GO, EXPLORER, GO!

Oh, my little explorer. You just never know what's going to happen next with that thing. For those of you who may not be aware, my little indestructible tank is a 1999 Ford Explorer with about 165K miles on it right now. We have been through lots together, including many moves, a flood, and anything the dogs, horses, or Ryan could throw at us. I glanced at it the other day out my window and noticed something funny on one of the front tires, so I went out to check it out. Apparently, it was the wire-mesh stuff that's beneath the primary rubber on the tires. Ooops. So I check out the wear patterns on all the tires, and am not terribly pleased with what I see. I go get out my warranty from when I last purchased tires for Explorer and found something interesting: they were purchased in 2005 and were guaranteed 40,000 mile tires. Hmmm...that was 6 years and 75,000 miles ago! WHAT?! I do believe it was time for new tires. So I goto the tire store, and I tell the guy that I want to see if I need new tires...like, if I get a flat, can you patch it up and fix it? (knowing the answer...but I kinda had to play with the serious tire people) The guy about fell out. So ya, Explorer finally got some new, well-deserved shoes! And I had my fun for the day with the poor people at the tire store.

HARD TO BELIEVE

This sounds absolutely absurd to me, but we only have one more week in this semester, then it's finals time! Last week was packed full with an exam, a patho assignment, and a patient to work-up, and it was really hard to get back into the groove after my spring break lounging. The good news is that I only have one exam this week and I've already done my paper that's due at the end of the week. Theoretically, this gives me time to get a head start on studying for finals and my presentation due next week. Theoretically. I'll let you know how that one turns out. :) Have a great week and enjoy some of this beautiful sunshine!

PROOF

Here's proof that I did something somewhat artistic/creative. I painted pottery :) It's a piggy bank! This was one of my spring break adventures.

SPRING BREAK!

Oh spring break, our time together was wonderful, and what we had was amazing...how I will miss you! Things I did this week, some of which I haven't done in about a year (magically, since about the time I started the PA program...): visited with family and friends, bought tacky touristy stuff at Murdock's on Seawall, got my artistic juices flowing by painting some pottery, went to the rodeo, tried a new restaurant, SLEPT, actually helped Ryan with laundry and cleaning the apartment, cooked, semi-spontaneous trip to San Antonio just for fun, slept some more, found the nearest outlets for some good shopping, went on a few runs, spent some time with the hubby, and finally as little school-work as my conscious would let me get away with. This week was fabulous and so desperately overdue! We only have 3 weeks left in this semester, and I think this was the refresher I needed to get me through it. :)

"HELL WEEK"

Yes, even our professors referred to this past week as "Hell Week," and it lived up to its name. My brain still hurts just thinking about what all went on this week. I had flashbacks to first semester, and it started making me twitch. Here's a brief rundown:

Friday: optimistic...not sure where this came from...but I'll take it! Start studying. I think I can!

Saturday: started feeling the pressure; studied all day-never left the apartment but didn't realize that one until Monday. Getting tired. I think I can?

Sunday: Study, study, study. Getting more tired and bored with the view from my office; ventured out to the grocery store with Ry=field trip! Uh oh...optimism waning...

Monday: optimism gone, replaced with being overwhelmed; getting less sleep each night...

Tuesday: TIRED; enter Red Bull. Test 1 completed. Not one of my shining moments, but I'll take the success.

Wednesday: working on about 4 hours of sleep...more Red Bull. Confused by Test 2, but another success nonetheless. Emotional roller coaster since we got rotation schedules today. More on that later. Excuse me, have you seen my motivation? It has run away from me. If you see it please ask it to come back.

Thursday: beyond overwhelmed, palpitations, still sleep deprived as body is getting used to not sleeping for more than 4 hours and supplementing with Red Bull. Enter apathy, but my version of apathy is: I am only staying up until 11:30 PM tonight to study, and I'll try to sleep in until 5 AM. Take that, tests! I will show you with my 5 awesome hours of sleep!

Today: nothing makes sense any more. I called my mom, but couldn't remember why. More red bull to stay awake for Test 3 and make it home. Test 3 biggest accomplishment of the week...somehow-still not sure how. Good news is that I made it home safely and now it's SPRING BREAK! I'd love to nap, but my body is telling me no...hope to remedy this soon.

NOT TOO SHABBY

All right, this past week wasn't half bad. There was a lot going on with celebrating our anniversary, Ryan working and giving lessons, and all of my classwork/seeing patients/studying, but it was relatively calm in comparison to some of the weeks we've been having around here lately. There was A LOT of studying last week in preparation for next week, AKA HELL WEEK. But if I can just make it through this next week, I will have made it to spring break! I can see a tiny glimmer of a light at the end of the tunnel! Well, it's kinda in the middle because we still have 3 weeks after spring break, but whatever. On that note, please pray for us all this week. Not only do we have 3 tests, yes 3!, but we also are supposed to get our rotation schedules. These schedules basically dictate our lives for the next year, so we are all a little tightly wound about them. Hope everyone has a great week and gets to get out and enjoy some of this wonderful weather!

THREE YEARS

Today, Ryan and I are celebrating our anniversary...three wonderful years of marriage! I can barely believe it. We have certainly had our ups and downs, but we have gotten so much stronger and closer through it all. Baby, I love you with all of my heart and look forward to MANY more years together celebrating us. Love you! :)

Here we are after eating an awesome dinner at Maggiano's

Us at Maggiano's

Dessert first! Delicious Sprinkles cupcakes...YUM.

This is what my amazing husband had for me when I got home from school :) Isn't he the best!