So we had another pretty crazy night out last night at Skeeps before the majority of people left town. My little camera needs a vacation just as much as me after the past week! Enjoy the pics ;)

I was holding Sara's beer for her while she danced and I'll admit that I took a sip or two. In retrospect, I'm appalled at my temporary lapse into beer consumption but Josh was so excited at having caught me in the act that he made me take a picture. Cheers to Killian's Irish Red!

Sara and Bev

The obligatory close-up of me and Danger

Josh and his roommate Kevin "K Dawg" Dicus

Yikes...that one didn't work out as planned!

Court, Diane, Pauline, and Rashmi

Just as finals nearly gave me a push over the "is-this-even-worth-it?" edge, I get a fun, encouraging fortune cookie message like this:

"A smile is the most effective medicine."

Ya know, it truly is. Okay, not really because penicillin or some anti-inflammatory would probably take the cake here but figuratively, a smile's right at the top. I hope I have the chance to help make a lot of people smile :)

xoxox

Schooooool's out for-eva!

Okay...not quite, but at this pace two and a half weeks without school feels like forever. Or as Alice Cooper says it, "foooooor-eva!"

Anyways, I've taken 14 finals in the last 13 days of school. Last night was the first time since Thanksgiving that I slept more than 5 hours in one night and I can't really remember the last time I ate something fresh. But right now, sitting in my pj's at quarter to noon with nothin' on the agenda today, I feel great :) And because I've been salivating at the idea of break lately, here's a little list of what I'm looking forward to:

1.) Reading: the right lobe of my brain is definitely getting pudgey around the middle and needs a workout after the past 4 science and handskill-intensive months. Even though my sister despises when I read instead of paying attention to her (she literally grabs the book out of my hands, flips to the back, and pretends to read the ending out loud. No...she's 24), I'm hoping to squeeze some reading in after she goes to sleep :)

2.) Movies: there are some great movies out right now and there's nothing more relaxing than sitting in a movie theater shoveling popcorn into your face when it's cold outside. Oh yeah, and seeing a good film while you're at it doesn't hurt either :) On the list for this break are Pride and Prejudice, Walk the Line, Memoirs of a Geisha, Rent, Syriana, and Good Luck and Goodnight. I know I won't get around to all of these but I can dream, right?

3.) Seeing my EK friends: unfortunately, plans to get together over Thanksgiving did not come to fruition but I'm looking forward to catching up in the next few weeks. All of my friends are doing such interesting things (med school, law school, teaching in NYC...) that I can't wait to act grown up and talk about grown up things with them. And laugh about stupid high school stuff, too.

4.) A mini trip to Chicago: Josh and I celebrate our anniversary, if you will, every year in Chicago if we can make it and hopefully we'll be able to head down to the Windy City for a day. We're so fortunate to live so close to the coolest major city in the midwest and I love walking around Michigan Ave. during the hustle and bustle of Christmas time. I can't wait :)

5.) The fireplace: Some people have a certain luxury that they simply can't live without. Josh says he can never not have a pool when he owns his own home because he's grown up with one. For me, I refuse to not have a fireplace. I love the smell, the sound, the look, and the feel of a friendly fire especially during this time of year. I usually curl up with my dog and a book in front of it.

6.) Family: I get a kick out of my family. It's a wondeful feeling to go home and have people so interested in what you're doing and how you've been. Sure, all three of my family members literally got up and left the room this summer when I tried to explain what my research is about (what's there not to understand about monomeric G-protein coupled receptor tyrosine kinases and their affect on angiogenesis? Geez!), but they always make me feel special. And Scrabble and good food and staying up late giggling with my sister don't hurt either.

7.) Sleeping: Here's the obvious one. I get a migraine if I sleep more than 7.5-8 hours a night but I can't wait to sleep exactly 7 hours and 45 minutes every night for two weeks. Maybe I can get rid of these raccoon circles I've developed around my eyes!

I'll be heading back to GR tomorrow sometime and will try to post from there if I get a chance after accomplishing #1-7 above.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year :)

Cheers!

xoxox

Below are some pictures from last night's D1 holiday parties. It was a fabulous time with fabulous company and the best way imaginable to ring in 2 1/2 weeks of vacation. Enjoy!

xoxox

Some D1 "gentlemen" in the pool room at DSD

Tom, Sean the Pres, Me, and Pat; Tom and Pat purchased gaudy women's holiday sweaters from the Salvation Army for the party. Note that Santa is listening to a radio headset and barely wearing pants in Tom's sweater. Kind of lewd for the holidays, no?

Shveta and Josh playing Mortal Kombat before we headed out. Shveta looks innocent but she had some crazy high kick, disappearing, and flying moves up her sleeve.

Sara and Rick made the perfect Christmasy-hued couple. I had to retake this picture several times because random people kept walking in front or I zoomed in too close or something. I have a feeling that Rick didn't mind too much though!

Ready to party at DSD: Katrina, Sara, Laura, Shveta, Courtney, Stacy, and Madeline and I in the front!

The boys and me: Rick, Marty, Josh

Me and my ASC Trevor

Katie M. and I

Diane, Dipa, Grant, and Me

Who wouldn't want these ladies drilling on their teeth?

Oh Pat and Curtiss...thanks for making the Delt Sig fraternity so hot.

Of course we have to take a hold-the-camera-yourself pic at the end of the night :)

"Wait...are you supposed to wear like real underwear under long underwear?" -- my sister, Tanya, experiencing her first New England winter

Exchange of the Evening

Dad: So, how's the studying going?
Me: Oh, not so bad anymore. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.
Dad: Well, just make sure it's not the train coming at you.
Me: Thanks for the encouragement, Dad.
Dad: That's what Dads are for.

I've recently received a rash of anonymous unwelcome and rude comments on my weblog. I understand that by the nature of having a weblog, I've opened up my personal space to...well...everyone in the world with internet access. I keep my weblog as a fun and quasi-creative writing outlet for myself and to keep my family and friends in the know about what I'm up to. Because of this, I obviously do not appreciate receiving hostile and immature comments and have decided to remove them from my weblog for the time being. If you'd like to make a comment in the meantime, I'd love to hear from you personally.

xoxox

Finals = FUNals!

Well, not much is new besides finals and more finals. We're at 9 down, 5 to go and I'll be crossing 2 more off the list tomorrow. Our schedule got juggled a little bit so we actually didn't have any class today even though our last day of class isn't technically until tomorrow. I still got up at 7 to meet with my mentor and ended up making 2 separate trips to the D-school but it felt fabulous to sit in bed studying with a cup of tea :) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and am taking a lot of pleasure in the thought, although fleeting at times, that less than a week from now I'll be on vacation. Hooray! Unfortunately, our two most difficult finals (in my opinion) are Monday and Tuesday of next week so I'll be spending a pretty chunk of my time (read: all) this weekend studying for those.

At any rate, below are a few pics from the general tomfoolery of late. Okay, I'm reaching here but enjoy. Also, Josh's 24th birthday was this past Sunday, 12/4. He was actually feeling kind of down leading up to the big day because he thinks he's "feeling more sore after playing basketball these days," a direct result of catapulting toward his mid-20's. I just laughed. I told him he doesn't look a day over 21 :) As his present, I special ordered him the starter home brew kit from the reputable Michigan Brewing Company (a suggestion from Christin and Bob) and a special ingredient kit to make "Mabel's Moosehead Stout." I spent half an hour on the phone with the beer specialists at MBC talking beer (about which I know nothing) so that I could get it just right for my Wanton. Needless to say, he was thrilled. I don't know if I'm shooting myself in the foot with this present though; maybe I deserve to look at a big ol' beer belly on the beach all summer if I give a present like this. Oh well ;)

Stay warm and dry tomorrow...5-7 inches are predicted!

Happy belated birthday, Josh!

xoxox

Josh, not unlike an overzealous 6-year old on Christmas morning, plopped right down on my living room floor and immediately began deconstructing his birthday present just seconds after opening it. Note the fresh-off-the-present wrapping paper hastily discarded on the side. Josh was so engrossed in reading the instructions to his new "toy" he didn't even realize I took this picture.

The appropriately named "Ale Pail" allows you to brew 5 gallons of beer. What have I done?!

Josh and I sat down to crack open our study material for our cumulative Clinical Foundations final on Sunday night. Naturally, I went into my room and grabbed my rubber-banded and labeled stack of Clinical notecards that I've accumulated so far during the year (okay, insert "type A" joke here). Here are MY notecards....

Josh's notecards. He had to leaf through and try to determine which cards were from Clinical Foundations and which were from Biomaterials. At least he was re-learning them in the process! I guess opposites really DO attract!

My Co-Social Chair Trevor and I decided that to add a little spirit to finals week(s), we'd have a "Support your Alma Mater Day" on which everyone from our class could...uh...support their alma mater by sporting their fave college gear. It turned out to be a smashing hit and almost every person in our class dressed up. We had representatives from as far away as Cal Berkley (my roommate Shveta!) to Notre Dame to Cornell and back to Michigan. Check out all of the U of M alumni in our class! I guess it IS great to be a Michigan Wolverine! :)

The 7 Spartans in our class! L to R: Timmy, Jason, Curt, Alice, Chad, Lauren, Kyle

Go Blue! L to R: Josh, Matt, Me, Trevor

Exchange of the Evening

Me: C'mon. Let's really study hard so we can ace this test tomorrow.
*bewildered look from Josh*
Me: Whoa. That was so positive I barely recognized myself as I was saying it.
Josh: I know! I was like 'where did that come from?'
Me: Uh....thanks?