I'm a physicist!

Monday marked two pretty major events in my life: our second wedding anniversary and the date of my oral exam. The exam is a two-hour, four-faculty, me-at-the-dry-erase-board-being-quizzed-on-everything-I've-learned-in-grad-school exam.  We have been preparing for these exams all semester and the date has been hanging over my head since it's assignment.  To put it nicely, I hate public speaking.  It took a lot of effort to get me over the omg, I can't even remember my own name feeling when I got to the board.  The exam was actually harder than I expected as far as the material was concerned but it was also not quite as scary as I feared.  I felt mostly confident and the two hours went by quickly.  Before I knew it I was standing awkwardly outside the room waiting for the examiners to decide my future.

Shaking their hands and getting a hug from my director as they congratulated me on passing was one of the proudest moments of my life.  This day marked the conclusion of the Master's portion of my graduate degree and the end of my taking classes.  It's pretty crazy to think I have finally earned the title of Medical Physicist.  My two years of residency will begin soon and I'm excited to start the next chapter.  I know the next two years will have their own challenges but for now I'm beyond excited not have to spend every second of my life studying (well, until the first part of my boards in August...). 

Hubs and I went downtown for a double celebration at Capitol Grille in The Hermitage Hotel.  The place is absolutely gorgeous. 

{credit}

The food was amazing and we had such a great time (huge thanks to MIL/FIL!!).  It was so much fun to get dressed up (including shoe option #1!) and enjoy a special evening with the boy I was lucky enough to marry two years ago.  I think this anniversary will always be a memorable one...

love you!

Black High Heels

A few weeks ago, I was in need of a break from labs and decided on some retail therapy in my most favorite place: T.J. Maxx shoe section.  I ended up finding the prettiest pair of black heels ever and was shocked when Mike agreed to my request of buying the not-so-practical shoes.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I was back this weekend and found another pair of black heels that I fell in love with.  I brought them home with me and am now on a mission to decide which pair I can't live without.  Please help!

1

2

1, 2, or convince hubs that he should take me to TWO fancy dinners so I can keep both?

Updating our chairs

We recently decided to reupholster our kitchen chairs as light fabric and messy eaters don't mix too well. We  finally settled on a fabric (after I found like twenty I loved).

before.

I would recommend using a staple gun for this task.  We bought a gun and staples that did not go together.  Being stubborn, Mike decided to use a regular stapler and smash it ridiculously hard instead of going back to the store.  I think his hand was pretty sore by the end. 

during.

We love the way it turned out! 

after.

The whole thing:

{Excuse the blurry cell phone pictures!}

Mom

"Somebody's Hero" -Jamie O'Neal

She's never pulled anyone from a burning building
She's never rocked Central Park to a half a million fans, screaming out her name
She's never hit a shot to win the game
She's never left her footprints on the moon
She's never made a solo hot air balloon ride, around the world,
No, she's just your everyday average girl (but)

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her baby with a skinned up knee
A little kiss is all she needs
The keeper of the cheerios
The voice that brings Snow White to life
Bedtime stories every night
And that smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

oh oh
She didn't get a check every week like a nine-to fiver
But she's been a waiter, and a cook and a taxi driver
For twenty years, there at home, until the day her girl was grown
Giving all her love to her was her life's ambition
But now her baby's movin' on, and she'll soon be missin' her
But not today, those are tears of joy runnin' down her face

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her daughter in her wedding dress
She gave her wings to leave the nest
It hurts to let her baby go down the aisle she walks right by
Looks back into her mother's eyes
And that smile lets her know oh oh oh
She's somebody's hero

...

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Mother!  Thank you for every bit of love and support you have given me through the years.  Thank you for being there for me for every skinned knee and broken heart.  Thank you for believing in me when I don't and always putting your children first.  I am so lucky to call you my Mom. 

Staples.

They told us to keep Ellie calm after her spay...  Unfortunately, she doesn't really do calm.  She prefers crazy to calm.  So tonight when we realized she pulled out some of her stitches, we went back to the vet.  He closed her back up with staples and sent us on our way... with more instructions to keep her calm.  Really??

He makes me laugh

I received an email today that had me crying in the clinic from laughing so hard.  I know some of you find my husband as hysterical as I do, so I thought I'd share it with you guys...

{Background: I made an enchilada lasagna last night for dinner while Mike was at his soccer game.  Also, we affectionately refer to our furry zoo members as dinosaurs (Elladon, Jastasaur, Pouncesaur).}

My new toy

As a "graduation" gift, the mister surprised me with a new camera!  We've been dreaming about one of these for awhile (especially since the new pup).

So far about all I've mastered is AUTO, but I hope to eventually figure out how to take advantage of the technology.  One of the first things we did was take Ellie to the dog park to try it out.  It was an unfortunately dreary day but the photos turned out pretty awesome.

 

These pictures remind me... We picked her up from getting spayed this morning and they said "try to keep her calm for about 10 days."  I hope they were joking.