So Busy, So Sad

Oh my goodness, this has been the craziest past few weeks. Last Monday I took my Boards, which was the hardest test I've ever taken in my entire life. 5 1/2 hrs of guessing wears you down in a big way. As my good friend said, I would rather be punched in the face 1,000 times by Arnold Schwarzeneggar than take that test again! Now it's just a waiting game...

After my test, I spent the next 2 days watching seasons 1 & 2 of True Blood. Yes, that's right. that's 24 hrs of TV in 48 hrs. And it was awesome!! I didn't have to study, or think, or care about anything. Ahh.. that was nice.

After that I spent the next few days shopping with my mom for clothes for Germany. It's really hard to find comfortable, cute shoes to travel in! We leave tomorrow, and we are so excited! We'll be gone until Friday the 25th- then I'll post tons and tons of pics.

And now the sad part... I've blogged many times about my best friend's dog, Remi, so maybe you remember how much I loved her. On Sunday there was a tragic accident and she was killed. When Traci told me what happened, my heart broke and still is. Remi has always been very special to me. In college, I would keep her when Traci and James went out of town, and would go over to their house in the middle of the day, just to play with her. She's the smartest, sweetest, most well behaved dog I've ever met. A million times more so than Paisley. When Traci was pregnant with her 2nd girl, Remi lived with me at my parents' house for about 7 months, and I became so attached to her it was hard to give her back. If it hadn't been for the apartment Jordan and I were moving into, I think we would have put up a fight to keep her. She was Paisley's very best friend... having been there since Paisley came home with me. Remi's name is the only one that you can say and Paisley will FREAK out; she loved her so much, just like the rest of us. I could go on and on about how amazing Remi was, but I will leave you with a few pictures. Please pray for Traci, James, and the girls- they have lost a very special member of their family.

She LOVED to play tug-of-war with the rope. You could pick her up off the ground and swing her around, that's how intense she was. And trust me, she won.

This is the day we brought Paisley home. They immediately fell in love with each other. Remi was so good with the annoying puppy that constantly bit her and took her toys.

Paisley wanted to do everything Remi did, just like a little kid with their parent. Notice Remi is hoarding the toys... there was never a dull moment with them!

Last Fact

The last Boards Fact I have for you is:

My test is tomorrow (Monday) morning at 8 am and I am fa-reaking out! Please pray for me!

In honor of Beck and Scarlett

Boards Facts:

Beck's triad= 3 signs of acute cardiac tamponade = low blood pressure, distension of veins in the neck, and muffled heart sounds

Scarlet fever: a rash associated with a Strep infection

Life Lesson #426

Do NOT ever...ever... put your detergent, softener, etc. on top of your washer/dryer combo. In the event that your washer gets off-balance, it may cause excessive movement of the unit. This may cause your products to fall on the floor and dump their contents onto your carpet.

I should have taken a picture, but I was too irritated. I gave up after an hour of trying to get it up. The carpet may have a slight tint of green, but according to Jordan, it made our entire house smell good, so it's not all bad.

Boards Fact: it actually takes more muscles to smile than to frown (12 vs. 11), so when people say "it takes more muscles to frown, so you might as well smile," you can correct them.

Really?

Why yes, that is Paisley on the desk.

She wouldn't leave me alone because she wanted me to hold her, so we compromised. Ridiculous. But adorable (at least I think so).

Board Fact: the pain you feel in your side when running is usually pain in the liver from its blood vessels constricting. The brain is really bad at intepreting pain from organs, and it gets mixed up with the tissue that overlies that organ. This is also why people having heart attacks feel pain in their left arm.

Boards = Bored

I probably should have some cool stories to share, and in truth, I have done a couple of neat things since I got out of school. The most important being a Sip and See that Linda, Jill, Jenn, and I hosted for Jaime and Jemma. I don't have many pictures of it, and since most of you are either one of those 4 women, or someone who went to the Sip and See, I just didn't get around to posting pics. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, check it out on Jaime's blog. Otherwise, I have been sitting in this room doing one thing: studying. I have my National Boards Part 1 on June 7th, so I have been spending 4-6 hours a day minimum studying. I'm actually getting into information that is harder and that I don't remember, so I'm about to kick it up to about 8 hours a day. Who told me dental school was a good idea? Thanks a lot dad. The good news is that I'm halfway through my Dental Decks; the bad news is I don't remember half of it. The test should be interesting... Here is what I'm studying. The box is a little over a foot long and the cards are 5.5x5". All in all, a very boring summer.

Now and then I'll post some interesting facts that I come across. Like did you know that teeth start to form in the womb as early as 5 weeks? Or that prolonged thumbsucking (past the age of 4) causes flaring of the front teeth, a high palate from where the thumb sits, an overbite/overjet, and can lead to the maxilla (the upper jaw) to be too narrow? Or it is normal (and beneficiary) for kids to have spaces in between their teeth, which are called Primate Spaces?

These are the facts of life. I will share more later. I can tell you all about keeping your kiddos' teeth healthy if you want, just ask me. There are a lot of things you wouldn't think of that are super important for their development! Oh the wonderful world of dentistry!

Sorry So Long!

First and foremost, today was my last day of school!!! After 10 straight months of school I'm finally done! Now I get to study for my National Boards Part 1 for 3 weeks, then just a few more weeks until I start again on July 5.
Thankfully between now and then Jordan and I are going to Germany! Yay! Last night I talked to Jennifer and we worked out our schedule:

Day 1: arrive in Frankfurt; Gutenburg Museum; Rhine River dinner cruise

Day 2: Burg Eltz Castle; Mosel River- getting on and off a river boat in cute towns and vineyards; Jordan and I will spend the night at a bed and breakfast

Day 3: meet the Sims in Luxembourg; visit WWI battlefields including Verdun

Day 4: drive down to Switzerland and visit the Rhine Falls and Lake Constance on the border b/w Switz. and Germany; visit Lindau; spend the night somewhere in the Alps

Day 5: Neuschwanstein Castle, Ehrenburg Castle, and Linderhof Castle; spend the night near Innsbruck, Austria

Day 6: tour Innsbruck; drive to Eagle's Nest (Hitler's hideout); spend the night somewhere (?)

Day 7: Munich; Dachau Concentration Camp; Hofbrauhaus; drive back to Sims

Day 8: day-trip to Rothenburg (Medieval town)

Day 9: Fly home

And there you have it!! So exciting! As soon as I have all my grades I will let you how they are. So far they are very good, but I'm very worried about 2 of my finals from this week. We'll see... either way, I'm done with 2nd year! I start again on July 5th and see my first patient July 12th- - scary!