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!

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.)

The 12 (...um...14...) days of Christmas Blog Challenge!

Oh, this looks like fun.  First, thanks to Chelsea for sharing her holiday traditions and introducing me to this little adventure.

Here are the topics:

Day 1: Christmas/Holiday traditions

Day 2: Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks

Day 3: Most meaningful gift/best gift you've received

Day 4: Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season

Day 5: Favorite Holiday Movie/TV Show Special

Day 6: Gift ideas (what do YOU want? We all have family/friends reading our blogs...so let them know!)

Day 7: Holiday Craft/DIY  (If you don't make anything, what do you WISH you could make?)

Day 8: Least favorite thing about the Holidays

Day 9: Favorite Holiday recipe

Day 10: Favorite Christmas Songs/Caroles

Day 11: New Year Resolutions

Day 12: Show us your decorations (indoor/outdoor)

Day 13: Favorite Cookie Recipe

Day 14: Oprah's Favorite Things: What item(s) would you want if you were in the audience?

Yesterday was Day 1, so I'm a little behind already.  Oops!  Better get started.

____________________________________________________________________

Our Christmas Traditions

Bowen holidays are best summed up by one word:  family.

I do not have a single memory of a Christmas or any other holiday, for that matter, that does not revolve 100% around my family:  immediate, extended and honorary.  

A great example - our Easter celebrations every year.  I wrote about it here.

At Christmas, Mom and I always bake hundreds of cookies.  We started this tradition when I was in college; we would have a "cookie drop-in" on a Sunday afternoon with my friends, mom's friends, and Mimi's friends.  As Mimi has aged and become unable to continue this tradition, we have kept baking cookies, but deliver them on pretty trays or platters as gifts instead of having people over.  I hope that one day we can resume our holiday get-together.

Sometimes we have helpers when we're decorating

Gracie, Christmas 2007

Will, Christmas 2008

As for Christmas morning, Mom and I are always up early baking (homemade cinnamon rolls - yum!!) getting a jumpstart on our ridiculously large meal and sharing mimosas.  Dad is always in charge of herding the dogs (yep, I said herding.  With Sooie thrown into the mix of their 5, it truly is herding, especially when meat prep starts happening in the kitchen.  He is a pro, though ...)

When Wade wakes up, he will pour a cup of coffee and (1) comment on the 9:30 mimosas and (2) ask us what time dinner will be.  This is when we feign defensiveness that he would question our cooking methods, rush us, etc, but we all love it! It is tradition, after all!  

When we've all had enough caffeine, the present opening begins.  Now that we're older, it is not so much about opening our own presents as it is about spending time together laughing and talking.  It is always a lot of fun to see what little surprises Santa brought, and also to see everyone's reactions as they open their presents.  

After the presents, Dad and Wade clean up while Mom and I hit the kitchen.  We never rush it, just cook and enjoy each other's company until the food is ready.  Always the same menu, plus (never minus) a few pies.

Some years there are additional family members or friends, some years it is just the four of us and Mimi.  Either way, it is perfect. Always.

At the end of the day, we are always way, way too full, and have shared so, so many memories.  

It's funny; reading back over this I think about all of the things that we do every year, like the Carols and Candlelight service at church, the Snow Village, decorating the tree ... I could go on and on ... that I did not write about!  Hopefully I will be able to write about those as they happen this year!

Wow, writing this has made me so excited for Thursday!!  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

[almost] footloose and fancy free

Once again, the hectic-ness and busy-ness of life have kept me away from blogging.  I feel like I have so much to catch everyone up on!  First off, school lately has gone something like this -- a couple of weeks ago it was study, study, study with a little (lotta) clinic thrown in.  Two finals a week for about three weeks.  Yikes.  Luckily, last Wednesday we took our last final and have just been seeing patients for a week.  Now we are all scrambling to get our last few requirements in under the gun.  Tomorrow at noon we will finally be finished!  (oh, unless you are me, then you have to make up a grad perio assist block on Friday morning from 9-noon.  How lovely.  So Friday at noon I will be finished. Can't come soon enough!)

Almost two weeks ago now I went to Fayetteville for Wade's graduation from law school.  Yep, that's right, my big brother is now B. Wade Bowen, JD.  But don't ask him to get you out of a legal mess, he told me "no," or, more specifically, "just pay your taxes and don't mess up with the drill."  That's brotherly love for you.

 Yes, I know Wade's eyes are closed.  Mom is really into her iPhone right now, so we had to take a million pictures with it ... by this point we were tired and had that please hurry up awkward smile thing going on.

We had a great weekend of family time, graduation (of course!), a cookout and getting the parents out on Dickson.

Dad and Mom at dinner Friday night

m

me and Wade at dinner

I'll avoid being sappy and wrap up this little bit about Wade's graduation with my favorite picture of us, over twenty years after it was taken:

Last Thursday night we decided it was time for a little girls' night at the Peabody Rooftop to celebrate our last final.

Katie, me, Candice, Kari, Leslie, Angie, Nishel, and Mindy

me and Katie

The band last week was an awesome (okay, average, but three women with wind machines and really fun costumes) 80's cover band.  Perfect for our girls' night!

Friday night Erica drove to Memphis so that we could go to the James Taylor & Carole King Troubadour Reunion concert in Nashville on Saturday night.  Do I even need to describe it?  It was incredible.

Oh, we were cracking up at the usher that took our picture.  It was just too much.  He was so concerned about getting it juuuuuuuust right.  One picture took about 4 minutes.  Not exaggerating.  And then we got nothing of the stage or actual concert but that little blue dot between our heads and, of course, we were pinching ourselves to try not to laugh at him.  Poor guy.  We were not asking for another shot though, no way, no how!

Friday I will finish clinic and be a D4 ... pending some kind of secretive and weird committee meeting, anyway.  :)  So exciting!  I can't believe three years have flown by this fast!

cutest. kids. ever.

Yep, I could just end this post right there.  A picture really is worth a thousand words!

Seeing as how I want to gush a little (ahem, a lot), though, I'll continue.

These are my cousin Natalie and her husband Bill's kiddos, Georgia and Reid.

 Natalie, Mimi, and me in July when they came up for my White Coat ceremony

(Gigi was still a baby-in-the-belly then!)

Tuesday Nat and the kids flew up from Houston for a Jonesboro visit.  They were nice enough to stay in Memphis for a few hours to visit me.  (Thank goodness, because I would have cried if I had missed them.  Literally, cried.)

Our intention was to go to the Arcade for an afternoon snack, but lo-and-behold they were having their floors redone.  So we headed across the street to Beignet Cafe - a perfect place because Reid has been learning all about New Orleans since the release of the Princess and the Frog. (Which I now really want to see.)  I have to say that even though I know he is ridiculously smart, I was quite impressed that a three-year-old knew what beignets were ... I know I didn't until my first New Orleans trip in 7th grade!  After some cajun chicken tenders, Reid got to have beignets for the first time.  Here is the result:

deee-lish.  Well, really I think I ate most of his, because he really just enjoyed the powdered sugar on top.

Meanwhile, Aunt Lulu (my mom) and Georgia were playing lots of fun games.  Georgia has got great hand-eye coordination, so you have to watch out or else your ponytail will be pulled!

I finally got my Gigi cuddle time - could have done it all day!

 

Too bad the sun is in our eyes!

I wish we could have visited longer, but they had a certain Mimi to surprise.  Now I have had to get my fix by listening to Mom and Dad every day call me with stories about all of the cute-ness, smart-ness, and all-in-all tons of fun they are having in Jonesboro.  I'd like to make it about me and think they were trying to rub it in, but I know really they are just as smitten as I am.  This week I am one happy "cousin Beth".

Easter Extravaganza

I love Easter.  I just do.  And this is one of the many, many reasons why:

my family!

It's one of the few times all year that the four of us are together . . . which is a shame because they are amazing.

And it's not just my family, but a whole group of families!  For at least the last 10 (12? maybe?) years we have celebrated Easter with lunch after church with the Dunns, the Lusbys, and the Tippits.  We also miss the Groves, who used to be in on the fun when they were in Jonesboro.  Once upon a time we easily had 25 people, but now with the "kids" in college/out of college/married/working/baby, the our crowd has dwindled to 17.  (For this year, anyway; who knows what kind of crowd we can get next?) 

The menu is the same every year.  You may call us boring, but we all look forward to it for months.  And really, we could probably eat PB&J, it's having everyone over that is the best part!

This year we tried to get some pictures of everyone's family - always entertaining.

Above: Mrs. Farmer and Mrs. Lusby; Greyson and Mrs. Dunn

Below:  Mrs. Marable, the Tippits

The Lusbys and Farmers

This is how the above picture started: 

Mrs. Farmer:  "someone, John, come stand over here"

John:  "where?"

Mrs. Farmer:  "here.  right here!"

(those are her hands and blue jacket; oh we laughed so hard)

Then we took the picture.  With difficulty, because all of the Lusby guys are TALL.  So Mr. Lusby says someone could have bent down.  I said I was thinking "sorority squat".  That comment led to this:

Oh, never a dull moment!

the Dunns; Mrs. Tippit slicing the bunny cake.  It is not Easter without a bunny cake!

my super-fabulous, almost-attorney big brother and me

with Mimi after lunch

The apron somehow never came off from prep work to eating to cleaning.  Oh, well!  Soooooo much fun and already looking forward to next year!