Hobbits, and Elves, and Dwarves, oh my!

Christmas this year was pretty low-key.  I enjoyed it, especially since the only thing I was motivated to do after studying for boards was play xbox, or watch Lord of the Rings.  Actually that has become my personal, not to mention super-lame, Christmas tradition.  I just finished all three extended editions of LOTRs last night!  Now I don't even want to think about them for at least another year...  However, I'm pretty excited about the new Hobbit movie that apparently the same director is making.  Yay!

http://youtu.be/G0k3kHtyoqc

It looks pretty good, and I'm excited to see they got the same actor for Gandolf, and the sets appear to be the same.  Get excited, although if I get one more movie to add to my LOTR fest, I might just die.  That is way too much TV, even for me!

Also, my little brother Mitchell just came wandering in.  He had been out on the four-wheeler all morning, and he was completely covered in mud.  Anyway, the first thing he said was "look at my hobbit feet..."  Really?  The mania has spilled over into my entire family, including my mom!

Christmas Boards

Okay guys, I know I said I took my last final ever, which was true, but today I finished Dental Boards part II.  Now I'm really done!  (Assuming I passed... urg...)  This was quite the experience since it was a 500 question, 2-day test spanning everything I have learned in the last four years.  That's right, FOUR years.  Studying has not been pleasant.  Then there is the whole testing environment which is anything but inviting.  Seriously, they make you leave all your earthly possessions outside, provide two forms of ID and a fingerprint, then they search you with a metal detector.  (Sounds a little bit like the airport...)  However, I made the best of it, and wore my pajamas!  There's nothing quite like being able to wear sweat pants to a school-related event when I haven't been allowed to do that for three years!

Needless to say, I was a little bit euphoric when I finished today's section, completing things for good!  Then I had to go home and attempt to put into order what was once my house before flying off to Utah for Christmas.  Yeah, I was a little bit ADHD as I was wandering from room to room packing, cleaning, doing laundry, and shoving away my piles of study materials.  And then, all I could think of was the question I got on the board that day about ADHD.  I still can't remember if ADHD is more common in boys or girls!  Yeah, it's time for a break...  Also, because I was in a slightly altered state of mind when I dropped by the mall today, I bought a really crazy pair of earrings that I most likely will be returning (maybe)!

Anyway, it's official, my holiday has started.  I'm celebrating by hanging out with hundreds of strangers in Denver.  Awesome, huh?

Merry Christmas!!!

Cello envy

My mom sent me another package this last week to help me survive studying for Boards.  (Seriously, I think that's her new hobby, that and finding ornaments for my tree!)  Among other things it contained a CD featuring Steven Sharp Nelson.  He's this awesome cello player whom I love.  Anyways, he and John Schmidt film some sweet music videos, and in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I might share.



These two guys also put on concerts, and I was jealous because my mom went to their Christmas concert yesterday.  She said they even got to go up after and meet him!  Yeah, stupid Boards forcing me to stay in Omaha and study...  Oh yeah, and I really enjoyed this one because, let's face it, I'm a nerd who likes Star Wars!


Seriously, I am really good at finding things to distract me.  I'm currently wading through a bunch of crap on pharmacology... ugh.  Wish me luck!

Obsessions

I recently was made aware of a little problem I have.  Apparently I have an obsession with cheese!

Check this out, I've got five different kinds of cheese happening here!  Mozzarella, cheddar, provolone, cream cheese, and brie...  I even managed to use 4 of them in my enchiladas.  Yum.  (Not the brie, it's too fancy!)  Really, it's an off week when I have less than three cheeses in my house.  If you want a killer grilled cheese sandwich, come on over.  We made some last week, and we managed to stuff five kinds of cheese on those babies!

Speaking of obsessions, right now I'm addicted to techno music.  Judge me if you will, but I love it.

DONE!

Today I took my last final - EVER!!!!

That sounds really weird, especially since I've been in school almost my entire life.  I'm having a hard time grasping that after this May, I'll be completely done with formal schooling.  Okay, I'll be honest, the work isn't over.  I still have to pass my written Part II Boards next week, then I have clinical Boards in April.  Maybe my celebration is a bit premature.  Whatever, I don't care.

LAST FINAL EVER!!!

That felt nice.  Thanks for listening!

Blaming winter

Snow is silly.  I'll tell you why.  It has been the culprit in several stupid things I have accomplished in the last week or so.  Actually, I do stupid things all on my own, but I'm totally going to blame winter if I can!

• It has been freezing, so I've been layering up like nobody's business.  I like it, but then I try to do something useful, and I realize I can't because my arms are like three times bigger than usual.  I tend to knock a lot of stuff over...  

• Driving sucks.  Luckily no people or vehicles (or animals) were harmed, but I did a 720 on the freeway last weekend, and one of my friends did a 360 driving home tonight.  Dangerous!  
• Walking has become hazardous.  Because it's cold, and because I have the most awesome boots, I wore them Sunday to keep my legs warm and dry.  Mission accomplished!  However, because my walk was covered in snow, I missed a step and nearly fell over in my front yard in a dress.  Yikes!  (Did I mention these boots have 4 inch heels?  My bad...)
• Getting out of cars is hazardous too.  There is literally a pile of ice right next to my driver door in my parking space.  Instead of getting out of my car the other day, I just slid from the seat directly to the ground!  At least I was a little closer to the ground, right?  Haha.
• I'm probably going to have a bruise on my forehead tomorrow.  Why?  I got distracted opening my car door and hit myself in the face.  So..... I probably can't blame winter for that.  In fact, this story is so embarrassing I'm considering removing it...  

Now you all know how clumsy I am.  I hope you all got a good laugh out of it, I know I did.  Happy Thursday!!!

Winter time

Winter has officially happened in Nebraska.  More like walked up and slapped me in the face...  Anyway, it snowed, and I'm officially inconvenienced by scraping ice off my car while still attempting to sleep in as much as possible.  Seriously, my ability to push the snooze button has reached epic proportions.  I hate driving in the snow (I may have had a little run-in with some ice, and one of those poles in the median), but even I will admit it's beautiful.

Winter Quarter's temple.

This year my Christmas came out dangerously early.  Well then my awesome mom sent me a package full of extra ornaments for my tree.  Awesome, right?  Too bad I had already decorated, and I'm only slightly OCD about where the ornaments go (ask the old roommates), which made new additions a bit challenging.  I think it turned out pretty well, but if I wanted to use all the ornaments, I need a bigger tree!  Now I have this random montage of red, white, and black on my tree.  Don't worry, it is fully equipped with 6-inch red balls, black and white icicles, random red feather stick thingies, black snowflakes, and a bunch of Utah gear!  (Now do you get the red, white, and black theme?!)

My little Utah Nutcracker!

Speaking of Nutcrackers, I got to go see the Nutcracker last week with my friend Zach.  Creighton put on a performance, and one of the girls in our ward was in it.  I loved it!

 In the meantime, I am supposed to be studying for finals and Boards right now.  Yuck, right?  You know, it's probably a bad thing that the only snack food I find appealing right now happens to be my orange gummy vitamin Cs.  I'm probably going to need to make a serious munchie run this weekend before I overdose on ascorbic acid and diet coke.