Graduation Time...and Fond Memories

Its graduation season, and no one can deny that... 

     Both high school and college kids are in full celebration mode, happy to have a chapter of their lives closing and looking forward to the future. Some know what lies ahead of them, some have no idea....However, for this one day all that matters is crossing the stage, throwing the hat, getting that diploma....


     It's truly a strange time for me..because 1 year ago I was graduating from college. I was that kid thrilled to be completing a WONDERFUL time of my life! I loved college, I loved every moment of it, but graduation was the culmination of everything I had accomplished in the past four years... and graduation also meant my future was here...you see I already knew I would be attending medical school in the fall....and I was already engaged...so to me graduation meant my life was going to really start...I was...well...I was going to be a "big girl"...

    Looking back on the past year...I have accomplished a great deal...but it really doesn't really seem like it has been that long...  Sitting around with my girlfriends the other day, we couldn't believe that it was already time for graduation again... it seems like just yesterday that the three of us walked across a different stage...the one to get our white coats...the sign of a student doctor....the start of medical school...

     This first year of medical school has gone fast and slow at the same time... each day, each week, each block seems to creep along...but I cannot believe that I only have four days left in the year...

     If graduation brings back such strong feelings for me, someone who only became an alum a year ago, I can only imagine what it must feel like for those 5, 10, 15 years out...those with children graduating, or even grandchildren graduating....

    Graduation is special time, but not just for the current graduates...but for all past graduates and for all those who have ever supported a graduate....


here's to the graduates....
heres's to the future.....
here's to the past.....
here's to now!

<3 A

Unique Wedding Favors...My Style!__ Another DIY project

  What does every bride want...

• A beautiful dress
• The perfect groom
• Great food
• To have a good time

and the list could go on... but if you look to the root of it all..

Every bride wants their day to be special, and to reflect the relationship they share with their betrothed

So, this brings me to my upcoming wedding. I, like every other bride, looked for cute options to make my day SPECIAL! I have talked about various things before that I have done to accomplish this; such as wedding wands, a card cage, and a pinwheel garden.

But this idea was actually the first one I thought of only weeks after we were engaged...so about 18 months ago...

Now backstory... I am a first year medical student and graduated from college last year with a degree in biology. My fiance' is starting dental school in June (2 days AFTER the wedding), and also graduated from college last year with a degree in biology (yeah...that's how we met!!)....
point being....we are big science nerds...but the cool kind!?!?!

So.. My FANTABULOUS wedding favor idea..... TEST TUBES!!!

I know what you thinking...how can test tubes fit into any wedding...unless you are having it in a laboratory... and though I do LOVE SCIENCE...I am not having my wedding in a lab...

So My Idea....
Order Test Tubes
Order Cork Stoppers
Order NERDS (the candy....because test tubes are nerdy...and we are too...cheesy I know!!!!!)
Order custom labels that are the wedding color with our names, date, and location of wedding.
and Get bows to put on top of cork somehow....

and that's what we did...

We Got the Nerds

We got 500 test tubes (I would go with plastic...the glass ones kept breaking when putting together..._)

We found bows to go on the top!

We started on em...

and they started coming together.....

My mother and her friends may have put the nerds in them....while drinking wine of course!!

I found baskets and of course put the "Wedding Ribbon" on them

And Chris' best friend help me design these labels!!

 

 

 

Test Tube project complete!!

I am beyond happy with my wedding favors, and I know my guests will say ... "That's soo Chris and Alex"..... Well that and the coozies they are getting!! Anywho..I am just glad that I am able to bring some personality into my wedding and just CANNOT wait!!

27 days and counting!

Here's to being yourself!!
<3 A

Adorable at ALL times

     So I know I said the test tubes were going to be my next post...but today I had new inspiration!! So they will come soon I promise...but this post is (of course) about my lovely pup Tungsten....

      Today was graduation at my Alma Mater...and my fiance' (Christopher) and his parents went to watch some of our best friends graduate. I stayed home.... there was a dual purpose to me staying home...
1) I got extra study time since my FINAL test as a FIRST YEAR medical student is THURSDAY!!! and 2) I got to stay and watch Tungsten.

So the sight in my living room included me sprawled out on my couch with piles of paper trying to relearn all of Cardiovascular block...ineffeciently I may say as i was blog surfing, facebooking, and even playing some Call of Duty ( my dirty little secret...I love to play certain video games with or without Christopher)...

Anywho and I look over and Tungsten is asleep with his two favorite stuffed animals!! It was absolutely adorable!

Seeing him laying there asleep made my day! Tungsten truly is a joy in my life, he shares so much love and has such life in him....

I love my dog...and I just wanted to share it (as if I haven't before)...Maybe a cute puppy cuddling with his favorite stuffed animals will make someone else's day too!!

O My......I can only image when I have kids...

So here's to dogs being cute!!
and it making your day once in a while!!
<3 A

Wedding Favors...Child Style!!

       In the midst of my studies last block, I discovered Etsy. This was both a good and bad discovery as I ABSOLUTELY love Etsy, and I was shopping rather than studying! I could spend HOURS (and still can) just looking at all the beautiful things people can make. As usual, in my shopping fits, I bought a few things...
      Well I of course have wedding fever as one month from today I will make the transition from Miss. to Mrs. So most of my Etsy shopping revolved around my wedding. Now, I already had my wedding favors which are candy filled test tubes (I'll write about these next...they are AMAZING ...well at least in my opinion.). So I couldn't justify buying any of the beautiful favors on the website. However, I did buy this lovely cards sign, to hand on the birdhouse I turned into a little project (add pain, ribbons, and such) to have a card cage.

        I also bought some bouquet charms with our initials to add a little rustic touch to my walk down the isle.

       But my favorite purchase were my pinwheels. Now, they were smaller than I thought they were, but thats entirely my fault for not reading descriptions or being able to tell lengths....I mean I was just excited because they were gorgeous. So I ordered 24. 12 of them were pink floral, and 12 of them were brown and white.

     When they came in I realized I had to find a FABULOUS way to display them at the reception...I mean they are darling and I know the kids will love them...That's where Mama dearest comes in. We put our heads together...and this is what we came up with.......
 
               A GARDEN OF PINWHEELS!!!!!


We bought floral foam, artificial vines, moss, and used the "official" wedding ribbon that can be found on just about anything we have touched (even the birdhouse) and TA-DA!!!  Garden!!

      I am so happy with the outcome, and my mother is pretty pleased as well. They will look super cute on the favor table next to the test tubes, and I am happy that there will be something there to entertain the children.

Here's to my next DIY adventure!!
<3 A

A study of Parkinson's disease brings Medicine to life......For me

     Last week concluded my final "real" block for my first year of medical school. (By that I mean that I am now in a "Synthesis" block...which hopefully should be pretty straight forward). I am glad to have what I believe to be the most difficult block of the year behind me, but I am thankful for the lessons I learned during it.
     You see, last block was the head and neck/cognition block. During this block we learned a great deal of interesting information about how the brain works and communicates with the body, how the body relays information to the brain, and of course a bunch of tedious information about the exact path neurons from specific body parts take to go to their destination.

    In this vast amount of information, we also learned about numerous disorders and diseases including, but not limited to; Meniere's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Of all the diseases I have learned about this past year the one that has affected me the most is Parkinson's disease. Why??   My grandfather died in 2004 from complications due to Parkinson's disease.
 
   So what is Parkinson's disease....it is a hypo-kinetic brain disorder characterized by tremors and difficulty with walking, movement and coordination. Parkinson's is often associated with some form of dementia as well. Parkinson's affects both men and women, usually in their mid to late 50's, and there has been a genetic correlation found in some cases.

    My grandfather was one of the most amazing people I ever knew. He was loving, funny, smart, and caring. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's when I was really young, and in the beginning I didn't notice the slight changes that started. The unilateral tremor, the slight memory loss, the trouble starting to walk, etc. As I got older I did, however, start to notice. I noticed that he couldn't feed himself without making a mess, he couldn't go for a walk, or any of the other things that he used to be able to do. It was really hard to watch him degenerate over the years, especially mentally. Towards the end he couldn't remember the names of any family, where he was, or what was going on. Parkinson's is truly a terrible disease, and having experienced it first hand I feel I have more insight than most of my classmates. I know each classmate of mine probably has a similar story with a different disease, and I believe that experiences like these will make us all better doctors.
      Learning the ins and outs of the disease that took my grandfather was hard, but I can only hope that this understanding about Parkinson's brought by science will help to one day cure this horrid disease.


<3 A

Thank You Notes:How things go wrong... and how to make them go right

 A list of Thank you cards accumulate after a bridal shower...

 

and though you TRULY are grateful...it is a tidbit overwhelming..... 

This is my thank you note story....well thus far a least!

    I had my first bridal shower over my spring break week. It was a good introduction to the wedding event season that was beginning...(three months prior to the upcoming nuptials). It was a lovely shower with all my college and high school girlfriend. We rented a beach house and had a shower and bachleorette weekend! It was wonderful to see all my close friends (9 of whom make up the bridesmaids)...and I had a blast. 

   Saturday morning we had the bridal shower, and it was ADORABLE...we played silly games, and such....and of course I got WONDERFUL PRESENTS....

                      

That set of thank you cards was really easy....as they were my BEST FRIENDS....I could write whatever I wanted and I knew they would be fine with it and LOVE whatever I wrote.... and the best part...I had the rest of spring break with nothing to do but write these 20-25 thank you cards!!

   

     Then...on to the next bridal shower, and where I started to make mistakes!! (oops!)

       

        The Next bridal shower was in my hometown...let's call in Smallville South Carolina.... and it was thrown by eleven of wonderful ladies and gentlemen that went to my church/ were the Dr's Wives/ other family friends....and 70 people were invited. This shower was, however, thrown in the middle of my head and neck/ cognition block at school during a weekend that I really needed to be studying....But I had as great time as it was too a wonderful event...let me clarify that I knew one of the three showers I was/am having would have to be during school as there were only sooo many weekends before the wedding...so I did provide this date..because it was earlier in the block.. 

        So this shower was again a wonderful one,be it slightly different from the one when I goofed around with my girlfriends. Again, I was showered with Many Wonderful gifts!! While I was at home, there were also wedding presents being delivered to the house from the various local stores...

When I got home from the shower I complied 2 lists...one of bridal shower presents, and one of wedding presents!! I then asked my mother, if I should just (in my limited time....remember this is during a busy block) write the shower ones for now, and wait the two-three weeks to write the wedding ones after my big test (the one I had yesterday)...no big deal right?? ....oh noo...

       So I wrote them...I looked up online (thank goodness for the internet) polite ways to write thank you cards for hostesses, for guests, for guests who sent presents but couldn't come, for hostesses who could attend, etc...and then I put my one personal touch to them, trying to make each one individual....It was not easy...but I finished in about a week and a half..writing a couple every night during my "study break" to watch my various TV addictions.I mailed all but two of the hostess thank you notes as I didn't have their address on hand, and theirs got mailed about a week later...when I was able to hunt down their addresses..

and do you know what happened next...

1) My mother got a phone call from a lady who asked if the wedding present she sent was lost as the thank you note was only for the shower present and she knew that I had both in my possession

2)Someone else went to my mother and asked if I had Christopher writing the thank you cards as the handwriting was...unlady like...

      Now I spent A GREAT DEAL of time thinking about each and every card, and even writing them...but come on.... Im going to be a doctor and you expect perfect handwriting??!?!  I admit...my handwriting isn't the best..but now I'm just self conscience.. In my defense.. I wrote them after writing notes and study guides all day..I offically have a HUGE bump on the side of my finger from writing so much lately.... Break please...

But the lady who called about the wedding present informed my mother that thank you cards were sent in order of the date recieved, not event, and I truly felt bad....I really appreciated her gits and wanted her to know that....

So...to the point!! (whew...)

I have looked up the CORRECT information on thank you notes so that I know in the future as well as others!!!  *if this is not correct or you know a better way PLEASE let me know...I am trying to do things the right way from here on out... I really appreciate that so many people care about me and I really don't want them to think otherwise!!

THANK YOU NOTES

-Must be sent as early as possible

-Must be personal, handwritten 

-Cannot be pre-printed or typed

-Thank them for the gift as well as thanking for attendance/ regrets for not being able to attend

- Try not to make the card all about you.Don't start with, "I," "me," "my," "we," or "our."
-Try to focus more on the gift giver than the recipient.

Most Importantly!!

It's important not to procrastinate...thank you notes should be sent out no later than two weeks after you get back from your honeymoon (which for me and the lack of honeymoon due to Christopher starting dental school two days after the wedding...is two weeks post wedding....)

AND...If you receive a wedding gift prior to the wedding...send a THANK YOU immediately! Though it is correct to send separate thank you notes for shower presents and wedding presents received at the same time (at least I did something right!)

So now that I know what to do...I get to spend the next two days getting caught up on my thank you notes before classes start again on Monday....Then only three weeks until my next shower....and 35 till the WEDDING!!

Hope you enjoyed!!
<3 A

Post Test...PARTY!

This is quite possibly the best part about medical school...besides the whole helping people bit...

       You get 173 first year medical students who have been learning about the brain for six weeks non-stop...no social life....and then you give them a weekend off...

   WHAT DO YOU GET? A GREAT BASH...

Now this only happens every block... So you learn to enjoy them when you can! This Post Test Party.... is for the Cognition Block....thus the lovely logo!!

The test was hard....but no one will know how hard until they post grades...which they do between midnight and 2 a.m.....coincidentally when the bars close!?! The post test isn't about getting hammered though...(well to some it is...though not purposely.... I find...Med students just can't tolerate alcohol anymore!?!)...but it is a time to SOCIALIZE...to act NORMAL...and yes Drink that BEER you have been yearning for....  O the taste of a beer after six weeks....

Well I'm off...to the Pre-Post Test Party Cook out!!! ( My friend Tracy is a host)

Its MY WEEKEND OFF!! I hope you have a lovely one as well!!

<3 A

From Post Test Numero UNO!

Science Can be Beautiful....

      So..for a short study break I decided to share the beauty that one can find in science. Typically when you think of scientific research you think about nerds in lab coats, beakers, test tubes, piles of paper, and lots of refrence books laying around. And, yes...this is all true (I admit I worked as one of those nerds in a labcoat during college, and it was a wonderful experience), however, there is beauty and art in science as well. Here are some images that result from scientific study, be it immunohistochemistry  or staining prodecures. These images are of tissues that we all have within us...and they are AMAZING...  I hope you Enjoy

 

 

Here's hoping tommorow goes well!

<3 A