I'm alive!

And I'm a doctor...and a homeowner.  Phew!  It's been quite the month!  I can't believe I have let the whole month go by without updating.  Well, actually I can believe it because it has been a crazy, busy month!  BUT I wanted to write to tell you I am alive!!  Geez - where to even start...Friday (May 11th) finally arrived - even though I really didn't think it would!  I don't know what I was more excited for - graduation, closing on the house, or my hubby having the WHOLE day off (it could very well be the latter).  Either way, I got ALL THREE on the same day - wooohoo!!  So we closed on the house at 9:00AM and by 10:00AM were officially homeowners!

After closing we went by the rental house to pack up the cooler with food and drinks for the fam, and of course, Wrigley!  It was actually quite an organizational feat to just have everything you need to eat a meal in a house that is completely vacant (I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of things like TP, soap, hand towels, something to sit on to eat, etc).  We got everything to the house (including Wriggles), and she had a great time zipping through the house checking it out and smelling everything!  It wasn't too long before both sets of parents, my sister (my B-I-L came later d/t a golf meet and baby Lydia had 24hrs of fun at Scott & Amy's so my sis and BIL could actually enjoy graduation), and B's brother and gf made their way to the house.  We had a good time showing it off to everyone before we all had a BBQ pork sandwich (well BBQ chicken for my pork allergic hubby) picnic lunch on our dining room floor (we threw in sheets, etc to sit on).  It was a lot of fun!  After that my fam headed back to the rental house to change and get ready for some grad stuff while the others headed out for some shopping.  My parents, Mal, & I went to the open house at the med school, then headed back to the house for a quick snack before we all headed to graduation.

Graduation was actually pretty cool.  I mean it was a relatively standard graduation ceremony, but the "pomp and circumstance" meant a little more this time.  There was the conferring of the degree, and the Oath of Hippocrates (modified version of course - if anyone has read the original, it would be a bit outta place in 2012), and when you crossed the stage they announce you as Dr. _____.  I had them announce me as Dr. Andrea Smiens O'Shea (most people leave out their middle name for that part), but I wanted my maiden name in there.  They even pronounced it right :)  Because we have a doctoral degree, we got hooded - so our commencement speaker (a faculty physician that was voted upon by the class), draped the hood over our head, then we went on to receive the diploma.  These are the only photos I actually have from the grad ceremony (hint hint family - maybe you should share yours with me).

After the ceremony we headed to one of my favorite IC restaurants, Blackstone (yes, I had just been there days earlier when Jaime came to visit, and I may have been there the Sunday before, too, for brunch...).  Anyway, we had a great dinner complete with a number of cards and gifts from family and friends.  I plan to purchase a number of gift cards to the Java House at the hospital with my graduation money.  I also got a pretty sterling silver bracelet from my mom's parents and then from my family (parents and sister/BIL) I got these...

(my beautiful new diamond earrings! We established having no earlobes makes them look even larger)

After dinner the parents all headed to bed (as did Brendan bc he was on call the next day), and my sister, BIL, and I went downtown to a grad party a few friends were having at a bar downtown.  All in all it was a great day - albeit loooong!  We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but what a great reason to be exhausted!!!  

There is much more to write about (house updates, moving day, etc), but I will save that for another post!  Sorry for the long absence - hope everyone is having a good summer!