introducing.....lucy!

So....we've decided to keep the puppy. Her name is Lucy (going along with the Peanuts theme). Unlike Schroder, she is completely untrained so we are still working on the whole don't use the bathroom in the house thing. Schroder is a lot less jealous than when she first got here and they get along well most of the time. Here are a few more pics of her: (and I promise my next blog won't be about dogs!)

sniffing around with her brother

just cute

this is when she's sleepy ;)

"normal people" weekend

This weekend was unique for Jamie and I: Because he had to go to inservice in Charleston for three days this week, Jamie actually worked dayshift all week and had the entire weekend off -- a "normal people" schedule! Despite the fact that I still had to study this weekend, we took advantage of his time off and had some fun.

Friday:
We went to Black Bear to see Chris Cendana (one of my friends from high school and an excellent musician) play. It is rare that Jamie gets to hang out with our group of friends since activities usually occur on evenings and weekends so it was nice to get some people together to eat good food, drink some margaritas and listen to some great music. Afterward, we went out on the town for a bit before settling in for the night.

Saturday:
We had a pretty chill day (which was nice after a night out -- man, we are getting old). We did "married people stuff" i.e. taxes and my FAFSA and Jamie watched some TV while I studied. We did venture out for Schroder's second trip to Petco (the first was on the first day we got him and I think he was a little traumatized). This time went much better. We got him a few toys and got a few new fish since our cannabalistic goldfish ate all the other ones we had. After our trip to Petco, we felt inspired to watch "It's Me or the Dog" to get some training trips for Schroder, especially since he has been pulling on his leash a lot lately. We thought a harness was the cure until Schroder figured out that he hated it and chewed through almost the whole thing while we were taking a nap. He may hate training, but at least he's smart.

Sunday:
Jamie and I slept in a bit, made waffles for breakfast, then enjoyed actually getting to go to church together. The rest of the day was spent running errands, relaxing (Jamie) and studying (me) before heading to dinner with our community group. Despite the misery of studying on a weekend that my husband actually had off, I did get caught up before starting the dreaded test week.

Overall, we spent a significant part of the weekend dreaming about what it would be like if I didn't have to study, Jamie worked a regular schedule and we had real, relaxing weekends all the time. Hopefully someday it will happen, but who knows. It definitely didn't help my desire to quit school, but did increase my desire for spring break in 2 weeks and my appreciation for the time that Jamie and I actually do get to spend together.

Happy (late) Birthday Jamie!

This past weekend, Jamie and I were able to travel to Phoenix (with free airline tickets thanks to Capital One!) for his 29th birthday and the Rock n' Roll Marathon and Half-Marathon. Whereas if it were my birthday, I would have chosen to relax at a bed and breakfast or beach somewhere, Jamie decided that for his birthday he wanted to run a marathon. So on Sunday, I ran the half-marathon and he ran the full. Here are some before and after pics from the race:

Jamie & I pre-race

Post-race and still smiling with our finisher medals on

Jamie WAY post-race....looking pretty tired, but he might just be in a sugar coma from the cookie and ice cream dessert we had from room service for his birthday ;)

I am so proud of Jamie for completing his 2nd marathon and for even wanting to run another one after the first (I am still not convinced to do another full anytime in the near future). Other than the pain of the actual race, we had a great time! It was nice to get away together for a while and especially nice to go from a temperature of -7 when we left Pittsburgh to 79 in Phoenix :) We did miss this little guy (although aunt Tiff did a great job of taking care of him despite his unruly behavior):


And if you didn't notice from the pics above, Jamie got me a new digital camera also! (guess I get gifts for his birthday too...ha) I love my SLR but it is nice to have a more portable camera as well. I'm sure you will be seeing lots more pics from both cameras in the future :)

One last note: Jamie and I got engaged a year ago today...Just shows you how much can happen in a year!

Happy New Year! (a day late)

Well since I was down for the count yesterday with some kind of stomach virus, this is coming to you on day 2 of 2009. I am so looking forward to what God is going to do this year. 2008 is going to be hard to top though! Just a few of the highlights:

• Running my first marathon
• 
• Getting engaged
• 
• Trip to Niagara Falls with Jamie for my spring break
• 
• Buying our first house
• 
• Finishing my 1st year of medical school even though grades were touch and go at the end
• 
• Trip to Uganda
• 
• Wedding!!!
• 
• Honeymoon in Jamaica which was amazing....wish we could go back especially in light of this winter weather
• 
• Surprising Jamie with the "man cave" upon return from the honeymoon (thanks to all our friends for all your hard work!!)
• 
• Getting our cute puppy, Schroder
• 

Spending the holidays with both of our families and the New Year with some good friends was a great way to send off 2008. I am excited to see what God will do in 2009. He has already proved Himself an awesome provider and is continuing to teach us how to trust in Him fully. Towards the end of this year, I have been struggling spiritually but as I have reflected on the past year God has brought to mind so many blessings and miracles, large and small, that have really helped me realign my focus to Him. Praying that you all would realize the blessings of 2008 and look forward to God's work in 2009!

bullet point update

Well, Katy, is this random enough for you? Instead of doing 6 random things for the third time, thought I would give a quick bullet update as opposed to the intense posts as of late :)

• One of the shows I somehow find myself watching lately (usually on Saturday nights when I am studying and waiting for Jamie to get home from work) is 17 Kids and Counting. The name pretty much says it all, but as crazy as it seems to me to have 17 children and 1 on the way it is also very interesting to see this HUGE family living absolutely debt free...makes me reconsider my own financial situation.
• I love music but every now and then (like now) I go through these phases where I don't want to listen to any music because nothing seems to fit quite right...weird, but true.
• I tend to have a love/hate relationship with running and despite that fact that I am training for a half-marathon that I will be running on Jamie's 29th birthday (Jan. 18) I am currently in the hate phase...maybe it has something to do with my weird music phase and the fact that I can't seem to get distracted no matter what music I listen to. Or maybe it's just that it's so cold.
• "A Lot Like Love" is on TV right now and I had forgotten how much I like this movie and its soundtrack. The Aqualung song "Brighter Than Sunshine" is one of my faves and consequently is the ringtone that plays when Jamie calls me.
  
• Our puppy seems to love dirty laundry. Below is a pic of him in his current favorite napping spot, our laundry pile....now if only we could teach him to actually do laundry...
• 'Tis the season of pumpkin ice cream! Edy's brand is amazing and only in stores for a limited time so I highly recommend trying it.
  
• I am getting excited to decorate a "real" house for Christmas as opposed to an apartment. Hopefully we will be getting a real tree...YAY!

TGIF?

Fridays tend to be lonely for me as a Trooper’s wife. On the day that most people are having date nights, going out to dinner, going to the movies, etc. I am usually home alone studying. Adjusting to a schedule that coincides with Jamie’s has been a challenge, especially with the recent addition of Schroder to our lives. I am still working on whether to be productive during the day when Jamie isn’t working or to attempt to make myself nocturnal like my husband. I admit, I’m not sure what the balance should look like yet. It is a weird paradox because I often feel like I am still single as far as hang out time with friends, Friday and Saturday nights at home by myself, etc and yet I still don’t seem to be able to carve out much alone time for myself. I think it is because when Jamie is at work I have procrastinated studying and other things all day long so I feel like it is crunch time to get things done in the evenings.

I often daydream about what it would be like if Jamie and I both had “normal” schedules. I imagine how wonderful it would be for both of us to come home in the evenings and just spend time together instead of studying, working, going to a million meetings, or crashing from sheer exhaustion. But this is where God has us right now so instead of dreaming about what things could be like, we have to roll up our sleeves and work to make things mesh with our current schedules….easier said than done, but something that is worth working for. That’s the thing about marriage – it’s not a happy ending, but instead the beginning of a lot of hard work toward happiness and most of all, toward glorifying God together.

On that note….back to my Friday night of studying ;)

new addition to the rickard family...

No, despite the current pregnancy craze among everyone I know, that's not the kind of addition I'm talking about....We got a dog! He is a rescue from the animal shelter named Schroeder and he's 10 weeks old. Check out all his cute-ness below: