I'm a bit behind with blogs

So I'll start with Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was great, though somewhat unconventional.  Stuart and I celebrated our own Thanksgiving on Wednesday night after work.  Then Thursday we traveled to Gulfport, MS to have dinner and way too much fun with Stuart's Uncle Rusty and his immediate family.  Friday we were both off work and parted ways for Stuart to visit with his family and attend the Egg Bowl (Ms State vs Ole Miss), and for me to visit my family and afterwards head up to North Carolina for more interviews.  Whew!

So starting from the beginning, I was really feeling the need to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner.  I feel that a delicious meal is not quite as special unless it can be shared with someone; unfortunately, everyone we knew was out of town!  So Stuart and I just had our own little quiet Thanksgiving at home.  We ate on our wedding china and then settled down on the couch to watch The King's Speech.  If you haven't seen that, it's amazing. Anyway, together we made Ina Garten's "engagement chicken", with a sweet potato gratin and roasted asparagus.  Then an apple pie crumble to finish!

Stu hard at work making the pan sauce for the chicken

YUM!

Sweet Potato Gratin.

Pre-baked apple pie

This chicken was one of the best and easiest things I have ever made!  Ina (we're on a first name basis) says this chicken is so good that if you cook it for a boyfriend, he will shortly thereafter propose.  I would say that she's probably right!  Go out and buy yourself a chicken and follow the recipe here.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of Thursday, so you'll just have to believe that we had a great time for yourself.  There was great food, visiting with family and even a bonfire/marshmallow roast!

Friday and Saturday I was with my family.  We had a little immediate family gathering where Mom made some of my favorite foods from growing up (thanks, Mom!). Then Saturday we headed over to my grandfather's house for the "Brown Family Thanksgiving".  I capitalize it because being with our family is quite an experience!  Stuart once said that they should sell tickets to our family gatherings because they are so entertaining.  Mostly because of my mom and her three sisters who all love to talk and sing and eat, and above all that just love life and are fun to be around.  I also got to spend some time with my precious grandfather.  He is my only living grandparent now and is suffering with Alzheimer's Disease.  It's always great to see and hug on him!

The Brown Fam

Me and my parents

Mom and me

All this was great, but to top it off I was even able to see my best friend, Megan and her husband Daryl!

To date, I've been pretty frustrated with all of our country's Holiday hustle and bustle.  Since Halloween, stores have had Christmas trees up and shopping "bargains" have been advertised on television.  Sales traditionally happening on Black Friday even inched their way up to starting on Thanksgiving night this year, pulling retail employees away from their family gatherings.  I think it's a shame when we start materializing the holiday season and forget what it's really about.  So I'm thankful that we were able to step back from the Holiday Hustle and spend some much needed time with family and friends, and ultimately to be thankful for what God has blessed us with!

On the Road Again

As I write this, I am enjoying the Charlotte, NC skyline from my free room at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn. That's right, friends: it's interview time again! Tomorrow is an interview in Charlotte and then Wednesday in Greenville, SC. Stuart's not with me this time. He couldn't get off work this week, so I planned these two since he's already seem both cities! I must say driving that long distance alone is a little boring, and I don't enjoy having to carry all my luggage by myself, so I'll be looking forward to getting back home Thursday! Please continue praying for us during this time as we seek to discern Gods will for our lives!

Interviews, Part 1!

Well, we've returned home after a week long trip, seemingly around the world!  In 1,813 miles we've traversed: from Daphne to New Orleans and back; Daphne to Starkville, MS for the State game; Starkville to Gadsden, AL; Gadsden to Charleston, SC; Charleston to Augusta, GA; and finally from Augusta back home.  And all in a week!  This trip included interviews at Ochsner (New Orleans), USA (Mobile), Medical Univ of S. Carolina (Charleston), and Georgia Health Sciences University (Augusta).  I don't want to reveal too much information about these, but so far I can tell you I don't yet have a clear #1 choice - probably because I'm just almost halfway through the interview process!

At the State-Bama game.  The Bad Guys won, but we had a good time anyway!

I will say that, while the traveling can be somewhat stressful, the interview process for residency is MUCH easier than interviewing for medical school.  There is really no stress in the interview whatsoever.  You get granted an interview because the program wants you to come there; so the interview is really about seeing whether or not you fit in the program.  Out of all my interviews, the hardest question I've had to answer is "so tell me about what it was like growing up in Gadsden".  I can handle that!

Stuart was able to go with me on all these visits.  He was a great driver/dropper offer/picker upper and really helped me to be more calm.  And obviously to not get lost!  It's also important that he comes since he will be moving wherever we go to as well!  He also gets the fun job of checking out the cities while I'm at my interviews for 7 hours or so.

Unfortunately we didn't get to spend too much time in New Orleans or Augusta, but we did get to hang out a while in Charleston.  This was really by design, since I had never visited there and Stuart told me it was an awesome city.  Well, he was right!  Charleston recently got voted as the #1 tourist destination in the United States, and it's pretty apparent why!  Obviously there's a lot of history there as Charleston (Fort Sumter specifically) was where the first shot of the Civil War was fired.  A ton of the original architecture is still in place and open for touring.  The city is small enough to be walkable, but big enough to provide lots of activities and (most importantly) delicious restaurants!  There's lots of outdoor parks and the city is so dog-friendly they will let you bring your dog into stores and restaurants (provided they aren't attack dogs)!

Here are some pictures we took while roaming around the city.  Enjoy!

The Cooper River Bridge; designed to look like sails on a boat.

USS Yorktown: an aircraft carrier built around WWII and fought in the Battle of Midway, Korea and Vietnam. And a sailboat for size comparison.

Not a good view, but this was our B&B

Carriage Ride!  Yes, we were cheesy tourists, but that's ok!

The Mills House Hotel; where Robert E Lee stayed and could see the battles out in the harbor.

Charleston street with the city's oldest steeple in the background

Closer shot; the only one of Charleston's 128 steeples to survive the Civil War and not have been hit by a cannonball

Hmm ... wouldn't mind living here!

We could call this the "millionaire mile" I guess.  These homes go for around $17 million.

The harbor

Remaining cobblestone street

The Customs Building - where the Deceleration of Independence was first read to Charlestonians.  They actually booed because they knew if they declared independence from Britain that their economy, mainly consisting of exports to Britain, would plummet.

Let the fun begin!

Yesterday started interview season at Ochsner in New Orleans. Today I will be interviewing at South Alabama, then after a short visit to Starkville for the Mississippi State game we will be on the road again to interview at Charleston and Augusta, GA! Things will be moving at the speed of light here, and I'll try to keep you up to speed as much as I can! Please pray for Gods protection over us, as well as guidance and direction for where he wants us to go!

Desperate Radiology Housewife

I think being a housewife (aka domestic engineer) is definitely a calling.  And I definitely cannot do it.  I have been working anywhere from 1-4 hours per day the past three weeks and it is DRIVING ME CRAZY!  I know I really shouldn't complain because in July when I'm a "real" doctor and start residency my butt will be kicked daily.  But for now, I just really need something to DO.

So I cooked.  And then after I exhausted our two week grocery budget, I resorted to cleaning house, and even cleaning the carpets!  You heard that right!  I borrowed a carpet cleaner from some church friends and, let me tell you, our carpets were pretty disgusting.  But not any more!  So now that that's done, I've moved on to crafting and finding a volunteer job.  Maybe I'll even find a real job when December rolls around and I'm on vacay for 2 months.  Sigh.

Well here's what I did today after doing some carpet cleaning:

Picture frames from wedding + burlap from wedding + fall leaves dried in a book = free cute fall decor!

Boo!

We had a Halloween shin-dig last Friday night for some work and school friends.  There were yummy treats, a costume contest, and a pumpkin carve.  Here are some pictures!

Mummy dogs

pretzel rods in festive colors

Winston came to the party as Antoine from the Huntsville Rapist Video.  If you aren't familiar, please see below!

From left to right: a pirate, witch and a coker from Chevron

At some point a rambunctious card game broke out that I didn't quite understand the rules to.

Costume winners!

Pretty clever ...

And the carving begins!  Stuart wanted to go with a patriotic theme this year ...

mid carve

David and Taylor carving their masterpiece

Curtis hard at work.  He only sliced his hand open once!

The pac-man team hard at work

Finished products!  Best pumpkin went to Curtis (far right)

Marshall (the Bama fan?) declaring the winner

Ms Pac Man in action!

Watch out for that ghost!

And in case you were wondering, we were Price is Right contestants.    I'll bid $1, Bob!!

The whole crew, minus two that left early!  A good time was had by all!

Did we do something right?

This Sunday in our small group, we talked about spiritual warfare.  It was a really good discussion, centered on Biblical examples and how this also is apparent in our lives.  Someone made the point that it seems like spiritual warfare is the toughest when you're heading in the direction God wants you to go.  It's always when you're trying to make good decisions and walk in God's light that you encounter temptations and trials.

Well, we must be doing something right.

Last Thursday night Stuart and I went out to eat with some people I work on the admissions committee with, and then drove over to midtown Mobile (a block from where I used to live) to play kickball.  It was theme night, and our team had planned to dress like pirates.  We were running a little late and assembled our costumes as we got out of our cars.

Well the game got underway.  We went down the batting order and eventually my name came up.  I stepped up to the plate, took a good run and then kicked the ball.  It went sailing!  Unfortunately, as the ball traveled up, a sharp bolt of pain traveled down my thigh.  I ran/limped to first base and was safe.  After I stopped running I realized there was no way I could keep going, and subbed out.  Turns out, thanks to our friend who is over the league and also a training orthopedist, I apparently suffered a grade 2 sprain/tear of my quad!

We won the game (hint: I am not an essential athletic part of the team) and headed to our cars to go home.  I hobbled to my car and told Stuart I would just meet him back home so he could talk to friends and I could ice my leg.  After I got home and waited a while, I began to get a bit concerned about where he was.  I noticed a voicemail and checked it.  It was Stuart telling me his car had been broken into.  Apparently while we were playing - on a busy street in a well-lit field - someone took a knife to his convertible top, stole his work clothes and underwear (yes, those too), and the wallet that was in his pants.

So out about $150 cash and several credit cards, as well as Stuart's license, and a $1200 bill to fix the car we were trying to sell, we began to get a bit angry.  Thinking things like "punk kids" and "this dangerous town" and "why can't we pay more cops to work instead of (insert wasteful city purchases here)??  And then we realized that we could whine and complain all we wanted to, but that wasn't going to change much.  It stinks that we were just out having fun with friends and this happened; but maybe that means we're doing something right and the devil is just trying to get at us?  It could always be worse.  We'll keep fighting the good fight anyway because we know that all things work together for good for those that love the Lord!