Meeting Lydia

So we have officially met the cutest and smartest baby in the world (objectively)....the little Lydia Grace Fisher. She is such a bundle of preciousness and I made lots of pictures of here with her Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Sarah and her Uncle Austin and Aunt Jenn, along with her lovely parents. Enjoy! (We certainly did :-)
FYI (for those of us and our mothers who will be interested): I posted all the pics on the web album.

Jonathan's home for the Holidays :-)

So my sweetie's home!! It sounds like they had an amazing trip. The only thing that I was disappointed about it was that he didn't take more pictures :-( I guess he really does need me after all :-) Above are some pics from the trip with my brothers and Alex's girlfriend Amanda and her twin sister Lauren. Apparently there was fresh powder the entire trip. FUN!
I LOVE being off for the holidays!!! Even though it's satisfying, I get so tired working so many hours....then being home during the day and going shopping and just spending the entire day hanging out with just Jonathan and doing whatever we want....well it just feels like heaven :-)) I know I will be totally bored and stir-crazy after a week of this as always, but the initial feeling is simply unbeatable.
I other news, I simply couldn't wait to open my presents when Jonathan got home (typical for me I guess). I wrapped up in my soft, pre-heated electric blanket (a present from a Christmas past), and Jonathan presented me with: my favorite perfume (Dolce and Gabanna's Light Blue), the AMAZING Planet Earth DVD set which I have absolutely coveted, and finally, a 16 place setting set of flatware from Horchow that I have wanted for a year!!! (It's Napoleon Bee by Wallace and MUCH prettier in person!) He is such an amazing hubbie :-) My presents to him seemed to go over well but you'll just have to ask him :-))
The shih tzus enjoyed the festivities as well and were incredibly happy to have their daddy home safely.
We look forward to seeing a lot of you very soon!
PS: I'll put some more of the same on the web album as well as the pics from the rest of the holiday

The Holidays!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! So far this has been my favorite Christmas ever. Even though I've been in the NICU and working a LOT, it has been such a fun and meaningful last few weeks. Jonathan and I put up our tree right after Thanksgiving. Above is what it looks like except with a few more presents under it now :-) We have gone to the MOST fun Christmas parties this year EVER!!! Nancy and Staples, yours was an absolute BLAST! Matt and Lauren, it was an "award winning time" :-). We had a wonderful dinner and lights tour with Marion and Rudy and several really fun parties at work. Tonight I went to caroling party at "Mama (Dr.) McKie's" house with lots of good food and fun times a the end!! On top of all the excitement and joy of these events, it has been an amazing month in the NICU. It's been actually a little bit scary to me how much I've enjoyed neonatal intensive care. It's extraordinarily challenging, but at the same time incredibly rewarding to have this amazingly tiny, fragile creature that God has already given such a big job to do - grow! Taking care of them and their scared and anxious parents has been so far one of the biggest jobs and greatest joys of my residency...we'll just have to see what happens :-)
Jonathan is just wrapping up a week in Vail, CO, (without me obviously) with my brothers. Apparently it was incredible weather and beautiful powder...sigh...maybe next year I will be with him! I am so glad that he had the chance to go on such a fun trip though. He is finished with the last hard part of med school!!! This next half year should be a little easier for him and I know he's really looking forward to it....especially peds ;-)
The Shih Tzus are doing well. More than anyone they wish that Jonathan would come home...they miss him and are getting kind of tired of their mom's erratic hours. It's so great to shop for them...their presents are hanging in their stockings in the living room and I don't even think they've realized it yet.
We can't wait to see everyone over Christmas!! I will be in the ER the 27th-1st (which should be interesting) so we hope to see you all before then. Although I will have a NICE month in January so we can see some of you then too!

Long time no post!

Hi Everybody!
Sorry that I haven't posted for SO LONG! I just figured out today how to post from the hospital...I know...I'm a little challenged when it comes to these things! Last month I was in the Newborn Nursery which was lots and lots of fun! I think it's my favorite thing so far that I've done aside from Aiken clinic. I really enjoyed taking care of healthy newborns. I've gotten quite good at circumcisions now. They're pretty fun and I think I get a pretty good cosmetic result :-) Yesterday I started in the Neonatal ICU so it's a lot different but so far I'm really enjoying it. Such TINY little babies! We have one that weighs one pound. Yesterday I intubated one that weighs just over 3 pounds..it's amazing and very interesting so I think I'll have a really fun month!
Jonathan is doing quite well. He is on Neurology right now and so far it has been much, much better than my experience as a 3rd year. He's had really good hours and great attendings. In about 2 weeks he is going with my brothers on a ski trip to Vail,CO...without me :-( It's ok though. I have lots of NICU call that week and wouldn't really see him anyway. It will be hardest on the Shih Tzus since their daddy won't be there to take care of them in the AM when I'm on call, but I'm sure they'll manage. We are really looking forward to the holidays! I have 5 days off for Christmas and then I'm working on New Year's. I'm really looking forward to seeing our families and also Julia, Andy and little Lydia Grace!!!!!! I'm finished with her present and I can't wait to post a picture :-)

The exciting events of October 27th

CONGRATULATIONS to two of my favorite people in the world!!!!
Alisa Stone officially became Alisa Stone Herring in one of the most beautiful ceremonies I've ever attended. Jonathan and I had a weekend of fabulousness at their big event in Eufala Alabama. The Stones reserved the beautiful Candlelight Inn for Alisa and her bridesmaids (including me :-) for the weekend. We had a marvelous time at the rehersal dinner at Fendall Hall, followed by amazing wedding at the old Presbyterian Church in Eufala, and then culminated by the reception and post-wedding brunch at the Shorter Mansion. In addition to this picture of the lovely bride, everyone please look at the pictures on our online album! They are fantastic.


Julia and Andy Fisher gave birth to the beautiful Lydia Grace Fisher On October 28th at 10PM. She weighed just under 9 lbs and is so healthy :-) I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be an honorary aunt to this new little bundle of preciousness! It's killing me not to be there to welcome her, but I hope to keep in touch with LOTS of pictures (hint hint Julia :-) I am making her a very special gift and when I finish it I will post a picture. It's almost done and now that I know the lovely name I can complete it.

Lovely times!

So Jonathan made it through 2 months of surgery!!! And relatively unscathed at that. He actually really enjoyed it but doesn't think he would like to be a surgeon (thank goodness!). Starting tomorrow...or I guess today actually, he will be starting his Heme/Onc elective at a private practice at Ft. Gordon. He's super excited and it will be interesting to see if he likes it enough to pursue it as a career.
In addition, I must say that Jonathan is the most marvelous husband in the universe (sorry ladies, but I really do believe this). On Saturday he took the dogs and himself to get hair cuts, cleaned the house, grocery shopped, and cooked an amazing mexican feast for my intern class...ALL by himself since I worked until 6PM and everyone came at 7! We had SO MUCH FUN!!! I loved having you guys! I lighted lots of candles and we at inside and outside and the little tykes had so much fun playing with the Shih tzus :-) Quite entertaining!!
In other news, I am wrapping up my ER month. I have really enjoyed it but it does have its challenges. I've had to get used to going to bed MUCH later (as you see by the time of this post) since I get home a lot of nights around 2-3 AM. I've learned a tremendous amount though and done lots and lots of procedures. I feel comfortable suturing pretty much any lac now. This evening I had a 22 month old come in who had bitten her tongue in two. I was drenched with sweat by the end, but the result looked really good :-) I think that may be the hardest thing I ever have to sew up though...even though she was sedated she was still moving...it was like trying to sew a slippery little worm in a small hole that kept moving using buried stitches! Anyway, I've really enjoyed it and am looking forward to next month in the newborn nursery. Enjoy the dinner club pics (sorry I only got a few people, but the babies were the most cute :-)

Costume ideas?

SO...I have to decide what to be for Halloween. I'm working till close that night so it should be AWESOME :-))) All the little trick or treaters sick from eating a years worth of candy, etc. I have to have a costume that will be entertaining, yet able to work a trauma if one comes it...which is a definite possibility. All the nurses are going to be Disney princesses so I can't do that. It also can't be scandalous. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Rested and Relaxed at last!

Oh my goodness!!!!! I don't think I've ever been as tired as I was coming off service last month! I think I nearly had a melt down! However, I had the first week of October totally off and I enjoyed every SECOND of it! Waking up as late as I wanted (which still was around 9AM, but 4 hrs later than usual :-), lounging around all day, doing normal things like getting nails done and grocery shopping, watching Food Network and doing laundry, exercising, reading a novel, and just generally decompressing. I don't think anything could possibly feel as good as rest and free time after working super hard...it's the best feeling in the world. It's also such a great way to put thing in perspective too. I REALLY enjoyed my week off, but after 7 days of loafing, I realize that I couldn't do this for more than a week or two. It would stop being fun and just be boring and tedious. I'm really excited and ready for my ER shift tonight! I LOVE the ER!! Most of my shifts are afternoon/evening, so I'll still have my days free which will be wonderful too. I love my job :-)
Jonathan is at the tail end of his surgery rotation. He is working SO HARD! He gets up everyday at 4AM and then gets home around 7PM....poor thing! I've been taking him lunch and snacks so that he stays nourished and hydrated. I'm so proud of him though. He's handled it really well and actually hasn't seemed overly tired. He hasn't had any caffeine the whole month!!! Amazing!! Also he's gotten to see lots of cool surgeries...AAA repairs, amputations (he IS at the VA after all), kidney transplant, etc. Next month is going to be a lot of fun for him. He's set up an elective at a private practice Hematology-Oncology Clinic in town. It will be a great experience to see what life would be like as a private Heme/onc physician and if that's really the specialty he wants to pursue. I'm so proud of him :-)
The Shih Tzus are doing wonderfully. They really like me being home more. Pippi Amanda has developed a bad habit though. All the dogs occasionally have little "asthma attacks" during which they wheeze and look pitiful. Pippi Amanda (or Peppy Jennifer as one of Jonathan's friends now calls her), has learned to simulate this behavior for secondary gain! She loves to be petted and coddled and knows that his is a good way to get it. What a little imp!
Again, we love our family and hope you will all have a good month!

Sooo sleepy!

I haven't updated in a while because we've been in an absolute rat race! Q4 call isn't for sissies!! I don't think I've ever been quite as tired as I am at the end of this month. Cardiology has been extraordinarily hectic and general wards have been overflowing. I have admitted over 10 patients on average on my call nights (read: no sleep, frantic activity for 30hrs straight without a break). There are bright spots. I still absolutely adore my little patients...they're the only thing that makes it see worthwhile after the 28th hour of work :-) We also had a really good time at Resident Retreat in Hilton Head. I LOVE MY FELLOW INTERNS! They are all amazing and we had such a fun time :-) I'll post some of the fantastic pics we have from the weekend when I can get them from Alan.
Jonathan has had a very hectic month as well. He has finished his first month of surgery and is officially 1/4 done with 3rd year!!! Hard to believe! It seems like it just started. He has many interesting stories and has done an amazing job :-) I'm so proud!!!
The shih tzus all have dirty hair. They haven't been washed in at least 2 weeks and they are all getting pretty self-conscious about how they smell. I don't blame them. They need a bath ASAP. Otherwise they are fine and enjoying the cooler weather. Later this fall I am planning to take them to have glamour shots done by a local photographer, so keep your eyes peeled!
We love you all SO SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry we're being such recluses these last few months, but hopefully it will be better and we'll see you all soon.
TTFN!

Sample from the Shih Tzu Photo shoot

Hectic times at the Lawson's!

So sorry everyone..it's been a little while since my last post! Jonathan and I have been extraordinarily busy with work. Last month I came in with a work hour average of 79 hours per week....and those were only 6 day weeks. I guess the bright side is that I'm finding out how tough I really am :-) Working as hard as you can for 30 hours straight without a break is not fun, but the little patients make it worth it!!! For example, our peds nephrologist went out of the country at the end of last month, leaving...shall we say a GIGANTIC void? I was the nephrology resident and this was not very much fun let's just say. I got through it and learned a lot (like how to write dialysis orders), but the most rewarding thing was seeing my sweet little patients get better! I had two little boys in particular during this time. They are both 7 years old and one has very severe nephrotic syndrome. It was really really scary to manage him without our attending, but seeing our little puffy guy improve was so much fun, and so worth it :-) The other was a little boy on peritoneal dialysis whose PD cath quit working. Surgery kind of fixed it...but again, we had to manage him without the boss, so that was quite the learning process (although at least I didn't have to write hemodialysis orders :-)) It was a lot of work, but he was a precious little boy and it was such a thrilling experience to see him get better too. The beginning of this month was insanity as we all changed services! I'm now on Cardiology as well as general inpatient. We have had SO MANY cards patients! Yesterday I was post call and had to round on 10 patients (2 of whom were really sick) which nearly killed me! Anyway, even though as I read back through the above it seems kind of unpleasant, I'm still enjoying it immensely and feel SO lucky to be doing what I'm doing :-)
Jonathan has been working just as hard over the last month. He finished internal medicine (YAY!) with flying colors (top grade and really excellent comments from his attendings) and is now on surgery. Today is his last day on ENT (a two week rotation), tomorrow he starts Urology which is for 2 weeks, and then he will be on general surgery at the VA for a month. He's really enjoying ENT! He's also become know as quite the smarty pants on surgery too since he studies all the time :-) He is still thinking that he wants to do Oncology, so he has really loved learning about all the head and neck cancers on ENT. He's also been really sweet to me! We get to see each other at the hospital now and he always makes time to have mini-dates with me at our favorite little spots around MCG :-)
Last, but not least...the Shih tzus. They have had a busy month too...they have stayed outside guarding the yard for longer hours during the day since we don't get home until later. They understand though and are ok with this. On one particularly bad call night last week, Jonathan did a photo shoot with them, printed out the picture, and then designed a frame for it. He brought it to work as a surprise for me along with encouragement cards from all the dogs :-))) (What an amazing husband he is :-)))
We love you! Call us!!

Esteban with his little cast

End of the month update

SO...this is a little out of date. Things have been zipping right along for the last few weeks since I updated the blog. I've gotten into the swing of things and am really starting to feel like I know something (even if it's just a little bit). I no longer panic in the middle of the night about what dose of Tylenol to give :-) It's really fun to go through the process and see myself gradually change and become more confidant and more competent. I went through a little bit of a rough stretch the last 2 weeks though. I had 14 days straight without a day off and that got a little tiring...we also had a REALLY bad call night where I barely sat down all night (lots of preemies in the nursery acting up with their breathing, sugars, temps, etc). Call last night was great though and I got lots of sleep...I'm enjoying my lovely Monday morning at home :-) It sounds like a bad schedule, but even though I averaged 90 hr work weeks for the last two weeks, I am so energized when I'm at work and enjoy it to the point where I lose track of time and it amazes me that it's been so long! I have the cutest little patients in the world, and if anyone every wants to laugh or cry really hard, I will tell you about some of them and the adorable and poignant things that they do and say.

Jonathan is doing really well! He's in his last week of Internal Medicine and finishing up at the VA on Thursday. We are SO EXCITED because he will take his test Friday AM and I will be post call so we will be done together at noon Friday and not have to go back to work until MONDAY! We are planning quite the weekend of fun and relaxation to say the least :-) (with some family visiting squeezed in!) Next month Jonathan is doing surgery (Sept. Urology and ENT and Oct. General VA). I'm doing 4C which is general wards and one of the harder months as an intern. We'll see how having super-duper busy schedules during the same month works out :-)

In other news, the Shih Tzus are doing well. Esteban had a foot injury about a week ago. While tussling with Stanley, he hurt his paw and it had to be repaired by his vet under sedation. He was so cute with his little cast (I'll post a picture later), but now it's off and he's almost back to normal. He was SO incredibly funny when on his pain meds...he was acting like a complete nut!!! I've never seen him so happy :-)))

Please call or email us...we're so sorry that we've been so bad at keeping in touch with everyone, but we love you all and miss you so much!!!! It would be great to hear from our favorite peeps ;-)

First subspecialty week over!

YAY! I just got home post call and still the that lovely (not really) post-call buzz...too much caffeine and running to and from 4:30AM deliveries, and unstable patients needing emergency surgery in the wee hours gives you plenty of get up and go...go figure :-) It may not sound very fun, but I have had SO MUCH FUN!!!! I am enjoying this (albeit crazy) schedule more than anything else I've done thus far. I am learning giant amounts of info every day, I am getting to make my own management decisions (unlike med school), write all my own orders, and do lots and lots of cool stuff. I'm slowly becoming comfortable with nurses calling in the middle of the night with small crisis and sorting them out and making treatment decisions (although some are more scary than others:)I really enjoy call nights...I have a lot more variety as far as patients are concerned because I'm covering not only my own team(neph, GI, and pulm), but also Heme/onc, Newborn Nursery, and all the mommy calls for general and continuity patients. Although the nursery is a little bit of a black hole that can suck you in for hours if you're not careful (very zealous nursing staff!!), I REALLY enjoy going to all the deliveries and catching the baby (the intern's job), resuscitating it, and then, best of all, showing it to the mom or handing it to the proud daddy. It never gets old seeing people greet their new little ones...even at 3AM :-) I have so many cute delivery stories now...I'll have to make a special post for that some time. Enough about me....on to Jonathan.
Jonathan's at the VA doing general medicine which he is actually really enjoying (at least compared to my experience with VA med). He's so talented, smart, and thorough and it's fun to see him progressing towards being an MD very soon! He's still thinking he would like to do hematology/oncology, but he's on surgery in Sept. and Oct. which will be urology/ENT and general surgery. We'll see how he likes it. Next Saturday is his birthday (HURRAY!) but we're both on overnight call (booooo!). I'm making plans to surprise him with a fun dinner or a little cake or something if I get the chance to sneak to the VA. We'll probably sleep quite a bit post-call, but if anyone would like to go out with us to celebrate on Sunday night, just let us know! It would be a lot of fun :-)
The Shih tzus are doing pretty well. They do NOT like the heat and we have had to put several cooling procedures in place since they like to be outside during the daytime. In addition to ice water, crew cuts, and staying in the shade, I have found little refrigerated cooling vests that I'm considering, but Jonathan thinks they are silly so I probably won't get them. I'm so scared of them having heat stroke, but they can't stay inside since we're both gone so long during the day....we'll just have to see.
Again, a long, boring blog, but like I said...too much energy
TTFN!

PS: A big congrats to James on finishing his MCAT! We really enjoyed your visit Jamsie :-)

Lookin' forward to the weekend!

This week has been action packed! I can't believe it's already Friday again. Time is flying by!! Jonathan and I both have had great, very busy months and it's so hard to believe that next week we'll both be starting new rotations....Before then though, we are looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow night is supper club with the other interns and Jonathan is making a Bavarian Apple Torte (which is always so yummy :-) Saturday we're hosting poker and all I have to say is that Sarah B. better watch out! I'm ready for her this time!! Hopefully we're spending some time with the fam on Sunday in addition to a lot of resting, some exercise, movie watching, and cross stitching. Hope everyone else is doing wonderfully and that we see you soon!

Things are going well

So things have been going pretty well at the Lawson household. I am now almost at the end of my 3rd week of residency, and so far it is my favorite thing I've ever done. I was worried it would be hard and intimidating, but so far (although I think next month may be a little worse schedule) I'm loving every single minute of it! It still hasn't sunk in that this will be my "real job"!!

Jonathan is having a really good rotation. He loves hematology/oncology and thinks that's what he wants to do eventually. He just got mid-rotation feedback and his attending gave him glowing comments (really good notes, good knowledge base, working really well with other doc and the patients, etc.) and said that he is working well above what is expected of a student at his level(I'm not at all surprised :-)

YAY FOR ALEXANDER!!!!!!!!!! We just got the new!! He made a 254 on Step one which is 99th percentile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE SO PROUD!!!!!

The Shih Tzus are doing really well and are SO much cleaner since I've adopted my new "dry cleaning" routine. I just dust them with baby powder and then brush them and the dirt and smells are brushed away :-) They are so cute!!!!

First week as a real doctor!

SO....the last three days were officially my first days as a "real" doctor. I have had SO MUCH FUN!!!! I keep having to pinch myself to believe that I'm getting paid to see cute kids all day and give their moms advice. I also love AM rounds in the newborn nursery. I love going around and checking out all the new little arrivals. This morning I had to wait on the other residents for a while, so I went around looking at all 12 babies and then ranked them according to cuteness (kind of hard since they were all pretty cute :-) I really love Aiken clinic! The attendings there are SO nice, and the office is quite a well-oiled machine. It's so much fun to work in that environment. I especially like writing and signing all my own prescriptions and orders :-)

Today was Jonathan's first day of Internal Medicine. This month he will be in Hematology/Oncology which is what he is interested in eventually doing. So far he has also loved it and really enjoyed the people he is working with.

We are both currently trying to adjust to our new schedule...quite different from our old one :-) We decided to try to get up and go to bed MUCH earlier and then move our exercise to the AM so we can go together and be consistent throughout the year no matter what rotation we're on. I actually felt better today and not as tired despite waking up at 5AM.

Emily is coming to visit me on Friday for my birthday and I'm SO EXCITED! She hasn't been down for almost a year now. On Saturday Mom, Dad, and various brothers are headed down and we're going to have a big shindig to celebrate my 26th. I CANNOT WAIT to see them! Originally Jonathan promised me a pet turtle for my birthday present, but he hasn't been able to find one small enough. The smallest he could find was about 8 inches in diameter and had to have a 20 gallon tank! I really just wanted a tiny one that would live in a fish bowl, but apparently they don't sell them in GA. So, I really don't what my present will be...knowing Jonathan it will be something I really like though :-)

The Shih Tzus are all doing really well...they look so lovely since we have been feeding the Angel Eyes and their tear stains have grown out. They also have a licorice snack in the mornings to prevent a certain gross habit which has been working quite well. They are REALLY enjoying their AM walks. Esteban is hoping to lose a pound and get his sexy figure back. Pippi Amanda and Stan are both in a very serious "who can run the most circles around Esteban" contest.

The week in summary...

So now I feel ALMOST comfortable knowing what to do to resuscitate a dying baby or child...thank goodness for ACLS! I already know all the heart rhythms, drugs, and defibrillation/cardioversion stuff which made it a lot easier - I just had to learn doses and the exact algorithms. Hopefully I won't have to use it this month, but doing the neonatal resuscitation made me excited about newborn nursery. I can't wait for the OBs to hand me new little life to take care of :-) EXCITING!

We've had a fun time getting to know all the other interns and their families this week! Dinner on Monday was lots of fun as well as the Hail and Farewell dinner on Thursday night. Tonight we have a pool party at our program director's house which should be fun as well! I'll post some pics of all these events soon.

I FINALLY got my 3rd Hawaii album posted! For those of you (Julia) going to Oahu soon, that is were all our Oahu pics are.

Jonthan has picked up a few hours of tutoring this week, but is otherwise just taking it easy and counting down the days until he starts Internal Medicine (he starts on Hematology/Oncology July 2nd).

We are SO PROUD of Philip!!!!!!! He made a 1470 on his SAT on his first try. Such a smarty pants :-)

Alexander takes his Step I on Tuesday, so I've been trying to keep him alive by taking him food, drinks, and vitamins.

Emily finished first year of med school on Friday!!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!! We're so proud of you and how well you've done this year. You're great...but you'd better call me!

Last but not least, the Shih Tzus are doing well and enjoying their lazy summer.

Love to everyone and hope to see you all soon!

Indiana and start of Intern year

So we went to my cousin John's wedding this past weekend in Indianapolis. It was FABULOUS!!!! Not only do I love my new cousin Jenn (way to go John! Such a beautiful, bright, and all-round wonderful person), but the wedding itself was amazing. It was probably the most meaningful and touching ceremony I've ever attended. The reception was so lovely with great food and lots of fun dancing the night away. Thank you guys so much for such a great time!!!! Best wishes for a long, happy life together.

In other news, I started my orientation today for residency. We're almost done with Neonatal Recusitation. It's pretty scary actually. Seeing a video of an actual 23 wk old baby was a little bit shocking and really hope not to have to resucitate super premature babies right away! I'll be really happy with nice fat, juicy, 38 weekers :-)

I STILL haven't gotten the third set of our Hawaii pics up yet, but I'll work on that this week and post them.

We hope everyone is doing really well and having a great summer!!

We're Home!

Hi Everyone! We're back home from Hawaii as of yesterday. After sleeping 16 hours last night, I feel much more normal and rested. I got most of the unpacking and laundry done today which made me a lot more relaxed. Also, the bathroom is alllllmost done so I got to clean up the rest of the house too which was fantastic!

We had such an incredible time on our trip. We did SO MUCH STUFF!!! It was also really wonderful to spend such a long time together as a couple with no distractions or responsibilities...just fun and relaxation :-) So far we both agree it was our best vacation ever. I think it's impossible to describe everything we saw and did, but I'll try to give a mini-outline with some of the high points. Hopefully they will correspond with the pictures that I posted on our web album (WARNING: I took a LOT of pictures....over 1,000 actually. However, no fear, I didn't post them all. Anyone who would like to see the unabridged version is welcome to come over any time and take a look :-)

Day 1:
-Travel to Hawaii (8 1/2 hr flight)
-Checked into our hotel and I was asleep by 5:30PM local time

Day 2:
-Woke up EARLY!
-Went for an early morning stroll on the beach in front of the hotel and explored the hotel grounds (which were very pretty!)
-Went to breakfast at the hotel with a talk about island activities
-Headed west to the Spouting horn (bought lots of souvenirs and presents as well as some good island music!)
-Visited the BEAUTIFUL National Tropical Botanical Gardens
-Drove along Poipu Beach, stopping at the house we stayed in as kids (Hale Kai) and at the spectacular Hyatt
-Stopped at Hilo Hatties to pick up our Hawaii Gold Card (for discounts) and some more music and presents
-Went to Lydgate Park and swam in the lovely ocean
-After cleaning up, headed to a fantastic dinner theater of South Pacific (filmed on Kauai)

Day 3:
-Helicopter tour of the entire island which was too spectacular for words (best parts were Na Pali Coast and Mt. Wai'ale'ale which is the wettest place on earth, making for hundreds of glorious waterfalls)...both of our first helicopter ride
-Visited Wailua and Opaeka'a waterfalls
-Visited Keahua Arboretum (really pretty and unusual painted eucalyptus trees and the field where they filmed the velociraptor scene running through the fields of Jurassic Park)
-Hiva Pasifika Luau which was lots of fun (Jonathan got to try poi for the first time and really like it)

Day 4:
-Breakfast at the famed Ono's family restaurant where Jonathan enjoyed "the best pancakes I've ever had" - banana, coconut, macadamia nut pancakes topped with coconut, bananas and homemade coconut syrup. Yum!
-Hiked the Na Pali coast - 2 miles to the beach, 2 miles to the waterfall, and then back. Including breaks and swims at the beach and waterfalls, it took 8 HOURS! It's incredibly rocky and most of it you can't just walk, but have to climb boulders and roots, etc....I was more than a little tired when we got back but it was definitely worth it for the most breathtaking scenery imaginable
-(After cleaning up) Dinner at the North Shore's Bar Acuda which was good but massively overpriced. Worth it however since we were seated next to Pierce Brosnan and his family and across from Kendall from "All My Children." Let's just say the food didn't have to be fantastic for me to have a good time :-)
-Ice cream to supplement dinner at Lappert's (Rosalani homemade Hawaiian ice cream is a must!)
-Watched the sunset over Bali Hai from the Princeville resort

Day 5:
-Breakfast at the hotel followed by a long soak of very achy muscles in the hot-tub, followed by long swim in pool
-Rented snorkel gear and headed to Tunnels beach (which is quite spectacular) for several hours of fantastic snorkeling (in addition to tons of pretty coral and fish, we saw several "honu" or green sea turtles which swam right up to us)
-Back to the hotel for a massage (for Sarah)
-Dinner at JJ's Broiler on Kalapaki Beach (amazing "salad bar" brought to the table...we filled up on that and didn't really eat any of our dinners :-)

Day 6:
-Drove to the Wiamea Canyon, the "grand canyon of the Pacific" (Amazing!)
-Drove to the end of the road and the Koke'e state park, stopping at all the incredible lookouts
-Lunch at the Koke'e Lodge (VERY good food!)
-Back to the hotel for a long nap
-Dinner at the Shutter's Lounge where there was an amazing live singer. Jonathan requested my two favorite Hawaiian songs for me: "Going to a Hukelau" and "Sweet Leilani"
-Clothes washing and "Lost Cities" playing

Day 7:
-Memorial Day
-Fly to Maui
-Settle into our hotel on the South Shore, get some dinner and then ice cream at "Peggy Sue's"
-Went to "Big Beach" and laid in the cool sand watching the far away rain on the island of Molokai'i and the beautiful water
-Drove to the Makena State Park to watch the sunset. On the way, we saw the most amazing rainbow we'd ever seen! It was right up close and you could see where it started on the mountain and where it ended (and was reflected) in the ocean. Then we noticed that it was a DOUBLE rainbow, one on top of the other...quite incredible...take a look at the pics! It was overwhelming with this amazing sight in one direction and the most amazing sunset I'd ever seen in the other direction....God really knows how to overwhelm us with beauty!!!!

Day 8:
-A SUPER early morning, waking up at 2 AM to drive up the Haleakala Crater to watch the sun rise. The drive up was the most spectacular we had ever seen. There was a full moon, and as we wound up the road we went up past the clouds and were looking at them, moonlit, from above. It was clear over ocean and the view of Maui was incredible. When we reached the top, I saw my favorite view of the whole trip - the stars - with no light around, up so high, they were absolutely amazing. It looked like someone had sprinkled the sky with glittering sand...there were SO MANY!!! (I wrote all this out because I don't have any pictures...my stinky camera wouldn't take ones in the dark :-( Thank goodness I forced Jonathan to wear warm clothes and bring a blanket...it was chilly. The sunrise was so beautiful (see pics)
-Drive down the mountain (notable for driving several miles through purple trees that were shedding their petals so that it was like driving through purple rain)
-Breakfast by the beach in Maui
-NAP!
-Sugar cane museum (had to find out about my favorite food and was given a sample :-)
-Swim at Wailea beach
-Dinner at Pupu Lounge
-Our first (and best) Shave Ice experience!

Day 9:
-Woke up early to get to Pacific Whale Foundation Snorkeling trip. First stop at Molokini crater where the water was royal blue and the visibility on a bad day is over 50 feet! Then on to Lanai'i where weren't able to snorkel because of big swells, but could look at the beautiful island. Then to Coconuts on Maui's West coast were we saw electric colors of coral and a HUGE green sea turtle (over 3 feet long!). On the way back we saw several large pods of dolphins. The first ones were bottlenosed and we saw a little baby one which was so cute. The second were over 300 spinner dolphins who swam right up to the boat (see lots of pics) and put on quite a show!
-Wonderful Dinner at Cafe O'Lei on the South shore

Day 10:
-Started early on the trip east on the "Road to Hana." We stopped in Paia at Charley's where Jonathan enjoyed his "chocolate, macadamia nut, caramel bread pudding French toast" (as usual, I was boring and had eggs, but ended up just sharing his).
-The road to Hana is quite something! Unfortunately it is so curvy and driving is slow and tricky so it can't be photographed as you're going along, but we did stop many times and take many little detours which were all spectacular. It was so beautiful driving through the ferns and bamboo forests and the hundreds of waterfalls with the beautiful water on the other side. My favorite though was the smell...Lilikoi (passion fruit) are a ubiquitous plant and hundreds fall and are crushed on the road so the air smelled like passion fruit. Also, Ginger was in season and the big ginger blossoms also made the air so fragrant.
-Checked in at the Hana Kai Resort (no air-conditioning, phone, TV, but that didn't matter at all - the cool sea breeze and fan kept us quite cool and watching the ocean from our balcony was plenty entertaining)
-Dinner at the Hotel Hana-Maui (fabulous, but expensive!)
-Game night!

Day 11:
-Drove the Hana road the other way
-Watched the windsurfers on Hookipia bay (looked like colorful butterflies flitting across the water)
-Lunch at Mama's Fish House (we were thinking this name sounded pretty casual and were a little surprised to find complimentary valet parking....and even more surprised at the restaurant and prices....we had accidentally stumbled into one of the fanciest and most fabulous places to eat on the island) it broke the bank for a few days, but was SO SO SO worth it!!!! The setting, restaurant, and beach there were the prettiest we saw on the island! (Plus an amazing menu)
-We checked into our condo in Kaanapali Beach and only ventured out to split a $5 "Maui Taco" and watch the sunset before we headed to bed

Day 12:
-Day of REST!!!!
-Grocery store
-Watched TV
-Cooked lunch
-Minor exploration of the area
-Watched sunset on the beach
-TV
-BED!

Day 13:
-Woke up relatively late
-Rented Snorkel gear and headed to the famous Kaanapali Beach (Best Beach in America per the Travel Channel). Except for very hot sand, it really deserves the reputation. BEAUTIFUL! Along one side is "Black Rock" which literally teems with tropical fish and coral. It was like swimming through swarms of fish! We spent a looong time in the water and swam for even longer after snorkeling (and re-application of sunscreen of course....for those of you whom I know would ask :-)
-Drive further around the west coast and more beaches, swimming and snorkeling at Honalua Bay

Day 14:
-Flight from Maui to Oahu
-Lunch at Sam Choy's (they had really good seafood and Jonathan enjoyed a "cream ale" from their brewery which he really liked)
-Drive through downtown Honolulu and Waikiki (such a fun and unusual place!)
-Checked into our hotel on Waikiki beach
-Watched a beautiful fireworks display on Waikiki beach (we had super lucky timing!)
-Nighttime stroll down Waikiki beach (an amazing thing to have such a residential city right next to such a beautiful beach, and such a pretty skyline!)
-Stroll back to the hotel via all the pretty shops (where Jonathan, against my will but very much to my excitement, bought me a beautiful bracelet! It's 3 colors of gold plumeria flowers and I will treasure it always)

Day 15:
-Wake up early (actually Jonathan did and had to make a Starbucks run to pry me out of bed :-)
-Drive to North Coast....unbelievably beautiful. I was so sorry we didn't spend more time there. There were miles and miles and miles of to-die-for beaches which were totally deserted! We say few if any hotels so I guess that's the reason. I think you'd probably have to rent a house to stay there.
-Dole pineapple plantation - this REALLY pleased my inner-child! We rode a little train though the plantation, walked through their huge gardens, ate super tasty pineapple sherbert, and enjoyed the smell of pineapples EVERYWHERE!
-Picnic lunch on Hukielau beach (my favorite of all the north shore beaches we saw)
-Horseback ride at Kualoa Ranch. This was Jonathan's first time on a horse, and he had so much fun on "The General." The ranch is breathtaking (as evidenced by all the pictures I took of it) and has been used in innumerable movies (Godzilla, Lost, 50 First Dates, Jurassic Park, Tears of the Sun, etc) and we got to see lots of the sites.

Day 16:
-Pack up for the trip home (including an extra suitcase devoted to goodies for our souvenirs and presents for the people back home!)
-Visit the Bishop museum (very interesting Hawaiian history exhibit!)
-Lunch at the Aloha Towers (and browsing though the unaffordable, but pretty shops)
-The Falls-of-Clyde Ship and museum (didn't get to spend much time here)
-Redeye flight back home!

Day 17:
-Arrive home
-Ecstatic reunion with the Shih Tzus
-Sleep

Ok, so probably the only ones who may have possibly read through this are our parents :-) We love you all, and although we had an amazing trip, we're glad to be back and promise not to move to Hawaii any time in the very near future...

PS: It may take me a little time to get all 3 albums posted...I have one labeled but still working on the other two!

Aloha 'Oe!

So we leave on Tuesday! We're really excited about our trip. The only thing I'm NOT looking forward to is the looooong flight! Ick!! But I know it will be worth it when we get there. I'm taking lots of books I've been wanting to read and Jonathan has been loading up his backpack with lots of electronics....it's alright I guess but we're having to take so many cords! Since Marion and Rudy will be in the mountains and my parents are going to Scotland, the Shih tzus and the house are being house-sat by our very sweet friends and neighbors the Vans. Their three kids really love the dogs, especially Pippi Amanda and we're SO grateful to have them watch our little darlings for us! MaryAnn, who is a PhotoShopping genius, has shown me how to make a book on Photoshop and then Shutterfly will make it into a hard cover book. I was ultra impressed with hers from their Italy trip, so I'm going to try my best to do that with this trip....we'll see. I'll post some pictures and a small report when we get home in a few weeks. Hope everyone is well and has a great week!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the family including but not limited to mothers, mother-in-laws, grandmothers, and shih tzu mothers. I appreciate all the love and support that I receive from all these lovely ladies. They have been supportive through school and have helped me to develop into the man I am today.
In particular, Sarah and I have been blessed with fantastic mothers. Godly, intelligent, and gentle, they continue to be a blessing every day of our lives. So this goes to those two very special women in our lives. Happy Mother's Day! Take care until next time I blog.

Hooding and Graduation

So it's official. I'm now an MD. How exciting! I am SO grateful to all the people who made it to hooding and graduation!!! It meant so much to me to have you all there and to share the moment with me. You have supported and encouraged me through the last 4 years and I'm so VERY thankful to have such a wonderful family. I know some people couldn't make it, but I know you were here in spirit and I really appreciate all the phone calls and well wishes from you all as well!!! Hooding ceremony was wonderful! Dr. Carson was one of the best speakers I've heard and I would love to read his book now after hearing him. Graduation got a little bit long, but one of the most memorable and surreal moments of my life was hearing, "Dr. Sarah Ashford Lawson" and walking across the stage to get my diploma from Dr. Rahn :-) I think I'll always remember that feeling. Anyway, again, I just want to thank my family, especially my parents, for all they have done for me to get me to this point in my life. This was a celebration of you too :-)
Don't forget to check out the pictures on our web album! (you might be in it :-)

Graduation Dinner

We had SO MUCH FUN tonight at the graduation dinner! It was wonderful to see everyone all together again after being apart most of 3rd and 4th years. I am always so amazed at what amazingly fun and gifted individuals make up our class. I will miss everyone so much as people move away to their residencies, but there are lots who are staying here with me and that's exciting :-) I know we'll have lots of fun for the next 4 years too. I'm interested to see how my Picasa picture album is going to work. It sounds pretty easy (hopefully much easier than Snapfish!) so I'm hopeful. Please check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/JonathanandSarahLawson and let me know if it works. I posted some pictures from tonight.

Cousins

So I'm experimenting with posting pictures. This is myself, Emily and my cousin Lauren at my grandparents house a few weeks ago.

A Few Updates

Well, we've had several exciting events and are looking forward to a few so I just thought I'd share some of them.

First, my grandparents had their 60th wedding anniversary and my grandfather also had his 90th birthday. We had a wonderful party for them and it was the greatest blessing for Jonathan and me to see such a wonderful, godly couple who have lived their lives in such an amazing way. They are both so healthy!!! It's unbelievable. Grandpa still reads his Prevention magazine cover-to-cover every month, and Grandma's still incredibly energetic. The celebration was very memorable, especially the time we sat around and all their grandchildren asked them questions. I will always cherish the answer to my question: "Some people say the world has become a better place, and some say things are so much worse than they were when you were growing up. Having lived through most of the last century, do you think that in a broad sense life is better or worse today than when you were our age." Their response genuinely surprised me and gave me so much perspective on my own life. They both ADAMANTLY stated that things are by far better today. Grandma emphasized how much "kinder and more compassionate" the world is today. As an example, she said that when she was teaching (as a high school art teacher) right after graduating college, poor and minority children were treated badly and discriminated against by everyone, in many cases by her fellow teachers! Although that may still be the case on some level today, she observed that the culture is much less tolerant of this kind of cruelty and for sure it is not culturally acceptable. Grandpa told of his early days in his dental practice when segregation was considered "normal"!! He said that through the '60s he felt overwhelming relieved as his patient population was able to meld into one and be comfortable sitting in the same waiting room. They also told about how much easier life is now. Not only is travel convenient and cheap, but the variety of food and other goods to buy is immeasurably larger. Although they both graduated from Emory, Atlanta was by no means as metropolitan then as it is now. When they moved to the small town they now live in, there were basically no restaurants! We take for granted being able to run get Chinese food, Mexican, Thai, Caribbean, etc. within 5 minutes. I had never thought of how different it would be to have to cook every meal that you ate with limited ingredients from a small grocery store or from what you grew in your garden. I could go on and on….but you get the picture. It made me so grateful for living in the time I do, as well as for my grandparents whose generation made it possible.

One of my favorite things recently was visiting Julia in CA. She is SO FANTASTIC and I MISS HER SO MUCH!!! "Button" has been giving her quite the hard time though. We did lots and lots of lying around and watching movies and talking about the baby. I think only a little boy could be giving his mama such a hard time! When we did drag ourselves out, we had a blast in Menlo Park. While I was there, mom, dad, and Philip also flew out for a few days and we were able to give a luncheon in honor of John (cousin) and his fiancé Jennifer (at a really fun place, California Café which btw I would highly recommend if you're going to Menlo Park). I must say, I am VERY impressed with John. He is bringing such a wonderful person into our family and I can't wait to get to know her better. After that we spent a few days at our family house up in the city. I always enjoy time in SF. It's special on so many levels, but I think the climate's my favorite. What a relief from the southern heat! As long as I live one of my favorite smells will be that of the eucalyptus trees on a cool, foggy morning in the Presidio

Next, in school news, we had SUCH a fun Match Day!!! I was so excited to get my envelope breaking the news that I matched at MCG for my pediatrics residency. I'm incredibly happy to be starting there in July and I am beyond excited about the people in my class, as well as those I've met from other schools who will be starting with me!!! They really are the greatest group and I can't WAIT to get to know them better. I'm a little bit nervous though. My main goal is to not have any casualties during my first year (well, at least my first week). This week is graduation week and it's going to be SO FUN!!! Monday and Tuesday will be downtown and Greenjackets get-togethers a la Judson and Todd (which hopefully I'll go to), Wednesday will be our graduation dinner at Savannah Rapids, Thursday is hooding ceremony (which I'm super excited about, although I look sort of dumb in my hat), and Friday is the big, looooong graduation (which I'm not so excited about). I don't know why we have to have a ceremony with everybody in every kind of school at MCG. I think that graduating from all kinds of school is equally wonderful, but it would be much nicer I think to just have the med school…and MUCH shorter! (PS: Jonathan and mom are having a graduation cookout on Thursday night for moi, so if you have any interest I would love you to come…just give me a call for the time/place).

Next thing - we're having our bathroom remodeled, and I can NOT wait for it to be done! What was orange and black tile with old creaky everything is now a gaping hole. They ripped everything out back to the studs, and thank GOODNESS they are starting to put new stuff back tomorrow (or I guess today actually)! They were supposed to start sheet-roc-ing on Friday, but the trailer with our supplies had a wreck on Washington Road….not so good. I think I may hate dust more than most other things in the world!!! I've been barricading us back in the rear of the house to contain it. Definitely not so fun. It will be so pretty when it's finished though so I'm willing to put up with it.

We're going to Hawaii after graduation!!! Jonathan and I are going to go for 2 wks for my graduation. We're going to Kauai for 6 days first, then Maui for 7 days and then 3 days back in Oahu. Half the fun is in planning it I think. I've been going a little bit crazy ? I was jumping around and yelling last night (Jonathan was mildly frightened) because I got a room for us at the Hilton on Kauai for $80 per night on Priceline! I may be becoming addicted to Priceline!!!!! It's just amazing. SO….for anyone who's been to Hawaii (and I know lots of you are quite well traveled) PLEASE give me your advice and tips. I've been to Kauai and know something about that island, but I've never been to Maui so I REALLY need some help if you have any info about where good areas are to stay, should we take a day trip to Lanai, where are good restaurants, etc, etc…whatever you think of. (Also, I bought several pairs of shoes today of the "hiking sandal" variety, and your opinions on these would be GREATLY appreciated. One was a North Face pair that are just kind of normal and strappy looking, and one was a Keen pair with sort of closed toe-ish design. Does anyone either have these or have an opinion on which would be better?)

I think this is enough. Probably it is way too long for anyone to read. It just goes to show how hard 4th year med school is, especially the week before graduation ! Anyway, please let me know if you have any good travel tips for me, and everyone take care until my next blog….which could possibly be several years in the making.

First Blog

Hi everyone! I just decided to use this blog site for now. I had wanted to make a website, but I decided that was too much trouble :-) This should serve the same purpose though, for keeping in touch with friends and family who are not on Facebook or Myspace.