The Return of Penny Laine

Paul and Penny came to visit for Easter. Penny had been with Paul for the previous two months and I was pretty excited to have her around again. Easter was also Penny's first birthday. After Paul set off to return back home Penny and I took a birthday celebration walk by the river. It was a bittersweet day since it was Mom and Paul's anniversary and Penny's first birthday.

Also it had been rather rainy in April and the Mississippi was starting to flood...

Ben's Birthday!

Ben spent his birthday weekend visiting me this year. Feeling a bit guilty that he came to visit me on his birthday rather than me visiting him, I attempted at surprising him with his favorite cake made from scratch. I think it turned out ok, if I do say so myself. It was a yellow cake with Nutella and cream cheese frosting. Ben was adamant that Nutella + cream cheese would be delicious together, I was a bit skeptical. I decided I would try it out and surprise him by icing his cake with the combo. Luckily I was wrong and it was quite tasty.

We spent the evening with friends playing gestures, eating cake, and playing with the gift I got for Ben.

A Day in the Life: Crafting for SVOSH

I signed up for an organization at school last fall called SVOSH. This stands for Student Volunteers in Optometric Service to Humanity. What we do is travel to various locations in Central and South America and give eye exams and glasses to those who would otherwise have no access to vision care. The members of the group are divided up into smaller teams that travel to a location and give eye exams all week.

In order to prepare and fund these trips the members do a lot of volunteer work to fund-raise. In April I was still short 10 hours from the 30 hour requirement. Then there was good news, we were going to have an arts and talents auction! Yay! a reason to do crafty things and get volunteer hours for the money it would raise! So here is a bit of my sewing excitement from April...

Selecting fabric for an apron.

I couldn't resist this teapot fat quarter, it reminded me too much of my Aunt Kate

I also couldn't resist this print either, then I noticed the name of it...

...Its the title to one of my favorite Beatles songs!

Because I can't make anything without ripping out at least one seam.

Almost finished!

Paper piecing hexagons. I just love sewing by hand.

Hexagon flower pencil case.

Patchwork skirt for a lamb.

A tote bag...

...that folds up into its own bag.

A bouquet of flower headbands if you will.

Note card holder.

Make up bag.

Most of these projects can be found in the book I <3 Patchwork. Check out the authors blog here.

In case you are ever in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area check out my favorite fabric stores!

http://www.homeecworkshop.com/

http://www.ctquiltshoppe.com/page/page/5870153.htm

http://www.pineneedles.net/store/pc/home.asp

A Quick Trip Home

At the start of April I made a weekend trip home for my best friend Jodee's bridal shower and bachelorette party. It was a busy weekend full of fun surprises and Penny Laine's first hair cut.

I flew home Friday night and Paul picked me up from the airport. When we got back to the house he had a surprise for me...

The Shelby is now restored! Again! It has been an estimated 18 years since I have seen my dad's car. A quick history of the Shelby from my mother's perspective for those who don't know:

"When your dad was a young man in the Army he bought the Shelby to fix up and drive really fast. Then he got married, had you and became a family man. The plan was now to fix up the Shelby and sell it so we could send you to college. Then he died and I don't know what to do with the damn thing!"

Mom wanted to carry out the selling plan, but Paul and I always wanted to fix it up. The confusion of what to do is the reason it has been in storage for a good part of 22 years.

Saturday morning I got ready to go over to Jodee's fiancé's family for her shower. It was great to see her again and catch up with her family.

That afternoon I took Penny for her first haircut. I had brought her home with me during spring break and left her there since I was going to be crazy busy with school for the months of March and April. She needed a haircut when I brought her home but I wasn't able to get her one. I was a little sad that I wouldn't be able to be there for it. I know it seems silly but I really wanted to take her for her first one. Then I had the idea to take her while I was home, so I called Paul and told him I would do it while I was home so he wouldn't have to take her. After dropping her off, I wasn't sure who the experience was going to be the most traumatic for: Penny, Me, or the groomer!

Before:

After:

After picking Penny up and dinner with Paul I got ready for the bachelorette party. We gathered at Jo's future in-laws and then boarded a party bus and made our way around bars in surrounding small towns. All had a wonderful time.

Jodee, Jackie and I:

The next morning I slept in and then it was off to the airport in the Shelby to return to reality in Memphis.

P.S. Jodee gets married in a little over a week! I am so excited!

Busy, Busy, Busy

This post is all about school....

Just remember this: Everything your eye doctor does to you, he or she has done to him or her (multiple times), by someone who had never done it before.

Earlier this semester in anterior segment lab (which deals with the front of the eye) we learned how to "properly" administer tests to determine if a patient has dry eye. This involves putting special little pieces of paper in between the eye ball and the eye lid, first without anesthetic and then with anesthetic. Then you compare the two strips. Jenny was my wonderful partner on this day and being her sweet self let me be doctor first. So I put the strips in and she started to complain and while describing how bad it felt one of the instructors came over. Jenny asked how any patient would sit for this and comply, and the instructor's response was along the lines of 'well we don't really do it the proper way, we just anesthetize them right away since it is such an uncomfortable feeling.' Good to know...

Jenny all smiles for the camera:

How she really felt:

I didn't really think it would be that bad, but I was mistaken:

Yay Schirmer's 1 test:

Then there is vision therapy lab where we learn all kinds of stuff, and goof off with the equipment a little. Here is Jenny again with some prism while we learn about how they can be used to help people who have had a stroke or traumatic brain injury that has affected their vision:

The big thing on all second years minds right now is pre-clinic checkouts. This is where we preform an entire eye exam on a fellow classmate while a staff doctor watches and grades us. This is the right of passage you could say for us to get the go ahead to give eye exams in the clinic next semester (no pressure). We have an hour to perform the various procedures required. While practicing with Jessie last week Sam stopped by after playing basketball and showed off his lid laceration he had just gotten. We took a peek at it using the slit lamp (a sort of microscope), and I took a picture through the oculars to show him:

The last couple weeks also included learning how to give injections in anterior segment lab and posterior segment lab. We learned how to do intramuscular (a shot into the muscle), sub cutaneous (a shot just under the skin), start an IV, intralesional (a shot into the eyelid) and subconjunctival (a shot just beneath the clear lining of the outer eye). I was rather nervous for the shots in the arm and the IV. But I managed to administer and receive all of them without passing out! The subconjunctival injection can cause a subconjunctival hemorrhage. This can look bad, but its really not. Most of us wanted to get one, what can I say it's kind of like a badge that says "look what I did!" Jessie and I both got hemes from the ordeal. We took pictures to show each other.

Jessie's was really impressive. She got a good reaction from the crowd:

Sadly mine wasn't as impressive:

I had my pre-clinic checkout today and it went pretty well. I won't get my grade back for 2 weeks or so when all 125 of us have completed them, but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted (even though I have 5 quizzes left this week, and 1 quiz, 2 exams and a practical next week.) Back to studying!

Birthdays!

Since coming back from winter break I've been busy with school, studying and practicing (what else is new). And in the little free time I have instead of blogging I've been helping my friends celebrate their birthdays. Jessie kicked off the year with her January birthday. It was a surprise wine and cheese party. This was a huge ordeal since Jessie is usually the planner of all events and likes to set everything up, so her room mates did a lot of sneaking around and planning to pull it off.

Jessie and Kaila

Lots of friends showed up to surprise her

The food spread

My attempt at being artsy photographing the wine bottles

"Do we have more than one cork screw?"

At the end of February was Jenny's birthday. We celebrated her birthday and kicked off spring break early by going out for dinner.

While we were at dinner a storm rolled through, well it was more like a tornado warning (sirens going and all...)

We pretend to be scared

A couple of the group check out the rain (which was going sideways at this point)

The rest of the group watches from afar

Next on the birthday calendar is ASHLEY! For her special day we went to dinner and then a paint your own pottery place. It was a great deal of crafty, creative, fun (oh and a surprise for her too)!

Ashley and Kaila just getting started on their projects

I decided to paint a pitcher. This is the before.

All painted and pre-firing (I'll get it back later this week)

Amanda's birthday is next and unfortunately I don't have any pictures :( She did join in with Anna for dinner the other day to celebrate their birthdays jointly.

Anna enjoying a drink for her birthday at El Toro Loco

Dancing with the bull outside the restaurant

Catching Up

This semester has mostly been spent catching up and re-catching up. After missing a week and a half at the start of the semester I returned to school with the intent of doing my best. I spent about a month catching up in my 8 classes. As the semester continued I caught up in one class but fell behind in another. This inevitably happens near the end of every semester I just started off that way this year. Now that the semester is over I can catch up on my blog. I will give you the high-lites of each month starting with July...

July...

My parents came to visit, and brought along a fury, white, little bundle of joy (read terror). I named her Penny Laine, and she never fails to bring a smile to my face. I really am thankful for her everyday. Even when she eats blankets and woodwork.
August...

Penny and I took a road-trip to visit my parents before the semester started. I was determined to make a coffee table/bench that I had seen in the Anthropologie catalogue (certainly I could make one just as nice that didn't cost $1,000). So I bought all of the raw materials...

...And this is the result...

August was also my 21st, first day of school. True to Chad's tradition I laid out my clothes the night before...

Quick first day picture with Penny before heading off to Clinic Orientation at 8 am

September...

Friends and family joined to celebrate my mothers life. She was loved and will be missed.

October...

At the start of October I got a new beau named Ben. In the middle of the month a classmate hosted a pumpkin carving pot-luck. Here is Ben helping Alison with her polka-dot pumpkin...

I picked out an albino pumpkin to bring to the party. One of my classmates was kind enough to share their stencils from a carving kit. I thought the ghost seemed fitting. All of our pumpkins...

Perhaps a better shot...

At the end of the month Paul came to visit for his birthday. Penny and I were very excited to have him visit...

November...

As I packed up to head back to Iowa for Thanksgiving break Ben kept Penny's attention by playing a form of "fetch."

I think it is safe to say that I have finally graduated from the little kids table at age 25. A new crop has forced Ev and I to join the "big kids" at the adult table.

The spread on the main table(s)...

December...

The final stretch of the semester found me re-listening to lectures. Dr. Connor puts Penny to sleep too.