160 Days

I'm thrilled that clinical year is passing by so quickly! My class mates and I are less than 6 months away (actually 5 months and 1 week!) from graduating, and we are officially more than 1/2 finished with clinicals (with 9 rotations, and Monday starting week 4 of rotation number 5, we're just barely more than 1/2 way, but hey, I'll take it!). Keep 'em coming...

So what have we been up to? Well, a few weeks back we went home for Mom's 60th birthday! I also took some of my empty pots and planters home so we could beautify them. I was excited about that! And of course it was wonderful to be home for a few days. Here are a few "after" pics of my plants.

This one needs to fill out a little more, but I still love it!

Last weekend, Bryan and Jack came to visit, and all three of the boys went to some motorcycle races! According to the big boys, Jack did very well with all the loud noises and fast vehicles. :)
Saturday afternoon we hung around at the pool and cooked out on the grill. Jack is such a cute baby that he got lots of googly eyes from the other people at the pool. And Bryan was such a good, careful daddy with his precious little boy. Here a few pics that Jack took of himself (ok, so I helped him a little) with my phone.

So with this year (thankfully) being half over, I've tried to stop and think about the things I know I'll miss once we leave Birmingham. So here's my list:

• Lindsay living within walking distance
• Being able to see the other girls at the drop of a hat if needed
• Living in the same city as all my classmates
• The city at night. When you're on interstates 65 or 20, if feels like you're on a catwalk exploring the city from high above. You don't drive on the ground level like regular folk. Oh no, you're several stories in the air on a floating bridge, or so it feels. 
• Lucy and Marley's veterinarian and office staff. They are SO kind and reassuring and understanding. Seriously the best vet I've ever been to.
• The butcher shop, Mr. P's. They have hamburger meat that it the BEST I've ever tasted. It's because they take leftover cuts of steak and grind that up to make the ground beef. Seriously. Divine. 
• Tip Top Grill. It's just a regular hamburger/hot dog/corn dog kinda place, but the views are so fun up on top of the ridge. Sometimes I can trick myself into thinking I live in a little mountain town. We ARE at the edge of the Application Mountains after all...
• The ridge behind our apartment in the fall. It's just covered in beautiful orange, yellow, green, and red trees. We get these views from our patio out front, and in the back when I'm walking the dogs.
• The views from St. Vincent's Hospital. Rain or shine, I seriously LOVE it. This hospital is huge and gorgeous, and just on the edge of downtown Birmingham. I've been lucky to have two rotations there. There are glass walls everywhere, so no matter where you are in the hospital, you are just about guaranteed a great view. 
• Highland Park
• The Mountain Brook Villages. Katie, Casey, and Mallory all live in Mountain Brook, so I always love driving through these Villages to get to one of their houses, especially around Christmas.
• Downtown Homewood ... well all of Homewood actually. The houses are so cute and I love driving around the neighborhoods with Adam to look at Christmas lights. 
• I also love that Birmingham is a big city without actually being a big city. It's big enough to have all of the really nice shopping malls and stores that Atlanta has, but it's nowhere near as big as Atlanta. Adam and I are very thankful for that.

Things I will NOT miss (I'm glad to report that this list is much shorter):

• Parking on campus = horrendous. Although Lindsay and I now have a carpool pass, and it's helped out a TON having that.
• The HORRIBLE roads around town
• The almost just as bad drivers. People run red lights around here like it's no thang at all. 
• Walmart on Lakeshore. It's pretty close to trash in our opinion.

Anyway, there are my lists. So, right now I'm in general surgery and I've gotta admit, I'm loving it way more than I thought I would. It helps that I'm working with a great surgeon, too. We do a lot of fistulas and grafts, laproscopic procedures, hernia repairs... but it's all been enjoyable. 

Next weekend we're heading home and we have some fun and exciting plans! I'll report on that later. Have a great month everyone. That seems to be how long it takes me to blog these days...

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