Thankful Thursday - February 11, 2010

In honor of the upcoming Hallmark Holiday, this Thursday I am thankful for my sweet, sweet Valentine!

Of course, I'm always thankful for my sweetie, but this week, I'll explain a few reasons why. Hopefully I won't bore you or cause you to be nauseated.
Drew is always calm, cool and collected. He is laid back and almost never worries. When I am a complete nervous wreck, somehow just his presence will ease my nerves. He manages to balance out my natural tendency to be a high strung, worrying, control-freak. Somehow with him by my side the largest challenges, or biggest unknowns, seem manageable. Drew is also extremely motivated. Sometimes he's stubborn, but for the most part it is a good thing. He loves a challenge, and is constantly pushing himself to conquer something new, accomplish more, or improve something. Being married to him inspires me to try and do the same. I've been willing to try new things and expand outside my comfort zone since he has been in my life.
Another one of my favorite things about Drew is how selfless he is. When friends or family need help and its something I cannot do, he never minds when I volunteer his help. Even when he doesn't have the time, he manages to lend a helping hand. Never once has he ever gotten upset for all the times I commit him to help without asking him first. And he is also a good sport - like when I dressed him up as the cookie monster for Halloween this year....
Drew is also absolutely wonderful with children. I think it's his fun-loving, silly nature and the fact that he will always be a kid at heart (much like his Father). It just warms my heart when I watch him throw the football, play video games or roughhouse with my nephews. I have no doubt he will be a wonderful father some day!

And I could go on and on about all the reasons why I am thankful for my husband, the love of my life, but I think that is more than enough for one post!

What are you Thankful for this Thursday?

Make sure to link to your actual POST and not just your blog! Thank you in advance for sharing your stories!

My darling husband

(God Bless him) is a sucker.

Now to give you a little background, I am a cheap-o. Big time. My Mother raised me to be a thrifty penny pincher. I go to the local beauty school to get my hair done, I buy things used if at all possible, I clip coupons, shop sales, and buy almost everything in generic.

Now my darling Drew, on the other hand, he is a name-brand-whore. He loves Perry Ellis dress clothes;image from: http://reviews.perryellis.com/product-reviews/Fragrances-Gifts/Women/Perfume/PED/p/40200176-NEW-Perry-Ellis-for-Women-EDP-3-4-oz.html

He loves his Cole Haan shoes with Nike Air;

image from: http://www.colehaan.com/colehaan/catalog/product.jsp?catId=100&productId=314862&productGroup=314863

His Mom used to buy him Nexxus shampoo (I now buy him the generic);

image from: http://www.epinions.com/content_442853396100

and he loves his Starbucks;

image from: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/tag/cleveland-park/

Just to name a few of his name brand loyalties.

So it has taken me many, many, months since we have been married to get the man to bring home generic items when I send him shopping. And for the most part he has gotten better and no longer buys the most expensive brand of whatever we need. . . Most of the time.

So today I send my darling husband out to grocery shop. And one of the items on the list was "shower cleaner." Ya know the stuff you use everyday after you shower so that you don't have to scrub down your shower so much? So, usually we buy the refill because 1) its cheaper and 2) it minimizes garbage/waste.

Today Drew comes home with this:

image from: http://www.scrubbingbubbles.com/products.aspx?product=shower-cleaner-power-sprayer

This is scrubbing bubbles newest shower cleaning product. Apparently our previous shower cleaner was inadequate, so we needed to upgrade. This little product was $9. Yes, nine American dollars! And why you ask is this shower cleaner so expensive? Because it has a "power sprayer" that provides a continuous stream of cleaner. (So that you just hold down the trigger/sprayer once and it continues to spray, kind of like aerosol spray).

Seriously? What is wrong with a regular spray bottle? Why did we need a different spray bottle? Does this mean that we are too lazy to push the sprayer or trigger more than once? Come on, how difficult is it to lift your finger and press the spray bottle trigger?

I think my husband was the victim of product branding and new product production. I think we just paid for a fancy spray bottle. Why he didn't just buy the scrubbing bubbles refill (since he determined our previous shower cleaner was inadequate) is unknown to me.

Although I tease, I am very grateful that my husband is willing to go grocery shopping when he can.

Drew, you know I love you honey!

Today...

Well last week (Wed) I called opposing counsel and requested that they send me an electronic copy of their discovery requests. I wanted the document in electronic format so that I could type the answers in the document rather than having to retype the entire document. First of all when I called to make this request the attorney was out so I left a message with his support staff asking for someone to email it to me. Ya know, email, figuring that would be the easiest way to send me the document. So after I didn't get a call back for two days (Fri) I called again. So the assistant answering the phone sounded annoyed and was like "well I gave him the message." I was extremely nice and explained that we were closing in on a deadline and asked her if she could tell him I called again. Twenty minutes later I get a call back, same assistant. This time she tells me that the attorney is dictating (transcribing) a letter to me. Confused I try to explain that I was requesting an electronic version of the request but before I could get it out the woman interrupted me saying "I know what you requested! And I am telling you that he is dictating a letter." Surprised at this response I didn't know what to say so I just said, okay and thanked her for the message and hung up. A few minutes later I realized that if the attorney had to send me a letter to respond to my request I at least needed the letter faxed to me because if it was put in the mail I wouldn't get it till next week (today). So I decided to call back, knowing that I was going to further annoy the less than patient assistant. When I called back before I could even make my request she told me that the letter the attorney was dictating was just stating that he would be making me a disk with the document on it. Although I knew I'd have to wait for the disk to come in the mail I didn't feel like pushing it and just gave up on the idea of getting it emailed to me. So today in the mail came my disk. . . .

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)
A three inch floppy disk! I was shocked. The attorney seriously sent me a document on a three inch hard floppy disk. Seriously? I mean computers don't even come with floppy disk drives anymore! I have to use a special attachment in order to read the freakin' thing because none of our office computers have a floppy disk drives! I've heard of attorneys not being in this century as far technology but seriously don't drag me into your timewarp!

Also today we found out that Drew got accepted to do a Sub-Internship for the program he applied to for October! We got the medical information to the the August program I talked about last week but still haven't heard anything from them or from the September program.
Last week Drew finished up Pediatrics and this week has marked the start of Family Medicine. It is his FINAL clerkship/rotation of third year! Only six more weeks and he will officially be a fourth year medical student!

The weekend and other updates

Drew and I had a great weekend - it was fantastic to finally be in town, we were traveling the last three weekends and will be doing so again this weekend for a wedding and a baby shower! We got quite a bit done around the apartment - it needed a lot of cleaning, and we had lots of laundry to do since we have been too busy to get around to these things. I also had a chance to get some errands done. Saturday we even had time to take a bike ride on a local bike path down the the next little town (it was only three miles each way) and although it was quite chilly, we still had a nice ride. Sunday night Drew got a call from one of his med school buddies that they were one man short for their softball league and asked if he could sub. Although I was disappointed that I couldn't spend the evening with him I encouraged him to go because I know he won't have many opportunities to play softball this summer. His friend ended up pulling his shoulder out of his socket and Drew ended up getting hit not once, not twice but three times ... once in the arm and twice in the exact same spot on the side of his knee. Below is a picture of his knee when he came home last night - if you look closely you can see the marks from the stitching on the softball(s).

And here you can see how swollen it is here . . .
And here is a picture of his knee tonight... the swelling has gone down but now he has quite a bit of discoloration!

(Now that I have thoroughly grossed you out)

Drew is in his last week of peds, which means that he has a tests on Thursday and Friday. Next week he will start family medicine (his last clerkship/rotation of third year!) He also has three applications in to three different hospitals hoping to get away rotations or Sub-I's there. One of them emailed him last week to say that they were missing medical information but NOT to call them. He has emailed them twice with no response - this is extremely frustrating because the program is competitive so we want to get them the necessary information so that they can review his application as soon as possible! We're trying to be patient, but that is not particularly my strongsuit.

Also tonight Drew and I got to attend a reception honoring contributors to the innocence project at the governor's mansion. To briefly sum it up the mansion was amazing and the event was truly inspiring - they had two men there who had been wrongly convicted and had spent years incarcerated (and on death row) but were eventually exonerated by the work done by the various innocence project volunteers. I am quite proud to work for a firm that is so concerned with helping such noble causes (and is not just focused on making a dollar but also contributing to society).

More Cub's fan quirks...

So recently I was in the car and listening to the radio when Journey's Don't Stop Believing came on. I turned it up and realized that I hadn't listened to this song in a long time. And then it occurred to me that it was because Drew refuses to listen to this song - so much so that it was on the "do not play list" at our wedding. For those of you who aren't from Chicago, that song is the "theme song" for Chicago White Sox and their 2005 World Series win (they came back from behind hence the "don't stop believing." So because my husband is a ridiculously bitter Cubs fan who hasn't seen his team win the World Series we cannot listen to the song of another Chicago team which has.

I've also mentioned Drew's insistence on purchasing Old Style beer during baseball season (since it is served at Wrigley) . . . well a few weeks ago we were listening to a game on the radio when Drew realized that he hadn't yet purchased his Old Style Beer. And since the Cubs were losing the game he had to go out and purchase some Old Style . . .

(The green on the can is supposed to be Wrigley's ivy).
And speaking of baseball does anyone else find it odd that baseball is the only sport in which the coaches (managers) wear the team uniform? And does anyone else find it odd? I just think it is totally weird to see a 60 year oldman in a baseball jersey with the pants, socks and all... In every other sport the coaches wear different outfits (basketball, hockey, football). And think of how silly it would look if those coaches wore the uniforms!

Pediatrics

The first three weeks (of six total) of Peds were outpatient, which started at roughly eight or nine in the morning and ended as early as one or as late as five. Needless to say it was a pretty easy schedule and overall Drew enjoyed it. Right now Drew is in inpatient peds. Inpatient starts a 6:30 a.m. and usually goes to five p.m. The hours aren't bad but so far Drew has severely disliked this part of the rotation. This is because it has been very quiet so he spends the majority of his day in the student lounge. And since there are multiple medical students on this rotation they all have to alternate when a patient comes in. This means during the day he only gets every fourth patient or so. It also doesn't help that sometimes the residents forget to page them when a patient comes in. Drew has tried to still be somewhat productive by studying or doing something else during this time but it still provides for very long days since they go by so slowly.

On Call...

Drew and I both are on call tonight . . . my friend and coworker is getting close to her due date and her husband is not expected back from Afghanistan until Monday (he is in the military) so should she go into labor before then Drew and I have to be prepared to run her to the hospital. We think her precious baby boy dropped last night because her belly looks lower (its not the high up basketball anymore) and she was very uncomfortable all day because she could feel his head in her near her pelvis. This morning she woke up with contractions so we are thinking labor could be coming. Personally I am so excited but I hope for her sake her baby waits a few more days so that his Daddy can be there for the birth.
Speaking of babies Drew is now in his third week of his pediatrics rotation. His first three weeks are outpatient, and his next three weeks will be inpatient. This week he is actually on nursery, which personally I do not understand why its considered "outpatient" because the new babies are technically in the hospital?
I don't know about the rest of the country but it has been very rainy this week in central Illinois. We had rain all day Monday and Tuesday, which with the change in barometric pressure tends to cause women to go into labor. So the Drew has gotten to see lots of babies this week since the nursery has been filled!
This rain is another reason we think my friend may go into labor because although the rain subsided today it is forecasted for Thursday and Friday... So we'll be sleeping with our phone in our room tonight just in case we get paged...

Baseball season

Spring is here which means that baseball season has begun. By now most teams have had their home openers and many fans are already making predictions for their team to win the division. Growing up I enjoyed watching baseball and going to games with my Dad but I was no means a huge baseball fan.

Ever since I met Drew I have had my eyes opened to the world of the Chicago Cubs fan. And I don't think fan is the appropriate word for Drew, Cubs fan-atic is more appropriate. I have found that Cubs fans (no offense, and this is just an observation) are not always the most logical fans. (But don't get me wrong they certainly have heart). For example, one of Drew's Cubs quirks is that he has to purchase Old Style (and lots of it) during the baseball season. In Drew's "cubs-fan-mind" he thinks that by purchasing Old Style (the beer sold at Wrigley field) he is directly supporting the Cubs. I have tried to explain to him many times that a percentage of beer profits do not go to the Cubs, but he still seems to think that by drinking a can of Old Style he is increasing the teams odds of winning. In the summertime in the Chicago-area Old Style does produce special cans which display the Cubs label on them (but again a percentage of the profits don't go to the Cubs). When these come out or if we are in a store that has them we HAVE to purchase them. It doesn't matter whether we have a fridge full of Old Style already, we have to have the cans with the Cubs logo on them! I'd hate to think what would happen if we didn't!

And for a man that refuses to wear logos or t-shirts with store names on them, one brand Drew proudly displays is that of the Chicago Cubs. Like most Cubs fans he's got the t-shirts, the hats and sandals. Then there is also the superstition that most Cubs fans have. Whether its the goat, or something else, most of them have some kind of superstition. Last year Drew had something with one of his t-shirts, I forgot what exactly it was but he had to wear a certain shirt on game days until they lost - something silly - because obviously (dare I say it?) they didn't win the World Series.

And then last but not least Cubs fans are special because they have their own song, and their own flag. This past Christmas Drew got his very own "W" flag. He recently installed hooks above our window so that the flag can be displayed.

So now after every victory, not only do we have the Cubs song blasting in our apartment (as the husband does a little dance and sings along), we now also have a flag to display in our window. Drew is very diligent in his flag duties. The flag is proudly displayed the moment the game is over (considering we are home) and it is taken down the morning of the next game. Because the Cubs were off today, and they won yesterday, this was the image outside our apartment today...

Drew is not just a Cubs fan he is also a huge sports fan (but I think I would have to say his love for the Cubs is his biggest sports obsession). Unfortunately being on a budget we don't have cable, but even when we did Drew often watched ESPN while reading ESPN.com. But now that we don't have cable he has to settle for keeping up to date on his sports online and through the radio. Being that we don't have Chicago tv stations we do not get most of the Cubs games on tv. However, we still participate in every game (that Drew is home for) by sitting on the couch and listening on A.M. radio, while the laptop displays MLB.com's pitch-by-pitch.

And then there are special days in which there are multiple important sporting events going on. These days Drew can hardly control his excitement. An example of one of these days would be when the National NCAA championship game was on during the Cubs game. Now the average college basketball/Cubs fan might decide to watch the Championship game because it is The Championship game. Not my husband though. But don't you worry, we didn't miss the Championship game. We had the Cubs game on the radio, and watched MLB's pitch-by-pitch, and watched the NCAA Championship game on mute on the television.

Although I tease of Drew's crazy sports and baseball obsessions, I am glad he enjoys it while he can, I know that this is the last full baseball season he will get to enjoy (therefore a World Series would be nice). Next summer (in residency) the closest he'll get to sports is checking the scores on his phone when he has a free second.

I wish a very Happy Baseball season to all of you baseball fans (and those of us married to them)!

This post brought to you in Cubby-bear blue for all those Cubs fans out there.

Neuroradiology Clerkship

So I never really covered Drew's unit in neuroradiology. He spent two weeks in this elective rotation in which the credit will apply to his fourth year. Drew seemed to enjoy his rotation in neuroradioliogy but I don't think he could have handled more than two weeks of it. He described it to me as spending the day in a dark room looking at a computer screen and reading digital slides. I guess they just verbally dictate the results into a dictaphone that is transcribed later. He did have a little patient interaction, which involved procedures such as drawing spinal taps (which I believe he actually go to do/help with a few). Drew really struggled with having such little patient interaction, but I still think it was a very good experience for him. He learned a lot about reading different scans and it was a good test of his anatomy knowledge as well (the Resident he worked with quizzed him a lot).

Eventful Weekend

Saturday morning Drew completed his second half-marathon; the annual Lincoln Memorial half-marathon.

And being the super-wife that I am I sacrificed sleeping in and woke up to cheer him on at the end of the race. He did very well, and met his goal of averaging seven-and-a-half minute miles. A few of Drew's med-school friends competed as well.

There were over 900 competitors, and after most of them finished the race they headed into this tent to fill up on lots of food and treats.

After celebrating Drew's successful race I headed into work for a few hours. Then late in the afternoon we took a trip to the bicycle store.... last summer Drew and I had looked for bicycles but we couldn't find anything in the budget. (I had an old bike at my parents house but we never brought it down to Springfield because I knew I wouldn't want to go without Drew). We looked to buy him a bike but we couldn't justify spending $100.

There were so many days last summer that I just so badly wanted to go on a bike ride - but we had no bikes. So when I heard the local bike shop was having a used bike sale I figured we'd give it a shot. When we got there we found that all used bikes were an additional $20 off.... so we ended up very excited to bring home this little gem....

for the budget price of $32 (after tax)! I cannot even tell you how excited I am to know that we will be able to go on bike rides this summer! I had no idea how much I enjoyed it until last year when we were not able to go.

Today was our first Sunday home in many, many weeks. It was wonderful! After church we were able to clean up around the apartment and I was able to get some cooking done (recipe for fruit pizza later this week). In addition to hi-jacking my blog, Drew also had time to work on two other sub-I applications. And now.... its time for a little relaxation. Hope you all had splendid weekends!

Last week of Ob-gyn

And there are no sad faces in our household! Although the end of a unit does mean a test - so Drew is using his free-time to study for the exam which is on Friday. Then next week he will begin Neuro-radiology which he should enjoy. It will only be for two-weeks because it is a 3rd year elective. This year he had two, 2-week periods in which he could choose an elective to take. His first two week period he "elected" to take a break because he was in-between the two most intense 10-week rotations, Internal Medicine and Surgery. But this time there will be no break, but hopefully lots of learning. In other news he submitted his sub-Internship application to Northwestern, hoping to do a 4-week neurosurgery rotation there this fall. They don't start reviewing applications until May but Drew wanted to have his application there as soon as possible. We're also starting to ask for prayers in the whole residency process. Even though its a year away I am finding myself losing sleep already - which is why I am praying not only about applying to residency but also for peace of mind and peace in my heart. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope, and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

How we got here...

On the Doctor's wife blog she was talking today about
the beginning, the acceptance story, and how we got here.
Which got me thinking about where our journey began that brought us here. And so tonight, lucky you get to hear about how we got here. My husband and I knew of each other in college, but we didn't really know each other. We finally "met" a little over a month before graduation, and it was the week he had found out he didn't get into medical school. I had no idea at the time but I was the second or third person he told; I guess he knew right away he knew I was someone he could trust. Looking back now I don't know what would have happened if he had gotten into school that year.
We started dating that summer and it didn't take long for me to realize I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this man. That fall he supported me emotionally through my first semester of law school at Northern Illinois University. At the same time I tried to help him fill out his medical school applications for his second time. I remember calling him daily to hear if he had gotten anything in the mail. I had even purchased him a frame for him his first acceptance letter. Then one spring day, to our (for the most part) excitement he was accepted to Southern Illinois Medical School - the only problem was it was at the opposite end of the state (7 hours) from where I was attending law school! A few weeks later he did get a second acceptance letter from a Chicago (closer) school notifying him that he had been placed on a wait list. It was also around this time that he proposed. I was so excited about the excitement of marrying the man of my dreams, I don't think I ever thought about the journey he would me taking me on.
I continued to hope and hope that he would get into that Chicago school. No spot ever opened up and before I knew it we were moving him to oh-so-far-away-Carbondale, Illinois. Somehow he managed to survive his first year of medical school while I balanced 18 hours of law courses and wedding planning, all while we were 7 hours apart at opposite ends of the state. Before we knew it he was taking his final first year exam, packing his backs and making the seven hour drive up to our rehearsal dinner (yes all in the same day - someone screwed up when reading his curriculum calendar!).
We spent that summer as newlyweds living with my parents so that I could work and we could live rent free. In the fall of 2007 we moved to our first (a one bedroom) apartment in what some would call the armpit of Illinois; Decatur. Five days a week for five months I drove an hour each way to finish my last semester of law school at the University of Illinois and my darling husband drove 45 minutes each way to Springfield to attend his second year of medical school. Thank goodness January came quickly and (with me) being done with school we were able to move to (a much roomier 2-bedroom apartment in) Springfield. And somehow by the grace of God I passed my Illinois bar exam by studying on an Ipod, and I managed to get the wonderful job that I have now (and have had for 11 months now). And while I never thought I'd end up living in Springfield Illinois, I cannot deny that it all worked out, and I'm extremely happy. I guess I have learned that sometimes the plans God has are a lot better than the ones I had in mind. Please remind me of this as we begin to apply for residencies this fall!

Goodbye O.B...

Hello Gyn. Drew officially finished O.B. last week and he will be starting Gynecology tomorrow. The upside is that there will be some surgical procedures so I think that part will be interesting to him, but that doesn't change the fact that he has had enough of working with that end of the body - but he will just have to suck-it-up for the next three weeks. At least ob-gyn is a short rotation (6 weeks) I can't imagine him having to go through this for ten weeks, or more appropriately put I can't imagine having to put up with him going through this for ten weeks.
Another piece of news is that drew passed psychology. No honors - I think I need to start beating him, I can't have any of this just passing. In all seriousness I am very proud of him, another clerkship down (passed) and three more to go (plus one two week specialty clerkship).

Weekend at HOME

Drew and I spent the weekend in my hometown of Crystal Lake. It has been brought to my attention that I still refer to Crystal Lake as home, even though I have been living away from home the past eight years. I often find myself referring to CL as home even though Springfield is really our new home. Last week I told Shannon that I was going to my neighbor's for homemade pizza when Drew and I were really going to my parent's neighbors for pizza. I do this sort of thing all the time, for example we were talking about how good Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza is - and how there is nothing like it down here - and I'll say "yeah we have one right down the street at home... at my parent's house." I often wonder if how I speak gives away the fact that I long to be closer to home, and that I always have hoped (and still do hope) that we make it back up there. And I say that even though we would have considered staying here if Drew had picked a specialty that was offered here. And while it will always feel like home wherever I am, as long as I am with Drew, I know in my heart that northern Illinois will always feel like home because that is where so many of my family and friends can be found. Slowly with time just as Springfield has become a home, I am sure there will be other places in life we will call home, but I also know I will always have another home in Crystal Lake for as long as my loved ones are there.

Another clue that made me realize that I am subconsciously in denial that I am no longer a resident of northern Illinois is that until last week according to my driver's license I still resided in Crystal Lake. So when I finally went to renew my expired driver's license I made a big change - my address - I no longer live at 123 My Parent's Street, I now live in Springfield. That's a step right?

We did have a wonderful and relaxing weekend at home. (See, I did it again). Friday we made it in town late and enjoyed homemade pizza at the Prioletti's (Mmm - Nancy makes a phenomenal homemade pizza!) Saturday was a lot of relaxing and Drew and I also took a trip to the gym (its way nicer than our Gold's so it was a treat!) Drew ran 13 miles - in preparation for his half marathon next month, and I ran (jogged is a more appropriate term), did some cardio and swam for a bit. That night for dinner my Mom made some fabulous ribs, sweet potato fries and my favorite dessert, chocolate eclair cake! We rented Burn After Reading - and if you haven't seen it, don't waste your time, its three hours of your life you will never get back (ie: horrible). Sunday my sister, my Mom and I went to Alex's bridal shower. It was gorgeous, with beautiful details such as wine cork placecards, lavender tulips, lavender napkins and chocolate brown and lavender favors! Below is a picture of me and my two childhood friends at the shower. (Em is due w/baby Olivia in June).

As far as Drew's rotations, the new-ness and interest that came with ob-gyn has already worn off. I think it was an exciting change from psychiatry, but it has already gotten very old for him and he is ready to move on to his next rotation. Unfortunately for him he has another week of ob followed by three weeks of gyn. This has made Drew realize how making his choice is kind of a double-edged sword. While he is sooo excited to know what he wants to do for the rest of his life, he is tortured going through the motions of experiencing other specialties. But I think it is good for him, I will remind him of these days years from now when he has had long days of surgery - and hopefully he will be glad his long exhausting days are filled with days of things that fascinate him, and not filled with things that he got bored of after two weeks.
On a random note - what is up with this Bachelor finale? Every time I watch it, it ends badly and I tell myself that I won't watch the next season - and sure enough I end up wasting two hours every week engulfed in yet another season. But I guess it does make me grateful that I've found the love of my life, and I have my fairytale.

Brief weekend update

Okay so hopefully this will come out in English? My first time around the website kept translating my words into Hindu. The weekend was pretty uneventful, but that was a good thing, a quiet weekend was needed. Drew and I both got a good workout in on Friday and then had a relaxing dinner followed by an evening on the couch. We called it an early night because we both had early mornings on Saturday. He had to head into the hospital and was on-call through Sunday morning. I got up early (for me on a Saturday morning) and headed to a 7:30 yoga class. Then I went into work for a few hours and had a lovely afternoon nap. I spent the evening cleaning up the apartment, running errands and crafting for Shannon's baby shower (I will post my crafty decor sometime next week or weekend). Today Drew and had a lazy day of church, more cleaning and dinner at Chili's. Oddly enough I ran into a friend of a friend from college at dinner (Flister) and he has been living in Springfield for the past few years getting his Phd.
Drew had a good weekend on call and got to see three c-sections and although there was a natural birth he pretty much missed it because it only took the woman one push! One push! Now that is how I want my labor to go too!
I got to catch up a little bit with my sister tonight and she told me about how my nephew Gaston is doing. He is 11 months old today but the little stinker isn't exactly sleeping through the night and he has NO teeth! But I guess in the last month he has just started scootching around. I say scootching around because he is too stubborn to crawl. Its not an army crawl because he is on his hands (not his elbows) but it is similar because he drags his legs in the back. Anyways my sister was telling me that they have had to baby proof the house and she sweeps and vacuums several times a day because he likes to eat every crumb or fuzzy on the floor. They had been worried about his fine motor skills but not any more - he manages to find and pick up the tiniest-most miniscule crumb or piece of dust and try and eat it. My favorite thing she told me is that he like to take off his socks and eat the the lint between his toes! They have to watch him closely because the little stinker will eat everything and anything he can find! Oh how I miss the little thing - and unfortunately I won't get to see him for another month. Luckily I will get to see my two other nephews this weekend! (Photo is Gaston at 9 and a half months).

I got reemed out today...

thank goodness it wasn't by anyone in my firm. So I got a call today and I didn't recognize the name but the conversation went something like this:
(We'll call the person Attorney Guy)
M: This is Marissa
AG: I'm calling about the objection to our motion for extension of time on the Smith brief
M: Yes
AG: I want to know why in your motion you made the statement that the government asks for multiple extension of time. I do appellate work an it is common practice to ask for extensions of time. Everyone asks for extensions of time.
M: Well that is just how we drafted our motion. Our firm does a lot of work with the government and it has been our experience that they ask for multiple extensions of time and we don't want to be dealing with five or six extensions of time.
AG: Well I am in appellate work and that is not the practice, no one in our office does that. You obviously know nothing about appellate work! What - you have only been an attorney a year?
M: Well I am sorry you feel that way, is there something I can actually help you with?
AG: Yes, yes there is! Do you have your motion in front of you?
M: No I do not.
AG: Well in your brief you state "In appellant's affidavit..." It should be appellee, YOU are the appellant. And it also refers to our reply brief. Don't you know that YOU file the reply brief?
M: I'm sorry that must have been a typo.
AG: No, a typo is when you hit the wrong key. You wrote the wrong thing. You obviously know nothing about appellate work. Ms. First Year Attorney! (At which point he hung up)

Needless to say I ticked the guy off! The stupid thing was it was a motion for an extension of time - I don't even understand why the guy is so freakin' upset? I didn't even say that he shouldn't get an extension of time, I simply stated that if the extension is granted it should be the only extension. And as far as the comment about the government asking for multiple extensions that is part of our standard response. And the fact that he is sooo ticked off proves the point that he was planning on asking for at least a second extension of time. The other funny thing is that if he is really so busy that he needs multiple extensions of time - why is he waisting his time looking up information about me in order to find out that I had only been practicing law a year? I doubt he would have had the balls to yell at someone his own age. But I have to laugh that little ol' me was able to make a grown man so angry without even trying! What a silly little man!

As far as my medical student - he had a more eventful day yesterday. He got to help with a delivery. With some instruction, he got to be the one who caught the newborn baby! I guess the Mother was very calm and did very well through the whole labor and delivery. Drew said it was a very neat experience - but he made the point to say he is very glad he is a man. Then today he got to circumcise a new baby boy. Drew said he felt bad doing it, but that surprisingly the baby wasn't that bothered by it. I asked lots of questions about both experiences, but I will spare you all the details because I don't want to gross anyone out!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I was totally disoriented

this morning when the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. this morning. My first thought was where am I? My second thought was that it was my alarm. But then I was filled with (a guilty sense of) relief when I realized it was Drew's alarm and I still had plenty of time sleep in my warm cozy bed. It has been over two months since Drew has been on an early schedule. In December he had a 9-5 schedule for "doctoring" and the last six weeks of January and February he has had something similar with psychiatry. I have enjoyed these mornings with him. It has been wonderful to have him gently wake me up each morning, and kindly remind me that I cannot lay in bed all day. I tend to have time management issues so naturally I am slow to get out of bed. Most mornings I would call him by his pet name and ask him to come and snuggle me. He always sweetly obliged and crawled into bed with me. We shared some quiet chats before he would remind me that I had to get out of bed in order to get ready for work. Our time together in the mornings really made a great start to my day. Now that he is back to early mornings I realize how much I really enjoyed these extra moments with him each day. Although I am sure he enjoyed spending time with me, I know he is not disappointed to be getting up early. In fact last night he was excited, yes excited, that he would be back to early mornings. I suppose it is a good thing that he likes to rise early. I guess that's the surgeon in him.

Today Drew started his first three weeks of obstetrics for his ob-gyn clerkship rotation. Unfortunately, I don't have much to share because today was pretty uneventful. The patient he was assigned did not give birth during the day and another student is on-call for the evening. Hopefully this week will be more eventful with tales of new life and little blessings.

For your amusement . . .

Before:
During:
After:
Part of my Valentine's day gift was that Drew shaved his beard (early). He was planning on keeping it through March. And although he can pull it off I much prefer his cleanly shaven face to his bearded face. The middle picture is his "supertrooper" stache.
Yesterday was a wonderful Valentines day. We exchanged gifts in the morning and then spent the afternoon and evening in Bloomington with Drew's parents and Grandma. Because we are on a budget Drew and I set a five dollar limit on Valentines day. Drew got a card, a very small box of chocolates, a few suckers and some skittles from me. He got me a singing card (he is a sucker for those - loves them) and then filled my card with various coupons - breakfast in bed, backrub, my favorite dinner, etc - all of which I think are much better than any box of chocolates! I was quite impressed with his creativity.

Not much new to report - but I suppose sometimes that is a good thing. I am finally getting back into a routine again - its about time, I can hardly believe it is mid-February!
Tomorrow is Drew's last day in psychiatry - he isn't exactly disappointed. Next week will start his seek week rotation in ob-gyn (he will have three weeks of each). Although he is excited to get back to "doing" rather than "talking" I will miss having him around. Ob-gyn is much more time intense (no days off by noon, and most mornings will be early.)
On a side note I was parked on my way to Route 55 my way home for about 20 minutes - I was irritated that they were closing all routes in and out of town when I suddenly saw the president's motorcade (I probably spelled that wrong) of about 20 or 30 police cars and ambulances. Much to my relief traffic was opened up once he passed through. I had mistakenly thought he was already in town and was afraid they were closing off all roads until he left town.

Married to McDreamy?

If you don't watch Grey's Anatomy, that is the nickname for the neurosurgeon played by Patrick Dempsey. So I guess this is my very unofficial, unpublic announcement that Drew has chosen his specialty. We are very excited, but Drew still has trouble saying it outloud and personally I am still wrapping my head around it. I've known it was his first choice for a while, but we have kind of been waiting to make the official decision. The reason why it is such a big deal is because it means that we will most likely be saying goodbye to Springfield as long as (God willing) Drew gets accepted into a neurosurgery residency program. This is because SIU (Springfield) does not have a neurosurgery program.

I've only been at my job for nine months now, but the thought of leaving there makes me sad. And I feel guilty admitting Drew's selection because it is far too premature to say anything to them. Afterall the residency process does not officially begin until August; we will not know where we are going until March of 2009 and we will not actually be moving until the end of May 2009. So you can see my dilemma because it serves no purpose to tell them yet, but at the same I want to share the news.

The reason why we are ready to admit this big decision is because Drew has started his applications for sub-Internships (sub-Is). These are basically 4-week "away" rotations that he will do this fall or sometime in his fourth year. So right now Drew is in the process of filling out applications to do neurosurgery sub-I's at Northwestern, University of Chicago, Rush and University of Illinois - Peoria. The hope is that if you do sub-I's with a hospital, and make a good impression it will increase your chances of getting a residency there. As of now our hope is to end up in Chicago, but we will also be looking at programs throughout the midwest and possibly in Florida. And as a backup Drew will probably apply for the general surgery program in Springfield. There is a lot more info as far as what all this means now that he has decided, but I think I've covered enough for tonight!

Can you believe it - Drew is gonna be (God willing) a brain surgeon!?