Family Update!

What an AWESOME weekend! First, my anatomy tests came and went, and I did just dandy. I have yet to hear about my actual percentage grade for the lecture portion, but I felt great about it so I know I am only waiting to hear if I made an A or a B.

Second, Andrew planned and successfully executed a SURPRISE birthday party for me with close friends and family from Tulsa and beyond! He gave me a gift card to Ann Taylor so I can finally get a start on my business casual wardrobe (I don't even have a set of pumps yet... ouch)... and then he took me to our favorite BYOB Italian place, where people were waiting to yell Happy Birthday! I was so shocked, I had no idea! I am sure if someone had taken a picture of my face at that moment, it was somewhat blank and sheeplike. Nicole, Katie, my mater and pater, Julia, Jason, Jeremy, Sarah, my sweet mother-in-law Wendy, Matt, Grant (x2), Holly, Kevin, and even Miriam were waiting with gifts and hugs. Miriam gave me a present, too: she threw up all over my shirt when I picked her up ^_^. THANK YOU, MY LOVELY FRIENDS, FOR AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY!

And now for the family update...

PEANUT BUTTA BABY TIME! Miriam is 7 months old, crawling, squealing, being silly, sitting up by herself, being cute in general. She likes to chew on her highchair, and her first tooth just broke out...

My baby, surely her father's daughter, makes none of that angelic baby babble Gerber tries to tell you babies make. Instead, this is what she sounds like...

As she continues to slobber, squawk, and squeal, she is also very much enjoying the borrowed jumperoo from our good friends, Jenn and Adam.

Some eye candy for you...

Here is Miriam showing off Mommy's stack of notes and books from the ENTIRE year. Excepting parts of the bound books, I have read and memorized every scrap of paper in this stack! Yay for med school madness! (Not that any of it stuck past the exam, lol... :P)

Of course I need a shout out to my favorite free facebook game, Pet Society. In honor of seeing WICKED, which was incredible, I dressed up my little character as Elphaba...

But then a spring wedding theme hit the stores, and I had to show off my pet's chic bride look!
Her wedding room... too bad she doesn't have a fiance, though, haha.

My hubby created some delicious dishes these past few weeks. For example. last night he made roasted tomatoes with olive oil and sherry vinegar and a fresh basil, accompanied by crisp apples, a 5 year cheddar, sausage and a fine glass of 2007 Crozes Hermitage red wine. He also makes less gourmet items, such as the following heart-stopping dish below, termed "cowboy chow": baked beans, brisket, grilled corn, sour cream and caramelized onions served nice and hot in a mason jar.

Julia and I have also been busy creating. We are a big fan of decorative bento boxes (Japanese packed lunches), and today for my birthday we set about creating our own boxes. We made these ourselves, with ingredients from around the kitchen :). The following is mine...

And my sister made this one.

Basically, we rock :P. Oh, my sister especially rocks, because I discreetly recorded her practicing. Bear in mind, this is her /practicing/. The polished final product is even better than this clip.

One last fun thing. For my birthday, my AMAZING professional photographer brother-in-law, Jeremy, did a photo shoot for Miriam a while back and gave me the CD as a present! Here is a sneak peak of more to come (I'll upload them on facebook and you'll get to see the rest!)