Reworking the blog

Switching things up here at the ol' blog. You can find all the old posts and where I might actually start being a regular blogger at:

http://loripassey.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you there!

Lori

A Look Back

Happy 2011! Before getting too involved in the new year, it's fun to take a look at the past. In no particular order, a few images from 2010.


Mark's trip to Canada, which was reminiscent of our trip to Paris...

A whole lot of studying occurred...

Birthdays were celebrated....

Hanging out with friends...



Pursuing the perfect cocktail...

Starbuck's Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. Enough said...

Cruising around in the new car...

Here's hoping 2011 is filled with fun and new experiences!

Such as graduation, for instance.

For Sale

2000 Nissan Sentra SE with only 56,000 miles. It has manual trasmission and gets great gas mileage - 30mpg highway.

This is a great little car - spread the word!

Edited 12/3/10 at 21:30..... Sold! The KSL classifieds came through for me!

Surfing the Net

Instead of studying. Feel like I've been studying for, oh, about the past 2 1/2 years or so.

But I found these, and this one sums up my life right now:



Back to work!

L

Meet the 1

We have one of these bad boys on its way....




http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Vehicles/2011/1/1Explore.aspx

Looking forward to some new wheels.

Loving This Right Now:

(One of the more random things discovered during my clinical rotations!)





Enjoy!

(Only six more months of school!)

LP

Hello Summer!

It seems like summer is off to a slow start here. Tantalizing days of sun and warmth, followed by cloudy and cool weather. Bummer!

Mark and I had a blast in Capitol Reef last month, hiking and relaxing with our friends. We spent our evenings playing dominoes and Sequence, with Mark dominating both games.

The summer semester is in full swing, with the usual crazy assignments and a plethora of group projects - which I absolutely hate! But at least it will be over in a few short weeks...eight, to be exact. But who's counting? Oh yeah, I am!

We have a few fun outings planned for the summer, including a weekend up at Alta Lodge for Sam's wedding, and a weekend up at Solitude for the Taste of the Nation. This is a fabulous event, so if anyone's interested, please join us! I've linked you up!

Over and out.

It Can Stop Snowing Now

Hello!? It's April! I'm ready for some sunshine and warm weather. The heavy coats have simply got to go. Only four more weeks left in this semester, then two weeks (gasp!) off before the summer semester gets underway. Whatever will I do with two whole weeks? Let's see...laundry, clean the fridge, make some freezer meals, work, get ready for the new semester...

It won't be all work and no play. We have one weekend slotted for a trip to Torrey - Capitol Reef National Park. I'm so looking forward to the mini-vacation. Our favorite place to stay is Austin's Chuckwagon Motel. They have these cute little 2 bedroom cabins with a sitting area and kitchen. It makes it easier to be a bit self-sufficient - a quick breakfast and pack lunches for our day hikes. Then we can either splurge and go out to eat at Cafe Diablo or just fire up the grill and throw on some steaks. Ahhh, can't wait.

So four more weeks to go, and with this carrot dangling out in front it shouldn't be too terrible to get through the rest of the semester. Five down...three to go.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of the greenest of holidays, I thought I'd share a few "green" pictures from the past year...

Happy St. Paddy's, everyone!

March Madness

12 days of craziness! I spent the last two weeks here....

Twelve days of seeing trauma patients - car crashes, falls, gunshot wounds, bicycle crashes, lacerations - along with assorted complications - ARDS, heart failure, liver failure, brain hemorrhages and such. It was exhausting - 11 to 12 hour days - but it was such a good time. So it's back to real life now, with a bit less drama. And a lot more rest! :)

Proofreading

I've been writing a paper for one of my classes (about what, you ask? A little bit about the shortage of primary care providers in the US and how expanding insurance coverage to everyone isn't going to do much good if there aren't any providers to see all the newly insured...but I digress). Anyway, so I've always been pretty good about proofreading, but sometimes you just miss an error, and only after you turn the paper in you see it in all its embarrassing glory. So, sometimes it's helpful to have someone else take a look at the paper. Get a fresh set of eyes on it. Sometimes, you don't even have to ask for help, it is just freely given.

Looks like she found an error...I better go fix it.

Blog Hopping Finds

So I was blog hopping today, like I do, and came across this gem. Love it! What a beautiful voice!



They are an indie duo called Pomplamoose. This song just makes me happy. Hope you enjoy it!

Happy Valentine's Day

I've always enjoyed Valentine's Day, but for the past seven years it has had a special meaning for me. On Valentine's Day seven years ago, Mark asked me to marry him! It's fun to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement. This evening, following a day at work, Mark and I celebrated with dinner at Faustina. The food was simply superb - crab legs, ribeye steak and molten chocolate cake. And a bit of champagne, of course. The company was what made the evening special, though. I hope everyone was able to spend the day with someone special!

Blog Revival

So, I've been thinking about this whole blog thing lately...and I kind of miss it! I like the semi-creative outlet it provides and really, how much time would it take to make a post just once a week? I mean, it's not like school takes up that much of my time! Oh, wait. Yes. Yes it does. Maybe I'll just sacrifice a few minutes of sleep. Check back soon, because next time, there might just be a real post here!

2009...So far, so good!

Mark and have had a great start to our 2009. We just returned from a week in beautiful Jamaica! It was the perfect way to start the new year...sun, water, sand and relaxation! A perfect combination. We spent our days sunning on the beach, reading, eating great food, drinking great beverages (Rum Runner, anyone?), playing pool, tennis, Scrabble and Quiddler, and listening to some fabulous reggae music. It was just what we needed to get ready for more work and more school.

Speaking of school, which has turned me into the world's worst blogger, I'm finding it much easier to give updates on my life over at facebook.com. So come on over, sign up, and add me as a friend! But beware, Facebook is a bit addicting and possibly a bit annoying at times (remember: you can always use the "ignore" feature - you'll see what I mean).

Happy 2009!

My Poor, Ignored Blog

Well helloooooooooo.

It's fall break! I have a minute to say hi! Hi!

Yeah, so, where does the time go? Last I checked it was August and I was frantically trying to get organized and ready to go back to school. It's now mid-October, and I'm already half-way through my first semester of graduate school. It's great! Super busy, but great. I pretty much work part-time, go to school and study. Mark works, makes dinner, does the dishes, the laundry and the grocery shopping. Hmmmm. I should have gone back to school a long time ago!



In spite of being very busy, I am enjoying my classes and learning a lot. Mark has been a huge help - I couldn't have asked for a more supportive, wonderful husband! Mark has been spending his free time keeping a wary eye on the stock market and watching some baseball playoff games. I spend my free time going to the gym and going to an occasional lunch with family or friends.

In other news:


In August, our friends Larissa and Shawn adopted a darling little boy! Five-month-old Christopher has already got those two (and everyone else) wrapped around his little finger! Check out those beautiful eyes!

On September 20th, Katie, Mark and I went on a hike up Mt. Olympus. It was so fun, but that was one hard hike! Well worth it, though. It only took us 3 hours to get to the top!

Last week, I had a the opportunity to go to the Body Worlds exhibit. It was amazing. I highly recommend it.

Fall break has been wonderful - I've been reading novels (Breaking Dawn, for one) and have been able to catch up on some homework. Mark and I took a trip to Wendover, NV last night. While Mark played Texas Hold 'Em, I worked on a scrapbook project. It was fun and relaxing. I know that these next several weeks will go by so quickly, with school and the holidays fast approaching. I will certainly try to check in at least a couple of times between now and winter break, but I'm making no promises! If not, Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving! Ha!

By the way, the journal from my last post - I found it at Barnes & Nobel. It is currently sitting on the shelf collecting dust.

Another exercise in creative freedom

Have you heard about this book?


Wreck This Journal, by Keri Smith. According to the author, "It is about absurdity. A creation. Evidence that you exist. Using materials. Destruction. It is about FUN. Doing the opposite. Breaking the rules. It is about ideas. Getting dirty. Making mistakes. I'm going to ask you to make a mark and it's going to be messy. Don't worry about that. That's the point."

Basically, it's an art journal - a journal that's a combination of writing, scrapbooking, art, and photojournaling. This one, however, has a different twist. Instead of a staring at a blank page in your journal and wondering what to do/write/draw on the page, this book comes with instructions for each page. And most of the instructions have to do with "wrecking" the journal. For example, one page directs you to poke holes in it using a pencil (see below). Another instructs you to tear the page out, crumple it in a ball, and kick it around. It's all about being silly, playing, having fun, and not worrying whether or not you're going to do something wrong and "wreck" your beautiful art journal.

So here's my first page, filled with holes made with colored pencils. Really, it was quite fun poking all those holes. Mark even helped. I'll post more pages as I work through the book. Should be a fun ride!

Have a great week! L