sooie's shenanigans

Sooie has a knack for stealing things that aren't hers.  She is sneaky, though, and only does it when she knows I am not looking or am not around.  Smart little booger.  

It was Christmas break when she perfected this skill and stole Wade's toothbrush.  Out of his dop kit.  That was on the back of the toilet (on top of the tank).  We still aren't sure how she climbed up there and got it out, but she is a determined girl, so I have learned not to be surprised by her skills.

After working very hard to pull her out from underneath the bed -- her favorite hiding spot -- Mom and I had to take some pictures.  And laugh.  A lot.  

Starting to feel a little remorse about stealing ...

but not enough to give up the fight!

poor toothbrush!

This morning I came back in from my run (the only time Sooie is out alone when I am not there) and found a little evidence of yet another mischevious activity ...

 *the kitchen sponge is NOT normally on the floor in front of the coffee table.  hmmm ...

A few little pieces missing from the side and corner

Of course, I went over to the sink to check everything else out.

THIS is the impressive part!  The sponge is always right beside the scrub brush, just on the edge of the sink.  This means that Sooie had to navigate around the coffee cup and papertowels to grab it off of the counter.  She did not disturb either one.  Ha!  What skill.  If I wasn't angry, I would be quite impressed.

Just in case you aren't convinced, here is the view from the other side of the sink.  A tight squeeze! 

This is also how Sooie gets on the counter (we have had quite a few spankings over this in the past) -- she climbs on the back of the couch and then on the counter.  (*disclaimer:  I didn't move a thing before I took these.)


If she hadn't been so smart to hide under the bed when she heard me coming in, there would have been a big spanking.  But I was laughing too hard.  And so amazed.  Such a smart little pup.


Life must be tough when you are a puppy trying to make it as a thief.
Right, Sooie?

[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".

AAWD Senior Tea

Sunday afternoon UT's chapter of the AAWD (the women dentists' group) had a senior appreciation tea.  This has become an annual thing that we look forward to at the conclusion of a busy "dental school" weekend every April! 

Dr. and Mrs. Simon -- a restorative faculty member and his wife -- live in a beautiful Victorian home in the Central Gardens area in Memphis.  This is particularly special because there are so few Victorian homes here.  The city lost its charter just before the turn of the century during this architectural period because of yellow fever (hello, mosquitoes!), so very few Victorians were built, then there was a housing boom around the teens -- lots of craftsman-style houses here.  Makes their home unique as well as beautiful!

Mrs. Simon, Clair, me, Lauren, Nicole, and Ray -- our one male [student] member!

Mom was so gracious to come over and help me cook all day Saturday!  I could not have made so many great finger foods and desserts without her help -- and without Dad running to the grocery store too many times to count. 

the food at the party:

salty things and sweet things

Everyone seemed to have a different "favorite", which to me is always a good sign -- no one thing was bad and nothing outshone everything else!

Lauren was also a lifesaver!

 

How many people can you call on your way out the door and they will show up with beautiful flowers AND delicious food?  very, very few!  But we pulled it off, everyone had a great time, and the rain held off for us to take some beautiful pictures.

future pedodontists - so glad we get to keep them around for 2 more years!

some of the D4's

precious friends!

Nicole, me, Lauren, Clair, Jeni

Emily and me

Clair explaining the finer points of putting your hand on your hip in a picture.

LOVE this one of Jeni and me!

SRTA (the licensure exam) is tomorrow and Saturday for UT D4's.  (read:  STRESS, STRESS, STRESS!)  Happy weekend to everyone, and good luck to all of the D4's!

Dental Prom

Well, really, it's GV Black Formal, but who can resist calling something "Dental Prom" when your last actual prom was so long ago?  Prom does NOT stop when you're 18!

First, a short history lesson ... GV Black is the "Father of Modern Dentistry".  That about sums it up.  (see, I promised it would be short!)

okay, that's blurry, but it's ole GV teaching about a class II cavity prep.  this is a popular picture in the D-1 History of Dentistry class

So every year we have a formal named after him.  It's always a good time! 

This year Prom was at the Old Daisy on Beale.  There was a band, lots of food and drinks, the whole shebang!  A much-needed night of fun after a working hard since July.

  Beforehand several of the D-3's went to Nishel's for a little party. 

top:  Leslie told me she wanted a picture because I looked like one of the girls on Scooby Doo.  I don't remember which one now, but I did pose ... after she assured me it was a compliment.

bottom:  Ryan was tired of the "girl pictures", so he joined in

After eating lots of great food, we headed down to Beale in the middle of a storm.

ahh, Nish, what a great waitress!  I love Clair's face watching her.

Ashwani is always the life of the party

We had a great time Friday night until I went to pick up my purse to leave.  (cue theme music:  duh duh duh ...) And it wasn't there.  So I searched the floor.  Not there.  And asked the D-4 at the table if she'd seen it.  No help.  (I know, I know, you're saying why in the world did I leave it at a table?  Well, me and 100+ other females there, okay?)  So I searched.  And looked. And searched.  And asked.  And an hour later, when they were kicking us out (literally), resigned myself to the fact that it was gone.  Missing:  Hobo clutch, ID, debit card, iPhone, favorite lip gloss, car keys, and $60.  :(

Lucky for me, I have amazing friends.  I would have probably been a complete mess if it weren't for them.  I was able to call a locksmith from a friend's phone to help me get into my car that was parked in the garage up the street (I had both a set of spare keys and my apartment keys inside), and the amazing Ashley (see her in the cute coral dress above!) paid for it all and she and her boyfriend as well as a D4 stayed with me the whole time.  What a blessing they all were!  Like I said, I would have been a complete mess, and I am sooooo blessed to have such great friends!

Another small miracle -- Mom and I had made plans earlier in the week for her and Dad to come to Memphis Saturday so that she could help me bake for the AAWD Tea that we had Sunday. (more on that later!)  Thankfully, they were here to help me take care of cancelling my debit card (which the little thief attempted to use 7 times - yikes!), getting a new phone, etc.  I got a new driver's license yesterday and ordered a new clutch last night (and my sweet friend Jeni brought me new lip gloss Sunday!), so once that new debit card arrives I think I will feel like everything is in order again. 

Whew!  What a night.  Prom was fun though, until the end.  As Mom said so perfectly on Saturday, "that'll sober you up fast ..."  Well said, Mom, well said.  :)