It's coming!

My treacherous walk/ice skate to work over the past 4-5 months.

First, I have to say I have been told some of my pictures haven't been showing up. I am hoping to figure out the problem. You'll have to let me know if these work or if we continue to have problems. Now, on to today's post.

Do you ever have those moments where time just doesn't seem to pass at its normal pace? I'm not talking about daylight savings time either. Maybe the fact that this winter has been going on and on has warped my sense of the passing of time because this week was one of those weeks. I feel like so much has happened (and maybe not so much even events, but emotionally) since just one short week ago. It feels as if a month was crunched into a mere 7 days.

Probably the biggest thing I have been feeling is the furiously approaching end of my residency. Friday I finished my last month ever of "Clinic Chief." It was cool to end with one of the biggest transformations I have seen so far. And, with one month left on-call in my residency, I am feeling the end looming. It has been almost unfathomable in my mind that I will have reached this end in a few short months (just over three!). It seems to be something "other people" accomplish and something I never probably thought would be me. I have been thinking about how I have been in my residency longer than I was in dental school (going on five years!). I learned so much in dental school where I went from tooth illiterate to a dentist. Talk about learning curve. I hope I have made comparable strides in my specialty training. I am feeling more and more confident and excited to enter the workforce. I also realize I have much more to learn. I try to remind myself I have my whole career to continue to improve, and that is why it is called a "practice," probably, while striving to pick up any last little jewels of education I can while I am still in residency.

A stop at Galena, IL in our travels. I feel lucky my in-laws are so cool and willing to come along for company.

I have also been participating in some Iowa tourism as part of my job hunt. It has been so cool to meet some of the wonderful doctors in our area and see how they run their practices. I have some exciting new prospects and hope to come to a decision soon. I think I've finally been able to realize what my future could look like and it is pretty exciting!

Mostly, I am looking forward to doing so many of those things that have been a struggle for me during my residency. The top of my list includes:

Round 2 Mason Jar Salads. Hopefully they turn out just as good.

1- Get my home in order (throwing out old junk, getting organized, and decorating a few neglected spaces). Anyone want to help? I'm not too savvy in this area.
2- Make exercise my hobby. I want to remind myself how much I enjoy the activities I used to participate in that now mostly just make me tired and sore.
3- Improve my diet. I really want to do more meal planning and whole food based cooking. It will be great to break away from our residency processed food staples.
4- Study and pass boards!



You may wonder why I haven't included my desire to spend more time with my husband on my list. Unfortunately, his schedule wont change too much in that regard, but I hope to be more available to him as well.