2/14/14, Surprising emails that turn your life upside down

This has been the craziest week. I am still bewildered by what went down. To start off the week I was super sick with a headache, sore throat, fever, cough, body aches, ettc. Thursday I finally started getting my strength back and had a good day at school. In between my class and my meeting I received a very surprising email.

Flashback: last march I interviewed at a health app start up company in Sandy because I thought it looked like a cool experience. Turns out I didn't get the gig and they said it was because I couldn't give them the availability they wanted. I emailed them after asking if they did internships during the school year. They said definitely and that I should inquire back when I wanted to re apply. 

In October I was ready to re-apply for winter. The email never received a reply. 

Back to Thursday: The email stated that they remembered me asking about opportunities and interviewing the year before and asked if I'd be interested in coming on full-time to head up research for the company. They said I needed to respond quickly because they would start interviewing others if I was unavailable. (Whhhhaaaatttt?)

I quickly responded stating that I'd love to be considered for the position but due to my school/ other jobs schedule I could probably start part time but would be unable to be full-time until June. Their reply was that would work great for them and that they'd like to meet with me the next day (today). I quickly said yes. 

Today was good, I got a lot done at school and headed off to my thought to be interview. It was not an interview. It was a meeting to get me on board, excited, and negotiate my salary/start dates. 

I was a little blown away by everything. I am in love with the company (thus far) I feel like my role would be much like it would at a think tank with a Facebook like atmosphere. Say hello to the newest employee of Orca Health. If interested, look up one of their apps on the app store (Heart Decide is a fun one).

The next couple of months are going to be insane trying to finish up my projects and graduate while starting a new job. I'll be starting part time in March and then move to full time in June! I may be a little antisocial for the next 3 months, but come June 1st I'll have a normal, but super awesome schedule :) 

I never expected my first job to happen like this, it's still crazy to me!

In other valentines news, I started the day off delivering muffins to my classmates (it's tradition). I also surprised my hubby with some little gifts.

After the craziness of the day Travis and I came home to celebrate. We fondued it up. We had steak, chicken, pork, and veggies. Then moved onto fondue dessert (the best part) my favorite was chocolate covered cheesecake! 

Travis surprised me with gifts from my favorite jewelry (they are also an awesome charity) place, Threads which is an arm of  The Shine Project. 

Next we traveled to the ice castles, which we both thought were really cool.

We came home and watched the movie warm bodies, which was surprisingly good. Travis was like, "its a compromise, zom-rom-com!" Haha 

Hope you had a wonderful valentines day! :) 

2/12/14

I woke up this morning determined not to be sick anymore. I hate being sick, I hate my schedule being disrupted. I felt pretty good in the morning so headed to the train for work. I knew once our 2 hour monthly staff meeting started that I wouldn't last long.

I headed back on the 12:05 train. I had a quick skype meeting with one of my professors and a MD/PHD student in Chile. This is for the Systematic Review paper I am the lead on. We discussed the roles of each of the contributors and next steps. I am excited to have someone more qualified helping me with the paper.

Then I decided it was time to see what everyone was talking about with regards to the show Sherlock. Pretty entertaining so far. I still have 3.5 more hours till Travis gets home. I am so bored, and a little too fuzzy to work. Maybe I can get something done.

Did I mention I hate being sick?

At least we got to buy stuff from cvs. I love them. First national chain pharmacy to stop selling tobacco! 

In Defense of Food

I have wanted to review this amazing work since I started reading it. This perspective seems extremely valuable to me in a world dominated by the "food industry". This book changed the way I think about food.

Michael Pollan starts his book, In Defense of Food by discussing the fact that we worry so much about food in the U.S. We talk a lot about calories, or fat content, or good and bad fats, etc. And where has this gotten us? He discusses how the U.S. is more obese than ever, and even those who worry all the time are having a hard to following the "rules" given to us by nutritionists.

His advice, "Eat food," Pollan advises. "Not too much. Mostly plants." And quit fretting. "No people on earth worry more about the health consequences of their food choices than we Americans do -- and no people suffer from as many diet-related health problems," Pollan writes. "We are becoming a nation of orthorexics: people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating."

Pollan talks about how the food industry has a reductionist way of viewing food, as a series of nutrients. The problem is our body does not work by this series of rules that scientist, with very little evidence to build their case on, have created. Your body does not like to digest individual nutrients, it likes to digest food.
We need to be giving our bodies more real food. By real food I mean whole grains, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and small amounts of fresh meats. These are really the only rules to live by. It doesn't need to be about what you cannot have to be healthy. It means that there are a whole variety of foods we have forgotten (even though they are delicious) and need to bring back in our diets. 

The less we worry about getting enough antioxidants and the more we worry about eating more fruits and vegetables the better off we will be. The food industry is finding very crafty ways to make processed foods look healthier, by adding nutrients that we typically associate with health. 

Also, he talks about dieting, and this is something I continue to advocate: It doesn't work. If you want to lose weight for good you are going to need to make small lifestyle changes that will be lasting changes. Dieting is all about what you cant have, which makes it difficult and frustrating. Being healthy is all about what you can have. 

For the last month or so I have made it a goal to cook with more vegetables. I am amazed at some of the things I have been missing out on the last couple years! (yellow and orange peppers with hummus are incredible). Lifestyle changes can be things like never searching for a close parking spot, or only snacking on fruits and veggies. Do whatever is best for you, because lifestyle changes will help you feel infinitely better and help you live a healthier, longer life. 

2/11/14

Wow I have not been this sick in a long time. I woke up and felt awful, I couldn't get out of bed. Travis left for school and I emailed my professor that I wouldn't be in that day.

I moved to the couch after a couple of hours, made myself some breakfast and watched some figure skating on the olympics. To quote my friend Annette, Me watching the Olympics: "oh wow, that was impressive!" announcer: "ANOTHER DISASTROUS MISTAKE!" hahahaha I love her. and totally identify with this. Some of the pairs skating looked flawless and they got like 20th place. 

I tried to do a couple of hours of work after that, It was difficult to focus with such a cloudy head. The worst thing about being sick is that you think its gonna be fun sitting around watching tv, but after a couple of hours I get bored and want to get my stuff done. I also had to cancel a bunch of plans I was really excited about due to being sick. Oh well. Maybe next week I'll get to have fun. 

After attempting to work, I watched some parks and rec (okay like 5 episodes) with Travis. When he left again for class I started ready Elizabeth Smart's book, My story. I was captivated for the next 4 hours. It was an emotional roller coaster, but worth the read. 

My Story: Elizabeth Smart

The story of Elizabeth Smart was national news for a lot of 2002. Her abduction and rescue became a national phenomenon. At the time I lived in Georgia and I still heard about the young Mormon girl from Utah who was kidnapped from her bed. I may have heard more about it because I am also Mormon though, not sure.

I have been excited (not exactly the right word since I have also been terrified, maybe anxious?) to read this book since it came out. I read this entire book in 4 hours. I could not put it down, mostly because I needed to get to the happy ending. I cried a lot. I have read a lot of reviews of this book and am completely shocked at how negative they were mostly citing her childlike writing style and naivety. I think most of these people don't understand her religious beliefs and the strength that gave her through her 9 month ordeal.

I thought Elizebeth's book was deeply inspiring. Her choice to tell the story as if from her 13 year old self made the story more real. Her level of detail was amazing. Her captors did everything they could to take away her religion, her identity, and her pride. She was raped daily, chained to a tree, starved, and treated like a slave. Her Captor did everything in "the name of religion."

The most amazing thing to me is that despite the personal hell she was living through, she never once blamed or lost faith in God. She continually prayed and saw the blessings in her life. She has come home and lived an incredibly productive life (she graduated from BYU, served an LDS mission, testified in trial against her abductors, established a foundation, has been instrumental in a variety of legislation on abduction, gives speeches around the US, and has gotten married).

My favorite part of the book is a quote from her mother the night she returned home. She said, "You be happy, Elizabeth. Just be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself, or if you dwell on what has happened, if you hold on to your pain, that is allowing him to steal more of your life away. So don't you do that! Don't you let him! There is no way that he deserves that. Not one more second of your life. You keep every second for yourself. You keep them and be happy. God will take care of the rest.”

I can't imagine ever having to go through what Elizabeth went through. Her story has inspired me to remember that I can get through anything if I keep my faith in God. I am so grateful she was brave enough to share her story with the world. 

Getting ready for the reception

 I am so glad I have pictures, the reception flew by, we got there one minute and it was over the next! Everything turned out so beautiful. All I really want to do is eat more of our food though, Yummmmm!

2/10/14, The Book Thief

Being sick is THE WORST. I didn't realize I was that sick until I went in to work. I started getting a sore throat the day before, but thought it would just go away like my one I had a couple of weeks ago. I am probably being a bit dramatic.

I got a lot done at work, surprisingly. I started the process of contracting with an outside agency to do some work for my project. I also worked on graphs for the bureau report that I am the lead on.  I left about a half hour early because I just couldn't make it any longer.

I came home and read for a couple hours, watched the bachelor, and some parks in rec. A solid sick day if I do say so myself. Travis made me dinner and cleaned up and did whatever I asked of him, he's so helpful.

I did finish The Book Thief. This book was a really fast read, because it is compelling and well written. The narrator is not a typically used one in my experience. This book is told from the perspective of death. There are so many poetic passages that bring a sense of beauty to such an awful time. You see world war two from the perspective of an adopted young German girl and her family. The book brings up a lot of issues from world war two that I haven't noticed in other WWll literature that I have read (to be fair it isn't extensive amount). Overall I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it

Temple Pictures

Our photographer did a wonderful job taking a gajillion photos. I am splitting them up into a couple posts since there are so many. Looking at all of these photos takes me back to what an incredible day this was... (swoon).

Thanks Anna Gleave Photography