Greetings from Iowa!

That was the title I planned on using to post while I was in Iowa last week. Unfortunately the apartment I stayed in didn't have WiFi, so the blog was put on hold.

I'm actually in Auburn for the week and just completed my first week of rotations at East Alabama Medical Center. I am loving every minute of it and learning more than I could have ever imagined.

But there will be plenty of time to update about the internship. This post is all about my trip to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Let's rewind to January 8.

Dad and I headed to the Atlanta airport at 5:30am Sunday morning. I was a bit nervous about traveling alone for the first time, so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to make my 10:30am flight. I made it through security without issue and promptly found my gate. I was proud, confident, and ready to soar the sky.

Unfortunately Delta had other plans.

The flight was delayed until 11:10am due to "aircraft maintenance." No big deal. A 40 minute delay would still have me in Minneapolis in plenty of time to make my connection. We boarded the plane and got ready for take-off. Now I know that my flying experience is rather limited, but when the lights started dimming and pulsing and making strange noises, even I knew something was wrong. After a few minutes of nervous anticipation, the pilot informed us that the internal computer on the plane had crashed and they were working to fix the problem. After sitting on the ground for close to an hour, they informed us that the plane was not cleared for take off. Since this was Plan B, they weren't sure what Plan C would be. Possible flight cancellation? Grrrrrreat.

I was fortunate enough to be sitting by a precious couple from North Dakota. The wife took me under her wing and told me that if her daughter were traveling alone, she would want someone to look after her too. God definitely had a hand in that seat assignment.

Plan C ended up coming through and we finally left Atlanta at 1:30pm and landed in Minneapolis at 3:00pm... just in time for me to miss 2 connections to Des Moines, Iowa. I spent the next 4 hours in the Minneapolis airport reading The Hunger Games and eating a hamburger and fries. (Yes, I know. The irony is not lost.)

My flight left Minneapolis at 7:15 and I FINALLY arrived in Des Moines at 8:30pm. I took at shuttle to the campus in Ames, got checked in to my apartment, and settled in around 11:30pm. Even though the day was exhausting and much longer than anticipated, I was thankful to be in my temporary home and ready to begin my adventure.

The rest of the week went much smoother. We started every morning around 8:00am and ended around 8:00pm. The days were jam-packed with internship information, review sessions, guest speakers, and homework.

We were told the weather for the week was supposed to be mild and dry, meaning 40 degrees and no rain, snow, or ice. Monday and Tuesday were sunny, beautiful, and down-right pleasant. I had avoided the frigid cold of the mid-west in winter.

Or so I thought.

When we left class Wednesday, we were greeted by this waiting for us outside.

I was surprised by the difference in Iowa snow and Alabama snow. I thought all snow was heavy and wet and I was dreading the cold that comes after having your clothes and hair soaked to the bone by melting snow. But the snow in Iowa is dry and light enough to make what could only be described as "snow-tornadoes" in the parking lot. It was quite interesting.

The snow was the fun part. What's not so fun is the 12 degree temps with -6 wind chill. Holy cow... I thought I would never thaw out.

The rest of the week was snowy and cold and made me truly miss the south.

But the weather was just par for the course and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. I met a ton of fantastic ladies and even a few guys. (Out of 54 people in attendance, 5 were male!) I feel like I spent at least a month with these new friends, rather than just a week! I am so thankful to have made these friendships and hope we can all stay in touch.

{My community of practice: the Mocha group!}



I flew back into Atlanta Sunday, January 15 and was greeted by my dad's smiling face. It was confirmation that I was almost done with this part of my adventure.

Dad drove me to Auburn where we met my mom at Lee's house. She brought my car and my luggage for week 2 and took me to Walmart for groceries.

The last few weeks have seriously been a blur and I know July will be here before I know it. This program is accelerated and requires 50 hours of supervised practice every week. But I can do anything for 6 months and cannot wait to be able to say I am a registered dietitian.

This blog has been long enough (Lee just asked if I was writing a book), so I'll update about my rotations later.

I'm off to eat dinner with friends and spend some time getting some much needed R&R.

Until next time...

Home for Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve!

I have been thoroughly enjoying Christmas break at home in Montgomery. My break started earlier than expected on Thursday when we were surprised with a half-day of work. Merry Christmas to us! I have been busy with getting things ready to move back next weekend, finishing up some last minute shopping, and spending time with family and friends I have missed so much.

Two of the roomies came to Montgomery to visit yesterday. Mallory is home from New York and was visiting family in Montgomery, so Laura decided to join us for some much needed quality time. We had a blast catching up, eating my mom's homemade pound cake (yumm!), and drinking hot chocolate.

Laura even surprised me with what is quite possibly the coolest gift she will ever give me.

Add a hot beverage...

...and you get a coffee mug any Harry Potter fan would approve of.

She knows me so well. I'm so fortunate to have friends who share my crazy obsession healthy love for all things Harry Potter.



{laura, nat, and me at the mid-night showing of deathly hallows part 1}

I am excited about spending the next few days celebrating with the people I love. The family and I will be heading to the Christmas Eve service at church in a few hours and will come home for our annual french toast breakfast-for-dinner. Maybe we will even watch a little Christmas Vacation or Elf to get us in the Christmas spirit. The Griswolds and Buddy the Elf have a way doing that.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!









A November to Remember

I realize it's been an extremely long time since I last posted. Life has seriously gotten in the way. With so much going on, I have found little time to dedicate to my blog.

I have so much to be thankful for and the month of November was full of blessings. I am reminded of one of my favorite hymns: Count your many blessings, name them one by one.


1. My sweet friend Suzanne came to Milledgeville to visit

2. I was accepted into the January 2012 Dietetic Internship class at Iowa State University!!

This is the big news I was referring to at the end of the last post. This internship is a distance program which means will go to Iowa for one week in January (brrrrr!!) and will come home to complete all of my rotations. That's right... I said home!! I'm sad to leave my friends and co-workers in Milledgeville, but could not be more excited to be back in Alabama and closer to my family and friends again. I also cannot wait to get started with my internship. While I know it will quite possibly be the hardest 6 months of my collegiate career (50 hours of clinicals weekly + grad school courses) I have never been more excited for school. I know this is God's plan for my life and I could not be happier!

3. My dad started a new job

This past year has taught my family to fully rely on God in every situation. I am thankful for parents who love the Lord and have taught my brother and I to trust in HIS provision.

4. I did not work a full week (in the clinic) the whole month of November

November holds two state holidays (Veterans Day and Thanksgiving) which means I got a bunch of days off! The way the schedule worked out, I worked no more than 4 days each week this month! Thank goodness for short work-weeks and long weekends...

5. I celebrated my 24th year of life

6. My little younger brother turned 18!!! Whoa.

7. My sweetest, prettiest, favoritest cousin turned 20 on the same day. Double woah.

8. Breaking Dawn Part 1 is now in theaters

I know it's silly to be thankful for this, but it's my blog and I'll be silly if I want to. Oh how I love the Twilight. I also spent the better part of the last two weeks re-reading all four books. Don't judge me.

9. Thanksgiving Day

Since we had a much smaller group this year (12 of the possible 23), we spent Thanksgiving Day at the lake. We still had all of the regular grub to munch on, but it was nice to have a change of scenery. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, ate delicous food, and played our usual rowdy game of Apples-to-Apples. It was a successful Thanksgiving Day in my book.

10. Iron Bowl 2011

I am well-aware of the fact that Auburn lost this football game. However, I'm always thankful to be in Auburn and show my school spirit. WAR EAGLE!

11. Black Friday

I have never been one to really participate in the Black Friday shopping festivities. While I was not up with you crazies at 5am, I did spend the whole day shopping with the madre and finished most of my Christmas shopping. We also took full advantage of the California Yogurt Kraze buy-one-get-one-free Black Friday special. Score!

12. I spent ALOT of quality time with friends and family



13. Friends are gettin' hitched

My high school friend turned freshman year roomate, Ashley Pavey, got engaged a few months ago. But I didn't have a blog then... so I'm thankful for it now! I cannot wait to stand by her side in April as she marries the man of her dreams.

Also, my life-long friend turned sorority sista, Jenna Brendle, got engaged the day before Thanksgiving. Thankful that she, too, will be marrying the man of her dreams very soon.

14. Christmas is a comin'

I really love everything about Christmas. The music, the decorations, the shopping, the gift giving, the cheery feel in the air... EVERYTHING. I have been listening to Christmas music since early November and put my wreath on my door before I left for Thanksgiving so that it would already be up when I returned. This really is the most wonderful time of the year!

I hope everyone had a blessed November and has as much to be thankful for as I do.

I'll try not to stay away so long next time...

In Good Company

Meet Suzanne.

{hanging out in the cubby above the closet in our dorm room sophomore year}

She was my very first friend at Auburn Univeristy. We were in the same Pi Chi group for sorority rush and bonded instantly. Obviously we were meant to be friends because we both pledged Alpha Omicron Pi. The rest was history.

{at an auburn football game freshman year}

I've mentioned the Auburn roomies before and this special lady was one of the original fabulous four.

While we added others to the roomie club, the four of us have been thick as thieves since the new member retreat at Camp Ascca two weeks into our freshman year. The convo on the bunk beds went something like this:

Mallory: "We should all live together on the hall next year."

Natalie: "We could put all four beds in one room and use the other as a living room!"

Suzanne: "And we can be best friends forever!"

Me: "Done."





{me, suz, mal, and nat- before the redneck riviera swap/social freshman year}

Five years later we are all living in different states (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and New York) and persuing lives of our own. But we will jump on any chance to spend time together and pretend like we are all still college roomies with no worries in the world.

Imagine my excitement when Suzanne told me she was coming to Milledgeville to visit this weekend! She was my first non-family/non-boyfriend guest and I couldn't have been happier to have someone to share this beautiful fall weekend with. Waiting for Friday afternoon was like waiting for Christmas morning. It couldn't get here quick enough.

Friday night we went to dinner at The Brick in downtown Milledgeville and split an appetizer that could have fed a small army. We went on a quick tour of the town, including a drive-by of the new Kroger that opened last week. It's supposedly the largest in the state and kind of a big deal. Oh the joys of living in a small town. We stayed up until 2am watching movies, eating cookies and pretzel M&Ms, and talking about everything under the sun.

Saturday morning we got a late start. We had our morning coffee and ate strawberry muffins for breakfast at 11am! Later, we went to Macon, GA for a Christmas craft show at the convention center. It was comparable to Holiday Market in Montgomery for all of my Alabama friends. We browsed all of the booths, tasted most of the dip, soup, and hot chocolate samples, and both purchased Auburn shaped cookie cutters.

We spent our evening eating crock-pot potato soup (will post recipe later) and watching the National Championship Bama v. LSU football game. I apologize to all of my Bama friends. I'm afraid that my actually wanting Alabama to win a football game was a kiss of death. I promise it will never happen again. Please forgive me.

We each caught the other up on our new favorite TV shows. Mine is Once Upon a Time and hers is Pan Am. They actually air back-to-back on ABC on Sunday nights. We stayed up until 2am for the second night in a row watching the previous episodes of both shows. If you're looking for a great way to spend your Sunday nights, I highly recommend tuning into ABC from 8pm-10pm (7pm-9pm for you Alabama folks).

We got up this morning, drank our coffee, and prepared Suz for her long journey back to Dothan, AL. She said her goal was to make it back in time to fill her mom in on Once Upon a Time and watch the new episodes of our shows tonight.

It was so nice to have company this weekend. While I enjoy my downtime and have learned to appreciate weekends alone in Milledgeville, it was so nice to spend this weekend with one of my best friends. I actually told her last night that I felt like she was still my roommate and that I was starting to forget that she didn't actually live here.





{tailgating in auburn a few weeks ago}



That's all for now. I'm off to pass the time while I eagerly await the big news I'll recieve tonight. Please pray that I am content with whatever answer I get. I am trusting in God's will for my life and know that my future is in his hands. Great things are on the horizon and I am excited to see what the future holds. I'll share more when I know more.

Toodles.

Happy Halloweekend

I celebrated Halloween a few days early this year. Funny thing is, I hadn't planned on celebrating at all. It just kind of happened. It seems like the weekends that "just kind of happen" turn out to be the most fun.

I decided to go to Auburn for the Ole Miss game and was invited to a Halloween party Friday night hosted by one of my former college roommates. As of Thursday I had given absolutely no thought to what I could possibly be for Halloween. I decided to dress up as a cowgirl. I know it's not super creative, but it was the best I could come up with last minute. I already had most of the items in my closet and knew it was a costume that would be cute and easily recognizable.

When I left Milledgeville Friday afternoon, I called Lee to find out if he had come up with anything to wear. At that point, he was still costumeless. I suggested going as a prep and wearing a pink polo shirt, khaki slacks, and a sweater around his neck. Again, not the most creative. But I knew he had all of those items in his closet and I assumed this was the final decision. Boy was I wrong.

When I got to Auburn I found out he had come up with a great costume idea that actually went with mine. "Cowboy?" you ask. Oh no... that would be too easy. Lee's imagination is far too great to settle for a cowboy.

That's right... he went as a RODEO CLOWN!!! Sadly, he also had all of this in his closet too. The green Dickey shorts were purchased for the Lambda Chi Alpha Bling Bling Fling in 2008. They are a size 40 (he wears a 32) and were held up by the rope-suspenders and a paper clip. The striped socks were from the co-ed intramural softball team we played on in Auburn Spring 2010. The other clothing items are pretty self-explanatory. He did a great job of putting together such a fantastic costume in virtually no time.

I had no idea he was such a fan of dressing up and going all out for Halloween. It's fun to still learn new things about each other even after 5 years. He was serious about that facepaint and kept telling me my costume wasn't "halloweeny" enough. He was by far the most elaborately costumed person at Jessica's party and waltzed around downtown Auburn like he owned the place. His confidence for new and potentially intimidating social situations truely amazes me.

The night started at Jessica's Halloween party. Let me just say, this girl knows how to throw a good theme party. I wish I had taken more pictures of the decorations and food.

The walkway leading to her front door was lined with light-up ghosts, a witch was hanging from the awning above her door, and a vibrating noise maker was stuck in the bushes beside her door. Inside was decorated with rubber eyeballs and spiders in glass jars, a Halloween themed tree in the center of the table, and hanging sparkly bats. She also had a bonfire out back with orange lights, more hanging bats, and a skeleton made from paper plates. I'm really not a fan of scary Halloween decor, but Jess knows exactly the right combination of cute and kinda disturbing to make for the perfect Halloween party.

The food was also perfect. She made the basic party foods including spinach dip, hashbrown casserole, chicken wings, hamburgers, ribs, and a cheeseball with crackers. She also had halloween cupcakes, a graveyard made from a chocolate dessert with Milano cookies reading "RIP" stuck in like headstones, and finger treats made from melted white chocolate, pretzels, and green food coloring.

Unfortunately this is the only picture I took at her party. It does show the food and some of the decorations though. She was dressed as Pebbles Fintstone. And yes, that is a real doggy bone in her hair. She does love "the Halloween." Those of you who know Jess know that she loves to put "the" in front of most proper nouns. It's one of those things we have all come to love about this crazy girl.

We ended the night in downtown Auburn along with most of the student body. My favorite costumes of the night were:

Smurfs- two guys wearing white shorts, white hats, and painted blue bodies

Easter Bunny- a guy wearing a mall-style Easter Bunny costume

Allstate Mayhem Guy- wearing a black suit, a butterfly bandage on his forehead, makeup for a shiner on his eye, and a pink sports-band on his head.

We had a great time at Quixotes dancing to the musical stylings of DJ Ozz including Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', N'Sync's 'Bye, Bye, Bye', and 'C'est La Vie' by B*Witched (see video below for more on that last one). He obviously played new songs too, but those weren't nearly as memorable.

Please tell me someone else remembers this song too. I think Disney Channel used to play this video circa 1998. I probably haven't heard this song, nor have a thought about it, since around 5th or 6th grade. But even 12 years later, I somehow remember every word. Maybe the video will help jog your memory.

{C'est La Vie by B*Witched}

I celebrated my 23rd Halloween with friends, food, and lots of fun. Hope your festivities were equally as refreshing.

Be back soon.



Homemade Butterfingers

I have a serious sweet tooth. It's kind of a problem. When I found this recipe on Pinterest, I knew it was one I had to try for myself. It's originally from this blog.

The great thing about this recipe is that it has only three ingredients: chocolate, peanut butter, and candy corn. You heard me right... CANDY CORN!

Apparently when melted candy corn and peanut butter are mixed together something magical happens.

Ingredients:
1 lb. candy corm
16 oz. peanut butter
16 oz. chocolate candy coating

Melt the candy corn in the microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and heat again at 15 second intervals until completely melted.

{in case you were wondering, this is what melted candy corn looks like. interesting...}

Stir in peanut butter. I'll warn you; this part takes some elbow grease. I found it helped to mix as much as I could, put in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, then mix again.

{don't let the appearance fool you. it's delish}

Now the recipe said to spread the mixture in a 8x8 dish covered in parchment paper. However, I found it easier to use a rolling pin on wax paper and flatten it out sugar cookie style.

Let cool completely. I stuck mine in the refrigerator for a few minutes to speed up the cooling process. Cut into squares.

Dip each square into melted chocolate. I used Baker's Dipping Chocolate because it's super easy for dippin' stuffs in it.

{i never said it wasn't messy.}

I have no idea how to cover the whole square in chocolate. In order to make sure there is a bit-o-chocolate in every bite, I drizzled extra chocolate over each piece. Big grin, eyebrow wiggle.

I did this by filling a ziploc bag with melted chocolate, cutting the corner out, and going to town. If you're fancy you could use a piping bag. But I'm not fancy.

TA-DAAA!!

I'll be taking these to work tomorrow to prevent scarfing down the whole batch myself.



The Self-Portrait

If you've been around for any period of time you know that Lee Rambo is a fan of the self-portrait. My camera has captured many a head-shot documenting formals, beach trips, and nights with friends. I love loading pictures onto my computer and finding a self-portrait of Lee cheesin' that I didn't know existed. Over the years, these pictures have become some of my favorites and only add to the long list of reasons I love spending time with this boy.

I think this tradition started at my Alpha Omicron Pi pledge formal Fall 2006. I have a self-portrait to document almost every formal we attended in college. These are some of my favorites...

{the one that started it all}

{bus trip to columbus, ga spring 2008}

{he was obviously slacking on his date/boyfriend duties by neglecting to take a picture of me and my lovely friends. instead we got this.}

{10 points for creativity}

{handsome devil.}

Our many beach trips were not left out of the self-portrait club...

{diggin' the hat, dude}

{spring break 2009. not sure who the peace sign photo bomb belongs to.}

...Nor were the Auburn games. WAR EAGLE!!!

{unfortunate finger placement}

{nice job capturing some of our unexpecting tailgate guests}

{8 points for artistic use of space}

Sometimes friends join in on the self-portrait sessions.

{lee and carlie. there are no words.}

And while this last photo isn't technically a self-portrait, I think you'll agree with me on my decision to include it in this post.

{i'm unbelievably happy this picture is in existence. it really does my heart good}

I hope you enjoyed my selection of self-portraits from the one and only Lee Rambo. There are more where these came from and I can assure you there will be more to come. I'm pretty sure Lee has never read my blog, but I hope he knows how happy these pictures make me.

Until next time...