Good times

We had a great and busy weekend with friends from medical school who came to visit us.  The guys fished on Friday and Saturday (and caught the most amazing striper bass), and the ladies went shopping, took the kids to the zoo, to the park, and just hung out.  In the evenings we cooked fish dinners together, played Catch Phrase, and just had a good time catching up.

Two of the original "dinner group" couples didn't make it.... we missed them!  We'll be sure to do this again sometime when everyone can come.

Day 50 - A letter to my reflection in the mirror

Yes, I'm going to grace the top of this post with my lovely yellow-ish picture that I took in my bathroom a few days ago.  I mean, it's a picture of ME in my MIRROR, so it's perfect. :)

And second of all, I'm kind of having a tough time determining why this letter is that much different from the letter I wrote to me from one year ago (day 45).  Am I supposed to write about my reflection?  Because according to the picture, I need to hit up a doctor because I apparently have jaundice.

Or maybe I should tell that girl in the mirror to go FIND HER WEDDING RINGS.  She's not wearing any!! And just because she got hit on at the public library, that doesn't mean she should continue to not wear her rings.  Even if she was all smiles for the rest of the day (I've still got it, people!). (And yes I did find my rings, eventually.  They were in my jewelry box.  Shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was.)

Or maybe I should tell that girl to get a haircut so she can finally start wearing her hair down again.

Or maybe I should tell her to get to bed earlier.  Yes, definitely that one.

Maybe I should tell her to just sit down and write those thank-you notes already!!

But okay, I do want to tell her this: she needs to let go of all the little things that are keeping her from being truly happy. I mean, she's very happy already.  Extremely happy.  But there are small things that are always there in the back of her mind that are keeping her from being even happier.  She needs to be happy now.  And she needs to be more grateful.  She's already pretty good at that one, but she needs to show her gratitude more often (re: need to write thank you notes).  She needs to voice her gratitude, not just feel it.
++++

Okay, okay.  If I really had to write a letter to that reflection above, this is what it would say:

Dear me:
Learn how to use that camera correctly.
Love,
me

P.S. NOW GO TO BED!

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The end. 

Day 49 - Hopes, dreams, plans for the next 365 days

Okay, this might come as a shock to everyone, but I asked Garrett for his hopes/dreams/plans for the next 365 days and he participated and only rolled his eyes once.  It's a big day, people.

In 365:

Hannah's hopes: survive in this apartment for 8.5 more months, spend some more time with my parents before we move far away, get to my goal weight, take a few more fun "trips" around the area while we are here (we went to the Outer Banks last weekend and it was fun! I'd like to go to D.C. a few more times, too), finish our 72-hour kits, eat lots of sushi. And maybe some lobster, too.

Garrett's hopes: get a car that will last 6 years, catch a large redfish this weekend, get a decent call schedule for the months I have call (2 more!)

Hannah's dreams: buy a house when we move to Florida, get our 6-month emergency fund complete, sell a few quilts and other things on etsy, find the perfect bedding, learn how to play "All of Me" by Jon Schmidt (you can see him play this piano piece on youtube if you're interested.  If you haven't heard it, you should watch it, it's a great song. So far I'm just trying to perfect the first three pages...)

Garrett's dreams: "That one day... I will be judged by the content of my character." (har har, good one honey)

Hannah's plans:

This week: organize the LR closet

This weekend: friends from med school come to visit!

This month: buy a second car, finish Christmas gifts

November: Thanksgiving!!  No plans yet because we don't know if Garrett has time off.

December: go to Savannah for Christmas break

Jan/Feb/Mar/April/May/June - my "baby" turns 4 (!!), take a trip down to FL to find a place to live, soak in all this extra time with Garrett during this intern year, I turn 27 (!!), move to Florida in June!

July - adjust to living in the heat and humidity again... although this time will probably be worse!  Why did we want to move to Florida, again??  I don't mind heat but I hate humidity, and I love fall!!

August/September - consider when to have another baby (can I handle three kids??)

Garrett's plans: go to work. fish as much as possible.

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Up tomorrow: A letter to my reflection in the mirror

Day 48 - A photo of me right now

I love fall.... I can wear my boots again!

And wow, I really need to wash my bathroom mirror.

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Up tomorrow: Hopes, dreams, plans for the next 365 days

Day 47 - Birthday/Christmas wish list

I actually keep a running online "wish list" throughout the year.  As I see things I want, I add them to the list.  Then, I'll look it over every so often and usually delete about half the things, because it was just a passing phase or whatever.  It's a great method and if something stays on the list for an extended period of time without getting "cut", I know I really want it, so I start saving up my pennies!  So here are some of the items that have withstood the test of time on my list:

CZ stud earrings.  I don't think I'd ever want real diamond earrings... not when CZ looks so good!  Plus CZ wouldn't be so stressful to own!  I saw some really nice CZ earrings at TJ Maxx the other day, and they were under $25... just sayin'. ;)

Brickmaker coffee table. This one is rectangular but I also love the square ones. I really, really love these but they are so expensive!  It would be cool (well, cheaper) to make one out of reclaimed wood.

An iphone.  Unfortunately, we have Sprint so I can't have one.  I can dream though.  And maybe someday the rumors will come true, and Sprint will get the iphone!  I can dream about that, anyway. :)

This upholstered bed with nailhead trim.  I LOVE this bed!  I know I could just make an upholstered headboard (and probably will end up doing just that), but I really do love the upholstered sideboards and endboard that this one has.  This particular bed only comes in queen and California king sizes... and we'd really like a king someday.  We like our space when we sleep.  The further apart we are, the better, in Garrett's opinion. ;)  I'm sure that in 5.5 years when Garrett completes his residency, a king size bed will be near the top of the list of "things we need".  I'd kinda hate to save up my money and buy one of these in a queen size, only to have us get a king size bed a few years later.

I don't have a picture for this next one but I would really like to get my hair done.  A great cut, and some highlights.  I haven't had a haircut since last December so it's not looking very good right now, so I wear it up all the time and it's getting really old.  So, a great haircut is on my agenda for Christmastime (my sister-in-law cuts it).  She would also color it if I wanted her to, but I'd really, really like to be blonde-ish but I can't afford the upkeep, so I'm holding off on that one for a few more years (I've never been too happy with box colors so that's not an option).

A stovetop grill.  Since we are in an apartment, I really miss grilling out!  Hopefully in a few years we'll buy a real outdoor grill, but for now this would be just perfect! (And some nice, juicy rare steaks to go along with it would be nice)

A Bare Escentuals gift card.  This is the make-up I wear and I love it!  And notice that it's "so pure you can sleep in it."  Good thing, since I'm too lazy to wash my face at night.  We have a Bare Escentuals outlet in Williamsburg so I could really get a bang for my buck there.

"H" monogram stationery from this etsy shop.  I feel like I am always writing cards to people and I think these are so pretty. I really like the blue and the purple.

A little "initial" necklace (g & h).  There are many shops on etsy that sell variations of these.

And. okay... I wouldn't be sad if I opened this on my birthday/Christmas morning:

An ipad.  These are really neat.  And Garrett has a $500 "credit" from the hospital to buy anything he wants (as long as it's for "educational purposes".  This qualifies.)  I mean, come on, why wouldn't he want to buy something for me with that money??

Oh and I wouldn't turn down a gift card to TJ Maxx.  I love that place.

Other things I want but haven't quite pinned down yet exactly what I want: accent chair(s) for the living room, new bedding (we've had our current stuff for over 5 years now, I'm ready for a change), an area rug for the living room, curtains, lots of clear food storage containers so I can have an organized pantry, new lampshades for our bedroom, a new color scheme for the girls' bathroom (navy, maybe?), a great piece of art for somewhere in the house, a new cell phone, an area rug for under the kitchen table (thick black & white stripes?), an iTunes gift card, some new headphones (mine are falling apart), some black dressy boots, some wire/metal baskets (decor), 6 or 8 frames and some pictures (prints or photographs) to make a nice gallery wall above our couch, some new clothes, a 2011 calendar, and too many things from etsy.com to even list.

I don't ask for much.  Clearly.

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Up tomorrow: A photo of me right now

Day 46 - Photos of personal things in my life

I'm going to come back to this one........ later this week or next week.

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Up tomorrow: Birthday/Christmas wish list

Day 45 - A letter to myself a year ago

Dear Hannah,

1. Ellie will eventually stop crying and things will get better.  You will get more sleep.  Don't beat yourself up over not nursing her well... it's her fault, not yours. :)  And it's okay.  Enjoy her infant-hood.  I know it's not your favorite stage, but it's still pretty great.

2. For the love of everything, cancel all of Garrett's radiology interviews after his FIRST INTERVIEW!  He matches into that program.  So, save yourself $5,000 and just have some faith. (and P.S. tell Jackie and Jared to transfer to Newport News, not Spartanburg, haha.) (For those of you who don't know this story... our brother-in-law transferred to Spartanburg, SC for 2 years because we thought that we would be moving there for Garrett's transitional year, and we knew it would be so much fun to live near them for a year.  But Garrett didn't end up matching there.  And it turns out that they could have transferred to the hospital that Garrett ended up matching at! Whoops!)

3. The 9/28/10 Mega-million lottery numbers are: 2, 10, 13, 36, 38, 18.

4. Don't even bother bringing Garrett's car with you when you move.  As soon as you get there it will stop working (and I do mean as soon as you get there.)  It won't even start to take it off the hitch.  Good one.

5.  You are going to get really, really, REALLY sick about 7 times in the next 6 months.  It's like food poisoning (but 5 times worse).  And then, just when you think it's all over and done with, it will hit you again six months after it all stopped.  I think it's pork.  STOP EATING PORK in all forms (yeah, goodbye bacon... sad I know.  But hey, if you get sick again while you're off pork, you'll know it's not that. But it's worth a shot.)

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Up tomorrow: Photos of personal things in my life