Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!

Just a quick post to gloat about not having school tomorrow! :) Its a beautiful sunny Sunday here in St. Augustine so I think I will celebrate by taking my float to the pool for a while and then heading to Reggae Sunday! 

-every Sunday all summer there's a restaurant/bar at the marina that brings in a reggae band and people can either drive or bring their boat to hang out and get some sunshine and spend the afternoon jamming, haha! and if you are a people watcher, as I am, it brings the most interesting and eclectic crowd that is always entertaining!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!!

Wishing I was here...

One would think that living in Florida would be a divers dream! However, for a diver in grad school...not so much!  I guess I will just have to look back over the pictures that I've taken and remember the crazy/beautiful underwater world that I have gotten to experience so far until I can get my fins back in the water!

Enjoy the pictures!  They were taken over the course of multiple dive trips over the last 3 years or so. OH! and the diver that is coming up out of the boat with all the bubbles is Papa!

Happy Tuesday!

Life Update!

So it has been a while since I posted just to update everyone on what's going on down here in sunny (HOT) Florida with me!  We have just started our 3rd full week of school but luckily I'm not too stressed out yet.  Although we do have our first pathology test tomorrow so I probably should be more frantic than I am.  :/ This semester my classes are split between being half general ed type classes with everyone that started with me in January, and half strictly OT classes, which is a much smaller group.  However, that means that my course load this semester as far as studying and tests go is significantly less than last term which is a wonderful and certainly welcome break! On the flip side, there is a lot more in the way of weekly assignments, reports, projects, and papers that come along with the OT curriculum.  I am happy to be on the OT track though and I still have one day of shadowing a week, similar to last term, that my PT friends aren't getting this term.  Our shadowing is actually split up into 3 sessions over the course of the semester and you go out 2 out of those 3 sessions.  You spend one day a week for 4 weeks at the same site so you get to see a little more in depth patient treatment from last semester and you also get to see patient progression which is really cool.  My first session is being spent with a private practice hand therapist in Jacksonville.  I went for the first time last Friday and had a great experience.  Its amazing how much we overlook the importance of our hands until they are injured! Also, she is associated with a hand surgeon in the same building so I will get to see lots of post-op treatment which I find really interesting! Ok, off to study now, wah wah... Hope everyone is looking forward to a great week!

PS-- Yes we did spend a 4th day at Disney for those who are curious, however I didn't take any pictures :(

PPS-- I have officially bought my plane tickets for my Morocco trip in August!!! Super excited!!

EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival!

So day three from our trip was spent at EPCOT for the Flower and Garden festival.  This is an event that happens every year where the wonderful behinds the scene people of Disney get to show off their skills.  There is beautiful landscaping, some amazing topiarys, and a festival center full of all kinds of all kinds of community people who could answer any garden question you may ever have.  Also, this even is co-sponsored by HGTV so we got to see a presentation by John Giddings who is the star of the tv show "Curb Appeal".  Sorry I don't have more time to explain the pictures but I have to get back to class.  Hope y'all enjoy these though!

Another Disney Day!

So clearly I'm bad at this whole blogging thing...at least in a timely fashion however, here's another post with pictures from our Disney trip! Just think of it as me trying to make the magic last as long as possible! :)

These pictures are from our safari in Animal Kingdom.  Day two was the first time we've ever (that I can remember) taken the advice of all of those guidebooks out there and gone through the park relatively slowly and then went back to the hotel to relax by the pool.  Also, this was the night of our marvelous dinner at California Grill.  It is the restaurant at the top of the Contemporary Resort with beautiful, panoramic views of the Magic Kingdom as well as the lake and the surrounding resorts, Grand Floridian and the Polynesian.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures because I didn't take my camera to dinner but take my word for it...both the food and the views were amazing!!!

Here are my safari pics:

The Happiest Place on Earth!

We are back from Walt Disney World and I am getting ready to start school back tomorrow but I wanted to fill everyone in on our fun trip and put some of the pictures I took to good use by sharing them! Here is a quick report from day 1 with the rest of the trip to follow! Enjoy!

Our first day was last Wednesday and we got to Disney, checked in early but since our room wasn't ready we headed straight to Magic Kingdom.  One of the best perks about staying at either the Contemporary or at Bay Lake Towers next door is the walking path to MK.  It was a 10 minute or less walk and we rarely even saw anyone else using it so it certainly was never crowded! (which in Disney is amazing!!) The above picture is from the 3:00 parade, and you may not be able to tell but all of the performers in the parade were drenched in sweat because it was HOTT!

 

This is the entry-way to our resort.  Because Bay Lake Towers is actually a vacation club resort, all of the doors are locked all the time and you have to have an active key card to get in.  This is different from the other, non-vacation club resorts that you can visit and wander through at any time. 

 

 The above two pictures were taken from our balcony.  Certainly not a castle view but it was a nice, quiet room with a pretty view of the lake.  And you can roast marshmellows by the fire pit on the beach every night!

 This is while I was just hanging around downstairs.  That is the express monorail from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom.  It goes straight through the Contemporary resort but doesn't stop, unlike the monorail that runs on the far track in this picture that stops at all of the Magic Kingdom resorts.

 This is the view from the breeze-way between the Contemporary and the Towers.  Obviously, I used all the zoom I could get out of my camera but still a pretty awesome thing to see as you walk between the buildings! :)

And there's the guy everyone loves to see -- Mickey Mouse! And his lovely lady Minnie!  One of my favorite parts about going to Disney, especially after having been a cast member, is just listening and talking to the other people around me.  While waiting for this parade to start a mom and her two kids walked up behind us and I offered to let the kids stand in front of me because I could clearly see over their heads.  After the action had passed mom asked the kids what land they should head to next.  As they debated the mom leaned over to Mama and I and said "how about chardonnay-land?!" This became a quote repeated throughout our trip every time Mama was hot, bored or thirsty!