Firsts, Fourths, and Twenty-sevenths

Notable events from the last 3&1/2 weeks:

1.  Nashville:  Pooja and I took a little trip to Nashville to go to Christina and Andy's wedding!  Neither of us had been to Nashville before so it was fun exploring the city!  We went to Centennial park and checked out The Parthenon, visited the County Music Hall of Fame Museum, walked up and down Broadway where we stopped in Hatch Show Print (I got a cool print for our kitchen and t-shirt for Allan), had dinner with my aunt and uncle followed by a mini-tour of really cool, historical places in Nashville (and got to see Reba's house), went to the zoo, walked around the inside of the Opryland hotel and gardens (beautiful!), did some shopping at Opry Mills mall, and last but not least went to the wedding!

Pharmacy girls with the bride and groom

2.  On the last day in May we celebrated our four year wedding anniversary.  I can't believe it has already been four years.  I guess the craziness of pharmacy school really made the time fly.  It has been a great four years.  Allan was very supportive during the last four years of my being in school and now it is time for me to return the favor.  I'm excited about our future and the new adventures that await us in Athens.

3.  First big girl paycheck:  The second I saw it I instantly knew the last four years of stress and craziness in pharmacy school were worth it.  Does that sound bad?  Obviously, I like being a pharmacist for other reasons, but hey.. somebody's gotta pay off these student loans!

4.  Authorization to test:  NAPLEX (June 25), MS MPJE (July 13), GA MPJE (July 30), practical exam for GA (August 16).  It's gonna be loooooong summer.  Prayers please!

5.  Welcoming 27:  Happy Birthday to me!!

6.  Byram:  So glad I got to spend some time with my family!!  We took our nephew Benjamin with us so he could play with Chance.  We saw the dinosaurs at the Natural Science Museum and went to the Children's Museum.  It honestly is the COOLEST place ever for kids!  If you have children, you MUST take them.

Natural Science Museum

Their favorite activity at the Children's museum- picking up logs with the claw and moving them.

 7.  Celebrated Allan's granny's 93rd birthday.  She truly amazes me.  She is completely independent!  I hope I'm like that when I'm 93!

8.   Tomorrow we are signing a lease!!  We found the perfect house for the two of us and Daisy.  I think it is so cute and has a lot of character.  It's 4-5 miles from UGA which is perfect for Allan.  This is it!

Erin Innman, Pharm.D.

A week ago today I graduated from pharmacy school!  It was such a special day.  I was blessed to be surrounded by family that have supported me along the way.  It was bittersweet to say goodbye to friends that I will not get to see as often as I would like.  It has been a long journey and it is finally over.  On to the next chapter!

 It still doesn't feel real!  I don't think it will until I have that license hanging on the wall.  Too bad four tests stand in the way of getting that license.  I'm getting licensed in GA and MS so I've got the NAPLEX, 2 MPJEs (one for GA and one for MS), and a practical exam for GA to look forward to.  Getting licensed in another state is somewhat of a challenge so I probably won't be licensed until the end of the summer.  Until then I'll be working at Walmart Pharmacy in Oxford (grad-intern!), studying, and preparing for the big move. 

Can I just say how nice it has been to be at home today!  I cannot remember a Saturday when I was home with no plans.  It seems like every weekend I'm either working, doing something, or going somewhere.  Not that I don't love going on trips and having fun with friends, but sometimes it is really nice to just be home (even if the day has been spent studying).  On that note, I'll leave you with a day in the life of Daisy.

Double Decker 2012

What a wonderful weekend this has been!  We kicked it off by celebrating Lindsey's birthday at one of the local Mexican establishments (there are so many in Oxford that I honestly can't remember the name).  It was great seeing everyone!  Julianne, Chris, and Julia were town so it was like a little reunion of sorts.

Lindsey and Nate

Next, we headed to the Square to listen to Iron and Wine.  They were in town playing for Double Decker.  Beautiful music.  Sam Beam's poetry is very different and almost nonsensical, but it works.

 Saturday morning Danielle and I participated in the Double Decker 5K run.  I finished in just under 37 minutes.  It was hot, but it felt good to run.  I have to admit, I haven't been pushing myself enough since the half-marathon.  We had a good time and even ran into Melanie.  Pharmacy girls represent!

Danielle, Melanie, and I after the race

Double Decker was so much fun this year.  Allan had some work in Southside Gallery, so he didn't have a tent.  Instead of working, we got to enjoy the festival!  The day was made complete by great friends, a "big as yo' head ice cream sandwich", and some super cute finds:  two handmade bracelets, a Christmas ornament, and a dish towel on which an art student screen printed the phrase "many hands make light work".

 After lunch today, Julianne and I sewed headbands.  They turned out really cute and were easy to make.  I got a sewing machine for Christmas and haven't really broken it in yet.  Hopefully once all of my board exams are over and we get moved I can really pick up sewing as a hobby.  We shall see! 

Tomorrow begins my LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL EVER!  I'm super pumped!!!!!!!!!!!

The Bachelorette

Since my last post I have started my eighth and final rotation for the year.  In three short weeks my time in pharmacy school will come to an end!  May 12th will be such an exciting day!  I'm so proud of my invitations that Allan made in his letterpress class. 

Thursday night was the annual pharmacy school crawfish boil and Friday was awards day.  It was good to see classmates that I haven't seen in awhile!  This weekend we celebrated Danielle's upcoming wedding with a lingerie shower/bachelorette party in Bay St. Louis/New Orleans.  It was so much fun!  The French Quarter Festival was going on this weekend so New Orleans was packed out.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend!  I can't wait to do it again for Ann Katelyn in a couple of months!

The French Quarter

Ann Katelyn, Pauline, and Ashley at dinner!

Mikki, Danielle, and I at dinner

The Last Spring Break

This past week was the last spring break I'll ever have and honestly I don't think that's anything to complain about.  I'm so ready to be done with school that the idea of never having another spring break doesn't bother me not one bit.  Nonetheless, since it was in fact, spring break, a small trip of sorts was in order.  Pooja and I went to see Melissa in Ocean Springs for a few days.  We ate, shopped, went to the beach, watched movies, hung out, and ate some more.  It was such a fun, low-key, relaxing trip.  Thanks, Melissa and Josh for being great hosts!

I also got to spend some time with my family for the first time in a few months.  I got to see sweet Megan and her pretty engagement ring.  I got to kiss Ava's cheeks at church today and bid Natalie farewell before her and Andrew's big move. I got to see Julianne and her parent's new house in Madison and I had a great dinner with Danielle on the Square.  All in all it was a great spring break, but I'm glad to be back home with Allan and Daisy.  Last rotation starts tomorrow! 

Sardis

Allan has a new hobby.  Metal detecting.  It makes me giggle just thinking about it.  Tonight we took a little family outing to Sardis.  Allan hunted for "treasure" while Daisy and I played on the beach.  She had the time of her life running all over the beach and chasing a stork.  She even jumped in the water which she usually would avoid.  The weather right now is amazing and it felt good to take advantage of it.  In just a few weeks we'll be sweating to the oldies even after the sun goes down.  Here are a few pictures to commemorate our little family outing. 

Sunset at Sardis

Diggin' up junk!

She's so happy!!

P.S.  I've been trying to "follow" everyone's blogs and blogspot won't let me!  It's driving me crazy!  I keep adding people and then if I refresh the page, the people I'm following disappear from my dashboard.  I know I'm not retarded because I got Allan to watch me do it to make sure I am doing it right.  For some reason the only two blogs that stay in my dashboard are blogs that I was following with my gmail account before I even had a blog and I don't remember how I started following them.  Tips?!

Girls Weekend

This weekend some of my girlfriends and I took a road trip to Birmingham to celebrate Christina's upcoming wedding.  It was the first time in forever that we have all been in the same place at the same time and we couldn't have been more excited to be together! We spent the weekend shopping, eating, showering Christina with gifts, and talking.  We LOVE to talk.  We've had many 3 hour dinners over the course of our friendships.  I'm going to miss these girls so much when we graduate and all go our separate ways!

Laura, Pooja, Courtney, and Christina

Me, Courtney, Ann Katelyn, Christina, and Pooja

Another exciting thing that happened this weekend was my brother's engagement.  I'm so excited about my new future sister-in-law!  Megan is one the sweetest girls I know and she will be an excellent addition to our family! 

Daniel and Megan at MSU graduation

Now I will go back to my PBS special:  The Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera.  It never gets old.  I've seen it live twice (once on Broadway in NYC and once at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.) and it was phenomenal both times.  I'm patiently awaiting the Masquerade scene.  It's my favorite!  I hope everyone has a great week!!