Monday Favorites

Friday Favorites sure is a catchy name, but really, Friday is already special enough.  Friday, stop being so selfish.  Share some of your awesomeness with Mondays.  Mondays are so hated; they really need some love.  Now presenting Monday Favorites, until I forget about it next week.

1. Sleeping In: Alright, so I understand I may be alone on this one, but I get to sleep in a little on Monday mornings.  Don't worry though, I make up for it by being at work until 7pm every Monday night.  The good news is that traffic is pretty darn light by 7pm, and I can still make it home in time for......

2. The Bachelorette: I;m actually not all that into television.  I can always think of a list of 10 other more productive things I could be doing besides sitting in front of the TV.  The Bachelor/Bachelorette though, they are my weakness.  I can't get enough, even if I spend half the show yelling at these silly boys for being such jerks!

3. The Chocolate Drawer: In the clinic where I am interning, there is a chocolate drawer.  I don't eat much chocolate, but when I do crave it, I need it immediately!  Enter, the chocolate drawer.  I'm in love.  My current fave is Dove chocolate covered caramels.  Partially because they are so very delicious, and partially because they come packaged with happy little sayings.  Today's, it made me smile a big cheesy smile; hopefully no one was looking or I may soon be referred to as the creepy intern instead of the awesomest one.  No mind that I'm also the only one.

...and no I can't figure out how to turn that the right way!

4. My Patients: Not to be confused with my patience, my pint-sized patients make me smile on a daily basis.  I was working with a 4 year old little boy this morning whom I hadn't met before.  I had my hand on his knee while we worked on some seated strengthening exercises when he whispered, "Hey, this looks like a train!"  The "this" he was referring to?  My engagement ring.

 Ring = Train.  Creativity points to the kiddo.  Then he told me he liked my necklace because it had so many pretty colors.  Holy Moly do I love my kiddos.  I dare you to spend a day with them and not smile.

5. Looking Back: One of my favorite parts of Mondays is spending time daydreaming about the weekend past.  It's too soon to look ahead to the coming weekend, but it's nice to think back about the fun already had.  This past weekend's highlight?  Taylor Swift at Heinz Field with my 2 "baby" sisters and a few other lovely ladies.  Caution: You may be blinded if you look any lower than the hem of my shorts.  They are either glowing with some white radioactive material, or my sisters and cousins are just spending way too much time laying by the pool! (Thanks Amanda for the picture I stole from you without asking)

And there you have it, Happy Monday!

Man up Cupcake

I was really close to finally starting my studying for the big, ominous Comprehensive Exam I have coming up next week.  No matter that every classmate I've talked to actually started studying weeks ago.  I'm really unsuccessful at doing things I don't want to do; I'm stubborn.  Studying will be on that "don't want to-do-list" everytime.  So it seemed the perfect time to pop back in for a post!

In case anyone was wondering, it was NYC that I woke up in on Saturday morning.  Ok, ok, so it was really Jersey City, NJ because the Plaza was all booked (I wish), but we were on the Path and in NYC as soon as we were out of bed!

We spent the weekend walking miles upon miles to burn off the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding (heaven in a cardboard container FYI) and Crumbs Cupcakes.

We finished off the weekend with the original reason for this trip... for me to see, in concert, the heart-throb crushes of the first grade version of me.  Yes, my husband is really so awesome that he manned up and took me to see NKOTB.

While we were in NYC, we also checked out Times Square.

Explored Little Italy, which I looooved!

 And of course, ate more cupcakes.  Fuel, cupcakes are obviously the best kind.

Fast train to 1st Place

Attempting to post from my phone for the first time, and doing so while crossing the Chesapeake on a train nonetheless. I am actually just making assumptions about the Chesapeake; all I really know is that I am somewhere between Baltimore and Philadelphia, and if I miss one of the million of spelling errors I'm making, it's all the train's fault. Though it may make for a more interesting post if I left all the errors.

So how did I end up on a train anyways? Remember the big Pitt Marquette Challenge I posted about a few months ago? Well the winners were notified in May, and all the awardees were celebrated at APTA national convention in National Harbor yesterday. It was with great joy, excitement, and relief that we proudly walked across the stage at the awards ceremony to shake hands with the Physical Therapy Foundation president as we were announced as the first place school. As co-coordinators of this year's challenge (the challenge each year is named for and co-coordinated by the previous year's winner), we shared in speaking duties. I eagerly volunteered to speak, but I may have died a little inside when I came around th curtain at the ceremony and saw how many hundreds? Thousands? Of people were there. Eek. Not so much as a stutter though, and I made it on and off various stages in a strapless dress and some crazy heels with no mishaps; that's a win in my book!


We were there to have fun and celebrate though, so that we did. The real fun comes after the awards ceremony, at the gala dinner and dance. All the top winners are again recognized, but more importantly, the super secret totals are announced. Unfortunately, I forget the exact amount, but the total for this year's challenge was somewhere around $265,000! That brings the all time total to over $2 million dollars raised for the foundation by PT and PTA students. That's a phenomenal number coming from the work of students!

From Pitt's end of things, we took place with a total $56,800! That's a jump of nearly $17k from our winning total from lay year and a greatreflection of the tremendous amount of work we put in. That was a lot of late nights, and super early weekend mornings to get us ther, and I couldn't be more proud of my team of classmates and our accomplishments.

Now back to the gala. Starting last year, the foundation also began awarding a trophy cup to the first place team, awarded to each year's winner and engraved with the winning school's name. The cup had taken up residence at Pitt for the last year, and while we had to send it back to have the new winner engraved, we were happy to have it back with us last night!

The cup, imagine it as the Stanley Cup's itty bitty baby brother. When you have a cup though, the only obvious thing to do with it is, fill it with something to drink, dance with it over your head, and take lots of pictures. Pictures to come soon!

It should also be said that there was some fun smack talking coming in our direection at last year's gala, and I'll be honest guys, we were a little nervous. The night honored a great number of other schools that put out a phenomenal effort, an impressive 62 schools in all participated! A big congratulations as well to Sacred Heart University and Emory, who took home 2 nd and 3rd place respectively. And good luck to University of DelawAre I believe it was who couldn't keep their eyes off the cup and swear they will be chasing down the legacy next year.

For more information about the Pitt-Marquette Challenge:
Visit Pitt's site at www.pittmarquettechallenge.com

I promise more links and lots of fun pics when I get home!

Not on my way home though- who wants to guess where I am waking up tomorrow?

I love my (almost) job

Yesterday I had a 5 year old take me across a rickety bridge, climb up and jump off a mountain of rocks, leap over the mysterious hole, jump into a pile of green leaves, and climb the spooky mountain.  We also used a plastic phone as a flashlight because it's obviously dark on the spooky mountain.  We also squirted one another with Monster Potion to keep the spooky mountain monsters away, but we grabbed the wrong bottle and accidentally turned ourselves into "butterfly monsters".  Being a monster makes you hungry so we also ate imaginary Raisin Bran out of a cone with a plastic fork while standing on one foot, because that's the only way to eat cereal.

Today, I started the day with crawling around on the ground with a 1 year old for half an hour, and followed that by singing the Alphabet Song approximately 25 times.  Then, my new favorite kiddo brought me a grape slushie from Sonic, which was so very appreciated after spending a half hour running, galloping, and climbing a giant pirate ship with him outside.  (And don't worry, my favoritism is based solely on how many frozen drinks I receive and how cute their tag-a-long baby brothers are.)   Then I wrapped up my Wednesday in the same way I always do, in a 92 degree pool, having push-contests with a 7 year-old boy and talking like a horse.

I also received my first stipend check in my account today.  I almost forgot that they're actually paying me to do this.  And to think they'll pay me even more when I have a degree and a license next year!

Off

Today, May 30th, was my first day off in the month of May.  Mother Nature must have been aware that I was overworked, and she graced us with record high temps and sunny skies.  Spent every last second of it with my family, lounging by the pool, eating cheeseburgers and popsicles.  Heaven right there.

I'd share pictures, there were plenty, but the hubs was (un)official photographer today.  With that said, I'll probably see the pics never.  I'm still waiting to see the pics from our cruise last August.  I still love him though, and he's been busy editing for people that actually pay him in cash.  Apparently paying him in hugs, kisses, and amazing dinners doesn't put me at the top of that list. 

I guess I'll just settle for being top wife.

In the meantime, you can check out all of his photography awesomeness here. 
Hodnick Photography
I swear I'd be impressed even if I wasn't ridiculously biased by the fact that I'm married to him.