It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!!!

CARDS!!!  I've been making Christmas cards, tags, decor, etc. and I'm really getting in the Christmas spirit!!  I adore this time of year and simply cannot wait to be home with friends and family!!!

So obviously, the only way to show how much I have gotten into the spirit would be to share pictures!  :)

Merry Christmas ornaments

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!!  

He's just so cute... this is with the flash on

Santa Clause is coming to town!!!

My Christmas wreath!!!  It's a lot more sparkly than the picture gives credit!

Thank you Chrissy Lux for sending me this wonderful stamped image! 

Such a cute snowman! :)

So yes - I'm loving that it's Christmas time right now.  We're about to decorate the apartment, so I'll have to post more pictures when that's done! 

Thankful

It's thanksgiving, so I figured I would take the opportunity to write a blog about the things I'm thankful for in life.

I am very thankful for my husband.  He has supported me through so much, especially as an optometry student who's trying hard to be a good wife and friend all at the same time.  He also encourages me through my creative endeavors, which help relieve the stress of day to day optometry school!

Next, I am thankful for my health.  It's so nice to know that I can chase my dreams without limitations from cancer, serious injuries, or mental disorders.  I have the capacity to perform skills and work hard, which I can't thank the Lord for enough! 

Of course, I am VERY, VERY thankful for my family!  Without them I would not be the woman I am today, and no matter who comes and goes in your life, your family will ALWAYS be there to support you, encourage you, help you out, and tell you when you're being ridiculous :).  My family has shown me so much care over the years, and I'm glad I'm old enough now to truly realize and appreciate everything they've done and still do for me.  Every year, the love for my family grows, and I can't wait to be able to once again call North Carolina home, so I can be with them more often!

Next, I am thankful for my God who has given me all of these things for which I'm greatly thankful!  He's also blessed me with the beauty of the changing seasons, and eternal life through His son!

I'm thankful for creativity and inspiration! I've begun to mature the creative side of my brain through decorating, making cards, and crafting.  It's wonderful to feel like I have talent in more places than just school!

Finally, I am thankful for Friends!  Without them, I really don't know what kind of person I would be today.  I would probably be very narrow-minded because I have learned so much about the world through interacting with friends.  I'm very thankful for the ones who have made an effort to stay close with me even when many miles separate us.  We learn who our true friends are as we get older, which is a bittersweet blessing that I'm still thankful for!!

So this Thanksgiving, we did not drive home, but went with our neighbor's family to share in their Thanksgiving festivities.  Here are just a few pictures from our redneck Thanksgiving complete with a wedding (that's right - a nice lil' country "I do," and "I do, too") and 2 complete meals! :)

Tyler shooting with Ashely's pink gun!

Chris's dad's backyard view!  Awesome!

Gotta love that pink gun!

So all in all, it was a thanksgiving to remember, and I'm ready for Christmas.  Too bad I have to get through finals first! 

Happy Halloween 2011

It's that time of year again.  The time where creativity flies as people enjoy dressing up how they never can during the rest of the year.  :)  This year, we went to the annual Omega Delta (SCO's social fraternity) Halloween Bash.  It was at the Vine on Madison Ave, Saturday October 29.  So many students were there dressed up in creative outfits.

We also carved pumpkins on Friday night.  Not as cool as our block-S pumpkin from last year, but hey - that one was pretty tough to beat :) 

So obviously, with all this talk of creativity - I think pictures are required.  Enjoy!

Donkey Kong Country is brought to life with Dixie, Diddy, Donkey, and Funky Kong!

Donkey Kong complete with DK coin, DK barrel, and banana :).  Then we have Little Bo Peep and her sheep and a glaucoma suspect (gotta love the optometry plug)

A witch and Osama Bin Laden

Paper dolls.  Oh the memories hehe

Salt and Pepper hanging out with the glaucoma suspect.

Christmas Tree!!!

cute Indian and Dr. Jones

One of the funniest costumes of the night.  She's a remote and he's a TV because she "turns him on"

Quail Man from Doug - 90's cartoons were the best

Toy Story aliens.

Where in the world are Carmen San Diego and Waldo??  Oh wait, I found them! :)

Nintendo is always the best!  Classic....

Battling insurances - Flo and Mayhem :)

Our pumpkin is on the right. 

Pan-Am girls with Dixie Kong

I wanted to get a picture of all of the taco bell sauce packets together, but that was difficult.  Such a cute idea though! 

Fall has begun and GECKOS have arrived!!

It is officially fall.  What a wonderful time of the year.  Except that in Memphis, the pretty leaves of fall last for about a grand total of a week and then go away - oh yeah and this "week" hasn't started yet.  Haha.  I recently decided that I want to make wreaths to decorate for the seasons.  It's an easy way to make your apartment more welcoming and not have to have lots of nick nacs around the inside.  Our space is rather small to begin with, so I like the idea.  I had never made a wreath before, but a girl in my class made one for her undergrad's football season, and did it a very easy, introductory way!  She told me to go to Hobby Lobby (only my favorite store), and buy a pre-made wreath ($5) and then purchase the accessories and put it together.  I did this and man was it affordable and EASY!  I just choose the accessories for the wreath that I liked the best and stuck them through the spaces in the twigs :) 

There it is!  Hanging on a nail outside our door :) 

I bought a second premade wreath (from the floral section, by the way), and got christmas decor to stick inside it.  Then I can have a running two wreaths that I just go to hobby lobby to buy decorative pieces for it and switch them out :)  Fun, easy, and great for me the beginner who has not much time or money!! 

The second big update... we got GECKOS!  The type of gecko we got is a crested gecko, also known as an eyelash gecko.  They get the name from literally having eye lashes, however, not the hair-like ones that humans have, but still!  I named mine Luka ("Loo-kah"), after a peruvian fruit called lucama.  It has a yellowish color and was my favorite ice cream flavor when I studied abroad, so I decided it was a good and unique name.  I have no idea the gender of our geckos yet because they're difficult to sex when they are young.  So if mine turns out to be a boy, Luka will just have to be a manly name as well ;)

Tyler has not decided what to name his.  There is a pattern on his back that kinda looks like an "S," so he's thinking of having the name start with an S; however, he hasn't decided anything final.  One of my fellow classmates suggested a name like Latisse - hahaha.  Only a fellow eye nerd would think of that ;) 

 We know that they're 8-10 weeks old, so we decided that they're August babies and gave them the birthday of August 14th :)  We ordered them from a website called Pangea (http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/).  We knew that the shipping would make them a little more expensive, but totally worth it because (1) we got a little more say in what patterns we liked (2) cooler patterns were available (all the pet stores around here just had plain ones) and (3) we could buy them young.  A lot of the crested geckos in the pet stores were already older, and if I'm paying $50 for a pet, I kinda want it's entire 10-15 year lifespan! 

Here are some pictures we've taken.

Luka... (s)he loves climbing on the glass!

Luka again :)

Tyler's gecko to name peaking out from the leaves

Picture taken at 1:00 am while studying for my Pediatric Optometry test.  They're more active at night because they are nocturnal, though fairly active during the day, too. So cute to watch them scurrying around.  And they're getting to know each other --> They'll be friends! :)  [Luka on left]

Just can't express how adorable these baby geckos are!!! 

Tyler's gecko likes hanging on this plant.  They're seriously like gymnasts :)

And Luka loves this side of the glass haha.  These guys are such characters - so fun to watch :)

I will try to keep more pictures of the geckos coming!!

School is school - lots more work and new skills this semester, so not good.  And classes are in the afternoon, which tremendously shortens my day!  I'm still making it though :-D  And speaking of learning about eyes... the eyelash geckos have THE COOLEST eyes.  My goal is to get a good close-up picture that really captures this. 

Until next time - we'll be sitting by the gecko tank haha

Back to the grind - that means stress!

Well, the fall semester has started full force!  This year, labs are in the morning and classes are in the afternoon, which makes for very long days!  We are in school until 5:00pm practically every day, and most students stay late to practice lab skills.  We are learning a new technique called binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy (BIO).  With this skill we can scan out into the far periphery of the retina to see more area where problems could be.  It's an interesting and challenging skill.  Unfortunately, we have to be dilated to practice, so I feel like I've spent more days dilated than not.

This week is going to be very stressful.  We have 2 tests and our first actual practical in BIO.    I've also been very busy recently keeping up with leadership with FCO (Fellowship of Christian Optometrists).  I redid the bulletin board, helped organize a church tour, and have done my best to attend as many FCO events as possible, so that leadership is visible at events. 

I have tried to make time for myself in the midst of all the craziness.  We have been hanging out with our neighbors in the apartment complex, which is great because now we don't have to drive downtown to hang out with friends!!  They're also newlyweds around the same age, and the husband is in dental school, so we have a few things in common.  His wife is a nurse at St. Jude's hospital, so we all have drives from our apartment complex, but love the Cordova area.  We've been fortunate enough to enjoy cookouts with them a couple of times, and got to watch the movie Bridesmaids with their Blue-ray player.  I'm hoping we'll be able to hang out with them and get to know them more as the year progresses. 

On the to-do list is shopping.  I need better closed-toe shoes and dress clothes for the many times we have to help/observe in clinic and go on school screenings.  I didn't build up my wardrobe over the summer when it would've been convenient because I didn't realize I would have to be dressing up so much during 2nd year.  Oh well.  I can make due for the time being, but eventually I really need to get shopping!! I'm thinking that this weekend will present a good opportunity for me to shop!  :)

I also want to make some more crafts.  A girl in my class made this super cute wreath for football season!  She is from Arkansas and it says Go HOGS and is in their colors - red and white!  I want to make one in red and white that says GO PACK... too bad this season isn't going so well.  I also want to make some more wreaths for fall and Christmas!  We'll see.  I also want to make more cards - I haven't had time for any of that!  :(  All I've had time for is studying, practicing skills, working out and eating...

Looking forward to seeing Tyler's Dad, Kim, and Kait in the middle of October!  Should be some fun family time!  Having something to look forward to makes the week a little more tolerable. 

Until next time, I've got over 140 drugs to memorize!!!  EEK... studying for pharm! 

I love saving money!!!

Kroger has certainly earned my business for a long time coming!  Tyler and I have been able to save a ton of money just buy shopping for our groceries there.  Every month or so, they send us personalized coupon packages filled with coupons for things we usually buy.  Some of the coupons are even good for something for free (i.e. free eggs, free bag of Lays potato chips, etc.).  We use those coupons whenever they come in and I also clip coupons we get from our mailbox.  Then every now and again, we'll get a good coupon printed with our receipt at the store.  The other day, I got a 20% off any purchase at PayLess coupon! 

This weekend, I've used a lot of the coupons and taken advantage of the tax free weekend to land some really good deals!  Yesterday I went to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and things, and took a $36 bill down to $19.  Then today, I got two pairs of shoes at PayLess for $30.  They were doing the buy one get one half off [like usual] along with the 20% coupon and one of the pairs of shoes was on sale - SCORE! 

Anyway- so the secret to great savings is Kroger :)  We also save 0.10/gallon on gas when we get a certain number of points shopping... granted, 10 cents isn't a HUGE discount, but over time, it really adds up!  YEAH!

Sorry for a boring post, but I was just really excited about saving money!  hehe

Family Trip to Florida to celebrate 90 Wonderful Years!

That's right.  My dad's mom is turning 90 soon, and we went down to Florida this past weekend to celebrate her milestone birthday!  It was almost a complete family reunion with people I hadn't seen in years!  It was so exciting to get everyone together and to do something really nice for my wonderful grandmother.  Below are some pictures from the vacation to enjoy!

Out to dinner at Red Lobster the night we all got into town!

We got grandma a lift chair and here are the granddaughters' husbands trying it out

 

 

Grandma trying out her present

Birthday cake

One good looking family

Toasting to 90 wonderful years

Cousins

Sun set on the gulf

Playing at the pool our last day in Florida 

We had a really great time!  It's almost time for Tyler to start his new job and for me to start back to school.  I cannot believe how quickly this summer vacation is flying by.  Sometimes I wish I were going to be a teacher so I could have summer vacations for the rest of my life.  I'm going to miss all this time off.  Haha.  However, I'm about to go into the full swing of my second year at SCO, which will be a busy one for sure!  I know I shouldn't wish my life away, but I've never wanted more than to have my degree and the knowledge to go ahead and have a practice with a steady life back in North Carolina.  One day :)