Weekend getaway – SASparilla

So last night I was too tired to post because I was busy wrangling this apparatus for a few hours. The stress of organic chemistry lab is upon us in full force people. The only good thing about it is that I have a small class (10 people!) and most people are pretty friendly so it makes the 3 hour block go a little faster.

 

I just realized that this looks like I could be making drugs. I promise I’m not 😉

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I’m writing from the airport right now! I’m currently waiting to get on a flight back home to sunny and warm TAMPA! I’m spending the weekend with my 3 best girl friends from semester at sea. They are all flying in today too, and I’m seriously so excited!!!

This weekend is gasparilla, which is a HUGE festival in Tampa. If you’ve never heard about it, you are seriously missing out. It’s easily one of the best weekends of the year! There is a big parade right by the water, everyone drinks and collects beads like at Mardi Gras (minus the boobies!) and it’s PIRATE themed!!! To raise my spirits and excitement level even more (not like I need it!) I’ll leave you with some pictures of Gasparilla’s past.

These pictures are from the past 4 years of Gasparilla… I wear a lot of black!

If there’s smoke…

there’s not always fire.

My roommates and I have had a bumpy past with our smoke alarm. It goes off quite often, even when nothing is burning. Tonight, Joelynn burned the crap out of her pizza  because the alarm would.not.stop.

She’s such a happy girl!

Anyway, after all of us nagging each other about the stupid alarm sound, we started to hear another alarm. We figured it was coming from the one upstairs by our bedrooms, but no…Rob was playing a youtube video of smoke alarm sounds! He had us going nuts!! It was impossible to tell where it was coming from. The girls were running up and down the stairs fanning the air like crazy, removing batteries, and trying to figure out where in the heck the noise was coming from! It was priceless. Pranks like this make me really appreciate having a boyfriend who isn’t afraid to play around with me and my roomies.

If anyone’s interested, this is the youtube video … it sounds SO real!

Sidelined

 

blocking the road for a good  2 minutes … severe craving ensued

Sunday Inspiration

OPI Black Shatter

One of the simplest, girliest pleasures I indulge in frequently is painting my nails. I am obsessed with the blog All Lacquered Up. I find out about new colors, collections, and all things manicure related from her great posts!

Before Halloween, I had read about OPI’s new black shatter top coat, and have been keeping my eye out for it ever since. After months of waiting, I finally got it! (Actually, my wonderful boyfriend actually got it for me!)

Basically, you just paint it over any color and as it dries, it “shatters.” I experimented with different colors and coats with my roommate Joelynn. I went pink, she went rainbow.

We’re both obsessed!

Thankful

For 4 wheel drive on super snowy days.

5+ inches…. thank goodness this is my last winter in Ohio!

Mickey D’s visit to the cardiologist

Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday! Your good vibes mixed with all the oranges, vitamins, hot tea & lots of sleep seemed to do the trick! I’ve felt great all day.

My Wednesday started off like it always does – with work. I do research through the medical center, and my main job is to ask patients to take surveys when they finish their visit with the doctor. Most people usually either decline to do the survey, or they fill it out and leave without more than a few words.

Today though, I had a 20 minute long conversation with a patient in the waiting room. I didn’t mind talking with her, in fact, I found her conversation to be a nice break from the monotony of the morning. She was telling me about her myriad of health problems, how she felt she was getting sub par care, etc. I actually appreciated her honesty and the perspective she gave. I can take her feedback, apply it to my research and help make patient care better for her and future patients.

However, it was kind of hard for me to take her 100% seriously because over the course of 20 minutes, she ate two burgers and a large fry from McDonald’s. In the waiting room of her cardiologist’s office.

Let me just say that I don’t care what you eat.Unless you are complaining about heart disease, diabetes, and the last 40 lbs that “just won’t come off.”

Since I do have plans to someday work in the health care field, seeing people carelessly eating junk food (especially right before an appointment!) breaks my heart. Maybe she doesn’t know better, or maybe she doesn’t care.

Either way, I know. I care. 

And one day, I will be working towards making our world a happier & healthier place!

Let me just back up and say that I’m by NO means a perfect eater. I too, could lose a few pounds. I love sweets & French fries. However, I fully believe in moderation and getting ample veggies, vitamins and an overall well rounded diet. I just don’t want anyone to call me a hypocrite when I post about cupcakes tomorrow 🙂

sick day

hot tea & oranges.

nighty night!

Columbus Bucket List: Brunch at Tasi

Sunday morning rituals dictate that Rob and I are having brunch at First Watch, a cute little breakfast & lunch cafe with locations all over. Every week we try to go somewhere new, but we are fearful of lines, parking, and if the food will be any good. First Watch is our old standby and we love it.

This weekend though, the sun was shining, it was slightly warmer (around 40!) and the time was right to try something new. Enter Tasi Cafe. It has a great reputation in Columbus for a delicious, inexpensive breakfast in a very cool, urban setting.

Our fears about parking were confirmed when we arrived at the cafe to see 5 parking spots – all taken. We drove around for about 20 mins, trying to find at least an open meter or something. It was kind of ridiculous and we were ready to give up when all of a sudden, we spotted an open parking meter! It was fate.

The reviews online were not exaggerating when they said Tasi is a small place. There were about as many tables as there were parking spots. Anyway, we placed our order and then got seats kitchen side and were able to watch all the action.

It took less time for us to order, receive, and eat our food than it did to find parking. But man was is delish! I had challah French toast with grilled bananas and Frangelico syrup (yup my mouth is watering as I type) and Rob had salmon eggs benedict.

Both dishes were terrible, obviously.

I absolutely adored Tasi and would love to go back! Unfortunately, the parking situation might keep me away on the weekends, but since they serve breakfast all day long, every day of the week, you can be sure I’ll be visiting again soon.

I’m so excited that I crossed something off the Columbus bucket list..I have a few changes to make to it, but hopefully I’ll be crossing something else off soon!

Long weekend

So I’ve been a bad blogger .. I should probably change my name to Caro [almost] Daily. I guess when life happens, blogging doesn’t. Even though I originally intended to have a daily, year long journal, missing a few days here and there isn’t going to stress me out. I’m back today with a recap of my long weekend.

Thursday
After frantically finishing up my experiment in ochem lab, I came home around 830 to find my roommates dressed and ready to go out! So I did what any college senior facing a four day weekend does – threw on some cute clothes, touched up my makeup and headed out for an amazing night. It’s been entirely too long since I went out with everyone, and it was much needed after my stressful week. I wish we had taken some pictures since all of us girls looked so good and I really liked my outfit, but I took this on my phone and it’s the only one I’ve got.

It should also be noted that I’m an idiot and lost my debit card after the bar.. I was pretty drunk when I got home, but luckily I’m a responsible drunk and called the bank to cancel it!

 Friday
I spent pretty much all of Friday doing homework. I’m lucky that I don’t have classes on Friday this semester, it’s a big catch up day for me.  I also had lunch with a good girl friend of mine, Esra. We met way back sophomore year in our Arabic class and we were instant friends. She’s a smart, funny girl who I absolutely adore catching up with. We talked about grad school, travel, boys, and all sorts of other fun stuff. We ate at Panera and I had approximately 3 cups of coffee in less than two hours. Hangover? What hangover! 

Later that evening, my roomie Kristen and I just weren’t up to another night of drinking, so we decided to go see a movie instead. We watched Black Swan. OH.MY.GOODNESS! Basically, it blew my mind. I thought it was really well done and an interesting story, but it was really intense. I’m glad I saw it, but I have no plans of ever watching it again.

Saturday
I slept in a little and then hit up the gym for an intense session. My arms are sore as I type. Kristen and I went to the mall after our workouts and we got some great deals. I walked out with two pairs of leather boots and two tops, none of which I had intentions of purchasing. I’m just doing my part to stimulate the economy I suppose 🙂

Rob texted me while I was at the mall and we made plans to go out to dinner with his older sister and her boyfriend. She recently moved out of state for a great job opportunity and she came back to Ohio for the long weekend! I love getting to spend time with them! Dinner was great, but at one point I almost died of embarrassment. When we were walking to our table, I slipped and fell right in front of everyone waiting in the lobby! I was totally fine, but the host kept asking me if I was okay… so awkward! I hate moments like that! At least I can laugh about it now haha

Sunday
Today was a great day spent relaxing with Rob. However, we did something really exciting today that deserves it’s own post! I’m going to write it up later tonight, because this has been a novel already. I’ll give you a hint though, it involves crossing something off of my Cbus bucket list!!!