Jennifer's Baby Shower

Maddyn Marie Gunter is almost here! She is due at the end of November, and today we had the opportunity to shower her momma, Jennifer, with items for her baby GIRL! Jennifer already has two sons, so she was so excited to find out that she and her husband are expecting a little girl. The shower was so much fun, and the hostesses did a fantastic job with the food, games, and decorations! Brittany, one of the hostesses, made an adorable lamb cake and baby buggy fruit bowl. She also had a festive home with lots of cute decorations. My favorite idea was the paint color samples cards that were decorating the tables. Jennifer has been having a hard time deciding on the best shade of pink for Maddyn's room, so Brittany came up with this creative idea to help her out! Brittany also made an adorable picture frame with some of the paint color samples. The picture is above...notice the names of all of the colors...aren't they appropriate??!! Anne, the other hostess, lead a great game! We all had 1 minute to reach in the box and try to identify the baby objects with our hands. Then we had to go in the other room and write down as many items as we could remember. It was so much fun! Lissy, one of Jennifer's closest friends from Louisiana, recently returned from a trip to Africa. She is a photographer and artist, and gave Jennifer a very special gift. When Lissy returned from Africa, she gave Jennifer a handstitched quilt with animal print. This inspired Jennifer to decorate Maddyn's nursery in black and white (with some pink, of course :) Today, Lissy's gift was 5 pictures she took of safari animals in Africa. She framed them all with black, white, and pink so they would coordinate with the baby's room. They were so neat! I am looking forward to meeting little Maddyn!

Columbus Day Weekend

This past weekend was so much fun! Since I work for the federal government, I was fortunate enough to have Columbus Day off! I don't think I ever really thought much about Columbus Day when I was younger, but now that I get off from work for a day, it's wonderful! Since we had a long weekend, our friends Amber, Kurtis, and baby Audrey came to visit. We had a weekend packed full of activities! On Saturday, we dressed up in our OU attire and rooted for the Oklahoma Sooners! Unfortunately, this just wasn't their year to win, but it was still a great game.


Even baby Audrey wore her red and white!
After the OU/TX game, we all traveled up to Flower Mound to watch our niece play soccer. It was a lot of fun to watch the girls play...and they won! Go Speedy Cats!!
On Sunday, we headed to the Texas State Fair. This is a huge fair, and we definitely got our daily exercise in with all of the walking. Don't worry though, we made up for the walking by eating fried foods. I had a Corny Dog (of course), tried the fried pickles, and sampled the "Fire and Ice." This was an innovative creation that involved fried pineapples, frozen strawberries, and whipped cream. I know, it sounds pretty crazy, but it sure was tasty! Although I was curious, I didn't get the chance to try the "Chicken-Fried Bacon." This was the winner of the "Best Taste" award at the fair this year. Oh well...I guess my arteries will remain cleaner for just a little longer now! :)

On Monday, Amber, Audrey, and I went to the Dallas Arboretum for "Autumn at the Arboretum." I generally go there every Spring, but I hadn't ever been in the Fall. The grounds were absolutely beautiful!! There were tons of pumpkins, mums, gourds, and.......STROLLERS! I have never seen such a HUGE number of strollers in my life! I'm pretty sure that every mom in the entire Dallas/Ft. Worth area brought their kids to the Arboretum on Monday to take pictures. They literally needed traffic signals! Although Amber and I had a lot of fun, Audrey was not too impressed with the pumpkin pics we wanted to take. She cooperated for a while, but then decided that being propped up against a pumpkin was not very comfortable. Luckily, after a snack and a small nap, we were able to catch a few of the happier moments. The pic above (with her huge smile) is one of my favs!

Well, although the long weekend is over, I have lots of great memories! Audrey is growing up so fast! Hopefully we will be able to get together with our friends again soon!

BOOMER SOONER!

Tomorrow is the big game: #1 OKLAHOMA SOONERS vs. #5 TEXAS LONGHORNS

Jason's score prediction:
OU 49 TX 26

Lauren's score prediction:
OU 27 TX 21

It should be a great game!

GO SOONERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo Website

Hey everyone! I decided to create a Shutterfly website, so that I can have an online archive of all of my photos. I will continue to add my favorite pics to my blog entries, but in case you're interested in seeing ALL of the pics I take for a certain event, I can let you know the website. Just leave a comment to let me know you're interested and I can sent you the URL.

No more computer

Well, the hard drive on my trusty desktop Dell finally crashed. My computer has been acting funny for the last several weeks and running really slow. This morning, I heard a funny noise in my office. When I went in there, I realized it was coming from my computer. The screensaver was still showing on the monitor, but it wouldn't let me click on anything. When I tried to restart the computer, it couldn't find the hard drive! I certainly didn't remove it! The worst part is that I may have lost some pics on there. Luckily I upload most of my pics to Shutterfly, but I was a little behind. The IT person at Texas Tech tried to "rescue" my files, but it was too late. MAKE SURE TO BACK EVERYTHING UP ON A REGULAR BASIS!!! I read somewhere that hard drives are either "dead" or "dying." It is just a matter of time before any hard drive will crash!! Now we have to decide whether or not to get a new computer. For now....Jason will have to share his laptop! :)

Rotation at Children's

Today I went to an orientation at Children's Medical Center of Dallas. For the next three months, I will spend Tuesday mornings in the Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I will probably see kids with diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, adrenal deficiencies, etc. I am super excited because I haven't had any pediatric rotations since pharmacy school. The VA hospital doesn't exactly have a large population of children! ;-) I am hoping that this rotation will be a good experience. I will be precepted by a physician, instead of a pharmacist. This should be a great learning opportunity for both of us. I am hoping that I can convince the medical staff how important a pharmacist can be in the clinic setting. Please pray that I will be well-accepted and learn a lot during my time there! One more thing...I will get to see my friends Ashley and Tracy more! (They are both clinical pharmacists there) Yay!

ADA Hispanic Health Fair

Today, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the ADA Hispanic Health Fair with other Texas Tech students and faculty. We were responsible for cholesterol screenings, and we had a ton of people show up at our booth! It was pretty hectic because each test took ~5 minutes, so the lines were long! We had 7 machines, but that didn't seem to be enough. The fair was a huge success! Inside the gym, there were blood glucose and blood pressure screenings, along with the cholesterol screenings and a height/weight/BMI group. Outside, there were tons of vendors, a stage with local performers, and an immunization booth. It was a lot of fun to help out in the community!

EHS Band Reunion 2008

On Friday, September 12th, I was able to attend the 2008 Enid High Band reunion. This was pretty special because the last reunion was in 1997 (when I was a junior in high school). I wasn't sure about going at first, but after the great experience, I'm sure glad I did.

When we first arrived, we were able to visit with old friends and meet the band members from other years. We were also able to tour the new EHS cafeteria addition which was super nice! We were all able to eat dinner together and visit. It was great to catch up with everyone! (below: Chantelle Farrell, Leslie Thomas, Amber (Pearson) Jones, and I)
Later, we met in the band room to check out instruments and practice...yikes!! This was pretty scary for a lot of people since they many hadn't played their instrument since high school, but luckily, I was able to play cymbals! These aren't too hard! :) Since I was in the pit in high school (the group that plays the marimba, xylophone, chimes, timpani, and other auxillary percussion) for the halftime show, I marched cymbals in pregame. It was great to see the bandroom again. See the sign below? Those two smaller pics are the t-shirts for two of the shows when I was in high school!
After practicing on our own for a little while, it was time to go out and practice with the current band. Unfortunately, it started POURING!!! We all were completely SOAKED!! That was not fun...especially with jeans. Our jeans remained wet for the rest of the evening!
Even though we were all wet, we tried to make the best of it! Oh.. and the smell of wet grass DEFINITELY reminded us of the "good 'ole days" of morning practices!
We were able to play in the stands during the game and cheer on the current band during the halftime show. Their show this year is titled "Jericho." They already looked great, and they still have over a month before the state contest!

After the game, several of us were able to gather at a yummy restaurant called "Costello's" for food and drinks. While we were there, a band member from the class of 1960 dropped by. It's really neat to be a part of this longstanding tradition. Hopefully they will decide to start organizing a reunion more often! I have so many great memories from high school, and it's nice to see the friends that were part of those memories. "We are a family...." :)

My Favorite Things

Recently, I've found a few things that "tickle my fancy." I like them so much, that I wanted to share my little treasures!

1) Girard's Champagne Salad Dressing - This "favorite" is a new one! Last Saturday night, Chad and Ali invited us over for dinner. Ali made a delicious meal including grilled salmon, rice pilaf, and a green salad with strawberries and walnuts. I'm not one to venture out and buy new items at the store, especially salad dressings, but Ali served the salad with this Champagne salad dressing. Let me tell you...it was absolutely wonderful!!! It kind of had a slight vinegrette taste, and it was fantastic. I liked it so much, that I bought a bottle of it the next day and I've already had salad twice this week. I totally recommend it! I found it at Kroger, but Ali said that you can get it at Wal-Mart.

2) Black Amethyst fragrance at Bath and Body Works - Normally I tend to "over-collect" things like body sprays and body lotions. I will generally use them for a while, and then one day I will open my cabinet and find 10 half-used bottles! Well, recently, I received a coupon for a free travel size bottle of Black Amethyst shower gel. It is the newest B&BW fragrance. Most of the time, when they come out with a new scent, I decide that it smells nice, but don't actually purchase anything. Sometimes I think that they just slightly adjust one scent and rename it something else. I mean, how many different "Cherry Blossom" scents do they have now!? Anyway, this scent totally caught my attention. I don't think it smells like anything else they have. It's not fruity, flowery, or fresh...it's more like a "darker and more seductive" scent. (I'm sure you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about, huh.) It will be a great Fall/Winter scent. The next time you're in the store, you should sniff it out! (haha)
3) Books by author, Jodi Picoult - I haven't really had much time to read lately...like in the last 10 years! School has kept me sooo busy, and I always felt that if I had time to read, I should read school-related stuff. Well, last Fall, a girl in my bible study said that Irving Bible Church was going to do a little "book club." She asked if anyone was interested in going, and I thought it would be fun to get together with a group of girls. The first book on the list was "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. I read the entire book cover-to-cover, and actually had a hard time putting it down! It was definitely a page-turner. Needless to say, I never actually attended the book club, but I became a loyal fan of this author. One day, I was talking to Amber, and I mentioned that I had read a really good book recently. She said "me too!" We both got a kick out of the fact that we had just read books by the same author! The next time we saw each other, she loaned me another book called "Plain Truth." It is just as good as the first book. I can't wait to get another one after this. Oh...here's a random fact...I believe that there will be a "My Sister's Keeper" movie coming out with Cameron Diaz. I don't think it's out yet, is it? I'm really bad at keeping up with the latest movie releases.
4) Merrell dress shoes - All of my pharmacist friends will appreciate this one! As a pharmacist, we spend a lot of time on our feet! My residency isn't as bad as retail, but at CVS, that's ALL I do. I never get a chance to sit down. By the end of the day, my feet would be killing me if I didn't have a good pair of shoes. I tried these shoes out about 2 years ago. I always thought that Merrell shoes were comfortable (they generally make hiking or athletic shoes), so I thought I would try their dress shoes. I love them! They are soooo comfy and I wear them all of the time! I loved them so much that I just ordered another pair exactly like my old ones. The old ones were getting a little "too worn in." I figured that one new pair of comfy black dress shoes every 2 years isn't too bad. You can check them out at: www.merrell.com.
4) Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn - This tasty treat was introduced to me by my sister-in-law, Heather. She recommended it one day when we were at Sam's. I decided to try it, so I purchased a bag. I was hooked instantly! It's not too cheesy and it's a nice, light snack. I must warn you...it can be addicting! Try it sometime if you see it at the store.
6) Del Sol color changing nail polish - I purchased this product at a store in San Antonio called "Del Sol." Jason and I were walking around near the Riverwalk and decided to go into a store to cool off. This store was so neat! Everything in the store changed colors when it was out in the sun. They had shirts, hats, sunglasses, watches, hair accessories, water bottles, nail polish, and more! (The shirts actually reminded me of Hypercolor shirts...remember those???) Well, I thought that everything was kinda overpriced, but I wanted to get something small. I thought that the nail polish was really neat because they had bottles that would change completely different colors out in the sun. For example, they had silver glitter nail polish that would turn to dark red in the sunlight! I decided that I would splurge and buy a "fun" beauty product...like I did when I was in high school. I did learn that OPI made the nail polish, so that's how I justified my $9.99 bottle. Anyway, the bottle I picked starts out as a very pale pinkish-white pearl and changes to a darker, pinkish-red color. It's a lot of fun on a sunny day!

That's pretty much it for now!! On my next entry, I'll have to post my LEAST favorite things...which, right now happens to be Microsoft Powerpoint and my presentations that I've been focused on for the last month! (arggg!) Anyway, if you're out and about, and see any of these items, give 'em a try and let me know what you think! (even if you disagree)

Meet the Residents!

Last week we had the opportunity to take our residency pics for the VA website. Our individual pics are generally pretty cheesy, but the group pics were pretty nice. In the pic below, all of the residents are pictured except Monique Lopes-Serrao (one of the 1st year residents who was sick that day) and Abimbola Farinde (the Psychiatry Specialty resident who is on rotation at Parkland until November). Pictured below from L to R: Me, Gary Jean, Katura Thomas (back row); LaTonya Menefee, Katie Hazlewood (a fellow OU grad), Anesia Zeller, Alison O'Brien, and Young Ran Lee (front row).

Here is my cheesy individual pic. I am "counseling" a "patient" (aka: Katie) on hyperglycemia.

Ranger's Game #2

On Friday, we were able to go to our second Ranger's game of the summer! This time, Jason and I went with some of my co-residents and a spouse. The Ranger's played the Boston Red Sox, so it was a big game! There were lots of people in the stands, but I'm pretty sure that about 50% of them were Red Sox fans. The amount of cheering was about equal when either team would make a good play.
As you can probably tell from the scoreboard, the Ranger's didn't win...but they sure gave it a good try! It was probably just a bad night :) We still had a great time!
Everyone was able to enjoy some yummy ballpark food...such as hot dogs, fries, and NACHOS!!
It was the first time for everyone to be at the Ballpark in Arlington (well...except for Jason and I), so it will be a memorable experience, I'm sure!
We still have one more Ranger's game that we're planning on attending this summer. On September 21st, my cousin and his wife will be in town, and we're heading back for more baseball fun!

Scary September!

Okay...I have just realized that I may not survive through the month of September. Those of you who know me well, know that I always manage to stay pretty busy. This month, however, is crazy! The biggest obstacles that are facing me include a huge presentation on September 19th and a lecture I have to give to 2nd year pharmacy students on September 26th. Aside from those major undertakings, I have to lead a topic discussion, go to Oklahoma twice (once to Enid for a high school reunion and once to OKC for a residency showcase), go to a pharmacy dinner meeting, start going to bible study, attend a Ranger's game with the other residents, spend a weekend with my cousin and his wife when they come to Dallas to visit, work at CVS 3 times, and attend the ADA Hispanic Health Fair to help out. This is all in the next 3 weeks! Yikes!! I know that I will make it, but I have a feeling that I'll be pretty stressed through the process. I am really looking forward to all of the "fun" things on my agenda, but really dreading the presentations. On the bright side, once this month is over, things will slow down quite a bit. Please pray that I'll come through this in one piece!

Update on Jason's Grandma

Thanks to everyone for all of the prayers and well-wishes for Jason's grandma. The surgery was a success and the biopsy showed that the doctors removed all of the cancerous tissue. They also checked the local lymph nodes and didn't find any evidence that the cancer spread. She is still in the hospital and will probably be there through this weekend. It will be a long recovery, but she is still planning to go on a cruise with her three daughters (Jason's mom and two aunts) in October. She's such a fighter! Way to go, G-money!

Aqua Fit Class? A winner!

Well, lately I have been on a swimming kick (must be all of the hoopla with Michael Phelps), so I thought I would try the "Aqua Fit" class at my gym. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I always pictured that the group would have more of a "senior" feel. :) Today when I went, there were all kinds of people...younger and older than me, and both men and women. It was so much fun! (probably because it was my first time to go) We used these underwater dumbbells for toning, water noodles for all kinds of exercises, and even did quite a bit of cardio. The hour went by so fast! I think I'm gonna have to make this class a regular!

Prayer Request

Please pray for Jason's Grandma Jean. She was hospitalized for anemia on Tuesday and they subsequently found out that she has a colon mass. She is going into surgery tomorrow for a colon resection, and then she'll likely need chemotherapy. She is in good spirits about the procedure and trusts that God will take care of her.

San Antonio Trip: Episode 7 - The Last Day!

What's the best way to start a day of traveling? Eat a great breakfast! Phil, my good friend and co-resident from last year, always knows the best places to go. On our last day, we went to the Guenther House at the Pioneer Flour Mill for an excellent breakfast. You may know them from some of their mixes. The house held a dining area, a museum, and even a gift shop. It was beautiful, both inside and out.
The breakfast was yummy as well. Jason wanted to try their famous biscuits and gravy...
...and I wanted to try their fresh blueberry Belgium waffle with "sweet cream." They were both absolutely delish!
After our tummies were full, we were ready for the car ride back to Dallas! It was so great to see Phil one more time before we left. Hopefully we'll be back soon!
Of course, we couldn't get all the way back to Dallas without stopping at the outlet malls! :)

San Antonio Trip: Episode 6 - La Fogata

On the last night of our trip, we decided to go out for a "nice" dinner. Our destination? La Fogata Mexican Cuisine. It is a yummy Mexican restaurant in San Antonio (yes, I know there are lots!) with a great atmosphere. When you enter the "grounds" they have a neat courtyard area with a beautiful fountain. We had to wait a little bit so we ordered some margaritas. They were excellent and even had a little flower for garnish!
For dinner, we started off with the tableside guacamole (very good). I can't actually remember what we had for meals, but I know they were great. For dessert, we had guava empanadas! I know...they sound interesting, but they were absolutely fantastic! Even Jason liked them and he rarely ventures out into the "unique" food world. I highly recommend them if you're ever there!

We sat outside, although you can't tell from the picture. All of the waitstaff was very friendly, and there was even a mariachi band that provided music. In the picture below, our waitress is dancing with the trumpet player!
It was a great way to spend our last night of vacation. We will definitely go back to La Fogata the next time we're in San Antonio.