DISNEY!!!!

We're back! Sadly. I'm so very glad that we went on our quick little three and a half day vacation to Disney World and Universal Studios. It was just what we needed. It's hard to be back, especially since it is gray and miserable here in Chicago.

I don't know how normal people do Disney. I walk a ton. Over a mile each way to work. But I know a lot of people who don't. People who walk to their cars, drive to work and then walk inside. How on Earth do they survive Disney? Because you walk sooooo much there. I mean, miles upon miles upon miles. And I was so tired. A good tired. But tired. I think people should start training a few months before they go.

The other nice thing about Disney is that it is filled with shlubby Americans so you feel really attractive and put together when you are there- even if you are wearing yoga pants!

One of my favorite experiences which was new this time around was having lunch at Belle's castle in the Magic Kingdom. There's a part in the movie where they say "try the gray stuff, it's delicious!" And so for dessert I got the "Master's Cupcake" which is topped with "gray stuff."

Nowadays, being in line is almost as cool as the actual rides. My new favorite ride at Hollywood Studios is Toy Story and while waiting in line you see all sorts of larger than life toys like Lincoln Logs and a Barrel of Monkeys.

We went to Universal Studios which was not my favorite place. It is more like Great America. But Simpson's land was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, the Simpsons' ride did me in and made me very motion sick. So I was done with rides for the day. Mike, however, did a few more- including "rock it" which starts by having a completely vertical incline while you lay on your back. The part that mike loved was that you also got to pick your music that was blasted into your headrest as you go so he got to listen to Motley Crue's "Kickstart your heart" as he rode the rollercoaster.

Harry Potter world was sooooo much fun... if you are a Harry Potter fan. I'm not going to post many photos of that because I don't want to ruin it for anyone else who might be going. 

This is Mike's first taste of butter beer. Delicious! 

This is inside the castle- the stairway up to Dumbledore's office.

These are the Ron and Harry sweaters from Mrs. Weasley that you can buy in the gift shop for an exorbitant fee.

And this is the Three Broomsticks. While Mike does not look like he is having a great time- he did. It is simply that this photo was taken at the end of a very long day and minutes after he rode the Dragon ride twice in a row (with no wait) and is pretty close to throwing up as I took this pic! He never did throw up, but it took him a while to feel better.

Anyways, it was a fabulous trip. One of the things that surprised me was how religious Disney was. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did. For example, they often have characters out walking around at the parks, right? Well, in Mexico world at Epcot Center they had the Three Wise Men talking about going to see Jesus. And then at the holiday choir performance they sang songs like Silent Night instead of We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Universal on the other hand is so different. Atheist. Disney is all about family and values. Universal is all about EXTREME and being wild.

Both were fun, mind you. Just noting the difference.

I'm already starting to plan our next trip back!

why not being able to get pregnant is the best thing that ever happened to me

You learn a lot when you have children. Things you never expected. That's a given. You learn what you are capable of and what is important. That all makes sense.

What I didn't expect was how much I would learn and grow from NOT being pregnant.

Not in a general, I've spent my life not being pregnant sort of way, but in a trying to be pregnant and not being pregnant sort of way.

As much as it sucks, I'm kind of glad I haven't gotten pregnant right away because the amount of growing I have done this year is incredible.

I've dealt with illnesses in my family and loved ones before so I understood the idea, but I've never personally dealt with something that was so out of my control. There are things that I can do to improve my odds of getting pregnant, but when push comes to shove, it is out of my control. I can't just work harder to make it happen.

I've learned acceptance. Not a "give up" sort of acceptance. But a "I can't control the whole world" sort of acceptance.

And I understood in theory how much it sucked for women who were trying to get pregnant, because I've wanted to have a baby since I was 21 years old. I understood that longing.

But until I really tried to get pregnant, I never really understood the emotions- the hope, the discouragement, the fear that it will never happen. I never truly understood about dealing with comments, usually well meaning, that are like salt in an open wound.

My empathy has grown by leaps and bounds- both in regards to women trying to get pregnant and just people in general.

If I had gotten pregnant when I first started trying- I would have a baby right now. That's crazy to think about. But I think this period of trying to get pregnant and not being able to has made me a better person and that in turn will make me a better mother when it does happen.

I also wouldn't have started acupuncture school had I gotten pregnant when I first started trying.

Sometimes things work out like they're supposed to- we just don't realize it at the time. :)

finishing up first semester

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just a quick hello

I'm not going to lie... I did NOT expect grad school to be this hard. It is legitimately hard.

But let's not focus on that. Let's focus on happy...

1. my husband can play the guitar and that is sexy as hell
2. I get to wear yoga pants all week if I want
3. I have a husband who likes to do stupid stuff like pose for silly christmas card pictures with me
4. I don't have major health problems (knock on wood!) that I am currently dealing with
5. I have a straight A average going on
6. I feel at home in my apartment
7. I have an extremely supportive family
8. my clinical counseling class makes me love the world a little bit more every week
9. my classmates are all amazing
10. I got to hang out with mike a lot this weekend
11. I got the highest grade in my class on our last test
12. I can brag on this blog cuz nobody reads it anyways! ha!
13. our new blanket is now the perfect temperature (it was a little too thick for the summer)
14. I like christmas tree lights and now they are all going up
15. I get to go to bed right now.

Do you want to see a picture that came up on the powerpoint presentation in biology last week?

Let me just say that my mind was not the only one in the gutter and there was a LOT of giggling going on!

I think I'll end on that note! Goodnight my lovelies! 

out of balance

Do you know what's kind of ironic? I'm studying Chinese Medicine which is all about how you need balance in your life. This is what we need to teach our clients. This is what we believe to be true.

Yet because I am in school, studying my ass off, I have no balance in my life.

I have no amusing blog posts to write because all I seem to do is work and study.

So working on balance is my big thing right now.

I will share with you my one funny story from the week.

In anatomy lab this week we were going over some of the muscles of the face, including the masseter- or the teeth clencher muscle.

The act of chewing is called mastication.

So our teacher was telling us about when he was in undergrad studying this stuff and he had a professor from China who was new to the US and could speak and understand English but it was still pretty difficult for him. And his prof was getting his PhD and had to get up in front of this big lecture hall full of other students and teachers, etc and answer all these questions that were thrown at him.

So they decided to start him off easy and ask him to talk about the muscles involved in mastication.

Only, like I said, his English wasn't so good, and he thought they asked him about the muscles involved in MASTURBATION!!!

He sat there for a second and then figured, well, okay. And starts explaining the muscles. After a few minutes everyone in the audience realized what has happened and are rolling with laughter... but they let him continue on for about ten minutes!!!

don't work too hard

Hi.

My name is Nikki and I just ate way too many jalapeno peppers. They were pickled so it didn't seem like too many at the time but now my stomach hates me. It's good to do that every now and then just to remind myself that I shouldn't do it.

So what else is new? Yesterday was my birthday and it was pretty non-exciting. I had a full day of classes and then came home and ate delicious tacos (my favorite) and watched Forrest Gump.

Oh, and I had raging PMS which was causing me to almost keep breaking into tears throughout the day.

So that was fun.

I'm feeling much better now. Well, except for my stomach hating me for eating peppers.

Right, anyways. Moving on.

School is kicking my ass. I mean, it's fine and I will get through it fine but I will actually have to WORK to do well. Boo on that. Do you want to know something sort of funny though?

I was receiving an acupuncture treatment in the student clinic today and one of my chronic problems is just a lack of qi or energy. This can manifest in the body in my ways- including the obvious one of just not having very much energy or get-up-and-go. So the clinic supervisor came in and was observing the student working on me and was talking to me. She is this little lady from China with a HORRIBLY thick and difficult to understand Chinese accent. And she likes to yell at me that I am trying to do too much and that I don't have the energy to be doing all of this, that I'm not super woman.

So today her advice to me was to just try to pass- not to stress out and try to get A's. Just pass- don't stress out- don't work too hard. So that's my excuse if I don't ace these tests that I have on Thursday and next week- my teacher told me not to study!

She did not, however, tell me to type blog posts instead of working on my powerpoint presentation for tomorrow. So I better be off. Just wanted to say hi.

first day of school

I, of course, had a nightmare last night about the first day of school. In the dream I really had to go to the bathroom (which is not unusual, I dream about that nightly and it wakes me up so that I can get up and go to the bathroom) but in the dream I had to pee but a class was about to start but a rock concert just let out so I was late to class because 50 people were in line before me to use the restroom.

However, my actual first day went smoothly. I'm not in love with my first class. She just throws lots of information at you. My second class has the best teacher ever. And my fellow classmates are amazing.

One of the things I learned in my first class, however, which I think is awesome is that in olden days in China doctors got paid based on how healthy their clients were. The healthier the clients, the more they were paid. So it was in a doctor's best interest to do preventative medicine and keep everyone super healthy. What a concept!

So the funniest thing that happened this weekend is that Mike and I went out to dinner last night. We were going to a nicer restaurant so I got all dolled up. We got on the bus together but there were no seats together so we were sitting across the aisle from each other. He reached over and put his hand on my leg and I (pretending that I didn't know him) slapped it away with a shocked look on my face! I heard a couple of sharp intakes of breath from people around me- who really believed that I didn't know him and some stranger had just tried to put his hand on my thigh. Until I exploded in giggles. Mike just shook his head and said, "You are such a jerk." It was hilarious!

I also had insufficient funds on my debit card today when I went to Trader Joes. Oops! That should have been embarrassing but I thought it was a mistake by the bank. Nope. I just forgot to transfer funds. Teehee. Sorry to the ten people in line behind me! Maybe I should start keeping a credit card in my wallet. They had to return half of my items so that I could pay for them with the cash I had on me.

Anyways, I've got lots of reading to do, and these classes might kick my butt a little but I am still way ahead of a lot of people in my class who are coming straight from Corporate America.

Time to go read!