Sisterly Love

Since I talked about my brother yesterday I thought I would mention Kendra today....my beautiful, wonderful younger sister! She is 4 years younger than I am and lives in Australia! She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2008 and headed over to the land of Oz with a good friend to travel the coast for 3 months....well 3 months has lead to almost 2 years! She fell in love with the country and met Tobin, her equally wonderful boyfriend. She settled in the Gold Coast region with him and found herself an amazing job working for Clive Palmer, the richest man in Australia. He bought a soccer team and Kendra is the PR/marketing director for the team. To say that we are proud of her is an understatement! She is an amazing woman and I love and miss her everyday! Especially while planning the wedding....I know she would love to be here planning the details with me but we talk all the time and she is coming over 2 weeks before the wedding so we'll have plenty of time for the details!

She is the best and even though we are complete opposites sometimes she is my best friend! We fought all the time growing up and didn't truly appreciate each other until I left for college but now I rely on her so much!

I love you Kenna and miss you! Can't wait until May when you get to meet Mos!

So Proud

So many of you know that my brother is a freshman at The Citadel and he played football this fall. Well his original reason for going to The Citadel was due to a track scholarship and track season started last weekend. He ran in a relay last weekend and they came in 4th and tonight he ran his first solo race and was 3rd in his heat! He is doing so well and adjusting to "real" running. See...he ran his first race EVER at the end of April of his senior year. Baseball season ended abruptly early when his team didn't make the playoffs so he decided to run track for the last 3 meets of the season....well we always knew he was fast but this just proved it! He broke the school record in the 200 and 100 sprints and earned himself a scholarship! However, now that he is at the collegiate level he is having to learn all the true techniques such as starting out of the block and pacing himself. I am super proud of him and can't wait to get to a track meet! I absolutely LOVE going to track meets! I ran in middle school and my freshman year of college before I moved to Georgia and I have so many fond memories. The track meets have so much energy and are so fun! It is an amazing feeling to be running on the track and have everyone cheering for you. I know that Danny feels the same way.....

I am so looking forward to this weekend! I just finished neurology and now only have 7 weeks left of medical school!!!! I had my last interview this weekend at East Carolina and it is very near the top of my list! I loved the residents and faculty and would love to live back down south!! They even had sweet tea for lunch!

Zach is on call once again tonight so it's just Mos and I....he has an inservice exam tomorrow so he wont' be home until the afternoon. I'm sure he will be exhausted and we'll spend the rest of the day lounging...especially since it's supposed to be 20 degrees!

Sunday we really are truly going to try to see Avatar...we have talked about it the last 3 weekends....it's also restaurant week in Baltimore so we'll try to take advantage of that!

Official!!

Well I put down the deposit for our honeymoon....ITALY here we come!!!!! We are so excited we can barely stand it! We are headed to Tuscany for 3 days and staying at this beautiful hotel...



It is the Villa Pitiana and is just outside Florence. After 3 glorious days in the Tuscany region we are going to drive the 5 hours to the Amalfi coast, hopefully stopping in Rome for a day. In Amalfi we will stay at this glorious place...



with this wonderful view at the pool....

hopefully we will be spending lots of time here!!



Our trip is only 7 days because that is how long Zach can get off for. Ideally we would love to stay longer but I know we will make the most of our time there and create some wonderful memories on our first trip as husband and wife.

Tonight when I got home from pilates I got the mail and in there was a note from the pastor who is doing our ceremony. It was a typed copy of how the ceremony will flow. Zach and I read through it when he got home from the hospital and when we read the part "Zach you may kiss your bride" we both looked and each other and smiled. This was the part that caught both of our attention throughout the 3 pages we read. It somehow made it seem very "real." We are both getting really excited and I can't believe it is less than 4 months away!

We did have one minor glitch with the invitations and had to change our pocket envelope color but in the end I liked our changed color even better!

I have a sleeping fiance lying with his head in my lap and a 65lb pup wrapped around my neck snoring in my ear...I guess it's time for bed :)

Invitations...check :)

Zach and I spent 3 hours yesterday at the stationary store and FINALLY got our invitations picked out! So many decisions...paper style, font, color, envelope, envelope liner...geez! But we got it all figured out and I'm really happy with our decisions!

Last week was busy with multiple interviews. Zach went down to LSU on Wednesday for a neurosurgery interview....I can't say much about it on here yet but we might know where we are going sooner rather than later! I went down to interview at LSU as well on Friday and really liked it down there! So fingers crossed that everything works out....

Zach is on call today and severely depressed by the outcome of the Ravens game last night. They definitely hurt themselves as a team with poorly timed penalties, the fumbles and multiple miscues. Sad end to a season but I think Zach is officially a lifetime Ravens fan now!

Starting week 3 of neurology tomorrow and 1 final interview a week from tomorrow. I can't believe this interview process is almost over and then it's a waiting game until March after we submit our rank list at the end of February.

If you can...

If there are people out there who feel the need to donate to the relief efforts of Haiti here is the link for Healing Hands for Haiti which is the organization that Zach and I have went on a mission with.
http://www.healinghandsforhaiti.org/
Zach has gone 4 times and his mother has gone over 7 with this group and they are phenomenal! They work with the handicapped people of Haiti and specifically with prosthetic patients. They recently branched out to include medical missions with community outreach clinics which is what our group did. They are amazing and we have heard that their headquarters and physical therapy center and the "compound" where the volunteers live is destroyed....

Any bit helps and this is a great organization!

Haiti

Wow....I'm sure everyone has seen the pictures and heard the terrible stories coming out of Haiti. I'm not sure how many people know that Zach and I went on a mission there in May of '08. Let me just start by saying that when we were there the country was in shambles with absolutely no infrastructure and tremendous poverty. The roads are dirt, the houses are built out of stones and clay and the government is corrupt. But everyday that we were out in the communities working the clinics, I saw resilient, grateful and kindhearted people who only wanted a better life for their children or grandchildren. It was heartbreaking and devastating to see and witness the poverty and lack of care that so many of these people were receiving....now they are being forced to deal with natures cruel fate....

This picture is at the Hotel Montana that was destroyed in the earthquake. The background is the city of Port-au-Prince.



Here is one of downtown Port-au-Prince as we were driving to a clinic. The people of Haiti would steal the tires off of cars and cut the tire/rubber up and then sell the rubber so that people could use it to start fires for cooking or heating water.

I found out from Zach's mom that the rehab center and the compound where we stayed has sustained significant damage and that the hotel we ate dinner at, Hotel Montana, is still reporting over 200 guests as missing. This country needs help immediately and will need help for many months, years to come. Healing Hands for Haiti, the Utah group, plans to return in October and I hope I can do everything in my power to be with them again. So many people are going to be donating time, money and resources in this immediate aftermath that I hope all is not forgotten in the months to come...because help is still going to be needed.

Back at It....

Well I finally started pilates again...I don't think I've talked about it on here but I took it years ago and was quite into it and then when I moved to St. Maarten, they didn't have pilates and so I haven't done it in almost 4 years! So tonight I decided it was time to get back into (that and I have to wear a wedding dress in 4 months!) It was great and I'm gonna be sore tomorrow but it was so worth it!

Also started my neurology rotation Monday....after tomorrow I will only have 10 weeks left until I am finished with school!!! This is monumental in many ways but mostly because I have been in some sort of school for the last 23 years!!!!!!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

We were going to head back to Morgantown tomorrow to take a second look at West Virginia University but they are calling for bad weather and roads so we are nixing that trip for now. Zach had an interview yesterday at Maryland for Neurosurgery and he is in love! Loved the program, the residents, staff and faculty. If he matches there it would also mean we would stay in Baltimore for the next 7 years! Neurosurgery is where his heart is....he loves General Surgery as well but it's his dream to be a Neurosurgeon....I pray everyday that his dream is fulfilled!! We find out in March! (for those of you following this residency match process....if Zach stayed in Baltimore I would have to match at the hospital that I interviewed at here back in December).

I'm off to watch the BCS game....Roll Tide Roll (SEC loyalty)!

Year in Review

I've seen some other blogs do this year in review and I thought it was a good idea. That way in the future I can always remember what happened during 2009.

JANUARY: The first of the year brought the start of my surgery rotation. It was a fairly uneventful month...we watched the Ravens lose to the Steelers in the AFC championship game.

FEBRUARY: Another month of surgery to endure. However I gave Zach the best Valentines Day present. It is called supercar sensation and we flew down to Charlotte and he got to drive 3 top end sports cars for 4 hours around the back roads of Charlotte. We had a ton of fun and hope to do it again someday. We spent the night at the Ballentyne resort as part of the package. Zach also submitted his rank list for Neurosurgery and the wait began.

MARCH: Match day came and went...disappointment at not matching into Neurosurgery for Zach was followed by excitement that he did match into General Surgery at the University of Maryland...which meant he would stay in Baltimore with me! I finished up my surgery rotation and to celebrate that feat along with Zach matching we took a spur of the moment cruise to Mexico. It was 5 days of much needed sun and relaxation.

APRIL: On the 5th of this month my great friends Brit and Ry had their precious boy, Harper. He came early but was healthy and strong! All our close friends meet in NYC to celebrate his birth and a belated baby shower. At the end of this month Zach and I flew to Vegas for my cousins graduation and to hang out with my side of the family. We had a great time and didn't lose too much money! From their Zach and I drove to St. George, Utah to stay at his parents cabin and we hiked Zion's national park. (Oh and Zach graduated medical school this month!!!)

MAY: Zach and I spent the month of May in Utah. I did 4 weeks of a family practice rotation and Zach worked on restoring his brother's house. It was a really fun month getting to spend it with his family that we don't see often. We camped with his best friend and his family in Moab and hiked through Arches National park. We also celebrated Zach's 30th birthday with good friends!!

JUNE: This was most definitely the greatest month of the year! On the first of this month, I completed my board exam and we got engaged!!!!! It was amazing and wonderful and I still get excited thinking about that night. Zach bought us our pride and joy, Mosley and we have loved every minute of our time with our new pup! A couple days after the big engagement we flew to Charlotte to see my brother graduate high school and then headed off on an Alaskan cruise!!! The best part of all was that Kendra and Tobin were able to come back from Australia for the cruise! Beautiful and fabulous....I would highly recommend this to any cruise lover!

JULY: I celebrated my 27th birthday in NYC. I had moved there at the end of June to do my Pediatric and OB/Gyn rotation. I lived with Brit and Ryan and Harper and it was wonderful. My birthday was spent with great friends out in NYC including dinner and chocolate fondue! This was also the month that Zach started residency and his life was officially over.... (I kid, but not really :(

AUGUST: Still living in NYC with my surrogate family and starting OB...I finally figured out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life! It was a great realization and one I can't believe didn't dawn on me earlier....

SEPTEMBER: Wedding planning continues including dress shopping at Kleinfelds!!!! I found the dress of my dreams and also moved back to Baltimore. I was sad to leave my great friends but very grateful for their hospitality and also extremely happy to be back with Zach and Mos. I finished studying for the 2nd part of my boards and took those on the 24th. Zach and I also applied for residency at the beginning of the month.

OCTOBER: I started my Dermatology rotation and waited for emails to come in with interview requests. It was a fairly uneventful month....I did fly to Charleston for my brother's football game and to see him at The Citadel.

NOVEMBER: Zach had his transplant rotation so we didn't see a whole lot of each other but we did go to Morgantown, WV together for our 1st interview. It went extremely well and is still near the top of the list for potential places. Zach had to work for Thanksgiving so I flew to Charlotte and spent it with my mom and Steve and grandparents.

DECEMBER: The holiday season started with me in an ER rotation and Zach doing Neurosurgery. We got our Christmas tree up and then Mosley proceeded to eat 1/2 of the ornaments. We also both went on more interviews. Christmas was spent in Baltimore with each other. All of last week and New Years we were in Charlotte! It was a great trip and Mos was spoiled rotten by his grandparents!

I know that 2010 is going to bring changes and adventures and surprises and I can't wait....a wedding, finding out where we will be the next 5 years, a move, starting residency....and those are only the things I know about!!!!