Fall 2011 Recap

September: Iowa vs. TTU & SCO's Homecoming

Labor day weekend my alma mater (University of Iowa) played Ben's alma mater (Tennessee Technological University) at Iowa. So naturally I insisted we go to the game! I told Ben the weather would be much better than it was during his trip to Iowa last January. We went tailgating and it was overcast. Just before the game it started to pour. We left during the 3rd quarter when the game was postponed due to the inclement weather.

Jen and I tailgating (I didn't take many more pictures due to the rain)

Mid September SCO held it's annual Homecoming BBQ. My classmates and I gathered along with the alums in the back parking lot for some Memphis BBQ and beer. It's always a good time!

Jenny, Jessie, Ashley, Al and I:

Anna and I:

Ben and I:

October: TVCI, RAM & Halloween

The begining of October some classmates and I attended a conference at The Vision Care Institute (TVCI) which is a division of Johnson & Johnson. We spent 2 days in Jacksonville, Florida learning about their contact lenses, how to be better communicators with patients, how to better network, and touring the plant. TVCI covered all expenses of the trip. I'm beginning to learn that once optometry students start to see patients companies wine and dine us (can't really complain!)

Jenny, Al, Maria, Anna, Amanda, Ellen and I out to eat after just getting into Florida:

Jenny and I at TVCI:

Mid October I volunteered with some classmates on a Remote Area Medical (RAM) trip. We traveled 2 hours east to give free eye exams to those unable to receive care. People travel from all around and wait hours in line to receive free medical, dental and optometric care. We stayed at a summer camp! I enjoyed reliving my summer camp glory days but I must say Camp Wyoming had much sturdier bunk beds and nicer cabins in general!

The whole group in front of the RAM truck:

Van, Amanda and Addison after a long first day:

Sara, Emma and Adrienne in front of the girls cabin:

Where all of the glasses were made for our patients:

For Halloween Ben and I dressed up as Shaggy and Velma from Scooby Doo. I made Penny a candy corn costume, she was a bit embarrassed to be in costume! I gave Al a crash course in sewing and she made her owl costume!

November: Visionary Cruise & Thanksgiving

Wal Mart was next on the list to wine and dine the 3rd year class (only there was no wine, just dining). We went on a river boat cruise on the Mississippi and ate BBQ and learned about employment opportunities through Wal Mart and Sam's Club. Following the presentation there was a band, but my friends and I enjoyed the warm weather out on the deck and soaked in the Memphis night skyline.

Thanksgiving was spent with the Bell family. It was so good to be all together again and to finally show Ben off to my family!

"Be Good"

Al and I don't really check the mailbox too frequently. Usually it is about twice a month: when we expect the utility bill and the cable/internet bill, because besides junk mail that is the only other mail we receive. There is the monthly Real Simple magazine but that is about the most exciting mail we get. Today we got the mail and there were 3 particular pieces that didn't get tossed in my junk pile. One from church back home, one from the Lions Foundation, and a life insurance statement.

The one from church contained a letter written to me from 12 year old me. Turns out in 1997 during Vacation Bible School I wrote a letter to myself that was to be mailed to me in 2007. The letter was pushed to the back of Howard's closet and forgotten about till he found them recently. So he sent me my letter! In it I explain my favorite outfit (grey Nike t-shirt and black shorts), the most important person in my life (my mom), my greatest accomplishment (getting through K-5 and being good) and some advice to myself ("be good").

Al and I had a good laugh about my favorite outfit and my great accomplishment of completing the 5th grade and being good (I've been through 13.5 years of school since then!) But the most important person and my advice got me to do some thinking. I'm sure the "be good," advice I gave myself was strongly influenced by my mom. The thought of these two things kept running through my head as I opened the rest of the mail.

I joined the Lions Club this past fall. We have a big club at school (which makes sense based on the Lion's mission of saving sight). The letter was about raising funds to help vaccinate children.

I get a monthly statement of the life insurance policy left to me by my mother. Normally I glance at it and just leave it be. I imagine one day I'll use it as part of a down payment to buy or start my own practice.

"be good" kept running through my head and I decided I would make a donation to the Lions. Usually I brush off such monetary requests with the thought of how much debt I'm going to be in once I graduate. And it is true, I will have a good chunk of educational debt to pay off once I'm done, but I also am blessed to have a place to live, food to eat and some savings to help pay off the debt once I do graduate. So today I decided to help keep a few kids healthy and to do some good through the help of my mother.

P.S. Only 3 finals stand between me and break so y'all can expect a fall recap soon!

Herman & Kramer

This morning Al and I did not have class. We planned on getting up early and re-listening to lectures and studying. I admit I was slow to get started and when I finally sat down to listen to a posterior segment lecture from last week I heard this awful crying sound. Al and Penny heard it too and looking out my window I noticed a little beagle running along the back fence. The little guy ran off and stopped howling and I went back to my business. A little later there was more howling and Al informed me with dog treats in hand that there were two beagles and we were going to rescue them. One had crawled under the fence and they were trying to get back together on the same side.

I put on my shoes we left Penny on the patio and ran around the apartment to try to get the dogs (Al informed me they had collars on so I figured they belonged to someone). We lured the dogs to the hole with some treats, but the one on the opposite side was too scared to come under the fence. The hole is probably two feet deep and I thought I would be able to fit underneath the fence to get the little guy.

So in my pajamas I wriggled my way under the fence and coaxed the little guy to me and got a hold of his collar and read "Herman." As I passed Herman back under the fence to Al the other (more brave and skiddish) one slipped through a different hole and we were now back in the original situation! I caught him too (I read his collar as "Kramer") Eventually all four of us were on the same side and we had Herman in our hands and Kramer was running around, avoiding us and howling. I had Al read the phone number on Herman's collar while I dialed. I managed to miss-dial and called some poor man who hadn't had a dog in years. Oops, sorry. We managed to make contact with the owner who was looking for them just down the street. I told him we had his two dogs Herman and Kramer with us and he said he was down at the park and asked us to bring them there. I informed him we were having trouble catching Kramer but we would bring them as soon as we could.

Kramer was the obvious trouble maker of the two and the one we had heard howling in the first place. We finally caught the two of them and put them each on a leash (luckily Penny has two leashes) and corralled them into my car and we headed down the block. While in the car I was trying to determine which was which I thought Herman was on the floor and Al thought Herman was in my lap. I looked at each collar. Turns out they both said Herman, the owners name. I guess when I was half under the fence I misread "Kramer's" collar (maybe its best I didn't start studying this morning). I'm sure the owner was very confused when I said I had his dogs Herman and Kramer, but he didn't say anything when we reunited the three at the park. Turns out he was doing some training with them at the park when they took off after a rabbit.

Long story short we found two beagles and reuinted them with their owner. Gives me warm fuzzies :)

Al and "Herman" (I'm sure "Kramer" is howling and running around in the back)

"Herman" (left) and "Kramer" (right) leashed and on our patio

In other news Penny Laine got a new doggy hair cut. It's a legit westie cut.

Before:

After:

Road Trip!

Over the river,

And through the windmills,

I almost got lost

On my way to Grandma's house...There it is!

Since I rarely make it back to Iowa to begin with, and I have been rather delinquent in keeping in touch with my Grandma I was long over due to pay her a visit. So I planned a day trip to Alta to see her. I made the trip across the state solo for the first time. I have GPS and been back and forth probably a hundred times, surely it would be a piece of cake, right? Well Hwy 20 goes farther now, oh yeah and I haven't updated the GPS maps in a year and a half...oops. So once I was driving through what my GPS Jack thought was a field I turned him off and pulled out the map from the glove box, also not accurate but at least I could find my own route. On every other trip home I usually fall asleep for at least half of it and when I do drive a parent usually points out the turns I need to make. Growing up in the area they seem to have this innate understanding of every highway in the area and what little towns are strung along them. I know my way around sort of but I've never actually driven the roads. Anyways I made it to Grandma's and we had a nice afternoon together.

Grandma and I

Now I know where my desire to collect mason jars comes from :)

On the way out of town I decided to drive along the lake. I made a pit stop at my favorite neighborhood park growing up.

And my favorite playground lady bug is still there! Although the paint job is worn and now it looks a little creepy...

I don't like that, I don't want that, no, Nooo!

The title of this post comes from a little girl I used to babysit named Laine (who is a senior in high school this year, yikes!) Anyways when you attempted to put something she didn't like on her plate she would squeal these words. Well being a picky eater myself I could relate. Recently I have come to the conclusion I am not a picky eater however, I was just raised to think I was. Either that or my taste buds have changed (probably a combination of the two). I have heard somewhere that a person's taste buds change every 7 years, so something you didn't like before you may love now and vice versa. I did a little un-scientific google search and it appears that taste buds do change every 5-7 years.

So now I try to try foods that I previously would have said "no way" to eating. I figure it is unfair to say I don't like something if I don't remember ever trying it in the first place. I don't like to cook but Ben does so when he comes to visit he makes meals for us, and so far I've liked everything! I did think he was a little crazy when we went to a grill out with some friends and all we brought along were vegetables (NO MEAT?) but it was good, and we had some left overs for a pick nick the next day!

Farmers market loot: squash, zucchini, eggplant and cherry tomatoes

All grilled up

Pick nick with left over veggies and grown up PB&J sandwiches (nutella and raspberry preserves)

Roasted red pepper hummus and our pick nick decor

Grilled chicken with pesto penne pasta and cherry tomatoes and squash

Birthdays!

This has been a summer full of birthdays. In June we celebrated Allison's birthday. July was Erin's birthday and mine was in August.

A group of us gathered and got drinks to help Al celebrate getting old (24)

We had dinner and played games to celebrate Erin turning her ideal age (27)

And Al threw me a party for my birthday complete with tissue paper pom poms and rainbow raspberry lemonade cake. Unfortunately the only picture I have of the night is of Ben (I was too busy being the birthday girl I guess)... every time I looked at him he had another garnish on his margarita glass!

For my birthday dinner Ben made sushi for us. To be honest I was a bit nervous to be eating raw fish out side of a sushi restaurant. Where we bought the fish from did not have any sushi grade fish so we ended up cooking it anyways. It turned out sooo good!