A picture is worth a 4800 words (so far).

I'm working on my dissertation... a picture of me looking thrilled to be writing about research!

Usually I blog about the fun stuff but to be true to life...I decided to blog about what I do during MOST of my waking hours these days (when I'm not working in the lab). With my proposed project approved, I'm in the "gathering info for the product" phase. I'm 4800 words in and slowly chipping away...

Oh, and for Alicia, Sarah and Janna, I do have to show off my nice little tomato harvest.

Praying Mantis!

Yikes! I saw this guy (or gal) in my garden and, though he is a little scary looking, I had to welcome him because he is a bug who eats other bugs. He's protecting my pepper plant!

mojito challenge, friend farewell, garden update

Last night, Britton and I joined some friends at Columbia's "Bacardi Mojito Challenge" benefiting the Special Olympics of South Carolina. Eleven restaurants participated, allowing attendants to sample a mojito and vote for their favorite.

This was also Alicia's last night out as a resident of SC, so it served as a nice send off. This morning she left for Chicago, moving back to her home state. (Me, Erin, Alicia, Jennifer)

What's happening in my
garden these days...
my tomatoes are finally
turning red and my
jalapeños are multiplying!

Busy Weekend!

On Friday night, I went on a walk with my friend Alicia and her step- mother, Colleen, a breast cancer survivor. Colleen has been active her whole life and believes that walking was very helpful in her recovery process. What a great person to help me with my dissertation and maybe even recruit a couple of other patients! She was so sweet and happily agreed to help!

My DPT classmates and I spent ALL day Saturday and Sunday in a boards prep course. I feel a bit more prepared, I guess, if one can ever be prepared for these types of things.
Saturday night, we celebrated being halfway through the course at the Carolina Ale House (me, Alicia, Erin, and Ashley) and were joined by two handsome med students (Britton and Jorge).

Sunday night, we went to Tabitha and Nima's house for dinner. Nima is a classmate of Britton's and Tabitha is a nurse. We had a great time and are excited to be making new friendships (especially as most of my DPT friends are moving away).

Hanging in hotlanta!

Today Britton took the practical portion of the medical "Step II" exam in Atlanta. Actors serve as "patients" and follow a script to describe their medical history and symptoms to be examined by medical students. Seinfeld's Kramer once applied for this job as a segue into his hopeful acting career; for a very quick chuckle, please click here.

We drove to Atlanta last night and had dinner with our friends Janna (the wedding singer) and John Sayer and their son, Oliver. Then, we wound down the evening and spent the night with other friends, Audrey and Joe Skopitz. I dropped Britton off at the testing center this morning and spent the day with another friend, Christine Elliot and her daughter, Ashley. I had such a great time with my friends and wished I could have seen a few others. My wonderful friends make me miss Atlanta!

Britton feels that he did well on his test, though none of the actors were as entertaining as Kramer. Results to come in...2 months!

"Goodbye to Bobby" Party

Yesterday Britton's family had a party to send Britton's cousin Bobby (father of Joey - the best ring bearer ever!) off to Iraq for a year. Britton was stuck taking a test in Columbia but I went down to Charleston to hang out with the extended family at Ursula's mom, Maxi's pool. It was really nice to see everyone!

(Tia and Bobby Rodwell, Katie Rodwell, me)

Bobby started a blog so family and friends can keep track of him from afar. I'll link it here and also keep it linked on my side bar under "cool links" for easy access.

blog sharing and farewell to the wedding website

A few people have asked me about sharing this blog with others...

I have created this blog without a guest password (for convenience) but I also have NOT enabled it to be located by a search engine. The only way to access it is to know the exact website address.

The reason for this privacy is because I share information about events and locations and don't want this information accessible to the general public. I have also chosen to share our silly and fun sides because this blog is a scrapbook for us and we think that our friends and family that we choose to share it with can handle it.

If you would like to share this blog with one of our family members, please do. However, please do not share this blog with people outside our family and really close friend network, especially if they are in the medical field. This blog is not intended to be seen by the general public or our potential employers.

That said, it is finally time to take our wedding website off-line (for privacy as I've been sharing my resume lately) and it will completely expire in a month. I have added a few "retroactive" pages to the blog to paste in the wedding website text so we can look back on it in years to come.

Bocce Ball!

This week Britton started his first rotation as a 4th year medical student: ultrasound. The rotations in the 4th year of med school are 4 weeks long (instead of 8 weeks long as they were in 3rd year) so students can quickly learn areas of medicine that interest them.

Last night, Britton and I went to a "Chicago Party" hosted by my friend Alicia. Guests were encouraged to sample Chicagoan cuisine and mingle with an authentic Chicagoan. (Sounds like a great excuse to have a party.)

We played Cornhole, Bocce ball, Twister, and Taboo. We laughed away our stresses for the evening and snapped some photos. Why are the goofy ones, the only ones that turn out?

July 4th!

Since we got back on July 2nd, Britton has been working full days at the hospital. I've been working part-time in the lab, working on my dissertation, blogging about the trip :-) and cleaning up the aftermath of a trip to the jungle.

Today is July 4th! We are working a half-day and then heading down to Charleston to visit Britton's mom (and maybe other family) and to have some fun with my friends.

Honeymoon - Tuesday 7/1/08

On Tuesday morning we got up, had breakfast, and strolled around the gardens again. We went on a long walk and really got to appreciate how many paths go through the hotel's land and found little ponds, a plant nursery, and even a maze!



At 11:30, we checked out, packed our bags, and went on the biggest thrill-seeking event of the trip, the cab ride to the airport! Just outside the airport grounds, the lawn was full of people watching the planes take off and land; there are even concession stands! This is entertainment in a country where few people have cable or the Nintendo Wii, cool.

We flew out at 2:30 and eventually made it back to Atlanta where one of the most special parts of the trip happened: the immigration officer asked us if we were family members and Britton, without hesitation, said "'yes!" :-)

We arrived in Columbia in the early morning on Wednesday, July 2.

Honeymoon - Monday 6/30/08

On Monday morning, we got up bright and early to meet our guide and head into the mountains for whitewater rafting. We had a traditional Costa Rican breakfast at "base camp" (in Costa Rica, they have rice and beans even for breakfast!) and then headed deeper into the mountains. We reached a point where our bus could go no further so we all piled into a trailer hitched to the back of a tracker for a 20-minute bumpy, steep ride to the riverside.

When we got to the river, we geared up, practiced the commands and moves, and headed into the class 3-4 rapids with our guide. Our guide was excellent and we had so much fun! We, of course, got absolutely soaked but neither of us fell out of the raft. One woman on our raft did fall out and Britton saved her, our hero! ;-)


When we got to a tranquil spot at the end of the rafting trip, Britton did a flip off the boat and enjoyed the lukewarm waters.


A short bus ride took us back to base camp where we changed into dry clothes and had a late lunch.

We then went on a long bus ride back to Hotel Bougainvillea, walked around the gardens, and had dinner at the hotel's restaurant.

When I say we got soaked...I mean we got REALLY soaked!!! This was a wild ride, here are some pictures taken by the rafting company:
We are in the second row.


Britton holding on to me for security. Awwww....


We're heading into rough waters.


Really rough waters.


We got a little wet.

Honeymoon - Sunday 6/29/08

On Sunday we wandered the gardens and the animal sanctuaries all morning until we had to check out at noon. What an amazing place, it was hard to leave! We would like to visit the La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Peace Lodge again someday. Britton took such wonderful pictures of flowers and butterflies, I'll include a few of the more rare beauties.





After lunch, we got in the car and drove about 2 hours southeast to an area just east of San Jose and checked into Hotel Bougainvillea. As the name implies, this beautiful flowering plant was all over the hotel's 10 acre garden. We were pretty exhausted by the end of the day. We went for a stroll around the gardens, ordered room service and rested up for the next day's activities.

Honeymoon - Saturday 6/28/08

Saturday, we got up and had a nice breakfast at the lodge on their outdoor terrace while we watched the birds enjoy breakfast too. We used the sunny morning to enjoy exploring all the animal sanctuaries, starting with the capuchin and spider monkeys who were playful and fun to watch.

Next, we went into the butterfly sanctuary where we were just amazed by the number and variety of butterflies. We got to see the caterpillar and butterfly of each species and we even watched one emerge from the cocoon. The butterflies were quite friendly (see the pictures of several on Britton's arm and some landing on me).





Then we went into the adjoining bird sanctuary where some of the word's most beautiful birds lived. We saw red and green maccaws, tucans and many other kinds of birds.












We learned that macaws mate for life and we were of course taken to them for that reason (what a great thing to see on your honeymoon!) and for their intense beauty. One of them befriended Britton and we even got a picture of them smooching!



Our next stop was to
see the cats. We could
not wander through this
exhibit with the animals
as we could in the others.
However, we got much
closer to the cats than
we would be able to in
any American zoos.


Finally we walked through the snake and frog exhibit. Luckily the snakes were enclosed, but the frogs roamed around freely. We learned that poisonous frogs are poisonous because of the foods that they eat in the wild and that if certain foods are eliminated from their diet, they are no longer poisonous.

In the afternoon, it rained and my wonderful husband wanted to go fishing. We stood out in the rain for an hour and a half until a fish was finally caught (good wife points scored). The grill house by the lake cooked our whole fish and served it to us for lunch. Trout, yum!

Later we relaxed and had our sore muscles massaged during a couples massage in front of our fireplace in our room, spoiled!

That evening, we played a little acey ducey in the lodge's bar and returned to the lodge's restaurant for dinner (yay, take two!). When we returned to the room, it was decorated with roses all over and candles, champagne, chocolate, strawberries and rose petals everywhere! My romantic husband surprised me with a little help from the Peace Lodge staff.