Staying busy in February

When I found myself back in the US a full 10 days earlier than planned with a 3 day weekend, I called my friend Lee and drove down to Florida (February 18-20). The rest of the country was under a hard freeze, and it was still chilly in Florida, but it was still fun to fly kites barefoot on the beach and soak up some sunshine and wisdom.
This is Lee flying one of her stunt kites - she very patiently taught me for over an hour, and I started getting the hang of it enough to keep it in the air for 30 seconds - she makes it look so easy!
Taken off the balcony - I bought those pants as my retort to uniform wearing. Back during hurricane season, they had "fatigue Friday" in place of "casual Friday" (to get people used to wearing fatigues), so I found a cute little pair of camo pants at Old Navy (along with little camo flats with a bow on top) to wear this summer on Fridays. :)

Speaking of which, many of you have asked to see a picture of me in uniform. Khakis were not made to look good on women! We had a three day epidemic influenza preparedness training that all the EIS officers came in for, so we once again spent a few days all together in the class room. Sorry - no party pics (I figured they were getting old).

The weekend after influenza training, I drove up to Nashville to reconnect with friends. I had such a wonderful time seeing folks - I miss Nashville so much and am so blessed by all the people who were and remain good friends. My best friend from residency (Sherstin) and I met up there - we're scheming on how to both get back. There's nothing for bonding like getting pedicures together. Can you figure out whose feet are whose?

I stayed in my old place with my Nashville rooommate Aruna, who is getting married this summer. This is Aruna, Sherstin, and I at dinner. And if you noticed a major hair change from the picture in uniform a few days earlier, yes, I still drive up to Nashville to get my hair cut. :)

Back at work..... one of the biggest changes from residency is my activity level. As a resident, you can clock a lot of miles walking around the hospital during the day - you're constantly running around. Since starting at CDC, I have had days where I only get up to pee... had to do something about that....
I bought a pilates ball in place of my desk chair at work - so now, I can bounce around on the ball, wiggle, or roll down it for some crunches or to stretch my back whenever I please. (Thank goodness for an office with a door that closes.) I'm very excited about this new development - it also makes me sit straighter. One of my colleagues commented that it's amazing the lengths I'll go to to show that I'm on the ball....

And finally... the Moscow Festival Ballet included Atlanta in its US tour of Swan Lake this year, so I got a bunch of gals together to go - Swan Lake is my favorite ballet, only they made the ending happy instead of tragic - I prefer the "both of them jumping to their death" ending that the Boston Ballet did the very first time I saw it performed. Hmmm.....