Donnie and Laura: 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

Uh.. I forgot how to do this thing...

A lot has happened since July.

1) In Aug/Sept Donnie had a rotation in Austin while I still had to work here, so whenever I had off I'd drive up to see him and my family. It was really fun to spend time with everyone!! But also tiring to be on the road so much! We did one Austin-y thing while we were there- the capital!!

Next time we are going to watch the bats fly out from Congress Bridge!

2) In October I did some experimental cooking!! I've never cooked (or eaten) a butternut squash- so I bought one and made these two dishes:

Butternut Squash and Quinoa Frittata

This recipe is SUPER healthy (if you've never cooked with quinoa- you should try it- it's a superfood and it's really good!) I also added spinach because I wanted some green in it too. It wasn't greeeeeat.. but it was pretty good. I didn't do spices exactly like the recipe, so maybe that was it. Donnie said the frittata part was good but he would never eat butternut squash again.

Until..

Butternut Squash Casserole

And then he took back everything mean he said about butternut squash, because this recipe was Delicious! It's not even close to healthy and it's only a sidedish, but I will definitely make it again. We ate the leftovers as dessert and then again for breakfast. Oh, it was so good.

Butternut squash are really hard to cut and peel, so they say to soften it up in the microwave first. Next time I will half it (vertically) and bake in the oven until I can scoop it out with a spoon. Watch this video for some basics on cooking with this veggie.

3) Now for November- We went camping!! At Lake Livingston State Park. The nature trails and lake were really pretty. And the weather was perfect.

Lessons we learned:

Check if there's a burn ban before you go.

How to start a charcoal fire/cook on the grill.

Bring an extension cord for the inflatable mattress.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

I got summoned...

For jury duty! I've received a summons before, but I've always been able to get out of it because I was either a student or not living in the county. But this time I had no escape.

There was a huge room filled with people and after the introduction/welcome video they started calling out names and assigning them to JP courts or to come back later in the week. I was sent to the municipal court across the street for a trial starting at 11:00 am. I ended up getting chosen because my name was one of the first 6 jurors on the list that was not crossed off by the plaintiff or defendant. The case was about city code compliance (high grass and weeds) and to me he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.. but the real debate started in determining a fine amount. It was a tough decision, but in the end I was okay with our verdict. It was interesting to see the court system in action. Also, I gained a lot of respect for the judge. Overall, it was a good first-time experience for me.

Also- while driving off the island we noticed a building under construction with a sign that said "Springcreek-- Coming Soon!" Mmmmmm.. Can't wait!

And- there is now a Chuy's pretty close too!!

If only there was a Cheesecake Factory in the area, we'd be in heeeeeeaven!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

It is done!

On Wednesday we got the results of Donnie's big test (Step 1 of the US Medical Licensing Exam). They have to take 3 total, but this is the one that is evaluated by residency programs. After waiting 6 weeks for the scores, we were very excited to find out that Donnie did well-- even surpassing his goal!! So glad to be one step closer to the end of this journey.

Now he has moved on to starting clinicals instead of just bookwork. Yesterday he even assisted in delivering a few babies during his OB/GYN rotation. He has had to wake up quite early (4:30 AM) for his 12 hour shifts, but he is enjoying it. I had to work the last couple nights and we had conflicting schedules.. In fact from Wednesday afternoon until late Friday night the only time we saw each other was a quick wave while driving past one another on our ways to and from the hospital!

So tonight we are going out to celebrate a job well done. I'm so proud of him!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

3 islands in 3 days- the best two weeks of the year

Island #1: Oahu, Hawaii. One word: Awesome. This trip was a celebration of many things: A belated honeymoon, my one year mark at being a nurse, and Donnie finishing his board exams. This was the first time Donnie or I went to Hawaii and it did not disappoint. We jam packed our schedules, went to many places on the island, got tan/burned, enjoyed the Hawaiian foods and even met a celebrity. Our favorite things were the Polynesian Cultural Center, surf lessons, snorkeling, and seeing the sea turtles. We loved our vacation and can't wait to go back again!

Islands #2: Galveston. Not much to say here, we came home for a day between the trips to unpack dirty clothes, repack clean ones, sleep a couple hours and head back out. But I think it's neat that we saw three different oceans (I guess one is just the gulf..) in such a short span of time.

Island #3: OBX aka Outer Banks, NC. This is my family's annual beach trip and it was a great year. We were missing a couple of family members, but some others joined us for part of the time and it still ended up being fun. The weather was great, the ocean was great, we caught some good boogy boarding and body surfing waves, we had swimming lessons in the pool, relaxed in the hot tub, ate lots of good food (usually consisting of first AND second lunch), did a little shopping at TimBuckII, and just had a relaxing time.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Better to have loved and lost, than never Lost at all?

A rare Donnie post.

****Spoiler Alert****

There are 3 TV shows which I really enjoy: Lost, 24, and House. Now two of those are gone forever. After last night's LOST finale, me and Jeremiah, a friend from school, were talking about it all day instead of studying like we should have. My opinion of the ending was mixed but good overall. I thought the first 2 hours were great television but the ending wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. It's almost like they said "This show has been about 2 things all along: mythology and character development, but let's not address the mythology!" Oh well, I doubt we will ever see anything that good on TV for a long time. So what did you think??? Poll on the side------->

Friday, May 21, 2010

"How would you rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10..

0 being no pain at all and 10 being the worst pain imaginable?" I ask this question all the time at work. We assess pain every few hours and before and after interventions, so I just ask my question, get the answer and chart it.. But now I can relate to my patients when they say a 10 out of 10 pain.

My eye has been really bugging me lately, just irritated and hurting off and on, so I went to the eye doctor and he did cultures to make sure there wasn't any type of infection (results came back today and there wasn't! just inflammatory cells). Getting eye cultures involves "a gentle scraping" of the cornea. GENTLE?? yeah right. He put numbing drops in but they wore off after about 20 minutes and by the time Donnie came home with my new prescription I was curled up in bed blubbering like a baby. It only lasted about 30 minutes but that was definitely a 10 out of 10.

So, what's your worst pain imaginable? I've always heard burns, kidney stones and sickle cell crisis are the worst.. But getting an eye culture definitely gets my vote for now!!!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Vegas.... Here I come!!!

A couple weekends ago we went to a Gala for Donnie's school. It was a chance to get dressed up and eat fancy food (I tried caviar for the first time!) and the ticket in was to bring some books to donate to the hospital's patient library, so you know we were there! After a good dinner, we made our way to the blackjack table and gambled the night away.

For $10 we were given $25,000 worth of chips. Donnie was a good gambler and came out with way more than he started.. I came out on top, but I'm cheap.. and even with fake money I'm scared to bet too much.

At the end of the night each $10,000 worth of chips could be traded in for one raffle ticket. There were tons of prizes to choose from and we entered the drawings for an ipod, a wii and a netbook..

AND GUESS WHAT??????????

We won the netbook!

Blogged to you by my netbook.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

This year's garden

The small winter garden didn't exactly thrive like I thought it would.. The birds picked apart my spinach (although I did enjoy 4 tasty leaves), for whatever reason the broccoli never surfaced and I think I overwatered the carrots. It was a learning experience, but now we're ready for the good stuff-- Spring gardening!

I have three topsy turvy planters that I am so excited to use! A while back I planted some tomato seeds in an egg carton and they are almost ready to transplant. This will be my first time to grow tomatoes, so wish me luck on the upside down ones.

I also planted some bell peppers (mixed colors seed packet), lots of squash and peas.

I saved the seeds from my last year's watermelon, but they don't come up until it's a little warmer, so I'll wait to report on those.

My blackberry plant is still in good health and I'm confident the upcoming harvest will be much more plentiful than last years two very delicious berries.

I've added to my berry collection by getting a blueberry bush as well. I think it's already a few years old and should produce a little this year.. hopefully!

Next year I'm going to get a raspberry plant.

I'm trying flowers for the first time too. I have marigolds and bachelor buttons. I hope they ward off tomato pests and attract some butterflies!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Ebay

My hopes have been smashed again.. Always outbid, never the winner.

Does anyone else feel like that??