Graduation (not ours.)

Happy Graduation Harvard Periodontists Class of 2010!

We're so proud of you, and you know we will miss you.

The graduation dinner was last Wednesday, and it was so bittersweet.

But these two will be friends for life.

Here we have the gang all assembled one last time.

We had a great time, but I teared up a few times.

This year flew by. Before we know it Joey will be graduating, which is wonderful and scary. I know that staying here in our apartment and maybe in Boston is temporary, although for now I love it so much that I'm just going to enjoy the moment - which is more difficult than it should be, but I like it.

Best Weekend

This is just what we needed.

We spent the weekend at our house, alternating between watching movies and swimming/laying out at the pool.

We were going to go someplace, but well, because of a certain history with our automobile we didn't want to go beyond a 100 mile radius. Besides, I didn't think there would be a place to go that would top a lazy pool time weekend. And I'm not afraid to say it: I was right.

Have I mentioned before how much I love this apartment? and how much I love our landlords who let us live here at a rent we could afford?

Everyone at our building loves the pool. I especially love all of the older people who live here who like to use the lap lanes and wear bathing caps. (I took the picture above at 9am this morning and there was already a lady swimming in the lap lane.)

  Some of the older folks don't swim but they'll walk around and look at the plants. I love this place.

When we moved up here from Texas I didn't understand why people here would take so much time off of work in the summertime, but now I do. Once you make it through the winter weather and the winter moods you have to enjoy yourself.  Which makes everyone's happiness at the pool even better.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend too. Thank you troops.

Words with friends

here we are at a bar, which is an environment I could have benefitted from after my day today.

Do people ever make jerk comments to you? Tell me I'm not the only one. The other day I had to print out a bunch of stuff for necessary paperwork and my (snarky, pain in the butt) assistant said snidely: "look at all those dead trees." I feel like saying, look - first of all, you need to take a run around the block because your type II diabetes is costing us all a fortune. second of all, its not like I killed them. and besides the point, this is for work, the concept of which I realize is quite difficult for you to relate.

I don't know how to deal with jerk comments, but I wish I was wittier on the spot and could say things that tell the offender not to mess with me. all without raising my voice and getting in trouble, of course.

I should also say its not that I don't like my assistants. I love all but two of them, and working in two offices I get to work with many different people. I also have no control over hiring and firing, and in one office it is controlled by a central office which is pretty far removed from us. Ideally I wouldn't say anything except "unfortunately, today is your last day."

this particular assistant knows she can get away with just about anything. I feel I should point out that generally don't think I'm smarter and better than anyone else who says stupid things on purpose (although this assistant pushes that statement) its a basic respect for another person, you don't have to be a genius to possess that quality.

I worry about getting in trouble and I try not to offend people - although I'm sure I do. I have a couple of friends who I'm lucky still talk to me because its like I'm always saying something wrong, so I empathize, but sometimes I can tell these people aren't making similar efforts.

Its not just assistants, but friends and strangers too seem to say stuff that's amazing. For instance  someone I just met recently said to me "Oh you're a dentist! My dentist growing up had a nervous breakdown. I think he went crazy in a grocery store parking lot." Like, do you really think that's a conversation starter?

Am I just in a bad mood? Or is it just that I had to work with an assistant who drives me up the wall today? I'm going to make a skinnygirl margarita  (thank you bethenny frankel for your genius,) and watch law and order criminal intent reruns before I go to bed.

Window Friend

Did you ever watch Anne of Green Gables? Do you remember Anne's window friend, Katie? I loved Anne, she was so brave and smart. Ah, I digress.
Well, last night I was, as per usual, taking pictures of my cat in the hopes that I could get the perfect pose so that I might realize a particular ambition I have for him, but Leon was customarily non-compliant. Sometimes he'll look if I make a kissy noise, but after lots of high pitched "LEONs" and kissy noises, he wouldn't avert his gaze. He couldn't  'focus' if you will. (ha!) I got a lot of this:

(Nevermind that it looks dark outside and that it wouldn't have looked like the picture anyway, its the flash.)

So ANYway, I took a little look to see what could possibly be the distraction. Or should I say who.

It was his window friend Becky!  He loves her. He used to sit and wait in our window seat so he could look at her. She's belongs to our next door neighbor (and fellow Welles alum) and whenever we chat with Sue in the hall Leon loves to run into her apartment to say what's up to his little tuxedo friend.

Anyway, that's all that's going down in our house so far this week.

Material Girl

I presently struggle with materialism. I don't know if I'll ever outgrow it. I really want these, but they're obscenely expensive. They're so good though.

And we're supposed to be "saving money" and "paying off our credit card debt." Bo-ring!

Well, if I did get them they'd probably just sit in their box like all of my high heeled-ish shoes do, I only ever wear flats anyway. But if I got these maybe that would change.

Shut-up selfish voice!

Alright, maybe that's too much insight for others into my inner dialogue. And it isn't nice to say shut-up. I don't want to want these, I can't help that I have exquisite taste.

So I will NOT get these because I don't want my husband to be disappointed in me. Even though he would never say it. It would be a jerk move to buy these when we don't have a lot of money right now. We're fine, don't get me wrong, but like, who buys $300 shoes? I'm not Carrie Bradshaw.

Maybe I'll just go see SATC2 and live vicariously through the lives of ficticious characters. That'll be close enough.

Weekend Tidbits

This weekend we did a little of this and a little of that.

As usual Joseph had to work on Saturday, blessing people right and left with his periodontal skills. We had maybe our last happy hour with our friend Guillaume on Friday, which is so sad that I can't really think about it. He's graduating from the perio program and moving back to France in just a few weeks.

Joey and I will miss going to the Squealing Pig with G every week. This is what its all about for us. Its nothing fancy -  beers and mediocre food... but talking about everything big and small at this place was sometimes what propelled all three of us through tough weeks.

Joey and I will miss you Guillaume. But you're not gone yet - so back to denial that you're leaving until after you actually leave the country. That's the best way to handle such things, I say!

Saturday night we met Guillaume and our friends Helen and Chris in Back Bay for dinner.

Then afterwards Joey and I headed to the South End for a bit o jazz at Wally's.

On the way we passed this psychic's office. (Is that what they're called, offices? I'm not sure.) Anywho, what a pretty window.

Then Joey was like, "Elizabeth, seriously with the pictures - we'll never get there." Or something like that, I don't know, I'm paraphrasing.

What can I say, I am my father's daughter. So as I was literally running after Joey after some major dawdling and taking pictures in the dark, we ran into Joey's co-resident, Phil, (with the glasses and Patrick Dempsey hair on the left below) who lives in the South End. What are the odds? I don't know who the guy is on the right... he told me his name but I was caught up in the embarrassment of getting caught literally running like a child down the street so I totally didn't listen to him introduce himself, as I was focused totally on me.

So after a little chit chat with these fellows we continued to Wally's. There's never a cover. Holla!

It was awesome. I didn't take any pictures inside because I was trying to play it cool and fit in with the cats.

This morning we went to Scrub a Dub to clean our whip.

I did not know that bringing Joey along for this car wash errand would mean we wouldn't pay the people to vacuum the inside. Sigh. Here we are with the quarter vacuum machine.

Why do men like this vacuum thing? I don't understand.  Oh well, the car is clean, or at least clean-er. At this point when people get in I can feign an "excuse the mess" at the minor level of grunge that still remains... and pretend that's the dirtiest our car gets. Next week I'll take her back to (have the carwash guys ) finish it up. Mercifully we only had enough quarters for one round of the vacuum this trip.

I tried to get a picture of Leon by his portrait in the same pose, but he consistently refuses. Someday I will make this happen.

Its been a really relaxing weekend, so I'm glad about that. I hope you all had a great weekend too.

 Also, a quick birthday shoutout to my pal Ali. I miss you lady and I hope your day was great, it was wonderful to talk to you today, big big hug.

Knowledge

I'm sure glad that my dental assistants know everything and feel sure enough about all of this knowledge to yell all over the office how the dentists don't know how to work the equipment. Namely me.  It seems like lately everyone else knows everything. It must be nice to know everything. I wish I did.

The above picture doesn't have anything to do with this post - it was the first night we got Leon and I read on the internet we should keep him in the smallest room so he could feel secure. In this case it the bathroom in Joey's apartment (before we got married,) which was the only room we could close off besides the bedroom. I love his big ears... he's kind of grown into them.

Jeff Buckley

http://blogs.inlandsocal.com/movies/jeff-buckley2.jpg

is the only one who should be singing his own version of leonard cohen's "hallelujah."  he is no longer with us, and there is nothing worse than hearing lee dewhatever sing it on fox. well, besides when tim urban sang it. followed closely by when jason castro sang it. please lord jesus, make the american idol contestants stop this blasphemy.

Tomorrow

I will feel rested and ready, as God as my witness. I will not have an inner dialogue of whining and anxiety on the way to work. I'm going to go pick out my work outfit now. That should help. Here's to good Mondays for everyone!

Bright Sunshiney Sunday

Today we went to the North End and had a basically had a great day.

We rode the T down to Government Center and walked through Quincy Market. There was a lot going on.

Like, the British were back, and so on and so forth - that's how nice the weather was.

Isn't this a nice building to be dedicated solely to traffic tunnel administration?

They must have a lot of people working on this. That's good.

We went here for lunch:

I thought I would never be the kind of person that took pictures of food. But you know what they say about saying never.

I had the Maine Lobster Salad. It had blue cheese and russian dressing. It was the best salad I've ever had.

That's a glass of Prosecco. We drink at lunch at our house, or in this case, while out of the house.

Joey had the Maine Lobster Roll - hot and buttered, which is the best way.

I loved it.

Then we got some coffee and cannolis and went to this park that had neat fountains. There were some adorable dogs and everyone was enjoying the day.

Don't mind that billboard condemning Ahmadinejad in the background, I'm not trying to make this political.

Afterwards we went for a stroll through town.

And stumbled upon the burial ground of American hero, Paul Revere. How appropos what with the sighting of the Redcoats before lunch.

Rest in peace, my brother in dentistry.

I think old cemeteries are really interesting. All of these headstones were crafted by the same man. They had a lot of skulls and skeletons on them... I thought it would be weird/disrespectful to take pictures of the individual people that weren't famous...don't want to go paparazzo on the people of revolutionary times. Since Paul Revere is famous I feel OK about it, like its OK to see pictures of Britney on Perez.

I also like this tree of life in the cemetery.

We walked through the Public Gardens and Boston Common before heading home.

It was a great day in the sunshine with my sunshine. Hope you all had a great weekend too.

Alright, I'm better

good, that's better for everyone. I guess I just had to make it a big public show that I sometimes have morning pre-work anxiety in order to feel better. Small price to pay, I say.

and I mean, I don't mean to brag - but who can be anxious when they have as cute of a husband as I have?

last night he helped me make dinner - chicken fajitas. they turned out just alright because well, I forgot some key ingredients, but he still ate it. I'm afraid of cooking things in the pan for some reason, mostly because the hot oil jumps everywhere and I'm a baby. so I chopped all the vegetables and stuff and seasoned the chicken, and he pan-cooked (or whatever you call it) the chicken.

I like doing regular stuff with my husband. Sometimes we go to the grocery store and lip-sync to the grocery store music and dance in the aisles. Not "full-out" though, we have to save that for da club.

Joey and I used to go to school together and sit next to each other all day. Not because of weird overcloseness but because we were assigned to sit next to each other in alphabetical order. Last year was our first year out of school and it was hard to get used to being away from him. Just like everyone else we have our ups and downs and stresses, but I know I'm so lucky to have snagged this one.

Thanks alphabetical order!

I miss him during the day still but I realize it would be weird to try to continue the constant togetherness into our careers.  I'd probably like it though.

Humph

I don't know what's wrong with me today.
I don't want to work and I want to go home.
Everything is looking up and life is good. The weather is generally better, work is good, and we just renewed our lease to stay in our awesome apartment with the best landlord we could ask for. 
I think I'm trying to have anxiety.
This morning I left my house too late but somehow I made the train and get to work on time. I even got a seat on the train and had a nice relaxing ride, drinking my coffee. Well, it should have been relaxing but I spent most of the time worrying about "what if" someone gets on the train who really deserves this seat more than I do because its close the door and maybe I shouldn't be sitting here. (For the love!)

Today I don't have any complicated procedures and it looks like the day will be a nice rolling pace. All of the patients on my schedule I either don't know or like a lot, I don't have any of the patients I dread seeing, and its Friday.
What is wrong with me?!
As I pushed the button to the elevator this morning when I got to work I was like, okay, I can either be happy today or I can be all cranky and weird. I will be happy. But I can't be happy because for some reason I'm really tired despite getting plenty of sleep and I'm anxious about something, but I don't know what.
I kind of want to go back to Texas and not tell anyone except my parents and go upstairs to my old room and sleep in my bed by myself. What a weirdo.
I hope this phase doesn't last through the morning.

What if

Sometimes I watch movies on TV (like everyday) and I'll want whatever job the girl in the movie has, even if she hates it and seems miserable. My latest one is Andy in the Devil Wears Prada. Most especially after she gets her makeover.
First she's sad because Emily and Giselle make fun of her. (Well, Giselle is a pain in the bum in real life, so who cares what she thinks.) And I can't take Emily seriously with that bad hair color.

www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2006_devil_wears_...

But then she gets to go in the sample closet and somehow it isn't considered stealing that she takes all of those designer clothes to wear. (Obviously that's true to life and how it is in other fields besides the health professions.) Its even facilitated by her new gay best-friend/mentor figure! Oh the jealousy I feel.

www.sacbee.com/.../ticket/archives/2006/06/

and she looks so good, and her job is to basically get coffee and take a little abuse.

ideagirlconsulting.wordpress.com/.../

So what if her boss calls her On-dreya instead of Andy?

My entire office mispronounced my name for several months despite my best efforts, and I was OK with it.

So then I want my job to be that I get coffee and take a little abuse. I can handle it.

Searing hot Starbucks you say? Yes ma'am!

But then I remind myself that I graduated from 20th grade so that I can be a dentist, so I better freaking get over it and love it.

And I do love what I do, I work in great offices with the best coworkers... but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to do someone else's job for one day. Not that I think other peoples' jobs are harder or easier, but just different. And of course I imagine it must be more glamorous. Maybe I'll wear lipgloss to work tomorrow to spice things up a bit - that'll have to do for now.

My Mothers' Day post has to be even more belated because I didn't have it together with the pictures. But I do love my mom, she is the bomb. More on that to come.