in the works...

i'm telling you about this so i'll commit myself to it and actually follow through. this is stuff i've been meaning to blog about for a little while now, and just haven't gotten it done. now that you know about it, hold me accountable.

future blog topics (in the NEAR future, i promise) will be:

1. the cheesecake corner

2. ghost river brewery

3. sean's birthday dinner (julia!!)

4. shopping report

5. november painting show

thanks for listening, we'll talk soon. :)

seattle

sean and i are planning our first "find out if we want to live here post-med school" trip to seattle!! we're looking at going just before thanksgiving, since sean has that entire week off. we would, of course, be back in time for turkey :)

we got a travel book yesterday, to get the process started, and have also done mucho research on flights, trains and car rentals for a side trip to portland, and a little work on the cost of apartments... just to get an idea of the big city prices. (actually wasn't nearly as shocking as i thought it would be. yay!) so i don't really have any details for you, but we are getting excited about this opportunity to live somewhere else... here are some of our favorite pictures we found while perusing the internet yesterday.

think happy thoughts

well, we're getting CLOSE!! on friday, sean takes step 1 of the us medical licensing exam. it's no secret that this test is a pretty big deal. i know it. he certainly knows it.

first thing's first: mad props go out to sean because he has maintained his signature calm & rational approach to this test. i feel as though he could easily be worrying himself sick- if it were me i'd most definitely be curled up in the corner in fetal position right about now. after our racquetball game today, he did admit that the nervousness is beginning to come out. completely normal, though. no nervousness is not a good thing.

sean has worked his ass off for the past two years, and kicked it into super-high gear for the last month and a half. i didn't know people could actually study as much and he and his friends do. he deserves every bit of good that comes his way.

so think happy thoughts on friday from 8am-4pm. well, actually, just go ahead and think happy thoughts starting NOW. gracias muchachos.

gettin' back out there

i got a break in the unemployment storm this weekend. while i was in knoxville, i got a call from a firm i had contacted a couple of weeks ago. the owner was the one who called me and expressed an interest in having me do some contract work. SO yesterday i went in for the first day of work!! i basically worked during the afternoon, on some schematic design for a local renovation project.

there were a few challenges that came with the job:

1. this place is much smaller than LRK. as in, they have 2 full-time employees. i'm used to all the ambient noise in LRK's office. even on the quiet days, there was some noise. not at the new place. it is veeeeery quiet. it's not necessarily a bad thing, will just take some getting used to.

2. LRK had "custom" key-commands for AutoCAD. and because that's the only place i ever used CAD, that's all i've ever known. now i have to get used to the out-of-the-box commands, as well as the random custom settings that were setup by the person who usually uses the computer i was using. along the same lines, the layer system is obviously completely different. i won't go into detail, but those of you who know what i'm referring to probably understand my frustration.

3. i miss my LRK friends :( enough said.

but the positives are great... the office is literally a 2-minute drive from my house. i guess i could walk, but come on... let's be realistic. the people there seem very nice, and the boss was impressed with my initiative to take AND PASS the leed exam. he's studying for his right now. and above all else, it's some money, experience, resume booster, and possible connection for future employment.

so it took me almost 8 weeks to find a little work. hopefully it will last :)