Girl-Tyler.net

It's been a afternoon/evening/night. I went out for coffee with Roommate and we laughed at the people that looked like they belonged on this website. When we got home, I got a call to serve as a character reference for someone who used to work at the clinic. I gave her a really shining recommendation and called her as soon as I hung up the phone. It was really nice to talk to her and hear her sound so happy. She's not sounded very happy lately and so this was a nice change (there is a lot of back-story on why she's not been happy). Afterward, I talked to Nicole and that further brightened my day.

Roommate and her friend and I went out for dinner and then got some gelatto downtown. It was nice to be outside (even though the heat was is oppressive) and to talk about random things. I feel like so much of my brain power has been devoted to weddings and making other people happy lately that it was nice to joke around in a pressure-free environment.

We got home and I finally got a chance to talk to Jeff. The last time we really talked was Saturday night, and it was a rather deep conversation. I was looking forward to this conversation to sum up some thoughts and rehash a few things to make sure we're on the same page. We are. There are so many things that make a long-distance relationship difficult, but at the same time, Jeff has so many qualities that make it very easy for me to want to push through. Even 500 miles apart, he is the anchor to my support system, the one person who can always make me laugh, the one who makes me think that I can do anything and that I'm special and important in this world. There are mornings I wake up and the first thought I have is that I'll get to talk to Jeff that night. I take all of that as a good sign that this long-distance relationship will all be worth it in the end.

As our conversation was winding down, Roommate and her friend and her now ex-boyfriend were in and out of the house. I just talked to Roommate again and it's officially over between them. She said at one point that she can't even put into words the number and type of emotions she's feeling right now. I'm going to go with extremely upset. I wish there was more I could do for her, but I think listening is the only thing I can offer at this point. I can reiterate that she is making the right choice, too. I'm just the sort of person that wants to fix a problem when I see it, and there is nothing I can do to fix this. These things happen.

So, even though I watched Best Friend get married years before I will have the opportunity, and even though I'm watching Roommate end a 5 year relationship, I can see that the world is not all bad. I'm finally at a point in my life where I am just happy to be me.


Having him in my life helps quite a bit.

Well, there you have it. I am relieved of my maid of honor duties. I signed the certificate with the best man. That's one part that didn't hit me until the rehearsal at the church. My name is forever attached to their union. After the ceremony, I told the new hubby that he was my Best Friend-in-law and he'd better not screw it up. I think that's going to be his new title, BF-i-l. It'll take some adjustment.

The wedding was beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better day and everything went off without a hitch. Well, almost without a hitch. On Friday, Jeff missed his flight due to an unfortunate series of events at the airport and I spent a good amount of time crying at the salon on the phone until I called my dad and called Jeff and offered told Jeff that he should get on the soonest flight to Milwaukee and my dad would cover the cost. I've never been a daddy's girl and I've never called in a favor like this before, but my dad said on several occasions that it was the best $400 he'd ever spent. I picked Jeff up from the airport around 6 when there was a break in the action between the rehearsal at the church and the dinner. Crisis averted.

Everything went wonderfully on Saturday. Only a few minor spats between the bride and her overbearing mother interrupted our getting ready. The groomsmen, while incredibly nerdy, were some of the most polite and genuinely good people I've ever met. We took a ton of pictures (and I'll post some soon) and headed to the reception. Jeff was wonderful....he did everything from watching purses to taking pictures for one of the bridesmaids to driving with the flower girl and I to find a place for the flower girl to go to the bathroom (silly girl, should have gone before we left the church! Pictures take a long time in a park!).

Dinner was great and the speeches went off without a hitch. I'm quite proud of my performance and the best man did a fantastic job, too. BF and Line-Dance Friend and I danced a line dance while the groom took pictures with school friends, and Jeff finally got to meet some of my classmates. We danced. Jeff put up with my dragging him onto the floor for some of the more upbeat songs, but he was the first one out there for the slower ones.

I've never gotten so many compliments in one night before. At one point, the best man was talking to Jeff and I overheard him say something along the lines of "All of the bridesmaids are fantastic. But your Tyler has a spark in her that brightens the room. People are so drawn to her." I felt a swell of pride when Jeff agreed and said that he was a very lucky man. Later, Jeff told me that everyone watches the bride at weddings, but he said there were more than a fair share of eyes on me, too. I've never thought of myself as anything out of the ordinary when it comes to looks or personality, and so it was an amazing ego boost to get so many compliments of that ilk.

Jeff and I left around midnight and had one of the most serious conversations we've ever had. It turns out that BF's father had cornered him in the church after the ceremony and again and the reception and was telling Jeff that he and I should be engaged by now. He threw in that he probably sees me more often than Jeff does. Hearing that, I could have killed him. I've never seen Jeff so upset. He and I know more than anyone how hard it is, and we have our plans. To have a total stranger (to Jeff) say things like that was like someone slapping him. We sat and talked for two more hours before we went to sleep. I know we got to a good place, and I'm glad we had the conversation. It was really good for me to hear things from Jeff's perspective face to face as opposed to through the phone. We still have some more talking to do, but I know that we both need some processing time to reestablish our opinions, wants, and necessities. We ended the night on a good note, and so at least something good came out of the whole ordeal.

Jeff and I got up 4 hours later and I took him to the airport. I drove a couple groomsmen to BF's parents' house for brunch/gift opening and tried my hardest to not be mad at BF's father. I told BF the cliff's notes version of what happened, but she doesn't need to know the extent to which Jeff was upset. When we were saying goodbye, BF's dad mentioned with a smile on his face how he'd pulled Jeff aside and that was my opening to express my displeasure. He apologized and then came out to the car and apologized again. He even offered to call Jeff and apologize to him directly, but I said that wouldn't be necessary. I felt a lot better after that, and I hope Jeff does, too. I talked to Roommate and another bridesmaid on the way home, and it was really nice to get a lot of that out in the open. The car ride home was great.

I called my dad to wish him a happy father's day and to thank him again for paying for Jeff's tickets. I told my mom what BF's dad had said and she backed me up entirely. My own family understands Jeff and I and that's what matters in the long-run. Now I just have to get through the month of July and a little bit of August and I get nearly a week with Jeff. It'll be nice to see him without a set schedule, though I'll miss the dancing.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get some from the bridesmaid that took them. I think that's all for now.

Well, here I am again, a week between posts. I promise not to whine this time, though I do have to put a big "THANK YOU" our there for Susan for her last comment.

Since my last post, I started working at my old veterinary clinic. I worked there for a year after undergrad/before vet school, and now I'm back for the summer. A lot of things have changed and some things never will. I think that's going to be my phrase of the summer.

Best Friend's bachelorette party was last night. It was fun, but I can't say that I'm not disappointed at the turnout. I planned a huge dinner in a restaurant and sent out roughly thirty invitations. I bought red leis for the bridesmaids to wear and some accessories for Best Friend. We ended up with about seven people for dinner. Three more joined us for drinks afterward while two of the dinner people had to leave. BF had said she wanted one last crazy night, but she kept refusing drinks when we offered to buy them. Very strange. I think she still had fun, but I just wish I could have known we were facing such a crappy turnout...I'd have planned a bit differently.

I'm going to be working some long hours this week and I know there will be some last-minute decisions that need to be made before the wedding. Luckily, I have Friday off, but I work 7:30 to 6:00 on Thursday. I guess that means I should finish the flower girl basket today...I'll have to go to the store sometime after work this week to assemble a survival kit for the day of the wedding. Any suggestions for contents?

Lastly, I think it's time for some pictures.



Jeff and I at the wedding last weekend. We're standing on a putting green and I'm pretty sure my heels poked some holes. Whoops...


This is Jeff's other girlfriend, Ally. She actually refers to him as "my Jeff" when she talks about him. She's hiding in this picture...Jeff can't find her. Really.


This and the next couple come from the Olbrich Gardens. Roommate and a friend and I headed out there earlier in the week and it was GORGEOUS. I can't believe I've lived in Madison for so long and I'd never been here before. I'll definitely be going back!







The end.

I know, I know. I'm going to the blogging underworld for promising to post more and then not remotely following through. Well, this entry is going to be like phoning Charon and booking a first class ticket. My first entry in a long time is emotional and whiny. I make no apologies.

I got to fly to Southern IL to see Jeff for his friends' wedding this past weekend and I had a phenomenal time. I hadn't seen him in just about six months, which is the longest we've ever gone without meeting face to face. I can't even put into words what it was like to finally get into his car when he picked me up from the airport and just look at him. I could have cried. I'm crying now thinking about it.

We had lunch and picked up his tux (he was a groomsman/reader) and talked all afternoon. It sounds so simple, but it's those little things that mean so much, those little things that everyone else seems to take for granted. I got introduced to his new group of friends from the airport (since some of his old group have moved away and he's gotten involved with flight team/gotten to know other faculty, etc.) at the rehearsal/dinner and I finally felt like myself. Jeff and I always share stories about how we feel odd when we're with all of our couple friends because we're never with them together. This weekend, it was like something was finally clicking into place. We got to be normal for once.

The wedding was beautiful and even though I had to hang out with the boys all morning and sit through 3 hours of pictures, it was still worth it. Plus, I got to pin on all of the boutonnieres for the groomsmen/users/grandfathers. After feeling rather in the way all morning, it was nice to be needed. I've been telling people that it was a reconnaissance mission to find out what weddings are like for men so I can report back at Best Friend's wedding in two weeks. Mission accomplished.

I lost track of the number of people that said something along the lines of "It's so nice to finally meet you! We just love Jeff at the airport!" There were also a fair number that decided to throw in "Jeff, why haven't you married this woman yet? What are you waiting for?!" Those are the ones that stung a bit. I want more than anything to get married now. I want to be able to see Jeff on a daily basis as opposed to measuring time apart in months.

I know that I am so incredibly blessed to have found the man I'm supposed to be with at such a young age. I've known since I was sixteen that Jeff and I were made for each other. There was never a doubt in my mind that our relationship would last through the distance. We can tell how the other is feeling by tone of voice. We've grown into adults together separated by 500 miles and I love the man he's become even more because I loved the boy he was in high school. I can say with strength and conviction that Jeff and I will be married someday. Someday, we'll have that house with a fantastic kitchen (hey, we both cook!) and we'll have a back yard and the babies we've already started naming. Someday, we'll be able to spend time with other couples without feeling awkward. Someday, we'll look back on these years we spent apart and smile because being so far away has brought us closer than we ever thought possible. Someday.

We spent the rest of the reception dancing to every couples' song and singing along to all the others. I kept expecting to wake up alone in my bed in Madison. I've only been able to look into Jeff's eyes in my dreams lately. It was surreal to be able to dance and, dare I say, kiss my boyfriend whenever I wanted. He requested our song and we talked about how we'll dance to it again when I'm wearing a white dress. I can't remember the last time I felt that happy or that complete.

I hate that I'm riding an emotional roller coaster this month. Best Friend's wedding is in 2 weeks and they will be filled with last-minute preparations, speech-writing, and thinking about how everyone thought I'd be the first one to get married. Jeff is flying up for the weekend and so I'll at least get to feel whole again. The child in me keeps repeating that it really sucks that the main visits we get this summer are for weddings that aren't our own. I'm trying to lock that child away in a corner of my mind to avoid feeling sorry for myself. I can do this. Jeff and I can do this. Someday, our day will come.

I had the beginning of a fantastic entry drafted yesterday and then my computer froze. Like an all out "the mouse won't move and then the blue screen of death appeared" sort of froze. In any case, I'm here now with a quick entry and I'll post my "fantastic" rewrite another day. That's just how it's going to be.

Because it's my birthday!

That's right, for another 22 minutes, I can do whatever I want.

I actually had a pretty fantastic day, all things considered. I slept in and then showered while listening to my new iPod speaker dock from my parents. I got quite a few really nice birthday messages on facebook, which made me happy throughout the day as they appeared. I watched TV and such until Best Friend and her fiance got home, at which time I opened my gift from them. They got me Mario Party for Wii and the Quantum of Solace DVD (which will be thoroughly drooled over tomorrow). We were about to go out for sushi for dinner when my dad called to say happy birthday and then offered to pay for our dinner. Afterward, we saw "Angels and Demons" came home to feed the cats (and give Lily a special treat because she turned 3 today!) and then went to the birthday bar in town so I could get a birthday mug and a balloon.

I wasn't really expecting to get to do anything special today...I thought Best Friend had to work, but she must have changed her schedule and not told me. She's tricksey one, she is.

On that note, I should get to bed. It's almost midnight and I have another long day of resume writing and apartment hunting ahead of me.

Well, I made it through my first year of veterinary school. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I am so proud that I can now call myself a SECOND YEAR veterinary student. Oh yeah.

The past few days have been interesting and boring at the same time. It turns out that I don't really know what to do with myself when I don't have to study. I can't shake the feeling that I'm "being bad" when I'm watching TV or playing around on the computer. In any case, I went out with friends Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday night. On Saturday, I went to Roommate's graduation ceremony.



It was nice to do something nice for Roommate. I've felt so disconnected for a long time, it was nice to feel appreciated. It was only fair...she sat through my graduation 2 years ago.

After the ceremony, I went out for coffee with Roommate and her family, but then I left them to enjoy the day together. Since I had my camera, I walked down by the lake and took some pictures even though the gale-force brisk wind went right through my sweater.



Lake Mendota behind the Memorial Union


Badger Tulips in front of Memorial Union

Since I was pretty chilled by the wind on the lake, I walked in the sun back to the main road on campus to catch a bus home. I spent the rest of my day watching TV and hanging out with Best Friend and her fiance. Harry Potter IV was on ABC and Ever After was on Hallmark. All is right with the world.

Today I spent the afternoon shopping with Line-Dance Friend. I needed to get a new watch battery and I also needed a certain "hold'em in" kind of undergarment to wear to the two weddings I'm attending this summer. I'm very happy with the one I ended up getting, as it does it's job and makes it look like I actually have a waist. It's comfortable, too! Anyway, I did both of the aforementioned and then I bought a new fish. I wasn't really in the market for a new fish...I didn't even have the tank set up. However, I saw the handsome fellow and had to have him. He's a greenish-blue betta with a red tinge to his fins that shows more in the light. I've never seen anything like him. Like a true Grey's Anatomy fan, I named him Dr. Owen Hunt, though I think I'll just stick to Owen. This also meant that I had to drive back in the direction to the mall to get new rocks for the tank and a pretty castle and a new plant. In any case, Lily is sure that I bough Owen just for her.



I'm sure glad there's a secure lid on the tank. Well, not nearly as glad as Owen is. I have to say that he's done very well considering he's had two big yellow eyes fixed on him since he moved in to his new home.

That brings me to where I am now. I have two apartment showings tomorrow and I'm pretty excited. I hope that one of them is the place for me. They're both very close to where I live now, and they are both within my price range. Those two things don't generally go together. In any case, I should get to sleep so I can make a good impression on my potential future landlord! Yay for summer!

I will be done with my first year of veterinary school in a little over 4 hours. I've been studying like mad for the past 36 hours trying to get as much neurology knowledge as possible packed between my ears. Needless to say, I'm rather burned out. Something about studying nearly consecutively for 9 hours and then getting up early to do 3 more hours before the exam...That's bound to take a lot out of anyone.

I have one hour left and I've decided that the best way to spend my last few minutes of freedom before I hit the books for the final push is to make a list of all the things I'm looking forward to doing this summer.

- Reading for FUN. I've had summers where I read 3 books a week. Perhaps this will be another one of those summers. I think I have a couple late fees on my library card...I should get that sorted out, eh?

- Scrapbooking. I started last Christmas and I've barely done more than put together a few random pages (senior year of undergrad, senior prom in high school, both of my cats, a few from New Orleans this past summer). I could easily get my first year of veterinary school represented.

- Playing video games. I know it sounds silly, but I have a Wii and I've barely played it. I need to get back into Wii Fit, too.

- Exercising outside. I hate working out. I have to trick myself into thinking I'm doing something else. Walking around town with my camera is a really good way to burn some calories and get some new material for the scrapbook.

- Volunteering. I've had to miss the past few Spay-a-Thons due to my schedule and that's just no fun. Where else do I get to neuter cats?! I'm also helping with a grandparents/grandchildren activity workshop at the vet school. Perhaps I can get adopted by some new grandparents since I don't have my own anymore...(kidding)

- SEEING JEFF. It's been almost 6 months since I've seen Jeff in person and it's KILLING ME! I need a hug. And I'll get one on June 4th.

And finally:

- Sleeping. 'nough said.

There are so many things I'm excited to do that I can't help but walk into this exam with my head held high. I can do it! Neuro can't stand in my way!

Well, I had a pretty strange day. While I was in the shower (the second one today, that's kind of where it all began), I was planning this post. I say that my strange day began in the shower because this morning, the shower in my apartment wasn't draining. It's not like the water had a lot of places to go; it's only a shower, not a tub, too. I washed my hair and lightning speed and got out as soon as possible. I called maintenance and went to class. I had the last class of my first year of veterinary school today. It was a very odd feeling, but I enjoyed it. I had two reception sort of things to go to and I ate entirely too much the perfect amount of free food.

I got home and started on some miscellaneous things that needed to be done and I ended up driving back to school for step one on my to-do list, and then I had to drive wayyyyy across town to get to the best alterations shop in Madison to get a dress altered. Of course, we had beautiful weather and there was no way that I was going to make that drive without putting the top down on the Jeep. I cued up the GPS on my phone and started driving East. 40 minutes later, I realize that my GPS does not have the right address for said alterations shop and I had to call them and sound like a total moron. I got directions, got my dress measured, got quoted ($30 seems quite reasonable to hem a dress with a lining, no?) and left.

There was a McDonald's across the street and I decided to splurge and get some iced coffee. The cashier in the drive-thru was all of 17 and he rather awkwardly asked if my sunglasses were Oakley's. I almost feel compelled to tell everyone that they are Oakley but I got them for free because my old boss found them on a walk in a park and thought they'd look good on me. I don't want to be known as that person...the one who spends $100 on plastic sunglasses. In any case, he said "have a nice day ma'am" and I drove away before he could see the color drain from my face. I don't know when I became a ma'am. I don't think I'm QUALIFIED to be a ma'am yet. Isn't there some sort of class I'm supposed to take first?

I got home and Best Friend was in an abysmal mood because of some family issues. She declared it sushi night and we set off for the restaurant. I told her she had to remind me to put the top back up on the Jeep when we got back from dinner. Well, dinner turned into dinner and a movie, and it was pouring rain by the time we got home. I stood outside in the rain and got the top up on the Jeep as quickly as I could (though everything was already drenched) before coming inside and declaring that tonight was not the best night ever. I'm just hoping it's sunny tomorrow so I can put the top back down and lay everything out to dry. I decided that I needed a shower.

Luckily, maintenance had fixed the drain, but the base of the shower was filthy. I tried just letting the shower do the work, but I ended up having to scrub with Fantastic. Oh well. The second shower of my day was much more delightful than the first because it gave me time to plan this post. When I got out of the shower, the bad part happened.

I turned on my phone (which was off in the theater) and had a voice mail from Jeff. It turns out they had hurricane-force winds in Southern Illinois and everyone is without power. He said that he and all of his friends are fine, but there's a tree leaning on his apartment and the whole city is a mess. He may just end up driving up to Chicago to his parents' house because they're obviously not going to be flying for a while. Here's the news story. The two buildings that look like Y's are the dorms where Jeff lived his sophomore year of college. I didn't think the lower midwest got winds like that. They hadn't in my lifetime. In any case, I'm glad to hear that everyone is OK, and I hope that the power comes back soon. Weather is a scary thing.

You know, with all the strange stuff that happened, I still think I had a good day. I woke up to a broken shower, but it was fixed in less than a day. I got lost on the far side of town, but I think the place that has my dress is a good one. I had a great dinner and saw a good movie, but my car got soaked. Jeff's town is in ruins, but everyone is safe. Yeah, I've definitely had worse days.

A lot of stuff has been getting to me lately. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm stressed about finals/finding a job/finding an apartment. I sent off another resume/cover letter yesterday and I'm hoping this one pays off. There's another job posting that sounds a little tempting, too. The pay is good and it's full time. I don't know that I get to be picky about what the job is (it's office/clerical)...it's only 3 months.

I've been carrying out the apartment search with abandon lately. I've found some nice ones, but I also keep increasing the maximum price I'm willing to spend. Living alone is going to be really expensive, I know that already. I just want to find the right place for me and I know it's out there and I won't have to pay an arm and a leg. I just have to have a little faith.

I had my reproductive physiology exam yesterday and relaxed the rest of the day. It was nice to take a HUGE exam and feel like I did well and walk out of the classroom with my head high. I wish that happened more often. I have a biochemistry exam on Thursday and it's about time that I really buckle down and cram some material in my head.

I was surfing around facebook and noticed that Jeff is now friends with a girl I considered to be the bane of my existence for 3 years (she was a year older so she was out of my hair senior year). I had a wave of intense hatred and jealousy mixed with inadequacy (which were the feelings she tried, rather successfully, to evoke) and then I got over it for the most part. That was a long time ago and I know she was immature and insecure. Those old feelings are really hard to ignore, but I'm doing my best.

Here's a brief story to explain where my feelings started:
Jeff and I had our first date at the Homecoming dance our sophomore year of high school. They started playing the first "slow song" of the night (which was, tragically, a Jessica Simpson, "Where You Are") and I was hoping Jeff would ask me to dance.
Well, this gem of a person (who knew how I felt about Jeff) grabbed him and dragged him to the dance floor and away from me. This is where a rational person would be mad at Jeff for not objecting, but he was a 15 year old boy at the time. Enough said.

In hindsight, I'm happy that Jeff and I never danced to that song because it's about Jessica Simpson's deceased cousin. We danced to the second "slow song" and our official song became Lonestar's "Amazed" instead. It's a really cheesy love song but it's got a good message. It all worked out, but the damage was done. The girl continued to try to pull annoying crap like that throughout the rest of high school but Jeff stopped really responding to her when we actually started dating. Looking back on everything now, I don't know why I carried that grudge for so long, and I don't know why I still get so upset when I hear her name. I suppose the scars of high school never truly heal...

On a very remotely related note, both of Jeff's younger sisters went to Prom this last weekend and they both looked so beautiful and grown-up. I can't believe they are the same "little girls" I met when they were 8 and 9 years old. It's amazing how time flies these days...

Speaking of flying time, I've wasted most of my afternoon on my apartment hunt and I should get to work. Biochem won't study itself, you know!

It's odd that I'm not more worried about taking my final exams and such. I think it's because I'm more stressed than ever about finding a summer job. I wrote a fantastic cover letter for a lab job and got an e-mail from HR right away saying that my resume was being forwarded to the head of the lab for approval and then I got an e-mail from the head of the lab saying that the position was for undergraduates only. Thanks. I'm glad they thought that was a bit of information that was worth LEAVING OUT of the job posting. Furthermore, I don't know why I can't work there as a professional student. I have a BS, yes, but I'm only a year in to my veterinary training and it was a chemistry lab. It's just strange. I'll just have to continue to check the student job center daily and hope for the best. That's my best chance of finding a place that won't get mad that I only need something for the summer.

Best Friend asked me today if I had the invitations for her Bachelorette party, which reminds me that I have to work on that, too. That can wait until after finals, though. I have a feeling that I'll be much more worried about exams after tomorrow. I have a "final exam" in my favorite class (physiology) on my favorite subject (reproduction). You can stop snickering. It really is my favorite subject. After that, I have an exam on Thursday and then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then I'm done. I'll be 1/4 veterinarian a week from Wednesday.

I really should stop stalling and get back to studying...ah, I hate when that happens. Cheers!

REALLY makes me smile! It's sunny and 60°F with a nice breeze. It's very hard to get the focus to study when the weather is this nice. The breeze makes it hard to study outside, and so I'll have to settle for open windows and natural light. Well, what has been going on in the world of Tyler besides studying and my endless need to complain?

I got published.

Let me rein you in before you head over to Amazon to look for a new best-seller. It's a research paper in the Journal of Poultry Science. In my own little nerdy world, I'm quite proud of being listed as co-author in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. I just have to work up to primary author at some point and I'll call it good. Too bad that usually requires funding and a true interest in research...

I've been keeping myself busy with very important veterinary things.



I collected blood from that sheep like a pro. And by like a pro I mean that once the instructor showed me where to put my hand to hold off the vein, I was very pro-like. I'll take what I can get.

The school year is winding down quite a bit and I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I will be 1/4 of a veterinarian in 2 weeks. This year has gone by SO quickly. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but I've learned a lot (about medicine and about myself). Here's to three more years of a "job" where I have to pay my "employer" and I still get to say that I'm loving every minute!

It's been a crazy week to say the least. I took studied for hours, took two exams, looked at an apartment, had that issue with Best Friend I mentioned in my last post, talked to Best Friend and resolved the issue, ate roast pig, and helped out with an open house at school/the teaching hospital that had over 2000 visitors. In a nutshell, I was very very busy.

That said, this week should be quite the opposite. I have no exams and thus nothing really breathing down my neck. I do have two exams next week, but I also have plenty of time to study. I've been kicking the job hunt into overdrive these days. There's one in a lab that seems promising. I'm just worried that they're more interested in someone that will continue to work through the school year as opposed to someone who just wants to work for the summer. We'll see, though. It's not like I have many other options. It doesn't look like my old veterinary clinic is going to need summer help, and veterinary jobs are hard to come by in town. I just need to find something.

I bought my plane tickets to go to the wedding that Jeff is standing up in in June. He said that he's been telling people at work that I would be coming to the wedding and they're all excited to meet his "imaginary" girlfriend. I run into the same sort of thing with my friends now. I talk about Jeff quite often, and yet very few of my friends have actually met him. It'll be nice to put faces to names at this wedding.

Like a true blogger, I can't have a totally upbeat entry. I'm quite mad at Roommate for ruining one of my pieces of Rachael Ray cookware. She made mashed potatoes with an electric mixer in my nonstick stock pot. I've explicitly asked both her and BF not to use metal utensils in my nonstick cookware, but obviously Roommate doesn't know that the shiny silver beaters that go in the mixer COUNT AS METAL UTENSILS! It just makes me so mad. I wrote a note asking both roommate and BF to refrain from using metal stuff, so hopefully that helps. I pointed out the damage to the pot. I just know how Roommate reacts to things like that and so I can just hope for the best.

That's kind of an odd place to end things, but that's all I've got for now. I'm off to continue the job search!

I'm feeling particularly antisocial today. It's not that I've been having a bad day per se, I think it's more than there have been a lot of crappy things happening around me and they're finally all culminating into a big ball of grump for me. I talked to my old coworker and everything seems to be OK on that front (see my previous post). I really hope she gets the help she needs.

Yesterday, Best Friend, her finace and I spent the day at Midwest Horse Fair. We were there from 9 am until 11:30 pm. BF's parents joined us around 3 pm. Even though I know all of them very well, I felt a bit like I didn't fit in. That wasn't helped by the fact that the fiance pointed out that everyone that was family or soon to be family got the same flavor ice cream and I was the different one. It sounds really silly and he certainly was not intending to make me feel left out, but that on top of the fact that I was already a little frustrated by that point in the evening did not make for warm, fuzzy feelings. The main show was entertaining, but very long. I would have been OK with leaving halfway through, but BF wanted to stick it out.

This morning, BF and I went to the clinic at school to help with medical evaluations for some dogs that are in a program that lets them go to hospitals and such to visit kids. They have to have all sorts of bacterial swabs done (to make sure that they aren't carrying anything particularly nasty since some of the kids may be prone to illness) and we take blood and such. Well, the St. Bernard I chose as my first patient was late and I had some issues with the blood draw which added on some time. The dog we had chosen as BF's patient got there before we were done with the first one and someone else came and took the chart. That meant that all BF did was take a history from the client and hold the dog for me. She didn't get to do an exam or any lab samples, etc. I felt really bad even though she assured me that it wasn't my fault.

The one thing that I think it bothering me the most is that BF said that her fiance may come to Seattle with us this summer for our veterinary conference. I'm not too jazzed about that. It's not that I don't like her fiance...he's really a great guy. It's that he is involved with everything we do. BF and I no longer have anything that is just her and I...she brings her fiance to line dance, to every event at the vet school, to educational talks...everything. I thought veterinary medicine would be the only thing her and I could always share, and it's turning out to not be the case. The only reason I'm even going to Seattle is because her and I had so much fun in New Orleans last year. Seattle is going to be a lot more expensive with a lot more traveling/planning and it just doesn't seem worth it if it's going to be just like being in Madison. I know I'll have to talk to her about it before anything gets set in stone because I am not going to spend $700+ on a trip if I'm not even excited to go. I just hope she understands...

And now I have a day of studying ahead of me and I can't seem to find the motivation. I'm worried about talking to BF and I'm worried about my exams and I just kind of feel like crap. I still don't have a job lined up for summer and I have yet to sign a lease so I'm not homeless in the fall when my current lease is up. There's nothing I can do at the moment except study and hope it all goes away long enough for me to cram some neurology into my short-term memory.

And that is why I am grumpy.

Well, it's Friday. This week has positively flown by. I've felt on several occasions that I should write something, but I inevitably found something else to do instead. Bad blogger, I am. In any case, I'll break up my week into days and that'll make it easier for me to remember all the little things I wanted to write about all week.

Monday: I had a quiz in the physiology of reproduction which went well. I also went to tour a dairy farm. The farm was really really nice, but unfortunately Wisconsin can never make up its mind with when to actually change the season. There was a crisp wind and it rained/hailed on and off all afternoon. When I got home, my toes were blue. No joke. I took Best Friend out to a nice dinner as a birthday gift and it was a lot of fun to get to spend some one on one time with her. That doesn't happen nearly often enough these days.

Tuesday: Grocery shopping and other errands in the afternoon, line-dance at night. 'nough said.

Wednesday: Large animal anatomy lab in the morning...Our horse cadaver is now just the rear end. It was a messy lab to say the least. The weather was beautiful and so I got a salad from Panera for lunch and ate outside with Roommate. Notice how I have yet to mention doing any studying this week. Yeah...

Thursday: Long day of classes, tired of seeing people by the time I got home. I realized I hadn't seen my cat, James, all afternoon. Lots of worrying and searching the house ensued. I found him cowering behind the couch under the radiator covered in his own urine. I have no idea what did it, but something completely terrified him. I calmed him down a bit, gave him a bath, and let him calm down the rest of the way. He's been fine ever since. I guess I'll never know what happened. I got a rather frantic phone call at 11:30 pm from a previous coworker saying that she thought another previous coworker was going to commit suicide. It was a scary conversation that ended with her deciding between showing up at the coworker's house or calling the police. I don't know what option she chose, but she sent me a text saying that everything was OK and she'd talk to me later. I'm still worried, but I'm glad nothing happened last night.

Friday: Short day of classes (made shorter by the fact that I skipped the first one because I was so tired from being up late worrying). I played Wii Fit and watched TV with Best Friend and then went out for dinner with Roommate and one of her good friends. That brings me to now. The cats are swarming because it's dinner time and I should probably feed them and get some other stuff done around here....like laundry. Best Friend and I are going to Midwest Horse Fair tomorrow and so it should be an exciting day. Yay for sunny weather! I think Wisconsin has decided on Spring for the time being.

I can't believe another Easter Sunday has come and gone. When I was little, Easter was one of my favorite holidays (second only to Christmas, I think). My mom the Easter Bunny would hide my Easter basket and I'd have to look for it first thing in the morning. That silly rabbit always gave me a kite and a new toothbrush in addition to some candy and perhaps a movie. We'd head to my grandma's house along with the rest of my extended family and eat ham and mashed potatoes. My grandma would always make lemon meringue pie and cherry cheesecake. It was always all about the dessert for me. I tried making lemon meringue pie a few Easters in a row after my grandma passed away and I could never get it quite right...The meringue always seemed to shrink in the oven or the lemon filling would end up runny. Oh well, practice makes perfect. Maybe I'll try this week...Anyway, I digress.

Easter these days is quite different from how I remember it. Perhaps it's because my extended family is quite small now. My aunt and uncle and two cousins joined my parents and I for dinner. I remember watching my grandmother cook for parties of 20 or more, and today my mom only cooked for 7. Well, there were 7 of us that ate dinner...my mom cooked enough food for many more. I suppose that's how it goes. When she serves 20 people, she always has enough food for at least 30 and so on. I decided to forgo trying to make lemon meringue pie and decided to try my hand at a fruit tart instead. My aunt is diabetic and so my goal was to make something she could eat, too. This is what I ended up with:



I'm actually quite proud of how it turned out given the fact that the recipe I used was a disaster. It said to blind-bake the crust for 20-25 minutes. However, when I checked on the crust after 18 minutes, it was too burned to serve. I made a new crust and cooked it for about 12 minutes. There is a layer of custard under the fruit and the recipe called for wayyyy too much cornstarch for the amount of milk it used. I ended up nearly doubling the amount of milk I added. AND even though I followed all of the instructions, the custard still formed lumps and I ended up straining the whole thing. See? Utter disaster. It still tasted good, though.

I got back to Madison around 9 pm and studied for my quiz for a little while. I'll have to get up tomorrow and study a bit before class. I really want to try out the shiny new Wii Fit that the Easter Bunny brought me (the Bunny hid my basket in the dog's crate this year) but I'm resisting for now. After my quiz tomorrow, I don't have another graded exercise in class until my oral exam next week Thursday. It's going to be SO nice to catch up and not feel like I have 15 things breathing down my neck at any given moment. On that note, I should probably get to bed. And by get to bed, I mean I should take a shower and hope my Easter candy sugar buzz is transient.