pretzels.

 Dough ball.

 letting it rise.

 meanwhile...highlander grogg...

...and pinterest. 

done rising! 

 rolling them out.

post-oven. 

topped off with cinnamon sugar.

That's what I did today.

What did everyone else do?

{life} lately.

this right here...completely taking over my life.

beautiful fall days.

apple cider. mmm.

kayaking on the allegheny.

it's the weekend!

and...you know what that means, right?!

more time to study!

in case you didn't know, i'm currently working on my master's in physician assistant studies to hopefully become a physician assistant in a couple years. let me tell you, school is TOUGH. i feel like i'm studying 24/7 minus the sleeping and eating part of it. oh, and the blogging part, of course. anyway, here is just a little more about what PA school is like...

you know you're in PA school:

+when you get mad at yourself for sleeping in until 7:30am.
+when eating and sleeping feel like a waste of precious study time.
+when everything becomes a learning issue.
(our curriculum includes a class called problem based learning, where we are presented a case and have to work through it on our own. anything we don't know becomes a learning issue that we have to go back and research)
+when weekends are no longer relevant and/or existent.
+when you learn about anal winks.
+when the term "bear down" becomes totally medically relevant.
+when you spend more time on campus than you do in your own apartment.
+when it hurts to even think.
+when it's completely ok to make coffee at 10pm.
+when palpating your classmate is completely normal.
+when medical terminology becomes your only terminology.
+when looking at dissected cadavers is a normal occurrence.
+when Facebook is your only outlet to "the outside."
+when knowledge extractions in PBL are your idea of fun.
+when the only time you use your phone is to calculate drug doses on epocrates.
+when the question "what is your rationale for that?" becomes the worst question on the earth.

so yea, that's a little about PA school, AKA my life right now. now back to drinking coffee and studying learning issues!

boxes.

For the past couple weeks I've been slowly packing away my life into boxes...getting ready for the big move to Pittsburgh. That's less than 3 days away. YIKES!

I'll be honest...I'm a bit nervous. Although this college experience probably won't be so different than the last...I'll now have to cook my own meals and drive myself to class everyday. Can't believe I'm grown up now. Ha. But in all seriousness...I am nervous about school. Meeting new people, tough curriculum. Really hope I can break back into college mode quickly.

But even with all the nervousness, mostly I'm just super excited. I'm moving to the city. Festivals, local coffee shops, farmers' markets, diversity...tons to do (which is good, but also kind of bad). I'm looking forward to everything I'm going to see and experience. I have a week after I move to explore before classes start and I'm pumped. And I can't wait to take some pictures.

I'm ready for a fresh start. New school. New city. New people. New home. New me. Well, a modified version of me. I'm ready for a fresh start and all that I'm going to experience and learn while being semi-independent. I'm sure It'll be challenging at times or most of the time or all the time...But I'm ready. I'm ready to unpack my boxes and my life in Pittsburgh and see what all is in store for me.

Pittsburgh, here I come!

Well great news! I've been formally accepted into Chatham University's MPAS program for this coming fall! I got the e-mail yesterday during my botany class but, unfortunately, couldn't show much excitement as I was supposed to be paying attention :) But thankfully I did get to share the news with a friend of mine in the class and he offered me his congrats. I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity or more relieved that I know what my future has in store for me! God is so good!

Now the plan is just to finish off my undergrad on a good note, which may be hard now knowing that I've already been accepted into a school! And then once August comes around, I'll be Pittsburgh bound to start a new chapter of my life! Thanks to all who have been an encouragement during this time. I couldn't ask for better people to share my excitement with!

happy Monday!

As I mentioned before, I had an interview for Chatham University's PA program on Saturday. I think it went well! But there were a lot of qualified applicant there...They interviewed over 200 altogether and are only accepting 80-90, so we'll see! I should have an answer by the end of the month...


I loved the program and the way the curriculum is set up. It's all self-directed learning with a lot of problem based learning (PBL). It's definitely different with me coming from a lecture background, but I think it will be a good challenge and a way to begin thinking clinically.

The campus is great. Chatham is very small and set up much like MVNU, with the campus being clustered all together. But the awesome thing is that it's right in Pittsburgh and so there's no way you can ever be bored! I got to go around the city a bit and I absolutely loved it! It's incredible even in the winter, so I can't imagine how it is during the warmer seasons. I really think I would LOVE living there.

So yea, overall a really great experience! Now just looking to hear back from the school!

grad school

In a few hours I'm Pittsburgh bound for a grad school interview into Chatham University's Physician Assistant program! This year they're bringing back the interview phase because the applicant pool is really competitive. This makes me really excited and hopeful, but at the same time I'm soooo nervous!

The entire visit will take place between 8am and 12pm, so if you get a chance, just send up a quick prayer that everything goes smoothly!

So thankful for this opportunity and how God has worked it out so well! Hopefully His plan is for me to get accepted, but we'll see!