It's Already September? - Old Orchard Beach

Oh boy. It's been a fun week, despite the looming dread of it being the last week of summer before school starts up again. I've been constantly trying to decide if I miss Texas or not, and I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I don't. The heat was nice while I was there (and in comparison the 80 degree New Hampshire days seem downright FREEZING) but the freedom to go out during the day and not roast or break out into a full-body sweat is kind of nice. Plus, I really missed my family and my house and how absolutely green everything is! The ground, the trees, the plants, the bushes, the food! Even the pond water! (Ew.) I do miss the pool though. Oh man, do I miss that pool.

Monday I had a muffin and some homemade juice for breakfast, then went out to pick up Jordan! It was the first time seeing her all summer, so that was pretty great. We picked up some chia seeds at the Local Grocer, which is a health food store a few miles from her house, and then headed back to my house. After a delicious lunch of grilled cheese on Italian bread with some yummy salad, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. We watched Take Me Home Tonight which is a really hilarious movie with Topher Grace (whom I absolutely L-O-V-E) and we got to see our friend Kelsie who left for college the day after. It was a bittersweet reunion if there ever was one. Also on the itinerary: ice cream! We drove down to the Sandwich Creamery where they sell organic ice cream made right on their farm. I got banana pancake flavor because it sounded kind of odd, but it was delicious! (and for dinner - organic hot dogs and corn on the cob, just for future reference)

Tuesday was just as fun. I started my morning with a 6-1-6-1-6-1-6, which is part of a program where beginning runners train for a half-marathon. Basically all the '6's indicate six minutes of walking, where all the '1's indicate one minute of jogging. All in all I was out for half an hour, which gave me lots of energy for the rest of the day. After having the best strawberry-chia-peach-protein shake ever, Hannah and I (whom I was also seeing for the first time in two months) walked around town a bit, and spent about an hour or two in the library. I found Demetri Martin's book "This Is A Book". I'm about halfway through, and let me tell you it is pretty hilarious. I'm not usually one for comedy, but it's great. Hannah and I had our usual sit-in-my-kitchen-and-just-talk for two hours, then walked down to the beach and laid out on the docks for a bit. When we got hungry, we went back home and made the same lunch that I had on Monday (because it was just that good).

Wednesday I was feeling all out of sorts and also quite broke, so I just went to work on the farm with my mom. It was such a nice day, hanging out with her and all the great people at the museum. We went on an herbal walk where we learned about some healing plants, and then just walked around the buildings and tidied up what need to be tidied up! Dinner was my own delicious concoction: cheese quesadillas with peppers and onions, topped with avocado, left-over corn, and all-natural salsa. Nom nom nom. It was a nice prequel to Thursday, when my mom and I went shopping at TJ Maxx and I picked up some adorable clothes for school. I always cherish the days that we get to spend together, just the two of us, because they are so few and far between. She is seriously my favorite person in the whole world. For lunch we had D'angelo's turkey and veggie wraps, which were delicious but so filling, and for dinner we made more homemade spaghetti and sauce with chicken sausage, which we made because we watched a TEDTalk talking about holistic ways of preventing cancer growth through consumption of antiangiogenic foods like tomatoes.

Friday may very well have been the best day of the week. After some vanilla organic cereal with rice milk, I packed some granola, banana chips, sunflower seeds, and blackberries, and picked up Jordan for our beach day!!



We drove down to Scarborough, Maine and went to Old Orchard Beach. I love everything about OOB. I mean, the small-town feel of the streets around it, the big sandy beach, the pier with all the cute shops, the carnival, the cute guys....

We sat on the beach for about an hour, despite the lack of sun. I just love the atmosphere of a beach - it's so lighthearted and fun and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. Plus, it's always great hearing the multitude of languages being spoken.

After we got a little sandy and a little bored, we walked around the streets and grabbed a plate of french fries - which I know are not exactly "healthy", but man, they smelled just like fair food and I couldn't resist. We walked through the somewhat-deserted somewhat-creepy carnival for while, trying (and failing) to stare at the cute carnival workers as discreetly as possible.

Once the fries were gone, we opted for some mint chocolate chip Gifford's ice cream over the fried dough that we were both craving. I don't know how much healthier ice cream is, but probably not much. (Oh well, everyone gets a break in their diet sometimes, right?) Then we made another round through the carnival, because hey - why not stare at the cuties some more?

Overall, I had so much fun. I just love the ocean and how a couple hour drive can take you somewhere that'll make your whole day feel like a vacation. I'm seriously considering going back next weekend, especially if it's sunny. 

And now it's already Saturday, and already September, and already my last weekend before senior year. I decided to refocus my healthy food choices now that it's September, since my ambition kind of faded by the end of the week. For breakfast I decided on some all-natural cereal of some type or another, with a banana and a nectarine chopped up on top. I took some decaf earl grey tea with me when the parents and I went down to the local farmer's market - which is absolutely fabulous. So many local farmers (duh) with fruits and veggies and freshly baked bread and homemade cheese and their own breakfast sausage and even some raw milk (which is supposed to be super healthy in terms of probiotics and nutrients, but it still grosses me out). 

My plans for the rest of the day include reading "The Night Circus", which is such an amazing book, and some sun bathing. Maybe baking, I haven't decided. This month I am looking forward to:

• the leaves changing color, if they choose to do so before October this year. The different colors of the leaves make for great pictures.
• the beginning of fall! It's my favorite season by far.
• starting my senior year of high school, filling out college applications, *hopefully* having an easy homework load this year
• seeing all of my friends again!
• making apple muffins and pumpkin bread and all those classic fall staples
• continuing with my all-natural healthy diet. My goal: to learn about which foods have which nutrients so that I can load up one what my body needs and also find out what my diet is lacking.

What are you looking forward to this month?

All-Natural Moist Banana Muffins

Last Sunday was my first day back at home, and also my first day on my new healthy diet! Right after a major stock up on all-natural foods at the grocery store, I decided to make some delicious banana muffins based off of this recipe. I made them a few weeks before when I was living with my aunt and they turned out aaamaaazinggg. This time however, instead of following the recipe exactly, I put my own spin on it.

First, the ingredients (I'm listing what I used here, which is slighty different from the King Arthur Flour recipe):

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup mashed banana, about 2 medium or 1 1/2 large bananas
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup coconut milk (or any other variety; soy, rice, cow, almond, etc)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour

When I made these muffins, I didn't use any chocolate chips or nuts because my mom is lactose intolerant, and that's why I also used coconut milk instead of cow's milk. To start, I melted some unsalted butter then mixed it with the pure cane sugar.

Then I mashed up two over-ripe bananas, leaving them kind of chunky to make the muffins have little banana chunks, which is so delicious.

To make the muffins extra moist, I added half a cup of unsweetened applesauce. Half a cup was just right; they were super moist but not too dense.

I mixed together the egg, milk, banana, applesauce, and butter/salt mixture then, with two teaspoons of vanilla for extra flavor. Stir until a uniform color and consistency, but I left it a little chunky from not mashing the bananas too much. If you want really uniform muffins, then feel free to mash the bananas a little extra for a smoother batter.

For flour, I recommend using King Arthur whole wheat flour, however I decided to use wheat grains and grind my own flour. Getting two cups took about twenty minutes so of course I recruited my dad to do some of the hard work ;)

Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Stir it a bit, then add the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir it well until you get a thick batter and all the flour is dissolved.

Pour the batter into a well-oiled muffin tray. Make sure to fill the individual cups nearly to the top since (at least for me) the batter doesn't rise much. I'm not sure if it was because it was so moist and heavy, or because our oven basically sucks, but when baking the muffins they just swelled a bit but never really formed good muffin tops. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes. When they're done, be sure to let them sit for about fifteen minutes before digging in - even though they smell so good that you'll want one immediately!

Despite their flatness, these muffins were AMAZING. They were super moist, even now and it's three days later! They came out of the pan with no problems, and were perfectly cooked all the way through. The banana taste was so rich and delicious, with just a hint of apples and vanilla which was phenomenal. These muffins were very light, even being so moist, and I think that they are the perfect breakfast muffins. Everyone in my family, and even my friends, absolutely loved them. Best part: they are 100% all-natural!

My overall rating: 5/5 stars! Delicious!

San Antonio and TED Talks

I'm approaching this blog post with very little idea of what I want to talk about. Why don't we just begin with me? (as always...)

Yesterday was an absolutely fabulous day. My aunt and uncle took me up to San Antonio which is about a three hour drive from their house. (Of course I put on some music and instantly fell asleep). The city itself is very beautiful, kind of like a Southern version of Boston (well, that was the only other city I could compare it too - my city experience is limited).

We went to visit the Alamo first, which was basically a few old buildings and a nature park enclosed by a big stone wall. I wasn't much into the history myself, but the park reminded me a lot of Savannah, Georgia - the big trees, the hanging branches, the fountains. We also went into the Alamo gift shop and I got my parents some authentic all-natural Texan fire-roasted salsa! After that, we took a stroll down the River Walk.

The River Walk was absolutely incredible. Basically, it's a river running through a lower section of the city surrounded by sidewalks and a million different riverside restaurants and cafés, and all-in-all it's a huge tourist attraction. I have pictures. But they're on my iPod and I don't know the easiest way to get them on here and I'm too lazy to find out so....

Since the most exciting thing about going somewhere new is the food (obviously), for lunch we went to a tiny Italian bistro and I may have eaten half of a 12" pepperoni pizza and then proceeded to feel ridiculously guilty...maybe. I consoled myself by going to Haagen Dazs and getting some mango sorbet and strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Delicious.

After all of that social interaction and association with the public, my introverted self was exhausted and grumpy and not in the mood to deal with anyone so holed up in my room and watched Jamie Oliver discuss childhood nutrition on TED Talks. (For those who don't know what TED Talks are - in summary they are short discussions given by professionals/smart people about a specific topic - more info here.) I have been diving deep into the world of organic food and nutrition this past summer (a post on that is soon to come) and his talk was amazing. He demonstrated the amount of sugar that children get just in the five years while they are in elementary school - let me tell you, this was disgusting (and it didn't help that I was eating some dark chocolate English toffee from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory either...).

But listening to just twenty minutes of Jamie Oliver ranting in his *ahem* adorable English accent about childhood obesity taught me so much, and I've decided that it's going to be one of my goals to listen to as many TED Talks as possible (originally my goal was to listen to all of them...but there are over a thousand and that doesn't really sit well with my other goal of watching less television, no matter how educational they are). So yeah, let's add that to the list, shall we?

Now, after a day of some rather poor food choices yesterday, I'm back on track with Multigrain Cheerios for breakfast and a turkey, lettuce, and cheese wrap for lunch. Okay, okay, not exactly "healthy" but still - the best I can do given the circumstances.

Last Day of Work

This is what it’s all been leading up to: my last day of work for the summer.

Backstory: I’m not known for trying new things. I always make these wild plans or have brilliant ideas, but then when it comes time to making the commitment, I back out. In most cases, I think it’s because I don’t like being in situations with no ‘escape’. Example: the summer camp my mom used to work at (and my home for four fun summers) has a program where you can sign up to go on a bike trip from New Hampshire to Nova Scotia with a bunch of other teenagers. The entire trip sounds absolutely phenomenal – bonding with other high schoolers, getting in shape, seeing new places up close and personal, and of course it’s an incredible experience! However for two years in a row I got the paperwork, sat down to fill it out…and froze. It was one of the ‘commitment’-type situations that scared me. If I decided after three days that I was miserable and my legs hurt and it was all a stupid idea, there was no opting out. I was roped in for a two week experience that I had no idea if I would like and down five-thousand bucks.

Not going on that trip is something I regret, and so this summer I decided I would take a chance, and get into one of those ‘commitment’-type situations I was oh so fond of. When my aunt, who is a licensed clinical psychologist, invited me to be her personal intern for the summer, I decided it was time to step out of my comfort zone. The second week of July, my parents and I loaded up the car and made the three-day drive from New Hampshire to western Texas.

And that’s where I’ve been for the last two months – and not with my parents (they basically dropped me off and left to go have their own little road trip without me…jerks). I’ve been living with my thirty-something aunt and her husband, and their psychotic Basenji. We weekended in Austin, where I got to check out the UT campus, and we went down to El Paso which is right on the Mexican border (an interesting peek at a very different culture). They even took me on a trip to Flagstaff, Arizona, where we stayed for a week. I instantly fell in love. It was such a cute college town (home to Northern Arizona University) with brick sidewalks, outdoor cafés, used bookstores, bike paths, live outdoor music, and plenty of college-aged hippies looking for a high. The even greater appeal, however, was the geography. Surrounding Flagstaff on all sides were trees and forests (just like home ), and beyond that, mountains and canyons. All the greatest things about nature were no more than twenty miles out of town. Not to mention, just a half-hour drive away was the Grand Canyon!








Okay, sorry, enough gushing about Arizona. Once the initial excitement of being away from home wore off and we settled into our basic routine of working four hours a day, followed by a dip in the pool and an evening spent lazily on the couch watching television, I realized I was painfully homesick. Getting past that was no small feat, and involved lots of video chats (thank God for FaceTime) and more than a few angsty conversations with my best friend. Luckily our weekends spent rotting on the sofa in our pajamas watching scary movies – while not at all good for my health – provided a nice escape from my worrying.

Now, it’s been eight or nine or eleven weeks of living in the Texas heat (avg daily temp – 106) and there’s only one week before I fly home. How scary is that? My experience as an intern in private practice has surpassed my expectations (not hard, seeing as I didn’t have any). Most of the work I’ve been doing involves scanning and filing patient charts and converting a mainly paper-centered office into all digital files. What I found most interesting (and yes, call me nosy) was reading patient charts. Their progress notes, seeing the actual WAIS-IV or BASC-2 tests, the extensive amount of paper work, seeing the various diagnoses – it was nothing like what I imagined, and it really showed my what clinical therapy really is (and no, it isn’t just asking the patient how they feel while they lie on a big leather couch…although she *does* have one of those…).

Something I definitely wasn’t expecting to see was the business side of psychology. Essentially, a private practice is a business, and that means paying rent, paying electrical bills, broken air conditioners, filling receipts, keeping track of expenses, and dealing with insurance. No offense insurance companies, but you suck. Sometimes patient claims get paid the day after their filed (meaning they pay for the patient’s session), and sometimes it takes upwards of 90 days. My aunt has actually been treating someone with serious depression and adjustment disorder for over a year now, and still hasn’t gotten paid for a single session. Oh, and don’t even get me started on co-pays…

Currently, I am sitting at my small make-shift desk in the room adjoining my aunt’s office, doing what I have been doing for about a week now – pretending to look busy while surfing the internet. Although really, isn’t that what everyone does at work? I’ve spent a lot of today thinking about this summer and how it wasn’t what I expected. I guess that’s both good and bad, depending on how you look at it. I may not have had an wildly exciting summer before senior year with my friends at the beach, and instead spent it watching tv halfway across the country, but I did something that I wasn’t comfortable with and despite the personal setbacks I did survive a full two and a half months of commitment, to my aunt and to myself. Even though I was living with family, it was no small step. I lived in a different time zone, in a different culture, in an environment that was mostly foreign to me, unable to go home or visit my parents once (not that I didn’t try to get them to spend an extra $400 on a plane ticket so I could come home early). I proved to myself that I can handle commitment, and almost more importantly, I can handle being in a situation with no easy ‘escape’. Yeah, I’m pretty proud.

(Oh, and the fact that this internship will look like a gold star on my college application – just a bonus!)