Weekend

Guys. 

This weekend

Peter and I are going to Captiva.

Captiva circa 2004

Captiva is a sleepy little island off the West Coast of Florida.

My family-

Papou and Yiayia, cousins, and all-

Have vacationed here since the 1970s.

When I was 9,

I wrote a journal entry about why Captiva was my favorite place.

It still is 

{yep, even beats Crete!}

But this weekend is extra special, as I get to bring THIS GUY along!!

{in case you did not realize who 'this guy' was. You silly goose, you.} 

I'm so excited to share this little piece of my childhood paradise with him.
Captiva is not the most glamorous of places,

It hasn't got the most exciting night life,

or the most luxuriant rooms,

But it's quiet.

and laid back,

and oh-so-very relaxing.

Basically, it's exactly what I need this weekend. 

Hope you all {or whoever reads this} have a wonderful weekend!

Here's some fun links to read on your extra day off:

1. An Orthodox Women's monastery based outside of Pittsburgh. Hopefully Peter and I can visit some time

2. Loved this reddit Q&A with the president of MSF, one of the reasons I went into medicine.

3. Would love to peruse through this book at some point! I love Middle Earth artwork, and it's SO COOL that Tolkien did some of his own sketches for The Hobbit. 

4. I really love ρεβύθια, a Greek chickpea soup the served at the cafeteria at University of Crete. It's not exactly easy to find in the U.S., but this recipe really satisfies my cravings! 

{Just sub the rosemary for dill. pounds and pounds of dill. And extra oil and lemon!

mmmmmmmmmmmm...}

5. Thought this was pretty funny. Peter did too!

P.S. Many years to all the Johns who celebrated Thursday!

Passed.

I did it.

I passed my boards exams.

It took two tries,

three months,

sleepless nights of feeling discouraged and downtrodden. 

But I made it. 

And I still get to be a doctor

and take care of kids, 

Maybe here in Florida,

or in New Zealand,

or London. 

It doesn't matter. It's happening!

And you know what?

All it took 

{besides hours of studying}

was a little bit of confidence.

cue photo of reflective girl gazing reflectively into reflective water. 

it's always been something I've lacked.

I've never been the coolest girl,

the smartest, 

or the prettiest. 

I've always doubted my choices

my decisions,

and my capabilities.

Well, guess what, guys?

I'm done with that.

This year, 

I'm going to work harder than I ever have.

I'm going to do my best.

And I'm not going to worry any more as much. 

 Wherever I match for residency,

I'm going to be just fine. 

Because I am enough.

Thank You from the bottom of my heart,

to all of the people,

My parents, 

my boyfriend,

my girls, 

those who I've grown up with,

and those who I've never met,

You helped me get here.

So Thank You.
+

Music Monday

Hey Peter! 

{and random others *waves*}

I hope you all had a good weekend.

Mine was nice

I just wish I had been a bit more productive.

Oh well!

I'll use it as motivation to work even harder this week

especially in anticipation of our upcoming trip to

CAPTIVA

My personal happy place.

Here's a little song to get some pep in your step

Hope you all have a wonderful week <3

(p.s.- did you guys know this was a cover of a Joni Mitchell song?

I had no clue! 

Here is her version, in case you are curious.

I prefer the more rockin' version

but I do enjoy her voice and the piano.

I also like that both versions are unique, rather than just rehashed material

they almost sound like completely different songs!)

Sunday Thoughts

We must choose either to live in order to die, or to die in order to live

 interpretation of St Basil the great

by Father Zacharias of Saint John the Baptist Monastery in Essex.

The Weekend, and some LINKS!

This morning, 

I left my phone in the car,

left the gas tank OPEN after filling up,

and walked into an empty exam room to check out a non-existent patient.

It's definitely time for the weekend, guys.

I've got nothing exciting planned.

Anyone else out there?

Can I please live vicariously through you??

Anyways. Some links for your Weekend reads

{if you want them.}

1. Loving this Tom Petty cover by the Wild Feathers. I'm definitely a fan girl. 

2. Ever wonder what exactly the One Ring is supposed to do? Then this reddit thread is for you.

3. A documentary about Siberian tigers, {the very best kind of tigers, obviously,} available on Netflix. I can't wait to watch it!

4. My kind of Inspiration. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us

5. How to not be an arsehole when traveling. Especially useful for those who wander.

Have a great weekend, errbody! xx 

Weekend Wanders

This weekend was pretty uneventful

But in a good way. 

One of my roommates' friends came to visit

from out of town. 

And guys....

She brought a puppy.

A teeny-tiny

squishy

nine-week old slice of preciousness.

Who clearly has no idea how to control her teeny tiny body

It was a good weekend. 

The girls asked me to watch her while they were at church

Such a HUGE inconvenience...

;-)

Promise I am not usually this crabby in the AM. {oh wait, yes I am.}

Tiana's boy, Noah was clearly obsessed and thought that he had somehow fathered a child in spite of his pretty obvious lack of cajones 

I didn't have the heart to break it to him.

If you're not dying right now, then you clearly have no soul  are not normal, my friend.

Oh yea, and then this happened

Yep. This is totally cool with me.

After the pup and her Momma hit the road,

I decided to actually get some work done

{rather than sleep 23 hours of the day away}

So I did a 5 pm run.

Big. Mistake.

Someone should have kindly reminded me 

that 5 pm in Florida 

might as well be 12 noon. 

By the end of it I was dying.

I need to get back into shape, guys!

Oh well. 

This rainbow over the ocean kinda made it worth it.

Almost.

Please don't mind the red dirt left on my sneakers from the roadtrip through the Grand Canyon/Arches one whole year ago. Yea. I know. Pretty gross.

I then found this fellow clinging to the side of the pool.

Don't worry, 

I let him out well away from the pups

But not before snapping a couple photos to look up what species he was later

How was your weekend, folks?

Peter is making Pizza with roasted veggies from his garden for dinner tonight.

Needless to say, 

I am jealous. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Music Monday

Hello, guys!

One of the very first things that Peter and I bonded over in Greece

was our love of Westerns.

In high school I devoured every Spaghetti Western I could find

and then moved on to pretty much any western/horse-related movie on Netflix. 

I can't remember how I found out about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

source

But seeing as it combined two of my favorite things-

Bob Dylan and Horses-

I was definitely game.

As a film, it's not my favorite of it's genre,

but man, is the soundtrack good.

We had it on record, and I listened to it ad nauseum. 

I bet you didn't know that knocking on heaven's door came from this album-

and trust me, it's not even close to the best track.

This is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time. 

and this

is my favorite song from that album. 

Happy Monday!