Way, Way, Way Overdue

I truly do not know where the time went. Has it really been since April since I last updated? Where the huey did May and June go? Well, to those of you who have not given up on this blog by switching over to Cake Wrecks or Awkward Family Photos, I thank you. (Although, in your spare time you should check these out.)

I will now try to update two months worth of life in a few bullet points:

* The big event this week, actually tomorrow, is Travis's board exam. The exam will be at noon tomorrow--I know he would appreciate prayers. He has been studying many months for this exam. Today he took the day off and went golfing.

* In May Travis completed his classwork portion of his program. His GPA is locked and the rest of his work is all pass/fail.

* Travis has begun his capstone class which are six week rotations with more hands on experience. He is in Radiology right now. His other rotations are General Medicine, Surgery, and Orthopedics. These classes will last until December, then come January he starts his other rotations.

* A lot of the podiatry students have moved down to the city, however they still have to be up at the school by 8:00 until December. Because of this, Travis's good friend Chris (also from Texas) will be living with us during the week. He has a place in Downer's Grove which is, on a good day without traffic, about 45 minutes away. The arrangement has been going well so far.

* Work for me is going well. It is a little busy as I am juggling two admissions cycles. We are continuing to complete the entering class for 2010 and we just started receiving applications for 2011. I am never bored!

* I have taken part in some recruitment events and will probably have more this fall. In May myself and another coworker went to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL to take part in an event called Lunch with Medical School Representatives. Today, I also gave a presentation to high school students on how to prepare for medical school. (Not going to lie--I had major flashbacks to my student teaching days in the high school classroom). I am also scheduled later this month to serve as a mediator for a student led panel.

* The weather has been bearable. Until just recently we were in the 70's-80's and we even had a few days in June when it was 60. But now the heat has really kicked in, although it still does not compare to Texas.

* We had a very enjoyable Fourth of July. We went to Downer's Grove to celebrate with a few friends. Here are a few pictures"

This is the nice picture...


Then he had his moment...


And I had mine.

Happy Birthday Travis Post #2

Travis had a very nice, relaxing dinner on his birthday and he quietly began his 30th year of life. Wrong! Unknown to Travis, a party had been in the works for quite some time. Last Saturday we got him good--he didn't suspect anything. I had help from two of his classmates, my co-conspirators, in planning everything. Another one of his classmates offered up her and her husband's house for the party, since our apartment would be a little cramped. His classmates wanted to throw him an over the hill party because he is one of the oldest (but not the oldest) person in their class. I found lots of black decorations and let everyone know they could bring "old man" gag gifts.

The plan was that Travis and his friend Chris would go golfing Saturday afternoon. On the way home they would stop off at the Brown's house to pick up Chris's drum equipment. I was not excited (nor was Travis) when I woke up Saturday to a rainy, cold morning. Plan B had Chris taking Travis to another classmates house to play video game golf. They left at around lunchtime and were suppose to stay out until 6:15. I was a little worried about Chris being able to keep him busy for that long, but, being a girl, I forget that boys can spend all day with video games. Chris did tell me later that he had a few almost panic moments when Travis mentioned going back home to study.

While Chris kept Travis busy, we all congregated at the Brown's house, making sure to hide our cars so he wouldn't suspect. When he arrived we all hid in the kitchen and jumped out as he came into the living room. He was completely clueless. He later told me what a nice surprise it was. Travis's classmate, Jason, took on the responsibility of the cake. He found a bakery who made a fantastic, red velvet with cream cheese icing, over the hill cake for us.

It was a great night of food, music, and friends. Happy Birthday, Travis!



Surprise!

The fantastic cake which reads "It's all downhill from here"






This was my gag gift to Travis--an inflatable walker!



Travis opening his gag gifts which included the Hawaiian shirt, diabetic socks, malt o meal, fixodent, denture cleaning kit, and suspenders.

Happy Birthday, Travis! (Post #1)

Other than the fact that he had his clinical exam today, Travis has been having a wonderful 30th birthday. He has received many Facebook shout outs, most with creative old man jokes. We are planning to go out to eat at his favorite restaurant tonight--Red Robin. One of the surprise gifts that he got was Blue Bell ice cream from Texas! My mom found out that Blue Bell will ship ice cream by using dry ice. So Wednesday morning the ice cream arrived and I rushed home to put it in the freezer. I found out the day before that Travis's classes were canceled that morning. When he doesn't have class he sometimes stays home to study and sometimes he goes to campus. Didn't like those odds, so I enlisted the help of his friend Chris to lure Travis to the campus library. I decided to wait for Travis to find the ice cream himself. He did not come home all day and actually ended up going out to dinner with a friend. My plan had been for him to see it when he was looking for something to eat, but when he got home he was completely full.

I soon figured out a new strategy. I was making Travis a lemon meringue pie for his birthday. To make this pie you have to continuously stir the ingredients. Since I couldn't move away from the stove I asked Travis if he could get me a glass of water with ice (I hardly ever use ice in my water). I happened to have my camera so I took a video of what happened. First, he didn't see the ice cream, then he commented on how much ice cream there was (he didn't see it was Blue Bell). Finally he caught on to the glory that was hiding in the freezer.

Here is what the freezer looked like:


Here is Travis fully taking in what he sees:

Spring Events...At Least I Think It's Spring

Hello World!

We are still here, just slacking off in posting again. In regards to the title of this post we have been flip-flopping back and forth between comfortable 70's weather and "enough is enough" 40's/50's weather. The positive is that, no matter what the temperature, we have had beautiful sunny days. And as long as there is no more snow I am content (knocking on wood as we speak).

Here are a few of the things we have done over the past couple months:

* In March our friend Kim came to visit. It was great to see her and try out some new eating spots as well as tour the Chicago History Museum.

* Some of the new restaurants we have found include: Opas! which is a fantastic Greek restaurant. I had not had Greek food before and was a big fan. We also found a great sushi place. Once again this was my first time to have sushi and I loved it!

* A couple of months ago Travis and I were taught how to play canasta by two of his classmates and we are now hooked. Quite often we have men against women canasta competitions. We are getting pretty good at the game.

* Because the weather has been nice (and snowless) Travis has been breaking in his new golf clubs. It also serves as a great stress reliever from school...at least it does when he has a good game. :)

* We are contemplating moving from our apartment. We are either looking at a larger, first floor apartment in our complex (to get away from our loud and annoying upstairs and downstairs neighbors) or we may possible rent one of the military houses or duplexes. We will know more come the end of May/June.

* Travis has about a month of classes left and he is pushing through. He along with all of his classmates are struggling to find motivation after almost 2 years of grueling schoolwork. This Thursday he has his clinical exam in which he will work with a patient at the clinic and be graded on his skills. Once classes are done in May his GPA will be set. His capstone classes and rotations will be on a pass/fail scale. I am so proud of all he has accomplished so far!

* I recently bought a sewing machine and have been intrigued to learn more sewing projects. I made a small decorative pillow, but would really like to make clothes. I am looking into taking a few classes offered at Joanne's. So far I have been patching up Travis's clothes...as well as his friend, Chris's.

* The next big event is Travis's 30th birthday this Thursday! I have a few things planned, but I will wait to divulge the information, on the off chance that Travis reads this blog. I will have a special post all about the event...including pictures!

* Lastly, Travis has decided to grow his beard out until his Board exam in July (Beard til Boards is what he calls it). He started in February and already it is pretty thick. Last week a co-worker, who is a NASCAR fan, told me Travis looks like Dale Earnhardt Jr. I will let you be the judge:

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday! I wish I could be there to help you celebrate.

Love,

Erin

P.S. Out of the pictures I have, I didn't have any front facing pictures of just you and me. Sorry!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top of the mornin to ya! We wish all of our friends and family back it Texas a very Happy St. Patrick's Day. Mom, Jennifer, and Traci just to let you know Travis is wearing his shirt to school today. I would wear mine to work if I could.

Erin Go Braugh!

Happy Texas Independence Day

In honor of Texas Independence Day I decided to make Texas cookies. During my trip to Texas for Robin's wedding I bought a Texas shaped cookie cutter. I decided to go the easy way out and bought pre-made sugar cookie dough. I also bought red, white, and blue cookie icing to make the cookies look like the Texas flag. I was a little worried because I have has some major baking battles with our gas oven. I do not like gas ovens. In the past I tried to make snickerdoodles and they turned out hard as rock. I also tried to make oatmeal cookies that flattened out and crumbled in your hand. The worst by far was when I baked a bundt cake. When I checked on it, half of the cake was cooked and the other half was liquid. What the huey?

Thankfully the cookies turned out ok. Well, they turned out to be edible. For some reason the dough decided to grow exponentially while in the oven. I pulled out a tray of bloated Texas cookies. Perhaps I offended Illinois and it was taking out its revenge. We remedied the situation by cutting the cookies a second time with the cookie cutter. (Travis's idea). Below are some picture of the Great Texas Cookie Escapade.




Poor little bloated cookies. They are in desperate need of some Tums.


Iced and before the fix.


Final product!


Enjoying my cookie with some good ole fashioned Texas Pride!