mom&nat

I stole this picture from Aunt Missy's email to post on here. I think it's so cute! Mom & a very pregnant Natalie on Thanksgiving. You look gorgeous, Nat!

Turkey Day in Tinsel Town

This was the first year ever, in 22 years, that I wasn't able to spend Thanksgiving with family in Illinois. Although disappointed that I wasn't able to share the day with the people that I am most thankful for, I still had a great holiday. I gathered with a very random group of people (friends, co-workers, actors, and a cousin or 2 of the hostesses) to celebrate Thanksgiving. My friend Jocelyn, who I work with, had people to her apartment, as did her roomate. There were about 13 of us. I took a few dishes (including Aunt Missy's salad that I loooove). Everything turned out well and the food was great. We ate outside in the courtyard area at their apartment complex (eating outside on Thanksgiving, that's a first!). It was lovely weather. After dinner we played a game, had a cocktail, and desert. After everyone left, I helped the girls clean up a little bit and we went to see the movie "Four Christmases" - it was funny.

I lost my phone at work, but now I have a new one that is up and running. If you tried to call and I didn't answer, I apologize! Hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving and have a good weekend!

1/2 way there

As of today, I'm officially half-way done with my residency :)

Vegas Vacay

So last Tuesday my friend Becca and I packed up the Jetta and went on a little road trip to Las Vegas. It took us 4 hours to get from my apartment to the LV strip. The drive there was interesting (kind of). Basically drove through the desert the whole time (The Mojave Desert). A whole lot of nothing but hills, mountains, cacti, joshua tree forests, and sand dunes...a very pretty drive that appears pretty lifeless. It is home to mountain lions, bobcats, rattlesnakes, lizards, mule deer, jackrabbits, and roadrunners though(I did some research). There were also a few abandoned "ghost towns" ..one of which Knott's Berry Farm bought and preserved it. You can go on tours there now & supposedly it's haunted. Kind of weird. The drive reminded me of something you'd see in a horror flick, with a random old shack off the side of the highway..with 1 gas pump from the 30's. Just really weird. Anyway, the drive was very easy and smooth, we arrived in Vegas and enjoyed the next 2 days seeing the strip, playing blackjack at the tables, and enjoying room service. We saw a "hypnomagician", David Barry, one night. Becca got pulled up on stage and he did some magic on her. It was a fun show. I don't think I spent over $200 on the whole trip. A very cheap and quick getaway to Vegas- one of the perks of living in LA!

It was pretty smoky outside of my window yesterday, definitely smelled the smoke too. I think the wildfires have been contained for the most part now. The smoke just seeped over here from the Valley. It's much clearer today.

Lastnight I got to hang out with Andrew which was really nice. It was like having a little slice of Eldorado right in my own Hollywood apartment :) It was nice to catch up and chat about life. We might even end up on the same flight back to LA from Eville over Christmas time if he can get the flight. I'll post a pic, but it's a little blurry. #1 thing on my Christmas list this year is a new digital camera (a good one).


And for some exciting news, Nat & Dave are 100% sure they are going to be parents to a baby BOY! Can't wait for my new nephew!!! He is going to be so adorable, I'm picturing him with tons of dark curly hair!!! A little Corey Matthews (Boy Meets World tv show, remember?). Anyways, I'm thrilled that I am going to be an Aunt again. Can't wait to meet him! ..And I'm sure Ben boy will be thrilled to have a male buddy around his age in the fam.

Prop 8 Protesters

I left work on Saturday night around 8pm, walked out of the building to cross the street (Sunset Blvd) & head to my car. All of the sudden, cops on motorcycles and helicopters swarmed the hospital area. I looked down the street and here come THOUSANDS of protesters against Proposition 8 (the prop that eliminates gay marriage rights in the state of CA) . The proposition passed at 51% for, 50% against. A lot of people here are VERY unhappy, as you can imagine (especially in Hollywood). Personally, I am against Prop 8. I have gay friends whom I think should be granted the right to marry the person they love, just as I have the right to marry the person I love one day. But enough about my opinion on the subject. I have never seen anything like this before. Sunset Blvd was overtaken by protesters shouting and screaming phrases about equal rights, jabbing their picket signs up and down in the air angrily. Helicopters were flying overhead shining their spotlights down on the crowd, police on motorcycles were monitoring from the side, and thousands of people were packed into the street. CHLA was almost unaccessible from the front entrance. I made it across the street just in time so that I didn't have to fight through the crowd to get to the parking garage. The crowd was about 1 mile long down the street. I took pictures from the top of the garage with my iphone (the quality isn't that great). From what I hear, the plan is to protest like this until they get their way. We'll see what happens! I can't imagine they can do much about it if the prop has already passed? It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Congratulations to our new president, Barack Obama. I think this election has changed the way future elections in our country will go forever. It's so exciting having a new president, and this is the first year where I completely understood the election process and followed it. Definitely ready for that change Obama is talking about! And I love that during his speech he told his daughters that they had earned the new puppy he promised them if he won. I just imagine the girls screaming in excitement & hugging each other when he said that.

Off of politics, I'm headed to Vegas next week for 2 nights during the week. I am going with a girl from work who also relocated out here to work at CHLA (she's from the east coast, Connecticut I think). I'm excited to get out of LA for a few days and relax in Vegas!! We got a great deal on a hotel (The Tropicana) which is right next to MGM grand. I'll be sure to take some pics and let you know how the trip goes.

Happy Halloween

I worked on Halloween day, and it was a lot of fun. The hospital had trick or treating for the kids, and everyone dressed up. They also had costumes available for the children and all kinds of toys, candy, balloons, etc for the kids during trick or treating. Here's a picture of one of my patients and I on Halloween. We had permission to take her picture from her mom, and she loved the attention from everyone :) She dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Carribean). I took her down to the trick or treating area and we went through her bag of goodies and played a little bit. We had fun. I dressed up as a cat (with my black scrubs, cat ears, and whiskers). The kids loved it. I wasn't too busy in the morning and everything was sort of laid back because of the Halloween party, but when afternoon rolled around I realized I was a little behind and things got super busy with a complicated admission, so I ended up staying a little later than usual at work. No big deal, but now I'll know to keep on top of things when I'm working a holiday :)

After work, Adam, Troy (from work) and I went to West Hollywood for the Halloween festivities. We didn't really know where we were going/what we were doing so it was kind of an adventure. It took an hour to go 4 miles because the traffic was so busy, then we ended up parking in the wrong place and taking a cab another mile to the actual "party". By the time we got there things were kind of ending, so we ended up just grabbing a drink at a nearby bar. It was fun to see everyone dressed up though! Lots and lots of neat costumes. They blocked Santa Monica Blvd off and it kind of reminded me of Bourbon St. in New Orleans (with a lot less boobs and a lot more abs!! haha). Next year I'll know to leave earlier and where I'm going, but I'm glad we got to see what it's like.

I booked my plane tickets home...I'll be flying into Evansville on Dec 24th at 3:00pm and leaving on Dec. 29th at noon. I am SO excited to get home for awhile, I'm really starting to miss home. I think this is the longest I've gone without seeing my Mom. Can't wait to have Christmas with my family and dog and catch up with my friends from home (especially Mal, Amanda, Maegan, & Hayley (and her new baby girl by that time). Erin's in the talks of coming down with Ben and Mal...that would be sooo awesome :) (hint hint).

Oh, I got to see my first LA rainstorm (with thunder included) 2 days ago! It was kind of refreshing, I think we needed it. I'm sure the trees were happy, lessens the fire risk. I had the day off so I opened my windows and took a nap..it was so nice and for a moment I felt like I was in Illinois.

Congratulations to my best friends and sisters, Hannah and Rachel Holmgren...they both got engaged last week!