playing catch up !

.....so i haven't blogged in a while and am playing big time catch up! things that have happened in the interim:

1) WE MATCHED AT UF for Internal Medicine, our TOP choice and are absolutely over the moon elated!!!!! this means so much to us for so many reasons (see the post below). I am overwhelmed with gratitude towards my unabashedly supportive husband and our family and close friends. Without all of your love and support, I never would have even gotten half this far. Although it doesn't even come close to capturing the depth of my appreciation....thank you.


2) Our beautiful wonderful Margaret visited from NYC!!! Coffee dates, poolside time, and our vegan chocolate cake tradition (thank you Top!) made for the perfect little slice of heaven. We spent alot of time drooling over our new obsession with Twilight (*eyeroll) and her upcoming adventure to Ireland!!! Oh how we love you Margaret, you shine from within.....no matter how far you travel....you are always with us :)


3) We've started the process of becoming first time homeowners!!! We are currently living in the house that Ryan grew up in and while we absolutely adore the house, we were (until a few weeks ago) unsure of where we were going for my residency training. Now that we know....it's full speed ahead. We've already started remodeling and are knee deep in home projects. I love it! It is such a fun experience growing as a couple as we work together to make this home ours......we are both so excited to be homeowners and to continue our journey together!!!

4) We participated in National Rebuilding Day! Ryan sits on the board for a fabulous non-profit called Rebuilding Together which has a branch in North Central Florida. Their focus is offering home repairs/renovations to low income families in our community and around the country (check out www.rebuildingtogetherncf.org). Ryan organized one of the Gainesville sites and recruited friends from work and his wife to help with the project. I just have to brag for a second on how proud I am of my amazing husband and his huge heart. I was so impressed by his commitment and work ethic and the efforts put in by so many around town. I got goosebumps seeing how so many people were willing to take time out of their schedules to participate and really make a difference in the lives of people around them. It was such an amazing day.


.....thats all for now! i vow to at least TRY and be more on top of this whole posting thing :)

...final countdown...

in a little under 2 weeks....we will find out where we will be going for my residency in Internal Medicine. as many of you know, we are hoping to stay here at the University of Florida for a whole host of wonderful reasons....a fabulous program with amazing physicians and residents, Ryan's job that he loves dearly, and of course our wonderful friends and family. i'm not sure that either one of us ever imagined that we'd become Gainesville lifers....i know i sure didn't....but the thought of this becoming a reality is so exciting to me in a way that i cannot explain. i love this town to my very core. i love the weather, the beautiful green that surrounds us, the progressive thinking of the people that live here. there are things i don't love of course but why belabor the point.

the point is...i've spent the last....well, entirety of my life....working for a degree that i will be receiving this May. and we'll find out in a little under 2 weeks where the next part of this journey will take us. words fail at capturing how lucky i am for the support of my amazing ryan. while other people's wives are busy having jobs and actually contributing to the financial soundness of the household....ryan has singlehandedly carried us through. he has stood by my side for every major decision i've made both personally and professionally and he has lifted me up on days that i thought i just couldn't do it anymore. he is, simply put, amazing. he is and always has been my rock. i know that no matter what happens, i will be ok because i have him.

so....march 19th is dubbed match day. i will be handed an envelope inside which my fate lies. i will get up in front of my classmates and announce where i am going for residency. stressful, yes. exciting, yes. finally.....hell yes :) say your prayers for us!

laissez les bons temp rouler!

 

our friend Kyle turned the big 30 on Febrary 21st and his wife threw a Mardi Gras style surprise party in his honor. here we are celebrating :) laissez les bon temps rouler!

full speed ahead!

its so funny how many times i've been asked "how's married life treating you??" in the last 3 months.  i mean, i guess its an entirely fair question. i DID just get married.  i think, however, that the concept that you get married one day and then wake up the next day and suddenly everything is completely different is not only strange....its absolutely horrifying.  luckily for me, my husband ryan is the same man as my fiance and boyfriend ryan.....and that's just how i like it :)  he's more or less the same guy i fell in love with 10 years ago and try as i might, i'm still the dorky girl he made eyes at in math class. the last three months of 2008 flew....i'm talking lightspeed.  the wedding, the honeymoon, the holidays and bam....2008 was gone.  before i even knew what hit me, it was all over.  i guess thats sort of a lie since i remember telling ryan at one point that i felt like one of those little balls in the arcade pinball machines.  i felt like i was bouncing around from event to event, dinner here, a get together there and was spinning by the time it was all said and done. the end of the year had its way with me and i was quite happy when 2009 showed its lovely face.  its been nice to slow down a little. not as many obligations and things to do. we've managed to get some considerable work started on the house - if for no other reason than its serving as a tangible way to ground me again....bring me back down to earth after all the craziness going on around me. i'm looking forward to keeping that forward momentum going.  in many ways, ryan and i have been putting so many things on hold until we find out where my residency will take us.  he's been so supportive of this journey i've chosen and some days i grapple with this immense feeling of guilt for making him wait with me.  but, we are so so close!!!  so, we woke up on January 1st and we both just threw our hands up with the waiting....i can't keep my life, our life, on hold anymore.  as i look out over 2009, i see that as a recurring theme. no more life on hold.  way more full speed ahead :)

And we have lift off....

It has been one HECK of a year for the two of us.  Move...check! Get married...check! Work like crazy....check! Residency interviews.....check! Between Facebook and Myspace, email and phonecalls, life catches up with you (ahem....us!) and its hard to keep in touch with the people that you love most.  It shouldn't be this way - In our perfect world, life would be like our wedding day - a room filled with all of our most favorite people (everywhere we turned there was someone we love!!).  Alas, reality sets in and life goes on.  This blog is an attempt to keep in touch and up to date with all of you in a way that goes beyond what is possible with everyone's busy schedules.  In this holiday season we are reminded, yet again, how blessed we are by a life filled with such wonderful individuals.  We hope you'll have some fun here....leave us comments....get a good laugh at our silly antics....and just generally enjoy the ride.  If you're reading this....it's because we love you....thank you for all that you do to make our life a richer more colorful place.  Cheers!

best. night. ever.

i've been slacking on the posts. hardcore and to a ridiculous extent.  partially because i haven't been able to sum up my thoughts about the last few weeks of my life in an eloquent enough fashion to share....but mostly because i've been too busy enjoying married life!  our wedding week, day, night (all of it!!!) was literally the best night of my life.  i know that probably gets said alot, especially by people like me who tend to speak in hyperbole....but seriously. i lack the ability to express in spoken word how beautiful it all was. yes, all the tangible details were exactly what we wanted but more than that. i've never been filled with such a sense of peace and love.  i looked around all day and just felt so blessed to be holding the hand of my best friend, the love of my life...and to be surrounded by all the people we care most about in this world.  i will truly cherish it for the rest of my days.  

rather than fumble for my own words, i feel compelled to share amanda's (my best friend and matron of honor) toast because to me, it sums up what the night was all about.  i held my composure pretty well all night....until the toast.  with champagne in one hand, and a soggy handkerchief in the other, the tears flowed i've never smiled harder.  so here it is.

"Trying to boil down what I wanted tos ay about Martina and Ryan and how happy I am for them today has been a real challenge.  I've known both of them since we were 14 - which has been more than a little while now! - and I've had the privilege of watching them grow and mature as people and as a couple.  I cannot tell you what an honor it is, Martina, that you asked me to stand up with you at this beautiful wedding today and to be be a part of the beginning of your married life together.

A lot of you ahve already heard the story of how Martina and I met - the sound bites are the old teen club Illusions and dancing on a pool table.  Following that, we became pretty much inseparable in the way that only teenage girls can, despite the fact that she was on the nerdy Orange team and I - and her future groom - were on the supercool Green team at Eastside.  Fast forward to senior year and boyond and our relationship, much like the two of us, had matured and for me has been very defining.  She is a kind, caring, brilliant woman - who can go from silly to deep in a heartbeat and she's been one of my primary sounding boards for pretty much every major decision I've made since I met her.  Over the years, she's seen me through good times, and some really hard times - and I hope she knows how much I appreciate her for that.  Perhaps what sums it up best is a quote from a card that Martina actually gave me recently: 'We are friends for life.  When we're together the years fall away.  Isn't that what matters? To have someone who can remember you? To have someone who remembers how far you've come?' That's so us and I know it always will be.

I failed to mention before that as 14 year olds, 18 year olds and yes, 26 year olds, we've spent a fair amount of time talking about boys.  Our needs for a significant other evolved over the years from "he's so cute!" to "he's so fun!" to "I think he's the one!".  My answer took a while to get to.  As it turns out, Martina's answer to all of these needs was - and has been! - Ryan.  You can't talk about Martina without talking about Ryan.  Ryan, who lived right across the street from me during high school, has always been fantastic.  When I first met Ryan, he was the cute kid who was bizarrely good at math with a questionable haircut.  Then came baseball, then came the band - which I have to say really missed out by not signing the girl across the street to be the front woman!  And he's become a wonderful man creating a wonderful life for himself and his family.  But whatever else he's done, he's always been Martina's rock - and she's been his.  Their love for each other has in no small part enabled them to become the fabulousness they are.  And since she's the closest thing I've ever had to a sister, I will always love him for that.

We all get a first love.  But the fact that Martina and Ryan's first loves are also the loves of their life is so romantic and so extraordinary.  And despite the fact that I'm not actually related to the bride or the groom, I feel like I'm at a family wedding today.  And looking around at the smiles and faces around the room, I can tell I'm not alone.  There is so much love in the room and Ryan and Martina, its all for you. So everyone, please join me in wishing the newly-pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Murphy a long and happy lifetime together in marriage, love, and partnership! CHEERS!"

girlfriends make my world go round

i was reminded this weekend, yet again, what a fantastically lucky girl i am.  i am truly truly blessed.  i am surrounded by a group of women who consistently and without fail, make me a better human being.  i was reminded this weekend of the undeniable strength of girlfriends.  girls who have been there for me during my life's darkest moments and who i know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, i could call on in any situation life presents.  we all came together on this particular weekend to celebrate a happy moment, though. i'm getting married to a man. a man who makes me happier than any person i've ever met and who allows me to be me. all day every day with no questions asked.  the girls gathered for the bridal shower and we turned the weekend into an excuse for girl time....again, no questions asked.  it was better than any wedding gift ryan and i will receive....the opportunity to have all the girls i love the very most in this world in one room at one time.  it meant so much to see them, each representing different parts of me, together at last and having oh so much fun. it reminded me that at the end of the day, when everything fades away....jobs, cars, things.....we are each defined by the people with whom we choose to surround ourselves with.  for me this means, that i am defined by physical therapists (phd to be!), nurses, lawyers, physicians in training, social workers, lovers, artists, writers, dancers, and those who chose to live their lives in such a beautiful way filled with compassion, loyalty, and truth that i can't help but be inspired.  i never dreamed i'd be so lucky. girlfriends make my world go round :)