Christmas Thanks [and a Video!!]

Happy New Year and Christmas Thanks.

This is my first ever video for the blog, so bear with me.

Also, right after I made this we opened the package from John's family with several other gifts, so thank you so much.

And thanks for watching! If you'd like to see more videos please let me know. And thanks again to all my family, missed you.

Happy New Year!

To celebrate the New Year our friends Evan and Chris came to visit from Colorado. It was so great to have them here, and they brought their darling cats and dog. We weren't sure how the animals would get along, but it all went well.

Flying Star New Year's Eve Breakfast

This is the Tofu-ritto but I asked for quinoa instead of a tortilla.

We rang in the New Year at home but went out earlier in the evening.

Luna did surprisingly with cats in the house.

Jokers!

Dog walking through campus.

For Christmas we gave them Powergrid. It is so fun.

More dogwalking.

Obligate midnight selfie. Happy 2014!

Happy New Year!

They had to leave early on New Year's Day to continue their road trip, so we spent the day relaxing.

We miss you already, safe trip!

The New Year's Resolutions that Weren't

I used to be very dependent on the calendar indicating to me that it was the start of a New Year and time for some resolutions and a fresh start. It's been a few years though.

I can think of one successful New Year's resolution in my whole life:
The year I turned 17 I used one of those Bible in a Year programs and read the whole Bible. That's not to say I didn't have months where I skipped a few days, but I always caught up and at the end of the year I actually finished it. That was awesome, but it was also my only resolution for the year and the plan was broken down day by day.

In order to set myself up for success, I just have to have manageable steps, and not too many things to work on.

At the beginning of 2012 I wrote this post of things to look forward to, which is frankly a lot more fun than listing a bunch of goals that have potential for failure.

I think instinctively there's still that feeling that the New Year is more than just another day, but how quickly we have to go back to our lives and the transition is over.

I wasn't willing to commit myself to any resolutions this year. It felt like too large a commitment, so I just picked 2 goals for January:

1. Study time 6 days a week, even just a few minutes on a patient from that day. 

2. Exercise 4x/week. 10 mins is fine if that's all I have.

And that's it. While I have an enormous list of goals and things that I think would make my life better and I'm very clear on the lifestyle disparities between right now and my ideal life, I'm going to tackle just a couple things per month. 

Do you have resolutions or goals for the New Year?

2013 in Review

I was reviewing some old blog posts tonight and found this one from the end of 2011 where I reviewed significant moments from that year and I realized that despite the fact that my posting this year was quite infrequent, there was a lot of 2013 that was important.

As the year draws to a close, I feel surprised by how quickly it passed and excited about what's to come.

So here it is:

10 Significant Moments and Trials of 2013

(In no particular order. Okay it's sort of chronologic.)

1. I started my year with holidays in Oregon, and had my first married Christmas. Okay technically the Christmas part was in 2012. I didn't make a list for 2012, so I've tacked it in on here. If you're a calendar crazy and that bothers you...well this might the wrong blog for you.

Baking with Emma

The family Christmas Tree

2. I finished up my interview travels for residency and got a chance to travel all over the country to see different programs.

The Charles in Boston. Miss you Tiffany!

The view from the workroom here in New Mexico over a year ago on my interview day. Weird that now I live here.

3. I graduated from medical school. After 4 long years (or 8 if you want to include college and be all dramatic) I earned my M.D. and it was a great day.

I REALLY miss my medical school friends, but we've all gone on to work on being great doctors in places all across the country, so I can't be anything but happy when I think about it.

4. I went to Las Vegas, Nevada (first time!). In this post I reviewed the fun, talked about Match Day and what was coming next.

5. I ran my fourth half-marathon. For some who race often, a particular half-marathon in the course of the year might not mean anything, but this particular one was a race through my local community, literally right past my apartment on all the same roads I trained on, and it was so much fun to see it that way. Also, my training was significantly less than previous races and it was sort of a mental triumph to be able to run. 

6. I moved to New Mexico. This is related of course to starting Residency, but it was a big life change on it's own. We left a lot of friends and familiarity to come here in June and we've been making it our home. Sometimes it feels like we've been here ages and sometimes I still feel like a foreigner.

7. In July, we adopted Luna. After arriving in Albuquerque, we agreed it was time for us to get a dog, and it may be the best decision we've ever made. We found her at the shelter here, and took a chance on her without any background, but she's been a wonderful part of our lives.

8. I started work as a Pediatric Resident. I wrote about what it's like to be an intern in this post. And I've also mentioned work in a few other posts. The bottom line is, it's a privilege to being doing what I always dreamed of, and it's also exhausting and unbelievably emotionally trying.

Woo scrubs. Also Luna is the same color as the floor.

9. I went home to the Northwest for vacation and had the most amazing time with friends. There's a beautiful video they made that makes me so friend-sick every time I watch it:

Time with Friends in Portland from Eric & Arisa Conwell on Vimeo.

Miss you all :(

10. I worked through Christmas for the first time. However, John's family and mine both came to visit earlier for holidays and this was really nice. Still, it was totally weird to be in the hospital just admitting kids, ordering meds, etc. while it felt like most of the world was gathered with family.

And that brings us to today!

The great thing about working Christmas though, is that I get a holiday vacation now - when I got done with work this morning at 7 AM, I started vacation until Friday. I'm sure it will fly by, but I'm so excited. Friends are coming for New Years and it feels like I've really earned the days off with this past week of night shifts.

When I review the year like this, it's hard for me to believe it's only been a year because so much has happened, but at the same time it still feels like it went fast.

I hope everyone's having a great weekend, and final few days of 2013.

As always, thanks for reading.

What are your most significant moments of the year?