Mr. Snoop's Very Bad Day with the law

The week prior to Match Week, Mr. Snoop had a terrible, no good, very bad Monday with the law. We were beginning to feel the pins and needles of Match Week, and it had been a truly exhausting six months. So Mr. Snoop decided to come with me to the grocery store to get out of the house.

[Side Note: You have to pay to park at the grocery store where we shop. The store reimburses you for an hour and has really long lines, so it is a mad dash to get everything done in there. Especially because they ticket if you are 30 seconds over]

Well, those of you who know Mr. Snoop know that he is Mr. Responsibility USA. He washes the bedsheets every saturday morning, always pays bills on time, works out every day, worries when my girlfriends have porches in their apartments that face the street, etc. Basically the guy was made to be a dad. And I love that about him.

Somehow in the midst of interview season hell, Mr. Snoop let his car (It's a subaru. I told you.) registration lapse. Highly uncharacteristic, to say the least. But I didn't just call it six months of hell for nothing. He sent in the registration as soon as he discovered it had lapsed and was waiting to get it in the mail at the time of The Bad Day With the law.

Anyway, Mr. Snoop goes to the grocery store with me. We make it out super quick, like 30 or 45 minutes. And get to the car to discover that we have a ticket. Initially we thought it was a parking ticket. But alas, it was the registration. Boo, right? So that sucked, but whatever. $50. More than our weekly grocery budget but we'll deal. We

get back home and check the mail, whereupon Mr. Snoop discovered A WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST. From the City of Austin. Some of you may remember that Mr. Snoop and a friend got jaywalking tickets there nearly three years ago. While crossing at a crosswalk. During which the little hand stopped flashing midway through. The other 10 or so friends got across before. Oh, and did I mention that this was his bachelor party? And that he had opened up his head water-skiing and required 7 stitches just hours before? Yes, indeed.

Given that it was, you know, his bachelor party, Mr. Snoop and Co. went out and had an awesome time. In that process he lost his jaywalking ticket. Then somewhere in the mix of getting married, going on a honeymoon, and completing 3 years of medical school, he forgot to pay it. Imagine that. So it cost $250 to clear it. BURN. Talk about an expensive walk across the street.

Morals of the story:

- If the little hand stops flashing midway while you are crossing the street, I guess you are supposed to Stop Right There and risk getting hit by cars. Otherwise you are jaywalking.

- If you get a $10 ticket from an eighteen year old cop, pay it.

- Don't Mess With Texas.

In conclusion, let's all say a prayer of thanksgiving that Mr. Snoop's brazen criminal past didn't prevent him from getting a residency in Texas. Phew. Thank goodness for small mercies.

Texas forever

That's right, we're going home!

Source: fuckyeahtx.tumblr.com via Emily on Pinterest

6 hellacious months of agonizing over interviews (or lack thereof) is over. The great irony of all this is that Mr. Snoop matched at his #1 spot. We feel so grateful and blessed. Particularly since well over 100 people applying to Mr. Snoop's specialty did not match into it this year. We take nothing for granted.

The good news has not yet sunk in, though I think it's getting there. Especially because it is snowing/raining/sleeting/nasty-ing here and I don't even care. So yes, it must be sinking in somewhat :)

Now let the great house-hunt begin!

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.

This.

Source: fuckyeahtx.tumblr.com via Emily on Pinterest

Yep. Pretty much covers it. Plus Taco Cabana.

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!

Easter in ATX

Warning: Long post with lots of pictures!

Mr. Snoop and I spent a long weekend in Austin for Easter.  It was marvelous.  We were so thankful to get there since flying down was a total fiasco.  American canceled our flight at midnight Thursday morning when we had planned to fly out Thursday afternoon.  Thanks, American.  We rebooked on United/Continental, and sweet friends drove us to the airport since we had to fly out of a different airport than we were scheduled to come in to.  And of course United was delayed so we missed our connection. 

And this is why we typically only fly Jetblue or Southwest.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff.  We completely soaked up our time in Texas.  Mr. Snoop had a friend from high school in town for job interviews.  It was nice to get to know him, and I know Mr. Snoop loved having him around.  On Friday they went for a run on Town Lake while I went to Last Call, of course.  I got a possible Med School graduation (or related graduation festivities) dress. On mega sale, por supuesto...

pinned it here

On saturday we went to Zilker Park, where Mr. Snoop and Chris played frisbee.  It was gorgeous...

Then we cooled off in Barton Springs...

Don't worry, there were lots of topless sunbathers.  After that we went to Sno Beach for snowcones.  We were visited by this little friend...

See him on Mr. Snoop's shoulder?

He was all over us--landing on me, Mr. Snoop, in my snocone, etc.  We must have smelled good, because he wasn't interested in Chris.  Here's a better picture...

My parents got a new cat last week, Morris.  He is 8 years old and 14.5 solid pounds of love. 

And now for a close-up....



  

Look at that face!   You can see how gigantic his paws are here.

On Easter Sunday we did our traditional brunch at church, Easter service, and dinner at the Salt Lick.  We celebrate Easter with our "church family," and it always so much fun.  We hang out outside for drinks and appetizers for a little while and then go in for amazing bbq.  Here are Mr. Snoop, my brother, and my sister.  Note Mr. Snoop and Chris fratting out with their matching monogramed croakies...

It was hard to come back, but I am so happy we got to go.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, Easter, or Passover!

Texas BBQ.... in New York

Mr. Snoop and friends finished their 8 week surgery rotation last friday.  After a brutal exam, they were ready for some fun.  Our friends from Rhode Island had found a supposedly legitimate Texas barbecue place just north of us.  Naturally, I was skeptical.  But Mr. Snoop, being the self-appointed social chair of our group of friends (some frat boy behavior just doesn't go away), arranged a trip and we all headed up.

Y'all. 

It was good.

No kidding.  I mean it wasn't Cooper's or Salt Lick, but it was good.  Definitely the real deal.

Yes, that is a Lone Star that you see.

What??

So if you happen to be a displaced Texan in New York like myself, get thee up to Cold Spring and get some Round Up barbecue.  Worth it.  They are building a pavilion this spring, so we'll definitely go back over the summer.

Because I'm a jerk, I brought this along:

Fortunately the proprietor (whose wife is from Denton), absolutely loved it.  He carried it off to show his wife.  And then I gave him a piece and he loved it even more.  But who doesn't love kahlua brownies?

And then Mr. Snoop played approximately 8745 hours of darts.  Like I said about the frat boy behavior.

So that was our weekend.

Plus this:





Stand off.  Which tail is fluffier?

Brain Dump

My brain is not functioning well enough to write a coherent post (let's be honest.. I'm never all that coherent anyway), so I'll do bullet points today.

- Mr. Snoop is in his 4th week of his surgery rotation.  This means he has 4 more weeks to go.  As expected, surgery has been by far is favorite.  He's rotated through vascular surgery and is currently in pediatric surgery.  Next week he begins ENT and after that it will be trauma.

- The 6am to 6pm surgery hours are wearing both of us out.  Not that I mind being in bed by 9pm.  Totally my style.  Sometimes it feels like all we do is work, eat dinner, and sleep.

- The hospital where Mr. Snoop does his rotations recently laid off a ton of nurses.  And will be laying off many more.  Makes for an interesting environment, to say the least.

- Our friends' three year old loves to borrow my cell phone.  And I love finding pictures like this one:

- I've been daydreaming about our trip to the Dallas Arboretum last March.  Mr. Snoop and I met my family in Fort Worth for a wedding and I dragged us all the Dallas Arboretum for Dallas Blooms.  It was awesome.  Such a welcome, sunny, beautiful relief from New York winter.  That trip was so good for the soul.  I can't stop thinking about it.

But really.. Can you blame me?

Gorgeous.  Le sigh. 

If you're ever in the DFW area March 3 - April 8 you just have to go.  Here's their website.

-  It's really hard to believe Mr. Snoop will be graduating in 18 months.  What?

-  I'm excited for the SuperBowl because every year we are generously invited to a really fun party.  Who doesn't love that?  Now I need to plan what to make...

- I think that's it.  Thanks for reading :)

 

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! 

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!

If you are the prayin' type...

... Then please pray for Central Texas, my home and most favorite place on earth.  Pray for a miracle: rain.

If you are not the praying type, please send good thoughts, vibes, or whatever you can to Central Texas.

In case you did not know, wildfires are burning their way through my home state. 

Seriously scary stuff, ya'll.