Pet Therapy at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital

Tuesday night I went with a group from my school, CVF (Christian Veterinary Fellowship) to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital and joined with a pet therapy team to help cheer up pediatric patients. Only 3 of the 90 children were able to see the pets, but we were allowed to visit with many of the others and give them Valentines Day goodie bags. It was so great to see how happy the dogs made them. Two of them had dogs of their own at home, so they were especially happy to see a furry friend. We met a lot of patients that night, and I am still praying for each one of them. It breaks my heart to see kids sick, but I'm happy to see they are getting such excellent care. One little boy, Jonathan, is a St. Judes leukemia patient. He was at OLOL to receive a blood transfusion. He told me about his Make-A-Wish. In May, he will be joining Kenney Chesney on stage to sing a song. I can't remember the song. I asked him to tell Kenny Chesney "hello" for me. :) We got to help tell a little girl, Terrace, goodbye to OLOL- she was leaving that night! She was excited for a good meal. I don't think I was as comfortable in that setting as I would have liked to be, but it was only my first time. It's hard to see kids sick. I'll work on it for next time, if there is a next time. I hope we get to go back.

2.5- done! next is 3.0

I picked up the slack all right!

and it's offcial... I'm for sure doing the race. I registered last week and my bib came in the mail today.

Crescent City Classic

Did I mention that I'm training for a 10k? That's 6.2 miles. I've only ever mastered 1 mile. After that my brain says "No more!" But... Now 1.5 miles seems like nothing and I'm going to push myself to do 2.5 miles. I'm dressed and ready for my run now, but I just ate an orange and I'm going to let it settle for a bit. I was actually supposed to do 2.5 last week, but because of open house and the coating ceremony and with my family coming in - I actually skipped 2 days last week. It just happened that they were both the 2.5 days. So.... I'm going to pick up slack today... maybe :)

Shelly is actually going to come run it with me. All the way from Honduras! She will be coming in for interviews, so this will be just a bonus! Did I mention that it's also in New Orleans? I'm excited about that. I really like New Orleans. Maybe we'll go get some beignets when we cross the finish line!

White Coat Ceremony!!

My mom and grandparents came down on Friday afternoon, just in time to get ready and then head to the school for the coating ceremony. I found my seat and waited. I couldn't believe it was actually happening. I have waited for this for so long, and even though I've been in Baton Rouge for over 2.5 years, it felt like it came up so quickly. I wanted to remember everything. Dr. Taboada welcomed everyone there, and even commented on how our "family" has grown since the blue coat ceremony at the start of first year. This time... there was standing room only. He quickly cut to the chase and started calling names. I had an aisle seat, so that meant I was to lead the others behind me when it was our turn to go. Since I was on the opposite side of the auditorium from where we would enter the stage, we had to walk to the back of the auditorium and back down again. I saw 2 of my friends husbands as I was walking... but only because they called my name. I don't think I would have seen anyone's face if they had not brought themselves to my attention... I was focused on one thing only... stage... coat.... put it on without getting tangled up! Luckily everything went smoothly, I didn't get caught up in the sleeves or anything, and I even paused on stage so Josh could get a picture.













I almost missed it becuase I didn't see him standing up! Afterwards, we all congratulated each other out in the hallway then zipped off to dinner with the Smith's at Sammy's. Mom presented Stacey and I with cute festive gifts and "congrats" balloons!! She got us both super cute lunch boxes for clinics.
The next morning was open house. This is the best time to come visit the school of veterinary medicine, becasue all the coolest and newest technologies are out on display! Papa was very interested in all of the hands on things. He even got to put his hand inside a cow's rumen! Josh did too, which really surprised me, because things like this usually gross him out. There was no blood involved, but the smell of rumen contents is not very delightful. He was a good sport and did it though! He also got to palpate a set of goat lungs. They were set up on a machine that would demonstrate inspiration and respiration.

Tini's Photoshoot

What to do with my time....

Finally.... I'm out of the classroom :) I have 2 exams left until I start clinical rotations. I have a one week vacation between my exams and clinics. I dont' really know what I'm going to do with that time. I don't have a vacation planned... Josh has to work. I plan to work out and try new recipes... but that can't take up a whole weeks worth of time. I don't think I know what to do with myself if I'm not studying all the time. Josh tells me I'll just have to learn to get used to it, but I don't know that I want to. I enjoy being busy. Very very busy. Maybe I'll go hang around some of my favorite veterinarians's clincis. Maybe I'll organize Josh's closet (it's not color coded like mine is). Maybe I'll start studying for boards (haha). Seriously... I don't know what to do.

I've had a lot of free time in the last few weeks too. I was so bored last weekend I even cleaned my baseboards. Don't get me wrong - they needed cleaning... but that's not something I usually have time to do.

I should start studying for my finals soon. They are Monday and Wednesday of next week. I just can't find the self dicipline to do so. Instead I'm playing on here.

New Headband!

I got the most fabulous new headband from Anthropologie for Christmas. How did Josh get so good?!

I have worn it so much, but I'm sad to think that maybe I won't be able to wear it in clinics in just a few weeks. I can't decide if it will look unprofessional. Any opinons?