These ads by local insurance company PEMCO are hysterical, because living in the PNW for about three years now, I can recognize almost every one of these profiles. I think we used to be profile #100 but I might be turning into #23 now. Anway, worth a little time to look at if you're bored, and appreciated even more if you've been here.
We finally had a nice day yesterday. The sun was shining, it was about 76 degrees, just all around nice to be outside. I took Megan into the lab at school to practice scanning the abdomen. I think she had fun looking at all of her organs...she certainly seemed surprised at where most of them were located! When we got home we did some yard work and walked to Safeway to get some stuff for dinner, then we watched Ocean's Thirteen. Kind of boring, but that's how we roll.
Today was spent mostly studying, with a trip to the grocery store thrown in. We had awesome savings today, spent $87 and saved $123. We stocked up on hamburger this time around too.
Jay went to an office party on Friday night, a kind of going away thing for someone who is leaving the company. Apparently a couple of coworkers insulted his Paradise Air shirt that he got in Hawaii from the hang gliding place. They told him it was ugly. Ugly! What the?.... He was quite understandably a bit ticked off. I personally think he has much uglier shirts than that one.
I have a couple of tests on Wednesday, and we start a new vascular class tomorrow, but then we're taking off on Thursday morning for Baltimore and Bob and Kristen's wedding. We're looking forward to seeing the family, and really hoping that Mary and Hugo can make it so we can see them too. I'm glad my tests are this week so I don't have to worry about them while I'm gone. I do have a midterm in echocardiography that following Tuesday, but I'll have plenty of study time on the plane.
That's it for the update, and don't say you weren't warned by the title that it wouldn't be too exciting :-)
Today is Meg's 23rd birthday....holy cow! I can't believe she's 23! Seems like just yesterday she was a little girl in pigtails and red rhinestone shoes. She wanted me to make her favorite meal for dinner so we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes and rolls and salad, and a birthday cake. Here are some pics of the day to enjoy. First off, Megan and Luke get ready for the salad course:
Kelsey and Ayla goof around:
Seattle hail - in April. Come on!
Meg opens presents after dinner:
Cake time!
All in all, I think it was a pretty good birthday. Even Zac enjoyed it:
Sometimes they're just so cute you have to take many pictures. So I'm sharing some of them with you. The quality isn't great because they're all cell phone pics, but you get the gist.
Zac tends to the really cute pictures.....
....while Trixie is more a camera ham. 
Sometimes they're worth all the trouble. Sometimes.
I've decided to go into General instead of Echo. What that means is that I will get certified in Abdomen or OB/GYN instead of the heart. My ultimate goal is to work in women's health which I would do with a General tract instead of the cardiac tract. I'm really happy and excited about my decision - it feels great to have finally made up my mind. I've been to three General labs so far and I'm really enjoying it, even if we're just doing liver, pancreas, and aorta right now. But I'm actually finding what I'm looking for, so that's a lot of positive feedback for me.
Thanks to everyone who offered advice while I struggled. I know I made the right decision for me, no regrets. At least not yet :-)
Things are status quo here. Meg is working a lot this week, so isn't around too much. Kelsey had her first match the other day, but it rained the whole time so she came home soaked and cold, and they lost too. Jay got his raise, which was bigger than we expected, so that was cool. Tonight we're having Bengal Tiger takeout, and by Saturday it's supposed to reach 71 degrees. Life is good.
The week is almost over so Megan and I both are into our new quarter. She has a 9:00 class every day which I think is tough for her but so far so good. I'm taking both labs, echo and general, for the next two weeks before I make my final decision as to what I want to specialize in. It's such a difficult choice, because there are advantages and disadvantages to both of them and I want to make sure I make the right choice for the future. I envy my fellow students who are so passionate about one way or the other and don't seem to be waffling like I am. Although the more I talk to different people the more I see that a lot of them are kind of going through the same thing, but they've just been able to make the choice easier than I have.
Jay has been continuing to work absolutely crazy hours, but I got him to promise to come home for dinner tonight....which will be the first time in almost a month I think. It will be nice to have him home, but Megan has to work tonight so we still won't have a full table :-(
We got new dishes last weekend from Pottery Barn - they're awesome. My dishes were getting pretty dinged up...lots of chips on the edges and knife scratches in the middle. The new dishes look so brand new I hate to use them. They're pretty simple looking, all one color (actually 2, because we got 2 different color to mix and match)..putty and cocoa. Anyone that has been in my house can appreciate my continuation of brown and earthy colors for just about everything. Anyway, they're really nice and we like them.
