High Five for Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I'm blogging to you with my feet kicked up, relaxing. It's been a long week with two exams, a lost lunchbox, and a husband that was away for a couple of days. But, let's not dwell on that. It's time for High Five for Friday! Aaaannnnnd.......GO!

1. Last Saturday, we got to see the wedding of Chris and Gill, two of our friends from community group. Most of us from the group were able to go, and we all clean up real nice (don't ya think?)!  It was a beautiful ceremony at the Donelly House here in Birmingham, complete with delicious food and drinks, dancing, and what else, but Steel City Pops! Weddings are just so lovely, sweet, and blissful.

2. Monday was my White Coat ceremony - see that post HERE!

3. Got a new best friend this week. This little contraption is what we call "the schematic eye." I should probably give it a name, since we will become quite acquainted. It's helping me learn how to do retinoscopy, which means soon I will be able to determine your prescription with one little hand-held instrument (and that tray full of lenses)!

4. Jesse had training in Dothan this week, which also meant he got to spend time with his brother and sister-in-law. Then he came back home, and all was right with the world. :)

5. I had some girl time with my friend Hannah this week, and while we chatted, Jesse worked on some small repairs on my car. Then he washed and waxed it, without me evening mentioning it. He loves me. :)

White Coat Ceremony

Monday night my classmates and I received our white coats! This means that we are at the stage in our education that we are moving into the clinical setting, as we spend this year learning skills to care for our future patients.

Why a white coat? The back of our program for the ceremony summed it up best: "White was chosen with good reason as the new standard of the medical profession. White represented purity and is a visual reminder of the physician's commitment to do no harm. White represents goodness, cleanliness, symbolizes seriousness of purpose, and represents a cloak of compassion. Likewise, the white coat reminds optometrists of their professional duties to practice their art in honor. The white coat, as one of healthcare's most important symbols, signifies that a doctor's responsibility is not only to treat the patient, but also to care for patients well-being. Today, the White Coat is the universal symbol of the health profession."

We were able to invite a few guests, so my parents and Jesse's parents came. They are all so supportive of us! While looking over the photos, I just realized I only started out in this world with one of the four of them, but am so blessed to have each of them in my life.

And of course, my main squeeze (or, as he likes to be known, my sugar daddy). There are not enough words allowed in this post to express his love, support, and patience for the last... 10 ten years (literally), as I've worked toward this goal of optometry.

And while my whole class is amazing, these three girls here help me keep my head on straight. I don't think I could make it through without them!

The Interns Pledge

With full deliberation I freely and solemnly pledge that:

I will practice the art and science of optometry faithfully, conscientiously and to the fullest extent of my ability.

I will uphold and honorably promote by example and action the highest standards, ethics, and ideals of the optometric profession.

I will provide professional care for those who seek my services, with compassion and due regard for human rights and dignity.

I will hold as privileged and confidential all information entrusted to me by my patients.

I will place the treatment of those who seek my care above personal gain and strive to see that none shall lack for proper care.

The Birmingham Zoo

Last weekend, as a last hoo-rah before starting my second year of school, Jesse and I went to the Birmingham Zoo. (What to do? What to do? Go to the zoo! - Just for you, Andi!) It's been on our to-do list for a while now, and we just haven't gone. Thankfully, they were doing a summer promotion and admission was only $5 per person! It was a little overcast with rain on the forecast, but that didn't stop us, or the other hundred or so people that were there. We took our time strolling through each exhibit, making sure we didn't miss anything along the map. Here's a little of what we saw:

 Inside the Butterfly House

 This guy was fun to watch eat all the little leaves off of twigs.

There were elephants behind us. Random man that took our picture didn't think they were important for the shot, apparently. Gotta take what you can get. ;)

A sea lion show! It's amazing how well-trained these animals can be!

The lorikeet exhibit was awesome. You get to walk inside of it with cups of food/nectar, and the birds just fly around and land on you, or walk onto your arm to see if you have any food left. They were beautiful!

High Five for Friday

1. Sunday, we were invited to be a part of a friend's engagement. Hannah and Adam have been dating a while, and it was only a matter of time for him to "pop the question." He secretly invited many of their friends and divided us up into three groups: friends from around the time they started dating, friends from a duplex several lived at in Auburn (girls on one side, guys on the other) plus other Auburn friends (us), and then current Birmingham friends and family. Lots of people fell into lots of categories, because these two are amazing people who you can't help but love. Groups of friends were stationed at 3 locations, and Hannah was driven to each site, then finally came back to her apartment (the last stop with more friends and their families) where Adam was, then he said lots of sweet things - some loud enough for all of us to hear, some just for Hannah - and got on one knee. She said "yes," and the room burst into cheers. It was wonderful and beautiful to witness all of the love in the room - not only the emotions between Adam and Hannah at such a special moment, but the fact that they were surrounded by SO many of us that love them dearly as well.

2. Monday I started back to school. This semester will be difficult and busy, for sure, but we are finally getting to learn how to use our equipment, gain some hands-on learning, and some clinic time! (Real patients!! Well, not our patients, but at least we get to interact with them!)

3. I got some new boots! I know, a little premature considering fall/winter isn't here yet. But I looked last year and never found a pair I liked, then I saw a pair while online browsing. They are Keens, which I've never worn before, so I guessed at my size based on reviews, found the best price (Amazon, duh), and used some promos on I had accumulated (I love you, Amazon). The result: a very good price on leather boots. They came yesterday. I'm going to wear them around the house a bit to make sure they are keepers.

4. Jesse played ultimate frisbee again this week. (I think I've mentioned that before.) He's loving it. He comes home so sore each time - says there are several "fit" high school kids he tries to keep up with, which made him realize he wasn't as "in shape" as he thought. ;)

5. Last night we joined my class and the 1st year students at the Baron's game, and had a fun time together outside of class getting to know the incoming students and giving them tips and advice to make it through!

Sorry, not a very interesting week. It's all kind of been a blur as I've been getting back into the routine of school and trying not to fall behind on the first week. You should fill up the comments below with your high for the week to balance things out around here!

High Five for Friday

A rather belated High Five for Friday post, but you might as well get used to that considering I'm about to start school this week. I can defend myself by saying we were trying to pack fun into this last "free" weekend. :)

Let's recap this week:

1. Last weekend we went home (had dentist appointments on Monday - no cavities. Yay!) We got to visit with Jennifer & Jarrod at their new home, and they were kind enough to let us stay for the night. Then more friends came (Dusty, Jason, and Jenna) and we ate dinner. Great times with great friends! We also spent time with our parents, ate a few fig (one of my most favorite things in the world), and went golfing... well, I drove the cart.

2. I did a whole lot of nothing this week. Which is what you should do on your break from school. It was well deserved, if I can so say myself.

3. We discovered Teavana this week. It's a store in our local mall that sells tea and all things tea related. But it's a whole experience to go into. It started because we were easily persuaded by the employee at the entrance passing out free samples of a hot and a cold tea. (I'm not one too pass up many free samples of just about anything.) Plus, I have really wanted to love tea. I know that's silly, but during the winter I would want to end my night with a hot drink, but wouldn't want coffee (caffeine), or even something all that sweet (gasp, I know!). So, I tried a few teas here and there, but never fell in love with any. So, we went into Teavana and they have all of these cute cast iron teapots with matching tiny cups and saucers, some of which had more teas ready for sampling. Then the employee told us to come to the checkout counter for the full experience, where he opened up the big tins that contain the tea blends for you to buy, and waved the lid around the top of the container so that we could smell each one that we had sampled. We bought one of the fruity, herbal teas we had sampled (shown above). The quality of these teas is unlike anything I've ever bought in a tea bag from the grocery store.

4. I had just decided that I wanted a small notebook to carry around while in New York to journal a few notes here and there to help remember all of our experiences. Target knows what they are doing with paper goods. I could stand on the notebook isle and drool over all the cuteness. So when I saw this collection of notebooks, it was perfection. The other two are Paris and Rome... maybe I'll get to use those one day.

5. We spent Saturday at the Birmingham Zoo! (More to come on that later!) (Also, I'm not sure why we look airbrushed in that photo... that's a little weird.)

Monopoly House Party

Through houseparty.com, I recently won the chance to host a Monopoly Unleashed House Party that I applied for.  I was sent a "Party Pack" with Monopoly, Connect 4, Candy Land, and Monopoly Deal Millionaire from Hasbro with the requirements to invite at least ten people, host a party, play the games, and take some photos. So we invited lots of friends over for Friday night, and I spent a couple of days prepping for the party. I went with the Monopoly theme, as that game was the star of the box.

I made Mini Lasagna Cups, garlic bread, a veggie tray with dip, and cupcakes for snacks/dinner:

(I made the toppers for the cupcakes. If you have any reason for a board game-themed party and would like to print these, you can find them HERE to download and print.)

We had quite the turnout, with many friends filling our apartment. We broke up into groups and played the games from the Party Pack. Monopoly ran almost the whole night long. After playing through the other games a few times, we also broke out other games to play, some of which were made by our friends Mike & Kelsey (of Two Penny Games). 

Monopoly now has a new playing token - a cat! (If you were a fan of the iron, it no longer exists.) Mike was the lucky "winner" of the cat token.

After a dueling game with lots of trading and bartering, our Monopoly winner was Luay (and his side-kick Heather):

Some other games that made an appearance:

The Amberden Affair - Two Penny Games

Rousing rounds of Catch Phrase!

and Castle Panic.

The late-stayers participated in some photo booth silliness:  

This one took a few shots...

Mike & Kelsey - their cuteness just can't be beat.

A beard, special made for Reba! It made her so happy. And this picture makes me happy.

Travis and Mike pondering...

Photo booth kisses!

Kelsey nearly loosing an eye.

Told you.

Everyone had a great time! I loved planning and prepping for the party as well. I'm glad I had the chance to do it!