Post-Boards Recap

So the Step 1 exam obviously came and went. The scores came out and I passed. And that's all we'll ever speak of the dreaded test again. My post-test trip to NYC with my dad and sister was lovely. Though I didn't even come close to completing my list, I saw many good friends and had really relaxing days with family for about a week. Then the day I got home, I went up north to a friend's cabin to spend the last days before my orientations started. It was the perfect 10-day summer vacation. Here are some pictures!

Mid-Tuesday in Bryant Park. Does anyone work here?

Debbie and her dogs Toby and Lucy. So cute!

The sweetest details at Debbie and Chris' Harlem apartment

My cousin's apartment building rooftop terrace

Tiffany, Big Brother Connor and my aunt

Tiffany holding cute and wriggling things: Lucy on the left, Baby Landon on the right

Sunset view of New Jersey from the Battery Park Boardwalk a block away from my cousin's building

Korean seafood hotpot. The lobster was moving!

After...

Big Bear Lake

Big Bear Lake at sunset

Daddy harvesting some peas

Hard at work

Splendor in the Grass

Since all this, I've spent the month of July on my first clinical rotation in Neurology at the Detroit VA. It deserves another post, but for now, suffice to say, I loved it. Mostly because of the doctors, residents, and patients I've worked with. But more on that next time.

Glacier National Park and Banff

Back from vacation! Everything was as gorgeous as I had hoped. Apparently the aqua blue water is a defining characteristic of glacial waters. Here was the first gorgeous lake we saw: Bow Lake on the way to Jasper National Park in Canada.

Gorgeous Horseshoe Lake

Hiking in Jasper National Park

gondola ride in Banff

downtown Banff from the Cascade Gardens

frozen glacial lake in a snowstorm

waterfall to Johnston Canyon

waterfalls in Glacier National Park

Our last hike to Hidden Lake, my favorite.

(as in my last vacation summary, all photos unedited and taken with my iPhone)

Vacation 2012 Anticipation

I'm really looking forward to getting away this Friday. Perhaps in a way that goes beyond typical pre-vacation excitement. It's been a while since I've felt such a desire and need to just escape. Cut myself off from my daily life, immerse myself in something different, but still remain within the familiar comfort of my family. Here are a couple pretty pictures of where we are headed.

(photos: 1, 2)

Bike Riding

When we were young, my dad would take my sister and me out for a bike ride once a week to pick up the Sunday paper. The corner convenience store right outside the neighborhood was the perfect distance away. But we always took the long way. Up, down, and back up again we rode, along the hilly contours ubiquitous and so characteristic of rural Massachusetts. There was a secret shortcut through the back, one that required the utmost bravery to offroad down a steep dirt path riddled with bulky, twisted tree roots. In my memories, each one of these Sunday mornings, the weather was always perfect. The wind through my hair, despite my helmet head, made me feel weightless. It wasn't until much, much, later - long after we stopped these bike rides - that I realized how much I loved them....

A few weekends ago, the three of us went out on a short ride through our subdivision. No longer on our childhood bicycles, my sister and I felt a bit wobbly riding these vintage and just-a-little-too-large-that-they're-a-little-scary bicycles my dad got for a total of $15 (for two bicycles!) from a police auction more than a decade ago. The roads were flat and we rolled slowly along the sidewalks. Good speeds for us to get our "bicycle legs" back.

And the weather was just like I remember.

Heart of Life

Recent facetime conversations with my sister while she was on a business trip in Canada.

My life has been so much better since you've been home (not just from Canada...)! To the only one who gets consistent blogposts (see 1, 2) around here, Happy Birthday. From the midlevel team.

Happy New Year!

I never fully believe it's the new year until I start school and work for the first time. In this way, 2012 has snuck up and surprised me today.

As for you, dear blog (and of course my multitudes of fans), I'm so sorry for having neglected you, leaving you rejected and forgotten. But no more of this! I think my frequency to write follows a negative parabolic pattern: no writing when I become too busy and no writing when I become too free. So good news! I'm back in school, guaranteeing at least a meager correspondence. Can we just be ok with that for now? Consider this my 2012 resolution.

As a brief recap, I finished my first semester of medical school, and of course in perfect timing, I performed in a few Christmas concerts the weekend before exams. I also got to see some very far-away friends who were able to make the pilgrimage back to Michigan every year-end.

I was conned into dog-sitting for a classmate and let's just say, that was perhaps one of the most trying weeks of my life (and my family's), even if the psychotically needy dog was pretty cute.

My family and I went to NYC to spend the week between Christmas and New Years with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmother - always such a good time though the dynamics and details change in both significant and subtle ways as we get older.

Maybe now you can understand why that I didn't have time to write. But perhaps to be fair, I shouldn't say "time to write" and instead I should say "spirit to write". I think I was much more focused on relaxing and enjoying the precious 2 weeks of holiday break, resting and absorbing all the good things that come with an extended period of minimal responsibility. Anyway, this is the stuff that I fall asleep to when life inevitably starts back up and startles me into submission. Nevertheless, I promise to be better this year.

PS. Sugar Bowl from New Orleans tonight! Geaux Blue!

In My Father's Garden

I've gone to my Dad's garden only a few times this summer. I usually whine and complain when I go because of the uncomfortable squatting, dirty hands, and damp shoes involved. But I selfishly reap all the benefits of my father's near-daily dedication and care; we've been eating his vegetables since early June. We've had broccoli, sweet potato greens, spinach, cucumbers, dill, sweet peas, zucchinis, yellow squash, chrysanthemum greens, and a whole slew of other Chinese vegetables. There are more pumpkins, winter melons, and cauliflowers (and even one broc-cauliflower!) growing. Right now the tomatoes are just starting to turn red and soon we'll be harvesting bags and bags of them.

June

August

Peony Season

The various stages of peony blossoms are what you'll see when you come over; though sadly, these fucshia ones have mostly wilted. However, the white ones are still in full bloom while the soft pink ones are only beginning to bud. We actually transplanted all of our tree peony plants from Massachusetts and of the flowers that grow in the yard, these are my parents' favorite.

Happy Monday!

In The Past Two Weeks, I...

...presented some work and hung out with my sister and cousin at a posh hotel in Phoenix.

...saw snow, geysers, and baby bears in Yellowstone National Park.

...reconsidered my opinion of Montana: it is gorgeous and I wouldn't be the only Michigan fan in the state.

...witnessed the beauty of the Grand Tetons. Everything looks better with a background of mountains.

...toured Salt Lake City and now am kind of in love with the city in the spring.

...hiked in the almost unimaginably structured but strikingly beautiful canyons and mountains of Zion National Park.

...admired the maze of hoodoos in Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands National Park.

...attested to the perfection of nature at Arches National Park.

Six states later, I'm back to being busy but I'm grateful for the opportunity to take this trip with my family. My dad especially has always wanted to make this tour and we are all glad we finally did. Also, twelve hours upon our return, I played violin as a friend married a goofy man who I remember meeting the night of their relationship's inception. Surely, a fulfilling past couple weeks.

(Photos all unedited and taken with my iPhone!)