Match Day

A few Fridays ago was one of the biggest, most exciting, most stressful days of my life/ career thus far. It was what all people refer to as "match day". It's the day when the fancy computer algorithm decides the fate of medical and pharmacy students across the country. We all find out if we'll do residency training and where it will be. 2 weeks prior I had to submit a rank list of all the programs I interviewed with in order of where I wanted to go. And then I had to WAIT. It was pure torture. I said all I cared about was matching somewhere but truly I was really hoping to match at my first choice.  Darren and I had long discussions about how I should rank things and once we finally decided I was so peaceful and content about the decision that I really really wanted it to happen. Those two weeks were so hard not knowing. I'm SO happy that's over now.

We knew we would get an email sometime before noon on March 20th, but we didn't know exactly when. I was up and out of the house before 6 to get to my rotation on time so I figured that was too early to get the email so luckily I didn't feel the need to check my phone incessantly at that point. Once I got to my rotation around 7 I checked my phone before I got out of my car and then walked into the building. Right when I was sitting down at my desk and putting my stuff away I got a text from my friend Emily with a screenshot of her email showing that she matched at UT Medical Center and she said "will you be my co-resident?" I had already confided in Emily that it was my top choice and thank goodness I could answer YES! And then I saw the hands down most exciting email I've ever received!

I was soo happy about where I matched that I just couldn't stop shaking and smiling. It was such a great feeling. I immediately texted Darren to tell him the good news. Darren and I had talked a lot about if moving would be the best choice for us or if it would be better to stay in Knoxville. At the end of the day I knew there wasn't a better fit for me than at UT and the people there are some of the smartest, most caring, and most fun people I know.  I'm so lucky to be able to train there! Darren also loves his job in Knoxville and we have a great little house and we're just not ready to leave yet. I'm pretty sure Darren also started looking at season football tickets 5 minutes after I told him. I'm so thankful to have matched at my top choice and can't wait for the next two years, as tiring and difficult as they might be.

Luckily Darren was in town on match day (I was living at my parent's house for the month for a rotation) so I convinced him to come take me out to lunch to celebrate. I was so distracted once I got the news that morning with texts flying everywhere and finding out where all my friends were going also. It was SO hard to concentrate. We had a clinic that morning so I had to try to be focused which I succeeded at for the most part but I was just on top of the world. Luckily my preceptor was very understanding and let me take an extra long lunch to celebrate. We were (and still are) so happy!

A Perfect Day

Well I currently am in the midst of my second snow day in a row! I've never had a day off rotation for snow since now and I'll most likely never have one again since the temperatures next week should be in the 60s and then all I have left is April! I'm staying with my parents in Nashville this month since my rotation is in this area. Luckily Darren's weekend starts on Wednesday morning so he came into town on Wednesday night and we've gotten to spend the snow days together!

Anyway, last weekend when I was still in Knoxville we had a great weekend! Darren and I both agreed it was one of the best weekends we had in a long time. It started off Friday night. I worked on a project at school most of the day Friday but when I got home we decided we wanted to do something. Also when I got home I found out we had been delivered a mysterious package which turned out to be a brand new fancy wireless printer. My parents had called me the weekend before and said something about getting a new printer and I lamented about how much I hated our current printer which was a hand me down I have had since freshman year of college. But somehow it was actually still working so I didn't want to spend the money on a new one. So I was soooo excited and surprised when my parents bought it for us anyway and had it shipped to our house. It was so thoughtful and unexpected and we were really happy to have a printer that will actually be easy to use now. We considered staying in on Friday night because we're pretty conscious of not spending money eating out but decided since I would be gone most of next month we should do it anyway. We went to a brewery/ restaurant in Bearden and sat at the bar and had the best time. I don't know what it was but we just had a lot of fun and it was really nice for it to just be the two of us. And we were home in time to go to bed at a decent time which always makes my old soul happy.

Saturday morning we woke up and it was SO sunny! Which immediately made me very happy and was a nice change from all the overcast and snowy we had been having lately.  Darren agreed to take me to a new little coffee shop for breakfast and it was GREAT! Everyone in Knoxville should definitely check out Blue Mason coffee. Darren isn't typically that into coffee and he said it was the best coffee he's ever had. I would agree and would also say that the almond, vanilla bean scone was the best scone I've ever had.  Local little coffee shops are always the best and I'm so glad we discovered this one.

On the way back from coffee we stopped at REI. A perfect weekend wouldn't be complete without a little shopping. We planned on going hiking in the afternoon and my running shoes really weren't going to cut it in the snow and mud. Darren suggested we buy some hiking shoes for me and we found some awesome ones! This isn't a great picture of them but they're completely waterproof and have been keeping my feet so warm in dry in the weather we've been having lately. I also really like that they will be great to continue to use throughout the spring and summer too. 

We picked a hike to do just over the North Carolina line where we could take the dogs too. They're seriously just the cutest and so funny.

Unfortunately our hike in North Carolina did not happen. Long story short....we got stuck in the snow/ice half way up a mountain, almost slid off the side of the mountain, and eventually made it back down shaken up but relatively unharmed. We were still desperate to go on a hike, especially the dogs, so we ended up driving back to Knoxville and going on a little hike at a place we usually go to. And we ended up having the best time! There was still quite a bit of snow which the dogs loved. It was so nice and sunny and Darren and I were loving it too!

These dogs were worn out by the end of the day, which is always nice for us! We headed home and then went to the Casual Pint near our house to watch the start of the UT basketball game with my brother and his girlfriend, Katie, who was in town. I love the selection at casual pint and we had fun even though the basketball game was not going our way. At half time Darren and I left and went to meet our friends Candace and Garret for dinner. It was good food and great company. We stayed there for a few hours even after we were done eating just drinking and talking. It made me soo sad that I had to leave the next day. 

Sunday was pretty unexciting since Darren was resting up to work that night and I was busy packing up my life and getting everything together for my next rotation in Nashville. But Friday and Saturday just overall were great days. I was very sad to leave Knoxville but have actually been having a great time in Nashville so far! 

Friday Favorites

One of my absolute favorite things to read on other blogs are Friday Favorites or 5 on Friday posts. Soo I got a little inspired and have decided to try my own.  And I think it might be fun to look back later and see what things I was enjoying at the time.  So I'm going to copy my friend Jordan and link up with Christina, Darci, April, and Natasha

1. Number one is definitely House of Cards. Darren and I wanted to find a show on Netflix we could watch together since we can't usually watch tv at conventional tv times because Darren works nights. Neither of us had seen House of Cards and now we're super into it. We're only a few shows into the first season but I love it. I can't wait to watch more and try to get some of these characters figured out better.

2. First Aid Beauty Lip Therapy.  My lips have been super chapped because of the cold lately and this stuff has worked wonders. I really like the way it feels on your lips. It's kind of like vaseline but petroleum free so it's not quite as slick. It's a little more than I would normal spend on chapstick but I have a feeling it will last quite awhile (if I don't lose it) since I usually only wear it at night.

3. Cinnamon Rolls. I tried my hand at making the Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls and they turned out pretty great if I do say so myself! They also make a TON. This is only half of them. So I've been eating a lot of cinnamon rolls lately and I'm not hating it. Darren asked me the other day around dinner time if I had eaten anything that day other than cinnamon rolls and coffee and I had to think really hard about it until I remembered I did have some almonds at one point. I'm not proud of my diet but I'm happy :) And I like to believe that if you make something completely from scratch that it can't be bad for you. All the calories you burn making it makes everything OK. No one rain on my parade and just let me keep believing that, OK?

4. My new candle. I'm a bit of a self-proclaimed candle addict. I don't know why. I just like them. I like cozy things and I just think candles make everything seem cozier. Plus with two dogs jumping all over the place a nice little scent never hurt anything. This candle from Bath and Body Works smells great... it's kind of sweet but also just kind of clean smelling. It's perfect for in between seasons when nothing else really works.

5. College basketball. I don't think there's any better sport to watch than college basketball. College football is right up there but honestly I think I enjoy basketball more. In undergrad I used to go to games all the time because I could just walk there super easy (and they're free) oh and Bruce Pearl was our coach and games were actually pretty exciting. Last night Darren and I went to the game with our friends Brad and Emily. We hit up some Mexican food and then went to the game. The only thing better than margaritas before the game would have been margaritas during the game... One can dream, right? Anyway, we had a great time even though the Vols ended up losing and the atmosphere was a little lacking due to a snow storm the night before.

February Update

I interrupt the normal Thailand stories to bring you a little update on what the Renwicks have been doing since I got back from Thailand. Key words being "the Renwicks" because we have actually gotten to do a few things together which has been a nice change from my Thai lifestyle.

The day after I got back from Thailand we celebrated Darren turning the big 2-5! haha. Luckily with the time change I was up super early so I had time to make his favorite breakfast and take it to him in bed. Pecan waffles it was :)

And here's my guy wearing two of his new birthday presents. My parents got him the hat and I bought him the vest in Hong Kong. Lucky for Darren he got a lot of presents from Thailand and for his birthday so the day was full of presents. Unfortunately Darren had to work that night but we had a fun lunch at Dead End BBQ at the request of the birthday boy. I was planning on making him dessert to take to work but jet lag set in and I was completely out of comission after about 3pm. I finally made it for him a few nights later. I'm pretty lucky he puts up with my sleepiness. And I'm just pretty lucky in general... 

Right after I got home the flurry of residency interview traveling began. I can't say it was my favorite thing in the world since I wasn't even over the jet lag from Thailand but it was definitely exciting at times and I made it through it. Now I'm just waiting and waiting for March 20 to find out where we'll be next year!  I happened to be in Detroit for one interview with coincided very nicely with an already planned trip.  A few months ago a bunch of my friends noticed a huge Southwest sale and decided to go visit our friends, Andy and Danyelle, in Detroit. I'm pretty sure it was on sale because obviously no one else wants to travel to Detroit in the middle of February but.... hindsight. I wrote a blog post about last time we went to Detroit and how Andy gets to take home cars every so often since he works for GM. Well this time was even more awesome and Andy got a giant passenger van that happened to be school bus yellow/orange. It was hilarious but actually very handy since there were so many of us. We spent most of the weekend freezing our a$$ off, having endless snowball fights, and enjoying spending time with all our friends and pretending like we all still lived in Knoxville again.. and pretending like we can drink like we did when we all lived in Knoxville. I mean how do old people drink? Even 25 is a million times harder than it was at 21. woof.  Anyway we ended up having an amazing time and were only a little devastated to leave. 

When we got back from Detroit I did a whole lot of NOTHING and have enjoyed every second of it. I went to a few more interviews but other than that my days have been spent barely getting out of my pajamas, catching up on tv/ netflix, sleeping in, baking, and loving on my puppies. Is there anything better than off months? The answer is definitively NO. Eventually I'm going to be bored but I'm not quite there yet. We've had quite a bit of snow and ice lately so the idea of feeling snowed in has made everything so cozy and made it feel semi-ok for wearing my pajamas past noon and not going anywhere.  Here's some pics from our cozy week.

I felt like a terrible dog mom when I realized Annie was forming a dread. I seriously don't know how that happened

Bawse loooooves sitting outside in the snow and ice but he also loves to get snuggled up nice and warm when he comes inside

 Annie is quite happy chewing on anything... ice included

They just can't possibly be any sweeter. They're convinced the guest bed is their personal bed.

I tried making the Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls. This is only half of them and they are ahmazing.

Sometimes I feel like I neglect Gracie a little bit so I felt like she should be included here somewhere. This is her in her bed and practically the only place you'll see her in the winter. Except by her food bowl of course.

Koh Phangan

After our amazing time at the floating bungalows we headed to our last Thai Intro destination, Koh Phangan. This is a fairly small island in the Gulf of Thailand. To get to the island we had to take our first ferry ride of the trip (more on that later). I don't usually get sea sick but I have one time before so I was a little nervous when I saw that the ocean had some pretty large waves going on.  We played cards most of the time to keep our mind off it, but I was definitely not feeling 100% during the ride. I was very happy to arrive at that little island. When we got there we checked into our seaside bungalows, which were part of a resort that the tour group that we were on owned. So you didn't have to be on the tour to stay there but everyone on the tour stayed there. It was called Sarana and I would highly recommend it for anyone going to Thailand. It's pretty basic (no hot water) but that's all you want/need in Thailand and was absolutely beautiful. We also really liked the restaurant/ bar they had open most of the time. Some of our favorite Pad Thai came from that place... I'm pretty sure a few people ended up eating it for breakfast and just for a snack because we loved it that much.

After we settled into our bungalows we had some time to explore the beach and just kind of hang out around the resort which was really nice. Our group all went out that night and we got to experience our first "full moon party". It wasn't technically a full moon so it wasn't the full on full moon party but it was still pretty awesome. A dance club right on the beach, actually in the sand and water, complete with glow paint and swinging fire ropes is pretty great regardless of the moon's status. Although apparently it is much much more crowded and crazy during an actual full moon.  We got painted up for the night while we were at dinner and definitely had some fun with that. I had some videos of the fire rope but can't figure out how to get them online.  Picture a jumprope completely in flames with drunk people jumping into it. It made me nervous because obviously a few people got burned but it was also super exhilarating to watch. I did not partake but I loved it!

We stayed up pretty late that night and enjoyed some fabulous late night 7-11 toasties. I guess now would be a good time to introduce the concept of toasties as they were a staple in our Thai diet. First, there are 7-11s EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. At one point, we were standing on a street and there were 3 7-11s in a row. Literally in a row. I don't quite understand the point of that. However, that made it very easy to find toasties, which are basically just a grilled cheese pocket with ham inside. But I promise you they taste way better than they sound.

Bangkok cooking & Khao Sok National Park

The morning after our first night out in Bangkok we had a (thankfully) late morning and rested around the hotel until we headed off for Thai cooking class. We also had to check out of our hotel that morning so commence hauling the 50 lb suitcase back down allllll the stairs. Our cooking class was so much fun! On our walk there we witnessed a motorbike crash. Luckily no one was hurt too bad. I'm incredibly shocked that this was the only one we saw on our trip. We heard somewhere that 90% of tourists who die in Thailand die on motorbikes so we decided to forgo those for the rest of our trip (or did we....). In cooking class we learned how to cook Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai, and Massman curry. Pad Thai was the only one of the three that I had every had before and I absolutely loved the other two. They became some of my favorite things to eat after that. Probably the best part about cooking class was that they measured everything out for you and have all the ingredients in little bowls so literally all you had to do was cook it. I wish someone would always do the food prep for me. I'd cook way more often!

After cooking class we headed back to our hotel, got our suitcases, and headed to the train station to head south! The 12 hour overnight train is something I can only describe as "an experience". While we were waiting to leave Chelsey, Elly, and I decided we'd buy our tickets to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai later in the trip. And after the our first experience we decided to just forget about the money we spent on train tickets (it wasn't much) and book a flight instead (which also was less than $100). I can't say that the trains was a bad experience but it just wasn't something I really wanted to experience again.  The main issue was that there were bugs EVERYWHERE. And when I say everywhere I mean everywhere all over mine and Camille's beds... while they didn't seem to bother anyone else. I could handle sleeping in the small train but I was just a little uneasy about the bugs crawling around me. Camille saved my life by letting me sleep on the top bunk where there were a few less bugs. She even found one in her pillowcase! Another issue was the bathrooms. They were Eastern style which is definitely not my favorite, but add in the moving and shaking of a train and I just decided not to use the bathroom for 12 hours. I actually think I would have slept ok except for the fact that the fan closest to me (definitely no AC) decided to stop working half way through the night. And I don't want it to sound like I'm complaining too much because I'm definitely glad we did it and ended up actually having fun but I just don't need to do it again :) Also, don't judge the roughness in this picture. Never underestimate what a few days in Bangkok can do to you.

Before they turned our seats into beds

my view in my bed

After we got off the train we drove a few hours more until we ended up at Khao Sok National Park. This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was just unbelievably beautiful and uninhabited. We took long tail boats to the floating bungalows where we were staying for the night. We stopped and swam in the rain on the way and it was pretty much a surreal experience. 

The floating bungalows were so cool! We spent the afternoon just swimming and hanging out, and more swimming and more hanging out. It was great! None of us could stop looking around and just being completely in awe of where we were. Unfortunately it was a little cold and at times a little rainy while we were there but we didn't let that stop us and still had a great time. There is no actual electricity at the bungalows. There is a generator that turns on from dark until 10 or 11 pm which is pretty cool. Our group hung out and played games together after dinner until the power went off. I was actually a little nervous about this because our bungalows are all connected by tiny little walkways and the bathroom is at the verrrry end of all the walkways. I was just a little paranoid I would have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and not be able to see anything and would just walk into the water. Luckily that didn't happen to me or anyone else but the thought definitely crossed my mind! We were all soooo sad when we woke up in the morning and had to leave our little paradise. It's definitely one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring places I've ever been.

I think we all would have spent the rest of the week at this place if they would have let us. Luckily they didn't and we had some more adventures coming up...