Attending a medical conference proved to be one of the most amazing and eye opening experiences I’ve gone through.  Getting to have fun with fellow MD’s and DO’s….who wouldn’t want to partake in that adventure?

Most importantly though, I met some pretty amazing friends, from all over the country actually.  I still keep in contact with about 90% of my group from this summer, which is astounding because this conference was nearly 7 years ago.

I’m pretty sure the camera found me just about wherever I was.  Thank goodness for digital back then.

On the way to the Mall of America via public transit.  Major fun in the twin cities y’all.  Had a blast meeting and making new friends.

On a “night off” from workshops and lectures, a huge group of us decided to go on the town.  At the time it was a bar called the Wild Onion.  Crazy, huh?

…still the Wild Onion.  Let’s just say I had a blast and had nothing to drink that night.  I think I was a newly minted 21 year old, too.  Pure Craziness.

Last group shot with the girls that evening, we all had fun getting to know each other during our trip.

Found a pair of goggles on our boat that night, so in true Erin fashion I had to put them on.  Talk about goofy all while having fun with my friends. : )

Getting ready to dock, head to the hotel and head out to the bar.  Last night in MN, you’ve gotta do it up big, right?!

Another partial group shot.  We took so many of these that week, seriously was one of the best times in my life being Pre-Med, but I made an even better decision career wise and can’t wait to see what journey it takes me on.

Our hotel was somewhere in the background.  We stayed at one of the fanciest hotels I had ever stayed in and we all had a blast.  Pretty sure I called home just so I could say I was staying in a Trump Hotel.

Our conference director.  He set up all the yet to be in med school applicants and directed my group on which lectures to sit in on and who to rub elbows with.

What our lovely paddle boat looked like sort of.    How many of y’all can say you’ve traveled a portion of the Great Mississippi?  I have.

Relaxing on the boat and taking in the scenery.  I had never been that far north, so this was a completely different experience especially since it was my first ever plane trip.  Talk about an exciting time in my life.

Me & Ash.  We’re still just as close as we were here.  We’ve moved.  Traveled across the US.  But always kept in contact (thank you Facebook!!) through the years.

St. Paul in the background and us looking completely silly.  I sure miss those days…

Now you can’t leave a medical conference without going to the Mall of America at least once while you’re “in town”, that would just be horrible.  If I remember correctly, I made at least half a dozen trips and even left my digital camera in a dressing room (that I later recovered thank goodness).

Being a MIS major, Macs are necessarily recommended in my program, unless I want to run a dual boot on this shiny new system. I’m not really thrilled it, but I’m also looking into studying iPhone app development and in that case a Mac will definitely be needed to run such programs needed for those types of programs.

I’d say I just might wind up with a shiny new computer just like this…next year.

Hittin’ the Hay.  I’m one tired college chica and I need my sleep.  Have a great night y’all.  See you in the mornin’!

….Kansas City bound….see y’all when I get back….  I’ll be at Cabela’s in less than 24 hours.  I’m going to be beyond happy once I get there, now if the clock would just tick a little faster

I’ve had the liberty of seeing RT in concert twice.  All thanks to my Mom for going.  Roomie didn’t see it fit that she attend on account I’m in love with this guy & there would be major screaming involved.  Her loss.

I truly think he’s one of the greatest singer/songwriters.  He’s written some pretty amazing stuff in the last 20 years and he’s still recording.  I still get all giddy and excited every time I hear something new he’s written.

The first concert I went to a long time ago.  Let’s just say I walked away with over 600 photos of that night.  I was a little more than on Cloud 9.

My goodness.  A good beer is hard to come by and one that doesn’t taste like piss is even harder to find.  So far, I haven’t found anything remotely close to a good beer.  I’ve found all sorts of liquor, but once in a great moon I’d like to have a beer with my pizza.  Wouldn’t you?  I realize I haven’t been the beer drinker — ever.  It’s just one of those things that you’re realizing you “can’t” have any more, which meaks you want it that much more.

Up in Flames.  It did the trick of cutting glass.  Who knew this could be so much fun, yet so dangerous?  I really do like danger and the possibility of creating something great.

See….it didn’t work.  Great ideas come to mind in times such as these.  Just glad I had some kerosene on hand and lucky for me it came to the rescue!

Turns out a lighter and some string didn’t really work.  I added kerosene for an extra added kick.  That did the trick and in an instant I have an enormous flame.  This pyro junkie was overjoyed at the magic she created in her sink.

Driving down the interstate the other day and what did I notice?  NYC plates of course.  Surprisingly though, the car wasn’t beat up and it didn’t have bumper damage like so many NE cars do up there.  ….but one question did cross my mind…..why on Earth IS a car from NY in Okie Land?  I’d much rather be there.

So, please comment all you want now, I’m definitely eager to hear from my blog readers!!

Soooooo delicious and I’m definitely munching on these babies at 2am.  Lucky Me.  Lucky Tummy.  Lucky.  Lucky.  Lucky.  These are definitely my blogging must haves.  Actually, they’re more of my “I must have these to study” kind of treat.  Anyhoo,  I’m hard at work here in blogging land & working on something extra special for all you blog readers out there.  Eeeeek!  Can’t wait to share this big surprise with y’all.

If you’re one of my IRL (in real life) friends, then you’ll quickly catch on that I’m always taking a picture of something.  I’m so thankful for my iPhone because now I never miss out on anything and I have a normal P&S camera that has become my normal use camera, but as for that DSLR….well I’m holding out hope that I’ll get one next year.  Until then I’m fine with what I have.

Sometimes, I’m not always the photographer though.  Taken at my Uncle Hollis’ farm awhile back by my cousin Ashley.  I turned my 8 year old cousin loose with a regular film camera and came back with photos that I adore looking at now.

How many days can a girl say she loves the way she looks and it doesn’t matter if her face is puffy or not?  Oh yes, this was a great day.

Just a few hours later, my lovely hair was chopped off & lightened up considerably.  Oh how I love my hair dying fun.

I’ve become quite the Rock Star when playing this game.  So much that I played the word “Gluten” the other day.  I wouldn’t know that word if I wasn’t directly affected by it.  I’m allergic to Gluten.  It’s hard to believe, I know.  In the beginning I wasn’t a fan of never being able to eat bread.  It took me a few weeks after being diagnosed to really go Gluten Free.  I loved bread, pasta, oatmeal & grains.  I began eating a lot of fruits and veggies, baking and cooking much more and eating a lot healthier than I had been.

In the time frame of about 6 months I dropped 35 pounds.  35 pounds that I didn’t know I could lose.  It just melted away eventually and left me with one rockin’ bikini body.  I eat a lot of the same foods I once did, but they’re prepared in a different way.  I cook all of my food and rarely eat out just because I’ve dealt with contamination before and it wasn’t pretty!

So for now, I’ll rock my Gluten words in the Words With Friends app & keep wracking up those 99pt words.

Have a great day y’all!

So let’s see.  If you’ll remember from here you’d see that I purchased some very cool & colorful new items.  True, these may be for your all of your kiddies out there, but this 26 year-old loves them.  So, I didn’t start off writing things down in the shower that I needed to remember.  Instead I decorated my shower with tidbits and sayings that either I’d hear while my radio was going or things I’d just think up while I was showering.  Either way, these crayons aided in some very lengthy showers and some impressive shower decor.  What you don’t see is what my shower looked like just a few weeks after this.  I covered it.  Covered it with hearts, butterflies, stars, and of course all things OU.

As it turns out, my parents were not pleased with my artwork.  Instead, I got to leave this up a few months before Madre decided my shower had been decorated long enough & put a stop to the rest of my shower decorating.  Shortly after I was asked to take down all of my graffiti, I found something totally amazing to take off all of this crayon with.  This stuff and a Magic Eraser worked perfectly to remove the stain the crayons left on my shower.  I haven’t started decorating quite yet, I’m currently letting my shower stay in it’s normal state; other than letting a 6 year old doodle every now & then.

With school getting ready to start up again after Spring Break you can count that multi-tasking will be a huge part of my life….just take a look at this.  Facebooking and writing a paper.  All too common with the college girl I must say.  I’ve definitely become the computer geek and this just shows that even more.

So I have something to blame that can never keep me on schedule.  I blame the iPad.  I can catch up on my episodes using the ABC app….I love Brothers & Sisters.  Don’t you?

…but then listening to Jason Aldean on the Pandora app has also aided to that fact that I occasionally  run late — especially when I start jamming out on some air guitar or playing the drums on the bathroom counter tops.  Oh yes, I really get into my music.

Petey & I are rockin’ our RED for Heart Month.  Although, it’s getting ready to snow here, so we’re both bundled up tightly.  Looking forward to getting a little bit of snow, just not feet of snow.  Hopefully all will be well with the world in a few days and the snow will GO AWAY for good!  One can hope & wish, right?

See, proof.  Once you grab a photo album out of the case, you’re obligated to go through it and reminisce.  Which means about 4 more people come sit down beside you to look through what you’re looking at.  To remember the times y’all shared and how it seemed like all of these pictures happened just yesterday.

Who knows.  Discussing something pertaining to photos I’m sure.  Like “I can’t believe you wore that.” or “What were we doing there?”.  I’m sure you can imagine all of the crazy questions we all asked of each other.

You’ll occasionally snort with laughter and think to yourself, why did I ever wear that?  What was my mother thinking when she dressed me in those things?

See.  What did I tell you?  The outfits were horrendous back then.  I know we were laughing at the flag shirts we were dressed in.  Oh Mom, what were you thinking?

Would you look at how young we looked back then?  What I’d give for a few more minutes in that JR high body..actually, scratch that, I loooove my body now.  Oh man, I’m sure glad these photos are around.

….let the photo madness begin….

Oh yes, be jealous.

Ready to have a little fun.

Ready for the fun to begin

Tucked safely in their own section in my shower.