Christmas Cards 2012

Thank you for all of the pretty holiday cards this year!

  

Long Time, No See

I stayed in North Carolina a few days after Alex left so that I could spend more time with family.  It has been so long since I have seen everybody!

  

Get together at Michael and Sheri's house!

  

 

Lisa and Tessa snuggling Tullie.

 

Mexican night!

 

Catch Phrase

 

We went to the UNC - UNLV game!!  It was so nice to be back at the Dean Dome!

 

UNC won!

 

Saturday would have been my Grandpa's 80th birthday, so Grandma had us over for dinner to celebrate.

 

Grandma's pretty table!

Christmas Vacation 2012

Merry Christmas!  We spent our holiday vacation with my family in North Carolina.  It was a quick trip for Alex with only four days off from work, but it was nice to be together with family we haven't seen in a while.  The Scheers celebrated Christmas in Oregon and the Schneiders in Pennsylvania this year.  We missed not getting to see them at all over the holiday, but hopefully we can get together soon.  Thanks to all of our friends who came out to see us!  From late night NORAD calls to track Santa to Dynamite Sushi Rolls at an old favorite, it was great to see you all.  I wish Christmas could last just a little bit longer!

   

Lisa's first tree!

 

  

Grandma's tree

  

Tessa and Lily!  Alex and I had not seen Lily since Christmas 2010.  She has gotten so big!!

  

Moo had a hard time dealing with another kitty in the house.  She spent Christmas Eve hiding on top of the cabinets and under my bed.  When she wasn't hiding, she was hissing her disapproval of little Tullie.  Christmas Day was spent rotating the cats from bedroom to downstairs then back to bedroom so they would not cross paths.

  

Claire and Ryan

  

Kristian, Aki, Middy and Mommy

 

Silvia, Jeff, Grandma and Dad

  

Cousin picture!

  

We skyped with Alison in India!

  

Shilpa and Matty explaining the rules for this year's Last Gift.  Silvia won the grand prize!

      

 Playing for the Last Gift!

  

Lisa and Matt

  

Christmas morning with little Tullie!

  

Santa came!

  

Grandma's gift presentation was very creative :)

  

Baby girl's first Christmas.

  

Ella and Juliette sent us these cute pajama bottoms.  Merry Christmas!

The Johns Hopkins Hospital

My last interview before Christmas break was at Johns Hopkins.  It was fantastic and I really enjoyed talking to all of the residents and faculty and touring the beautiful hospital.  Alex had the day off so he was able to drive me to and from the interview!  After he dropped me off, he drove down to Washington DC to have lunch with CJ.  It was a long day, but I was thoroughly impressed with the program and loved being there.

    

The Johns Hopkins Hospital.  This angle shows the newly finished 1.2 billion dollar expansion of the old hospital.

 

This building is part of the older hospital.  Apparently the term "rounding on patients" comes from this building.  The large dome sits atop of several round floors of patients rooms were doctors would check on them daily and literally make rounds :)  The residents of Johns Hopkins also used to live in this building way back in the day, hence the terms "residents" and "residency."

     

After the interview, we found a yummy little place to get more oysters!

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

 Today was my Vanderbilt interview!  The program was great, the hospital was beautiful and the city was amazing.  Why do these places have to keep making my rank list decisions even more difficult?!  Lucky for me, Erica and Chris live two blocks away from the hospital, so I spent the night before the interview at their house.  It was so nice to see my old roomie!  Tessa finished her first semester at Belmont right in time for me to take her back to Greeneville for Christmas break.  It was so fun to actually have someone to ride with.

   

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

     

Erica and Chris by their tree!

 

Tessa's dorm room!

 

We celebrated Tessa's birthday back in Greeneville.

 

Little Dillon is happy Tessa is home.

Wake Forest Baptist Health

I had my interview at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston Salem today.  I loved the residents, the faculty and the program, but the town was a little small.  They had yummy Moravian cookies for us to munch on throughout the day, which was perfect, seeing as Winston Salem is one of the cities where the cookies first originated.  After the interview, I drove over to Bay and Brad's house.  It is definitely much nicer to stay with family than at a hotel.  Tomorrow, I will be Nashville bound!

  

Wake Forest Baptist Hospital

 
Just one king bed this time :)

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

I am currently in my mini marathon of interviews this week.  I was at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on Friday for dinner and Saturday for the interview.  It was really neat to have an entire hospital dedicated to women's care.  They are ranked fifth nationally for gynecology!  The program was amazing and I got to spend some time with Emily and Frank!

  

Magee-Womens Hospital

 

I got to visit with McNally too!

Eastern Virginia Medical Center

Interview number six was at Eastern Virginia Medical Center in Norfolk, Virginia.  I am getting super tired of all these interviews and I am only half way done!  I went back to North Carolina after the interview to get caught up with all of my doctors visits.  No cavities for me!
  

Eastern Virginia Medical Center

 

My hotel room in Norfolk had two king size beds!  The bigger the bed, the more space for something to hide under it... I didn't sleep well.

 
Uncle Ray came over for his birthday dinner.  We were supposed to put up the tree that night, but we couldn't find all the parts to the stand.  Luckily for me, Uncle Mike had to come over the next night to finish the job.  Two uncles in one visit!

 
We finally got the tree up!  It is much smaller this year.

Medical University of South Carolina

Alex and I used my most recent interview as a perfect excuse for a vacation getaway to Charleston, South Carolina!  The interview was at the Medical University of South Carolina.  It was a great program, but my favorite part of our stay was exploring the town.  We spent the majority of our time eating, of course, and the rest of our time admiring the beautiful homes.

      

 Medical University of South Carolina

 

We stayed at the beautiful Francis Marion hotel.  It was all decorated for Christmas!

  

Our pretty room!

    

Our first day was very rainy, but it did not stop us from walking down the gorgeous streets.

    

The second day was much better :)

  

We walked over to the historic Charleston City Market and bought some yummy spices.

  

  

We had she-crab soup at every restaurant.  It is a new favorite.

  

 We were only in Charleston for forty-eight hours, but managed to eat forty-eight raw oysters on the half shell between the two of us!  The Charleston City Market is behind us in this picture.

     

We took a carriage tour after lunch and got to see historic Charleston and hear the amazing history of the city.

     

We had a great tour guide!  Our horse was named Magic.

We loved the houses.

  

   

Our horse's stable with a chicken running around.

   

On the water!

   

We drove over to Sullivan's Island on this pretty bridge to visit the beach.

  

We walked along the beach until we could see Fort Sumner.

  

It was a fun trip!