Here comes the bride....

May 26^th, 2012…Vancouver Convention Centre

Mark and I FINALLY got the contract for our venue.  We will be getting married May 26 ^th, 2012 (ceremony site to be determined) and having our reception at the Vancouver Convention Centre.  WE ARE PUMPED!!!

The VCC was the first place that my mom, my maid-of-honour, my wedding planner, myself and Mark agreed on.  It has everything we wanted for our wedding: a Vancouver view, a lounge area, a separate room for kids to play in while their moms and dads drink up, a patio for smoking celebratory cigars, walking distance to a ton of hotels/public transit stops, and a West Coast menu.  It’s amazing.  Here are a few pictures of the outside…

Here is the actual space where we’ll be partying it up…

  

Needless to say, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I am now fully in bride-mode (sorry Mark).  All my planning is no longer hypothetical…I actually have a space where I can envision everything I want!  Now that you guys know where the venue is, any new opinion on the colour schemes I mentioned in an older post?  I think the room is so beautiful that I don’t want to overdo decorating.  The sloping glass, wooden beams, open patio, and of course, the view speak for themselves.

Included with our booking, Mark and I get a room at the Fairmont Hotel for our wedding night.  For those of you who don’t know, the Fairmont is a very posh hotel in Vancouver (a lot of celebrities stay there when they’re in town filming movies).  Mind you, we don’t necessarily plan on using the room.  My goal is to stay up ALL NIGHT and then go for Denny’s breakfast in my wedding dress (for those who don’t know, Denny’s is where Mark and I had breakfast on our first date).

Stay tuned for more wedding updates!!!

Denise.
(countdown to being a wife…363 days)

Here comes the view.

Before heading off to Vegas, Denise and I spent the better part a day moving apartments. We were growing tired of how far from campus we lived, and how sketchy our neighbourhood was. We have now moved much closer, and in a much safer area. Plus, how could we turn down a view like this?

What happens in Vegas, stays on our blawg (not the good stuff though...)

Third semester has begun…

Here is recap of how Mark and I spent the last week of our break…

GETTING MY GRADES…

I pulled it off.  I finished my first year of medical school with a 4.0 GPA.  All As, all the time.  I was VERY pleasantly surprised.  I had emotionally prepared myself for the worst, since 2 ^nd semester had been such a mess.  When I opened the dreaded email containing my grades, I was so happy that Mark took a video of me.  He says that he will show it to me next time I doubt how awesome a student I am.

Another perk of my grades (in addition to pride....and the RayBans I bought myself a reward)..

...is that I get to keep my job as a tutor with my friend Ned.  

I know...another red-head...what is wrong with me?

We have the same sense of humor, which should make tutoring gastrointestinal medicine and reproduction this semester very interesting…

GOING TO LAS VEGAS…

This was my 4^th trip to Vegas.  The first 3 times were with my bestie Vanessa.  Going to Vegas with a significant other is SO DIFFERENT!  I’m gonna go ahead and say it is frankly, not as exciting.  When I go with Vanessa, we spend hours getting glam, eating expensive treats, going to shows and on rides, and getting into clubs for free without having to wait in line.  It was definitely a more relaxing trip with Mark, but it was weird being there without Vanessa.

Vanessa, Hugh, and Me...no big deal...

We went to Vegas for the wedding of our good friends Tyler and Amanda. 

The Gilchrists....including ANOTHER red-head....it's an epidemic...

They got married at Treasure Island in a small, intimate ceremony.  Seeing Mark standing up there as a groomsmen made me realize just how close we are to having our own wedding ceremony (we will hopefully be booking our wedding venue this Friday…then I can blog about where it is without being afraid of jinxing it).  Tyler is Mark’s best man.  The reception was at an Italian restaurant called Maggianos.  Dinner was family style (they bring platters of different things and everybody takes what they want and put it on their own plates) and delicious!  After dinner is when things started getting messy… 

Oh dear...

We arrived at the restaurant at 6pm and were scheduled to be there until 10pm, and which point we would relocate to a country bar at the hotel.  Dinner was open bar.  Mark didn’t realize we had to leave by 10 until they announced last call around 9:30.  Mark took this as a personal challenge and proceeded to order 3 doubles of Johnnie Walker Black Label.  He had already been drinking before this, and was at that happy-tipsy level.  It was all downhill from there.  Seeing how drunk Mark was getting, I stopped drinking myself in anticipation of the night ahead of us…

There was laughter and high-fives and hugs and showering of compliments.  Mark proceeded to introduce me to all his friends repeatedly (even though I had met them all multiple times before).  He even introduced his sister to his best man…they have known each other for a decade, but Mark was convinced this was the first time they were meeting.  He would yell “HIGH FIVE!” and instead of putting his hand up for a high five would bear hug you.   He would drag me around the bar to his friends, pet my face, and ask “Isn’t she pretty!?!?!?  Look at this face! So pretty….”.  This happened more than once.

These 4 pictures are in chronological order...

By midnight, Mark and I were back in our room and he was recycling all the alcohol from the night into the hotel water supply (ie, vomiting for an hour and half).  I had never seen Mark that drunk.  The fun quickly wore off and the “I’m never drinking again” speeches began.  He eventually fell asleep/passed out by 1:30am (side note: he woke up to puke again at 2am)…

The next day I got him Gatorade and some food and the TV remote and went to the pool.  I felt bad for about 5 minutes that Mark was upstairs alone hungover, but very quickly got over it.  He was functional by the time dinner came around.

In other Vegas related events, for those of you who don’t know, I like to gamble.  Not a phrase you necessarily want to hear a future physician say, but it’s true.  The last time I was in Vegas, I won enough money to pay for my trip.  Strangely enough, it was on a slot machine (the Sex and the City slot machine to be exact).  That was awesome.  What is not awesome is that every time I see a Sex and the City slot machine now I want to throw all my money into it.  I have the problem of sometimes viewing gambling the way I view school: if I just work hard enough at it, I’ll get what I want.  Obviously, this is completely wrong.  Nonetheless, I burned through a good chunk of cash gambling in Vegas. 

Money making machine.

Mark’s sister, Jocelyn, and her rad friend Lindsey came down to Vegas while we were there.  It was great to see them, not only because they rule, but because Mark and I were slowly getting on each other’s nerves a little, so it was nice for me to have girls to hang out it.  They had the Vegas experience that Vanessa and I have when we go.  The best part of seeing them was always at hangover breakfast when they would tell us about the shananigans from the night before and I would threaten to make really loud noises.  Made me feel like a proud mama bear. 

Chicken wings @ Hooters

Other Vegas highlights:

- Seeing Mark’s friend Scott do wheelies on an elderly woman’s wheel-chair on the dance floor at the wedding reception while everybody chanted “Scott! Scott! Scott Scott Scott Scott!” to the tune of “Shots” by LMFAO…

- Going to a Bachelorette party in Vegas and getting bottle service…

- Maxing out my credit card shopping…

- Eating a serious burger at Holsteins (a delicious burger restaurant at the Cosmopolitan hotel)…

- Having Starbucks multiple times a day…

- Room service...

Best waffle of my life...

- Having a Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream parlor in our hotel (if you ever have the chance, try the chocolate milkshake there…they blend their Chocolate Therapy ice-cream with their Chocolate Brownie Fudge ice-cream and some milk….stupidly delicious….and probably pretty low–calorie)…

- Taking Mark to his first Cirque de Soleil show, Ka…

- Sitting at the pool and not feeling guilty about not studying…

- Eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup the size of my face (it actually took 6 of us to eat it)…

Gotta love America.  Strangely though, even with the regular sized packages, Americans only get 2 peanut butter cups whereas we get 3 in Canada.  Take that, America!

- Double-date with Tyler and Amanda the night we flew out (where Mark ordered steak)…

Vegas Lowlights

- Mark throwing out my Starbucks mug

Here’s the story.  Our first day in Vegas, we went to Starbucks (duh).  I really wanted a Starbucks Las Vegas mug to bring back to Dominica, so I bought one.  It was overpriced, but I really wanted it.  After we had coffee, I was heading to the mall to go shopping and Mark was heading back to the room to change into his bathing suit and go to the pool.  (which reminds me of another highlight...the shoes I bought for the wedding....)

J'adore

Anyway...before Mark and I parted way, I asked him,

“Can you take this (the mug) up to the room for me?  I don’t want to carry it around while I’m shopping.”  

I made sure to make eye-contact while asking.  I made sure to get a verbal response.  Mark said

“Sure, no problem” 

and I physically handed him the bag into his hand.  The next day, I ask Mark

“Where’s my Starbucks mug?” 

“What Starbuck’s mug?”

“The one I paid $18 for yesterday and asked you to bring upstairs.”

“I don’t know.”

Fantastic.  So we spend 5 minutes searching the room for it (it was a small room) and can’t find it.  Mark’s reply?

“I must have thrown it out.”…

Damn it McLean.  I eventually bought myself another mug, though not the Starbucks mug.  I bought a Hooters mug from the Hooters restaurant…and didn’t let Mark hold the bag.

Back to the Vegas low-lights list...

- Paying $23 for a 2 minute phone call to Vancouver from our hotel room.  We actually had a second $13 fee for another phone call, but they waived that one once we complained about how stupidly expensive it was…

- Being denied service by a cab driver (highlight: almost breaking his car door as we stormed off, second highlight: calling his boss to complain about what a douche he was)…

- Discovering that living in Dominica has made me somewhat lactose-intolerant (this really gets in the way of me drinking macchiatos)…

- Leaving Las Vegas (at least this was a low-light for me…Mark might have put this on the highlight list…)

So…now we’re back.  I think it’s fair to say that Las Vegas is the opposite of Dominica…and Las Vegas is my favourite city in the world…so you can figure out what that means.  This semester I will be doing a lot more clinical stuff and hopefully not be stressing out to the degree I was last semester, but who really knows.  Stay tuned for our next post about our Sangria in the Sink party!

Ciao!

Denise.

The Awesome Power of Mark McLean and the United States Government.

Welcome Ashley! Does this mean that your husband will be coming out of the woodwork, and stop creeping on us? Love your blog, by the way.

We've returned from Las Vegas. Overall a rad experience, and I was proud to watch Tyler marry Amanda. Congrats guys. I'm pretty sure that Denise wants to do a lengthier Vegas post, and since that city courses through her veins, she'll certainly do it better justice than I ever could.

No, this post is about the eerie power that I and the TSA possess.

First off, for part of the bachelor party, we men headed for the gun range. Never shot a gun before. Never held one. There were several options, so they gave me the "Coalition Package", a pretty tame collection of guns designed for the dumbass who doesn't know what he's doing (me!). They're pretty new weapons that are easy to shoot. Along with the guns, I got to pick three targets from about a dozen choices. So I chose a creepy looking dude holding a pretty blond hostage (this came first so that it would rouse a sense of justice in my heart), a zombie clown wielding an axe (this came second so that I would feel the urge to shit my pants, like in the movies where the hero faces adversity), and my third one...oh hell, why not shoot up Osama bin Laden (this came last so that I could feel better about fearing the clown. Plus how could you come to America and pass up the opportunity to shoot Osama? To not do it is downright unpatriotic.)? And so I shot him with a pistol.

Note: Shot him in the balls.

We went to dinner immediately afterwards, and that's when word trickled in: Osama bin Laden was shot and killed.

Yeah he was.

You're welcome, planet Earth.

I expect compensation any day now.

Ok, second. When we got back to our apartment, we began unpacking. I took off the lock that kept the zipper on my luggage closed, and started rummaging through my stuff. On top of everything, was a little pamphlet from the Department of Homeland Security. It was the TSA, telling me that regrettably, they had to search through my bag, and they hope nothing was damaged.

So in one hand I have the pamphlet, and in the other...my lock. Which I had just unlocked. There is no physical way for that pamphlet to have gotten in there. What the hell? I knew the US government was powerful, but damn! There is only one explanation. The Department of Homeland Security has developed a teleportation device, which they used to plant this pamphlet within my luggage. I am in awe.

I still use my lock for the gym. I will never, ever again doubt the power of our neighbours to the south. Er, I guess to the north now.

Progress.

Welcome Emily! It's about time you joined our blog. Glad to have you here, and I find your own blog lovely, thoughtful, and charming. Also welcome Gemma, an old friend of Denise. Welcome Carly, who is not only my boss, but an all-around pretty cool person. And finally, welcome Stephanie, whose Boston accent is music to the ears. We are now 34. Pretty soon we're going to have to figure some sort of practical use for all of you.

Dominica is a strange place. It's a place of extremes: One day I'll be frustrated and defeated to be here, another I'll wonder at the forces that brought me to this beautiful island. It's an country with daily reminders of poverty, the stress of academia, and a local culture of entitlement, but also of naturally stunning landscapes, a tight-knit community of expats, and a local culture of resilience. It's both exhausting and exhilerating. Across the board though, in the relatively short time we've been here, there's been noticeable progress.

Recently an IGA grocery store opened in town. This sounds commonplace to those who have never lived here, but for us it's a game changer. The other day we bought milk. Actual milk. We haven't had fresh milk on the island the entire time we've been here. Of course we always spend time bemoaning the lack of products here, but when you see that big ol' bottle of the good stuff on the shelves, you have to be struck by the logistics of getting it here. The milk is from Chicago, which means it had to travel from Illinois to the Caribbean in bulk, refrigerated, in time for us to consume. It's a beautiful thing.

I tried to explain what it's like to Jocelyn, my sister, who didn't get why it was such a big deal. There are grocery stores everywhere back home. Not here. Here, when we walked in for the first time, the lighting, the availability of products, the atmosphere, all of it made us feel like we were back home. I told her to imagine how Tom Hanks in Cast Away would have felt if he walked into an IGA. Exactly the same.

I know Tom. I know.

On the same note of progress, we've finally moved. We've gone from a long walk to campus, a sketchy neighbourhood, and a clear starry night sky, to a short walk, a much safer neighbourhood, and an ocean sunset view. Not too shabby, but now we have to downgrade from a king sized bed to a double. Ouch.

25% Finished.

I am now well into my 2^nd semester break and am ready to reflect on what a mess the semester was.

SCHOOL...

Overall, this semester was the most stressful time of my life.  The only other time that comes close was when I settled my ICBC claim. In both cases, the pay off was the only thing keeping me going.  I was so close to throwing in the towel so many times. 

Also this semester, I officially burnt out, something I had managed to avoid during my undergraduate degree.  Burnout, according to Wikipedia, is “a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest.”  Yep.  Sounds about right.  It can also be divided into different phases…

1. A compulsion to prove oneself 

(I was born with this one…can’t blame it on the burn out)

2. Working harder 

(And harder and harder and harder)

Every second is precious...

3. Neglecting one's own needs 

(Showers?  Who needs showers?)

4. Displacement of conflicts - the person does not realize the root cause of the distress

(Mark claims that I would melt down over trivial things…like not being able to open my pudding cup…I have no memory of this)

5. Revision of values - friends or hobbies are completely dismissed 

(Check and check)

6. Denial of emerging problems - cynicism and aggression become apparent 

(Yes?)

7. Withdrawal - reducing social contacts to a minimum, becoming walled off; alcohol or other substance abuse may occur 

(Reducing social contacts? Absolutely. Becoming walled off? For sure.  Alcohol or other substance abuse? Only if Fun Dip counts...)

8. Behavioural changes become obvious to others 

(I guess so…mind you, most of those around me were going through their own phases 1-7)

9. Depersonalization - life becomes a series of mechanical functions 

(Wake up, coffee, stare at computer, panic, watch How I Met Your Mother, go back to computer, panic again, more coffee, etc etc etc)

10. Inner emptiness 

(That sounds really emo…but true…)

11. Depression 

(Don’t think I got this far…)

Burnout is paralyzing.  Truly paralyzing.  I will try my darndest to avoid it in the future, but given my career choice, that may be harder than I would like.  Doctors have the highest burnout rate of any profession.  I’m a smart girl though, and I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

Mark has already blogged about all the changes they made to my class this passed semester, so I won’t run through them again.  Rather, here is a concise summary of semester 2:

Things that ruled:

- Cruise with Mark’s parents

- Picking a wedding venue (though we can’t book it yet)

- Hiring a wedding planner

- Hiring photographers

- My mom sending me Keurig coffee & bridal magazines just in time for finals

- How much I loved being a tutor

- Getting a new apartment

Things that sucked:

- The schedule changes

- The exam changes

- Pretty much everything Ross related

- Our friends moving back to North America

- Getting fat (I eat my feelings when I’m stressed)

- The airline losing our bags at the beginning of the semester

So!  There it is!  I am done my first year of medical school.  Don’t have my final exam grades yet, but I don’t think I’m in ANY danger of failing (especially given the rad pep talk Jocelyn gave me the day before). 

This is Joss giving me a pep talk, including a live performance of "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus...that's the metaphorical mountain on the right...

Hopefully, I go into my second year a bit wiser and a bit more patient.  But not too much…gotta keep the sass.

WEDDING...

Speaking of things that suck, I am still marrying Mark.

No caption will do this photo justice.

Speaking of things that rule, thanks to our awesome wedding planner, we have hired a photographer couple (Jeff + Cat) that we adore.  We had a Skype date with them before we sent them a deposit.  To be fair, given their portfolio and facebook page (including a link to a “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” clip) we were already sold going in.  It took about 10 minutes for Jeff to (jokingly) insult me…not a record or anything, but impressive.  We couldn’t be happier with our choice.

Since most of the wedding planning is on hold until we can officially book our venue, I don’t have a whole lot of decisions to make.  I have been looking at wedding dresses, MORE colour schemes, bridesmaid dresses, and all that jazz.  My dream dress is, frankly, out of my budget.  I am okay with this.  Ideally, the dress I get will still be lace, and fitted, and beautiful.  Here are a few dresses that I am currently in love with…in no particular order...

THE BREAK SO FAR...

Most people we know went home for the break/for good.  A lot of people went out drinking the night of the final…even those that had 3am taxis arranged to go to the airport.  

Some of my favourite island ladies....Kaylan, Sarah, Maggi, Steph Brown, me, Steph Blonde

PHOTO BOMB!  Mark & Sandeep (from Port Coquitlam, BC).  I don't know the dude's name on the left...

For the first 3 days after my final, I pretty much stayed home in bed while Mark went to work.  On the 2 ^nd day, I watched 12 episodes in a row of Say Yes To The Dress….that was too much, even for me.  We had Easter Dinner with our friends Stephanie & Diana, our new friend Nick (an incoming 1^st semester who got here early) and my classmate CJ.  

Nick, CJ hiding in the back, Diana, Steph, Mark (and his sangria)

Stephanie gave me my first ever Silly Bandz, which I had secretly been wanting since the beginning of first semester (it’s a pink heart).  Our Easter dinner wasn’t turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes, but it was still delicious!  And the company was great.  The highlight of the night might have been watching some 4^th semesters start a bonfire…with their class notes…in the middle of the street…  

So mesmerizing...

At one point they threw a local centipede…follow this link to see a picture…into the fire.  Ten minutes later, the evil thing crawled OUT of the fire like nothing happened.   So disgusting.  They threw it back into the fire a couple more times.  Eventually, we heard a loud POP noise, which we all like to think was the centipede and not an air pocket.  Before you feel sorry for the bug, please know that they are the evil spawn of Satan.  If you don’t step on them the right way, they will coil their bodies around your foot and bite you on the top of it.  They can be fatal to some people.

Tomorrow, we are going on an island trip with the school.  Then we come home to finish filing our taxes and start packing.  A very glamorous life we lead.

Yeah, I took that....no big deal...

Look at Mark's shiny white muscles...

The post almost reached the length of Mark’s posts!!! Sorry people! 

Blog to you soon,

Denise.

Top 10 Reasons my Boyfriend/Fiancee is better than your Boyfriend/Fiancee

#10

He doesn't get grumpy when I repeatedly kick his ass at Dr. Mario, and other video games.

#9

He holds back my hair when I'm sick.

(I am NOT including a picture for this one...)


#8

He likes to help me with wedding planning (or at least pretends to).

BRIDEZILLA!!!!


#7

He surprises me with tasty treats.

"You put the spoon in the pudding..."


#6

He does all our laundry so that I don't have to and can keep studying.

And he looks just like this when he's doing it...


#5

He doesn't get mad when I forget to take my clumps of hair off the shower wall after I shower (ladies...you know what I'm talking about...).

Clump of hair monster says ROAR!!!


#4

Whenever we disagree on how cold the A/C should be, he lets me win.

#3

He smells nice (usually).

#2

He gets up before me on exam days to make me fresh squeezed orange juice.

Look at Mark's pretty bracelet...

And the #1 reason my boyfriend/fiancee is better than your boyfriend/fiancee...

He pays for, downloads, and watches Say Yes To The Dress with me.

THE END!

Denise.