M2- WEEK THIRTY SEVEN

♫ SCHOOL'S OUT.. FOR THE SUMMER! ♫

Well.. only sort of..

Classes are over for the school year- but now the serious studying begins. I'll be taking my Step 1 USMLE Boards (United States Medical Licensing Examination) in 35 days (June 10th). This test is the first of a series of examinations to prove I am a competent physician. This test also holds a lot of weight to residency programs so it will be one of the most important of my career. (Thank goodness I didn't know the insane number of standardized tests I would take when I took my first one in 3rd grade! I would have been so overwhelmed!) I will be putting in about the same amount of time/day as I do during the school year, but my days will be entirely studying on my own instead of lectures. In fact, after 13 years of public school, 4 years of undergraduate, and 2 years of medical school, I am done spending my days in lecture halls. Notice, I didn't say done with lecture halls.. but lectures will now only be a minority of my week. Weird! It doesn't feel real. I am twenty three years old and I've spent nineteen years in school.

As you may guess, I celebrated the end of school with a new project! T and I have been throwing around the idea of converting our flower bed to a small patio for a while now. One way or another, it needed some serious attention. We talked about redoing the landscaping but we decided that low-maintenance works best for us. We had some super weedy weeks last summer (sorry neighbors!). We have been the eyesore on the strip for a while now. If you know me well, you know that I do a ridiculous amount of research before I start a project. In some ways, that held true here. I've been watching prices for patio furniture and stone for months. Thankfully for us, the weekend we wanted to do the project had the lowest prices for materials yet! Yay for good timing! However, we did purchase an extra 8 stones because I created the plans too quickly. Whoops!

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at a local boyscout fundraiser and then borrowed my parents van and (in the frigid weather) headed to Menards! Although it was cold, (windchill of 33ºF and sprinkling) the wet ground made the plant removal much easier. We spent a couple hours on the project and then took my parents out to lunch at El Aguila in return for lending us their van. We finished up this phase of the project after lunch but we still have a few steps to go: (1) remove the dish (2) add the last stone (3) seal the stones (4) fill sand in between the stones (5) wait for our lawn to regrow!

Other highlights from this weekend:

[a] T and I babysat our cute next-door-neighbors Saturday night. Sometimes I think T and I enjoy their toys more than they do! We are going to miss them when they move in a few weeks!

[b] My sister is going to her first-choice for graduate school this fall!! We are stoked for her! T is already plotting a trip to visit.

[c] A picture from lunch that I mentioned above.

[d] We had a farewell dinner for my brother Friday night. R is headed east for the summer to work his tail off. We are going to miss him but we are excited for this new adventure!

Have a fabulous week! And don't forget- next Sunday is Mother's Day!

xo,
Krista