Back from camping

Ha! You didn't think I meant this




because that's going to take a while before that happens...

I won't say never because I never thought I would like hiking (well to be fair, I didn't own a pair of sneakers or shoes without a minimum of 4 inch heels until a year ago) and I do.

And if you know me, you know I will try anything once! (As long as it doesn't endanger my life because I have to think of M) However there are very few friends I feel comfortable enough with (sorry folks..there's bears out there) to spend a night in the woods with...and they are not around right now so yeah...no.

What I mean by camping is summer camp! I was an assistant director of a MedQuest camp last week (kind of like a camp counselor). And I was in northern Vermont though, so there was scenery. So I got to break out my DSLR. Like these shots I took?

I hope I'll get better but these were just fun quick snaps.

What is MedQuest? It is a week long exploration of health careers for 20 fifteen y/o bright teens. And even though it wasn't my first time doing it, I do think my group this year was even more amazing! I had a lot of fun! Really miss the girls from my suite and all the girls and all the guys...basically I miss them all. I just love adolescents. Made me think maybe I should have done pediatrics after all and somehow just deal with adolescents. But alas I know that while I can hang out and mentor for a week, being in an office playing duck duck strep throat just doesn't work well for me.

It also made me remember that when I was 15, I really didn't even consider being a doctor. This was my list in my diary from when I was 14 (last time I wrote in a diary...)
1. Choreographer
2. Fashion designer/Boutique owner
3. Wedding planner
4. Spoken word poet
5. Cake designer
6. Interior designer
7. Photographer for the National Geographic

Granted even if I hadn't been on a serious track for oneof these, I still don't think I would have ever spent a week of my time in a medical centered camp. I truly admire these kids. And I can't wait to follow them and see where they land! And hopefully some of them will be my colleagues one day :)

Funny thing is though, I really still kind of want to do ALL of those careers to this day...and if you've known me for a long while you know I dabbled in pretty much all of them in some way or another like a child with severe ADHD. Oh well. I do plan on taking a cake design course one day for sure as well as I think I can still do number three. DUH! I'll just pull an Elizabeth Taylor. Le sigh.

I would offer more of my bridesmaid services but I'm frightened of becoming this girl:

Stay at home moms deserve medals

Seriously!!!

I can't say that enough. I took a week of vacation this week...well actually I should be doing my research project but I decided to do all the reading parts at night (you know after my lovely diva falls sleeps after midnight) and take the 1st 7 days as vacation/Mimi time. And so I have been a stay at home mom for 6.5 days (I returned home Monday afternoon) and gave my mom as much off time as I could...actually I have hardly seen my mom these past 6 days and I'm convinced that there is a secret passageway in our 3 bedroom house. Really. Earlier I checked our basement after she wasn't in the sunroom, living room, kitchen, her bedroom, Mimi's room, my room and she popped out from behind me with a sly smile. With my mom, it is not far fetched at all that she knows somewhere I don't.

Any-who, in the past 6 days I have been all about Mimi. I've done schooltime, piano practice, dance lessons, reading time, trips to library, park and museum, our starbucks runs, my attempts at "cooking" (She then asked Grandma for food...) and all the other 100 things motherhood entails. Sorry folks, I'm more exhausted than my 4am-8pm shifts in surgery last week!!! I'm actually downplaying my exhaustion right now. Granted my little 4 year old has the energy level of 10 kids and is too bright to just stay put in front of the TV for more than 10 minutes(sue me I tried). She even takes her kindle to act out what she wants to watch in which I must play a part in as well, or act out the book or play the game with her as a narrator of what she is doing... Even at starbucks she insisted on talking to everyone and acting out scenes from tangled (the disney movie...just in case..) which led to a mom &daughter as a small audience. The mom then said to me "She should be an actress, she's really good".

So every time I do this crazy stay at home mom experiment; I remember how stir crazy I went the 1st 3months of Mimi's life where I thought that maybe, just maybe I could do this amazing job too. I enrolled at Georgetown University 3 months later for my Masters.

Today, I actually left the house at 5pm to actually do some of my research and mainly to woo-saaah.  I love my daughter to the moon and back a thousand times...but oh my I am tired right now. I should have realized that I was tipping exhaustion when last night I opened this audiobook up:

and contemplated letting Samuel L. Jackson read Mimi to sleep. It was 12:53 am...and I plead the 5th as far as how she actually got to sleep.

In conclusion to all my ladies who are amazing stay at home moms, I'm drinking down a good martini for you right now. I'll live vicariously through you and one day I will sponsor a stay at home mom award show (I already have the perfect host Mimi). It will feature stay at home moms who will get glammed up by hollywood make up artists and stylists, walk down a red carpet and get some well deserved gold medals. I'm pitching this to reality show executive. On a serious note, I truly have already asked one of my cousins who happens to be in show business for her colleagues for this very reason. Inspiration usually hits me after exhaustion and martini's. Actually it was after some exhaustion and a few martinis when I decided to leave my previous career for medical school... Eh you win some, you lose some.


In the meantime

Total Glutton

My friend Gabe & I are texting like we usually do (we keep each other sane through medical school...he mostly keeps me sane but I have moments I like to think that I repay the favor) and since he is amazing,  he's applying to Vascular Surgery. In the midst of our usual sardonic musings I gave him a little "advice" while he is on his away AI to drink ensures in the morning to get more sleep ( no chewing, no preparation...good 10 mins more) and he responds with " Bagel while driving in, 4 minutes. Don't do well with liquid diets, tried it already". Exactly. We have already calculated ways of minimizing everything else in our lives so to keep up pace with the crazy world of surgery we're joining?! We are total gluttons for punishment! 

Looks like my life is going to be filled with conversations on how to convince congress to add a mandatory siesta hour to the workday(night,graveyard shift...). I want to unfriend myself right now as well.

However, a siesta hour?! Wouldn't that be awe-some?! That would make me happier than a slinky on an escalator.

Doesn't the slinky sound just like me? It's ok to agree, I came to terms that I sound like a 4 year old the day I called our residential office to ask for a maintenance man to come and was met with "Mimi your mommy has to call us ok, can you put your mommy on the phone?". I'm obviously very eloquent as well. 

Home Sweet Home

I'm home!!!

I was SO HAPPY to step off the plane and see my big little girl!!! She grew! We immediately went shopping for new lip gloss (that is what she wanted, lip gloss!). Coming home meant, I finished my surgical oncology rotation at UAB! I actually miss the 4 am mornings and the leaving the OR at 8pm (yes I am talking about the same day!). I really didn't have much time for any adventures down there, I spent my day off (yes 1 day/wk) usually sleeping, eating, and prepping for the next days surgery. Sounds like fun huh? I did go to two Birmingham Barons minor league baseball games, a quick boutique run (I did quite the damage) and grabbed a few cocktails here & there so I wasn't completely lame...but pretty close.  Actually I did a lot of eating there, Birmingham is a foodies dream! You may see more chipmunk cheeks in my face because yummmm! My last day the EX & I went to a maronite church, a great brunch with a big band playing and to the art museum. It was a great end to my month there. 

BUT I am so happy to be home! So far I am indulging Mims with whatever she wants (chocolate, Panera Bread, built her a firestation out of cardboard & wood for her fireman dolls....) just because I missed her so! 

"Mommy I was wondering if you love me and  will you take me to the quilt museum?" I guess I know what we are doing Friday!  I should really get to work as I am technically doing a research month but I think I'll do overtime to make up for it after the 4th of July and with a lot of late nights!  Tomorrow we're going to parades (a morning one and an afternoon one) and ending with fireworks. I have a nice DSLR and a great new digital camera and maybe it is time I start taking them places with me?! My HTC phone should not be my only source of memories esp since I love photography. It starts tomorrow! Get ready for a lot of Mimi photography on this blog.

In the meantime Mims & I are back at it...being our silly sassy selves! 

Our CVS lip gloss run :)

Home.Sweet.Home

p.s Oh and that news I was waiting for last post? My step 2 score. I'll let Kim Kardashian express my feelings: