Home for the Holidays

I was so blessed to be able to go home for Christmas and I definitely enjoyed my time with my family. The four days flew by and I ate a ton. I barely made it home, gambling on stand byes and watching over a foot of snow fall on my first day back in Kansas. We had our traditional Chinese "fondue-like" meal with boiling water instead of cheese on Christmas Eve with my aunt's family, my Grampa and Sara, and Mommy and Grace. Grace was especially good this whole trip, though it was a little more difficult to sleep with her glued to my side.

Secret Santa and Goodwill

Everyone loves secret santa, so the alphabet club got together and did it with a twist. Along with one real gift, we also gave a 2nd (or in Abby and Jeff's case a ton of) gag gifts. The rule for these were that it had to be something from your house that you're too embarrassed to donate to Goodwill. There were some real winners ranging from a wooden based circa 1970's TV to a menagerie of 80's kitch posters and a stuffed sofa with 2 stuffed dogs kissing on it. It was a good time and we celebrated with a little food and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps at the Nye's abode.

Med-Peds Holiday Party- 12/15/07

The holiday season brings many parties and this was our 2nd such. Linda, our program coordinator, hosted the med-peds crew and as usual we had lots to eat and even more kids to play with.

Snowfall in Cincy

Long before the snow fell, I've been hearing about how people in Cincy don't know how to drive in the snow so I was very to see how they would respond to the 3" of snow today. Not bad, but I didn't end up paying much attention to the other drivers as my car window wouldn't roll up. Here's a pic of my apartment complex in the snow.

Peds Holiday Party- 12/14/2007

The semi-formal holiday party was a great opportunity to see everyone all dressed up vs. scrubs and day-old hairdos. After meeting up at Ndidi's Sex in the City downtown loft, we headed towards The Phoenix for some food and dancing. While we didn't end up doing a whole lot of dancing, it was a fun night.

Our first Thanksgiving and Annual Wii Tennis Tournament

For many of us, this was our first Thanksgiving we were unable to spend with our families, so we spent it with our new family. Cory and Jess were gracious enough to host and we had a boatload of food including yummy yam (Missy's creation) and a gigantic turkey. Afterwards, to burn off some of the calories and to make space for pie, we had what will be the first of our annual Wii tournaments. Cory prevailed this year, but next year I will not go down quietly. :)

Fall Leaves and the View from my Apartment

Fall in Cincinnati is beautiful and I have a great view of it from my apartment.

Moving and a New Roommate

Here's my new roomie, Bryan (on the left) and his BF Randall.

Halloween in Chicago- 10/26-28, 2007

Our mini med school reunion in Chicago was a blast. Sara came up from S. Carolina, Sheila from St. Louis, and Stin picked me up on the way from Columbus to meet up with our Chi-town classmates Kavitha and Kahn, Ben and Caroline, and Aali and Christy. The wind was brisk and the weather was chilly, but not too bad for Chicago. Anyhoo, we got to do a little shopping, eat some great breakfasts, and have some Joy Yee's mango bubble tea. Kavitha had a big Halloween bash at their place on Sat night and the four of us out-of-towners got to dress-up in our retro cartoon theme. Sara and Sheils as Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble. Stin and I as Judy and Jane Jetson. Gotta love vinyl pleather and wigs.

Hiking and Getting Lost in East Fork Lake

On Caroline's, my program director's, recommendation, Missy, Kristi, and I ventured 45 minutes east to East Fork Lake State Park for a beautiful 80 degree day of hiking. Unfortunately, the hiking didn't come until after we spent a couple hours driving around the park trying to find the trails. Nevertheless, it was the perfect Fall day because the weather was nice and the leaves were turning. Plus, it was great being outdoors and feeling like real people.

Alphabet Club- E for El Rancho Grande

The alphabet club is cruising along nicely and for E we decided on some authentic Mexican food at El Rancho Grande, per birthday girl Sharice's request. It was a fun atmosphere with pitchers of frozen margaritas and a serenading band that sang happy birthday to Sharice and Jessica. The best part of the night was that all 8 of us interns were there to catch up with each other.

Garlic Festival- Dayton, OH

I had the weekend off, so Kristi and I decided to do some outlet mall shopping as well as to head to Cox Arboretum in Dayton near Kristi's house and attend the Garlic Festival. It was a gorgeous, hot day and so we thoroughly enjoyed the garlic ice cream. Tastes like vanilla with a little kick in the end. Actually, we lucked out and got the last 2 ice creams. We ate them as we walked the grounds, busy for the day with garlic lovers and families enjoying hayrides.

Finlay Market

Finlay Market is where it's at when the weather's nice. There are stands and stands of fresh foods, bright flowers, and tasty sweet potato pie at Aunt Flora's. The Nye's, the Lee's, and I took advantage of a beautiful day to stuff ourselves and get some home grown foods.

Home: Wichita, KS- My First Paid Vacation

Home is definitely where the heart is, so it was great getting to spend the majority of my vacation at home with my family. Grace was excited since I had to sleep in her room, mine being an empty chasm filled with only leftover debris from my hurricane move. Plus, it was great to catch up with med school friends. Here are some of us having dinner and gelato in Old Town.

NYC and the US Open

For the first weekend of my vacation, I met up with Sara in NYC for some Big Apple excitement and especially for the US Open. We stayed with Diane in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn which is baby and puppy central. This first pic is our first night there where we went out on the town and hit up the Upper East side and relaxed with some martinis at the Dove Bar.

Then we hit up the US Open baby! My last tennis grand slam to go to. So exciting and we lucked out with our day's matches. Our first match was Sharapova vs. Vaidisova, the second Andy Roddick vs. Johannson, and the last was the world's best-- Roger Federer vs. the 6'8" American John Isner.

UH1 is #1

So my 2nd month (General Wards) was also a fun crew. Another great senior and good times grilling out at Dr. Schroer's retreat in Northern Kentucky. Here's the crew enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing after our 2-pound slabs of steak.

Cheryl and Dave Host...then to the Wine Bar

Cheryl and Dave took their turn hosting dinner and after some tasty ravioli, we hit a nearby wine bar in Hyde Park where Missy was the one who ended up getting hit-on. We had a European flight each and some wine education, though I really can't say I know any more than I did before.

Team Hem-Onc

So I lucked out in my first month as an intern because my team was awesome. We had a great senior resident and good interns and sub-I's. So great that we all decided to hang out after the rotation was over and have some dinner and cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory.

Dinner at Missy's

Obviously, food is the general theme of life as a resident, so here we are having some Mexican food at Missy's. I liked the yummy sweet potato dish best. Here are Cheryl, Dave, and Missy cheesing over our lovely homemade fiesta.

Cincinnati Blues Fest- 8/4/07

Since Missy is the queen of hip and cool and especially the music scene, we headed out on cloudy Saturday to catch some live blues. With rain threatening and deep riffs shaking, we listened to everything from saxophone solos to gospel booming. Plus, you can't beat festival food like funnel cake and barbecue (though the 'cue here is not nearly as good as in KC).

Brats and Beer at Hofbrauhaus

There's nothing like a touch of Germany to ease the trying day of an intern. We decided to grab some food and a big swig of Weizen beer at the Newport, KY tradition. Cory sucked it up and ventured out with the estrogen-heavy group of Ndidi, Cheryl, Missy, and I. Wow, were those cheese fries big!

Orientation

So orientation was billed as a "2 week extravaganza." At first I didn't want to leave home and all the med school peeps that didn't have to start for another week, but it really was a great time to bond with all my fellow med-pedsers. Here's our class at the Med-Peds picnic at Caroline's house (our program director). The other pic is with the peds residents at our COPES course. Fun outside doing bonding activities.