Friday ramblings

So, it's Friday, which is nice. This week was pretty busy. I had two quizzes, a paper and a lab due for school. And then I had softball practice for my new softball team (BYOB: beer, balls and bats) and choir rehearsal both on Wednesday night. I also finally started getting my butt in gear and went on a couple run/walks with Indy as well as a 15-mile bike ride with Eric. I need to start fitting in about three rides a week (of about 20 miles or so) to prepare for the Red Ribbon Ride, which is coming up in three months already! I had planned on fitting in more rides Thursday or Friday and then for sure Saturday and Sunday, but now it's all rainy and cold. And this weekend, the forecast says there's a chance of snow. What? I would really like to keep up the exercise while I still have the motivation, so if the weather would just get nicer, that would greeeeaaaat (a la Office Space).

Things I'm looking forward to this weekend:
- Meeting Baby McIntyre!
- Going on a date with Eric tonight for Greek food. Mmmm!
- Hopefully fitting in a long bike ride.
- Grilling out at Mom's house on Sunday (if the weather cooperates...).

Things I have to do that I'm not really looking forward to:
- Writing a couple papers and prepping for finals
- Memorizing those choir songs for our concerts next weekend! We're singing 18 songs, and it's just hard to learn all of the lyrics -- the tunes and notes come pretty easy, but those darn words are hard to remember!

Baby McIntyre is here!

My friend Angie and her husband Pat had a baby boy yesterday! I will hopefully be visiting them later today if they are not too tired. I'll post the name, etc. later once I verify the final info. I'm pretty sure Ang and baby are healthy and doing well, but the only communication I've had as of yesterday has been via text messages with Pat. More news (and maybe some pictures) to come...

An interview with a Buddhist monk

Last Friday was so cool.

A little background info: My job as a research assistant in the Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota basically consists of editing and writing content for a website called Taking Charge of Your Health. The site has all kinds of information about complementary therapies and how you could potentially incorporate them into your healthcare along with Western medicine so you have a holistic approach to your healthcare.

Well, we have a section with "Expert" interviews that has topics on different mind-body therapies, connections between the brain and the immune system, etc. And last week, the Dalai Lama and his French translator, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, were in town meeting with scientists at the Mayo Clinic on some research that's being done to study the effects of meditation on one's health, happiness, etc.

Long story short: I got to interview Matthieu Ricard! He has quite a story, which you can read here in the Minnesota Daily. My co-worker who also sat in on the interview and I kept talking afterward saying that we wished we didn't have an agenda with any specific interview questions. It would have been so cool to just go have some tea and cookies with him and listen to him talk about his life philosophies about not worrying or dwelling on the negative, taking the time to meditate to improve your own happiness and self so that in turn, you are contributing to society in a more positive way and bringing more positive energy rather than negativity, violence, hate, etc.

Anyway, I can't really explain our conversation very well here, but I am working on transcribing the interview and then posting it online. I'll post a link to it once it's all done.

I think this job has been a blessing in my life. I wouldn't claim one religion as my own at this point in my life. I feel like I've always (or at least since some time during late high school or early college) been interested in learning about different religions and spiritual practices. I took a class called Hands-on Spirituality during my senior year of college, and it was so interesting. We learned about Native American sage rituals, meditation, yoga, Thai massage, labyrinths, etc. And recently, I've been reading about the history of the Bible (what was taking place while it was written), as well as the basic principles of Buddhism, Islam, and some other religions (haven't gotten too far just yet! Maybe I'll have more time this summer...). So having these kinds of opportunities at my job has been really great. It opens my eyes to such different lifestyles and practices. One common thread that I feel like I have found thus far: a lot of religions tend to be based on some very similar principles -- compassion, empathy, love. If anyone has read Life of Pi, you might understand me when I say that I understand where the character Pi is coming from when he wonders why he can't believe in more than one religion. (Side note: Life of Pi is a great book -- highly recommend it!)

Alyse + Jeff

At long last....here are the pictures from Alyse and Jeff's wedding last weekend. Between Eric and I, we captured about 140 pictures. And really, that wasn't enough! We didn't even take a lot at the reception. There are so many pics that I wish we would have taken, so let's hope the photographer got a bunch of good ones. Alyse, you'll have to share those once you get the proofs!
See all the pictures here.

Here are some favs:

More pics from Indy

Emily sent me her pictures from the wedding last weekend, and I had to share some of my favorites. Thanks, Em!

Me and Wes - he is really smiling here, people!





Dancing and loving every minute. :) I like this one.


The girls and Eric. This is a great one, too!





Another dancing couple pic. We pretty much stayed on the dance floor the entire night.









And my favorite and the most flattering of them all.... Us eating brunch. Best mid-bite couple shot ever. EVER!

Laura + Brian

Last weekend, I went to Indianapolis for a wedding of my college friends, Laura and Brian. It was a little Butler-Purdue reunion, and Eric also got to meet about 100 new people, so he wins points for that (and will achieve even more points after this coming weekend at Alyse and Jeff's wedding in Austin, TX). Anyway, it was a full weekend filled with lots of time to hang out with college friends, and Emily, Bryan, Eric and I even fit in some exercise -- we walked from Broad Ripple to Butler's campus and back, which ended up being like a 6-7 mile walk. I'm impressed with us. Emily and I did a lot of "remember when..." as we walked around campus. Oh reminiscing...so fun! I'm sure it was way more fun for me and Em than it was for the boys, but they did well.

Here are some pics below - and here are all of them.


Getting ready!


Some of the Butler girls pre-wedding

Bryan coped with the reminiscing by running around and trying to shoot some hoops in Hinkle Fieldhouse (home of the Butler Bulldogs and the place where the movie Hoosiers was filmed).


Me and Em with the bulldog









Scott, Wes and Eleni - such a cute family!

Bryan, Emily, Scott and Eleni

Grand Marais recap

Eric and I went up to Grand Marais for four days during our spring break and stayed with his mom in his parents' house up there. It was so nice and relaxing and beautiful. We went hiking along Lake Superior, spent some time walking around the shops/restaurants in town, drove up to Grand Portage (which is right on the Canada-Minnesota border and has waterfalls) and also just enjoyed our evenings in playing Super Scrabble and watching movies. It was overall just a very nice mini vacation. Below are some of the pictures - or click here to see them all.

PS Eric signed on a house today! It is so nice and in a great neighborhood in St. Paul. (For those familiar with St. Paul, it's a couple blocks east of Snelling Ave. and a couple blocks south of St. Clair, near the St. Clair Broiler.) I love it and am so excited for him.

Okay, here are some pics...

Eric, me and Lake Superior thawing out. Look closely and you will see snow, ice sheets and water.

The rocky shoreline and melting ice.

Hiking up on Sweetheart's Bluff (yes, that's really what the trail was called) with Lake Superior in the background.

Eric at Grand Portage. The left side of the falls is Minnesota. The right side is Canada!

Close up of the semi-frozen falls.

Indy trying to share a tennis ball with Rocky, her new friend.

Coming soon: Baby McIntyre

Here are a few pictures from my friend Angie's baby shower a month ago. I'm finally catching up on getting pictures online. So here you go! Little baby boy McIntyre should arrive sometime this month. See below for some sample shower pics or view them all here.


WHS girls: me, Ash, Karin and Ang










Go Gophers!










Ashlee and Angie












Grateful Red kickball team girls: Rachel, Stacy, Angie, Karin and me

An excuse to procrastinate studying...

Another quiz from cousin Katy to fill out. I just got home from Indy tonight, and I'm supposed to be studying for a test I have tomorrow morning. I feel like this will be my warm-up or my break time. Then I'll get back to that.

A - Attached or single? Attached to a great great guy, Eric!
B- Best friend? From college - Emily and Sam, from childhood - Ashlee
C - Cake or pie? Cake
D - Day of choice? Friday afternoons
E - Essential item? Chapstick and Cherry Coke Zero
F - Favorite color? Lately, maroon.
G - Gummy bears or worms? Worms. There's more to 'em.
H - Hometown? Woodbury, MN
I - Favorite indulgence? Cheez-its and Coke Zero or Oreo Cookie ice cream
J - January or July? July. I could not pick January because at this point in the season, I am sooooooo ready for warm weather.
K - Kids? Someday maybe. However, the little children at the airport today were really good birth control. Screaming kids whose parents let them turn the airport terminals into jungle gyms make me not want my own kids ever.
L - Life isn't complete without? Family, love, close friends, lots of laughter, feeling like you're making a difference.
M - Marriage date? TBD
N - Number of brothers and sisters? 3 sisters, 1 brother, 1 brother-in-law and 1 soon-to-be brother-in-law.
O - Oranges or apples? Oranges. I'm allergic to the peels on apples. I know, it's sad.
P - Phobia and fears? Spiders. The dark, especially in basements -- it all goes back to those darm scary movies I watched as a kid. I always thought Freddie Krueger or someone was going to jump out and get me if I was alone in the basement in the dark.
Q - Quote? "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
R - Reason to smile? I am really happy with my life right now and love living in Minnesota, even if the weather is still kinda cold. And I just got to spend the weekend with some great college friends and see two of them get married. (Congrats again, Laura and Brian!)
S - Season of choice? Spring because it leads to summer, which I love and want to last as long as possible.
T - Tag three people: Laura, Stacy, Eric
U - Unknown fact about me? I learned to ice skate when I was 4 at a little ice rink across the street from my house.
W - Worst habit? Going to sleep without washing my face or brushing my teeth sometimes.
X - X-ray or ultrasound? Should I care about this? I guess ultrasounds seem like they might be cooler.
Y - Your favorite food? Anything new. I love Greek food and have been craving it lately.
Z - Zodiac sign? Scorpio, but I'm on the cusp of being a Libra, so I apparently have Libra tendencies that make me less mysterious and Scorpio-like.

Voice clinic

I forgot to mention that I got to observe in a voice clinic yesterday. It was very interesting. Speech-language pathology continues to amaze me with how freakin' diverse the opportunities are within the field. It is wide open. I can end up working with kids, babies, seniors, middle-agers, whoever. And it could involve disorders in swallowing, articulation, language, voice, accent modification. And I could work in any of the following settings: schools, hospitals, clinics, private practice (!), who knows!

Anyway, I went to Park Nicollet's St. Louis Park voice clinic yesterday and got to sit in on appointments with two different patients. HIPAA rules prevent me from writing about specifics here, but it was just pretty cool. I watched two different types of scopes being done. One is a long rod that they stick in your mouth (you have your tongue sticking out, and you're saying "eeeee" as much as you can). On the end of the rod is a camera that is shooting video of your vocal folds (cord) to see if there is any damage to them. Another scope consists of a little tube that fits up your nose with a camera on the end of it. It goes up your nasal passage, down your throat and again gives you a great view of your vocal folds. By making the patients make sounds or sing verses of a song while the scope is in place, we were able to see if there was any swelling, nodes, etc. on them. Pretty sweet. What I liked about it was how it seems that every day would be different. You are able to talk to different people, help them out (hopefully) and your day goes by so fast. I think I'm going to try to observe at the same clinic again sometime and hopefully sit in on some treatment/voice therapy to see another side of it. Just fyi, the people who would usually come to a voice clinic are teachers, singers, etc. -- people who use their voices a lot and develop problems like hoarseness, nodes, etc.

This makes me excited to check out some other clinics and other settings, like schools too. I'll find out soon (within the next month, hopefully) if I'll have a clinical practicum placement this summer. I'm guessing I will have some kind of placement with children since I'm currently taking a class called Language and Cognitive Disorders in Children, and I haven't taken the adult language class yet. So yeah, I'm getting pumped and excited about hopefully being able to work with some people this summer and start getting my feet wet!