Easter: All Hail the Bunny!

Happy Easter, everyone! Just got back to the tropical tundra after spending the weekend up north visiting Penguin and my family. Thanks to holiday traffic, way too much homework, and the time of night, I'm going to update the blog tomorrow. But here's a quick pic of the bunnies enjoying their day of adulation.

Nothing Beats Brie.

Our class has organized a dessert crawl for the 2nd and 1st years this coming Monday to answer any questions they have about electives, clerkship, and CaRMS. In true procrastination style, I've wasted a good chunk of today putting together a playlist with bands representing every city across Canada that the CaRMS tour visits. The only city I struggled with was Thunder Bay - Makeshift Astronaut is a from there (I especially like their song Midnight and the Open Road), unfortunately, they're not on Grooveshark or iTunes. But, if I could have - I would have included them in this nifty playlist... hope you enjoy it!

PS: I am aware that The Rural Alberta Advantage is actually based out of Toronto (wtf is up with that?!) but let's all just pretend that since their lead singer was born in Fort McMurray, it's ok to say that they're from Alberta.

Just a spoonful of sugar and a good sharpie marker... put your manners where I can see them!

Oh crap! I really wanted to post this as part of my weekly update but then forgot... It's a great piece by David Lebovitz (infamous food blogger extraordinaire) about proper etiquette for serviette use. Specifically, cloth serviettes (which are the only kind that I, the paper-abhorring-granola-crunching-tree-hugging-eco-freak, offer at my table). I actually learned something from this post, too! Did you know, for instance, that if you crumple up your napkin and leave it on the table at the end of the meal that it signifies you don't intend to return to that establishment again? Whereas if you fold it up neatly, it means that you intend to come back again and again because you loved it so much... Oh the subtlety of graceful domesticity! How I heart thee.

Weekly Update: April Snow Brings... Thunder.

• Current Scholastic Pursuits
• Time seems to be slipping by faster than I'd like it to. Our study "break" is already half over and I don't feel anywhere near ready for this exam. The knowledge that I can never actually prepare for it is only a little comforting.
• This past week, I've been chatting with my colleagues and many of us are expressing that the anxiety is the worst part. It's unrelenting. If you don't study, you feel anxious because you're not working. If you do study, you feel anxious because you realize how little you know and how much you have to learn. There's no winning. The only way I can cope is to go to the gym or take the Impala out for a ride. Unfortunately, I got sick over the weekend and had to stay home from yoga tonight. Here's hoping it'll be a quick bug and I'll be back at it soon.
• In other news, we survived ACLS this weekend. ACLS stands for Advanced Cardiac Life Support and it's the course that all residents must take before starting to work in the hospital. The course teaches you what to do when a Code Blue is called- ie. when someone stops breathing or their heart stops. It covered everything from how to secure an advanced airway (intubate/stick a tube into their trachea) to when and how to deliver electricity to the heart to get it beating again. The course was really well run and I learned a ton. I also learned that July 1st is going to mark the beginning of some very sleepless, anxiety-ridden nights. But, I think that with a little practice, it will all be ok.
• On the bright side, I distinctly remember a few days last week when it was sunny, warm, and I was feeling healthy. I remember feeling really, really happy (as opposed to sick, exhausted, and stressed out). So, it's good to know that I'll bounce back to that state. A little TLC, some home cooked food this weekend over Easter, and I should be shipshape in no time.

• Recipe I've Been Drooling Over
• This little Lavender Cake is presented in a Lemon parcel and is just as sweet as punch. I'd love to give this recipe a go. Check it out here.

• Favourite Thing on Etsy this Week
• I fell head over heels in love with this cast iron bathtub couch. Sheer brilliance. When I am a rich woman, I will buy one of these.

• What I'm Reading Right Now
• Still T-Notes. No news there, sorry folks.

• TED Talk I Watched This Week
• It's not a TED Talk but it is a wonderful and touching piece. This week, I offer you Field Notes by James Maskalyk - a Toronoto ER doc who is currently working for MSF in a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya
• Here's a quote to get you hooked- 
• "though i could do it more, i find that in medicine, like in life, its usually best to let yourself go, to hope deeply, even if it means the pain of it being dashed.  to release, as much as you can, the tiny elastics those pains have placed around your heart because if you don’t, you can forget what its there for, and with that, what we’re here for, this short time on a rock spinning wild and green around one of a trillion trillion stars."

• Song of the Week
• Pure Gold: 9 Piece Luggage Set by Radio Radio
• The ending is a bit weird - just watch the video part.

• Thing I'm Most Grateful for This Week
• I'm most grateful this week for the freedom to do what I do- to be given the opportunity and courage to dare, to adventure, to love deeply... it's such a privilege to have the time, energy, and well being to dig into life and slowly crumble away the boundaries that individual perception has put between me and understanding- experiencing without reservation, the oneness of the universe.

• Thing I'm Most Looking Forward to This Week
• Going home for Easter - and listening to someone else's music in the car! Not to mention, seeing Penguin and my family.

• Bunny Photo of the Week
• Here's the Jazz bunny - shocked that she's not allowed to destroy the mat that's in the bathroom.