Have I told you before that I love, love, love traveling?
Since Stephen started his new job back in November we've known that he was going to have to fly out west for a few days in January for some training. Of course I looked at this as an opportunity for a mini vacay, but realistically it probably wasn't going to happen (sad face). However, Stephen had to go away for a day earlier this month and missed me so much (everyone all together now..."awwwwww") that he came home and decided we would not just take a mini vacay, but a full fledged week-long romp! I'm super pumped because I'm sure by the middle of January I will be so over the cold Kentucky winter and ready for a more temperate locale.
This will be neither of our first trip out west seeing as how his family is from Lancaster, CA and I've been to Vegas twice (amazing right?) but it will be our first time together and I've never been to New Mexico (which is where we will be going).
I'll keep you posted on the details!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The End of an Era
So on Wednesday (before Thanksgiving) I finished my 3rd and final 8 week full-time internship as a physical therapy student. The next time I have patients I will be a fully licensed, board-certified, practicing physical therapist!!!! Um yea, I'm excited!
This was me way back in 2008 at the White Coat Ceremony as I began my journey through PT school.
I really enjoyed my last clinical rotation and I thought I'd take the time to talk a little about the facility and how it touched my heart. First off, it's an out-patient pediatric facility and I'm in love with kids (perfect match, I know). There were some hard times and some difficult patients but I can honestly say, that I loved gaining the trust of the kids I was treating and their families.
With kids, you really feel like you are a part of the family since you see most of these kids for 6-12 months at a time. I loved learning what they liked, what their quirks were and how to "trick" each kid into doing the work and exercises I needed them to do :) It was honestly the most challenging clinical rotation I had.
Below is a YouTube video created by therapists and staff at the facility. I think it gives really good insight into what the facility is all about and what it's goals are and how it's helped so many children.
OH and I forgot the HORSES (I know, how do I forget eight 2000lb animals I dealt with for at least 4 hours a day). I loved working with the kids on the horses. I had heard of hippotherapy prior to this rotation but it was really great to be there and work hands-on for eight weeks with these amazing animals and see the improvements in the kids. Such a blessing!
We Wish you a... Country Christmas?
Stephen and I have been getting the place decorated for our first Christmas together in our own place and so far it's been amazing as I'm a fan of the holidays and if it were up to Stephen, it'd be Christmas all year long.
It's been fun merging our family traditions and trying to figure out how WE will celebrate the holidays. We've had to each make compromises, but so far it's really worked out and I'm excited to see what the rest of the season has to bring. Here are some questions we've had to tackle:
1. When do we put up the tree?
My family has always put up our trees the weekend of thanksgiving. Generally we'll go shopping on Black Friday, come home, marvel at our awesome buys, get on some comfy clothes and bring out the Christmas stuff. My family usually does a Friday-Saturday marathon to get all the decorations out and put up that weekend.
Stephen's family, on the otherhand, usually puts up the tree the first or second weekend in December. BUT since Stephen loves, loves, loves everything associated with Christmas, we were both excited to put up the tree the weekend of Thanksgiving!
2. Real or artificial tree?
Now this decision was hard for both of us. My mom absolutely refuses to have a real tree, so I've been brought up with artificial trees my whole life, save a few years when my dad "won" and we got a real tree.
Stephen's family, however, ALWAYS has a real tree. And I have to admit there's something magical about hiking through rows and rows of christmas trees in the snow, with your scarves and hats and axes searching for that perfect tree to bring home. I love mini day-trips and last year when I went with Stephen's family to chop down trees, I had a blast as we made a whole afternoon of it.
BUT, seeing as how we are currently residing in an apartment, with new, pretty light colored carpet and neither of us is too partial to vacuums, we decided to go ahead and settle with an artificial tree this year.
3. What kind of artificial tree do we want?
Once we decided to go artificial, we had to figure out where and what kind of artificial tree we wanted for our place. We instantly feel in love with this beauty from Garden Ridge:
It, however, was $400! And well, as a student myself and with Stephen just starting a new job, we definitly could not yet afford that. We did decide, however, that we could take the aspects that we liked about it and create the perfect, affordable, tree just for us. We loved the natural look of the above tree and the lighter, softer green of the pine. We liked the pine cones and how it felt a little "rustic." We decided to run with that theme, kind of a quasi country, rustic, home-made, traditional Christmas full of pine cones, home-made ornaments and vintage ornaments from both our parents' own ornament collections. My mom let us borrow one of her older artificial trees, so we ended up getting a tree for FREE! Which is always awesome!
So these are the major hurdles we've had to cross (it's crazy that it's only the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we've got so much done!). I'm sure there will be a lot more of merging Christmas traditions and I can't wait.
I'll be sure to post more pics of this Christmas as the events unfold! Merry early Christmas!
A pic from Christmas Eve last year.
It's been fun merging our family traditions and trying to figure out how WE will celebrate the holidays. We've had to each make compromises, but so far it's really worked out and I'm excited to see what the rest of the season has to bring. Here are some questions we've had to tackle:
1. When do we put up the tree?
My family has always put up our trees the weekend of thanksgiving. Generally we'll go shopping on Black Friday, come home, marvel at our awesome buys, get on some comfy clothes and bring out the Christmas stuff. My family usually does a Friday-Saturday marathon to get all the decorations out and put up that weekend.
Stephen stringing lights on the tree last Christmas.
Stephen's family, on the otherhand, usually puts up the tree the first or second weekend in December. BUT since Stephen loves, loves, loves everything associated with Christmas, we were both excited to put up the tree the weekend of Thanksgiving!
2. Real or artificial tree?
Now this decision was hard for both of us. My mom absolutely refuses to have a real tree, so I've been brought up with artificial trees my whole life, save a few years when my dad "won" and we got a real tree.
Stephen's family, however, ALWAYS has a real tree. And I have to admit there's something magical about hiking through rows and rows of christmas trees in the snow, with your scarves and hats and axes searching for that perfect tree to bring home. I love mini day-trips and last year when I went with Stephen's family to chop down trees, I had a blast as we made a whole afternoon of it.
After chopping down Stephen's family trees last Christmas.
BUT, seeing as how we are currently residing in an apartment, with new, pretty light colored carpet and neither of us is too partial to vacuums, we decided to go ahead and settle with an artificial tree this year.
3. What kind of artificial tree do we want?
Once we decided to go artificial, we had to figure out where and what kind of artificial tree we wanted for our place. We instantly feel in love with this beauty from Garden Ridge:
It, however, was $400! And well, as a student myself and with Stephen just starting a new job, we definitly could not yet afford that. We did decide, however, that we could take the aspects that we liked about it and create the perfect, affordable, tree just for us. We loved the natural look of the above tree and the lighter, softer green of the pine. We liked the pine cones and how it felt a little "rustic." We decided to run with that theme, kind of a quasi country, rustic, home-made, traditional Christmas full of pine cones, home-made ornaments and vintage ornaments from both our parents' own ornament collections. My mom let us borrow one of her older artificial trees, so we ended up getting a tree for FREE! Which is always awesome!
So these are the major hurdles we've had to cross (it's crazy that it's only the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we've got so much done!). I'm sure there will be a lot more of merging Christmas traditions and I can't wait.
I'll be sure to post more pics of this Christmas as the events unfold! Merry early Christmas!
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