Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot And Never Brought To Mind

   Another year has come and gone.  It seems like each year of my life keeps going by faster and faster.  2013 was the year I turned 25 - a quarter century of life - and I can't believe how far I've come so far.  This last year was a year of self-realization, hard work, tangible progress, and self-rediscovery.  But most of all, 2013, especially towards the end, was a year of recharge, which was much needed after my 2012.

The year BF and I raised our puppy, Melvin

The year of many puppy dates with our friends

The year J visited me several times :)

The year we went camping in Oregon - for the 3rd time

The year of "google hang-outs" with old UCLA dorm friends

The year I attended a special MSFC conference

The year I visited H in Atlanta

The year I visited E in LA

The year I saw all my Gphi girls in LA

The year I re-discovered my creative side

The year I hosted an MSFC potluck at my house

The year BF and I rocked our sub-i's :P

The year I took and passed Step 2 CK and Step 2 CS

The year I traveled all over for interviews... including the Bay Area

... and Chicago

... And Philly

... and Boston

The year I worked my butt off creating an original research project, while simultaneously also working on someone else's project

The year I visited my sister in SF

   What a great year 2013 was! I can't wait to see what's in store for 2014.  

Hello 2013, I've Been Expecting You

   I can never seem to get my New Year resolution blog post up until a week after NYE - but better late than never!  Today marks the last day of our three week break from third year clerkships, and I am feeling more rested now, but I am so glad I'm on an "easier" rotation next (primary care).  The first week and a half of break were fun, and were mostly spent flying off to the east coast, running around meeting up with BF's family and friends, which was super fun, but it got a bit tiring towards the end.  Then, when we got back, we went straight to my family's house, and stayed there for a few days, until I got really sick with the flu on NYE.  Unfortunately, I was so sick that I spent all of NYE sleeping and puking, and BF spent the whole time taking care of me and puppy.  Since then, we've been having a nice little staycation, which was much needed to take care of all the boring things we've been neglecting in life, like cleaning the house, grocery shopping, paying bills - but meh, who likes doing any of that anyway?!

   We've had our puppy (Melvin) for exactly a week now, and he is so cute!  Training him has been exhausting and has made me not want to have kids for a while, and sometimes he is such a brat, but then he gives me his little puppy-dog-eyes, and then I just melt. 

Well, let's get on with it.  Here are last year's resolutions revisited:

1. "Continue a healthy lifestyle":  Well, this one was on and off, as it usually is.  I gained some weight during boards and the surgery clerkship.  Towards the end of 2012, I started to get more diet-conscious, and I even lost a bit of weight.  I still haven't been great about exercising though.
2. "Gun it up for boards (in non-malicious way)":  Hell yeah, I did this!  Studying for boards was no doubt the hardest I have ever worked, and it totally paid off.   Mission accomplished! 
3. "Maintain a balanced, happy life with boards studying (and later with clinical rotations)": Yeahhhhh... about this one.  Not so much.  I'm still working on this whole work-life-balance-with-such-little-free-time thing.  I have my ups and downs, and I'm meeting with the school psychologist this week to discuss some better strategies, so hopefully I'll make some progress on this one. 
4. "Blog more": Yay! I did really well with this one.  I blogged double what I did last year! 

New resolutions for 2013:

1. Re-find my happy place:  I really want to fix my work-life balance, and use what little free time I have to do fun, relaxing stuff - and actually enjoy it.  Maybe I just need to change things up, maybe I just need to figure some stuff out, who knows.  This year I want to try new things, be spontaneous, relive old things I once loved, create new traditions.  I just want to live more this year, and not let med school get the best of me.
2. Become an OB/Gyn rockstar:  After a couple of meetings with my advisor, I have a lot of work to do.  I am going to be creating my own research project (GASP!), helping a resident with a separate research project, applying for a regional MSFC officer position, and starting up an OB/Gyn journal club.  Gives me palpitations just thinking about it all.  It's all things I really want to do, and if BF and I want to be super competitive in the couples' match, I gotta do work.
3. Train Melvie:  This is already proving to be harder than I thought.  Having a puppy really is like having a toddler.  Fortunately, after one week of having him, he is already getting better about crate training, walking and potty training, but it's gonna be a long haul, and he has a lot of learning to do.  The next few months will be hard, but it will totally be worth it when he is an adorable and well-behaved dog.
4. Keep a cleaner house: I've been such a slob lately, and I've realized that I feel a lot less stressed when the house is clean.  I need to maintain it at a certain level of clean more often, so it doesn't get out of hand - because that drives me nuts.
5. Be more of a morning person:  I saw this on Bybun, and I thought it was such a great idea.  Every morning, I am an utter zombie, spacing out, doing absolutely nothing, and wasting tons of precious time that could be spent eating a better breakfast, putting on makeup, doing my hair, putting on jewelry, etc.  I used to enjoy the mornings more, but having to wake up at 4am for certain clerkships changed that, so I'd like to get back to listening to good music, enjoying my coffee/tea, pretty-fying myself, and now I'll have to make time to take care of Melvie too!

Looks like I have my work cut out for me!  Here's to 2013!  2012 was full of big changes and milestones, and I know this next year is going to be full of them too.  I can't wait.