SWAG

This weekend, Stuart and I jumped at the opportunity to go to the beach for free!  We attended our second annual Physicians' Alabama Opportunities Fair (PAOF Fair) in Orange Beach.  This is a conference designed for medical students, residents and physicians who are interested in eventually practicing primary care in rural Alabama.

Are Stuart and I definitely going to be settling in a rural Alabama town one day?  No idea.  But the conference was fun and we got a lot of free stuff!

Let's start with food.  The conference was held at the Perdido Beach Resort, and the first thing we did upon arriving was to eat a free, 4-course lunch compliments of their cooking staff!  We carpooled to the event with the Butts family, who like we did, skipped breakfast so we could make room for lunch!

Caleb and Tricia with their feasts

Way too many plates for one table!

After eating lunch and listening to a few speakers, we were excused to go visit with representatives from several rural hospitals in Alabama.  There were actually a couple towns that Stuart and I could envision ourselves living in one day down the road.  While I talked to all these folks, Stuart was responsible for scoring free swag off their tables.  We wound up with tons of pens, notepads, coozies, a few cups, and even a Starbucks gift card!  Not too shabby, if you ask me!

After all that, we somehow worked up an appetite again!  A few of us decided to head out to a local restaurant and split some appetizers.  We wound up at Tacky jacks with some fried pickles, ahi tuna dip, and these "Mexican Garbage" nachos.  Shannon was wondering why an appetizer was $14 when she ordered it, but quickly found out when they arrived at our table.  They were HUGE!  Fellow diners at nearby tables actually walked up to ask if they could take pictures of it.  A little embarrassing!

Eyes bigger than your stomach?

Then, after we had filled our bellies with food and our suitcases with hospital freebies, what else was there left to do but play a few rousing rounds of Catch Phrase?  Getting a few competitive med schoolers together, and playing the boys against the girls always makes for a good game ... hopefully we didn't wake up our neighbors.

Brian, making sure Hope didn't cheat

Shannon, doing the same

So proud of Stu for putting on his competitive game face!

Catch Phrase is always a good time

And finally, a video for your enjoyment.  Not sure how entertaining it is, but I think it's hilarious how much our Southern drawls come out!!

Saulters Updates!

Match List: Submitted!
After spending countless hours praying over and thinking over my residency rank list, it's finished!  Yesterday was the official submission deadline.  I wound up ranking only 5 of the schools I went on interviews with for reasons I am not at liberty to discuss here!  =)  I also will be keeping you in suspense as to my #1 choice.  The big day is March 16th, when our families will be with us and I will open the envelope telling us where our next 3 years will be spent!  Please join us in being prayerful for this day and that we will be patient until then!

Our house is for rent!
We have learned recently that the likelihood of our house selling is slim-to-none, due to a legal issue our condo association is going through (don't EVEN get me started on it).  We know that with God all things are possible, but we also know that he wants us to use common sense ... so we now have our house up for rent!  Let us know if you're interested in moving to the Daphne/Mobile area - haha!

Our pets are friends!
Approximately six months after we welcomed our second child, Winston, into our home, he is now getting along with Mardi.  Or maybe I should say Mardi is getting along with him?  The tide turned when Mardi finally decided to stick up for herself and chase the dog back when he chased her.  It's pretty hilarious.  They run around chasing each other at least 1/3 of the day.  I think they both secretly love it.  Also, Winston has learned that Mardi isn't supposed to claw the couch, so whenever she even looks like she's about to, he runs at her barking!  He's our little sofa watch dog.

A few weeks ago, Mardi spent most of her time hiding from Winston

Now, look, isn't that cute?!

An Open Letter to a Publix Shopper

Dear Sir behind me in the grocery checkout line,

I believe that God sends us angels ... special messengers ... what have you ... just right when we need them.  Today was one of those times for me.  I had just left my pharmacology class and remembered to run by Publix to grab a head of garlic; the sole item I needed to construct tonight's eggplant parm.  I was feeling quite down in the dumps, which surprised me.  Usually being in a room filled with my favorite classmates would be exciting, but today I just got bummed out.

I started thinking, "Wow I'm really going to miss these guys next year.  What if I never see them again?  Ugghh what if I made the wrong choice by putting "not yet revealed school name" as my number 1 choice? What if it's too hard there?  What if I can't cut it?  I'm going to be a doctor in 4 months, am I really smart enough for that?"  I.E, the devil was having his way with me.  I kept brooding over these negative thoughts the whole way from midtown Mobile across the bay to Daphne.

I parked at publix, grabbed my garlic head located right beside the front door, and walked over to the 10 items or less line.  Bad thoughts were continually flowing.  I'm sure I looked sad, or at least grouchy.  After the man in front of me had his grocery selections conveyed to the register, I sat down my lone garlic head.  Then, from behind me in line, clutching your bucket of fried chicken, you said, "Gosh!  You must have a bad vampire problem!"

I immediately burst out laughing and those bad thoughts flew away from me.  I resumed my normal extroverted demeanor and then we had a conversation about the eggplant I was making tonight.

Thanks sir, for making me lighten up.

Thanks, God, for sending me a laugh right when I needed it.

Kacie

The Cost of Matching

No one tells you that, beside the exorbitant cost of tuition for medical school, you also have to shell out a lot of money for other "incidentals".  Like board exams.  And practice board exams.  And background checks.  And beepers.  And interviews.

I recently got curious/brave and wanted to see just exactly how much we spent interviewing. From what I hear from friends, this is a pretty average number.  Ready?

Total cost of interviewing: $3,249.67

Broken down:
Planes, (airport) trains, and automobiles: $1,267.40
Hotels: $938.78
Keeping Stuart occupied during my day-long interviews: $132.76
Taking advantage of visiting 9 new cities (touring, eating out, etc): $811.59
Souvenirs: $99.14

Finding the perfect residency program: Priceless

A Birthday Extravaganza

I have been blessed during my four years of medical school to make some wonderful friends.  I know that the next step in our careers will require most of us to move away from each other.  Moving on is just part of life, but it makes me a little misty every time I think of being apart from so many great friends that I've made!

Today I had a great excuse to host a brunch, since 4 of those friends had a birthdays recently.  Stuart even stuck around for this one as boys were invited, too!  We had about 20 people over this morning for brunch.  We enjoyed great food, and most of all great times with great friends!  Here are some pictures:

Good food always has the power to bring people together!

Joseph, Riah, Allison G, Shannon and Rebekah chatting away

Britni, Caitlin and William (and Winston)

 

It was a gorgeous 70 degree February day.  Me, Riah, Anna, Mandy and Rebekah enjoying it on our back porch.

Who needs lots of chairs?!

First attempt at group picture ... Winston was upset he wasn't included ...

2nd try - much better!

A New Hobby?

For the past few months Stuart and I have been working on re-creating an old piece of furniture.  The project probably shouldn't have taken months, but it's hard to work on something when you're busy driving and flying around the country!

The project was to take one of Stuart's old dressers that I would not allow in the house and convert it into a wine cabinet for our dining room.

Here's the starting product:

Imagine those drawers actually in the cabinet

Stuart did the hard part, removing the drawers/inner workings of the cabinet and then building new shelves.  Then we painted it together, and finally yesterday I distressed it and we reassembled it upstairs.

Finished project!

Close up of distressing.  This was my first time to do this so I was a bit nervous.  It was fun though!

Close up view of the X shelves.

We are so proud of it, just like it's our baby or something!  We may have a new hobby on our hands!