Thanksgiving and Fall Fun

I can't believe that the Holidays have arrived! We've just returned from celebrating Thanksgiving with Wiggy's family in Nebraska and catching up with his Best Friend Brian and his new Fiance Kinsey. We enjoyed lots of great conversations (some a little heated, but that's to be expected in Saunders family conversation), lots of great food, The Christmas Carol in IMAX 3D, and the excitement of wedding planning. All in all it was a great trip, just a little short. We always wish both of our families were closer!

Last weekend was also a fantastic weekend! I started Thursday with a girls night catching up over appetizers and wine at Sixth and Vine. Friday evening we caught up with some Medical School friends over Thai food and then Saturday we decorated our house for Christmas and sipped wine and chatted before heading out to meet up with friends to watch The Blind Side (my favorite movie of 2009 by far). Sunday was the best of all! We got up and worked out together (something we rarely get to do) and then spent the afternoon delivering Thanksgiving Dinner bags to the families we work with at the House of Service. Not only was the delivery a wonderful experience, but I was amazed by my friends and even acquaintances that offered to put together a bag. I ended up with 6 bags and $110 in gift cards (allowing us to put together 8 more bags)from a simple Facebook posting! It is amazing the small ways that God displays his Grace through our friends. We fed 14 families through one little posting! I am still in awe of this! That evening we headed to Greensboro for an interview dinner for the incoming intern class at Moses Cone. It was really fun to answer questions as the spouse on the "other side" this time.

The past two weeks have been wonderful and I am truly looking forward to the Holiday season. Lots of Cheer and Joy coming my way!

Competitions and Vacations

I'm finding it very hard to belive that Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is a mere 4.5 weeks away! Our lives have been very eventful and very blessed of late and we have much to be thankful for!

I'll begin where I left off with my recent fitness competition. My wonderful family came into town to support me (even though this whole thing is new to them). The process starts on Friday evening witha super-dark spray tan followed by Saturday morning early makeup/hair followed by pre-judging. We finished pre-judging super late so just went to get coffee and wine and got ready for the night show. I ended up placing 2nd in the bikini division and went out with the fam to celebrate with a super late dinner at the Village Tavern. Sunday we enjoyed the beautiful weather and did a tiny bit of shopping.

Last week was Wiggy's first bit of vacation since he began residency in June. It was so nice to get away to the NC Mountains for a few days and even though it was off season and the leaves had all fallen, the images are still breathtaking. We stayed at an ancient little inn in Beech Mountain which is about 10 minutes up the mountain from Banner Elk. Our first day was quite cold and wet so we enjoyed the sites and shops of downtown Boone and watched a movie before spending the evening sipping wine and talking for hours and eating a wonderful Organic dinner at Tupelo's in Boone. Friday we became adventurous and took on the difficult slopes and ladders of Pilot Mountain. Unfortuantely we got to a point where Jasper could not get up the inclines/ladders so we turned around, but not before getting lots of awesome pics from a mile up. That evening we did a wine tasting at Banner Elk Winery then had some more chatting time before grabbing calzones from a little pizza shop nearby. Saturday was our final day and we decided to pay homage to Wiggy's hospital's founder Moses Cone at his old estate on the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are 20 miles of trails! We went on a nice long hike down to the lake and then of course straight back up before heading home. The down time was much needed and it was really great to spend some quality low key time together! Next week we're off to Nebraska to visit Wiggy's family for Thanksgiving!

The leaves are falling!

Time is absolutely flying by lately and here we are in November and well into the transition to cooler weather. The leaves are even beginning to fall here in good ole' NC! The past two weeks have been crazy as ever induced by a week of illness following my fitness show (yes two full days in bed plus two more of struggling to function, ick). Our excitement for the weekend was chinese food on Friday night before Wiggy was on call on Saturday/Sunday and I studied, exciting stuff right?

Last week was super busy with printing, studying, and writing for class, hard training getting ready for show #2 and Wiggy wrapping up his last week of call. We have survived four months of inpatient service and now have a vacation month, woo hoo!!!!! This past weekend was a nice celebration. Friday night we had dinner with our friends Ashley and Neal who are expecting a baby in less than two months. They are our first close friends with a baby on the way so this is super-exciting for all of us! Saturday afternoon we watched a heart breaking WFU football game that came down to the wire and ended in a 28-27 loss, so sad! We sat in the rain the entire second half just knowing they were going to pull it off. Determined not to lose faith in our team! Saturday night we enjoyed several glasses of wine while waiting for Trick or Treaters that never came. We only had two!!!! I've now had to hide the candy from Wiggy until I can get rid of it! Sunday morning was a change as we went to church (we usually go on Mondays). The formal service is nice now and then. It was wonderful to have an alert husband home on a Sunday to help me cook, double the fun in half the time, can't beat that. We really relaxed for most of the rest of the day, which is what you're supposed to do on Sunday right?

Busy week this week... photo shoot tonight, writing for class, parents visiting this weekend AND the SHOW on Saturday! Ready for some more fun and then for it to be over!