"Lucy, You Got Some Explainin' To Do!!" =)

Question: What did mommy say when Lucy put on a camouflage hat???

Answer: "Dog-gone!!"
(I know, I know, it's cheesy-but I could not resist!)

Question: How does Lucy display her excitement about watching television??? (And yes, she loooves watching TV with her mommy and daddy!)

Answer:

Up....

...Up...

...and Away!!...

Question: Where does Lucy go when her daddy decides to vacuum???

Answer:

PINK Lady = GREEN Thumb????

What is all this, you might ask... This is my attempt at starting a garden...a garden that yielded this sole pink flower. I'd planted quite a few of these in a corner of my boyfriend's yard in an effort to try and create some artistic lure. Unfortunately, I don't have a very good track record of keeping plants alive - no matter how hard I try. That's why I take so much pride in this little boogar! She stands tall amidst the sparse dusty grass that she struggled so well to push up through. She looks beautiful, even beside the weeds, and has inevitably become the focal point of the backyard - as she's the only flower we currently have. =) This is dedicated to all my "Pink Ladies" out there!!!

My Favorite =)

MURPHY'S LAW

We've all heard the words "Murphy's Law" at some point-and most of us have probably cringed at the thought of what that phrase might have in store for us at some time in our lives. I thought I might share my most recent encounter with Mr. Murphy in an effort to relate to what others might have experienced. So here goes...

I just completed my Pediatric rotation (the first of many that will make up my 3rd year of medical school) and was ecstatic that I'd managed to finish up without becoming extremely ill. I had a couple of days where I'd experienced GI symptoms as a result of exposure to the plethora of "bugs and colds" that make up the germs of little kids, but still felt fortunate that it wasn't more serious. This didn't last long, however.

It began Friday afternoon with a few sneezes. By that night, my nose was completely congested, the tickle in the back of my throat that I was hoping was just residual from sneezing grew to a heated, swollen ache, and my right ear was throbbing from the buildup of pressure behind my tympanic membrane. I was miserable. My boyfriend - who has recently graduated from medical school - offered to "doctor" me back to health. This made me feel a smidge better - as my roommate was out of town and I hated to be sick and alone. So, I was quarantined to his bedroom in order to prevent the spread of my sickness and he camped out on his living room couch where he was in earshot of my stuffy requests for soup and orange juice.

My genius boyfriend, who many used to refer to as "Doogie", just completed his M.D. at the age of 25. He recently decided to pursue his Masters in Business Administration and, as a result, would be attending orientation the next morning (Saturday).

I slept well, once I finally got to sleep, and awoke to find that he had already left for orientation, which was fine by me since I was feeling somewhat better. I let Lucy, our 1/2 rottweiler-1/2 black lab, out for her morning duty in the backyard. When she didn't ask to come back in within the next 30 minutes, I decided to check on her. The back gate had been left open from where my boyfriend was doing yardwork the evening before and, sure enough, Lucy had ventured out into the neighborhood. My brain was working slowly and was foggy from my sickness. I threw on my flipflops, grabbed my cell phone, and ran out the front door. Lucy, fortunately, had only made it across the street and was sniffing curiously around the ditch. I called her and she came running back quickly - she's very obedient. It was only when I turned to let ourselves back into the house that I realized I'd locked the door. What was normally a great habit to have picked up backfired on me. I was now stuck out in the heat, dizzy, and sick with no spare key. I locked Lucy in the backyard and proceeded to call my boyfriend.

Unfortunately, his phone had no service and I was put straight through to voicemail. Our friends who live down the road were out of town for the weekend and, with his neighborhood being fairly new, I didn't know too many of his neighbors. I called home to at least let my mom know what was going on in case anything happened. I'd planned to call a family friend that lived nearby to pick me up so that I wouldn't have to endure the sweltering heat, so I let my mom go and promised to update her on my situation. At that time, my phone died...

I was sweating, had just crawled out of bed only a few minutes before, and looked the part. I sauntered over to one neighbor's house and rang the bell only to be greeted by his yellow lab. He was also out of town for the weekend. So I tried another neighbor's door and... success! He opened the door and peered at me curiously. I felt a little delirious from the heat and the chain of events thus far and did my best to explain all that had happened: the dog running out, locking myself out of the house, my cell phone dying, our friends being out of town... I'm still not sure if I made any sense, but he offered to let me use his cell phone anyway. I was able to use 411 to look up the number of the construction manager who built the house and, luckily, he had a spare key. I spent about another 30 minutes in the escalating heat until he showed up. I was so relieved. After he let me in I let Lucy in the back door and we both flopped down on the couch. Not 10 minutes later, my boyfriend pulled up. He'd gotten my message and my mom had also called him to see if he'd heard from me. He had immediately left orientation to check on me. I was happy to see him - almost as happy as I was to be back in the air conditioning. He made sure I had everything I needed for the rest of the day and then went back to finish up orientation.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, but I have yet to learn what the logic was behind that day's plot. Perhaps it'll come to me. Until then, I'll keep my eyes open for Mr. Murphy to roll around again.

Foggy Straits

The Origin of Foggy Straits:

Strait: a narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water

My Strait: a snapshot of my route through life - at times turbulent, at times calm, but navigable nonetheless...

Foggy: how I would describe the path that I am sailing on...I know that my destination lies ahead, but it currently remains hidden behind dense low-lying clouds...

Larger Body of Water #1: my past/history/journey thus far; a mosaic of my encounters with others that blends and mixes together flowing into My Strait...

Larger Body of Water #2: my future endeavors/the bigger picture/what I am slowly, but surely, working toward...

i love Lucy

Lucy is our 1/2 black lab - 1/2 rottweiler (per her wonderful veterinarian). She is somewhat of a rescue dog and came to live with us in December of 2007. I was working a temp job as a cashier at a methadone clinic at the time (one of the many interesting jobs I've taken on in between school years). One of our patients came in and exclaimed that he had a puppy in his car and that, if no one took her, he planned on making her the next meal of his albino python. I was apalled but, as I'd learned from experience, did not attempt to question his unfortunate plan for this small bundle of fur. I volunteered to find her a home and quickly wrapped her in a sweatshirt and cuddled her in my lap for the rest of my shift.

I left straight from work and headed to my boyfriend's house. Eager to show off my accomplishment of the day, I rushed inside and reluctantly explained that I'd offered to find her a home. We fed and watered her and watched her fall asleep in our arms. We were smitten. Although we vowed to find her a wonderful home, I had a small tinge of relief brewing in the back of my mind: I'd managed to get her to a safe place and there was a possibility that she could be ours.

We never did get around to finding a home for the new puppy. =) She'd made herself at home with us. My boyfriend, LJ, decided to name her Lucy after one of his favorite classic TV shows: I Love Lucy. We spent the next few days showing her off to family and friends (while traveling, Lucy enjoyed nestling in the open glovebox of my car) and the next few months potty-training. Fortunately, Lucy is a quick study and has continued to dazzle us with her brilliance! She learned to sit within the first few weeks that she came to live with us and was completely potty-trained in the first few months.

Lucy has grown up quickly and, as you can see, I 've added a few snapshots from her baby-face days. I'm still working on uploading more of her pics from her daddy's camera and will be posting those soon!!

my first blog

I'd often considered beginning a blog, but did not put my considerations into action until now.

Reasons to begin a blog:

~to learn about others and from others
~to share what I've learned about life thus far
~to have an outlet of normalcy in the midst of my chaotic life

Reservations about beginning a blog:

~time constraints
~hesitancy about publicizing my weaknesses

With the latter in mind, I've decided to dive in...any suggestions that you might have for a beginner blogger would be greatly appreciated!