Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf Hunt

Goals for the week from H-E- Double -Hockey- Sticks:

• make it to the gym at least 4 out of the 5 days. (even if its 6AM spin...)
• get at least 4.5 hours of sleep each night. no matter which tests are the next day. (This is more of a challenge)
• pack a lunch every day. (No buying lunch because I overslept or am stressed etc etc.)
• eat dinner. (yes, i manage to skip or forget this sometimes, esp when matthew has night classes!)
• no more than 3 sources of caffeine in a day. (this may be a serious challenge)
• remain positive.
• PASS. all 5 exams and 1 quiz.
• not stress TOO much. (too much is obv an arbitrary amount. meh oh well!)

If I put these on here, I may just stick to them! Happy Midterms week!

Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee. -Stephanie Piro

It is approximately 10 AM on a Saturday. I have already:

• been to the gym
• showered
• eaten breakfast
• and begun tackling anatomy.

HELLO productivity. I am also about halfway through my venti nonfat pumpkin spiced latte. Thank you caffeine!

Today will consist of:

1. head and neck anatomy
2. microbiology
3. basketball game (I will need a break by 1 when MU plays Notre Dame. and Matthew practically cried when I said I might not be able to go. He gave me the "it's ND. You can't leave me hanging. It's ND." speech. The things we do for love...)
4. more head and neck anatomy
5. some oral biology?
6. sleep?

Tomorrow will be a repeat of today with Mass added in. And some preservation and restoration studying. So forgive me if you don't get an update- trust me it would essentially be a copy paste job. and you deserve better than that.

BUT in 8 days I will be soaking up sunshine in FLORIDA. And all 5 of my exams and quiz will be OVER. So life isn't THAT bad.

Back to productivity. Go have some fun today, for those of us that are stuck studying.

HAPPY SATURDAY!

When the world says, "Give up,"

Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."

-Author Unknown

The fact that I will be laying on this beach in just over a week doing absolutely nothing but tanning, drinking homemade strawberry daiquiris, and relaxing with some of my favorite people in life is the ONLY hope getting me through the next week. So I thought I would share the image!

The best part of being home in a week is there will be none of this:

However, it is above 40 degrees today (HEAT WAVE!!) so a lot of the snow here is melting. I smell spring? maybe? please?!

The other good news is after the mammoth of a week that is next week, not a single week after spring break has more than 2 tests. Cake walk compared to the first half of this semester? I think so.

And only 8 more weeks of cadaver lab. Even more hope. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

So for the next week my life will consist of studying, tests, gym, and hopefully some sleep. After that, Sunshine, lots of sleep, great people (Sarah is even coming to play!), tanning, and momma's homemade strawberry daiquiris.

On that note, I will leave you with a wonderful memory of the last spring break Sarah came (junior year). We may have to go drink free beer at Busch Gardens and take pictures with hippo butts again. However, I am already passing on Sheikra if we go. Just saying.

Happy Thursday!

KIDS IN CHURCH

3-year-old Reese :

'Our Father, Who does art in heaven,

Harold is His name.

Amen.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little boy was overheard praying:

'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.

I'm having a real good time like I am.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the christening of his baby brother in church,

Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.

His father asked him three times what was wrong.

Finally, the boy replied,

'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,

and I wanted to stay with you guys.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One particular four-year-old prayed,

'And forgive us our trash baskets

as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they

were on the way to church service,

'And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?'

One bright little girl replied,

'Because people are sleeping.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3

The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.

Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.

'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,

'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'

Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,

' Ryan , you be Jesus !'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A father was at the beach with his children

when the four-year-old son ran up to him,

grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore

where a seagull lay dead in the sand..

'Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.

'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.

The boy thought a moment and then said,

'Did God throw him back down?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A wife invited some people to dinner.

At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,

'Would you like to say the blessing?'

'I wouldn't know what to say,' the girl replied.

'Just say what you hear Mommy say,' the wife answered.

The daughter bowed her head and said,

'Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner ?'

Just one more reminder of why I love kids and how simple life is when you are little!

Thanks for the email, Matthew!

Happy Tuesday!

"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes" - Oscar Wilde

I am starting to realize that the best way to learn, quite often, is by messing up first. If you make a mistake, you are most likely not going to do that again. It sticks with you. Sometimes it has to be a big mistake, one that is really eye opening, before you learn. Other times, you might learn from a tiny one. I am sure Shaun White didn't land the McTwist the very first time he did it. He probably landed flat on his a** more than once. But when it came time to pull that trick at the olympics- he had fallen enough, practiced enough, and learned enough to pull it out and shock the world. (That and he is just plain awesome). So I don't strive for days free of mistakes anymore. I strive for days during which I make mistakes but I LEARN from them.

In other news, Pico is home and recovering from surgery, and TOTALLY milking it. Not only does he whine and instantly get what he wants (food, milk, petting), he also thinks its okay to weigh less than 5 lbs and yet spread out and take up over 1/3 of the bed at night. He gets 1 more day. Then his is no longer getting spoiled (yeah, right).

Mom and Dad are on practically a second honeymoon to Sanoma Valley, CA right now. Dad booked the trip for Mom's 50th (don't tell her I told you she is actually 50!) birthday. They are staying at the most picturesque little bed and breakfast inn and going on vineyard tours all week. SO JEALOUS. They are so darn cute.

Erin came for the weekend! After spending the night in Detroit (thank you Delta...) she finally got to Milwaukee. We went to a Bridal Show at a cute little Inn in the middle of nowhere south of Milwaukee, went shopping at David's Bridal, and spent some time browsing the mall (all things Matthew won't do with me- the downside to living with a boy!). It was so great to see her finally, even if it was so short!

School is starting to get sticky again- 5 tests and a quiz next week, 2 quizzes and a test this week! Hello midterms? hell week? D1 2nd semester? bahhh. So I will be studying all this week and all next week but then: FLORIDA!!

The sunshine is literally the light at the end of the tunnel.

Have a good week! Laugh a little!

"Life is like a ten-speed bicycle.

Most of us have gears we never use."

-Charles Schulz

My newest goal is to not be most people. I want to learn to use all the gears life gives me. I don't want to take the easy way out all the time by flipping the gear or avoiding the hill. I want to take challenges head on with a positive attitude. Sometimes, it is SO easy to get caught up in negativity and complaining about what is thrown at you, especially when everyone around you is doing just that. My new focus is to NOT get caught up in the negativity. I want to find the bright side, even when the test, or task, or project ahead of me feels impossible or pointless or like busy work. I want to take something positive away from it.

For instance, we were assigned a perio project using ANCIENT hand written charts (OMG heaven forbid things not be on a computer!). Rather than complain that I can't read it or there is no point to it because the chart is 10 years old and the patient is long gone, I am going to appreciate the fact that we no longer have to use hand written charts on a regular basis at school and I am going to learn as much as I can about how to handle a case from the one in front of me. I could complain about our chart for 20 minutes, or I could spend 20 minutes productively analyzing it. I am going to choose to be productive.

In other news, Pico has surgery tomorrow. Apparently I am more attached than I thought because he has to stay overnight after the surgery and I am pretty much FREAKING OUT about it. He won't have his blanket. He won't have his mom and dad to cuddle with all night. He might be traumatized and out of it from the anesthesia. And he will have stitches- what if they aren't watching him and he scratches them?!? I know he is better off there than here (heck I don't know what to do with a drugged, stitched up, totally out of it kitten- I barely know what to do with a kitten on a normal day..) but I am still going to be totally nervous all day tomorrow. And what do I tell him when he is whining and hungry in the morning (because I have to take away his food and water tonight)- "oh sorry Pico, you have to go and have your claws and boy parts taken out today so no food for you...?!?!" And to make matters worse I can't even take him to the vet in the morning- Matthew has to be the bad guy. Pico is going to think I don't love him but really I just have class! I realize this is dramatic I just never thought I would be so nervous about a little surgery! So please, for my sake and Pico's, keep him in your thoughts tomorrow!

This week is the ADA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago- lots of dentists, dental products and FREE STUFF!! And some of it I might ACTUALLY know what it is and what it is used for! Casey, Lisa and I are going down for that Friday (I will be calling Matthew and checking in on Pico pretty much every hour..) and I am pumped!

Andddd Erin is coming this weekend!!! I absolutely can't wait! I miss her SO much and am so glad this weekend worked out when initially we thought it wouldn't! So i am very much looking forward to Saturday as well.

The rest of my life is pretty much working out and studying this week. Only one quiz, but I am making myself stay on top of other things and prep for the MONSTER test week before spring break. I already get a stomach ache just thinking about that week... but I am so ready for spring break and SUNSHINE! It is snowing as we speak. Again.

Back to being positive and productive! Happy hump day!

"Who among us hasn't envied a cat's ability to ignore the cares of daily life and to relax completely?"

- Karen Brademeyer

Meet Pico.

Our kitten.

Now first of all- I never thought or knew I would like, no LOVE, having a kitten.

He is great, has a fantastic personality, and is so curious about everything.

He is a great reminder of how the simple things in life can be more than enough. His only concerns are eating, sleeping (all the time) and swatting my highlighters as I try to study. And today, when I have absolutely nothing to do, he is reminding me that laying on the couch watching the 12 hours of television I have DVR'd from the past 2 weeks, doing absolutely nothing, is perfectly acceptable.

The last week was packed with a practical on pedo teeth (which by the way are even smaller than you imagine they are, and that is small), a written exam on treating pedo teeth, a micro test, an occlusion quiz, and a whopping head and neck anatomy exam.

Next week consists of one quiz.

So NOTHING.

Which means all of my other time will be spent studying for the week before spring break when we have 5 midterms and a quiz (No biggie!).

Therefore, this weekend, Pico and I are doing nothing but relaxing (which he is good at and does all of the time anyway). I am trying to relax really. Because those of you that know me well know I am not really that good at it and I don't practice much!

So maybe we should all take some advice from cats (and dogs) and take some time to relax and enjoy life, stress free. So today- take an hour or two (or the whole day) to relax and do nothing. It's good for you!