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!

snow and sooie

Sunday night it snowed.  I mean, a lot.

Sooie had the greatest time known to man.

(errr, pup.)

Before the snow started, the sky had that really pretty, grey "it's-going-to-snow" look.

It was even prettier after we found out that UT was closed on Monday.  (I think I could get used to three day weekends.)

PS - I have the cutest pup in the world.  I'm discovering that as I do this 365 Project.  (check out the page above - I'm updating it about once a week with the pictures I've taken.)  Here's a reject from today.  Still pretty cute, I think.  (I might be biased, though.)

Sugar Sugar

Last night my Razorbacks played in the Sugar Bowl.

(We won't discuss the game.)

I made these cute (and equally delicious) little guys to take to our watch party.

Here's a step-by-step to make your own party piggies:

1.  Bake your favorite brownies.  (I made the brownies I wrote about here, minus the cream cheese filling.)

2.  Whip up your favorite icing and color it red (the largest amount), black (just a little bit), and leave a little bit white!

Now it's time to decorate!

3.  Cut brownies into 2 1/2" - 3" squares.

(I leave them in the pan -- I think they're easier to transport -- then put them on the platter when I get to the party.)

4. Use a large round tip to make a "head".  

(a circle)

5.  Use the same large round tip to make a "snout".  

(a smaller circle)

6.  Now, a leaf tip to make ears.

(This is when they start to look like Hogs, and I just get so excited I can hardly stand it.)

7.  Switch to white icing and a smaller tip - I'm back to using a round one, here - to make "eyes".

8.  Now "tusks".

(sorry the picture is blurry, but you get the idea!)

9.  Now, final touches with a small round tip and black icing - that menacing "brow", finishing touches on the eyes, and nostrils!

WOOOOOOO PIG SOOIE!

These were a big hit last night!  If only they had brought us a little more luck.