April Showers

No, I wasn't the only person on Earth raptured in May.  :)  Life has been a teensy bit crazy lately!  

Time to catch up!

Becky's Shower

Becky, her mother-in-law, and her mom

Candyce & Mecca

Ash & Me

Lauren (baby A was born in April, too!), Michelle, & Ashley

Easter

The next big event was Easter.  We had our usual extravagant fare, but got started having fun and put the camera down as soon as everybody arrived.  Luckily I got this cute one with mom before lunch started.

Operative Faculty Dinner

One of the most fun things I did this semester was teach in the D1 (first year) labs at school.  I worked in occlusion (ie, how your teeth come together) and operative (ie, fillings). To celebrate the end of the year, the operative faculty all went to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and dinner.  Unfortunately, we were cut a little short by tornadoes (literally - crazy weather), but Megan and I had fun none-the-less!

UT Scholarship Banquet

Last weekend the College of Dentistry hosted its annual Scholarship Banquet.  

It's always the same weekend as the hoopla that is the Mid-South Dental Congress (aka, welcome back to Memphis, dental nerds.  Come party with your old friends!)

I've been honored to receive the Gov. Winfield C. Dunn Scholarship for the past 2 years.  Governor Dunn is a dentist who [duh] became Governor of Tennessee.  He was an integral part of establishing our current clinic (which is named for him), and he is now the chair of the committee that is funding the multi-million dollar renovations that have once again made UT THE most technologically advanced teaching clinic in the country.  

So basically, he's kind of a big deal!

Thanks so much, Kendall, for this picture!

One of the best parts of any dental school event is the photo shoot with Dr. Hatch.  He's like party pics at a sorority function, y'all.

sweet Jeni and me

my handsome date, Heath

good friends!

me, Ashley, Katie, and Nishel

Last but not least, my Katie!

We needed a new one!

Whew, now that I'm caught up, it's off to Spring Break!  It's okay, go ahead and be jealous.  :)

yep, still here!

Geez, Louise!

How did two months get away from me?

Have you ever heard that phrase "running around like a chicken with his head cut off"?  Yeah, that's me.  And loving every minute.

Mostly.  Sometimes this little chicken wants to pull her hair out.


Anywho ...

Waaay back in January, my bff Erica came to Memphis.  We certainly needed a whole weekend to catch up.  (Speaking of, now that it's been two months, we need another weekend.  Come back, please and thank you.)

Yay for sushi dinner dates with your bff.

Then, there was the I-need-a-handful-of-pharmaceuticals stress of SRTA PIE I, aka how to become a dentist: really, this time, part I.

After spending all day with our plastic patients, I looked at Katie and said, "I NEED A DRINK." Lucky for me, she felt the same way.

Margaritas and Mexican always make for a great celebration.

Next, Emily's birthday.  So much fun catching up with friends I don't see a lot!

Oh, and as an aside, don't ever be the only non-dentist at a party.  Poor Alyssa ...

Then, there was Lauren's baby shower.  We are all soooo excited about baby Aven's upcoming arrival.  Oh, and baby girls are way too fun to buy for ... that really doesn't even need to be said.

Yummy cupcakes, of course!  

I should mention that I was incredibly close to winning the "guess the belly" game.  You know what I'm talking about.  Dang Candice and her perfectly-sized yarn.  

I manned Lauren's camera during the shower, so I will have to borrow some pics from her and post more about that later.

Now that I'm back on track, I'll post about the scholarship banquet soon!  Happy Sunday, everyone!

Good News!

A little bit of mail came Monday . . .

I PASSED!

(IpassedIpassedIpassedIpassedIpassedIpassedIpassed!)

(Whew.)

Thanks so much for all of the prayers, encouraging text messages, and support while I was studying and then taking that marathon-of-a-test.  One more big hurdle down!

Celebrating Christmas

Happy, relaxing, joyful day.

Thankful.

Blessed.

Giving.

Sharing.

Celebrating.

Gifts galore.

A surprise for you.

one new camera . . .

. . . and a Sooie, too.

Oh, and one verrry hopeful old girl at the dinner table.

We had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Christ as a family.  I hope you and yours did, too!

Christmas Cheer

Well hello, blog friends!  It's time to catch up.

After a verrry long two days of boards (nope, still don't know if I passed . . . hoping, waiting, hoping . . .) I was ready to leave Memphis for a few days!

Thursday night we celebrated with my Grandma and my uncle's family.  It was great to catch up with the Bowen clan!

the men:

Derek, Freddy (baby of the family), Dad (the oldest), and Wade

We missed Greg (middle brother) and his family, but I was glad to have my one sweet girl there - I can't believe Valerie is so old!

Grandma and me

(please pardon the I've-been-running-errands-and-cooking-all-day ickyness!)

Oh, and so it began . . . the spoiling of Sooie.  She spent most of the week in Mom's lap.  :)

The 12 days of Christmas Blog Challenge - day 3

Today's topic?

The Best/Most Meaningful Gift You've Ever Received

Oh my gosh, this is hard.  "Santa" always did (and still does!) the most amazing job of finding gifts that they he knew Wade and I would love.

Maybe the best approach is a top 5?  Although, I'm sure I will still leave some things out!

5. Christmas 1990 - 95? - Anything and everything American Girl 

I was obsessed.  I probably circled everything in the catalog for Santa to bring.  Mind you, this was back in the day when there were only 3 American Girls:  Kirstin, Samantha, and Molly.

Molly was my first American Girl.  She is very, um, well loved.

I have saved all of my dolls (and the boxes and boxes of their belongings) in the hopes that I will have a daughter one day that can play with them.

4.  Christmas '89? '90? - Gameboy

Oh, soooo many memories!  Wade and I spent so many hours on car trips playing Tetris against each other.  Remember that you had the cord, but then you had to turn them on at the same time, too?  I wish I still had my Gameboy.

3. Christmas 2009 - Wusthof Knives

For someone as obsessed with cooking as I am, this was an awesome gift.  Five new knives.  So sharp and slice so cleanly.  Ahhhh.  They rock.

2.  Christmas 2008 - Willow Tree Nativity Scene

I had been admiring this throughout our last minute Christmas shopping.  I was shocked to find it under the tree Christmas morning!  It has been fun to start collecting things to decorate "my" home.

1.  Christmas 2000 - Baby Grand Piano

You might be thinking this takes the top spot just out of sheer size, but you would be wrong.  I took my first piano lesson when I was 4 years old and continued through high school.  Needless to say, the piano have always been a huge part of my life!  I used to go to lovingly admire other people's baby grands and the grand piano at church, and my parents used to tell me that, if I kept it up (playing, that is), I could probably have one some day.  Fast forward to December 2000:  Mom started acting strange one afternoon on Christmas break, telling me she wanted to "go ahead and take the tree down." (The pretty one in the front room, not the handmade ornament, colored light one.)  I don't even remember the absurd reason why.  I helped her clean up the living room, rearrange the furniture, etc just as the white truck pulled up from Amro Music!  Of course, as obsessed as I was, I caught on immediately.  The piano came with a big red bow.  You know, like the kind some kids get on their car on their 16th birthday.

Best. Present. Ever.  

Over the past 7 years of college and dental school it is safe to say that my skills have regressed.  I still play every time I go home and get a chance and am really looking forward to the day that I have my own home so the piano can come to Memphis with me! (soon.  hopefully very, very soon.) 

What strikes me the most about this list is that every present is special to me because the giver really put thought into it and knew it would be meaningful.  (Okay, I'm not saying a Gameboy is "meaningful", but hours of fun with your brother sure is!!)  I try to do this when I buy gifts, but admit that I often fail in finding that "perfect" thing.  I guess every gift can't be perfect, but over the years, a few are certain to be remembered!

The 12 days of Christmas Blog Challenge - day 2

Day 2 (or 1b. in my case) of this Christmas-y blog challenge is "black Friday/general shopping tips and tricks".

My advice on black Friday?  Sleep in!!

I know, I know, I know, this is practically sacrilegious for some out there, but honestly, when you get up at 4 am most days, sleeping until 6 is a rare treat!  

Every year mom and I talk about getting up and going shopping.  For about 10 minutes.  This, of course, is always in the middle of all of our cooking and ramblings about life.  By the time the dishes are washed and the leftovers are in the fridge; however, we are have laughed that little talk off and set the coffeemaker for a more reasonable hour.

The point of my story?  Enjoy your day, however that may be.  If that is knocking somebody over the head in Target for that really adorable pump in size 8 at 4:09 am, go for it!! I will be cozy, warm and snuggly in my bed.  (And shopping at 11:00, when the really intense people have gone home.)

Happy shopping, everyone!

PS - if you have any really awesome finds or ideas for gifts, leave a comment!  (especially for my brother...he is the best gift giver.  so good, it's almost annoying.)

AAWD Wine & Cheese

AAWD is an organization that has become near and dear to my heart over the past two years.  I've written about it before when we had our Senior Appreciation Tea.  AAWD is a national organization that was formed by a group of women dentists who saw the need to support each other not only in everyday work, but also in education, product development, and home life, and that remains the core of the organization today.  


This year I have the pleasure of serving as President of Tennessee's student chapter.  We have an amazing group here at UT, not only students, but also faculty and administration who have helped us build from the ground up over the last 5 years or so.  


Our big kick-off event every year is our Wine & Cheese Party.  Need I say more?  


The foundation that manages the Woodruff-Fontaine Home, a beautiful Victorian in Memphis's Victorian Village, is very gracious every year and allows us to use the Lee Fontaine Carriage House for the party.  It is an amazing place!  They have been renovating over the past 3 years and recently finished the Bridal Suite upstairs.  Mrs. Lovell, the foundation President, showed Dr. Harrison and me around before we set up, and it was beautiful.  Amazing to think they used to keep horses there.

Lauren, Nicole, me, and Katie

The calm before the storm!  We were in the kitchen waiting on the girls to arrive with the food.  Just after this you would have thought a hurricane had come through.

Enjoying the party in white - as Katie put it, "it's almost Labor Day!"

Sweet Jessi, another UA Chi Omega!  It has been so much fun having her here in Memphis. I had to twist her arm to get her to come because the D1 class had a quiz the next day in their morphology class.  Her stress brought back a lot of memories about starting dental school and having to learn the ropes ... when it's necessary to freak out, when it's not ... mostly just falling back on verses like Matthew 6:27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?".  Forgetting that, dental school could involve a LOT of worry.  

My Clinic Coordinator, Dr. Blen.  He is AWESOME.  I could not have asked for a better dentist to have as a coordinator.  He is to-the-point, funny, helpful, full of applicable advice, and he lets us make our own mistakes and learn from them.  Talking on an iPhone?   Not his strong suit.  HA.  He was a good sport about it, though, and let me take his picture!

Our Clinical Director, Dr. Seeburg, and his wife, Marcia

Dr. Seeburg has been an excellent addition to UT; it is great to see him walking around the 4th floor every day.  

Whew!  Finally sitting down and enjoying a minute with friends.

D4 Class Picture with Dr. Harrison, our faculty advisor

back row, from left: Valerie, Denise, Rebecca, Angie, Ashley, Michelle, Clair, Lauren, Nicole, Candyce, Joi, Dr. Harrison

Friday it was back to ZIPS events, so watch for another post soon!

Weekend Whirlwind

This past weekend I travelled across my favorite state to visit some of my favorite people.  All-in-all I spent about eleven hours in the car and was away from home for less than 48 hours, but the whirlwind roadtrip was just what I needed.

I left early Saturday morning with Sooie in tow to go to her friend Bella's house (Ashley's), where she was going to spend the day and night playing.  I just have to say, I love that when I call my parents to let them know I'm going to be gone, they don't even ask, "where are you going?" or something along those lines, but immediately, "who is keeping Sooie?!?"  Oh, they are already like grandparents!

She has figured out that something is up ... even though I packed her bag (lots of tail-wagging and bouncing around involved), "her" seat is not empty and the leash is mysteriously still on.  Note the confused/slightly angry face that she is not going to go on this trip.

After dropping Sooie off at Ashley's, I headed off to Bentonville!  About 45 minutes later than I intended.  Oops.  I was on my way to NWA for my friend Kelsie's bridal shower, so I was on a bit of a schedule.  Arkansas, here I come!

Okay, I don't recommend taking pictures while you're driving, but these are two of my landmarks:  the first is the I-30/I-40 split in Little Rock.  After Little Rock, the drive becomes infinitely prettier!  Then, on I-540, the tunnel, which to me, was always that sign that we were getting close to Fayetteville on a football game weekend (or that I was close to getting back to school).

On this trip, though, this is what happened when I was in the tunnel:

Hello, gas light.  Don't you know I need to get to Bentonville?

So, I stopped in Fayetteville.  Whew, full tank, made it to the shower.

The beautiful bride!

Kelsie's friend Megan gave her this cute "K" apron.  We can just ask Jared's Aunt Tina what it is for.  I'm so glad I was able to celebrate with Kelsie!  Less than one month until the big day.

After the shower I drove back to Conway and spent the night with Erica.  We took no pictures.  :(  Of course!  It's like we have a disease when it comes to taking pictures.  I told her yesterday that this will be the one hiccup on our path to world domination ... we will not have a picture to put on the posters.  If you know me and Erica, you know this is not far from the truth.  :)  After endless hours of catching up Saturday night and church Sunday, I reluctantly came back to Memphis and real life.

Such great friends, such a great weekend.

Katie had a birthday!

I love birthdays.  Is it your birthday?  Your half-birthday?  Let's celebrate!  I'll bring the cake! 

I have had a [small...okay, huge] obsession with birthdays as long as I can remember.  Growing up, my parents made a really big deal about our birthday.  Not the present, but the day itself.  Your birthday was your day, the day that was all about celebrating how special you were!  This is something that has stuck with me as I've gotten older; each of my friends' birthdays is a day that, more than any other day, I try to let them know how much they mean to me, how blessed I am to have them as a friend, and how special I think they are!  I sincerely hope that they know I am thankful for them everyday, but know that I am guilty of not expressing that enough. 

Thus, the birthday extravaganza. 

I know, I know, call me obsessed, overzealous, and out-of-control, but come your birthday, there will be a party, and I will be making you a cake.  And telling you happy birthday.  Starting about a week in advance ...

My sweet friend Katie had a birthday Saturday.  She was out of town last weekend, so we opted to hold off on her big celebration until Wednesday (our first test was Tuesday).  She chose Bosco's for her belated birthday dinner.  Her request for cake was vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting; they were her request last year and were the hands-down favorites from all of our celebrations. 

me, the beautiful birthday girl Katie, and her pretty pink cupcakes

(if you have ever met Katie, you know that pink frosting with sprinkles was RIGHT up her alley!)

We had a wonderful time laughing, catching up, and eating lots of delicious food.  We laughed about clinic stories, the joys of [finally!] being D4s, stresses, and professors.  Then a department chair stuck his head in our little room and waved.  Oops.  (Good thing we didn't say anything about him! Lesson - your momma was right, you NEVER know who is listening!)

Leslie, Ashley, me, Katie, and Nishel

(as you can see, we cleaned our plates!)

Katie and Nina

(Poor girls, they were doing lab work until after six.  Are you jealous?  I'm not!)

Jeni and Clair

After we ate, we enjoyed our cupcakes and Katie opened her gift:

Yep, those are cat potholders and a "blond" scrubbrush!  Katie just moved into her own apartment last year and has been having fun stocking her kitchen!  Jeni did a great job finding things that screamed "Katie".

To mix things up a little from last year, I made this year's cupcakes vanilla with a strawberry filling and buttercream frosting.  This picture is so ugly since the filling smeared, but I was wanting to dig in and didn't want to pause to take another one!

Oooh, the deliciousness.  One day I will be super-saavy and take pictures of my baking like my friend Kendall.  Until then, I'll just direct you to the recipes.  The cupcake batter was  "Ultimate Vanilla Cake" from last year's March issue of Southern Living.  Both the filling and buttercream came from Nick Malgieri's book Perfect Cakes.  (I wasn't able to find those recipes online, but I believe the book is about $25 and has a lot of delicious recipes - a good investment if you want to start baking from scratch.)

Ashley was so excited that she wanted a picture with hers.

Oh, so much fun!  I am already looking forward to our next celebration.

Happy birthday, dear Katie!