Under the Arch and I don't mean McDonald's!

Six days left and six programs left to think about.... Let's go to Saint Louis for the day.

Sunrise: 6:22a

Current Temp: 67 F 

We can go visit the Chess Hall of Fame, grab some coffee from Kayak's and then take a stroll through Forrest Park...

Saint Loius is also home of Purina Farms, so if I match here Sancho can become an agility dog in 2013!

dog days and date nights

I'm in San Diego for the weekend and it is glorious.

I spent the day with my puppy. We went to the dog park and farmers market. I gave hime a bath and made the apartment smell nice (not like a dog). I visited Dr. Boyfriend at work for lunch and lounged around all afternoon reading, painting my nails and watching West Wing on Netflix.

And right now it is time for date night. We are going to a hot new restaurant and then maybe a movie, depending upon how long dinner takes and how awake I am. Either way, I'm just happy to be here.

20 days until match. The waiting continues but life goes on.

Happy Saturday and weekend to you!

What I am doing

NOW

Reading-
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, as well as Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Wallace Foster by David Lipsky (The subject of the NYT Book review from which I have previously quoted here)

Starting-
A Genetics Elective at Miami Children's (I arrived in Miami over the weekend and it reminds me of Grenada which is nostalgia inducing, humid, warm, living with roommates again fun.)

Exploring-
My new city as this is my first time in Miami. So far I've found a great diner for breakfast, the grocery store (IGA!!! just like Grenada) a Spanish Restaurant that serves okay Tapas and a friend from the island that is here this month too. I know my life is just so hard.

Traveling-
Today to Cali for an interview and again on Friday to upstate New York for yet another interview. Only four more to go. Now let's just hope I can take off from my elective for all of them.

Learning to Knit-
(I needed a new project for take off and landing time on the plane when I couldn't read my Nook)
It is not going very well, I think I need an initial lesson with a real person, the read and follow directions in 2D is not working for me... Poor Sancho, he is going to get a very ugly sweater indeed, and he's a dog, so he'll have to wear it!

Writing-
This.

Reflecting-
On life.
On love.

Living-
Purposely.

Loving-
My life.

Anticipating-
The Match.

For Dr Boyfriend and Sancho

Dr Boyfriend is my love. My rock. My best friend. My biggest supporter and as of late also my editor, personal assistant, travel manager and pep-talker. He married me and then I promptly left for medical school. (Thank you boyfriend!)

Right now our is a marriage via Skype, but it works. We have an amazing foundation and we know that we have the rest of our lives together so he supports me in what I want/need/have to do right now which is finish medical school. Even if it means we seldom sleep in the same bed or occupy the same time zone.

He loves Christmas as much/maybe more (is that possible?) than I do. We are so different and yet we share enough that we are happy together. I am sad when we are apart and cry often because I miss him. He is the romantic but I am the emotional sap. These last 3 and 1/2 years have been hard but I am lucky because I never once doubted our relationship, our ability to make it through. And now the end is in sight.

Dr Boyfriend is on a plane and on his way to meet me in NYC for New Year's and we will run our 5K in Prospect Park and cross the finish line before 2013. It is our new tradition and I cannot wait. 2013 awaits and I am in love with my husband...

And we both love our puppy. Sancho is probably the most significant thing to happen to us as a couple in 2012 and it was more rewarding and more fun and more stressful than I could have ever imagined or hoped. I never knew it was possible to love a dog so much. But we do. 

Dr Boyfriend and Sancho do their best to make me happy. And it is enough. So this is for them. The last of my virtual ornaments and an adieu to 2012....

sunny in california with random thoughts of life and pics of my cute puppy

i feel guilty that i can wear a sundress and walk with sancho under a blue sky while the eastern seaboard floods as sandy approaches...

i'm enjoying being home with dr. boyfriend... it is so nice to have time to read, cook, bake, go on walks and just enjoy life. i'm still giddy from interview A. my thank you's have all been sent and now i just wait and count the days until my next interview.

yesterday we carved our pumpkins, which is always one of my favorite fall things to do.

my dog likes to sleep in the strangest positions. case in point!

it is so strange, because 5 months ago i wouldn't have considered myself a dog person but dr. boyfriend really wanted one and i felt guilty that i was leaving him yet again so i gave in... and now i can't imagine life without him. he requires a routine, you have to wake up in the morning, even if you'd rather sleep in. he requires walks and exercise. he won't let you ignore him for too long and he is the sweetest and most stubborn puppy ever. he has never destroyed a single shoe or anything of "ours" but he does a number on his toys. he sleeps in his own bed and can potty on command. he is cute and doesn't mind being dressed up or paraded around. he is a good dog. unfortunately he is is part pit bull and thus often misunderstood and may prevent us from living is certain places but we think he is worth it.

i'm super excited and a little scared to start my NICU rotation next week.

i'm a bit nervous about my dad's upcoming mitral valve repair but glad that i'll be able to be there for the surgery and his immediate post-op period.

and right now i'm just thinking of friends and family in NY and surrounding areas. be safe everyone!

Recant

So... yesterday I blogged about how I just didn't "heart" medicine, or at least adult medicine and while that may still be true so much of how I feel on wards is a product of the team dynamics.... Today our team got a new resident and new attending and both are great, rounds were extensive, exhaustive but invigorating... I got a new patient and kept my old one and learned and thought more today then perhaps in all of the past 9 days combined. Today I was actually a sub-I and it felt good. Being a "kind of sub-I" was boring... Too bad that tomorrow is my last day. Of course! But I do have to come back and finish my sub-I, two more weeks of it, so hopefully those two weeks will be closer to today than the last week and half.

In other new, three more rejections today. Yes, the tide has turned and my interview to rejection ratio is now skewed more toward the later.... But I'm still waiting to hear from 30 Child Neuro programs and a bunch of general peds programs so I'm okay with my 9 scheduled interviews thus far...


Time to pack my bags and head back to San Diego and Sancho and Dr. Boyfriend and I can't say that I'm sad about that in the least. :)

Camping!

What a wonderful day, Dr. Boyfriend and Sancho are on their way to meet me right now and we will be camping for two nights by a lake in the mountains. I love camping, there is just something about being outside with nature that is soul-inspiring. And it is Dr. Boyfriend's first camping trip, so that will be a first for "us" too. I'm very excited!

In other non-related news:  I'm still at two interviews but they are both booked, confirmed and on the horizon. I have been reading a new-to-me-blog that is informative and relevant to my future job as pediatric neurologist. I owe this find to Grady Doctor. If you have any interesest in child neuro, epilepsy or raising a special needs kid then a moon, worn as if had been a shell is worth checking out. And in ode to my new find (the author likes poetry) I am posting one of my favorite poem's of all time. Because it reminds me of being outside, enjoying the moment and also everything I still need to do with respect to this year, matching, life, etc.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 

-Robert Frost

Summer in the city, Sancho updates, Camp is Magic and other random things...

Don't you just love NYC in the summer? I do. I took this photo shortly before I left the city on one of those hot, humid nights when all the hydrants were open to cool off the kids and city.

Anyhow... I'm back from my whirlwind of Teen Adventure MS Camp and trip home to NM to visit my family. It has been quite the two weeks and everything was great but I have to say I am happy to be back in NYC and back in my bed. 

I start my Child Advocacy elective tomorrow and am looking forward to it...

I have so many things to share, it has been a busy couple of weeks but for now I just want to say I'm home (well my temporary home) but once again separated from my husband and puppy. Its hard to be away after a week together. I miss them both but they are also home and Sancho has claimed the living room. Literally. He personally unpacked all of his toys and spread them out as seen here.  He also seems to have perfected the stretch. He really isn't THAT much bigger than when we got him but he seems to take up so much more space (when he wants to.)

My little guy is growing up. Tear.

Meet Sancho the puppy!

In case you are wondering this is a very non-medical school post ahead. So if you are looking for some SGU insight feel free to come back another day. However if you have any new puppy advice or want to just kill some time please do continue.

---
In developing news the big Bday surprise for Dr. Boyfriend was a huge success! We are now proud new furr-parents of a 3 month old American Staff Terrier/Boxer/Mix.

Meet Sancho!
We picked him up this afternoon and he is home and adjusting very well. He likes his crate and is semi-okay with being confined to the kitchen for now. Housebreaking will start in earnest in the AM but he quickly learned to use the WeeWee pads we put down and has demonstrated great love, playfulness and his personality is really starting to show. For the most part he seems like a happy-go-lucky guy. No whining or crying (yet) and he seldom barks. Although he seems to have a bit of an URI and a cough. We thought maybe it was just the Bordetella vaccine administered nasally but as the night goes on I'm becoming more and more certain he has a doggie cold. He sounds kind of congested, poor thing.

I haven't had a puppy since I was in middle school so I'm a bit new to all of this. We walked him around the neighborhood and despite his initial fear of cars, stairs, other dogs and the airplanes flying overhead (we live pretty close to the airport) he did very well. Everything is of course new to him but it was kind of funny to see him refuse to use the stairs or step off the curb. It was definitely one of the more entertaining dog walks I've ever experienced.

Anyhow after his dinner and our several attempts to have him potty outside failed we let him use the WeeWee pads inside and the he curled up and fell fast asleep. That was at 8:30pm. Dr. B and I made dinner and had chance to relax for a minute but by the time we were ready for bed Sancho was awake and looking concerned. But we put him in his crate and he allowed us a few hours of sleep before Dr. B heard him stirring around midnight. After a quick pee he went right back to bed and sleep. What a good dog!

But I didn't... insomnia kept me up for awhile and then I heard a commotion and found Sancho staring at the Wee Wee pad corner so I let him out of his crate. He didn't want to go back in so I allowed him a quick playtime and then left him with free reign of the kitchen. After faking me out and settling into his bed I left him. But then he promptly decided to use the WeeWee pad again, this time leaving a rather smelly mess (but at least he did it where we asked him to). By the time I had cleaned up Sancho was wide awake and wanted to play, and play, and play. So we had some puppy playtime at 2am. I left him after a few minutes and started to blog from the other room where I could still see him. And I think he just fell asleep as I hear a very congested snore.

Yep, he's asleep. So maybe now I should try to do the same... I have a feeling he'll be awake in a few short hours. Oh the joys of multiple night awakenings. But it is all part of the process. And a fun distraction from Step 2 studying.

Home pictures of Sancho will be forthcoming but in the meantime you can read about him and his family via Petfinder and the amazing work of The Barking Lot rescue group.

Welcome home Sancho, welcome home.