Test week from hell

I don't have much to say...or rather much time to say it. It's test week from hell. Like the Armageddon of test weeks. And I'm sure it'll only get worse from here.

I'll update next week. I think we've made a last minute decision to head to FL to see the Blue Angels on Friday. More on that later! Pin It

Unmarked weekend

So there was nothing particularly special about this weekend. Casey and Katie both went home, which was my first weekend in PA school without at least one of them! I definitely missed those girls! BUT Mallory and I studied together on Saturday and we got through an impressive amount of material ... or so we like to believe. There's still much more to do. Saturday when I was studying, Adam went with some of his work friends to the shooting range, which happens to be a) right by our house and b) very cheap. After we both got back home, I studied a tiny bit more, and then we watched the game.

Oh! How could I forget about this? Saturday morning when we woke up we found this mess on our patio.

Pumpkin guts.

There are a few things you should know before I continue with my story. First, Adam and I did not carve a pumpkin on the patio ... or anywhere else for that matter. Our pumpkin, which Adam bought just yesterday, is still in one piece on our kitchen table, waiting to be sliced open. The only other explanation is that this mess came from above. Second, this is not an isolated incident. Well, it is with the pumpkin guts, but it's not an isolated incident with other materials falling from the patio from above, namely candy wrappers, cigarette ashes, cigarette butts (!!!). This is not ok. Our friendly neighbors from above have also been known to yell obscenities during the wee hours of the morning, tromp around like freaking elephants, and to save the best for last, vomit over their patio rail. Adam and I do not enjoy watching it rain chyme. 

So, on this bright Saturday morning when we found the pumpkin guts all over our patio, I decided enough was enough. At 8:30 in the morning (while these particular people are sure to still be asleep -- I mean, they stay up so late, I'm sure they sleep in till 2pm), I went upstairs to their door and -- not knocked -- but banged on their door for about 5 minutes until someone answered. Adam told me to take a broom with me, so they could clean up the mess but I decided not to. I also felt kinda bad because I woke up a couple other neighbors as well :/ but finally someone did come to the door. 

Oh, pause the story. I forgot something else that's very important. Shortly after Adam moved into the apartment, we noticed pretty immediately the cigarette ash and butts falling from above. I decided to provide them with a ash tray and a kind note explaining that not only did I not enjoy having this on my patio, but also that it was a fire hazard (because of our patio furniture and pillows). Unfortunately my nice efforts were unappreciated, so we went to the office and complained to the staff about it. Apparently the people upstairs were chastised  and their behavior got a little better, but clearly since I'm still telling this story, it hasn't completely stopped.

Ok so back to me standing on the door step of the people upstairs. So as I was saying, someone finally answered the door. In the span of about 30 seconds, and starting with the pumpkin incident, I brought her attention to all of the things that have been frustrating me. She looked very scared and sorry (... and sleepy) but at the end of our one-sided conversation she told me to have a nice day. They've been pretty quiet since then. Maybe I made enough of an impression. All of this mess made me feel bad for anything we've done to the people below us. So I wrote them a nice note too. And they were thankful. :)

I'll give updates on that if anything further develops. But anyway, on Sunday Adam and I went to church and heard a great sermon about God's Will for our lives and then decided to have some good ole' Five Guys cheese burgers for lunch. Delicious. After we got back home everything else was pretty unmarked. I think I studied a little, did a little laundry .... yeah, I think that's pretty much it.

Now I'm sitting at school blogging instead of studying. But that's going to change right now. :) Until next week, folks!

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New baby cousin!

Gosh, I don't even know where to begin. It feels like my white coat ceremony was forever ago and that so much has happened since then, but at the same time I feel like I have nothing new to say. As far as school goes, I'm still hanging in there. Pathology is going to kill me. I don't hate the class, but it's kicking my butt! It's frustrating that I seem to be succeeding in all of my other classes, but for whatever reason, I can't find the way of studying that will really teach me the information I need to know for this class. I'll just continue taking it one day at a time and see where that goes. I guess that's all I can do.

This weekend was so nice catching up with some people, and although I enjoyed seeing some special friends, I definitely could have benefitted from studying more. But is there ever a time as a student when you could not say that? That you could have benefitted from studying more? I've said this before (I guess this blog is just going to be a whole bunch of repeats, but if that's what it takes for me to believe it, then so be it!), but I've got to find the balance! The balance between studying for each class, the balance between studying and taking mental health breaks, the balance between school and spending time with my husband and pups/ going home and seeing friends. I guess that's what life's all about, too. Finding the balance between work and home/social life ... finding the perfect career so that you can be with your family, while at the same time be successful enough in said career to provide for your family and have money to do fun things with them (vacations). And I've come to recognize that that balance will be different for everyone. Ok ... I'm getting a little too philosophical for 8:30 in the morning.

In more exciting news, my cousins Kevin and Brittany had their baby!!! I am stupidly excited about this. When Kevin and Brittany got married, Kevin also became the daddy for a beautiful little girl named Lillie, and now Lillie is a big sister. :) :) :)

This is Lillie :)

Isn't she beautiful?!

And this is Carolyn Ann Fouche!

Proud Daddy!

Proud Nana!

I am so excited about this baby! Of course, I won't get to see her for several weeks when Adam and I go home, but I just want to squeeze her! It's so strange to think that Kevin is a (biological) daddy now. When I was younger, I remember feeling the same way about my family and friends after they got married ... it was like they were different now because, well ... now they're married! But now I feel that way about people having kids. They're different now because they're mommies and daddies. But really they're not. Really Kevin is still the same person he always was ... my twinsie cousin!

The even more exciting news is that I'll have another nephew in December (maybe even late November!!) and another brand new shiny baby cousin in January! I can't wait! Love my family!!

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White Coat Ceremony

So, we had our White Coat Ceremony this past weekend, and it was absolutely fabulous! I loved everything about it. It was the first White Coat Ceremony UAB had ever had and the faculty and second years did an amazing job planning it. Everything was a hit! I especially loved having Adam there with me to meet everyone! Here are a few pics ...

This is my second year buddy, Kelly, coating me

Casey, Katie, and me

Me with my hub-a-lub!

And then after the ceremony there was a "ball" which was really a super fun dance party!

It was a perfect night! 

So then on Saturday, we went to FedEx to pick up my new phone, ran a few other errands and then went to Verizon to activate the phone. Let me remind you of something that I should have reminded myself of. The people are Verizon are Verizon "experts," not Apple experts so just because they tell you something with certainty regarding the iPhone does not guarantee that it's actually true. As a result, I lost every photo I've taken with my phone over the last two years. I didn't back them up on my old laptop because I didn't have enough space, and I thought they were saved automatically up in Heaven in icloud (which is also what the Verizon person told me), but that's not the case. So, they're all gone. And I'm devastated.  I had wedding pictures on there, honeymoon pics, pictures of Adam and Marley and Lucy ... just pictures of life over the last two years. I had uploaded a lot of them to facebook and instagram, but the others are forever lost. :( :( :( I also lost some data on some of my apps. I was very disappointed and if I had known getting a new phone would mean losing all of this info, I'm not sure I would have done it. But, it's said and done now, and I can only move forward taking new photos of EVERYTHING and saving them in a million places. Let my mistake be a lesson to all of you iPhonies!

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