Weekend of Matt

Here’s another picture of Matt from this weekend!  After I finished at work on Saturday afternoon, I was STARVING and convinced him to meet me at India, an awesome restaurant in our neighborhood with a gorgeous garden and patio and delicious Indian food.  I had the spicy mango curry, two kinds of naan, and some mango-rum-coconut drink. 

Nevermind the fact that I ate so much I couldn’t move for several hours afterward. 

Kappa Kocktails

Friday night, Matt and I went down to Middletown to meet with a few of my fellow Kappas in the RI Alumnae Association to fold and seal all of the newsletters I made.  We had a great dinner and it was fun to hang out with the ladies and their husbands.  Matt is opening his beer with a fleur-de-lis bottle opener here, even though you can’t see it.  :)

Welcome to the World of Food Animal

On Monday I had my first day of food animal rotations. I started on Beef rotation by we have a 6 week block that encompasses beef, therio, and dairy. I know very little about cattle, sheep, llamas, alpacas, and goats so this should be an interesting experience.

So far it has been pretty exciting. Every day we are required to go around and count all of the animals and check them all to make sure everyone is accounted for. This longhorn in the picture is Tex, a donated animal. He had lumpy jaw (Actinobacillus bovis) hence the really large swelling on the side of his face. He's really cute but as they keep telling us he is not a pet!

More to come...

First Mass

These are from last Sunday: our first Mass of the year with the new first-year students at Brown!  A student took them for me during Mass, so that’s me on the left during the distribution of communion. 

I am about to enter the world of Blogging! Stay tuned for wacky pics and crazy blog posts. OMG!

Third World Transition Program

Look!!!  Angie's posting a picture from work!!  Today was a real immersion into the chaos of orientation and the start of the school year--I spent nearly six hours speaking with the other chaplains to groups of student leaders about religious diversity and stereotypes.  First, we met with the Minority Peer Counselors who work with new students of color (the MPC's and participants in the Third World Transition Program are pictured above outside of the new Faunce House) and then with the RPL's, or as they were known in my day, the RA's who live in the dorms and work with residence halls.  It was fun and exciting to see students back on campus, but it was a long and busy day!

High Fences Make Good Neighbors

It's nearly official--we will soon be the only occupants of our building!  Our upstairs neighbor moved out suddenly (much to our delight--it was a strained relationship at best) and the downstairs neighbors will be gone by the end of the month.  Woo-hoo!! 
The downside, of course, is the ridiculous amount of junk EVERYWHERE around our building.  Our neighbors don't seem to understand that you can't simply throw junk on the curb and it will disappear.  I'm hoping it will all be cleaned up by the time everyone is fully moved out, but we shall see.  In any case,--hooray for turning up the music and running in heels--if I ever just want to, for fun.

Ecclesiastical Latin

I know I'm basically posting two pictures of paper in a row, but I really did spend most of my day at work and studying Latin, like the huge geek that I am.  I did leave the table for Zumba at the gym but then came back and watched The Informant while blogging and studying more.  Nerd Alert!!

Just in case you don't believe me, here's a close up:

Warrenton, VA

I went to Warrenton, VA on Friday to visit a clinic for a possible preceptor. The clinic was really cute but small. They basically do ambulatory work but occasionally a horse is trailored to the clinic. The clinic currently has 3 veterinarians, one office person, and two technicians. The owner of the clinic, Dr Poland, and her husband Art live on 70 acres which encompasses the clinic and their farm. I stayed in an apartment attached to their barn and they were so nice!

Friday we had a few farm calls throughout the day. We saw a horse with a snake bite on its nose, it was really swollen! We also saw a cute mini donkey named Gracie that had a skin infection. We sat on the patio on friday night and drank wine and talked. On Saturday, I went on a few farm calls and I got to ride Dr Poland's world champion Quarter horse. I drove to the nearby town of Middleburg to shop and see the sites. Middleburg looks a lot like Lexington, lots of horse farms and expensive. Saturday night, Art invited me to dinner at a Thai restaurant. I ate a hot pepper whole and almost died but other than that it was really fun. Overall, I had a great time and I hope to go back for my preceptor in March!

KKG Newsletter

I've mentioned previously that I'd recently gotten involved with the local alumnae chapter of Kappa and I was asked to serve on the board as the Newsletter person.  Here are two pages (cover and page 3) of the final product!!  I was so happy with it after many, many revisions and now just have to print and mail.

Goooooo Kappa!!

Last Maine Post, Promise

Sunday in Maine...

More Maine in Pictures....

Last night's Dinner

I forgot to take a picture of last night's dinner, but this is what I made.  It's a recipe from Real Simple, one of the few magazines I actually subscribe to (thanks to a Valentine's Day gift last year).  These roasted pork chops and peaches were so easy: it took less than 30 minutes to make the couscous, brown the pork, slice the produce, and roast everything!  And it was delicious--a great Sunday night meal.

What'cha In For Bud?

On our tour of the Vet school with Ashley & Daniel we came across this pasturally maladjusted bovine. Never did find out what his crimes were!

Block Island!

By now, you all surely think I do nothing but vacation, but in less than a week it's back to the regularly-scheduled chaos (like that oxymoron?) of campus ministry.  Here, however, is one more fun day-cation with some of my close girlfriends.  We ventured to Block Island, a pork-chop-shaped island just off the southern coast of RI.  Here's a map:

See?  It totally looks like a pork chop with a big bite out of it. 

In any case, we rented bikes and two of my friends (see above) rented a tandem, which resulted in hilarious-ness and only a few close calls.  We biked to lunch at a place called the Oar....

And then biked up to the North Lighthouse where we took a dip in the fresh-water pond just on the other side of the dunes from the sound.  Pretty, yes?

It was a fun day and the Second Annual Vacation we've taken as a group: last year was to our friend's family's house up on the Cape, in Wellfleet.  Wonder where next year will take us?

Our Trip To Florida

(1) What a beautiful sunrise over the beach. We got up at 5:00 a.m. to go fishing but forgot we were on Central Standard time. It didn't get light enough to see until almost 7:00.

(2) Well we eventually did do some fishing. CJ actually caught a 3 foot baby Hammerhead shark! Thank goodness it got off before she landed it. Pictured here is my catch. Dinner anyone?

(3) The lighthouse is the prominent feature on St. George's Island so we had to include it didn't we?

(4) Here's CJ frolicking in the surf. It felt good after many hours on the road. Our room was only about 50 yards from the beach so talk about being conveniently located!

BIRTHDAY

It's true: I entered my 30th year of life on Thursday and to celebrate (in addition to our weekend get-away), Matt and I went to La Laiterie, one of my favorite restaurants in Providence.  They use local fresh foods and the menu is always changing.  AND there's a delicious cheese shop as part of the restaurant so you can always order amazing samplers and cheese boards.  Just tell me: who doesn't like cheese?!?

We actually had a gift certificate that my lovely students gifted me with back in February after our annual New Orleans trip, so our dinner complete with wine and dessert only cost about $12!  Happy Birthday, indeed.

Friday night, some of my friends made me a delicious dinner of grilled pizza and we all shared on their deck.  Then, we came back to our place for s'mores and Bananagrams and Matt had thrown me a surprise party!!  I couldn't believe it as I don't think I've ever had a surprise party before.  He had gotten nearly all of our friends in Providence together and somehow kept it secret from me.  It was so sweet and we had a blast, complete with Southern-made red velvet cake. 

Best 29th Birthday EVER!!

Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center

My old building, Faunce House, is in the finishing stages of a 2-year renovation and it's finally open!  It looks gorgeous and like a completely different building.  This arch is now twice as big as it used to be (it's sort of the gateway onto the Main Green) and the sides are all glass.  I'll definitely be spending some time in a "satellite office" in one of the cozy nooks here. 

Birthday Get-Away Weekend!!

I should apologize in advance, because these will not be single-picture posts.  Matt took me on a surprise birthday get-away to Maine this past weekend and we had an absolute blast (for not a lot of money).  He planned EVERYTHING meticulously, so I shall now recap.  Enjoy.

Um, obviously we're excited, even though as of this picture, we were still parked outside our apartment.

After the drive through Massachusetts, we passed through New Hampshire in the blink of an eye, but not before stopping at the Welcome Center.   This is Matt's "Live Free or Die" pose.  (ie. the state motto of NH)

I'd been driving Matt crazy wanting to go camping for a long time, so he decided to indulge me for my birthday.  We camped at a small site in Biddeford, ME, not far from the state line and just south of Portland.   This is me trying to remember how to pitch a $30 Target tent.  We did, in fact, get it set up, and then headed off to the beach.

This is at Old Orchard Beach, which also boasts a seaside carnival and tons of shops & restaurants.  After the beach, we went to dinner in Portland: Gilbert's Chowder House, right on the waterfront. 

We raced back to the campsite to have time to build a fire and roast marshmallows for s'mores!

More to come....

Family Time!

Daddy and CJ came down to Auburn on their way to Florida (yay vacation!). I felt like a tourist because we went around Auburn and took pictures at all the popular tourist spots. We also bought auburn t-shirts and ate at Five Guys (delicious!). Pretty much we had a rocking good time except for the heat!