Graduation Part Deux

Sunday, after Ari's graduation, was the Pediatric residents' graduation. The beauty of our graduation is that it is a required event, one of only 3 days of the year where ALL 80 pediatric/med-peds/prelim residents are excused from the hospital. We are lucky to have many generous fellows and attendings who will play our roles while we are away. I was especially delighted this year because I got out of 6 hours of NICU call! Thanks Dr. Mulrooney!! At our graduation we recognized not only the seniors leaving us (the count down is on!!), the interns for all the hard work they do, and the graduating pediatric fellows. This makes for a LONG ceremony. The company was good, however, and the food was okay. Ari's graduation was definitely more fun. I was very surprised at the end to win award. Every year the emergency department recognizes one outstanding resident from each class, this year that was me! Ari must be rubbing off!! Finally, the end had come and I said goodbye to my senior friends and my husband to head back to the hospital.

Ari's Graduation

I am so proud to announce that Ari officially graduated from residency Thursday, June 21. This day marked an end to his 3 year emergency medicine residency and more importantly the end of call for ever. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful night to celebrate; the temperature was perfect for enjoying hors d'oeuvres outside of the yacht club. We were so lucky to have Ari's parents in from Oregon, my mom in from St. Louis, and Kristen and Larry up from Chicago (but recently in from enjoying their anniversary in Mexico). Once we were seated inside we were truly impressed with the food. Ari had even gotten the honor of picking the vegetarian menu: polenta with roasted vegetables in red pepper sauce. Dr. Callahan, Ari's program director, kept the evening light-hearted by reading excerpts of all the graduates personal statements... they were a stitch! The graduates in turn roasted their attendings with a Colbert Report-esque video. Finally the laughs were over and Ari received his certificate. He is going to make a brilliant attending, I am so lucky to have him as a husband!

Happy Birthday to Me!

This past Sunday was my birthday and believe it or not I had the day off! I slept in (until 8 am!!). When Ari got up he was so excited he gave me my presents right away. He gave me some art work that I have had my eye on for a long time. Then he took me out to my favorite place for breakfast. After breakfast I got some time to spend working in my garden but Ari told me I had to be ready to go by 2:30pm... he wouldn't tell me why. So after planting lots of flowers, we were off. He took me to a really cool miniature golf course I hadn't been to before. I even got a hole in one! It kind of balanced out the holes where I got six!! It was such a beautiful day to be outside. Afterwards Ari took me to Ulta and he had me pick out some new make-up and fun beauty things. Next stop, dinner at Bravo Cucina Italiana... a restaurant I have been dying to try. Dinner was amazing. They had Prosecco by the glass... which is my favorite Italian sparkling wine. Ari started with the gazpacho which was delicious. I had chicken scallopini and he had tortaloni. Mmmm.... I am drooling just thinking about it. Even though they had cannolis on the menu, Ari said I had to wait for dessert. We mosied over to the book store after dinner and I also got a couple of fun books to read. Finally we went to Kopps for custard and Ari had arranged for our friends to meet us there. The custard was great and so was the company! I almost forgot that I turned almost 30!!