New Years in NYC

Was not all it was hyped up to be. The thought of standing for hours smushed up against strangers in the cold did not sound all that enticing after all. Nonetheless, I was lucky to be able to go. This trip wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for my two wonderful sisters. I'm so glad I was able to be there. Seeing all my friends and family again was the highlight of my New Years. All the things I thought would be fun during the trip turned out not to be so. The greatest club in the universe was a disaster. Watching the ball drop didn't happen for me, but instead I enjoyed my time with three old ladies in the hotel room, tucked under warm blankets, sipping Juicy Juice. The lights, music, crowds, drinking, dancing, all the reasons why I came to NYC, became the most disappointing aspects of the trip. I even swore I wasn't going to China Town, and ended up there for more than half a day. And enjoyed every last bit of it. Wandering around the streets, eating at every corner, staying up late with my friends, this was a great start to a new year!

2009 was good to me, and as I read Phi's blog, I remember how that year started off with a BANG! in the Bahamas! oh, let's go back.... This was also the year I finished school. Needing some extra clinical hours, I had to continue to intern even after graduation. How disappointing. I pushed myself to rack up as many hours as I can so that I could finish. In those last few weeks, at super ghetto Prince George's Hospital, I realized I wanted a break from the hospital. After studying and fretting over the 4 hour long board exam, I passed :) Two days later, I drove John to BWI to officially move to Oklahoma. From then, the summer passed by way too quickly. I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with my friends and family as I had hoped. The days leading up to my move was a blur. Stupidly, I decided to work until about 3 days before I moved. Now that I think about it, I should have quit a month or so before to have more time to play. That Sunday my parents drove me to the airport for my big move to OK. I was sad and excited. I thought my mom would cry, I thought I would cry, but we didn't. It just seemed like any other time they dropped me off, like I would come back in 2 weeks (in actuality I did!). I got to Oklahoma that afternoon and was welcomed by John and a nicely furnished clean apartment. This was to be my new home. I can't really remember what I did my first day there, but I do remember getting ready for my new job the next day. (another stupid decision). Why I didn't take a few days to settle in I do not know.

Besides my move to the midwest, another huge thing happend. John proposed and I said "yes"! It was expected, but was still a surpirse when he did. Passing on the news did not happen as I had planned it in my head. I wanted all my friends and family to be there with both me and John to annoucne the engagement. But I ended up telling some face to face a few days later, others found out by phone, and yet, others, unfortunately found out through facebook. This was a happy moment for me and John, and I'm not sure if it was the way I told people, or when I did it, or if they just needed time to process it, but the people who I had hoped to be excited for us, were not. Yes I did get half hearted "congratulations, I'm happy for you", but it wasn't genuine. I know there has been tension between John and my friends, and I'm sure that's where the disapointment laid. But I still had hoped they could let that pass, see that John had changed, and be truely happy for us. The news of our engagement definately did not happen like they do in the movies. No happy shrieks, no jumping up and down, no pulls at my hand to see the ring. Most people seemed stunned, almost numb about the news that just fell upon them, like they couldn't believe what just happend. I understand why and it's okay. I can't expect the reaction that I wanted from everyone. I kind of feared it would play out like this. For those who were really excited and happy for us, and expressed this, it meant the world to me. I wish John and I had more time with everyone after the engagment. Maybe then this would seem "real". We wanted to plan an engagement dinner with a few of our close friends and family, a time to allow us all to celebrate, but that did not happen, although I forget why. I have since stayed quiet about my feelings, not sure if brining it up would do any good. And no one else has expressed anything to me either, so I just let it pass and hope for the best. Wedding plans have been moving along nicely and I just hope that from now until the big day people realize that yes, there were ups and downs, but through it all, this is what we want, and I just hope they'll give us their blessings.

2010... Bring it on!

About a week until Christmas. I am so excited! It's a little sad being here during this time. Kind of lonely. Christmas has always been such a large and important holiday to me and my family. Not so much with John's. But that's okay. I've been listening to those sappy Christmas only radio stations in my car and at work. My assistant has gotten so sick of it she had to change it back to her country station. That's when I brought in my own radio to listen in my office! Although I can understand how "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "Winter Wonderland" can get annoying. Besides the music, I'm also baking pumpkin bread. This is another tradition I liked doing. My sisters, mom, and I would bake cookies and other goodies more so around this time of year than at any other time. The entire house would smell delicious. Since John is out and it's 10pm Thursday night, I decided to go ahead and blast the music, turn on our Christmas lights, and bake!! Those short periods of time when I'm home by myself is nice. I like it. It's quite and peaceful, just me and I can do whatever I want. And tonight, I turned off the TV, logged off facebook, turned up the music, lights, and oven and got a' bakin!

Drug Reps

They're great! They come by, visit you in the office and are uber nice to you. Give you free brochures and samples. (they used to give us goodies like pens and post-its). Then on top of all that, they take you to fabulous steak houses where you order appetizers, salad, wine, 10z steaks topped with crab meat, and dessert. Okay, so if I ever go to places like that on my own, it's more like "I'll have the chicken, to drink, water, no salad, no appetizer, no dessert... thank you, sir". This really is a perk. So if any of you are looking for a job where you go and smooch in doctors offices and are given a ridiculously large amount of money to take your clients out to fancy dinners, this may be the job for you

Good music can make it all better. Blast it

It's Friday night. I'm 26. Not married. No kids. Why am I at home?

Dave & Lisa's Wedding

Another wedding. This one, one of John's best friend. I've always been to weddings of older cousins and acquaintances, but Dave and Lisa is probably one of the first of our friends to get married. It was a bit strange to see them dressed up and doing something so "grown up". Marriage, omg. The wedding was in Roslyn, Long Island. It was nice to be back on the East Coast. I miss it soo much. John and I manage to find sometime to explore the town. A historic town with boutiques and rich, dyed-blondes, skinny 40 somethings shopping with their latte's in one hand and a maltipoo in the other. I found a vintage designer shop selling LV, Jimmy Choos, Chanel, etc etc. Very cool since these are the types of places you read about but I've never been able to find a real one. John and I shopped around, unacknowledged (hehe.. I prefer it to be this way).
One of the best things about this trip was meeting both the bride and groom's family. Everyone was so nice. I love seeing people with their families. You get to see the other side of them that you don't get to see when they're hanging out with you. And now John and I are back in Oklahoma City, doing the laundry and dishes we should have done before leaving on our trip.. I wish I had a mommy around to help me with this stuff ;)


Catholic Church ceremony


John and Bridesmaids

Mr. & Mrs. David Maher

Me, Dave, John


The lucky fella who caught the garter


Tim, Cat (dave's sister) John


Lisa has this thing about zebra stripes.


Wedding party





Roslyn, Long Island

Roslyn, Long Island

Doggie chillin in tailor shop window


The cool shops




Bakery heaven





We did get a chocolate mousse pie. But I wanted everything

Job posting

I got an email today from a job seeker website I signed up for a few months back before moving to Oklahoma to help me look for jobs. I'm still getting emails from them once in a while with some interesting positions. But this one today really sparked my interest. After going through midwifery school I was undecided about what I would do about work. I enjoyed the births a lot, but hated the hours, the stress, and unpredictability of it. So I thought, lets work in a clinic where it'll be 9-5, no weekends, no holidays, no on-call, no fear of being sued up the ass because your baby was born with a slightly lop sided head. And so this is where I decided to go. I'm now working in a clinic that sees no pregnant patients at all. I really enjoy what I do now, but, I know I could be doing a lot more. I was trained for more than this. I am, dare I say it, over qualified (tooting my own horn!). It's a great job for a newbie like me, but already, I can see that in a year or so I'll get bored. Anyway, back to the email. It was job posting for a midwife in a birthing center in San Diego. I've always wanted to work in a birthing center, and if I would have stayed in Maryland, I just might be working at the one in Annapolis right now. After visiting the website of this particular birthing center, I realized that I do miss the births. No matter how nervous it made me or how tiring and frustrating it can sometimes be, the reward in the end is worth it. So maybe I will go back to delivering those babies again. I really do hope so :)