Had my huge research presentation yesterday and presented my professional poster of my thesis… and my teacher says, “Do you want to take your poster home and show your parents?”
haha how cute is that.
(ps sorry Mom and Dad… but unless you’re flying me back this weekend, you’re not seeing my poster)
Things I’m thankful for on and after Thanksgiving:
-Not having to work on Thanksgiving for the first time in 4 years, and not having to work any subsequent holidays from here on out.
-Of course, Merrick who is my best friend and confidant. Who is always there for me and loves me more everyday.
-For my health and that I’m able to make a difference in the health of my patients.
-My original family plus my in-law family.
-Our friends who have become family.
-Our life in California.
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Our Thanksgiving was everything we wanted and needed. It was a little quiet with just the two of us, but it turned out great. I started out with my own 10k treadmill “turkey trot” (ya gotta earn your turkey!) and then the cooking frenzy began. We took a little afternoon break to see the Muppet movie, which was hilarious and adorable.
We made it back and started cooking again – Merrick took care of the meat while I took care of the sides. This was the first Thanksgiving I made everything from scratch – stuffing, corn bread, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, green bean casserole. And I got a “This is phenomenal!” from the Mister. That’s a wife-win in my book! We split a bottle of wine, ate a delish meal and had a very thankful Thanksgiving.
After dinner and wine, Merrick somehow convinced me to do Black Friday late Thursday night, so we headed to Walmart around 10pm. That was my first and hopefully last Black Friday event. Although I would prefer not to do it again, it actually was a fun experience. We waited in line for about half hour to get into the store, then once inside, everything got crazy. People pushing and rushing… you’d think it was the 90’s Beanie Baby craze again (am I dating myself?). I stood in the video game line for 2 hours while the SCB jumped around the store picking up awesome deals. By the time I got to the front of the line, they said they were out of all the games we he wanted. So that was annoying, but at least we got some good Pyrex, luggage, an amazing foam mattress topper, a million $5 blue rays and a couple board games. So I suppose it was worth it in the end.
Friday we both slept in, but Merrick had to go in to work, so I spent the day working on school projects and papers. In the evening we went to a Friendsgiving hosted by our friends Rachel and Evan. It was a lot of fun with a Mexican themed meal – enchiladas, black beans, guac, salsa, sangria and amazing homemade horchata with chocolate tequila. Ole!
And if that wasn’t enough, the SCB and I came home and split a bottle of champagne and spent the evening just us, together.
Saturday finished up the Thanksgiving themed weekend with a HUGE MICHIGAN victory! That put the Hus and I in great moods for the rest of the day. The day got even better with Thanksgiving leftovers and a friend over for dinner. I really enjoy smaller, more intimate gatherings and it was really nice just the three of us catching up, drinking wine and reliving the good old roomie days.
Although it’s hard to not share holidays with our far away families, this was a really special Thanksgiving with just US this year. We were really able to celebrate each other, our marriage and time together. We are so very blessed and it’s nice to sit and reflect on all we’ve been given. Here’s to another year of blessings!
Sunday 11.13: A 5 hour birthday brunch with all you can eat and all you can drink mimosas. And photo bombs.
Monday 11.14: I got out of clinic early and was able to have a productive afternoon plus still enjoy the sunshine
Tuesday 11.15: I got out of class early and had a fun evening with the Mister
Wednesday 11.16: The doc I work with said I’m really acting like a real nurse practitioner! Yay!
Thursday 11.17: I got a really encouraging email from my friend in the morning, which totally made my day! Then I flew to the Nash for part II of the birthday surprise.
Friday 11.18: A fun day in Nashville! Breakfast with my high school friend, shopping with Britt, Starbucks 2 for 1 holiday drinks, and celebrating Casey’s birthday in the evening… it was a great day.
Saturday 11.19: Happy Birthday Casey! Had a great time hanging during the day for Casey’s birthday, then getting ready and the silliness before the engagement party with my peeps. My peeps are fun, I like them. 
Last weekend, Merrick and I surprised our Nashville friend Casey for his birthday. I’ve been to Nashville before and loved it, but this was my Mister’s first time in Music City. He flew in Wednesday night and was almost able to surprise Casey by being the pizza delivery guy. But Casey is very perceptive and it’s hard to pull one over his eyes, so unfortunately the “surprise” wasn’t quite the surprise we wanted. Oh well…
I joined the craziness Thursday evening and we spent a few hours just hanging out, catching up and doing birthday presents before the girls hit the sack.
The boyfriends guys stayed up later and spent the ENTIRE NIGHT (and the rest of the weekend) playing Call of Duty.
This was the view Brittany and I had all weekend. Yes, my husband is 12 years old.
Friday the boys went golfing and I met up with my old high school friend who’s settled in the Nash (do people call it that, no?). She showed me around part of Vanderbilt and then we sat down for breakfast at Fido’s. Apparently, Miley Cyrus frequents Fido’s, but unfortunately there were no celebrity sightings (but I sure kept my eyes peeled!)
The golf pros got back and the 4 of us decided to celebrate Casey’s birthday. And what birthday would be complete without tequila shots, Taco Bell and a bonfire?
Either I have bad amnesia where I always “forget” I hate tequila shots, or I’m easily swayed and give in to peer pressure (um aren’t I too OLD for peer pressure?! …but somehow, the Indian pusher gets me every time!)
After nearly burning our eyebrows and fingers off (but only when the MEN decided to throw explosive fireworks into the tiny fire pit), us old gals turned in and let the guys get their male-bonding (aka Call of Duty) in. We woke up way too early to cheer on our boys in blue at the Michigan alumni bar in Nashville. But for $1 beers and a win for Michigan, PLUS Casey’s birthday – it was worth it.
After celebrating with Casey all day, we came back and got ready for another main event – the engagement party! Brittany had some other friends over helping her get ready so Merrick, Casey and I entertained ourselves by making mixed drinks (ps diet mountain dew makes ANY drink delicious) and reenacting Michigan quarterbacks, per usual.
We all came together at Brittany’s parents house and were able to celebrate the beginning of this new stage for Casey and Brittany. The party was beautifully set up and it was so nice to meet all of their friends and families.
Sunday was our final day in the Nash (it’s gonna catch on, I know it) and we drove around town a little bit, stopped at Brittany’s family restaurant for some good southern food – heavenly sweet tea, fried chicken, mashed ‘taters and other delicious southern treats. Oh plus, THIS delicious southern treat:
(yes they did PURCHASE those shirts and WEAR them around! Ps I call the “Pretty” one!)
Casey and Brittany finally dropped us off at the airport, but with crazy flight delays of 3 hours, they decided to keep us company and bring us some din-din – Taco Bell and beer of course.
After a wonderful weekend with our best friends, 12+ hours of travel time and a 2 hour shuttle bus to our place, we finally made it back home at 4am (our original flight was supposed to get us home at 10.30pm). And only to get up for work in 3 hours… Even with a bad end getting us home, it still was a wonderful weekend and we wouldn’t have traded the time for anything!
Going to my first ever Black Friday shopping at midnight tonight. Hopefully this will also be my last. How the Hus convinced me to leave my warm house and nice wine buzz for Walmart and Target madness, I’ll never know. I must love the fool.
Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll.
I’ve come to that point in the semester where this is all I’ll be doing for the next month:
Try not to be envious of my paper-writing, mad-highlighting, power-pointing, note-taking, crazy-studying life.
See ya’ll in a month.
Sunday 11.6: The Mister and I hit up Costco for a good while. Now I know this is blasphemy to admit out loud, but I HATE Costco. I hate all the people pushing, the standing in the middle of the aisles and people swooping in like vultures for the little samples. So we decided to go right at 10am when it opened to beat the crowds. Apparently there is NO beating the Costco crowds. The place was like a mall at Christmas with too many people and too much stimulation. Somehow though, through the tortuous trip we ended up having a really good time
Monday 11.7: It was a crazy busy day at clinical, but I was able to head to the library on my break and get some good productive studying in.
Tuesday 11.8: I got a love letter from a friend which totally made my day! Good, old fashioned written mail is so special to me. (Anyone want my address?)
Wednesday 11.9: I found out from the Doc I work with on Wednesdays that he really wants me back next semester and feels I’m doing a great job – wooo!
Thursday 11.10: It was a good day… the Hus and I picked up some new furniture, I had a good run, then met my friend for Happy Hour. And of course, happy hour was the best, happiest hour. And after getting happy, I picked up a friend who was staying with us for the weekend. It was a good day.
Friday 11.11: A really fun 11.11.11! Sushi for lunch with peeps, browsed around the mall and frozen yogurt with peeps, and out again for dinner with the same peeps. I like my peeps.
Saturday 11.12: We had a big party at our house for the football game, some bbq’ing, some hard apple ciders, and a W for Michigan. Another great day Plus before all the football fun, I was able to meet up with an old coworker for coffee. I miss those work girls and my old job, so it’s nice to catch up when we can.
In recent light of my running gal pals who are super stars and run marathons like I run my mouth, I’ve been thinking about jumping on the band wagon and running another marathon. However, the little angel-devil debate in my head gave me a number of reasons NOT to run a marathon:
1. Running for 4 hours straight does NOT sound appealing to me. Honestly, running for an hour straight pretty much makes me want to poke my eyeballs out right now, I can’t imagine doing that 3 more times after.
2. $100 running shoes + $100 race fee + $0 income +$1,000,000 tuition = I’m broke.
3. Giving up EVERY Saturday (or Sunday) morning for the long runs. Not that I go out ever anyway, but Murphy’s law – as soon as I commit to giving up a weekend morning, every.single. Friday night would be filled and I’d be out too late and lose sleep and blah blah blah. But really, not digging the long run weekends.
4. Morning runs in the dark and cold. Wah wah (yeah yeah, suck it up, buttercup…)
5. I already did it and crossed it off the bucket list. The bucket list didn’t say, “run two marathons.” It said, “run a marathon.” Done and done (Chicago, 2005… which yes, I realize was like a million years ago and probably doesn’t even count anymore)
6. The marathon weight gain, which is true and inevitable (again, already experienced this)
7. Not that I’m particularly vain about my feet (cuz let’s be honest, NO ONE has nice feet), but the ripped off toenails and blood blisters that don’t EVER go away… that stuff’s nasty. Plus, see #2 as to why I can’t get frequent pedicures to fix defunct marathon feet.
8. I’m a pansy who doesn’t like anything challenging or painful. Marathon training is both.
(basically I’m just trying to convince myself in my head NOT to run a marathon because the truth is I’m totally inspired by my friends’ accomplishments and secretly want to get back into racing again. Plus, my friends are pretty cool and I just need an excuse to fit in with them and make them WANT to hang out with me.)
Sunday 10.30: Happy birthday to Mamma M! The Mister and I had a fun day working out and just doing errands. We’re old and lame and actually really DO enjoy going to Costco and the furniture store together.
Monday 10.31: Whenever I’m at the clinic, I feel like I’m my preceptor’s tail and slow them down and am useless pile. But my Nurse Practitioner told me on Monday, “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you next semester, you’ve been a lot of help.” I know it’s just small fries, but those sort of things are just further affirmation I’m doing the right thing right now.
Tuesday 11.1: I got out of class early, had a great run and got a free lunch!
Wednesday 11.2: Nothing too exciting about Wednesday, but I had a good day at clinic.
Thursday 11.3: I finished up a long week with drinks and dinner with some girlfriends… the classmates that get what we’re all going through, we can discuss gross medical stuff and our grad program without boring the husbands. Plus it’s always nice to get out without the men every once in a while…
Friday 11.4: The Mister and I were off together and had a fun day of doing nothing. Then I got to babysit the cutest little 9 month old peanut, and was double productive once he went to bed and finished two papers. Yeah my awesome Friday nights! Watching other people’s kids while the parents go out to bars and party while I do school work.
Saturday 11.5: Slept in, and although I spent the day studying, the Mister and I still got some good time in together. Just a chill kinda day… rainy and cold and a good to be inside day.
What couple from a movie or TV show are you most like?
HER: Whitney and Alex from the new show “Whitney”
HIM: Steve Carell and Tina Fey from date night… and when I told him they were old and lame he said, “we’re them because occasionally we take crazy chances like them and it ends up being fun”
Do you have a song and what is it?
HER: “Lost in this moment” by Big N Rich is the forever song, the NOW song is “Without you” by David Guetta and Usher
HIM: Every love song is ours.
First movie you saw together in the theater?
HER: I honestly can’t remember, but it was summer of ‘07 at Quality 16 theater, I drove in my parents van (yup, rocking the minivan), I was wearing an orange dress, he was wearing a green shirt… But I don’t remember what we saw.
HIM: He had to do some hard thinking, but he thinks it was Superbad
Where do you eat out at most as a couple?
ME: Chili’s 2 for $20 baby! Plus a few presidente margaritas and stumble over to the movie theater a block away makes for a great date night!
HIM: Chili’s!
Who is better at handling money?
HER: Oh I handle it just fine… I can handle it at Target and Kohls and Nordstrom Rack. I don’t have any problem handing over my credit card. But the Hus manages our finances.
HIM: Me
What was the first meal that your wife ever cooked for you?
HER: Sausage stuffed tortellini with vodka sauce, sometime fall ‘07 – DE-LISH and it’s still a staple in our lives
HIM: Sand chicken (this is false by the way… I might have once made chicken that was a little too dry… I haven’t lived down that day)
If your spouse was a super hero which one would he/she be?
HER: Superman. Cuz the SCB is the bomb dot com. Plus he’s got this cute nerdy Clark Kent side, but then when he takes his clothes off, BAM! SUPERMAN! Err… I mean, when he’s working hard at something or feels passionate about something, that man’s got power.
HIM: Wonder Woman (ah bonus points for that boy!)
What is your idea of a perfect date?
ME: A picnic by the beach in the early afternoon with not a lot of people around and we spend the day by the water just enjoying each others company, drinking wine, eating cheese. Then once evening rolls around, we move the date in-land for a nice dinner.
HIM: A nice dinner on the beach that takes a couple hours with multiple bottles of wine, talking about nonsense
What physical feature first attracted you to your spouse?
HER: The dimples, the curly hair, the big brown eyes… swoon!
HIM: your smile
What is your spouses favorite show?
HER: The Big Bang Theory or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, although Workaholics is close behind
HIM: Whitney (not too far off… I’m totally digging it, but I think all time fave show is Friends)
If you could go anywhere on a second honeymoon, where would you go?
ME: Jamaica, Virgin Islands, Australia… basically anywhere exotic, warm and beachy
HIM: Those kind of questions are nonsense because you and I take honeymoons like every year. But the next big place I want to go to is Australia
What surprised you about your spouse after marriage?
HER: His great love for the hottest, hypest, newest electronics. Boys and their toys..
HIM: Your messiness (I plead the fifth)
What’s the best thing about being married to your spouse?
HER: He’s a good play-date. The silly things that we do or say together. We (mostly) have a fun time together and I wouldn’t trade him in … yet 
HIM: You’re always there for me
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