Health knowledge made personal
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Am I a freak? Because seriously I love work so far. I've never had a desk job in my life, so obviously a lot of it is just the new excitement, I'm sure, but I honestly have been having the best time working. In fact, I've been going in at 8 or 8:15 am even though most people come at 9:30. I stopped by the organic cafe downstairs in the building and grabbed this coffee. I had a bit of ordering problems. I ordered a grande black coffee and the guy said "Filtered?" and I said "Sure." Then when the girl was handing out drinks, she kept trying to give me an Americano. I told her I ordered just a "black coffee" and she said "Yes, this is it." So... do they call all coffee Americanos here? Because I thought an Americano was espresso and water... Whatever, this coffee was delicious!  I worked on the same project from 8:15 until 1 pm when I went out to lunch with two co-workers. One has been here for a few years and is American and the other is Irish and has been living in London for 29 years. We were having a hard time explaining this to people, but she (the Irish woman) is the good friend of my sister's best friend's Mom, who lives in London. We had a great time at lunch! We went to an Italian place right by our office. We sat on black leather couches, which was a bit odd. I had roasted vegetables (bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms) with a disk of warm goat cheese and a rosemary olive oil dressing on the side. Soooooo good. I realized something at lunch when the two women were asking me if I'd move back to live in London. I was telling them that when I studied in Paris for 5 months, there were times when I'd start to miss home, but in London, I don't have that feeling at all. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that so many Southerners work in my office (Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, etc.) and also with the fact that I'm in an English-speaking country. Honestly, I don't feel far from home at all! I could live here forever. After work we walked twenty minutes to Covent Garden to try to get last-minute Lion King tickets, but that didn't work out. It would have been 90 pounds (140ish dollars) for each seat if we wanted to sit together. We were told to come back in two weeks, because then we can get student discounts. Next week is "half-term," so the children here are out of school, so they won't have discounts next week. Rude- the kids are on a break from school, let's charge them full-price?! Instead we went to the Apple store in Covent Garden. Since I've been working so hard, I decided to treat myself to the phone case I've been dying to get. My friend (former intern who just returned full-time) who sits next to me in our office bought a new case too. They (our employer) just gave her this iPhone yesterday. She was very excited about it!  My Chinese roommate wandered off and we finally found her. These headphones were literally amazing. Doesn't she look like an Apple ad?  We were starving, so we quickly found an overpriced, chain-y, but still delicious and quite trendy Italian restaurant in Covent Garden called Pasta Brown. We wanted to share two bottles of red wine, so the boy next to me chose Merlot and I chose Chianti. I was in the region of Italy where they make Chianti once and ever since then, I've loved it.  The Chianti ended up being much more popular with the table! I was proud of my (pretend) wine choosing skills. It really was a good pick though, not to brag.The menu was very pasta and pizza heavy. My level was 60 right before leaving work, so I had taken 2 glucose tablets and was feeling fine, but definitely didn't want pasta. I've never been a pasta fan in my life actually, even before becoming diabetic. Instead I went with one of the "staff recommendations" on the wall and had pollo pomodoro - a grilled chicken breast with fresh tomatoes, anchovies, and olives. Wow, this was so surprisingly delicious. I gave a little insulin for fear of sugar in the tomato sauce, but my level stayed around 80. That's one of the positive things of walking to dinner from the office.  This was the Chianti I chose. Our two bottles ended up being about 6 pounds per person, which really isn't too bad. (Ahhh, I'm getting used to London prices. This is NOT a good thing).  After dinner we went to an awesome bar across the street. Our IDs got checked going in, which we all found slightly hysterical. I'm 5 years over the legal age of entrance (18). This bar had three levels and you could see the ground level from all of the other levels. I had a "Chiller" beer, which I really liked. Beer is normally way too filling for me and tends to raise my level more than wine, so I really don't prefer it, but I did enjoy this one.  We ended up staying there for about 3 hours with our big group of Scottish friends- Paul, Scott, Dean, and a few others. They were so nice! I learned so much from the one next to me in this picture. He taught me some Scottish songs, which he then became very concerned about and made me promise never to sing again (apparently they are anti-Catholic songs). We went to one other bar with them, but it was about at that point that I started complaining and wanting to go home. I'm always the one that decides when we go, but I don't feel bad. The other interns have called me out on being a bit impatient... oops (in a nice way). They'll say "You really don't like to wait, do you?" Usually it involves me being cold and not wanting to wait in the cold on slow people. Some of these other interns could stay out all night, but I like sleep too much for that. It took us about an hour to find a cab, but with the nicest young police officer helping us, we finally got one. Here's my new phone cover up close! It's a pretty pink mosaic. One of the boys said it was so "me." I tried to figure out why, because I don't wear that much color, but I didn't really get an answer. He said something about me being cultured and the mosaics looking like something artsy. I'm not that cultured- I just studied abroad in Paris, majored in French, and like red wine, so I suppose I could be mistaken for being "cultured." The truth will come out sooner or later...  Tonight some of the older girls (I sound like I'm in high school) in the office are taking the girl interns out for girl's night. Apparently we're supposed to dress up really fancy and then we'll go to a club somewhere. I'm not a big fan of clubs (overpriced, crowded), but it should be a fun night.Today's plans - shopping with one of the boy interns and hopefully a nice brunch somewhere. We just got reimbursed for our visas, so I've finally got some money. Finally! I really only need another pair of flats for work that I can wear with black outfits and I also really need a running top or two for our outdoor runs. I've been wearing the same running outfit all week- black Nike running tights, a (sleeveless!) Lululemon top (under a long-sleeve tee a few mornings if it's too cold) and then my Lululemon hoodie zipped on top. Warm enough, but I really need some long-sleeved shirts. Our phone is ringing. Sounds like the boys' apartment must have just woken up. Have a good one! |
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Exercise:
-My overnight levels have gotten a bit out of whack (last night was perfect, which is a fluke lately). No lows, but I start creeping up around 3 am and have been waking up in the 160's or 180's.
-I woke up at 6 am, tested- 166.
-Gave 1 unit of insulin, waited about 10 minutes then ate probably 1/4 cup of oats with 1/3 of a big banana and a big spoonful of peanut butter.
-20 minutes later met my friends to walk to the gym
-Did 10 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes (hard!) on the stair climber, then 10 minutes on the bike. I walked a few minutes on the treadmill to cool down, but I was so sweaty it didn't matter. It must be hot in that gym- whenever I go, I sweat so much!
-After exercise I gave 0.3 units and saw from my sensor that I was around the 140/150's for an hour or so, but from experience I've now learned to leave those levels alone especially when I'm going to work and probably won't eat for four or five hours
-Lunch time (had a lunch date at 1 pm- I was starving!) came and I was 90... success!
For starters on why yesterday was great, it was casual Friday, so obviously that made me happy. Here's my casual Friday look. Kate Middleton and I have the same Longchamp purse! Although hers is black and mine's green.