It's been a while

So now that you've all got that song in your head.... (sorry to all the faithful readers - all two of you!) Life has been really busy and since we don't have real two legged kids and we live in the same city as most of the family - there's not much reason to blog really. none-the-less - here we are. Life's good. Anthony is on Peds wards this month and I'm in and out of town most of this month. I just got back from San Deigo Experimental Biology conference - San Diego was great - American Airlines not so much. We had to get back the same day we scheduled to get out, so... we re-booked through Southwest and flew through Oakland to Houston to New Orleans, then rented a car at 11:30 pm and drove to Jackson! YEah for American - I'll never fly them again! Yes i realize that all of the companies have problems - but it was rediculous! And someone owes me $575 for the extra travel that my poor Discover card has suffered. On the upside - Coronado Island right across the bridge from San Diego is wonderful - if we ever go back I hope to stay there. the breakfast buffet is amazing and you get to look over the pacific (see pictures below). Next I'm off to Chicago - which i'm also really looking forward to! I've never been there before and the meeting will be good too. We've got tickets to a baseball game the first night we're there. Unfortunately Anthony doesn't get to go to this one either. His next trip is on the CMDA mission trip to Mexico in May. WE also might get to go see his sister and our neice and nephew in Houston (Thankfully there is a direct flight to houston on Southwest from Jackson). And we're hopefully going to the beach at some point this summer. I think we've both been in Jackson a little too long and are going stir crazy - plus traveling is much easier pre-kids (no, we're not planning on any any time soon) and pre-clinical years.

Gabby's Birthday

Today our little girl, Gabby, turns 1 year old. We're still not out of the chewing phase, and we're down two window screens on the back of our house not to mention several boards off the back, but she sure is cute! Happy Birthday Gabby!!

Projects at home

I have all of these great ideas, but just can't seem to get them finished... or even started at this rate either. The next three things that are on my list:
1. Recover pillows for the couch. The covers I made and currently still have on them are really pretty, but they have too much blue. and now that the background of the cabinet is red, i want pillows that have more red in them. The sad part is that I've had the material for at least a month now, and still haven't gotten around to covering them. Hopefully this weekend, but we'll see.
2. Bookcase: I've got an old chest of drawers that is not being used any more, but is still in ok shape. It currently has four drawers. My thought is to take the drawers out. take out two of the drawer casings, and then put a botton in the remaining two places. so that it makes a two shelf stand. I could use it in my office/extra bedroom. I'll post pictures if i ever get around to doing this. maybe now that the weather is nice.
3. Rediculous weeds in the front yard. Like the rest of our neighbors, our grass is a nice shade of brown - really the whole front yard, EXCEPT for this large green tuft of clover-like stuff that decided to grow right in the middle of the front yard. First plan is to actually go out and cut it down or mow the yard. 2nd plan of action is to find some weed and feed stuff. The rest of the flowerbeds are ok. I'm expecting to see the tips of my bulbs in a few weeks - this will be the 2nd spring we've been in the house, so they should come up fuller this year (cross your fingers).
The problem with school ... and school ... and well... there isn't a lot of time for anything else, but no complaints. 3 years and ~4 months to go :)

It's a "good year"

We have much to be thankful for that we all too often forget. Current praises include:

• Anthony was just offered and accepted a two year fellowship in Endocrinology at UMC to begin Summer 2009. This will work out nicely because he will finish residency when I finish PhD work, and he will complete this fellowship as I complete medical school. So...we'll finally be sort of done with school.


• I just got a paper accepted to the American Journal of Physiology - Heart. I'll post the link as soon as it's up on Pubmed. This is very much a praise because to recieve one's PhD from the Physiology department, it is necessary to have at least one first authored paper in a peer reviewed journal. So now I just have to finish up my research, write a dissertation and defend.
  
• We finally found a collar that our dog can't chew through. It's metal :)

Current issues include:

• a potential rodent in our attic. I'll keep you posted on this one. I've never dealt with rats/mice/squirrels/or any other potentially rabid creature in close quarters in which it could die, begin to decompose and start to reek without our knowing exactly where it is. This could be really interesting. Today's quest is to get some of that sticky paper before I call the exterminator - because we're cheap - i mean thrifty!

Tagged

Thanks Maggie - So I was "tagged" for 7 things about me... which took me a while to think of... here goes:

1. I was a cheerleader all through high school and some of college. I started cheering at the YMCA when I was in 2nd grade: really cool red and white jumper and knee socks - I wish i had a picture for that one! - and no front teeth. It was great. For some reason though, I don't remember ever actually watching the game.

2. SPeaking of cheering: In 8th grade my math teacher (a hero of mine) introduced me to the movie "Rudy" and I thought from that time that I would go to Notre Dame to cheer. Well... I only made it to Millsaps, but I still root for the Fighting Irish in football season.

3. I'm a really slow driver. I've never gotten a ticket in the 10+ yrs of driving. I've only been in one wreck when a 40+yr old lady - who wanted to dress like she was 16 slammed on her breaks on Lakeland and the front two screws on my front liscense plate barely touched her car - she swore she had whiplash, but insurance was never filed :)

4. I took a belly dancing class once - never used it, but it was kinda fun and a little bit of an ego boost to be in a room of dancing 60 YO women in spandex.

5. I run for my heart (and my family, and my dog, and swimsuit season among other things). Early heart attacks are no good.

6. I have played the piano since I was in 2nd grade and minored in music in college. I tried the cello for a summer before medical school, but ran out of time.

7. Anthony and I met while volunteering at the Jackson Free Clinic. Then he came up to my lab to see me and I managed to stumble through all of my words. He asked me to coffee - like a good Presbyterian boy. I couldn't go because I had some family obligations that in retrospect did sound far fetched, and he thought I was trying to say no. Thankfully - he pursued me!

I tag Adelle J., Elise T., and Jeanann S.

The Melting Pot - 2 yrs later

One of Anthony and my favorite places to eat is the Melting Pot. The first time that we went there was December 2005 for our Honeymoon in Nashville, TN. The next time we went was this past November 2007 in Charlottesville, VA. (We look older, and a little more tired) The one in Nashville is underground and I thought that they were all supposed to be that way, but the one in VA was not. Not only is the food fun to eat, but it really is delicious - I mean really, playing with the food that you eat! How much better can this get? It's on the pricey side for sure, but it's a great once-every-two-years treat. So if i get tired of the medical school thing, I think I'll start a Melting Pot resturaunt. In Charlottesville, it's downtown just off the main square, and faces the rail road track. We got to sit across from the wine case which was also beautiful. I really loved this light. It takes a while to eat the food at the Melting Pot because there are several courses and you cook the food rather than having it cooked for you. If you ever get the chance - I suggest checking it out! (http://www.meltingpot.com/).

pet peeve

So ... despite the fact that these people mean well, I've successfully developed a pet peeve (see cartoon -->). After explaining [because they ask, mind you] what I'm doing and what I'm in school for, and exactly how long it will take me, and what I'm planning to do with all of this learning, they sigh exasperated and ask "Why?" I really thought that telling them what I wanted to do, that would be enough; and we could move on to another conversation topic. I suppose I really don't have a good why and this maybe is the real reason for the newly formed pet peeve. It's not for the money or for the status, I really do like research and I do like people (even more than mice, so i've discovered) and I would like to help people and try to make thier lives easier. In the undeertones of the "Why" is 'your husband is a physician, why don't you just stay home and raise your family?' They do not of course say this, nor am I sure that this is what they mean, I'm probably over reacting and being overly sensitive about the whole subject, because I feel like I do have to defend why I'm doing what I'm doing. I am sure that I would make a terrible house wife - Anthony would be pulling his hair out if all I had to do was stay home all day! We would both go nuts curtosy of my OCD. Ok - that's my rant for the day. Thanks :)