Random Updates

~ Brandon has been on his orthopedic rotation for the last 3 weeks or so and is really enjoying it. He brought home his first thank you note from a patient the other day which I thought was neat. As far as the residency process goes....he has started to work on his residency application, will interview at places in December and January and then finds out where he will be next year in March. I can't believe that this is already coming up! I might have to make this blog private as we have heard that programs will look things up like that...

~ Brandon will be away the WHOLE month of September doing an orthopedic rotation in Salt Lake City. I think this will be a great experience for him but I also think that it might be hard on me to be away from him for so long. However, my sister, Renee, is planning to come out and visit for the first time, Brandon's sister, Joy, might also visit, I am going to go out there the weekend of Sept. 13th and then we are meeting up in Chicago on September 28th, so there will actually only be one weekend where I will be alone. I am up for visitors though!!

~ I signed up to do a race up in Minneapolis and I got Allison to do it with me. It is called the Great Urban Race and it is similar to a one day Amazing Race without tv cameras. I was looking for some running races or something similar to keep me motivated to stay in shape, however, when I saw this one appear, I had no doubt that I wanted to do it! We will do it in the afternoon of Sept. 27th and if we come in the top 25 we have a chance to go to the championships in Las Vegas! I am super excited and will be preparing to know as much about Minneapolis/St. Paul as possible!

~ We will both be in Chicago from Sept. 28th-October 4th. I have a conference that I am planning on Sept. 29-30 and am helping with one on Oct. 1-3. Brandon will be taking a test there on Oct. 1st. This test was only offered in a few locations and Chicago happened to be one so it will work great. I am super excited to go back to Chicago. I really liked it when we went in December. I also got tickets to see Mamma Mia on Sept. 28th which I am really looking forward to. They are doing a tour and will only be there a couple of weeks and this will be the last day to see the show.

~ This past week, I found out that the design I submitted for our annual department pin won. I submitted something just thinking it would be fun to do so and was completely shocked to find out that I won. An email was sent to over 3,000 people who are in the department letting them know who the winner was, so I received several congratulatory emails! The pin will be designed and everyone will be wearing them!

The email that was sent and my winning design in the lower left

My name is also listed on the website along with some of the other pin submissions

~ At bunko in June, I acquired a goldfish from Krista. I decided to call him Fred in case he died right away so I could say "Fred is Dead" but it is already August and he is still doing well. Brandon gave him two weeks to live when I brought him home so he has definitely done better than we expected! He will keep me company when Brandon is gone!


~ When Joy came to visit, she delivered the following bag that Lagaytha made for me to take grocery shopping. I absolutely love it and used it for the first time last night! It makes me feel relatively "green" and it is fashionable too! Thanks Lagaytha and Joy!


~ If you are still reading this extremely long post, I booked a trip today for Brandon and I to celebrate our anniversary and birthdays. We are going to Canoe Bay the weekend of August 16th to relax before Brandon leaves to go to Utah. I found this place online when searching for places to go to in Wisconsin, but when telling one of my coworkers about it, she mentioned that it is in the middle of nowhere but Tom Cruise visits it quite often. It is pretty expensive so it will be a huge treat to stay there for one night. We haven't had a vacation to ourselves since our honeymoon so I am really looking forward to it! Pray for nice weather as it is on a lake and canoing and other water sports are included with the hotel fee!