NYC!

Alec and I went to NJ/NY for a long weekend to visit our friends Bill and Mimi Tolsma. They are good friends of ours from college, we were so happy to see them again! They live about an hour outside of the city in Ringwood, NJ. They showed us such a good time, we were able to see so many sites in New York City. We did a LOT of walking, which was good since it probably helped keep us warm since it was SO cold. At one point I realized I could hardly feel my legs I was so freezing cold.

Some of the sites/things we saw:

• Statue of liberty
• The show Mama Mia
• Central Park
• FAO Schwarz - the famous toy store
• Dylan's Candy store
• Rockefeller center
• the Today Show set
• Wall street
• China Town
• Little Italy
• SOHO
• And soooo many more!

It was a really fun time, and it was good to get away for a long weekend before I started school again. I started up again yesterday (monday), it has been a little overwhelming but it always is at the beginning of the semester. Hopefully it continues to go well!

Josie's surgery

This past monday Josie got spayed, it is a pretty major surgery. For females dogs they actually do a total hysterectomy, I found the reason for this was because it greatly reduces their risk for developing cancer later in life. I dropped her off at the vet at 8am monday morning, and then was able to pick her up later that afternoon.

I am little unsure about how the recovery is going, she is definitely NOT herself. She also developed a sore from scratching the area they shaved her, thankfully not near the incision really but it is a pretty bad sore. So I have been putting a dressing on it and put an ace bandage around it to protect it so it can heal. She is just acting weird, doesn't want to move basically and just wants to hang out in her cage. Not a happy camper. She does continue to show minor improvement, I just thought her recovery would be a bit faster and go a little smoother than it is. Kind of breaks my heart to see her so uncomfortable :(

I hope she makes significant improvement over the next week because we are leaving for New York next thursday for a long weekend. Josie is staying with some good friends of ours, Dave and Amy, who have a little dog named Pepper. They are aware of Josie's current state, and are totally fine with watching her still thankfully! Amy is in med-school so I'm sure she'll be fine with handling our little patient. Josie did weigh in at the vet at 15.6lbs! A little more than I actually thought she weighed, she is such a big girl now. She is done growing I do believe, seeing as she is almost 9mon old now!

I am still just enjoying my time off from school still, don't start classes again till the 24th. Looking forward to getting back into it though, I know as soon as the semester starts though I am going to fall off the map a little, but I'm sure the semester will fly by. Its going to be a very busy one, I added up the hours and I have 10hrs of classroom time and 20hrs of clinical time per week. That is almost a full time job, that doesn't even begin to include studying and homework time. I'm excited about my classes and clinicals though!

End of semester/Christmas

Happy New Year everyone! Maybe I should make one of my resolutions to be more diligent about putting up blog posts.....probably not going to happen though. We have had a great holiday season, and I am definitely enjoying my winter break. I finished the semester finally, so excited to say that I graduate in less than 1 year! This coming semester I am taking pediatrics, OB, gerontology, and Med/Surg II. Should be a another challenging semester with lots to learn, bring it on!

We had an excellent Christmas in Michigan. We were able to spend time with both families and enjoy some quality time. Of course though the driving gets very old! Lots of fun, lots of good food, and lots of awesome presents!

People have been asking me what I am doing over my winter break, I don't start class again until January 24. I am working a bunch more days than I normally, which just involves picking up the kids from school and then I stay at their house with them until 5pm. I plan to catch up on some scrapbooking, organize closets, and just enjoy not being swamped with school work and studying!

We have a few fun events we are looking forward too. We are actually heading back to MI this coming weekend to see some Grand Rapids friends. The following weekend we are getting together with our friends here for my birthday, and then the next weekend we are actually going to New York for a long weekend to visit some friends we went to Calvin with. We are really looking forward to our trip, neither of us have seen New York city so we are looking forward to seeing all the sites!

We are thankful for everything that 2010 brought us, it was full of blessings and many great memories! We are looking forward to 2011, who knows what changes will come our way this year!