Airplane Seating

   So most everyone has traveled on an airplane... and for most airlines people like to be first. First to book their flight online so they can virtually choose their seat, first to "check-in" on line so they are more likely to board with the first group of passengers, or even standing in the gate waiting to get on--people love trying to be first in line to " get the best seat." 

          Some like the front for quick boarding and un-boarding, some like window seats to look at the clouds or little cities and mountains, some like the isle seats because they drink too much vodka tonic...or ginger ale. Typically, no one wants the dreaded middle seat. And most certainly no one wants to sit in the back of the plane, in the corner, near the engine. It's loud, and you can't even see out! 

         So, I'm here to tell you about my experience of flying from Baltimore to Albuquerque and back, this past week.  My flight left around 2pm last Wednesday, and I remembered to check in on line the night before my trip,  at about 7 or 8pm.  It's Southwest so there aren't assigned seats, and you get put into little groups "A 1-30,  A 31-60, B 1-30, B 31-60, and C...no one cares... because by the time they get to C they're doing all call for the flight...just get on damnit, people want their sprite and pretzels. 

        So imagine my surprise when I checked in 19 or 20 hours before flight and was already in B 1-30. Dang those EastCoasters setting an alarm on their phone to check in right at 2pm the day before. I guess, even after school I was still striving for an A...  But guess what??  When I got on the plane....sure all of the window and isle seats were taken...but that left me with options. I got to CHOOSE who I sat in between! Novel concept, which I really had never considered. Before I would head straight to the window seat somewhere in the middle-back, and just hope and pray who ever sat next to me wasn't overly fat, smelly, or snored loud. I had no control over who I'd share the next 4 hours with. But NOW, now I looked people up and down and mulled around the idea of sitting next to them.....and then I found two women in their 30's and 40's who both looked nice....one was even carrying a poster tube...she had the markings for going to the same conference I was going too. I could still see out and was "free to move about the cabin" if I just asked the one lady to get up. AND to top it off, they were in the 5th row! 

         So I got a seat right up front, which was great for un-boarding and grabbing my luggage and sprinting to a cab before the rest of the flight. There are only 50 cabs in Albuquerque, so descending 2,000 people to the city for the conference kept them very busy!  One lady I sat next to was born and raised in NM, and told me and the other woman (who was indeed also attending the conference with me) about all the shops and restaurants we needed to visit. Plus she told us all about the Sandia Mountains and the Rio Grande River in the city...which all proved for appearing very knowledgeable to my colleagues later in the day!  

        So with one successful flight behind me I enjoyed my conference, learned a lot, and got to catch up with people I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Then the last day came and I had several fleeting thoughts about finding a computer and printer to check in to my flight...but it just never happened. So on Sunday when I arrived at the airport I checked in at the kiosk and printed my boarding pass and was in B 31-60. 

          

      Upon waiting to board I actually ran into a girl I know!  Friend of a friend type thing, so we were always at the same parties/events for our mutual friends. And when she was boarding...she said to me "Good luck with your crappy seat!"  Well... she didn't know the fun of boarding near the end! That what actually makes a good seat is not WHERE you're located on the plane, but WHO you're seated next to.

    

      This trip I chose to sit in between two more women...one grandma type and one woman in her 40's. Both were very sweet. The highlight of the tip was hearing ALL about Grandma's trip she planned for her family this summer. Just picture, an older African American woman with a head full of grey and white ringlets, dressed very well, with glasses. She booked a charter bus to take 32 members of her family (most of them her grandchildren and her sisters and brothers grandchildren) from Chicago to the Grand Canyon. Oh, but they also had stops planned in St. Louis, multiple cities in Texas and Arizona, Nevada...all around. She was a former Librarian and knew everything about everywhere. So each stop was centered on something historical and worthwhile for the children to see. Don't worry; she also had plans to visit Six Flags and Medieval Times. 

      And at the end of the flight? She asked for her wheelchair. This woman was taking her 32 family members around the country, on a bus, in a wheel chair! Some people are just so inspiring. Afterwards at the baggage claim she introduced me to her daughter and 3 grandchildren she was coming to visit in Maryland. Wonderful family. 

       Will any of you try my idea of attempting to board near the end so that instead of sitting where you want; you can sit next to who you want??  I just dawned on me that many of you may have never traveled alone. I've done 85% of my traveling alone...so I guess that changes things!  

      

Product Review: Best Umbrella Ever

My husband has a theory about umbrellas. They don't actually belong to you. They belong to the universe. Everyone has left an umbrella somewhere...at a restaurant, in a closet at work, under a seat in a lecture hall, a taxi, a train...somewhere.  He believes that who ever happens upon that umbrella next is the umbrella's new owner. We all swap umbrellas because no one can actually keep track of one for very long. 

I have 5 umbrellas in my closet and I only remember purchasing two of them. They’re left over from my duck umbrella phase in high school.   OK....and maybe in college.

              

There are even more umbrellas in our cars.  Umbrellas are kind of like my jeans--it may seem to you that I have plenty, but there's really only one or two pairs that I wear. Umbrellas get busted so easily.  I seem to be the queen of having my umbrella go inside out or having the silver spoke poke out which makes the umbrella lop sided.

Well I hope to put an end to all of that forever! Since I walk to work now, I wanted to get a nice umbrella to use in the rain, snow, and wind. Who would have thought--researching an umbrella!? Well after a bit of time on my favorite website ever (amazon) I purchased the  GustBuster Metro Manual Umbrella, in Hunter Green.**

And oh how do I love it.  Did you know it's wind tunnel certified to 55+ mph by the College of Aeronautics? Pretty  cool. The nylon canopy is 190 thread count and is water, bleed, and fade proof. I didn't know umbrellas thread thread counts...  But best of all it has these raindrop shaped wind vents underneath to prevent the thing from flipping inside out! Brilliant. 

Everyone knows the two windiest places are Chicago (the Windy City) and UMBC. I could have used this in college, but I 'm just glad to have it now. Finally. 

Here we are in the blizzard of 2010: 

Before venturing out in the wind and snow

See those rain drop shaped wind release things?  

I typically fall for a good sales pitch and I always get so bummed when by purchase doesn't perform as well as the advertisement said it would.  But this umbrella does everything I expected! 

And because now I'm singing it...

If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood
Who ya gonna call (ghostbusters)
If it's somethin' weird an it won't look good
Who ya gonna call (ghostbusters)

** This is not an advertisement. It's just something I like and that I wanted to share with people.

Should We Tell Her?

I take family histories for a living. 

And that means I'm privy to some pretty interesting family secrets...I mean stories. You can learn a lot about someone from how much they know about their family member’s health. I find it interesting that some of us know A LOT of detail about our aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparent’s medical histories while others just know that everyone is "fine." I mean if they're not dead, then their fine...right!?

So in walks a couple last week and I'm asking the man a pretty common question for me, "Do either of your parents have any health concerns or medical issues"? 

And his wife says "Oh ...his Mother."  They each turn their head inward to look at each other and mouth "Should we tell her??" 

So at this point I'm thinking what could it be? If they're embarrassed or ashamed to tell me, I'm willing to bet I've heard it before. 

The wife looks at me and says…

"She's O negative." 

in a tone typically reserved for “She was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer.”

It was all I could do to keep from saying "So what? I don't care." I mean geeze people....I am O negative too, is there something dire I need to be aware of?

But instead I said in good counselor form...."Is there a reason you believe your mother's blood type would play a role in you having a healthy pregnancy?" 

They had no idea...it was just something the family made a big deal of. So I was happy to enlighten them about the genetics of blood type and the wonders of RhoGAM.

Day Light Saving Time

I'm all for saving the light. Or is it, saving the time? 

All I know is I lose an hour of sleep tonight and tomorrow when I wake up it will be dark....when it's actually been light for the past two weeks. Feeding the cats at 6:30am in the light has been a welcomed change. 

But even though I have to go back to getting ready in the dark for a while, I know that day light saving time marks the real start of spring. The start of going for a jog or bike ride when you get home from work because it's still light out. The start of better moods and that all around happy feeling that only bird chirps and blooming flowers give you. 

I hear babies have a hard time adjusting to the time switch--as do dogs. If my cats have a hard time adjusting--I just ignore it until they get over it. I'm nice like that. In our house no one eats before 6:30am. Sorry. 

In college I use to buckle down for a night of studying when it got dark---and so spring semester I would inevitably end up staying up much later. I'm sure my husband will be all for me staying up later seeing as how he's been complaining that I've been in bed by 9:30pm each night this week.  

Speaking of bed, he's in it right now actually reading a book. Yes, you read right....the man who starts books and finishes them a year later… or more. I should go and read too because I guess it's actually 11:30 and not 10:30.  Ugh.

Happy time change!

Pioneer Woman and her Photo Contests

Do you read PW? Most people I know do, and my favorite posts she does are the themed photography contests. I have no idea how she narrows down the pictures and finally chooses a winner.  Honestly, I don't think she knows either.

I've never actually entered any of her contests, but this last one was about cats. Now, cat pictures I have! I still didn't enter though.  All the pictures she posts seem to be done by fancy cameras with fancy editing and processing. But I still think my cats are cute and my point and shoot camera isn't all bad.

So here are some pictures that I wish I could have entered in her kitty contest:

" One eyed Jack"

"Baby Blues"

"Catmat"

"Are you there God? It's me, Samus." 

Why I love my sister

For the past 10 holiday seasons one of the best part of the celebration has been living under the same roof as my sister again....like old times. During those seasons sometimes I was the one to travel back home, sometimes we both traveled from afar, and sometimes she was the one to do with the traveling. Now we both travel with husbands.

But what no one can deny is how much FUN and LAUGHTER there is when we're together.

I mean who else would still play dress up with me, and wear a parrot on her head while posing for pictures, just because I wanted to?

Goodbye November

 November 2009...what a month! Let's review please.

Week 1:  
November 2nd. I surprisingly found out that I had PASSED my board exam!! The one I had prepared for from January-September (while working full time)!  That's a long time, and a lot of flashcards. It wasn't really a surprise that I passed, but more of a surprise when the letter arrived in the mail...I wasn't expecting results until December 18th.  I didn't know I was on edge until I read "YOU PASSED" and I just sort of melted with relief. Sweet relief. Flashcards....see you never. No more studying for this girl. 

November 7th.  I attended Stacy's baby shower for baby #2. She was my college roommate ALL 4 years. This was big because I got to spend quality time with my girl friends :) ALL of them.

Stacy and the soon to be big sister

                              
Week 2:  
November 9th. After passing my exam I actually got a RAISE at work. Awesomeness. And a little holiday bonus for my hard work. Goodness all around.

November 12th. I got a call in the afternoon that at 35 weeks Stacy was 6cm dilated......um sounds like baby time! For the rest of the day all of my friends excitedly followed the updates on twitter (I just love technology) until 10:04 pm when little Brody was born at 6lbs 4oz and 20 1/4 inches long.  All of those numbers ending in 4...I've already decided his # is 4. I'm so HAPPY for Stacy, Jeremy, and Kate. Can't wait to go visit the little fellow!!

Week 3:
November 15th. Ryan and I both agree to become members and join the church we've been attending for the past 5 weeks. This is BIG. With all the moving we haven't been members of a church we've regularly attended since 2006. I'm pretty excited to become an official member and have a new church home and new church family. I love my church family in Bowie dearly, but cannot do the 1.5 drive on the beltway after work just to sing in the choir. We're looking forward to jumping in to RPC! 


November 20th. For the first time in almost 4 years I actually hosted my friends over for a dinner! The last time Kelly, Eric, Erin, and Mike all came over to our place was for my 23rd birthday, September 2005! We've since moved around and it's been hard for people to travel to us---and since being back in MD we've had one or two people over, but I loved having the group over for food and games. And to tell you how long it's been...at the last gathering neither couple was married...let alone engaged!

                                                                 Loaded Questions

Week 4 :
November 25th. An actual outing with my parents, my husband, my sister, and her husband. It was a splendid evening of adults discussing adult-like things and of course making fun of each other and playing a lot of board games. Plus, any night I get to go to Olive Garden is always a huge plus in my book!

November 28th. The TURKEY BOWL. The 4th annual event where I attempt to play football (read: run around in the cold with people twice my size and try not to get the ball....if I get the ball, the chances of me getting injured increases exponentially). Every year we have different teams, team colors, and team names. Everyone is in charge of making their own" jersey." Ours turned out really well this year!

                                      House of Blues vs Roman Centurions...of course my team won.

This year, give presence

I am enthusiastically supporting a new event during the Advent  Season, the Advent Conspiracy.

This is really not an “event”, but, rather, it is a choice of how to be during the Advent Season.

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again? 

What would it look like if we redistributed our money this Holiday Season to help those who have no clean water or are homeless? Americans spend more than 450 billion dollars during the Christmas Season and can you believe that it would only take 10 billion to solve the WORLD’s water crisis? And what if instead of spending time less time in a shopping frenzy, we actually redistributed our time too, so that we spent TIME with each other rather than the mall or online. Advent Conspiracy doesn't mean that you give up giving gifts. I'm not going all "Scrooge" in this wonderful season where the ultimate gift of Jesus was given to us. I LOVE Christmas, and I love gifts....both giving and receiving..but...

It's about considering to spend less this Christmas (maybe even buying one less gift—that gift you have to give out of obligation—or hand-making a gift instead) and redistributing your money for gifts that change the world. It's about 4 themes: 

                        Worship Fully

                                              Spend Less

                                                                Give More

                                                                                  Love All

So family and friends---As you go forth into this holiday season, 

I encourage you to try to make your Christmas about: 

- Worshiping Christ more meaningfully

- Refusing our culture's hunger for consumerism

- Giving relationally to our friends and family

 -Loving all by giving to those most in need

Top 10 Reasons Why Walking to Work is Awesome

10. I can tell myself that walking down 3 flights of stairs, walking for 5 minutes through parking lots, and then walking up 3 flights of stairs—in heels—resembles some sort of exercise.



9. I get to experience the fresh air and enjoy time outside on lovely days.



8. I get a huge kick that 15 minutes until I have to see patients, I’m still not dressed and I’m not running late.



7. Since I don’t drive, I can’t “stop by” a store on my way home, therefore my husband does most of the weekday errand running ;) Thanks honey!!



6. I never have to waste time in the mornings finding a parking space at work.



5. I can go home during lunch and switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and throw a new load into the washer.



4. I’m home by 4:45pm every day. I can make it to the leasing office before they close! I can actually get my packages the same day they’re delivered. This is HUGE.



3. I hardly ever put gas in my car. It was nearly on “E” a week and half ago, and I still haven’t filled it up. (Relax Dad, there’s a gas station nearby.)



2. I can come home during lunch and catch up on an entire episode of Private Practice.



1. I never have to scrape my car. The entire time it use to take me to scrape all the snow/ice off—I am now at work already!

                         

Pretty Pretty Peacocks

As you may have noticed from my previous post, I like peacocks. At first it was just ornaments...I was attracted to the wonderful feathers...the colors, the pattern, the air of royalty.  About 3 and half years ago I bought a pair of peacock feather earrings from ebay for 99 cents. At this time peacocks weren't that popular...you didn't really find peacock feathers at every turn. For a while I didn't collect many items, I knew I liked them but I wasn't obsessed....yet.
Then one Christmas my friend Katie and I were at one of those Christmas stores...you know the kind that was just a Halloween store 3 weeks before.  And low and behold we stumbled across a PEACOCK TREE....it was the most glorious thing I had ever seen. Something clicked in my brain and my obsession started. But I was a graduate student...so I bought one ornament and refrained from purchasing anything else.

The peacock that REALLY started it all. He was the topper of a small white Christmas tree on my night stand.

The next spring when I finished my thesis presentation my same friend bought me a wonderful gift: 

A hand painted wine glass-worthy of a finished thesis!
Now with the peacock obsession in full swing I decided to use the theme for some decoration in my home:

In my guest bathroom. On my nightstand.

 My friends and family quickly caught on. That summer I received peacock book ends and a specially made peacock card from my sister for my birthday.

At Christmas I collected many more peacock ornaments from the Secret Santa gift exchange at work. That ornament above is clipped to one of my office plants.
My husband may have even gotten me a peacock stuffed animal. Are we ever really too old for those? I think not!

Folkmanis hand puppet
Lately, I've seen those same earrings I bought years ago sell for $10. Today peacocks are MUCH more popular. Just in the past two months I bought a peacock feather brooch at Charlotte Russe, peacock candle accents at Home Goods, a peacock wreath at Michaels, and a small throw pillow at Target.

The truth is I love peacock themed items…obviously.  But I do have some exceptions. I don't like abstract items or things that are not peacock colored (blue, green, purple). I'm not particularly into collecting knick knacks or things that just take up space....so I am trying to keep it classy. I know it seems overwhelming because I just shared pictures of every peacock thing I own, but I think they are spread out around my home and it's not like have this ugly decal on my wall! 

Do you have something you're totally into and enjoy collecting? Something you used to like that everyone now gives you at every birthday and Christmas and that you're sort of over now? Let me know below! I love to hear for you :) 

The History of the Hash Tree...not what you think.

        I love Christmas. I mean who doesn't? The family traditions...the lights...the shopping...the gifts...celebrating the birth of our Savior. All wonderful!  Another special thing about Christmas is that is the day...long ago in another millennium...1997 to be exact...that Ryan and I became an official couple.  But more about that later, if you're good :)

        One really cool thing about family traditions is that you can add to them! When Ryan and I got married we were so excited to celebrate our first Christmas. His brother was born December 19th, and they had a strict rule in their family that no decorating for Christmas could take place until after his brothers birthday was over. So that only left 5 day of tree enjoyment before the big day! Eek! Ever since I've been around his family his mother has been less than enthused to decorate....and they have this one tree with it's matchy matchy bows and ornaments. Pretty, but where was reindeer ornament made from clothes pins and fuzz balls? Where were the fun ornaments that spun and moved? OK...so that might have been a spaceship from Star Trek on my own families tree...but anyway...you get the point.  And don't get me wrong, I love perfect Christmas Trees that match...I look at them in the store and aspire to have one one day when I'm older...but maybe if you have more than one tree. Perhaps it was Ryan's mother's way of dealing with a house of all boys.

       Now my family. My family usually decorated around two weeks before Christmas...whatever day we didn't have a swim meet. We lugged all of the boxes out of the basement, and then gleefully added all of our colorful, aged, meaningful, hodge podge ornaments to the tree. I loved it. For a few years my mom did have a "fancy tree" in our bay window of our living room with very beautiful, very breakable ornaments. I'm pretty sure I broke at least one a year. We all did. But it was so pretty. Needless to say there aren't enough of those glass ornaments left to make a entire tree...so now they're added to the regular big tree.

        Ryan and I pretty much knew we were going to get married from the start, so when we were 19  I implemented a tradition that each year at Christmas we would give each other an ornament that could go on our future tree. So now it's November 05 and Ryan and I are getting so excited for our first Christmas and we start talking about how other families decorate the tree Thanksgiving weekend and how neither of our families EVER let us do that. So that's exactly what we did, we went out Black Friday and got a great deal on a artificial tree. (Apartments typically don't let you have live trees due to the fire hazard).

        As soon as we got home we put it up and decorated!  We added all of our ornaments that we had collected over time. But of course it was still sparse. At that time we lived in walking distance to a Target...and this is before we lived a very budgeted life....and oh we had so much fun picking out new ornaments!  Except we only got a few at a time, and every time I was at Target I would find more I just HAD to have. It was great. Our tree was no where close to matching!
        
         Enter in the kittens....oh did I forget to mention at the time we had two 7 month old kittens? Adorable. But guess what they liked to do? Climb the tree. Sit in the tree. Bite the tree. Bat ornaments off the tree. Bat said ornaments under furniture for us to find months later when we moved. That first year we tried so hard to keep them out of the tree...we even moved the tree to our bedroom so we could shut the door when we left for school and work. By the second week of December we were so over protecting the tree from the cats...they seemed to have more fun that we had ever seen them have! And so I gave in and took precious pictures:

               I know what you're thinking. "Sarah, why would you put feathers in your tree if you had baby kitties?" Well...I love birds. I don't have pet birds because of the cats, so instead I get bird ornaments and put them in my tree. I'm sure they would be in the tree with out the birds!  Besides the entire cat in tree thing, Ryan and I went into full speed ahead Christmas mode...but by 3 weeks in we were over it, and started to think our parents may have had the right idea with waiting to decorate and drink all the eggnog. I know, I know...I said it..my parents were right.

        So by 2006 we were in SC and decorated in between final exams. I wouldn't have had the time to celebrate Christmas for 5 weeks even if I had wanted to. One day we actually had time to decorate

and I start opening the Christmas boxes...except it was only village pieces and around the house items...no ornaments! WHAT!? We remembered to pack everything in our move except the ornaments?? Surely it couldn't be. So I called my mother who with phone in hand ventured into her basement to open random boxes. And she found them. All of them. I was upset...I mean earlier in the year our Christmas tree that we had bought the previous year had met it's demise. A flood. See, my sister and I store many things in our parents basements...but it floods. So the tree was in its cardboard box and it got wet, and moldy-- it died.

          So Ryan and I had already bought a brand new artificial tree (they aren't cheap) and now we had to go buy new ornaments too! I wasn't going to not have a Christmas tree. So we ventured out to..where else...Target! My husband asked me if we could do a theme, because it might be the only year we could have a matching tree. Ha. Who knew he actually liked the matchy matchy? So we picked something simple---silver. We bought silver balls with different textures,snowflakes, some tinsel, and a silver star. And come on, we all knew the little balls were going to be cat toys in less than 60 seconds.

             In 2007 we actually got a lot a time off from school and work and headed back up North for the holiday. to save money we got a classmate to feed and play with the cats instead of boarding them. We couldn't take them with us because um..have you met cats after an 8 hour drive? I rather not. We actually decided to decorate our place with everything except the tree.  We couldn't leave the cats unattended with the tree for 14 days. Nope. No can do. So another year went by with out seeing our original ornaments.

                Now in 2008 we were in VA and we had our tree! and our ornaments! after 3 years! Ryan and I were reunited....and it felt so good...but you should have seen the cats! Jumping in the box and chewing on the branches right away. Rolling around like we had given them cat nip...I swear they had smiles on their faces. So here we were, our little fur family all so excited. Samus literally dove right in...

                     By then I had totally given up on fighting them off or reprimanding them and I just took pictures. Maybe I'm a bad cat Momma. I don't know. But I learned and throughout the year when I came across a stray ornament I had a special bag to put them in that actually got put back in the Christmas box while we were packing and moving.

                   And that brings us to Christmas 2009. We're in yet another new home and a new state. We have our tree, our ornaments, our fur babies with tails, and we live near family again--should be another great year!

Big black horse and a cherry tree

Well my heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talking.

I read a lot of blogs, it’s one of my favorite ways to spend time on the internet. But I always feel kind of like I’m cheating when I comment on the blogs of ladies who are giving me a glimpse into their lives, and I have nothing to share back. The first blog I ever read was one of my college roommates: Law Life. She was chronicling her pregnancy and then life of her first child. Pretty good stuff---and there in 2006 I was thrust into the blog world.

So what’s the purpose of this blog? Like most blogs I’m sure it will evolve over time, but my goal isn’t to keep up with family and friends….I feel like I do a pretty good job of that with phone calls, facebook, and twitter. My goal is just to share my life views and experiences that are interesting, amusing, and meaningful to me-- and hopefully meet some cool readers along the way who may share things in common with me or teach me a thing or two.

I am 27, married to my high school sweet heart, just moved back to the state we grew up in, and for the first time in my life—I have nothing to study! No homework, clinical rotations, or board exams to study for. So when you’ve accomplished so many goals that you and maybe even society had set for you….then what? Something tells me the next decade is not going to be nearly as scripted as the last decade was….and at first I thought that was really scary, but I’m learning to enjoy the slower pace and the unexpected. Come follow me on our journey!