HERBS!!!

You know, if it weren't for herbs, I might actually like school. 

And here's the thing... I find my herbs classes to be FASCINATING. 

Seriously, this stuff is straight out of Harry Potter.

It's just really, really hard. And I haven't figured out a way to memorize them all yet. 

I'm still hoping that it just clicks. Or that repetition does the trick. 

We were slow in the clinic the other day so my advisor asked me what herbs I knew. I stared at her for a second with a deer in the headlights sort of look. I seriously thought she was asking me to recite back every single herb I had learned! Sometimes they just like to test you like that- keep you on your toes! Turns out she just wanted to know if I had taken Herbs 1 yet. Which I have. So she sent me over to the Herb room to study and clean the shelves. Doesn't it look fun?

Each jar contains a different raw herb. They range in texture from powders to twigs. I'll admit that a fair number of them are brownish but there are some really pretty ones too. I found some "indigo" powder that was a gorgeous blue. 

There are hundreds of herbs. Some are very pretty like this one.

It's called Ju Hua. Otherwise known as Chrysanthemum flower. 

 Nice, right?

And then of course, there is this guy...

That was Chan Tui.

Otherwise known as cicada shell! Yum!

Very few clients elect to actually get the raw herbs, they prefer them in granule form that we mix from this set of shelves. 

However, we still have to learn to identify and know the properties of every single herb. 

And it's really, really hard. Have I mentioned that? For our midterm the teacher will take about 30 samples of the herbs we have learned and will have them sitting in little piles on the table with a number next to them and we have to know which herb is which just by looking at them and smelling and touching them. But of course they never give you the super easy ones like the chrysanthemum or cicada that I just showed you. Instead it will probably be one of these three...

Without the other two sitting next to it to compare it to, could you tell which one was which?

Like I said, herbs are hard. 

thinking about you

So here's a thought for you... how many people do you think thought about you today?

You might assume that your significant other did. Sure. Probably some of your friends. That's reasonable. Maybe a family member or a coworker.

But then I was thinking about all the random people that I think and wonder about on a daily basis. There are some that I think about all the time. Old friends, ex-boyfriends, classmates. I also have this weird thing that when I am massaging my clients' legs I often think about my old roommate- even though I have no association between massaging legs and my old roommate. They just pop into my head.

I think about clients I haven't seen in five years. I think about that girl on my soccer team when I was 10 years old. I think about my grade school friend's older sister. I think about the lady who rides the bus at the same time as me whom I've never even made eye contact with. I think about the teacher in college that I never even took a class with. I think about my landlord and my former landlord and the one before that. I think about my old waitress at the restaurant by my work. I think about members who I used to check in at the gym. I think about my ex-boyfriend's coworkers.

I don't think about all those people EVERY day. But I must think about hundreds of people a day. Well, at least a hundred.

And so it's very possible that 100 people thought about me today.

That's weird to me.

country living- sam's wedding

Mike and I took a little roadtrip this past weekend. Perhaps if we had thought it out, we would have decided it was a bad idea, but we didn't and I'm glad we went. 

Mike worked a double on Friday night and then we got up early Saturday so we could drive more than 8 hours to Odessa, Missouri for our friend's wedding reception. We got there just in time for it and then we drank and danced all night and got up the next morning to drive the 8+ hours back home and then Mike had to work a double on Monday. Ouch!

On the way home Mike let me stop at the Pink Elephant Antique Mall. I've driven by this place a bunch of times whenever we go to St. Louis and I've always wanted to go in but there is "never time to stop" when I'm with my family but luckily Mike is all about having little adventures and let us stop to check it out. 

The wedding itself was lovely. On a small farm.
I absolutely adore weddings.
They're so hopeful.

 But the best part was getting to sit around a huge fire and stare up at tons of stars! 

Oh the stars! 

Chicago is awesome in many way but you can only see about 10 stars at night and that's on a good night!

We were originally supposed to camp out at the farm that night but I freaked out when I read the expected overnight temperature was going to drop to 37 degrees! So I booked us into a hotel room instead. Mike was a little disappointed at first but the king size bed and two person whirlpool in our room helped him get over it! 

I've always thought of myself as a city girl but I've got to say, the country is

calling to me more and more lately. I wouldn't be surprised if I moved out there even before my program is finished.

May 10, 2014 pic a day

Hi. This is me. Right now. 

You can see some of my herbs and my big ass herb textbook on the table behind me just taunting me.

This is my closet. The upper shelf and bar holding all my hanging clothes collapsed.

This happened when I was at work. Mike walked in and saw it and asked what I did to my closet. 

"Oh, just something new I'm trying. Do you like it??"

completed list

I make "To Do" lists all the time. Some are "to do before this weekend" and some are "to do before I die." I find them really helpful. And it helps me stop worrying about needing to do it. If it is written down on a list I don't have to think "don't forget to do ..." constantly.

So those are all well and good, but I'm in a nostalgic mood. So this list is going to be things that I'm glad I completed in life...

Things that I've done in this life...
- had a pet dog
- played soccer in college
- won a Star Award for volunteering when I was in my 20s
- got my Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do
- started acupuncture school
- fell in love
- got my heart broken
- got myself out of bad relationships
- got married
- traveled to France
- learned to speak French
- ate sushi
- graduated college
- gave a speech in front of a large group of people
- ran in a race
- got certified and went scuba diving
- went bungee jumping
- saw the Rolling Stones in concert
- tried snowboarding
- experimented with drugs
- went streaking
- sowed my wild oats
- washed an elephant
- took piano and trumpet lessons
- got Lasik
- saw Mount Rushmore
- saw the Grand Canyon
- went to the top of the Eiffel Tower
- took dance lessons
- threw a party with a photo booth
- became a massage therapist
- lived abroad
- stayed in touch with a lot of my friends
- went on a blind date
- got drunk at a college party
- ate gelato in Italy
- went to Orson Scott Card's writing seminar
- went to Vegas
- was named captain/MVP of my high school soccer team
- sunbathed nude
- went to Walt Disney World
- had a foreign boyfriend
- had a tongue ring
- got a tattoo
- went on a volunteer mission trip to help people less fortunate than myself
- lived by myself

I've had a fun life.

a pic a day

My new goal is to take a picture every single day. At least one. And with that I will update my blog. The trick of course is to actually download those pics so I can use them in this blog. Maybe tomorrow. Right now I am busy procrastinating from cleaning up the mess in my backroom. My closet exploded.

And I should be studying herbology. Sweet baby Jesus, this herbology class is going to be the death of me. Last semester herbs made my life miserable and we only had to learn about four herbs a week. This semester we are up to learning 12 a week.

One of the herbs for this week is Zi Su Ye which is traditionally served on the plate when they give you sushi. Some people think it is just for garnish, but actually it is quite tasty and as an added bonus one of its functions is to treat food poisoning- especially food poisoning from seafood! How fun is that? Herbs is actually one of the most fascinating classes out there- but remembering all the details is just really hard.

 
Zi Su Ye

Of course, I keep complaining and I keep passing all my classes. And just think how much I'll know in four years!

brian h.

This is one of those posts that I am writing for myself so that someday in the future I look back on it and remember to be a good person.

I have met many incredible people since I have started grad school. One of whom was Brian H. who was in my "cohort" when I started. Brian was young, maybe 26? And he had survived cancer. Prostate, I believe. And what was awesome about Brian is that he not only survived cancer, but he thrived. He didn't just listen to what the Western doctors told him to do. He researched and tried to heal himself as naturally as possible, including acupuncture and better diets. And he did really well. In fact his Western doctors often mentioned how they had never seen anyone deal with the chemo without getting sick before. But he did. Because he was really taking care of himself.

Well, Brian decided to drop out of our program because he was more interested in the foods and nutrition aspect of it, not so much in the acupuncture and he wanted a school that was more based on that.

Brian also ate at Chipotle a lot. Not that has anything to do with anything, I just knew he really liked it. So when he told us he was leaving the program I got him a Chipotle gift card and wrote him a little note that basically said that I was sad he was leaving the program but glad he figured out what was right for him and wished him the best of luck. And then I held on to it for a while. Because, well, I didn't know him that well. And, would it seem weird? I didn't want to be some creepy weird girl.

But then I decided screw it, and our friend Jenny was going to see him over our break and I gave her the card to give to him.

And I didn't think much more of it.

And then a few weeks later Brian popped into our classroom because he was in the neighborhood and he snuck up behind me and gave me a big hug and told me how happy my card had made him.

And that is my last memory of Brian. Because he passed away yesterday. His cancer came back. And he had a heart attack. And now he is gone. And that sucks.

It really sucks. Nothing is going to stop that from sucking. But do you know what would suck even worse? If I HADN'T given him that card. I would be regretting that so much right now.

So, Nikki Becker, my future self, I am speaking to you. If you EVER have the chance to do good in this world, to make people happy, to show people that you love them... you take it. Because it is worth possibly looking like an idiot or a weirdo and you might not get that chance again.