And he still has his boyish good looks

B's birthday is tomorrow. Yes, that's right. April Fool's Day. Despite all of the shenanigans that could have come from an April Fool's Day party, we opted to celebrate on Saturday instead of Tuesday. We had more people over than we've ever had in our house at once. And we put them straight to work.

Making pasta! We had two pasta rollers at our disposal (mine and a friend's), so our rolling was reasonably efficient. Lots of people brought filling (artichoke, asparagus, ricotta, sun dried tomato, pepper, mushroom, gorgonzola, pear, you name it), and our friends proved very accomplished at stuffing ravioli. In the end, we had four types of ravioli, plain fettucine, and green fettucine. Turns out pasta dough, much like play-doh, can be dyed with food coloring. Fun! (The really fun part was when guests asked if it was spinach. I would just say, "...no..." and watch the look of horror slowly evolve on their faces. Hilarious.)

It was quite the undertaking, but it was worth it. You know what else was worth it? This cake. The first two birthdays that Brandon had while we've been dating went without cake baked by me. The first time we were in Chicago for a conference (I bought cupcakes at the Corner Bakery). The second time I was on my internal medicine rotation which was more intense than it needed to be (torte from Whole Foods). This time, I wanted to do it right. He told me he wanted chocolate and raspberry, so this is what he got: almost flourless chocolate torte topped with chocolate mousse topped with unsweetened whipped cream topped with overpriced raspberries. All told, that cake contained 3/4 lb butter, 9 eggs, 16 oz chocolate and 1 c cream. And a little sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt. If it weren't consumed by 14 people, I'd be concerned for the state of our arteries.

Perspective

While shopping at Trader Joe's tonight, Brandon and I disagreed over a few things. Stupid things, like whether to get the tiny perlini mozzarellas even though they didn't have an expiration date or whether to buy a nicer bottles of wine (nicer = not Charles Shaw...we're talking $8 bottles...oooo) for the little get together we're having tomorrow night. We weren't fighting really, but it was 8:50 and all I'd had for dinner so far was some cottage cheese, so I was hangry (hunger resulting in crankiness/anger). So on the drive home, I was sulking a little.

And then I looked out the window and saw a helicopter racing towards MetroHealth, probably carrying someone who had real problems, problems that made my cheese and wine crankiness seem as petty and obnoxious as they truly were. This is one of the things I like about medicine. It's hard to stay cranky/sulky about the little things when every day something real happens.

And that's why, despite the cush lifestyle (big money, short work week), I could never go into radiology. That's what I've been doing for the last three weeks. Whenever I tell the radiologists that I'm going into OB/GYN, they make a face and tell me what an awful life I will have. They are wrong. I will have an excellent life, even if I do not have excellent sleep. Nobody thanks their radiologist when they have a good outcome.* Nobody sends pictures of their babies to their radiologist.

Anyway...this is not to say that I will never be cranky or petty again. I'm just looking forward to being back on a rotations where I have more of a direct effect on patients. Sure, I'll miss the regular hours, but at this point in my career catching a baby or scrubbing in the OR beats an extra hour of sleep any day. And, yes, I know that two years from now I will be redacting that statement.


*Yes, I know, there are interventional radiologists. They treat people, and sometimes those people give those radiologists credit. But most radiologists really don't treat at all. This is not a slam on radiologists; this is just not how I want to be a doctor.

Catching up

Watch out, this is gonna be photo-heavy. Deal.

Hey, guess what! Last weekend I was the maid-of-honor in my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, and she was a beautiful bride. Unfortunately, my camera's batteries died while we were at the salon pre-wedding, so you will just have to imagine how beautiful it was. But, you can see pre-wedding festivities! Almost as good!



Here are Marie and I at KramerBooks the night before the wedding. B used to write med school essays there, and he said the food was good. He was right. We ate dinner with our moms. They're identical twins, and many of their physical and personality traits have been passed onto us. It was a really fabulous night. I know it makes me a total lame-o, but I had way more fun with my mom, aunt, and cousin than I have in a long time.


Here is Marie the morning before the wedding. We grabbed lunch at Cosi. She was being a good bride and drinking water so her skin would be all dewy and whatnot. I drank Diet Coke. Because I like it. Although, I think that's appropriate; aren't bridesmaids supposed to a balance of sweet and bitter? Like Diet Coke? Anyway, I would just like to point out that even just out of bed with bottle of water in hand, Marie takes a fabulous picture.



So, to further support Marie's fabulousness, guess what we did the afternoon of the wedding. We played Wii. Wii bowling, to be specific. It probably goes without saying, but my Wii bowling score is far superior to my real-life bowling score. Marie thinks I'm a total dork for taking this picture.



Then we went and got our hair done. Mine was just super curly, because that's fun. Marie's was sort of old school glamor, swept back in carefully pinned curls. And when I say "carefully pinned," I mean what I say. In this picture, the thought going through Marie's head is something along the lines of, "Okay, that's the 45th time you've repinned that curl, lady. I'm about to be late to my own wedding. It's time to let it go." But everything worked out in the end.



And, hey, look! Knitting content! It's so sneaky! Jan, Marie's mom (my aunt, if you're keeping track) knit Marie a gorgeous shawl. It's cashmere and silk and goes with her wedding colors. Beautiful. Marie was nice enough to try it on with the white of her shirt showing through, so y'all can see the stitch pattern too.

Okay, that's all for now. Now that I have new camera batteries, I'll try to get a shot of my wedding shawl (way easier and less impressive - don't get excited) and my Eunny Jang vest (which I finally finished last weekend). Oh, yeah, and I started a nightgown. So, yes, pictures are in order.

(cough)

Yes, we will.