As a reward to the students for all their hard work, Rocky Vista University hosted an end-of-the-year Gala. A lot of the wives were excited to have the opportunity to finally be around their husbands again for a date, and I was as well! The theme was 1920's/Great Gastby. There were photo booths, food, dancing, drinks, awards, a live band, and of course good company. Talmage and I got all dolled up for our date. I think we looked very dapper. I decided to wear my great grandmother's necklace from the same time period, and it a nostalgic experience for me. I remember playing with all her jewelry throughout my childhood and having many fond memories of it. I would play dress up and put on great productions for my stuffed animal friends. It was a warm and loving experience to have her jewelry see a real event once again. We had all our friends gathered and had a wonderful night. The table decorations were marvelous. Right as this photo was taken, my friend grabbed my butt. My face was white shocked, haha!
As the night went on, people began to trickle out. On the way back to our car, Talmage took my hand and we just quietly walked. I am grateful to go through this experience with such a loving partner, and I would have it any other way. And yes, there was a kiss at the end of the night. I think 5 year old me would be proud of the conclusion of the night, very fairytale like ;)
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Rotations are coming upon us soon! 3rd and 4th year are what medical school students call "Rotations'. Now this is not to be confused with Residency, which is completed after 4 years of medical school is completed. During Rotations, students 'rotate' through every major medical specialty to get a feel for what they want to specialize in and what Residency program they would like to choose.
Since Saint George is not big enough to hold all of the 120+ students for rotations, a random system was put in place to select who would stay in Saint George, and who would have to be outsources to other areas like Orem, Provo, Salt Lake, and Logan. I so badly wanted to stay in Saint George for many reasons, but mostly because of the stability my current employment offers. We kept our fingers crossed for months while we waited for the results. The days leading up to when the results would be released were agonizing. Everyone was on edge, and wanting to know where the next to years of their lives would be! Finally, the results were in and we were told we get to stay in Saint George!! We are so grateful to get to spend another 2 years here. Right now the students are studying for their first board exam. There is a lot of anxiety and anticipation amongst the med students and their families, but also a collective feeling of relief. The worst part of medical school is finally almost over, and the students can get to do more hands-on things. I know Talmage for one, hates bookwork but loves doing the hands-on portion. So we are trying to hang in there just a little longer to get to the next step! There is an end-of year Gala hosted by the school this weekend that we are looking forward to. It will be nice to let loose for a night and get all the students having fun together! More to come later. xoxo Mistress to the Medicine Happy Easter! Spending holidays away from family is probably one of the hardest things about medical school. We were missing family today, but we are always grateful to have each other! Earlier this weekend we did get to see my brother and sister-in-law and they brought us some very exciting news! We will be and Aunt and Uncle for the first time coming November 2019! Sunday morning we put on our Sunday best and went to the Easter service at church. After church we did just a little easter egg hunt around our house. We threw in a few tennis balls for the fun of it, and Maverick found it quite entertaining! I'm grateful for this little family of mine and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
xoxo, Mistress to the Medicine We sold our motorcycle Big Red today. It was strange to see it go, but it was time to move on. We originally bought Big Red when we were in Idaho completing our undergraduate degrees. When we bought our second car just prior to starting med school, we were supposed to sell the motorcycle. But when we got word we would be attending medical school in sunny Saint George, Utah we figured we would hang onto it a little longer. Now that 3rd and 4th year rotations are beginning, we both decided it would be safer to sell the motorcycle and have Talmage drive our other car instead since he would be in busier parts of town now.
I remember long rides at sunset with Talmage on the motorcycle. It served us well and we made many memories with it! When we sold the motorcycle, the buyer gave us cash. As I stood there with a thick stack of cash in my hands I could hear Portugal, Iceland, Bali, Thailand, and Cabo calling my name! I so badly wanted to take the money and book another vacation!! But alas, we were responsible and the next day deposited the money in our account towards our only car loan. Being a responsible adult sucks sometimes, but I know I will be grateful for it later when our car loan is paid off 2 years early! So long, Big Red! xoxo, Mistress to the Medicine What an amazing winter break this has been for us! Talmage took his last exam on a Friday morning, then medical school was dismissed for a little over 2 weeks! I was lucky enough to have plenty of PTO saved up so I took off the whole break with him. We took a few days for ourselves at home then packed everything up and drove up to the Salt Lake City airport. We had a direct flight from SLC to Paris- a 10 hour flight. As soon as we landed we were whisked away by our private transfer and brought to our hotel. We couldn't have asked for a better location! Our hotel had a darling bed and breakfast feel, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of a busy street. The hotel had 6 rooms on each floor, and was 7 stories. This made for a very tiny elevator! We each had to go up one at a time with our bags ;) The keys were made of heavy metal and were very ornate. As soon as we got our bags unloaded, we set out to explore the surrounding areas. We walked across the Seine river to the Louve. We continued walking to pick up our Paris Pass. The Paris Pass is an awesome 'all access pass' to the city and I highly recommend anyone traveling to Paris gets this! We were able to skip the line at so many places. All of the tickets and public transportation was included so we were able to navigate the city with ease and make the most of our time! On the way back to the hotel I tried my first ever macaroon and I was not disappointed!! Day 2- We used our Paris Pass to get into the Luve and see countless, priceless works of art. It was interesting to see huge crowds of people walking through the halls, with their phones held high, taking pictures of everything. I made the conscious decision that I wanted to be present and not experience this through my phone screen so I didn't take many pictures here. The Mona Lisa was even better than I imagined. I am always amazed how many works of arts have lasted through the test of time. After touring the Luve (Which we didn't even get through half, you could spend DAYS there without seeing everything!) we met up with a tour guide for a christmas walking tour. We samples all of the traditional French christmas treats while being educated not hire history and traditions. It was a tasty, and intellectual use of our afternoon! Lastly, we walked to Tour Montparnasse for a 360 view of the city at night. It was so beautiful!! Every hour, the Eiffel Tower is illuminated by a light show. It was so worth bearing the freezing cold and wind on top of the tower for the view. Day 3- Bright and early in the morning, we took a train across Paris to meet up with our second guided adventure. We signed up for a private cooking class with a Parisian chef. Once we were together, we went to the market to pick our fresh ingredients for the meal. The French markets are quite different than the ones in the US! I'd like to say we are pretty accomplished Chef's now ;) After enjoying our meal, we took off to explore the other parts of Paris! We stumbled upon a caroussel on the way to Notre Dam. I've always loved carousel's since I was a little girl, and Talmage proposed to me on one over 5 years ago. Along the way, we found this beautiful building. We never figured out what it was, but I sure didn't mind looking at it! We walked on to Notre Dam and climbed all 422 stairs to the very top. The views did not disappoint! After we climbed all the way to the top, we went back down to see the inside of the church. Look at all the details! After soaking up Notre Dam, we went to see the Eiffel Tower. We loved walking around the grounds and taking in this beautiful monument! Next up, Arc de Triomphe! We were so exhausted by this time that we didn't spend long here. We started the walk home, and of course I couldn't pass up the chance to get some Five Guys! Severely over priced at $12 a burger, it was the best money ever spent! Day 4- Disneyland Paris! The rides here are much more intense that Anaheim's. Space Mountain had tears coming out of my eyes and I honestly didn't know if I was terrified or laughing! The castle was the best part of Disneyland Paris. Underneath, there is a dragon and walk through- cave. Inside the castle (yes you can actually go inside!) There are beautiful stained glass window depicting Sleeping Beauty's story. The highlight of the day for me was seeing this! All in all, good job Disney. The day was ever bit as magical as we had hoped for! Day 5- Palace of Versailles This day, was hands down the highlight of our trip to me. There are two figures of history that I am obsessed with: Queen Elizabeth 1 and Marie Antoinette. I jumped on the chance to get to see some things of hers in person! The palace was stunning. I could hardly stop myself form ogling at every little detail. We downloaded an app on our phones that provided an audio tour, room by room, of the entire estate. I think the pictures below speak for themselves. The entire estate was so vast, it literally took us walking all day long to see it all. With it being our last full day in Paris, we stopped our favorite chocolate shop on the way back to our hotel. We spent way too much money on chocolate, but hey! It really was the best we've ever had and we didn't know when we would get the chance to be here again. And just like that, our trip was over! We packed so much into our trip, that we didn't leave feeling like we had missed out on anything. I am so grateful for the chance we had to go, and to continue adventuring with my husband! For once, I wasn't a mistress to the medicine. We were able to put our professional lives on hold and enjoy spending time together. And if you ask me, that's just want the doctor ordered ;) xoxo Mistress to the Medicine
We decided to bring Maverick with us, so it made space pretty tight but eventually we got everything packed in. Maverick was so awesome hanging out with us in the car- he was just happy to be along for the ride. We left on a Thursday after work, and drove to Provo where we stayed the night with my brother. In the morning we went for breakfast before continuing on to Logan. (Here I am shoved in the back with the dog while we went to breakfast. Forever my curse of being the smallest person) After breakfast we continued north to Logan where my in-laws are. With all the family together again, we took the opportunity to get some family pictures later that evening. I am so happy with they way they turned out! We stayed in Logan for several days hiking, exploring, playing with the dogs, participating in epic pingpong tournaments in the basement, and enjoyed each other's company. We then started a slow trek back down south. We stopped at my parents house in Eagle Mountain for several days. Spending time with my baby brother Wyatt and childhood doggies is always a favorite! We went to the discovery museum together and it was so fun watching Wyatt play and interact with all the displays (lets be real though, I was having just as much fun playing with the displays as he was) When we finally returned home about 10 days later, we were all ready for a long nap. Maverick had played with our various family dogs and hiked so much, he walked straight to his bed and hardly left it (even to eat) for 3 days! He's a happy, tired boy. We spent the rest of the break hiking in Zion's, paddle boarding on the 3 lakes around us, playing games with friends, and reconnecting. Pickelball is a big thing down here in Southern Utah. For those of you who don't know what it is...imagine a hybrid of ping pong and tennis, played with a whiffle ball on a medium sized court. It is so much fun! Talmage surprised me with an early birthday present- my very own paddle board! We packed in as many adventures as we could and before we knew it, the 6 weeks had come and gone all too quickly. Talmage starts back at school July 23rd and he's officially considered a second year medical school student!! We cannot wait to see what this next year has in store for us.
xoxo, Mistress to the Medicine SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!!! We made it though our first year of medical school!!
It's a little crazy to think we made it through the whole first year already. I am forever grateful for the experiences we have had thus far, and the wonderful people we have met. We will be blissfuly MIA for the next several weeks enjoying our summer vacation! xoxo, Mistress to the Medicine Normally, I hate it the quiet. At work, I always have Pandora running in the background. At home the dishwasher, washer, tv, or radio is always on. Honestly, it's part of the reason why we got Maverick! With Talmage being gone most of the time, I need something to fill the empty house. But today is different. Today I love the quiet. Why? Because its 10:30am and the quiet means Talmage is still upstairs fast asleep. The medical students just finished a grueling 6 week section of Neurology. Lectures and labs started at 8am and finished at 6pm. Only then did the students have a moment to study the material they had been bombarded with all day. Talmage was up at 5am and returned at 11pm just about every single day. Luckily my job has really long hours with a rather unpredictable schedule or I might have gone a little crazy! [Extra Kudos to the medical school wives that have children. I really don't know how you do it.] Flipping back about a month, Talmage had the opportunity to attend a national research conference in Orlando, Florida. The Neuro unit had just started to get underway and we were really nervous about the timing in attending this conference. After weighing the pros and cons, we decided it was worth it so 3 members of the Surgery Club flew out to present their research. Talmage is the Vice President of the Surgery Club, and he attended with his good friend Jake whom is President, and 'Other Jake' whom is the treasurer. Their research project titled "A Potential Treatment for Succinylcholine-Induced Postoperative Myalgia' I am so incredibly proud of their hard work! The committed judges of the conference recognized their good work as well, and awarded their research 1st place! So now, Neuro is officially over! It's onto the next section that I'm sure is no easier but there is a profound sense of accomplishment when another section is completed. This last section claimed another 3 of their fellow classmates, and we are forever grateful to still be here. There is only 1 more section left before summer break. I cannot wait for summer!!
xoxo Mistress to the Medicine It's hard to believe we have lived in Saint George for a year now! So many incredible things have happened this last year, even though it really feels like yesterday we arrived here. When Talmage and I were first married, we lived in a really small college town. During our time there, we never lived in one apartment much longer than a year. Each apartment move was better in some ways, and worse in others. However, what it ended up creating was this need to keep moving, keep changing, and keep looking out for the next thing. Since we have passed the year mark being here in our town home, the familiar itch to move came up again. "But we are happy! We love it here! ", I thought to myself. And yet I could not shake the feeling. I found myself on Zillow looking at other town homes for rent in the area. I even briefly looked around at job postings! Eventually, I came to terms with it and diagnosed myself with Destination Addiction (with my honorary doctorate degree from watching 11 seasons of Grey's Anatomy, thank you very much.) So much of the first 4 years of our marriage was about big changes and moving forward in big ways. So when life finally slowed down a little, I honestly did not know how to just BE! It wasn't so much that I was unhappy with where we were, or that I thought the grass was greener on the other side, but I just felt compelled with the need to keep moving. If I wasn't moving then that meant I was not progressing. I follow some other bloggers and their posts are just dripping with positivity. (Hello guilt trip) I know the joy is in the journey *eye roll*, but seriously sometimes it's HARD and I have no problem admitting that. I love our townhome AND sometimes it's difficult to live in an HOA community with stupid rules and some awful neighbors I love my job AND some days it really sucks and I think I want to quit. I love my husband AND sometimes we argue. I am proud of my own accomplishments AND sometimes I feel like it isn't enough and I need to do more. I love being a medical school wife AND this process takes forever and I just want it to be over. I love Saint George AND it's really hard being away from family and we want to be closer to them. I am happy here AND I struggle with not being able to move onto the next step faster. So this is us. The us that stumbles, laughs, not always positive, just trying to figure it all out. xoxo, Mistress to the Medicine Yikes, I've been really bad at updating this! I posted (and shamelessly back-dated) some drafts I had in my que from pervious months if you want to scroll down and read the others. Anyways, Happy New Year! Talmage has officially finished his first semester of medical school! It feels so good to have something accomplished. Even though it's just a baby step, I know it gives Talmage a huge confidence boost to have completed a full section. As I've said a million times, Medical School is cut-throat. However that really hit home for us at the end of this semester. Thus far, 7 people have either dropped out or have been asked to not come back. When you have a class size of only 127 people, that REALLY hits home. Any of those 7 people could have easily been us and we are forever grateful for our current position. One of my favorite quotes is, "I never dreamed about success, I worked for it". This process is definitely having us work harder than we ever had before, but we know hard work is going to be what gets us our dreams. Over the last few weeks there have been interviewees on campus and it's quite a shock to realize we were one of those lost, big eyed, terrified people less than a year ago.....feels like a lot longer haha. For the New Year, we are having some changes coming to the Nielsen's household! We decided to FINALLY get a dog (I've only been begging for one the second we got married). My boss and wonderful friend, Shalene, has 2 purebred German Shepherds that had a litter. For my birthday, she told me I could have one of the puppies. I about died right then and there! She was so gracious and let me pick any one of them out of the litter! I picked the largest male and lovingly referred to him as 'Big Fatty' until we decided on calling him Maverick. ;)
I have a very unique job, the best one in the whole world actually. The environment I work in, allows the employee's to bring their dogs to work if they are well trained. The patients love it and so do the employees. We decided to send Maverick to a training center in Northern Utah where they train the puppy basically everything in about 10 weeks then he is set up for success for the rest of his life as long as you consistently reinforce what was originally taught. Maverick is towards the end of his training and we are absolutely blown away with his good manners, cute face, and quick learning skills! He is estimated to complete the program the end of January. We just cannot wait to have him home! So Happy New Year! 2018 is going to be an awesome year with new growth and opportunities, but the same ole us ;) xoxo, Mistress to the Medicine |
Amanda NielsenIm a CMA (AAMA), proud wife, and 'mom' to one very spoiled cat. Archives
May 2019
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