Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tom Qualified!!!!
Tom passed his qualification exam for his PhD on Thursday! Basically what that means is that he's been given the go-ahead to work on/finish his thesis project. He submitted a written proposal to his committee (of 5-6 professors) about 2 weeks ago. During his qualification exam, he gave an oral presentation about his thesis and the professors could ask him any question about his thesis, previous research done that relates to his thesis, anything he learned in his classes the past 2 years, etc. And he passed! Yay! I'm so happy for him :)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Coupon-mania
So for the past year I've been obsessed with our budget. I look at it, crunch numbers, look at it some more, move around some numbers, look at it some more, and change some more numbers. No matter what I seem to do to the budget, money just never seems to magically appear on it! :)
So I've been trying to cut down on our grocery budget. I've been printing out coupons online for the past 6 months or so (for free) because I'm too cheap to buy the paper........but just recently I found out that the Dollar Store sells the Sunday paper for $1 ($0.50 off....yeah!) So I started buying the paper on Sundays for the coupons (and for the news too, of course ;)
Anyways now I'm obsessed with coupons and finding deals and I can't wait for Sunday to get the paper :) Here are my two best deals from last week:
1) 2 boxes of Betty Crocker Potatoes - Grand total = $0.19
2) Jar of Pickles - Grand total = $0.35
(Yay for double coupons and BOGO sales)
It's like a game! I LOVE going to Publix (local grocery store) and having the "Total Savings" section be more than "Total spent!"
Back to organizing coupons.............
P.S. Tom meets with his committee to qualify for his PhD on Thursday morning at 9 (central time). Please send him good thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I've been trying to cut down on our grocery budget. I've been printing out coupons online for the past 6 months or so (for free) because I'm too cheap to buy the paper........but just recently I found out that the Dollar Store sells the Sunday paper for $1 ($0.50 off....yeah!) So I started buying the paper on Sundays for the coupons (and for the news too, of course ;)
Anyways now I'm obsessed with coupons and finding deals and I can't wait for Sunday to get the paper :) Here are my two best deals from last week:
1) 2 boxes of Betty Crocker Potatoes - Grand total = $0.19
2) Jar of Pickles - Grand total = $0.35
(Yay for double coupons and BOGO sales)
It's like a game! I LOVE going to Publix (local grocery store) and having the "Total Savings" section be more than "Total spent!"
Back to organizing coupons.............
P.S. Tom meets with his committee to qualify for his PhD on Thursday morning at 9 (central time). Please send him good thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Happy St. Patty's Day!
I love this day :) I don't know whether it's the fact that I get to wear green (favorite color) or the fact that I get to drink beer (favorite beverage). Or some years a combination of the two (green beer!) Today was actually a pretty normal day for me, work, gym, dinner. No green beer. BUT we did have a little St. Patty's Day bash on Saturday that was quite fun. And yesterday the weather was gorgeous......a sunny 74 degrees. Below are a few pics.
Our beer mug cooler :)
Irish Car Bombs for all!!!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
"If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes"
........Or one week. That's the saying in Alabama. Last weekend was beautiful. Mid 70's both days. Yesterday we woke up to snow!!! OK, not really "snow" in the sense that we are familiar with.....more a "light dusting." But still! Here's a couple of pics of the Great Snow of '08!
View from our balcony
This is the most snow our car has ever seen!
5 1/2 hours and no more information later.........
Thursday evening we spent the entire evening and night in UAB's ER. NOT what we had planned :) Our usual "after work" routine consists of me going to the gym and calling Tom when I'm finished, then we walk to the parking garage and drive home together. Well, Thursday I really didn't feel like going to the gym, so I called Tom when I was finished with work to see if by chance he was ready to go. Turns out he had a lot of work to do, so I figured it was fate telling me to get my lazy butt to the gym so I went. After I was done at the gym I called him again, but he still had more work to do so I decided to run to the library real quick to return some books that were due. Surely by the time I was finished at the library, Tom would be ready to go.......or so I thought. That's where things took a turn.
Tom called me and said that he had gashed his fingers open when a glass pipette broke in his hand and he was cut really bad and he was going to the ER to make sure there wasn't any glass stuck in his hand. I ran out of the library and drove downtown to meet him and we got to the ER around 6:50. About 15 minutes went by and they called us back to triage. They took all his vital signs and told us it shouldn't be a long wait. Then about 10 minutes after that they called us to registration and we filled out all of the paperwork. Then we returned to the waiting room, where one lady sprinted past us with her hand over her mouth and barely made it to the bathroom before she puked, and another guy had about 8 layers of gauze wrapped around his whole head covering his eye. Then of course there was the guy who kept combing his hair and laughing at nothing.....I don't even think he checked in.
So we sat, and sat, and sat......then at 9:30 I couldn't stand it anymore and ran across the street to get some chips from Qdoba (neither of us had eaten anything since lunch!) Around 10 they finally called us back and put us in a room. The medical student came in first and asked a bunch of questions, took off Tom's bandages, and I don't think he was prepared for the gushing blood that came out of his fingers after he took the bandages off. He took a look, determined he knew nothing (sorry...that was mean!), and wrapped them back up. Then the resident came in and decided to get a finger xray to see if there was any glass. Now it was about 10:30.
They decided that they "thought" they saw some glass in his finger so they then proceeded to numb it up with lidocaine and dig around to find the glass. After about 5 minutes of poking and prodding, they found nothing. So they left. Then at 11:00 they decided to get another finger xray to see if they still saw the glass. Around 11:30 Tom got another xray. Then around midnight the attending finally came in and said "Looks like there is still some glass in there but it will work itself out. Just make sure you wash your cuts daily."
So at 12:15 we finally got to leave the ER with no more information than we came in with! They were able to cut away some skin that was barely hanging on, and I do have to admit I would have freaked out if we got home, took the original bandages off, and Tom's fingers started gushing blood everywhere.
Tom's fingers are fine. Now that all of the blood is gone and the extra skin was cut away, the actual cuts look teeny tiny. Thankfully no nerves were cut and there was no permanent damage!
Tom called me and said that he had gashed his fingers open when a glass pipette broke in his hand and he was cut really bad and he was going to the ER to make sure there wasn't any glass stuck in his hand. I ran out of the library and drove downtown to meet him and we got to the ER around 6:50. About 15 minutes went by and they called us back to triage. They took all his vital signs and told us it shouldn't be a long wait. Then about 10 minutes after that they called us to registration and we filled out all of the paperwork. Then we returned to the waiting room, where one lady sprinted past us with her hand over her mouth and barely made it to the bathroom before she puked, and another guy had about 8 layers of gauze wrapped around his whole head covering his eye. Then of course there was the guy who kept combing his hair and laughing at nothing.....I don't even think he checked in.
So we sat, and sat, and sat......then at 9:30 I couldn't stand it anymore and ran across the street to get some chips from Qdoba (neither of us had eaten anything since lunch!) Around 10 they finally called us back and put us in a room. The medical student came in first and asked a bunch of questions, took off Tom's bandages, and I don't think he was prepared for the gushing blood that came out of his fingers after he took the bandages off. He took a look, determined he knew nothing (sorry...that was mean!), and wrapped them back up. Then the resident came in and decided to get a finger xray to see if there was any glass. Now it was about 10:30.
They decided that they "thought" they saw some glass in his finger so they then proceeded to numb it up with lidocaine and dig around to find the glass. After about 5 minutes of poking and prodding, they found nothing. So they left. Then at 11:00 they decided to get another finger xray to see if they still saw the glass. Around 11:30 Tom got another xray. Then around midnight the attending finally came in and said "Looks like there is still some glass in there but it will work itself out. Just make sure you wash your cuts daily."
So at 12:15 we finally got to leave the ER with no more information than we came in with! They were able to cut away some skin that was barely hanging on, and I do have to admit I would have freaked out if we got home, took the original bandages off, and Tom's fingers started gushing blood everywhere.
Tom's fingers are fine. Now that all of the blood is gone and the extra skin was cut away, the actual cuts look teeny tiny. Thankfully no nerves were cut and there was no permanent damage!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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!
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.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
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? ;)
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? ;)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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 :)
Sunday, January 20, 2008
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:
Monday, January 14, 2008
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
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
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
May-Crawfish Boil
June-Chicago Road Trip!
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
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