spring awakening

Why hello blogosphere!

After a long hibernation, it is time for a spring awakening of the ol' blog.  After a little neglect, it was time for some spring cleaning around here.  I freshened things up with a new redesign complete with a new layout and header collage as well as a few new things to explore (check out the Twitter and Instagram feeds to the right so you can see what I'm up to in other media outlets).  Also, if you put your email address in the "follow by email" box at the right, you'll get an email when I post an update.

While I was away from the land of blogging, there was actually quite a bit going on: namely, my fourth year of dental school.  And it really was kind of awful.  Many days, it felt like it was all I could do to make it to the next day.  My time and energy were constantly spread really thin, which really started to take a toll.  Namely, I was cranky and exhausted for a great many months.  Something had to give, and blogging sort of fell to the wayside...right next to my social life.  BUT this story has a happy ending.  I made it through the worst bits.  I passed the most stressful exams of my life (I'm looking at you NERB).  So now I'm sitting pretty and counting down the days until graduation (44 to be exact).

Despite the past 6 months or so being predominantly horrendous, there were some highlights.  Here they are in a brief photo review!

October 2012

Northwestern Homecoming (and 5 year college reunion...when did I get so OLD?!?)

I was so excited to visit home in the fall that I sat in a pile of leaves.

This is where we used to live...

Wildcat Victory!

Reunion event at some swanky place downtown.  Also, I love these people.

Halloween, when they let us wear costumes while doing dentistry.

November 2012

My dad came to visit for a few days, so we went to a NASCAR race and to Sedona for some hiking.

Ready for Lookout Mountain...

You can see all of Phoenix from here...

Made it to the top of Doe Mountain.

"Hustled bunnies" to the top before sunset.

Sweet home Chicago for a visit to Shedd Aquarium sponsored by Abbott.

December 2012

And then there was Christmas (and some intense studying for boards)...

Don't I have the nicest patients?

January 2013

Preparing for boards and applying for jobs.  Yup, that was about it.

February 2013

Happy birthday to me!

Spring break!  Lauren came to visit and we go to lots of spring training games.

White Sox at Camelback Ranch

Then we went to Margaritaville for boat drinks.

Brewers at Maryvale Park

I was VERY excited to meet the racing sausages.

I made Lauren pose with the wieners too.

March 2013

Portillos opens in Phoenix! The line was insane and stretched out the door into the parking lot of the restaurant next door.  I enjoyed all the people talking about how glad they were that Portillos finally opened a branch in the "far west suburbs".

Photo courtesy of Mindi.  Apparently I was too focused on food to get any pictures myself.

And then I went on a job interview in Florida and took lots of pictures on the beach.

Just a tad too cold for me to wear a suit.  Phoenix has made anything less than 85 feel frigid.

And a week later I travelled to Seattle for a poster presentation.  (It was very cold.  I didn't have a coat.  I tried to buy one in Phoenix before I left.  News flash: they don't sell coats in Phoenix in March.)

Pike Place Market

We found the first Starbucks ever, and it was a total hole in the wall.
Also, it is true about them being on every corner in Seattle.
At one point, I could see five (5!) from where I was standing.

Ever had a crumpet? They were so good we went back 2 days in a row.

I loved all the daffodils planted on the roof.  They stretched an entire city block.

We found time to celebrate St. Patty's Day after the presentation.

We went to a little restaurant called the Pink Door.
It's down this alley.  There is no sign.
You just look for the door, which is in fact pink.
Also, there was a bouncer that opened the velvet rope just for us.
I felt like I was joining a secret club that nobody knew about.

Dinner at the Pink Door included an aerialist hanging from the ceiling.

Puget Sound

 

Of course there was so more baseball.  Sadly, I did not reach my goal of visiting every spring training stadium in Arizona before I graduated.  Although 8 out of 10 ain't so bad...

Clinic partners!

Too much beauty makes the camera go blind...

And that brings us to April 2013 in which nothing exciting has happened yet.  Oh wait, I did get voted into Omicron Kappa Upsilon, a national dental honor society.  It was a total surprise to me, but apparently quite a big honor.  (Not sure how it happened; from what I can tell, members (faculty?) nominate students, who are then voted upon by said members.)  That was kinda cool.  Other than that, stay tuned.  Life has been pretty routine lately, but I promise I will try and keep you posted on life happenings a little bit more regularly. And maybe I'll have some big news to share soon, like where I'll be going after I graduate. (You'll know when I know!)  Until then...