Spring Please

Here we are at the end of February! I must admit that February is my least favorite month. It feels like Spring is too far away to look forward to and is just dreary and cold... especially this year. I am thrilled that it's over for weather reasons, but also the fact that this completes month 8 of intern year. Over the first 8 months Wiggy has had only one outpatient month meaning that he's been on call every fourth night ALL of the other months. Over these final 4 months he has TWO outpatient months which means every other month starting tomorrow! I am estatic to have him home every weekend in March! We will also be traveling to Florida to visit my parents and grandparents in Stuart in 2.5 weeks! Can't wait for that!

I haven't written for a while so some catch up:

Last weekend we went to a Casino Night Fundraiser with four other couples and the entire evening was a blast. We met up at Noma beforehand for dinner and wine and everyone laughed throughout the entire meal, it was a great group. We then headed over to the Nissen building for a Mardi Gras party before going to the Piedmont Club for the party. Fun was had by all and I even won a gift card to Christopher's downtown!

Yesterday Wiggy was on call, but I went to the UNC vs. WFU game with my friends Blake(a UNC fan) and Erin. Unfortunately our team is once again falling apart at the end of the season and it was an absolutely pitiful performance. What will happen in the post season? Let's hope it's better than next year!

Valentines Day

The commercialized day of love has happened yet again. I have never been a huge fan of Valentines Day... I'm more of the camp of.... Wow.. this would mean so much more if it happened any other day of the year.. Of course it's super nice to be showered with flowers and nice meals, but Valentines Day makes it seem like an obligation that I've just never been super crazy about. My husband knows this and because of it he has become an expert in doing a little something nice on Valentines Day and then providing me with an itinerary for an upcoming weekend of fun and true celebration aside from the packed restaurants and super organized events that happen on Valentines Weekend.

This year my itinerary looks like this... and I'm so EXCITED!

March 27th.

9am Workout/teach classes

12pm Lunch at Whole Foods (a Sat. tradition)

2pm Visit the new Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro

4pm Check in to Proximity (Greenest Hotel in America)

6pm Wine on the outside patio

7:30 pm Dinner at Green Valley Grill

9pm Meet friends for drinks (mostly fellow Moses Cone residents who helped him plan this)

11pm Dancing at Much with said friends


Now, I must explain that my husband is not much of a planner. That falls on my plate... all the time. I learned that he had thrown this idea out there at a resident meeting weeks ago and that just made my heart sizzle! To know that he was planning something special for me in advance really makes me melt. I know, this probably sounds absurd, but he works 80 hour weeks and spends every 4th night at the hospital. He is also going through the rigors of training for his first fitness show. The boy doesn't have much free time. This year has been difficult. It has also made us much stronger as a couple and we appreciate each other so much more. I am crazy about my husband after 8 years together and that gives me butterflies!

Happy Valentines Day!

The Winter Blahs

I can say that this is certainly the most "winter" that North Carolina has experienced in the 10 years that I've lived here. I don't mind snow all that much. I'm not allowed really as I grew up in a place that it snows almost daily from November until March every year. I absolutely do not miss snow, ice and frigid temperatures and I do not enjoy them when they come to hang out here in the South for weeks at a time. The problem isn't the snow, it's that everything shuts down for five days over six inches of snow. My early morning classes were cancelled Sat, S,M,T,W this week and are again cancelled tomorrow. I mean really? Is this necessary? I know that it's sometimes best to err on the side of caution, but come on! Ok, enough with that.

We've been quite busy with the daily grind lately. Wiggy is back on an OB rotation that keeps him super worn out all the time. That combined with lots of newsletter printing and fitness competition preparations beginning for both of us has kept us quite busy the past few weeks. Wiggy has gained a full 15 pounds of muscle in about 5 weeks, Wow!!! My first competition will be on April 10th and Wiggy and I will both compete on May 29th... after that who knows?

I am very excited to report that I'll be participating in a Personal Training Certification this weekend. I have been assured that it will go on regardless of weather and that makes me happy. I am very excited to step into a slightly different arena in the fitness world.

Other than that, we've had a wonderful beginning to 2010 with my "real" job and I am oh so very thankful for that! All is well, just busy busy... now, can we just stop the snow?

Basketball and Parties

So here we are well into January and yet again, it's been a while since I posted. We are back in the grind as they say... Wiggy is in inpatient Medicine right now which is a brutal month so it ends up being stressful for both of us. However, he will be finished with his most difficult intern months at the end of January.. woo hoo! My work has also been quite busy which is a blessing!

We have been having a great time with WFU basketball this year! So many buzzer and overtime wins and a big win over Carolina on Wednesday. Wiggy and I gathered with some young alumni friends to watch the game at Bridger Fieldhouse, part of our football stadium. It was very fun!

Last weekend we hosted our "Post New Years Party" after we had to cancel our Christmas party. We had a blast with about twenty five friends who joined us for an evening of food and fun! I thought we were going to have tons of leftovers, but that was not the case at all. The little bit we did have was whisked home in plastic containers with our guests. It was a very fun evening :)

Winston-Salem has a new Independent Film cinema! I was thrilled to hear that it would be opening and last Sunday we went to go see "An Education". The Theaters are super nice and the movie was great. They server beer, wine and cakeballs, definitely not your typical theater!

This weekend will be very low key after a busy week and I'm looking forward to it!

2010!

The New Year has arrived! Not only the New Year, but a new Decade! I find it strange to write x/x/10 as the year. It just doesn't feel right!

Wiggy and I celebrated the New Year with my family at the Fur Ball, a fundraising event for one of our animal rescues in Garrett County. The event was very fun with lots of dancing, great food and a casino complete with our hometown World Series of Poker winner Darvin Moon. My parents and grandparents were both there with us and it was the first time we rang in the New Year together for at least five years if not more. Our visit home was truly memorable. I had a wonderful time just hanging out with my family for a full ten days. Wiggy got to snowboard and have some serious down time. He received a shot gun for Christmas that we learned to shoot and practiced on an old door which we spray painted with target spots. It was super fun! Oh and it snowed... every day... a lot. By the end I was ready to be finished with scraping snow and ice off of my car.

With the New Year comes reflection (why can't we reflect all year long)? It's been a very eventful year with Medical School graduation, the beginning of residency, starting Grad School, my first fitness competitions, placing in the top five in a large half marathon, our first week long vacation together since our honeymoon, Wiggy's induction into AOA honors society, lots and lots of weddings, our 5 year college reunion, my first good friend had a baby, Wiggy and I have gotten further involved with the House of Service and so much more.

I must say that I am really starting to feel like a full fledged grown up. I don't feel like a child anymore or that I need to call my Mom for every little thing. Teenagers are starting to seem very young to me and many of the activities or "ways we did things" when I was in high school and early college are already obsolete. I feel that I have more confidence in my decisions, more direction in my life and am settled into my little "family". It's hard to explain how all of this comes together, but sometimes I feel down right old.

So 2010 is here! What is to come? Well a few things for sure. I will continue Grad School and compete in multiple fitness competitions this year. I would like to branch out with the opportunities that come with competing more aggressively this year. I must say that we've fared rather well considering the immense challenges that intern year of Residency presents and I am quite proud of that, I pray that it continues and for the ability to relish in the moments we'll laugh about later. We plan to go on another "grown up" vacation in May and visit my family in Florida in March. Wiggy's best friend will get married in November and my "Uncle/Brother" Adam will get marriend in September. We have so much to look forward to and I love that we have the opportunity with each New Year to appreciate where we've been and be excited for things to come. I also must remind myself of my life motto... "If You Want to See God Laught Tell Him Your Plans". It's a wild ride.... here's to 2010.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hello to All,
I hope that all of my readers had a very Merry Christmas spending time with friends and family. I have the wonderful opporutunity to spend ten whole days at home in Maryland with my family. Wiggy will join me on the 29th when he'll have 5 days off for the New Year.

The big news of last weekend was the snow in NC! We had 6 inches in NC which caused the whole place to shut down. We were supposed to have a Christmas party on Friday the 16th, but of course the 6 inches caused many to cancel so we decided to host a post-New-Years Party instead. We spent that evening at Walmart purchasing the remaining gifts for the House of Service. Needless to say we were one of about 5 customers in the entire place. Saturday was spent finishing up shopping and then Wiggy and I exchanged our gifts and then went out for Thai. Sunday Wiggy worked so I began packing for my trip to MD, wrapped lots of gifts for the House of Service and delivered them, then headed to the Wake vs. NC State game with my friends Carrie and Michael and Emily Crawford.

After a whirlwind of a few days I headed North to MD on Christmas Eve to meet up wih my family. We went to a nice dinner then Church before crashing for the night. Christmas morning we exchanged gifts and then brunched before heading to my Mom's home town of Petersburg, WV for a Moomau side reunion. It's a crazy place at Mimi's house at Christmas, but always a time to treasure. I spent the night at my Aunt Sarah's house then had a lovely conversation with her the next Morning. Yesterday I headed back to my parents house and then met up with a ton of high school friends to celebrate my friend Megan's birthday.

I almost forgot to mention an amazing experience that I had a few weeks ago. My chruch group participated in DDD at a local homeless shelter. We served dessert and gave a short devotional and then a converastion with the men and women. Many of them were so full of faith that you could feel it radiate through the room. Two gentlemen were even moved to sing for us which was just amazing. I can assure you that we got more out of the experience than any of the men and women we were serving. Praise God for such an amazing experience!

Happy New Year to all!

It's Christmas Time in the City!

It's time for that bi-weekly update and so much has happened since last time I wrote! Starting back where I left off... Wiggy and I enjoyed an impromptu Christmas event a couple of weeks ago when we decided to head downtown for the Twin City Santa young professionals charity event at about 6pm when it started at 8pm. We quickly got all gussied up and went out on the town. We met up with lots of friends and acquantiances there, none of which we knew would be there, so it was quite a fun surprise! That Friday Wiggy was on call, but my gracious friends Erin and Laurie invited me out with their hubbies for a night of Mexican. Saturday evening the festivities continued with a WFU Soccer win in the semi-finals and then a night of fun and tacky sweaters (minus the Saunders, our theme was "warmest sweaters in your closet" as the game was FREEZING) at the Clines. Quite an event I must say!

This past Tuesday I took my final for my Masters Class which is now gladly over! I did well and am now accustomed to the juggle of full time employee-part time student lifestyle. I celebrated with a Biggest Loser Finale impromptu gathering at my house with a couple of girls who are also fanatics! That show is such an inspiration for everyone with a goal! Wednesday evening Wiggy and I attended a WFU Young Alumni Happy Hour where we caught up with some fellow alumni and met some new Deacon Fans as well! Afterward I headed over to Heather's house for Bunco, which ended up as a chat fest and wine tasting... better than Bunco in my book! Friday evening the fun continued with a holiday gathering at the home of our friends Blake and Erin. More yummy food, punch and good conversation.

Friday night my parents arrived for a weekend of Christmas shopping. We did pause long enough to go see the Black Nativity on Saturday night. What an inspiration! The actors and musicians not only got me in the Holiday spirit, but did an amazing job praising the birth of our Lord and Savior, the true reason for the season! I will definitely go again next year! We also had some tasty Thai food at an all time fave... Cha Da Thai!

I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! I'm really looking forward to my 10 day visit home... it's been a LONG time since I was able to spend that much time with my family and it's a true blessing.