per mile (it was less than a 40 mile stretch). I felt like I was in the Bermuda Triangle of cars, or at least a car ghost town or something. I kept hoping that every car had been accoutned for and that there weren't any hurt or stuck people within!

And, I decided they are right that SUV's roll. The only cars I saw on their sides or upside down were SUV's...luckily, just a couple. There was everything from little sports cars to semi's.

I'm glad we weren't number sixty-five!

Yummy

I've been cooking a lot! Somehow I've had these great cooking urges on Sundays to cook, cook, cook. Normally, I just make things that I can imagine and whip up with what we have on hand. Recently, I came up with a list of dishes and bought all of the ingredients. Crazy idea, I know.

Anyway, I've been cooking and freezing things. What a novel idea. I am so proud of myself for this because normally for me cooking is all about instant gratification. Abe and I have made meatloaf, cabbage roll-ups, white bean chili, scrambled egg bake with carrot muffins, and turkey burgers with carmelized onions, all of which were delicious. We also made Mexican corn chowder and fiesta lasagna last night that I am excited to pull out of the freezer during a busy super block night. I just wish I had the pics to show you but I am at school.

We have also been using the breadmaker my parents bought for his birthday. We've made the basic white, banana chocolate chip, and cinnamon. We have to much food around the house.

So anyway, I may get fat! We'll see. Check out Abe's website for some recipes. Hopefully he can get them on there for you.

www.ironsheff.blogspot.com

Sad Politics

I am very disappointed in America, at least in Republican Americans. I have been a Mitt supporter for awhile, esp with all of the fuss here in Iowa for the past 9 months leading to the caucus.

It is sad to me that the only complaint people really have against him is how perfect he is. He isn't genuine enough, he is arrogant, he is spending his own money on his campaign. Doesn't that just mean his is passionate and has no accountability to special interests? How is being rich and successful a bad thing? Do we want someone who has been unsuccessful leading our country to success? And has he ever been any more arrogant than any other candidate? I don't get it.

The only thing I can imagine it that people dont' like Mormons. I had had this told to my face. And, people hate someone who has it all...hundreds of millions, a great family, success in multiple sectors, etc. Not sure why you don't want that for a president.

Too bad all of the conservative media waited too long in sending out their endorsements of Mitt. The liberal media have been against Mitt from the beginning. They downplayed his win in the Iowa straw poll and rarely give him coverage for anything until now when they are calling for him (as the #2 guy) to quit. If he wins or loses, it seems the other guy makes the headlines.

externship luck

I got an externship! I am so relieved. I will be spending July 6-13 in Knoxville TN pulling late hours (and hopefully teeth!). I lucked upon it today, actually. I perused their website and found I could get an application by email. I was told they had the availability I needed so I quickly submitted the first part of the application and they reserved my spot. What a relief! Now, if I get another one I'll be set. If not, no worries.

The best part is...it is only a week long instead of 2-4 weeks. This is a plus for me, partly because I am in charge of youth conference (yes, IN CHARGE in charge) smack during the middle of my break, and I'll get a few days of summer. Phew!

Never really been to TN before. Maybe I can visit Graceland!

Let it snow!

We got dumped on with snow yesterday. For Iowa, we got quite a bit! We made the mistake of going out to visit a couple of friends for birthday cake and to dinner. The snow was deep and the driving very slow. So many people were out getting stuck in honor of the super bowl, I am sure. Parties to get to, beer to drink, you know.

We almost got in an accident when we found a women kneeling in the road in the snow. We drove her home and as we tried to back down her very steep hill came very close to hitting a parked car! Luckily, the parked car had just dug out and was on its way out so they moved and we were able to turn around and narrowly miss another. We made it home eventually.

This morning there is lightning and thunderstorms with rain. This seems so bizarre to me! I have never seen lightning with snow! It seems like such a weird combo to me. I thought wearing my boots to school would have me covered, but I forgot my umbrella!

Any hint of snow in a few days and no patients will come. Schools have been cancelled. I think we'll have a quite Monday. Too bad, since this is our last week in oral surgery.