Jackson

I haven't really had my camera out lately but I stayed at Meredith's some during December so, of course I made sure I had it with me.  Jackson is THE perfect age right now!  He repeats everything and really shows off!  

Meredith hoped to get a photo for her Christmas card so she put him in these super adorable pajamas.  We got a lot of good ones but I'm not sure I liked the same ones she did.  :)

Like this one.  I love his face and that he's turned over because Meredith and I were laying on our stomach's trying to get a shot so I guess he thought that's what we were all supposed to do.  Cracked me up!!!! 

I'm going to be back at Meredith's this week and I can't wait to see him!

Last night in Little Rock

I guess I've known all along that we wouldn't be in Little Rock forever.  Yet here I am, my last night here, and I haven't gotten used to the idea of leaving yet.  Luckily, preparing for a move is hectic and has kept my mind from dwelling on the upcoming change too much.

I'm from one of those small towns where everyone knows (or wants to know) your business.  I'm not sure I was ever comfortable with that but once I got out of it, I knew I never wanted to go back to it.  I LOVE the anonymity a town the size of Little Rock provides.  I love that no one cares about what I'm doing or not doing!

I made the mistake of going to Target tonight to grab a few things we needed to clean the house.  I almost starting tearing up back in the clearance garden section.  I wanted to linger but knew I didn't have time and that Brad would give me the look if I brought more stuff home that would have to be moved.  And then to make it worse, my favorite little guy (the super sweet older gentleman at the WLR Target) checked me out.

The movers took everything to Mountain Home tonight and will be at the house at 8:30 in the morning to unload.  We decided to stay in our LR house with no furniture because the MH house doesn't have water yet and we wouldn't have been able to stay in a hotel with Spatz.  So we're camping out on the floor!  The renters will move in to the LR house Wednesday and I'm oddly glad the house won't have to be empty for long.  I've loved our little house and would hate for much time to go by without anyone living in it.

I've never been happier than I have been the seven years we've lived here.  There are so many things here that I think just fit me.  The city is the perfect size to have a lot to offer and feel cozy at the same time.  There is so much we never made time to do or see, but that will give us an excuse to come back!  That, and the many friends we're leaving here.  And I'm going to continue using the same beautician, doctor, and dentist.  I joked with my hygienist that I needed her to recommend that I get my teeth cleaned every three months so I would have an excuse to come back more often!

I'm looking forward to settling in to our new house and I know that unpacking will keep my mind off of missing LR.  And before I know it, I'm sure I'll love my new home!

Emergency Medicine Residency Graduation

There were many times that I thought this day would never get here.  Brad graduated from residency Thursday night!! Medical school seemed to take forever but residency has flown by!  

  Brad and me.

(All of the pictures from my camera were just awful!!)

Bart and Brandi were able to make it and I know it meant a lot to Brad to have his brother there.  I think I'd be safe in saying no one is more proud of Brad than Bart!

Jason and Christy.

  They are moving to Birmingham and left right after graduation to drive there.  I hate that they're leaving but I hope it's just an excuse for us to go to Birmingham or Atlanta a couple times a year!

Richard and Beverly.

They are staying put in Bryant.  But they are moving to a new house (which I can't wait to see)!

Charell, me, Christy, and Beverly.  

I've enjoyed spending time with these three girls so much this year. Since meeting each other in October in San Francisco (Charell and I actually knew each other before since Brad and Zac were in Med. School together), we have scheduled lunch together at least once a month.  It's been nice to share such an exciting, and sometimes stressful, time in our lives with each other. 

This is how we normally look when we're together. These girls are so much fun!  I hope we can still get together often even though two of us will no longer be in Little Rock.  Charell and Beverly are both getting new houses that will have enough space for Christy and me to stay with them. Surely they'll let us!

Who knows.........  :)

Brad and Dr. Melton.  

They didn't actually give them their diploma but I would have thought this would have been a good time to do that.  Instead, this is a picture of Brad receiving his clock.

The whole class presenting a couple awards to their chairman.  This one was the Honey Badger award.  I guess it was an inside joke and I didn't ask.....

Richard, Skip, Zac, Brad, and Jason.

Brad loves these guys and is going to miss spending so much time with them.  He has been friends with Skip since the beginning of Med School.

Another shot of the guys, minus Skip, plus Wade.

I have to say that this night was a little bittersweet.  It's so exciting to move on to the next phase of this journey with Brad, but part of me wishes we had a little more time in Little Rock with our friends.  Luckily, we will be staying through July so we'll try to schedule as many things as we can!

After we left the Governor's Mansion, we all went to Big Whiskey to watch the Razorbacks and just hang out.  We had so much fun but stayed out way too late.  Did I mention that Brad is the oldest resident???  We're a little too old to be staying out past midnight!!

  Bart and Brandi spent the night with us and I think it was right around 2:00 a.m. when we finally went to bed.  And then Bart set the house alarm off at 7:00 a.m. when they were leaving.  I was so tired, I think I went right back to sleep before they even got out of the driveway!

Fall

Is everyone's favorite time of year Fall?  I guess if you live in Arkansas you can't help but love it after suffering through the hot and humid summers.

I've especially loved Fall so far this year.  We've had some cold days, some hot days, and some perfect days.  Today was definitely one of those perfect days!

I tried to get some things done in the yard that I normally put off until Spring.  If we're going to try to sell our house next year, we're going to have to work extra hard to make the yard look nice.  So I decided to take advantage of the weather and get a little head start!

Tiger, the stray cat that has been here for a couple years, showed up while I had my camera out this afternoon.

He still hasn't ever let me touch him.  He comes by randomly a few times a week and I feed him, talk sweet to him, and even try to lure him in the house from time to time but he's still scared of me.  I'm starting to think we'll never be pals.

Sweet Hadley!

I got to see Hadley this weekend!  

She's just PRECIOUS!!!!

Heather spent the night with me Friday night and we got up Saturday morning to do the Race for the Cure.  We stayed up WAY too late and were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to get up Saturday morning.   We did though and went to the race.  But once we got there, we just stood in line to pick up Heather's packet and to get the Ford scarf and left!  We should have just slept later. 

Hadley and Heather's mom stayed with Martha in Sherwood and I really just wanted to see Hadley and didn't want to mess with the crowd at the Race.  

I wish I had gotten a better shot of her two little teeth.  You can just barely see them in this one...

I didn't get to see her for long, but I think she's just about the sweetest baby ever!!  I wish I got to see her more often.  

Pinnacle Mountain

A couple of Sunday's ago, Brad and I decided that the weather was too perfect to stay inside so we went to Pinnacle.  We always do the Summit trail but it was closed so we walked the Base trail.

My camera lens broke and had to be sent off to be repaired (6 weeks!!).  Bedford was able to loan me a lens, but the only two they had to choose from was an 18-55 or a 70-300.  I choose the 70-300 because we had a trip to a football game planned and the 18-55 wouldn't have been good for that.  So all of these photos are with the 70-300 which is a terrible choice for an outing like this!  Oh well....

We've never walked the entire Base trail (3.5 miles) because we always go to the top so we were kind of glad the Summit was closed.  We didn't get in a hurry and although the park was busy, we didn't run into too many people on the trail.

I like how the trail is smooth dirt for a while and then rocky for a little while.  

This clearly was not taken from the Base trail.  This was at another part of Pinnacle that we had never been to.  We just climbed stairs to a deck that overlooked the water.

I didn't seem fair that this guy was having to work on such a pretty day.  At least he wasn't stuck in an office.  It reminded me of watching Brad's dad earlier this summer...

This was taken in June.  The weather wasn't quite so nice that day.

Golf

Yesterday, Brad and I went to Stonelinks near Scott to play golf.  Brad has played there many times, but yesterday was a first for me.  They tout that they are the only true links course in Arkansas.  There definitely weren't many trees....

It was so nice because we never had anyone behind us.  I hate feeling rushed!  Especially if I have my camera which I rarely take to the golf course. Can you imagine how annoying it would be to see some girl snapping pictures on the golf course when she should be hitting the ball??

The weather has been so mild lately, but wouldn't you know it, the day we want to play golf it's high 90's!  Oh well, it looks like it might rain the rest of the week so we might not have another chance to play.

It seemed like this course had a lot of sand because we found it more than once.  Or twice.  Sand is always better than water, though, and I only put one in water!  And we found several balls, so we made up for my lost one.  I remember before I played golf, I would ride with Brad in the cart and the highlight was finding balls.  It's actually still a highlight, but not as much as a birdie or a well hit ball!

I also remember the first time I lost a ball.  I was so excited because it meant the ball had went far enough to get out of our sight!  Now, it just makes me mad. 

We actually scored pretty well.  We always scramble because my play is unpredictable and would probably slow us down.  One of my goals is to play a round on my own.  Maybe after some more lessons.  


I didn't actually start playing golf until after we moved to Little Rock.  I had been to the driving range a few times in Batesville, but that was always more frustrating than fun.  Partly because I was trying to play with Brad's clubs.  When I finally decided I wanted to play, I got a cheap set of ladies clubs and a pair of golf shoes and have been hooked ever since.  I've since gotten a few better quality clubs (and about 5 more pairs of shoes!) but still use the irons from my first set.  I'll get some new ones when I prove I'm worth the price!

Flowers

I have always been thankful that the original owners of our house must have had a green thumb!  We have a nice variety of flowers and shrubs that add color to the yard from early spring all the way through summer.

Every year Brad threatens to rip these up and burn the hole they come out of.  And every year I tell him that you can't kill a Crepe Myrtle so it would be a wasted effort.  I like certain varieties better than others but these are high maintenance.  We have one on each end of the house and all summer long I'm constantly cutting on them to try to make them look right.

I think Gladioli are another high maintenance flower.  Mine just fall over and lay on the ground.  I'm not sure if I have weak ones or what, but I am not going to the trouble of staking each one of them.  So I try to catch them at the right time and cut them to bring in the house!

Roses are not my favorites but we have two rose bushes that I actually like.  They bloom all summer long and don't take a lot of maintenance.  Probably about once a week I prune them and that seems to keep  them looking ok.  We have a light pink one and a coral colored one.  I like the coral one the best.  It's smaller and requires less overall pruning. The pink one will grow as tall as the house if I let it.

I love our Hydrangea bush!  Unfortunately, it is in full sun and is almost impossible to keep from burning this time of year.  It would be so pretty if it were in a more shady area of the yard.  In the spring I like to cut these and bring them inside.

I think my favorite plant in the yard is our giant Elephant Ear.  I love this thing!!  It doesn't like the heat and must be watered at least once a day or the poor thing will just hang over on the ground.  I've never been able to get a good picture of it and these two aren't any better.  It's so big, it's hard to get a good shot of it.   

I like the Crepe Myrtle behind it better than I do the pink ones.  I don't have to work on it all the time and it looks more like a tree rather than a giant shrub.

A New Hat

Toni gave me a hat on my last day at work.  Wasn't that sweet of her?  I'm going to need it when we move because what else can I do in a small town in north central Arkansas but be a farm person??  I'll probably at least need to have a garden and this will help protect me from melanoma.  Thanks Toni!!  It's the best going away gift ever!  :)  Every time I wear it, I'll think of you.  And laugh.

There's a lot that I'll miss about DIM.  Mostly, all the people I met while working there!

Weekend

Brad and I were both off this weekend so we went to some antique stores on Saturday.  We love to look but rarely buy much.  

That sounds like such an old-person thing to do.  Oh well, if the shoe fits....

I did find a Sports Illustrated with Dick Butkus on the cover!  YAY!  I had to dig through a box that had about three years of SI's but it was worth it.  I have a lot of the covers that the Bears have been on but the only other complete magazine I have (other than the ones since I've had a subscription) is the one with Walter Payton on the cover right after he passed away. 

Last night we drove down by the Capitol and I tried to get a good photo of it but FAILED!  My tripod is not that great so I had my ISO set really high so I could hand hold my camera and my photos were pretty grainy.  I need to get a new tripod or figure out a way to make mine work.

Today we went to Memphis to go to two of our favorite stores.

Like always, we got some great deals at the WS Outlet, mostly things we needed or have been wanting for a long time.  We have a huge list of things we have to get there before I quit working at PB and it was nice to mark a couple of things off.  

One item we didn't have on our list was this super cute watermelon knife (because who would really put a watermelon knife on a list of needs??).  But I decided since I'm from the home of the world's SWEETEST watermelons, I kind of needed it.  We usually get a couple CC watermelons a year so this year we'll be set!    I wish we weren't watermelon snobs and could just enjoy a regular one from Kroger just so we could try out our knife.

Dick's is our other favorite.  They have a big golf section and we always find something we need on sale.  I got a new outfit (super cheap!) and Brad got a couple outfits for a tournament in August. Why he wants to play in a weekend tournament when it's that hot is beyond me!  

I wish Little Rock would get a Dick's.  Hot Springs is the closest and that's not really close.

We had a great weekend and now I'm looking forward to a 4-day work week!  Brad is too, but when you work 12 hour shifts, I don't think 4 days is anything to get excited over.