War Eagle! (& my new lunch box)

After a series of posts detailing lame (albeit, useful and needed) items I have purchased lately, I thought I would share my most recent (not lame) purchase that I am very excited about. No one who lives on a budget can afford to eat out for lunch everyday, which leaves a dilemma about how to tote one's homemade lunch (b/c let's be honest, a paper bag provides zero insulation for items that need refrigeration). Behold, my new lunch tote!

This weekend brought the beginning of one of our favorite times of the year, college football! We had some friends over to watch Auburn open up the season. (I was a poor photographer, but managed to snap a few shots.)

Bella was in her gameday attire and very excited as she waited for the guests to arrive.

Here's to 7 seasons of Auburn football games with Krisha!

War Eagle!

So embarrassed

My latest purchase (yes, they are Crocs, the brand I have loved to hate since the dawning of their existence). What can I say? I needed something to add variety to my otherwise Dansko-filled wardrobe...

(I can't say I found these beauties on my own. I figured if my fashion-savvy friends Fran and Mary Lauren owned them and thought they were acceptable then I could too.)

Montgomery & Meg's b-day

We went to Montgomery this past weekend and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my parents and Walk's mom. We also got to spend a few hours with my sweet niece Lauren which is always a treat...

Monday night we celebrated Megan's birthday over at Fran's with a girl's night. It was such a treat to all be together two weekend's in a row (minus Lindsay, who unfortunately was on call her first night on Pediatrics, and was sorely missed). The only pics from the event are from Mary Lauren's camera phone and are a little blurry, but photos are fun, so I thought I would share them anyways.

In other life news, I finished my Neurology rotation last Friday, and started my 8 weeks of Internal Medicine on Monday. Thus far (knock on wood), it is looking like my lifestyle (when considering # hours/week spent at the hospital) will slightly improve. On a related note, I am now the proud of owner of not one, but TWO pairs of Danskos (see prior post)... don't knock them til you try them!

Walker's time these days is spent with his laptop and a second oversized computer monitor looking at ridiculously large Excel spreadsheets. Ah, the life of a tax accountant... He/we will be so grateful when his September 15 deadline has passed!

Catching up...

Life remains busy in the Fain household, but this weekend did provide some much needed sleep and (a moderate amount of) down-time. Friday night we got some quality hang-out time with the Beasley's and Schwee (who is moving to B'ham, yay!), and sleeping until 8 on Saturday felt like I was in college again (sad, isn't it?). Walker worked all day Saturday, and I (tried) to get in some studying for my upcoming Neurology shelf exam.

Sweet Michael planned a party for Mary Lauren's 25th b-day on Saturday night, and it provided an excellent opportunity for all the med school crew to celebrate the occasion and reunite! These people have been my sanity the past 2 years, but now that we have started clinical rotations, it has been much more difficult to arrange time for all of us to be together. We thought we were going to be Fran-less, but she managed to switch call nights and was able to join us!

the birthday girl!

delicious lettuce (er, cabbage?) for the burgers...

Josh, Walker, & Daniel

hooray for reunions :)

In other news, we cooked a delicious meal tonight that I highly recommend... "White Chicken Spaghetti". It's in one of the Southern Living cookbooks but I found the recipe online so I thought I would share it (yum!). Italian food comes in right behind Mexican on our list of favorites, so we are always excited when we find new delicious recipes (this one is pretty healthy too!).

On a final note... somewhere along the way we heard that it was a good idea to try to brush a dog's teeth to keep them healthy (and to avoid expensive vet bills). We bought Bella a kiddy toothbrush at Publix yesterday (don't laugh, apparently dogs need the super soft bristles), and tonight attempted to improve her oral hygiene (see previous post...). It was an epic failure and I think she thought we were trying to poison her. We will continue to make an effort, but it looks like we may just have to take our chances as far as her dental health goes.

Time to re-set the 5 a.m. alarm...

Happenings...

1. I started my first clinical rotation (Neurology) last Monday and I was at the hospital for 65 hours from Monday morning to Friday evening. Hello, world of clinical medicine :)

2. My all-time favorite couch received a makeover. It went from this...

to this...

3. Walker's mom celebrated her birthday on Saturday, and thanks to some secretive planning by her children, she was surprised by everyone being present for her birthday dinner at our house.

delicious carrot cake from Savage's

Fain/Griesheimer/Norris Crew

birthday girl + kids

cute Campbell

Happy weekend everyone!

Lacey came to visit...

Walker was out of town this past week on business, my research is nearing an end so my free time has increased dramatically, and I wanted some added entertainment for the week, so I requested a week-long visit from my canine niece, Lacey. Matt agreed, and alas, I had another dog for the week! I am not too fond of being alone at night, and I went from having a guard dog that looks like this...

to one that looks like this...

Bella is two months older than Lacey and they have essentially grown up together. Here they are at 4 and 2 months...

And this week...

Lacey has come along way from this...

to this...

She is 75 lbs of muscle, energy and affection. She thinks she is a lapdog and will do whatever she can to be close to you. Where Bella loves to lounge on her bed on the ground, Lacey prefers to curl up next to you on the couch with her head in your lap. Matt has done an excellent job training her, so she was a breeze to take care of. I thoroughly enjoyed our temporary family addition!

Destin & Dobb's Birthday

Over the fourth Walker and I headed down to Sandestin for a few days. All of the Fain siblings + spouses were present with the exception of the Norris's, who were missed greatly. We stayed in a condo at Baytowne Wharf, spent everyday down at the beach (and let's be honest, 90% of that time was spent in the water b/c it was so ridiculously hot), and ate delicious seafood. 4 days at the Gulf go by entirely too quick...

@ the Red Bar (where we got a free meal due to a sudden storm that arose as we ate on the patio: free Red Bar = zero complaints from the Fain's/Griesheimer's)

brothers

siblings + me and Eric

the whole crew...

brother & sister

Last night we hosted a cookout for Jennifer's 24th birthday. About 30 minutes prior to the party starting, we lost power (frequent power outages are one of the VERY few negatives of living in Homewood), which resulted in some creative cooking (i.e., cooking Rotel on the grill - it worked brilliantly) and cupcakes that melted to look like this (don't worry, they were still delicious - any other funfetti cake + rainbow chip icing fans out there?)... 

the birthday girl

my husband the grill-master

we love Brad!

Dobbs & Fran

(side note: power was restored about an hour and a half into the party - hence the electricity present in the indoor photos)