Boston!

Hello everybody!  Today I am in Boston!  I've started the interview trail.  Here's my schedule

Home--->Boston--->Philly--->Home--->Atlanta--->Baltimore--->D.C.--->home!  All before Christmas!  However, after that I'm done.

I am interviewing at a total of 11 schools, 4 in-state and 7 out-of-state.  It's pretty exciting!  Interviews can be pretty exhausting as well, so I was careful to spread out my interview schedule so I can make the most of my trips.  Today was a free day in Boston, then 2 days of interviews, followed by another break.  In Philly, I only interview on Tuesday and Friday.  I'm really want to enjoy the cities I visit and spend time with friends and family.

In Boston I'm staying with my partner-in-crime, Aviva.  Aviva and I were roommates during a summer internship in 2008 and have been friends ever since.  We've conquered Slope Day at Cornell and two Beer, Bourbon & BBQ festivals together.  Now, I get to stay with her and her boyfriend, Shaun, while I interview! 

Aviva had to work today, so I explored on my own.  I've found that I am the type of person who is comfortable traveling and exploring solo, it isn't for everyone.  Sometimes I prefer it. 

I started the day browsing the shops on Newbury Street, then traveled downtown to Government Center, where Aviva works to meet her for lunch.  The picture above was taken near Government Center.

 

 

After lunch I went to Fanueil Hall, more stores.  Maybe it's because I'm broke, but I like to think it's because I'm seeking culture, but I'm getting tired of vacationing just to shop.  So I kept the shopping to a minimum and headed to Northend.  Above is a cool dress in one of the stores made entirely out of Vitamin Water aluminum cans.

 

Northend is Boston's historic Italian neighborhood.  There were tons of independent groceries and pastry shops.  I stopped at Mike's because Aviva told me they were awesome.  I purchased a lobster tail for us to have for dessert tonight and got the dessert above to snack on immediately!  It was pretty tasty and seemed to be made with classic, simple ingredients and no processed food.

 

While walking around Northend, I found the waterfront!  It was gorgeous!  I wish I had a picture to share with y'all, but I haven't uploaded the pictures off my camera yet (thus, only the instagram photos are shared on the blog).  The sun was shining, boats were sailing and it was a nice moment just to stop and enjoy life. 

 

Well, tomorrow I interview at Tufts and then Saturday at Boston U!  Good night everybody!  On Sunday I'll have another day to explore, guided by Aviva and Shaun.  :-)

 



Registered!

Yesterday, we finished registering.  We have a large registry on Bed Bath & Beyond and a baby one on Amazon.  I had a lovely time and figured I would make a pros & cons list for all of y'all.

Pro:  You get to register for whatever you want.
Con:  You don't want to look greedy or selfish.  For this reason, I only registered for stuff I truly wanted and believed would not clutter our kitchen too much.  Still, there are some pricey things on our registry.

Pro:  At BB&B an employee will assist you in making your registry.
Con:  At BB&B an employee will assist you in making your registry.  I had trouble deciphering if she was truly recommending a product or liked it due to the price.  Do they get kickbacks on the stuff we get?

Pro:  On Amazon you can add stuff from external websites.
Con:  On stuff from external websites, your address won't auto-populate.  I solved this problem by putting our address in the notes, but I do fear Universal Registry will confuse less computer savvy people.

That's about all...I figure all and all, registering is a wonderful and exciting part of being engaged.  While I hope we get everything haha, there are a few favorites of mine, in particular our china, flatware, Le Creuset pieces and the sheets we registered for.  Hmm..being engaged makes you desire some pretty boring stuff, huh?

Our registry collage I made on Polyvore...fun site :-)

    

Happy Holidays!

Hello everybody!  Sorry for the brief hiatus!  My life has been a mix of interviewing, final exams (goodbye emergency medicine) and Thanksgiving celebrations.  Aaron and I went with my family to my grandmother's house, which is our routine.  My grandmother threw down, as she does every year.  Turkey and stuffing is one of my favorite meals and it was so tasty.  Everyone in my family has been super welcoming of Aaron-my grandmother insisted he get in the grandchildren pictures, because he is soon to be a grandchild.  How nice!  Aaron and I have been lucky to have such supportive families.  However, towards the end of the weekend I was getting tired of the hustle and bustle and ready to take it easy.  Yesterday Aaron and I simply curled up on the couch, watched a movie and cooked together which was really nice.  I briefly complained about watching a movie, because I think some of medical school type A personality is rubbing off on me and I feel like watching a movie is equivalent to wasting time.  Then later I reflected, what's so bad about spending a couple hours watching a good/humorous/touching story?  Aaron's trying to get me to watch Stars Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogy; I've seen neither.  Will I take the plunge??

We also mailed our Save the Dates!  Finally!  This was both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time.  Overwhelming-managing a guest list of 260-something.  Underwhelming-actually handing out/mailing the save the dates.  No one cares as much about your wedding as you, folks.  So don't expect people to be bowled over when they get your magnet...I think I even confused a few senior citizens (a friend of my grandmother's kept turning his over, and over).  I'll take pictures of the save the dates and post on this next week!

Lastly, we started registering!!!  This has been a lot of fun and I've gotten a bit obsessive.  We've registered at Bed Bath and Beyond and Amazon.  I've had a lot of things to register for, since I've only lived alone briefly and Aaron's house is a total bachelor pad in need of a revamp.  So I pretty much stuck to the traditional registry and did fine and everyday china, silverware and appliances.  I tried to keep the registry small-but not too small since we're expecting 200 guests-and within a wide price range.  I'll post on that this week as well!

I'm so happy to be blogging again!!  I'm done with school for the rest of the year so expect much more blog nurturing. :-)

I'm here

I'm here.  In the midst of interviewing at psychiatry residencies (UNC! Duke!), working shifts in the ED including overnight last night, suturing up people's faces that got into a fight at 12 pm noon and stumbled in drunk, I am here.  And wedding planning is hold for the minute.  And I struggle with feelings of frustration after being told not to try to do it all by myself, but no one else moves fast enough for me (*ahem*AARON GIVE ME MY MAILING LABELS).

But onto other things....don't you just love this amazingly gorgeous wedding that was featured on Southern Weddings last month?  SWMag is one of the few blogs I read-I found that too many lead to overload and too many budget breaking and totally ridiculous ideas.  So I read SWMag daily and supplement with Ruffled and Elizabeth Anne Designs when needed.

http://iloveswmag.com/2012/10/09/virginia-garden-wedding-by-megan-w/

P.S.  Amanda's getting married this weekend!  Her fiancé is a friend of Aaron's and we met at a mutual friend's wedding a couple months ago.  She's a bride blogger for Southern Weddings too!!!  Yay for bride bloggers!

And now, take a seat

Hello!  I hope everyone is warm and safe!!!  Hurricane Sandy sailed above North Carolina for the most part, although there was one ship caught in the storm in the Outer Banks.  So far 14 sailors have been found alive, 1 was found dead and the ship's captain is still missing.  So sad!

I've been juggling a few new things-working in the emergency department, interviews and, as always, wedding planning!  The Save the Dates are in but I'm waiting on my fiancé *ahem* so I can get the labels printed and the save the dates in the mail.  Invitations should go much smoother-after they come in, I'll already have everyone's address and I'll just pass the list to the calligrapher. But first, I have to choose an invitation...that's a whole 'nother blog post!

I've also decided we're going to register before Thanksgiving.  So excited to grab the scanner...any tips?  I'm thinking Bed Bath and Beyond and Amazon.

Lastly, I ordered place cards for the wedding.  This was my inspiration:

So I ordered the cards cards off of Etsy.  I got 230 cards for $40 which included shipping...enough for all of guests and some mistakes.

Etsy shop

The cards came and the picture was pretty accurate.  Yet the only thing was, they were a little larger than I expected...silly me, why didn't I measure it out on scrap paper before I ordered?  I didn't see how I would fit 200 of these on a table.  Maybe on 2 tables.  Then all of a sudden, the voice of no other than David Tutera popped into my head "there's a difference between place cards and escort cards."  I had ordered place cards!  These would go at the table, telling people where to sit- not seen at every wedding, but critical when you're having a sit down dinner like we are and guests pre-ordered their entrée.  So, now I had place cards.  I think I'll still be happy with them.  We'll see.  I still need escort cards and I now I realize escort cards for 200 people is a lot.  My mom suggested I do a poster like below

Worth considering.  I could print one at kinkos a few days before wedding.  Get some Etsy designer to help me with programs, seating chart and table numbers.

Or, I could still do an escort card table...

And if you're confused, sometimes escort cards can double as place cards, but that gives your guest the responsibility of putting their escort card on their table and not losing it.  Only important if you're doing a sit down dinner with more than one entrée.

Ugh, it is going to be a pain to write 200 guests names twice!  But I figure I will start early and write the names, then only writing the numbers the week before the wedding.  Everyone who ever watched a wedding planning show like Bridezillas knows seating charts are evil...the night when this is performed will need lots of wine!

Take a bite

Have you ever seen the The Five Year Engagement?  It's a comedy movie about exactly what the title says, a couple that is going through a five year engagement.  The movie has some funny points and, at other times, drags.  However, at one point in the movie, the main character Violet explains to her sister how she isn't sure her fiancé, Tom, is the one.  Tom has his flaws and everything in their life isn't quite perfect yet.  To which Violet's sister, who is imitating cookie monster to entertain her daughter, exclaims in a cookie monster voice

"There is no such thing as the perfect cookie, you've just got to pick one and take a bite!"

This quote was level-headed and amazingly romantic at the same time. Not to say that you should just marry anyone and and make it work.  But you do have to work.  Sometimes I think people-even myself, at times-expect relationships to be 50/50 all the time and that's not necessarily the case.  Lately Aaron has had to work more than normal and I have to accept that and support him-I have a 4 year residency in front of me and during that time I'll need him to support me.  The hours we work and the time we put into household duties may never be equal.  

Many couples are living together before marriage, which is something I don't believe in and wasn't going to agree to.  I think living together has advantages and disadvantages.  The obvious advantage is you know what you're getting into.  However, a major disadvantage is that it isn't permanent, you believe that you can leave at anytime and sometimes that leads couples to not trying as hard.  When it comes to living together after marriage, there's something special about a couples' first few years as newlyweds and cementing their relationship together.  A study posted on MSN years ago speculated that couples that live together prior to marriage may fail to see a difference after they get married and lose some of the uniqueness of that newlywed time.

Another disadvantage to living together is, even though you think you can move out at anytime, you really can't, because where will you live, how will you break-up, sometimes staying in the relationship is easier than leaving.  And that's how you spend years living with someone that you don't see yourself spending the rest of your life with.

There are advantages and disadvantages to every situation, every walk and role in life.  However, I think that one shouldn't estimate the value of hard work and commitment.  If you love someone, commit to them.  Put them first and they should put you first.  Keep communication open.  Expect imperfections and accept them. All easier said then done, but you've got to give yourself something to strive for.

One mind, One love

I hope everyone has been doing well.  I've been super busy getting settled at home and starting my emergency medicine rotation.  I also have my first residency interview this Friday!