A Different Kind of Christmas

For the last several Christmases my family and I have headed down to Florida to spend the holiday with my grandparents and aunt.  This year, however, things are a little different as nurses on my floor are not able to take vacation the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years.

Clearly hospitals don't shut down for major holidays, so the floors try and make things as festive as possible (we have the pinkest tree you could ever imagine).  Check out this expertly normal sinus rhythm made out of garland.

 

And this one turned their PPE into a tree

Last night my co-workers and I kept our eyes on the sky for Santa and his reindeer as they passed over the Charm City.  I must have been in a patient's room because I missed him.  I decided to bring a little holiday spirit to the unit, just like I did at Halloween.  Tonight the staff will be having a potluck dinner at 2 o'clock in the morning the day after Christmas.  Insert hashtag here i.e. #nightshiftproblems #nurselife #needcoffee #letsgo

 I went to five stores (no joke) to try and find a Santa hat, but had no such luck.  As a result, I piecemealed together a festive headband and went to work armed with candy canes. 

On the home front, I decided to forgo the typical Christmas tree and grabbed a poinsettia and some glitter dusted flowers (who knew this was even a thing).  Also pro tip: wait until Christmas Eve Eve to get some cheap decorations and lights because everything is WAY marked down.  The joy of not having any kids is you an delay the festivities and really get into the 12 days of Christmas (the 12 days between Christmas and the Eve of the Epiphany).

Thanks to modern day technology I got to "hang out" with my family after waking up from a much needed "nap."

A little Christmas humor for ya:

Baltimore is VERY good at getting into the holiday spirit.  Christmas lights are brought to a new level between Hampden's 34th Street and this version of A Christmas Story's leg lamp.

Apparently the aliens, along with the Three Kings, made it to Bethlehem.

Also one of my favorite songs to come out this year was Silent Night with Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson.  Also am I the last one to realize that Reba's is Kelly's Mother-In-Law?

I hope everyone is having a great day and Santa was good to you all! 

Merry Christmas Eve!!

As I caffeinate for an evening shift, I came across this AMAZING video which takes a new spin on an old classic.  The pun was totally unintentional, but works well as Velocity makes all things wheel related. 

Want to see how much time you have until Santa heads to your neck of the woods?  Head over to the NORAD website to check on his progress and see how many gifts have been delivered so far. 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

With the countdown to Christmas officially on, I am sure many people will be using at least one of the above modes of transportation to visit friends and families.  With nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon I figured I would check another thing off my Baltimore Bucket List and visit the B&O Railway Museum.  Tickets were also discounted if you brought in a book for charity so it was a win-win situation.

The B&O Railroad first laid track in 1829 which lead to the first commercial long-distance track.  While it was not the first railway in the US, it did have have a lot of firsts in the industry: the first to hire a publicity agency, having the newest and most powerful trains of the time, creating full sized wooden replicas for documentation purposes.

Little know fact (at least to me), the first railway cars were pulled by horses. 

After World War II ended, the US created friendship trains which crossed the country and collected supplies and food for French citizens.  As a thank you, the French sent 49 antique "Merci Trains" which were filled with french wine, art and family heirlooms.  A train was sent to each state and DC shared one with Hawaii.

No train museum is complete without miniature tracks and landscapes.  While the B&O Railway museums had both indoor and outdoor tracks, they were nothing compared to those in the Carnegie Science Museum.

Happy Winter Solstice

One down side to working twelve hour days is you roll out of bed before most.  During the summer it's not too bad, but once fall rolls around it becomes VERY hard to get out of bed (especially when you are not a morning person).  Once December rolls around, I leave for work in the dark and leave the hospital in the dark.  Thankfully today marks the day where the days get longer and although it will still be some time before my commute no longer needs bike lights, it gives a girl some hope!!

Here are some facts and figures for any upcoming cocktail parties you may be attending:

• Sunrise is at 7:23 am and sunset is 4:49 pm meaning we have only 9 hours and 26 minutes of daylight.  WAY better than Fairbanks, AK who will only see the sun for 3hours and 42 minutes.  
• If you go outside either today and tomorrow, your shadow at noon will be the longest of the year.  
• The winter solstice does not mark the latest sunrise and/or the earliest sunset (we have solar time to blame for this).
• The coldest days of winter usually happen after the Winter Solstus because the Earth still continues to lose more heat than it gains

The Truth Can Hurt (Espeically If You Get a Shot)

Every year Gallup polls Americans to determine the most honest and ethical profession in the country.  Nurses have been at the top of the list since they were first added to the list in 1999.  The only year where nurses were bumped from the top was in 2001 when firefighters were included in the survey answers.  The report also states that "Since 2005, at least 80% of Americans have said nurses have high ethics and honesty."  Check out how some other common professions did:

A Long Overdue Deleware Brewery Tour

Last February I promised Dan a day of brewery tours and beer tasting, and nearly ten months later I made good on that promise.  While there are multitudes of tours available during the weekend, there are only a handful open on Friday afternoons.  As a result, we headed to Delaware to see to check out what the craft beer scene had to offer.

First stop of the day ... Dogfish Head.  While many know them for their 60, 90 and 120 minute IPAs they brew several others and will soon open a distillery for hard alcohols.  The tour lasted about 90 minutes, but our group asked a ton of questions.  This brewery was the largest of the three we visited and reminded me a lot of the tour I did with my parents at Magic Hat. 

The tour brought us back around to the front where the Steampunk Tree House stood in all its glory.  This forty foot, eight ton structure was brought to DE after Burning Man was a wrap.  Apologizes for the picture, but getting some color contrast was nearly impossible due to the cloudy sky. 

 

There is no better way to wrap up a tour than with some beer tastings.  

Dan and I got to drink some old favorites and a couple of new ones too.  

Next stop post lunch break was 16 Mile brewery.  While the tours were canceled because of an upcoming event, that did not stop us from trying what they had on tap.  While the Old Court Ale was a personal favorite, there were a few which we left on the bar.  The Killer Tiller is a brown ale brewed with several kinds of peppers, including ghost chilies, and would better when added to a chili recipe than to chug down. 

The last stop of the day was the 3rd Wave Brewing Company.  Two flights and a taster allowed up to try all nine brews and every one was delicious, even the darker beers which I am not always able to drink. 

All in all the day was a complete success and fingers crossed,

I will see some of these local breweries at next year's DC Beer Festival. 

Holidays in Hampden

Next stop on the cruise, Hampden to check out Miracle on 34th Street and do some window shopping.  While most people who hear Miracle on 34th Street will think of the 1947 classic, any good Baltimore resident will think of over the top Christmas decorations.  Some highlights of the street included:

A manger made out of records

A Christmas tree made of hubcaps and snowmen made out of bicycle rims

Just a few streets north we strolled along the main drag in Hampden.  All the shops were decked for the holidays, including my favorite store Trohv.  Throughout the year they have some amazing window displays and the newest ones did not disappoint.  If you look closely you will see there are all kinds of materials being used: packing peanuts, pretzels, copper mugs and collapsed cardboard boxes.  

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas season is among us.
Hopefully I will be able to find several more festive activities over the next few weeks. 

Sailors Tell Stories ... Pyrates Make Legends

As the official cruise ship director of the Mazurak Family vacation, today's big adventure was to head just a few miles south of Baltimore to the Heavy Seas Brewery.  Erica and I have had this on our radar for a while so the fact we were both in Baltimore over the weekend made it the perfect time. 

After the tour we headed back to the tap room to try the staples of their collection, as well as some of the seasonal ones.  Mom made sure to get a picture with the pirate.  

The fabulous Meghan joined us as well and thankfully we were able to swipe some pirate eye patches (not stolen from the children) and snag a quick picture.  While this might have been the shortest SUS reunion in history, I was at least able to prove that she was not stuck under multiple medical textbooks. 

The one take away from the tour was to always drink your beer from a glass and NOT from the bottle.  By pouring the beer into a glass you use two of your senses - taste and smell. 

What Do You Call A Sad Cranberry?

A blueberry.  

There is no better way to kick off your Thanksgiving than with some Dad jokes.  We had a pretty late start to the morning, but finally by 1330 the bird was in the oven.  Although we were able to have pancakes for breakfast, the downfall was we had several hours until the turkey was finished.  There was, however, plenty of time to peruse the internet for Thanksgiving related articles and I came across two favorites.  The first was an art installment of how Thanksgiving dinners might be painted by famous artists and the second was the most Googled recipe for each state.  Although Maryland was apparently digging on Sauerkraut and Applies, neither hit our family table.   

Although I was in charge of basting the turkey this year, 

Elise and Dad quickly jumped in to take all the photo credit.  

As things were cooking in the oven the whole family piled onto the futon and we watched the first Huger Games.  The irony was not lost on any of us as lunch was pushed back several hours due to a dispute in turkey cooking time and/or an oven which was not as hot as it was supposed to be.  My vote was for the former and Mom's was for the later.  When all was sad and done we finally could chow down, but first had to take an #ussie with the turkey.  The only picture of the stupid bird we took all day.

While we were digesting our very large linner (aka late lunch/dinner) we watched the second Hunger Games and awaited the all important pie hour.  It was not too late of an evening as I needed to be up and bright and early for Black Friday shopping work.  

A Trip to the Not So Sunny Sunshine State

The itinerary was set long before the wheels of my plane touched down and night one consisted of a cocktail party with a number of tennis players from the club.   

It rained for most of the weekend so we spend the day indoors 

watching movies, reading and catching up on sleep. 

 

Sundays are reserved for brunch.  Seriously when you visit my grandparents, you drive into West Palm Beach to Taboo.  All was going well, but as we were driving down the road several peopel pointed out we had a VERY LOW front tire.  After pulling into a gas station we saw just how low things were.  Of course no one brought any cast and there was not a quarter to be found in the car.  Thankfully, the gentleman vacuuming his car next to us not only gave us a dollar, but put air in our tire.  We decided to go with the pump and pray method and thankfully it got us to brunch in one piece. 

The last four hours of the trip were sunny, but not enough to give me any kind of a tan.  

Maybe next time!

Friendsgiving 2.0

Another year, another successful friendsgiving.  Dinner was a smashing success thanks thanks to a post on The Kitchen for an Italian Polenta Supper Party.  I will not even lie, I stole every item off this post and had NO REGRETS!!!  One tricky thing about hosting dinners is being stuck in the kitchen trying to pull all the last minute details together.  Everything could be made well before everyone arrived.  Braises are perfect fall weather and are better if left over night and putting polenta in a slow cooker keeps it soft and creamy for hours.

Now this is no where near a food blog and as such I almost never remember to take pictures of things I make; today was no exception.  I did get this one of some apps including some homemade salsa before people arrived; lots of color as everyone eats with their eyes.

Let the holiday season begin!

Happy Halloween!!

The crab hat will be making an appearance at work tonight!  

Just because I am working the night shift, there is no reason we cannot have a little bit of fun!

Hope everyone has a ghoulishly good night!

The Tale of a (SORE) Weekend Warrior

After 13 weeks of on and off training the big day has come!  Yesterday I headed to the Convention Center, along with 27,000 of my nearest and dearest, to pick up my swag bag.  

 

With some carbs and peanut butter in hand, Mama Mazurak and I headed to the start line.  This could have been the hardest part of the day as the marathon shuts down the entire city.  As the sun rose over the Inner Harbor, everyone headed to their waves and waited for the race to start. 

Look at those smiling faces!  Anything seems possible at the beginning of the race. 

 

Things got off to a good start, but by mile 6 my knees were beginning to feel the hills and I was WAY WAY WAY off my 10 minute mile pace.  I will admit it did it to myself.  Thanks to being sick and busy and a little unmotivated, I had not gone for a run in nearly four weeks (hence the weekend warrior status).

At mile 8 there there was time to take an #ussie with the YMCA turkey.

At mile 9 this sign game me a brief glimmer of hope.  I really should have taken more pictures of the posters.

By mile 10 I was doing the run for a song, walk for a song thing, but I was able to get my legs going at mile 12.  Running through a crowd of shouting people and then the Orioles stadium definitely helped.  I finished a before my mother and got to cheer her on for the last 500 feet!

 

We somehow found each other again and got a picture with our new bling!

 

All and all we covered nearly 17.5 miles and crossed something off my mother's bucket list.   It looks like Elise will be joining us for the DC Rock and Roll half next spring so there will be plenty of time to train (or at least think about training).  Until then hand me some advil.

Bike and Build ABC's (Part 2)

This weekend's ABCs include: Arden, who is once again blog famous, brunch, and Columbia Heights Day.  In true SUS fashion, (we played a lot of "I'm going on a picnic and bringing ...") I am adding a D for DC's Dare Theory. 

Over 100 teams hit the streets to complete 50 dares with teammates and complete strangers.  Our team had the foresight to bring bikes so we were able to cover A LOT more ground.  While some people called it cheating, we referred to ourselves as resourceful.  Here are a couple of picture and video highlights: 

Get the number of a complete stranger

 Tie three pieces of clothing together and play limbo

Dance like a ballerina with some strangers 

Drink something with no hands

Make a 6 person pyramid

Record your best touch down dance.  I pulled out some new dance moves for this one.

Take a picture under the Friendship Arch.

Take a picture with something which no longer exists in the Natural History Museum

Have a teammate crowd surf in an elevator 

Have a stranger feed you some water while doing a push-up (never forget arms day people)

Take a reflection picture in the Reflection Pool

 Participate in a giant bat fight on the National Mall

Take a picture in Freedom Plaza

Make a four person chair 

In four hours we completed all 50 dares and we took third place.  

Not bad for an afternoon/evening's work.