What happened to Jules and Alex??? Part 3

Even though Jules and I weren’t living together we did get to hang out a few times over the past several months which has been great.  I drove to Kansas City one weekend to catch up with her and a few other friends in February after KC had been covered in over a foot of snow.  Being our young and somewhat unprofessional selves we decided it was perfect to go sledding.  After purchasing a sled, we headed to the local community college which Jules had scouted out for good sledding hills.  We joined a crowd of about 20 others- mostly dads and their kids (the mothers were probably tired from being stuck with kids while the schools were closed).  We had a lot of fun but realized we are older than we thought.  After just 30 minutes of sledding we were exhausted.  It is hard work having fun, tramping through snow that is knee deep, trudging back up the hill to the top for another round.  There were also a few times we crashed and rolled or jumped on the sled and almost threw out a back.  We are getting old. 

My next visit to Kansas City to see Jules was with our friend Hillary over Memorial Day.  This was another trip not for the faint of heart.  Our first stop was the Kansas City Zoo and we had a tight schedule to keep so we only had a few hours to see it all.  We kept up a pretty good pace with minimal stops—we mastered the art of enjoying the animals while continuing to move forward.  What we probably enjoyed more was people watching- particularly all the parents with small children.  It was a warm afternoon so there were quite a few tired, sweaty, and cranky kids...and parents.  Nothing like some good ole fashioned family fun.  After a quick stop at Sonic for Happy Hour we transitioned into our evening of culture for Celebration at the Station.  This is a free concert put on by the KC Symphony at Union Station with 50,000 people sitting on the grass in front of the WWI Memorial.  It was a beautiful evening and there was wonderful music.  My favorite piece was the 1812 Overture.  This was special though because it fulfilled an item on my bucket list—to hear it played live with cannon.  Impressive!  After the concert there was a fireworks show as well—I also have a thing for fireworks too so it was a great evening.  Then next morning Hillary thought it would be fun to go on a bike ride at 6am.  It was fun until we rode through a downpour the last three miles and were drenched.  We saw one group of moms out going with a stroller of little kids caught in the deluge—another time during this weekend we were thankful not to have small children although Hillary will probably tell you that I did whine a little bit.  It rained the entire morning so we went shopping!  We hit a great used bookstore and then ate soup for lunch at Panera.  Nothing beats potato soup in a bread bowl on a rainy day.  In addition to all of our activities it was also wonderful to catch up and share life with some wonderful gals as well. 

Our latest adventure together has been when Jules came out for my wedding.  In addition to getting married (which is usually what people do at weddings) it was such a great weekend to hang out with my wonderful friends.  I, for one, have been very blessed to live with Jules for three years (I think I made it the longest as her roommate, and she has had a boatful). So many great times.

Hopefully, Jules will continue on with this blog while Alex is going to transition to posting on a blog with her husband as they journey through married life together.  This blog can be found at http://omniavincitamorloveconquersall.blogspot.com/.  Thanks for reading!

What happened to Jules and Alex??? Part 2

During these months besides working full time, I was spending quite a bit of time studying for my PT exam.  During one practice exam I was on questions 18 out of 200 and was about ready to cry because I didn’t know 14 out of the first 18 questions and there was no way I would ever know enough to become a PT and I might as well curl up and die.  I didn’t curled up and die but took the real exam, did just fine, and was maybe even a little upset I studied so much.  In addition to working and studying, I was also searching and interviewing for jobs.  I accepted a job to work in the outpatient physical therapy department at a regional health center.  It will be primarily orthopedics and sports medicine with no hospital responsibilities—basically it sounded just like my dream job so I said yes.  So when I wasn’t working, studying, or trying to find a job, I was spending my free time planning a wedding.  So truthfully, my mother was planning the wedding, doing most of the work, and I was advising and pitching in on occasion.  It was going to be a small, simple country wedding.  It tends to be less small when you are related to a large portion of the church.  A wedding also tends to be less simple when your mother is crazy and decided to do almost everything herself.  Instead of DIY standing for do-it-yourself, we changed it to DYI—do-yourself-in.  My mom may have made 3 wedding dresses--of course I only wore two of them.  She also made all the floral arrangements, bouquets, corsages, etc.  We then planted our wildflowers and I was out picking wildflower arrangements the morning of the wedding getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  We might have made 700 wedding mints (at least this was a good study break) and 17 dozen brownies.  It was crazy but surprisingly enough everyone survived.  I owe both my mom and dad a huge thank you for letting me live with them but also putting up with everything going on in my life during those months.  I think they might have a few sleepless nights and were incredible supportive.  As my mom put it later, “Alex, your life has been my life lately.”

Next, graduation weekend finally arrived.  I’m not sure who was more excited- myself or my dad who was dancing around our hotel room wearing my ridiculous graduation tam the morning of graduation.  I also think it is ridiculous that we all dressed up in the doctoral regalia with the funny hood (it is amazing how long it took several soon to be Doctors of Physical Therapy to figure out which direction the hood is attached to the gown-- it may have even required the assistance of a YouTube video), the floppy hat, and the lovely black gowns that none of us would be caught dead wearing any other time, but by golly we were very proud to be dressed outrageously and graduate- no fashion police were going to keep us from our diplomas.  So, actually KU Med has three graduations—I suppose they think you should get your money’s worth after so many years.  I attended two of the ceremonies and was graduated out by then and refused to attend the third in Lawrence.  It was a lot of fun to reunite with my classmates after several months.  It was also exciting to hear about all the life changes—especially new jobs (once again we were all thrilled by the idea of getting a paycheck to work).  There have been so many great memories over the past three years of PT school.  We are all glad it is done, and truthful unsure if we would want to do it again, but I don’t think I would trade the people in my class who I had the privilege to experience it with and being involved in each others lives. 

I'm sure we were suppose to be doing something more productive in lab than drawing mustaches but I'm sure we had a bad case of senoritis that day.

What happened to Jules and Alex??? Part 1

Since our last post, dear readers, quite a bit of time has come and gone.  Also for Jules and Alex, quite a bit of life and the changes it brings have come as well.  Jules and Alex have ironically flipped roles—Jules is returning to school and Alex graduated (finally) and entered the working world (and finally knows what a paycheck is!).  They have also both moved from their cozy little apartment.  Alex has actually moved 4 times since then—no wonder she hasn’t blogged because she is constantly packing and unpacking all of her personal belongings.  Jules has become an aunt for the second time.  Alex found a new roommate (who is a guy—gasp) when she got married this summer.  There have also been some adventures in between.

While I (Alex) finished PT classes in Kansas City in December, I still had 5 months of indentured servant hood ahead of me.  My first clinical was in Marysville, Kansas.  Three weeks before this clinical started I didn’t know a soul in Marysville and also had no idea where I was going to live.  It seemed like it was going to be a bleak winter, but God always works things out.  Through my sister-in-law’s vast social network I got connected with a couple who went to school with my brother who had just bought a house in Marysville but weren’t moving until the summer.  Their house was empty but they were willing to have someone stay in it before they started remodeling.  Therefore, I moved into a house for 2 months that contained a bed, card table, and 3 folding chairs.  I brought with me a sleeping bag, clothes, all the textbooks one may need while studying for a PT licensing exam, and a few dishes.  (I should write a blog sometime about how to cook with 1 pot, 1 paring knife, an apple slicer, 3 forks, and 2 spoons—I’m not a chef but I can be creative with very little).  During my time there I went on a few home health visits and at one point was struck by how "homey" her house was.  I then realized that if felt so homey because it actually had furniture (at least more than a card table and folding chair). I did spend a lot of time at the PT clinic where I worked- I really enjoyed the staff and many of the patients.  My free time in the evenings was filled with attending cardio kick boxing class, using the internet access at the public library, and studying, and more studying if I had time.  Marysville is known for its black squirrels.  They are the only place in the state that has black squirrels and legend has it that they escaped from a circus passing through.  My entire time I was on the look out for black squirrels but didn’t see any until the last day I was there I went on a stakeout at the park and finally caught a glimpse of  a few.  When I got back to my house there were three playing in the front yard—where had they been hiding out?  Thinking back, I came away with two things from Marysville.  One day I spent visiting some nursing homes in the area with one PT so I saw all new patients that day and was in new places.  It struck me that evening that I had spent the whole day only interacting with 1 person who knew my name.  This can feel pretty isolating and I struggled with that that night.  As an introvert sometimes it is exhausting meeting new people all the time.  I should have considered that when choosing my profession but getting to know the people I work with is also one of my favorite parts.  For example that particular day I worked with a lady who had been the town mayor for 30 years, 2 gentlemen who went to school together in a 1 room schoolhouse and were still just as mischievous, and another gentleman who served in both the Pacific and Europe during WWII.  While I did feel slightly isolated at times in Marysville living by myself, I was also very touched by how welcoming everyone I worked with was.  They invited me to exercise class, took time to teach me new techniques, invited me to join them for dinner, picked me up when I was snowed in, etc.  While I didn’t know anyone before, I felt like I left family when I was done with my clinical. 

Next I transitioned from living alone in a new place to moving back in with my parents.  This was different.  My mom cooked for me—real meals and not the same meal for a week straight.  There were more opportunities to interact but also more distractions to keep me from studying for my upcoming board exam—my mother wanted to talk about planning my wedding and my father wanted to hang out and do something fun all the time.  My clinical was at a town about 30 miles away so I got a chance to commute each day.  It was at the clinic where the lady who first got me thinking about becoming a PT works.  It was fun to work with her and the others at the clinic and be in awe of their skills.  I was studying my brains out and had just learned so much in three years of class, but working in the shadow of these therapists I longed to learn so much more and get the “magical” skills they had. 

Pumas and Pinafores

This evening Jules and Alex settled down in their cozy apartment for an evening of Christmas movies.  All week we have watched our favorite Christmas movies and tonight's selection was Little Women.  We had the normal Little Women arguments about why Laurie and Jo are supposed to end up together and how boring Prof. Bhaer is since he is into philosophy (and since Jo is marry Prof. Bhaer people will be forever spelling her last name wrong).  Jules and Alex tend to argue a lot while watching movies in an attempt to rile one another up. 
However, midway through the movie our interests were diverted to another topic altogether.  Jules turned to Alex and simply stated: Last weekend I watched YouTube clips of mountain lions in Nebraska.  Jules is forever surprising Alex with her comments out of the blue such as this one.  Alex's first question was what in the world possessed you to research the mountain lion population in Nebraska?  As it turns out mountain lions have been the subject conversations with co-workers, books we have been reading, and discussions at the family Thanksgiving gathering.  We proceeded to stop Little Women (after all mountain lions are more exciting than fine society) and watch a few videos about mountain lions including how to find mountain lion scat and analyze it. 
We also read about the confirmed sightings of mountain lions in Missouri over the past 20 years and what to do if you see a mountain lion.  Just FYI if you see a mountain lion: Back away slowly (don't run) and remain calm (yeah right). Make yourself look bigger and grab any small children so they don't get eaten as a quick appetizer.  If it is aggressive then throw rocks or sticks at it (without crouching down or turning your back so you still look big-- how does this work?  In my experience rocks and sticks are usually on the ground and I'm not sure how to get something off the ground without crouching unless I carry a supply of rocks and sticks in my pockets.) Fight back if it attacks-- it may back away once it has seen that you are armed with sticks, garden tools, or your bare hands.  If these tips fail you, don't worry.  Mountain lions are known to kill their prey quickly and efficiently so it won't be that bad...for long.  If you do happen to survive you are to contact the Mountain Lion Response Team.  (This sounds like something that would be cool to put on a resume... Essential member of mountain lion response team dealing with "reported" sightings or tracks that turn out to be Felis catus- aka the house cat). 
Now while this information may seem completely irrelevant to two city dwellers such as ourselves, mountain lions have actually made the newspaper recently in Alex's hometown--actually it has been some of the only news.  A few months ago video footage of a mountain lion was captured on a wildlife camera about three miles out of town.  There have been rumors about mountain lions in the area for years but this was some of the first video evidence that the Kansas Department of Wildlife has confirmed.  As Alex goes home for Christmas break it might actually come in handy knowing how to deal with mountain lion encounters.  
Needless to say, we will probably never watch Little Women again without thinking about mountain lions.

Mountain Lion Scat

Preschool meets Grad School

As I envisioned my final semester of grad school in the past, I always thought I would spend my time doing in-depth study, writing and presenting a capstone research paper, and searching for a job after graduation.  This is how most of my semester looked with an interesting twist-- I spent a lot of time at preschool.  One of my classes this semester was Pediatric physical therapy (I am actually sitting in a lecture for this class as I write this-- I have hit my peak as a multi-tasker in grad school).  For our lab in class we spent 2 hours a week helping at an early headstart program in KC's inner city.  I worked in a classroom for kids between the ages of 1 and 2.  From a physical therapy standpoint I worked with kids learning to walk and climb stairs, jumping, throwing, and kicking.  I also spent time wiping kids' noses, making sure they didn't eat woodchips on the playground, and comforting crying kids.  I almost needed to do PT on myself from kids running into my knees to hug me causing some knee hyper-extension and a sore back from lifting kids up so they could put a basketball in the hoop.  There was also the day we went after they had to evacuate the building the day before because of a bomb threat--that was interesting.  During the semester I acted like an elephant, tried to explain to 2 year olds during a water sensory play activity that if a cup has holes in it water will pour out the bottom (this explanation didn't go well), ate goldfish crackers, and blew bubbles.  Our kids were really cute and fun to play with and definitely a little different from working in a training room with college football athletes-- oh the places my career has taken me.
So after my classwork this semester has included making two collages from magazine pictures and using colored pipe cleaners and googly eyes on a project called "Harry the Hungry Monster", I think it is about time for me to be finished with grad school. So after my last class this week (hopefully forever after 7 years of school), I will be off to finish clinical internships and hopefully find a job.

A classic movie for fall

It’s officially fall which means it is time for another post about the best fall movies.  Last year we covered all the best football movies so this year I thought I would write about all the best fall romantic comedies.  At this point I have actually only thought of one but it is a classic—You’ve Got Mail.  Since Jules and I don’t have any high school football games to attend on Friday nights we are having fall movie nights instead and this week it was You’ve Got Mail which is a fav. 

            The movie came out in 1998 and I remember it being very modern and cutting edge at the time.  I suppose that was about 15 years ago and I was in the fourth grade.  It had technological phenomenon such as dial-up internet, chat rooms, and laptops that were 3” inches thick.  ( I think my mom actually got this movie because she thought it was a romantic comedy he might enjoy since it involved technology and computers).  It stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks—that is enough to make it a great movie.  As Jules put it during one scene in the movie—“Only Meg Ryan can make having a cold look adorable.”  As for Tom Hanks it is my opinion that he is one of the great American actors especially considering the wide range of parts he has played over the years.  We can thank him for classic movie lines such as “I’ve got a snake in my boot” (Toy Story), “Wilson!!!” (Castaway- who can spend an hour of dialogue talking to a volleyball?), “There’s no crying in baseball” (A League of Their Own), “Houston, we have a problem” (Apollo 13), and “Life is like a box of chocolates” (Forrest Gump).  Anyway, I digress. The premise of You’ve Got Mail is based off of The Shop Around the Corner- 1940s flick starring Jimmie Stewart.  (On some Friday night movie night several years ago Jules and I watched this and decided it was not one of the better movies Jimmie Stewart is in—the ending ruined it for us so this is not a movie we are recommending.)  In You’ve Got Mail the two main characters met over the internet and just exchange emails back and forth but don’t actually know who the other one is.  They met in a chat room—do these even exist anymore?  They send emails—really who does this now with Facebook posts and tweeting on Twitter?  They both run bookstores.  Meg Ryan owns a small children’s bookstore while Tom Hanks runs Fox Books, the mega bookstore that is going to take over everything.  Since the movie was made the downfall of the mega bookstore has taken place-- Borders no longer exists because of buying books online and the fact that books don’t even come on paper any more but electronically with a Kindle.  I think this movie also shaped my impressions on city life.  When I first moved to Kansas City 2 years ago I was under the impression that if you lived in a metro area you spent most of your time hanging out at bookstores or drinking coffee.  I attribute these views to the fact that I had no idea what Starbucks was (or cappuccino) until I saw this movie so it must be a city thing.

 In the movie they talk about how much they love New York in the fall and it reminds me of how much I enjoy fall descending on Kansas City this week.  If you can think of any other wonderful movies that need to make the list—or so we even have a list since only one doesn’t qualify as a legit list—please pass them along.

            

Sizzlin' Summertime

As the temperatures have risen in Kansas City, our social life has heated up as well. Over the past few weeks we have had several friends come and spend some time hanging out with us.  With having so many friends visiting us, the fun quotient around our apartment jumped drastically.  However, after everyone left, Jules and I (Alex) realized how exhausting it can be to have so much fun and we needed a few days to recuperate.  We also noticed that our living room seems huge without an air mattress on the floor, and it is easier to share a bathroom between the two of us instead of four females.   

Our friend Hillary stayed with us off and on over the course of several weeks when she made some other side trips.  She is taking online classes this summer and thought our apartment was a great place for some solitary confinement so she would actually get her homework done.  After a long week of work (3 ½ days) for Jules, and a week of classes and homework for myself and Hillary, we decided to go out on the town one Saturday evening.  Jules has wanted to eat at a place called the Chartreuse Caboose for a few months, so we finally checked it out.  We pulled into the parking lot at 6:00 on a Saturday night, and it was completely empty—maybe this isn’t the best sign.  The specialty was Philly cheese steaks and the décor was train themed which was pretty interesting.  After dinner we went shopping—this is a given when girls get together.  For dessert we got some frozen custard.  Nothing says summer like getting a cool treat after a hot day. 

For Jules, she was definitely questioning the food quality when she woke up Sunday with nausea and vomiting.  Nothing beats welcoming in a new week with the 24 hour flu.  Thankfully, her dad was wonderful and brought over an emergency supply of nausea meds she has not had to rely on since she was sick with the flu while in Seattle.  The upside to this is that she was able to take a sick day and have another shortened 3-day work week. 

Hillary and Alex have a tradition of going on a bike ride every summer.  We went out to Shawnee Mission Park to ride on one of my favorite trails.  It was an incredible summer evening, and we had an amazing ride.  The trail wasn’t too crowded, and it was a cooler evening.  We saw probably a dozen deer.  Johnson County deer are smaller than normal and don’t seem to mind people at all.  One of the highlights during this ride was seeing two dads out on the trail running with two kids on bikes and another in a stroller.  We thought these dads deserve some big bonus points.  The little girl asked for a drink so the dad squirted a water bottle in her mouth without stopping while she was biking and he was running—this is pretty hard core if you can’t even stop for a water break.  We overheard the dad telling the little girl “Hey, we got to keep rolling”—definitely a dad statement. 

Later on that week, our friend Deloris came while Hillary was staying with us.  To celebrate her arrival, Alex’s last day working at the indoor pool as a lifeguard, and summer in general we headed to Sonic for their summer special of half price shakes after 8pm.  Nothing is better than Sonic shakes and girl chat on a summer evening (it is also an added bonus that none of my friends like eating cherries which topped their shakes, so I got to enjoy multiple cherries on my shake.)

On Friday we attended A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare in the Park to celebrate Jules’ birthday.  We packed a picnic of our favorite finger foods— pigs in a blanket, a veggie tray, and some fresh guacamole and chips.  We also felt very sophisticated as we pulled out our wine glasses- that’s right, we even packed some fine china for our picnic—and enjoyed some sparkling pink lemonade.  We took a small break in our picnic to do some people watching, which was pretty entertaining.  Our next course was mini fruit pizzas.  These looked incredible and tasted even better.  The ladies sitting next to us were pretty impressed and even asked for the recipe.  The play was a lot of fun—thankfully this year it was a comedy instead of a history or tragedy like it has been in the past.  During intermission we broke out our final surprise—caramel brownies.  (Side note: In the past the only time Hillary will make these brownies is for a treat after we run a half marathon.  It was very special to eat these brownies without having to go on a 13 mile run first.) 

The next morning we headed out to the Overland Park Arboretum.  We hiked the trails for awhile and tromped around the gardens.  The most threatening animal we saw in the wilderness of the arboretum was a rather large snapping turtle.  We never saw the body, but its head alone made it look menacing.  One parent we saw was cautioning his son about the large “piranhas” in the pond.  After this we couldn’t convince Hillary to stick her toes in the water—probably the large turtle was her reason for declining this invitation. For lunch we enjoyed picnic reruns which was great—there is just something special about eating outdoors, and all food tastes better—even leftovers.

That afternoon we decided to beat the heat with some shopping.  We went to the local thrift stores and set a $5 dollar budget with which everyone had to find an outfit for someone else to wear to dinner that evening.  We discovered the Jules has a real talent for picking out hideous dresses.  We found some great outfits and had several great laughs.  That evening we “dressed up” for our dinner (which happened to be take-out from the BBQ place down the street).  To top off the night, we had a girls’ movie night and watched New in Town and We Bought a Zoo—you have to love movies with guys in flannel and northern accents and anything with Matt Damon (this may be solely Alex’s opinion). 

Alas, all good things must come to an end, even this blog entry.