We survived!

Our first holiday with (almost) the whole Udey fam-bam. Oh but did we ever have a rocky start to the weekend....Jay, Jill, Emma, Sarah, Yaakov, we missed you!

So it's Wednesday morning, Eugene and I are attempting to put the final touches on a diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) presentation. Yes, it is in fact about as much fun as it sounds. Even less, maybe. When, all of a sudden we get an email from our school saying that the whole building is without power and will be closed until further notice. Classes were cancelled for the day. Did I ever throw a fit! We had made all of our travel plans around this one case presentation only to find that it would be canceled?!? Oh the indignation! Well, then we had a relatively productive morning and off to Wisconsin we flew.

The flight was uneventful, we arrived in Milwaukee, my Mom picked us up and we drove the 1.25 hours back to Janesville. Janesville.... how you haven't changed a bit. It's quite the stark contrast, living in Baltimore and then having to go to the grocery store the night before a major national holiday centered around eating... Nevertheless we had fun.

Thursday morning arrives and Eugene is seriously the most helpful person ever. We drive off to Aunt Mary's and the fun begins!

Eugene: "Are there... cows on the farm?"
Me: "....um, yes."

Immediately as we walk in:
Uncle John: "Eugene, are you a Packers fan?"
Eugene (OHMYGOD How do I dodge this bullet?!?) "I'm a huge fan of Aaron Rodgers"
Uncle John: "Welcome to the family"

At dinner:
Me: "Sweetie, your fork is on the left..."
Eugene: "Heck if I know what's going on, where are the chopsticks?"
Me: "We'll bring them next time, Ooo! Can we bring the ones with the teddy bears?!?"
Eugene".......-.-....."

The gift exchange was fantastic. Very calm this year. Eugene ended up with a manicure set and utility knife. I had to fight off my cousin and Uncle for the tool set. Apparently they don't understand that I've got things to do with them tools! Cause I loooooove me some do-it-yourself projects, especially for the upcoming nuptials next year. Nevermind that this is at least the second time that I've ended up with a gift that TSA would definitely not let me carry on an airplane (the first was a gardening set, complete with sheers for trimming bushes!)

After that we flew home and slept. A lot. Oh, and worked on more homework, but mostly slept.

How was everyone else's holiday?

Thanksgiving in Wisco!

Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to be going home. Eugene's excited too.... I think.

He's a little nervous about the whole big, loud family thing. And, who am I kidding? We're not thaat big, but we sure do get loud. Also, we have this really awesome gift exchange described below:

In the beginning, each person is given 2 dice that they roll until they get "doubles" of any particular number. They then choose a gift. Meanwhile, everyone is still rolling dice (loudly) on the hard table surface. Everyone continues to roll until they get "doubles" again and then they select a gift card. That's all well and good, right? Everyone gets a gift and a gift card? Yeah, well, not exactly. We then roll for another 4 minutes or so during which time whenever someone gets doubles, they may steal another's gift or gift card. The stealee is then left with whatever gift the stealer started with.

Confusing? You bet, to someone who never really celebrated Christmas with the big meal. This whole to-do is after all the confusion of relatives catching up with each other's current affairs, tons of food, 2 babies running around, and a football game. Ooooooh boy.

Bottom line? I'm really not leaving Eugene alone among the locals. They might get feisty. I honestly can't say why he's a touch nervous, he's met most of them before. Additionally, the ones that he has met ADORE him. What's not to adore? He's amazing. He'll do fine, I'm sure. It'll just be better to get this first big family get together under our belts before wedding things start coming upon us more and more. I'm really excited that this is our first Thanksgiving that we get to spend together as a couple and so very thankful to have him and all of my family/friends in my life. I would be nothing without you all. Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Pinterest and Gawker and DIY, Oh My!

So, sometimes school is just too much for me to handle. Either the professor is talking non-sense, my classmates are talking to one another and I’m left out of the conversation,  there’s too much typing, or something of that nature. That’s just fine.

It’s not exactly a secret that Pharmacy Students spend time doing other things that paying attention in lecture. Our Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs (ACADEMIC AFFAIRS!!) sent us out a survey that another PGY1 resident was performing to track student activities in class. Some people spend time on Facebook, Gchat, CNN, ESPN, various blogs.

And, because I have the attention span of a 2 year old, I’m no exception. My fancies, however, tend toward Pinterest, weddinggawker, weddingbee, various DIY sites, and well, you guessed it, this blog.

But oh my goodness how I love Pinterest and Weddinggawker (thanks to one, KB) Sooo many amazing things to see, ideas to ponder, pictures to agonize over.  Don’t get me started on the tantalizing pictures of food.

Some ideas for post-wedding snackery:

Mini Salted Caramel Apple!

-Doesn’t this just sound divine? You can even put it on a stick! Guests could be dancing around, step off the dance floor, grab a stick, pop a little piece in their mouth and go back dancing! There’s a recipe online and oh man do I ever want to try it. 

Home Made Pizza

-I think pizza after dancing is more a thing from Wisconsin/Midwest that I’d like to bring to the East coast. My friend Tiffany gave me this fantastic recipe a while ago that is so ridiculously versatile. You can dress these pizzas up, dress them down, create any sort of flavor you want! Sounds like it would be easy enough to just prepare ahead of time, drop off at the venue, and they can just bake them round 10:30 or so. I mean honestly, who doesn’t get hungry after dancing?

Ok, I should probably pay attention now.  Any other ideas for foods???

Ring Around the Rosy, a Pocket Full of Posies

So remember that last post when I was all confident that we had all the big stuff figured out? Well, we did. But then, my school did one of the few things that I have been able to appreciate and granted me a scholarship. Holy mackerel did I ever crap my pants when I read that email attachment. “Oh my goodness!” I thought to myself. “I could invite 20 extra people, I could get our name in lights, I could get a fancy cake topper, Eugene and I could pay for a wedding album!”

And then I got ahold of myself. While this is an amazing gift from my school, and it really could not come at a more opportune time, we have other expenses that definitely need to be addressed first. The more practical part of me reminded my whimsical side that this could be 2 months of rent+ utilities for us. This can help us get Christmas presents for the family that don’t suck. Even though we’re both certain that Paul could probably use some new undies. This could help pay for our plane ride to Wisconsin for the bridal shower coming up in March (I swear Mom is planning it and will send invites soon)

The one thing for the wedding that I would really like to do is fresh flowers. I’ve gone back and forth about this for a long time. I love the idea of the fresh floral scents and the delicacy of once-living petals. Again, my more practical side had to voice that these are things that only last a day and then fade away. The difference wasn’t a ton of money, but it was enough to be substantial. So, with this little gift, I think we can do fresh florals. I may still use the website to make a replica of my bouquet that I can keep for always. Eugene approves, and the florist that we met with can do the personals fairly inexpensively, and she’s giving us a discount just because she likes us. Seriously, she is one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met.

The rest of the funds will be used for more practical purposes. Now both sides of me can sleep at night.

First Dance Song Dilemma

So, because we're so far ahead in the wedding process (venue-done, cake-done, food/drink-done, photographer-check, dj-check, dress/shoes-done, veil/accessories-mom making), we're starting to think of the details... Like what is the first song we should dance to as a couple? What better question to ponder on our day off? Please, partake of the conversation below. Some of our exchanges are ridiculous.....


So I'm looking on the internet at some of the more popular choices that have been used in the past. Of course I then look them up on youtube and play them for Eugene.

Examples:

"Whatever It Is"-Zac Brown Band
Eugene's response: "Aw man, you really want a country song?"
Me: "Not necessarily, I just like the lyrics"
Eugene: "I guess I'd have to pay attention to the lyrics...."
Mind you, I'm playing him the song as we're talking about this....

"I Wanna Grow Old With You"- Adam Sandler, from the very adorable movie "The Wedding Singer"
Eugene's response: "Well, it's kinda short, you know, he really had to keep it pretty short and sweet on that plane ride. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Billy Idol"

"In Your Eyes"-Peter Gabriel  (this was mostly a joke)
Eugene: "Aw man, this would be awesome! But everyone's just gonna be thinking of that John Cusack movie."
Me: "What movie?"
Eugene: "You know, 'Say Anything,' with the boombox in the window?"
Me: "I don't know, this song came out the year I was born..."

Eugene: "I'd like something by Ben Folds, but everything is so depressing. You remember that song, 'Brick,' right?"
Me: ....... [blank stare]
Lyrics "Now that I've found someone, I'm more lonely than ever... She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly."
Me: "Maybe not for a wedding..."

Next song played by Eugene: something about joining the army, being high, and joining a band instead... Also not for a wedding.

Eventually I'm sure we'll figure this out... Stay tuned!

Larren

Introductory Post

Hello!

I'm not sure whether anyone will read this or not. Well, I'm hoping people read this for the sheer fact that I'll be putting the blog's url on the save the dates! If nothing else, I'm enjoying planning this wedding and I want a way to share and preserve that joy with those I love! I just kind of thought to myself, hmmm. Eugene and I are students. Full time students.... Full time pharmacy students. Half the time we're stumbling around through time and space on a coffee high... There's bound to be plenty of things that happen that we forget. We have these occasional moments of lucidity where we realize, hey, we're taking one of the most wonderful steps forward in our relationship that we ever could. That's so much better than pharmacy school! However, then reality sometimes will kick us both in the pants. Monday's pharmacotherapy exam is a prime example. I should really be looking at community-acquired pneumonia guidelines. Am I? Clearly not. Speaking of, I should study. So I will keep this post short and sweet. Thank you for reading if you've taken the time out to do so!!

Larren