I said YES!

I wasn’t sure I would survive the final drag down week of school before spring break, but on a rainy, windy Tuesday night my best friend got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!  I may have blacked out what he actually said, then cried and squealed and hugged him for so long he had to peel me off of him to put the ring on my finger, but in the end we were officially engaged!!  I’ve basically been on a cloud of smiles since then, which helped propel me through the long lectures and right into spring break.  We kept it a secret from his family and surprised them with the news when we got to Louisiana.  It was incredibly exciting to share the news with my family over the phone, and quite special to share it in person with his.  I feel so surrounded by love and support, and I am overwhelmed with excitement for this next step together!  He is my constantly supportive, nerdy joke telling, shoulder to cry on, kitchen dance partner, teenage mutant, computer fixing, fast scooting, card playing, puppy loving, whiskey drinking, scallop searing, creative, intelligent, ridiculous best friend extraordinaire, and I GET TO MARRY HIM!  What luck! 

Oliver cleaned up in style to help with the big proposal! 

In the hubub of vacation and celebration I somehow didn't take many pictures, but rest assured that family, sun, and crawfish were exactly what we needed for a little recharge before my final six weeks of didactic year.

ski bums for a day

We went skiing!  It’s kind of my secret and now I suppose public shame that I lived in Colorado for two whole years and never went skiing.  So lame!  I think I was just buried forever in a pile of crap-to-do, plus it was all kinds of expensive and yadda yadda, two years later I still hadn’t gone!  So it might be kind of sad that when we finally headed out for some mountain time, we went to the little baby slope of Shawnee Peak about an hour outside of Portland, but it was great!!

I think skiing in the Rockies always kind of terrified me a little, like my skills might turn out to not actually be “skills” per se when I was faced with a run that took an hour to get down.  Shawnee Peak was the perfect place to get back in the skiing saddle.  In fact, it was also the perfect place for JP who had never skied before.  (Side note, which I didn’t realized until my brother’s girlfriend mentioned it to me like weeks after, but technically JP’s first real time skiing was during that big ol’ snow storm after drinking whiskey and playing pinochle late into the night.  We slapped some cross country skis on JP and essentially pushed him down State Street.  HAHA, which is especially funny now that I realize that that was in fact his first introduction to skiing of any kind.  You can see blurry photographic evidence here.)

So, back to JP’s second first time skiing.  He had a lesson with a former Olympic skier, who even stayed after to take him down the Rabbit Run (a little steeper and longer than the bunny hill of course) a few times after his lesson ended.  

 And JP did great!  He pizza-d and french fry-d and pizza-d again!  My all-time favorite part of the whole day was watching him on the last run, coming down the pretty steep hill doing a sort of balancing dance move every time he switched back across the mountain.  It was absolutely hilarious and perfect.  When he got to the bottom he even asked “did you see my moves out there?!”  I did, I definitely did.   

The day was just so much fun, I had forgotten how great it is to be out in the snow enjoying the season! And mom, check out that buff keeping  my neck warm, what would I do without it?!

morning coffee

I’m doing something today that I just realized I haven’t done in a loooong while: sitting and drinking a fresh cup of coffee.  That’s it.  I mean, I’m not running to the car spilling half of it on my hand, or refilling in between lectures, I’m just sitting at my kitchen table thinking and drinking.  It’s funny how busy life becomes.  I spend every other weekend on campus for the bulk of both Saturday and Sunday while I prep for exams, and the ones in between I always have stuff to type for the next module, or pages upon pages of textbook to read, so I spend most of those sitting at either my desk or the table with breaks for errands and dog walks.  We are in a weird limbo time in school right now, and thus I have time to sleep in a little, and have a relaxing cup of coffee.  We finished a big section on Monday (really, they are kind of arbitrary and not really sections at all, it’s more just the title of the class, BUT technically we finished a class) and for the first time that I can even remember since starting way back in May, we have a month until our next exams!  To be honest, it’s really just a weird coincidence I think because spring break falls in the middle, and we are mashing two modules together in a muddled up pile (I’m sure you can guess how much I love when things aren’t in their separate little boxes!),  but whatever the reason, it is a really, really nice little breather.  I think I always underestimate the pressure of looming exams and deadlines.  I talk to my mom early on Saturday mornings when I am driving to campus to study and she always says “Where did you get your discipline, cause I know it isn’t from me!”, and I tell her that fear is quite a powerful motivator!  I’m joking, but it’s true, and I think that is one of the things that is difficult about being a PA student.  There is a big balancing act that goes on all the time between learning  as much as you can for  the long term, but also knowing that you need to tailor a lot of that towards passing a particular exam.  It’s pretty devastating to feel confident in the material, and knowledgeable enough that you aren’t terrified at the thought of seeing actual patients with the diseases you just studied, but then fail the exam because it focused a lot on tiny aspects that you had minimized when you were triaging information.  Luckily, that doesn’t happen often, and all that is to say that it is quite freeing to have some time to just learn and read without a close exam to make you push yourself too hard!  Which brings me to spring break.  In less than two weeks we are going to New Orleans to visit JP’s family and soak up some warmer weather and sun!  I am really excited to hang out with family and friends, eat amazing Cajun food and RELAX!  It is perfectly timed to correlate with maximum burn out from school, and I think it will be rejuvenating.  Nothing better than a pause to see just how close you are to the next big step, and to gather energy for a last big push!  Unfortunately I feel like I am in a free for all slide to the end and my mind wanders to mid May and day dreaming about our ten day break before clinicals start.  But, one day at a time.  When May 20^th finally rolls around, I know I am going to be shaking in my business casual shoes, wishing I could just go sit anonymously in the back of a classroom instead of being in front of real people in my short white coat.   Such is life!

the storm

 Well, the storm came and went, and it was glorious. 

 

We got dumped on, 32 inches of fluffy light white snow, and it was so beautiful!  

  

JP finally got to see how winter storms can be about community and helping each other bail cars out, 

waving to the only other person that you see braving the outside on a long walk, jumping into snow banks of freshly fallen snow, 

 

and of course how wonderful it can be to come back inside and warm up cozy to watch the wind whip the snow into even bigger drifts outside. 

 

It was just the weekend that we needed, no real responsibility to the outside world, an excuse to hunker down and hang with the pups.  

And on Sunday it was sunny and we got to tromp in the woods with Oboe, who was more than content to blaze his own snow trail.

snow day

We've got quite the storm coming.  Actually, it's already started and we've got maybe three inches of snow piling up, expecting to get three feet in the next day or so.  Even though it sometimes sucks, like when you have to find a place off the roads to park your car during the parking ban, or having the student leadership summit cancelled, or dealing with other drivers tearing all around like maniacs, it is still SO beautiful and peaceful when it snows!

I took Oboe to the park across the street and scanned around for other signs of life.  I didn't see anyone else, not even any recent foot prints so I let him off the leash and he tore all around like the happiest little kid you've ever seen.  He was in absolute heaven. If there is one thing that boy loves more than the ocean it is snow for sure. For the rest of this unexpected day off I plan to read and learn more about endocrinology, sip on coffee and watch the snow from the window.  Glorious.

weekend in Vermont

For the first two weeks back I was kind of pretending that I was still on vacation... which is okay because one of my new year's resolutions was to not be such a giantanxietyball this semester!  So far I have been doing well, but with my first exams coming up on Tuesday I guess we shall see if that approach is actually working.  Here's hoping I have learned how to be productive in new ways!  In any case, during my pseudo vacation time I spent a weekend in Vermont visiting Emily.  I think it is particularly telling that I didn't even bring one single textbook with me!!  If you are not impressed by that statement that perhaps I should tell you that I have brought one with me on every single trip I have taken with Em, INCLUDING our trip to Japan, so it was kind of a landmark for me!

Obie and I loaded up into the car friday afternoon after class and headed to Brattleboro with wine and chocolate and cheese in the backseat.  What's a vacation without those three ingredients really?

On Saturday we went out for a nearby hike and found a place to go ice skating.  It was a little bit cold, but sunny for the most part and we kept ourselves warm by moving fast, Oliver especially.  It was his first time on ice, and he kept exuberantly running after us and then sliding to grasp the ice and turn when we turned quickly.  It was hilarious, Emily even made him dance with her..

On Sunday before I left we made Joe's dream breakfast come to life:  breakfast nachos?!  Ohh my word they were so tasty.  Probably just another not so sneaky excuse to eat chips smothered with everything that I love, but with the addition of eggs to make it seem more morning-ly.  I highly suggest giving them a try, you won't regret it! I mean, how could you?

It was such a lovely weekend.  I feel like I haven't had much sister time lately, certainly not enough with just the two of us for any measurable amount of time, AND IT WAS GREAT.  Much needed, and much appreciated.  We just got to talk and laugh, cook and listen to music, watch movies, be outside, giggle about ridiculous things and reminisce.   As it should be! 

christmas come and gone

I can hardly believe my break is coming to an end.  Not in a bad way, it both feels as though I have been on vacation for months and just a few seconds, it's just crazy how time moves differently during different events.  First off my (28th!) birthday was such a great celebration with family.  I always feel so surrounded with love on my birthday, which I attribute to the day falling so close to Christmas...I get the joy of seeing my entire family all together almost every year, and everyone goes an extra mile to make me feel special during such a hectic time so I don't feel overshadowed.  It was just a nice day, we ate at Pei Men Miyake (one of our favorite places in Portland) for lunch with Joe and Emily, and made it out to the cabin for a homemade dinner of seafood piaya and presents with the whole family.  JP surprised me with a giant birthday cake from the gluten free bakery in town which was delicious!

Our humble home for the holidays

 We spent our time at the cabin tromping around in the outdoors, making food and playing games.  We got out for a few hikes before the dump of snow obscured the trails.  In fact the snow even extended Micah's stay unexpectedly! We went to the beach and to a lighthouse, found lots of ice to stomp/crush/throw rocks at/bowl on, rediscovered cat tails and the joys of destroying them, and just generally enjoyed the beauty of being outdoors during such a cozy season.

 And of course the beauty of being indoors during such a cozy season wasn't lost on us either

 

 

Sometimes gathering seven people in one house, six of whom are related, can be a bit stressful, but it didn't seem to be!  There was enough space to spread out, and I think having everyone on neutral ground gave the whole gathering a different sort of tone.  I had such a great hang!  It was also quite nice to have the pups with us for the holidays, something that isn't always feasible.  Overall I had a really, really great vacation.  I feel renewed, exercised and well slept for the first time in a long time!  My school went easy on us for this first week back, so we've got a pretty light schedule for the next couple of days.  I am planning on a little trip with Obie to Vermont to see Em next weekend, so I am going to just pretend I've got a little vacation extension of my own.  Happy New Year!