The Roundup: Caffe Amouri

Happy Saturday, everyone! It feels like the weeks just keep flying by - I have a weekly reminder in my calendar that tells me how many days of MCAT prep I've completed (and how many I have left to go), and I've got to say it really shows you how quickly time passes. This week has been full of good eats and me preparing for the Sunday brunch that I'm hosting tomorrow! Earlier this week I decided to stop by Caffe Amouri, a cute little spot in Vienna that serves up some of the best java around. I should put a disclaimer here, though, and say that I've only ever tried their pastries and tea (because I'm not a huge coffee drinker), but from what my coffee-drinking friends say, the lattes are excellent! The only problem about studying in Caffe Amouri: the (pretty loud and) strange background music. I heard banjoes play for at least 15 minutes straight!

I've also been mixing my studying up - some days at home, some days at the library, and some days in a cafe or cofeeshop. I was feeling a little under the weather earlier this week and spent a lot of time studying at home, which was nice because I got to wear my dorky Christmas robe (I know, WAY out of the season, oops) and fuzzy socks to keep myself warm :)

Now I have to tell you what I've been cooking up this past week - literally and figuratively! I decided to host an end-of-summer brunch for my pals. On the menu we have: my super-special hazelnut french toast, bacon, hashbrowns, and cheddar bay biscuits! Friends will be bringing pastries, fruit salad, and the brunch nectar of the Gods (i.e., mimosas). I've just gone out earlier this morning to get some pan challah for the french toast - should be tasty! In a small attempt to be more like an adult and less like a kid, I started going through our napkins and napkin rings to come up with the perfect place setting, but realized that we didn't have anything quite fitting for summer. My mom suggested a try twine and, as it turns out, I love the idea! I took our simplest white china, some old twine, and a white paper grocery bag - I cut out little name tags from the grocery bag and wrote our names on them (the perfect chance to try out the new calligraphy pen that my friend got me during his travels through Italy). Since the grocery bag was white, I decided to tea-stain the little name tags so they would match the twine and napkins a little better - overall I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out!

Next up on my crafting agenda was a pennant banner! I've seen these all over Etsy and Pinterest - they're really cute, simple, and easy to make! Also, my friend's beau recently revealed to us that he will be proposing to her in December. In light of this very exciting news, I've decided to start collecting cute wedding deco ideas for my friend's big day! This idea is definitely a keeper. All you need are color-matched squared pieces of scrapbook paper. It's really convenient if you buy these in a pack because then you can make multiple banners and they'll all be perfectly color-matched! I cut the scrapbook paper into penants and then put four hole punches at the base of the triangle. I then cut out circles (on which I got another chance to practice my calligraphy) and just taped (you can also use glue) them onto the pennants. After all the pennants were finished, I just threaded some twine (you can also use ribbon) through the holes punched at the top and strung it up in the dining room - easy, cheap, and cute!

This morning I find myself with a little more energy than usual, so I decided to get myself to the gym on time for the 8:30 combat class. This class is a Les Mills workout featuring karate, taekwondo, boxing, muay thai, capoeria, and kung fu moves! The core work at the end always kills me, but I felt pretty good in class today! When I finally got back home I was starving! I sliced up some peaches to accompany my green smoothie and cottage cheese before going to work on a two-egg omelet with ham and cheese (a classic combo). I sliced up my challah bread for tomorrow and decided to dish up the end slices with some smoked salmon & capers spread that my mom picked up yesterday. All and all - a brunch for champions!

I'd say this Saturday is off to a great start! What's left for the rest of the day? I'm going to hit the showers, get cleaned up, and then hit the books! I'll be reviewing all of my MCAT material from Week 1 before I have to do my review of Week 2 material on Monday and Tuesday of next week. I've realized there are some subjects that I consistently struggle with - Physics and Biology. Physics is a challenge because I'm not very math-minded, but I've been working hard with my Berkeley Review and ExamKrackers books, so hopefully doing more drills will help hammer home some key points. Biology is oftentimes a struggle due to the sheer amount of material. I still count this as a little easier than Physics because I was a Biology major and take a lot of genuine interest in the subject matter, but I'll definitely be spending a good amount of time today reviewing metablic components and pathways before completing some more practice passages. Overall, I think I've been putting in a good amount of work every day and sticking to my schedule. Later tonight I'll cut loose for some fun and paint my nails with one of my favorites: Java Mauve-a!

Hope you all have a wonderful day and an excellent weekend!