warm fuzzies

STRESS! Everywhere! If it isn't about school, it's about the job search. I hate eating lunch at the nursing school these days because there's always at least three or four conversations going on around each table about applications and interviews. And we're all applying to the same hospitals, it seems. Whoever keeps insisting that nurses are in demand clearly are not talking about children's hospitals, and are DEFINITELY not talking about Dell in Austin. Last I heard there are t.w.o. available spots for new grads in the entire hospital (...and I really, really want one of them.) Anyway, to illustrate what's going on in my brain, we have exhibit (picture) A.

<--- A few nights ago I found my bag with all of my career fair goodies. It's unfortunate that my camera frame isn't wider. 

That orange pen is a monster. Lucky for that hospital that my career decisions are directly related to the size of the pens they offer. 

So. What do we do when we're stressed? We stab ourselves with giant orange pens.

No.

We make a list of warm fuzzy pictures to remind ourselves that life isn't that bad.

Guatemalan Worry People: "There is a story that when the Maya Indians of Guatemala have worries, they tell them to worry people and then put them under their pillows at night. By morning, the worry people have taken their worries away."

A good gift from a good friend on my 21st birthday (which, for the record, was 1.5 years ago exactly, more about that later).

Come to think of it, it's been a while, and I don't remember the exact details of where this little guy came from. What I do know is that he's a goofy, awkward-looking monkey that has belonged to Andrew since 2005-ish, and he's fabulous.

He snuck him into my bag sometime before I came home from Boulder a month ago.

And here he is, sitting on his desk throne, as it should be. Ha.

Obviously there's a baking picture. What do we do when we're stressed? We bake. I saw this recipe last week on this blog and decided there just isn't a better way to use raisins than this. And I believe her about chilling the dough to make the cookies thicker. It works with the chocolate chip cookie recipe I usually use.

I froze the rest of the dough in balls to bake whenever I want them, making me a great candidate to be best friends with your grandmother. 

...and on that note, over on the saltier end of the baking spectrum, I made these fries in the oven last night, and they're my new lovechild. Canola oil, rosemary, black pepper, kosher salt. 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Or was it 425? Might have been 425.

Spray/oil your pan better than I did and give em a shake/stir/flip every once in a while. The stuck ones just don't look as pretty once they are un-stuck :)

I've been biting my nails. FAIL.

I ran 10 miles this morning with the running group. Success! 5 weeks to race day!

And also, I'm now on twitter. Big surprise there. Ha.

Kisses.