Happy Halloween!

Abbey's costume was so impressive, made from scratch!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

After a brunch at Bistro Vida!

Christmas Eve!

My flower arrangement. Merry Christmas!

Holidays and the BCC

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably my favorite weeks of the year. I had the priveledge of attending my 4th UCSF Breast Care Center Holiday party tonight. As eventful, festive and fun as always. The Intern skit was once again phenomenal, poking fun at the idiosyncrasies and hysterics that make up the BCC. I absolutely love being able to see old friends and colleagues, hear they are well, and what they are up to now. The BCC really was a work-home, very different than anything I've experience in medical school, and an environment I will really strive to find in the future. I really miss being part of a team working towards a goal, in med school you're constantly floating through teams, never a full fledged member yourself.  It was my first full-time job, where I fell in love with medicine, and realized that work doesn't have to just be work, it can be a passion, a calling, and something you do with friends and colleagues, not just coworkers, something that is fun, creative, and worth your while, What a terrific reminder about what the holidays, and life in general, are all about. Also a good kick in the butt reminder of why I'm doing all this studying now, with finals 6 days from now, its the extra uumf I needed!

Black Friday

5:45am!

Hetch Hetchy for Mother's Day!

The crew packed up and headed to Yosemite National Park this weekend in celebration of Mother's Day. Our destination: Hetch Hetchy, the Yosemite Valley that never was...Yup, in 1908 they damned up this beautiful valley against the activism of John Muir and naturalists around the country. That damn dam! After seeing it for myself, I can't believe it. A true travesty, because it is an absolutely amazing place. I'll be writing my representatives about this one...Even with the ugly dam, it's a remarkable place. We did an overnight backpacking trip, hiked up the valley, camped amongst the bears (no joke), and had an all around wonderful weekend. Happy Mother's Day Mom! Hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did!

2009 Resolutions

1. Get into medical school
2. Blog every day
3. Make zero clothing purchases*
4. Limit myself to $200/month for food and beverage
5. Become an excellent cook

UDATED 1/7/2009:
6. Read a book a week

* I know this one sounds a bit extreme, but I think it is necessary. It comes with a caveat, I've been eying a jacket for several months that I have coupons for, and I'm going to buy that. I don't consider this breaking my resolution. Also, I'm not including socks and underwear as clothing purchases.

Christmas on Diamond Head

This shot pretty much sums up my Christmas this year!

Mele Kalikimaka!

I made it to Hawaii! Busy afternoon, toured the Bishop Museum after getting off the plane, then went for a nice easy run with my Dad along the canal and beach (amazingly warm weather), and then we all went to the Honolulu Lights which had some really cool Christmas light displays such as the one below. Man I'm wiped out, surfs up in the AM!!!

Christmas Eve morning at SFO

Good thing I got here 2.5 hours early....

Addendum: Luckily it only took me 40 minutes to get through the check-in and security, AND they didn't ask me to open any of my wrapped presents! Impressive SFO.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't want to jump the gun on holidays here, but starting January 1st I will start my quest to blog every day in the year 2009.*

I think it's a worthy goal, I want to write my thoughts more regularly, keep people posted on my antics and adventures, so I'm diving in. I actually think it's harder to blog when I do it less then several times a week, I have a high activation energy for writing a blog entry after iIve fallen off the horse for more than a week.

Recently I've been reflecting on what other significant resolutions I would like to make for 2009, any suggestions before 1/1/2009 will be taken into consideration.

*For those of you on my direct email list, I can take you off if this gets really annoying...

Home for the holidays

I must say, Hawaii and home just don't seem right, but I'm totally game for it!!!! I am completely looking forward to landing in Hawaii tomorrow afternoon, 75 degree weather, Obama right next store, Christmas the next day. Could I be any more lucky? I'm hoping to explore the island, see the big waves of the North Shore, and go nuts hiking. Stay tuned and in case I am incommunicado these next two days, Merry merry christmas!!!!

4th of July!

Just finished a wonderful run with Meredith and Eugene. Here we are in our patriotic attire. Happy 4th of July!!!

Surfing Tubes jingle

Here's a west coast version of Jingle Bells, performed by me and the Absters.
Let me know what you think!