28 plus twenty-four

HAPPY LEAP DAY!!

(i wonder if there's an actual official

celebratory phrase that should be used today?)

Can you believe you have 24 whole EXTRA hours of LIFE this year? Everyone's always griping about time going by too fast, or not having enough time to finish things or do what we want....well today is the day my friend!

29 things you can do with your extra "twenty-four"

1. Do something for YOU! (This is not so much a suggestion but a request/demand, come on a whole extra day...take advantage of that, and take care of you for once!)

2. Send someone a card... You got the time, and think how excited they'll be to get snail mail, nonetheless, from you :)

3. Take a Nap... and NO feeling guilty, you can do whatever you want today is "free" time

4. Make a to-do-list or cross somethings off of an existing one... for those of you who simply can not take a break.

5. Call someone you haven't spoken to in the last week, month, year... just to say hi and catch up.

6. Take an extra long hot shower, or soak in the tub... again, if not today when else will you have time?

7. Go out to lunch with someone you love ...and don't feel an ounce of guilt for "taking up" someone's table longer than you normally would.

8. Sit down and start that book, blog (*cough*), scrapbook, project, etc. that you've been meaning to get to for so long.... and just "haven't had the time"

9. Have a movie marathon or watch trash tv all day (you know the ones i'm talkin' about)

10. Plan something ahead of time.... for instance, plan out 5 ideas for "date nights" with your sweetie. That way if you find yourself in the near future with a spare night, but dont feel like making plans, Ta-Dah! Already done. Grab and go!

11. Cook a meal you've been to afraid to try, or one that takes a little longer than usual to prepare ... (haha, i just thought to myself "so like something frozen that cooks in the oven for 30-40min instead of 8-12?")

12. Make or purchase a present for someone ... think working on a scrapbook for someone else, filling in a baby book or pregnancy journal, printing pictures for a friend, shopping for birthday/wedding/shower gifts ahead of time, or cooking goodies like brownies for a friend whose having a rough week.

13. Start a "Bucket List" ...try to shoot for 25-50 things you'd like to do before you, you know...kick the bucket!

14. Have play time with a baby or toddler... not entertain them so they stay quiet, or keep them preoccupied, or pacify them playtime, but let's play because i love you time.

15. Take a road trip.... to another state, to a friend's house, back home, away from home, towards the mall, or to no place in particular.

16. Play a sport that you enjoy but put on the back burner... again, because you dont have the time. Examples: Tennis, biking, running, volleyball, a pick up game with the family, toss a football, go bowling, hopscotch (dont laugh, have you ever taught your grandkids, or your kids how to do it? hello! Kids love sidewalk chalk, keeps 'em busy for hours!)

17. Call a grandparent with a random question or ask them to tell you a story about something, and then write it down so you can look back on later... (i must impress at this point, that if you havent spoken to a grandparent/parent in the past week this has now become the only mandatory thing you should do today. shame on us.)

18. Check in on your kiddos ....friendly conversation, quality time together, or responsible stalking via myspace, facebook, text, etc. Whatever your style may be.

19. Make a list of 29 reasons YOU are AMAZING ....seriously, we never do this. And why not? we like to lift other people up when they are having bad days so why not do the same for yourself, you deserve it. Heck you need it! Then on those really, really crappy days when you feel like you are seriously doing nothing right...look at your list and it'll remind you "hey i am amazing, actually i'm pretty fabulous!"

20. Sit on the toilet. No really. Make time for this ....when was the last time you weren't in a hurry when you were in there? Come on by the time the cheeks hit the seat, the body has just enough time to realize it's game time and you're already up washing your hands! I know you all think i'm crazy, i'm ok with that. But seriously, take a book, magazine, newspaper whatever and sit on the toilet, give youself a little time.

21. Call and set up all those yearly appointments (Doctor, Dentists, eye doctor, female exams, colon checks, accountants, turning in dates for vacation at work, vacation reservations, licensure requirements, pet vet visits) ....look at you, gettin' things done. Think about all the stress you'll save when you're not having to call and schedule those last minute.

22. Get Drunk. ....this suggestion cracks me up! i asked people around school today..."if you weren't studying for our test next week, or going to class and you could do whatever you wanted right now, what would you do?"....this was overwhelmingly the response i received!

23. Have Sex!! ....don't judge me, you may not have been thinking about it before but you know now you're totally thinkin..."well maybe. when was the last....."

24. Treat your car to a little lovin' ....you know you've neglected it the past few months. Get that oil changed, tune it up, rotate those tires, give her a bath.

25. Go to that Museum, Art Gallery, New Restaurant, Boutique, or Park that you drive past everyday and think "i wonder who actually goes there?" ....stay for 20 minutes or stay all day, no obligations those 24hours are all yours!

26. Play a board game ....when else are you gonna have the available hours that it takes to actually finish a game of Monopoly?

27. Clean out that closet ...take an hour and try some things on you havent worn in awhile, if they dont fit or you no longer like them then, pitch 'em or donate them. Thinking well... i might wear that again? nope you wont! What if i lose weight? hello?? if ya do then reward yourself for that hard work and purchase new ones! you're still given those clothes the boot and you can now proceed to your favorite store and purchase a new article of clothing.

28. Daydream, Pray, Meditate, stare off into space ...anything that'll give your brain and all its crazy thoughts a rest. I never really give my brain a vaca. I'm sorry brain, you my dear friends are over worked and under appreciated. Take the day off. I insist.

29. Don't just read this list and think, oh that's a great idea! or oh, i'd love to do that! or oh i need to do that, i'll make time this weekend! HELLLLLOOOooOOO......FREE DAY HERE! 24 Hours you didnt get last year and won't get next year! I know it's tough. We don't really understand what "Free Time" really is. Trust me on this, if nothing else try to do AT LEAST One thing you normally wouldn't make time for. You don't have to use the whole 24 if you dont want, feel free to take a few hours. I know.... "24 whole hours for me to do what I want? holy crap that's scary. i dont know what to do with that! Is this a joke? I'm not sure i really understand. That whole I wish I had the time to do ______ request has been answered?"
Answer: YES!! It has so DONT WASTE IT!! :) What a gift!

*for those of you thinking.....well crap. it figures doesn't it? i get an extra 24 hours, plenty of ideas of what to do with it and here it is, half the day gone already. Maybe next time?? No. No. No. and NOOO! Feel free to take the rest of the day to be busy, hurried, stressed, with no time to eat, sleep, shower, breathe.....and push those free 24 hours to tomorrow, NO EXCUSES!!

Note: This is your last chance for

Guilt Free YOU time,

24 completely FREE hours, extra even....

until 2012!

Seriously. Go. Do something. Anything. Nothing. Whatever you want! :)

do you know what she's done now??

In Cumberland you never know what's gonna happen, or what will be said :) I sit and listen to stories from the girls about college, weddings, family vacations, trips to the lake, the dangers of shopping at kroger or meijer and I think.....man, I hope I atleast have a few crazy stories to tell when I'm girl trippin' it somewhere. Hmmm. Now all i need is to find approximately three or more random lifetime friends, interested in weekend trips, who enjoy beer or beverage of choice, who don't believe in calories, and are willing to act just as crazy as i am. That would be great.

ps.i can not be held responsible for pictures not previously approved :)

Now Renee, Beth, come on...you guys even

posed for this what happened?

If ya can't take the boat to the lake....

Sorry Stace, think of it as proof you were there, I dont even have that!

Samantha & Erin pre-showers :)

You can only guess what or who could make Samantha laugh so hard she was almost in tears....and where did all those babies come from?

the beautiful quilt the girls made for Samantha and baby Emerson

What? You guys don't give mommy's-to-be liquor at your showers?

All I can say is think of the nightmares this could cause hahaha!

Who was supposed to be watching THE BABY!!

Erin's bouquet for the Rehearsal....we'll see!

How about this for a movie title... "6 Weddings & A Domestic Disput"

or maybe "Seven Brides, a Baby, and a Handgun"????

Erin if those aren't your color, I believe I have a pink/orange floral pair you can borrow!

"Where did this....How did this come back??"

Ain't it the truth.

Like always, I had a great time and I think everyone else did too. One things for sure, there are always plenty of photo opportunities at this cabin, and many many many belly laughs. *Don't worry girls we undoubtedly laughed off any and all Calories consumed. Good thing those brownies stacey made were fat free and low cal...

*Here's to many more!*

hidden treasures.

This weekend when I went to Cumberland for Wedding/Baby Showers for erin and samantha, I got to really use my new camera for the first time. Gina (Renee's sister) and Stacey both taught me a little about how to actually use my camera and all the cool functions on it. I found this really amazing looking truck down the road from the cabin. As I was walking around it to get some shots from different angles I found this really strange area that looked like a levee or underground garages I dont really know. But, the "Junk" that had gathered and piled up back there was incredible to take pictures of. Atleast I thought so. I was finding so many different looking pictures, and beautiful colors. There was even a claw foot tub back there. Amazing. Here's some of the shots from the first time out...

road trip

Lake Cumberland, very very low

thought this was cool looking

stairway to somewhere...

crazy lookin' tree

A great little boat i found tucked back in the woods,

i really thought i was gonna get shot!

The gate to the Emerald City....

Gina and i both liked how these gears said "junior"

artwork in an "industrial gallery", ok you may need to use your imagination

The clawfoot bathtub, and other treasures

I really just found these like this, untouched.

Hope you enjoyed them, I was pretty happy with myself. I had a great time....I must have since it was FREEZING out and I was taking pictures for a good 45min-an hour. That's all for tonight. Tomorrow if i get a chance I'll post the wedding/baby shower pics!

e

Eat.Pray.Love

I keep sliding in little tid bits of information here and there about the book i'm reading...Eat.Pray.Love. It's a wonderful book and I feel like every page has "quotable quotes" that I want to write down and save for later. Occasionally, I find myself reading and thinking at the same time, you know...if i could find words like that, that's exactly how i would have wanted to say that. So today I figured i'd share a snippet of something i found while in India, which I have taken into possesion. (The main character of the book, Liz, travels to Italy, India, & Indonesia over the course of a year...and that's all i'm telling ya for now!)

The search for God is a reversal of the normal, mundane worldly order. In the search for God, you revert from what attracts you and swim toward that which is difficult. You abandon your comforting and familiar habits with the hope (the mere hope!) that something greater will be offered you in return for what you've gievn up. Every religion in the world operates on the same common understandings of what it means to be a good disciple--get up early and pray to your God, hone your virtues, be a good neighbor, respect yourself and others, master your cravings. We all agree that it would be easier to sleep in, and many of us do, but for millennia there have been others who choose instead to get up before the sun and wash their faces and go to their prayers. And then fiercely try to hold on to their devotional convictions throughout the lunacy of another day.

The devout of this world perform their rituals without guarantee that anything good will ever come of it. Of course there are plenty of scriptures and plenty of priests who make plenty of promises as to what your good works will yield (or threats as to the punishments awaiting you if you lapse), but to even believe all this is an act of faith, because nobody amongst us is shown the endgame. Devotion is diligence without assurance. Faith is a way of saying, "yes, i pre-accept the terms of the universe and I embrace in advance what i am presently incapable of understanding." There's a reason we refer to "Leaps of faith"--because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mightly jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don't care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to set you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn't. If faith were rational, it wouldn't be --by definition-- faith. Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be....a prudent insurance policy.

-eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert

busy bee & good news

Hello there! So i'm officially older now....big 2-4...can you believe it? Yea. I dont really either. I used to think people who were 24 were sooooooooo old. Funny how that changes. But i still dont feel like a "grown up". Once again, we had a busy weekend along with celebrating my birthday on sunday. I had the micro/immunology shelf exam on saturday then when matthew got off work we headed home. Dinner with Erin, Joe, LucyKate, Samantha, Joey, and Reagan was wonderful. We hardly ever get to see them. Reagan is getting too big, and she cracks me up! She's such a pistol. Lucy and Reagan tried their little flower girl dresses on for us, and of course they looked oh so pretty. And both of them enjoyed running around half naked once the dresses came off. Sunday February 17th, 2008.....HappY biRtHdaY to MEEEEeeeEEe!!! I had a fantabulous birthday, busy but fun. Mom made us breakfast, no real breakfast on sunday morning. With pancakes (sugar free syrup of course!), scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, yum yum! I went shopping with Erin, Beth, LK, and Stacey and looked for dresses for the wedding. I found an outfit for the rehearsal dinner, and a dress for the wedding "just in case". It's really pretty but I'm gonna keep looking. I hate trying on clothes, boo on dresses that won't zip and horrible dressing room mirrors.

We went out to TGIFriday's for my birthday dinner. I love going to the friday's in crestview because our friday's in louisville doesnt have loaded potato soup and i miss it. We topped the night off with delish birthday cake complete with whippy icing from kroger. I of course took this opportunity to get my pics of the day. We attempted to get a group picture....leave it up to dad and matt to mess it up. Goobers!!

Attempt number two....much better. Ha! Dad's doing the Brooke pose which i find HiLaRious!
I almost forgot, tara is making beach towels for a spring break trip to Panama with her girlfriends. (for those of you who have recently graduated...meaning in past 15 years...haha...you can imagine why i cringe about the thought of my little baby sister in Panama &%itty for spring break!!) I told mom last time we walked, that I remembered when we went to Destin my sophomore year of college, and drove to Panama one night. I heard a GREAT pic up line from some drunkin' kid leaning out of a van...."Hey! What's your screen name?" oh yea, he was a winner. As you can see Tara was only slightly terrified trying to work my sewing machine. I had to work the pedal while she tried to guide the fabric. I think I ended up sewing the majority of the ribbon onto the towel.
I thought this picture was funny...check out the power struggle!!
For anyone that was wondering/worried....I finally got my score from the Pathology Shelf Exam and I passed, not only the test but also the Class! Whoo hoo! *exhale* And according to Erin (the other one, not my alter ego) that gives me a good reason to celebrate this weekend at the wedding/baby shower with the girls this weekend in cumberland. I agree. This weekend should be fun.

Talk about fun. Last night we went out to Ernesto's, a local mexican restaurant to celebrate my birthday and Jenna's. We had about 13 people, it was a good time. How much better could your birthday get if it involves a present with candy and purple, furry handcuffs? Yea. I really got that. I can't tell you how much i appreciate a friend with a healthy sense of humor :)

We've taken this whole "we need to get out more" attitude to a whole new level. Today after class our group of friends who are perfectly normal, inteligent, grown women age 23-28 i think, have made plans to have a "game day". (by the way...i just had a discussion with someone on how to spell inteligent and I'm still not sure if it's spelled right. makes me feel not so smart eh?!) Now, game day huh...could be fun. Three o'clock in the afternoon, we're gonna act like a bunch of fifteen year old boys playing rockband, american idol, and guitar hero. My guess is there will be alcohol involved. Let's hope :)

I forgot to tell everyone about my track selection for third year. We picked our tracks last friday and I ended up with my first choice, which I was super pumped about. So I will officially be doing my rotations in the follow order when I'm in the hospital this summer: Ob/gyn (to get it over with), then Surgery, and ending the fall with Pediatrics (towards the winter so I can experience a large patient volume and see a lot!) Then after christmas I will start Internal Medicine for 12 weeks, followed by family medicine, and psychiatrics. Not only am I excited about my track, but I have a lot of good friends who are in the same one with me. Which was almost as important as the order of rotations for me.

One last thing I promise.....I'm ordering my camera either tonight or tomorrow and I AM SOOOOO EXCITED!!!! On top of that my present from Matthew for my birthday was the newest version of photoshop so as soon as I make room on my computer for it I can start playing around with my pictures :D That's all today, hope everyone is doing great and Thank you to everyone who wished me a HaPpY BiRthDaY!

Happy Hump Day!

happy ♥ heart

Status post V-Day?! How was yours? I hope everyone celebrated either with the ones you love, or if not, atleast with your girlfriends. Hey those are some of my best Valentine's days yet! (sorry babe, no offense.) Last year i went out to eat at smoky bones with the med school buddies, to celebrate the most romantic day of the year/my birthday with loads of people in town for the farm machinery show and a waitress saying..."sorry birthday girl, we're outta potato skins." What a great night that was huh?

Yesterday was actually the first time in about 7 years that matthew and i were together on Valentine's Day. Hard to believe i know. But, every year we've both been at school or work. I usually get flowers, but this year i got a hubby...whoo hoo! I think we had a really good time, atleast I did :) Nothing too fancy but typical erin&matt. We planned on leaving the house last night around 5:30. Who wants to take bets on whether or not that actually happened?! haha! So 6:15 ish we head out into the shelbyville road traffic mess on our way to dinner. Where? I didn't know. We ended up at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Yum-Yum. We really didn't even have to wait that long. I didnt know what to order but lucky for me there was an item on the menu that said "perfect for cheese lovers"....I'll take that please! After we absolutely stuffed ourselves we left for our next secret destination, with a pit stop for umm...cold stone icecream. Don't worry, I made room for mint ice cream with chocolate & caramel Gheradelli squares mixed in. Even with his Chocolate devotion matthew looked thrilled to be spending the evening with me....ha!

Next stop...the movies of course! We had about 45 minutes to waste before the movie started so we sat in the car for a little bit before fighting through the sea of tweens at the theatre. I remembered that i still needed a picture of the day so we tried to take a few. We're so retarded, this is what we came up with while trying to comemorate our special Valentine's day. I swear we didnt plan this. How romantic...

We saw the dance movie StepUp2. It was pretty good, bad acting as always but the dancing was incredible. I would have enjoyed it more if the jackbutt next to me wouldnt have been talking the ENTIRE time. The theatre was super crowded so there wasnt a "buffer" seat available. Literally, this kid was talking on his phone, not like "oops left my phone on" whispering "i'm in a movie i'll call you back". Think more along the lines of ghetto "hell-o? hell-o? yea. i'm in a movie. hell-o, hell-O? I caint hear you." meanwhile, his lady friend gets mad when he wont stop texting and tries to grab his phone out of his hand. Her words, "tell that B&%$* she can wait we at the movies". Nice.

Actually, the kid was leaning so far over towards me I felt like we should have been sharing my seat. I tried to lean towards matthew but i couldnt escape my new friend's puffy coat, and him playing with his braids and all the beads making noise. He did apologize once for accidentily kicking me. The last ten minutes of the movie as he's talking i hear...."god i hate valentine's day this is so stupid. what the H*#$ is this? a dance off? F*&#in' get over it!"....really? its a dance movie, not sure but i'm guessing he didnt see StepUp1. I was soooo tempted to suggest he go ahead and leave but i restrained myself :) The lady sitting in front of me gave him the "STOP TALKING YOU IDIOT" Glare multiple times, but he wasnt getting the message. Oh well, the dancing was awesome and despite the idiot i did enjoy the movie.

*Sigh* Successful Valentine's Day?....i think so. Love you Matthew!

Tonight was enjoyable, i didnt study anything. In fact, i've been watching Grease2 it makes me laugh. How cheesy! After my test tomorrow morning, yes on a saturday, we're heading home to celebrate my birthday. Which reminds me......THANK YOU....to everyone who sent me cards I absolutely love checking the mail each day for fun stuff instead of bills. I had to put matthew on mail restriction so i could check the mailbox this week. You can always depend on grandmas :D for some snail mail and even internet cards. i love it! ♥

I did it!

Today I was brave. Atleast, I think so. Today I had to overcome one of my biggest fears, the pelvic exam. WHAT??!! are you really writing about this? Yes. I really am. Today I had to do a pelvic/pap exam for the first time. Let me tell you....I was sooooooooo nervous. Actually that doesnt even begin to explain how I felt. I think i was really about to throw up, or pass out one of the two. Imagine going to your ob/gyn and watching his/her hands shake as they come at you with a speculum. Yikes! I mean holy hannah did I mention i was nervous? huh, did I? When my standardized patient asked me if i was nervous my response was "actually i'm terrified, i'm so nervous." That's not a joke. I really said that to her.

Luckily for me, God provided me with an absolutely Wonderful standardized patient/teacher. She walked me through the breast and pelvic exam step by step and made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. Even when i was having a coughing fit and had to turn my head away, meanwhile not able to remove my "clean hand" from its current location. The chaperone had to leave the exam room and get me a glass of water. FIGURES! oh geez! Despite the fact, when i finished i actually felt like i could do it on a patient by myself next time. I mean i wouldnt feel completely comfortable with it, but atleast next time i'll know that i'm already capable of doing it. Baby steps, remember. Baby steps.

FYI the following may be TMI but i think its informative...

There was one thing i did learn today that is a little strange but, I found it really helpful and without a doubt i will be mentioning it at my next "annual" (haha, mental thought: i talked about this the other day with matt and when i said annual he thought it had something to do with a flight "annual" physical exam or something like that) At the time i had one of those "ah ha!" moments in my head. I thought to myself....why has no one done this before it makes so much sense it's stupid!" I'm gonna be pretty blunt here (come on people, its not a stretch i'm gonna be a doctor some day)...so for most people the most uncomfortable part of a pelvic exam is the actual pap smear, the whole process. Different aspects for different people, but generally thats the worst. I had a friend that I worked with about 3 years ago who was getting routine pap smears every 3 months and I remember her saying, "after you've had so many its not so bad but the worst part is them trying to find that right angle. after that you just breathe for a little bit and its over" I totally agree. So why do doctors go in there blind?? Perhaps its how its been taught over the years, its what they've always done or they've done so many it doesnt bother them. But for the 16 year old whose there for the first time, or the person who has panic attacks about that doctors appointment once a year, or the woman with abnormal anatomy, it is a big deal. It aint fun doc! So whats this revelation? My teacher today said to check for the location of the cervix manually, first before the pap smear part of the exam. That way you know where its at and where to aim that thing and you're not jammin' it in there like you're diggin around for your phone in the bottom of your purse! Hmmm. smart. I think i'll take that one with me. So if your docs not real good in that area maybe mention that next time, up to you. Hopefully, when i'm doing that exam some day on the girl whose really scared and climbing up the exam table I'll be able to complete the exam and not hurt her and she wont be terrified the next time she goes to the doctor.

Moving on....hahaha! Yesterday we another one of those Severe winter weather episodes. There was lots of snow starting yesterday around 6. So what did matthew and I do? Duh! We went to lowe's to shop for a front door, and then to kroger to get groceries. Are we NUTS! Yes. We are. We were those people who rushed to the store but not because we were hording food but because we really had nothing to eat. By the time we came out of Kroger 2 hours later (oh how I loathe the grocery store), the cars were covered, the doors were starting to ice over and you could not see any of the lanes on shelbyville road. Apparently, Louisville never sees snow because everyone Flipped out! We got home safely, unloaded the groceries then sat down to eat our dinner. Which we picked up from White Castle on the way home since we were too tired to make anything. We watched the new October Road and then headed to bed. I'm still feeling sick and really tired. I got up about 6 this morning because I was supposed to have a pharm quiz, and I knew if school wasnt cancelled it would take me forever to get to school. As we are up at 6 am were crossing our fingers while watching the school closings go across the bottom of the screen. All of JCPS schools closed, all the catholic schools closed, Spalding University closed, Galen closed, Sullivan university closed, no word of louisville. Are you kidding me?! So i run downstairs to check my email. 2 HOUR DELAY!! Hallelujah! We turned off the tv, hit the lights and jumped back in bed. Thank God for two extra hours of sleep. I finally got up and got ready to leave and my WONDERFUL husband went out to dig our cars out of the ice and warm up the explorer for me to drive to school. I was really surprised that the roads were nowhere near cleaned off and even the ramps on the watterson and 64-west were only clean where people had driven. Agh! I was mad. Come on Louisville its like almost 930 at this point and your main highways aren't cleaned off??! People still gotta get to work. Props to the NKY, atleast they know how to clean off the roads that are important. Can you believe I only saw one plower on the expressway this morning? Clearly, i have an issue with this huh? Moving on....

This weekend we stayed with mom and tara, and on sunday we got to have breakfast with erin, joe and miss lucy kate. I couldnt believe how big she is getting. She's so cute and what a big girl! Oh i just can't handle it :)

Peek-A-Boo!

I see YOU!

Went out to eat tonight with some girls. We had an American Medical Women's Association dinner at Buca Di Beppo. It was soooo tasty and it was a different group of girls but i think we had a lot of fun. At one point i think i heard, smiley face cervix, all male review, and lord knows what other inappropriate topics we discussed. Everytime we go to dinner everyone says, this was fun we should do this like once a month. We dont get out much :) I think we may be on to something though.

Matthew is at work right now, doing a little over time :( yea from like 11-4am. So i'm wasting time because I cant sleep. but, i do have to get up tomorrow so maybe a little Nyquil will do my headache, cough, stuffiness, and well being a little good. Night.

ps. forgot on the pic of the day website to change those stupid settings so i finally realized that and fixed them. you can now leave comments without registering. Enjoy the new pics!

Weekend UpDate!?

It's Wednesday Erin! Yeah yeah I know. Well, I've been busy ok? We did so much socializing this weekend we needed a few more days to rest. I can't believe its almost been a week since my last post, shame on me. Well lets see here, between starting the next block of classes and almost being sucked up by tornadoes every other night it's been pretty hectic lately. I wouldn't really expect anything less :)

So last night a rough and tumble storm came through the louisville, metro area. I tried to go to bed around 10 because I had to get up early today for a preceptorship but, around 12:30 I sat straight up in bed! The wind was going CRAzY and I really thought our windows were going to blow in. In fact, before my fear of dying over came my laziness, I actually thought to myself...maybe I should roll over and face the other way in case the windows shatter, then atleast I wont get glass in my eyes...IdiOt! Obviously, I wasnt really thinkin to clear. Matthew came in the room a few seconds later with a "uh, you might want to come downstairs." It was in one of those, "hey here's a suggestion but not really" kind of voices. Calm enough to make you panic a little inside, especially when immediately after that, the storm sirens started going off, which happen to be at the top of our street. Felt like I was in the middle of a war and I needed to find a desk to hide under!! Meanwhile, as I'm gathering a blanket and pillow and heading downstairs to the basement I hear our patio furniture slide across the deck and something of the neighbor's fell off her deck and broke. We put the tv on downstairs to see the local area covered with a big red/purple/orange blob with the weather guy saying "if you are in the downtown area, and southeast side of louisville you should seek shelter immediately!" FAN-TAS-TIC! I call Marissa who is currently covered by the red blob on the tv, to make sure she's alive. She lives on the third floor of an apartment building, at the edge of a huge open field....i suggested taking herself and the puppy addie, along with a comforter and a pillow, and sleeping in the bathtub. It was pretty scary for about an hour. Well, I was scared, matthew wasnt. He'd probably been watching the weather all day. After we were in the clear we headed back upstairs to bed, it took me awhile to calm down and I finally fell asleep around 2ish. Around 2:30ish...I get multiple text messages from Tara whose now receiving the same storm only down in Richmond. They made them go to the first and second floors of telford and she was flippin' out. I think I fell back asleep mid-text. Sorry Tara :(

**I know I'm a dork and it took me forever to find this

on the national weather service's website but look at that! CraZy!!**

I feel like I've been in a whirl wind since last thursday. Block exam was thursday, then the NBME Shelf exam was on friday. After two days of testing I definately need to go out and have a little fun. Mind you, I was so tired I really wasnt planning on staying out past 1 at the latest. Oh...funny how those plans NEVER pan out! But I had a great time. We went to Howl At The Moon with matthew's mom, my two old cheerleading coaches and matt's cousins and aunt. They were celebrating a certain someone's 50th birthday. It was hilarious. The "green alligators, and long neck geese, humpty-back camels, and some chimpanzee..." song may have been involved, and the girls may or may not have been a little ticked off about not winning the "Unicorn". Ok...so it was a huge communal bucket of alcohol, with excessively long neon straws in it! But, they soooo should have won!

After Howl At the Moon, Matthew, Erica and her friend from work, and I headed upstairs to some wierd club I cant even remember the name. I forgot how sketchy bars can be at 3am. And I'm pretty sure this was just a regular bar, but it did however have an elevated stage with stripper poles on it. Many a fine ladies were takin' advantage of those, let me tell ya!

Saturday....I slept all day, and matthew dragged himself to work. That night my friend Lucy had a dessert party. It was fabulous. I made some easy cheesecake brownies but there were so many creative desserts there. We stuffed ourselves full to the brim with yummy goodies and played some hard core rounds of Scategories. I'd also like to point out that Matthew and I kicked everyone's booty!

Ahh Sunday....a day of rest. Well, sorta. We slept as long as we could, absolutely NO Alarms which was a great feeling. Once we got up Matthew started making the Buffalo Chicken Dip for the superbowl party at Marjorie's house. (Mom, he's made that dip about 4-5 times now, sometimes just to eat for dinner!) We headed downtown to Marj's house of course very close to game time. We got there and what else? Ate until we felt like we were going to explode. It was a good game even though we missed half time and the third quarter. The basement tv reverted to "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" at half time. It was HILARIOUS! Matthew and Clint sang lord knows what song, completly off key practically screaming, switching between the microphone, the guitar and the drum set. Which by the way, Marjorie played the drums on expert...holy hannah, It was amazing! I think we all just stood there and stared with our mouths open.


In leiu of superbowl sunday, we also had mini dog fights going on in the basement, I offered to be the bookie and start taking bets but we're all poor med students so no takers! :) I think matthew and I must have missed the bring your doggie memo. Marj has two dogs, Cory brought Max, Amanda brought the black and white puppy Gatsby, and Jenna brought Bruiser-but it was a little high stress for him so he never left her lap!

Needless to say, it was crazy in that house but we had a blast. See it's almost like we were at the Superbowl, hi-def what?! GooooOOOooOOO GIANTS!!!

That should just about sum up the past week. I promise I wont go that long again :) Have a fantastic Thursday! For anyone who's going to be in NKY this weekend, we'll be heading home so give us a call if you want to meet up. *Dont forget to check out the pics of the day on my other blog. ♥

back up for air.

Wow. What a week its been. yesterday was no fun...clearly. But after my last test today I feel a lot better. Not about my grades :) But, i feel great that it's all over!

So probably the best part of my day....the drive home from school. Why you ask? Well I called a good friend multiple times, who didn't answer her phone mind you, and as I was on the phone with some one else Friend A calls me back....FOUR times!
Now, usually I hate voice mails. Well i dont hate voice mails in general i just dont like calling my mail box for someone to say...."hey its me give me a call". even though i am notorious for doing this. I cant help it, voicemails stress me out, i tend to talk really fast and not breathe! These voicemails I receive (three of them..) were probably the best voicemails I've ever gotten. Who wouldnt enjoy someone saying......

Call #1: "Hey I'm calling you back. Answer your phone! I hope you can hear me! Ok well I'm just gonna call again."

Call #2: I cant believe you called me and I call back and you dont answer. That's fine I'll just keep calling you and maybe you'll answer! If you dont I'm just going to keep calling and leaving voicemails til you answer or your mailbox fills up!"

Call #3: "Nope! You didnt answer! I'm just gonna keep calling!! Oh wait I'm getting a call, maybe its you! It is you!! Talk to you in a second!"

Bwhahahahahahaaa! I think I almost peed my pants listening to these, what a friend :) Erica you ARE a nut job....oops...I mean friend A! Thanks for making me laugh!

To brighten my day even more, I got home a little after five and noticed a really creepy white van with no windows pulling in a parking spot next to my car (as I fiddle frantically for my keys because I'm a little paranoid) As soon as I get inside a man walks up to our door with flowers!! For me?! Yeah :) I dont think they'd be from matthew I told him I'm only accepting $$$ for valentines day and my birthday haha! Check the card, beautiful pink flowers from the sweetest little niece a girl could ask for...Lucy Kate! Thank you SOOO MUCH lucy kate, I love them and they DID bring a smile to the end of my horrible week. A big cheesy one :D


I bet you thought I forgot/gave up on my new years project (not resolution) of taking a picture everyday....well i didnt. I posted new pics so go to www.erinmichellespics365.blogspot.com and let me know what you think of them! Have a Great Weekend! ♥