Comps exam tomorrow

I haven't updated this in a very very long time! Tomorrow is my comprehensive exams for grad school. That means 4 essays that decide whether I graduate from grad school or not. I'll let everyone know how they go. I'm hoping and praying it goes well!!! Thanks for everyone who has supported me through this semester and all of grad school, yall are truly amazing! Update will come soon on whether I pass or fail!

So exactly how did the first week go....

I have finished my first week of my last semester of grad school....now that's a mouth full! It was definitely a new experience and my practicum is going to be a great experience. I really think my supervisor is going to challenge me and that I will learn a ton from her! Now most of you that talk to me know about the eccentric case load that a county hospital (Parkland) brought me. While I'm sure I will have some great stories this semester is going to be a lot different. Two really great things: 1. My supervisor is the only SLP on staff so I get to see anything and everything under the sun 2. I'm going to be able to sit in on a brain surgery at some point during the semester. As far as my caseload goes it looks more like I will have lung transplants, cystic fibrosis patients, general medical problems, and stroke patients. I definitely have set some goals for myself this semester! I really hope (since it is my last semester...in case no one has figured that out!) to be more independent so that when I take on the responsibilities of an actual job I'm confident and as proficient as possible. I think this will be a great place to have that experience.

Anyways life outside of that has been eventful. Went to margarita and salsa festival for the first time and had a good time. Also spent Friday night out in Grapevine. It was a such a cute little area. I'm definitely going to have to head out there for some shopping sometime. Maybe even there Wine Festival!

For anyone wondering also....Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Emmy's!! Very exciting!

Official End of my LAST Summer

Sadly I have concluded my last summer vacation. It was definitely eventful and relaxing at times and ended rather abruptly.

I have been through many emotions starting this semester. Definitely scared of what is to come when graduation happens, as my previous post explains, but I do believe that I won't have time to think about it too much. I'm taking 3 classes, 20 hours of an internship at St. Pauls, and studying for my comprehensive exams. I will be busy busy.

Things I'm looking forward to:

Starting at St. Paul

College football (still crossing our fingers for UT tickets)

Stephanie and Chris's wedding

Comps being OVER

New York

Finishing schoooool and having a master's degree (5 1/2 years of college)

"The American Gladiator" kickball team

I start tomorrow at St. Paul. Wish me luck! I will be updating this week about how my first week ends up. I'm sure it will be overwhelming, eventful, and fulfilling to be back to doing what I love!

Times are a Changing

So I'm totally addicted to How I Met Your Mother. It's legendary and you all should watch it! There was a quote from a recent episode that I felt like explained a lot of how I'm feeling these last few months:

"Sometimes it is possible to think you're doing just fine in life, and then someone opens your eyes a little bit and you realize your whole world is off blanace, out of whack, crooked"

Now I'm so thankful for everything that I've had going on this past year. I'm just hitting that point of not really understanding what comes next. I officially registered for my last semester of graduate school, got a 4.0 this summer, and was placed at St. Paul Hospital for the Fall semester. I take my comprehensive exams in 3 months and graduate in 5 months. Somewhere in the midst of all of this I will have to decide the overwhelming question...where to go next?

See I've had most of what I've wanted to do planned out since I was like 14. I knew I wanted to speech therapy so picking a college became about that. I knew after college I would have to go do a master's degree and again picking a graduate school became about that. I've never moved some place for any other reason but my goals! While that is an incredibly wonderful accomplishment I have no idea what my goals or dreams are anymore. I know what I would like to do but more than likely I will be able to do that in any place I choose. I don't know if I want to move back to Austin closer to family, to take a job somewhere completely random to experience a new place outside of Texas, stay in Dallas where I have incredible networks of job opportunities??

I know I can't have it all figured out just yet but this "grey" area tends to haunt me everyday. I know at some point I will have to sit back and let the plan figure itself out but I'm just not to the point of letting that happen. I will always welcome any encouragement and kind words from all of you.

Here are some pictures of my most recent adventures all around. I'm so thankful for having a summer break to relax and just try to "stop thinking"

My Parent's Grandchildren!

I finally got my t-shirt quilt back! Here is the women that made it! Such a great job!

Texas T-Shirt Quilts

Birthday Celebration in Austin! Chris, Steph, Myself, and Christopher

Weekend trips

First stop Waco: A bunch of us attempted to go swimming although it was closed after questionable water conditions so we settled for the bathtub (aka outpost pool). We tried out the daiquiri drive thru on our way back.

For those of you wondering what a daiquiri drive thru here it goes: Imagine a hut that you drive up to a door (not window) a rude girl, who probably hates her job and life comes to serve you daiquiris and "margaritas" in a sealed bag. Somehow a sealed bag skirts the open container law. Anyway, while the concept is a novelty to Waco it was not worth the ordeal or taste! There was no menu and clearly we were not on the ready to know the daiquiri flavors available so the girl had to walk 3 steps to the door, retrieve a small blue paper with a menu, throw it in the window, and stair at the ground waiting for us to decipher terms like "berry bomb". Two margaritas, two strawberry daiquiris, and twenty minutes later we left. I'm pretty sure the margs had no alcohol and weren't margs at all but lime flavored daiquiri mix posing as a margarita and the daiquiris were questionable but had at least a hint of alcohol. Overall experience and taste: F. I will not be going back!

Went to Wild West that night to see Casey Donahew Band. It was a good time! Here is a link to there website: http://www.caseydonahewband.com/

On Saturday night my family and I went to see Mamma Mia. It was mediocre. Being able to drink wine during the show made it more enjoyable. Basically got to Austin and turned right around to come back to Dallas. Made a stop at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and got this door mat with an "R" of course:

Not too busy of a week ahead and looking forward to making plans for the 4th!!!

New apartment pictures

So I live at Vue at Live Oak in an efficiency apartment. I LOVE being by myself and having my own space finally. Biggio has not gone insane...yet. I need to get him a friend but puppy training in downtown Dallas would be ridiculous. My goal is to have a dog as my graduation present to myself come December if I can wait :-). Okay so here they are!

Summer update!

SO I guess it has been forever since I updated anything on my blog. So here it goes...

I finished up my internship at Parkland in the May and started working on an independent study with the head of the speech therapy department at Parkland. I'm creating their family education materials for TBI, stroke, dysphagia, etc. I'm also compiling a new student manual for their program. So it definitely takes up a lot of time but the perks: I don't have to make comps study materials this Fall! I will have summaries/study materials already created. SO when I start attempting to study for my comprehensive exams in August I'll be a step a head. Forced to not procrastinate, thankfully!

I'm in two different practicums which I'll explain at a later time. Basically one I love (adult setting) and one I'm counting down to the final day (kid setting). Surprised?? I do love the little boy I'm working with, he is adorable when he isn't screaming :-).

In other EXCITING NEWS....

• I moved to my new apartment
• Betsy came back a month early from Europe (I was totally surprised and so excited)
• Betsy, Christopher, Lara, Nat, and Aaron's birthdays were this past June
• Steph, Meagan, Angelica, and Myself are all having birthdays soon!! (and I always thought I was SO young)
• I'm completely obsessed with "How I met your mother"
• I have 5 months until graduation...and have no idea what I will be doing :-)
• Planning river trips and trips in general during my month long vacation (in 3.5 weeks)
• Texas is in the college world series...hook'em
• Mamma Mia is this weekend and Wicked is in a month!

So, I will post pictures soon of the new apartment....when it isn't a disaster like it is at the moment. Till then here is a view of the outside :-) My apartment is actually on the right 3rd floor next to the balcony.

Sic'em Bears!!!

Baylor is going to the NIT Championship Game!!

Thursday, April 2 at 6:00 p.m.

 

Re-Cap of the Semi-Final Game

Spring!

So despite the fact that Texas weather can't make up its mind I figure my spring break vacation is the welcoming of the spring season!!  I have a little more than a month until this semester ends and summer semester starts. It is going to be more of a load than I was expecting but will be well worth it come Fall.  

Spring Break Highlights:

• Baylor basketball in the Big XII tournament,  we lost but so far so good in the NIT tournament, Sic'em!!
  
• Houston -- Time with Russell's family and friends, St. Patrick's Day was spent with Jessie James for some much overdue catching up! Russell's friends also joined us for the green beer holiday (although there was no green beer)
• Austin -- Shopping, hanging out at Chris's downtown apt, delicious dinner cooked by my sister (mmm), one night on 6th but the SXSW crowd was awful, but in general Austin was relaxing!
• LOOONG 5 hour trip back to Dallas with a pit-stop in Waco for some Baris's with Rachel

Post-spring break week was uneventful. I was glad to get back into a routine and VERY glad Russell got to spend some extra days here in Dallas. The countdown begins...only 9 more months until we live in the same city, hopefully less! The long distance thing is definitely trying on us at times but we are luckier than most to have the time to travel and spend so much time together. On that same note, our year anniversary is coming up next month. It's hard to believe that it has been that long! Things are just flying by! 

Upcoming Adventures:

I will be apartment searching soon for a new place to live in June, visiting Meagan in Colorado Springs in May before she is halfway across the world, Russell continues to look for a job in Houston, Dallas, and Austin that's the right fit, and I will continue my countdown until graduation!!  

Valentine's Day Antics

Russell and I spent the weekend at his lake house off Lake Livingston to "celebrate" Valentine's Day. Most girls would love to have a boyfriend that willingly celebrates v-day and I do love it but I'm also cursed. Despite all of my previous bad luck it turned out to be such a great weekend and we couldn't have asked for better weather! Biggio got to take a road trip up there with me and had a weekend of chasing bugs and rolling around in dirt/dust. Needless to say if he was a dog he would be getting a bath but since he still has back claws I'm not risking it!

Anyway, we basically spent the weekend watching movies, sleeping, cooking, and making numerous trips to wal-mart. A few adventures were inevitable with my bad luck but all turned out for the best. We decided Saturday afternoon to take the boat out on the lake, fish and relax. Relaxing was about the last thing we did. The boat died in the middle of the lake with no other boats around! I mean...who goes out on the lake mid-February besides us right? Oh, did I mention there was a storm heading straight for us at this point! Of course we both became meteorologist and predicted how long it would be before it got to us and at what point we should call the police to come rescue us! Luckily after about 20 minutes of waiting and a panicked phone calls to Russell's parents, I saw boat was in the distance and I said something to the extent of "boat, BIG ARMS, yell" to Russell and we got their attention. They towed us into his dock and about 15 minutes later the storm hit. We were dry and warm thank goodness!! It was a very laughable situation even at the time we both couldn't stop laughing at how stupid we were! I think we even resorted to sweet talking the engine a few times. So that was our big adventure of the weekend. A few minor freak outs about big spiders and roaches throughout the weekend but nothing on or near me so I won't complain.

The biggest excitement of the weekend is that I am now the owner of a Wii. I have been wanting one for quite some time now and finally broke down and bought it. Thank you to the GameStop in Livingston, TX! I'll take any recommendations on games. I think Russell is just excited he never has to think of presents for me again since there will always be fun Wii games for us to play :-).

The Hospital is Nothing Like Grey's Anatomy...it's even better!

I haven't talked too much about my practicum so I will fill everyone in.

I'm at Parkland Hospital on the trauma unit. It's a really cool setup they have for the speech pathologist. Basically every 4 months the therapist rotate between medicine/burns, trauma, outpatient rehab and inpatient rehab. So for this semester my supervisor is on trauma rounds and so am I!! I absolutely love it. It is challenging and crazy every day but I get to see and learn something new with each patient. Parkland has quite a diverse population coming through both in types of injuries and ethnicity. In fact I have been greatly inspired to learn spanish so I converse with many of our patients! It is frustrating to not be able to communicate with them in anyway. Parkland also offers a lot of help to unfunded patients. I think it's great and I won't get started on my views of our healthcare system. All I will say is that it's angering and inefficient and the more I learn and see each day makes me wonder how our healthcare system is so terribly run. Mind you it is run by predominately by insurance companies who never have contact with the patient but decide their future treatment...go figure! I only hope for a change...no it's not socialism!

Some things I've worked with at the hospital:

1. Traumatic Brain Injuries caused by:

• Car/Motorcycle/ATV accidents
  
• Gun shot wounds
  
• Horses in general
• Aggravated assaults
• Drugs (Did you know how many people do drugs? Cause I didn't!)
• Diseases (One in particular was caused from undercooked pork! Mom..don't freak out it happens rarely and "boot leather" :-) meat won't help!)

2. Strokes

3. Swallowing Disorders

Who knew a speech therapist had so many roles!!!

I currently have a patient right now that has a love/hate relationship with me. She hates everything about the hospital and won't let you forget it but secretly I think she loves the attention. She is a sweet woman, has a good heart, just stubborn as hell! I have now gone from being told to "get out of here" at the end of the session to "get out of here honey." haha, I can appreciate it.

Anyway that is a big summary of a just a month of being at Parkland. I'm sure I will have more stories to come!

6 days in New York

Day One:

We arrived early Friday morning at Newark airport. We had to take a train/subway to get to Michael's apartment. That was an adventure. Lets just say we got stuck in the turnstile a few times and then went the wrong way on the subway, haha. We finally got to his apartment with all our luggage in one piece. After that it was a day of exploring and LOTS of coffee since we left Dallas at 6:00 a.m.

The Empire State Building

We were able to get some great pictures of all of New York from here. Now it was freezing most of the time we were in New York BUT this was a particularly COLD spot to be. The wind was blowing so hard. Regardless we got some great pictures. After the Empire State Building we went to the New York Public library. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had no intention of going there and just stumbled upon it. The architecture was absolutely amazing and it was all marble. The night was spent drinking wine and getting warm!

Day Two:

We went to Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty is not that pretty up close :-)

Russell & I with the Statue of Liberty

Russell and I on Ellis Island with New York in the background

My Grandfather came through Ellis Island. I found his name on the wall!

Russell and I went to dinner on Saturday night but the camera wasn't charged so we don't have any pictures. We found this great little Italian restaurant, Pasta Prego Grill, and little coffee shop/bar. It was so adorable with a little fire place. We ended up staying out until 3 a.m. just us two chatting!

Day 3:

We went and ate lunch at ESPN zone. It was the only place Russell "had to go." Reluctantly (just kidding) I went and we had lunch. Queso = Nachos in the North, ha! We then met up with Michael to take a walk through Central Park and visit the John Lennon Memorial. It was like something out of a movie! Everything was covered in snow and it was so beautiful. We spent a good hour or so in the park just walking around. This was one of the "warmer" days while we were there. Here are some of the pictures through central park:

Russell, Michael, and I in Central Park

John Lennon Memorial in Strawberry Fields

That night Russell and I went to the Lion King. My parent's gave us tickets for Russell's graduation gift. It was such a great show. I had seen it in Austin before but seeing it on broadway was awesome. I actually ended up getting sick about midway through the first half of the show. That was a nightmare. We were dead center in the mezzanine which meant I got to make 30 people extremely happy by walking in front of them and tripping on their things to get to the bathroom. I think they should feel lucky I didn't erp on them! I got to feeling better after getting water. Believe me, I have NO idea what that was about but just glad I didn't get some stomach virus.

Day 4:

This was one of our busiest days! We went to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). We got to see tons of Picasso, Andy Warhol and Van Gogh paintings. There were a ton of really amazing pieces and a ton of not so awesome pieces. If I could paint it/make it then I don't think it should be hanging in a prestigious art museum! After the MOMA we went and took a tour of NBC studios. We were able to see the SNL studio (which probably be the closet we get to seeing a show) and Brian William's studio. After that we went on an impromptu adventure to try and get tickets to Avenue Q. We ventured to the TKTS booth where the was NO line. Crazy I know! It was snowing SO hard that day which was an adventure in itself. By this point and time we were thinking snow wasn't as "cool" anymore. It was in our eyes and covering our jackets eventually soaking them. However, we managed to get 3 tickets to Avenue Q for a great price!

Waiting at TKT for Avenue Q tickets in the snow!

After Avenue Q

Avenue Q was so so so SO funny. It was nothing like what we were expecting and a very nice surprise. I know it is coming to Austin so for all of you there GET TICKETS! After the show, the three of us went to dinner at Serendipity. That was my "had to go" spot. We had dinner and then for dessert, frrrozen hot chocolate (mine had peanut butter). I got to sit in the spot that Marilyn Monroe used to sit. Russell thought it was photo worthy so mid-dinner he took a picture!

Me at Serendipity sitting where Marilyn Monroe sat!

Day 5: INAUGURATION!!!!!

We woke up and went to Time Square where the three of us watched Obama become the 44th president. There were hundreds of people watching the big screens. It was such a great place to be! Lots of cheering! Here is some pictures from that morning:

Obama-man on Columbia Campus

The rest of the day was spent at the Met. That was probably the most overwhelming museum I have ever seen. There were so many exhibits and it was easy to get lost in it. We ended up feeling so exhausted from the week and didn't stay too long .We did get to see a few more of Van Gogh and Andy Warhol paintings and also some Renoir. That evening we figured out that it was "New York Restaurant Week." Basically all these great restaurant's had a fixed price 3 course dinner for only $35. The place we choose to go was Ono. It was SO delicious and worth every penny. It was great last dinner in New York.

Day 6:

I went shopping at H&M. Sadly, it is the only shopping I did the entire time. Not that I have money to be shopping! Then packed our bags and left!

It was such a great trip. We were so grateful for Michael and his roommate letting us invade their apartment for the week.

Vacation and Spring Update

Since it has been forever since I last blogged I'll try and do a brief update.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!

December

I finished last semester at the beginning of January! It has been a whirlwind ever since. Russell graduated on December 20th and began his job search. Unfortunately the economy is not friendly to new graduates but he is working hard to make as many contacts as possible. I helped him move from Waco to Houston then spent Christmas in Austin with my family.

Betsy finally came home for her vacation from France/Hong Kong. I got to spend a good amount of time catching up with her (it totally wasn't enough time either)! Regardless it was so nice and comforting to see all the Austin crew!

The day after Christmas I went to Houston for a Texans game and spent some time with Russell's family. The Texans game was such a great time and we ended up with really great seats. Since the roof is still damaged from hurricane Ike it stays open all the time. Of course it was raining and freezing that day! Russell then made the trip to Austin where we rang in the new year.

My sister, Mom, and I decorating a tree on 360

New Years Eve

I spent this night with the best people in the world! I couldn't have asked for a better night. It seems like forever since I had a night like this spent with friends. We all congregated at my best friend Chris's new downtown condo. We had a beautiful view of the Austin fireworks, danced, and toasted to the new year. I was so lucky to have a bunch of the Baylor crew join us as well. All in all it was such a wonderful night spent with my closest friends and family!

Betsy, Christopher, and I on New Years

Baylor Crew on New Years

(Russell, Me, Courtney, Josh, Thomas)

January- Cruise

My family took our annual cruise our of Miami this year. Our ports were San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. It was definitely the most "interesting" cruise we have ever been on. Dinner was always an adventure. You never knew what you were going to actually get and heaven forbid you want some soup from room service! The ports were beautiful. We were in San Juan at night and since my family didn't want to go on a swamp adventure we ate at a delicious Italian food restaurant. I know, italian in San Juan. . .but it was recommended for good reason!

My sister and I just spent a day on the beach in St. Thomas snorkeling. I got to see a SHARK! It was tiny and non-threatening. I'm pretty sure you could raise one in an aquarium but still it was pretty awesome. In St. Maarten we spent another day at the beach. It rained every twenty minutes but we all got some good sun. The next few days of the cruise were spent on the ship. My poor sister got so sick. I felt terrible for her and of course what worse place to be than stuck on a ship. I know she was glad to get home. It was great to spend so much time with my family, regardless of the "interesting" happenings of the boat.

My sister and I watching the National Championship game on the ship.

Did I mention I hate OU!

New Semester
I have officially started my internship at Parkland Hospital. I was assigned to the trauma rounds. This means I have patients that have brain injuries normally resulting from some kind of fall, car wreck, etc. Right now I'm just shadowing my supervisor. I have done a little work with patients. It has been really great so far. I can't say I'm not totally overwhelmed by the amount of information I've been taking in. It is going to be such a great learning experience and I know I will be challenged. I'm there five days a week from 8-12 and then have class in the afternoon. Classes have started pretty slowly. We had Monday off and my first round of exams is not for a few more weeks. Oh yea and everyone think good thoughts because I'm going to need a strong stomach during this semester!

I'll post another blog about New York once Russell gets some pictures up! It was definitely a great trip and the inauguration in Time Square was unforgettable!!