As done as done can be.

I have just returned home from taking my FINAL anatomy exam! WOO HOO! I am completely done with my summer courses, and i have survived the first quarter of PA school. Next week I have into courses to the fall quarter, and then a whole week off. :)

I am now dreaming up grand things that i will do the rest of the day. It's strange having free time.

2nd Anniversary!!!

Leah and I just celebrated our second anniversary! We had an awesome time downtown. We decided to go to this sweet looking tapas restaurant that we walked past one day and it was a awesome choice. The food was amazing. We shared four different tapas and then finished it off with some Spanish cake that was super delicious. Leah had some sangria and I had a Guinness and it was one of the best meals of our lives. We also sat outside on the sidewalk to eat and that was a lot of fun.



After dinner we walked down to Millennium Park where they were having a free concert. It was "Music without Borders" and there was an African band that was really fun. We sat on a blanket in the grass and listened to them for a while. Eventually we decided to move a little closer to see them better and we also were bless with watching a bunch of white people trying to dance to African music...hilarious. Our favorite was the skanky white girl with no rhythm dancing with the nerdy white guy in khakis with no rhythm. Pretty sweet. Finally we walked back to the train. Unfortunately the red line had some problems so we had to wait for a while and we also ran into a bunch of traffic because of the Cubs game but it was still a great night that we will remember for a long time.

These are the flowers that I got for Leah. They are gerbera daisies...which is what she had in here wedding bouquet.


We love each other a lot and have felt really blessed these past two years. We've had so much fun, in fact, that we have decided to stay married to each other. Cool.

*side note:

I just received my new bike today!!!! It's awesome. I love it. It is a Bianchi Via Nirone 7. It is super sleek and has some real Italian flair. And it is super fast. Fast is good.

At lunch...

Hello, all. I'm just taking a lunch break between anatomy cadaver lab and my next class! Thought I'd update on the happenings of the past few weeks.

Class has been going really well. Yesterday was my first anatomy exam...ask me anything you want to know about the thorax and the neck. :) It feels really good to have that out of the way...and now we are quickly moving on to the rest of the body. It has been somewhat stressful, but mostly really interesting. I study all the time. ALL the time.

John has a job!!!! We're incredibly thankful that he has only gone one month without a job since our move. He has been hired at Panera in downtown Evanston. He'll be starting in the next few days. Hooray for leftover bagels and bread.

John just got back from a weekend in Pittsburgh. He was able to see some friends and spend some time with family. I was sad not to be there with him. Oh, and congratulations, Mike, on your ordination! It's about time...

Well, I hope all you readers are doing well. Come visit us in Evanston when summer decides to show up...we have a beach nearby!

FYI

Today I removed a human lung and heart. Pretty cool. John doesn't really think it's cool, but I think it's cool.

School is busy, but going well! John is still on the job hunt...

Off to more studying!

Artsy Fartsy

Yesterday John and I took the "el" downtown to go to the art museum. The Art Institute has just recently opened a new MODERN wing, and the entire museum was free all of this past week. SWEET.

The new wing was really neat. Lots of very weird things that either make you think outside of the box, or make you think "what the *%#@ was that guy smokin'?". Anyway, we had a good time. Then we walked outside to find some lunch and we witnessed a man being arrested. He apparently had tried to steal someone's things and they'd chased him for quite a while. Bad idea, buddy.

So we ate lunch at some good Italian place on Madison St. that I now can't remember the name of. It started with a P. Then we sat in Millennium Park for a while and you'll never guess what I saw. A little baby bird tumbled from the top of a pillar down onto the concrete sidewalk. SPLAT. Right on his beak. He apparently fell from the nest and could not fly yet. He was still breathing, and he squawked a little when a girl stepped on his wing, but I'm pretty sure that death was near. POOR BIRDIE. [It may have been a baby pigeon, in which case I don't feel quite so sad, but still a little sad.]



We finished up the day with Jamba Juice. It was mostly a good day with a couple of sad happenings.

Unpacked and Surprisingly Settled

We're all moved in! The move went extremely well, and the "severe storms" that had been called for on moving day held off, to our delight. After just a few days we feel at home, at least in the apartment. We're still finding our way around Evanston. John is always turned around...even though it makes much more sense, the grid system throws him off. It's quite different than the landmark system in Pittsburgh. He'll get there.

We are just over a mile from Lake Michigan. It is beautiful. This morning I ran to the lake and sat by the water for a few minutes...so calming. The whole world is in Evanston when it comes to restaurants...we could go to a new one every night for a year. [If we were rich]

Thanks to Mom and Dad for all the hard work on the apartment before we got here. We were pleasantly surprised with a new mattress when we walked in, something we were without! And thanks to all of you who made donations to our furniture collection. It is eclectic, for sure!

We are looking forward to a bit more exploring before I start school on the 28th...then I will be trapped in PA land for two years...

MOVING DAY

Well, almost! We head out at 5am tomorrow morning. Our move-in forecast? RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTNING, HAIL, STRONG WINDS. If anyone has a moment to pray that this will not be the case, we'd certainly appreciate it.

We will update again once we are settled! Call or email if you need our new address!