Mid-Winter Summer's Dream

On Thursday night, I met up with Amy, Aaron, and Javier and watched Man on Wire. The documentary was very well done, interesting, and even a bit suspenseful. Unfortunately, I think Philippe Petit is one of the most self-centered men to walk the planet, let alone a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It should be exciting to see if this Oscar-contender brings home the statuette. On Friday afternoon, I had lunch with Teresa and went to the anatomy practical. I met up with Risa and Jon for dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse. We finished up with plenty of time to head over to the Wortham Center for the opening night performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.Appropriately, this mid-winter opera marked the midway point in our season ticket subscription. Midway through the show, we enjoyed a glass of wine and appetizers at the young professionals social. As far as operas go, I thought the production was a bit too bizarre for my taste. Fairy king Oberon was peculiar with his ornate feather mohawk, ghostly pale makeup, Michael Jackson leather pants, and girlishly high voice. Picture Boy George or Marilyn Manson. Little kids scampered about as fairies of the forest, resembling eerie albino nymphs. The set was very simple; a large green canopy of saran wrap-looking material played a surprisingly prominent role. The enormous tarp heaved and sighed, undulated, grazed the ground, flew back up into the rafters, and breathed with life. The characters crawled under it, walked over it, wrapped themselves in it, slept on it, hid behind it, and sung beneath it. For official Houston Grand Opera commentary, check out THIS video on youtube.I studied on Saturday. Sunday was spent with Joseph and Tiffany as we accomplished quite a bit academically: anatomy review, pathology midterm, and our immunology homework. Now, I should be working on my pharmacology homework for tomorrow instead of blogging. Perhaps I'm not keeping my 'all studying, all the time' New Year's resolution, but I certainly am refraining from biting my fingernails. Check out these untarnished tips!

Housekeeping

Over the holiday weekend, I spent most of my time catching up on studying and am still not where I want to be. Here's various news reports over the past week and a half:

• In everyday news, I used my awesome new dishwasher for the first time, CLEANED, played Mexican Train with my study group after eating BBQ (thanks Sarah and Paul for the fun game!), went to church, played a bit of tennis, and saw Slumdog Millionaire (fabulous!).
  
• In pet news, I enjoyed hearing about Sam's new puppy Arney and spent plenty of time cuddling with Wentworth.
  
• In national news, I watched the inauguration and felt inspired and hopeful.
  
• In entertainment news, I got a kick out of the Oscar nominations announced today. I was surprised to see Robert Downey Jr.nominated for his performance in Tropic Thunder. I am rooting for Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Kate Winslet (The Reader). Of the lesser-seen documentary and foreign film nominations, Man on Wire and Waltz with Bashir are on my to-see list.

Let them eat cake!

Thursday morning began with a birthday surprise! My lovely study group gave me a thoughtful card with a generous gift certificate to Bath and Bodyworks so that I might smell a little less like a med student on my nights on the town. Master chef Isabella baked a delicious cake that was devoured faster than you can say "broken New Year's resolution." The day continued with some serious dissection in the anatomy lab: popping off the skull's top to extract the intact brain. SO COOL. I hit the gym and then beautified myself for the beginning of the wedding festivities.Thursday night was Brandi's bachelorette party at Saute. We ate scones, sipped tea, and watched Brandi blush as she opened some scandalous gifts. Though the service was terrible, the food was good and the conversation was great!I went to my first three classes on Friday and then played hooky so I could attend the bridesmaids' luncheon. We ate a scrumptious lunch at Crapitto's and marveled at Brandi's pre-wedding composure. She claimed to have found her 'zen place' after a spa day. Brandi thanked each of her bridesmaids with gorgeous Kate Spade vases- each bridesmaid received a unique design! Mine (from the Belle Boulevard collection) was especially fabulous- some might even say "too cha cha for words." I also received some fancy Crane stationery that I look forward to using for future thank yous.After a quick costume change, the rehearsal took place at 5:00pm on Friday evening. Afterward, the Scullys hosted the rehearsal dinner at Masraff's in the Galleria area. I had great difficulty deciding between the duck and the filet mignon, but really, I couldn't go wrong! The food was extremely delicious, putting me in a soporous state and sending me into a deep slumber the instant I got home.I awoke in the morning with a fully stocked arsenal of beauty sleep and began to get my glam on at 10:30am. After my hair appointment, I fixed a burnt out headlight and then headed to Rice to help Brandi with her final preparations. A little bit of makeup, some hairspray, one designer gown, a long flowing veil, a meticulously tied sash, and sapphire accents came together to make one knockout bride!The bridal party hopped on our awaiting chariot (a chartered Rice shuttle) and headed over to the Rice Chapel. The ceremony featured a sermon by the tag-teaming pastors, readings by each of the three siblings in the wedding party, lighting the unity candle, handing roses to the mothers, saying the vows, exchanging the rings, and (of course) kissing the bride! We stuck around for pictures in the chapel while the guests headed over to the Cohen House for the reception. The full gallery of pre-wedding festivities can be found HERE and wedding/reception pictures are located HERE. Oh, and did I mention the couple is famous? Check out their snazzy wedding announcement in the New York Times HERE.At the reception, Brandi and Peter were introduced as husband and wife. I took a short, grainy video of their first dance, which can be viewed on youtube HERE. We had a filling sit-down dinner while the band played. I had to hit the dance floor to work off some of the calories from all of the eating I'd been doing over the past few days. The newlyweds cut the cake (carrot) and the groom's cake (chocolate raspberry), and the guests enjoyed a slice of each with a side of ice cream.Brandi's dad, the best man, and I took turns toasting the happy couple. Brandi's delightful British friend Daisy caught the bouquet before the married pair made a run for it. They ran through a blizzard of white rose petals and sped off in a convertible. They'll be sunning in Hawaii this week while I'm playing catchup in my own ocean of coursework. Thankfully, I went home with a couple of the exquisite floral arrangements to brighten my living room and surely improve my retention of head and neck anatomy, immunology, pathology, and pharmacology.

One Score and Four Years Ago...

I WAS BORN.Early birthday celebrations in IdahoBefore and after a mother-daughter pedicure

A Few Idaho Pics

My poor attempt at capturing the height of the snow in the Albertson's parking lot Some of my best friends from high school at BardenayKate (in from Sweden!), Jessie (in from DC), and I maraud the streets of downtown Coeur d'Alene

Happy New Year!

I rang in the New Year in a very low-key way. I stuck to reading, relaxing, writing resolutions, and catching up on correspondence. 2009 is off to a great start- peace of mind and restfulness abound.

On Monday and Tuesday of this past week I had a Christmas wish come true as I followed my dad around Kootenai Medical Center. I saw some very fascinating surgeries up close and personal. Lots of variety and lots of interesting stuff- if it weren't for all the HIPAA paperwork I had to sign before getting my visitor's badge, I'd be a bit more detailed about all of the cool sights, sounds, and smells. Suffice it to say, I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to shadow such an admired and skilled surgeon. Watching him in action gives me even more motivation to hit the ground running in the next block of medical school: Head and Neck.

Before I return to Houston on January 4th, I look forward to:
- eating more of mom's delicious home cooking (despite my New Year's resolutions)
- getting my final fix of snow, which flourishes here in excess
- reading for pleasure as much as I am able before really hitting the (text)books
- enjoying a bit more time with the family- and maybe a board game or two
- posting another picture or two on the blog- I haven't really captured the enormity of the snow situation