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!