Thanksgiving

Well Tim and I did it. We managed to make our very first Thanksgiving Turkey together without incident. Despite being miles away from the majority of family and friends it was still a nice day. There's no one else I'd rather have spent the day with yesterday. We didn't do a heck of a lot: played a board game (in which Tim beat my butt), prepped the food, watched a couple movies, etc. Just a nice relaxing day for the two of us. But the food came out perfectly, considering we've never done it ourselves before and we were working with pretty limited space. I was worried as dinner got closer that we'd have to have cold side dishes or cold turkey because there just wasn't enough room in the oven to bake everything at once. But somehow it all worked out and we had a fabulous dinner (with tons of leftovers).

I'm looking forward to being home in ~20 days. We fly back the 21st, then dress shopping in Racine with my mom, my cousin, and my sis2b on the 22nd. We'll be in Wausau for Christmas, and then back to Racine on the 27th to finish out our stay with Tim's family. I'm really excited to get to see everyone. I can't believe I've lived out here almost 7 months already! I fear I'll have a hard time saying goodbye and getting on the plane back to PDX. We'll make it though - halfway through!

White Friday

I know a lot of people who participate in the shopping frenzy on Black Friday. Heck, I used to be one of them. Up by 3 or 4 in the morning, shopping through the day until we finally divided the stash later that evening at one of my aunt's or my grandma's house. It was a great excuse to spend the day with my aunts and cousins shopping for Christmas presents.

In the past few years (last year excluded as I had just come back from Belize) I've been partaking in a different tradition. A clerk at the grocery store the other evening had the perfect name for it: White Friday. See instead of waking at the crack of dawn to wait outside in the snow and cold, I wake up, head to my kitchen and fire up the oven. I spend the day doing what I love to do: baking. I bake numerous different kinds of cookies and candies in preparation for Christmas. Most of these are treats I only make this one time of year, so they really are special.

This year the baking is going slower, and I'm not enjoying myself quiet as much. I'm thousands of miles from home and missing my baking buddies. I also miss the space that having a house affords. Apartments weren't designed for the magnitude of baking that I do. Regardless I've already made the peanut butter cookies and the peppermint swirls. Now I'm just waiting for the peanut clusters to firm up before I move on to a Christmas favorite: Christmas Testicles (they won't be the same without you Laura).

Holiday Cookies

I think it's apparent that I love baking. I could bake all day, every day. In fact, my friend and I have talked about opening a bakery someday and I'd love to see that dream come true. I think with enough hard work and savings it could happen. We've thought of all sort of names and concepts for the place, we just need the time and money to make it happen. Short of opening a bakery, I make sure to take time at least once a week to bake something and when I saw my emails start coming in with my daily holiday cookie recipes I knew I'd be busy.

So the first cookie I decided to attempt this year is a chocolate chip meringue cookie. I've always been mildly afraid of making a meringue cookie because they seem so easy to mess up. But the simple ingredients in this recipe made me want to try it. So last night, to the sounds of Grey's Anatomy, I heated up the oven and started cracking eggs. Despite their delicate look, these delicious morsels were quite easy to make and I'm excited to try them again. I think they'd be wonderful with peppermint extract instead of almond to give them a little bit of a holiday feel.

Check them out and give them a try. I promise you won't be disappointed.

"Fall" cut-out cookies

With the air getting cooler, the leaves changing colors and the rain starting (stupid rain) I'm in a spectacular baking mood. This had led to numerous consecutive days of baking. Sunday night Tim helped me and we made cut-out sugar cookies. I tried a new recipe (the one from Crisco) and have to say I was mightily disappointed. The dough was too sticky and the cookies didn't keep their shape as they baked. So now we've got these oddly shaped things. To top things off, we were out of powdered sugar (which has since been remedied by my fiance) so these are naked (read no frosting) cookies. Not sure what kind of frosting I want to make for them though - if any. I'm considering leaving them as they are and making a better batch (read recipe from Williams Sonoma) this weekend.

On the topic of this weekend it just so happens to be a certain someone's birthday! I've got a cake planned for Friday/Saturday. I'm still waiting on the materials to make the birthday present. And I'm not sure what we plan to do this weekend... I'm hoping the weather might stay a bit decent so we could hit up a pumpkin/apple farm on Sunday. I just bought a new pie plate and I'm itching to be able to use it. Which reminds me, I need to check with Katy to see if she's still got that amazing pie crust recipe (why yes, I make them from scratch).

Anyhoo, back to the grind. I can't believe it's only 9:30am, feels like it should be 4 or 5pm. Darn long days!

Fall baking

So I found the elusive canned pumpkin in the grocery store yesterday so I had to take advantage and bake something delicious with it. I've wanted to try pumpkin cookies for over a year now, and I had a few recipes to play with. I went with one I found on Allrecipes.com that had great reviews. I didn't change anything in the recipe and I'm glad I didn't. I just wish I would have had powdered sugar so I could have made homemade glaze and/or cream cheese frosting. As my friend The Pink Spatula always says: homemade frosting is worth the extra effort!

Updates

I know there are some people, namely my parents, who don't use facebook (and this is by no means a call for those people to start using it). In that regard I decided it would be worth while to post pictures of our new living room on the blog as well.

The other great update besides the couch I am currently sitting on? Tim will be here in a matter of days! That's right ladies and gentlemen: no longer am I counting down the weeks, I am currently counting down the days and prematurely counting down the hours, minutes and seconds. I am so excited for him to finally get here and LIVE here! It's been a rough 2 months and we've had our extreme highs and lows (more lows than highs...) but we're finally at the end. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tim defends his thesis tomorrow at 1pm Central Time. So everyone keep him in your thoughts. I know he'll do an amazing job. I'll be waiting for Master Carlson to call me with the good news! Then he'll get on the road to Eau Claire to pick up Josie's better half and finally embark on the Oregon Trail (you knew it was coming eventually). He and Dan should be here sometime on Friday. I can hardly wait.

I'm pretty sure this is shaping up to be the longest week of my life.

On the plus side: I get Thursday and Friday off this week. While that sounds amazing, it came at a price: I offered up my services on Saturday to go into the office and help finish the finalist presentation for a major RFP we've been working on. Since I've had some experience in the business, I was an obvious choice to help out. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a 2-3 hour gig turned into a 12+ hour ordeal. I got into work at 2pm on Saturday and didn't get home until 2:30am Sunday. Despite the long hours and insane amount of work I did have a lot of fun! By 11pm I was rolling around on the floor laughing because I was so overtired. Jeff, the tech manager, and I spent a good hour comparing the pronunciation of various cities from our home states. We also worked on Jeff's pronunciation of Wis-con-sin (instead of Wis-cawn-sin). He made quite a bit of progress. Although he did scoff at Rib "Mountain"... All in all it wasn't the worst way to spend a Saturday evening. And the presentation went very well, so let's hope we get this one so all of our work was not in vain.

So now that I'm a shoe-in for resident of the year, it's time to crack out one more class review (YAY TKIs) and figure out where the heck we stand on Plavix as I head into Prior Authorization land. Good times, good times.

This little lady is gonna hit the hay and get some shut eye because 6am comes way too early these days.

G'night!

Heading to the Weekend

Well another week of work has come and gone. Which is fine by me. The weekends get to be an issue too though. Without much to do I tend to get lazy and bored. I love getting together with people and hanging out anytime, but I'd rather do things with Tim. And he's not here. I keep thinking about all the stuff we can do on a regular basis. Happy hour downtown. Saturday markets. Trips to the coast, Mt. Hood, Multnomah Falls. The list goes on and on. I don't want to do any of it without him. I need to just curl into a ball and sleep until he gets out here - which I hope is soon.

I've lost motivation for the day. Brain shut off about an hour ago, so I feel pretty useless right now. I need to get out of here, head home and recharge. I think this calls for a "real" meal tonight. I want to actually cook. Usually I'm a huge fan of home-cooked meals, but lately the effort just doesn't seem worth it. Especially without anyone to share it with. Sure, I could invite people over - but I have no furniture. After dinner, what will we do? So that's out of the question until the couch gets here. Another thing that I hope arrives soon. I'm ridiculously excited about the furniture! I've never really owned anything before and now I own a car, and a bed, and some dressers, AND a couch, chair, ottoman and 3 tables! It's crazy! It's like this small step towards adulthood.

Here's to many more steps to come! Which reminds me, I should find a liquor store soon...

Panic

Living along in a new city is starting to take its toll on me. I miss people so much. I miss having a normal routine. I miss having things to do at night when I get home that don't include "homework" or nothing. It's been 4 weeks/5 weeks and I thought/hoped things would get better and this feeling would wear off. I expected it when the moving truck got here. Then again when Tim visited and we bought furniture. But each time it wears off and I'm back to where I started, or worse.

Any one out there know of any thing to make this better? I don't even know if there's any one that actually reads this blog. Maybe I'm just writing to myself.

A Place to Sit

This past weekend was one of the best I've had since I got here. And that's because Tim was here. After some annoying and frustrating plane issues, I picked him up at the airport around 2pm and we headed to Beaverton so I could take my MPJE for Oregon. After that it was time for errands and the like since we had a car and I had a strong man to carry things. Dinner was at Ken's Artisan Pizza on SE 28th. We got the one with pancetta and it was delicious. Only problem - we were so hungry that it didn't last long. So a quick walk later and 15 minutes in line lead to a Voodoo Dozen! After catching the MAX back home we collapsed on the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Saturday morning was furniture shopping. We'd checked some of it out the night before at Ashley Home Furniture and made some initial decisions. So now we've got a couch, chair, ottoman, and set of 3 tables on the way in 2-6 weeks. We got the chair and ottoman in sage green (they're mine) and the sofa in a deep brown (more Tim's). So comfy! I can't wait for them to get here. The rest of Saturday we explored the markets and the waterfront. Hit up the Brewfest for a bit. And had dinner at a sushi-go-around where we randomly ran into Sara! What are the chances???

Sunday was all about getting the apartment in shape, running to Target and Winco for organizers and groceries. I made turkey burgers and sweet potato fries for dinner and we watched most of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (but don't spoil the ending because we didn't finish it!).

Then came the worst part of the weekend - getting on the train and taking Tim to the airport. Extremely hard moment(s). Thankfully I've only got a few more weeks to wait until he's here.

Monday was tough and just writing this is even difficult, but I'm making it one day at a time.

Coasting

I know it's been a few days since I posted, but I've been busy with residency work swinging into gear and studying for my Oregon MPJE (not looking forward to that). Days are pretty routine: wake up, shower, breakfast, catch the train, get to work, work, work, work, leave, catch the train home, dinner, errands, studying. Mundane I know - I need to work on spicing it up a little.

This past weekend was extremely fun though. I went with some residents from Vancouver and from OHSU to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast. It was a pretty nice day out on the beach (at least when the sun was out). The views are gorgeous. We spent the day relaxing, drinking a few beers, and just having a good time exploring. Dinner was pretty good too - the clam chowder at Mo's is definitely worth checking out. At the end of the day I was exhausted though. We didn't really do that much either... I did manage to get sunburnt though - only on my shins - thanks to my inability to apply sunscreen properly.

I'm still working on getting the apartment squared away as far as unpacking goes. Need to take a trip to get some organization items to finish that up though. Maybe once I get my zipcard so I actually have a vehicle I can use that will get done.

On other notes I get paid on Friday which is super exciting. Also I'm looking into orthodontists in the area to finally fix this messed up mouth of mine (keep your comments to yourself). I also could use a massage, a pedicure, etc. Maybe in the next weeks here.

On a super exciting note: Tim is coming to visit next weekend! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. This is seriously the longest we've ever been apart and it's only been 3 weeks now. I miss him terribly though so I'm so glad he can come out and visit, even if only for a weekend. Then after that it'll only be ~4 weeks until he moves out here for good!

Well - back to the grind of reading RCTs, if only researchers knew how to do these right...

Touring Portland

My first real weekend in Portland went from potential depressing loneliness to a grand tour of the best spots on a Saturday:

1) Met up with Sara at the Farmer's Market @ PSU - Think Madison Farmer's Market but bigger with live music, wine tasting, and crepes!

2) After a good cup of coffee and a few rounds of the Farmer's Market we headed to the waterfront for the Portland Saturday Market. I expected things to be cool, but this was amazing. The whole thing reminds me of an enormous arts festival, except this happens every weekend! Lots of browsing later (oh how I wish I had more money!) and we were on our way to...

3) The Rose Gardens. Gorgeous flowers galore. There are hundreds of different types of roses and I think Sara and I may have stopped and smelled almost every one of them. We took tons of pictures too! Check 'em out!

4) After the rose garden we walked down a cute little path to NW 23rd and did some window shopping at the cute stores down there. We also had lunch at Rose's which is a quaint little soup/salad/sandwich diner that had fabulous looking desserts. We didn't have room for those, but maybe next time.

5) Next we met up with Sara's friends who were in town and went over to the JVC house. While in the neighborhood we checked out a store that has adorable bags called Queen Bee I definitely have a bag or two in mind that I'd like.

6) The highlight of the evening was definitely checking out the Kennedy School. I think it's brilliant to turn and old elementary school into a hotel/bar/restaurant/meeting space/theatre. So cool. A must return to spot!

Another great part of the day was just hanging out with fun people, seeing new places, and learning more about public transit. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Today was a dull day spent in the apartment. Not much to do/no motivation. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Echo

After almost a full week without furniture or any of my other belongings I'm starting to get a bit edgy. My moving guru keeps assuring me that I'll know tomorrow; only in this case tomorrow is the answer every day I ask. I'm sick of sleeping on the air mattress and wearing the same clothes every day. I want more than one chair. I want to eat food that wasn't prepared in a microwave and served on a paper plate. Is that really so much to ask?

I start my residency tomorrow. I'm sure it'll mostly be a paperwork day, but it is the beginning. I'm super scared about making sure I get up and get in on time, especially with this commute. I've got the alarm set for 0530. I've got to lay out my clothes yet, and pack the necessary paperwork, etc. I haven't worn work clothes in over a month - this is going to be weird.

On the bright side I did get notice yesterday that I passed the NAPLEX. So now I've just got to wait for the Wisconsin DRL to mail out my license.

Well, back to being bored for me. Anyone wanna come visit?

PDX

Well here I am.

Friday night Tim and I left Madison with 2 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, and 2 kitties. After a frustrating 45 minutes waiting for Frontier to figure out what the heck they do with pets traveling in cargo we were on our way through security with 2 hours until departure. After a few pints at the Dane we took off from MSN to arrive about 30 minutes early in Denver. "Perfect" we thought. "Just enough time to grab a bite to eat before our connecting flight." WRONG. Apparently there was some sort of weather in DEN (one flight attendant said "microbursts" but I have no clue what that means) so the airport had closed, TWICE. Inevitably our flight was delayed about 1.5 hours. So we got some chinese and a milkshake and went to chill outside our gate. Once onboard the Airbus there was a minor freakout when the airline neglected to give us the boarding slips for Oliver and Bucky. Luckily a flight attendant was kind enough to call down and double check for us. As we took off we found out that we would be receiving free tv for the flight which was nice. I simply slept. Touching down in Portland, we claimed our bags and our kitties (best moment of the day) and ventured to pick up our ridiculous Kia Rio... power nothing but Sirius equipped... I hated that car. We got ourselves to a 24 hour Walgreens to grab the essentials for the night and trekked over to the apartment. Once their we "settled in" as best we could: no blankets, freezing apt, no pillows, you get the picture. We slept on the floor in the living room with towels and clothes as our pillows and jackets as our blankets. I kinda wish I had taken a picture.

Saturday morning we waited around for the Comcast guy so I could have internet. Then it was off to Target for a $400 shopping spree including an air mattress, sheet, towels, shower curtain, toiletries, a microwave and cleaning supplies. Thankfully we got to have a little fun over the weekend - we met up with Josh and went to check out the North American Organic Brewfest which was pretty sweet. Lots of people, good food, good music, and even better beer. Afterwards it was back to the apt and Winco for some grocery shopping.

Sunday was a rough day. Tim left around 8:30 for his flight back to Madison and I spent most of the day trying not to cry/ watching episodes of Bones. I also made a run over to Petco to get some things for the kitties. They are the proud owners of new collars and ID tags - they look so handsome!

Not sure what the plans will be for the week. Hoping the movers bring our stuff soon, but who knows. Start work on Friday!

Let's Cross Over

I'm moving to Portland on Friday.

The moving van will be here tomorrow to load up my things. Then Wednesday evening I will head to Madison to take my NAPLEX on Thursday. Friday night, with 2 cats, 2 carry-ons, one checked bag and Tim in tow, I'll be headed to the airport and the great state of Oregon.

I can't believe this is actually happening. I started this blog when I went to Belize as a way to keep in touch with my friends and family. I think I'm about to revive it for exactly the same purpose.

When I started looking at residencies I looked into places on the west coast because I felt like I needed a new set of scenery. Then as deadlines approached I looked into some residencies in the Midwest because I started to get scared about moving. Deadlines came and went and I only applied to 2 places: Seattle and Portland. Lo and behold, Portland it ended up being. It's a little surreal to see the living room full of boxes, my dressers empty and my world all packed away. I'm moving to Portland on Friday. For a whole year.

I hope many of you will write to me and keep in touch via facebook, email, this blog, phone calls, etc. Additionally we've got a spare bedroom so just let me know when you'd like to come for a visit!

I'll miss Wisconsin and everyone in it (hyperbole). I know I'll be back someday, I just don't know when. For now, wish my luck! I'm off to the pacific northwest in 4 days!

Picture Taking Improvements

I know it's been way too long since I've posted, but there haven't been a ton of new things going on, and I'm not evne sure who reads this anymore. Regardless, I thought I'd touch on a few things that deserve updates:

1. There are exactly 18 days standing between me and graduation. 18 days! I can hardly believe it. On that note, there are 10 "working" days until the end of this block. I've had a good time at the clinic, but with the nice weather and graduation approaching I'm finding it hard to pay attention and truly care anymore. To top things off I've got all my projects done. I'd be so nice to be able to stay home for the next 2 weeks and study for the boards, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Oh well.

2. Tim and I have been dating for 4 months now and loving every minute of it! I've also been better about taking pictures which is much appreciated by family and friends. Check out my pictures on Picasa to see more!

3. It's official - I'm moving to Portland, OR this summer. I got a Residency Position with RegenceRx which is part of Blue Cross Blue Schield out there. I'll be there for a year and I'm both excited and nervous beyond all belief! Tim's moving out with me - which is amazing (did I mention that he's amazing?) and we're actually taking a mini-vacation out there to look at apartments right after graduation. Moving across the country is a lot more work (read money) than I thought it would be. Just FYI. Hopefully we'll get it all figured out in time. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share - please!

Other than the above, things are chugging along as per usual. Now, back to rotation "work" - blah!

Hanging in there

It's officially week 4 of Block 5 and I cannot begin to express how happy I am to know it is halfway over! The rotation itself isn't horrible, I just can't do the hours. I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30pm last night. I just feel absolutely lousy about sleeping so much. It's lame and pathetic and I hate it. I don't ever recommend this to anyone who likes to have a social life because it will kill it.

Aside from the rotation things have been going fine. Went home to Wausau last weekend which was nice and relaxing. Took Tim with me, and from all accounts my parents approve. (I know they occasionally read this blog: feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). We didn't really do much in Wausau because it was so unbelievably cold, but it was a nice weekend regardless.

Hopefully I can keep hanging in there until Mar. 5 when this block is OVER! Until then it's back to projects, presentations, CIs, and interviews!

Tchao!

Delicious

So although I have failed yet again to get any pictures (I am so bad at that), we did have an excellent meal last night. Nice quiet table in the corner, good wine, great company (;-D), perfect food. I highly recommend Quivey's Grove to anyone who hasn't been there. The wait staff is always super pleasant and the food speaks for itself. I had a wild mushroom soup to start, followed by a Trio of Medallions (beef, lamb wellington, and pretzel-crusted pork) and finished with Steamed Chocolate Pudding covered in Anglaise and walnuts. Absolute heaven on a plate there. Tim had the braised short rib, Duck, Duck, Goose (with disgusting kraut - sorry babe), and finished with the Caramel Apple Bread Pudding (no where near as good as Miss Janice's...).

We went all out last night and dressed to the 9's. Tim wore a tie and waxed his already kickin' mustache (he's so ready for Puerto Rico). I put on a classy LBD and did my hair and makeup for what must have been the first time in weeks. It felt weird to be going out like that on a Tuesday, but it was nicely out of the ordinary.

This rotation is turning me into the lamest person on the planet one dreadful day after another. We came back to my apt last night with the intentions of watching a movie or something. I wasn't sure I'd make it all the way through (just got Coraline in the mail), so we stuck with HIMYM instead. I fell asleep maybe 20 min into the first episode. I'm not sure I can keep this up for the next 5 weeks. It's already taking a toll on my sleep, my attitude, etc. Hopefully this weekend is a nice reprieve.

Yummy, yummy, yummy

I am absolutely flabbergasted, potentially even appalled, at the vast number of people who live in Madison and have no idea what or when Restaurant Week is. If you happen to be one of those people, or if you're just plain curious: Go Stir Crazy!

I've always wanted to "attend" Restaurant Week but have never had time in my busy schedule. This year I am making up for that and going to two places. Tonight, it's Quivey's Grove with my boyfriend and Thursday Colin and I are checking out Fresco before Rent. I've been excited since Saturday for this week! Tim and I are making a true "date-night" out of it: dress, tie, the whole nine yards. Hopefully we can get some pictures...

On another note: I'm really looking forward to heading Home to Wausau this weekend. I miss my Maggie and I'm pretty excited to have Tim meet my family. The last few weekends we've been complete slugs and it's starting to get me down - so here's to a weekend full of fun and adventure, if I can get him out of bed in the morning...

Spoke too Soon

Looks like I may have spoke too soon about liking this rotation. The hours are killing me, and it's a slow and agonizing death. Only 6 more weeks, at least that's what I keep telling myself. The people are still great, but the unit's been pretty slow lately (knock on wood). With any luck we can find a steady but still leisurely pace...

I'm hoping to improve my ability to get stuff done... I feel like I've fallen far too deep into the pit of procrastination and it's time to climb back out. Anyone who can send a little motivation my way will be greatly rewarded.

Well, I guess I should get back to saving lives, or whatever it is I do around here... :-D

4am is sooooooo early!

I got the official word today: I'm to report to the surgery unit by 0530 tomorrow for rounds. I took a nap this afternoon in hopes it might help me. I also plan on being in bed by 2130 - even if I'm not asleep (I remember reading something about how even just being in bed with your eyes closed can provide a significant amount of rest).

I think this will be a good rotation despite the ridiculous hours (not complaining about being done at 1400 though, that part rocks). The pharmacists have been great, the surgical resident is awesome, and the nursing staff has been really nice too. I feel like I'm going to have a lot more autonomy on this rotation than I have on rotations in the past (Belize being the major exception. You don't get much more autonomy than that). The pharmacist doesn't report to the floor until 0700, so I'll be running the show myself until then. Plus I'm in charge of all of my own patients (surgery - orange team). To be honest, in my first full day there I think I saw more patients than I did in a week at my required hospital rotation. Here's to hoping I can make the most of this and learn something.

Aside from my life in UWHC, I haven't been up to too terribly much. Just purchased my plane ticket and reserved my hotel for my trip to Seattle in February. Working on finishing up my application to RegenceRx and sending that out hopefully tomorrow. Otherwise things have been going well and I'm enjoying being back in Madison full time.

Now if only I could figure out my plans for the evening....

Mostly for Alex

Since a certain someone who happens to be married to my sister has been complaining... cough, cough... I figured I should at least post something.

Had a great weekend in De Pere visiting Laura and Alex for Laura's birthday. It has been way too long since we've all been together. Hopefully we can fix that and plans are in the works for another De Pere reunion in March.

Still working on re-organizing my room/self/life for the next 8 weeks. Waking at a 4am is going to be rough but I think surgery should be cool.

Well - that's all I got (a lil down this evening) - back to organizing/waiting for Tim to get back in town.

Tchao!