A mighty fine weekend.

Smiles all around in the household this weekend. We had friends from up north come visit, Paul and Kate.

The Royal Scoop, where every scoop gets and animal cracker!!

We saw avian and mammalian watery creatures in water that has been the clearest I’ve seen it down here…practically the Emerald City.

And we all shared in the happiness of Ryan getting his new bike.

Which he took out for a little spin around our parking lot after getting the peddles put on.

He is pretty darn happy with the new purchase and I’m happy that a year of research has been fruitful.

In other news, I have been officially assigned to my first outside rotation that will run from the end of May to the first week in July. It will last for about 6 weeks. It is the furthest rotation site away that I have put in a request for running about an 8 hour drive away. There are hills in that part of the state. I’m debating taking my own bike up there but don’t know how I feel about riding alone. I think a little research into any possible group rides would be a good idea. So far other than the long drive, etc, the only downer is that I won’t be able to participate in this year’s reverse triathlon. I was looking forward to finishing with a swim and getting to pass some people. Oh well.

Va goes to VA

As part of our school activities we are strongly encouraged to attend conferences and assemblies. Last year I went to the national assembly in San Fransisco and this year I went to the mid-year assembly in Washington DC. The MYA has a component of lobbying included and we spent 2 days talking with a couple of representatives and other classmates spoke with our senator. This trip also included some site seeing!

Angie and I stayed with Tiff who chauffered us to Mt Vernon (G.Washington’s home…). My impression, that man knew how to garden.

Check out the date on that tree…1785!

Our one other day of site seeing ended up being pretty overcast but a nice walk nonetheless. Because of the late and long cold spring the cherry blossoms bloomed late and we caught the tail end.

And we saw monuments galore.

I include the picture of me and the Washington Monuement (under rehab) simply to point out that I really do have weird ankles. Are they supposed to bend that drastically? A little creepy, dontchathink?

And yes, I’m site seeing in flip-flops. FL may have acclimated me more than I’m willing to fully admit.

Also in bloom everywhere were beautiful tulips.

On the home front we have *mostly* healed from the seasonal crud. Ryan was originally supposed to participate in a 1/2 Ironman Distance tri this weekend but he is just now getting back to his training distances and so he passed. On the fun front he finally got his new road bike. (Ordered, at least.) The man has been living frugally on his budget all year to save for this sucker. Talk about a man on a mission. It’s a Specialized Venge, red and black coloring because red is fast. (Direct quote.)

We are also getting into a better routine with clinicals and whatnot such that we were able to enjoy a beach Friday not too long ago.

This may become more of an occurrence. When in Rome, right? (Ryan is standing slightly off to the side because he was still not tip-top when this photo was taken and had no desire to share the crud.)

(FYI I had a post written for last Sunday but somehow the translation from delay publishing on the iPad ended up with the post just being deleted. There may or may not have been a gasp of outrage at that moment.)

(FYI – II. I did pass my exam and apparently with a good score. Yea! However, rather than leaving the test thinking I’m a rock star I just felt like Dori– “Just keep studying.” My eyes are no longer in danger of being gouged out and Ryan seems to think that I need to learn to better celebrate milestones because after my test I just went right back to the books since I had the day off from clinicals. Eh.)

Oh my eyes!!!!

So I have a fairly HUGE comprehensive exam on Tuesday that I have been diligently studying for the past few weeks. My life feels like a big pause button has been activated and I am looking forward to Tuesday afternoon when I can start working on other things. Also, I’m hoping my eyes will uncross by then. Positive side, I found a new coffee shop that I love. It is a small place with odd hours but it has that perfect blend of busy and quiet that is most conducive to studying. Their coffee is amazingly tasty as well.

On a humerus note I have gone to 2 yoga practices in the last 3 weeks. The first one resoundly kicked my tush and the second one served up more. It is interesting to me to find the imbalances between my left and my right. Some expected, like my right ankle is STILL, quite a bit weaker than my left (thank you climbing accident in college) but some are unexpected like my left hip joint being weaker than my right. Go figure. Still, it is nice to have something to work on. I’m not quite the noodle I used to be…definitely more al dente…

Ryan caught my crud. (Aren’t I just the best and most generous?) I think if this hits again this time next year I’ll just camp out on the futon for a week and spare him regardless of his protests otherwise.

Hoping you are crud free, cheery eyed and caffeinated.