Graduation Day

 

I am not sure how (sometimes I am not sure why), but I did it. On May 18th, 2012 I graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin with a PhD in Physiology. Holy S-balls.

Here is the official ceremony:

This is my mentor, Dr. Julian Lombard, an amazing and kind man that I have had the privilege of working for these past 5 years. 

 

My wonderful parents who have been so incredibly supportive.

My amazing husband who made the whole thing possible (and less painful).

After the ceremony, we met up with Mary Ellen, Kate, Gerry, Kelley, and Chen to celebrate at Louisa's.

 

Thank you everyone for coming out to help me celebrate. It was an absolutely amazing day.  

Everything is better with family at your side.

I love you all.

Happy Mother's Day!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! 

(I can only imagine that is what she is thinking)

This mother's day we traveled home to Manitowoc and celebrated mother's day with the two amazing, wonderful mothers in my immediate family.  It was a perfect day and we got to play cards, eat snacks, and drink drinks in the sunny sunshine all day long.  The girls even got their very own table, although it was a constant battle as to who would get the "owl chair". (Re: Above picture, most likely what Magdalenne is actually cheering for instead of mother's day - note, she is currently perched on the owl chair)

Kelley got to play with her girls in the sunshine and enjoy some stress-free time.

And, once they went down for their naps...some actual "stress-free time":

It was a wonderful day.

And Magdalenne couldn't have looked cuter...

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's out there.

Kristian's Visit

The title of this post is a bit confusing.  Mike's cousin Kristian came home from California where he attends law school.  While we love Kristian to death, apparently I forgot to take any pictures of the guest of honor (blush). So, this particular collection is titled "Kristian's Visit" - but you will not be seeing any pictures of the man himself.

Prior to the party, my husband happily entertained himself while I got ready.

Once we arrived at the party, we saw that all of the heavy hitters were in attendance.  We've got Lulu and her mommy.

The infamous Jimmy Keith. Ladies, watch your purses.  Fathers, watch your daughters.

No party would be complete without the peanut gallery.

Ok - a few more pictures of Lulu (because I love her and because apparently I cared more to take pictures of her then the guest of honor so I have a lot of this little cutie).

Even though there is no documented evidence of Kristian's presence at his own party, it was a wonderful night full of love and laughter and Lulu.

The Peters Come to Visit

In the beginning of May, Jill and Chris Peters made the long haul with two girlies in tow from Omaha, NE to Milwaukee for fun, food, and female bonding for their little ladies.  I actually remembered by camera and was able to document a few moments of the wonderful chaos that is four children in one house under the age of four.

Here is my basic understanding (as a non-mother) of what one year-olds require:
1.) You must feed them - preferably similar food or one will want what the other is having. Please note Lilly eyeing up Magdalenne below

2.) You must give them lots of love.

3. You must give them opportunities to show off their skills.

4. You must bath them.

It seems like that pretty much does it.

What do the three year-olds require???? I have absolutely no idea, but I do like making them laugh.

L.A. - April 2012

Mike and I met in San Diego, CA on April 25, 2012 following a scientific convention I attended called Experimental Biology.  We drove up to Newport Beach on a stormy night and landed at the Newport Beachside Hotel.  Undeterred by the rain, we ventured out to Sharkies to have a few "Shark Attacks".

The following day we cruised along the boardwalk on the sweet bikes - it was a beautiful, yet somewhat chilly day (note the sweater in sunny California).

We cruised all the way to Mike's old house where he lived in 1999 with Chris Richardson.

Following the excitement of Newport Beach, we continued north until we found Mike's all-time favorite L.A. eatery - Wahoo's!! This will not be the last time we will eat at Wahoo's, but this was my first experience of the delicious Fish Burritos with crach-infused rice and beans. 

Next stop, we found Mike's friend Roy, a resident of L.A. and current writer on The Middle, and headed to another infamous old haunt - El Coyote. (This is basically going to be a tour of all of the places that Mike loved to eat at while living in L.A.)

James wasn't going to be getting into L.A. from Chicago until 11:30pm and someone was going to have to drive out the airport to get him. The best solution, find a place near enough to the airport where we could drink and he could drive us back to L.A. - bowling it is!!

James got us home safe after his long day of travel.  We rested up for another of Mike's favorite meals - gumbo at Uncle Andre's.  Uncle Andre only makes one batch of gumbo a week and begins serving it on Friday afternoon until the pan is empty.  We arrived promptly to get our fill of some delicious gumbo.

Next stop, Roy pulled some famous strings and got us onto the Warner Bros set.  Please enjoy the following photos of me, James and Roy pretending to be walking in New York, getting out of the subway, and, finally, pretending to wait for a bus in Chicago. I just love these pictures.

Next up for these adventurers, the parking structure of the The Grove. We grabbed some 40s and headed to one of the only free views of the hills (including the Hollywood sign!) and enjoyed a little sunshine.

From there, we walked to the famous Farmer's Market and sat outside enjoying some ice cold beer and competitive cribbage.

We met up with Mike's friends Craig and Shannon and partied all night, eventually ending up back at their house for a bonfire. Here is the group rather late in the evening, but still partying hard.

Our last night in L.A., Roy treated the group to a night at the W hotel in Hollywood...fancy, fancy, fancy!! After spending the day with L.A.'s youthful rich at the W's pool party, we did a little pre-partying in our room before heading to the Groundlings to see my cousin Scott perform.  This is a rather strange picture where we asked a random stranger to come into our hotel room and take a picture of all of us on the bed - pretty sure the random stranger thought that something very strange was going to happen in this room.

And the beat goes on...