Thanksgiving 2012

Hey y'all. So we went to Texas for Thanksgiving. And it was a wonderful, much-needed break. Frankly, Mr. Snoop's residency application process has been sort of hellacious. And being the supportive cheerleader wife has completely wiped me out. Being back home was really nice. As much as I love my med school friends, it was great for Mr. Snoop and I to hang out with my Austin friends, none of whom are in the medical field. Nice to escape the "everything revolves around med school" world for a week. The trip was a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively.

We spent lots of time outside. After living in such a cold climate for 4 years, I've come to realize how good being outside is for the soul. Cheesy but true. My friends have a tradition of playing football the day after Thanksgiving. And before that, Mr. Snoop, Chris (my brother), and I did the Austin Trukey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. It was a nice, easy 5 mile run. Next year I'm going to get my act together and make us costumes. Here we are afterward:

We also went to the Texas / TCU game. Which was really quiet and we lost. Not unexepectedly, I'm afraid. Here we are with horns up, nonetheless. Chris pointed out that because of the shadows we all look like demon children from the mouth of hell in this picture. That and I really need a tan. See above about the outdoors being good for the soul.

Hey, at least our band is freakin awesome:

I'm back in New York but Mr. Snoop is still in Texas having the greatest time going hunting with the dudes in my family. He has an interview this weekend, which was originally Nov. 1, but there was this little weather event known as Sandy, so his flight got canceled. So in conclusion: I'm retiring my pom-poms for a little bit and allowing myself to be completely freaked out by this whole residency application process. Thanks for hangin' in there with us, in advance.

Cutest Baby Ever.

Last weekend I went to Houston. I got back Monday. Y'all. Holy mother of bumpy flights. Have you heard about the storms up here in New York? Well that's what I flew over the entire flight back. The drinks were spilling everywhere and the flight attendants were seated most of the flight. It was good for my prayer life.

Mr. Snoop has been so generously hosted this month by my cousin and his wife while he completes a research month at MD Anderson. The best part is that he is housemates with my cousin's baby, Jack. Who is the most precious baby ever invented by God. I'm convinced that on the 8th Day God created Jack's cheeks. And it took the entire day, I'm sure. Behold:

Please note that immediately before I took this picture of Jack passed out on Mr. Snoop, Mr. Snoop said "I don't like babies." And then everyone in the vicinity laughed in his lying face.

Don't worry, not sunburned. Just hot. He fratted too hard and passed out.

With mom and dad. Can you believe he is only 7.5 months old? Nom, nom, nom.

Lately

I've been the worst about updating.  Going out of town every two weeks is cramping my blog update style.  Here goes.

- This past weekend Mr. Snoop and I visited his sister Michele in Florida for Labor Day.  We went to the beach, ate lots of Bluebell banana pudding ice cream, and did DIY/odd jobs around her house.  Plus girls' trips to Target, TJ Maxx, and Homegoods.  My kind of weekend.  This is how I felt about being at the beach:

- A note on the Bluebell banana pudding ice cream.  My cousin's wife, Kathleen, introduced it to me when I visited Mr. Snoop while he was doing his away rotation in Galveston.  Now I'm about to make a strong statement here.  It might be better than Bluebell peppermint ice cream.  I know.  Amazing.  And I don't even really like ice cream.  Behold the crack:

 

- Michele and I spray painted her wicker and had planned to make new slipcovers for one of the sofas.   But then I was introduced to her sewing machine, my new mortal enemy. Have any of y'all used a computerized Brother?   It was ugly. After lots of bad language, tears, yelling, prayer, and wine I was only able to make two of the slipcovers.   Needless to say, I'm making the remaining ones here on my Singer and mailing them to her.   I'll post pictures of the "after."

 

- I will never complain about running in New York again.  Florida is so freaking humid.  Did I tell you my girl Keely and I are running a Halloween 10k in October?  It's true.  There will be costumes.  What is even more true is what my coworker said to me: "I was really surprised you were so into this running thing that you are doing a 10k.  But now that I know there are costumes it totally makes sense."  Truer words were never spoken. 

 

- Did I ever show you what we found on the beach in Galveston back when I visited? 

 

 

It's a Portuguese Man of War.  Maybe I should start a section of this blog for terrifying, possibly murderous creatures.  And include the scorpions.



- I have lots to say about what's going on in the land of med school right now.  But I can't really say anything on the intertubes for a while.  Like a month or so.  But I can say that applications for residency will go in on Sept. 15.  Woohoo!

- I also have things to say about what is possibly our final year in New York.  But I am going to try to tackle that after back-to-school this week.

- This post is finally ending.  You're welcome.

Weekend + Bad Cat

This past weekend, my cousin and his wife came into town.  It was super hot and even more humid, but we had a great time.  It was so nice to spend time with them.  Mr. Snoop said that they saw more of the city in two days than he had in three years.  He's not wrong.  We did everything!  You name it, we went there.  Even some new places for me: Top of the Rock and FAO Schwarz.  Both were awesome and must-sees.

Here I am at Top of the Rock.  Told you it was hot and humid.  Check out the pollution.  That's the freedom tower waaaay down to the right. 

Here we are at Shake Shack (after the Natural History Museum).  So flipping good.  I love that place.  My mouth is watering just typing this.  

On to more domestic issues.  Let's talk about Shammy Boy.  And what he did Monday night.  Mondays are my day off.  So I deep clean the house, do laundry, grocery shop, etc.  By the end of the day I am worn out.  This past Monday I was enjoying the Olympics and relaxing.  I was winding down for bed, brushing my teeth in the bathroom when I heard a gigantic crash.  Of course I immediately panicked.  Burglars?  Aliens?  Zombies?

No....



Just Shammy Boy.  Knocking over an orchid.  Onto my newly clean floors.  How it landed upright but exploded so much dirt everywhere, I will never know.  So I lugged the vacuum back up out of the basement.  And don't you know the bag was full.  Back down to the basement, got a new bag, and cleaned the orchid explosion.

And the culprit just laid there and gazed while I cleaned up his mess, smirking and doing his best attempt at an innocent and angelic face:

Look at my pink nose and pink ears... aren't I just precious?



The Snoops in New York

During the first week of July, my parents came to visit Mr. Snoop and I in New York.  We had such a great time hanging out and seeing the sights.  The weather really showed off for them that week.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

As you can see, we hit it all.  Here's the guide:

1. The text we sent my brother.  To taunt him.  He was writing a paper. 

2. View from the Brooklyn Bridge.

3.  Mama Cat checking out the South Street Seaport.

4.  Neato clouds and light.

5. My dad getting his Irish on at McSorley's

6. Patio at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

7. Brooklyn Bridge.

8. Dinner after walking the HighLine.

The One Where My Brother Got Attacked

Hi Y'all.

I've been away from here for quite a while.  Major family drama.  Totally sucks.  Can't talk about it in detail here because it is not about me.

So, in more lighthearted news, I have to tell you about what happened in the dead of night when we were at my uncle's ranch over Memorial Day.  We had gone down to celebrate my grandfather's 80th.  Mr. Snoop, my brother Chris, and I all went down a day early to help my uncle with the deck he was building:

Mr. Snoop on the left, Chris on the right.

After a long afternoon of construction, we all went to dinner.  My uncle is a super talented carpenter/builder/handyman/etc.  So he and my aunt built two guest rooms in a metal building on their ranch.  And let me tell you, they are nicer than any hotel or probably your own home.

So Mr. Snoop, Chris, and I all shared a room.  Mr. Snoop and I were in the bed and Chris was on an air mattress on the floor.  We passed out at around 9:30 in the pitch dark of rural Texas.  It was glorious.  Until.

Right around midnight, I woke up to someone screaming and cursing bloody murder.  In that twilight state between sleep and wakefulness I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I guess my brain just went to "INTRUDER!!!" and I apparently rolled into the fetal position started saying "no... no... no... no... no..." over and over.  Haven't lived it down since.

Eventually, in the pitch black, I pieced together that Chris was still screaming but was not being murdered by any intruder I could see.  He was frantically searching for the light, and eventually found it.  By this time, Mr. Snoop was up and we still had no idea what was going on.  Keep in mind that both Chris and I are completely blind at night without our contact lenses.

It was surmised that Chris had been bit by something, several times.  Something wicked.  On the neck, arm, and hand.  Chris is no pansy, and he was hurting bad.  He went and took an advil and then shook out his clothes and bedding to no avail.  We couldn't find anything.  After what felt like endless searching, we decided that whatever bit him was long gone, but just in case--and this is where it gets good--we would all triple up in the bed.  You heard me.  Mr. Snoop stomped to the bathroom in anticipation of being sandwiched between two thrashing Sullivans the rest of the night.

As soon as Mr. Snoop was in the bathroom, Chris started screaming bloody murder again.  Something like "Mother%*$#@^ bit me AGAIN!"  And then began spinning around looking for the beast.  Blind, remember?  As he was spinning, I (also blind) saw something seemingly huge and dark scitter up his back.  I screamed "STOP!!" and commenced to beating the ever loving crap out of his back with my pillow. 

And then Mr. Snoop -the only one of us not blind- came back and saw this on the ground:

Yeah, that is a big ol scorpion.  Notice that it is missing something?

Oh yes, that's what you were looking for.  A stinger.  In my adrenaline-fueled beating of my brother, I whacked that sucker right off.

So anyway, the moral of the story is that I'm a hero, obviously.  And Chris went back to his bed on the floor.  And Mr. Snoop said that both Chris and I were brushing imaginary scorpions off of us in our sleep all night long.  You better believe our little nighttime adventure was the source of much laughter all weekend.

The End.

Memorial Day

Hi y'all.

Mr. Snoop and I spent Memorial Day at my uncle's ranch in Texas, where we celebrated my grandfather's 80th birthday.  Mr. Snoop, my brother, and I all went down early to help my uncle finish up the front porch he was building.  Mr. Snoop was totally in heaven out there: nail guns, 4-wheelers, beer, barbeque.  He's becoming such a Texan.  I'll post pics of the porch later, but meanwhile, here are the cows.  Can you spy the two babies?  There is one more on the way.

At least two of the girls are longhorns.  The big white boy on the right is a brahma bull.  There are lots of brahmas in the part of Texas where the ranch is.  Do you see the baby laying down all the way on the right?

Don't you just love all the wildflowers?  My mom picked a bunch of them and made an awesome bouquet. 

And there's one of the babies!

Weekend in Norfolk

This past weekend, Mr. Snoop and I road tripped down to Norfolk for his sister's graduation from Medical School.  Yep, it's a medically heavy family.  We left at 5:30am on friday, so I woke up in Delaware just in time for... wait for it.... breakfast at Chick-Fil-A!!!  Yeah, we don't have those in the Great White North.  Mr. Snoop and I had sh*t eating grins on our faces for the entire Chick-Fil-A experience.  Their bathrooms were sparkling and the lady at the register didn't act like we'd ruined her day by patronizing her workplace.  She was (gasp) nice!  And plus there was this:

It's a cell phone pic so you can't see that well, but check out that organization of condiments and silverware.  It made my slightly ocd heart sing!  Don't judge me.

Also, I wore these really cute wedges that I got at Target for the entire trip down.  They are super comfortable.  Again, don't judge me.

  

The graduation was really nice- we were able to walk from the hotel.  I can't believe that in (exactly!!) one year that will be Mr. Snoop.  Craziness.  Here we are after the graduation.  I've got some awesome shadows on my face.

After the graduation, Mr. Snoop, his other sister, her boyfriend, and I walked over to a beer festival down the street from our hotel.  It was really fun and just so nice to be outside in the sunshine.  Mr. Snoop was pretty much in heaven, even though his face says otherwise:

It was so nice to just escape our normal routine for a weekend.  And, not gonna lie, to get out of New York for a little bit.  I love escaping the fast pace of life up here.  The only part that sucked was our drive back.  We made the drive down in 6.5 hours but the drive back took nearly 10 hours.  All the traffic was, you guessed it, in New Jersey.  Horrific.  But at least we got these awesome strawberries on the way:

...And now we're prepping for our next weekend away.  In Texas!

Austin Vacay

Mr. Snoop and I headed down to Austin to visit my family and get a big dose of vitamin d.  It was marvelous.  What made it even better was that Keely and her husband J came down to hang out with us and see Austin.  It was such a great trip.  I also got to hang out with my longtime friend C and his new boyfriend in their new home.  There is just nothing better than seeing your friends happy. 

Mr. Snoop and my brother took a guy's hunting trip with my dad and grandfather.  They didn't come home with anything.  I wonder why....

Mr. Snoop foreground, Chris behind him.  I'm so glad that they are wearing the monogrammed krokies I got them for their birthdays.

While the boys were doing man things, there was plenty of girl time to be had.  I hung out a lot here...

And I spent plenty of time annoying/yodeling my girl Wink....

Her name is Wink because she only has one eye.  It's a long and sad story involving rogue chickens on the streets of Austin.  She blends really well with the leaves, right?

Once Keely and J were in town, we went with SK to the Hayden Bowers Classic, which was wonderful and hugely well-attended.  While there, we may or may not have told our pastor that we were going to the bar.  CAR,  I mean, CAR!  Here's the poster everyone signed...

Taken from here

We also made a group trip to see the Zilker Tree, which Mr. Snoop has never seen and I haven't been to since middle or high school.

All in all it was a great and much-needed trip.  It was wonderful to see family and friends and get a booster of Vitamin D! 

Christmas in New York

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!  It was a great holiday for us.  We got to visit with our neighbors and friends down the street quite a bit, which we always love.  Mr Snoop and I stayed in New York and had our first family Christmas in our home.  We celebrated with Mr. Snoop's parents, one of his sisters, and her boyfriend.  Several photographic highlights:

Mr. Snoop trying out this special hat/mask my parents brought back for him from Ecuador.  It was a huge hit with our neighbor's little girl.

M and N torment Shammy Boy.  It's what aunts and uncles are for.  Doesn't he look dashing (and thrilled to be) in houndstooth? 

This year, I was in charge of dinner, which was lots of fun but certainly tiring.  Mr. Snoop made beef wellington with the help of M and N.  For my part, these guys really came through for me on Christmas day:



Thank you, Junior League of Austin, for your marvelous cookbooks!

Last but not least, I got to break out my Christmas china for the first time!  A dear friend of the family has gifted my sister and I with a piece of Christmas china every Christmas.  We now have nearly full sets.  So here is our Christmas table.. simple but still pretty, I think.  The geraniums are from the plant at my work.

....and in case you were wondering, we did find tamales for Christmas Eve.  Delicious ones, I might add.

More on our Christmas vacation later this week!

Cuy and Me

Now as much as I mock it, there are things that I really do love about New York.  I love the city.  And pizza.  And bagels.  I also love that you can find almost anything here. 

Case in point:

 
This, friends, is a cuy.  A Super Cuy, apparently.  Look closely.

Yep, that's a guinea pig.  Known in Ecuador as cuy (pronounced cuh-wee).  It's a traditional food there.  Think about the noise that the guinea pig in your first grade class made.  You know, "cuy, cuy, cuy."

I'm sure y'all think I'm a sicko, which is true.  But I have a point.  See, Mr. Snoop and I were on a hunt for our Christmas Eve tamales when we found our friend Super Cuy.  We couldn't find the Mexican-style tamales that we wanted (skinny with goodies inside, not just masa, in case you were wondering).  But then we found the frozen Super Cuy.  See, you can find anything in New York.

The best part is that my brother just returned from Ecuador that same day, where he ate cuy.  So we sent him that pic to welcome him home.  My parents had just visited him and they ate cuy while they were there.  (We're a whole family of sickos, obviously).  In fact, my sister is now the only one, minus Mr. Snoop, who has not eaten cuy.

Here's little college age Snoop circa 2005, eating her very own portion of Super Cuy in Ecuador:

 In case you can't tell, I'm holding his little hand.

If you're still reading, I'm sorry.

cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy

Mr. Snoop is Famous

True story.

Mr. Snoop was putting together his resume on Monday.  For residencies.  Yes, already.  Cue panic attack about control issues... now.  Back when we lived in Nashville (where I was in grad school), Mr. Snoop worked at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.  One of the major perks was that he got this awesome tshirt with cartoon eyeballs running across the back.  Less importantly, he learned how to draw blood.  Phlebotomy, shlebotomy.  The cartoon eyeball tshirt is way better.

Anywho, in his free time, Mr. Snoop volunteered at the Vanderbilt hospital, which he really enjoyed.  For the purposes of his resume, he had forgotten what the position was called, so he went on their website to check it out.  Whence he found this:

Hey Mr. Snoop.  Nice guns.  Nifty vest.  Hottie.

I told you he was famous.  You can check him out here.

My Sister's Blog

Sisters doing what we do best: tormenting our brother

It's official.... all three of the Sullivan kiddos are blogging! 

The three of us more recently, at my cousin's graduation.  Chris, why were you wearing a tie?

My sister just started a blog!  It is called Music Ed. Mayhem.  When it comes to all things music, Kathleen is your girl!  She sang "The Lord's Prayer" at Mr. Snoop's and my wedding, and it was my favorite part of the entire ceremony.  Those of you who know Kathleen know that she has been singing since birth, pretty much.  And she has an incredible voice!

Kathleen's college degree is in Vocal Music and Education.  So girlfriend knows what she's talking about.  Since there is a hiring freeze in Texas right now, she is applying to grad school in Choral Conducting.  Suffice to say that all the music genes in the family were saved for her!
So go check her out over at:

 Music Ed. Mayhem

Plus, she was an extremely adorable baby.

And she is really good at torturing Shammy Boy



Halloween Weekend

I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween!  It was a HUGE weekend for us.  We left Friday at 7:00pm for Mr. Snoop's sister's wedding in Norfolk, which was so much fun.  Both Mr. Snoop and I just love our new brother-in-law and could not be happier for the new Mr. and Mrs. Guerra! 

On Sunday we flew back to NY at 7:00am, and I had one of my biggest events of the year: the annual Pumpkin Carving.  There were close to 70 people there, even though the church was out of power and heat.  It was so much fun!  Some pics from the weekend...

Mr. Snoop and his nephew in their matching periodic table tshirts. 

Family resemblance, much?

The Guerra's sweet love of an angel kitty, Eva.  She is so petite and precious!



Meanwhile, this sh*t was going on in New York. 

This is a photo of my car at work, mid morning on Saturday, that my co-worker sent.

Our ensembles for the wedding.  We are looking a bit yellow.  Thanks, iphone.

I headed straight off the plane to work on Sunday morning, and then spent the rest of the day getting ready for the Pumpkin Carving.  The church had partially lost power, so there was no heat (good thing there were so many people there for body heat!) and only two of the lights worked.  But it was a great turnout and a great time just the same.  Then I went home and slept for 14 hours.  True story.

Pizzas from the Pumpkin Carving.  Cute, right?

Our house, post October snow.  Hate.

Weekend in Austin

Mr. Snoop and I had a marvelous weekend.  Thursday afternoon, we left for Austin to spend the weekend celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday.  There was much consumption of Tex-Mex, beer, wine, and shopping.  After landing in Austin, we high-tailed it to Fonda San Miguel for mango margaritas and appetizers.  My mom and I really liked the cowhide chairs they had in their entry way:

She liked it so much that she gave the royal wave.

On Friday, I made a pigrimage to my very favorite place: Last Call.  Last Call is the Neiman Marcus outlet, where they sell all the stuff they didn't sell in their regular stores.  It is paradise.  I got 2 dresses and a pair of shoes, and Mr. Snoop got dress shoes for his rotations.  After that, we stopped by Russel Korman to get my rings cleaned, and InStep to get Mr. Snoop some crocs for surgery.  I made fun of all the ugly shoes in that store, which I don't think the salespeople appreciated.  But they just didn't compare to my new, bright red Delman flats.

source

Versus...

source

Right?

Then, Mr. Snoop, my red flats, and I went to Central Market for lunch and to get groceries for the weekend.  We marveled at how inexpensive groceries are compared to New York (and Central Market is not cheap, y'all).  Then we found this, and the heavens opened and choirs of angels sang.  At least for Mr. Snoop.  Then we ate lunch with all the grackles on CM's patio.  It was glorious.

Yep, that is a wall of Shiner. Every type imaginable.

Friday night, the extended family started to come in, and we all went to Matt's el Rancho and to the Broken Spoke, which is an awesome dance hall.  Mr. Snoop "officially" learned how to two-step, which is a skill required of any Texan.

Saturday, my mom and went shopping at another of my favorite places in Austin: Tuesday Morning.  I know that there are Tuesday Mornings all over the country, but the one in Austin is amazing.  We found some good stuff and then went home to watch football and admire my cousin's wife's baby bump with the whole family.  My aunt and uncle stayed with us and brought their dog, Gracie, who is the absolutely sweetest thing in the whole world.

 

Saturday night was the party for the lady of the weekend!

Nearly 50 people attended my grandma's birthday party.  Family flew in from Colorado, Florida, and New York (that'd be us :).  We just had the best time.  I horrified my cousins with my rendition of a New York accent, and Mr. Snoop nearly wet his pants from a youtube video they showed him.  There was a great slideshow of pictures of my grandma, and my brother even made it from Ecuador via skype:

My grandpa talking to Chris.  We all passed him around :)

It was such a great weekend!  So nice to be home for a few days to spend time with the family and enjoy the nice weather.  Of course we got back here and it is now in the 50s.  A far cry from in the 80s and sunny.  I'll have to talk about the experience of flying American there and JetBlue back, but thats's for another post. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend as well!