A Tigger...

In life you can choose to be an Eeyore or a Tigger. I choose to be a Tigger.
Randy Pausch

I just watched a TV special on Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor who died last week of pancreatic cancer who had delivered "The Last Lecture" regarding how to live life to the fullest. I've heard his story before but never seen it like this... and I am moved. It is all about how to enjoy today while you plan for the future. He was a good man, who inspired and encouraged many though he was fighting for his own life against cancer. May I always choose to be a Tigger too...

A Successful Shower!

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. ~Thomas Jefferson

Sarah's baby shower was a success!! She received many useful gifts and cute outfits, and one very unusual duck! Seeing all these girls really made me realize how much I have missed them over the past month since finishing residency. They quickly became my support group and confidantes... thank you girls!! You're all awesome!

These girls are the best... Chrissie, (me), Mary Halsey, Reyna, and Sarah down front. We didn't get a picture when Mindy was still there...sadly, she had to go back to work!

The food was great... we started out with Reyna's bread dip (a favorite at our potlucks), then moved on to Mindy's salad, Chrissie's Chicken Tetrazinni, Edgar's Butter Flake Rolls (you know, those Buttery Flaky ones!), and then finished the evening with my special Chocolate Strawberry Trifle. I didn't get any pictures of the trifle...it got eaten up to quickly! We girls know how to throw a shower!

So the duck was a gift... a hysterically funny one! I think the duck will become our little group mascot, making appearances at all our subsequent baby showers and group trips... we're planning on getting up a group Facebook page or something so that we all can keep in touch easily...the duck may have to be our group icon. We thank the duck-giver for the gift of the duck!


Back- Brooke, Mary Halsey, Trish, Reyna, Megan
Front- Alison, Sarah, Chrissie


I will certainly miss these girls when we all go our separate ways... actually I'm the only one leaving out of this group this year (we missed having Heather at the shower, as she's already moved to Atlanta to start her fellowship in Peds Cardiology). Mindy will be joining her at Emory next year for Peds Heme-Onc. Reyna will be in Birmingham for at least another year while her husband finishes his Radiology residency, and Mary Halsey and Chrissie will both be staying in Birmingham, maybe for good. Sarah's not sure what she'll be doing next year, though I suspect she and Matt will be moving back toward the Carolina's at some point. Sad! I truly hope we can stay in touch...I know I will do my best!

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

My buddies...

Mommy's Buddy Eliott and Daddy's Buddy Oliver

Cat-Yoga and Cheesecake and Baby Showers, oh my!

Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most inconvenience. ~Pam Brown

Well, the long days of my summer vacation continue to roll by... I am getting lots of studying done (but will it ever be enough?), and finding time to have some fun inbetween. I wake up and do yoga every morning (almost!), and I am quickly becoming addicted! It's not a great workout per se, but it definitely gets me going and energized for the day. And I'm still loving Fit TV for letting me do yoga in my own living room without having to buy a DVD!! The only difficulty in doing yoga in my particular living room is my two sweet but very nosy cats! I guess it's true for all cats, but these especially have to be right up in your business whatever your doing! When it's study time, they sit on my book and stare at me; when it's sleeping time, they are curled up against me; when it's blogging time (ahem, like now), they are laying on my stomach between me and the keyboard; when it's yoga time, they are on the mat with me, watching downward facing dog, warrior poses, and especially the cat poses up close! I'll tell you, there is just not enough room on that little mat for me flopping around and two critters! Love love love them though... and can't imagine life without them. They have been my buddies through alot-- through med school and residency, through all of Ron's travels... love these little buddies!!

We had another open house this week. This time it was for realtors only; six houses in the neighborhood were open for realtors to come and view, so that hopefully they would see how fabulous our house is and want to bring in clients to come buy it!! There were over 20 that came, and even one family that snuck in to come see. Heard they really liked it, but as each day goes by, I guess we're not gonna be hearing from them for an offer. Sad! I still am in shock that we're in this situation. It really really stinks, yet no matter what, come September 22nd, we've got to go. It's gonna be a tough thing, and I never would have anticipated it.

But, while the open house was going on, I went down the street to Dad's (and took the cats with me, and man, wasn't that a scene!), and we baked a cheesecake together. And not just any plain old cheesecake (though my old favorite is Bare Nekid Cheesecake)...we made Nectarine Cheesecake with pistachio crumb crust and pistachio brittle! Got the recipe out of Cooking Light, and boy is it yummy! I'm whittling away at it, piece by piece, which is also whittling away at my big plans to eat healthy. It IS from Cooking Light though!! :) Today, Mary Halsey is coming over to study with me, so I'll make her eat a slice and take some home with her. Must...get...rid...of...yummy....cheesecake....

Finally, I'm going to a baby shower dinner tonight. I'm actually a co-host (along with Mary Halsey, Chrissie, Reyna, and Mindy), and it's for Sarah! Sarah is due in September, and, despite my pleading, has decided not to find out the sex of her baby... dang, I want to buy some girl clothes so bad! I got to last year when Heather and Mindy had Maggie and Hadley, but since then it's been boy city, with Tripp and John Patrick. It's hard to find cute gender neutral stuff too!! That's OK...it'll be fun for her, and believe it or not, I know that it's not all about me! :) After Sarah, Reyna is up next, and she's having a girl, and then there's Chrissie, who's having a boy.

Fun stuff, all these babies. It makes my ovaries twitch just a teensy bit, but then it's back to reality... we're just not quite ready yet. There's just too much going on still with this house ordeal, moving to a brand new town, starting a new job, Ron continuing to compete internationally... where would a baby fit in? Answer is, it wouldn't. Not yet anyway...maybe this time next year! Despite being, ahem, 29 years old, I still don't feel like I've had time to settle into my life. There were so many changes over the past few years...you'd be on one rotation for a month, then switch, so you never got the chance to be bored. That being said, with me being married to Ron, my life may never be boring!

He swings from the chandelier, he paws my peanut butter, and he knocks over my drink in the most unfortunate places in the house - but I still love him like crazy. It's like a hairball in my heart. ~Audra Foveo-Alba

Tickets- Check... Cooking- Check

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

So, I booked our flights to China yesterday...so it's official! I got a dang good price too (thanks Kayak.com!)... Now I just have to decide where to stay; it's hard to decide, but the good news is that there are definitely affordable options that actually look nice. Of course there is also a Ritz and other fancy pants places that I would love to stay in if there was no such thing as a budget, but for a 2 week trip, that would be a bit much... not to mention that I want a little bit of actual China, you know? I'm a bit overwhelmed with the planning aspect of the trip, because it's not a place I know anything about, but I am eager to learn! I have a sneaking suspicion that the food will be a challenge also, especially to Mom, who is less than adventurous when it comes to dining... we'll see!

I am excited...I think! I am also excited to see Ron race again on the international stage! This time he won't have any other American guys racing against him (or there to help him) since the other guys are in different categories. We will miss Paul Martin especially and would have enjoyed running around China with his wife.... stupid IPC rules about how many can be on the team!!

Well, time to go fix dinner-- on that note, we've been doing much much better about eating at home over the past couple of weeks! Having fresh produce from the Pepper Place Farmer's Market is fabulous! I went yesterday with my dad and went a little nuts... I got lettuce, tomatoes (the whole salmonella thing didn't scare me!!), black eyed peas, squash, new potatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, and nectarines!!! Dan and Becca (and their son Evan) came over last night for dinner... we had a salad, black eyed peas, squash, and potatoes, along with some Mr. P's filets... yum yum yum! We couldn't have gotten a better meal out!! Ron is a whiz at the grill (who would've thunk it?) and did a great job. Becca also brought a yummy chocolate dessert made of ice cream sandwiches, chocolate mousse, cool whip, chocolate syrup, and toasted pecans.... delicious, and easy! Tonight will not be as fancy...just tacos, but with my special homemade guacamole! It's so good (and shhhh....also very easy!). I have decided that I really like to cook, though I'm not very good at it-- yet! I hope that when I get back to work and settle into my new life that I will be able to have time to continue to play in the kitchen!

There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will. ~Robert Frost

The Grass is Always Greener

I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn. ~C.E. Cowman

I reeeeeeaaaallllly don't like yard work. Although potential buyers of this house seem to think they need more yard than we've got, I think any more yard than this might kill me. And I don't even do the work usually! My sweet dad, who happens to live just down the street, is our designated Yard Boy- he even got a T-shirt for Christmas last year that says "Dad's Lawn Service"! Anyway, he's usually the one out here every week mowing our little jelly bean of a lawn and planting our window boxes, and boy do I love him for that! However, despite putting down 15 bags of mulch in the flower beds just about 2 months ago, the mutant ninja grass had started growing into them again and was just looking ragged, so he recruited me to help him out. I am about bored to tears though with studying so much lately, so I didn't mind. But man, was that some hard work! We hoed and pulled and trimmed and edged and remulched and bagged and swept for, well, it only was for three hours, but it felt like an eternity. And it was HOT!!! We called it quits for today, but are gonna plant some lantana bushes in the beds tomorrow. This is all in preparation for another Open House... Tuesday it'll be a Realtor's Open House where a bunch of agents come, and hopefully then will see how cute it is and bring their clients by to see it. No one has come to see it in a LOOOONG time; I have very little motivation to even make up the bed anymore. :( We're running out of time.

On a brighter note, I've been keeping up with my morning Fit TV... usually I do yoga in the mornings followed by whatever aerobics happens to come on that day- I've done belly dancing again, hip hop aerobics, pilates, and regular aerobics. It's pretty fun, as far as workouts go. I need some little 3lb weights, a step, and those little stretchy cord things so I can participate more fully in some of them. Now if I'd just start seeing some results...it's been painfully slow so far, but I do feel good after the morning workout. I really hope I can keep it up, and somehow keep it in my routine when I start back to work in September. Lord knows I'm gonna be ready to work when the time comes. I'm stir crazy already.

Well, time to go hit the books since I've been busy with manual labor all morning!

I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby. ~Nancie J. Carmody

Whew!

Let all thy joys be as the month of May,
And all thy days be as a marriage day.
~Francis Quarles

After a marathon week of a new baby and a new wedding (see last post), now I'm settling in for the long haul of studyfest 2008! I'm pleased to report that I've been studying alot the past few days, but I've got so so so much left to do. I need to pass this test (Pediatric Boards)... it's not until the end of October, but with a trip to China and starting my new job between now and then, I need to be through with the majority of the studying by early September.

Enough studying talk... Stephanie and Doug's wedding was so beautiful this weekend. We started out with the Bridesmaid's Luncheon on Friday; the table was decked out in pink and green linens and flowers, and the food was yummy. She did way too much with the gifts- she gave us a really cool triple strand chunky pearl necklace and pearl earrings to wear on Saturday, and hot pink monogrammed summer robes to wear while getting ready. She also did a slide show of pictures of all of us... and you know me and slide shows...love it! The rehearsal dinner was nice as well; there was another slide show (this one of pictures of the bride and groom) and good food.

On Saturday afternoon we met at the church to get ready and to take all the pictures. Loved their photographers (Arden Photography out of Birmingham). We got all our shots done before the wedding (which works so much better in my opinion...we did this at ours too), and before we knew it, it was time for the ceremony! Stephanie's dress was probably the most beautiful wedding gown I have ever seen. Done by Monique Luillier, it was overlaid with the prettiest modern-looking lace... it was off the shoulder and had a chapel length train. Wow! I'll add some pictures when I get them online. Our dresses were black strapless floorlength silk made by Melissa Sweet; again probably my favorite bridesmaid dress that I've worn... Our bouquets were all white roses. There was a choir up in the church balcony, and they of course were wonderful...they sang some of my favorites "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" and "Surely the Presence". I had chills in the church!

The reception was really fun.... loved her cakes (Olexa's) and the pink lemonade table. They also had a sushi station, a mashed potato station, and a chocolate table in addition to the rest of the food. The flower arrangements, like at the church, were minimal- white flowers with branchy pieces and touches of green. The band was fun too, and with her group of lively bridesmaids, we all danced until the end of the night! The new Moseleys left from the reception under a shower of rose petals (white of course!), and drove themselves away in her late uncle's red convertible! Now they are in Napa for their honeymoon!


It was great spending time with Jennifer this weekend too... now that she's got a little baby, it's harder than ever to get to see her! And little Tripp did great at the reception; smiled at everyone and then napped in Fred's arms. At four months old, he's already cutting his bottom two teeth!

I'll say it was a successful weekend! :)

Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde

Meet John Patrick!!

Babies are such a nice way to start people. ~Don Herroll

He's here, he's here!

After a very long day (even for me, can't even imagine how tired sweet little Lyndsay was!), chunk-a-monk John Patrick is here!! Despite a valiant effort on mommy's part, JP just wouldn't come out, so in the end she had a C-section. We all understood why, when Proud Papa Patrick came out and announced-- "9 lbs, 4 oz!!" What? How on earth did little Lyndsay have that giant of a baby be in there??

We were all very proud of Lyndsay and Patrick, and thrilled with the end result- John Patrick!!

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

New New New!

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. ~Author Unknown

Oh Happy Day!! There are so many new things to talk about, so... in order of events-

1. New routine- Wake up, do some aerobics courtesy of Fit TV, study, eat, study, eat, sleep, repeat! Fit TV is great... how come I never knew about it before? Yesterday I attempted belly dancing (who knew it was so hard!) and aerobics, today was aerobics and Namaste yoga! Good stuff... and no need to go anywhere on anyone else's time schedule! I could get used to that... I'm also exceedingly glad that no one was around to witness my first try at belly dancing... it was pretty scary!

2. New haircut- Well, not really a new haircut, just the same one I tend to get every 6 months or so! What is more liberating than having 4 or 5 inches lopped off? And do I even mention the fabulous head massage that you get with your shampoo at Richard Joseph?? It's a splurge, but well worth every cent! I even ate lunch there (for "free") after my appointment. Yum! I'll try to post a pic of my 'do when Ron gets back in town.

3. New shoes- So I had to have new shoes for this weekend for the wedding I'm in... so I swung by DSW to look around, and THERE'S A HUGE SALE GOING ON! Lucky me! I not only found a really cute pair of black heels for the wedding (my old black heels got ruined in the rain on this brides' bachelorette weekend.... I've had em since college though, so they were ready for retirement!), but I also found two other adorable pairs that I had to have! Hot pink heeled sandals, and brown work-appropriate sandals. And no pair cost more than $30... the pink ones were $11!!! Man, Auburn better have a DSW!!

4. New Baby!!!! No, I'm not pregnant! Lyndsay, one of my very best childhood friends, is probably having her baby tomorrow, and I'm so excited to meet him! Lyndsay and her sister Jennifer are the sisters I never had... so (almost born) John Patrick and Jenn's baby Tripp are like nephews to me. Lynds is going in tonight for likely induction tomorrow, as little John Patrick is late to his own birthday party! We're all excited, and I'll be spending the day at the hospital with her family. If it goes like Jenn's did, there will be lots of folks there waiting for the birth. This time, I'm gonna bring monopoly or something... Anyway, it'll be a happy happy day!

5. New Bride- So I think this may be my last time to be a bridesmaid! Stephanie, my good friend/college roommate/Chi O big sis is getting married this weekend in Montgomery to a wonderful guy named Doug.... She chose probably the prettiest bridesmaid dress I've ever worn (not that any of them have been hideous by any means)- black floor-length strapless silk... she's an interior designer, so I'm sure she has slaved over all the details of this weekend, and it'll be gorgeous! I can't wait to see what she's chosen for everything. And Jenn is also a bridesmaid, so we'll have fun hanging out together for the weekend... we always do! We just have to get baby Tripp feeling better! Starting daycare has not been good to him! :(

Anyway, it's a busy week.... I can't believe that just yesterday's entry was titled "Now what?"

The essential question is not, "How busy are you?" but "What are you busy at?" ~Oprah Winfrey

Now what??

A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. ~Robert Orben

So all of a sudden, I have a LOT of time on my hands! Yay!! After my last day of work last Monday, I went down to Lake Martin with two of the girls that I (used to) work with, Chrissie and Mary Halsey. We spent two nights at Chrissie's family's lake house, and just lazed around laying the the sun, riding on the pontoon boat, eating girlie food, and enjoying each others' company. It was great!

After the lake, I made my way to the beach, not passing go or collecting $200! Thanks for the ride, Will and Ashley! Ron had been "down South" all week seeing customers, so he met me there. We had a blast! We kept to our usual "schedule"... pool time, lunch time, shopping time (yeah, outlets!), dinner time, party time, rinse and repeat.... This time was a little different cause it was the 4th, so we spent most of that day at the pool with LOTS of crazy folks! It was the most crowded pool I've ever been in, but it was fun! We got just enough of a suntan, then cleaned up and went to Baytowne Wharf to people watch and see the fireworks. Good times for the Williams'!


Now we're home, and although I don't truly go to work for two more months, I am putting myself to work studying for my board exam. The test is in October, and is notoriously evil! My goal is to be completely finished studying before going to China, then I can just review a few more times before the test. We'll see... I plan to spend at least 3-4 hours a day studying. I've done it this morning...yay for me!

That's about it for me for now... still no bites on the house, unfortunately. I think we'll be renting for a while in Auburn. Yuck! Continue keeping your fingers crossed please!

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. ~Henry Ford