Time is all around...

Oh NOOO! It's Sunday! :( Where did the weekend go? Sadly we can't look forward to a day off during the week. But at least Columbus Day weekend is coming up! I have big plans to visit the family upstate and take my little munchkin, Brianna apple picking! I'm so excited for chilly Fall weather and leaves crunching beneath our feet. I miss my family so much; and I even miss my old, small town. Hopefully this week will go by quickly!

Yesterday Connor and I spent most of the day inside. We got up, ate breakfast and took a trip to the laundromat. BLEGH. It was yucky and boring as usual, but I read my Food Network magazine while we waited, so it wasn't too bad. I got some great new recipes to try, and I even got some Halloween cupcake ideas! Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I'm thinking of having a small Halloween party at our new home. I'm thinking creepy desserts and a smokey punchbowl! We'll see what happens.

After laundry, I hung out on the couch and watched Harry Potter. My friend Kim stopped by for a little and we had some fun girl talk. Connor listened to a couple of lectures and studied. Overall, it was a very relaxing day. Oh, and I finally got a chance to bake my brownies! They were so yummy. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture before I dug my face into them. I'm so bummed!

Connor has a DPR practical exam on Tuesday that he's a little nervous about. He'll have to meet a standardized patient and take his/her blood pressure, pulse, and breathing rate. Then he gets assessed on how well he did. I think he'll do wonderfully because Connor is so personable. Everyone loves him!

Next week he has computerized exam #3, which means.... DUN DUN DUN studying hell is approaching. But I will try my best to keep Connor together with lots of food and hugs.

Hope you guys have an easy, peasy Monday. Let's try to make it through in one piece!

Mandy <3

Happy Yom Kippur!

Having Wednesday off should be a normal occurrence in my book of life. Everyone needs time to catch up on things during the week and Wednesday is the perfect time to do it! I went to the grocery store today and got a couple of things. I bought the peppers for dinner and some rice. I was so excited to give my first attempt at stuffed peppers a go. They turned out delicious! I made them with a vegetable rice and ground turkey. Connor loved them. I also made some baked sweet potatoes chips. They were my favorite. I packed some for lunch tomorrow and can't wait to eat them again! (I sound like a glutton... I know.)

This morning I made banana walnut whole wheat pancakes and turkey bacon. It was such a nice way to start my day off. Connor kept saying that it felt like Saturday and it really did feel like the weekend. Connor didn't have Anatomy lab until 3pm today, so it was really nice to have a relaxing morning together. Usually, our weekday mornings consist of me running around getting ready, packing my lunch and barely noticing what pants I'm wearing while Connor makes the coffee and gets to studying. Needless to say, this morning was a great departure from the norm.

So on Tuesday Connor took his second big exam and an Anatomy quiz. He said they were difficult as expected, but he thinks he passed. I always think he does great because he's brilliant and works his tushy off. I took a picture of what he looked like studying as evidence of his misery hard work.

Tuesday night we went to the movies for cheapo night and it was so much fun to relax and celebrate Connor surviving his crappy exam day. We saw the movie The House at the End of the Street and it was pretty good! It definitely scared me. I'd give it a 7.5 out of ten. (Who doesn't love being a movie critic?) The back-story could have been developed a little more, but it still left me with a lingering sense of disturbance, which I think is obligatory for the thriller/horror genre. 

It's spirit week at the high school, which I forgot to mention in my earlier posts. Monday was Blast from the Past day and Tuesday was Twin day. My cooperating teacher and I both wore flowers in our hair for Twin day. It was cute! Tomorrow is Neon day, so I'm going to wear a bright orange cardigan. Friday is our Pep Rally, so we're encouraged to wear the school colors (red, green, and white). I have a feeling Friday will be chaotic! I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Mandy

Case of the Mondays

Ohhhh boy. Am I the only person who had a rough Monday morning? It was just not easy getting up today. Especially since now the sun isn't rearing that beautiful head of his until about 7am. I had a bit of a rough morning, but thankfully, my day went really well. I did my lesson today all by my big girl self and it was wonderful! I'm finally getting the hang of it. The lesson was on writing complete paragraphs using their five proper paragraph rules. And they were great. I made up fun activities that involved going up to the Smartboard and grouping ideas into topic sentences and supporting sentences. They really enjoyed that. My favorite lesson that I've done so far was a lesson involving groups of students reading different paragraphs to come up with an original topic sentence relating to the details of the supporting sentences. Each member of the group had a role: speaker, writer, and reader. It flowed so wonderfully and the students had a great time.

I have a bunch of chatter bugs, but I'm learning now how to get their attention and re-focus them when their minds and mouths start to wander. That is truly the most difficult part for me. Teaching the material is the easiest (and most fun) part of teaching. Classroom management (in particular for high school kids) is... yuck. Hopefully it'll start to become second nature.

Connor had his OMM exam this morning and he was given step 9 of the modified ten steps of osteopathic examination. He was pretty happy about that seeing as that only involves asking the patient to move her (his patient for this particular exam was a female) head in a few different directions. Basically, it's a head and neck mobility test. He only lost one point which is great. Especially since he had the dean reviewing him (how lucky to get the dean to be your critic!). Overall, he kicked butt. As if I could expect anything less!

He's now studying for computerized exam #2 (the biggie) and the anatomy quiz, which he will be taking tomorrow morning and afternoon. I know he'll do great. He's been studying incessantly, just as a med student should!

So how about that Real Housewives of NJ finale yesterday?! I mean, holy crap, was that entertaining to watch or what? I don't know who to believe: Theresa or Melissa? I just couldn't tell. If you are lost reading this part, you can just skim right over it. Or you can tune in to the re-run of the episode tonight at 8pm.

I'm so happy that tomorrow is like a Friday because I have Wednesday off. My ESL kiddies are so cute. One of them  said, in response to being told that there is no school on Wednesday, "I love America!" I loved that! Indeed. God bless America and its resolute commitment to acknowledge and observe all (or most) Jewish holidays. I plan on making stuffed peppers with ground turkey on my day off and baking brownies. Living it up! My cozy home and my super awesome fiance make me the happiest girl alive.

Good night, blog supporters!
Mandy

Can I check your vital signs?

Happy Saturday! Happy first day of Fall! Happiness all around. It is officially Fall and I couldn't be... well, happier. Goodbye Summer. See ya next year!

So the other day Connor decided he would like to check my blood pressure and look inside my ear with his new doctor tools. It was pretty fun. Having my blood pressure taken is always very terrifying for me. I feel like my arm is going to explode and it's just an overall uncomfortable feeling. But Connor did a great job. After about five attempts, he got my blood pressure and it was low like always. I'm surprised I'm alive. It was something like 90/60. Then he looked inside my ear and said he saw my ear drum, which was white. Disturbing! I looked inside his, but all I saw were little hairs and something that looked like a tiny pebble. I doubt that was the ear drum! Connor then proceeded to try some of his OMM techniques on my back and he finally discovered the curve in my spine. I kept telling him it was there, but he was finally able to see it for himself now. He mentioned something about my spine being rotated back slightly and curved to the left. Sounds scary, right?! He did a couple of hand techniques that made my back feel great. He's going to be such a great doc!

A few big exams are coming up, so Connor is in full panic study mode. He has an OMM exam on Monday, and his second computerized exam is on Tuesday followed by his second Anatomy quiz right after. Needless to say, he really needs to bury his head into big textbooks.

Hope everyone has a relaxing Saturday!
Mandy

Rainy Tuesday

What a great rainy Tuesday! I'm so glad I can be home to enjoy it.

Today was a very relaxing day, and I was able to get tons of work done for school. I cozied up on the couch with my coffee and laptop and got to work. I'm really hoping I have a great three days and my lovely students give 100%! When they really get into it, it truly makes my job so much easier and extremely rewarding.

For dinner yesterday I made chicken fajitas and they were delicious! Connor and I had dinner while the sun was going down. We were able to watch the whole thing right out of our patio door. Today I made Italian chicken sausage (for the first time) with penne pasta. Connor loved it. I, on the other hand, wasn't crazy about the taste of the Italian sausage. But the pasta was fantastic!

I also made a single layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a chopped walnut topping! It is sitting on my kitchen counter and I'm trying (very, very hard) to not devour it completely. I can't wait to have a slice while watching The Voice tonight! I love that show.

Connor had anatomy lab today and he dissected the abdominal viscera. He told me that his cadaver had gall stones which look like black Nerds (you know, the candy). YUMMM. He also let me know, although I could really do without all of this information, that we all have an "apron" of fat that begins right at the top of our abdomen. His choice of descriptive word there was a little disturbing to me, but it seems pretty accurate. He also had a pop quiz and he only got one question wrong. What a smarty pants.

Enjoy the rest of your rainy Tuesday!
Mandy

A Day of Relaxtion

Good Morning! To all my fellow New Yorkers, isn't this beautiful Fall weather just wonderful?! I'm so excited. All the windows are open and the Fall breeze is swirling around the house. So cozy. To make this morning even more cozy, I decided to make blueberry bread with leftover blueberries that I had sitting in the fridge. It's currently in the oven and I can't wait to eat it. It's taunting me from inside the oven. The smell is filling up the house and it's too lovely! Ahh thank you, Fall, for all your gifts.

Yesterday was awesome! Connor and I got a couch from Ikea and had it delivered to the house for only $57 dollars!! It was great. The delivery truck ended up coming sooner then later and we had the couch built within an hour! It's a beautiful grey color and is so comfy. The chaise lounge makes it irresistible! Our new home is coming together so wonderfully. I feel so lucky to have found this place. All the crumby things that happened with our old apartment was such a blessing in the end. I still can't believe it! Connor and I have some good luck on our side ;)

My parents are coming to visit today with my four year old niece, Brianna. She's four, but she acts more like a fourteen year old diva. She's too cute. The things that come out of her mouth astonish me. I can't wait for them to see all the work we've put into the place.

Connor is doing really well in school! His quiz and test grades all average in the B range, which I think is incredible for just starting. He'll find out the grade of his first big exam sometime this week. The school has a system where they send you the answer key along with your test answers, so you can see how many you got wrong. However, they give you 24 hours to challenge a question you got wrong. After those 24 hours end, they take a few days to reevaluate then give you your final score. We'll see what happens, but from what we know about his answers, he definitely did well.

Hope everyone enjoys this beautiful, relaxing Sunday!
Mandy

Don't Wake Me Up

Hello hello. It's Tuesday and I can't wait until Fridayyy. I'm ready to have some drinks and some chill time with friends. The last week and a half has been extremely chaotic and I didn't have much time to just relax and have fun. Like REAL fun. Not vacuuming and Windexing fun. Plus, this weekend is a four day long vacatiooooon! WOOP WOOP. Sleepin' in on Monday!

Tomorrow will be my first day teaching all by my little ol' self. I'm kind of nervous, but my students are really awesome, so I think they'll cut me some slack ;)

Today I made teriyaki chicken stir fry and it was pretty good! Connor and I had time to sit down and eat dinner together, which was a very nice treat after yesterday's craziness and a long day at school today. Connor is studying the wrist right now.. I wish I could say more but that was the extent of what he told me when he peeked his head inside the bedroom door. Probably because he knows I wouldn't understand the remaining details.

Lately I've been a little obsessed with Chris Brown and his new album. Connor think it's funny that I'm listening to it all the time, but it's too good NOT to listen. If you have time, download it. It'll make you want to dance all night long!

No, I don't need my locker combination.

Hi guys! Hope everyone had a manageable Monday. Mine was Manic (notice the capital M). I woke up frantic when my alarm went off because I was lost in some lucid dream. Then I rushed to get ready, flew out of the house (because I had to finish a worksheet for my lesson before my teacher got to school) and, consequently, I left my brand new Rachel Ray lunchbox right on the counter! I didn't realize until I got to school and cried a little inside because I had packed an awesome lunch of strawberry yogurt topped with fresh blueberries, and a chicken sandwich. My cooperating teacher tried to cheer me up by letting me know that a "teacher lunch" is offered in the cafeteria downstairs. Like I wanted that when I had a gourmet lunch packed for myself!

However, ladies and gentleman, my superman of a fiance always comes to my rescue. He realized I left my lunch and actually drove to the high school to drop it off. At the end of second period, my name was called over the loud speaker to pick something up at the main office and I almost thought I was hearing incorrectly. "Did they just say... my name? Nooo. So a student has name similar to mine?! Cool!" Despite having a big exam today, Connor took 15 minutes (and those 15 minutes are VALUABLE to a med student) out of his study time to save my tummy. He's the best.

Anyway, so after school I went to Connor's convocation which was really wonderful. It started off a little slow and for a second I was nervous I was going to have to sit through hours of rambling. Thankfully, it was short and sweet! I saw Connor proudly wearing his white coat (which I ironed minutes before we had to run out of the house!) and got to hang out with Connor's mom, who always makes me laugh. It was a very busy Monday, but in the end, very fun!

Back to school tomorrow to work my teacher skills! Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get asked for a hall pass or if I need my locker combination...

Love,
Mandy

Loving this rainy Saturday

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Saturday. I woke up late, made waffles, and cleaned the house like crazy. I loved it! On Friday, Connor and I went to Target to get a few things, particularly a vacuum. Our first apartment only had wood floors so there wasn't a need for a vacuum. However the new house has tons of carpet and it needed to be vacuumed desperately. So I bought my first big girl vacuum and I feel like a real woman now! I'm not sure what that says about female empowerment, but I'm not interested in going down that road. All I know is that wielding this big, beautiful sucking machine makes me feel powerful and I couldn't be happier.

My cleaning spree took up most of my day shockingly. I cleaned every nook and cranny of the patio doors and they are sparkling clean now. Connor said they look brand new, so I feel totally validated with my cleaning job. ;)  Connor is now studying in the living room (which has become his own private study space), and I'm in the bedroom watching Twilight New Moon. Those movies never get old!

Sadly I've seemed to have caught a cold. It's terrible. As soon as I enter school buildings, my immune system falters. I hate it. I've been sneezing and coughing all day, but I refused to let it slow me down today! I'm now chugging green tea and hoping that I'll spring back to almost full health within the next two days. Monday is Connor's convocation at school and I'm so excited to see him standing proudly on stage in a white coat. He's so awesome. Everyday I think about how proud I am of him for all that he has achieved and all that he will achieve in the future. I feel incredibly lucky to have met such a smart and motivated young man! :)

Okay well enough of me gushing. I'll get back to my cheesy vampire movie and green tea.

Goodnight,
Mandy

Is that.... blood?!

Hello, hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Thursday. We officially survived the week. I'm so happy tomorrow is Friday, so I can finally have time to get things done around the house. Today I started making dinner as soon as I got home, so Connor was happily surprised when he walked in the door and found a bowl of pasta and baked eggplant waiting for him! It was really delicious. It was whole wheat pasta with spinach, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. I also picked up some fresh bread on the way home. You can imagine how much I ate. It was just so nice to finally have some time to enjoy the new home and cook some good food.

I actually have a funny story about Connor coming home today. I hear him knock on our patio door, so I walk up to the door and see him standing there, looking very handsome in his scrubs. Then I open the door and am smacked in the face by this horrible, offensive smell. After being in the anatomy lab for 3 hours, he seriously smelled like a cadaver. It was SO GROSS! Okay now get ready for this... Not only did he reek of formaldehyde, but he had blood stains on those scrubs. I nearly passed out. So yeah, this scene occurred right in the middle of my kitchen, which was originally smelling of delicious food. The perks of living with a medical student! ;)  Times like these, I wish I had a washer machine in the house.

I hope you guys have an awesome Friday! 

Love,

Mandy

Back to School Week

School is officially in session and it's CRAZY. I started student teaching yesterday in a high school full of hormonal teenagers and no AC. Needless to say, it was chaotic. My cooperating teacher is awesome, so I'm very, very lucky. She makes me laugh all day long. But she's also really caring, which is so important when it comes to our ESL kiddies! The day flies by because of the constant shifting from one classroom to the next in such short amount of periods. We push-in for three science periods (Living Environment & General Science), and two math periods (both Algebra 1). Working in Science and Math classrooms is definitely a departure from what I'm used to, but I'm learning so much about the different demands of a secondary ESL teacher. We have one period of ESL III (my favorite period, of course), which is where I'll be doing my solo teaching. Pause for a shudder. It's kind of scary, but I'm ready to just get started. No time for anxiety to set in. Monday will be my first lesson all by my little self. Hopefully, I do well and the kids don't walk out on me.

Connor had Anatomy lab today and they worked on the heart. He and his group were randomly chosen for the quiz today. The professor plopped a bleeding (okay, so not really bleeding, but this is how I imagined it) heart in front of them and pointed to a specific part of it and said "What is this?" I would've said "gross viscera" but I don't think that would've flown. Of course, Connor got that question right because he is incredibly awesome at all things science related. (He's so cute, too.) If the anatomy stuff doesn't get you, my nauseating lovesick rambling will.

So, right now I'm working on putting together tomorrow's ESL III smartboard lesson about organizing ideas into groups. And Connor is sitting in the living room doing his usual stuff: burying his head into 4 textbooks and listening to a lecture with headphones on. Normal night! We have been exhausted lately with the move during this hectic week. Thankfully, my momma-bear came over for night to help me clean-up and organize the kitchen. That was a big help. We still need to get the living room and bedroom put together, but I'm sure that won't happen until this weekend when we MAYBE get time to breathe. Connor has his first HUGE exam on Monday, so I don't expect to see much of him. If I do see him, it will be the Connor that I described above. Hopefully he will kick butt on his exam and feel wonderful when it's over.

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their day off today! (Hopefully you DO have off, as you rightfully should!) Connor and I are currently at his parents' house. We went to the beach yesterday and got home late after taking the ferry, so we decided to stay the night instead of driving an hour back home.

We had so much fun at the beach! It was a beautiful day of relaxation and eating really delicious food. There were really cute babies there, too! Nothing beats little rubber babies. Connor played beach volleyball with the guys, which was fun to watch. It was a great way to end the summer and soak up every last bit of the sun before cold weather hits!

I can't express how truly excited I am for Fall weather. It's by far my favorite season and it's a shame that it's so short. If I could have my way,  Fall would last until the week before Christmas. However, would it be as magical? Probably not. So we must enjoy the beautiful colors, the perfect 60 degree weather, and rainy afternoons while we can. Oh, and no more bug bites! *sigh of relief*

So I know most of you are probably thinking "Enough about you, lady! What about the medical student?" Okay, okay.. here it is. Connor has been watching plenty of lecture videos about things I wish I could wrap my mind around. Some of what he is studying includes: Genetics (like I said, I wish I could understand), Embryology, and Anatomy. Embryology definitely seems more interesting. Connor is obsessed at looking at spines now and how they curve.  It has something to do with how the spine develops in the fetal stage and continues to develop after the baby is born. So if your baby is around, he will probably have an urge to look at his/her spine to see how it is developing.  Totally normal!

Speaking of normal, Connor has been working on a cadaver in anatomy lab, which he has affectionately named "Hank." When I say "working on" I mean he has opened the back, dissected through superficial muscles of the back and the deep tissues, opened the spine with bolt cutters, studied the spinal cord, opened the chest cavity, removed the ribs with a bone saw and dissected out the lungs. If you need to take a breather after reading all of that gross information, please do. It makes me queasy just thinking about it. Thankfully Connor has a strong stomach. I'd be a wreck in that room!

So living with a medical student definitely has it's pros and cons. I absolutely love having a stethoscope in the house. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, so anytime my stomach feels even the slightest bit off, I love asking med student Connor to take a listen in to hear my inner workings. Hey, you never know if he might catch something! The cons? Well, I'll definitely have to get used to seeing him sitting in the living room reading a book while simultaneously listening to a lecture with headphones on and talking to himself in a language foreign to the one we communicate in. But really, it's awesome when he gets enthusiastic talking about these things and his eyes light up. Ladies & gentlemen, the shoe FITS! This is totally what he's meant to be doing. God bless his journey to doctorhood! :)

Talk to you all soon!
Mandy