O'Neals in Vegas

We made the 1900 mile, 30 hour drive to Las Vegas over the 2010 Memorial day week. We crossed 2 time zones and 5 states..... whew! After unpacking about a bajillion boxes we are finally settled into our new home. Thanks to Mom for coming along for the ride!

Ozark Race for the Cure 2010

I've run or walked in the race for the cure since 1997, so I was upset when I thought that I would not be able to participate this year. The Baton Rouge race is in March... and I was in Little Rock on externship at that time. The Little Rock race is in October... and I was stuck on the equine rotation. I was so sad!! until.....

Josh and I went to visit his parents last weekend. It was the last free weekend available before we move to Las Vegas. Two nights before the race, I received an email about volunteering at the Survivors Breakfast on the morning of the race dated April 24. April 24!! That was the weekend I was in town!! It may have been midnight, but I was getting online to register. I was so excited!! The next morning I told Josh, and not only did he not care that I was planning to race, he wanted to get in on the action! Then when I told Mom about the Bark for the Cure, I signed up her and Bentley!! It was a nasty, cold, rainy day, but we had a good time anyway. I always get a little teary eyed at the start line as I think about my Granny, and this time was no exception.

Mom and Bentley at the Bark Start! They almost won!! They were behind the pace car the entire way!

Mom and Bentley found us after we finished our race. We didn't hang around in the rain too much longer. Poor Bentley was sooo cold!

13 years in a row

That afternoon, Meredith was playing in a volley ball tourney, so I popped on down to say hello to the rest of the family!

We finished the night at PF Changs for a yummy dinner!

Thou Shall Not Covet...

... oh but I do!! This bag is so fantastic!! Graduation present?!?! Unlikely. so I'll continue to drool from afar :)

Viva Las Vegas

Every single year, a map is placed in the hallway of the LSU Veterinary school. The senior students' names are typed on a piece of paper and tacked to the side of the map. Then we come along and move our name to the city in which we'll be working or interning for the next year. I've waited to do this for the last 4 years!!!! Seems silly, I know... but it stands for so much more than just moving. It's graduation from vet school. My first ever (real) job! I'm a VETERINARIAN!!!!

The only thing I'm not so excited about.... the 27 hour, 1600+ mile drive that it will take to relocate!! AHHH!! Our route from Mapquest.com :

I Lost Tini.....

.... for 1.5 hours.

I was folding laundry when I realized I hadn't seen her in about a half hour. Not unusual, but frightening all the same. I look in the usual spots; under the bed, in her tunnel, the litter box, the balcony, our closets, under the covers....no Tini. I pull my sweater storage tupperware out from under the bed. I pull all the books, magazines, CD folders... everything out! No Tini. Looked in the linen closet, the food closet, under the couch cushions, in the kitchen cabinets and drawers. No Tini.

My neighbors graciously helped me look outside... in all the stairwells, behind all bushes, under cars... No Tini. . I shook her favorite bell toy, rattled her bag of treats... No Tini.

I stayed close to the apartment in case she returned, and continued to check the inside again and again and again. I looked to Bentley at one point, and said.... she's really not here is she???

Then! I heard a faint... meow. I tip-toed toward the sound. It was coming from Josh's closet. But I had already checked there! On all the shelves, in the dirty clothes basket, everywhere. Then I hear it again..... mew. The boxer drawer!! She was in the boxer drawer!!! I was folding laundry and she must have jumped in while I was putting clothes away! I shut her in there myself!! AHHHHH! bad mom!!!

CCC2010

Shelly and I ran the Crescent City Classic 10k again this year. We ran it together for the first time last year, and really enjoyed seeing the city's people come out and cheer everyone to the finish line. We also noticed a LOT of costumes last year.... how did we not get that memo?! Well... we were much more prepared this year. We dressed together as the tortoise and the hare. You should have heard everyone talking about how cute our outfits were!! yay! I was gchatting with Shelly tonight, and mentioned to her that we should try to make a goal of doing a race in each state by the time we're 45. How cool would that be?! We'll see if we actually follow through with it, but we have a small start since we've raced in Arkansas and Louisiana. Next up... Nevada!!!

Where the fun never stops....

A good friend of mine recently got engaged... one of the best things that can happen to a girl in love. You can read her story and be excited with her, but for now.... I want reflect on my marriage. It is not our anniversary or Valentines day, but I wanted to be mushy anyway.

Josh and I like to think that we have a really strong relationship, and maybe that's because we have so much fun together. We can go just about anywhere, and have a blast. Seriously.... everywhere. A few recent examples are below.

Josh mocks the SNL skit "The Lawrence Welk show features Sister Act"

Josh and I regularly DVR Saturday Night Live, and we absolutely adore Kristin Wiig. If you watch the above video, you'll understand why we cracked up laughing when we found a small hand statue during a recent trip to Hobby Lobby.

Las Vegas: A New City, a New Bird

Vegas is all about the entertainment. Ok, so really it's all about the gambling, but entertainment follows close behind. So while Josh and I were visiting, we decided to be entertained. We went to see our favorite Late Night man- Jay Leno! The show was fantastic, and he is hilarious! We left the show smiling and feeling somewhat empowered (at least I did...). While we were waiting on the valet to bring our car around, I noticed a woman with a Macaw and ran over to greet the bird. Of course, I explained that I'm a soon-to-be-veterinarian so that I could gain bird-holding privileges. It WORKED!! The bird liked Josh the best. :)

Quick Change

I love to dress up, but not only in the glamorous kind-of-way. I love love love Halloween and theme parties because of the dress-up-factor. Below are a few of our best characters.

Screech and Jessie Spano

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love

80's Work-Out Couple

Mario & Princess Peach

Josh Holds His Own Strong-Man Contest

Ok, so I'm going to brag for a bit... Josh is probably (absolutely) the most thoughtful, conscientious, do-gooder type of man you will ever meet. He is always helping people out. Well just tonight while we were heading out for the season's first round of crawfish, we noticed a man trying to push his Tahoe out of the street. Josh didn't even think twice, but jumped out of OUR car and started pushing! I was in shock! But by the time I whipped my iPhone out, and watched him flash me a smile as they passed our car he was back in the driver seat and huffing and puffing! Good thing we skipped the work-out tonight, he saved all his strength! Maybe this doesn't count as "fun" for most people, but the adrenaline rush that it gave me makes it count!

I love my Joshua. I hope we never stop having fun. Even in the nonsense silly kind of way. Well. That's enough mush for Iditarod.

Stay-At-Home-Mom

I'm playing stay at home mom for the next 6 weeks. Yep... I'm finished with school, but won't officially graduate until May 10th, which means I get to sit around until then and become acquainted with the homebody attitude. So far... so good. But I'm already feeling the itch to get out and do something. I made a large check-list this morning, and all but 2 things have been marked off.... and it's not even noon. I should slow down I guess.

One of the things on the to-do list was to apply for my Nevada veterinary license. I can hardly believe I'm finally going to be a veterinarian. There will be no more "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I think I'm finally a grown-up now.... maybe.

So if anyone has any spare time to pop on down to Baton Rouge, I'll gladly accept company :)

Tortoise and the Hare

Shel and I are trying our hand again this year for the Crescent City Classic 10K in New Orleans. It was so much fun last year! So many people dressed up in costumes, the fire department came out to cool us down with the water hoses, and bands were playing all along the 6.2 mile route. Shel and I are going to dress up this year. We were thinking of The Tortoise and The Hare theme. I, of course would be the tortoise with my snail paced 12 minute mile. However, I have a pink tutu that I am dying to wear, so I'll take on the character of the Hare. If I remember correctly, the tortoise wins anyway :) I'll try to post pictures in our race attire.

Vegas & Boards

I have a minute or two right now to blog (on holiday for Mardi Gras). My first free minute in a long time!

So it's 100% decided that Josh and I will be moving to Vegas after graduation. I still don't know in which clinic I will be working, but I should find that out in a few weeks. We are pretty excited, but I'm starting to become a little scared about being the actual doctor. I've been playing doctor for the last 12 months, but I always had someone to back me up and tell me I was doing the right thing. At least I'll have 4 or 5 other doctors I can ask if I get in a bind. We've already been looking at a place to live in Vegas, and I can't believe the prices on some of those places! We'll be able to have so much more space for the same price as here in BR. I think it's going to be SO fun living in such a big place. Who knows how long we'll say there... we're planning on one year, maybe two. Then it'll be back to AR. I think....

I found out a couple weeks ago that I PASSED NATIONAL BOARDS!!! I could hardly breathe when the woman on the phone said "You Passed".... I was actually sitting down with the LSU SVM photographer going over my senior composite (see below) and a woman from the Arkansas Veterinary Medical Association called to tell me I passed. I was trying so hard to focus on what the man was telling me he could do to perfect my picture, but I was just way too squirmy to sit there and talk about a picture. I got out of there as FAST as I could..... hopped on the elevator (alone) and literally jumped up and down and screamed the whole ride down to the first floor. Then I found all my friends, who were also finding out they passed, and we all screamed and jumped up and down and had little mini-parties in the hallway. This continued all day..... I swear... this was one of the best feelings I've ever felt. One of the pictures below ended up being the one I chose... I don't know which one though.... Wish I would have had time to get a hair cut in before the photo was taken... my bangs are aweful. The small animal surgery rotation just doesn't allow for that kind of time.

I'm starting to get REALLY sad about leaving Baton Rouge and all my friends here. I can't believe it's almost over......................................................

Christmas Card!

Our Christmas card this year included our babies... Tini and Bentley.

In case there was any question what was going on in the pictures... Josh and I took turns taking pictures of each other as we loaded the tree onto the top of the car. Tini was "helping" me wrap Christmas presents (note wrapping paper in the background), and Bentley was trying to eat the rare snowflakes that fell in Baton Rouge.

The holidays were a bit different for us this year. I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we were happy to at least have each other. I know that sounds sappy, but it works. We hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season.