Home Improvement: Part II

Since Michelle was away this past week in Las Vegas attending a medical conference (and visiting her family), we decided this would be the best time to commence Operation Destruction/Renovation of our kitchen and bathrooms. The previous owners chose this cheap laminate surfacing (white & pink, respectively) that stained quite easily. Once again the before shots:











First step was removing the surfacing. Since we were installing two sinks in the master bathroom, the old cabinet had to come out and a new custom-designed cabinet was put in its place:











Next step was inserting the granite counter-tops. Michelle & I had pre-selected three different patterns, one for each room. Most of the pieces were pre-cut, but the sink openings and backsplashes were cut outside on our driveway:










It was only at this point that the plumber could begin connecting the sinks & piping. His job took the longest, at least 8 hours of labor involved:












An voila! A nicely finished project after all ... you'll have to visit to see the real thing :-)

Winter?

We had our first snowfall in Michigan! I was told that it starts snowing around December... not so... it's October and it is snowing. Ginger does not know what to do with this white stuff from the sky. Albeit, not much snow but what a surprise -- we woke up with a layer of white stuff on the deck. It melted and then started again.

Family visit

So we welcomed my parents last week as our first out-of-town guests. After a delayed flight leaving LaGuardia airport Wednesday night, they finally landed and settled into our condominium. Right away my mom felt at home, preparing all sorts of delicious meals :-) They also got to spend time with Ginger while we were away at work.









Our free weekend included all sorts of sight-seeing in the greater Detroit area. Saturday we did the Rouge Factory Tour (Ford-Dearborn headquarters). They had a nice rooftop view of the auto plant, as well as several Ford models on display. Michelle & Myriam enjoy the new F-150 pickup truck :-)













Later that afternoon we walked around Greenfield Village, which currently has the "Special Taste of History" theme. There were numerous machines on display from the 1800's, including those making yarn, metal, and cloth. The weather was gorgeous, with several trees showing pretty fall color changes ...













Sunday we checked out the popular Franklin Cidar Mill. It was packed, customers ordering all sorts of apple products (pie, cidar, donuts, etc.) They also had several large pumpkins on display, with little kids getting into the act:










The rest of the day was spent shopping, exploring the Sommerset mall in Troy, and seeing our hospital. Overall very relaxing, they left just in time as the weather got chilly soon there-after (see the following post). We'll be seeing the fam soon again in November for Thanksgiving. Until then ...

Home Improvement

So Michelle & I started the process of renovating the interior of our condo. First in order was taking down these hideous blue drapes and roll-down blinds in our common room. The previous owners decorated as if they were in the 1970's (our place was built in1994). Installing the new pleated and vertical blinds was tougher than we thought (probable metal behind the walls), but we persevered and finished our task. See the before and after shots ...

Next up was installing a shower door in our guest bath. As you can see, the previous owner was enamored with pink! Overall I think the doors are a bit more practical and classy ...




Next up is removing the laminate surfacing in our bathrooms and kitchen. We're looking at some granite options later today, and will hopefully get this project started soon. Stay tuned for some more pics ...

Puppy Love ...

There' s no getting around the fact how much we adore our "baby girl" Ginger. We're now getting used to the idea of letting her hair run a bit longer, especially since the temps have been under 60 at night. We didn't experience this in Florida until January, Michelle thinks we're in for a rough winter :-( ... but I digress ... anyways, enjoy these candid shots ... not much going on at the present, we're getting some contractor quotes for interior design work. Stay tuned for more details ...

Windy City ...

So Michelle & I survived the 2-day ordeal that encompassed our studies for the past several months: our Certifying Internal Medicine Examination. The test is offered once a year at the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Chicago, so we flew in the day before and had a comfortable stay at the Radisson two blocks away (thanks Al!). Overall the test was quite difficult, 600 multiple choice questions that got harder as the test wore on. We won't know the results until November. We also caught up with several classmates from medical school in between, many are doing fellowship (pulmonary or cardiology); the rest are attending internists.

Michelle & I celebrated with dinner and drinks after the exam, catching up with our close friends from school: Patrick & Tochi who both live outside the city. They're both enjoying life in the midwest, we were up past midnight talking about all sorts of things ...










Our last day in Chicago was a productive one, we hit the streets early doing some local sight-seeing. Highlights included a nice view from our hotel roof-top, as well as public pilates & cool sculptures in Millenium park ...












With only a couple of hours left we caught a guided boat tour on the Chicago River. It was awesome, the guide was quite knowledgable of the city and pointed out all the major buildings along the city skyline. We also made in out to Lake Michigan via a "locking station" and saw even more of the city.













We made it back Saturday night and relaxed the rest of the weekend. We'll try and visit again soon under less stressful circumstances!

Bundles of nerves

Well, in a little over 48 hours our albatross will be completed (hopefully successfully). For those of you that have endured us for the last (well few months specifically), you know what we mean. Thanks again for the support. We hope that you will be praying for us.

All in all, things are not so bad. We have our health and each other. We know there are two huge support systems (aka our families) that are behind us. It's very comforting to know that. Really, thanks. And our friends... some of you will be with us for the main event going through it yourselves.

We'll write more on the flip side of this adventure. Hope all is well. We'll be back to blogging in no time!!!

One month down ...

So Michelle & I finished our first month of fellowship! Overall things went pretty smoothly, and we're slowly getting the handle on how things run in the hospital. I spent July doing endoscopy (mostly colonoscopies) while Michelle was on the floors, getting a handful of bronchoscopies under her belt. Our confidence will hopefully grow with each opportunity, everyone at work has been very supportive and understanding.

Not much new to report on the home front, Michelle & I are hunkering down with studying for our Internal Medicine Certification Exam, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. We're flying to Chicago for the 2-day test, 8/24-8/25. Hopefully we'll meet up with some med school friends and do some sight-seeing afterwards.

We will certainly do more exploring of the area after the test is over with, and have newer pics to put up. We also plan on doing some interior decorating (i.e. removing the pink bathroom countertops) when time allows. For now, enjoy the pics of Ginger after another "summer-cut." Notice her devilish red eyes, fortunately cataracts haven't set in yet :-)

Swinging back into things...

I am sorry to inform you that we don't have pictures to post at this time. The reason being -- we've been working pretty hard. We just finished week #2 of fellowship. I can report that we BOTH feel like we did at the beginning of Internship: overwhelmed!!! A new hospital, a new role ... it all adds up. There is also that stress of IM Board Exams next month coming up. :)

Justin started his fellowship on Endoscopy Service. So he finally is just doing one procedure after another. He has official pictures of his first colonoscopy/EGD on his own. I think we may frame them. :) Overall he is doing very well with the stres and, I think, loving every minute of it.

I was initally supposed to start on Anesthesia but now have been doing general Pulmonary Service. The attendings are great. Luckily we have a lot of help this month: 2 interns (actually quite on top of things), a PA (Susan) and a 2nd year Pulm fellow (Rich). So it's a nice way to eaaasseee into things. I have done a few procedures: bronchoscopy and thoracentesis but it's still slow going with that.

We're getting the condo together. There are projects starting to add up but for the most part things are off the floor, put away, and nailed to the wall. :) We finished our furniture gathering recently. Again, Salvation Army came through for us on some things (large mirrors to be exact). We're doing great.

We've met all our immediate neighbors and some down the street. Evening walks on weekends with Ginger give us a chance to explore the complex. It's beautiful with pristine landscaping. A very nice place to call home for now.

Take care everybody and we'll post pictures when we can. I couldn't help but post this one --->

Our New Home Place

So after graduating from residency, saying our goodbyes, and selling our Florida home ... Michelle, Ginger & I hit the road for 20-plus grueling hours of driving up I-75. Overall the trip went smoothly, and Ginger did pretty well considering she's not a fan of riding shotgun. We tried to sedate her with 5 mg of Valium before the trip, but it had a paradoxical reaction and made her worse(!). So we just toughed it out. We closed on our condo that Monday (with Ginger literally sitting in our lap during the signing), and started unloading our cars. Moving truck came Tuesday, and we started settling in after that. Right now we're back at full speed, having bought some additional furniture. The neighbors are friendly, the development is beautiful, and our backyard faces off a 9-hole golf course. Here are some house pics, look at Ginger peeking through our deck! Visitors are always welcome ...