Freedom!

This will be my last post until Sunday. I am heading to Jacksonville, FL for the rest of the week. My flight leaves about 9 a.m. Wednesday and I am NOT taking my computer. It will be quite the vacation for sure with no computer but don't worry I will have my phone, I can't be that disconnected. And no, it is not all fun I am going out there to attend the Vision Care Institute and learn more about how to care for my future patients among other things. Click here to take a virtual tour and learn more about what I will be doing. Can't wait to share stories & pictures when I get back!

Salsa time!

So over the summer I was fortunate enough to get to experience some of the best homemade salsa EVER! Seriously, I wish you all could have tried it. Maybe one day I will get a food processor made by Cuisinart and I can make it for you. As a matter of fact I do know of someone whose birthday is coming up... Anyways, I would have to have one to make the salsa but for those of you that do have the proper tools, here is the best recipe the Tami gave me.

Aunt Tami's Salsa

• 1 white onion
• 1 large bunch cilantro
• 8 pascilla peppers (roasted)
• 8 anaheim chile peppers (roasted)
• add 1-2 serano peppers for EXTRA heat (roasted)
• Fresh lime juice - one to two limes
• 3 large cans of crushed tomatoes
• 2-3 jalapeños (leave seeds in if you like extra heat)
• garlic salt to taste
• 1-2 cans of rotel tomatoes

First off when cutting the peppers WEAR GLOVES! Unless of course you enjoy the burning sensation of alcohol in your eyes.

In a food processor combine all ingredients, this will take multiple batches in the food processor so don't jam it all in there at once. Add garlic salt & kosher salt as needed.

Fill in mason jars and refrigerate for up to 2-4 weeks. You can seal the jars and store them if you like.

Tami made some extra hot salsa for my dad and even sent some home with us for our journey East back to Kansas. My mom loved the salsa and asked just the other day, "do you think if I mailed Tami's jars back to her she would mail them back to us with salsa inside?" I think it may be easier if I make it at home but then again everything that Aunt Tam makes is always better. :)

Hallelujah!

So some of you, maybe not all of you, have noticed that my blog hasn't been looking quite right. Well my friends, I think I have figured it out and the bugs are gone! I am so happy I got it all figured out. There was a moment where I was ready to give up. Thank you for being patient and thanks to all of you that helped me remedy it, Laura & Jules, my blogging buddies!

Fun at Rio!

This is a long overdue post. Last Friday we got out of clinic early so we could all attend the convocation/white coat ceremony at school. Of course we couldn't get out of there soon enough. I got done about 12:30 and had until 2:45 at Rio Loco before we had be at convocation. As you can see there were quite a few of us at Rio Loco. Convocation lasted even longer this year 2 1/2 hours! Was my butt tired of sitting and I was starting to get a headache too. So glad we had fun before it.

Kelsey, Kevin & Matt

Kyle & me One half of the table
No they are not a couple - Matt & John
The other half of the table

Tracy, Leah & Laurie
Like I said I only had a little over 2 hours so I had to make it worth my time!
me & my clinic buddy Wyatt
Happy birthday to Carolyn
TJ & Erin

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday. I wish I could be there to help celebrate but I just can't, no time warp available for traveling just yet. Not sure if her gift will get there in time but then again she already got a pretty good gift at the casino Tuesday night playing penny slots, $1,100!!! Seriously, no wonder she likes to go down there. I love my mom dearly, she is always there to listen and encourage me when things just seem unbearable. Thank you mom. Have a wonderful day! I love you!

100th post!

I am proud to report that this entry is my 100th post. It feels like a great accomplishment. Who knew I would have 100th things to post on here that hopefully has entertained you.

This weekend I was excited to get some fun pictures to post for this momentous occasion :) Kendra came back into town along with Nick (Engle) & John (Kirby). We had more fun reminiscing about old times and just laughing about random stuff and catching up on life. We went to eat at the famous BBQ shop, best place in Memphis for BBQ and it was better than I remember. After dinner we stopped by a bar for a shot and then came home and roasted marshmallow & made s'mores. Here are some pictures from the bonfire in the back yard.

Kendra, Jules & Me

Engle, Kirby, Derrick & Kendra

Yummy s'mores fixings
Having fun!
Teamwork!
Must have been good
Engle eating Engle pie

It was a perfect night for a fire
John & Kendra
Derrick kept us laughing all night
No his hand is not on fire
Artistic photo that Kendra took

me & Jules - it was a process to get this picture!
I have no idea what he is doing
This is my favorite picture!
Kisses from Kirby!Having the last drink of the evening...

It's here!

I know you all have been on pins & needles thinking about what it might be that is big news... Well it arrived in the mail today and was pleasantly surprise and excited to see that FedEx had delivered it on the first attempt, but was sad b/c I knew that I wouldn't be home until nearly 10:00 p.m. so I had to be patient.

Here is the pretty little package as I found it on my bed when I got home.

What could it be??

I was so excited to open it and see it for the first time!
Not sure if you guessed it but it is my NEW iPod!!! As you know my old one gave way and it would have been more than half the price of a new one to fix it. Better yet this one has 4 times the amount of memory & will play videos.

Isn't it pretty?? Royal purple :)

Opening the case - the Star Wars theme was playing in my head

Same size as the older versions but bigger screen and thinner and beautiful
And yes I got it engraved... I am a dork but I wanted it to be personal and have something on it that would hold true forever. And this statement shirley will be true 4ever and ever!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Today is my big brother's birthday. I have yet to get to talk to him but did leave him a nice little birthday message on his voice mail. I certainly have been thinking about him all day. Hope you had a great birthday and you got extra kisses from little Celine. Love you Josh!

Lost photos

Slowly I am finding pictures from my California adventure that I have not shared. As they surface I will post them. These I found on facebook posted by Toni from our Palm Springs trip. I can't believe it was the beginning of summer, where did the time go?

This is the night we celebrated Diana's birthday I am in the one in the purple, not brown

This is immediately after getting my tatoo, notice I have a drink in hand. The guy is Dollar, my tatoo artist :)

It is coming!

Stayed tuned for something very exciting! Well for me anyways.

Bachelorette fun on Beale

Saturday night, almost immediately after Kendra got into town we headed downtown to Beale Street to celebrate my friend, and Megan's soon-to-be sister in-law, Jessica's bachelorette party. We started the night at Blue Fin where I had the most amazing sea bass, it was perfectly cooked and spicy! Then we headed down onto Beale Street. We knew it would be crazy particularly b/c the Southern Heritage Classic had gone on that day and everyone was going to be out celebrating.

At Blue Fin - I think we talked a lot of shop which wasn't appealing for most of the guests

It was so windy - Thanks Ike

Kendra & my first and only stop was Silky O'Sullivans. The down side was there was a cover charge but the drinks were pretty cheap and for the most part the guys in there weren't too sleazy, but of course there was a few.

The fake palm tree at Silky's - the closest thing to California here in Memphis :(

We got Jessica up on stage with the dueling pianos for a serenade...

Then somehow we got pulled up - what?!

Funniest thing was I gave my camera to some random guy to take pictures - I think he did pretty good.
I love this girl!
It was just like old times
Just some of the girls from the night