Husband has a blog, and Hilary gives things away...

I think Jordan got a little envious that I was getting to be a little creative and do some fun writing on our blog here, so guess what?! He made his own blog...more of a commentary on life and such! It is appropriately titled "Through My Mind's Ear". Visit his blog here!

My good friend Hilary did a really fun giveaway last week on her blog. I am super jealous of the person who won that cute headband!!! This week she is giving away some precious stationary. Visit her blog here to check out her awesome giveaway! You should also have a look at her very own lovely frames that she hand paints!

This week has gone by way too quickly. We are heading to Kansas City this weekend for a fun time with lots our friends. I am also very excited because we are stopping in Fayetteville on the way to do a little shopping! Have a great weekend!!!

Finished...for now!

3 years of medical school...

4 weeks of dedicated study time...

Review book 3 times through...

2000 review questions...

One brand new notebook...

One new package of fine-point sharpies...

Countless diet cokes...

And a little chocolate too...

All for one eight hour, 368 question test!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so glad to be done with my Step 2 exam!

This week I really get to relax! Heading to the lake tomorrow, and who knows what else I'll do this week. One thing I won't be doing is studying! And then we are off to Kansas City this weekend. Yea!!! So excited!!!

Have a great week! And if you know any recent law school grads, wish them luck...many are taking the bar this week! Good luck Mere and Nathan!

The Great Outdoors...On Our Back Porch...

The weather has been so amazing this weekend! On Saturday I was able to sit outside and study on our back porch for a few hours--unheard of in July! Usually I'd have to been in a pool to make it outside mid-day in July! Being on the porch reminded me, I wanted to post about my furniture. Nana gave me this white wicker furniture this spring when she upgraded. It needed a new coat of paint and some new cushions. Here is the before:

And the after! I used espresso paint (about 12 cans!) and got the cushions at Garden Ridge. I have really enjoyed them!
Here are some pics of the flowers on the porch. With this cooler weather they have really been blooming!

And my prized (haha) tomatoes! I have three growing in my topsy turvy planter!!!

I just put some Miracle Grow on them tonight so hopefully they'll grow!!!

So, that's the tour of our back porch! On another earthly note...on Saturday I was innocently pulling weeds in the front flower bed, when I suddenly noticed a worm. Or what I HOPED was a worm. Then I noticed the triangular head and how the worm coiled up--a SNAKE! In the flowerbed! I quickly yelled for Jordan, who, well, terminated the snake. At that point I was thinking, it's ok, it was one (admittedly small) snake. I can keep going. Keep on pulling those weeds. Within 2 minutes I look down and see ANOTHER (also small, but still creepy and slithery) SNAKE! AHHHHH! So I quit. Went inside. No more weed pulling for me! Don't worry, today we went to Home Depot and got some "Snake-Away". I will not put up with these intruders! I know some snakes are good and all, but I'm totally freaked out! I hope they go away soon!

One week from today I take the big test! I am so ready for it to be over!

What a Weekend...

This weekend we packed up the car (with three sets of golf clubs!) and headed down to Texarkana for the wedding weekend of Drew Smith and Amanda Pruett. It was a fun weekend! The wedding was at First Baptist Church and the rehearsal dinner and reception were both held at the Texarkana Country Club. On Saturday all the guys headed out for golf, and I stayed at the hotel to study. Here are a few pics from the weekend!

Jordan and I at the reception.

And taking silly pictures as always!

Jordan with the groom.

On Friday night someone let us know that there is a new restaurant in Arkadelphia: Chicken Express! Jordan was so excited! So, on Sunday we made the stop in the delph to try it out! I have to admit, it was really good! Especially the sweet tea! Here is Jordan really excited he got some of that tea!

Of course while we were in Arkadoo we had to go by campus and check out the new construction. It is incredible! This first pic is of the new drive into campus "Ben and Betty Elrod Drive". It goes right by the softball field and comes up behind SPEC.

And these are the amazing new dorms! They are built in a huge circle that opens up towards the bridge over the ravine. Kinda makes you want to go back! Daniel is torn down now. I guess these will be finished before school starts in August. Aren't they awesome? We were so impressed!
And that was our weekend! Congratulations to the newly married couple!

Update on Step 2 Studying: It's going well. I've gone through my review book once now, my goal is to get through it 3 times before the test. I've done about 600 practice questions and still have 1800 left to go.

Have a great week!

They measured my head...

for my graduation cap yesterday! We had registration yesterday for the last year of medical school, and in addition to the financial aid station, tuberculosis skin test station, and CPR certification station, there was a graduation station! They measured our heads for cap sizes and took down our names exactly as we want them on our diplomas! How exciting! I've known my schedule for next year for awhile, but here is a quick run-down...it is glorious!

July: Step 2 CK (clinical knowledge) study time. I'm taking an online class for credit while I study for my test, which is July 26th. Right now I am studying every day as much as I can! (although I will admit that today I was mildly distracted by the MJ memorial--I thought it was great, he really was a legend, and many of my favorite artists performed!)

August: Acting Internship in Pediatrics. I will work with an inpatient team at ACH as more of a "team member" than "student". I'll have a little more responsibility than when I rotated through Children's as an M3. Also on August 27th I'll take the second part of Step 2 (CS-clinical skills) in Atlanta.

September: Allergy and Immunology at Children's. This was recommended to me by my advisor, apparently the Allergy and Immunology folks are good people to know if you want to be a resident at ACH!

October: required rotation in Orthopedics, Urology, Anesthesia, and ENT. One week of each.

November: Infectious Disease at ACH. Very useful rotation, will cover all kinds of good topics on an inpatient team. Infectious Disease docs are consulted for weird and hard to manage infections.

December and January: OFF!!! That's right, many glorious days of sleeping in and being lazy with no tests to study for! Also during this time we'll be traveling a lot as I go to different hospitals for interviews. I'm really excited about being off the whole month before Christmas too!

February: Primary care month at ACH. I think it is one week of general peds clinic, one week of ER, and two weeks of subspecialty clinics (like asthma, cardiology, etc.)

March: OFF again!!! And again nothing to study for. Also, Match Day is March 18th--this is the day when all M4's find out where they are heading for residency!

April: 10th block course. Our whole class comes back together for a wrap-up course of med school, and a crash course on actually being doctors.

In order to have so many months off, I am taking two longitudinal courses (they meet once or twice a month) that I am very excited about. One is a Pediatric Pharmacology/Toxicology course that will be very helpful in deciding what medicines to use for common conditions. The other I am SO PUMPED about: I'm teaming up with two other friends to be leaders of a small group for an M1 course called Introduction to Clinical Medicine, where we'll be teaching the new med students how to do history and physicals! It should be really fun!

And graduation is May 16th I think! It's that weekend anyway! Another great thing about fourth year besides getting to pick your own schedule and having lots of time off is that every course is Pass/Fail! Hallelujah!!!

Our floors are officially finished in the kitchen! Jordan finished the trim last night. They are wonderful and every time I look at them I smile! Made all the difference!

Looking forward to the end of this week, for the much anticipated arrival of BABY FLANNAGAN!!!!!!!

Home Improvements...

Last year on Thanksgiving weekend, we started a kitchen remodeling project. At that time we tore out a section of cabinets to open up the room, repainted all the cabinets white, and also repainted the walls. Since then, we have been looking for flooring for the kitchen. As you can see in this before photo, our old floor were linoleum and were in rough condition. A couple of weekends ago, we found new laminate flooring (at a very good price)!!! We were so excited! So, this week, Jordan, his brother Chad, and his friend Luke installed our new kitchen floors. Take a look...

This is the before photo...

Installing the first couple of rows! That blue stuff is the pad you put underneath the floor.

Looking good! Almost halfway finished!
And the finished product!!! I am amazed at the difference it makes. It really opened up our kitchen. They also installed these in the laundry room and it brightened things up in there too!
That was Jordan's exciting project of the week! I am soooo happy to finally have new floors! Now, on to the countertops next!!!

Have a great Monday! Tomorrow I register for my LAST YEAR OF MEDICAL SCHOOL! YEAH!!!

24 hours in Memphis...

Last Friday Jordan and I took a quick trip to Memphis to see Wicked!!! I was so excited and had very high expectations. Let me just say that my expectations were exceeded! It was so amazing...the music, the costumes, the story, the performers. They were all incredible! It was really a beautiful show and also very funny! We both laughed and I of course cried. I can't stop listening to the soundtrack. If you get the opportunity to see this wonderful show, do not pass it up!!! You will never look at the Wizard of Oz in the same way again!

Here is a pic from inside the Orpheum, right before I got in trouble for using my camera inside! That big dragon was scary!
On Saturday morning we got up and headed out for breakfast, then walked around for awhile. We went down Beale and then sat at the Peabody watching all the people. While we were eating breakfast we saw a really tall guy and his entire family all decked out in Grizzlies gear. Jordan got on his phone and looked up who the new players were and he was one of them! Then, later at the Peabody, we saw two more super tall guys in Grizzlies gear. We saw all 3 of the new players that weekend! Jordan was excited!
Here's Jordan trying on a silly hot dog hat in a weird store on Beale.
On the rooftop of the Peabody...
Right before we left town on Saturday, we headed down the alley to my favorite BBQ restaurant, Rendezvous. If you have never been there, you have to go, just for the experience. The restaurant has been there for years and years! This was Jordan's first time. We were stuffed when we left!!!
So, that was our 24 hours in Memphis. We had a blast! It was a great way to celebrate me being done with my third year of medical school!!!

Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!!