apparently I died for awhile

Not like in a coma, obviously, but in a vortex of chaos combined workpatientsplanningweddingthrowinghoneymoonhaving mass effect chaos.  BUT, I am on the other side.  The blissfully amazing, clear minded side of things where I sometimes can't fall asleep because I am thinking of all the crafting I can catch up on now, and all the books I can leisurely read on the couch wrapped in blankets and puppies.  I spent a whole weekend doing ANYTHING I WANTED.  Which is amazing.  I was thinking, hey, it's been like 2 1/2 years since I have turned my brain off from near constant stress, look at me!!! But then I was looking back at some blog posts and I realized, dear lord it has been much longer then 2 1/2 years.  Pre reqs? O Chem? GRE? Applications and interviews and moving?  It has been a miiiinute.

So, I apologize for all you faithful readers out there who I am sure have been hanging on the edge of your proverbial seats.  This has been my longest hiatus yet from bloglandia. I have got quite a lot to catch you up on, and though I am tempted to back date so that in the future everything lines up nicely.....well actually, writing that sentence out loud really appealed to my overly matured sense of order so I probably will do just that.  Keep your eye out, I shall be back soon.

dwindling

Well folks, my time of endless vacation and relaxation is rapidly coming to a close.  It's been unbelievably wonderful to have this time off, and as was expected, it went by far too fast.  In general I am not very good at relaxing, or not having a schedule to keep to, but these past six weeks have been different.

I'm learning to appreciate the expanse of a day stretching before you with no responsibilities.  I've been pushing myself to explore more, and do more of the things that I have missed in the past two years.  I've been on my bike every day, which is one of my favorite places to be.  I've taken myself on solo picnics to the prom, the cemetery, the beach(es)!  I've been connecting with friends both old and new, and almost none of our conversations related to medicine, or exams, or studying. I've caught up on mindless guilty pleasure television shows, listened to all the podcasts that I've missed, and watched movies with JP late into the night.  I've read three novels and started sewing again.  I thrifted, and wined, made homemade ice cream, and played both pool and ping pong.  We camped and grilled, boated and swam.  I've been realizing more and more just how much I love this beautiful city, and just how fortunate I am to have been brought right here.

And so, tomorrow morning I start on a brand new journey.  It's a daunting one, one that I have been dreaming of and preparing for and sharing about for a very long time.  A big part of me is scared (and pessimistic, and doubtful, and feeling small), but another big part of me is excited. I know I will stumble a lot, and I know it will be difficult, but I think I am finally ready for the next step.  It's sure gonna be a big one!

oh baby girl!

Almost impossible for me to wrap my brain around, but my extraordinarily strong, smart, talented, amazing best friend brought a most beautiful life into this world this past weekend!!  I hovered by the phone trying not to text or call too much while she labored for over 40 hours!  See what I mean about extraordinarily strong?!  I am so proud of her, and so excited for their new little family!

I've left explicit instructions with your parents to not let you grow too much in the next month.  I can't wait to meet you Layla Grace!

moving day!

In my real life, I always forget the parts of moving that I don't enjoy.  Given enough time since my last move, I can just repress all those memories of muscle aches, and heavy boxes, and unwieldy objects stuck in awkward twisty staircases.

I always think about how much I just love moving!  I love the excitement of change, the new possibilities, the fresh start.  I love the unpacking and reorganizing, all the newness of everything!

Not so much the grunt work, the heat, and worst of all the dreaded cleaning.  Blech. I probably write the same blog post every time I move, so I shall spare you the details.  You all know exactly what sucks and elevates during moving!

I will say though, that we have sworn off third floor apartments in buildings that don't have an elevator.  I literally lost five pounds over the weekend we moved, which I attribute solely to the ridiculous amount of stairs I climbed.

We are settling nicely into our first floor digs, especially the pups who now have full access to viewing the outside world at dog-head heights, and our legs are thanking us silently every day.

Here's a couple more shots of our new place, we've got plenty of room for visitors! 

And a bonus sneak peek at some wedding bunting I've been busy sewing!

a camping we will go

Turns out, I've made some incredible friends in the past two years.  Sometimes it takes a little breathing room away from the stress to realize it, but man I've met some great folks!  A few weekends ago JP and I went on a hiking camping adventure on Tumbledown Mountain with six friends, three of whom slogged through school with me and three of whom slogged through the slogging by their sides.  It was perfect timing, just a day or so after we had all officially passed our boards, and we all were just itching for some time in the great outdoors, relaxation, exercise and good company.

Our campsite overlooking this lovely lake.  Some of us braved the cold water and went swimming.  It was so cold, but so refreshing after the climb.  Have I told you lately how much I love swimming?

The men folk went fly fishing (successfully!), whilst the women folk horsed around and generally enjoyed the relief of being on real life vacation for the first time in two years.

A friendly Americorps worker camped near us and made sure no one built a bonfire.  We made due with a camp stove, even roasting smores over the tiny flames.

Oliver came with us, and had exhausted himself through and through by the time we reached the top.  He likes to run back and forth on the trail, and probably hiked about five times what we did.  Unfortunately his paws were so unaccustomed to the rough terrain that he tore up his pads and was limping by the next morning.  We took turns carrying him down the mountain when we got more level ground.  Poor little excited boy!  Don't worry though, he has since recovered completely and is probably just ready and waiting for the next adventure, painful memories erased. 

so much to know!

I was at Zumba class tonight when I heard a song that I thought sounded familiar.  Then I realized I had never actually heard the original version of the song, only the parody that a PA class at Emory posted on youtube.  I was laughing too hard to even dance to the song.  Oh the memories. SO, here it is in all its glory.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did back when I was a baby PA student desperately searching the interwebs for an idea of what school would actually be like.

many ends and a begining

Before the summer sun and ocean and bicycles all sweep me away, I wanted to tell you about graduation!  Hoy howdy.  The end of it all turned out to be a ridiculous whirlwind, and afterwards it was hard to really let the reality sink in!  So really, the story of graduation is a graded thing starting with the end of exams and classes, then the arrival of my family, then the hooding ceremony where we received our master's degree hoods (still not reeeaally sure what that all means), the celebrations, the death by board exam study week, and the end of the board exam itself.  I felt more relief walking out of that exam one week ago then I have in a long, long while.  It was like the whole experience was finally coming to an end.

The two girls pictured with me above were my rocks for the past two years.  They pulled me through, they broke down next to me (at separate times of course, really we kind of orchestrated our individual breakdowns brilliantly with no overlaps as you might expect three type A's to do), encouraged me, pushed me, believed in me, and dragged me at times to the very end.  Amazingly brilliant women who don't know how talented and incredible they are, and who will absolutely shine in their new careers with patients who will be so fortunate to be cared for by them.  I'd put my favorite people in their hands and rest soundly.

But I digress, and the story brings me to today.  At 8:12 I received an all shouty caps text message to WAKE UP, WAKE UP, BOARDS ARE POSTED, followed by two phone calls, at the end of which I finally popped my eyes open.  I scrambled to find my computer, and gripped JP's hand with everything in me while I waited for the national website to load as we all crashed it with our simultaneous logins.

I am so, so proud to let you know that I passed my boards, and am officially a Certified Physician Assistant.  I couldn't be more overwhelmed with excitement and disbelief and a million other emotions that are hard to define   There were many times in these past two years that I really didn't think I would make it, but I am here today and it feels absolutely amazing.

And I suppose this would be a great lead in to tell you that I will be starting my first position on July 7th in a small rural Family Medicine position just 20 minutes from Portland working primarily with Pediatrics and Geriatrics.  I am beyond excited, and a little bit terrified.  It's exactly what I was looking for, and with the competition out here it's almost unbelievable that I landed it.  I'm gonna try my hand at believing in myself, trusting that I am where I need to be, and knowing that I've got a lot of knowledge in this brain of mine.

In the words of my dad "my heart is so full it's leaking out my eyes".  

Thank you for all the love and support, cheers!