HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I should go ahead and warn you that this post will probably be one of my more lengthy posts...:)

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving! Ryan and I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of good food and getting to spend it with the people you love. We slept in and just enjoyed spending the day together. We had lunch on the island at Moody Gardens, which was delicious! Sadly, we didn't get to see any of our family for Thanksgiving, but it's okay because they're coming to visit in a week for my White Coat Ceremony! Here are a few pics...

Here we are in front of the pretty Christmas tree...

There were some awesome decorations made out of fruit! This parrot was made out of pineapple...

And what's Thanksgiving without a turkey?!

I thought this was pretty...and it was made out of ice! Except the flowers, those are real.

So that was Thanksgiving for us! A little non-traditional, especially for us, but it worked out. We definitely did NOT brave any Black Friday shopping. Partially because I just didn't want to, but also because I was almost finished with my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving anyways. Hopefully next year it will work out a little better and we can spend the holiday with our families.

So with a few days off school, last week was pretty light! We only had one assignment due and no tests or presentations...I didn't know what to do with myself! On Tuesday, we had an awesome pot-luck and got to just sit and enjoy great food and everyone's company. We work so hard and we're always busy, so it was nice to slow down for a little while and just enjoy it. That's really about it school-wise for last week! Now, we just have to get ready for White Coat ceremony on Friday and start preparing for finals. Yup, we are heading into Week 14 which means that Finals begin! Holy guacamole, is this really the light at the end of this semester's tunnel?! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my nose in my books hoping that it's the good kind of light, and not the train coming to smack me kind of light.

I had a few realizations/accomplishments this week...

1. I can shower, dry my hair, fix my hair, do my make up, and be nicely dressed and ready to go in 45 minutes. :) That makes me happy.

2. I can walk on a 4-inch balance beam in 4-inch heels! That's talent right there...

3. I redeemed myself! So most of you probably know that I'm domestically challenged. I can build stuff, take something apart and put it back together, ride a horse, and get a 30 on a last-minute MCAT without having studied...but ask me to cook and I fall to pieces, hurt myself, and catch stuff on fire. So you may remember a little incident I had a while back where I got into an argument with a steak knife while trying to make pizza (Yes, you read that right. Pizza and steak knife...I was attempting to open a bottle of olive oil.), and the steak knife won against my hand so we got to make a fun trip to the ER. Well something got into me on Friday night and I decided to try this whole cooking thing again. Ryan was at work, and what we had decided on for dinner really didn't sound good. I knew he wouldn't be up to catering to my every whim when he got done working Black Friday, so I got creative! I made a spicy chicken alfredo pizza from scratch. Yup, I made the dough, made the alfredo sauce, and even cooked and cut up the chicken. All without incident! Well...kinda. I screwed up the pre-packaged pizza dough. I hadn't planned on making my own pizza dough, but I had no other option at that point. And through it all, I didn't manage to hurt myself or anyone else, catch anything on fire, or sound the smoke alarms! And the best part...it was actually edible!!! I must admit, I'm pretty proud of myself right about now. :)

Change of pace here...some of you may know Stefanie Limerick. She and I went to Concordia together and she's one of my best friends. She's also a strong source of inspiration in my life. She's strong, passionate, determined, hard-working, too smart for her own good, and like any good scientist, she's just a little bit crazy. Not to mention, she has the cutest kid in the whole wide world! We try to keep eachother driven, grounded, on the right track, and focused, but we can also share in each other's nerdy (but awesome!) accomplishments and enjoy these crazy roller-coaster lives we each lead. She helps me understand the things in life that just don't make sense and she helps me find my voice and my drive when I feel like they're gone. I don't know what I would do without this girl! As I near the end of the semester, she's been feeding me motivational lines, so I thought I'd share a few of them with you! This week's line: "Chance favors the prepared mind," by Louis Pasteur. It's perfect as I get into this last long-stretch of tests.

So now I get to spend the rest of the weekend enjoying the beautiful weather through my window while I start studying for finals and getting ready for company later this week.