THON ON!!

Penn State's Dance Marathon was this weekend and they raised over 6.6 MILLION dollars!! $6,615,318.04 to be exact! FTK! Here's a blast from the past just for fun :)

Circa 2002

Mom and Dad's Visit!

My mom and dad came to visit us for a long weekend from the 14th-18th. We had a great time! On Friday we took them to lunch at Jim 'N Nick's (one of our favs!) for some good Southern BBQ. Then we drove downtown to show them UAB, the Alabama Theater, and Pete's. After that we went to the Botanical Gardens to walk around (not many flowers were out but it was a beautiful day to walk around!). Then we went to Mountain Brook and got some fresh-squeezed limeaid (my new FAVORITE!) and some fresh bread from a bakery. After that we drove to Ross Bridge and checked out the resort and the golf course. This place was great......it's like a hidden get away practically in our back yard! Friday night we went to Landry's for dinner (Thanks Jackie!!!) and it was so good.

Saturday we went to the Morgan Creek Winery and enjoyed some fine muscadine wine. On the way back we drove through Mt. Laurel. It's this new, quaint little town literally in the middle of nowhere. It was really cute, but reminded me of something out of a movie. Then we went to the Vulcan musuem and up on the Vulcan to overlook the city. For dinner we went to Dreamland for ribs. I think this was my dad's favorite part of the trip! After some finger-lickin' ribs we watched the UAB v. Memphis basketball game. Unfortunately UAB lost by 1 point, but it was still a good game to watch!

Sunday we went to church (like all good Southerners do) and for brunch went to the Irondale Cafe, formerly The Whistle Stop Cafe. If that name sounds familiar to you, it should! This cafe was referenced in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes! Then we went into Tom's lab and he showed us some cells. After that we just relaxed and I made beer can chicken and twice baked baked potatoes for dinner. Here's a couple pics from the visit!

Vulcan

Dreamland!

Nashville and Mercedes

I had a great time in Nashville for APTA's Combined Section Meeting. We stayed at the Opryland resort (which was ridiculously huge) and we didn't even leave the resort the whole time we were there! I would really have liked to have gone into downtown Nashville but we were so exhausted every night that we didn't quite make it. The programming was really great and I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while (co-workers from CHOP, classmates, professors from Drexel). All in all it was a good trip! Here's a pic of the view from our room......this was only ONE of the many atriums inside the gigantor hotel!

I got back from Nashville Saturday night (the 9th) around 7pm and less than 12 hours later Tom and I ran in the Mercedes Marathon Relay with a few of our friends! We each ran 6.2 miles (a 10K). The course was divided up between two 5K's, two 10K's, and one 12K. It was beautiful weather yet again! Here's a pic of the relay team and one of me and Tom.

The Best Play of the Game.....

.....by far was the former Penn State lineman sacking the former Michigan quarterback!

Happy Super Bowl Day!

Even though I could absolutely care less about who wins. The only thing that would make it worse would be if the cowboys were in it. And I am actually dreading the commercials this year (not that I was ever a *huge* fan of them before). It makes me sick to my stomach to think about how much money is spent for just 30 seconds of advertisement. Imagine what this country could do with HALF of the money that is being spent on commercials tonight. Sickening.

OK, enough complaining :) We're going to a friend's place to watch the game. They're having their 2nd annual "Souper" Bowl party. I'm making broccoli salad. Sounds healthy, but trust me, it's not ;) I worked yesterday at my second job. It was actually fun and I got out early (although that's not necessarily a good thing when you're paid by the hour!) Tom was in lab literally all day yesterday and he's been there all afternoon today. He's been working so hard and he'll be able to take his qualifying exam sometime in March. After that it's smooth sailing until we move back home ;)

I'm going to Nashville on Wednesday for the APTA's Combined Section Meeting. I'm pretty excited because
1) I don't have to set foot on a plane
2) We're staying at the Opryland Resort and
3) There is actually a decent amount of programming on pediatric oncology

Finding any continuing education on pediatric oncology related to physical therapy has been next to impossible. I'm really hoping to get a lot out of it! We come back Saturday afternoon and then Sunday morning Tom and I are running the Mercedes Marathon as a relay with 3 other people. (Both of our legs are 6.2 miles). I'm looking forward to the free beer and Jim 'N Nick's after the race :D

The weekend after that (2 weeks from now) my parents are coming to visit! It's going to be a Southern filled weekend for sure! Y'all check back now, ya' hear? ;)