3 Wise Women

Hi!  So, turns out my brilliant plan to update my blog and start blogging regularly while doing my much less busy Family Medicine rotation while holed up in a big old white farm house in rural Maine, got a wrench thrown in it.  And that wrench is that the farm house is SO rural that internet has in fact, not reached it yet.  What?! you say...somewhere in America does not yet have internet?  Apparently, my friend, it's true, and that place is Gouldsboro, Maine.

No internets here.  Only lobsters. 

So, I managed a few updates to the blog snatching internet from a coffee shop 30 minutes away (it's the closest one. For realz.) and my trips into 'The City' (aka Bangor, ME) to visit the International Man of Mystery.  There will be more to come though!  November's looking more internet accessible, so stay tuned!

In the mean time, and more importantly, 3 wonderful ladies have had birthdays in this month!  And as different as they are, I feel okay honoring them all in the same post, because despite their differences they are all going to make huge impacts in this world in their chosen paths.  These are some fierce, caring, intelligent women that I am oh so very proud to know.

#1 My little sister, Jenna, turned 22!
She's this sister.  The University of Georgia made a video about how awesome she is.  Seriously.  Check it out here if you want to see her face (very close up mind you!).  She's graduating this year and is going to take the world by storm, because she is a force, a really, really beautiful one.  And she has always let me take ridiculous pictures of her, like the one I just found below.  Love you so much banana!

#2 My high school friend, Susannah, turned 29!
I have never met someone who has worked so hard solely to be of service to others.  She actually worked really hard as an intern at a non-profit the summer we lived in NYC during college...she does an amazing job of visiting all her friends no matter how far flung we are (below when she visited me in VT last year!)...she went to business school and subjected herself to learning accounting (ew!) so that she can make the world a better place...and she spent last summer in South Africa helping a rural community start their own business which you can read about here, on her very thoughtful blog...so many people's lives are better for knowing her and that number is only going to grow.

#3 My medical school friend, Erica, turned 26!
I told Erica the other day that if she ever ran for president, I would totally campaign for her.  I think that's the best way to describe her.  I've never met anyone so utterly capable, passionate about the world, and full of bundles of energy and joy for life.  Her energy makes you want to sign up to run marathons, learn about the immune system, and go on sunrise hikes at 4am.  This photo is from an epic roadtrip we took across the US.  Look out for her impact on the world of Women's Health as she becomes an OB/Gyn, which you can read about on her blog: here.   

Happy, happy birthday lovelies! 

To make you believe in love...

I went to a wedding in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago...

It was near the little town of Downpatrick, which is where St. Patrick is buried!

in this freaking gorgeous old flour mill called The Mill at Ballydugan.

This wedding was extra special for so many reasons:

#1 Tammy & Pete are one of those couples that so obviously belong together...they make you believe in real, wonderful, happy love.

#2 It was the first time all of our college friends had gotten together in 6 years!

#3 I got to leave my surgery rotation for a few days and be reminded of how many wonderful people and places there are in the world.

The day before the wedding we spent some quality time getting nails done, picking up the marriage license, putting together favors, and setting up the tables.

Don't worry, my next post will be entitled "Why Tammy should be a wedding planner" with all the wonderful little details of the wedding.

In Britain, they don't do formal rehearsal dinners, so after the rehearsal, we had a ladies dinner, which was pretty rocking since not all of us make it to the hen do (aka bachelorette party).

Some more friends arrived...more reunions...and possibly some tears. :)

Morning of the wedding we were up early to get all prettified.
They were geniuses, taking us from this:

and this...

to this!
(the girl on the left was like our personal beauty manager...spray tans: check!, nails: check!, makeup: check!)

We went back to the Mill, shimmied ourselves into dresses, sipped champagne, laced, clipped, zipped, and buttoned the beautiful bride into her dress, and took photos with the photographer (which I can't wait to see!).
We also got to watch everyone arrive, including the groom to which Tammy remarked:
"Ooo, he looks fit!" (aka attractive)
I hope I say that on my wedding day.

The ceremony was beautiful and perfectly them:

*Pete was crying as soon as the music started.
*Pete was so worried about not saying "with God's help, I will" instead of just "I will" that he said it at the wrong time.
*Pete and the preacher made jokes during the ceremony.
*In Britain, they sign the marriage certificate during the ceremony, and Tammy surprised Pete by having one of his good friends play and sing "You are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne while they were signing. Pete cried again.
* I loved that at the end of homily the preacher said that he hoped their love would continue to be an inspiration to people. Because that's exactly what it is.

Oh, I also backed into the standing candelabra during the ceremony, which dumped hot wax all over my back! Luckily none got on the dress, but it took all my self control not to yell in the middle of the ceremony and Sarah had to scrape the wax off my back before we recessed back down the aisle. Ha. So graceful, this one.

After the ceremony, more professional photos.
So can't wait to see them!

If you ever get married in Northern Ireland, check out Sarah Fyffe Photography.
She was great, even if she did just refer to me as "the tall one".

This is just a photo of Meeshpups getting the party started,
because that's what happened next.

Mr. & Mrs. Gilpin!

The lovely bride at the best meal I have ever eaten in Britain. For serious.
I would also like to give the shout out that Pete gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard during dinner.

As darkness fell after dinner, we ventured outside to set off sky lanterns.

So pretty!
This one really looks like a fire bird, doesn't it??

Then the party really started.
Sophie and Meesh demonstrating how the photographer kept wanting us to stand.
Hip out!
Nailed it!

First dance!
True love!

Impromptu wedding party circle around the bride and groom. Why not?!

This little guy was the ringbearer and allstar dancer of the night.
I'm pretty sure he made his rounds with all the ladies.
Stud.

This is the first time Neil has gotten Steph to dance in 4 years of dating.
I told you it was a special day.
Also, can you guys get married next? Kthanks.

Crazy dancing!

4th year flatmate love.

Cutting the cake, which the mother of the bride made and the bride iced! For realz.

They also had jars of candy.
(Marissa and Jenna, take note.)

A damn fine lookin' bunch of rugby girls if I do say so myself.

Impromptu scrum for old times sake.

Line out too. No big deal.

This couple knows how to get down.
Exhibit A: the bride

Exhibit B: the groom

The ladies at the end of the night.

Sadly I had to leave at 8am the next morning.
But it was all so worth it.
I couldn't be happier for the Gilpin's!
And it was amazing to see everyone.

What DID happen in January...

I rang in the New Year with my dear friend Michael at his cabin up in North Georgia.

They do not sell alcohol in the town of Cleveland, GA. So we bought Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice. (and might have added gin to it...try it, it tastes like honeysuckle!)

Michael's cabin is named Cherrylog and is a pretty sweet place...wood stove for heat, trout in the river behind it, no internet, no tv, no distractions.

It was the perfect way to end out 2010...yoga in front of the fire, long talks with an amazing friend, reflecting on the year, running wild through the woods, reading, and sleeping. It was the first time in a long time I set aside 2 whole days to only do exactly what I wanted to do. If that isn't luxury, I don't know what is.

Then, when I got back to Vermont, what should I find but my license plate that was stolen in OCTOBER, wrapped in a red ribbon and placed on the windshield of my car.
Unfreakingbelievable.
I guess whoever ripped it off my car while it was in my driveway developed a holiday conscience and returned it.
Complete with a red ribbon.
I had just gotten a new one when I was home for the holidays.
So now I have a GA license plate to put on my wall.
Merry Christmas indeed!

My friend Mayo hosted a clothing swap for the med school ladies.
This was my first and the best idea ever.
Everyone brings all the clothes they don't want and you drink wine and trade clothes!
Not only do you get sweet free new duds,
but it's just as exciting when your friends choose your clothes to give a second life to.

Plus we brought so many clothes, Mayo's house was like a legit boutique.

Over MLK weekend, the girls decided to head down to Mayo's family home in southern Vermont for a study retreat.
(In case I haven't told you, we're in full on boards study mode. The boards exam is where they test you on absolutely everything you've learned in the last year and half in an awesome 8 hour test. I'm taking mine February 18th. Should be fun.)
We made awesome pizzas.

Went in the hot tub surrounded by snow banks.
Annie: "Wait, is it cold to be in a hot tub in the snow?"
Me: "No, you just don't get your hair wet, and it's fine."
Annie: "Wait, how do you not get your hair wet? Do you put a towel on your head?"
Me: "No, you just don't put your head under the water, Annie....."

So Annie got us towels (washclothes) to put on our heads. We each provided the guns individually.

We went cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the morning right out her front door.

Oh, and we studied too....

Check out the photo series behind Mayo. Her dad is a photographer and takes amazing photos of Vermont landscapes. Her parents own a gallery, The Village Green Gallery, together, which features his work and other Vermont artists. Pretty awesome. I heart VT.

Oh and they have horses too. So we played with the horses. Have I mentioned I love Vermont?

I also did my part this month to perpetuate cultural stereotypes.

(Love you Annie!)

On a serious note, Annie and I also carried out our Schweitzer Fellowship community project, which involved creating Community Maternal Health workers for the Somali-Bantu refugee population in Burlington.
It was so, so great.
We met with two women who already work in the community association's office and went over topics like birth control, delivery options, pre-natal care, newborn care, etc.
We made sure they had all the information about the American system.
We cleared up some questions for them, like "why don't women get prostate cancer?".
And we learned a lot from them in the process, like how a community can really do a great job of supporting new mothers.
We made them some reference sheets then called together a larger group of women, introduced them as community health workers and let them answer questions!
It was great.

We also in the meantime got dominated by one of their adorable 6 month old babies.
(Don't worry, we didn't presume to give them parenting advice. We know our limits.)

We also took an afternoon off of intense sciencing (it's a word) and got our creative on to make Paper Plate awards for our class. I just had to share, because they turned out so fun. And it took us 5 hours. So I feel like I need to give them all the limelight I can.

Btdubs, turns out I can't draw. So none these are ones I drew because I wanted to display the cute ones.

Then, a whirlwind week later, we presented the public health projects we'd been working on all fall in a Poster Session, finished up the small group sessions we'd been having for our last class Convergence, and took our last test of the Foundations (classroom based) part of medical school.
We did it.
I was pretty certain, many times (ok like every other day), that this day would never come.
I really wasn't sure I would make it.
Let's just say, the classroom style of medical learning and I didn't exactly see eye-to-eye.
I'm allergic to powerpoint.
Senseless memorization makes me cross-eyed.
And 6 hours of lecture instantly gives me ADD.

But somehow or another (due in large part to my friends), I made it.
And it was a deep, deep relief.

So, since it was the end of Foundations.
And two of my friends' birthdays.
We took the night off (remember that pesky boards exam we're studying for?) for one hell of a celebration.

We celebrated one birthday with sushi.

And the other with an 80's cover band.

We took lots of photos with great art direction.
("You're molding clay!")

(I think this was the tail end of "You're hunting with your bare hands!")

We air-guitared. And grooved. And made the band play 3 encores.

The birthday boy wore my favorite tshirt ever.

And I got to celebrate with some of my favorite people.

There was also some skiing, some yoga, dinners with friends, and other fun sprinkled in there.
So, like I said, as far as January's go...it was pretty stellar.

Hope yours was too!