busy week!

The past week has been a whirlwind! It has been so busy, but so great. Last friday I finally summoned enough courage to press "SEND" on my PA school application. I have been working on that bad boy for months. Every hour I have spent shadowing had to be written down and explained, all my extracurricular activities explained, volunteer experiences, "personal statement", reference letters, transcripts, coursework, grades, etc. etc. Needless to say, after Garrett convinced me that nothing could possibly be done to make it any more "perfect", we went to Mellow Mushroom for celebratory beers and pizza.

Then we headed to my favorite place on this earth: the beach. I can't quite put into words how much I love being there. I literally feel myself starting to relax as I drive over the AB bridge. The weekend was amazing, as always. We went to dinner at my favorite place on the water, Front Street Grill, with mom and my aunt, uncle, and cousin.

I woke up Sunday to this view:

(this is Heaven to me... coffee and the beach)

I came to the sad realization that the weekend was over and it was time for Garrett to head back to Raleigh and for me to start studying for my microbiology test. Micro was my last of 12 PA prerequisite classes, thank goodness. I needed a 58 or higher on my test Monday to make an A in the class and not have to take the final exam on Wednesday. I left my test confident that I made at least a 59 and headed straight back to the beach for my very short 48 hour break before second summer session started.

My best friend since 6th grade, Kate, and her momma, Kathy, met me there. Lucky for us, our moms are best friends too! The 4 of us had such a fun time, as we always do. [Side note: Kate's brother, Shain, is Cam Newton's personal assistant... how cool is that?! Go Panthers!]  Kate and I are complete opposites, but that's why we get along so well... she is my very best friend and always will be :)



After a full day of babysitting at the beach on Wednesday I headed back to Greenville to get ready for the first day of second session class, which started this morning at 8am (shoot me in the foot). Then the driving continued as I headed to Fremont to drop Bella off with Garrett's parents. They are going to keep her for a week to give me a break (yes she is only a dog, and yes you would need a break too. she is exhausting). It would be embarrassing if I told you how much I miss her...

Garrett's Nana lives right across the street from his family so I stopped in to say 'hey' and give her a hug and I left with a belly full of delicious food. Her amazing cooking is one of the many reasons we love her so much :) She is Garrett's favorite person on this earth, hands down. Every time he goes home she is the first and last person he sees. The other day I was joking with Garrett and asked if I was getting on his nerves, and he said "there is only one person in the world that doesn't ever get on my nerves". I clearly thought he meant me... but he said "my Nana". I am A-ok with being 2nd place to her... she is an amazing grandma and an amazing lady. If you have a grandparent half as great as Garrett's Nana, you are lucky.

The traveling continues tomorrow as I head back to the beach right after class. 9:30am can't come soon enough. Have a great weekend!



it's a GIRL!

As I'm sure you have seen by now, Keehln and Colt's baby is a GIRL!!!!!!! We planned a "gender reveal" party for them at my mom's house and it was a blast. Mom and I met with the cake lady earlier in the week and handed her the envelope with the gender inside. When she delivered the cake Thursday afternoon I was so anxious to look at the inside. (How cute is that cake?!?)

We decorated the house in blue and pink. It turned out so cute!

Voting for girl or boy with small pacies

On the invitation we told everyone to dress in pink or blue... whichever you thought the baby would be. Here are the results:

team blue... the LOSERS

team pink... the WINNERS!!!

Now it was time for them to cut the cake. They were sooo nervous! Keehln cheated... she made one cut then pulled the knife out and said, "I THINK IT'S PINK!" Then the cake fell onto the plate and she yelled "PINK!" and everyone starting screaming and the tears started flowing. As mom and I said, you could have knocked us over with a feather. I would have bet all my money (which isn't much) that it was a boy. I had prepared myself for baseballs and toy trucks and all things blue. But really, I was hoping for a little girl to spoil to death with bows and baby Uggs and dresses.



We were all completely, 100% shocked. My candid reaction (tears and all):

I honestly could not be more excited to have a niece in November. I am counting the days until I get to hold that sweet little girl!

sisters :)

proud parents! and you can't even tell she's preggo...



18 weeks!

Baby update!! Keehln will be 18 weeks tomorrow and she finally has a baby bump!

Today we went to her gender ultrasound appointment. It was so amazing to see the baby's face, spine, tiny feet, arms, legs, and fingers. They could clearly see the gender of the baby and were "99% confident about it", but we don't know it yet. We will find out Thursday at the gender reveal party we are having for Keehln and Colt. Me, mom, and Eliza have been planning this party for the past month or so. I absolutely cannot wait for them to cut that cake and see blue or pink icing, eeeeeek! I have a very strong feeling as to what the baby is, we will see if I'm right or wrong on Thursday ;)

Side view of my precious niece/nephew!

Happy parents

An arm and a leg

Keehln's weekly growing bump:

Amen. Happy Sunday!

Personal statement

Hey everyone! I have been slacking big-time lately on the whole blogging thing... woops! This summer has been busy so far. I am either studying for an exam, shadowing, studying for the GRE, working on my application, traveling to the beach, or chasing my dog around (sounds fun, right?).

Well, in the past 2 weeks I have spent a LOT of time on my "personal statement" for my PA school application. This is the last thing holding me back from pressing that "submit" button... so scary. I saved this for last because I figured it would be the easiest thing on the whole application, but boy was I wrong. As I sat down and started to gather my thoughts about what I wanted to tell those people reading my application, my mind went blank. Of course I know why I want to be a physician's assistant, but it was much harder to put into words than I thought. It really got me thinking... if you had to write one essay for someone to read about your life and your goals and your motivations, what would you say? My strategy: be honest, explain the love I have for medicine, describe the feeling I got the first time I "scrubbed in" and watched my first surgery in the OR, and hope for the best!

Happy Saturday!