Thanksgiving numero dos!

I had my first final of my first semester of PA school today and I must say it went swimmingly. Glad it's over ... one down, six to go. Bring. It. On. This girl is ready for Christmas break.

So last Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, Adam and I drove to Atlanta to meet my in-laws at the airport so we could all catch our late night flight to Arizona. It was a pretty exhausting trip but it was so much fun! And so beautiful. I had no idea that it would be as pretty as it was. Before we left Adam kept telling me "it's just desert out there" ... but I was even excited about that because I'd really never seen "the desert" before. Everyday John, my uncle-in-law, would take us sight-seeing and each day the landscape became more and more incredible! I'll just post some pictures to share. I don't have many ...

This is me standing beside a giant cactus. But it's actually no where near the height of the tallest ones. 

 This is a jumping cactus. If you touch any one of its pricklies, the entire arm will fall off. I didn't actually see this happen in while I was in Arizona, but I did youtube it as soon as I got back home. Pretty neat!

 Exercising the panaroma mode on my phone

We also visited an ostrich farm while we were out there. :) I don't have any pictures of that crazy event, but it was silly fun and very educational! Oh, and Thanksgiving dinner was super delicious, too. :) As was In-N-Out Burger. De-licious.

I may not update for a little while. Finals are coming at us pretty heavy ... but Adam and I don't have any crazy and exciting events coming up anyway, well aside from that silly SEC Championship game this Saturday. Go Dawgs!

I'll holler at y'all later!

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Early Thanksgiving and Christmas Decor!

Adam, the pups and I went home this past weekend to have Thanksgiving with my parents since we're flying to Arizona for the rest of the week. It was a nice, refreshing weekend. I got my hair trimmed and touched up, Mom and I went shopping, and then we had a delicious dinner. It was a perfect weekend just hanging out with my family. Thankfully we only have two days of school this week, and then the other Thanksgiving festivities can begin! We actually have a lot of traveling to do over the next few days, but it'll all be worth it.

So before we left Birmingham last Friday, I decided to do something that I knew would make me happy ... and since it did make me happy, I really don't care if you think I'm crazy. I put up Christmas decorations!! :) :)

So, this is our Christmas tree (obviously). I wanted to show the glowing lights, but also just a regular picture so you could see our ornaments and tree decor. Mom and I bought the tree topper this past weekend, and I really liked the idea of it because it was different. I also thought it would add more height to our cute little tree. I'm actually not sure how I feel about it. Part of me likes it, part of me feels like it's a little too Harry Potter-esk. The star to the left of the tree is what usually goes on top. Maybe I'll leave it for a few more days to figure it out ...

This isn't everything I've put out, but I didn't want to bore you with the rest. :) Anyway, happy holidays!!

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Love/Hate Relationship

So, Georgia fans ... well, I suppose for the sake of understanding I could extend this to all of the college football teams in the south. Ok, so football fans ... you all know how football is like a religion down here. Your college football team holds such a special place in your heart, especially if it's your alma mater. You have this fire the burns inside of you for that school and no one can really understand it other than, well, the person standing right next to you at a tailgate or football game. But as soon as you hear the marching band play the first few notes of your school's equivalent to our Battle Hymn, you can't help but get a little choked up. You literally have a lump in your throat, chills on your arms, a tear in your eye and a smile on your face. It's just something that makes you happy on a level that's hard to explain. Well, this is how I feel about PA school when I start thinking about how blessed I am to be here. (And let it just be said -- once a dawg, always a dawg - how sweet it is! That'll never change!)

Every now and then I stop to think "Holy crap, I'm really truly actually in PA school. Holy crap. God has actually gotten me this far." And it just makes my heart soar with pride that I'm here. In school. Right now. But not just in any school. I'm in a nationally ranked (top 25), kick-ass surgical program that has a reputation and renowned faculty members. 

I've tried to really step back and evaluate my current situation, and in doing so I've really come to appreciate all the thoughts, hard work, and dedication the faculty and staff have put into this program. I can't even begin to explain all of their hard work, but I've taken note and I've ever so thankful for it. It's the little things, ya know? And they all add up to mean a whole lot.

I remember in the first few days of school Dr. Jennings, the director of the program, told us that over the course of the next 27 months she would push us to our limits -- past our limits, farther than we ever thought we were capable. I can already see that happening. It's SO very soulfully painful to go through at the moment, but I know it'll translate over to a successful career in my future, and when I finish it will contribute to the pride I already feel for being here in the first place.

PA school is hard. Like soul-searching, soul-sucking, emotionally/physically/mentally-draining hard. It's by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, which I guess isn't saying much because I've lived a wonderful, blessed life in my 26 years, but still. :) It's such a challenge on so many levels. But it's also already one of the best things I've ever done in my life. And it's introduced me to some absolutely wonderful people. I guess awesome people are attracted to awesome places and it's an honor for me to be here with these genius people!

I took a screen shot of my desktop on my mac. It's full of inspirational quotes and bible verses that I've gathered over the years and from friends. One of my new best friends, Katie, designed it for me. :) I love looking at it, especially when I'm having a hard day. It keeps me motivated at least long enough to get through the day. And that's all I need, right? Cause I can only take this one day at a time ... 

Anyway, back to studying. That's enough insite to my brain (head) for now. ;)

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A quick catchup!

Thankfully, this past weekend was just what I needed to recuperate from last week. This past week was horrific and didn't fair as well for me as I would have liked. But the good news is, our third round of tests is more than 1/2 way over! And believe me, that's excellent news.

This is Casey, Katie and me after our third anatomy exam!

 And this is how we really feel.

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Let's see ... I need to recap last weekend's events since I haven't really blogged in a few weeks. Although I was extremely busy studying basically every waking moment, I did take time out to relax and have a little bit of fun.

I watched the GA/FL game (GO DAWGS!!!) and we went to a Halloween party.

 Flo and Mayhem!

Here's a close up so you can appreciate my double winged eye liner. :)

Sunday I studied all day, and took a break to carve a pumpkin with Adam!

And after my ridiculous week was over, Adam and I loaded up the pups and headed to Florida.

We watched the Blue Angels homecoming show! It was AMAZING.

This is a plane circling two parachuters. One released the American flag.

I have some AMAZING videos of helicopters doing back flips and some other super cool things, but they aren't showing up well here. :( Maybe this video will show up ok ...

The Blue Angels! Only 18 inches from wing tip to wing tip. AMAZING! Sorry about the ending ...

The Blue Angels!

We didn't get many shots because we were too busy watching the show. Sorry!

That afternoon we went back to the hotel and CHILLED OUT and watched some football since I really hadn't had a lot of time to breathe in the last two and a half weeks. The dogs got their own bed because the hotel had booked all of their king beds so we got two doubles. Marley was in heaven.

The next day we went to the beach. This was Marley's first time and she LOVED it. Lucy liked wading in the water, but she got nervous for Adam and Marley going in so deep!

Nervous Lucy!

Oop! When you've gotta go, you've gotta go!

Lucy tried to warn Marley...

And before we loaded them back up in the car, Adam bathed them so they were clean girls instead of smelly dogs.

It was a perfect, relaxing weekend. Now back to school! Till next week, friends.

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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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