Team Williams- Brooke & Ron

I Heart New York!

2010-01-28T09:28:00.013-06:00

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today...
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York...

So as promised, here is my (longest ever!) post about our most recent trip to the Big Apple... since I was already off the week before Christmas, I took a few extra days from the week before and we flew up to NYC. Now last year was fun, but this year I was more prepared... Having finally entered the 21st century and gotten an iPhone in November (LOVE it!!), I navigated us around the city pretty well, booked some cool dinner reservations (using OpenTable- highly recommend!), and basically planned out most of our time. The only thing that didn't get planned in advance was the little snowstorm that resulted in our flight being canceled and us having to stay an extra two days! Shucks! But more on that later...

(Before getting started, all pictures in this post were "phone pictures"... we had a camera malfunction unfortunately. Although I want to marry my iPhone, its camera is not it's best feature!)

We started the trip bright and early (or should I say dark and early??), arriving at the Atlanta airport several hours before our flight was to leave. Airports are always an adventure for the Williams'... with Ron's prosthesis, he always sets off the alarm and has to get patted down...sometimes this is quick, but sometimes it can take a while. Well, it was quick that morning, and we found ourselves at the gate with way more time than we needed, which was ok... we snacked and did some last minute planning.

When we landed in the city, we cabbed it into Manhattan to our hotel.

Though Ron almost lost his Egg McMuffin with the crazy cab ride, this was a way better option than taking that shuttle van last year... a mistake we won't make again! We checked into the Doubletree Metropolitan on Lexington Ave, which was pretty good, and hit the ground running! Actually, we used the iPhone to lead us to the subway and headed for Chinatown first to have a late lunch.

Navigating without looking like a complete tourist!

We found our target restaurant, NY Noodletown, which I had heard raves about...and it didn't disappoint! We dined on noodle soup, then shared pan fried noodles with duck. Yum!

We wandered through Chinatown for a bit after lunch, and I bought a scarf (or five...). We didn't purchase any "Gucci-Gucci-Prada-Louis?" from the myriad of little ladies trying to lure us into back alleyways though....not that I wouldn't.... :) We had to go find the tree though!

Rockefeller Tree

We also paused at the Today Show windows, but they were done taping for the morning...

I found the REAL Louis'!!

I wanted to go for a skate, but guess who was uncooperative with this plan??

So instead of skating, we hunted down the oldest pub in the city that I'd read about, McSorley's... which only started allowing women to enter in 1970!

We had just enough time to sneak back to the hotel to change before heading out to what would turn out to be our favorite dinner experience of the trip. The restaurant is called Artisinal, and we loved it.

Artisinal is a fromagerie, specializing in cheese, cheese, and more cheese... there is a full cheese menu, which was completely overwhelming to us who know next to nothing about cheese, but our waiter was great and made a selection of four for us to try as our appetizer.

Our favorite was the soft cheese that came in the little bowl

He marked his picks for us on the cheese menu so that we could read about what we were sampling, where it was from, the age, and what tastes we were supposed to be able to appreciate...it was really fun! I hate feeling stupid, and I am definitely cheese-stupid, but the waiter was kind and made it fun instead of embarrassing! I guess there are a lot of cheese-stupid people out there! :)

After the cheese course, we had cheese fondue with an assortment of veggies, meat, and bread to dip with...and it was delicious!!

After all that cheese, we had chocolate fondue for dessert, with the most amazing homemade marshmallows (among other dippers)... I have since tried to recreate the marshmallows with my new mixer and an Alton Brown recipe, but sadly, they fell short of Artisinal's... maybe it was just the cheese high though! Wish I had a picture of the dessert course!

Day two was low-key... we spent it mostly window shopping without much of an agenda. We did go to the New York Public Library though, which was incredible!

Ron at the Library!!

After the library, we used the handy dandy iPhone to get us back to Ron's favorite restaurant from our last trip, Serafina's. They have amazing pizza, and Ron insisted on returning. His happiness had everything to do with the pizza, and nothing to do with the fact that it must have been "Waitresses Without Pants Day" (see the waitress in the background!)... right Ron??

While at Serafina's we had a little homework to do... Ron had been contacted by Camp Sunshine people and asked to write an essay about what Camp has meant to him. It had to be done that day... cause it was going to be posted on the RaceTrac gas station website as a part of a fundraiser they were doing for Camp (Coffee for a Cause). As I continue to be Ron's primary PR agent, the task fell to me. Feeling inspired by our recent trip to the library, the words flowed and I/we wrote the essay in five minutes on a scrap of paper while devouring our slices. Click the above link for the essay. It got typed up and emailed to Sally later that afternoon just under the deadline...love technology! RaceTrac raised $28,500 for Camp!

We wandered and shopped for a few hours to work off the pizza... and in SoHo found the best store ever, Uniqlo. It's Japanese. It's cheap. It's fabulous. We went at least three times while we were in the city, and I'm glad we did, cause when we got home and I was trying to order some more stuff online, I discovered that you can't!!! And the SoHo store is the only Uniqlo location in the US! Guess we'll just have to go back to NYC. Rats!!!

Dinner on day two was at Bar Americain, Bobby Flay's restaurant in the city. The food was good, especially the shellfish cocktail taster...yum!!

L to R- Lobster-Avocado, Shrimp-Tomatillo, and Crab-Coconut

The only bad part of this experience was our waiter... the couple at the next table over from us warned us when we were seated that he'd really try to rush us, so much to the waiter's irritation, we ordered one thing at a time and enjoyed it at our own pace. We weren't table hogs... even with ordering apps, salad, entree, and dessert, I think we were still out of there in about 1.5 hours. We had been spoiled by our nice waiter at Artisinal the night before!

So what did we do on day three?? Eat!!! On day three we went on a walking food tour of Greenwich Village... the food didn't walk...we did...and it was so much fun! Freezing, but fun!! Our guide was a pastry chef named Sephra, and she was great!!

Ron and Sephra

Our first stop was for pizza at Joe's ...we were hungry!!

Yum!

As we walked from restaurant to restaurant (eight in all I think from pizza, to Palma, a nice restaurant, to two bakeries, to a cheese shop, and more!), Sephra showed us around the Village. Yeah, would love to live there. So would everyone else I think... they can get millions of dollars for a teensy little walk-up apartment!!

Because it was so cold, we were allowed to warm up in a little herb shop while we sampled our cheese from Murray's, and while there, Ron made a friend!

After our tour, we had an hour or two to kill before the arrival of our friends, Jackie and Cleve Blackwell. We spent it at a little pub called the Blind Tiger, a little local spot with a warm fireplace and friendly people (they DO exist in the city!!).

While there, we talked to a pair of hippie potters for a bit, and when they left, the next pair to sit down were investors (or something!) that worked at Lehman Brothers. Made for some interesting conversations! They asked what all we'd been doing in the city and where we'd eaten, and were astounded that we had heard of and eaten at NY Noodletown... they said that was their favorite place to go, especially late night. Apparently the bars close at 3:00AM here (the city that never sleeps, anyone?), so Noodletown gets packed from 3:00 to 4:00! They insisted that we go again, and wrote out on a slip of paper what we should order when we went back, which of course we did the next day with Cleve and Jackie. We didn't go at 3AM though!!

So, finally it was time to meet up with the Blackwells... I couldn't wait for them to get there already!! As an aside, let's meet them:

Here they are, sweet Jackie and crazy Cleve Blackwell... they live (and race bikes!) in Greenville, SC. Cleve and Ron have raced together on the same team for the last few years, and Cleve and Jackie got married a year ago. Ron was a groomsman in their wedding, and likes to remind Cleve that he coached him through the memorization of his wedding vows! Anyway, we were thrilled that Cleve and Jackie wanted to come vacation with us, and it was a blast!!!

They arrived just in time for dinner... this night we went to Anthony Bourdain's former restaurant, Les Halles. The company was excellent, but the dinner wasn't our favorite. Not disastrous by any means, and the waitress was good, but the food was just ok. We didn't even take any pictures there!!

The next day was packed full of fun!! We started by shopping, happening to stumble back into Uniqlo, and then taking the subway down to Chinatown for Noodletown round two!

This time armed with the Lehman Brothers guys recommended menu, we ate and ate and ate!!

While we ate, I mapped out how to get to our next stop, the New World Stages for the off-Broadway show we went to called Avenue Q.

My secret illegal picture of the Avenue Q stage! I promise I didn't know at the time that you weren't supposed to take pictures of the set!!

The show was hysterical, and perfect for Ron and Cleve, who may have snoozed through Phantom or Wicked... it was loosely based on Sesame Street, which you can kind of appreciate from the secret illegal set picture. :)

After the show, we went and got all gussied up for dinner and first headed to a little tapas place called Cello. Neat little place.

While we were there, it started to snow... and snow... and snow.

We hopped in a cab to take us to dinner.... at Tao. Very cool place. Very New York, at least to us rednecks! :)

Couldn't get a good picture inside because it was so dark, but there was this ginormous Buddha statue in the middle of the restaurant!

Dinner was delicious (I guess that day was Asian food day!), and when we finished, we ventured back outside to see this!!

It "blizzarded"!!!

Of course there were no cabs to be found this time, so we started walking in the direction of the nearest subway station. Except we actually were walking in the opposite direction. By the time we realized it (half and hour later!!), we were nearly to the hotel! We were freezing, but still had a fun time tromping through the snow in our dressy boots, right Jackie??

At one intersection, we saw the Rockefeller Christmas tree! And then, who came walking down the sidewalk but Santa!?! Well, it actually wasn't the REAL Santa, cause he smelled like beer and had some off-color things to say!

Poor Cleve was nearly frozen by this time!

Blurry, but this captures the spirit of the moment!

We had to thaw out when we finally made it back to the hotel, and we took some time to compose a little ditty to remember our trip by. To the tune of the 12 days of Christmas, of course. See our lyrics below.

Our 12 days of Christmas

We awoke on Sunday morning to more snow, which turned out to be a bit of a problem for us getting home! Ron checked with the airline and of course our flight was canceled. Sweet thing spent most of the morning trying to figure out how we were gonna get home!

Cleve and Jackie's flight flew out as scheduled (which we were a bit disappointed about really!), but we were stuck. Really stuck. This was Sunday, Dec. 20th, and according to Delta, the next available flight to Atlanta that they could book us on was on Friday, Dec. 25th!! Christmas night!! Um, no! I was perfectly happy being stuck in the city for another day or two, but five?? And miss Christmas?? I think not! We considered trains out of the city (but they were booked up or canceled already), renting a car (they were all booked too), and flying out of alternate airports, but we were really stuck! After the Blackwells checked out of the hotel and we were trying to figure out what to do, we decided to just go for broke and spend the rest of Ron's AmEx points with a hotel upgrade! So we were off... we literally dragged our suitcases out the revolving door of the Doubletree, past the doormen and taxis, and through the snow for a block and checked ourselves in at the Waldorf Astoria!!! If we were gonna be stuck, we were gonna be stuck in style! :) This may have been the most frivolous and excessive thing I've ever done in my life, but we had just enough points for two extra nights. And it was wonderful!!

The lobby of the Waldorf

Our new swank room!!

We ended up being able to book a flight home for Tuesday, Dec. 22nd with another airline...with two first class tickets, cause coach was all full!! I have only flown first class one other time (when we were flown out to LA for the ESPY awards...), and that experience had been ridiculously awesome. This time, the only thing that separated us from the lowly people in coach was about an inch of extra seat space and a free Twix bar. Not that we were complaining, because we made it home in time for Christmas, but it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting!

Anyway, so back to our snow days...

When we got all checked in to the Waldorf, I was trying to figure out what we were gonna do with our extra time that wouldn't cost us a bunch of extra cash... I was checking facebook and saw that my friend Chrissie Cordell (college, med school, and residency friend, who had also been a bridesmaid in our wedding!) had posted a picture of herself and her husband Andrew with the big Rockefeller tree... they were in NYC too, and I hadn't even known it!! We met up with them that afternoon and walked around a snowy Central Park and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Chrissie and me in Central Park

Ron getting some culture... a museum and the library all in one weekend!!

It was so fun hanging out with the Cordells, even though we were in the midst of stressing about trying to get home...

After we parted ways, Ron and I piddled around and went to FAO Schwarz, where I wanted to buy one of everything! We refrained from buying toys we don't yet need, but we did get some funny pictures of Ron with the life-sized leggo action heros...

Batman and Ro(bi)n

Ron and Chewie

That night, we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Dos Caminos. It was good, especially the fresh guacamole! Ron still is on the hunt for a margarita to match Sol Azteca's... I think it's a lost cause!

On our last day in the city, we made one last stop at Uniqlo, and then made our way back to Artisinal, for their famous (what else?) grilled CHEESE sandwiches. They were picture worthy.

Ron's fancy grilled cheese...

And mine...

And... their CHEESEcake was apparently named the best NY style cheesecake in all of NY by Gourmet Magazine, so of course we had to try that too...

And it didn't disappoint!

We had a very good surprise for our final night in the city.... we found out that one of Ron's best friends, Kenny, was flying into town on his way home for Christmas... He and Ron go waaaaay back, to when Kenny was Ron's counselor at Camp Sunshine when Ron was a "poor little sick kid". Kenny has had a special place in Ron's heart ever since. He was a groomsman in our wedding, and he had been our unofficial tour guide last Christmas when we had come up to New York. We didn't get to hang out long enough this time, but it was great sharing a meal and catching up. I wish I had a picture of the two of them, but I guess we were all pictured out by this point!

The next morning, we were up and at em early to get a cab out to the airport. This time I can't blame Ron for how early we got there... we had no idea how long to expect it to take to get out to the airport with the snow (not long), and whether there would still be a crowd of people sleeping on the floor trying to get on a flight (there wasn't!). So again, we were at the gate at least an hour and a half early. At 6:00 in the morning. So what did I do? I got a manicure in the airport spa! Red polish of course, in anticipation of Christmas and to remember our trip to the Big (red?) Apple!!! It was a fun way to cap off the trip. Our flight left without incident, we enjoyed our free Twix, and we landed in Atlanta before we knew it....

I want to go back already!!!!!

If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you...
New York, New York!

2009 Recap

2010-01-24T12:40:00.009-06:00

Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires. ~Charles Caleb Colton

Another year, another post?? Well, hopefully in 2010 I will average more posts than one per year, but no promises!! In the past 14 months (gasp!) since I last updated, time in Team Williams land has continued to march on. Here's a recap (which will be exceedingly boring to most people, though I'm sure the only one still checking for posts is my mother- Hi Mom!!):

December 2008- Ron and I took a long weekend trip to New York City.

Ron and I at the Westin

It was my first time to NYC, and I vowed it wouldn't be my last! We survived a blizzard, saw the Rockettes, hung out with one of Ron's besties Kenny, and took a helicopter ride over Manhattan!

I was dazzled by the Rockettes

Kenny and Ron in Grand Central, the first & last time Kenny has ever been there...

Our helicopter ride

The view from the sky

Made it home just in time to take a Christmas tour of the southeast... stopped in Atlanta, Guntersville, Birmingham, and Montgomery to spend the holidays with our families.

The Sisters and Their Men

Aren't these treats supposed to be for Santa?

January-February 2009-I learned that real life pediatrics in the winter is no joke!! Working through lunch routinely during flu season wasn't much fun, but I was still loving my patients and my job. I started working with my new nurse, Candice, who replaced Shay (my original nurse) when Shay went back to nursing school... Loved Shay, and loved Candice too... unfortunately for me, but happily for her, Candice and I only ended up working together for 6 months because she had a sweet little baby!!! Also sometime in winter I found out that I PASSED MY BOARDS!!!!!!!! YAY!! After all the stressful studying that I did for this test, I am so relieved to not have to take it again. I am still shocked that I didn't fail! :)

March 21, 2009- In the first bike race of the season (regular racing, not paralympic), Ron gets taken down in a crash. I had decided I didn't feel like going, so he had driven over to Atlanta early that Saturday morning. Not long after I knew the race was to have begun, he calls me... not good. He was on his way home, saying that he crashed, and that he thought he needed stitches in his elbow and that his wrist was broken. I met him at my office, thinking I'd be scrubbing down his road rash and maybe stitching up some skin, but oh. my. gosh... His arm had "obvious deformity"... (Warning- there are graphic pictures below that even make me squimish!)

...and after washing out a few of the more minor wounds, I started unwrapping the bandage on his elbow... when flesh gaped open revealing the bones beneath, I paled, wrapped it back up, and took him straight to the ER.

The Elbow

There he was X-rayed, rinsed out, and stitched... and shot up with pain meds, antibiotics, and a tetanus booster.

Poor thing...

His distal radius was in several pieces, and after visiting the local arm specialist ortho surgeon, we were sent to Dr. Gary Lorie in Atlanta.

See the pieces of the radius (the big arm bone)?

A pretty major surgery followed, and six weeks in an external fixator that looked straight out of "Hellraiser."

Post Op Films

Poor Ron. His racing season lasted less than 15 minutes. I learned that I am not a very good nurse.

Checkup to tighten the screws!

So excited for surgery to finally get the pins out (which was in May...)

April 2009- Though the arm thing stunk, Ron and I enjoy this spring (and summer!) spending more time together than we ever had before. Between crazy residency schedules and bike racing every weekend, we didn't realize how much fun spring is without all that stuff. We were missing out! We enjoyed spending time not only with each other, but also with our new Auburn friends- Scott, Dave, the Clark's, and the Worthy's. A highlight was 280 Boogie...also it was fun attending Athens Twilight without the stress of Ron racing.

Ron, Bud, and Scott at 280 Boogie

Eddie, Ginger, me, and Rob at Twilight

May 2009- I turned 30!!

We spent the weekend at Lake Martin with all my girlfriends from residency, their husbands, and their babies!!

This wasn't planned for my birthday, but it worked out nicely! Our group had had quite a little baby boom over the previous year... in 2008, our beach trip was 7 girls, 7 husbands, 1 baby, and one baby in utero... this time, it was 7 girls, 7 husbands, 5 babies, and one in utero!! You-know-who was the only one without a baby... But I had fun playing with them all...and Ron even held some, even with the scary arm pins that were still in place at the time! I'm breaking him in, little by little...

Clockwise from top left-Sarah and Leyton, me, Heather and Maggie, Chrissie and Owens, Mary Halsey (with Alonso on board!), Mindy and Hadley, and Reyna and Natalya.

Leyton, Natalya, Halsey, Owens, Hadley, and Maggie

Ron with Leyton, Owens, and Natalya!!

Later in the month, we really enjoyed a Coldplay concert up in Bham with a couple of my new
partners.

The following weekend, we moved out of the little rental house and into our (hopefully!) Forever Home!!
We love it... it is in a great neighborhood with lots of families...it has the room we need as we (hopefully!) grow as a family over the next years, and it's just cool!!

Screened in Porch

We love that it has a lot of room for entertaining... and a jetted tub just for me!

Kitchen

But our favorite part is the three fireplaces, especially the one on the back patio! Yeah, not moving again for a long time...

Living Room

Back Patio

June 2009- With Candice leaving for baby-preparation, I got another new nurse, Ashley, my third in nine months! We hit it off immediately, and I hope that we will be a team for a while!

Ashley, Candice (and Baby Hudson), me, and Shay

Ron also returned to Camp Sunshine for a week in June... he'd missed a year due to training for China, and he needed this time for his spirit.

He came back refreshed, but with some nagging left sided back pain that I attributed to crazy camp antics and getting back on the bike after all spring off...

July 2009- Ron's back pain worsens, and it becomes clear to me that it is something more than just musculoskeletal pain. After a nightmare trying to get him into a doctors' office here as a new patient, I finally give up and order blood work and an Xray myself, and I don't like what I see. He had a shadow on his left lung... of unknown significance. It looked weird to me... I called the radiologist to see what he thought, and he said it was just a shadow from his chest wall (ok...?), but it didn't turn out that way. Ended up worsening over the next few days, with poor Ron having horrible pain at night accompanied by night sweats... with his past medical history and our recent trip to China, the differential diagnosis was just too broad for comfort. He ended up having a 300ml pleural effusion that had to be drained (thanks Justin!) caused by a pneumonia... but we never did figure out the pathogen or why on earth this happened. Although we were thrilled that it wasn't cancer related, it was a setback superimposed on the setback of his arm... made for an unhappy Ron.

August 2009-Swine flu pandemonium hits the US, and finally, our clinic. I had only taken one vacation day since starting work (to go to NYC in Dec), and had previously planned a long weekend in Destin with Ron when the swine flu fears exploded in Auburn/Opelika. I was laying out at the pool while my poor partners worked though lunch and stayed late. I heard rumors through Facebook of full parking lots with cars lining the street in front of the office too... and felt a lot guilty, but I was glad I was out of there! It was plenty busy enough when I got back to make up for it though... because of H1N1, it was the busiest summer the clinic had had in recent memory. Glad for our newest partner, Brooke Taylor, who had just started in July, bless her heart. She's a trooper!!

September/October/November 2009- Let football season begin!!

We were unsure of what the season would have in store for Auburn with a new coach and everything, but Coach Chizik brought it! It was a STRANGE season weather-wise, with rain during more games than not, including the monsoon that was the West Virginia game, and cold, but not much hot, but we really enjoyed ourselves. Especially Ron.

Ron and the Smoker

Tailgating became his new thing... our friends own a huge meat smoker, and every week, we'd plan a gameday menu... Boston Butts were a favorite, as were wings, beer can chicken, and sausage.

Bud making pancakes at the one Tailgate Brunch (Auburn-Alabama game)

We had quite the setup, week after week, including the smoker, two big flatscreen TVs for watching the early games, a stereo system, and lots of friends and food! We had houseguests most weekends, including Jenn and Fred, Dan and Becca and the kids, Chrissy and Philip, Elizabeth, Shannon and Brian, and mom. Missing this year was my dad, who had to have surgery early in the season, so he sat out this year from buying tickets. He did great though, and I expect him to be a fixture next year! Auburn is fun (though crowded!) during the Fall, and it was really great seeing Ron develop into a football (ok, who am I kidding?) TAILGATING fan!

November 2009- In her quest to get her pre-baby body back, my "old nurse" Candice invites me to come with her to the gym. It was all I needed to get me going... Heavier than I'd ever been before, and angry at my closet for shrinking all my clothes, I needed someone to help me get started. Bless Candice!! I start going to the gym in the mornings before work, and actually enjoy it! Kinda. I do start feeling better though! And I especially fall in love with Zumba class on Saturday mornings. I can't make it to most other classes during the week (they are all at either 5 in the morning- um, no- or 4:30 in the afternoon!), but this one is a never miss if I'm not on call! Anyway, so slowly but surely I am trying to get in shape. Also in November, Ron quietly had a birthday (36!), and we enjoyed Thanksgiving in Prattville with my extended family.

Thanksgiving with all my "little" cousins- Chelsea, Sam, me, Jessica, and Trish

December 2009- It was a short work month for me...another beautiful thing about having a large practice is that we all get to take a week off at the holidays. My week was the week before Christmas, including Christmas itself and even our anniversary (our 6th!! Man, where have those years gone?). Ron and I went back to New York City for a few days again, and had an even better time this year! I studied for this trip, and had dinner reservations all mapped out and everything. I actually think I'll do an entire separate post for our trip soon, so that's all I'll say about it for now. We (barely) made it back in time for Christmas! Speaking of Christmas, I really enjoyed decorating the new house this year! Last Christmas we were in our little rental house in Auburn, and the tree and ornaments and decorations were all in the "Mobile Attic" in the driveway... it was sad. Not this year!! The tree went up, as did some new decorations for the multiple mantels inside and outside the house, and the wreaths and lighted garland for the front too! The poor little inflatable reindeer was cute for a few days before springing a leak and going to reindeer heaven...

We enjoyed Christmas with our multiple family units, and I was thrilled to get a new Kitchen Aid mixer and a new digital SLR camera!

Gary, Connie, Michelle, and Ron

Us at Christmas Eve at Butch's

Ron and Grandaddy on Christmas Morning

The Loot!

Christmas Dinner

My Mixer!

Its first use...making a pumpkin cheesecake!

I put them both to use immediately. Ron is getting a Big Green Egg (surprise!!), but it is on back-order and still hasn't arrived! It was back to work for me on the 28th... and what a busy week it was. Now over H1N1 for the most part, our babies and children have moved on to RSV. Oh joy. I was off for New Year's Eve though, but for the second year in a row, Ron and I were asleep at midnight. Am I that old??

January 2010- Nothing too earth shattering has happened yet this month... mainly I'm just working and trying to keep up my gym habit. So far so good. We did go for a long weekend to Birmingham, and got to hang out with the Tatum's, the Blackman's, the Tracy's, and my dad. I used our time together to get some photography lessons, and got some good pictures of Moss Rock Preserve and my dad's cats.

The new camera at work...

We also visited some of our favorite restaurants that we miss desperately. We love Auburn, but wish we had more culinary variety here... we have a few standouts (um, pasta night at Ariccia anyone?), but mainly there's chicken fingers, pizza, barbeque, and bad mexican. Though no mexican restaurant is good compared to Sol Azteca in Ron's mind!! We've been trying to cook at home more, which I've always wanted to do anyway, so I guess it's a good thing in the end. In other news, Ron is currently attending his first paralympic training camp (in California this time) since his bike wreck and pneumonia... he says it was his fitness wake-up call. Looks like I may have another gym partner when he gets home! I think he's being hard on himself as usual... he's just now starting to get back into the training mode after the badness that was his health this year.

What else can I say? This post was LONG but hit the highlights of 2009. Here's to a healthier 2010, and more exciting adventures!!

A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest

Catching Up

2008-11-30T19:09:00.002-06:00

It's been awhile since I wrote... honestly, I'm having trouble figuring out what to write here anymore. I work, I eat, I sleep, rinse, repeat... which doesn't lend itself too well to regular interesting blogs! BUT.... since it's been so long, I actually do have a few things to write about!

Work is going well. Most days are fun, even though since it's winter we are getting really busy. I knew I'd be seeing a lot of patients, but maaaan.. on a typical "busy" day (usually Mondays and Tuesdays), I see about 18-20 patients in the morning and then 22-25 in the afternoons. Some days I also work through lunch, but usually selfishly, cause if you work through lunch they buy and bring you food, but you have to wolf it down, sometimes sneaking a few bites in between patients. Those days aren't that fun. It's much better when you get to slow down and play and laugh with your patients... Here is one particularly funny encounter that I want to record here primarily so I won't forget it:

I walk into the exam room for a "two-fer" checkup, a 2 month old baby and his 18 month old brother. In the room are the 2 little ones, their mom, and their 5 and 7 year old brothers. Yes, this momma has her hands full! Anyway, I walk in and the hilarity ensued...

Me: Hey ya'll...I'm Dr. Williams. Nice to meet you!
Mom: But you're so young...how old are you?
Me (faking embarassement, cause I get this question so much that it can't truly embarrass me anymore...): Oh, thank you! I'm old enough, I assure you!
Mom: No really...how old are you?
Me: Well, I'm 29...
7yr old: She's older than Daddy!!!
(We all laugh...)

Part two of the funniness of this encounter... I squat down to get the baby out of his carseat. 5 year old brother crouches down with me, watching my every move like a hawk...
Me: Oh, look what big brown eyes he has!
5yr old: Yeah...he also got a big brown belly!
7yr old: He got that from Momma!!
(We all laugh, including the momma, and I try not to choke on the bite of lunch I had before walking in the room....)

That has been my funniest moment so far in the clinic. The next day I had another entertaining moment, also involving a several month old baby... he was all smiles at me, and cuter than cute! I walked my fingers up his pudgy little belly and chest and chin, and then pushed his little nose like a button, saying "boop!" Right at the "boop" moment though, that sweet little baby pooted, right on cue! Hysterical!

That's enough about work... other than that every day brings a new challenge and something new to learn. And I'm having fun! And you know what...I think I'm done writing for now. I've got more to say, but I'm tired! Hopefully, I'll get back to this sooner rather than later...

Life goes on...

2008-10-28T08:21:00.004-05:00

Our profession is the only one which works unceasingly to annihilate itself. ~Martin H. Fischer

Well, my race is over, at least for a few months! I took my "American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination" yesterday in Atlanta, and it was absolutely miserable. I have studied for months, literally...more than I've ever studied for one test before, and still, it was tough. The test was about 350 questions, broken up into two 3.5 hour testing blocks, and completely overwhelming. The average pass rate for first-time test-takers is only about 75%, and I will just be praying for the next three months that I did enough to get in that top 75%!! I'm afraid it's gonna be close. It is true that all of us felt like a big failure afterwards, and that most of us will pass, but dang, some of us won't. Please God, let me have passed! Ok, enough!!! I'm gonna try very hard to not worry anymore about the outcome, and just enjoy life now!! I've been in study world (and work land) since we moved here, and I am more than looking forward to getting back to some regular fun activities!!

I am glad that I am off work today, cause I have a lot to do!! Here's a small sampling...
Laundry
Getting out cold weather clothes from the basement and somehow getting them into the little bitty closet...
Read a magazine
Blog (check!)
Pack away all board study materials
Unload dishwasher
Rescue the Christmas decorations from the POD (that yes, is still in the driveway!)
Go to Hobby Lobby and peruse the scrapbooking section
Buy a pumpkin and halloween candy (for Ron to hand out to the trick-or-treaters while I'm at work-sad!)
Go on a mini-reward shopping trip to Old Navy and Ann Taylor Loft
Go out to dinner (and have dessert!) with my sweet husband!

That should be enough fun for today anyway, and then tomorrow it's back to work. Speaking of work, I have really loved my job so far, and I am so glad about that! It's gotta even be more enjoyable now that I won't be studying through lunch and at any random free moment... I am building quite a little patient base, which is so great! I love when I get brand new nursery babies... all fresh and sweet and without illegible notes from anyone else in their chart to have to wade through! During residency, I think I only had two babies that I followed from the nursery and beyond, Kendall and Maddox, and it was an absolute joy seeing them over and over during those 2 1/2 years... and now I get to do that a lot! My first patient on my first day was sweet little Leighton, my friend Rebecca's baby... it was her two month check up (yes, she had to have her one month check up with one of my partners while waiting on me to start work- thanks Rebecca!!), and little Leighton was none too happy to see me! That cute little baby screamed the entire visit!! :) Rebecca came prepared with her camera, so we got a commemorative photo of the milestone in my career! Can't wait to frame this picture and hang it in my office (which is a story for another day maybe...).

Well, that's enough for now...I'm ready to go "squeeze some fun" out of the first day of the rest of my life!

The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. ~Thomas Edison

I'm alive...and working!

2008-10-02T19:44:00.002-05:00

So just a quick update to let everyone know that I'm still around... work is busy, and fun! I like being a real doctor! It's neat to finally be able to say that I'm a pediatrician...

Yesterday when I was seeing my babies in the nursery, I went to examine the one (just one... a miracle!) that had been born on my call night. The babies have a little name tag on their bassinets, saying "I'm a girl/boy" and "Mother's doctor- (name)", and "My doctor- (name)"... well, this little baby's tag said: "My Doctor- Williams"!!! That's me! Williams.... that's me!! Cool!

Anyway, I've been seeing about 24 or 25 patients a day in clinic. That's a far cry from the 4 that would KILL you in Primary Care Clinic!! I've even had a couple I've seen more than once already, and that's really fun... eventually I'll know most of them I guess.

I'll post more later...for now work is all I've been up to.

We're "home"!

2008-09-19T13:39:00.002-05:00

Mom and I made it safely back to Birmingham late last night.... it had been a loooong day in the airports of the world, but all went relatively smoothly.

As for our final day in Beijing, we spent it shopping! Of course! We picked up a few last minute souvenirs, and helped Oz and Matt (Ron's teammates) get good deals at the Silk Market for their friends and families. It's really fun haggling with other people's money! :)

That night, we attended the Closing Ceremonies. Show started at 8PM, so we left in "plenty of time" at 5:30. We had the bright idea to go by subway, knowing that we'd have to go that way on the way home since taxis would likely be scarce with 90,000 people pouring out of the Birds' Nest! That idea was a good one logistically, but a nightmare in reality...there were SO MANY PEOPLE trying to get to the stadium that way (at least 85 of the 90K!) and so many security checks (and therefore long lines and x-ray machines and bag-opening and body-wanding) that it took us two hours to get to the stadium. Then we had to climb Mount Everest to find our seats way up in the 3rd tier. By the time we got up there, it was about 7:30 or 7:45, and we had missed the athletes marching in! The whole ceremony was kinda "ehh" to me... the scale was much smaller than the regular Olympics. The 3rd tier thing was disappointing too...it seemed to hold more people than the 1st and 2nd tiers, but we were all under an awning and couldn't see the fireworks or even the flame!! True, we could appreciate the formations of the dancers and stuff way down below, but the precision definitely was not that of the Olympics Ceremonies. It was great to get into the Birds' Nest though... that is one amazing stadium, and you can't get near it without a ticket! The subway trip home was much less hectic than the way there, I guess because there were no security checks to get through...and we didn't have to buy a return ticket, not that they're expensive! The gates were just open for the throngs of people going through!

Speaking of money, visiting China was definitely not bad on the wallet! One dollar is worth 6.8 yuan (or RMB), and things just don't cost that much. For example, in Italy, a can of diet coke would cost us 4 euros (almost $8 I think)... in China, a 20 oz bottle of diet coke cost 3 or 4 yuan (less than 75 cents)! A taxi ride to the airport (about a 45 min. ride from our hotel) cost about 80 yuan, so less than $10. A one way ticket on the subway only cost 2 yuan, so for both of us to get to the stadium and back that night it was like 50 cents total! Oh, I forgot to mention that for lunch while shopping with Ron, Oz, and Matt, we ducked into a little dumpling and noodle restaurant.... this one was seriously local... no English, spoken or written, and no pictures of the food, but Matt had been there the day before and knew what to get. The dumplings were so good... had some filled with vegetables and some with meat (I don't even want to know!), and we ate a lot of them! It was three big hungry athletes plus mom and me...we ate steam-basket after steam-basket of dumplings until we were almost sick, had 4 big bottles of local beer, and a few bottled waters, all for the grand total of 38 yuan. Yes, $8.50! It was amazing!!

Anyway, that was about it for our trip. Travel day yesterday was just that...it took us all morning to stuff all of our stuff into our suitcases! We did A LOT of shopping! I know my bag weighed over 50lbs (it was pushing 40 when we left home!), but they didn't charge me extra... Yay!

Today I'm just in the zone trying to get ready to get down to Auburn...tomorrow! I have done 4 loads of laundry, packed up a bunch of paintings and mirrors and stuff, assembled and packed 2 more wardrobe boxes, and now need to unload my vanity drawers and pack up some of our nicer breakables, and pack Ron some clean clothes for the weekend.... good thing I'm a list maker, and that the movers are gonna pack all the rest of our stuff themselves next week. I'm exhausted...just in time to start my job on Monday! Great.

(Disclaimer.... I am really excited about starting my job! I've worked all my life I guess for this career, and I think/hope I found the perfect job for me! I hate that we're having to move and that we're so rushed and everything, but oh well... we'll get through it somehow... cause we always do. I am a little nervous though! What if I forgot everything I knew over the last 11 days of traveling??)

Low-Key Tuesday

2008-09-16T20:11:00.003-05:00

Today was a "rest day" for us.... Mom and I slept in and then headed out to the Hou Hai lake region to meet up with Ron and the group from the Hartford! They were kind enough to have invited us to tag along on their planned day of rickshaw touring and lunch...we had a blast!

Ron and I haggling for a shirt on Opium Street

The outing began as a bit of shopping on Opium Street (and no, no opium was ingested/inhaled/purchased... the street is named after the activities that happened there long long ago!), followed by a fantastic lunch at "No Name Restaurant." There was so much food!!!!! We ate and ate and ate...

After lunch, we all loaded onto rickshaws and took a tour of the hutong in the area. On this tour, we stopped in one of the poorer homes and were served tea by the nice lady who lived there... then for comparison, we stopped in one of the richer homes and were given a tour. It was neat to be able to see the inside of these places... they were both nicer than I expected from the way they look on the outside. Even the poorer home had a big TV!! The richer home had a flatscreen!

On our rickshaw

In the alleys between the poorer hutong homes

The Hartford folks and their IPC contact were able to score us some tickets to watch the bronze medal wheelchair basketball game between the USA and Great Britain. Great Britain won (boo!), but we had a good time watching and cheering for our boys!

Wheelchair Basketball

That was about it for the day... we were too stuffed to have a real dinner, and it was raining and chilly anyway, so Ron went back to the Village and mom and I headed back to the hotel and ordered room service noodles! :) For a rest day, we still managed to wear ourselves out!

Oh, and of course I didn't forget...the cute kids of the day! The little girl in the red was a little diva and was a ham until the camera came out, then she wanted to run away! Her little friend was sweet though and wanted to pose for the pictures!

Another busy day!

2008-09-15T20:41:00.003-05:00

I think we have seen just about all there is to see here in Beijing! That's not true I'm sure, but we sure have seen all the major stuff! We're about ready to come home.

Yesterday, we said bye to Butch as he headed back home, and mom and I went out to the Summer Palace. It was beautiful, as all the green spaces seem to be in China! It was hot though (a good excuse to have another one of those delicious peach and honey popsicles!)...and it was a lot of walking. We walked and walked, and then rode a boat from one end to the other before leaving.

We met up with Ron and (coach) Jim and a few others, who had borrowed little touring bikes from the Village and rode them all the way into town! That is a LONG ride on little city streets! I was a bundle of nerves while they made their way into town, cause we have witnessed the craziness that is Beijing traffic, but they somehow made it, and even toured the Forbidden City when they arrived. Ron had brought a little flatbed bike....so that we could hop in the back and tour around. With much hesitation, we went, and it was fun!! They rode us through a hutong, then the boys left and Ron sent his big bike with them (they put a little one in the back). We walked Ron down to the Hou Hai lakes area, where we sat on a rooftop restaurant and had some refreshments! Dinner followed at what must have been the most popular restaurant in the area....it was crowded and good! We had their specialty...mutton stir fried with spring onions, and cashew chicken. Yum!! We were wiped out after dinner, so went our separate ways in taxis. It was another fun night!

Cute kid of the day picture:

The Great Wall Adventure!

2008-09-15T07:23:00.003-05:00

We have been going, going, going here in Beijing! It's hard to find the time to blog, so this will be quick...

Yesterday, we went to the Great Wall! There are different sections close to Beijing, and we chose the Mutianyu section... it's just 15 minutes further out than the overcrowded Badaling section. We had hired the same driver we had the day before...he picked us up at the hotel, drove us out to the Paralympic Village to pick up Ron, and then out of town to the wall. It was amazing!! At the base of the mountain, there are stalls of souvenir and fruit vendors, where they sell "I Climbed the Great Wall" T-shirts for $1 (or less!)... it's crazy and crowded down there, but when you get up to the wall itself (by hike, chairlift, or cable car, the route we took!) it is nearly deserted! Well, not really, but far less crowded than I thought it would be. Anyway, we hiked left, we hiked right, and took lots of pictures!!

The views were breathtaking, even though the day was a bit overcast and smoggy. It was no walk in the park either... you are either going down steps or up them....everything seems very steep. It just blows my mind how they built the wall in the first place!! Butch descended the wall via the cable car, but Ron, mom, and I wanted to go down faster...on the toboggan slide!! We had to hike about an hour (up and down, up and down, very very sweaty by the end!), but we finally got there, and it was totally worth it to slide down the side of the mountain! Ron took a little video of it...check out his site to see.
We had some tourist stops on the way to and back from the Wall, but they were fun and we didn't mind. First was the Cloisionne factory where the artisans make their beautiful pieces by hand (we bought a dragon and phoenix vase!), and then was a tea shop, where we were taken through a tea ceremony. Fun!

When we finally made it back from the wall, it was time for dinner. Did I mention that the Chinese eat really early?? In Italy, we were used to eating dinner no earlier than 9:00 PM, but in China, they eat at about 6:00. A few nights, we ate at 7:30, and we close it down! Anyway, last night we had Peking duck again to let Ron experience it...he loved it of course!

After dinner, it was a mad rush (via subway) to the theater to see the Chinese acrobat show! Mom and I had secured 13 tickets for us, Ron, and his teammates/coaches/staff to get out and see the show...they all met us there. The show was great, and everyone had fun! It wasn't really tumbling like I had envisioned, but more like contortionists, girls doing balancing stuff, jugglers, and stuff like that. The grand finale was a troupe of young ladies doing tricks on bicycles.... doing handstands on moving bicycles, riding backwards and upside down, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff, including having 13 girls on one bike! I told the guys and girls I had arranged it just for them!

After the show, we all took the subways home to crash... it was an exciting and tiring day! That's enough for now... I'll do today's update in the morning.... promise!

No medals... pooh!

2008-09-13T07:47:00.007-05:00

Ron before the Road Race

Well, it's over, and we have no medals to bring home this time. The road race was today, and it was weird... it was Ron's category (LC2- single leg amputees) all combined with the LC1 (mostly arm amputees) class and one of the milder CP classes. The race was fast fast fast with all three medalists being of the LC1 category. There were 6 strong legs on the medal stand!! Even Ron's main rivals (Jiri and Roberto) weren't in the top five. Oh well... today's race results aren't as hard to swallow as yesterday's were, to me at least. Now we can take Ron out on the town and go have some fun!

The winners of Ron's race

Yesterday was completely taken up by the time trial. The course (which was the same course as the road race today) was fabulous! There was a big grandstand area for the spectators (and today, we managed to talk our way into the Family section-- which we are of course, but we don't have "credentials"), and behind the road where the riding happens a lake, then a beautiful pagoda on a peninsula, then mountains in the distance. This was, by far, the most breathtaking race site I have ever seen... wish it could've been the site of better memories for us.

Today, we started the day by going to see Chairman Mao. Yes, he's dead, but embalmed and on display just north of Tiannamen Square. Kinda creepy, but free. We then were taken to the course by a car service we'd hired... loved our driver! He talked his way right up to the course practically, past a bunch of credential-checkers and Paralympic volunteers. He did so well for us that we have hired him for tomorrow too...to take us out to the Great Wall and to pick up Ron on the way out of town.

Then was the race, and I've already talked all I want to about that.

On the way back, we asked Tan (our driver) to drop us off at the Olympic Green instead of the hotel, so of course he did. You couldn't actually get into the park area or anywhere near the Birds' Nest or Water Cube without an event ticket, but we got close enough to oooh and aaah over them and get some pictures.

The Birds' Nest Stadium

We taxied back to the hotel to change, and then walked to a restaurant we had previously spied across the street from Tiannamen Square... it was probably the best food we've had here! Well, it tied with the Peking Duck, and was cheaper!

So now that the races are over, I hope that we can get Ron out of the village to do some sightseeing. The Great Wall tomorrow will be a good start, and tomorrow night we have bought tickets to an acrobat show! We bought lots of tickets actually...nine of Ron's teammates/coaches/entourage wanted to go too! The hotel concierge must've thought we were crazy when we bought 13 tickets, but nah, she knows that already! We have kept the desk ladies quite busy with all our questions and need for translation!

Well, off to sleep... tomorrow will be a better day.

Oh, and here's another "cute baby" picture...

5th...

2008-09-12T05:17:00.005-05:00

Well, the time trial is over, and Ron finished 5th. I'll leave all the descriptive details to him since we couldn't see much of the race, but I do know that it was hot and hard. The guys that we knew to worry about were indeed the ones that took the medals... we're disappointed, but you know, you just have to leave it all out there on the road, and Ron certainly did that. He was wiped out after it was all over.

Tomorrow is the road race, against the same old crew. It's never over till it's over, but the time trial today was where our best chance was.

On a high note, the course was beautiful...

I don't really know what else to say. There are definitely highs and lows on this journey, and the lows aren't very much fun. We are thankful for all the support we feel from all of you at home.

After the race, Barb, Brooke, Ron, and Sandy and John (of the Hartford)

My aching feet!!

2008-09-11T08:46:00.007-05:00

We have walked one billion miles today... or at least it felt like it! We started by going to the Forbidden City, which of course was ah-mazing!! You could just imagine that you were an emperor (or empress!) wandering those grounds, or being carried around I'm sure...it would have been a long way to walk to get anywhere! The crowds were thick, and there was a lot of pushing and shoving to see some of the sights (thrones and such) inside the palaces...the doors were open but with rails, with everyone pushing to get up to the front to see. It reminded me of pep rallies at Auburn! Ah, China. The Forbidden City is not to be missed though! Here are some of my favorite pictures.

See the crowds?? Yes, they are pushy!

Ice Cream Break- it was hot!!

After wearing ourselves out at the Forbidden City, we hunted down a lunch-spot... that took a while, but we ended up very happy with our lunch of spicy chicken, noodles, rice, and broccoli. We then walked some more.... trying to see the Bell and Drum towers, but they were closed, so we started exploring the Hou Hai lake area. More walking, more shopping! I also finally got a picture of a Chinese child (with permission of his...or her- it was hard to tell- daddy of course). As an aside, it is the strangest thing I have ever seen, but the little toddler age children are dressed in pants with the inseam mostly cut out! And without diapers!! Their little heineys are just hanging out all over the place!! We haven't seen any pee-pee or poo-poo stains on the mothers who tote them around all day, but I don't see how we don't...the are too little to be potty trained! This child seemed to have intact pants, but I'm not sure!! :) The pediatrician in me also fully disapproves of all the kids on bicycles without helmets!! My PALS services have not yet been needed though...

After walking around Hou Hai lake and hutong, our feet demanded that we take a cab for once, and we headed back to our hotel to freshen up and rest. Later, we ventured out to the Night Market, where there are stalls and stalls of, well, interesting and unusual (read, disgusting!) food items for sale... the available variety includes silk worms on a stick, fried centipedes, scorpions, sea horses, starfish, kidneys and hearts of various animals, snake, mice, and a lot of other unidentifiable creatures.

It wasn't all horrifying though... we tried several (boring!) things, which were mostly good: chicken on a stick, pineapple rice with sugar, fried dumplings, fried bananas (which were very much like New Orleans' beignets), and fruit with a coating of melted sugar- like brittle! Yes, we ate some things we probably weren't supposed to, but hey, you only live once! I may regret it in the morning, we'll see! The fruit brittle stuff

And now, of course, we are turning in for the night. Tomorrow is the big day.... Ron's time trial! He's nervous... but he's ready! He's ready for all of his hard work to pay off, and to go out there and have some fun! We're meeting up with the crew from the Hartford and riding out to the course together, which is at the Ming Tombs. Should be fun! I am so proud of Ron, and ready to see those Go-Sticks in action! Stay tuned in (and keep your fingers crossed for him!)... he goes off at about 2:45 here, which is 1:45 AM at home- we should have some updates posted by the time ya'll wake up! Until then....

Parks and Hutongs and Duck, Oh My!

2008-09-10T03:11:00.008-05:00

Today has been fun!! The weather is beautiful today... warm and sunny, the complete opposite from yesterday's rainy and chilly! We almost needed to use our umbrellas like parasols, like all the Chinese women do! We would fit in better if we did!

We started the morning by visiting Beihai Park! It was fabulous! There is a big lake (aptly named Beihai lake) with sections completely covered by huge green water lilies!

Beihai Lake, water lilies, and the White Dagoba

On an island in the center of the lake, there is a huge white temple called the White Dagoba. After hiking up many many stairs, you could almost get to the top, with a nice city view as a reward. Also at the top, we were crowned Empresses! :)

The Newest Chinese Empresses

We had lunch at a little cafe overlooking the lake, and ate dumplings and noodles (yum!)... a bit more authentic than yesterday's meals! This little Chinese lady struck up a conversation with us at lunch... turns out she was an English teacher and wanted to practice her English with some native-speakers I guess. She was very sweet, and even invited us to join her and her husband on a paddle boat ride in the lake, but we decided to keep with our plans for the afternoon instead. Hope that didn't violate any major rules of etiquette...we thanked her a lot for the invitation!

We had an hour or two until Butch was due to arrive, so we decided to start heading back to the hotel, and maybe to stop at Jingshan Park on the way back, but at the last minute, we were approached by (several) rickshaw drivers asking us to take their hutong tour... the is on our to-do list, and we had just enough time, so we went! It was so fun! Our driver was young and tried very hard to explain everything to us in English (and did very well actually!) as he pedalled us through a hutong behind the Forbidden City. The hutongs are the old tradional Chinese neighborhoods, still inhabited by the poorer people of the city, as well as some soldiers. We saw the little house where Mao lived as a student for a year or two in his twenties. It was really interesting... you wonder how people still are able to live in this way. There were some nicer areas (like the "rich people" house where our driver posed for the picture below), but mostly it was very ramshackle.

Our rickshaw driver and Hutong tour guide

Butch arrived after shortly after our rickshaw ride... we were happy he made it in one piece!! We walked around Tiannamen Square for a bit, then went on a culinary adventure- Peking Duck!! Our hotel had recommended a certain restaurant, Da Dong (yes, funny name...), and it was fabulous! It was a nice new swanky place, and we had to wait an hour for a table! Here is the story in pictures... Close your eyes, Chrissy Tatum!

All the ducks in a row!

Ducks in the oven

Veggies! Broccoli and snow peas...

Carving up the duck tableside

Ready to eat!

Our dessert... smoking fruit! (It had dry ice underneath!)

On a side note, I talked to Ron a few times today. He's in the Village now with no more planned adventures out until after his races! Ah, the focus! He's sounding ready... maybe a bit nervous, but mostly excited! I'm excited for him...and I'm the nervous one! I hope he'll just get out there and do his best on Friday and Saturday, and that that will be enough for a shiny prize! He did get to participate in the Opening Ceremonies this time, a first for him, and he said it was beyond amazing! We were in the airplane at the time, so we missed it, but we watched it on TV today in our hotel room. We just missed seeing the USA team march in, so I'm gonna have to watch it again! We did see the frog-children dancing though, which was hysterical! That was his favorite part, he said.

And finally, I just got an email from a former Paralympian's wife... she has taken my Oprah idea and run with it.... and just talked to an Oprah person on the phone! We may be going!! Woo hoo!! I'll be sure to post any more details if I hear them!

We're surviving!

2008-09-09T07:07:00.008-05:00

Yay, I finally got my computer working in our hotel room, so now the updates will be more frequent and with pictures! I just needed the only converter piece that I didn't have... and Ron had one! Thanks honey! I'll go back and add pictures from my other post too...

So, let me back up to yesterday. Yesterday morning was good! We had slept for 12 hours (after 36 hours of awakeness, this was great!), so we were up and ready to go go go! First we wandered around Tiannamen Square for a little bit... the Chinese are fabulous gardeners, and there was a huge flower display about the Paralympics in the Square. We found the cyclist of course!

Tiannamen Square

After Tiannamen Squre, we walked to the Temple of Heaven. Yeah, it was a long walk! Totally worth it though... it was acres and acres of beautiful grounds, full of roses and cypress trees, and very cool old buildings. Loved the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests the best.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at Temple of Heaven

After walking around the Temple of Heaven, we went shopping at the Pearl Market, which just happened to be in the neighborhood! Wow.... at the markets, you bargain, bargain, bargain, and I'm surprisingly good at it! We scored several necklaces a piece, and moved on...to more shopping in the Liulichang district. There they make "chops", which are special carved stamps. I got one with my name on it carved just for me! Very cool!

Shopping for Chops

And then, the day kinda went downhill on us! We had missed lunch in all the excitement of the Temple of Heaven and shopping, so we were pretty hungry by dinner time. We stopped in a little restaurant close to our hotel, and ordered by picture what we were assured was chicken. It may have been chicken, but not chicken meat really... just fried pieces of something very cartilagenous... must have been neck or feet! Ugh! That was kind of disastrous, but we were in a hurry to get to the Beijing Opera, which we had bought tickets for at the hotel. So we set off to find a taxi, and let me just say, that is a challenge anytime in the evening! Our major problem was that we were walking along busier streets, and were separated from the street itself by a little guardrail like fence. We might have well have been trying to hail a cab on I-65 back home! We walked and walked to get rid of the little fence... thought we were gonna miss the show! Finally we got a taxi and got ourselves to the Opera, but after the first half of the show, we wished we had missed it after all. It is, I could say, an acquired taste.... the first half was basically a lady with a singing voice that sounded like a cat singing and talking to an actor dressed to look like an old man. We didn't understand one bit of it, and it was mostly dialogue, not singing. Many people left at intermission, but we stuck it out and stayed for the second half, which was a good bit better. It was something about the Fight of the Monkey King, and multiple characters were jumping and tumbling about the stage without any singing. We survived, caught a taxi back to the hotel without too much trouble, and went to bed early.

The Opera

Today was a new day. Rainy, but new. We slept in, and then spent the morning at the Confucius Temple and the Lama Temple. The architecture at both was breathtaking... and so was all the incense at the Lama Temple (Buddhist, with lots of Buddhas and even monks!). The Lama Temple had a huuuuge Buddha carved from a single sandalwood tree, with a marker from Guiness Book of World Records to prove it. It was something like 85 feet tall. No pics of it unfortunately....it was inside and no pictures allowed!
Confucius statue

Confucius Temple

After the temples, we taxied it out to the Paralympic Village to see Ron! We hung out with him there for a while, then escorted Ron and a few of the guys to the Silk Market to go shopping...our specialty! We helped them bargain on pearls for their wives and silk dresses for their daughters, and of course picked up a few trinkets for ourselves! :) We have GOT to stop shopping! The boys took off quickly back to the Village, and mom and I ate some pizza (no mysterious chicken parts this time!) and made our way home, this time via subway!! It has rained all day, and hasn't stopped yet! It better not rain for the races on Friday and Saturday!!!

Us at the Village

Well, that's it really... tomorrow cousin Butch arrives, which we're looking forward to very much! Will update again soon!

We made it!!

2008-09-07T20:28:00.004-05:00

Hello, from China! Mom and I made it safely, after about 18 hours in a flying cylinder! The flight was long of course, but not too bad really...we watched a lot of movies!

Yesterday afternoon after our arrival, we found our hotel (not an easy feat...the taxi drivers are a challenge), and then went out exploring.

We are very close to the Forbidden City, so we walked around it and of course made our first purchase... a surprise for Grandaddy! He's reading, so I'll keep it a surprise for now, but we did haggle with the little street guy. He actually followed us down the street for about a block before we agreed on a price! Yep, $6! We're high rollers!

When we were wandering around the Forbidden City, taking pictures along the way, a little Chinese couple came up to us and did some hand motions...we thought they wanted us to take their picture... in fact, they wanted to have their picture made WITH us! :) Yes, we stick out like blonde sore thumbs in a sea of otherwise Asian people.

Ron had arranged for a Chinese Sim card to be delivered to our hotel (sweet boy) so we were able to use my cell phone after we got here. I called him up, and we were able to meet up for dinner! It was good to see him after being apart for just over a month! We met at the Drum Tower, then walked down some street and stopped at a nondescript restaurant and had dinner.

It was interesting, but good. And cheap! It's a nice change for us to be able to have a Diet Coke for the equivalent of 50 cents, not $8 like in Italy! After dinner, we went our separate ways and took taxis "home"... and slept like rocks for 12hrs! We were tired...

That's all for now... going sightseeing and maybe to the Opera tonight! I'm having trouble with my computer (shocker!), so I'm updating from the hotel business lounge. If and when I get mine going, I'll post pictures.

Bye for now, and Happy Birthday Sarah Atkins!!

Off Like a Herd of Turtles!

2008-09-05T17:00:00.002-05:00

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~Seneca

So, we're leaving bright and early in the morning! Well, actually it's gonna be "dark and early"! Ugh! Oh well... the earlier we leave, the earlier we get there I guess. I am excited. Ron arrived yesterday our time, and he's been able to call me several times. There apparently are some pretty strict rules about what you can blog about over there... The rules are set by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) and basically restrict you from posting pictures or video clips of the events, venues, medal ceremonies, athletes other than yourself, etc. I can't say that I understand why these rules exist....I get that safety must be part of the equation, but I don't understand why limiting the accessibility of information about such a fantastic and inspiring event is productive. Oh well... ya'll know I am a rule-follower (to a fault!), so both of our blogs may be far more boring during this time than we want. We'll see how it goes.

I have just about worn myself out over the last few days packing up boxes of house stuff... no matter how much goes into boxes, more and more exists! It's really like it's multiplying! The movers brought me some wardrobe boxes today... I thought that surely4 would be enough, but I've already filled up three of them with just Ron's hanging clothes, leaving mine high and dry! I've also been wrapping up picture frames and china... and I am tired! I need a vacation!

And so, we go.... thank you to all who are out there cheering Ron on in this crazy journey! It's because of our friends' and families' support that he is able to go fulfill his dream. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Keep your fingers crossed for him! :) We hope to play out this scene again:

Us in Athens after he won the bronze...

Oh, and no, I haven't heard back from Oprah yet!

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller

I did it!

2008-09-03T18:50:00.003-05:00

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. ~Oprah Winfrey

Well, I've been saying that I was gonna do this for, well, years now, and I just did it...

Did what, you ask?

I wrote Oprah. I've been seeing the commercials for her episode with all the Olympians, and I just got a bee in my bonnet and shot her (well, her people I guess...) a quick email! Don't you think having a show featuring Paralympians would be a good idea?? I do! Stay posted...

Ok, back to my regularly scheduled studying, with packing breaks scheduled throughout!

Turn your wounds into wisdom. ~Oprah Winfrey

Crunch Time

2008-09-02T19:23:00.002-05:00

Oliver keeping me entertained

So, it has been a very busy few days in my neck of the woods! Over the Labor Day weekend, I went down to Auburn for the football game, but also dropped off some (a lot really!) of stuff at the little house. Dad's big truck was packed to the gills, though it just scratched the surface of what there is to move! Whew! I have gotten three estimates from moving companies, so luckily I don't have to pack and move the rest of the stuff myself. The more I do pack myself though, the cheaper the move will be... so I spent today sweating in the attic packing up boxes of Christmas china, clothes, and random junk. A lot of it is still boxed up from our last move... guess we don't need it all, huh?

So the game was hot, and Auburn looked like they always do at the first game, but it was really fun anyway! Dad and I sat in my first ever season ticket seats! We'll miss next week's game, but after that, I'm super excited about going to all the games and hanging out with some new friends there. Our friends Shannon and Brian missed last week, but we'll all be present for the LSU game! War Eagle! It was a late night getting back home, but I kept thinking that that would be the last time (maybe ever!) that I would have to face game-day traffic to get home after a game! :)

Sunday, Ron's little sister Michelle came to Birmingham for a visit. She recently had her 19th birthday, so we went shopping to celebrate, and did pretty well at the Gap Outlet! We went to dinner and then lazed around and watched "The Sound of Music" on TV. I know every single word to every single song on that movie, but it was Michelle's first time to see it. Love love love that movie!

Now it's time to get busy with the packing and last minute trip planning details. Ron leaves tonight for Beijing... I've kinda been in denial! Now that he's gonna be gone, I'm sad that I won't get to just pick up the phone and say hi anytime I want to, or call him to get help on all this house stuff I've had to handle on my own, but... I will get to see him in China at some point next week! Yay! This is the longest we've been apart for a long time... Even last Olympics, I got to go out to Colorado for a visit. Not this time....thanks Obama! Oh well, I've been shockingly busy to not have been working all this time.

I'm planning on blogging throughout the trip as a travel journal of everything we see and do, but also to keep everyone updated on Ron's progress. The athletes have been told that there will be some pretty serious restrictions on their personal blogs... like, they can't post pictures of the venues or Olympic Village, and can't write about their results right away... That seems unreasonable to me, but if it's true, I'll spill all the details here! So stay tuned!

Spring Cleaning?

2008-08-29T15:32:00.002-05:00

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden

Yes, I know it's not spring.... but in anticipation of the mad dash of moving that's coming up right when we get back from Beijing, I have been "cleaning out" this week (after my morning study session that is...). We have only lived in this house for just over two years... how in the world did so much junk accumulate?? I swore when we moved here from our blue house that I would remain organized and neat, which I didn't do too badly at, but man, where did all this other stuff come from? I do know where the majority of the problem lies... the mailbox! When you sign your life away to medicine, you get a LOT of mail. Most of it is junk that gets ripped up or shredded and then thrown away, but where they get me is with the journals and other educational paraphernalia. When I'm working, I do not have time to read 8 different journals per month!! I feel guilty if I don't keep them though, so I usually flip through them, looking at the pictures, and skimming anything that is fascinating and/or applicable to me, and then the pretty little journals get stacked up on my shelves. This is all well and good, until it is time to move! And this move in particular is heavy on my shoulders since we're moving now just to move again in six months or so. Ugh! Anyway, so farewell little journals... I'm paying by the pound here, and ya'll don't make the cut!

Another thing that isn't making the cut... quite a few clothes that haven't fit now for a few years. Yes, like all delusional women out there, I was hanging on to a closet full of stuff that I can't squeeze into anymore, hoping that one day I would be able to get back in them again. Brutal honesty? Though I will continue to try to slim down to my high school or early college "fightin' weight", those clothes are out of style anyway, and none of them were expensive! They moved to the Preserve from the blue house, but I am not gonna pay for them by the pound again! The maids came (one last time) while I was knee deep amongst clothes in the closet... I ended up giving it all to my favorite little maid! We use a maid service run by a friend of ours, and usually we get the same team come out... a young tiny one, and an older tiny one. They are very sweet and do a fabulous job. I can always tell when a team other than them does our house. Anyway, I was gonna go to Goodwill with all the clothes, but when I saw the little maid, I though she might want to go through the stuff and take some home. Well, she didn't want to go through it...she just wanted it all! Some of it will fit here, but alot of it will be too big...she is TINY!! Anyway, made me feel good, and saves me a trip to Goodwill....

I feel like I'm on Mission:Organization or Clean Sweep! Other than my half of the clothes closet, I have gone through my craft closet, my article file thingy, and the junk drawer in the kitchen. Man, is that all I've done?? I need my mom to come help me! Mom?? I know you're reading this.... :) I still need to do the linen closet, my bathroom vanity, my (other) craft closet upstairs, and the attic. The attic scares me... there's so much stuff up there! A lot of it is Christmas decorations, but there's other stuff too... I may just ignore it! Ron can figure that one out. He told me last night that he was sad. He said that when he left, he didn't really think about that we wouldn't really be living here anymore once we got back from China. I did! That's why I cried all the last night, dum-dum!!

Anyway, time's a wastin'.... I'm gonna go do one more area before calling it quits for today. I'm going to the Auburn game tomorrow (Waaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Eagle!) and dropping some stuff off at the little house...I'm excited to see it again! Until then...

Most of us can easily do two things at once; what's all but impossible is to do one thing at once. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Gearing Up

2008-08-27T14:09:00.003-05:00

Life's problems wouldn't be called "hurdles" if there wasn't a way to get over them. ~Author Unknown

Well, things are getting busy around the Williams' households... yes, all three! Here on Preserve Drive, the cats and I have been starting to try to decide what will be making the move to Auburn, and when. Most everything will be going, but a few select things will be going this weekend, including the little bed from upstairs, some type of night stand, a tupperware full of work shoes, and at least a week's worth of work clothes. Also making the first cut will be a few pots and pans, our old microwave (so glad now that we took it out of our blue house!), towels, a shower curtain, the mini-fridge, and the little TV. Basically, the stuff that I will need for the first few days of living there before the movers bring the rest. When we get back from China, it's gonna be crazy!!

Turning now to the action at the blue house (our old house that kept as a rental)... Despite our attention to at least three sickly trees on the property over the past five years, Hurricane Faye brought down part of another one! This one seemed fine, so we're upset about it! The renters called/emailed Ron, and the info relayed to me was that the back porch of the house was smooshed. Ron asked me to go up there and take some pictures for the insurance claim, so I did... but interestingly enough, the porch is fine! There is half a tree (it split somehow) down in the back yard, but the porch looks like it always has. There had been a power line or phone line or something that came down, but that was fixed by the time I got there the next day. Hmmm. Well, that was all good news, except that it might have been nice to have a new porch paid for by the homeowners insurance. Now we ourselves have to pay to have the rest of that tree taken down. Oh well... it could have been so much worse... the tree could've fallen on the roof of the house, or worse yet, someone could have been hurt. So I'm glad for that, but man, there are not very many trees left on this property! My favorite tree (oh, I don't know what kind it is, but it has beautiful pink blossoms on it in the spring....and it's not a crepe myrtle....), the one that was influential in our buying the house initially, almost got taken out by the garbage truck that first summer. I was so sad. Anyway, that's all for the blue house.

Now for the little house (in Auburn)... not much to report, other than that I've been on the phone all morning trying to get the utilities converted over to my name. It wasn't too bad, but not much fun. Ron usually does all that stuff! For that, I am so grateful!

Speaking of Ron, I've been missing him lately... I had wanted to go visit him in Colorado, but had planned to try to go this week. Yeah, tickets to Denver are pretty expensive this week, with all the Democrats there and all. I should've researched that a little better. Next week, the tickets are cheap, but Ron will be in his final few days of training and trying to get out of there (leaving next Wednesday--oh gosh, that's one week from today!), so it just didn't work out. The upside is that with all that he's been doing on his website, I still get to see him everyday! And of course, I talk to him multiple times a day on the phone. Our phone conversations go a little like this:

Me: Hey! Whatcha doin'?
Ron: Just got off my bike. Going to eat lunch/dinner. What you doing?
Me: Studying.
Ron: What are my Buddies doing?
Me: Sleeping in my lap. Here, talk to them! (Hold phone in cats' ears)
Ron: Hey Buddies... I miss my Buddies! Tell your momma to feed you your wet food!
Cats: Purrrrrrrrrrrr
Ron: Well, gotta go.
Me: Ok, bye. Love you!
Ron: Love you too...Bye.

Yeah, fascinating, right? We have nearly this exact conversation several times a day! The only variable is what meal he's about to eat, or at night, that he's about to go to bed. Gotta love those one minute phone calls!

I've said it before (and I'll probably say it till I'm old and gray), but I am really proud of Ron. He has sacrificed a lot to be able to do this again, and will give it his all in the races. He will be representing himself on September 12th and 13th, as well as me and the rest of our families, his friends, coworkers, our country, and most importantly (yes, I do believe this is more important than representing his country...are you shocked?), he will be representing every person out there with a disability. Ron's disability is so minor in the grand scheme of things, but it goes to show that all challenges can be faced, and that many can be overcome. Whether you have dylexia, mental retardation, autism, blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, or just one leg... whether you were born with your challenge, were somehow injured, or developed it as a result of an illness- including cancer- you are not defined by it. The Paralympians figured that out a long time ago, but not everyone has. Not everyone sees a person and not a prosthesis, a wheelchair, or a red-tipped cane, but they should. The Paralympics are a way to continue teaching these truths, especially to our children. I wish wish wish that the Paralympics got more TV coverage here in the US, not because I want Ron to be famous or get the Visa commercial or be on the McDonald's cup (though that would be cool!), but to be an example to all of how to accept what may seem to be unsurmountable challenges and work hard to overcome them. Every single one of these Paralympians (not just mine), deserve to be on that Wheaties box....

Ok, long emotional post done for now... I'll get back to my goal of trying to make sure I'll be board certified come October 27th!

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. ~Thomas Alva Edison

Shrimp Boil Surprise

2008-08-24T18:44:00.005-05:00

The best things in life aren't things. ~Art Buchwald

Earlier last week, my dad had told me to mark my calendar for last Friday night...he was having a shrimp boil! Of course I was excited... I love shrimp, and though I have been getting out more than I thought I would with Ron being away, I still need all the social interaction I can get. My job was to bring bread, so I ventured out to Publix (by way of the Gap Outlet, just one last time!), bought the only three french bread loaves they had, had the nice bakery man slice them up for me using his handy-dandy bread slicing machine, and showed up at Dad's. Neighbors soon started showing up, and to my surprise, they started bringing me presents! Huh? The sweet Evans' who used to live catty-corner to us (who now live a few streets over) gave me a pretty tray tied up with a bow along with a fun bottle opener. Mrs. Evans said it was my graduation gift... How nice! It got better though...she also brought a cake (chocolate buttercream from Edgar's!) with "Congratulations Brooke" on the top! I was super confused when I saw it, but I finally figured out that my dad had planned this whole party not just as a casual shrimp boil for the neighbors, but kind of as a celebration for me finishing residency, and as a good bye party! Don't know if he's celebrating that or not! :) Sweet Mr. and Mrs. Salter brought a card and bottle of New Age wine (that is a good luck present for Ron... they know he loves it!)... and everybody said congrats and goodbye... I was really shocked! I''ll have to get my Dad back for this one! I don't really like this goodbye business, but parties and dinners sure are fun! Thank you Daddy! I love you!

I'm not worried about moving away from my Daddy... since we're moving to Auburn, I think I'll see him more than I even do now!! We both love our Auburn Tigers... he will come and visit me often, I know!

Now that I have a place to live, the fact that we're moving has become more real. I'm excited, but I think I'm still in denial. With studying taking up my days, Olympics taking up my nights, and planning a trip to Beijing taking up all other unclaimed pockets of time, I have barely spent any time at all preparing for this upcoming move. I'm really glad I have had all this time off, but I'm not sure where it has gone! I start work in less than one month, and so much is about to happen in the meantime...

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss

Team Williams takes the gold!

2008-08-23T16:38:00.001-05:00

Just in case ya'll missed us on the NBC's coverage of the Olympics, I have linked our performance. I haven't really been studying all this time...I have actually been training in secret for my Olympic debut... we won the gold! Click the link below to see Team Williams in action...

Our Olympic Debut

2008-08-23T16:37:00.001-05:00

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Deal of the Century!

2008-08-21T17:23:00.005-05:00

Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out. ~Art Linkletter

Well, I did it... I negotiated the deal of the century! Well, it may not be that good, but it's gonna save us $550 per month from the house that I almost signed up for yesterday! Times twelve months, that's a lot of money saved! Also, with this house, I only had to commit to 6 months! It's owned by a young couple who, like us, had to move out of town for a job... it has been on the market since May (they're giving up so soon?!), and they were happy to have us come in and live in it for a while... they will re-list it for sale in March. At that time (after our 6 month commitment), we will hopefully have sold our Birmingham house and can move move to a more permanent home in Auburn! If not, we can live in this little house until it sells, then we'll have to start over. Hopefully that won't happen!

It's got 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, a large living room, a dining room, kitchen, laundry room, porch, carport, and deck. It also has quite a bit of yard, more than we're used to, but luckily, grass-cutting season is nearing its end. Downside? No jetted tub... and the kitchen could use updating, but it's not too bad! Definitely livable for 6 months!! I never thought I'd be excited about a 1969 rancher, but ya know... I am excited to have a place to live! It finally makes this move seem a little more real, even if it means a temporary downsize. Want pictures??

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else. ~Winston Churchill

Late breaking news...

2008-08-20T20:53:00.003-05:00

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. ~Eva Young

So after a flurry of phone calls, I have a lead on another house in Auburn... this one is an older house (no problem for us as long as it's in good shape), is in a good location, and (here's the best part) cheaper than our original budget!!! Wow! I was about to mail off the deposit on the other house too! So, back in the car I go tomorrow, but this time I'm dragging Dad along with me. I have a good feeling about this one! And the money issue is huge!

Anyway, more tomorrow, hopefully!

Success is 10% inspiration, 90% last-minute changes. ~From a billboard advertisement

We almost have a house!!

2008-08-20T13:47:00.005-05:00

Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place. But there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around. ~E.L. Konigsburg

So, yesterday I spent 12 hours in the car all alone... drive one bazillion miles, filled up the gas tank 1.5 times, made thousands of phone calls, all in the name of finding a house to live in in Auburn. I did not anticipate that this task would be difficult, but it was actually much harder than I thought it would be! But.... I think I found one! The trick was finding a decent rental (yes, we're having to rent since this beast in Birmingham still hasn't sold, despite showing three times last week!), that was not trashed by previous college students, that didn't cost an arm and a leg, and that was in a fun location. Yeah, not so easy. I persevered though, and found a cute little house that is really really close to downtown and even closer to the Auburn location of our clinic. I'll only work there for a day here and there, but I could walk there from this house! We also may be able to walk to the stadium for games... woo hoo!! The house itself is cute...not super nice, but doable for the time being. The major downside for me was that it doesn't have a garage or very much storage space, and of course the rent was a little higher than we'd wanted, but in the end, I think we're gonna go with it. I'm almost positive about it!

Here she is....

Yay!!!!!!!

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about. ~Charles Kingsley

Farmer's Market Frenzy

2008-08-16T09:56:00.009-05:00

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.
- Lewis Grizzard

So I ventured out of the study cave this morning and went to my beloved farmer's market at Pepper Place. I looooovvvveeee Pepper Place (or any good Farmer's Market I guess)... and despite the fact that I am eating solo while Ron is away, I went a little nuts and bought just about everything!

I bought my usual cucumbers (which are almost as good as the ones from Susan's garden, but not quite), mixed green lettuce, white acre peas, silver corn, tomatoes (this time I got cherry tomatoes), blueberries, peaches, and a baget from the Continental Bakery stand.... I get all that just about every time I go.

This time though, I also scored some white goat cheese (yes, pasteurized...I'm not crazy!), a huge bunch of fresh basil, and, prize of all prizes, the very last carton of scuppernongs!! Oh how I love those! On my way home I was wishing for a red light so I could rummage though my big canvas tote bag and find the scuppernongs, which, since they were my first purchase of the morning, were waaaaay at the bottom. I couldn't believe that I made it through about 10 lights before, finally, at the last one before the entrance ramp to I-65, the light turned red and I got to dig for my treasure. Like "a watched pot never boils", "a light never turns red when I need a second to get to my scuppernongs"... :) Thank you, last red light before the interstate... the scuppernongs are delicious!

The basil was a new purchase for me this time too, and it smells so good! I will have to go get some Buffalo Mozzarella and make myself a Caprese salad... that brings back memories of Italy! And you know, eating Caprese salad while in Capri must be pretty close to what heaven is like... Anyway, I can't wait to experiment with the basil...I'm not much of a chef, but I like to play!

Well, I'm making myself hungry, so I'm gonna go have a fresh and delicious snack! The hard part is deciding which yummy stuff to eat first!

Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie. ~Astrid Alauda

Spit-Shine Sprint

2008-08-10T17:54:00.004-05:00

I think housework is the reason most women go to the office. ~Heloise Cruse

How much housework can one do in 60 minutes? That was my question after I got a (rare, unfortunately) call from Jamie, our realtor, saying that someone had called and wanted to see our house... in an hour. Now, our house has been on the market for about 5 months now, and very very few people have looked at it, especially when it's not an open house, so of course I hopped up and the challenge began. I've been keeping it pretty neat, but let's face it, I never expect anyone to come look anymore really, so I've stopped making the bed as soon as I roll out of it, and there are times that dusting wouldn't hurt. That's not to mention all the papers, pens, highlighters, books, notebooks, index cards, and other study paraphernalia that is taking over all available tabletops as I try to get all the information to take over my brain... so anyway, in 45 minutes, I succeeded in the following: clearing off a dining room table and coffee table full of the afore mentioned study material and stacking it nicely in my closet, making the bed, taking out 3 trashcans of trash, scrubbing the bathtub, stashing most of the stuff on my bathroom countertop in it's drawers, changing out the hand towel, putting my used towel in the hamper and squishing down all the laundry so as to make the hamper look less overflowing, hanging up some clothes that had been draped over the rod instead of hung properly, moving the cat litter box and food and water bowls out of the laundry room and into the garage, sweeping and vacuuming the laundry room floor, getting a new air freshener out and plugged in, opening every blind in the house, turning on every light in the house, lint rolling the navy blue couch upstairs that the cats have claimed as their personal lounging spot, rearranging the pillows on the upstairs bed, made a neat stack of the (not very many) papers on Ron's desk, wiping down the sink, cleaning off the chalkboard and washing it down, stacking the mail neatly and then hiding it, throwing out the last sliver of the strawberry cake and cramming the cake stand in the (almost full already) dishwasher, trimming the dead flower remains off my plant that died outside, wiping the dirt and pollen off the outside table and chair set, sweeping off the side porch, sweeping the front porch and front walk, lighting two candles, and putting the TV on one of the quiet background music channels. And a partridge in a pear tree.

If you read all that, you need a rest, cause I sure did after doing it all... and all for naught, cause in the end, they.... one guess..... wanted a bigger yard. Listen people, this is a cottage with a courtyard. It says that on the internet MLS site, it says that on the flyer, if you've driven by, you can SEE our lack of yard... and in addition, if you'll scroll down and read my post from a few weeks ago, entitled "The Grass is Always Greener" you will see that a big yard is overrated and way too much work. We have plenty of space in the courtyard and small (but quite sufficient) yard to exercise your green thumb and let your dog go potty, and this neighborhood has several playgrounds, a gym, a swimming pool, a lake, miles of hiking trails, boulders to rock climb on, and plenty of activities to keep you otherwise entertained. What more could you want?? We'll give you a good deal!

So anyway, now I'm back to sitting on my couch with my buddies, contemplating just what we're gonna do if this house never sells... other than cry that is.

Silver lining? My house is lookin' good!!

They're sure housework won't kill you, but why take the risk? Author Unknown

A New Day

2008-08-09T09:58:00.002-05:00

The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us. ~John Williams

So I'm getting excited about going to Beijing now! Up until this point I haven't really been all that thrilled about it... China is never a place I had thought about visiting before. But yesterday, prior to the Opening Ceremonies, I started delving into the two books on Beijing I had bought months ago... and now I'm excited! Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Lama Temple, Beihai Park, shopping at the Dirt Market and Silk Alley, taking a pedicab tour through a hutong, eating Peking Duck, going to the Beijing Opera, Tienanmen Square, and of course the Great Wall... I think there will be enough to keep us busy! It is gonna be a cool trip... And that's not even counting getting to watch Ron race against the best ("disabled") cyclists in the world! His biggest competition will be, like in Athens, Jiri from the Czech Republic, and Roberto from Spain. A new nemesis has come up through the ranks in the last four years though... a Belgian named Yuri (I think). Now, Ron loves him some Belgian beer, but this new kid may not be our favorite. He's apparently pretty darn fast. We'll see... those are three of the reasons Ron is now at camp doing the whole train/rest/train/rest routine. Much more on that to come, in this blog and in Ron's own (www.RonSWilliams.com). Speaking of his site, as I type, it's being converted over from the old to the new-and-improved. Take a peek... he's pretty committed to keeping it updated with blog entries, including videos! Fun stuff, this technology. Both of our blogs from Athens 4 years ago are on there, and I've enjoyed going back and reading them again... it's getting me all fired up!

So the Opening Ceremonies last night?? Very cool! From the 2008 drummers to the 2008 tai chi performers, from the little girl kite flyer to the little boy earthquake surviver, I was glued to the TV. The block thingies, the torch lighting, the fireworks (including the footprints to the stadium)...it was all so well done! Despite this symbolic opening of the Chinese country to the world, this morning I saw on CNN.com that two Americans were stabbed (and one killed) by a middle-aged Chinese man who then leapt from the drum tower to commit suicide. The Americans were family of the men's volleyball coach. What a tragedy, and after such a beautiful and hopeful first step yesterday... It will be interesting to see the media's response to this. Hopefully, they will step up security everywhere, not just at the venues. It's too bad really...

Finally before I go get on the "study bus" for my morning session, Ron is gonna be on the news tonight (NBC 13 in Birmingham at 6:30). It will be from the footage he did earlier in the week, and the interview he did at Media Day at Lakeshore Foundation last week. I've got my TiVo set... if it airs on the internet, Ron should be able to get it up to his website for all to see!

The most important thing in the Olympic games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
- from the Olympic Creed

Going Going Gone...

2008-08-08T07:19:00.006-05:00

Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave. ~William Shakespeare

So sadly, I am now on my own for a while. In yesterday's post I wrote that I wasn't a blubbering mess, and I'm not this morning, but last night I had one of my usual "come aparts". This time it feels weird...it's not just the separation, but it hit me last night that this was the last time that we'd really be living together in Birmingham. As soon as we get back from the Paralympics it will be a mad rush to get down to Auburn to start work. We went to Sol Azteca "one last time" and I just lost it on the way home. :( I got it all out last night though, cause this morning I didn't cry one bit when I dropped Ron off at the airport (at 6:30!).

That boy has a lot of stuff! My dad is the chosen one who has been shuttling Ron to the airport over the last few years, but he has been conveniently out of town this week, leaving it up to me to be the taxi. It actually worked out fine this time though, cause since Ron isn't doing the track racing this time around, he only had one big bike bag, so we were able to fit everything in my car for once. It was full though...

So, he's gone. I hope that the next few weeks will go by quickly, and that during this time I will be able to get a lot of studying done and have some fun along the way. This too shall pass...

Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will. ~Author Unknown

Getting Sad

2008-08-07T13:02:00.003-05:00

Where is the good in goodbye? ~Meredith Willson, The Music Man (Thanks, Thomas)

Well, tomorrow has been creeping up on me, and not really slowly either. Tomorrow I will take Ron to the airport and probably will not see him again until sometime after I arrive in China. Yeah, that's four weeks from now! Sad! He's gone ALL THE TIME anyway, but he hasn't had such a prolonged stay away since the last Paralympics. I'm not a blubbering mess like I used to be with these absences, but I'm just dreading it... cause I'm kinda isolated here with my study books since I'm not working right now. Not that I want to be working yet, but at least that got me out of the house! I'm planning on making an effort to get out and see people, including heading down to Auburn at some point to get myself acquainted at the clinic, and to hopefully find a decent house to rent when we get home from Beijing. Cause our house STILL hasn't sold... shocker. I'm gonna try to go visit him in Colorado too, hopefully. I'd love to fly out there for a few days and hang out in Denver or Boulder (Colorado Springs, where he'll be at the Olympic Training Center, is not that exciting anymore...). He said he has to wait and see what his training schedule is before I try to plan it.

I don't mean to be so negative... that always happens when Ron leaves...I end up ruining the last few days of him being home by my bad attitude. So, let's turn that frown upside down, Brooke! I think I'll take him to Sol Azteca tonight, for a final adios dinner at his favorite restaurant in the world!!

Speaking of bye-bye dinners, we went out to Ocean last night with our friends Dan and Becca. It really feels like bye-bye to them, cause as soon as we get back from China, we'll be moving to Auburn. Really...like the next day. Anyway, we went to Ocean, and I must say, though I enjoyed it very much, I can't say that it is my favorite restaurant anymore. We had to sit at a table on their veranda, which the reservations lady assured me wouldn't be too hot since the doors stay open and there are several fans, but oh... we roasted! Dan even had to shed his undershirt (in the restroom of course!). Hot yummy food just isn't quite as yummy when you're sweating. We haven't eaten there since we moved out of Southside, and the menu has changed some too... I was a little disappointed. The company, however, was excellent! Dan and Becca have been great friends to us (they were the first of Ron's friends that I met when we started dating), and I will miss them so much when we move.

Oh, almost forgot... Ron met with some reporters and photographers from NBC13 this morning; don't know when he'll have a story, but hopefully soon! The newspaper has expressed some interest in him again too, but they want to wait to interview him after he gets to China (via phone). I guess they'll have to use some of their old stock pictures of him?? They do have some!

Well, I promise I won't post anymore "Woe is Me" blog entries, even if that's the way I'm feeling! I only hope and pray that this will all have a happy ending... Ron sure has worked hard to achieve his dream of Gold!

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

I love my husband!

2008-08-03T20:36:00.002-05:00

Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold. ~Zelda Fitzgerald

So, this is not a big funny post with pictures, but I just wanted to record that I love my husband! As I sit typing on "my couch", he is sitting in his chair (with at least one cat in his lap of course), typing a list of things he's thankful for. On the eve of his departure for the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to put the final touches on his training for Beijing, he is making this list to post on his new and improved website. The web address will remain the same (www.RonSWilliams.com), but is currently being worked on to make it more easy to use and to add a few new features, such as "The List". Anyway, the site will go live in a few days we think, so be sure to check it out. The List made me tear up a little bit. Ron is a good man... most of the time! :)

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

Adventures in Cake Baking

2008-08-01T17:26:00.007-05:00

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. ~Ernestine Ulmer

So I have discovered a new talent.... that I don't have. Our good friends Dan and Becca invited us over for dinner, and since I've been on a baking roll lately with my nectarine cheesecake and my Famous Chocolate Strawberry Trifle, I volunteered to bring dessert. I went to Publix, but wasn't feeling any of the probably delicious already made goodies in the bakery, so I ventured into the baking aisle. Looked at the selection... and decided that, in honor of Ron leaving for the training center next week, I'd make his favorite dessert- strawberry cake! I picked up the mix and the frosting, and came home and started whipping it up. Somewhere in the middle of this effort, I realized that I don't think I've ever baked a cake before all by myself. And it has been years since I helped my mom bake one... she's no Betty Crocker either, unfortunately! (Love ya Mom!) Anyway, I chronicled my cake baking adventure in pictures... Enjoy!

First you gather all your materials...

Then you grease and flour your pans...

Combine all the ingredients...

Use your mixer if you're fancy!

But keep your eye on those buttery pans!

Busted! See the flour on his nose?

Bake in the oven, then cool cakes on a wire rack!

Start icing the cake... if you want, you can hide some presents in between the layers for a nice little surprise!

Flop the second layer onto the bottom layer (this is the hardest part!) and glob as much icing as possible on it! Top with a cherry (or a blueberry!) just like on the cartoons!

Ta Da!!

So I'm a little anxious about my contribution to Becca's nice dinner... but I had fun! Hopefully Ron will enjoy his special Bye Bye Berry Cake!

UPDATE- So on the way to Dan and Becca's, Ron says, "You messed up my cake...my favorite really is yellow cake with pink icing." Well dang, he's right. I remember! So much for trying to be sweet... it didn't stop him from eating it though...he may now have a new favorite! It actually was delicious, especially the surprise blueberry layer! Maybe I am an OK baker after all!

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not! ~Author Unknown

A Tigger...

2008-07-29T21:58:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-07-28T13:41:00.008-05:00

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...

2008-07-28T13:27:00.003-05:00

Mommy's Buddy Eliott and Daddy's Buddy Oliver

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

2008-07-25T08:14:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-20T18:03:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-18T14:18:00.007-05:00

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!

2008-07-15T08:28:00.012-05:00

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!!

2008-07-10T06:57:00.008-05:00

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!

2008-07-08T15:14:00.005-05:00

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??

2008-07-07T14:28:00.013-05:00

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

Melancholy Milestone

2008-06-28T19:18:00.009-05:00

The closer one gets to the top, the more one finds there is no "top." ~Nancy Barcus

Well, Monday is my last day of work at Children's... I am thrilled to be finished with residency and finally be able to say without further explanation that "I'm a pediatrician", but....

I will miss all my friends, without whom I would never have gotten through the past three years. To Mary Halsey, Chrissie, Sarah, Heather, Mindy, Reyna, Philip, Alison, Amanda, Pat, Brian, Amber, Megan, and Jason... thank you.

Reyna, Brooke, and Sarah

I will miss the academic environment, where every day time is spent teaching and learning.

I will miss "my" kids in clinic and the hospital- Kendall, Maddox, Dennisa, Walteria, Tylai, Precious, Aaliyah, and the rest...

...and...

I will miss "just being a resident". Now I am the authority, I am the advice-giver and the mommy-calmer, I am the pediatrician.

...but...

I am ready!

Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last... Call... Ever!

2008-06-08T16:58:00.004-05:00

A doctor must work eighteen hours a day and seven days a week. If you cannot console yourself to this, get out of the profession. ~Martin H. Fischer

I just successfully completed my Last Call Ever! Ron has his time-trials, but call is my torture-fest. Luckily for me though, this one was not all that bad. I only admitted three kiddies, and they weren't the sickest bunch. I rested most of the night even! I'll have call when I get down to Auburn, but it won't be the same...I'll at least have the CHANCE to sleep in my own bed! Anyway, just wanted to celebrate that little accomplishment... that and the fact that I have just 3 weeks of residency left to go! Yahoo!

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. ~Voltaire

He Made It!!

2008-06-07T17:05:00.008-05:00

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy Us in Athens

So yesterday was a big big day for the Williams' family....

RON MADE THE PARALYMPIC TEAM!!!

He has been nervous for weeks, not sleeping well, not riding at his best, but training like his life depended on it! And yesterday, all his preparation paid off! He flew out to Denver midweek (and lost his bikes along the way--- THANK YOU to the angel at the Denver airport who rescued them at the last second from making an additional flight to who-knows-where) to compete in the Paralympic trials. This was his last chance; he had to not only beat his time standard to make the team, but he had to do it by a greater margin than all the other guys. 20-ish cyclists of various "disability" categories all racing for 3 more spots. Ron had to race a 10 mile time trial... a gut-wrenching puke-inducing torture fest where it's just him and his bike. Finishing in 18 minutes and 50 seconds, he not only beat his time standard, but he beat all the rest of the competitors.... meaning, we're going to Beijing baby!! In addition, that means that Ron is the US Paralympic Cycling National Champion!

http://paralympics.usoc.org/news/article/2016

I am so so so proud of him... with so few spots, we were both really worried, and I did not want him to be heartbroken. So, we will enjoy the next few days, then for Ron, it will be training training training for the big show! And for me? Planning another trip, I guess!

Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things. ~ William Golding

Please Please Please Buy Our House!

2008-05-31T14:49:00.009-05:00

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.
~Henry Van Dyke

So, the house has been on the market for about two months yet, and no offers yet. Heck, we've barely had any lookers! Dang stupid housing market! The house itself is wonderful, and if I could just dig up the entire neighborhood and plant it in Auburn, I would totally do it! While I'm dreaming, I wish I could pick up my new job and plant it here in Birmingham. We truly hate to leave.

But- we do have a showing in an hour... we've spent some time today cleaning and polishing. Yeah, kinda desperate, I know... I don't need to get my hopes up, but of course they're up there, only to be crushed again when these people "want a bigger yard" or "don't like the cabinets" etc, etc, etc. Please please please buy our house people that are coming at 4:00!! It's so hard being patient when everything hangs in the balance. I finish work in 4 weeks, and unless this house sells in the next week or two, we're gonna have to rent and house or apartment for a while... and it's hard to get excited about that. Please please please buy our house!!

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Insomnia

2008-05-27T12:10:00.005-05:00

A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow. ~Charlotte Brontë

So I have really enjoyed my long weekend off of work... Three days in a row! I have finally recovered from the "Accidental 5K" soreness- see the last post- and have finally gotten my sleep schedule back on track. Too bad I have to work today until 1AM...my sleep will be off again. Ugh!

As sleep-deprived as residency makes you, you'd think I'd be able to sleep whenever, wherever... some people can, but I'm not one of the lucky ones. I always have some steady stream of to-do's, ideas, and worries keeping me awake. With the erratic schedule that goes along with the ER, I've been worse than usual this month. Both nights this weekend I woke up at about 1AM and just couldn't go back to sleep... Saturday night I just turned on the TV (that usually works fast!), but two hours later, I had learned all about San Quentin maximum security prison and watched some old 20/20 episode about this idiot teacher who gave away his life savings to a con man treasure hunter. Ron was back home on Sunday night, so I couldn't turn on the TV to put me back to sleep... I got out of bed and sat in the living room floor making greeting cards! Yeah, it's my stupid new addiction, but it's so fun! I have made a total of 15 cards, using paper, stamps, ribbon, and my new Cricut machine, which cuts out letters and little shapes.... I'll never buy Hallmark again! That'll save me some money anyway, or at least make me a better friend/daughter/wife, cause I always end of procrastinating going to Walgreen's for the card or to the post office for stamps and never end up getting the card out on time. Now folks will be getting some really cute (and original) handmade pretties from your's truly! I'll have to post some pictures of my handiwork. Insomnia stinks, but at least I got to do some fun stuff while you were sleeping!

A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by
One after one; the sound of rain, and bees
Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds and seas,
Smooth fields, white sheets of water, and pure sky -
I've thought of all by turns, and still I lie
Sleepless...
~William Wordsworth, "To Sleep"

The Accidental 5K- by Brooke

2008-05-26T16:42:00.010-05:00

I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing. ~Marsha Doble

I am NOT a runner. Anyone who knows me, knows that. I am a team-player though, so I decided to show up at our second-annual Spring Scramble, a 5K walk/run hosted by the Pediatrics residency program to benefit our Primary Care Clinic's "Reach Out and Read" program. I had worked late in the ER (until 1AM), but since my friend Amanda had been in charge of the race and had been majorly stressing out about no one coming, I figured I'd go and get a good little walk in and do a good deed for the day at the same time. So I pay my entrance fee, expertly pin my little number (159) to my t-shirt (a skill that I've perfected by pinning many a bike race number on Ron's jerseys), and get in the back of the pack at the starting line. My friend Mary Halsey had told me that she'd walk with me, but at the last minute got recruited to sit at the start-finish to help record finishing numbers or something, so I was on my own. I deliberately get in the back of the pack so as not to get flattened by all the crazy real runners wearing their sports bras and short shorts- the kind with the built in underwear- I lined up with the mommies with strollers, and even one guy with his two kindergarteners in a mega-double stroller... Amanda shot off the little start gun, and all of a sudden, I'm in the middle of pandemonium... everybody is running...stroller people and all! So I had no choice... it was run, or be run over! The course started by running around this shopping center before going on an actual jogging trail; I made it all the way around the mall and then passed my girlfriends at the start line...they about fell over when they saw me running (truly a hysterical sight!), and were yelling, "Look, Brooke's running!!". What?!? I wasn't running like Phoebe or anything! Though winded, I thought I looked about like all the other runners... Guess I need some panty-shorts.
Anyway, of course I didn't get very far before having to slow it down to a brisk walk. It was less embarrassing than puking would have been. I walked a bit, I ran a bit, then walked some more. There was a little feed zone (see, I even know the terminology!) at the turn around, but what I didn't know was that what you should really do with that little Dixie cup of water is to dump it on your head or at very most, swish around your dry mouth with it, not- gasp- actually drink the two whole swallows- because, as I found, after imbibing in just that teensy bit of wet stuff, you REALLY feel like you are gonna puke! I somehow managed not to though, and finally crossed the finish line (far from last might I add) with a time of 45 minutes and some-odd seconds. As silly as it was, I was proud of myself. Can't say that I really enjoyed myself, but I may make a goal to do another one, and run more of it this time. Maybe. I do appreciate the humor in the situation though, and so does Ron; he almost fell off his bike when I called and told him, and has laughed at me all weekend.

And yes, I am exceedingly sore.