Fine dining and diving

My sister about to dive

Back and not at all ready for another week! It is Sunday morning and my laundry list is crazy long, I guess that's what I get for spending Friday and Saturday in Springfield.  But is was so worth it!  Watching my sister dive (and swim a little) was awesome; she did so great! I was so glad I got to see her compete before state in a couple of weeks!

The Osceola Cheese Mouse in front of the store

I also got to visit one of my favorite stores...the Osceola Cheese store.  It is to DIE for.  Over 200 kinds of cheeses that you can sample and then of course by your waist line's better judgement buy.  Every time I drive down to meet my family on Tablerock lake in the summer or even drive by Osceola Cheese I am compelled to stop.  I am addicted!  And to top it off, I got my sister and I cute Osceola Cheese sweatshirts.  Fantastic moment! In fact, I am sporting it right now! haha

Cake Pops  drying in the stand my dad made for me over
Christmas.

To add to the healthy diet of speciality cheese and panera bagels this weekend, I also made Cake Pops with one of the girls I babysit.  While they are utterly delicious without my sisters cakepop maker it is a seriously labor intensive project! 

On the docket today?  Interviewing my friend for a project, attempting to read a bunch of school stuff and finish a few assignments, and most importantly watching "Once Upon a Time".  It is a great show to start the week off with and a perfect excuse to avoid homework for another hour.  It will also be an early bedtime today because in my head I slightly resemble a zombie. 

Have a blessed Sunday!

Friday I'm in Love

The first full week back is always tough with getting used to being back at school 8-4 daily but at the end of it, the pain resembles ripping off a band aid cause it is almost Friday!!!!!! 

Classmate Joe running through our Research
project

Highlight of the week was finally getting our research project off the ground.  We ran a trial run with a few of our classmates who did not qualify to be in the study and after working out the minor flaws, were able to start signing people up to be our participants.  And (drum roll), we are going to start collecting data next week and all of my group members are looking forward to getting this going!

Emily and I also began teaching the Physics Lab classes again this week.  This semester we are teaching two sections of the Physics 1760 lab (the next course following the one we taught last semester).  We have a few familiar faces but most are new which is always fun!  The best part about teaching the lab is when the student is struggling with a concept and after walking through it they get it and can explain it back to me.  This evening we looked at the relationships between degrees, radians and radius and how they affect linear and rotational motion.  It was a very interesting concept to start the semester off with.

Part of the lab where students looked at how different lengths of
radius' (their arms) affected the circumference of a circle.

Now that it is the weekend (thank the heavens above!) it is time to drive down to Springfield, MO and spend most of my weekend watching my little sister in swimming and diving competitions, and hang out with my cousin Eric who is doing a pharmacy residency there for the year.  Oh and shout out to my sister who qualified for state diving this past week! So excited! 

Have a beautiful weekend!

You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round

Two days into the semester and my poor planner is quickly filling up with color coordinated due dates of assignments and tests.  It is going to be a very busy semester (but also a cornucopia of information).  We started the semester in 15 degree weather rolling people-filled wheelchairs up and down 6 inch curbs....both facing towards and away from the curb.  That can be scary trusting someone to keep the chair from tipping!

We also took a tour of a children development center for children with special needs.  It employed many therapists including physical, occupational, music, and speech.  Our professor wanted us to get a glimpse into hour collaborative the pediatric field is and to give us a base to return to in our class discussions.  More than anything else it made me excited for my pediatric rotation in October! 

Emily and I with some first year ladies

Thursday night Catherine, one of our professors, had a party for all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students.  3rd years had a chance to catch up after being gone on rotations, 1st years got to ask 2nd years about our 3 week experience, and it was a great opportunity to talk and socialize with people we don't usually see at school.  Below and to the left are a few pictures that her husband took! 

1st year students

3rd Year Students

Some of my 2nd Year Classmates

Goal for this week:  Keep Calm and Breathe.  With the first full week of class, teaching lab starting on Thursday and my trip to Springfield MO to watch my sister swim and dive over the weekend, it is going to be a dizzying ride!

Kansas City, Kansas City here I come

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (and so is school, apparently we are a packaged deal).  After a beautiful 2 months away from the classroom, it is time to go back and get schooled in all things neurology, musculoskeletal, pediatrics, health management, and medical management.  While it sounds simply fabulous I am almost positive I used up 1/4 of my printing money on notes today...and school hasn't even started!  But no worries there is much more of that to come in the upcoming months. 

So since I can't explain what is to come, it is time for a photo montage of the last 4 weeks of my life.  Buckle up folks, it is gunna be a blur.

Christmas Eve with my bruised lip and sister

New Year's Eve dinner at our family friend's house: Me, Heather and Chleo

New Years Eve with some great friends (Ali in picture) and awesome glittered glasses

.....and my glittered heels.  L.O.V.E.

Hanging out with my adorable and old senile dog. (Clearly begging for something)

My sister capturing my dog's most favorite activity....sleeping by the Christmas Tree.

A visit to Oklahoma to visit my best friend Lindsey! We bedazzled her laptop and my Kindle.

Lindsey and I doing who knows what.

And most recently a trip to Illinois for the Johnson family Christmas...food and wine gift exchange?!  Best Idea EVER.
The only picture from the trip?  My sister finding new ways to braid my hair.  :)



 Now that my wonderful trips and memories are done (I think I have imprinted my rear in my car seat this break), I have slowly submitted to the fact that it is indeed again time to hit the books (and not the great fictional books I have been immersed in).  No worries, there are a few great and fun things ahead this semester! (A few trips, CSM conference in Chicago, birthdays, white coat ceremony) Then it will be time to pack up and move onto my clinical rotations and I am super excited for the future!

Until the weekend, God bless!