My Birthday Boy

I know I am a day behind but I needed to wish Baubak a very special Happy Birthday. Yesterday, May 24th, was Bob's 25th birthday. Last year on his golden birthday he was in India where he chipped his tooth and had traveler's diarrhea. This year I had promised him it was going to be better. Although with only a little over a week before the big test he knew he would have USMLE on his mind.

It started on Saturday after Bob finished a practice test and going through some questions he headed home from school and decided to take the whole day Sunday off from studying. Good for him, and for me too.

I had made Bob a birthday cake and tried to make a Hazelnut White Chocolate Frosting to go on top. Hah it was not good, well it was complete sugar so Bob did not like it, but I of course being the sweet eater I am enjoyed it. I was able to save one of the cakes so he did have something.

Sunday morning after a well deserved sleep in Bob woke up to open his presents from me, chocolate, cigars and a humidor! Next we headed to Jimmy Johns for lunch and on to the Omaha Royals game. Bob says any birthday is good when he can watch baseball. The game was pretty good except the Royals were horrible. We arrived at Rosenblatt 25 minutes before game time to buy our tickets. I went all out and got the most expensive tickets for us ($10 a piece). We had our own little section directly behind home plate, only 2 rows up, although we could have sat in the front row. As we sat down Bob said, we should have brought sunscreen-ahh now my legs are burnt to a crisp with a stellar tan line, but we had fun. After the game we went out to eat at P.F.Changs for some lettuce wraps and nice food. It was very good! We also headed to DQ for a dessert blizzard and then back to watch the Twins beat up on the Brewers. Bob even got to see his favorite player hit a grand slam. Too bad it wasn't in person, but at least he got to see it. I think Bob enjoyed his birthday and I know he enjoyed his day off from studying. He is back at it today and will be hitting it hard until next week!

Happy 25th Birthday Baubak. I love you!

Happy Birthday Cole!

Wishing my only nephew a very Happy Birthday; Mr. Cole Thomas Gacke!

It is so odd thinking 11 years ago my big sis was induced and at 10:00 at night the little boy changed our lives forever. This kid is so great and I cannot imagine life without him in it. He makes me laugh so much. He has an amazing bond with my dad. He has a mad passion for sports, especially baseball. Bob and Cole share lots of the same traits in life and it is funny as they get really competitive about Wii games. The past 11 years Cole has made many special memories in my life. I look forward to watching him grown into a young man. I found this silly picture of Cole probably 4-5 years ago and it made me laugh. Leave it to Aunt Ashley to make fun of someone on their birthday. Happy Birthday Cole. Enjoy your desserts and day!

Golden Apple Fun

This Saturday Bob and I were able to get out, relax, and have a little fun at Creighton University's Medical School Golden Apple Awards. This event takes place every year, where they recognize students and faculty for outstanding service to their community and students. The night started out with cocktail hour (2 free drink tickets) and then onto dinner. The food was just okay and the service was very odd. You needed to hold on to your glass so they wouldn't take it off the table, even if there was clearly plenty left. One of the waiters even filled up Angela's half full wine glass with water-wasn't that nice of him? The dessert was horrible. It didn't taste bad, but nobody could figure out what it was. The evening continued on to the awards where a 4th year stood and talked for way way too long. The program was so long that we were all sitting for 3 full hours, with no glasses on our table to even sip water. Then the night turned in to much fun of drinking and dancing. They even had a photo booth where you could get free pics taken.
This event was lots of fun, besides the speaker & food. The friends made it all the better. I am so glad they had this for the Med students, especially the M2s that came. We are under a month left until boards and the studying is just crazy, they all needed a little break. And you know their significant others needed one too!

The rest of the weekend-it got better.

I wanted to fill in the last part of my weekend up North. Saturday morning I actually did some wedding planning. I was able to look into some things on the Internet because most wedding things are blocked at my work. I also tried out two local bakeries to get a feel for wedding cakes and our special dessert! I was able to meet up with Judi, Homayoun, Sara and Addy for a great Thai lunch and then Judi and I headed off to the Cathedral to view the 2:00 wedding. It was exciting to see what a wedding looks like there and to hear the music. I am my mother and sister and cry at weddings so I got a little teary eyed when the couple was saying their vows. I think I was thinking more of that will be Bob and I in one year, how exciting. Oh boy I am going to be a wreck crying at our wedding though. After leaving the Twin Cities I headed straight to Sibley to hang with my mom for a bit. Poor thing just sits with her legs up and is instructed to not put any weight on her foot. When she needs to get up she uses a walker that has a seat, props her knee on the seat and scoots around. It is kind of funny but I know she hates it. I felt awful leaving her Sunday afternoon as my dad was gone. It was nice to know that she has great friends to take care of her along with both of my grandmas. I think what scares me the most is that she is going to try to do way too much and that poor little foot of hers will not heal. Soon it will be summer and I know she will be up and running again.

During my whole time having fun enjoying myself, Bob was here in Omaha working his tail off. Bob finished up Behavioral Medicine with his final on Monday, the 27th. He was so happy to be done with this class as it had so much extra busy work included with it. He was frustrated because he was not able to give more time to studying for boards. He also said that studying for the boards was more fun than studying for that class, we just know Bob will not be in the psychology field! Tuesday through today the M2s have been going through intense review lectures helping them study for the boards. This is the most comprehensive test he will ever take, the questions are so detailed and they do not leave anything out from simple math to biochemistry he must know it all. They will have a practice exam tomorrow. One of the professors said, these next four weeks will be the worst of your life. Can I tell you that I am looking forward to it? But it is coming down to crunch time and here is my shot to prove to Bob I am behind him 100%. I am learning that when he says he needs to study. I let him study, and most importantly when he needs to take a break, I let him take one. It is not worth it to get burnt out or sick.

I’m sure I will keep you posted in the next four weeks as it is going to be a stressful time, but well worth it in the end.

Bad House Guest

So after What's Your Type I showed up at my dear friends, Mesa and Tony's. They were kind enough to let me stay. As I arrived I proceeded to drop a bottle of champagne that I was giving them as a gift on the floor. The bottle shattered and the champagne was a sticky mess. I'm so sorry.
The next morning while Mesa and Tony were at work, I was going to lounge around the house, finish up some Blood Bank work and get ready to hang with Mesa in the afternoon. Well I took my car keys out to my car to grab my work computer when I realized that I had just locked myself out. I was in my Pajamas, what was I going to do? I thought, well I can get into my car, and hang out at a coffee shop until Mesa is done working at 11:30! He he, I didn't even have my purse or phone with me. I was lucky enough to have a roll of quarters in my car I keep for meters so I was that girl that bought a coffee with quarters. I got on to my computer and emailed Mesa right away to inform her of my 2nd bad house guest moment. We set it up that I would drive to her work, she would run down hand me her house key and I could at least go shower. Oh boy!
I vowed that one year from that day I was bound to have a better day, as it was April 24th-only a year until Wedding Bells.
After Mesa was finished with work we went to go check out and confirm her choice of a wedding dress. It is so gorgeous and she was absolutely glowing when she put it on. I am so happy for her and am so excited for their wedding in Mexico next summer. We then do what the two of us absolutely love to do together...shop :) And let me tell you, I shopped my little heart out, but it was needed, well wanted at least.
We joined Tony for dinner and then headed to Valentinos, which I thought was funny b/c that is a gross pizza buffet here in NE. But it was this beautiful mansion in South St. Paul that has been turned into a night club. When we arrived there was a softball fundraiser going on for some of Tony's co-workers, but it was more like a frat party. Later the dance music came on as well as these tvs that showed an outline of naked women dancing. We headed down to the dance floor to find out the club is 18 plus and there were some 18 plus ladies getting their groove on, and 30 plus gentleman watching. It was so odd, we left but I guess these two 25 year olds and 24 year old engaged kids were too tired and headed for bed at 10:30.
I loved being a house guest at the Johnson and Denny Residence. They have a great place and I am so glad I was able to spend some time with my dear friends. I miss them so much, hopefully residence will be in the Twin Cities so we can live near them.

What's Your Type?

On Thursday I headed up to Minnesota to help and check out Memorial Blood Center's What's Your Type Event. This event has been going on for a few years and it seems to get bigger and better every year. This was my 3rd time volunteering. I arrived at 2:00 to see some old friends and co-workers and to help finish getting everything ready. I also had a chance to look at some of the awesome silent auction items they had for sale. I only looked as many of the minimum bids were $100 and there was no way I could afford that, especially when I knew I would be shopping the next day. Any way What's Your Type is a play on blood types, but they also have different types of food to taste, drinks to drink, things to buy and people to see. Tim Mahoney, a local MN artist rocked the whole evening long and they ended up raising over $11,000 in that night alone. GOOD JOB! I'm glad I attended. But duh me did not take any pictures the whole weekend.

Happy Birthday Sara

Sunday was my soon to be sister-in-law's birthday. Sara Florin is a great sister to her baby brother Bob and a wonderful friend to me. She is lots of fun, so hopefully she was able to enjoy her day a little on Sunday. Sara and Aaron are awesome parents to little Addy and in June will have a baby boy to join the family. We are excited for a new nephew to come in to the world.

Next year Sara will have a "big" birthday. Enjoy the last year of your twenties Sara. Happy Belated.