For Starters...: January 2011

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Dallas

Nate and I just got back from about 3 1/2 days in the wonderful city of Dallas, TX! Granted, we went there mainly because I was taking the third portion of my prosthetic boards but we still made a mini vacation out of it and had some fun!

First off, I think my exam went really well!! I feel better about it than I did after my orthotics portion, and I passed that one, so I think I should be just fine;) This portion of the boards involves actual patients that we have to interact with, evaluate, and take measurments and cast for a prosthesis. Then there are also sections that don't involve actual patients, but an examiner is there asking you questions....I must say I am better at and more comfortable with written tests, so these 5 hours of oral exams make me really nervous! Anyway, a few people from my prosthetics class were also there so we reviewed together.....and also went out together....

Nate and I left Iowa Thursday evening and flew to Chicago then to Dallas. We got out rental car and found our hotel without any complications!! Being that is was about 1am when we checked in, we didn't do anything that day. Friday we visited a great mall in Dallas, North Park Mall. It has really ritzy stores (that we didn't even think about venturing in) and great restaurants all around it. We ate at McCormick and Schmicks seafood restaurant, it was GREAT. Friday night I reviewed with an old classmate.

Saturday was the exam starting at 7:15am and FINALLY ending at about 12:30. After that we had an afternoon and evening full of "stress relieving" activities, which may or may not have included visiting quite a few bars....you know how we roll, haha. My friend Maja and her husband Joe drove up from Austin to hang out with us too, it was great to see them!

Sunday, believe it or not, it freaking snowed in Dallas. It was only about 1/2 inch, but everyone in Dallas FREAKED OUT. All schools were already closing for Monday and it was all over the news......haha, pretty humorous. We did decide, however, that we probably shouldn't drive too much because yes, we know how to drive in 1/2 inch of snow, but EVERYONE ELSE DOESN'T! We did got out to eat for dinner, but mainly we spent a cozy day in our hotel room relaxing and recovering.

Monday we went to the 6th Floor Museum. This is the museum dedicated to JFK and houses the place where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot from and killed the president. It is a weird feeling when you leave there. It's sad, interesting, eerie, and controversial all at once. It gave me goose bumps and a lump in my throat a few times, even Nate said he almost teared up while we watched and listened to what happened that day from the police and secret service recordings and eye witness testimony. I would definintely recommend it to anyone visiting anywhere near Dallas.

We were nervous our flight to CR was going to be delayed or cancelled since it had been snowing all day in Iowa, but luckily all our flights and connections were on time, whew! It was hard to get up and go to work today, but I guess I better get used to it, our next holiday at work is Memorial Day, yikes!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

NYE 2010

This New Year's Eve Nate and I went to our friends Kelsey and Chris' house in Ankeny. Friends Nick and Stephanie Dietch and Kacey also were in attendance. We went out to eat at Urban Grill in Urbandale, pretty good, then just played games and partied the night away at the Ford's house. We woke up to some great biscuits and gravy in the morning then Nate and I swung over to Baxter and hung out with my parents for awhile (I left some stuff there when I was there for Christmas.....ALWAYS happens). These pics are a little small bc I stole them from Kelsey's facebook posts....sorry!

The group at dinner at The Urban Grill. We tried to beat the dinner rush by going at 5, but really it just felt like we were elderly and enjoying the early bird special.....

All 4 of us girls squished in the back of the seat of the truck on the way to dinner

All of us, except Chris, playing games and partying it up on NYE!

Gifts

Check out the lamp from a little further away....lookin good;)

The shelves are all put together and organized, finally!

My new fangled wine bottle opener Nate got me....can't wait to use it!

Closer view of my lamp from Mom

So, those were some of my great gifts from this Christmas....Mom, here you go, I know you wanted to see the lamp in action!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Found my camera!

So, apparently my camera was in my car in the compartment between the two front seats....who knew!?!? So, I can finally upload some pics from Christmas, my nephew Gage, and other random things.....

My grandma and grandpa Brunner and my Aunt Tanya came to my parents house for Christmas this year. My brother Nick and his family also made the trip! We definitely had a full house. We also all came a day early because we thought there was going to be a big winter storm on Christmas Eve....which there was so good thing we planned ahead! We had a great time playing games and hanging out for a few days together. I also spent some time with my friend Zach from high school while we were both back in town. Fun times! Nate and I exchanged presents at the beginning of the week and then just went to our families Christmases seperate this year...we'll worry about trying to go to all of them next year....I'll post on my gifts and NYE tomorrow, this blog is already huge with all the pics!