A Saturday snapshot

No better way...

... to celebrate Memorial Day than watching an American pastime! So DBH and I headed to the Met (or Regions Park or Hoover HS adjunct or whatever it's called now) to watch some SEC tournament action.

Thursday we watched the Tide take Ole Miss:



And Sunday we went back for the SEC championship! Definitely didn't expect our #7 seed boys to get that far... but also didn't expect them to meet #8 seed LSU (and after seeing them, I can't believe they came in #8 to start with). We brought our game clothes to church and made a show-choir-backstage-speed change before heading back to the Met... which was PACKED already! We started out sitting in the 3rd row from the back bleachers waaaaaaay out in left field and stayed there until the first storm blew up, forcing an hour long lightning delay. "That sucks!" you may say... HOWEVER... while standing around waiting for the storm to pass, an impatient and departing Bama fan offered us his front row tickets. As it turned out, not only were they front row- they were right behind home plate! Neither DBH nor I had ever sat anywhere close to home plate before, so we were pretty excited:


6 hours and 2 rain delays after the first pitch, our boys lost 4-3 in the 11th. But LSU won it's 3rd consecutive SEC title and I believe became the first 8 seed to win the whole shebang. So, for Jenn (who STILL hasn't started her inevitable blog, btw), Geaux Tigers! We alternated keeping the scorebook (yes, I can keep the book on my own, thank you very much) and taking pictures. I don't have much experience shooting baseball- I actually thought it was trickier than shooting football- but we managed to get some pretty nice shots from our awesome seats (besides having to shoot through the net):













Great game, guys! On to the ATL regional! Roll Tide!

Friday Dance Off: I love a rainy (Friday) night!

One thing I actually love about this time of year are the freak thunderstorms- especially at night. There's just something wonderful about curling up in my red chair and chilling at home with the rest of the Pack on a rainy night (except for the freaked out beagle and yellow dog who insist on being in someone's lap and the utterly insane hound dog who feels the need to bark back at the thunder)- plus I always sleep HARD, which hasn't really happened any other time since I started back to school. Speaking of which...

Through with Rotation 2!

Last day of Rotation 2: The Princeton Crew

Our early celebration consisted of bringing our Pack to Do Dah Day with some of their puppy buddies:

(BTW- the Great Dane in the background could use some prayers- Jonas is a sweet big boy with 3 joints already repaired and currently needing a fourth. His last surgery included a complicated infection, so any puppy prayers would be greatly appreciated!)

And last weekend's celebration also included my mom's birthday! I took her to The Chocolate Biscuit tearoom in Trussville and a little shopping at The Pinnacle. I had really wanted to give her a photo session for her birthday- we've been talking about taking pictures together for awhile, but due to current financial crunches, we decided that it will have to wait until after I start getting a paycheck again. So we settled for these:




Not too bad for the self-portrait-can't-see-the-view-finder technique, I guess...

Finally, today's blog title comes in honor of the rapidly approaching Music and Arts Week at Camp Sumatanga (long-story-short, it's the title of one of my favorite folk dances)! 5 WEEKS!!! I've been going to this camp for what seems like forever- St. Mark used to go there for family life retreat when I was growing up and I started going to MAW the summer after 8th grade... and been going ever since- first as a camper, then a CIT, Youth Counselor, Nurse Buck's assistant, and finally Nurse Buck's stand-in. I'll have an entire post devoted to this year's MAW coming in the next few weeks, but check out the website here if you're interested in volunteering or enrolling a camper:



Teaser photo: My Children's Division peeps

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Friday Dance Off and 101 Update

So the past three weeks have been a little crazy...

I spent most of the first two weeks doing end-of-the-semester classwork (careplan, research final, and Capstone planning... so excited about my project btw... that'll have to be another post though...) and preparing for our trip to Destin for the the ALANA Spring Meeting (#41 part a on my 101 list). The weather wasn't great, but it was such a relief to be somewhere besides a hospital! Not that I don't love what I'm doing... we all just needed a hiatus... even for a couple days. DBH and I stayed with 14 other people in a ridiculous 3-story duplex beach house, complete with hot tub overlooking the ocean:



Those of us that are actually SRNAs spent Friday and Saturday 7am-3pm in meetings about everything from pediatric diabetes to healthcare reform to nurse anesthetist fatigue while the significant others spent all day hanging out (real fair, right?) on the beach. But we went out to some great restaurants (the only real disappointment was Red Bar- the service was terrible, food was mediocre, they only accepted cash and wouldn't split the check, not to mention the tip snafu....)
But overall we had a fabulous weekend- see below:

The one pretty day:


I also managed to check #79 off my list:



Yup, that's sunrise.

And a few randoms:




In other news, clinicals are still going... alright... I've worked with some really great people and have gotten more independence in running cases. I still ask a lot of questions when I'm not sure of something, so I'm not ready to pronounce that I've accomplished #1 on my 101 list, but I'm getting closer and progress counts for something. I say "alright" and not "fantastic" because what happened yesterday... well... let's just say that it's amazing how a few unnecessary mean and hurtful comments from one person (surgeon) I only worked with once can cancel out all of the positive ones from all of the others (CRNAs, MDAs, surgeons, nurses, etc).

But I refuse to waste any more time being upset about it. A friend posted this on facebook last night and it couldn't have come at a better time:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education
will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Calvin Coolidge

So today I persisted... chose a room with a CRNA and a surgeon that I work really well with... and I had a great day.


Before I leave Sparky to today's Dance Off, I want to ask your opinion of something. See, I have a dilemma... August 7 is my 10 year HS reunion. Not to be missed, right? Well, the problem is that the AANA Annual Meeting in Seattle starts that morning, making attending both events completely impossible. So I have a choice to make: Old friends/"landmark" party vs. New friends/city I've never been to/great learning/schmoozing opportunity. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do, but I'm interested in knowing what y'all think you would do...

And without further adieu... Sparky:



Happy Weekend, everyone!

Perfect Weekend... and #87!

So to round off the best week I've had in clinicals in awhile, I had a weekend that has me completely jazzed about the coming months of warm weather!!

Friday after clinical I searched online for a recipe for sausage balls (A-Day was Saturday and we planned to get started early) and found this one:
1lb pork sausage
2 cups bisquick biscuit mix
1lb sharp cheddar cheese
Mix the sausage and biscuit mix first, then add in cheese (hands work better than utensils, fyi).
Set on cooling rack placed over cookie sheet (aluminum foil will keep the cookie sheet clean) and cook @ 350 for 25 minutes.
I was warned to be careful- sausage balls are easy to overcook, but these turned out perfectly! Will was in Enterprise helping his family do some work at his grandfather's house, so the rest of The Pack and I had a cozy night in just cooking and watching The Matrix on TV (LOVE that movie- have new ideas and make new connections every time I watch it).

Saturday morning I picked up Mom and we headed to T-town! We started tail-gating with the Peppers last year and their A-Day tail-gate was awesome as usual:


A-mazing.


Got to personally thank Roy Upchurch for his TD against AU last fall!


Samford SRNAs with a rare off-day


A packed-out BDS!


Favorite shot from the practice


#87... check! (Although I hope to get a better, closer shot!)

Our original plan was to bring Scooby and Grace to A-Day like we did last year, but since Will wasn't able to go, I opted to leave them at home. So on Sunday we tried to make it up to them by heading out to Oak Mountain to do some hiking (the Beagle, btw camped out at Mom's house... shockingly, he's not much of a hiker.


VERY excited about the park


Pack shot in front of Peavine Falls

The pups had a blast- although I'm pretty sure Grace thought I was nuts for making her channel her inner billy goat and scale the rocks up to the top of the falls (didn't see the help rope until we were on our way back down)- and everyone made it back home in one piece... just a little tired!




Next trip: Mountain biking!

Easter Recap and #7 (part a)...

I've had the same Easter basket since before I can remember- pink with a big handle and made by one of my adopted grandmothers. And every year my mom fills it up with dark chocolate and caramels and ties it up in the same pink, green, and yellow printed bag with a pink ribbon. I know I'm 28 now, but I've known what to look for on Easter morning for the past 27 years.

And along came 2010 when Mom greeted me on Good Friday afternoon with this:



The left side was Will's and the right side mine- love doesn't begin to describe it! I was kind of sad to retire my pretty pink basket, but sharing this one with Will makes me happy :)

That evening Will and I went to Liberty Crossing UMC for their Good Friday Stations of the Cross walk. (We've been visiting there for the past few weeks at the invitation of Bart and Shannon Styes and we really like it!) As we were walking the Prayer Trail (which is such a wonderful idea- it's beautiful!) toward the opposite side where everyone else was gathered, we heard a rustling in the leaves. Expecting a squirrel or chipmunk, we both looked down to see a 4 foot black rat snake slithering away. Now, Will's an Eagle Scout and I volunteered at the Zoo for several years so we both have a healthy respect and appreciation for animals and nature... that being said, I'm not sure either one of us are qualified to discuss the theological implications of crossing a black snake on the prayer trail en route to a Good Friday service (Ahem, Peter, take it away). Anyway, after warning the other families to watch their steps, the rest of the service went wonderfully.

After dropping the Hound and Yellow dogs off at the pet hotel (www.pawsnclawsbandb.com), we headed down to Opelika to spend Easter Sunday with Will's family (the Beagle, btw, spent the weekend with Ricki at Mom's). We got to hang out with our elusive New Yorker friend, AmyP, also. Sidenote: I've found that one of the best parts of being married is getting to be friends with my husband's friends. Amy, for example, was one of Will's best friends in high school and is now one of my favorite people too (see facebook pictures from our anniversary trip to NYC). After church we went to Will's grandmother's house for lunch and took the traditional grandchildren-and-below picture (which I can't post because my camera was set on Video instead of camera mode- just trust me, it's cute).

And thank goodness this past weekend was so beautiful outside! We took the pups out to the farm on Saturday and while Will helped my dad run some fires, I started grooming the older horses (affectionately known as The Retirement Community)- Boots, my 30+ year old retired cutting horse that I've had since I was in 5th grade; Chula- our "Mama" mare; and NaT- our newest addition whose story requires a little explanation. A few months ago, we started checking in on the horses across the street because their owner suffered a heart attack and couldn't care for them temporarily. After getting a good look at them up close, we noticed that one horse was worse off than the others- a big beautiful bay gelding. After we discussed his condition with his owner, he told us to just take him if we thought we could help him. So we did. Walked him down the highway and into our pasture. He was badly malnourished from the other horses pushing him off the feed and hay and we recently found a potentially life-endangering infection in one of his hooves. Long story short, he's put on a few hundred pounds and his infection is healing... and I couldn't take standing next to him anymore. So I got a blanket, a halter, and a leg up from Will and
finally got to ride our adopted Tennessee Walker (oh yeah- did I mention he's got papers and everything?). He's about 20 years old and still has weight to gain and a hoof to heal, but hopefully we've given him a few more healthy happy years. I think he looks happy, don't you?

Friday Dance Off!

... has been postponed this week due to exhaustion.

One 13+ mile bike ride.


Plus New clinical rotation- 5 days a week + One 11 hour shift + One day of IV starts and preop interviews+ some of the most impressive (i.e. gross) cases I've seen yet.


Plus One Capstone project idea submission + 5 days worth of catching up on medatrax case inputs.


Minus 5+ hours of sleep.


Plus 2 emotional church events at Liberty Crossing- the church we've been visiting for a few weeks thanks to Bart and Shannon.


- 2 weeks of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice episodes stored somewhere on TiVo


+ 2 cleaned out flower beds


= no thought-provoking blog entry this week (as if they ever are)...


My thanks go out to the Hound dog who is currently representing my current state:


(He immediately fell asleep after I posted this picture)

It's a Good Friday, indeed. Happy Easter weekend, everyone.