There will be good weeks

and there will be bad weeks.  


We are currently in a "bad" week.  It just happens, some days there are more patients, consults, emergencies, surgeries, and whatnot causing a medical service to be busier than usual.  For some reason, whether it be the weather, the moon, the time of year, or the forces that be, this last week Mr. D's service seems to be very busy.  


Earlier this evening, I got a text saying he was about to sign out and I thought,


"Sweet!  Finally, an early night!" 


But the doctor spoke too soon. Who knows what it was, but something came up, and so I was updated that, 


"It will be a while longer."  


At that point I decided to eat dinner by myself.  And thank goodness I did, because an hour later I got another text saying, 


"Sorry, it's gonna be another hour."


But duty calls, and he obviously is doing something important.  So I'll just hope, that maybe, just maybe we'll get to have dinner together tomorrow night, or maybe the next night.  Eventually it will happen!


Now to be completely fair, I really cannot complain, as the first two weeks of this month were great.  Really great.  We had dinner together every night, and he had several days off.  But unfortunately, it goes in cycles, and some weeks are better than others.  This past week has just been a bad week, as he hasn't had a day off (except being post-call) and there have been many late nights, and extremely busy call nights.  (Meaning he has needed to sleep during his little time home, so we really haven't had much waking time together.)  But so is the life of residency.  I know if we can just get through the next week (or so), his schedule should lighten up, again, and he'll have a few days off. 


I may never like it, but I can only hope that eventually I'll get used to this crazy and unpredictable schedule.  


Again, I really can't complain, as it could be so. much. worse.  But I guess I realize how much I was spoiled by the first two "good" weeks of PGY2!

PGY-2

Already? I can hardly believe we've completed Intern year!  

One year down, (at least) six more to go!  

Just like last year, this July 1st, I again woke up hours before the sunrise on Mr. D's "first day" to make sure I could capture a photo.  And similar to last year he was telling me to "hurry-up," as I pressed his patience, repeatedly asking for "just one more." He tends to blink, and it takes several shots to get a good one in.  

I was sure to remind him that "You'll thank me one day, when you have seven of these photos to look back on as you graduate."  

"I know, I know," he muttered as he rushed off to his first morning of rounds as a PGY-2.  

Here he is, day 1 of 365 of PGY-2. 

For a comparison you can see day 1 of PGY-1, here.  

Note this year he is in scrubs as he was working the floor his first day.  This is because they alternate between working in clinic seeing patients (dressed up and wearing their white coats) and working on their department floor in the hospital (wearing scrubs).  

Also note that we finally have pictures on the wall, and we painted our trim white (it was taken in the exact same place of our house).  Maybe next year we'll actually have the walls painted?   

Summer Vacation 2011

For Mr. D's last vacation of intern year, I wanted to make sure we took some time to actually get away since it will be several months before he has more than a day or two off in a row.  Unfortunately money is extremely tight so I tried to plan a low key, budget friendly getaway in the midwest.  With some suggestions from friends and family I was able to plan a very fun few days!

We started our trip meeting with our good friends (Mr. Dawkter's cousin and wife) at Starved Rock in Utica, Illinois.  We had a delicious picnic lunch and then hiked the afternoon through the park.

We had a perfect day for it!  The weather was in the low 70s which was perfect for hiking!

Jake and Lindsay

It was absolutely beautiful!

Although I had never been there before, it isn't too far from where Mr. Dawkter grew up, so we had a nice dinner that night with his parents and Grandma.

After that we headed north, up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  Personally I love Wisconsin, but Mr. D being a devout Chicago sports fan, has a serious negative association with the state due to the intense sports rivalry (in football in particular).  As a result I've never been able to convince Mr. D that we should tour or sight see in the wonderful state of Wisconsin.  I'm not sure why he was suddenly open to it, but I think he's changed his mind!

We stayed two nights in Lake Geneva.  One night at generous family friends' place, and the other at a hotel on the lake.  The first day we got there we walked along the lakeshore, looking at all the beautiful homes.  That night we went to dinner near big foot beach, where we had a beautiful view of the sunset.

During our second day there we rented a double kayak from a place right across from our hotel.

Although we rented the kayak for two hours, we only lasted about an hour and forty minutes.  We also walked around and checked out the shops, and had dinner at the local favorite Popeyes.

The fountain in front of the Rivera

After that we continued north up to Cedarberg, Wisconsin.  We were a little bummed because our first day was rainy and dreary.  We tried to stay dry by checking out many of the cute little shops, and even took a tour of the local Cedar Creek Winery. 

One of the stairways at the settlement shops

Just outside the Cedar Creek Winery

That night we walked to dinner went to dinner at a delicious pub called the Anvil.  They had me sold when I saw pesto mozzarella sticks on the menu!

We stayed overnight at an adorable bed and breakfast called the Stage Coach Inn.  

A few things we enjoyed about the Inn were: 

• Each bedroom had its own bathroom
• In the evenings they had a free wine and root beer social in the little pub on the main floor where you could check out menus from the local restaurants
• They served a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, pastries, muffins, cereal, yogurt, coffee and tea
• The the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful
• There was a little candy shop on the main floor
• The Inn gave us a coupon for a discount on bike rental and a free lunch at one of the local cafes for renting the bikes.

Thank goodness the rain cleared up for our second day in Cedarberg.  The beautiful weather allowed us to take some pictures around the precious little town.

Outside the Cedar Creek Winery

After getting a few pictures, we rented bicycles from the local bike shop.  For roughly $45 we got two reusable water bottles (to keep), two bicycles for four hours, and a coupon for a free lunch at a local cafe.  

Mr. Dawkter and I have cheap (crappy) bikes, so we really enjoyed renting and riding the "fancy" Schwinn bikes up to Port Washington, WI.  

  

The beach and the view of Lake Michigan was absolutely beautiful!

When we got back to Cedarberg, we grabbed our free (and delicious) lunch, a cup of coffee, some gelato and went to check out the covered bridge on our way out of town.  

After leaving Cedarberg, we took our time getting home, spending one more night on the road before returning to reality.
It was our first vacation (other than our honeymoon) that we spent somewhere other than Florida, and we had a wonderful time!

Home Sweet Home

Mr. D and I just got back from our summer vacation.  It was our last extended period of time together before he starts the dreaded PGY-2*.  In my husbands specialty second year is one of the more difficult years (although not the most difficult year, it probably involves the biggest adjustment as it the hours and responsibility increase from this past intern year).
  
The past twelve months have flown by, I can hardly believe we moved here just over a year ago.  But every time we return home from a long weekend or a vacation, I am always reminded how this place feels like home.  I am so thankful for how this new place has so naturally, so seamlessly become our home. Everything about it seems so perfect and so right.
  
Since Mr. D and I met (six years ago) between the two of us we have had ten different addresses in eight different towns!  And no place has made me so happy as where we are now.  And  although I know we have (at least) six rough years of residency ahead of us, I can honestly say there is no where I would rather be!


I love it here, it's home.


*PGY = Post Graduate Year (residency/fellowship)

On the Eve of PGY2...

Yes, I've been gone; Missing In Action. 

(Here is my attempt to fill in the gaps for the past several months.)

March was hard.  

Very hard.  Probably even harder than last March (when I made myself crazy worrying about match).  If you remember my family and I were enduring a storm, and March was a turning point for us, we were waiting for the forecast. We would either be enduring months of more rain or we would finally get some relief in the form of a rainbow.  So in March, I was consumed with the turn of events and simply put, I was an absolute mess.  

But turns out we got our rainbow.  God faithfully answered our prayers. The sun is now shining on my family, and while we are still expecting a few lingering showers, we have made it out of that storm, stronger and closer than ever.  

And to be honest, April was still a little tough because even though I had gotten my wish, our prayers had been answered, I still felt bruised and broken.  I didn't understand why I was still hurt, I had expected the pain to all vanish as quickly as it had appeared.  I really struggled with being unable to bounce back to my prior self.  But with time, the pain and anger has faded, and I finally feel like a normal human being again.

But I have since struggled with how to get back to blogging.  Its hard to return to something when you have gotten out of the habit.  

When I was going through the storm with my family, it was not something I could share publicly.  It was also something in which I felt like I was constantly going out of my mind.  The turn of events were so unreal, I had trouble even putting them in writing for myself.  I just couldn't wrap my head around it all.  

But as we are wrapping up intern year, and I see the difficulties and challenges of PGY2* on the horizon, I realize I need to get back in the habit of blogging.  Writing has been my therapy the past several years (until recently of course).  And I lost that outlet.  

I know the next few months are going to be a difficult transition, as Mr. Dawkter takes on longer hours and greater responsibilities as a second year resident. I know I need to return to blogging as it is so therapeutic to share my frustrations, fears and laughs as we continue our journey through medical training.  Not to mention I will have a lot more time on my hands, and Mr. D will be spending the majority of his time at the hospital!

So while I've had a major leave of absence, hopefully I am back for good now.  

*PGY2 - stands for Post Graduate Year 2 (second year of residency or second year out of medical school)

Snow-ly Cow!

That would be our grill, patio table, and chairs in our back yard! Luckily despite the massive storm, we did not lose power, and Mr. Dawkter was able to get safely to and from the hospital this week. 

I hope all of you that were effected by this week's storm were able to say safe and warm!

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Embracing 2011

Last New Year's I was such a mess, I didn't even think about resolutions or goals.  With the anticipation of Match, and not knowing where we would end up, I was consumed by my fear of the unknown.  I was such a ball of nerves I could not even comprehend setting any resolutions, I just wanted to try and function without having meltdowns every day.  I know it sounds extreme, but I am a major control freak, and the concept of having no control over where we would end up was absolutely killing me. 

Anyways, needless to say, what a difference a year makes! I am in a totally different place (literally and emotionally), and therefore I wanted to set out to accomplish some goals for 2011.  And I know I know its already late January, but I did make this list, before, I just haven't gotten around to blogging about it.  And my point in putting it in writing is to keep me somewhat accountable and to document my progress. 

My goals for 2011 are the following:

• Reach lifetime goal with Weight Watchers (by some small Christmas miracle I made my goal weight just after Christmas)
• Run a half marathon (I've already signed up for one in May!)
• Not sweat the small stuff
• Be more organized

as well as accomplish the following daunting tasks, many which have only gotten larger and more intimidating as time passes:

• Clean and organize my desk and around my desk
• Clean and organize the file cabinet
• Organize the office (with Mr. Dawkter's help)
• Finish Mr. Dawkter's match scrapbook
• Upload all old pictures to my computer
• Make photobooks for 2005-2010
• Organize our basement
• Organize the guest room closet

The reason I want to do the above tasks this year is because I know that Mr. D will have a lighter schedule the next 5 months so I want to take advantage of his help, and get a little more organized before second year starts.  Once July rolls around, I expect his hours to be long and crazy (for the next six years), so we might as well try and be organized before the chaos begins. 

I've also become totally overwhelmed by all the digital photos I have.  I absolutely love taking pictures, but lately I find myself not wanting to take any because I know I am soooo behind in organizing all of them.  I know if I can get the pictures in files on my computer, and ideally in photobooks, it won't be as overwhelming to maintain all of the memories.  But for now, knowing I am years behind, just makes me want to stop taking pictures altogether!

So far I haven't gotten very far anywhere in the project department, (I just got back from Florida last week), but I have gotten up to six miles in terms of training for my half marathon!  (That's the farthest I've ever run in my life).  In order to try and be ready for the half marathon in May, I was shooting for 6 months by the end of January, 9 months, by the end of February, and 12 months by the end of March, which gives me an extra month in case I hit a hurdle or plateau along the way.

Happy (belated) New Year! 

Happy Birthday to Me

Greetings from paradise, I'm spending my 28th Birthday in sunny Florida. I've been spending the week with my mother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew (Poulet).
The poor doctor is at home working in the frigid midwest! But don't feel too sorry for him, we'll be coming back down together next month!

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Christmas 2010

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family, and friends, and that everyone had safe travels.  The doctor and I had an absolutely wonderful Christmas. 

Mr. D's program is organized so that the residents either get 4 days off for Christmas or 4 days off for New Years.  He was extremely lucky, because despite being low-man on the totum pole (an intern) he got his break over Christmas.  We tried to appreciate every moment, because I don't know if we'll be so lucky the next several years!

We had a wonderful time spending time with family, laughing, eating and relaxing. 

It was a much different Christmas from last year.  I seem to have tried to forget last Christmas until Mr. Dawkter reminded me of some of the events.  Not only was I uptight last year (stressed with the upcoming match), my head just wasn't in the right place because I was so worried about where we would be next Christmas, and whether or not we would even be able to celebrate with family.  Having a worried state of mind coupled with my uncle and cousin getting into a wrestling match, and my uncle making two of my Aunts cry (on Christmas Eve), waking up to strep throat and going to the E.R. on Christmas morning, and then on our drive home sliding on an icy road into a construction barrier and then into a ditch made last Christmas not exactly one I want to remember.  

Looking back we have been beyond blessed, as doc matched at a program in the midwest, which was pretty high on his list, and also gives residents four days off either for Christmas or New Years.  This is such a relief because it means that we should be able to see family around the holidays, regardless of whether it is on Christmas or not. 

This Christmas, was much lighter, more uneventful (thank goodness), and I embraced the fact that we are with a program that will allow us to be with our families on the holidays. 

Not to mention the doctor and I got some pretty great presents too!  We both got fabulous North Face coats to keep us warm this winter. I got some boots, an apron, and a Vera Bradley bag, to name a few things.  Mr. D got some medical tools (a pen light, and one of those reflex hammers) and some much needed, underwear, clothes, and belts.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well! 

Bathroom renovation

So the bathroom is just about finished - just need to put the trim back up, put down a threshold and touch up a few spots with paint. 

So here it is BEFORE (when we first moved in). 

Note the plastic fake-wood trim around the shower door.  That didn't last very long before I ripped it off.

Then here is a picture after some of the demolition had begun (you can see in the mirror of the shower door that the medicine cabinet has been torn out).

Vanity

The very functional, but not-so-attractive light

Old mirror

Countertop

Tile floor

*

*

*

*

And..... ta da! 

Our updated bathroom (a.k.a. "our vacation/reno-cation")

designed by myself, and done by Mr. D with the help of his cousin Jake, his Dad, and my cousin's hubby John (Thanks guys)!

New shower curtain

I'm so proud of my husband, he has never done tile floor before but he did such a great job!

The pretty shower curtain and tile (trim will be put up eventually)

The "over-the-john" which provides additional storage

The new, more attractive bathroom light!

I love the granite countertop!

Another view of the vanity

The awesome custom mirror Jake made us!

and yes that is an outdated intercom, which will be updated eventually, but it's not in the budget right now!  Above the intercom used to be a small medicine cabinet, and a hotel hair dryer; again functional, but not-so-attractive!)

I absolutely love how the bathroom turned out!  It makes me want to re-do our master bathroom and our kitchen, but there is simply no money to do so.  Hopefully in due time we will be able to make additional updates, but for now, this will have to do!

Christmas cookies!

This is seriously the funniest Christmas cookie I've ever seen! (Thanks Joyce! They look so pretty I almost don't want to eat them!)

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Best three syllable word:

VACATION!

Yep, a few weeks ago (yes, I'm behind) was Mr. Dawkter's first vacation of residency; and it was wonderful! Mr. D's hospital gives him three weeks off a year, and this first vacation couldn't come soon enough! I had been missing my husband like crazy! Our vacation wasn't really much of a vacation however; it was more of a "stay-cation" or "reno-cation" because we stayed home and Mr. D renovated our guest bathroom.

Just so you know, the bathroom project was not my idea - it was doc's idea. He thought, "why don't I re-do the bathroom on my vacation." And shortly after he suggested it, there was a fantastic sale going on at the home improvement store. And so the project began.

With the help of Mr. D's cousin, and my father-in-law, the demolition was done prior to vacation week, so that his time off was spent on reconstruction. Although D didn't have any experience, with the help of his Dad and his cousin, he was able to redo our flooring, vanity, patch the walls, and give us an entirely new bathroom (with the exception of the bathtub).

Mr. D's cousin also made us a custom mirror for the bathroom. He just finished the mirror this weekend so all that is left is to hang the mirror and over-the-john. I'll post some before and after pics once the bathroom is complete.

While I absolutely love our new bathroom, I will say that it will be our first and last big DIY project. As Mr. Dawkter's vacation was coming to an end we both had some feelings of "It's over already? We didn't even do anything fun!" As a result we had some regrets, but did spend his last day of vacation having fun around town, shopping, and going out to eat. We have since decided that all future vacations will not be spent working. Our next vacation is not too far away (February) and it will be spent relaxing in a warm climate!

Tis the Season

for cold and flus! Yuck! Unfortunatley this has caused me to fall out of blogging. Two weeks ago the doctor was on vacation, and last week I was sick... so I really need to get back into the bloggin thing. This is me getting back on the wagon.

It's also the season for cookie making, hot chocolate, present wrapping, Christmas cards and SNOW! Lots of exciting things going on!

This morning . . .

I did a little happy dance. I went to get dressed and thought I would try on some of my work pants (that I haven't fit into for several months) and sure enough, they fit! I've have a good couple of weeks and the weight loss has clicked again, and it feels great to finally be back in my pants! I still have several pounds to go, and the pants don't quite fit perfectly yet, but they zip, and they aren't obscenely/offensively tight! I'm bottom heavy so when I gained a few pounds during our spring move, it all went to my hips, legs and butt. In the summer it wasn't too big of a deal because I could wear loose fitting skirts and dresses, but now that fall/winter is here, I needed to slim down so I could wear my dress pants.

Which brings me to a brief update on my weight loss and running. I stopped logging in my weight loss a few weeks ago because I seemed to gain, lose, gain, lose. I was extremely frustrated. I finally went and spoke with my weight watchers meeting leader and shared my struggle. It made me realize the obvious: that it was the weekends I was really struggling with. So much so that I wasn't tracking at all on the weekends. (With weight watchers each food has a point value, and your supposed to track everything you eat. You get a certain amount of daily points, and then 35 extra points you can use whenever you want during the week). The other problem was that I was using about 5 of my extra weekly points a day which meant that when the weekend rolled around I only had about 10 extra points left. My meeting leader pointed out that if I want to splurge on the weekend I need to stick to my daily points during the week, so that I have 35 points to splurge on the weekends. Although obvious and simple, it was exactly what I needed to do. And surprisingly sticking to my daily points has been easier than I thought. Here's to hoping that the weight loss continues and I eventually meet my goal.

And in regards to running, I haven't advanced much, but I've remained steady. I'm running about twice a week, and between 2.5 and 3.5 miles at a time. I enjoy running in the summer, but I have a habit of quitting when fall comes along because my asthma makes running in cool/cold weather a challenge. But this year I have access to a fabulous indoor track thanks to Mr. Dawkter's health club discount for being affiliated with his hospital. So I am trying to keep up with it, and just move it inside. So far so good, just hoping to eventually increase my mileage now that it's becoming a little easier (knock on wood). I'm still hoping to run some kind of race in the spring. I'm hoping that if I set a goal like participating in a race it will keep me motivated over the winter months.

So after a few weeks of feeling like I was treading water, I finally feel on track again. It's wonderful to look in the mirror and feel good about myself again. I forgot what that felt like! For those of you trying to meet fitness goals, or lose a few pounds, stick with it, and try something new if you need to. It doesn't come easy, but it's definitely rewarding!

Pumpkin Obsessed

I've noticed that I don't have any recipes on my new blog so I am going to try and do something about that this week!

For the last few weeks I've been enjoying various PUMPKIN recipes. One of my favorite new recipes are for these light/low calorie pumpkin muffins by Angela Liddon author of the website: Oh She Glows . Although they are "healthy" I didn't think that they necessarily taste like it! I added a few semi-sweet chocolate chips on top of mine - and they were delicious! Seriously, they are wonderful, you need to try them!

I'm hoping to share recipes for pumpkin martinis and a pumpkin cream pie later this week!