Back to School, Back to Blogging

It's almost been 3 months since I have blogged, and during that time Joe and I had a FABULOUS summer. I plan to share details of our adventures, but I'll save those stories for future posts :)

Last Monday Joe went back to school and it has been less of an adjustment than I expected. While I hate that he's gone for so long (he's already spending more time in class and lab than last year), I feel like I grew during D1 and I'm better able to entertain myself in his absence. I still hate it, of course. I definitely got spoiled with Joe-time this summer.

To keep busy, I am re-watching The Walking Dead in preparation for the season 5 premiere on October 12, crocheting, and reading book 1 of the Game of Thrones series. Oh! And I am in not one but TWO fantasy football leagues. Go Broncos! I've still been going to the gym... but let's just say that a cruise and 2+ weeks in Missouri set me back a little bit.

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Our Summertime Plans

As of last Thursday, Joe officially finished his first year of dental school! I am so proud of all that he has accomplished this year and SO excited to have my husband school-free for the next 2+ months.

Well, technically it is here. But I couldn't resist a GoT reference.
Or that throne made of pool noodles.

It still seems unreal that he has time on his hands. We went out to lunch and shopping on Friday, and both kept thinking that we needed to hurry home so he could get back to studying. After every meal we eat, show we watch, walk we take with Buster, etc., we both expect us to have to part ways (him to study, me to try to entertain myself until his next - brief - break). I'm not sure how long it will take for us to adjust to his new, totally free schedule, but it is such a great feeling every time we remember that he doesn't have any studying to do that I don't mind this adjustment period.

This summer will be his only sizable break from dental school during the entire 4 years. Next summer (between years 2 and 3) will be spent studying for his boards and in clinic. Once clinic starts, that is a year-round commitment until dental school is complete. 

Knowing this, we want to take advantage of these next couple of months and have some exciting things to look forward to. My youngest brother, Brian, is coming to visit next Saturday. While he's here, the three of us will head to Washington D.C. for a couple of days. Joe has never been to D.C. and is a big history buff (especially U.S. and Presidential history), so he is really excited. Brian and I have both been twice, but never together. I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time looking at monuments and visiting museums. 

The following Sunday (June 22) is our cruise! Brian will be staying at our place and taking care of Buster while we are gone. I am SO EXCITED for this cruise. Unless you count our road trip out to Philadelphia or trips to visit family, the last vacation Joe and I took together was our honeymoon 3 years ago. This is long overdue :) The cruise is a week long, and we will sail from New Jersey to Bermuda, dock there for 3 days, then sail back. I know that most cruises involve island- or city-hopping, but I actually like the idea of having a long period of time in one place. Most of the other cruises we looked at only docked for about 4 hours at each locale, which doesn't seem like nearly enough time. I've been on 3 cruises in my life (at ages 5, 9 and 22), so I know what to expect. Joe, on the other hand, has never stepped foot on a cruise ship, so it will be so much fun to get to experience his first time cruising together. 

Just 13 days after we arrive home from the cruise, we will be heading to Missouri for a little over 2 weeks so we can visit Joe's family. We don't want to leave Buster again, so we will be driving and bringing the dog with us. It's about a 15 hour drive and Buster hates the car, so that should be really enjoyable. Despite the dreaded drive, I am so excited for this Missouri trip! I love Joe's family and when we visited during our road trip out to Philly last year, I was SUPER sick. Like, the sickest I have ever been (I had to sleep on his mom's recliner for 10 days because I would have extended coughing fits if I laid down at all). I felt so miserable that we ended up cutting our road trip short and heading straight to Philly after Missouri (with a couple of short detours) instead of driving through the south and then up the East Coast as planned. I feel like I didn't get to spend enough quality time with his family, so hopefully this trip can help make-up for that a bit.

After we return from Missouri, things slow-down a bit. All we have planned for August is to see Book of Mormon and to go to a Phillies vs. Cardinals game. 

I know that I have been terrible at blogging lately, but I am hoping that all of these exciting adventures will give me something to write about :) Then again, maybe I won't want to waste a second of time that I could be spending with Joe. I guess we shall see...

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Allow Me to Fill You In....

It's been quite an absence - sorry about that!

Here's what I've failed to fill you in on lately:


SPRING BREAK

Going back to California for Spring Break was a lot of fun!

Joe joined me in California for the first 5 days of my 11 day va-cay. Since he was only in town for a handful of days, we had a pretty packed schedule because we wanted to visit as many friends and family as we could. It was so much fun to see all the familiar faces :)

After he left, things slowed down and I spent most of my time either working or shopping with my mom. I was so strange to be away from him for almost a week - it's the longest we've been apart since we've been married - but I'm still going to try to make it home more often in the future. Since I can work from anywhere, I should take advantage of that.

It was also fun to be home for two Sundays because I was able to watch two new episodes of The Walking Dead with my parents - who are obsessed (especially my Dad). My brother, Brian, was home for the first Sunday and is a big fan as well. He convinced me to read the comics, which I started a few days ago and am TOTALLY hooked on. They are incredibly twisted so, being me, I obviously can't get enough of them.

***Side Note*** This is the first comic I've read, so I don't know if this is true for ALL comics, but I am SHOCKED at how many "adult situations" there are! Now I finally understand why some guys are totally obsessed with comic books ;) ***End of Side Note***

While I ate too much on my trip and only exercised a couple of times, I was still down 0.4 pounds when I returned... so I consider that a win. And that's after TWO visits to In N Out ;)

Of course, I HAD to Instagram my first meal there :) And, yes, I do eat a ridiculous amount of ketchup.

BUSTER'S BIRTHDAY

One downside of staying in California longer than Joe did was that I missed Buster's first birthday with us. He's four now, and his birthday was March 14. Not only did his mommy miss his special day, but the poor guy had to go to the vet for some shots!

I made it up to him by bringing home some presents. He also got a special doggy cookie in the shape of a squirrel (he loves chasing them) and Joe made him some chicken and rice to eat.

I'm impressed - the dog knows how to open a present...

I LOVE this picture because he looks like he dropped his mouth in shock at his present. Really, he was just yawning - something he does approximately 15,324 times a day.

DENTAL SCHOOL

The second semester of dental school has brought a shift for Joe. Instead of being in lecture all day learning science stuff, he's now doing more hands-on stuff! He's excited to finally roll his sleeves up. Not only is he assisting 3rd and 4th year students when they work on patients, but he is in lab doing things like making wax teeth and filling cavities on dummies.

Sometimes, he can bring stuff home. And then I get to take pictures :)

He's carving a tooth out of wax for this project. I don't understand the point, but nearly every (if not all) dental schools require this. Some make you do the entire mouth! It's incredibly time consuming.

Hard at work

But happy to be carving instead of having his head buried in a book.

TRAINING

Upon returning to Philly, I've been really focused on eating right and hitting the gym hard with my trainer. Though I have been lazy and haven't made it to the gym on non-training days, three extreme workouts a week is definitely a step up from what I had been doing. I'm going to aim for 5 days a week next week (3 with the trainer, 2 cardio days) - which is what she wants me to do.

Although I am not a fan DURING training, I am LOVING that I made the decision to do this. I can tell that I am getting an incredible workout, and I am already seeing some arm definition that I haven't seen in FAR too long. I'm so dedicated that I've even starting drinking protein powder drinks after workouts to help build muscle!

I love my trainer! She knows how much to push to make me red-faced, sweaty and sore the next day
- but not in a ton of pain.

The only thing that really stinks is that she wants me to weigh myself just ONCE a month. This is going to be VERY difficult, and it also means that you'll have to say goodbye to Weigh-in Wednesdays, but I'm going to be a good trainee and listen to her.


Welp. That's really about it. Life has been crazy busy with work and training, and there haven't been too many exciting things going on. That said, I hate inconsistent bloggers, so I am going to try to up my game :)

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Blah

Lately I've been feeling very blah.

I tend to get a little blue in the winter so, given that this is the coldest winter I've experienced with snowstorm after snowstorm, it's no surprise that I feel this way.

Plus, after I broke (?) my toe on Super Bowl Sunday I have been super inactive. I know, I know - it's just a toe. Look, I have a very low tolerance for pain (won't pregnancy and birth be fun someday?!), and this thing is just not healing. It started feeling better a few days ago, but then Buster jumped on it and now I can't even do something simple like wear shoes without being in pain.

So much for exercising.

It's not like I'd go to the gym even if my toe felt fine. I have zero desire to actually DO anything. Work has been taking significantly more time the past couple of weeks because I can't focus, and I am having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Last week I slept until 10 or later almost every day, and didn't get started on work until after lunch.

When I don't finish work until the late evening, the last thing I want to do is exercise, clean, cook - or anything else besides lay on the couch and watch TV. This just makes things worse, because I look around the house and become overwhelmed at all of the things I need to do. And then I look at the scale and see all my hard work in January being reversed.

I'm in SUCH A FUNK and I need to snap out of it. I'm sure the fact that I am in my house practically 24/7 is NOT helping. I'm sure that not really having friends in Philadelphia is NOT helping. But I don't feel "up to" fixing either one of those things.

It's a vicious cycle.

I'll be fine. "Blahness" isn't a new feeling for me. It's just been a long time since I felt this way. For the last few years I blamed it on work, but now I LOVE my job (seriously, I couldn't be any luckier. Sometimes I want to pinch myself because I cannot believe how perfectly everything aligned to get me to where I am). So, I guess I'll just now blame it on the damn snow and cabin fever.

On a happier note, Joe is doing amazing in dental school. I am SO proud of him. He just wrapped up anatomy (his toughest class ever) and physiology. While he will still have science classes, now he's also going to get to do more practical things in the lab. His loupes arrived ($1,400 for those babies!) and so did his dental tool kit. He was like a little kid at Christmas :)

Alright - I am off to bed and hope to awake with determination to shake my "blahness."

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Guest Blogger: Gabriel Ruiz (Dental Spouse)

Today I'm going to do something I've never done before: feature a guest blogger!

Gabriel is the husband of a dentist, and messaged me a few days ago about writing a post on life as a dental spouse. I thought it would be helpful for my readers who have husbands or wives in dental school :) What I love is how Gabriel and his wife are true partners in life and business.
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When I was growing up I never dreamed of being a doctor's “wife.” I expected to a be a teacher like my mother or preacher like my father. During dental school I even had an inkling of the inevitable. Still I didn't realize how much of a typical dentist's spouse I'd become until I introduced myself to a patient as "Gabriel, the doctor’s wife," on accident.

Today, nearly 14 years later, dentist's spouse is a label I wear with pride. My wife and I have been a team since dental school, and it has paid off. As a dental spouse I've been able to supplement those strengths that make her a great dentist such as determination, self-confidence, and attention to detail with my own strengths in communication, people management, and visionary development to create a thriving dental practice.

It is no surprise then that, after years of searching in vain for reliable dental practice management software that would be easy to use, affordable, and work on both PCs and Macs, we would choose to take the challenge of creating such a software together. Two years and a small fortune later, we are proud of the software we've created, Axex Dental. Check out a video of the software in action at video.axexdental.com.

In an interview with The Dental Geek blog about our experience and our software, we were asked if making the transition from dental practice to entrepreneur was difficult for us. The truth is that whether setting up a practice, taking over an existing one, or creating software, all dentists will be entrepreneurs at one point or another. Although we have been very successful in our practice and our software, it has not been without challenges, hard knocks, and harder lessons. But it does not have to be so painful.

Dental school will not prepare your spouses for running a business, and chances are they'll be too busy to supplement studies on their own. As a dentist's spouse you may want to brush up on business and entrepreneurship knowledge. You don't need an MBA. Listen to a podcast on startups every now and then. Read a book or two on business. I recommend "The Personal MBA..." by Josh Kaufman and "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries. I really enjoyed those two, and believe me, what I find fun reading is typically "Good Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors" by Molly Harper. . .

Huh. Maybe I am a typical doctor's wife after all.

Gabriel Ruiz has a BA in Theology from Southern Adventist University. He taught junior high at Loma Linda Academy, and until 2011, he was a stay-at-home parent of two wonderful children with an unpaid internship at Kimberly Riggs Ruiz DDS, Inc. in HR, IT, and BS (Marketing.) These days he splits his time between the aforementioned unpaid jobs and the equally unpaid job of Lead Evangelist and Co-Founder for Unident Software Company and Axex Dental.

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Odontoblast 2014

Every year the dental school hosts a gala for its students, and last night was this year's event! The venue was incredible! Originally it was supposed to be at a hotel ballroom, but too many people wanted tickets so they moved it to the Penn Museum.

Which I am THRILLED they had to do.

Because instead of some nondescript (albeit fancy, I'm sure) ballroom in the middle of the city, we were at one of the coolest venues I could ever imagine.

As you can see, the lighting made iPhone photos rough. So I didn't take pictures of the venue, itself. Here are some photos off the web to give you an idea of the space:

Here is the main room - it was full of drink and food tables.

Part of the Egypt/mummy section was also used for the DJ, dancing & more bars and food tables.

The more cranberry vodkas I drank from the 3-hour open bar (!!), the more afraid I was that I would knock over a priceless artifact, but all was well :)

The food was also really fun. Amongst other things, they had soft pretzels and mini-cheesesteaks with cheese dip. O.M.G. so delicious.

***Fun Fact*** Most people know that Philly is big on cheesesteaks, but fewer people know that Philadelphians LOVE themselves a good pretzel. There's even a guy who works at Trader Joe's with a pretzel tattooed to his calf. Also, there are no less than FIVE Auntie Anne's pretzel stands at the nearby King of Prussia Mall ***End of Fun Fact***

Though I wore my most practical of dress shoes, my feet of course killed me most of the night. By the time we left I was hobbling to a cab. It didn't help that I am pretty sure I lightly sprained my ankle by slipping on some snow yesterday.

Despite my lingering foot pain, I will be on my feet a lot today preparing for our Superbowl party! I have always wanted to host a Superbowl party, and given that the Broncos are in it this year I knew I HAD to take the opportunity. Unfortunately, there's a really rough anatomy test scheduled for Wednesday. Since Odontoblast was last night, most people in Joe's class can't take time off today too. But we'll have a handful of people over, and more food than we'll know what to do with :)

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Side By Side

As much as I think that UPenn is the perfect place for Joe to attend dental school, there is one thing that I am still bummed out about: the lack of other dental school wives!

Although dental school wife blogs are few and far between, I did find and read a few before arriving in Philly (Ariel's is my favorite, here). These ladies seemed to have found at least a few other married students in their husbands' classes, and had become friends with their wives. I was hoping beyond hope that the same thing would happen for me, but it hasn't :/ 

This is what I imagined, lonely dental school wives bonding over some vino.

Not only is there a serious lack of significant others (come on Penn dental students, step up your game!), but the ones that I am aware of (except one) don't seem interested in making new friends.

That notable exception is a girl who has a fiancé in Joe's class. Her and I have gotten together a few times since school started. We've had fun, but she has a long commute and a busy schedule so we don't have the chance to hang out too often (though we did go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art this Sunday, which was a lot of fun!). 

Despite being pretty busy myself, I've really missed having girlfriends to hang out with - lunches, shopping, chick flicks - and I also feel like I am missing out on a support network of people who know what I am going through. 

A couple months ago I decided that, while I might not be able to make more dental school wives in Joe's class (hmmm... unless I became a matchmaker...), I can try to find opportunities to make friends and create a support network.

Enter: Side by Side.

Side by Side is a support group for Christian women who are married to medical or dental students / professionals. Ariel is the one who brought its existence to my attention back in November, and I was excited to see that there is a chapter in Philly. They meet every 2 weeks and read books about marriage, etc. and provide support for each other. 

I took a leap (I am super nervous about meeting new people) and attended a meeting several weeks ago. All the ladies are medical wives (argh! not even ONE dental wife?), and they seemed very nice. They were discussing The 5 Love Languages, which I have read and highly recommend, so it was easy to insert myself mid-semeseter. 

Unfortunately, holidays, illness, bad weather & guests have prevented me from being able to attend another meeting until last night. But I'm back, and hope to regularly make the meetings. The next book we will be reading is The Love Dare, so we watched the first half of Fireproof (which is about The Love Dare). It's a super cheeseball movie (sorry Kirk Cameron), but it really made me reflect on how lucky I am to have Joe as my husband.

Kind of the point of the group :)

Between now and the next meeting, we are supposed to complete the first 5 dares from the book. I'm excited, because I feel like with work, Paparazzi, exercising, etc. I have become a little distant from Joe. Plus, he's so busy that I've gotten used to being without him - sad thought. These dares will force me to take thoughtful and deliberate actions to make Joe happy.

Although the SBS women aren't dental wives, I still feel fortunate to have found a group of women in a pretty similar situation to my own. And, who knows, maybe another dental school wife will join sometime down the line.

Regardless, even more important than making friends and feeling support is making sure that Joe and I have a strong and happy marriage. I really feel like this group is the perfect place for me to learn to be the best wife and partner I can.

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Tour De Franzia

One of the best parts about Joe being in dental school is that I feel like I have a second chance at college.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my college experience (go Zags!), but I was so obsessed with grades that I didn't have as much fun as I should have had. I actually remember phone calls from my dad telling me to stop studying and to go have fun (I know, how pathetic can I be?!). But, alas, I am a perfectionist and I needed to do the best I possibly could. I have the degree (and graduated magna cum laude!) to show for it, but I do NOT have a ton of crazy memories.

So now that I have a second shot, I best not waste it ;)

The first step to enjoying my second shot at college was for Joe to join a dental frat.

Check.

Now I am just trying to soak up any other fun opportunity (you know, before we start baby-making).

This Friday, we went to a really fun party called "Tour de Franzia" where the goal was to have teams of 3-4 drink a 5 liter box of wine the fastest.

Joe, smartly, recruited a Russian couple that we are friends with for our team and I set about designing t-shirts. I was sure my mad wine drinking skills would propel our team to victory but then I drank too much over Thanksgiving, thought I was getting sick, and feared I would cost our team the win.

Being the hard-core competitor I am, I graciously backed out and they recruited another person from Joe's class (also Russian).

I still designed the t-shirts (we were team USSR because Team Russia was already taken and our other teammates, obviously, wanted to have our team somehow related to Russia):

***Side Note*** Joe mentioned his grandpa probably turned in his grave watching me paint hammers and sickles on t-shirts ;) Mine probably did too. ***End of Side Note***

And, instead, I was just a cheerleader for Team USSR:

I figured this whole thing would take a while - I mean, 5 liters is a lot of wine - but Team USSR finished all 5 liters in about 10 minutes! Unfortunately, Team Jamaica finished in about 9 minutes and 50 seconds :( But, given that we had costumes and they didn't, it was pretty much agreed that it was a tie.

Poor Team USSR felt very sick for quite a while, while their cheerleader (me!) sucked down vodka cranberries.

Gotta love college part deux.

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The Work-Wife Balance

I completed training yesterday for my new freelance writing job (more details here), and got the official go-ahead to start working independently this afternoon. Always the overachiever I, of course, way overestimated how quick I thought I'd be and so I am already behind.

Not good.

Based on my production so far, my workdays are going to be about 9-10 hours until I can increase my speed. This should be fine, seeing as how I am a bored dental school wife with a husband who studies or is in class 12-15 hours a day. What I've already realized, though, is that Joe and I have been spoiled by my recently-developed domesticity. I won't lie, the apartment isn't spotless, but I've been keeping up with the laundry, keeping our surroundings presentable, running all errands, and cooking dinner almost every single night.

***Side Note*** Plus, I have a gym membership that expires in 3 weeks and has been used far too little to justify renewing unless I step it up. Then again, if unemployed me couldn't get off her lazy butt to go to the gym, why on earth would I think adding a full-time job would make it any easier? ***End of Side Note***

I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up.

But keep up I'll have to, because I can't expect Joe to pick up any slack. So instead of wondering how I can do it, I'll channel my inner overachiever (who has been in hibernation while unemployed) and repeat:

Here's hoping caffeine and great organizational skills will push me through ;)

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So How Has Dental School Been Going?

Since I've been bummed about losing my husband to dental school, it's probably good for you all to know that his studying has been worth it. He's had two exams and a quiz so far and has gotten a B, B+, and an A. Since he doesn't want to specialize, these are exactly the type of grades we are hoping for. It means he understands the material and is doing well, but he's not killing himself to make straight A's since it ultimately doesn't matter what grades he gets so long as he passes and is a great dentist once he is done at UPenn.

See, specialties like Orthodontics and Periodontics require additional schooling and are incredibly competitive to get into. If Joe wanted a chance at being accepted to a specialty program, he'd have to pretty much ace dental school - which is NOT easy - and have to be involved with extra-curriculars to boost his application. Both would require even MORE of his time.

He considered pursuing a specialty after being accepted to UPenn because UPenn grads have a high rate of acceptance into these programs, but shadowed some dentists who specialize and found that the work was too

 monotonous for him. He likes the variety that being a general dentist provides and the fact that he can build relationships with patients over the years. Plus, he has a strong desire to work with people with developmental disabilities and would best serve that population as a general dentist.

I'm thrilled that he's content with B's, because that's the difference between him being able to take a few hours off every now and then, and him not having that luxury.

The scary part, though, is that Penn is apparently "easing them in" during the first two months of dental school. In a couple weeks, the exams start becoming more frequent (1-2 per week) and the workload more intense. Luckily, it seems that Joe is learning some strategies to speed up his studying (probably the reason for the easing in) and will hopefully use his time more effectively. He'll need to learn to speed study since second year (D2) is supposed to be even more intense. Yay.

Mom, I took the time to edit this just for you ;) It was just too spot on not to post.

I am in such awe of Joe and how hard he is working. I could never work as hard as he is right now - I'm shocked a human can push like this. I can't imagine those poor souls who DO want to specialize... or those D2's...

Now that I've depressed myself thinking about next year, I need to post one more thing that makes me laugh ;)

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So THIS is What Dental School is Really Like...

Not only does Joe now have scrubs and fake teeth, but tomorrow he has his first dental school exam. That means I've pretty much only seen him for meals and Breaking Bad since Sunday morning. ***Side Note*** O.M.G. THAT SHOW!!!! ***End of Side Note***

Although tests are always unenjoyable and usually scary, there's a certain happiness that comes from this one. After such a LONG road to get here, we feel so blessed that he even has the opportunity to take a dental school test at all. While I never doubted the day would come, I did have fears it wouldn't be here yet (it's not uncommon to have to apply to dental school more than once- Joe was very VERY fortunate to get his top choice his first year). So this is actually really exciting!

But that doesn't mean it doesn't suck. After having Joe off of school for over a year, it's weird to not have him to myself (and Buster, of course) at nights. I'm finding myself getting bored of all my "me time" already, which probably isn't a good sign. I have officially taken on the burden of cooking, laundry, and cleaning - which does help keep me occupied to an extent-  but there's only so much that can be done (and I hate all 3 of those things, so there's only so much that WILL be done haha).

I'm trying hard to embrace being a dental school wife, but I have a feeling it'll take a while to adjust. I'll definitely need some hobbies. ***Side Note*** Hey! Maybe I can finally practice using my fancy camera! *** End of Side Note*** 

Until then, I'll just have to take full advantage of any time I do get to spend with Joe. For this week's date, we are going to the driving range! Should be an awesome mini-escape (and hitting the balls will be a great stress reliever haha).

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Frat Party

So last night Joe and I did something I never did when I was in college: we went to a frat party.

The idea that there are dental fraternities surprised me, I always thought frats were an undergraduate thing. But there are, and Joe is joining one. Thankfully, they don't force you to rush ;)

The party was really fun! They had a ton of free alcohol, the place was packed, and they had beer pong set-up. I LOVE me some beer pong.

Unfortunately, I am grossly out of practice and one of our competitors was a beer pong god! He sunk almost every single shot, explaining he is good because he analyzes the X and Y axis (or something like that... I was lost after I realized he was speaking math. Darn these Ivy League smarties). This means our playing time was sadly short and we had to drink a lot of beer (apparently losers have to drink whatever beer the winners have left. So for us... that was all but three of the cups. Yum. That went well with my vodka drink and gin jello shot. Not.)

After our round, we did some mingling and I finally met a dental fiancee and wife! Yay! It was so loud in that house that we couldn't really hear each other, but at least I finally got to meet some other ladies like me. Hopefully we can hang out again and actually have a conversation that doesn't include shouting and saying "what?" dozens of times.

Toward the end of the night I had to go to the bathroom. I set my iPhone next to the sink and it promptly slid between the vanity and the wall. I couldn't reach it for the life of me and started freaking out. I ran to find Joe and shouted to him "Emergency! Emergency!" (yes, the vodka, gin, and beer had fully hit by this point). He came running after me (Lord knows what he thought was going on) and I pulled him in the bathroom and explained the predicament. He tried everything he could think to get the phone out, but nothing worked. Then I remembered that I had a tape measure in my purse (don't ask - my purse is a bottomless pit) and we used that to hook the phone and pull it. Success!

My excitement of having my phone back was short-lived, as I realized we had shut and locked the door and I could start to hear voices from outside. Fearing people were thinking Joe and I were getting it on expressing our marital love in the bathroom (after all, there were lots of yells of "its not working," "almost there," "come on come on," and even a "ya! it's coming!"), I turned off the light and bolted out of the bathroom past a line of people. Pretty sure that just made the whole thing even more suspicious.

Oh, well. People were so drunk I doubt they'll remember. Either that, or Joe will get some high fives on Monday.

We left around midnight and promptly passed out. This morning, I woke up feeling like a truck hit me. Luckily I am starting to feel better, because Joe and I have our date jar night tonight! The date he pulled is sports-themed. We are going to watch a sports movie (or two) and eat food that people eat at sporting events.

I better enjoy stuffing my face today, since tomorrow I am finally going to get back on the wagon with eating right and exercising. I am petrified that this last month of celebrating Joe starting school will have reversed all the good I did in July. If it did, I certainly deserve it...

Friend-less in Philly

Alrighty. I'm going to be a little woe-is-me today.

So far, I love almost everything about Philly (sans the traffic, liquor laws, distance to Target, and the weather). As a girl who prefers small towns or suburbs to cities (I hated living in San Francisco), I'm shocked that I could enjoy a city as much as I have this one over the last 3 months. 

But one big problem with Joe's choice of school is that the class is full of recent college graduates. Being 29 (Joe) and 27 (me) make us among the oldest in any social setting. There is one student who is 35 and I think I may have heard rumors about one or two other people close to Joe's age.

Aside from that? The class is made up of people so young they don't know who McGruff The Crime Dog is.

Seriously. Joe made a joke and referenced McGruff and all he got were blank stares.

Look, I am not ageist at all. In fact, I love the idea of being "class mom" and baking cookies, giving advice, etc. for/to these whippersnappers. And, despite being younger than us, everyone I've met in Joe's class is super sweet and welcoming. They are such an amazing group of people and I feel blessed that Joe will be surrounded by them for the next 4 years.

The only reason I am so bummed about the age of the students in his class (aside from the references they don't get... poor McGruff) is because that means very few (as in maybe just one?) of them are married. I've been reading blogs of other dental school wives and it seems like they have this cute little network of other women whose husbands are going through the same thing.

I'm already getting lonely, and know it's about to get much, much worse. I need friends, and just don't have them yet (unless you count the 4 & 5 year-olds I nanny). I always assumed that I'd meet wives/fiancees/gf's of dental students and that would be the way I made my Philly friends.

I am starting to think I need a plan B.

So what is your advice? How do adult women make friends?

I can't count on making work friends because I may have to continue nannying with the way the job market is in Philly. Even if I do eventually find an office job, who says there will be people my age or that they will even WANT to make a new friend?

Do I just accept the fact that Buster is going to be my Philly BFF?

While I love him to pieces, he's not interested in eating ice cream and watching Sex & the City

Pics from Joe's White Coat

So I've finally pushed through my laziness and uploaded pictures from Monday's white coat :)

Obligatory back to school pic

Announcing himself!

Shaking hands with the Dean

Proud mama

Happy couple :)

Mom and son

The three of us

I also mentioned that Joe got a super special gift in honor of his white coat ceremony.

A few months ago, I read a post on my favorite fellow dental school wife's blog. Ariel at Love Like Enamel (AWESOME name, BTW) had an idea to give her husband a journal with letters of encouragement/advice for him to read when dental school got rough. 

I LOVED the idea, and immediately e-mailed a bunch of family and friends and asked them to submit letters, photos, quotes, etc. so I could create a scrapbook of encouragement for Joe. I figured the best time to give him the scrapbook would be on the night of his white coat. 

Boy oh boy was putting that scrapbook together TOUGH. Since Joe wasn't in school, it was nearly impossible to carve out time to work on it without arousing suspicion. A couple times I rented horror movies and said I was going to watch them in our room (knowing full well he wouldn't step foot in the room since he hates them so much). Besides that, I just took advantage of any time he needed to run a quick errand and made some excuse as to why I couldn't come (headache, cramps, didn't want to crate Buster) and then would whip out the supplies.

I actually used the date night jars as an excuse toward the end. Knowing that I was going to give him two homemade gifts before school, I figured I'd tell him I was making him a surprise. That way, I didn't have to come up with creative ways to get myself alone. While I hated sacrificing the surprise of the jars (the jars themselves were secret, the fact he was getting something wasn't), it was worth it to keep the scrapbook secret.

He loved it :)

Thanks to all who sent contributions :)