with photos!

It must be a Christmas miracle! Chris stopped playing the video game and graciously uploaded my photos from his camera, loaded them onto his computer, cropped them properly (and tried to fix any gross errors in lighting), and sweetly handed them to me for this post! Hooray! Now, he's back to the video games and I am hankering for another miniature smore (OMG yum - there need to be some photos of these!)

So, I suppose in no particular order...(truly no order, because blogger requires it to be so)

My sweet little puppy Prancer, she looks so sad. It breaks my heart!

Homemade marshmallows - easy and absolutely delicious. Most likely the best marshmallows you've ever tasted.

Some tasty wine Chris bought (for about $10) and it was great!

Chris made this unbelievable dinner for our "2-month wedding anniversary" - Chilean sea bass on a bed of mushroom and onion with a mushroom risotto...totally gourmet and maybe, just maybe, on of my favorite meals. Ever!

Goodbye long hair Katie!!

Hellooooo short hair! It's so easy to wash! And brush! and it looks awesome!! Yeaaa!

The first batch of crackers. I've tried them with olive oil and whole wheat flour too now, but no pictures (as of yet!). These I ate in a day and a half. Yes, all of them. With rosemary, garlic, and parmesean as toppings, how can these not be good?

A delicious Christopher concoction (the red sugar sprinkles were my idea, though)
and a painting I randomly decided to do one day. It's pretty big and hangs over our couch. I wanted to add big white flowers but haven't gotten around to it. I kind of like it like this. Oh, and it was way harder than it looks, so you should appreciate all the subtelties in it... or something like that.

Have a very Merry Christmas (remember, the 12 days of Christmas are not over yet!!) and a super Happy New Year!!

The end of the 200-'s

My Christmas was lovely, filled with all sorts of family, friends, and fun. I've been baking quite a bit (more crackers, marshmallows, graham crackers, brownies....you get the idea!) and to add fuel to the fire, Chris bought me THREE cookbooks for Christmas! Not little wimpy cookbooks, either. He gave me both volumes of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child (after watching Julie/Julia with me I think he wants me to cook through the entire book like she did!) and "Joy of Cooking," as well as an Alton Brown-esque book about the science behind cooking. I suppose that's four books! I better get back in the kitchen! :)

Anyway, we spent time with both families, got a good bit of snow in Indy (that somehow made me nostalgic for Colorado!) and just have had a relaxing time. Chris got a bunch of new video games, so he has been ignoring me and I've been playing in the kitchen. Everything is working out perfectly! We also saw Avatar in 3D (which is the only way to see it, really!)...the storyline was OK but the graphics were unbelievable! If you need to borrow some 3D glasses I have a couple spare pairs lying around, too.

My latest concoctions (as in today) have been graham crackers and olive oil crackers. Freakin' yum is all I have to say. and I wish I could make my food photography as pretty as theirs! I also wish I could have a digital converter on MY computer so I didn't have to pass everything through Chris (he is busy playing Wii, I can't bother him right now!)... Oh well!

Oh, and I also made homemade marshmallows. Did I tell you that? Because I used them to make baby smores tonight...and they were unbelievably good. I promise, they weren't that hard and definitely not as messy as I thought (they were a little messy, but they're marshmallows, what do you expect?!)

My dear friend Amanda (who lives in Peru!!!) came by tonight since she's in town for the holidays. It was great to hang out with her AND I'm super lucky because she is coming back tomorrow! I'm going to make her some delicious "America" food and also have our friends over, Jessica and Matthew. I've planned a menu that I hope to be AMAZING...we'll see if it's picture-worthy tomorrow night!

On a sadder note, my poor puppy dog is very sick. Prancer is 11 years old now (which is old in boxer years!) and has heart failure. We almost lost her on Thanksgiving but she got a bit better, but has gotten sick again, and isn't eating much at all. It's heartbreaking - I've never lost a dog before (my only past pets have included several goldfish that lived for excessive periods of time, and a creepy chameleon, but nothing furry, happy and loveable like my little Prancer). It breaks my heart to see her sick and know that she has no idea why. I'm not dealing with it as well as I would like, but I suppose it's the circle of life and we have to just cherish every moment we get with everyone, and everything.

I'm still trying to figure out new years resolutions. I think I should write an entire post on all the workout DVDs I've watched (thanks, Netflix!) since I'm pretty much an expert in that arena and it seems like everyone always wants to get healthy in the new year. I am more for choosing resolutions I think I can keep instead of something vague/crazy. Maybe it will be to eat less flour (I seriously ate like 3 cups of flour in 2 days the first time I made crackers - oops!), or maybe something better. Hopefully I can come up with something cooler, since this is the last 6 months of my life that I will have no real job. I need to make the most of it!

Enjoy the rest of 2009!!

PS-I donated my hair on Christmas Eve! Photos to come!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

So I've been spending a lot of time on the internet lately. With all the food blogs, netflix, hulu, facebook, and who knows what else I can find, it is seriously a wonder I find the time to...you know...put on pants and things. Anyway, I've become quite obsessed with my little baking projects and decided that I wanted to learn to make (of all things)...Crackers. Don't ask why. I have no idea.

Anyway, I made some crackers yesterday and they were delicious! And quite addictive, I might add. A handful of them didn't get quite crisp enough (I didn't cook them long enough and they ended up more like pita bread). I think that everyone should make their own crackers...although I do admit that it was a slightly labor intensive process.

The basic recipe I found here. The website is about sustainability and implementing it in their own life (by making just about everything themselves). It's pretty cool. Anyway, here is how I made the crack(ers).

2 cups of plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons softened butter
approximately 1 cup of milk

Add the first three ingredients in a food processor and blend. Slowly mix in the milk until it forms a solid ball of dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until very thin (the dough should be pretty dense so it's easy to do this). Then, I sprinkled seasonings I wanted on the crackers (for me it was dried rosemary and garlic salt) and roll the rolling pin over it once more to smoosh the seasonings into the cracker. Prick the dough all over with a fork (to keep it from bubbling up) and roll into cracker shapes with a pizza roller. Bake at 300F for 15-20 minutes, until slightly browned.

I also made a quick hummus dip (I LOVE HUMMUS), as well as chopped up quite a few veggies to pop in the freezer since I had the food processor out. It was pretty fun, and tasty. Yea, crackers!

In other news...well I don't really have other news. I've been baking, and working out, all week. (They counteract one another!) We've had all our Christmas shopping done for a while now (thank you, online shopping) so no stress in this household as far as that goes! Christmas eve day we'll spend with my mom's extended family, I think we're doing a big brunch this year and a gift exchange. We're going to go to Midnight Mass, spend Christmas morning at my parents', then head up to Indy and hopefully be there by mid-afternoon to spend time with Chris' family. Should be a good time!

Oh! I almost forgot! I'm getting a haircut today. Not just any haircut, mind you. My first haircut in more than a YEAR AND A HALF! Yeah, crazy I know. I might donate some of it, because there is a ridiculous amount. But thanks to Mr. Internet, I now know that Locks of Love only gives 10% of their wigs to cancer kids (it mostly goes to kids with alopecia areata, which I agree is a lifelong condition but I feel like they're sort of false advertising) and they actually sell/throw away about 80% of the hair they receive, because apparently they get too much hair and can't handle it all or something. There are other hair donation sites but apparently if you want to do some good they really just want money. I don't think they want my hair, either, because I had the highlights put in it a couple months ago. Anyway, I'm going to go and offer it but we'll see what my hair-lady (stylist? dresser? cutter?) has to say. Either way, I'm going to weigh less tonight! Hopefully there will be pictures to come.

Finally, I leave you with a holiday story I found while reading the internet this week (sorry I don't know where the original post went!):

My four year old son walked up to me yesterday while I was setting the table for dinner.
"Uhm" he asked hesitangly"Is it too late to add things to my Christmas list?"
"I think so," I said, eyeing the three feet of snow piled up outside the window.
"OK," he said resignedly and then looked out past me, deep in thought. "Dad can we run out to the store and buy a whip?"
"Why?" I asked.
"Uhm. I put a lion on my Christmas list but I forgot to put down a whip. And if the lion shows up and I don't have a whip we could all be in trouble."

special brownies

So....what have I done for the past month?

I seriously have no idea. I've done my best as a "stay at home wife" while Chris goes to work all day, I sit around, play on the internet, watch TV, occasionally work out, and get dinner and the house all cleaned up before he comes home! It's a tough life, I gotta tell you.

We went on a few interviews, which I will not say much about in case anybody google searches me and finds this...not that they would...but you know. I've been to a couple community programs in Cincinatti, U of Louisville, and Wake Forest. I have a few more scheduled for January. The dinners have been delicious, and hotels have been pretty awesome as well. I think we're a little glad to be off the road for a couple weeks, though, because it was getting tiring.

I've been trying out plenty of new recipes but nothing too amazing...except for this soup. I had to make a few changes because I didn't have everything but it was pretty much perfect! My version is below. This soup is thick, sweet, and spicy and strangely reminded me of a curry (I think it would be awesome ladled over rice!).

Sweet Potato Peanut Soup!

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 T canola oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 T chile powder
• 1 t cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  
• 2 t ginger
• 1 t ground allspice
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

1) Cook and peel sweet potatoes (stick in microwave for about 9 minutes), mash one and dice the other
2) While the potatoes cook, heat the oil in a saucepan, add onion and cook until it begins to brown. Add the garlic, then add all the spices. I added a touch of water so it wasn't so thick and pasty.
3) Add the sweet potatoes and peanut butter and stir until PB melts. Enjoy!


Tonight, we ran to the grocery to grab a few things for dinner (This sweet potato-spinach-chickpea curry, actually - sensing a pattern?) when Chris and Patrick found these:



So I baked some brownies, topped it with some frosting, and there you have it. Now you know why I am about to weigh 400 pounds. At least dinner was healthy.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons cocoa, unsweetened
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons cocoa, unsweetened
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You know how to make brownies. Cream the butter and sugar, add the other liquids, then add all the powdered stuff (but blend all the powders together before pouring it in. I don't know if that really makes a difference or if it's just a ploy by dishwasher-makers to get you to use more dishes. I do it anyway.) Bake at 350 in a greased 13x9 pan for, oh, maybe 20 minutes. What do you do with all those 20 minutes (other than wash dishes?)?? Read on!

3 tablespoons butter, softened
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk

Mix the butter and peppermint, then add part of the powders and part of the milk, alternating until you have frosting. Smear all over brownies and enjoy with a glass of ice cold milk.

Yeah, I know you want some.

pie and cookies

Instead of working out to relieve the stress of my impending interviews, I have resorted to what I do best: baking.

First, a delicious blackberry pie (made from freshly picked blackberries we got this summer at Kateri's parents house and have stored in the freezer since then). There is really no recipe for it because I just sort of made it up as I went along. It has a lot of blackberries, a decent amount of sugar, some lime juice, and maybe some flour and maybe cornstarch. I was worried it would be runny. It wasn't. It was delicious.



Today I made some chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Yea! Here is the recipe, I halved it so I wasn't such a fatty, and I invited Patrick over for some brain food since he has a physics test tomorrow.

Katie the Housewife

I hope everyone had a lovely thanksgiving. Mine was sort of a bust, since I came down with a miserable cold right before all the festivities, and so I was knocked out on sudafed and ibuprofen the entire time, and didn't feel very festive at all. It was nice to see the family (and they got to see all our wedding pictures!) but I really was pretty anti-social throughout the whole thing. I'm finally feeling about back to myself (aside from the occasional goopy nose, but I can live with that - I am considering pediatrics after all!) and SO glad. I think the biggest problem with being sick was that I had absolutely nothing to occupy my time. Nothing to study, no projects to finish - and the fact that I felt like my sinuses were going to explode out of my face every time I moved didn't really help with the motivation.

Apparently I need some hobbies. I used to have tons, but med school sort of zapped them out and made them seem less useful (at least some of them). Now my creative outlets typically turn to baking or cooking endeavors since they're sort of "practical," you know, you can eat them when you're done. Maybe I can start baking Christmas cookies or something. Hmm.

OH I almost forgot - wedding pictures! Yes, we finally got our wedding pictures! HOORAY! There will be plenty more up shortly (we got TWELVE DVD's full of pictures - I think Chris said there were about 2100 in all!) But our lovely photographers complied a little slideshow with music for us. Are you excited? I'm excited! Here's the link:

http://vimeo.com/7831286

If you couldn't tell, our photographers were AWESOME. Seriously. Amazing. I highly recommend them to anybody! Annie and Toby Varland: www.varlandphotography.com

I'm thinking of making a post with my reviews of all my wedding vendors since some were really awesome and some were a little sub-par, and I have tons of friends getting married who may appreciate it!

Anyway, now that I am pretty much a housewife, I'd better get started...doing whatever housewives do. Maybe I'll google search "hobbies" or something. Or maybe I'll waste more time on http://suggestoftheday.com/ ....maybe.

The last of the pictures

Finally, Gregory's Rocket ship cake! Funfetti flavor with peanut butter cream cheese frosting!We made the rocket launcher with rice crispy treats ... mmm!
The birthday boy!

On an unrelated note, here's the spread my aunt made for my bridal shower!


And the bachelorette!

Grandma's 80th Birthday!

Oh yea, I'm two for two today! Here's the pictures from her special day. I made four different flavors of cake - chocolate, italian cream, carrot, and chocolate chip! They were all delicious...

Hard at work:My mom, my grandma, and I at her party - ready to eat cake!

Finally, the finished product!!Grandma decided she wanted an iPod for her birthday. I hope I'm that cool when I'm 80.
My Aunt Susie made beautiful flower arrangements for the party.
My lovely grandparents, Flo and Joe.
Aren't they the cutest!?
The whole Smith family!
Finally, this wouldn't be my grandma's party without a picture of Max!

Train Cake

I found train cake pictures! Yea!!! So..for your viewing enjoyment...

First is the picture of me making the cake - it was "orange dreamsicle flavor"

Unfortunately it turned out as a heaping pile of goo, so I did my best to form it into the trainiest shape I could.


Since Chris wasn't around to take the photos in progress, we have to jump straight to the end product. I used Patrick's favorite candies - Twizzlers and Red Hots - to decorate. I even made a little "Patrick" driving the train!




That little "shocker" symbol (on the puff of smoke coming out of the train) is the hornblasters logo. If you don't remember this (or maybe I didn't even talk about it the first go round), Patrick wanted a train cake because he is the very proud owner of a train horn that he installed on his car. He now drives around honking his train horn at innocent people and scaring the pee out of them. While I find it a bit inhumane, Patrick finds this funny. He's an odd duck, but we like him that way.

So...wow.

Time flies! There have been an insane number of things going on, and there's no way to recap all the events. Bummer. I'll see what I can do:

I've been married 4 weeks as of today - hooray! Best day of my life ("so far"). No pictures yet, but soon I hope!! Chris and I kept a little "wedding blog" from our wedding and honeymoon. I will probably post that someday, but it's not finished. It needs pictures. (Seriously, what is it with me and pictures...) The honeymoon - AMAZING. That's all that needs to be said. I gained like five pounds in a week because it was all-inclusive meals and booze. Now I need to start working out. :) That's next on the to-do list, actually.

The week we got back I worked 80 hours including two overnight calls (30 hours each, which helps make up a good hunk of that 80), and played with kiddos. Most of them were cute. After a couple weeks of peds, I flipped my brain upside down (I mean that almost literally) and took care of grown ups. I'm still waiting for a cute one. I've had a couple "dissatisfied customers" the past few days and it's sort of frustrating, but (adult) medicine is crazy challenging so I am enjoying it. I'll probably enjoy it more when it's not quite so challenging, though.

Next week is my last week of my AI then we go into "anatomy block" which = "do absolutely nothing" block. I think our final exam is a 1-page, double spaced paper on whichever anatomical part we choose, or something. I'm looking forward to it!

We're still getting everything settled in (especially after getting all the registry items dumped here from my parents house - holy cow we have a lot of stuff!), almost all the thank-you notes are written, and I am finally feeling like I live here. Yea!

It's been a pretty amazing month, if I say so myself, I think I like this whole marriage thing!

Hooray!

PS

So, remember how the weather channel has the 10 day forecast? Well a couple days ago it said it would be 64 degrees on the 17th...not bad, I thought!

Unfortunately, it now says 49!! and there's even a little note under it that says "Brrr! Keep outdoor photos to a minimum."

Weather.com, why???

Thankfully, everything is indoors and nicely heated! :)

Happy Wedding Week!

Yes, friends, I will be a "Wife" in less than a week. It finally started to feel real when we did our "last runthough" of the Mass before the official rehearsal Friday (our priest is a little OCD, we've had many, many practices!). Chris and I practiced holding hands, saying our vows (which although we're just repeating after Father Al we still somehow managed to mess up - whoops!), nearly bringing our priest to tears (I'm hoping because it was touching, not because we were that bad at our lines)... and now things are finally starting to come into place.

Chris and I went up to visit his friends this weekend, his "sort-of bachelor party" I suppose. It was a good time and we got to spend a little time with his family, but mostly it was great to have a little "us time" during the drive--I'm living at my parents house right now and it's hard to find a private moment when we're there. If I haven't told you yet, I am marrying the man of my dreams. On Saturday!

There are millions of tiny little details, everything hopefully getting wrapped up this week but I hope if they don't then I won't care. I like to think I've been a pretty easygoing bride but I still find myself stressing over little stupid things...but I keep reminding myself that at the end of the day it doesn't matter if my brother spills all his food on his tux or if I trip in my dress (OK that would matter a little!), I'm going to be married!

I wish that we could have invited everybody I ever knew, too, because I feel a little guilty that we kept our guest list relatively small...I wanted to invite our whole med school class, all our teachers, anybody and everybody who wanted to join in our special day. Things just got too complicated, though, so we kept the guest list as short as possible - with mostly family and just a few friends. I think it will be a wonderful day, but I just hope no one feels slighted that they weren't invited!

We have a pretty busy week planned, lots of last minute to-do things. One thing I'm looking forward to most is the "Couples Massage" we're getting tomorrow (my birthday gift from Chris this year!!)...I have never had a massage before so I'm a little nervous but I hope it will be amazing!

bullets...and my flu rant

I need to get to sleeping (I do need my beauty rest, you know) but a few quick updates:

• I had the most. awesome. weekend. Super huge humongous thanks to all my friends and family who made it great. I feel like a human being again (after studying and being a lame-o the past couple months) and it's great.
  
• Poor Chris has the swine flu (I think...I am pretty much an expert on it after being in B-town). I hope he gets better soon! He called tonight and said he's got chills and his body is just shaking...oh dear. 1) I hope he gets better really soon. and 2) I hope myself and my family don't get sick - we've been around him all weekend!
  

Time out from the bullet points for a minute, and I will teach you what I know. I worked in Bardstown (one of the largest pediatric clinical research trial locations in the NATION, seriously) with some "experts" on vaccines. Dr. Block has published tons of papers, so I think he knows what he is talking about. You can PubMed him if you want and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, this is my schpeil:

1) Swine flu is not regular winter flu. It's earlier, and it consists of mostly an upper respiratory infection (runny nose, maybe little cough, etc) + aches and pains + HIGH fevers and chills (higher in kids, their immune system kicks a little better than ours) + sometimes diarrhea. No other flu since the 1970s has had any sort of GI symptoms so this is new. Everybody always says "oh I caught the stomach flu" but it's not influenza. Influenza is a respiratory thing.

2) The "flu vaccine" does not cover the swine flu. At all. There is a swine flu vaccine coming out (we studied it in B-town) BUT it is not out yet. Hopefully soon. Unfortunately for most of you, you probably won't be eligible to get it (and there won't be enough for all of us). Babies, pregnant ladies, and healthcare workers (me!) will all be eligible first, then down the totem pole from there.

3) Older people (like, 60-70ish) actually have a partial immunity to this H1N1 (Swine) flu. This is because there was a similar virus that was around 50-60 or however many years ago, and they probably got it partly then. That's why they're not getting sick and dying from this, but the sickest of us are in their 30-40s.

4) GET A FLU SHOT because it can not and will not give you the flu. You may still get the flu (because 1) you already got infected BEFORE you got the shot and it was just incubating or 2) the shot didn't cover the strain you got or the the strain mutated) but one measly little shot may save you a heck of a lot of trouble. And it's pretty cheap. Do it.

5) This isn't proven but it has shown to be pretty true: The "FluMist" which is what they give kids now is a live attenuated vaccine that you squirt up your nose instead of getting a shot. The docs in B-town believe that the FluMist gives you partial immunity to the H1N1/Swine flu, because we had enormous numbers of kids with the Swine flu, but none of the docs that got the Mist got sick. Including me. So, keep your fingers crossed for me so I can go take care of my soon-to-be-husband! I need him healthy to walk down the aisle!
Anyway: if you get a chance to get the FluMist then I would try it out. For some reason they don't give it to adults - I think it's because of the live vaccine thing, adults have more medical problems...etc. and also I have heard that adults don't mount the immune response from that as well as the kids. However, getting a squirt up the nose is much nicer than a sore arm so I recommend it.

• ok back to the bullets. Sorry for the little tirade, I just think that people have no idea what they're reading most of the time, and for some reason there is a lot of misinformation regarding the flu. I hate to sound arrogant but I really do know what I'm talking about. :)
  
• As an aside-my hair looks AWESOME...eee!
• OK, it's time for bed. I wanted to talk about how awesome my weekend was but I need some sleep. More to post soon. Pictures may not come soon seeing as how Chris thinks he may die...so...don't hold your breath for them. ;)

Oh yes, and WASH YOUR HANDS!

whew

Well, step 2 is over.

Thank goodness!

It actually wasn't half bad, it was WAAY better than Step 1 (promise) so that is something major to be thankful for. There were no jackhammers, no girls behind me with tuberculosis (seriously I was going to kill that woman last year), and no ridiculously weird questions. Just me and 352 questions. I hope that the test went well, I am pretty confident I can pass it but I want to redeem my Step 1 score since it wasn't quite what I wanted. Of course, I'll settle for just passing again too, because I sure as heck don't want to retake it!!!

Last night after the test Chris and I rushed over to Dr. Smyth's house, the director of the MD/PhD program at UK. There was a big cookout and everything was nice and it was cool to see some of our old buddies. I had two (two!!!) glasses of wine and felt all warm and a tiny bit dizzy which was fun too. Although before you call me a lush: the glasses were tiny (like, those cute little plastic wine goblets you get at liquor barn) and I can't hold liquor to save my life. I'll have to start practicing.

Anyway, this morning I had an absolutely amazing "bridal luncheon" hosted by my Aunt Susie. It was seriously awesome, I have some wonderful women in my family and we got to spend time together and had a delicious meal (brunch, my favorite!) and everything was just lovely. Ah. I have some pictures of that I should post up too.

I also got my wedding hair practice done today! WHOO! I got my hair re-blonded for the wedding and she practiced the updo. My hairdresser is SO nice and helped me FINALLY make up my mind on the hair. Pictures to come (or maybe you'll have to wait for the wedding!)... I know, I always promise pictures but Chris always has them, and since I'm staying at my parents it's hard to bug him every day about pictures when I'm bugging him about all those other things.

Today was Gregory's birthday, the last in a huge line of birthdays for our family. Gregory was 18 today so he bought a lottery ticket. He wanted a funfetti-flavored ROCKETSHIP cake, so there will be pictures of that too. It turned out pretty freakin' awesome!

Tomorrow is my bachelorette party, I'm super excited. I already had a bachelorette party with the gals in my rotation group, so this one is a little added bonus. Today, though, I freaked out that nobody was going to come to my party except Sabrina and me (and although I would have tons of fun anyway with just her that would be lame) so I invited boys. My brothers, Chris, Sab's fiancee, all sorts of boys. So I guess it's not a bachelorette party, but it will still be fun. And there are people coming, they just never RSVP'd until, like, today. Oh well. We're going to paint pottery (apparently a prerequisite to becoming a bride), have a cookout at my parents, then have little fruity girly cocktails (those were planned before the boys were invited, but I'm still excited to try the 'appletini' that my mom plans to fix!)

I learned today that apparently I am a "laid back bride." I didn't really know what that meant until I found out that many brides require their bridesmaids to have matching hair and shoes. The dresses are long, so I think my maids can wear what they want.

My mom works with a lady who has a side business as a wedding planner and apparently she had just gotten her nails done for a vacation she was about to go on and a bride said "you will NOT have hot pink nails at my wedding!" so she had to take off all the polish from her manicure for the wedding, even though she paid for a manicure. Seriously people, there are more important things in life.

Of course, I think the focus to be on the marriage, not just the wedding. I could go on and on about that but I suppose I better be getting some rest, I have a crazy party planned for tomorrow! ;)

goodbye, september.

Holy cow, September will be no more in 37 minutes.

I take Step 2 on Friday, which will hopefully go a little smoother than Step 1 (I am praying that the concrete slab that they had to jackhammer out for 4 hours on June 17, '08 is still looking good, and they don't need to touch it up on Friday, and that the girl with TB who coughed for the remaining 4 hours either got cured or died, because if she shows up again I may as well kill her myself)...Anyway, wish me luck. A lot of luck, because I'd really like to kick some test butt and show 'em who's boss. You know.

I have a weekend full of fun and partying followed by two exciting last-minute wedding weeks, then I'm getting MARRIED and going on an awesome honeymoon. (We picked up the travel docs today, St. Lucia- here we come!)

Anyway, I'd love to ramble on and on about how awesome my life is going to become, come 4pm or so on Friday afternoon, but I must 1) Study and 2) Sleep, so I can rock the socks off that little test. At least that's what I'm telling myself, ok?

so much to say!

Well things have been crazy these past few weeks, I'm finally home from B-town now and trying my best to cram before boards (Friday--eeeek!). I don't have much time for a huge update, but here are a few tidbits of things going on in my life:

Chris' birthday was the 19th, we had a beautiful cheesecake and his parents came down. It was a fun weekend.

Grandma's 80th birthday party on the 26th, was awesome, I'd say 80ish people showed up (seriously!) and we had a special Mass at her (gorgeous) church beforehand with just our family. It was really nice. I made the cake, and it was SO AWESOME if I do say so myself. Pictures to come, I promise. (I promise those more than the train cake, which STILL hasn't been put up, because Chris put them on his hard drive then lost them. Who knows if you will ever see it!)

PS- Guess what my grandma wanted for her birthday? An iPod. Seriously. I must have the coolest grandma ever. Except that it's probably already lost, and she's forgotten how to turn it on. We'll see.

Boards on Friday - 4 more exams left on USMLEWorld to finish, then 1 full length exam. Hope to be done by tomorrow night so I can review all Wed/Thurs and rock out on Friday. Pray for my little brain, please!!!!

Saturday is my "bridal luncheon" held by my Aunt Susie. It should be really fun, she has great taste so I'm looking forward to a party from her!

Saturday night I get my hair practice for the wedding - woohoo!! I'm also FINALLY getting it highlighted again - my 3 inch roots are KILLING me. Can't wait.

Bachelorette party on Sunday! Yeaa! It's going to be relatively low-key, and if you can read this (and you don't have a Y chromosome) then you are invited, I can't even remember who I invited (and with boards I haven't updated that list)...so...we'll see what happens!

I finally got to try on my dress today! Woohoo! Except it's too big. I haven't lost any weight, so somebody messed up a little. I was trying hard not to be disappointed but we took it to the place for alterations and the lady there is going to fix it and make it awesome. And my shoes are sooooooooooo cute!! :) Eeep!

Back to studying. Lots of pictures to come. Promise!!

On Food

Note to self: make this!

MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

What you need:

• 1 Coffee Mug (large mug)
• 4 tablespoons flour (that’s plain flour, not self-rising)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
• some nuts (optional)
• Small splash of vanilla

What you must do:

1. Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
2. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
3. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
4. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! (*Mine didn’t do this)
5. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
6. EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

Despite learning how to bake a cake in the microwave, I haven't been up to much of anything too interesting these days. I'm in Bardstown (with internet, whoo!), trying to study (more like freaking out) for boards, getting all this wedding crap done (and I mean that in the nicest sense of the word), and filling out residency apps. That's making me freak out a little, too.

Anyway, things are OK here, still haven't decided Med vs Med-Peds but leaning towards just Med now. Already got sick (Wednesday, seriously, how do I get sick TWO DAYS after starting peds?), but I'm much better.

Oh and I had an awesome birthday. I got to hang out with an old friend from high school (well, she's young, but, well, you know what I mean) who was in town and it was great, had some delicious dinner and amazing cheesecake (baked by my mother, The Best Chef In The World), and got to spend lots of time with Chris despite living at my parents house. Good Weekend.

Chris also was a super sweetie and got me a couples back massage for my birthday. I've never had a massage before, so this is pretty big stuff for me. I'm super excited, and also glad that he'll get to be there too (because it's a little scary!).

Anyway, B-town is good. Quiet. I've been trying to secretly work out here in my back room and have been relatively successful, but I have to do things like "Ten Minute Abs" instead of Jillians Crazy 30-Day Shred, which is what I would rather do. It just packs more punch. But any exercise is good, right? I'm also trying despirately not to get fat, seeing as how I have a wedding dress to wear in almost a month, and I'm living with the two biggest food-pushers ever (my grandparents). Seriously. I can't leave the table without having seconds of at least half the food options, and there are usually a lot of options. Then they tell me I'm eating like a bird! Grandma, you don't have to cook so much stuff with bacon grease, and I definitely do not need thirds. Plus, Bardstown Peds is feeding me lunch every day, so I've been trying to be good, but it's very hard to eat out and eat healthy at the same time.

I'm managing, though, maybe I'll finish up this USMLEWorld test (blehhhh, I have around 40 more to do!) then work up a bit of a sweat. Quietly. :)

To do this week:
Study
Finish applications
Plan a wedding
Not get fat (that includes not making the aforementioned recipe for a while, doesn't it?)

Wish me luck!

Post 100

Well, this is it. 100 posts in this little journal. Pretty cool if I do say so myself. Unfortunately for you, my dear readers, the writing has gotten a bit sparse lately. Don't get me wrong, I've tried to write. And write and write and write and write. But, writing this personal statement for residency is sucking the life right out of me and my skinny little fingers. (I do have skinny fingers, not abnormally bony or long or anything, but skinny)

Anyway, there are a few Life Events occuring very soon that need mentioning, I suppose, so maybe this post can enlighten you on how my life has been flying by these past few weeks.

1) Getting married.

Okay, I thought that Chris put a shiny, sparkly ring on my finger and then we'd get married. Unfortunately, we have to get through the wedding first. It's been exciting, frustrating, and lovely all at the same time. I think when 10/17 rolls around it's going to be so awesome, but getting there is driving me nuts. I've passed the point of caring about the little details (Do you want the centerpieces to have all roses or have roses and other flowers? Should the cake be round or square? What color shoes should the bridesmaids wear?) SERIOUSLY WHO CARES about this stuff!? Apparently someone, but just not me.

Things are moving along quite nicely, though. We are going to have a freakin' awesome cake, we have really awesome invitations, and in the end, we're gonna be married. Chris got his wedding band yesterday and it made me really excited to see him try it on. Weird, I know, but I get little kicks like that. I have yet to make up my mind on a wedding band, it's one of those things "you have to wear the rest of your life so you'd better like it" type deal, and I'm afraid to make that type of commitment. I made it to Chris because he is so awesome, but picking a ring is harder than that, you know.

2) Moving, and going away for a month.

In hindsight, I would not have scheduled my away rotation for the month before the wedding. That means I'm not around to schedule the "final meetings" with all those "vital" people - the florist, baker, candlestick maker, and the like. Though I don't really care about the specifics, it is important to me that all these people (we are paying ungodly amounts of money to) do their job and do it well. So, I've been trying to cram in all these meetings, in addition to finishing up the marriage-prep stuff at the church (which my opinions on that would be enough to fill another entire post, but suffice it to say that it's useful for some but wastes too much of my precious, precious time), in addition to the rest of my life. Hindsight is 20/20 though, so I gotta get these meetings out of the way then I'm leaving.

I FINALLY got placed for my AHEC in Bardstown. Today. I'm leaving Monday. I had to resort to writing a couple nasty emails to some people, but it got the job done and I know that I have a rotation for next month. ::sigh of relief:: It's going to be fun but also a little stressful. Grandma and Grandpa love to try to make me fat, and although I don't really mind that, I do have to wear a strapless wedding gown 2 weeks after I get back and I'd prefer not to flap my lunchlady arms around while breaking it down on the dance floor.

Oh yes, and I'm moving. Did anyone tell you that Patrick's roommate HAS to have my bedroom (and not the completely empty one upstairs)?? Because no one told me. Now before I leave for Bardstown I have to move all my stuff up the hill (though it's a little hill, it's a hill) to Chris' place. Everything. Must. Go. And after living in the same home for 6 years, I have accumulated a lot of crap. Oh and then take half that stuff and pack it for Bardstown. Sorry if I seem a little bitter, because I am. In addition to just moving my stuff, Chris had to move his bedroom upstairs and we decided to super-clean and paint everything before doing that. So we are going to have a beautiful little green bedroom and a beige study area, with clean carpet, scrubbed linoleum, and a pleasant aroma that reminds you of being squeaky clean. It's really turning out lovely, but has been quite a bit of work.

AND Chris' friend Tyler is getting married on Friday, and naturally we're the photographers, so I have to move my stuff BEFORE Friday because we're spending my last weekend in Indy. Naturally.

3) Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays.

Seriously, too many procreated in January because the September birthdays in my life are out of control! Sabrina, my MOH (in wedding-speak, or "maid of honor" in regular-people language), emailed me to find out what weekends I have available for a bachelorette party. Here's the lineup:
Next weekend: Me - 24 years old on the 6th. Probably a no-go for a party because it's so soon.
Sept 12: Amy (Chris' sister and bridesmaid) turns 20
Sept 19: Chris (Groom, sort of important) turns 27
Sept 26: Grandma (who I will be with in B-town, and who is turning 80 and we're having a huge bash to celebrate - and I am making a cake that's going to be the BOMB, no joke)
Oct 3: Gregory (my brother and groomsman) turns 18
Oct 10: one week before the wedding. No birthdays (thank Goodness!)
Oct 17: WEDDING

With the exception of mine, everyone's birthday is on a Saturday! Really weird, if I do say so myself. And those are only the Saturday birthdays (because there are more, if you can believe it), which is when I need to find time to have a shower (with grown ups) and bachelorette party (with us young'ns)

4) Applications, and What Will I Do With My Life

This is getting down to the wire. I need to decide what to do with my life, and I have no idea. I want to do Medicine. I want to do med-peds. I want to do medicine. What the heck, why can't I decide this? Another one of those Life Decisions that I can't make a good commitment to. But, applications have opened up (and directors can download them 9/1) so I need to get my butt in gear. I may have to apply to both and just go from there. But it would be better to just make a freaking decision.

Trying to write a personal statement has been harder than it should, too. First, I can't say for certain that THIS ONE specialty is the only one for me because, clearly, I am still deciding on what to do with my life and I really don't know for sure. Also, taking multiple choice tests has made it virtually impossible to sit down and write an essay on "Why I will be a good doctor and what I will do with my life" - I mean, I suppose I get decent writing practice with this blog but...let's be real here, I don't usually write essays or even complete my sentences! Plus it's just always hard to write about yourself.


Anyway, to recap: I've been really busy. I'm going to be really busy for a while. I suppose I should try to relish it while I have it, then enjoy the heck out of St. Lucia once we ever get there. Yea, laying on a beach (minus hurricane season) sounds pretty awesome right about now.

cakalicious

In honor of my 99th post, I thought I would post some of these cake pictures I've been promising!

First, some pretty pink garden roses Chris got me after I came back from Step 2 in Atlanta!

(Isn't he the cutest?)


Some yummy vanilla funfetti cupcakes...
(I know it's silly, but funfetti is my favorite flavor!)
I made a little Roessler-Henderson family for Kateri and Karl, then watched them devour their young. Karl's on the left, Kateri on the right - Kateri has a goofy smile because she's about to start her surgery rotation ;)


Here's Sarah's birthday cake - a chocolate-cherry delight!


It said "Happy Birthday, Dr. Sarah!"
Complete with little fondant Sarah (+stethoscope), coconut "grass" and little yellow flowers, and the balloons are actually funfetti cake pops covered with colored white chocolate! So yummy!
I think she liked it. Here's some action photos!

Hooray! Happy Birthday, Sarah!

I know there's still train pictures missing, but I don't know where they went - Chris will have to find them for me! I'm planning a HUGE cake for my gramma's 80th birthday (like...feeding 75-100 people huge)...get ready!