Art Spree

Today was day 2 of my 1 week break!  After seeing Will and Lauren off, I sat around and painted all day! It was heavenly (although I wish Will and Lauren could have stayed longer). 

 

This is the cover to an art journal :)I've been meaning to start one, but I just couldn't get past that first blank page!  Well beginning the Whimsy 2 class at Art Traders got me over that.  I couldn't wait to start trying my hand at whimsy trees.

Cover.  I applied gesso first, then let it dry.  Next I layered my watercolor, glued on the red paper, added white highlights, and inked it.

Congaree swamp

Yes...I realize trespassing is spelled incorrectly, but ironically this painting is based off a real sign - misspelling and all.

Winter Break

Tomorrow begins the first day of winter break.  
 Thank goodness!  These are cards I completed for my Memorable Moments swap :) 

Wednesday Workspace

I haven't played in ages! So here goes! You can play too at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

Who could resist these fun stripey yarns from Hobby Lobby :) I've got patterns picked out and people in mind! Good thing I'm not exchange gifts until New Years, because I have a lot of crocheting to do!

And Painting-wise..here's what I have on my desk. Memorable Moments swap stuff. This is a swap I'm hosting, but haven't had too many people sign up for yet, but there's still time.
My cards are my greyhound in bunny ears, first dance with my hubby, found a pony... and the saddest card I've ever painted (Saying goodbye). In high school, I had this little monster of a dog that I adored. Corky developed lymphoma and we had to put him down. This was one of the last moments I had with him. You can see from just my outline that his poor submandibular lymph nodes are massive :( We'll see if I actually finish that one.  Maybe it's strange to paint something so sad..but I place a lot of value on that memory.  Since I'll soon be a veterinarian (just 140ish more days!), remembering how it feels to loose my own beloved dog helps me get my clients through the loss of their beloved pet.  Unfortunately, I take the loss of my patients really hard too, and today was one of those tough days.  There were many hugs and many tears along with a resounding feeling..that we did everything we could.  That's the bittersweet part of being a veterinarian.  *end random sad tangent*

The only of my Memorable Moment cards that is finished. :)


Merry Christmas to all of you!

And please remember to keep all your holiday food out reach of your pets (especially those chocolates and anything with raisins)!

So Grateful

So here's my belated Thanksgiving post.

Chase and I both were blessed this year in that we actually got time off for Thanksgiving. Once I got the NAVLE over with, we really had a restful, enjoyable break as we visited family and caught up.

Beth bought me this as a belated birthday present :) I love it! I've already had one friend add one to their Christmas wish list. So far this is my only entry in it!

This is a picture of Beth's buttermilk cake - a family favorite (and also Chase's favorite).

Here's my grandpa making fudge: another family favorite!

We got to spend some time with my family too. I miss them and I love them very much. Even with all the stress of big, bad tests and all the upcoming life changes...it's important to take a step back and remember all that I have to be grateful for!


I am grateful for what I am and have.
My thanksgiving is perpetual...
O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches.
No run on my bank can drain it
for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.

Henry David Thoreau

North Carolina

I'm a little late on updating my blog, but here goes! I recently completed a 3 week externship at Humane Alliance in Asheville, NC. For the first 2 weeks of the externship, we received instruction and practiced performing spays and neuters on stray animals. The last week, I stayed and performed as many spays and neuters as I could fit into a day. At the completion of my 3 weeks, I performed about 40 procedures including spaying a cat in heat and a dog late in gestation (very sad, but life saving for this critter). I had a great time, and gained a lot of confidence and practice.



Asheville is such a creative town I felt inspired to crochet away. The tabasco cover was a gift for my instructor :)

The leaves were beautiful- near their peak color. We spent the weekends cruising on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This is one of my spays. I'm rather proud of how small the incision is on such a large dog. It's only about an inch long. :)

These are all the new friends I made while on my trip.


One of the reasons I haven't updated my blog in a month is because I have been studying in earnest for the NAVLE. I took it the Monday before Thanksgiving, and as expected it was rough. I don't feel like I passed, but no one ever feels like they passed. Hopefully I won't have to take it again, but I'm sure I'd pass it if I did have to take it one more time. I'm just happy it's finished. :)

Coming Soon...Thanksgiving update....



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!



Peace and Love, y'all!

More Apple Adventures

This weekend went by too quickly as they all seem to do. We briefly made an appearance at the Pumpkin Festival, but it was too crowded for comfort. I made some recipe cards and baked...and that was about it for the weekend! I wish we had one more Sunday before Monday hits... UGH.

Wheatie Apple Bread? - Dunno I made it up

Another taste of home recipe: Almond Apple Cheesecake

Apple Baking Adventure #1

For my first apple-baking endeavor I chose a recipe from Taste of Home: Apple Pinwheels.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Apple-Pinwheels

They turned out delicious. The only changse I made to the recipe is I didn't use apple pie seasoning as directed. Instead I used cinnamon and sugar to taste with a touch of nutmeg. I also bought a pre-made dough that comes in the solid sheet instead of crescent roll dough (why make more work for myself?). They were a big hit at school!


Peace and Love, y'all

Apple picking adventures

Today after church, 3 ladies and I set forth on a grand adventure to find an apple orchard. We headed east for about an hour to Thierbach Orchard just west of St. Louis. It was a gorgeous day: bright, sunny skies and the perfect temperature.

The trees were picked over with all the remaining apples being mostly on the high branches. After sampling one...we picked mostly Mutsu apples. My goodness! It was one of the most delicious apples I've ever eaten! It was so juicy, our hands and faces were just as sticky as any of those belonging to the children running around in the orchard...

Safety first! One person to spot, one to hold the ladder, and one to grab the apples from the picker :)

Fall is upon us! You can see the yellow and orange creeping into the scenery.

The beautiful day spent with friends was just what we needed!


Peace and love, y'all

Projects and life improvements

This is a apron I made :)

This is what Chase got me for my birthday... We went on a 15 mile ride yesterday :)

New canisters from my momma!

Dog-approved quilt - recently finished (finally).

Anesthesia

I just finished radiology and moved on to anesthesia. It's not my thing. The first two days have been spent anxiously monitoring a patient who is doing just fine while my heart is racing. I'm such a nervous-nelly! All those drugs with their stinking side effects! ACK! It's too much!

Weekend adventures

Chase and I had a weekend off recently. We went to Eagle Bluffs, hiked at Rock Bridge, and then drove west stopping wherever we pleased. It didn't quite end up as I had hoped...we didn't stop at any historical sites, flea markets, museums...We didn't see very many signs for them. So we did a lot of hiking and got covered in ticks. Chase saw some good birds, and I took some pictures of cool critters we found. It was a relaxing weekend :) Here are some pictures:

"Wife of a Birder"

In other news, I've been busy preparing for life after school. I signed up for the NAVLE (big veterinary liscensing exam - school is for naught if I don't pass this). I'm taking it right before Thanksgiving. I'm only 12% through VetPrep...so I have a long way to go on my studying. Saturday, I'm going to a social meeting of the veterinary association to try to meet some future employers. Wish me luck! Chase has frequently been reminding me that God will see us through. Not having my "plans" for the future solidified causes more stress than it should...after all you can't really predict what the future brings.



Peace and Love, y'all

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

This weekend was a toughie for me. I'm already feeling a bit worn out from this block (the late nights and early mornings are really getting to me). This weekend I was on call during the Saturday 8am to 8pm shift. I ended up with two patients one of which went to surgery so I spent 1pm to 10pm at school (sweat). Let's just say there were some miscommunications with my supervisors and I spent most of that night beating myself up over it (tears). The patients are all ok, and my clinicians will get over it I suppose...so all's well that ends well. Darned if that little patient didn't bite me this morning too (blood)! I must have looked pretty tired and frazzled this morning when I trudged into school at 6:45am to check on my patients, because the clinicians told me to take the rest of the day off to rest. One of my patients owners asked when I called, "Do you ever get any time off?" So I took the hint, and rest and recharge is just what I did! We missed church this morning since I didn't get home in time, but I got some laundry done, went grocery shopping, scrapbooked a little, watched television, and then Chase and I went out to Eagle Bluffs.

Eagle Bluffs is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I thank God for letting us find it and enjoy His work there. It hit the spot for the much needed respite from school...Chase even put up with my stopping his birding for posed photos together :) This place puts my heart at ease.

A day in the life of...

Credits are in my sweet shoppe gallery.


I was going to do a week in the life of..but every day looks about like this. Since I don't want to take pictures of all the internal viscera during surgery (which is what makes my days different...the organs operated on) I figured just one day would do the trick. Weekends are patient care but no new patients or surgeries (unless i'm on call). Ugh...I'm on call this upcoming Saturday during the day.

Surgery hasn't been as scary as I thought it would be...*knock on wood*