Valentine's Day

In spite of the fact that Valentine's Day fell right before two exams this year, Tyson still managed to surprise me with a gorgeous bouquet of roses! I admit I am a bit hesitant to leave them alone (they "grow up" so fast!) while we bounce between apartments, cooking dinner, watching movies, and drinking wine during our short burst of freedom, so they have made a few trips back and forth in the car in the past couple days. Considering the below-freezing weather and the howling wind, I have been a little tempted to wrap them in a little snowsuit and blanket, but I suppose that would be a BIT extreme...


Tyson has an amazing ability to surprise me and constantly make me feel special. Valentine's Day last year found us wandering through Central Park about two days after a huge snowstorm while I scrambled over patches of snow and ice in my high-heel boots asking, "Are you SURE this is the way to the restaurant?" A quick check with an officer who happened to be passing through finally sent us toward our final destination: Ice skating in Central Park!

When we're not studying

So my blog is pretty different from most. Everybody else I know seems to have all this time on the weekends to go and enjoy nature or celebrate big life events w/ friends up in the mountains(turning 30). Me, I only have a life once every 6 weeks because of those pesky exams. Sure, I still get to watch an episode of Scrubs every once in a while, and we never miss an episode of Grey's Anatomy, but our weekends can be pretty boring. Fortunately for us (and all of you loyal readers out there) we just finished exams yesterday and have a couple weeks to take it easy. The problem is, it's freezing cold out, there's a 3-inch crust of ice on the ground, and all we want to do is be outside. So to celebrate better days I'll post some photos of the kinds of things we like to spend our time doing when it's not 15 degrees and icy. (I knew it was going to be flat out here but I at least expected some snow!)


The first photo here shows Josh (belaying Jacqueline) and Jordana up at the Shawangunk Preserve, a sweet climbing mecca about 1.5 hrs from where I go to school. We try to make it up here 3-4 times in the fall before the weather changes/exams start to rule our lives. We're looking forward to spring again!





This is my roommate Joe from Virginia. He's doing the Navy thing, which means the Navy pays for his medical school and he owes them service after he graduates. It's a pretty sweet deal if you don't have an aversion to the Armed
Forces, and it's something a lot of us consider and only a few actually do. All those loans paid off in 4 years sure sounds pretty nice though! Oh, and he's shown here climbing at our local rock, about 20 minutes from school. It's a sweet place to go after class on weekdays but you have to do a thorough tick check when you're through. Joe counted 6 the last time he went!! (Lyme disease capital of the world)

And lastly, and not related at all, is a photo of Jordana's first attempt at surfing in Montanita, Ecuador. She was quite a trooper. Maybe we can plan another surfing vacation to Malpais, Costa Rica Trisha? You've got another surfing buddy!