Hello Vacation

After 14 weeks of hard work, vacation has officially arrived!  During our intern year, there are only a few rotations during which we are "allowed" to take vacation.  Unfortunately, they are our easier months, so it sort of defeats the purpose.  Regardless, there was no way I was going to miss out on vacation days during my month in the ED.  I'd been advised to take advantage of every spare hour of vacation, so I did exactly that.  After finishing a ED shift at 9pm, I hustled to the airport and caught a 10:50pm flight.  The flight was short and sweet and my midnight I was being welcomed back to Atlanta by Mom and Bailey.

One thing I've quickly learned during residency is that sleep comes really easy when you are exhausted.  I don't remember the last time I had any difficulty falling asleep.  That being said, however, I can probably count on just two hands the number of times I have slept in past 8am in the past several years.  I've always been a morning person, and feel that sleeping later than that wastes my precious time off.  That being said, you can imagine my surprise when on both Thursday and Friday mornings I never even rolled over the first time until 9am!  Sleep has never felt so amazing!

Thursday morning I enjoyed a run with my best running buddy - Bailey.  Runs just aren't the same without her running by my side.  And yes, I took her running with the jingle bells and all.  She's not a big fan - all the noise scares off the bunnies and deer before she gets the chance to sneak up on them.

That afternoon Mom and I ventured downtown to check out the food truck scene.  I've heard great things about the culinary creations that serve up and was ready to partake.  We visited W.O.W (chicken sofrito and vegetarian arepas), Yumbii (fish tacos, spicy pulled pork sliders, and sesame fries), Yum Yum Cupcake (brownie cupcake and vanilla cupcake with raspberry filling and white chocolate buttercream), and Honeysuckle Gelato (spicy cinnamon chocolate and toasted almond).  It was a foodie paradise!  Sadly, I was too busy enjoying the food to capture any photos.  We saved the cupcakes for dessert later that night, and I did remember to snap a picture before we ate every last crumb.

Dad was out of town Thursday, so Mom and I were on our own for dinner.  I've been dying to try Mama Pea's Yumm sauce that has been taking the blog world by storm.  So with that as my starting point, I whipped up a stir fry with bell pepper, snap peas, onion, garlic, brown rice, and fajita chicken.  The Yumm sauce was all I had imagined and more.  I'm pretty sure it could be the perfect addition to any number of dishes - everything from salads, eggs, chicken, fish, and toast.

I love coming home to all of the seasonal decorations!
I really need to invest in some for my place to add excitement to the holidays!

Friday was a nice lazy day around the house.  It feels so great to be home!  I did interrupt my laziness for an hour-long swim followed by a short walk with the dog at the park.  Bailey and I spent some quality time together soaking up the sun on the back deck.  It's interesting that she can go months without seeing me, yet as soon as I come home, she clings to my side like we're best buddies.

Then I spent the majority of the afternoon soaking up the beautiful weather on the back deck.  Homemade guacamole even made an appearance!

Hands down, THE BEST guacamole!

Please, just give the good dog a chip.  I'm going to stare you down until you share with me.  I will win!

Saturday morning I made my way back to The Sport Factory for strength class.  I certainly miss that group!  I've been working hard to spend at least one day a week incorporating strength training into my workout routine, but it was sorely apparent that my attempts have been weak, at best.  The work out was easy, by Sport Factory standards, yet my muscles are definitely screaming at me today.  Royce joined me for strength and then we headed down to the river to enjoy a run.  It was a great morning, and extra special to spend it with my brother.

Sunday morning started with a lazy few hours of newspaper reading, tea sipping, Today Show watching, and pumpkin pancake eating (once again my stomach got the best of me and food went unpictured!).  Then we headed down to Riverside Park to enjoy the cool day.  Bailey and I enjoyed a 9 mile run that left us both exhausted.  Tonight we're headed into downtown Woodstock for dinner with the whole family to celebrate Mom and I's birthdays at Firestone Wood fired Pizza.  Hopefully I'll remember to capture some pictures before I clean my plate!