Owner's Guide to My Happy, Healthy Life

P365: Week 4

2012-01-29T12:55:00.001-08:00

Saturday 1/21/12: Our great friends, Dr. and Mrs. Staples

Sunday 1/22/12: We seriously need some rain here! Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Monday 1/23/12: My favorite websites that fill my brain and to-do lists with ideas and suck away all the time to actually DO any of the ideas

Tuesday 1/24/12: Mini cupcakes for the Dr. Blazo and Deb birthday celebration tomorrow

Wednesday 1/25/12: Finally got the last few photos printed and hung. Now to just work on hanging them evenly!

Thursday 1/26/12: First scrapbook page of the year

Friday 1/27/12: I really need a workbench

52 Lists/52 Weeks: #34

2012-01-25T16:19:00.000-08:00

SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH: (aka what is typically filling the DVR to near capacity)

Chopped

Gray's Anatomy

Hell's Kitchen

Hoarders

Intervention

Iron Chef America

Kitchen Nightmares

New Girl

Next Iron Chef/Next Food Network Star/Masterchef/etc

Sons of Anarchy

So You Think You Can Dance

The Biggest Loser

The Pioneer Woman

Top Chef

What Not to Wear

Whitney

We clearly watch too much t.v. Our brains are probably rotten by this point.

Dominican Coconut Rice

2012-01-23T16:55:00.001-08:00

Let me start by saying that I make no claims to be a food blogger, nor am I a food photographer. Clearly. But I do love food and pulling out old recipes that had been more or less forgotten. And of course my inner child still likes to pretend I'm a celebrity chef with my own cooking show. That's totally normal (I'm telling you, not asking). The cats seem to enjoy it anyway. Maybe they are just hoping for a free sample, but that's neither here nor there.

I got a craving for this rice and whipped up and huge batch last night. I took it for lunch today, and fortunately my coworkers loved it too. There's no way I could eat it all, and my dear husband won't go near it since it has "fruit" in it. Let me clarify that. Coconut milk. It has coconut milk in it. In any case, he wants nothing to do with it. Which is fine. More for me. And my work friends. Yay for us.

I've had this recipe for many years now, thanks to my beautiful friend Kelli (who I miss very, very much!). Her step-dad is from the Dominican Republic and this is apparently one of his family recipes. I love it so much and thought it would be fun to share with the few of you who actually read the nonsense I post here. The "recipe" is more like a list of ingredients, so a bit of improvisation is typically in order. If you want to give it a try, here's what you'll need:

Bacon (a few pieces depending on how thick they are)

Garlic (fresh or jarred, whatever you have on hand)

Jalapeno pepper

Coconut milk (2 cans or so)

Canned diced tomatoes

Cilantro

Kidney beans (canned or rehydrated, whatever floats your boat)

Regular white rice

Salt

Step 1. Chop up the bacon and fry with the jalapeno and garlic (I only used 1/2 the pepper cut into pieces so small they were almost invisible. I am a spicy super-wuss and can't even bear the spice level in a Chipotle burrito without dousing it in sour cream and guac) In retrospect, the cast iron was probably not the best choice of pot--unless you like when the bottom of your pan burns and you have to take your soggy bacon/pepper/garlic mixture out of the pot to clean it and then replace for the rest of the recipe and are too fearful of burning again and just move on to the next step with soggy bacon. Or turn the heat down. Your choice. I'll probably use a non-stick next time.

Step 2. Add about 1/2 cup of coconut milk, tomatoes (WITH the juice!) and a handful of cilantro, and let it cook down for a few minutes. I wish I had used more cilantro. You can never have too much. Pile it in there.

Step 3. Add the rest of the coconut milk, beans, 2 cups of rice (or maybe less) and a bunch of salt. If you think you added enough salt, add some more. Trust me. I don't like to use a lot of salt, but you will thank me later. It's easier to incorporate into this liquid stage than it is the finished product.

Step 4. Now the tricky part. Cook until the rice is done. You think I'm kidding, but this is harder than it sounds. It takes longer than the 20ish minutes the rice package tells you. I can't tell you how long because I forgot to look at the clock. I told you I'm no professional food blogger. And my cooking show would probably fail miserably. Just keep a lid on it and check it every now and then. Adjust the heat as necessary so it's not boiling, but we need to see some action there. And don't let it get too dried out. I had to add water a couple times to keep it "liquidy" enough for the rice to cook through. I think using more milk and/or tomato juice and/or less rice may have helped, but give it a try and just see what works. No magical measurements happening in my kitchen. When it's finished it might look something like this. Or it might look different. Who cares. It will be delicious!

Enjoy!

P365: Week 3

2012-01-22T15:36:00.001-08:00

Saturday 1/14/12: Pretty excited The Pioneer Woman is back. I love starting my Saturdays with her show.

Sunday 1/15/12: Chance made pancakes for the first time!

Monday 1/16/12: The necessary evil that is grocery shopping.

Tuesday 1/17/12: 5 minute project. Finished.

Wednesday 1/18/12: Internet blackouts protesting censorship bills were major news of the day.

Thursday 1/19/12: NOW I'm ready for the wedding this weekend!

Friday 1/20/12: I always love a wedding weekend.

52 Lists/52 Weeks: #33

2012-01-17T16:03:00.001-08:00

Recipes I Need to Make:

Sweet Treats

1. Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

2. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

3. Pumpkin Bread Pudding

4. Apple Chiffon Cake (from my awesome friend, Jewels)

Healthier Choices

5. Quinoa Fried Rice

6. Mango Guacamole

7. Roasted Cabbage Wedges

8. Grilled Fish Tacos

Again (Tried and True)

9. Mango Salsa Quinoa Salad

10. Broccoli Quiche with Rice Crust

11. Sour Cream Noodle Bake

12. Spaghetti Squash and Meatsauce

13. Chinese Chicken Salad

Do you have any new recipes I need to add to my list???

Currently

2012-01-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

I waited around for this weeks installation of 52 lists, but still no sign. I figured I'd just steal another blog post idea from my lovely friend, Wendy, just to play around until the new list is posted.

Currently:

Loving: my job, my house, my hubby

Excited for: Grant and Sarah's wedding this weekend, and our new couch we ordered yesterday!

Worried about: passing my boards (even though I'm just now starting to study)

Creating: a refinished, more colorful bookshelf

Hating: that my joints are hurting so bad and that chiropractic care is not a covered benefit on my new health plan :(

Wondering: if we will find a new geneticist to join our group

Craving: anything. So hungry right now.

Hoping: tomorrow is not too crazy and I can catch up on paperwork and patient letters.

Watching: way too many shows on the DVR. Last night was Kitchen Nightmares. Tonight is probably going to be Chopped or Iron Chef. Or Hoarders. Hmmm...decisions.

Listening to: Bruno Mars. (My current music addiction)

Looking forward to: getting the house all organized and prettified, and this weeks "52 Lists"

P365: Week 2

2012-01-13T18:01:00.001-08:00

1/9/12: Such a dreary day. And an awesome view.

1/10/12: Book club night. My first turn to host.

1/11/12: How awesome is my sister?! She made all of this for me!

1/12/12: House next door finally sold, which apparently means the workers are having a major construction/fiesta!

1/13/12: I should probably find a better storage solution for these.

Book Club

2012-01-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

When we first moved to Temple, I was invited to join a book club. I wasn't quite sure what to think of the idea, but since we only know a couple people here, I thought it would be a great way to make friends. So far I'm loving it. We only meet once a month, and it's a pretty small group, so it works well. January was my turn to host. This means that I chose the book in December for all of us to read. Then we got together and I covered dinner and (of course!) wine for everyone will we chit-chat and talk about the book. Rarely does everyone make it through the entire book, and there is one lady who never reads the book but comes for the social hour...so the discussion is usually a team story-telling. And often laughing and pointing out the things we disliked...the unrealistic storyline, or the overly detailed descriptions.

For my turn, I chose Little Bee by Chris Cleave.
Have you read it? What did you think? Haven't read it? Well, here's what the back cover has to say: "We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is truly a special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again-the story starts there...Once you've read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds."

So, there you have it. I bet you want to read it now, huh? Read it. And tell me what you think.

For next month, my friend Sarah has chosen: Room by Emma Donoghue. I've been wanting to read it for a while, so I'm looking forward to cracking the Nook back open and getting started!

52 Lists/52 Weeks: #32

2012-01-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when I stumbled on this fun little activity on my friend's blog(thanks Wendy!), so I wasted no time tracking down the mastermind and have been eagerly awaiting her Sunday post with the newest list. I don't know how to live without making lists. My dear husband associates list making with things that must be done before fun can be had, but I see them in a much different light! List making can be fun!

I considered starting with #1 and working through the lists that have already been posted, but some of them are seasonal so I figured I would just jump right in and see where it takes me.

If you want to join in the list making fun, visit Kellie's blog here.

#32 Fun Things To Do By Yourself:
* Blogging and Blog-hopping
* Scrapbooking
* Making crafty projects
* Baking
* Reading
* Painting my toenails
* Shoe shopping
* Shopping for other people
* Watching silly tv shows
* Driving around with no destination in mind
* Organizing things

What do you like to do for fun whey you are by yourself???

P365

2012-01-08T08:28:00.001-08:00

Saturday, January 7: Just call me Tia the Toolma'am.

Project 365: Week One

2012-01-07T09:49:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, January 4:
Not quite ready to start studying for boards, but starting to get organized

Thursday, January 5:
Let's see if this thing helps us feel better! We are tired of dry, scratchy throats and noses.

Friday, Jaunary 6:
Just a few projects to work on :)

I {heart} my job

2012-01-03T17:25:00.001-08:00

January 3, 2012: Craniofacial day, which means borrowing an exam room from cardiology and explaining to kids that this is what a heart looks like. I'm just thankful we don't see patients in Urology!

Life365 Take 2

2012-01-02T22:01:00.001-08:00

Perhaps if I post my daily photo here, I will keep up with it??

January 1, 2012 Corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, black eyed peas. Lots of good luck and fortune for this coming year!

January 2, 2012 Another "take 2". I love this book and its interesting little tid bits. Let's see how far we get this year.

Here's to a Healthy 2012

2012-01-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ~World Health Organization, 1948

Year in Review

2011-08-07T15:28:00.001-07:00

Bon Voyage! (June 2010)

Hanging out with Sarah at the DE beach

My First Years, Nevena and Salma

Hoover Family Cousins

Sisters: Me, Daisy, Jamie (Betsy and Sunil's wedding)

Unc and Charlie (2 months old)

Me and Anthony

Love these guys

The best thing about the Houston Rodeo...Fried Carny Food!

We did it, girls!!

A fun day in Kemah

Biggie, Me, and Sarah, soaking up the sun in Mexico

Chance making friend on our cruise to the Bahamas

Me with Marlee and Charlie at the Family Reunion

Lauren's sister, Lauren, Me, Jess

Much different (and quieter) view from our balcony here than in Houston!

Garrett and Lauren tie the knot!

World's Worst Blogger Award

2011-08-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

And it goes to ME! It's funny how I set this up a few years back to keep everyone updated on our lives since we moved to TX from KC...yet I posted once last year, and this will be the first for this year! Thanks for the nudge Wendy...I will try to be better about updating more often. :)

Well, now the problem is where to begin...I thought I could try a month by month recap...the most important happenings of the last year and a half:

March, April, May 2010: Busy with school...no time for fun

June 2010: Chance and I took a cruise out of Galveston to Jamaica, Cayman, and Mexico. We moved from Pearland to Midtown! One of the most exciting thing that happened last year! And we took on a roommate, my friend and classmate, Sarah.

July 2010: I spent the month in Wilmington, Deleware for my summer rotation. Lived with Sarah, at her parent's house, and spent some much needed time at the beach on the weekends. Also got to visit Jonathan and Toni in Philly for their baby shower

August 2010: Welcomed the newest class of Genetic Counseling students. Our niece and nephew, Aspen and Anthony, were born (Chance's step-brother Jonathan's twins).

October 2010: Family trip to Utah. Our niece, Charlie, was born two months early (my brother's baby).

November 2010: Betsy and Sunil tied the knot...another successful Bolton family celebration! (Chance's cousin)

December 2010: Christmas in KC...finally got to meet Charlie. She was two months old, and just the tiniest thing ever! Got back to Houston and had a visit from Jonathan, Toni and the kids too! It was wonderful to meet the twins!

January 2011: Back to the grind of school...prenatal rotation.

February 2011: Consult rotation. Thesis, thesis, thesis.

March 2011: SPRING BREAK!! HALLELUJA!!! My sister and the kids came to visit. Houston rodeo...always fun. And wedding dress shopping with Sarah!!!! First time I've been asked to be a Matron of Honor!! So excited!!

April 2011: Two week elective rotation at the hospital. Thesis was running behind and got pushed back...incredibly stressful month!!!! Interviewed for jobs (3 in TX, 1 in OKC). Finally, defended my thesis!!!!

May 2011: GRADUATION!!! Never thought that day would come. My family came down and stayed for a vacation week...it was fun to be tourists in Houston. Went on a girls cruise with Sarah and Laura (our other best classmate friend!) to Mexico! Went on an early anniversary cruise with Chance to the Bahamas!!!

June 2011: Moved to good ole' Temple, TX. Still adjusting to the small-town life. Flew home as a surprise for our family reunion...first year without great grandma :( Got to spend some time with Lauren (now sister-in-law) for her bachelorette party and bridal shower.

July 2011: Started my new job. And LOVING it!!! Celebrated our 5 year anniversary with take-out and catching up on the DVR. True love :) Flew to KC for my brother's wedding...surprised myself by crying like a baby when he came down the aisle! Such a surreal feeling to see your little baby brother all grown-up with a family of his own. Also spent some time with Chance's cousins in DFW for Elizabeth's bachelorette party and couples shower. And of course the wedding last weekend.

Which brings us to now...August 2011: Survived my first month at the new job. Chance has been at his for a month now too...he took a fitness manager position with Gold's gym in Round Rock, TX. Same position he had before, just with a new company. Our newest nephew, Jack, was born this week, and we can't wait to meet him (Chance's brother's second baby). We are also house-hunting, which has been a lot of fun. We have some good choices narrowed down and plans to go look one more time in about two weeks...then will come decision time! We signed a 6 month lease, so we're hoping to be moved by Christmas!!!!

PHEW!!! I'm sure I've missed some things...but I think that gives a good overview of our happenings. Feels so good to be finished with school and back to the working world. I finally feel able to make time to catch up with old friends, and to take time for myself, just to relax, read a book, or whatever I want! And hopefully be a better blogger :)

Until next year, err, I mean next time....

2010?!?! Really?!?

2010-03-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

I guess all it takes is 10 days worth of terrible sinus infection to knock me on my butt for me to watch marathons of House Hunters and catch up in Blog-land. I will spare you the details, but let's say that getting a lung transplant would make me feel better than I do now.

So, let's see if I can give you my recent life in a nutshell (hmmm...I'm feeling a year-in-review project coming on). Last semester came and went quicker than I could have imagined. Lots of hard work and stress freak-outs later, I mangaged to get A's and B's in all my classes...some of which were no short of miracles. This semester is also coming to a close quickly. I only have a few classes, and most of my time is spent in clinic with patients. I spent the first rotation in prental, and this coming week is my last in pedatrics. Finally, I'll do 5 weeks in cancer and the last 5 in various specialty clinics. It has been a lot of work, but so much fun...the real reason I'm here!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for the summer. We have 10 weeks total, 2 of which are spent doing a lab rotation at Baylor, 4 of which we have to ourselves, and another 4 of a rotation of our choice. We are planning to move closer to the city, so I'm really excited about that. One of my classmates and great friend, Sarah, will probably become our roommate for the year! We'll all save a lot of money, and I won't be so lonely with Chance working all the time! But...as for my rotation....things just don't seem to be working out the way I'd hoped. I really wanted to go to Boston for those 4 weeks and work at the Children's Hospital. They are the only place in the world doing clinical trials for kids with Progeria and I was really hoping for the chance to work with them. Unfortunately, this plan is falling through and I've only got a few days to figure out Plan B. At this point I'm looking for a spot in Deleware at AI du Pont because they have a skeletal dysplasia program, and I think I could have a really great experience there. The spots are all filled here in Houston, so I don't really have any other options right now. We'll see what happens....

Last week was spring break, and my sister and the kids came to visit! We had so much fun going to the Houston Rodeo (which was quite an experieince!), the zoo, the aquarium, and just hanging out. The kids are getting so big and just miss them all so much.

I'll leave you with some photos from the last few months...

No, I haven't been living in a cave, I'm just a grad school student...

2009-12-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

Wait, who am I kidding?! As if there is a difference!! Be back soon with an update of my not so glamourous first semester. There are so many things on my "finally finished and can have a life again" list, I don't even know where to begin.

I knew it had been awhile...

2009-09-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

But I didn't realize it'd been THIS long. School has started and has been keeping me VERY busy! I forgot what it was like to be a full-time student. And running a household on top it, is sometimes overwhelming. Playing around on the internet is practically nonexistant, but hopefully I'll get back to updating here more regularly. I keep waiting for a "routine" to appear in my life, but who am I kidding. I'm learing there is no such thing as routine in this program. Lots of people have been asking about what kinds of classes I'm taking and what else I'm up to, so here's a quick run down for the semester.

1. Developmental Anatomy, aka Devo, is a 1st year med school class where we learn about how all the systems of the body develop. We don't take Gross Anatomy (whereas the med students do), so it's a lot of memorization and very little application.
2. Medical Genetics, aka Topics, is a 2nd year med school class, which is basically an introductory genetics course for the med students. Fortunately, it's a lot of review for me and should be a fairly easy course.
3. Genetics and Human Disease, aka GHD, is through the school of Public Health, and is the most challenging course by far. The content is a bit hard to describe, but is combination of genetics and statistics.
4. Ethics in Research, is the most boring class by far. I can appreciate the need for an ethics class, but I'm afraid there is very little course content that is applicable to my program. This is required by the grad school and is tailored to PhD students who will be doing research and working in a lab.
5. Approaches to Research, is a class taught only to the 6 of us, and is preparing us for our thesis projects. Lots of research methodology, statistics, etc.
6. Intro to Genetic Counseling, aka Intro, is exactly what you'd think. We've only had a few sessions so far, but this should be an interesting and helpful class.
7. Psychosocial Practicum is also specific for our program (my class and the 2nd year class take this together, both years). It's basically a discussion and role play based course to help teach and strengthen our counseling skills. It should be fun and interesting, but I'm not looking forward to being videotaped and critiqued!
8. Journal Club, which is not really a club and not technically a class, but is a required component to the program. It's basically a weekly seminar where we will read and present journal articles to the group. Occasionaly this is replaced with Case Conference where an interesting patient/case is presented to the group.
9. Sign-Out Conference is also a weekly activity where the pediatric doctors, residents, etc, and the Genetic Counseling students who are on the pediatric rotation present the cases for the week and discuss any issues or ideas and possible diagnosis.

And in between all this, we're apparently supposed to find time to study and maybe even catch a meal or a few hours of sleep! LOL! I really am enjoying it, but I'm pretty worn out. I've got to start getting more sleep...waking up at 5:30am to make it to class by 8am is killing me!!!! And I don't typically get home until 6pm-ish. Chance tends to work late, so dinner is usually around 9 or 10pm, which means we don't get to bed until midnight or so.

I'm hoping to catch up on a lot of studying and homework this weekend. I've got my first presentation on Monday (all about ethnic carrier screening for B-thalassemia!)and my first Devo exam in less than 2 weeks. Chance's dad stayed with us a few days and my grandparents came to visit from out of town, so it was great to have our first visitors. And Chance's dad is coming back next weekend, and his brother and sister-in-law are coming the weekend after that. I know I won't be getting much done with they are here, so fingers crossed for a productive next few days!

So, on that note, I'm off to sleepy-town! Next post soon....

X-Games 15 Starts Tonight!!!!

2009-07-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

That's all. I'm just excited!

Family Weekend

2009-07-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

First, just a layout share...I'm pretty proud of this one. My beautiful Aussie friend, Mistra, sent me a kit full of fun stuff and this is what I made out of it...in my version of her style!

The apartment is still not finished, so I don't have those pics to post yet, but here are a few from this weekend. We all went to Palestine for Toni and Jonathan's Handyman Shower. It's not often we get the WHOLE family together, but it's always so much fun!!!

There's never a lack of laughs with these guys...3 of the 5 brothers.

And here's 4 of the 5...Chance, Ted, Brandon, Brian...missing the Guest of Honor...don't think I ever got one of all 5 of them.

The whole family...Bib and Terry, all 5 boys, the sisters-in-law and little one, and even an aunt, uncle, and some cousins!!!

There were belly-flops a-plenty, or as they're called down here, belly busters!

And chicken fights too!

All together, too much fun...can't wait for the wedding!!!

Overdue Update from the 713

2009-07-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

That's right...we made it safely to Houston, and are getting settled in nicely. Packing up, we quickly realized the abundance of crap we've collected over the years...way more than any two person household could ever possibly need. We left a truck load full of stuff with my parents (a couch, computer desk, book shelf, grill, and even dear Juba (the snake)), had 2 bookshelves 'accidentally' fall apart and trashed, stored a washer, dryer, and microwave at my father-in-law's house, filled a Uhaul, Chance's truck and my car to overflowing, and still had to leave behind 2 plants and a drying rack! We made the drive in 2 days, stopping in Palestine for the night. Altogether driving time was about 17 hours. A few pics to document the trip:

Sorting thru mountains of junk
So hard to say goodbye to Dereck and the new little one
And to my brother who is already stationed and ready to ship out
Probably the half way point of loading
Exhausted on our last night in KC
We REALLY needed a bigger truck!

Lots of questions about Chance's job, and for good reason. It has been quite the mess getting it all figured out, so here's the full story:
Chance was hired as the Fitness Director for Bally Total Fitness is Sugar Land, which is a suburb just near where we're living. So he would be in charge of all the personal trainers at that club. Unfortunately, a week before our move, Bally decided to start closing clubs all over the country. We get a call from his boss who says that the Sugar Land club is not closing, but the club at the med center was closed, so the fitness manager from that club would be moved to Sugar Land, bumping Chance out of the job. He was pretty devastated at that point, and I put packing aside and helped him send out his resume and start working on some back-up plans. Worst case scenario, he could still transfer in to the Sugar Land club as a trainer and try to rebuild his clientele. A few days later, he gets another call from the boss-man who offers his a part-time director position at the Galleria club, so Chance takes him up on it. This position would be quite challenging, just to balance booking his trainers and keeping himself booked too. Soooo...we get packed up and moved down and Chance starts this job. He was really enjoying it and all the trainers really liked him. A few days into the job, you-know-who calls again. He says, the original job in Sugar Land has opened back up and it's his if he wants it. So we had to weigh the options of sticking with the people he started with or switching to better hours and pay. So finally, he is now the full-time fitness director at Sugar Land. He seems to be enjoying it, but he has his work cut out for him learning all the paperwork and computer systems. His hours will typically be 9am-8pm, but the past few nights he hasn't come home till 11pm! One thing for sure, he puts his all into everything he does!

Now, what about me, you ask? I have a preliminary schedule of orientation dates, etc, but I'm still unsure when my first classes will begin. Program Orientation will start on August 14, and the Grad School Orientation will be August 24-28th. However, some of my classes will be taken through the Medical School which will begin before that Orientation. Registration is set to start on Monday, so I'm sure I will be getting more details in the coming days. Meanwhile, I've ordered most of my textbooks and have had 3 arrive so far. I'm getting very excited and starting! I'm also still waiting (impatiently) for my financial aid letter. I'm thankful for the scholarship they have offered, but not sure it will be enough. Our last taxes were based on both of us working full-time, so we're worried we won't qualify for much. I'm in desperate need of some new clothes. We have to dress professionally every day, and I'm afraid my work wardrobe consists mainly of jeans and T-shirts. Ah, the joys of working in a lab!

I have received my first assignment already...one that I was actually pretty happy about. We must read and watch (new movie out in theaters) "My Sister's Keeper." I read the book a couple years ago and loved it, so I was excited to see the movie. I told Chance is was his homework assignment to go with me :) So, we saw it last week (there's a movie theatre right down the street from our apartment) and it was great. Not as good as the book of course, but had us both leaking from the eyes a bit. Made me miss my little sis a bit too. Speaking of sisters, we have a new nephew on the way! Fortunately, from Chance's side of the family this time...his older brother Brandon and his wife, Daisy, are expecting in November (I think...correct me if I'm wrong)

Let's see, what else? Yesterday was our 3rd Anniversary. We've survived each other so far! Lots of ups and downs, some way ups, and some way downs, so I'd say we're a pretty normal, healthy couple! LOL!! We've had a lot of fun choosing anniversary gifts...we've gone the "traditional" route so far, so this year was leather. On a budget too. So we had a good time, being a bit creative with it. I ended up finding him a business card holder and a pen cup for his new office and he got me a cute, summery purse. And the best part, he didn't work till 10:30pm!!! He got home around 8pm, so we had time to go out for a nice dinner and bottle of wine before ending the night with our favorite, "So You Think You Can Dance"!!!!

I'm still working on getting the apartment finished up, but I'm almost there. I'll be sure to post pictures when it's complete! In the meantime, I've been working on all the little joys that come with relocating, like finding new doctors, insurance, bank, hairdresser (!!!), grocery stores, etc. And if you haven't moved in awhile, you forget the little things, like that the water tastes different, or which way to turn the shower knob for hot water vs. cold. And finding new radio stations that don't suck. Let me tell you, there's certainly no Johnny Dare or Church of Lazlo down here. I may just give my old cd's a good workout for awhile. But seriously, the neighborhood is really nice and we have anything and everything we need within a few minutes drive....5 choices of grocery stores, a ton of pharmacies, plenty of restaurants (some new favorites, and some old), plus an odd abundance of donut shops and preschools, and we can be downtown in about 20 minutes. We have a guest bedroom....and we love having company!!! Hint, hint!!

Hope you've enjoyed my novel!!! More pics soon...

Marlee

2009-06-10T10:27:00.001-07:00

Had a few free minutes last night to whip up this quick layout, from one of Jen Hall's classes last year. Was fun to use pink for once!

Comings and Goings

2009-06-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy lately, with plenty of ups and downs. Here's a quick update:

My beautiful niece, Marlee Lynn Frie was born on Monday, May 18!
Hmmmm...bummer, I can't seem to flip this photo the correct way...

Since the baby came early, we were able to fly to Texas for Karli (Chance's step-sister)and John's wedding, which was gorgeous!

The next weekend was Rockfest, aka the biggest one-day rock festival in the country.

This past weekend, we took a last-minute trip to Houston to meet Chance's new boss and find our new apartment. Looks like Chance's first day of work will be July 1st, which means we need to be down there by the weekend of the 26th. Sooooo, that leaves 2 1/2 weeks to get completely organized and packed. So much work to do, so little time. This coming weekend is our only free weekend left in KC, so if you want to hang out, let us know. And hey, anyone want to buy our sleeper sofa?!?!

Nothing New

2009-05-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Not much news happening here lately. Still looking for a place to live in Houston. Still looking for job possibilities for Chance. Still waiting for my niece to be born. Still spending most of my time with volunteer jobs.

Let's see, besides that, we had a going-away party (see the new photo above) for my lovely friend Emily. She is now all settled in Minnesota, and even though we never saw each other as often as we'd like, I miss her so much already!!

We made a trip to Texas for the annual Family Weekend at Elkhart lake, which was nice as always. Our friends, Terry and Tracie, finally welcomed their little girl Liberty and are finally home! What an angel face...I can't wait to see her again. Chance played in the Annual Alumni Football game, and they actually scored this year!! Dereck turned two and had a Spiderman party and got tons of fun new toys. Mother's Day was low-key this year. Sent a scrapbook to my mother-in-law and organized all my moms old photos in a book for her. Both seemed quite pleased, so I'm happy.

That's about it folks. I'll leave you with a few scrap pages I've managed to do in my "free" time.

Here I come....

2009-04-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON!!!

I officially accepted a postion at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. I really believe either program would be a good fit for me, but I just couldn't pass up the amazing scholarship they offered or the year-round warm weather! I loved all the people in Houston and can't wait to get started. The dates have not been finalized, but I will be starting in mid-August. Not sure when we will actually move...just as soon as we can find a place to live and a job for Chance! Stay tuned...

The Verdict

2009-04-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

The moment we've all been waiting for...

I won't bore you with all the details of what I liked or didn't like about each place. Let's just get down to what you really came here for:

University of Texas-Houston--ACCEPTED plus a scholarship which qualifies me for in-state tuition
Brandeis University--ACCEPTED plus $7000 scholarship per year
University of Arkansas--ACCEPTED
University of Cincinnati--ACCEPTED with an approximate 25% tuition remission
University of Utah--wait-list
Northwestern University--high on wait-list
University of California--has yet to call, strange...scratch that...wait-listed

SOOOOO.....I've made some calls and have declined all positions, except my top two (and California...when they call, I will let them know as well). Ugh, how awful did I feel making THOSE calls!! All the schools were really so wonderful, it's such a hard decision!

In a matter of days I will decide whether to become a student in Houston or Cincinnati. Wish me luck deciding!!!

The Home Stretch...

2009-04-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 8
Drive to Chicago with dear hubby and stay with my friend and sorority sister Beth! We think it will be about a 10 hour drive, so I'll likely be too late and/or too tired to attend the student social at 7pm at a local bar and grill.

Thursday, April 9
9:30am Program and Clinical Overview at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
10:45-11:05am Interview #1
11:10-11:30am Break #1
11:35-11:55am Interview #2
12:00-12:20pm Interview #3
12:25-12:45pm Interview #4
12:50-1:00pm Group Activity...rumor has it, this is a 2-on-2 interview, where we discuss a recent science article
1:05-1:55pm Lunch with students
2:00-2:20pm Interview #5
2:25-2:45pm Break #2
2:50-3:10pm Interview #6
3:15-3:35pm Break #3
3:40-4:00pm Interview #7
4:05pm Q&A with Graduates
5:00pm Wine and Cheese Reception with Students and Faculty

Friday, April 10- Drive home

Wednesday, April 15
Leave KC 4:45pm, arrive Little Rock 7:15pm
Staying in University Residence Hall

Thurday, April 16
12:00pm Check-in and lunch at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
12:30-1:45pm Welcome and Intro to Program
1:45pm Film and Lecture Series
4:30pm Dinner with students

Friday, April 17
8:30am Check-in and breakfast
8:30-8:55am Q&A
9:00-11:25am series of 25 minute interviews
11:30-12:15 Campus Tour
12:15-1:20pm Lunch
12:45-4:55pm Series of 25-min interviews
Leave Little Rock 6:10pm, arrive KC 8:45pm

Monday, April 20
Leave KC 1:15pm, Arrive Orange County, CA 4:50pm
Staying at Ayres Inn

Tuesday, April 21
8:30am Arrive at University of California-Irvine Medical Center
8:30-10:00am Prenatal and Clinical Case Conference
10:00am- 1 or 2 30-45 minute interviews
Lunch with students, followed by 1 or 2 more interviews

Wednesday, April 22
Leave Orange County 12:45pm, arrive KC 8:58pm

Friday, April 24, D-Day
Wait patiently for all program directors to call with decisions!

Wednesday, April 29, Decision Deadline
By this time will have made my final decision and contacted all the programs to accept or not accept their offers. Then....time to start packing!

Up Next...

2009-04-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

The University of Texas- Houston

Thursday, April 2 (Happy Birthday to Me!)
10:55am leave KC
2:00pm arrive in Houston
Staying at Best Western Plaza Hotel & Suites
6:15 meet a few fellow applicants at nearby hotel to be picked up by a current student and ride to dinner at the home of another current student

Friday, April 3
8:00-8:40am Breakfast and Intro to Program
8:40am-12:00 Series of 25 minute interviews with 7 different interviewers
12:00-12:45 Lunch with students and faculty
12:45-1:15pm Presentation of Clinical Rotations
1:15-1:45pm Disucssion of interesting cases and thesis topics
1:45-2pm Break
2:00-2:30pm Tour facilities
2:30-3:00pm Meeting with a Dean from Grad School
3:00-3:30 Financial Aid Presentation
3:45 Conclude visit
6:30pm Leave Houston
9:15pm Arrive in KC

University of Utah

Sunday, April 5
8:45am Leave KC
1:40pm Arrive in Salt Lake City
Staying in Guest House on Campus
5:45 picked up by current student
6:00-7:00pm dinner with students

Monday, April 6
7:30am Breakfast
8:00am Welcome and Orientation
9:00-11:00am Series of three 30 minute interviews
12-1pm Lunch with Faculty
1:00-2:15 Remaining 2 interviews, 30min each
2:30-2:45 Questions and Wrap-up
2:45-3:30 Tour Facilities
7:00pm Leave SLC
12:00am Arrive in KC

The Low Down

2009-03-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Finally, all the details (more than you would ever need to know!) for my upcoming travels:

Tuesday, March 24 Leave KC at 9:20am, arrive in Boston 3:30pm
I will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express-Waltham
Wednesday, March 25 Interviews at Brandeis University
9am-10:30am- audit a course "Genetic Counseling Internship"
10:30am- meet with Financial Aid
12:15pm- lunch and journal club with current students
1:00-1:30- Orientation, University Overview
1:30-3:00- Three 30 minute interviews with Program Directors/Faculty
3:00-4:30- Audit course "Clinical Genetics"
Thursday, March 26 Leave Boston 4:00pm, arrive in KC 8:40pm

Sunday, March 29 Leave KC 12:40pm, arrive in Cincinnati 3:30pm (with fellow KC applicant)
5pm- pick up at airport by current student
6pm-9pm- dinner at current student's home
9pm- sleeping arrangements with current student
Monday, March 30
8am- breakfast, tour and interviews at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital
9:30am- first interview
12:00- second interview
12:30- lunch
1:30- third interview
3pm- fourth interview
8:00pm- leave Cincinnati, arrive in KC 9pm

I have also been invited to interview at the University of California-Irvine, but we are trying to work out the date. And I've just discovered that Mount Sinai never recieved my full appliaction, so I will likely be denied, by default (Long story!). But 7 out of 9, or more realistically, 7 out of 8 ain't bad!! More details to come....

ScrapWitch Challenges

2009-03-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent LO's I completed for a few challenges at ScrapWitch.

This one was for "Get Challenged Now," where my dear friends requested I use vintage, doodling, and 5 different types of flowers in the layout:

This one is not a great LO, but has some fun pictures from Kelli's birthday party, "Thrift Store Fashion Show." Thanks to Penny for the sketch:

This design is thanks to one of Mistra's SBS (Step-by-Step) Challenges at the Witch:

And finally, the last LO was done from Penny's March Sketch:

My New Best Friend, Expedia

2009-02-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have been asking more details about my interviews, today is your lucky day. I've been giving Expedia quite the workout and here's why:

Wednesday March 25 Brandeis University (Boston)
Friday April 3 University of Texas Medical School (Houston)
Monday April 6 University of Utah Health Sciences Center (Salt Lake City)
Thursday April 9 Northwestern University Medical School (Chicago)
Thursday April 16-Friday April 17 University of Arkansas (Little Rock)
Monday April 20 University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Only waiting to hear back from two more!

And for family or anyone else who's just curious, I'll post more details about flights and such later. For now, I'm late for a lunch date with Expedia. Many more plans to finalize!

Interviews, Layouts and Mohawks

2009-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

I have a 4th interview set up in mid-April. This one is for an online program, but I'll travel to Little Rock, AR for the interview. Waiting to hear from 4 more schools....

Here is another Jen Hall "The Write Stuff" LO of 2008 in Review:

And one I did using the Mosaic technique from the Feb/March issue of Scrapbooks Etc:

And finally, Hubby's new hair-do:

Yes, I realize the lighting is HORRIBLE!! Seems like everyone is getting in touch with their manual mode lately, which definitely makes me want to revisit my notes from high school photography class! Ah, if only there were more hours in a day!

Schoolin' & Scrappin'

2009-02-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

It's about time for some updates, so here's the latest grad school news: So far I've received three invitations to interview at Brandeis University March 25, Northwestern University Med School April 9, and University of Utah April 6. Boston University is not extending an invitation...I had a sort of "pop-quiz" interview on the phone, and was totally unprepared, and apparently unimpressive. Harumph! I'm still waiting to hear back from five others (now that the missing-documents-mystery has been solved), hopefully in the next week or so.

All my time has been devoted to these applications lately, so no time for any new LO's. I did these months ago, and I'm just now getting around to uploading them. These three are from Jen Hall's Octoberfest.

And these are from her "The Write Stuff" Class:

I've Been Tagged

2009-02-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

I've been photo tagged by Melissa.

The assignment is:
Go to the 6th album of your photos and find the 6th photo.
Share that photo and tell a little bit about it.
Tag six people and ask them to do the same.

I have many "sub-albums" so, I kept going to the 6th folder in each, until I reached:

This is a picture of my nephew, last February. He is such a little rock star! He loves singing, dancing, and playing instruments, especially the drums!!

Instead of tagging 6 more people, I'm interested to see who actually reads this blog. I've just recently started it, so I'm curious who my visitors are...if you're reading this, leave me a comment and say hi!

And...I have another pretty new background...what do you think? So glad I stumbled on that site! It's provided plenty of wasted time for me!

Lover of all things X

2009-01-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the X-Games! So I've got Winter X 13 on the DVR and have been watching a few events here and there. Of what I've seen so far, this was probably the coolest trick...since he fell off at the end, it didn't count, but at least he's alive!!! Those things weigh about 450 pounds! Pretty awesome if you ask me!

And of course, I got a little ahead of myself and saw the results of the Men's Superpipe before I actually watched it. Turns out Shaun White takes gold...the frist person ever to take back to back gold in the event! I guess I'll have to watch for myself later tonight.

So sad the X-Games only last a few days out of the year....just another reason to look forward to summer!

The Write Stuff

2009-01-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

The first 5 lessons from another online scrap class I'm taking from Jen Hall:

#5-this one is actually on a canvas...now to find a wall for it!

#4- my hubby

#3- my mom

#2- Future

#1- My Goals

Octoberfest in December

2009-01-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

I've been slowly working through Jen Hall's Octoberfest online class, so here are the first few I've finished.

Where in the World?

2009-01-10T15:44:00.001-08:00

Seems like the million dollar question lately has been "Where are you applying?!" So, here you go. There are just over 25 schools that offer Genetic Counseling in the country, and I'm applying to 9. Hopefully, we'll be living in one of these places in a few months time:

Brandeis University- Waltham, MA- basically Boston
Boston U School of Med- Boston
Mt. Sinai School of Med- New York City
Northwestern U Med School- Chicago
U of Arkansas-this is an online program and is the only chance we would NOT be moving
U of California-Irvine- Orange, CA
U of Cincinnati College of Med- Cincinnati, OH
U of Texas Med School- Houston
U of Utah- Salt Lake City

So, there you have it. Fingers crossed.

Year in Review

2008-12-31T16:50:00.000-08:00

We're hours away from a new year, which will bring about many changes in my life. I am in the process of applying to graduate school and will (hopefully!) be starting in August. Chance and I have decided that whether or not I get accepted, we will take this opportunity to move, as we are both ready for some changes. He is quite homesick, since he's been away from his family for almost 8 years. So, if things don't go well with grad school apps, we'll be looking to move to Dallas this summer. This year my nephew turned one and my sister is due with a second baby in May. My brother has been very involved in the National Guard and will be leaving for Iraq in June or July. He is also recently engaged to his long-time girlfiend, and will be planning a wedding after they both (go to and) finish college. I also have a dear friend moving to the cold north, where her husband got a great new job. We have a few friends who are also expecting babies soon. I've taken up scrapbooking this year; I'm really loving it so far, and I've made many new online friends because of it. I'm hoping I will use this blog to show off my creative endeavors and to help me keep in touch with friends and family, wherever we all may go!

Happy New Year!
Trisha

New Kid in School

2008-10-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I'd give this whole blogging thing a whirl. It's sort of started out as a way for me to keep track of other blogs I visit, but I'm not sure how well I'll keep up with one of my own. I guess we'll find out! For now, I'm just trying to find my way around...if anyone stumbles on here, bear with me, I'm a bit clumsy with technology!