Graduation!!!

Wow! So much has happened over the past few months it's difficult to get my thoughts straight sometimes! Nick is officially an M.D. as of May 15th and I am a Masters of Music Ed. We could not be happier. It is sort of surreal to dream of your future career and then get to a moment - like graduation - when you realize you're that much closer.

Masters and M.D.

I was so proud of Nick during his graduation I was fighting back tears. Four years in a city that was so foreign at first, having to stay up for sometimes more than 24 hours at a time, and taking rigorous tests, was finally coming to a close with this ceremony. Nick is an excellent doctor! His future neurology patients will be in excellent hands!

Future doctors!

Future doctors during ceremony

Nick being hooded

Shaking the deans' hand

Official doctor!

One proud mother!

The happy couple!

 

And here's to a future music teacher!

I could not be happier with my career choice. It's crazy to believe that I'll be paid to enjoy music making with my students everyday! I spent the year working with Woburn Public Schools teaching general music and chorus while still working on my Masters. I will forever have a soft spot for this first bunch of hooligans - 6-8th graders who definitely challenged my classroom management at times and reminded me often of why I was doing this. They were a wonderful first bunch with crazy enthusiasm in my class.

Last day at Joyce Middle School! I'll miss it!

Final Concert

My first real choir - what a fun bunch!

Final song of concert

The end!

How sweet - surprised me with flowers!

Shortly after this concert, I graduated officially with my Masters...

Future music teachers!

With the happy husband!

And the official Boston Conservatory ceremony...

Waiting to receive diploma

Yay!

Don't know who this guy is but I'm still beaming!

Fellow future music teachers!

Yes, that's right we get to wear pink!

Two years later and diploma in hand!

And shortly after the ceremonies we began the long road trip to Seattle! More to come soon! :)

Eight Year Anniversary!

I can't believe it has already been eight years since Nick and I started dating! Right around this time eight years ago was the night that Nick first asked me to be his Valentine in front of an awestruck audience at the curtain call of West Side Story. I felt like the queen of the night as Nick adorned me with first a single rose and then an entire dozen as he followed up his Valentine request with a proposal to the senior prom!!!

Some of the cast from West Side Story

We became officially a couple a few weeks later when we snuck out together and climbed on top of the roof of the Cynthian Cafe in Dallas! We felt so rebellious and giddy with excitement. It was on top of that roof that Nick asked me to be his girlfriend!!!


A few weeks later was the senior prom. Nick and I were nominated by our class as prince and princess. Nick certainly was my prince charming that night! He asked me to be ready early as he had a surprise for me. Oh goodness - from notes stuffed under my car windshield to scavenger hunts leading to bouquets of roses, I had no idea what to expect next with this romantic guy.

On our way to Seattle to see The Lion King on Broadway!

On our way to Prom

However, I could hardly believe my eyes when we arrived at an airplane hanger. Yes, that's right, Nick had reserved us a little plane ride to the Oregon coast and back and if that wasn't enough, he gave me a diamond-studded bracelet as we flew over the ocean that matched my dress perfectly! Needless to say, our friends were a bit jealous when we arrived late to meet our dinner party because we had just come from the coast! :)

The only pic we have in front of our ride to the coast!

Our prom dinner party who patiently waited for us to return!

Prom court

We love remembering these early memories and we have so many other wonderful stories as the years have passed. Nick continues to amaze and impress me! I can't wait to see what the future holds for us two.

Enjoying my evening with Prince Charming!

Going, going, gone!

Going, going, gone! This how we have felt over the past week selling our belongings. With the big move right around the corner, we have begun posting our furniture to Craigslist. It is amazing how quickly our things are selling. First it was my awesome mountain bike and then my piano keyboard that we've have had for five years. I feel like we are having a virtual garage sale. A woman came over for a few flower prints and ended up perusing our other items and leaving without the flower prints after all and instead ended up taking the wine rack, two other prints and a lamp!

Here are some of our items up on Craigslist now. Sorry, no mail deliveries ;)

Meet the Sprouts

This post is made especially for those of you who have unfortunately never met the Sprouts!!! Who are the Sprouts? Two of the most adorable, lovable, and well-behaved cats I have ever known. The Sprouts (as we like to call them) are two cats - brother and sister - who we adopted from a nearby shelter last July after providing foster care for them. We fell in love! Their formal names are:

Brussels Sprouts (the boy with the white chest)

Alfalfa Sprouts (the girl)

These cats are no ordinary lap cats. We soon discovered that they are both very athletic! They love to play with their toy birds and will really risk it all (including dislocating a hip) if it means a catch! We decided to start taking pictures of these play times and some of the action shots were so hilarious, we decided to create captions and submit them to cheezburger.com.

This is a website full of all sorts of cat captions called "Lolz." The original you may know:

Yes, this is how I like to spend my free time - perusing cat captions. I'm a cat addict!

Check out some of our Lolz here: http://profile.cheezburger.com/Pyrotechnick/lolz

You will see some of the Sprouts, some of our cats that were left back in Oregon (Smokey, Bella, TigerLily) and a few of our fosters.

Here is a little teaser: :)

... Yeah, he really did a full out hand stand!!!

"Ain't it a Fine Life!"

(A picture of the stage minutes before the show began)

"Ain't it a Fine Life, Carrying the Banner Through it All!!!" It was amazing to see Newsies during its preview opening weekend. I will never forget how enthusiastic and LOUD the audience was. As soon as the lights went up and we saw the lead, Jack Kelly, the audience began applauding. And yes, I was one of the loud ones. After the opening number, "Carrying the Banner," the audience literally clapped and clapped for a good 30 seconds or so - so much that it was humorous and the audience was laughing. We watched in hysterics as the Newsies, holding their pose began to crack smiles and nearly broke character. That will undoubtedly, be a memory that sticks with the cast throughout their careers.

From that point forward, the orchestra had to take the lead by playing little tail endings to get the show moving, as the audience was relentless after big numbers, back flips, you name it. The cast definitely thrived off of our energy and this was one show that will be burned in my memory for years to come!

My sixth grade dreams of seeing this show on Broadway, were completely surpassed by the incredible dancing and energy the Newsies exuded. And the dancing was no ordinary box steps; these Newsies were gymnasts doing crazy tumbles, front flips, side flips and everything else. The singing was another highlight. The group numbers were dynamic with crisp harmonies and rich volume.

Loved, loved, loved every minute of the show and cannot wait to wear my Newsies T-shirt to school tomorrow with my Newsies tote. You better believe I'll be singing some "Open the Gates" and "King of New York" for my students tomorrow!

Match Day!

Finally the day has arrived, Match Day!!! As most of you know, Nick is now at the end of a long four years of medical school. He has taken more exams than I can recall, has done overnights in the hospital and through it all has received honors in his courses! During the fourth year, students prepare for their "match" at a program for residency. Nick applied to several schools for Neurology Residency and then we had the long one month wait to hear the results.

There is a lot of hype around match day, as every medical student in the county prepares to open a letter that will determine their fate as a doctor. Some don't match at all, many match but maybe not to the program of their dreams and then there are those like Nick (the rockstars) that match to their first choice! Medical students around the nation opened that letter at 12:00 p.m. eastern time on March 16th.

At Nick's school, the entire class gathered in a room, received their letters and then on a countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, they ripped them open. During this countdown, cameramen recorded students as some began to cry with nerves and others started screaming in anticipation.

When Nick opened his letter he was delighted to see the words....

You have matched to the University of Washington Neurology Residency Program.

We're moving to Seattle!!!

I was at school, pacing the lunchroom cafeteria filled with screaming students. This was huge news that was long anticipated for both of us. 12:02 I see the call from Nick. I literally ran from the cafeteria and said, "well???." "I matched at UW, we're moving to Seattle!" I could barely hear Nick over the screams in the background. We celebrated all evening, somewhat in disbelief that this was really happening. Four years later and we're finally headed home to the pacific northwest.

Many different "theme" songs came to mind that evening as we talked over the details of what this meant in every way possible. Here is one that I have been singing to myself since the news:

"Feels Like Home"

Ravioli Dinner

Just another Wednesday night? No! We looked in the fridge wondering what to make for dinner and we only saw three eggs and ricotta... I guess it's homemade ravioli night! As we were rolling out the dough, I was remembering how much fun we had this Christmas back in Oregon making ravioli and meatballs, enough to feed 25 guests! That was a really fun night of great company and food! Since we've been home we've made our own pasta several times. Tonight, we made the ravioli in record time too - under 40 minutes flat!

We have perfected the pasta recipe so that it is perfectly moist and scrumptious. It basically requires no chewing it's so melt-in-your-mouthlike. Here is the pasta recipe we use:

-4 eggs

-3 cups flour (I use 2 cups white, 1 cup whole wheat)

-1 tsp salt

-1 tbls oil

Simple, yet so satisfying!

We typically make our own sauce and meatballs as well, but we'll save that for another night!

"Complimenti al cuoco!"