Well, I missed November...

Just a quick update. I'm still dragging from call yesterday, so I think i'll be heading to bed early even though I have much left to do (namely clinic notes from today). November flew by in the blink of an eye. It was a wonderful month though... the highlights...

I took a very spectacular trip with my great friend, Jeannie. She flew up to Chicago from Houston where we flew out together from O'Hare direct to Istanbul, Turkey. We spent 4 full days in Istanbul before jumping a plane and heading to Rome for 4 days. Then back to the US where we unfortunately returned to cold weather and snow. Luckily the weather didn't interfere with travel plans, just meant I had to put my plane fuzzy socks on my hands to scrape the windows!! Fortunately our weather in Istanbul and Rome was anything but cold. It was 60-70 degrees and sunny most of our trip. Just perfect. I can't even tell you how wonderful the trip was. Such amazing sights and amazing people. Also amazing food and amazing shopping. This being my 3rd time in Rome and Jeannie being the efficient person she is, we zipped through the tourist attractions and made plenty of time for shopping. We each had to buy another suitcase to get everything home! Got a few new pairs of boots and purses amongst other things! Let me just tell you, I am at home in western Europe. I just love their culture, food, wine, and lifestyle. Of course I am partial to Spain after my wonderful 6 months there, but I also do love Italy. Istanbul was an entirely new experience and was wonderful. It was truly nice to visit a place that seems to have far less American tourists. As a hater of tourists (i realize the irony), it was so nice to not hear a bunch of obnoxious americans everywhere you went (although i will admit it was nice how many Turkish people speak English given I do not read, speak, nor understand a syllable of Turkish!). And I do think we may have been the only 2 blonde people in all of Istanbul. Luckily we are both pretty seasoned world travelers, or at least European travelers, so we got by just fine. It was also really, really nice to spend the week hanging out with my good friend. Phone calls and weekend visits are no substitute for days and days of hanging out. You can see the photo highlights from my travel on my facebook and instagram.

Unfortunately i came back and had to go right back into work. ugh. i'm so burned out and tired of residency. it's gonna be a long 6mos at this rate. The turn of medicine to increased supervision (probably a good thing for safety) is a bad thing for senior residents. My life just involves a lot of constant supervision and teaching of junior residents. To say it's exhausting is an understatement. Ofcourse the amount of responsibility is continually multiplying and I can't remember the last time I didn't have an overwhelming amount of work to get done. I am hoping the second half of the year will be a little better since i won't be taking a 3 month hiatus from call to do interviews. Thus I should have more available weekends to be on call which means more weekends off. There is a lot to be done between now and July 1st!

I did get to spend Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, which was nice. I had Thurs/Fri off before heading back to work for the weekend. Brendan was in boston working for the holiday but does get to come home for the week of Christmas. I know that will fly by in the blink of an eye... I also got a new baby niece in the month of November. Brendan's brother and his wife had a baby girl, so I am up to 4 nieces now! 1 month, 9 mos, 2 yrs, and 5 yrs. Of course all of them are just as cute as ever.

Ok, well i better actually get to writing some notes. As much as i'd like to think i'll have time later this week, I return to day shift on Labor & Delivery for the next month, which means early mornings, late nights, and busy busy days. ugh. As may be evidenced by my career path which involves a complete abandonment of obstetrics, L&D is not my favorite place to be. Only 6 more months of managing labors and doing c-sections. I'll be just fine giving that all up. Alright, i really better go before my grouchiness gets worse! Happy Holiday season everyone!! xoxo