A Little Trip to the Big Apple

Our first trip to New York was absolutely amazing! My amazing friend Tarah lives in New York and was happy to take us on the touristy tour on the city.

We took the bus & subway in from New Jersey to Central Park to meet Tarah. I was pleasantly surprised by how painless it was to take public transportation, and even happier to see Tarah again! We hadn't seen each other since last spring in Dominica.

Tarah suggested we go to the Top of the Rock to really get a feel for the size of New York. Holy Moly, it's huge! I am in complete awe of the city and people who live there.

Because it was Memorial Day the city was fairly empty and the great weather made it the perfect day to walk and explore. We visited the Library, Washington Square, Grand Central, the villages, and even ate pizza at an outdoor restaurant in Little Italy. 

Our last stop was Times Square for a quick pic and look around before hitting the subway back to NJ. The day was too short! But we had an awesome time, and I look forward to visiting again someday. 

Thus begins rotations..

I'm not entirely sure where the last two months have gone, but we are no longer in the waiting room! My med-school husband is actually 3 weeks into his first rotation: Psychiatry in New Jersey.

Isn't he handsome? I'm so proud of him for getting this far! These next two years are going to fly by.

The RUSM Waiting Room...

I haven't said much recently about the med school process because I just don't have much news. We had heard from several people along the way that students at Ross have to be their own biggest advocate, that you can easily fall into an abyss of waiting and no responses, that the counselors really don't give a hoot about the students; we just didn't want to believe it to be true. I always chalked those stories up to 'negative people will just be negative' but somehow we've found ourselves in that endless waiting room and I'm beginning to wonder if there is any validity to the rumors.

He took and passed his Step 1 exam two months ago and has yet been told where he will be going for rotations. Ross has a limited number of spots in "track" programs where you do all your rotations at the same hospital. It seems that if you don't get placed in a track program then you are in a different boat. He has called Ross countless times and each time they respond with a different reason why his counselor isn't in the office that day or how they can't put him through to a counselor until his paperwork is all verified.

I'm not saying that RUSM is purposefully being discriminatory to my husband because I honestly think he's just another name on a paper to them. It's just unbelievably frustrating to watch him being pushed back and back.

The good in this situation is that despite all the setbacks, we've been given the gift of extra time to spend together. We've been able to do 'regular' things again like spend the day watching movies and visiting friends. I've managed to get a good job that has provided for us financially and laid the foundation for a career in higher ed.

When it's announced where he will be sent for rotations we may have some tough decisions to make but until that day we are trying not to worry about it. I can't tell you where this adventure is headed next, but I can tell you that I'm working on having patience in the waiting room.

How to move from Google Reader to BlogLovin

I was recently asked how to add the blogs you follow via Google Reader to BlogLovin because Google Reader will be closing it's doors on July 1, 2013. This is a big deal for those of us who read blogs almost exclusively through Google Reader. 

Last year, I put together a post on how to set up BlogLovin and transfer your subscriptions from Google Reader over but Google's changed their options a little bit. So here's an updated infographic for you. I've also edited that first post on How I Set Up BlogLovin too :) 

What will YOU use instead of Google Reader?

Hurry Up & Wait

For those of you who have been following our med-school journey, I'm so excited to announce that my husband just reached another major medical milestone:

He Passed the USMLE Step 1! 

According to the med-school flowchart this means we are halfway through the med-school process. It also means that he gets to start the fun part of medicine: working in hospitals. 

We don't know yet where he will be placed for his 3rd and 4th year. As with everything else, it's not entirely up to him. All prayers and well wishes would be appreciated towards him staying local or at least West Coast. 

Other than that big news I don't really have anything interesting or pressing to report. Most week days you'll find me doing 9-5 at my edtech job and then 5-9 at PDS. I've been soaking up all the attention from my husband who has a lot less on his plate since taking the Step and we've been having fun going on as many dates as our budget will allow.

Have you gone on any cheap but fun date nights recently?

I Have a Confession...

{I've been reading romance novels.}

It's true. It all started about this time last year when Morgan recommended I read 50 Shades of Gray. You can read my review here.

And then this fall Megan from The Book Asylum contacted me to work with her on a new blog design and I started connecting with other book bloggers. {isn't her new design fun?}

After meeting Natasha from Natasha Is a Book Junkie I realized that there is a whole world of book bloggers out there who aren't the least bit ashamed of reading romance. I spent weeks unconsciously soaking up racy reviews while redesigning Natasha's blog. She had a few book recommendations & I'm loving them!

I'm still treading lightly in the world of romance, and will never give up my love of novels, but it's been great to explore a new genre. And to be honest, between working fulltime and designing partime a book has to really grab my attention to beat out the TV or playing a game on my iPad at the end of the day.

Are you a reader? Let's be friends on Goodreads!

Happy Twenty13!

I finally feel like I'm settling in to America. That only took 5 months.

Reverse culture shock is real, yo.

In this post I talked about how I'd order the wrong thing at Starbucks because I felt rushed. It seemed like everywhere I went there were too many choices, and things cost way too much money.

need this 

I don't know how single-income families make it these days! Especially in an expensive state like California. I'm baffled at how quickly my paycheck disappears each month, and the latest tax hike didn't help matters. Even living in a teeny apartment with no car payments we are still scrimping every month. Maybe it has something to do more with being a med-student's wife, but I doubt it.

It's still nice to be back in the U.S. of A.

I must admit that I'm loving the convenience of being in America. A short list of things I appreciate more after living in Dominica:

1. the dishwasher
2. real cat boxes & litter
3. Target
4. reliable internet
5. owning a car
6. Starbucks
7. ziplock bags

If anyone still reads this blog, thanks for hanging in there. There are plenty of adventures left to be had.

How are YOU Doing?

XO and cheers to Twenty13!