Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey

Well I am about a week into my first externship and I'm starting to get the hang of giving eye exams in the real world.  I'm still mostly observing but I do get to do my own exam here and there when things get backed up.

 I arrived in town a little over a week ago and settled into my room and life with my cousin and her family since they are graciously letting me stay with them while I am in town.  Saturday morning we went to Aiden's soccer game and that afternoon was Liam's first birthday party.

Aiden is in the red socks:

Shannon is the coach of the team:

Liam's Party was Dr. Seuss themed:

Aiden helped Liam open some of his gifts:

Aiden and Liam were equally excited about the ball pit balls, both climbed right into the box with them:

An overwhelmed Poppi sought refuge in my room:

Sunday was Mother's Day as well as Liam's birthday.  After brunch we went to the park.  We played kickball and Amy and I took turns sitting on the sidelines with Liam.

By the look of Shannon this may have been when Aiden was changing the rules in the middle of the game :)

Liam watching the game:

And copying my lovely roommate Al (I miss you!) I'll leave you with a must hear:

April

I'm playing catch up yet again.  Perhaps this summer will be the time I start to post when adventures happen rather than a month later.  Who am I kidding I will most likely always be a month behind!

April started off with a trip to Iowa for the Iowa Optometric Association's Annual Congress.  Us Iowa SCO students made the trek to the conference to attend the continuing education offered and enjoy complementary food, hotel room and drinks.  We did attend the classes, but no pictures were taken.  I only took photos the night we went out on the town to enjoy our new freedom from boards:

Sam and Jessie:

Kaila, Joel and I:

Sam, Kaila, Joel and Jessie:

There is a special professor at SCO named Dr. Chang.  He has taken Al and I out to dinner with a group of our classmates to some of his favorite restaurants over the years.  One of our classmates decided to return the favor and held a BBQ at his place and invited Dr. Chang and the rest of the gang over.  Al made a Pig Pickin Cake (read about her first one ever cake here) and I made potato salad.

Pig Pickin Cake and Potato Salad:

Al, Dr. Chang and I last fall:

The middle of April brought about our Senior Sendoff.  Since the entire fourth year of school our class will be split up for our externships the student government hosts a dinner and dance for the fourth years before we go our separate ways.  It was a bittersweet time since we won't be reunited as a class until we graduate next May!

Al and I:

Ben and I:

Anna, Al, Erin and I (I really miss these girls):

Ben and Sam (such handsome guys!):

Jenny, Jessie, Ashley, Erin, Anna and I (JD and Blake photo bomb):

The same weekend of Senior Sendoff was also Ben's birthday.  In attempt to outdo the cake I made last year I decided to take a risk and make an avocado pie for him this year.  I was a bit nervous about it and Ben and the birthday guests admitted after they tried it that they were nervous to try it too.  It ended up tasting really good and was a big hit!

Ben and his avocado pie:

On April 24th Penny Laine celebrated her 2nd birthday.  She had a puppy party with some of the other SCO dogs on the tennis court outside our apartment (its fenced in so all the dogs could run free together).

Nile, Jack and Bella:

Brianna, Jack, Tyler, Cooper, Nile, Allison, and Bella:

Penny, Henry, Belle, Cooper and Bella:

The next day brought a Farewell to the Patio Party at school.  The school is going to be building a brand new, state of the art classroom right over the patio that has been behind the school for 40 years.  The patio has hosted many parties over the years.  And to celebrate it's importance there was a farewell party with BBQ, and paint so we could all leave our mark since it is going to be left intact under the new classroom.  It was a beautiful, but windy, day for a BBQ.

This is the face you make when peoples plates are blown off the table and pork and beans splatters all downwind:

 There was also some hair blown into paint action going on (I should note that we had our school pictures taken this day as well.  Not only for third year but also for fourth year!  I guess we can all look back at our 2 years of windblown hair and laugh):

I left my initials and class year and the SCO symbol:

Jessie's work:

Amanda and Ashley painting away:

The school's president Dr. Phillips leaving his message:

Heidi, an artistic fourth year from Iowa, whipped up this and added the third and fourth years names:

 Birds eye view of the festivities:

Life Resumes

Well Part I of boards are over and the wait to receive my score has now begun. It should be around the end of April- beginning of May. I have been crossing many things off of my "post boards to do list" and it is nice to resume a more normal life. I feel like my old self again, and it feels wonderful.
Just before boards Ben came to visit and keep me sane and fed. He brought more daffodils (and another mason jar)! The Monday before the test we were all excused from class and clinic and told not to study (you don't prepare for a marathon by running a marathon the day before). So we went out to lunch with some friends and spent the rest of the day doing whatever little whim I wanted to do. We went to a few antique shops, got gelato, and went to the pool.

The 2 days of testing took more out of me than I thought they would. Not only where they mentally draining but also physically and emotionally draining as well. The NBEO is very concerned about cheating and some strict rules are in place. Only certain water bottles were approved, we could not have our cell phones in the testing room at all, we were not allowed to wear watches, and we were provided pencils and a calculator. At the end of the exam we were allowed to take the pencils and calculator we used for the last session (there were four sessions and for each one we were randomly assigned to one of two testing rooms and a seat in that particular room). I hope these are more like party favors rather than a consolation prize (please, please, please let there be a little 'P' on my score rather than an 'F').

Yesterday we went out for ice cream to celebrate Anna and Amanda's birthdays. They had birthdays before boards, but chose to celebrate them post boards. Anna and I got a vanilla malts. We were shocked when the rest of our friends commented that none of them had had malts before!

Anna and I with our Malts!

Al, Ashley and Amanda:

Amanda and Sharon:

(Don't I have such pretty friends?)

Last night I took it easy and started planing on some sewing projects that I want to complete while watching chick flicks. It was just me as Al was out with her boyfriend Drew, and Penny is still in Iowa. Then this commercial came on! It spoke to me as no commercial ever has before. That green apartment, and little westie! Granted my couch would fit perfectly in that room, my westie has probably never been that white, nor would ever allow me to put a rain jacket on her! Next week I will be going to Iowa for the state association meeting and I am planning on swinging home for a day to see Paul and bring Penny back with me. I am really looking forward to going home since I haven't been back since the first of January!

(photos taken from this source)

almost. done. studying. nonstop

Boards are almost upon the third year class, and we resemble teenagers more than the 20 something year olds that we actually are! We are irritable, faces broken out with stress induced acne and have mood swings between 'I can do this, it will be fine' to 'I know nothing, I'm going to fail' (the last being accompanied by hyperventilation). I know many of my friends husbands and boyfriends (and Ben) have been lashed out upon. So to them I want to say we really don't mean it, we will return to our normal sweet selves after boards!

Here is a sampling of where I've been the past 3 months along with a few study breaks :)

My desk at home:

It was a beautiful 80F here the other day so I studied on the patio all day!

I hate studying at the school library because of the lack of natural light, here is pretty much the only window in the library:

View of the window from the outside (the bottom half of the circle is the lunch room, the top is the library)

If one wants good windows to study by the Benjamin L. Hooks Main (public) Library delivers (they also have pretty light/sculpture/art in the grand staircase)

And you may see things like this in the parking lot (you know just another day at the library)...

For really pretty windows (and usually a quieter library) one can go to the Barret Library at Rhoades College. This campus is beautiful and one feels like he/she is studying in a castle with all the leaded and stained glass windows. These three pictures are of 1 window that spans an open area of 2 floors!

Then there is the local coffee shop. I splurge on a fancy coffee and a muffin or cake doughnut (not as good as a Casey's doughnut, but there are no Casey's round here)

Pretty garden/patio at Cafe E.

mmmmm, vanilla latte (kept me up all night!)

To keep myself from getting too burnt out I try to take a 10 minute break after each hour of study. Usually this is accomplished with a medium level sudoku game on my iPod. If there are any of these on boards I know I will do well :)

SVOSH held a trivia fundraiser night (brief explanation about SVOSH here and about my trip last year here) Even though I am not going on a trip this year I do try to support the group still. Plus who doesn't like trivia. The final bonus question was optometry related (because that is all we ever talk about!) Here are my fellow third years showing the classic way to figure out a strabismus question (an eye turn, often when we think through a problem we use our hands to simulate which way the eye is pointing- wall eyed, or cross eyed)

Jenny's birthday was the kick off to spring break. We all took a study break to help her celebrate by going to a karaoke bar. Lets just say it was an experience! We all had a good time. Here are Cal and Erin performing '03 Bonnie and Clyde' Best of the night!

Now I must go review/cram for boards a little more. Only 3 study days left, and 6 days till freedom!