Pep hits the deuce!

Please don't judge us for the pictures/actions of this post. We are trying not to be those dog-parents who go over the top with everything. But since Pepper has brought so much joy to our lives in the past 8 months, since we adopted her last December, we wanted to celebrate her 2nd birthday (Sunday 8/12) with a few treats.

I found a recipe for meaty doggie muffins online and baked a batch. With ground beef, oats, shredded carrot, and peas, I figured it was bound to be enticing for our picky pooch.

(the man who said the dog would never be on the bed has our dog on the dining table. Interesting...) 

She was a bit uneasy wearing the dollar-store hat...

... and unsure what this celebration was all about.

Although she's not a huge toy-fan, we had bought her the "hide a squirrel" toy that's been a hit with my parents' dogs. 

Again, initially she was also a bit wary of this new fuzzy item. 

She finally decided to dig in to her muffin...

... and hoarded it straight to her bed!

And then she got interested in her new toy.

Happy birthday, Pep!

Hotel Balboa

I am fortunate to have wonderful residency friends, Wai Kiu and Hanh, who live in Oakland.  Last week, I got to hang out with them in the evenings when I attended a colposcopy conference in San Francisco and saved close to $1000 by not staying at the Mark Hopkins InterContinental (site of the conference). The conference was excellent, with tons of updates on pap screening guidelines, and follow-up for "abnormals," as well as the technique of colpo and treatment for dysplasia. While the 7 a.m. start time in SF was a bit early (between the time to the Oakland BART to park, then metro ride in, then walk up to Nob Hill, it took about an hour to get there, so it made for early wake-ups), but I learned a ton and it was well worth it. I also got to reconnect with Charmian, one of my fellow OB residency grads, who I didn't know would be attending.

While I didn't really take any pics during my time there, I did steal these from Wai Kiu.

Block party

(Colorable rocket)

Olympics-watching/Bejeweled-playing

While I delivered Mason during a lucky call night in 2009, a Kaiser physician was lucky to deliver this little cutie, Sophia, who just turned 5 months old.

Thank you, Wai Kiu and Hanh, for hosting me yet again (and for all the pics!) See you soon!

revisiting the past

It has been great to spend the past few days with family and old friends. Living where we are makes us feel quite isolated, so we really enjoyed connecting with everyone from our "pasts"!

After the wedding last weekend, we stayed on in San Diego for a couple of days to enjoy the nice weather and a few more sites-- I have a conference coming up this week in SF and so did not plan to go back to work (and get ALL the way back to Humboldt County) just for a day or two.

Thanks to My My for hosting us while in SD.



   Danny, one of K's groomsmen and close HS friends, joined us for ramen on our first day.
 

On Saturday, my family went wine tasting in Temecula, north of SD. We went back to South Coast Winery, a vineyard that we'd visited with K's family about 2 years ago, and enjoyed the sunshine and generous pours.






"Goofin' off with Grapes"
 

       Sisters


    V and Marco




Flashback to San Diego, July 4th weekend, 2010:


























South Coast Winery, July 2010


(the same fountain!)



K's family drove down from Orange County and joined us for a great Thai meal on Saturday night.

       The 'rents!
 

On Sunday, K headed home (maybe he can guest blog about his Greyhound adventure!) but my parents and I visited Pt. Loma, Old Town San Diego, and Balboa Park for the Natural History Museum, which had a fantastic horse exhibit!

(alas, I guess SD gets cloudy sometimes!)
 
 


The weekend was capped by a quick trip to Sacramento, where I got to catch up with Amy, Sarah, Char, and other UCD faculty, and labor and delivery nurses, faculty, and crew! It was fun, albeit a bit nostalgic.  I wonder if we'll ever stop having to say goodbye to people and places.

In any case, I am staying at "Hotel Balboa" (Wai Kiu and Hanh's residence in Oakland) for the rest of the week and looking forward to building my colposcopy skills at this conference! 

Nontraditional Marriage (love is love)

I know that many people reading this are not necessarily on the same side of the political spectrum that I am and that this post may bother some of you. However, I am not too inhibited about many of my views, particularly on social issues (so read on as you feel comfortable).

The poster above, which was running around facebook several months ago, captures quite well how I feel about the bans on same-sex marriages.  While they are still not truly "legal" in California after Proposition 8 passed (unfortunately) as an amendment in 2008, they are still widely supported, and I was proud to attend the ceremony and reception of my first cousin, Pallavi (my mom's brother's only daughter, and the oldest of my two total first cousins) and her partner, Amanda, as they celebrated their already-committed relationship and in front of their family and closest friends.

They had a beautiful ceremony at Orfila Vineyards, a winery in Escondido, CA, outside San Diego. The weather was lovely and the ceremony very personal.

The "Mala" Exchange replaced the traditional ring exchange

We took some lovely family photos in front of the vines.

Marco traveled from Albania to visit Southern CA for the first time.

The girls

The guys

Us with the happy couple

My uncle, Arun (left) traveled from Chennai, India, for the wedding. He and my other cousin, Parthan, couldn't make Kelvin's and my wedding last year as Parthan got appendicitis. We realized that it had been 25 years (since 1986!) that we had seen one another! What a great family reunion :)

The reception was lovely and very relaxed; there was plenty of time for dancing!

First dance...

... which was very well choreographed!

     We enjoyed a post-wedding brunch at Pacifica del Mar.
     (K, me, Marco, V, Pallavi, Amanda, Parthan)


                       Cousins, reunited!


In short: all of us there wholeheartedly supported Pallavi and Amanda's union; so I will leave you with one more picture (also stolen from Facebook) which puts things into perspective and which, I hope, reminds us all to be more open-minded, to love and accept all people, and to give all people, no matter their race, gender, or sexual orientation, equal civil rights.

.

The sleep update

If you recall a post I wrote back in May, it is true that I have had some trouble with maintenance insomnia in this past year.  I couldn't really figure out what it was -- sharing a bed? Having too small a bed?  Being stressed about being on call a lot? Excessive liquids? In any case, I have to say that it has gotten about 50% better-- partly due (in my opinion) to a bigger bed (we upgraded to a queen about a month ago!) and occasional benadryl.

We now have a slightly different problem, however. Despite having a husband who formerly stated that the dog would "NEVER" be sleeping on our bed, I now have: a) a tiny but wily pooch who usually goes to sleep nicely and quietly in her doggie bed, but somehow jumps onto our bed in the middle of the night so that we wake up with her in the middle of us, and b) a husband who does not protest.  I'm not a fan of parents "co-sleeping" with infants, and I have to say that I'm not sure I'm that happy about Pepper reducing the extra space that the larger mattress allowed, but I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem if we're not waking up to force her back down to the ground.

I thought this picture, stolen from facebook, was hilarious. While it depicts a baby sharing the bed, this is how I feel with Pepper sometimes:

Thoughts?