belated

well, apparently i have been a bit lazy and haven't updated this in over a week. i know you guys have been aching for another entry ;)

kyle, hiking in portland

let's see.... not this past weekend, but the weekend before that... kyle and dexter came to fargo to visit. he was only able to stay for about 24 hours because he had a flight to portland, oregon on sunday morning to play as a trialist in a Portland Timbers mini camp - which he did very well at :) read this article to see what the head coach had to say! he got in after work on friday and we were both famished. i had asked the girls at work for a couple of suggestions on local cuisine and had an entire list of restaurants. and guess where we went.... Texas Roadhouse. we were on our way to another restaurant (recommended to us by a PT at work) and saw Texas Roadhouse. we both secretly wanted to go there and pulled the..." if YOU really want to go there then that's fine with me" to test the water and see if the other had the same thing in mind :) we decided to at least look at the menu at this other place before going back to Texas Roadhouse.

jenista and i at the FLL game 10/22

well, after kyle's wonderful navigation app on his Droid took us PAST the restaurant... yeah PAST... this is actually quite funny and deserves a side note... we turned off the main road in fargo (yes THE one and only main road) and the restaurant is pretty much right on the corner in the shopping area. i was looking out the window and physically saw the restaurant. kyle on the other hand was looking down at his phone which ended up navigating him past the turn and was taking us an entire block farther than the restaurant. as we pass the turn i said 'KYLE! the restaurant was right there!' he said 'oh! my phone said it was a block up ahead.' hahaha so anyway after we drove past the restaurant, peeked in the windows and made a couple of pretty lame excuses why not to go there, we went to Texas Roadhouse, devoured some peanuts during our 45 minute wait, snarfed down a basket of rolls each and enjoyed a meal together.

the rest of our time together consisted of watching movies and being lazy. oh.. we did take dexter to the dog park and decided north dakota dog parks aren't as good as minnesota ones. the dogs are just better in minnesota :)

we snatched kyle before pregame vs FLL at home. his parents, kyle and i

unfortunately, laura wasn't in town when kyle and the dex were. she was at her conference tournament in (believe it or not) detroit, michigan. it's just my luck that she would go to detroit as soon as i leave :) her team ended up losing in the championship game and sadly their season is over and laura's career is over. although she was sad that it is over, she has also been very busy with nursing school and is grateful for a little extra study time in the evenings. i, on the other hand, am enjoying her having a little extra time as well. last week we ate out at Granite City, and it just so happened to be wine night! we shared a bottle of wine, a flatbread and a couple of apps and enjoyed each others company, then went back to the house im staying in and watched TV and played my dragon village game on my iPhone. ----- don't laugh----- the game involves raising and breeding dragons to live in my dragon park. regardless if you think im a nerd or not, laura and i like it and that't that!

tailgating at alumni weekend

things in the clinic have been fun and challenging. my CI, leah, continues to 'leave me hanging' every once in a while... and although i hate feeling like i don't know what im doing in front of our her and our patient, it has been a good learning experience to 1.) plan more therapy activities than time allows... just in case and 2.) to think on my feet and problem solve. after all, i am still a student and i learn better through my own problem solving than by being told. i will admit that coaching soccer has definitely benefited me in planning my sessions. it's kind of like having a bag of tricks and being able to pull one out as needed during a training session or therapy session. my therapy bag just isn't quite as big as my soccer bag yet.

just a sweetie pie

i had mentioned my favorite patient was being discharged home a couple weeks ago.... our last day with him was a lot of fun and we did a lot of education on safety at home, practicing various functional tasks and talking with his family. at the end of our day, we ran up to his room quickly to drop off the cane we were sending him with. before we left both leah and i gave him a hug and he started to cry. it was the sweetest thing and put tears in my own eyes. i am so thankful to have been a part of his recovery and life and was immediately reassured that physical therapy is the right profession for me.

kyle was on the poster... his mom and i were having fun

last week was a long week for me as i worked 6 days. leah had to work last saturday, and she was gracious enough to let me work on saturday to take this upcoming friday off of work. kyle and i are going to visit his childhood friend, chris, who is in the Air Force and his wife, celeste. they just so happen to live in las vegas which isn't a bad place to go visit. although i haven't ever gambled, kyle has promised to teach me and hopefully win a little bit of money to pay back some of the trip. we are hoping to catch a show and a stop at In and Out Burger is most definitely a priority.

until thursday evening when i drive back to my parents house to leave out of the MPLS airport on friday morning, i will be forcing myself to workout, fighting through the soreness in all of my muscles as i have just started to get back into lifting... gross, watching Top Shot - the search for the best marksman (a reality show on Netflix), working on my mid semester evaluation of myself, breeding dragons (currently i'm working towards a blue fire dragon) and just being lazy.