November 8

After two weekends of traveling, I'm back in Atlanta for a couple weeks. I went to Nashville the last weekend of October and got to catch up with some fun folks, and meet others. One of my favorite Vanderbilt residents just had a son, so I went over to meet him - what a handsome little guy! Driving through the mountains between Nashville and Chattanooga with all the leaves changing was just glorious! No pictures though - a little hard careening around mountain passes with a camera in one hand. :)

When I got back to Atlanta, I had a little pumpkin carving party. The EIS officcer in the parasites branch has two adorable little boys, and one of the pumpkins was almost as big as them!

This past weekend, I was in Kansas City for my roommate from medical school's wedding. Since I got in on Friday, I got to help decorate for the reception. The flowers were beautiful! That's me clowning around with the rose in my teeth. :)

The groom (Shawn) and the groom's cake (with the cake's baker) - no, that's not a cooler full of beer on the table next to the wedding cake - that's a cake! It's all cake, icing, and candy. Even the labels are edible. Amazing what can be done with fondant!!!

Medical school roomies - Hilary Ann, Yen-Lin, and I all lived in a 400 sq foot dorm suite for two years - and we're still friends!! Hilary Ann was absolutely lovely! She is now an emergency room physician, and Yen-Lin is a pediatric radiation oncologist in Boston.The Sunday morning brunch - left to right - me, Yen-Lin, her husband Dai, Shawn, Hilary Ann, and Hilary Ann's mom.

Next up: visiting with a good friend from high school this weekend, the fall EIS course next week, BOTC the weekend after.... oh, and I have to figure out what I'm doing for Thanksgiving!! I'm really looking forward to seeing all the EIS officers who have been dispersed around the country back in town again. There should be more fun party pics. :)