Sunday table: Mint chocolate chip pancakes

After five days of sitting at home I've been feeling restless and useless. But I woke up this morning feeling pretty darn good! I decided to use my refound vitality to do something productive. Since Jason has been taking amazing care of me I wanted to try and say thank you in some small way. So I whipped up some pancakes! I know this hardly counts as a recipe, but they were super easy and came out really tasty - like giant thin mints!

Mint chocolate chip pancakes
Makes 8 small pancakes

1 cup bisquick or similar pancake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Add the sugar and mint to a glass measuring cup. Use a wooden spoon to gently mash the mint into the sugar to help release all the minty goodness. Add the milk to the measuring cup and give everything a good stir. I let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes to get things as minty as possible (FYI- in less you want a big wad of mint leaves in every bite of pancakes, it's probably a good idea to remove most of the mint leaves before making the batter.)

In a mixing bowl, combine the pancake mix, minty milk, egg and chocolate chips. Pour 1/4 cup bater onto hot griddle and cook until golden brown. Serve warm with chocolate syrup, a little garnish of mint, and a big glass of milk. Yum!

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Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Thanks for all the well wishes on my last post! I am feeling really good today. Not 100%, but getting there. My incisions really only hurt when I do something intense like coughing (ugh worst thing ever), but even that is feeling way better today than it was yesterday. I am excited to get back to normal, but at this rate I think I will be there in only a few more days. Woo hoo!

Life lately...

Hi guys! So I have a really good excuse for ignoring the blog this week. On Tuesday I had my appendix removed!! Before this I had never broken a bone, gotten a stitch, or been to the ER. Needless to say it's been a crazy week.

It all started on Monday afternoon when I started having crazy intense abdominal pain, but I just thought it was cramps (TMI I know). I came home from lab, took some advil, and then I felt mostly fine. Jason and I had some dinner and it was no big deal. Then around 11pm the pain came back with a vengeance and I started throwing up. I couldn't sleep at all because it hurt so much. Jason said we should go to the hospital. I've always had this "just tough it out" mentality, so I didn't really want to go, but Jason was obviously worried about me, and I was a little worried that it could be appendicitis. So around 2am Tuesday morning we were off to the ER.

Rocking out in the ER

At the ER it only took the a couple of hours to confirm our hunch - appendicitis is was. Then a few more hours and I was into surgery. They did a laparoscopic procedure where they cut three little holes in me, put a camera in one and instruments in the other. Apparently the whole thing only took 15 minutes. Crazy! Sadly, I didn't get to keep my appendix in a jar or anything, haha. I had the surgery at the hospital on campus, so everyone in the lab came by and visited me after, which was so sweet. Everyone has been so supportive about the whole thing and I feel very loved. Especially Jason - I don't know how I would have made it through the past few days without him. He's been amazing  :)

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good now. My incisions are definitely sore and I'm still taking the day off, but it's crazy to think how I feel considering that I had surgery less than 48 hours ago. 

Aside from the general ickiness of this whole situation, I'm totally bummed about no outfit pictures this week because I dyed my hair on Sunday night! It's pretty darn blue! I'm stoked about it, but worried that it will wash out quick. Here are a few teaser pics just in case (they are all from my instagram, so apologies to those that follow me for showing you them twice. And if you don't follow me but you want to my instagram handle is @hans_banans - I'm always looking for more people to follow!)

Jason helped me bleach my hair first - we got it pretty darn blonde!

Blue hair!!!

I also tried my hand at a galaxy manicure on Sunday. 

I was totally the most styling girl in the ER, haha.

A pharmer's clothes: April 19, 2012

Today was an eventful day. One of the other graduate students in my lab defended his dissertation today. For those unfamiliar, defending your dissertation is the last step in getting a PhD. Pretty much you give a one hour talk about all the research you've done in graduate school, and then have a meeting with a few faculty members and they ask questions about your dissertation/research. If your answers are satisfactory then you pass and you become a doctor. So obviously it's a big deal. Anyway, he passed and I am so excited! I've always loved going to dissertation defenses, but going to one from your own lab...it's a whole different thing. It filled me with the regular feelings of optimism and hope and excitement, but at the same time I also felt so relieved (since this student had worked so hard and had so many bumps in the road) and proud and generally like an emotional mess. It was quite a day.

(( blouse: Jason Wu for Target / shorts: UO / shoes: Target ))

Then tonight, I played my first kickball game. Kickball is kind of a big thing here in DC (is it like that in all big cities? I tried to play once in Denver but it was definitely not like this...) The games are held under the Washington Monument - how awesome is that?! Sadly, our team lost, but it was much closer than the total blow outs my soccer team had this season, so overall I'm still feeling upbeat. And then after kickball the real sport begins - flip cup. Hopefully my flip cup prowess will make up for my sucking at kickball. See, I totally learned important real-life skills in college.

A pharmer's clothes: April 17, 2012

Jason and I checked out our local farmer's market this weekend. We've know about a flea market down the street for years, and we've been a few times, but somehow we managed to miss the farmer's market behind it until recently. And while the flea market is small and a bit meh, the farmer's market is great! Lots of fresh veggies, flowers, eggs, bread. It was exactly what we have been wishing for. We ended up picking up some produce, eggs, and a bouquet of poppies (which Velcro has been trying to eat ever since- poppies are probably bad for cats to eat, right?)

 (( shirt: Old Navy / jeans and purse: Target / shoes: TOMS / sunglasses: Bonlook ))

At the farmer's market they had a few vendors selling local honey. Jason and I have been dreaming about making mead at home for a long time. Seeing all the yummy honey options at the farmer's market finally gave us the motivation we needed to start on the project. We bought a little starter kit and a book about mead brewing. This week we are researching and collecting our supplies, and then this weekend we are going to make our first batch! Obviously it will take a few months until we get a drinkable product, but I'm so excited to start!! Any at-home brewers out there? It sounds like making mead is very similar to making beer, so if you've ever tried DIY beer brewing I'd love any tips!

Music Monday

Whoa! I totally went MIA there for a few days. Sorry about that! My tripod broke last week, and apparently I've been misplacing my rage on the ol' blog. Sorry blog, I still love you. Anyway, I still am tripod-less, which means I have to depend on Jason to be my photag. Since we are both super busy right now, that pretty much means weekends-only. C'est la vie. I know I should just buy a new tripod but I'm still bitter about mine breaking. Plus I'm having a hard time picking one out. I'm hoping to get a DSLR in a few months, so I need something sturdy enough to handle a larger camera. But at the same time I don't want it to be humongous. What kind of tripod do you use? Is it fairly portable? (Like fit in your purse portable?) Any tips would be much appreciated!

Anyway, to make up for my absence, I offer you a little showtunes playlist. Nothing can fight a case of the Mondays like showtunes, amirite??

A pharmer's clothes: April 5, 2012

My dad and step-mom are in town for the weekend. We've got a full schedule of sight-seeing and playing the tourist. Today we walked around Georgetown (seriously, we probably saw the whole neighborhood), then checked out the White House and Union Station. Tomorrow we are going to do the Spy Museum and then who knows what. Even though I've seen a lot of the monuments before, it's always fun to see them again, especially with family. I suppose I'll never grow tired of looking at such gorgeous buildings and statues. DC really is a pretty great city.

(( sweater: Ann Taylor Loft / tshirt: UO / jeans: Paige Denim / purse: Target ))

In other news. I've started watching Downton Abbey, and it is awesome. I could watch it for the clothing alone, but the story has completely sucked me in. Only the first season is on Hulu plus, but I hope I can find the rest online somewhere. I don't know what I will do without my new favorite guilty pleasure!

A pharmer's clothes: April 3, 2012

Hello lovelies! I've been neglecting the blog a bit recently. I don't know why, I have a whole bunch of outfit photos backlogged and I've had more free time than normal. I suppose I've been busy living life instead of logging it (and by "living life" I mean watching Star Trek with Jason and eating froyo every night, obviously).

(( jacket and broach: thrifted / blous: Jason Wu for Target / pants: Target / shoes: Blowfish / sunglasses: Nordstrom BP (super old) ))

This shirt makes me feel like a dandy. It's kind of ridiculous and I love it. I was terrified of spilling on it all day. I always seem to manage spilling coffee on white shirts. To be safe I drank my coffee from a straw all day. I may have looked like a tool, but at least I'm a tool with a clean shirt.