"vacation"

Life is good. I've finally taken a deep breath, and stepped back and relaxed.

House hunting is on hold until end of March when Felipe gets back from Garden City. (He's currently out there working with a Family Medicine doctor for his rural rotation.) However when I was browsing the school newspaper I did find a house neighboring our favorite couple Randy and Hannah that I might check out. . . .

Serious wedding planning is on hold until July when Felipe finds out when he can take vacation, kind of hard to get married if your groom is in surgery:) I have spent every waking second that I'm not in clinic looking up wedding stuff on the internet. It's so much fun! Felipe says I will have seen every wedding dress in the entire world before I decide on one. The dress search begins next Saturday!

Fourth year planning for school is technically done, but I'm contemplating switching things up. Right now it is set up for Family Medicine, however I'm really enjoying Pediatrics. I would like to go into developmental pediatrics and work with kids with autism, cerebral palsy, adhd, and other special needs. Kind of a switch from the geriatric population. Well see. I have meetings set up with the department chair and one of the docs is already trying to recruit me for residency! Makes me feel special.

Oh, and the picture is some cable armwarmers I knitted up this year. I just knew as soon as I knit some wintery things the weather would perk up.

Best movie ever!!!

http://jezebel.com/359633/extended-sex-and-the-city-trailer-carrie-gets-jilted-lol

I can't wait!

Ouch!

I have been going about the past few weeks COMPLETELY wrong. Instead of this being the happiest time of my life it has been the most stressful. Between 30 hour calls, 80 hour school weeks, apartment hunting, house hunting, setting up my fourth year schedule, and planning a wedding I have most likely given myself an ulcer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptic_ulcer

Poor Felipe has been stuck in the middle of the frenzy and is probably wondering what in the world he has gotten himself into. I need to take a deep breath and take it easy. House hunting can wait until April when he gets back from Garden City. Definite wedding planning can wait until July when he finds out when he can take vacation time. Until then, the fun part of wedding planning only---searching through magazines and websites, talking to other brides, and attending friend's weddings for inspiration.

Tomorrow at noon one HUGE streser will be over: call and inpatient. Next week I have almost a full week of developmental peds, something I think I will thoroughly enjoy and wish was a feasible career option.

Happy Friday!

Tonight I asked Felipe to marry me. . . . . .

Eleven days ago, Felipe made me the happiest girl in the world when he got down on one knee and presented me with this gorgeous rock: I thought it was time to return the favor. So after much research and debate I decided upon on a PS3. Picking these things out is just as complicated as the 4-c's: cut, clarity, color, carat!
So in the parking lot of Target on SMP I took his hand, looked him in the eye, and asked if he would be my husband, and love me forver. Looks like he said YES!

More wedding shenanigans

Location, Location, Location. . . . . .

As neither Felipe nor I are regular church goers, I'm not leaning towards a church wedding. I have no clue what denomination we would choose - catholic? baptist? nondenominational?

Last Sunday I spent SEVERAL fun hours looking up wedding locations. Here's a few of my favorites, some are in the more affordable range:

American Jazz Museum- one of my friends attended a wedding reception here and said it was AWESOME.
http://www.americanjazzmuseum.com/?page=showcontent&content_id=30&action=display

Lawrence Union Pacific Depot - the outdoor/indoor option is a big plus
http://www.lprd.org/recreationfacilities/depot.shtml

Loose Park Rose Garden - just discovered this one linked on the Loose Park Mansion website. While the mansion is way out of budget, the rose garden sounds quite pretty.
http://www.kcmo.org/parks.nsf/web/GardenCenterShelter?opendocument

Pachamama's - Attended a wedding and reception at the location off of 23rd that was quite chic and elegant. There is a small area outside in back for the ceremony and the food was quite tasty.
http://pachamamas.com/catering.php

On another note, my cut&color went quite well yesterday. Just got an itsy bit trimmed off the bottom with some nice bangs. And it has some lovely subtle auburn highlights. Felipe approves:) I'll try to get some pics up soon.

8 hours down and only another 21 hours of call left to go. . . . . . . .SWEET!

Great house under the oak trees. . . . .

http://www.rentals.com/Home-Rentals/Display.aspx?ListingNumber=751809

Cute, cute, cute house, but unfortunately not our dream house. I love that it is old with hardwood floors, but has been updated with new sewage and windows to make it more efficient. There's an unfinished basement for storage and a cute porch in the back. Even a fenced in yard just in case felipe want's a little dog (maybe then he will finally quit picking on elo!) Cons: on Roe with a steep driveway making pulling in and out a litle difficult and the neighbors have a barking dog. I'm just afraid this is the best we are going to find and if we pass now it'll be gone once we look at other places. Such a dilemma!

"the garbers don't mess around. . . . "

That is my new favorite felipe quote. He thinks I am a little too obsessed wtih this wedding planning stuff, and need to just enjoy being engaged before we start thinking about the wedding. But I'm just so excited and I love magazines so much that I can't help it. Plus I've got about 100 magazines to make it through, thanks to all my soon-to-be-married friends.























So here are some cakes that I liked. I thought we could use custom guitar pics in the cupcakes with our monograms. And I know how much Felipe loves fruit (for the fruity cake), and then the simple white cake decorated with flowers is classic and beautiful (minus the big bouquets.) And if you take the topper off the blue cake I think it is just gorgeous. I love cherry blossoms and would love to have blue be one of our colors. Anyways, we already have someone interested in making our cake - the cupcakes are felipe approved which is no small feat:) But there is time for further research and no hurry to make a final decision.

hair

I have a hair cut/color tomorrow in Lawrence. Decided I needed to break it off with my current stylist. While he's fun to chat with and can cut an amazing fun baby bob, he only seems to do varying lengths of this same cut. And I am ready for something new. Hence, Kate Hudson. Decided that the upcoming nuptials called for LONG and beautiful hair, rather than the cute Katie Homes cut I was fixated on before. So I'm going to continue to grow it out, but get some fun face-framing layers and bangs that we see here to the left. As for color, I'm thinking some nice caramal and auburn highlights, close to my natural color so they can grow out without crazy roots.

Still loving my ring, its so much more beautiful (and BIG) in person. I'll be making my rounds to show it off as soon as I can. Got it sized last night so it fits perfectly:)

My family

Just wanted to share a quick pic of the Garbers since they will soon be merging with the Rosso family.

We've got gma & gpa on the left, my immediate family in the middle, and aunt, cousins, and their families on the right. And I've got on bright purple furry slippers, I just adore slippers in the winter.

Started Peds today, the people are so nice thus far. Maybe Peds is in my future? Ask me again Wednesday after I complete a 30+hour call. Blech! How can anyone spend that long in the hospital without going crazy?

As for wedding plans, I'm envisioning a May 2009 wedding. Poor felipe is still adjusting to the engagement and is not quite ready to discuss details or make plans. Maybe an Xbox 360 will change his tune?

And lastly, the dreaded toe. Can't decide if it is making improvements or not. The pain is better, but it bled some again today which totally freaked me out. I'm getting it rechecked on Wednesday.

exciting news

I would like to officially announce my engagement to the love of my life, Felipe Rosso. It all went down last night after a romantic dinner of broiled salmon and baked potatoes, a quick dessert of hot fudge sundaes with whipped cream, and an even quicker massage. I never thought he could pull off a surprise proposal - I've been expecting it for 3+ years, but somehow he managed to stun me senseless with a GORGEOUS rock the size of new york:
The brunch went off flawlessly. About a dozen people showed up and there was plenty of food and champagne to go around. Good times were had by all. Unfortunately I was too busy catching up with friends that I forgot to take pictures during the celebration. Here's some pre-brunch pics:

• Biscuits & scones.
• My new coffee mugs.
• Me all dolled up in my LBD with baby Ian.
• Engagement rose (felipe can be so romantic when he so chooses).

Other than that, the toe is still throbbing. I'm starting to suspect it might be broken:( It looks much, much worse that the pic I posted. No clue what I'm going to do on Monday when I have to wear shoes for Peds.

Brunch, babies, and bruised toes

Brunch. My first "official" hostessing event - how exciting! (I'm choosing not to count my impromptu kegger - what a mess, nor the myriad of girls nights in because while fun they don't quite live up to the martha stewart-style standard.)

On the menu:

• biscuits & gravy: if only I had returned to the land of meat-eaters before purchasing gravy, plain white biscuit gravy will have to suffice
• chocolate-chip scones: made fresh by me this morning!
• fresh fruit: oranges, 1 clementine, and bananas
• bloody mary bar with all the fixings
• mimosas: peach and regular
• coffee: with real half & half, mmmmmmmmmm

A simple menu - but who doesn't love biscuits & gravy? Stay tuned for fun party pics!

Babies. Today is my last day of Ob/Gyn, I'm off to take the shelf at noon and then an evening of romance. Can't wait!

Bruised toes. My toe doesn't look any better, but I got my first full nights sleep and was actually able to tolerate putting my foot under the covers. Its a step on the road to recovery.

My goals for today:

• wear a REAL shoe (no more flippies)
• walk normal (no more hunched over limping)

Still debating on whether to fill my pain meds. I might need it next week to handle being on my feet all day, but I'm really nervous it will make me loopy. I have such a low tolerance! Felipe still teases me about last time I had anesthesia - definitely don't want to say something silly in front of my peds attending.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURE AHEAD

I'm sure you have all heard about my toe drama by now, but as they say "a picture is worth 1,000 words" so here goes:

You know, it really doesn't look all that bad in the pictures. It's much more swiss cheese-like and purple in real life. Hopefully this is the end to my trips to the doctor (at least for this week!)

Today's medicine lession. . . . . .

"Chicken soup has been regarded as a remedy for centuries. The Egyptian Jewish physician and philosopher Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides) recommended chicken soup for respiratory tract symptoms in his 12th century treatise, reportedly drawing on classical Greek sources.

Chicken soup may have a number of beneficial effects for an individual with a cold. These could include actions as diverse as improving hydration and nutritional status and accelerating mucosal clearance. The nature of the direct cytotoxic actions on microorganisms are controversial. Another potential mechanism for beneficial effects could be an attenuation of the inflammatory response.

Chicken soup is not without hazard. Anaphylaxis, aspiration, and severe electrolyte disturbances all have been described as a result of chicken soup ingestion. An anti-inflammatory effect could increase the risk for secondary infection. The benefits of chicken soup, however, are widely acclaimed and have been the subject of several reviews, although the anecdotal nature of the clinical evidence supporting a benefit of chicken soup is well recognized. These benefits range from alleviation of symptoms of respiratory tract infection, to possibly improving aircraft fuel usage, although the data supporting some of these various claims are meager, and many of these reports lack scientific vigor. "

Source:Chicken Soup Inhibits Neutrophil Chemotaxis In Vitro. Barbara O. Rennard, BA; Ronald F. Ertl, BS; Gail L. Gossman, BS; Richard A. Robbins, MD, FCCP and Stephen I. Rennard, MD, FCCP. (Chest. 2000;118:1150-1157.)

For those of you who made it through all that medical mumbo-jumbo, here's your "reward." I, Melissa Garber, returned to the land of meat-eaters this evening by partaking in a HUGE bowl of spicy Lipton chicken noodle soup. It was made with love and hopefully it is the cure (along with a nice 10-day course of amoxicillan) to this yucky cold I seem to be stuck with.

p.s. i'm absolutely addicted to this new show I watched tonight - Gossip Girl! Anyone know where I can find all the episodes so I can get caught up?

cc: blech

I'm sick:(
I was tired all last week, going to bed before 9 every night. I attributed it to hard work, delivering babies isn't easy! But it all began catching up to me on Thursday when I could feel my lymph nodes beginning to swell. I was still optomistic that I could kick this bug on Friday when I woke up with a sore throat. But when I could only handle an hour of bargains on Saturday I knew something was amiss. I rested up the remainder of the weekend but still had to call in sick on my last day. Disappointing but necessary. So here I am back at home being doted upon by my sweet little bf. He picked up dinner (eggplant parmesan sandwich), took me for icecream (coldstone creamery), and helped carry my 2-tons of luggage up to my apartment.To celebrate his wonderfulness here are some of my fave felipe pics:

AOA induction

Med school prom (M2)









Puerto Vallarta









Vegas









Open Mic Night @ the Jazzhaus








Bday @ McCoys









Cocktail party








Fat elvis!

More nesting. . . . .

Wanted to throw up some quick picks of my two new sets of dishes. They are both Martha Stewart and are absolutely gorgeous! The pictures do not do them justice.

The blue on this set is the perfect Tiffany blue, and I just love the crackled finish. Way more beautiful than in the pics. I have a set of bowls and LARGE salad plates (large enough to work as dinner plates!)This set is called Ebony, but really looks nothing like the picture. Its not black all but more of a dark navy around the outer edge fading to a brownish tan towards the middle. Totally looks like fancy hand glazed ceramics. In this color I have a set of dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls. The bowls are HUGE and I'm thinking of using them for serving bowls. We'll see;)

This morning after rounds, I went to a garage sale in a local church's gymnasium. I totally scored! I'm am addicted to garage sales, I just am not familiar enough with kansas city to navigate their streets and find the good sales. Anyways, I cam home with a TON of treasures:

1. Dansko's, size 38 (my size!) cordovan color, almost new condition, %0.50 ---that's right fifty-cents! My feet have been killing me so bad I was about to shell out $90 for the EXACT same pair at Bob Jones shoes in KC. Lucky me!
2. Bowling ball, complete with bag and bowling shoes. I'm not exactly a bowler, but the ball is the perfect weight and this really cute shade of purple. How cool will I look bringing my own ball next time I go bowling?
3. Shawl. I love to be cuddled up in a blanket when I sit on the couch and knit or watch TV. This one has ruffles and wraps around me perfectly
4. Mugs. I found a set of 8 Corelle stoneware mugs for only $2! I love Felipe's little set of navy ones and drink out of them ALL the time. As often as we like to do dishes, the more mugs the better! This are a pretty blue and might match the darker set of ceramic dishes nicely
5. Purse. Big and brown and cute. Need I say more?
6. Serving dish. Curvy and red and unbreakable. Perfect for my upcoming brunch!

Next Saturday I am hosting brunch to celebrate my birthday and Felipe's match. I'll get to use some of my new treasures and see all my friends that I have been missing terribly. Stay tuned for pics. As for now, I must study some Ob/gyn.

Ciao!

EDIT: I think I'm all grown now. . . . .

For those of you who check this blog on a daily basis (is that anyone?) , I had posted this morning and I just wasn't my usual sunny self. This OB stuff is wearing me out and I'm trying to fight off the crud that is going around. So now that I have healed myself with a nap, a peanut butter-oreo milkshake, and cheese fries I'm fixing my post:)

My newest adventures into the land of kitchen appliances (currently my biggest weakness) are:

1) an icecream maker

The Cuisinart Icecream Makers "makes up to 1.5 quarts of icecream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, or frozen drinks in 20-30 minutes. Features easy-lock transparent lid and large ingredient spout."

It's a little cold right now for icecream, but I ordered it with my credit card points. You never know, it could be 80 degrees outside by the time it arrives. If you've got a great icecream recipe send it my way por favor!

2) a baby crockpot

"The 16-ounce Little Dipper chrome slow cooker by Crock Pot is perfect for parties and more! Features: keeps dips and sauces at perfect serving temperature for hours, includes recipes, size 5.1 x 6.7 x 6.71."

Can't wait! I'm becoming such a little homemaker. Hopefully Felipe and I can find the perfect little house next year. I must admit I have astoundingly high expectations:

• 2 bedroom
• 2 bathroom (his & hers)
• dishwasher
• hardwood floors
• basement
• fenced in back yard
• walking distance of KUMC
• pet friendly