Back in July I had a really bad day at work. REALLY bad. I'm not one to air dirty laundry online and I'm not starting now, but let me assure you it was the worst day I've ever had. With some distance came perspective and the narrowing down to the root cause of the trouble. Stress. I am a microbiologist in a hospital laboratory and I like to call what I do a "highly technical McDonalds". The order comes in from the customer (doctor/patient), we interpret the order and perform the test requested as quickly as humanly possible and we have to get the correct result every time. So you can see how stressful it can be when the doctor puts in orders for "PCR". What do you want the PCR for? On what type of specimen? No it's not like TV, it's going to take a week for the result to come back. It's like ordering a "burger" at McDonalds. Big Mac? Quarter pounder with cheese? Bacon Clubhouse burger? Or maybe a McRib? Managing my stress has become a major part of living my life outside of work to any degree of satisfaction. So I knit. I garden. I make cupcakes. And now, I color.
I had heard rumors of these adult coloring books, but it wasn't until I went to Medford and colored with Emily (in a regular coloring book) that I realized how relaxing it was. So off to Amazon I went and found a plethora of amazing adult coloring books. Ones with
intricate designs made for de-stressing, ones with
gardens,
snowflake mandalas and
tartans,
dragons and
sea creatures, even
nordic and
celtic designs. Some of them haven't even been released yet so apparently this is a newly catching fad? I also needed a premium set of colored pencils to go with it all. I mean, when did you ever not want a new set of crayons as a kid? I ended up with this
Prismacolor set, though it did set me back a bit more than a classic set of Crayolas would have.
Continuing with the stress relief, I found a new line of candles that I love!
Aggie's hand-poured candles!
The first one I picked up at a garden store and then they had more at Sesame + Lilies when I was in Cannon Beach. The candles are made in Union, Oregon and they use all natural soy wax. The scents are to die for and the candles last a long time. My favorites have been Pink Grapefruit, Lemon Verbena and Heirloom Apple. The apple one would go great with a pumpkin spice to get you ready for those cool fall evenings you know are coming...
And lastly, The Great British Baking Show!
I saw one episode last year when we were in London and it is so good! (And called The Great British Bake-off across the pond.) I know it seems like one baking show would be like another, but it just so much classier than our American versions are. They show the failures and successes equally and there is no aggressive back-biting between the contestants. Quite to the opposite actually, you see them helping one another at times and then hugging it out at the end when one of them has to go home. It shows on
PBS at 7 PM on Sunday for us. And heck if I don't want to learn how to make the perfect sponge after watching week 1! Mom thought the same thing and armed with the
book I picked up in Medford she made up some mini carrot cakes and chocolate hazelnut cakes.
We had them with tea, of course. Delicious!
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