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? ;)

I heart weekends with nothing to do!

Ahhhh. Finally a relaxing weekend with nothing to do :) Not much new to report. Tom and I have both been busy with work this past week. I'm also anxiously awaiting all of our W2's to come in the mail so we can file our taxes and be done with it. I'm making beer can chicken for dinner tonight, and it smells amazing! I can't wait to try it. If I can get a good pic of it I'll post one in my next blog. Last night we went out to the dueling piano bar again.....good times. Tomorrow we're going over to a friend's for dinner. We're going to start a monthly dinner club on Sunday nights so it should be a good time. Here is a pic that Sarah's friend Jess took of the chinchillas when she was here. Yeah, she's kinda awesome at photography :)

SNOW!

Yes, non-believers, I was one too once, but it CAN and DID snow in Birmingham yesterday! Disclaimer: It snowed for about 2 hours, did not even stick to the roads, and any snow that did stick melted about an hour after it stopped ;) I didn't get a chance to play in the "snow" because I was working, but I was more bummed I didn't get any pictures of it! Someone in our complex built a snowman and I took a pic with my phone, but my phone is currently disobeying me and not wanting to let me send the picture to my email. Here's a pic of a snowman I found on the news website:

Sarah's Visit

It's been 2 weeks......I guess it's about time for a blog update :)

My cousin Sarah and her friend Jess came to visit this past weekend. Jess is moving to Seattle from Erie so they took the "scenic route" and ended up coming through Birmingham. We had a good time. Friday night we went to a hip little bar called The Bottletree Cafe and enjoyed some vegetarian inspired dinner and a couple of bands. Saturday we went to Jim 'n Nick's for lunch and ate ourselves full. Yum. Saturday afternoon Jess left for Austin (but not before she locked her keys in her car....sad!) and we spent the rest of the afternoon sprawling on the couch being over-stuffed full of Southern BBQ and slightly hungover from Sarah's mad martini making skills :) We headed to a friend's Saturday night and explored the Vulcan on Sunday before Sarah's flight. Good times were had by all :)

Martini's from Bartender Sarah

The practically vegetarians taking the meat right to their mouths!

Me & Sarah at the Vulcan

Happy New Year!

2007 in Review. I decided to post a review of our activities in 2007, well, at least the ones that were captured on camera! Here ya go!

January-Walt Disney World Marathon for Team in Training

February-Mercedes Half Marathon in Birmingham

February-PnH Party

March-Red Nose Ball for Camp Smile-a-Mile

March-Joe and Laura came to visit!

March-St. Patty's Day

April-Jackie & John Thomas came to visit

April-We moved to a new apartment!

May-Crawfish Boil

June-Magic City Brewfest

June-Chicago Road Trip!

June-Southwest Trip with Mags & Abby

July-Andrew & Ciara's Wedding

July-4th of July Poolside Party

August Trip Home-Yuengling Brewery

September-Penn State Football Season kicks off with Matt sending a pix msg and showing his support from Hawaii!

September-Birmingham Art Walk

October-Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

October-Halloween

November-PSU vs. Temple and Philly trip

December-Holiday Weekend and trip to the scary Cross Gardens

December-Our tree and us dressed up for the Pathology Party

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a busy couple of weeks it has been! (Hence the lack of blog updates for 3 weeks!)

Tom and I were able to fly home for 5 days over Christmas and visit with both of our families. We had a very relaxing holiday visit at home! (Except for our 2 hour delay and 3 hour, 4 gate change delay on the way their and back!)

Last night we gathered the few Penn State fans in Alabama and watched Joe Paterno's 500th game as Penn State beat Texas A & M in the Alamo Bowl! Go Lions!!

Tom and I both have to work on New Year's eve (boooo!) but we'll both be off on New Year's Day. Tomorrow evening we'll be going to a couple of friends places for NYE festivities and Jan. 1 we'll be on the couch watching football all day long!

I'll update with some pictures soon! Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's!

Dear Alabama,

It is December. Please get cold so we can turn our air conditioning off. It has been on for FOUR days straight!
Sincerely,
The Bodenstines