I'm foregoing posting the other pictures that I took today to post these in honor of my great aunt Betty Aden, who passed away this evening at the age of 84. She was and still is dearly loved by my family and me and will be greatly missed. These photos are of the card that she sent me for my graduation from medical school. I came to relate to Betty more with my move to Utah. Rather than think this an odd decision, she was very encouraging of my moving out west for a little while on my own, as she herself had gone to California on her own when she was younger.

May 15, 2009

Dear Angie,

Really proud of you and may all your patients benefit from your "doctoring." God be with you through the next stages of your life.

With love,

G. Aunt Betty

I think that I spent at least the first nine months of my internship having a difficult time seeing my patients as people because I was so exhausted and overworked and felt like there were so many demands on me all the time. But about a month ago something changed and I couldn't be angry or irritated with people any more because I saw my family members in every one of them. Remembering cards like Betty's is what has allowed me to continue to try to act with integrity and love even when it's hard. If I become a good doctor, it will be because I had so much love and support from my family behind me.

Thank you, Betty, for your love and support. We will miss you.

Yep, snow again

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Living Traditions Festival

Holland, Ann, and I went to the Living Traditions festival tonight, which features crafts, music, and most importantly, food from many different cultures. The nice warm weather of two days ago was replaced by freaking cold when a thunderstorm came through last night. This is a picture of Ann and me drinking steaming hot chai from the Pakistani booth. I never thought I'd say this but I miss the oppressive heat of home!

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A rare almost-action shot of Jipsy:



It's really sad when you're so tired you just can't keep your eyes open...even while trying to catch a feathery thing.



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Fillings are not fun

Nearly two months after he told me I needed them, I finally made it to the dentist to get two fillings. Can you tell which side got the nerve block?

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special surprise

Here is what greeted me when I finally came home tonight:


The special thing about this picture is the tiny box on the right hand side of my porch. All of the stores that sell my makeup are pretty far from where I live in Salt Lake and I've gotten to the point where - especially if I can get free shipping - it's just much easier to order things and have them delivered than to actually go get them myself. I will usually get them weeks faster.


"Fragile - it must be Italian or something!" It's a box from sephora.com, carrying refills of my Bare Minerals foundation and Smashbox primer, along with some free samples. I'm particularly excited about the Diorshow mascara.



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Return of the Snails!

It's finally warm and the snails are back out after the rain.


There are little wet paw prints next to the snail's track from where Jipsy obliviously stepped on it in her mad dash to the door.


There was an earthworm earlier too but I didn't think the picture would be quite as nice. I felt like it had been years since I'd seen one- I guess when you get older you don't pay as much attention to the ground. :)

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more culinary adventures

Holland and I ventured over to West Valley yesterday to partake of a Mexican restaurant that came highly recommended by a friend. The margaritas were good by Utah standards and my fish tacos were great. It was definitely authentic - the screen above Holland's head is showing el futbol and the lower screen has a stage in front of it where some Mexican men are singing karaoke in Spanish. It was a lot of fun.

I got off work early-ish today, so of course I slept all afternoon. Holland had to work late but when we got off we went to Brewvies, which is my favorite place in the world. We saw Date Night and I thought it was hilarious. By the end, I still hadn't finished my rather large glass of hefeweizen and I told Holland that I couldn't finish it because I felt too full. He told me to think of all the poor children in Africa.

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nom nom nom!

My team has been having a pretty rough couple of days at work. I left for a little while this morning to go to my clinic at the University (I'm currently working at a private hospital across town), so on the way back I picked up some cupcakes from Mini's. Their slogan is "Mini's cupcakes make you happy!" I bought an additional single chocolate cupcake for me and they handed it to me in a little tiny cup that only covered the paper part. I stuffed it in my mouth as soon as I got in the car and ended up with icing smashed into my scrub pants. Happiness!

And then, after work, like a good cat momma, I stopped by the grocery store to buy Jipsy food because I'd used the last of it this morning. I'd fed her plenty mind you and she was NOT by ANY MEANS starving. When Holland came to pick me up to go to the gym, he noticed her rifling through the grocery bags so he put the cat food in the cat food drawer where it would be nice and safe. Here's what greeted us when we got back:

That is for everyone who says aw poor Jipsy whenever I talk about how fat and bad she is. She IS fat and bad. I mean, how long do you think she worked to accomplish that?

And the tomato soup connoisseur. =)

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Intern hang out night

We collectively decided that we need to socialize more, so tonight we got together at Squatter's. Left to right are Krishna, Lauren, and Mahsoud.

Work has been busy the past couple of days but I'm off tomorrow. I will probably spend most of the day sleeping, but with any luck I might get a couple of productive things done too.

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Happy Mom's Day!

I spent most of today going through boxes from my closets. I went for a quick run since it's so nice and finally warm outside. Then my friend Ann and I had Mexican and margaritas. Afterwards we felt disgustingly full, so we decided to walk to the Temple since it was just a couple of blocks away. I'd never been inside the gates of the complex and it is really beautiful inside, although I imagine that post-margarita isn't exactly the way you're supposed to visit.


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I got done at the hospital early this morning - like ten! So I came home and slept for a while. Then I woke up and got gelato and went to a thrift store.

This pic is for all you fellow former band nerds out there- oh nostalgia!



And I bought this great pocketbook for $7.




Oh yeah, and this is SERIOUSLY what Jipsy does all. day. long. Here, she is actually scratching in the window with both paws but I caught her at the wrong moment.


Other than all this excitement, I spent the rest of my night going for a run, then snacking on the couch while catching up on the past FOUR episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Surely I can do something productive tomorrow during my off day?

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Call room

Tonight is my last night ever to take floor cross cover (covering all the Internal Medicine patients in the hospital at nighttime), thank God. Perhaps I will survive this year after all?

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Pre-flight checklist

I just dropped Holland off at the airport for his red-eye flight to Mexico (via Atlanta) for his brother's wedding. Through no small feat, he managed to get three days off this weekend to go. I, sadly, am not going to the beach in Mexico but rather spending the night on call at the hospital tomorrow.

Before he left, we got a late dinner at Squatter's Brew Pub. Note the Cinco de Mayo decorations in the background. Holland is having a beer but I'm sticking to water as I'm still recuperating from a 24hour stomach bug. I'll spare y'all the details.

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Green thumb

Holland is sprouting tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries from seed. The tomatoes are exploding and he is terribly excited.





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