White Coat Ceremony

Today was my official Physician Assistant White Coat Ceremony and we had our families and friends come help us celebrate the completion of our didactic year. There were speeches, slideshows, and presentation of gifts to our faculty; we were then "coated" and lead in the oath of the Physician Assistant. It was a really nice ceremony and a nice send off to our year of clinicals starting in August. Mom, Dad and Michael joined me for my special day and then we all went out for dinner afterwards, so a big thanks to them for helping me celebrate...THANKS!

 Lisa, Me and Bry before the ceremony

Great friends make the program that much more enjoyable!

 Mom, Dad and me in front of the stage

 Michael and Me

 "Coated"

 Reciting our oath

 Happy to be moving on to clinicals!

Love you guys!

Backing It Up a Bit...

Let's get you up to speed, shall we? Valentine's day was nice....Brandon made me a beautiful, candlelit dinner, complete with a playlist of lovey dovey songs he picked out just for me. He also got me beautiful roses and made a framed picture page of us that is gorgeous. He's such a thoughtful, sweet guy.

And speaking of sweet and thoughtful, a couple of weekends ago, Brandon went to a golf show in Lansing. He came home with a little surprise for me...actually a big one: my own set of PINK golf clubs! Love, love, love them...and him! I can't wait for it to warm up so we can hit the course...or at least the driving range!

Midterms are over-ish. I had most of my tests a week ago...most of which I knocked out of the park. They split them up for us, so I have a couple this week and next, and then 8 weeks and this semester is OVER...thank goodness. This has been a jam packed semester...29 graduate credits will do that though. Ugh.

Anywho...this last week was our spring break and I took an AWESOME trip....but it deserves it's own post, so that's all for now. :)

Casting Lab

Today was a fun clinical procedures lab....casting, splinting, and phlebotomy.

 I have SO much to share, but I have NO time currently...gotta love midterms. This little tidbit will have to hold you over for a couple more weeks...but don't worry, I WILL be coming back with lots of pictures of the bright shining lights of Vegas and my new shiny golf clubs....eventually.

MAPA 2010

Pictures from the Michigan Association of Physician Assistants conference in beautiful Traverse City.....

Katie and I

Maddie, Me and Keri

Love this! Maddie, Katie and me....Christmas card anyone?

Enjoying some Witch's Brew with Dave

Enjoying some adult beverages in the suite after the welcoming reception the first night

Me and Maddie getting ready to cheer on the quiz bowl team...FIRE UP CHIPS!

Antique Tub Photo Shoot

Thursday night was our PA Girls' Night at the Casino...we rented a room, got dolled up, had some adult beverages, and boogied down....oh and had a major photo shoot with the antique tub in our room. LOVE that tub!

All the girls....

Bry and I

Me in the tub...

Katie in the tub...

Maddie in the tub...

Bryanna in the tub...

Keri in the tub...

Party in the tub!

Such a great tub.

Ha.

Studying "Patient History and Physical Examination" for 10+ hours has led to my self-diagnosis of several really terrible conditions.....including Hypochondriasis.

School Picture Day

Physician Assistant Class of 2012

Life Update

Geez! Where does the time go? I am more than half done with my first semester of PA classes....passed all my midterms woo! Not much is new, lots of studying, more studying and trying to jam as much fun in as possible.

Jelloshots at our picnic to celebrate the end of midterms!

Yummy food and more jelloshots!

Katie, Bry, Me and Natalie... <3 these girls!

A bunch of the girls continuing our midterm celebration at the bar

Me and Keri

More shots....work hard, play hard!

Bry and I at a carnival downtown...Tilt-a-whirl!

More rides...so fun!

Maddie, me and Bry at the carnival

Chris and Di came to visit for a day filled with tubing and laughs!
<3 Besties <3

I Will Survive

FINALLY....a free moment to catch you up to speed. I started Physician Assistant graduate school  two weeks ago and I have been on the go every minute since. The program is tough, but I'm managing just fine. It is a LOT more studying than I have ever done for anything, but it makes the days go by really fast. I busted my butt the whole first week (and weekend) studying for my first exam; it was on Tuesday of this last week, and it was in anatomy, my hardest class by far. I earned at 89%, equal to the class average. It was nice to see I was on par with my classmates and that all my hard work paid off. Now I know what I have to do for the rest of the tests....lots of butt busting ahead.

I have also managed to make a lot of new friends and have some fun during the last two weeks as well. I really like all of my classmates; no one seems to be hard to get along with or unlikeable. Everyone is very friendly and outgoing. We have already gone on a tubing trip, organized a BBQ and attended another and played several games of beach volleyball. I have met several girls who I really enjoy spending time/studying with, but have made pretty close friendships (already!) with a girl named Keri and a girl named Bryanna. Bryanna lives across the parking lot from me, which makes it super easy to get together and study. Also, we have decided that to do a little stress busting; we are going to train for a 5K that we will run in July or August. I'm so excited! I am not a runner...AT ALL...but I found a cool web site that is a training plan called "couch to 5K"; it trains you slowly and is meant for people who are not used to running. Keri and I met at our first orientation and have really hit it off. It is nice to have a friend in the program who knows exactly how you feel. We have been doing a lot of studying/work on projects lately, so we took a road trip to the west side of the state today to relax and enjoy the sun. The beach was GORGEOUS, but we are both a little crispy around the edges.

Even with all this school and my recent activities, I have still found time to do some experimenting in the kitchen....I have three yummy new recipes to share!

Chicken Calzone
Dough for 1 pizza
6 chicken breast tenders, cooked and chopped
1 cup Colby Jack cheese


Tomato sauce:
1 small can Hunt's tomato sauce
1 tomato, diced
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tbs fresh sweet basil, chopped
1/4 chopped red onion
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt/pepper to taste
Saute onions in butter in a medium sauce pan. Add all other ingredients and simmer for 1 hour on low heat.

Spread dough out on pizza pan . Pour sauce on 1/2 of the circle of dough, leaving 1/2 inch around the outer edge. Place chicken and cheese on top of the sauce. Fold the dough over the filled half and crimp edges shut. Brush top of dough with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

TOO Cheese Burger (Tomato, Oregano, Onion)

1/4 lb lean hamburger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 cup shredded cheese
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 tbs red onion, chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

Blend all ingredients into meat with hands. Form into a patty and place on grill. Cook to desired done-ness.

For toppings, I suggest spinach, mayo and honey mustard to give a slightly sweet zing. You don't need much...the burger has a ton of flavor!

Egg-cellent Breakfast Bun
1 egg
1/4 cup shredded cheese
2 slices Roasted turkey (lunch meat)
1/4 cup spinach
1 tomato, sliced
Mayo
Whole wheat bun, toasted

Fry the egg until cooked through and yoke is hard. At the same time, brown the turkey in a little bit of butter. Spread mayo on the toasted bun and layer with turkey, spinach and tomato. Shut off heat to pan and cover egg with cheese, allowing to melt. Place egg on bun.

With all this food, it's a good thing I'm going to be doing all that running!

As Promised...

View from the front door...

Looking down the stairs, back at the door (notice the cute curtain Mom made)...

Bathroom...

Bedroom, looking left from the door

Looking right....

Straight ahead...

Top of the stair landing looking left into the living room...

Other end of the living room, looking back toward the landing...

Dining room from the living room...

Looking into the kitchen from the dining room...

Home sweet home!