Apartment Searching...

Now that we both know we're heading to Pittsburgh, we stumble upon the hard part... finding a place to live!  Pittsburgh is an interesting city of neigborhoods, each with there own unique personality.  I have been talking back and forth with some of the students out there to get a feel of the different spots to live, and I think we have it narrowed down to either Squirrel Hill or Shadyside.  Oakland is the neighboorhood that the Universities are located in and the hospitals are in.  Fortunately, Paul will have a parking pass and will be able to park at the hospital each day, but I will not have that ability.  My classes are going to start around 8AM, where Paul will most likely have to be into the ERs around 6AM.  Perhaps I'll become an early bird and do some early morning studying, but most likely, I will end up bussing back and forth from class.

At the moment I am trying my hardest to look for apartments in Pittsburgh from my small computer in Wisconsin.  It's been a difficult and time consuming task, but it needs to be done.  Our schedule is so packed for the next few months with our Europe vacation, that I really want to get the apartment signed before we go abroad.  I start work June 1st, and we will get back from Europe in late April.  I think I might even head out to Pittsburgh during the second look weekend to meet with faculty, which pushes my return home even closer to my start date.  It would be nice to be have a lease signed before we have to move so all of the June 1st contracts aren't gone already.  So, in order to do that, I've been spending a lot of time in the search, and I am going to fly out to Pittsburgh next weekend to see the places I've been looking at.  Fortunately, I will be able to stay with a current student, Emily, who said I could use her apartment's spare room.  I cannot even explain how much money that is going to save me!!  I owe her so much! She's such a sweetheart!  I'm going to fly out of Madison and back for a really reasonable fare.  Paul is in Mexico right now spending time with Kathy and his brothers. He had quite a time getting down there because his flight from Madison was delayed and he missed his connection on Detroit, this is after he fought with the airline company about his return flight.  Paul booked his flight with frequent flier miles, so they've been putting him through a lot of hoops and shifting his return flight around like crazy!  He sent me a picture which I thought was adorable from mexico, UPMC!

My plan is to take a bunch of pictures and videos of the different apartments I see while in Pittsburgh next weekend and then when he gets back, we'll have to make our decision of where we want to sign for next year.  It would be so nice if we can get a June lease rather than something that starts August 1st, which are far more common!!

This weekend I was able to come back to Seymour to spend time with family, and Grandma and Grandpa VB.  Mom and I had a great time with Grandma VB on Saturday, we watched the residents go bowling which was really entertaining, then we watched Man vs. Food on the travel channel.  Grandma was being really funny, after she saw the 6lb chili cheese dog, she said "I don't know if he should eat it, or throw it out..."  One time the resident really missed all of the pins bowling, she leaned over and said "Well, at least they don't have to pick up any pins..."  Hahah, it was really fun to spend time with her, she was in a great mood.  Tonight we went out to Jackson Point with Uncle Ray, Bonnie, and the Koeppel's.  It was so nice to see everyone and visit.  Uncle buck met us out there too. 

Tomorrow I have to head to Madison for work.  I work tomorrow over the noon hour, Tuesday and Thursday I babysit and Friday I jump on the plane!  This next month is going to get away on me... a lot is happening all at once!  I also make a promise with Paul that if I would loose three pounds he would gain 3 lbs.  It's hard for him to eat enough food to keep up with all of his running.  I'm going to have to excercise a lot this week to keep up with him!  Tomorrow I'm going to head to anytime fitness and when I'm hanging with Drew I'm going to do workout videos like I used to...  it will be good for Europe!  I got some new clothes for Europe this week and I'm excited to start packing!  Ahhh, so much to do!

MATCH DAY!!

This has been one of the craziest days in the history of our relationship.  There was so much riding on the paper that was hidden in Paul's envelope...  I'll just let the video do the talking.  My mom was able to watch it from her office in Green Bay, and Laura J was streaming from her cubical!

We had such a great morning, I was so overwhelmingly excited after Paul read off "University of Pittsburgh".  We can finally get moving on things and our future.  I am looking forward to looking for someone to spend my summer rotation with and starting to brush up on their research.  I will be attending the second look weekend the day after we get back from our trip to Europe.  It's going to be busy, but it will be the only time I can stay with a studen host before renting my own apartment.  I can't believe that I'm starting at square one and all of the boys are off to their residencies.

Here is Brian's match...

Anna and Brian are going to finally have the chance to be together in the twin cities.  I'm thrilled for those two being able to start together as a newly engaged couple!  Wedding bells in the future... now they can plan their wedding with some concrete ideas of where Brian will be sporting around the ER!

And last but not least, Foley's match...

I am so proud of all the roomies at Le Chateau.  We have a lot of places to visit now, we can make trips to the twin cities and Boston. Only one other person in Paul's class matched to Pittsburgh in Emergency medicine, so we'll be flying slightly solo out there!  Tonight we're going to go celebrate the great news of the match with the rest of the class. It's one of the few times we can see everyone and spread our congratulations!

Kathy emailed me some pictures of the event, they turned out great!

Paul and Foley in their fresh Anesthesia tees! UPMC and Harvard, nice work!

Pointing to Pittsburgh on the Match Map!

Kathy, Jack, Paul and I.  So excited and relieved after the ceremony!

Match Week...

Today we found out that Paul "matched" into a program(s)!  We have no idea where the program is or if it's advanced or categorical.  I know we were both a little concerned that if Paul matched advanced there would be the chance that he would have to scramble for a preliminary medicine year (or preliminary surgery year, eeek!). 

It's such a relief to know that Paul is matched and set into a program.  Now he can relax instead of calling around to find a prelim year.  Whew...

This kid is going to be an Intern.  Check out the book in his hands "Choosing a Medical Specialty". 

Nothing else too exciting happening in comparison to that great news!  I've been doing a lot of working and hanging out with Grandma T.  I made black bean and spinach lasagna last night which she really enjoyed.  Tonight we're going to have left overs and I think that Becca and I might go get a margarita or something.  There's a Hilton promotion going on right now which gives you Hilton points for affiliated restaurants.  I'm going to try to hit up Wando's and Jordy's big ten to cap out my points!

One week...

Today is Thursday, March 10th... meaning we have exactly one week until Match Day!   It will be a very slow week I am assuming because everyday is one day closer to the big Thursday we have been waiting a year for.  I have been using Sarah's advice of imagining myself in each scenario... Pittsburgh, MCW, Minnesota, Rochester, Mayo, Michigan, Wisconsin.... It will be a great opportunity for Paul and I with each potential match result.  It's just so hard not to know.  I think after the match rank lists are finalized, the waiting until match day is the worst, but you're literately doing nothing but waiting.  Everything submitted is official and there is no going back...

Paul has been taking off his chain links and humored me in letting me take a video.  Last night I met Laura J out at Greenbush Bar which was a perfect little spot.  I'm upset I didn't know about the hidden gem!  The pizza is great and the atmosphere is comfy and reminds me of home.  Paul met us after he was done taking call at Meriter to finally meet Laura J which we have been trying to set up for a long time now.  We of course relived memories of Hawaii, chatted about live in general and I caught up on all the Alzheimer's research news!  We also planned our next dates, including the infamous Seymour Burger Days!  I think I'll have to come home from school that weekend because it's our 5 year high school class reunion.  I can't believe I've already been out 5 years... weird!

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent!  I have decided to give up chips, haha, such a weird thing to give up. I am also trying to limit my candy intake to once a week.  Last night I had a juicy amount of candy, so I guess I can't have candy again until Wednesday!  It is hard to think of something manageable and practical to give up this Lent because we will be in Europe for a good portion of Lent and also for Easter.

Today I am hanging out with my favorite buddy Drewski!  I was able to get Erik's Anytime Fitness key access, so I'm going to try to swing by Anytime Fitness today after babysitting.  I need to get in shape before vacation and get ready for shorty shorts season!  I went shopping the other day and wondering when shorts (like 1/8 the size of jeans) cost $50??  Yikes!  I really liked some shorts at Abercrombie and wanted to vomit thinking about spending over fifty bucks on them...  I will have to make at least one investment in a good pair of shorts for vacation, so I will snoop for a coupon online and then perhaps go in and make the steep purchase...

ONE WEEK.  One week from today... I'll run to that tonight!

Kelli comes to Madison!!

After getting back from Manhattan, I was able to do a lot of babysitting and hanging out with Grandma. Thursday I hung out with Drewski all day and Friday I was able to take a day to get some organizational paperwork done, go for a run, and relax.  Friday night I spent some time with Grandma and then hung out with Paul.

With the match rapidly approaching I thought it would only be fitting to make a countdown chain, like kids make when they are counting down to Christmas, haha!  It's pretty intense, I really worked the magic with this art project.  I was so excited I had to bring it over Friday morning before Paul went to work, hah!  Paul took the comment on the first chain link wrong and thought it was a plee for a ring, ahah, he was a little taken back by that misinterpretation. Classic.  I was able to go for a long run on Friday and now I'm back on schedule with my half marathon training.  We'll see if I can keep it up!

Saturday I had a long day of sitting.  I hung out with Grandma all afternoon and then babysat until 1AM.  It was a good time and fun day babysitting.  I made some delish cookies for Grandma Tess which she said were "almost as good as hers".  I also whipped up some homemade spaghetti which Grandma said "might even be better than hers"...hah.  It was too classic.  We had a good dinner.  I guess when I left she told her daughter that I would make a good wife someday, because I was a good cook in the kitchen. HAH!  I hope she's right!

The best part of Saturday came after babysitting, where I was able to meet up with my long lost DC roomie!  Kelli was in town interviewing for the Biomedical Engineering PhD program in Madison!  I met her at the EssenHaus around 1AM.  It was so nice to see her face again!  It has been way too long!  We caught up quickly and exchanged all of our next adventures and new plans with graduate school on the horizon.  It will be fun to see where we both end up next year.  She has a lot of great offers on the table including Duke and Michigan.  She's waiting to see if she got into Wisconsin, but that also might be a great option.  We were talking about the hard decisions and deciding where to go to school based on a bunch of different factors including prestige, funding, location, people, and labs.  We were also chatted about the added complication of factoring in significant others into school decisions. In the end, I think we will both end up in a place that is right, and that we'll be very happy with.  Unfortunately, I think we'll have to be apart again, but we will have decent incomes which will allow some traveling and weekend splurges! Yay!

Walking down to Georgetown with a Starbuck in hand!

Today Kelli and I went out to Panera for coffee and bagels to relive some DC memories.  Paul joined us after church and they were able to finally meet!  Kelli was there at the very beginning of our relationship when we were doing long distance from DC while barely dating!  They practically know each other because I've been telling stories for two years now.  I'm glad they finally met!  After the coffee break, we went to the new Target in Madison which opened today, and back to my house for my signature Alyce's Chicken Caesar Salad!  I hung out with Grandma for a little bit while Kelli wrote up some thank you emails.  We had to go to the airport after that and say our good-byes... it was much too short, but hopefully we'll reunite soon!  If Madison apartment shopping is on the horizon, I'm sure we'll cross paths soon!  I want to go out to Colorado and do some mountain hiking, that would be an absolute blast!  Maybe once Kelli and I get back from our respective trips to Europe!

Feels good to spend time with friends, new and old... I wouldn't trade my friends and roomies for the world!

Manhattan... The freakishly tall city...

I have a lot to catch my blog up on!  We didn’t have internet while in Manhattan, so I have to cover all of that ground in one blog post!  They days have been jam packed since getting back from vacation, so there is a lot to type about!

Manhattan

We had such a good time in NYC.  I was not nearly as familiar with NYC as DC, but all of our travel plans went off without a hitch.  When we got there we spent some time walking around Times Square and were able to get a feel for how many people were out.  We spent some time unpacking in the Milf (Milford) and then crashed early.  We didn’t get much sleep because the bed was nice and small, and the Green Day Broadway musical fans were screaming most of the night. 

On Sunday we had our grand tour.  We left early to find some place to grab a coffee and ended up at Fluffy’s café which was cute.  We ventured down to get to the tour and turns out the tour started at 10AM and not 10:30 as they originally said, WHAT?! Thank goodness we were early!  The tour was great, it gives such a broad overview of the city in general and takes you to all of the photo opportunity sites in one day without a bunch of metro or walking.  We saw Wall Street, Central Park, Dakota Building, Twin Tower construction site, Chinatown, and the list continues!  We stopped for lunch and a NYC Water Taxi ride down by Southside Seaport.  The water taxi was a fun addition to the tour.  Last time I went with Kelli, we didn’t go out onto the boat.  We had “Lee the MC” at the microphone rapping all of the tourist facts and commentary.  He was a great addition to the trip and everyone loved him.  We took a ton of pictures with the statue of liberty, Brooklyn bridge, and the NYC skyline/waterfront.  It was awesome.  Then some Brazilian guys on the pursuit wanted their pictures taken with Lyssa and I, haha!  They probably haven’t seen blonde hair before and were amazed by our antics for some reason.  Little do they know that we’re from northern Wisconsin, nothing too crazy about that.  We had a good laugh with the guy from Turkey who was translating for them and then got a bite to eat.  The day was excellent!  The best part was the ending however, Junior’s Cheesecake!  Mmmmhmm, soo good.  They gave us a painfully big portion, but it was worth every bite.  We headed back to the Milf to watch the Zenith before heading to bed.

On Wall Street!

Rockefeller Plaza during the tour!

Empire State (of mind) Building!

Madison Square Park...

"Lee the MC and the Statue of Lib-er-ty..." (rapped)

Monday we took a day to walk down 5^th avenue and do some shopping.  I was on a mission to find a hat for the day and found one in a small shop on 5^th Ave.  We went into the Trump building and the Nike Store.  We took pictures outside of Tiffany’s and other expensive stores.  It was a pretty good day.  The  Indian food place that Paul had found for us closed at 3:00PM to prepare for dinner meals, and we got there at 3:05. DANG!  So we walked home and stopped at Macy’s on the way back.  That store is absolutely massive.  It’s slightly ridiculous. We both were at the point now that we knew we couldn’t buy anything because nothing more would fit into our carry-on luggage, so we decided to kick it old school and try on prom dresses!  Haha, this was a brilliant idea, and resulted in great pictures.  I tried on a white one to scare Paul and make myself look extra pasty!  Lyssa had a bootylicious red one which was a wild and tight fitting masterpiece.  After that, we went up to the top level (or close to it) and ate some soup at Au Bon Pain.  Every time I see that restaurant chain I think of Kelli, because we shared so many lunch dates there while at NIH.  It’s such good food, and the best part is that they have one in Pittsburgh, another perk for Pitt!  We made it through 5^th Ave alive and without maxing out our credit cards, so it was a very successful day! 

Monday night however was a different story, hah!  It can be summed up by saying “Broadway Comedy Club”.  We went to the comedy club and sat down.  We ordered one of the best drinks for the cost, which happened to be a Long Island.  With a two drink minimum, we ordered Mai Tais for the second one to bring us back to Hawaii.  The comedy was all very good, and the nerd stole the show I’m pretty sure.  We finished the night in terrible style with “ask the comic”, which I interpreted to be “stump the comic”.  It’s probably because it sounded so much like stump the Karnack, which we all know to be our favorite seventh grade daily news game.  So, feeling the Long Islands, we went back into the room to record a podcast with the comedians.  I asked them what a cheese curd was… idiot.  Haha, they thought I was a complete moron and obliviously a little slow.  Poor Lyssa had to watch the whole thing go down before her eyes… it was brutal.  Anyway, after desperately trying to be funny and epically failing, we walked home to get McDonalds chicken nuggets, 20 piece.  Then proceeded to demolish the cheese-its and the chocolate we had left in the Milf.  It would be sickening to watch…  I had a massive stomach ache while awaking, and an even guiltier food conscience.

NYC Bridges, Manhattan and Brooklyn!

In the freakishly large and overwhelming M&M store...

 

Tuesday was our last full day in NYC.  We decided to take our time getting up and head to Rockefeller Plaza to go ice skating.  It was awesome!  The day started out pretty chilly, but once we strapped those skates on, things really started warming up!  The lunch hour skating was nice and cheap.  We took a lot of pictures and some videos.  Basically, we skated the whole time admiring the business men who came down to skate in suits during the lunch hour and screaming “These are RENTALS!”  It was such a good time, I enjoyed it to the max.  After we grabbed a bite to eat at Europa and decided to walk on down to Canal Street to do some good old fashioned bartering.  I didn’t want to use the subway because I wasn’t exactly sure where it would stop, however the walk was a lengthy one.  Lyssa’s feet (dogs) were pretty much bleeding, so we took a look around and hopped on the subway to head for home.  This was our last night in NYC, so we had to do what we set out to do, and that was buy food from street vendors.  Lyssa got a hotdog, and I got a pretzel.  We sat in Times Square soaking in the moment and enjoying our vendor treats.  After that, we went to get ice cream and headed back to the Milf to indulge while watching the Zenith.  It was Teen Mom night, enough said.

We woke up to large art pieces on Times Square!

Wednesday we woke up for a morning stroll in quest to find a bagel.  We ended up going to 6^th Ave and eating in the Metro café.  They had great food.  The next quest was to purchase some liberty glasses, that also went flawlessly.  It was packing and taking the super shuttle to LGA next.  We ended up getting there super early and our flight was delayed.  Luckily, AirTran moved us up to the earlier flight so we left at 2PM instead of 5PM and had an exit row all to ourselves.  It was amazing!  We were ready to head home at this point after a long week of hotel sleeping and site-seeing.  Lyssa was rejoicing over the site of the Milwaukee Brewer’s stadium as we flew in, hah!

I love New York City!!

I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better trip.  The pace of the trip was perfect.  The price was pretty affordable, considering we were in two notoriously expensive cities, and the sites were awesome.  We were able to see so many things in DC and NYC.  I really enjoyed visiting both locations.  This vacation did teach me however that I don’t think I’d be able to live in NYC… I think I would miss having access to a grocery store, reasonably priced apartment, and other things we truly take for granted.  Having lived in DC, I think I would be able to live there again.  It’s more moderately priced and you can have a car if you want to, which allows you to grab groceries and other essentials.  We'll see where life takes me, but I love visiting!