Happy 2009!

It was nice to get back to the Carolinas for the holidays. Every time we go, we remember how much we loved living in Columbia - the slow pace, the lack of horrible traffic, the nice people... the exact opposite of the D.C. area! Pictured right are me and my two best friends from college - a very pregnant Janice (she's due this month!) and Nikki. I thought it was pretty amusing that we were all bespectacled and nerdy looking; I'd been having trouble putting in my contacts for a couple days at that point.

We cut our trip to Columbia a little short because I ended up with a nasty sinus infection and pinkeye, and my one of my childhood docs from back home was able to work me in - which was SUPER nice of her. Picture at left pretty much shows the way I spent most of the time at my parents' - in my penguin pajamas with Zoe curled up on me. They traveled pretty well, by the way, and as you can see, they had no problems making themselves at home (although Zoe took a while to get comfortable with anyone other than Jeff and me). Zeke, of course, was all over the house from the moment we let him out of the carrier and probably would have been equally happy staying with my parents, especially since there's a lot more room in their new house for him to carouse. Sorry, Zeke! The picture at the bottom is him hanging out with my mom.

We played it pretty low key for New Year since I was still recovering.

Yesterday we gave Zoe a manicure - we don't want to declaw her, but she likes to use her claws a bit. So if you zoom in the top picture, she's wearing red "press on nails", she's all wet from a bath, AND she's sticking her tongue out!

Here's wishing everyone a great 2009!

--jess

Mele Kalikimaka 2008!

We're heading down to Jess's parents in North Carolina today and might not have a chance to wish everyone Mele Kalikimaka later, so we're doing it today!

Also, we went to see The Legwarmers - an 80s tribute band - on Friday. This is us looking silly, as usual.Mele Kalikimaka!

- j & j

November (I know we're behind!)

Grandpa and my parents came to visit us in the middle of the month. It was a lot of fun, but of course, it was a cloudy, cold and damp weekend. Since Grandpa's from northwestern Pennsylvania, it was still warmer than he's used to for this time of year, but when we stepped off the Metro, we had problems orienting ourselves because the fog was obscuring the Washington Monument!

(Jeff's not in the picture because he worked a half day and joined us a little later at the momunent).

We spent Thanksgiving with Jason, Kelly and Danielle this year. It's hard to believe this was Jeff's and my fifth Thanksgiving together, and they've all been in different places with different people (2002 with my parents in NC, 2003 in Mexico where we, needless to say, had trouble finding a turkey dinner, 2006 on the ship, and 2007 at our place with our Hawaii friends). Who knows where we'll be next year?

Thanksgiving pictures
Right: Jeff and Jason in the kitchen (where they belong!)
Left: Kelly and me "supervising"
Below: Jeff's sleeping it off!

I think we were all too busy eating to get any pictures of Danielle with cranberry sauce in her hair - but suffice to say, it was pretty adorable.

Hopefully we'll get around to updating sooner rather than later, but if not, Happy Holidays!

--jess

Happy Halloween!

I couldn't decide whether Zoe-chicken or Zeke-chicken was cuter, so I posted them both!

--jess

Arlington

Kelly's mom Jan was in town last weekend, so we all took the trolley tour of Arlington National Cemetery. It was a little chilly out, but all in all a really good day capped by chili at Hard Times Cafe.

We're having some trouble with picture sizing on the blog today, so please excuse any awkwardness. As always, everything is available at the Photobucket site.

Left: Kelly, Jan, Danielle and Jason. Right: Jess, Jeff and Danielle.

Catch up post

We have gotten a little behind on our blog posting, so I am going to attempt to do a quick and dirty illustrated summary of August and early September.

First off, I interviewed at Eastern Virginia Medical School's PA program in Norfolk late in August. Jeff and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to go to the beach, although it definitely wasn't Hawaii! I wasn't admitted to the program there (which would have started in January), but I have two more interviews this month in Philadelphia for programs that start in June of next year, and I am still waiting to hear from the Medical University of South Carolina (which I am, obviously, a little partial to). Jeff and I plan to make the most of the extra time we'll get to spend together.

The picture at the top is from the spontaneous trip to Dayton and Indianapolis we took Labor Day weekend to visit my siblings. In the picture is Linsey, me, and Casey's fiance Amber. We also took an 8-mile canoe journey down the White River and are awaiting the pictures from Linsey's disposable camera.

I took a trip down to Charlotte early last week to visit my best friends from college, Nikki and Janice (unfortunately no good pictures came of it). I returned Thursday to a visit with Jeff's mom Rosemary, her husband Roger, and Jeff's brother Kevin. Picture to the right is Kevin, Rosemary and Jeff at Bob Evans yesterday.

After touring monuments with the family, Jeff and I took a trip to the National Botanical Garden, which was gorgeous. We must have taken 70 pictures there, but I particularly liked the globes around the building with "green" themes like reduce, reuse, recycle and use renewable power. The garden and the conservatory are run with solar power.

There were a bunch of WWII veterans at the World War II Memorial on an honor flight - which reminded me of Grandpa, so I'll post a picture for him. He's coming for a visit in early November, and we're very much looking forward to it!

--jess

Motorcycles, Concerts, and Houses

Several weeks ago, Jason and Jeff took a motorcycle education course, and are now both licensed to ride in the state of Virginia. Jeff has been talking about buying a motorcycle sometime in the future. That same weekend, Jason, Jeff attended a 311 concert at the Nissan Pavilion with Matt and his roommate James.

The most exciting news, however, is that we have sold the house in Hawaii, and closed this past Tuesday! Unfortunately we had to put a huge chunk of money toward the mortgage to let it go, but we figure the value of selling it now makes more sense than renting it at a loss over the next several years before the market recovers.

--J & J

Camp and other news

As promised, a little update on my week at Camp Holiday Trails (the director informs me that she gets a Google alert when the name comes up, so hopefully she enjoys the pictures!)

(Left: Lauren (pediatric resident), me, Cindy (PA) and Becca (med student) took a joy ride in the golf cart and hung out with the horses. Right: group activity in the dining hall. Bottom: home sweet home for the week. More pictures in the Photobucket album)

I had a really good week. The campers were high spirited and energetic, and I enjoyed getting to know them. The food was fantastic (especially when I went in expecting something akin to what I had at Girl Scout camp growing up), and I enjoyed working with PAs, medical students, nursing students and a bunch of other people (mostly from the University of Virginia - and I have to admit, Charlottesville is very cute). Coming back to work was a bit of culture shock even though I was only gone a week; I would love to move somewhere smaller and friendlier than DC.

In other news, I've been offered an interview at the PA program at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA next month, so wish me luck! If I'm accepted, I'll start up full time in January, which would be fantastic. Jeff and I are negotiating some adventurous exploration of the Hampton Roads area while we're there...

--jess

Excessive cuteness

Will blog about camp later, just wanted to share some cuteness. We got Zeke a little buddy this weekend (now named Zoe)! She has the cutest leopard spots on her belly.

And of course, I had to share the picture of Zeke dreaming of being Superman.

--jess

Girls weekend: Bolar Mountain

Last weekend I met up with my friends Nikki and Mia from Charlotte for a weekend of adventure in southwestern Virigina. Of course it was full of mishaps; for starters there was even less cell phone reception than any of us had expected, so meeting up was interesting. There were at least 40 miles of no contact before we got to the campsite (the closest town was Covington, VA), and our intended campground was full. Luckily I had just given up and started the drive back toward Covington as Nikki and Mia driving up the windy two lane road going toward the visitors center, so we found each other pretty quickly!

The first campground being full actually worked out in our favor; we continued around to the northern shore of Lake Moomaw (yes, that is really the name) to the Bolar Mountain Recreation Area, where the Boy Scouts had *just* finished clearing the campsites. We were the first ones to camp in our particular spot! But just as we paid our fees and started setting up camp, we were hit by a torrential downpour. Luckily I have a tiny, simple tent that went up in less than five minutes so I could help Nikki and Mia with their enormous and complicated one (and of course get soaked in the process).

We did some swimming, outdoor cooking, hiking, and hanging out through the weekend. The campground is gorgeous and well kept, and the lake is clean and refreshing - I highly recommend it! The top left picture is from the Grouse Point overlook, and the bottom one is the Twin Islands overlook . I, of course, ended up getting bitten by three ticks and have been itchy and on antibiotics all week just in case. Still, definitely worth it.

Speaking of camping, I am leaving tomorrow to volunteer in the infirmary for a week at Camp Holiday Trails, which is near Charlottesville, VA; will update when I return!

--jess