We're BACKKKK!

Sorry for the delay. Dan and I have both super busy the past few days. To update from last week: Tuesday was my 22nd birthday! I came back from my morning run to find my wonderful husband making waffles and presents on the dining table. Here's me with my delicious (and nutritious) breakfast. Please excuse the red face and sweat.

Closer look at my waffles:

My presents included a YSU t-shirt, a cute planner for school, the video game ModNation Racers and a lovely card:

Overall, my birthday was pretty sweet. Thanks to those of you that sent me birthday wishes and cards. They made my day! For dinner Dan and I went out to an upscale Italian restaurant. My favorite item was probably the appetizer: Bruschetta with blue cheese, tomatoes, and vinegar. MMMM....

Here's a pic of Dan and I that our neighbor Tina took before the restaurant:

Last week also included my first week of classes. I'm taking 2 nutrition classes. One is the hospital rotations and the other is a recitation that accompanies the hospital rotations. In order to be part-time I'm also enrolled in an Interpersonal Relationships course (very interesting!). Yesterday was our first hospital visit and man, was it overwhelming! We were taught how to read charts, what to look for, etc. We also shadowed our professor during an interview with a patient. My professor is very intense. She treats us like med students and expects us to know just as much as them. I'm really behind and have a lot of catching up to do. I know it's good for me because it challenges me to become my best, but I wasn't ready for it at all. Here's a sample of notes I took during our hospital rotation. Keep in mind everything that's written on this page is stuff I don't know that I'm already supposed to know: 

Basically, I have a lot of studying to do. I'm hoping as I learn more things will get easier over time. On a better note I received these lovelies on Monday of this week:

The darker pink one is the same color as the azalea color in my wedding! In other good news here's some food we've made over the past week and a half:

Monday (last week): Hot Wings

Last Thursday: rolling dough for pizza

Last Thursday: Pizza-the end result

Sunday- Horrible cookie disaster!

Sunday I made these chocolate, white choc. chip cookies that are normally AMAZING. Unfortunately I didn't have enough cocoa for the recipe and so I ground up some unsweetened chocolate bars and reduced the amount of butter in the recipe. They tasted pretty good (not as good as the original). They looked kind of unappealing. They were flat and undercooked in the middle. Cookie failure # 999,999. I'm also horrible at making chocolate chip cookies.

In regards to the past few busy days: Dan started teaching on Monday. Unfortunately, since his substitute license hasn't arrived the school hired another sub to sit in on Dan's classes. It's made a few of Dan's classes difficult because they don't see him as a real teacher. Even though he has a higher degree than the woman he's subbing for they disrespect him. I hope that once the license arrives and the sub leaves the kids will come around. Dan's a great teacher. His other classes enjoy his sense of humor and are for the most part obedient (they are, after all, just freshmen and sophomores).

Dan and I haven't seen much of each other the past two days due to our work schedules. I leave for work at night before he's home from school. When I get home from work he's in bed. Tonight, I'm off work so we get to actually hang out!

Work for me is going pretty well. On Monday (this week) I started serving all by myself! I did okay until one of my tables got sat with 6 people when I already had 2 tables going. While I was trying to multi-task and focus on the 6-person table I forgot salads at another table and gave my third table too much change back. Luckily, for my sake, they were honest and told my manager. They also gave me this little pamphlet with my tip:

Lucky for me I've already found God!

This upcoming Sunday will mark our 1 year anniversary! It took us awhile to figure out what we wanted to do for our anniversary, but we finally decided upon staying a weekend in Cleveland (an hour north from Girard) at a bed and breakfast. We booked a room at this beautiful place: http://jpalenhouse.com/. If you go to the site and click on rooms we're staying in "The Retreat." This room wasn't available until next weekend so we'll be celebrating a weekend late. "The Retreat" includes a private courtyard and a gourmet meal every morning! We might even splurge and go to a Cleveland Indians game or couples massage. You can guess which one I'm voting for and which one Dan's voting for . . . that's right, he wants the massage!