Resolve.

'Tis that time again. Time to make New Year's resolutions. Next month it will be time to forget them. But for now, while we're basking in the fresh newness of twenty-twelve and pretending we're all gonna diet and exercise and look like Eva Longoria by July, I think I'll hop on the bandwagon. So here are my goals, people. In no specific order.

1. Become a doctor. Watch out. (Sorry. I can't help myself.)
2. Survive as an intern. (By that I mean don't kill anyone.)
3. Watch less TV.
4. Go to bed earlier.
5. Learn more photography--and use it.
6. Blog more (with said photographs). This is a repeat from last year. Obviously a 2011 resolution failure.
7. Take my Christmas tree down before Easter.
8. Pray more. Some days, I get in the bed, close my eyes, begin to pray, and I realize that it's the first time I've prayed all day. Jesus tells us to "pray without ceasing." So I should strive to do that. Obviously.
9. Cook new things more often. (But I won't say "eat healthier" because I love cheese too much.)

And finally, here it is. The cliche:

10. EXERCISE. I want to be one of those people who LOVES to exercise. These people who make me feel like a slothful waste of living flesh. You know the ones. The ones who are constantly posting about their "runs" on their Facebook statuses. I hate them. I want to be them. It's a little internal battle I'm having. I hate exercise. I have a fierce aversion to it. Ideally, I'd like to think I'd run a half-marathon this year. Buuuuut that ain't gonna happen.

So let's be realistic: I will strive to take the stairs.

...I'll let you know how that goes.

Occabob's resolution is to continue to be awesome.

Happy Birthday, Katherine!

My sib is 24 today. I'm thankful for her. She's funny. And has cute clothes. That are, conveniently, my size.

At first, I didn't want her. I asked my Mama if she could take her back and get a brother instead. Sorry about that, Tate. Now I'm glad I have a sister. A brother might not let me borrow his purses. Kidding.

This was after I accepted her existence.

She turned out to be a boat load of fun, and she let me be bossy. It worked out well. And she tawked wike dis. She cawed me "Wah." It was entertaining.

Me: "Katie, say 'turkey.'"
Katie: "Tucky."
Me: "No. TuRRRRRkey."
Katie: "Tuuuuuuhhhh-key."
Me (laughing): "No. TuRRRRRkey."
Mom: "Laura, stop it."

 Hahahaha! Happy birthday, Katie! I put naked pictures of you on the internet! Hahaha!

Ok. Too much.

Happy birthday, sista!

2011 review and wrap-up

[I totally stole this idea from one of my best friend's sister's blog, Spoonful--my favorite blog to read (and my mother's favorite blog to read)! You can find it in my blog list down there. So here's your cred, Sarah Barry! Sorry I jacked your  intellectual property.]

2011 was my favorite year so far! Matt and I got engaged, had tons of parties, I figured out what I'm doing with my life, cut people open, stitched people up, birthed some babies, got married, am finally satisfied with my mantle decor (after 3 years), and was completely, 100% free from clinical duties and studying for the entire month of December. Very few awful things happened, and nothing particularly tragic took place, which was a welcome change from 2010. Here's a look back.

Matt asked me to marry him.

We picked and visited our wedding venue. (Which, unfortunately, was much prettier back in February than in September.)

Oscar Bob turned 2. I turned 25. We didn't get dressed up for the occasion. 

Most of March, April, and May were spent within the confines of the hospital. I spent my days (and half my nights) obsessing about all the varicose veins I was going to acquire from standing up over an operating table for hours and hours and hours at a time. I escaped and spent Easter with my family. I needed the 2-day break like I need oxygen.

The third set of baby birds hatched by our back door.

My Aunt Becky hosted our very first wedding shower! Margaritas were involved. So. Much. Fun.

I met Emeril Lagasse. He's such a nice fella.

We had more showers and parties. We're some lucky people with lots of folks that love us. 

I became a wife. In an effort to make light of the monsoon happening on the day of our beach wedding, Matt sent one of the boys over to the girls' beach house with a bag of goodies--including this poncho. I laughed. 'Twas funny.

We spent our fall weekends in either Tuscaloosa or the backyard. Chewin' sticks and chasin' balls and whatnot.

I traveled for interviews.

We celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple.

It was a wonderful, wonderful year. I can't even begin to wrap my brain around the things that will be happening in 2012, but I'm so grateful, humbled, and excited! 

Happy New Year!

I hate black-eyed peas. Matter of fact, I hate peas in general. It's a texture thing. I have issues. In my proactive efforts to avoid bad luck, gray hair, the flu, or a local avalanche, I traditionally force myself to eat a spoonful of them on January 1. This year, however, I decided to be a good wife and whip up a fancy black-eyed pea recipe for the husband and I. I found a recipe for Hoppin' John from The Pioneer Woman's website. Here it is. You need to write it down. Now. And cook it tomorrow. (But please do not compare my food photography to PW's.)

I did change a few things. The grocery store had absolutely no green bell peppers. I still don't understand how a grocery store can be out of green bell peppers. I did understand why they were out of canned black-eyed peas, but bell peppers? So I used a red one. Not only was it delicious, it also added some color. I like my food colorful. Don't you? PW uses a white onion, and I used a purple one because I already had one in the fridge. (Again with the color perk.) I didn't have any white vinegar, so I didn't do that number. I also used bacon instead of a ham hock. Mostly because I don't know what the heck a ham hock is. PW uses cayenne pepper, but I, like any self-respecting Mississippi girl with a daddy who grew up in Louisiana, used Tony's. Duh.

I served it up over white rice with a side of chicken. The chicken was my back-up in case my Hoppin' John turned out to be a disaster. Fortunately, it turned out to be a raging success. I might even like black-eyed peas now. It was SO good, y'all! The rice kind of covered up the weird pea texture that I have those issues with, and the flavor was incredible. (How do you like those awesome TV trays? They're at least 20 years old.)

I didn't make any cabbage because, well, I don't have the slightest idea how to cook cabbage. And I don't really like it very much, and I just couldn't eat TWO things for dinner that I don't like. Even though it probably would've been okay because I DID like my peas! Oh well, this is the year I finally get a real job, so even if we don't end up wealthy, we'll end up better off than we are now. Hip-hip-hooray for TWO salaries!

In my family, we never put a coin in the peas, but I think I kinda want to start. I'm a sucker for a good tradition. In Matt's family, they always say that for every pea you eat, that's how many dollars you'll earn (or something like that), and one year he ate so many peas he got sick. Haha. I mean that's funny. We won't teach our kids that one.

Did you know that if you have leftover Hoppin' John, it's called Skippin' Jenny? I just learned that. I think it's funny. Hope you have lots of luck in twenty-twelve!

I forgot...

...to post our Christmas card before Christmas. So I'm going to do it now anyway. Because I love it so much. Even though Christmas is over. And it's now officially 2012.

[Sorry it's a little blurry...] I hope you had (past tense) a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! And that you remembered what it was all about. Mine was fabulous. I'll blog about it soon. And about my new year's resolutions. Which will, per usual, turn out to be a joke. Maybe I'll write about it in complete sentences. Unlike this post.

Happy New Year, people! Eat your peas and cabbage!