Warning: Read only in case of boredom

This post is probably of no interest to anyone but myself, but I think this is stuff I will have forgotten in a few more years, so I want to write it down now, while I still remember!

I have been on break for an entire WEEK now and already feel like a new person! The last test was a combined cardio/renal exam, and was the worst one I have come up against yet. Daniel and I went to the Med school Christmas party Friday night. It was dark, but we snapped a pic with the iphone. Daniel cleans up pretty well, doesn't he?

We finished up late last Friday (the 17th), but I was playing part of Britten's Ceremony of Carols on Sunday, so I had an early Saturday rehearsal and 2 services on Sunday

morning. In retrospect, I should have probably passed that one up. I was so exhausted that I definitely wasn't playing at my best.

We are getting ready to put our house on the market in a couple more weeks, so I spent Sunday- Thursday cleaning things out and packing. I have made a LOT of progress, and the house is almost finished being cleaned out and "staged". My gracious parents are letting us store things in their garage.

Thursday night my parents took the two of us, along with Kacie and Michael to Brave New Restaurant- what a treat! I had a Filet Mignon and Artichoke salad-WOW!

I gave myself a few days off of calorie controlling. And I bought a new scale. Groan... Moan...

Christmas Eve is our FAVORITE day of the year! On Friday afternoon, the 6 of us went bowling (one day I will break 100), then cooked and ate dinner (prime rib, sour cream and leek mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus), and then OPENED PRESENTS! Daniel and I must have been pretty good this year, because we got some AMAZING presents. It's funny how well my family knows me- everything they buy for me I like more than things I would pick out for myself! Then we watched Despicable Me and ate dessert. It was a perfect evening. I don't normally take picture of my Christmas presents, but I was SO excited when I got home that I couldn't help it. Besides, five years from now I can remember what I got for Christmas!

Note the matching PJs, house shoes, and overnight bag

On Christmas Day Daniel and I spent time together- Monkey bread for breakfast, then presents to each other. He bought me the most BEAUTIFUL Kitchen Aid stand mixer I have ever seen. It is the big kind with the lifting bowl- absolutely amazing. He spent WAY more than he should have on me. I bought him a Bamboo pad (tablet pad-thingie that goes with the mac), and a craftsman tool chest. Daniel's family came over on Christmas Day and for the first time I hosted Christmas dinner! It was a little stressful, but I managed to NOT burn anything, break my crystal or china, or set the house on fire. In my family, that is a successful meal. Anyway, we had a great time together. They all spent the night, so we had definitely had a houseful of company.

Mixer from the Husband of the Century

Still in shock over it. I keep wandering into the kitchen to stare at it....

Cooper got a bath. Pathetic, isn't he?

But he still smelled bad, so he went to Petsmart and got the full grooming treatment so his dog-cousins wouldn't tell him how bad he smelled. He doesn't stink now! But the groomer sent home a note that he tried to escape from the bath. Oops.

I made a Tollhouse chocolate chip pie AND thought to take a picture. I would love to take credit for the amazing-ness, but it was a just a really good recipe.

I actually made my 3 runs this week- but sadly, I don't think that 1o miles counterbalanced the 3 days of eating whatever I saw. When I say that, I am NOT exaggerating. My parents got me a fancy waist-pack that holds a water bottle for long runs, and Daniel got me a great book about training- so now I am READY for some serious long runs!

Saturday (12/18): 3.1 miles in 37 mins

Tuesday (12/21): 5 miles in 1.04 hrs ***

Thursday (12/23): 2 miles in 25 mins (Cooper went with me and slowed me down. He always has to go potty at least once a mile)

*** 5 miles! It wasn't easy, but I did it! And even kept a good pace!

Happy New Year!

Survival of the Fittest

I think it's no secret that I love food. I love cooking it, eating it, looking at it, smelling it, talking about it. I can tell you where to get the best __________ (fill in the blank) food in the area, along with a few runners-up.

For 18 months, this is how I have survived medical school. My study partners and I reward our 12+ hour study days with trips to the Indian buffet, Panera, cupcake store, or Starbucks. It gives us motivation- something to look forward to after memorizing drug lists, writing up H&Ps on our patients, and sitting through endless hours of lectures. And a full stomach- well that ALWAYS makes me happy.

Hi, I'm Katie, and I am obsessed with eating.

Does that mean I have an eating disorder?

The hips however... not making me so happy.

So no waiting for the New Year to set goals, no more "starting next Monday, I will" and no more "after the holidays are over" or "after this test". It started yesterday. Well, actually, it started 10 weeks ago when a friend downloaded the C25k app (Couch to 5K).

I faithfully stuck to the app- on 10/20 I started running- alternating 90 seconds of jogging with 2 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

I thought I was going to die. It was NOT fun. The app slowly adds time.... by 11/11 I was alternating 5 minutes of walking with 3 minutes of running and not completely hating it. And by 11/28 I was running 25 minutes straight and enjoying it. It's a great app- I highly recommend it.

Last Saturday (12/4) I ran the first real 5K I have done since 2008. Not a great time- right around 36 minutes (earlier last week I ran it in a little under 33 minutes), but I ran against a head-wind most of the way and I wasn't in it for a good time- just for completion! And do you know what? I loved it. That's right. I love running. I don't have to say it and feel like a liar anymore. It is the BEST stress relief in the world. Other than eating. ACK! NO! EATING IS BAD- RUNNING IS GOOD!

It's a process

I have of course been cutting calories- via rules that I made for myself. 2 weeks and only minimal cheating. More on this later. I would post weight loss but well.... my scale is broken. Don't laugh. Seriously. It's not a fat joke, either.

THIS week I bumped things up. I downloaded the next app- bridge to 10k- which picks up where C25k leaves off and works up to a 10K in 6 weeks, but I haven't like it as much. So I have been going to mileage instead.

Wednesday (12/8): 4 miles in 48 minutes. Getting from 3 to 4 miles was SO HARD. I ran the first mile in 9 minutes and the other 3 suffered, I think. My knees also suffered... for 4 days.

Sunday (12/12): 4.5 miles in 56 minutes. Surprisingly easy! I was going to stop at 4, but felt pretty good so I kept going.

At this point, every run is my longest run! I am very slow, I know... but I have short legs. My eventual goal is nothing less than a 10 minute mile for long distances, but that is going to take a while.

Here are the challenges I have been facing and would LOVE accountability/advice:

-turning off the food addiction and "eating to live instead of living to eat". This is very difficult when there are Christmas cookies staring me in the face. VERY. VERY. DIFFICULT.

(^insert confession. I ate 2 Christmas cookies today. Please help me.)

-KNEE PAIN! Thinking about investing in a good pair of running tights. And becoming dependent on Aleve.

-keeping a steady pace. I am like a dumb horse. I can't keep a steady pace without a running partner, but I am slowly learning. It's a challenge, though.

-getting bored with music while I am running. Suggestions? I am tired of the Bee Gees now. So, so tired.

4 years and California

How is it December already? This has been a VERY sneaky year. It seems like it should be October, but well- it isn't. I still have 3 weeks of class, OSCEs (exams over my clinical skills), and a major Cardiovascular/Renal exam ahead, but I am definitely on the downhill slope of Year #2- and keeping the grades up!

A few weeks ago I went to San Diego for an AMA conference (American Medical Association). It was a great trip- and it was warm there. And it was a nice break. By break,

I mean that I didn't study for 4 days and then had to pay the price when I came back. :/

We flew into LA and spent the day at a a good friends house. And went to the beach! It was beautiful.... and warm. And we saw movie stars and all kinds of cool things and ate Thai food and Bobs Big Boy Burgers and seafood.

Santa Monica Pier.

I went to the San Diego Zoo... it was SO amazing! This is my favorite picture:

All

of the koalas were asleep in their own trees surrounded by snack food :)

I got very close to tigers...

And otters....

And hippos! Maybe a little too close to the hippos. They are kind of gross.

No pictures of the conference. They wouldn't be interesting, anyway.

After I came home, we celebrated 4 years together! I don't know how it is possible that we have been together that long, but we have. We didn't do anything super exciting- just went out to eat and then came home and watched and ENTIRE movie together for the first time in... well, I don't know how long it has been. We don't have a lot of free time- we occasionally watch an episode of a t.v. show, but rarely do we have 2 hours to watch a movie! It was very nice.

Lately, our typical evening consists of coming home from school, studying, cooking a quick dinner, then going back to the library to study until it closes (or we fall asleep).

I think they are about to name a table in the periodical room after us.

Walking home in the dark every evening, we tell ourselves that someday we will look back on these days of endless studying with fond memories. But that time could be far away.

We went to Texas for Thanksgiving. It was full of football watching and horseback riding. And eating, of course.

I have been running a lot- 3 or 4 times a week. I really enjoy running- it is such good stress relief. I am doing a 5K on Saturday that I think is going to be a ton of fun!

Next up: Christmas

Paranoia will Destroy-ya

My dog is a punk. He knows I am scared of the dark, and makes creepy noises outside at night to get revenge for me not taking him on the walk I promised during the day. Right now, it sounds like there are 3 grown men on my patio turning things over (there aren't- I checked). It's Cooper.

I keep telling myself I am going to take pictures of things Daniel and I do and post on here, but I always forget to take pictures. I can't have kids because I forget to take pictures and everybody knows that all the good moms follow their kids around 24/7 with cameras. Therefore, I can't have kids.

So here is the last month in words:

First med school test came.... and the computers crashed, systems shut down, and all hell broke loose on the UAMS campus. The test was re-scheduled, giving me an extra 3 days to study. I liked the results :)

Second test came... and went. Third test came... and went. I am pleased with my grades so far, and I think this year is MUCH more interesting than last year.

That covers August and September.

Oh! Oh! I also learned how to suture. That's right. And I am good at it. And if you don't believe me, I have pigs feet in my freezer that I can show you. Actually, I will take pictures of them. My suture lines are a work of art (take THAT all you artsy people who show me up all the time, lol!)

Last week was fall break. I had a blessed 9 days to spend with my family. Mom and I went to Branson for a few days. We shopped and ate and got lost and watched movies and it was great. We stayed on Branson landing by all the stores- PERFECT location!

The day we got home my eye started swelling... and kept swelling... and kept swelling. It has done this before, so I knew what was up and headed to UAMS the next day. I have a virus (the same one that causes cold sores) that is dormant in my trigeminal nerve (it controls muscles of facial expression and cutaneous facial muscles), and occasionally sneaks its way into cutaneous roots and pops up. Usually on my right eyelid. It swells and blisters inside and outside of my eyelid. When it does pop up, I have to start medication immediately because if it ever makes it into the cornea it will eat its way to the retina. Scary, but true. So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent at multiple doctors offices- looking and feeling miserable. My husband is so kind- he told me I was beautiful even when my eye was swollen shut and blistered and I hadn't put on makeup in days.

I told people that Daniel hit me :) It's my dads fault that I am the way that I am.

Even with the eye stuff, I loved being able to be home cleaning and doing laundry for a few days. Things get a little out of control when I am gone for 12-14 hours a day.

By Sunday I was feeling better- just in time to go back to school! It was a pretty interesting week- we are studying blood disorders and I really enjoy that topic.

Today, Daniel and I carved pumpkins. I think they turned out really cute! I will post pictures later.

Last week Daniel got a mountain bike and turned all outdoorsy-sportsman on me. I should have seen it coming. He fixed up my old Walmart bike, and tomorrow we are riding all the way to TCBY. Moral of the story: I will do almost anything for ice cream.

Back to School

Run-down of the summer:

Kacie's wedding in late May

Taekwondo camps in early June

2 weeks of backpacking Europe in June/July

Preceptorship in July

Min-vacation (36 hours) with just me and Daniel in August

Back to school August

4th

I am always SO ready for summer, but it only takes me a few weeks usually to be ready to get back into the routine of school. I thrive on routine, schedules, alarm clocks, and to-do lists. It is as sickness.

Somewhere in between the wedding and Taekwondo camps I was ready to go back to school. Like I said- sickness. I really had a great summer- it was restful, yet full of excitement. The backpacking was less restful and more exciting, as you might imagine. Daniel and I spent SO much time re-connecting with each other and with friends we hadn't been able to spend much time with through the school year- it was a blast!

The preceptorship I did was with a great Family Med. Physician in town- I learned a lot and saw some pretty interesting cases, but it was a definite confirmation that I don't belong in Family Medicine.

Other events of my summer:

-My mac-books hard drive crashed. Sigh. At least I didn't have to much on it yet, and it was still under warranty.

-Babies!!!! Not mine. Or even related to me. Several of my college friends had babies, and I was even in for one the deliveries- so, so precious.

-Daniel and I started teaching the 4 year old Sunday school class at church (when he/we aren't playing on the worship team). At first, Daniel wasn't so sure he and 4-year-olds were meant for each other, but now... well,

it is pretty cute.

-My cat turned into the devil. I don't understand why, but she has.

Proof of this, taken moments before she reached through the blinds and slapped me:

She is now an outside cat.

-Saw Toy-Story 3 in 3-D! Daniel hadn't ever seen a 3-D movie before

-Daniel had a birthday, and got an ice-cream cake from Marble Slab. And boots. And a new iphone. And tools. And many other things. I guess we all like him :)

-I got an iphone. Never thought the day would come. After 4 days of bliss, I don't know how I lived without it. Seriously.

-Cooper and I are back to running.

The only time it is cool enough is at 6:30 in the morning, so if you happen to be crazy enough to also be out that early and see me running down College St. with my Basset hound, please be the ONE PERSON THAT DOESN'T SLOW DOWN AND LAUGH. The embarrassing part is that Cooper is faster than I am.

I am going to post more on Europe later, but there are a few pics I wanted to put up now!

All of my clothes for 2 weeks, vacuum-sealed. When I ran out, I washed them in the sink. WHAT?!?! Yes, I did. Not pictured is my chacos, which I love very, very much.

Proof that there were backpacks involved (Been up over 30 hours at this point- after we got off the plane in Zurich)

Daniel and I in Germany. The country-side was just unbelievably beautiful.

The family in Rome, between the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine.

Daniel's backpack is still somewhere in the Atlanta airport. 2 months and counting....

Summer Happenings

This week has been full of sleeping late, watching movies, hanging out with friends, and trying to keep my parents from crying about Kacie moving. It's hard work :)

Daniel and I took a little vacation to NW Arkansas to visit family and friends. It was semi-relaxing, and a lot of fun! We got to see a dear friend for the first time in a LONG time, spend some time in the sun on the lake, drive around in a super cool car, and hang out with college friends that deserted us for NW Arkansas. (We are still a little bitter that so many of our friends moved).

I have been enjoying my 2 weeks as a stay-at-home-wife. Don't call me crazy, please. The rest of this year has been so full of studying that I rush around in "maintenance" mode when it comes to house stuff. But for the last 2 weeks I have been able to keep up with cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, weeding the flower beds- ya know.

We have also been doing a lot of walking together. Daniel doesn't particularly like walking, but I do (and I need the exercise!) so he goes anyway :)

We painted the front door red- and the shutters get painted black-ish tomorrow. I liked the green, but since the new roof is gray it just didn't work. Thus the red.

Now, the BIG thing in my life- we bought a new camera!!!! It's a really big deal for me since I haven't ever had a really nice camera. We have been saving up for it for awhile now, and I kind of wanted a Nikon d5000 but it was more than we were going to spend so I had my mind set on a d3000 (tmi, I know). We WERE NOT going to get it until we had all of the money for it. Anyway, yesterday morning we woke up and he told me to hurry up and get ready because he had a surprise for me :) He drove me to Bedford camera in LR and we looked at a few cameras and he first surprised me by telling me we were going home with one THAT DAY! I thought it was going to be at least 2 more weeks. I finally decided on the d3000. About that time, the salesman pulled out the fancy-schmancy d5000 from behind the counter- already bought and paid for with "Beal" on the side. My sneaky husband had bought it in advance. Is he amazing or what?

No photo labels today- just a few snapshots from this week. Part are from the old camera, and part are form the new. I think it is pretty obvious which ones are from the new one.... :D

Free Time!

I have been out of school for 8 days now- most of which were spent following my sister Kacie around in preparation for her wedding. We did bridal portraits, hair, nails, entertained lots of family, ate lunch, made my mom cry- ya know, the usual wedding stuff.

But since I haven't blogged in awhile, I have a LOT to catch up on!

During the last week of school I did a health fair at a nearby elementary school. I focused on convincing the kids to never ever smoke. We showed statistics of what they could buy if they weren't buying cigarettes (i.e- 10 Wii systems a year...), showed nasty pictures of lung and mouth and throat cancer, and even had REAL SMOKER lungs (set in plastic) for them to see!!!! How cool is that?

May 8 was Kacie's graduation

I think my Dad's glasses look really funny in that picture.

May 9 was mother's Day AND our anniversary...I already blogged about that, but here is our annual "Mother & Daughters" picture.

School wrapped up on May 14 with a HORRENDOUS neuroscience exam. I don't have my grades yet, but I have had an entire week to become very indifferent. I know I passed, and that

is what matters. At this point, I really don't care if it is an A, B, or C

We saw our dear friend Cara get married on May 14, also... and don't have pictures. I am really, really bad at remembering my camera. I'm a work in progress.

I hosted a baby shower for a friend in NW Arkansas on May 15. And on May 15 I decided that married girls without babies SHOULD NOT EVEN BE ALLOWED to go to baby showers. It's for the same reason that you don't take children to pet stores. And no, I am not comparing babies to puppies. I think you all understand.

So wedding weekend was great...and insane...and exhausting. However, Kacie and Michael are married and in Cancun for the next 6 days :) Mom and Dad are home alone crying about not having to turn the air down and stuff like that, and Daniel and I are enjoying a clean and quiet house.

Here are a few wedding reception photos- we don't really have any of the wedding itself yet.

Cutting the cake...

Don't they look beautiful? Her dress was just made for her :) My friend Cara (the one who got married a whole 7 days before Kacie) made that stunning cake.

Also, you should know that Kacie borrowed my necklace. (It's a "sister rule" that when one of us borrows something from the other one, that it must be acknowledged as the rightful owner's property.)

My dad eating the cake... (probably my favorite picture of the entire wedding). He says that he LOVES wedding cake, but we will see how he feels about it after he eat the leftover bottom layer over the next 2 weeks.

The rest of the menu included some amazing spring rolls, fruit kabobs, teriyaki beef skewers, crab rangoon, and sushi! We had a lot of leftover sushi, so I ate it the next day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am sushi-ed out.

The Father-Daughter Dance was to "Kung-Fu Fighting", which is VERY appropriate if you know my dad and sister. They even choreographed it!

Dancing with Dad

Kacie and Michael leaving

The next day my piano students gave a lovely recital pieces by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, and Scarlatti. I am always so pleased with my students' effort.

And now, I start my LAST EVER summer vacation! I made a to-do list a month ago, but can't find it now. I guess that means that I don't have to do anything:)

Anniversary... and a Glimpse of the First Year

Today is our 1st wedding anniversary, and I can't believe it has been an entire year since our wedding! I will be honest- there were some adjustments and compromises that we both had to make, and there have been a few days when I wanted to shoot darts out of my eyes in his general direction, but this has definitely been the most wonderful, exciting year of my life. Daniel is THE most patient, even-tempered, thoughtful man I have ever met, and I am so blessed to be married to him.

One year ago today...

A few days later, we left for our honeymoon to Jamaica, where we sat around on a beach and I gained 5 pounds that I think I will NEVER again be able to lose. (We also kayaked, snorkeled, and he tried to wind surf)

Then, after a summer of hard work we got to spend a few days exploring

Chicago!

A few more days later med school started- and our lives were never the same again...

In December, Daniel graduated

.... and then started right back to school.

This was our first (married) Christmas. He got me a pair of super cute cowboy boots (which I am not wearing in this picture because he hadn't given them to me yet) and I got him a drill press. I don't have a clue what it does, but he had been wanting it for a LONG time.

It snowed so much that we BOTH got a snow day (he got several, actually), so we headed out to mom and dad's to abuse the four-wheelers.

We had SO much fun that day in the snow that we decided we wanted to go snowskiing, so over spring break we went to Red River, NM and pretty much had the whole mountain to ourselves.

That brings us to today! We ate lunch with my mom and took a walk together (with Cooper), then worked on the bedroom re-do. As our present, we "gave" each other a queen size mattress and new bedroom stuff. I am very pleased with how it turned out, but I don't know how well my camera captures stuff. The room is gray, furniture is black, and bedding is white and green. Come over if you want to see it, because I am VERY proud of it :)

This evening, we went to Mike's Place for dinner (that's where Daniel proposed). You can't see my feet, but I wore the boots he gave me for Christmas because they are his favorite.

And now, I need to go eat the top layer of my year-old wedding cake :)

Kingdoms and Creativity

It's been another stressful week, but I know that is what I signed up for so I am trying to not gripe too much! We got our Gross Anatomy grades back and I was pleased with mine. I am so grateful for God's strength and guidance- many of my classmates will have to repeat this year, but thankfully I will NOT be repeating. Well, unless I fail Neuroscience. I don't think that is going to happen, though.

My Uncle Lloyd has been in the hospital all week having his aortic valve and aorta replaced. I have such a wonderful family that has taken over every aspect of his care since he is not married and his kids aren't really around. My mom, grandma, aunt, and cousin have been sacrificing a lot for him. Things still don't look great, but his surgery was fairly successful so there is still hope.

There are still 2-ish weeks of hard- core studying going on, so here is my kingdom:

Daniel is done with school, so his kingdom (outside) will hopefully get mowed tomorrow :)

Speaking of Daniel, he is such a thoughtful guy- this is what I came home to today!

Also, I went to Hobby Lobby this week. It's a pretty dangerous place! We need a new wreath, and I had a lot of fun making one for Christmas, so here is what we ended up bringing home (minus the cat- she was already here):

I will post another picture when I am done- the only problem is that I can't find my hot glue gun anywhere! Sophie jumped in the picture at the last second. She is such a weird little creature.

In the beginning...

On my first post, I mentioned that I knew I couldn't be a music teacher when I wrote my "Philosophy of Music Education" paper for a music class I took. So here is the story, from the beginning:

When I was 14, I went on a medical mission trip to Honduras. I actually went as a cook, but ended up in the O.R. helping out for some odd reason. I LOVED it- every minute of it. I thought I wanted to do something medical for sure. Now fast-forward 3 years, and I am practicing piano and harp like a fiend. Somewhere along the road music became so much a part of me that when I was offered a full music scholarship to college I jumped on it without even thinking twice! During the next three years, I developed carpal tunnel but kept going 100 miles an hour to a music degree.

So here I am, a senior in college and writing this paper on my views of music education when I realized that I had a problem. I was supposed to talk about how music education was so important (and it is) and should be a "core curriculum subject" (which it probably should), but it felt fake to me. I didn't have a passion about it like other people did, and believe me- music is NOT something you go into as a profession unless you are EXTREMELY passionate about it. I am so glad that my friends are musicians and music teachers, but that isn't where God wanted me, and it took me a little while to figure it out.

Now, enough of the past- here is my present life!

I went out to Tennessee this week with my mom and grandma to see my cousin K graduate from LPN school. So proud :)

This is K with my Aunt Mary.

Also this week was the Cadaver Ball! And no, there were no cadavers there. That's weird.

This is me and my man at the party. We celebrate our 1st (marriage) anniversary in just 2 more weeks! He's pretty nice and very good looking, so I think I will keep him ;)

In case you want to know, the cadaver ball is basically a big, fancy party we have to celebrate the end of gross anatomy. Next year is the Fungi Formal :)

Bad Week and Brains

Well, I wouldn't say that it is a bad week, but it certainly hasn't been a fun one. After our gross anatomy national board test on Tuesday, I only had Wednesday through Sunday to study for a neuroscience brainstem test. That may sound like a lot of time, but it isn't. I have generally enjoyed my life in med school, despite all of the studying, but this week has just been overwhelming for me.

Example: this is a cross section of your pons (the middle part of your brainstem.) I have 10 cross sections like this with about 20 things a piece to know... and my brain is tired of studying itself!

I actually think it looks more like a frog.

Brains are very incredible- so intricate and perfect and just amazing. I just don't see how anybody could doubt that they were created by a perfect Creator.

A lot of this studying took place at the favorite Starbucks, where the coffee dudes/dudettes give us free samples and stuff like that. We (me and W) probably spend too much time there. We pulled out our brainstem models to study and got some pretty funny looks....

Last week we let M join us for Starbucks studying and he brought his skull along. THAT was very, very disturbing.

This is a picture of my fake brainstem (well, one like mine). I have a real one- other than the one in my head- but I leave it at school.

Non-Gross Anatomy

This is the last week of gross anatomy. Thank you, Jesus. I have actually really enjoyed it the last 7 months, but spending 4 hours every afternoon and sometimes 8 or 9 hours on weekend days in the lab is EXHAUSTING! It also smells bad and is very cold. On the good side, I have discovered that I am pretty good with a scalpel :)

My good friends A, W, and M are my study partners/lab partners and can be thanked for helping me pass med school. We all push each other to stay longer, study harder, jump higher....ya know.

Also, we all REALLY like food. It's kind of our thing. Once a week the four of us have what we call "long lunch". We go out to eat and talk and pretend for an hour or so that we are normal people. It is pretty much the highlight of our week.

This is A and W at Sushi Cafe this week.

Sushi is always followed by a cupcake from Cupcakes on Kavanaugh. It's a rule

Since I am in the small minority of bloggers without kids, I want to show you what I come home to:

This is Sophie. I didn't tell Daniel I was getting her, so he wasn't very happy when a tiny black kitten greeted him at the door one night (he he he). He likes her now, though.

She's a bad cat, though. It's the truth.