Chiropractic Perspectives

Closing a chapter on professional education

Tomorrow at 2pm, I will graduate. After 3.25 years of chiropractic school (following a 4-year undergraduate program), I will finally be a doctor of chiropractic. I'm DONE with school . . . at LAST!

Now, I just need to make it through my last month of pregnancy, and this is definitely a tough month! I'm so belly heavy that it's uncomfortable to sit, sleep, walk, stand, or do just about anything. I love it when the blood just rushes to my uterus and about all I can do is sit down on the floor. I can go from being relaxed to feeling so uncomfortable that I have to just plop down wherever I'm at in about 30 seconds. Right now, this little bambino is chalking up about 6 lbs, and I still have almost a month to go. Estimated baby weight at birth is 8.5 lbs.

Even though I can't don the cap, gown, and hood for the ceremony and celebrate in true 073 style, I'm going to celebrate tomorrow evening anyway. My mom and step-dad are meeting us in Clarks Summit for dinner at Pepato's Cafe. Yay!

Hopefully in the next 6 months, Steve & I will figure out where we want to move and settle down . . . where we'll open a practice, and then I can figure out all the other details involved with that huge life-changing event!

I'm taking a hiatus on this blog for awhile since I'm not going to be doing anything chiropractic-related for a few months (at least until well after the baby's born and I'm licensed). But, for updates on baby and travel, stay tuned to our Baby Blog.

Labels: palmer, party

Christmas Photologue

My grandparents

Carrot cake, my weakness

Candle & tree

Little Lily & Big Blazer

Aaron & Blazer

Tree ornaments with a glimpse of the hills and Snake River valley

My cousin Heather has an adorable 5 month old Maltese purse puppy named Lily. Everyone loves her, especially Steve. He's a huge fan of big dogs, until he met Lily.

My grandpa loves Lily, too.

I adore the little snowball with legs, too. She's so sweet! And, she doesn't even bark. Who could ask for a more perfect little dog?

My grandparents' backyard complete with a light-up tower, waterfalls, and a couple of fish ponds.

Everyone huddled around the punch bowl for Christmas Eve party. My aunt & uncle hosted around 30 people for food and a white elephant gift exchange.

Labels: family, party, vacation

Thanksgiving Fellowship

We had a memorable Thanksgiving with friends. Steve & I prepared the turkey and a Florida avacado & pomegranate salad, and we trucked it over to Dr. Shawn's place. The turkey turns out fabulous every year. But, this year instead of the poultry rub and butter, we also added a chicken broth with onion, garlic, and poultry seasonings. This kept the turkey moist. We used an injection needle to continually infuse the broth and butter drippings into the breast meat and legs throughout the cooking process.

Dr. Shawn had invited two of his hospital colleagues from Shang Hai who are currently working in the peds & NICU dept of a hospital in Boston. None of them had ever seen a complete turkey. So, they took photos with it to their hearts' content, and then we dove in.

Steve peeled the frills from the pomegranate, which is a time-consuming and arduous task. But, it is so rewarding for those ruby red pockets of sweetness!

Dr. Shawn prepared Chinese BBQ spare ribs and beef. So, it was more of a Chinese-American Thanksgiving dinner. In this photo, he's telling us a story about BBQ marinade preparation.

There were a few vegetables available, spring greens and a veggie tray, but it was mostly a protein-heavy meal. That's probably why we didn't feel the big starch-protein contrast weigh down our stomachs like a big brick. We were all feeling pretty lively after the meal, unlike some other friends we ran into.

After dinner, we all traveled together to Dr. Don & Ronnie's house for desserts. They had a huge gang there of family and friends. We brought the beloved pumpkin cheesecake. But, since we have an extra one at home, we dove into the homemade apple pie, fruit torte, and apple torte with almond paste crust.

Dessert was divine! Almost everyone there were still surviving their food comas from earlier in the day.

Dr. Ronnie was "goofing off" with her friend Mike.

Steve got me (us) a new camera for Christmas. He let me use it early. It's a Canon SD700 camera. Thank goodness. My last one was a piece of crap. This one is almost as spectacular as a professional camera. We had fun playing with it on Thanksgiving! I hope all of you had a wonderful day with family and friends.

I really enjoyed the blessing of wonderful and delicious food, the time of fellowship with Steve and friends, and the relaxing time off from clinic. I'm thankful that I was able to spend this holiday at home, and I often thought of my friends and numerous other troops who are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with their families. Holidays are the toughest times to be away from family in the military. So, I'm thankful for their sacrifice for freedom. God bless y'all!

Labels: food, having fun, party

Class 073 Clinic Entrance Party

The Class 073 Council did a fantastic job of planning our Clinic Entrance party at Our Deck Down Under. About 2/3 of our class showed up, which is a pretty good turnout. We invited all the clinic faculty and staff , as well as professors we had on the academic side of campus to celebrate this huge milestone with us. We had chicken picatta, a grilled mild fish, pasta salad, veggies & dip, grilled shrimp, hush puppies, and cheesecake. I was pretty impressed with the food and left feeling full. Afterward, Steve joined me for a 1.5 mile run on one of the windiest days we've had this year. Then, we watched numerous episodes of House, M.D.--Season 2 . It was a perfect evening!

My grainy camera resolution didn't take very good shots, thank goodness there were other classmates doing the papparazzi rounds for the evening. Most of the photos below are courtesy of Katie. Our next big class shin-dig will be our graduation banquet in 10 months.

Me & Steve

Stew, Lindsey, & Jorge (Class 073 Presidente)

Dr. J & his wife, Dr. Bill & his friend

Dr. Raja, us, the Shreeves, & Dr. Bobo

Victor, Ben & Mandy

Dr. & Mrs. Shreeve

Jason & Katie

Nick & his girlfriend

Will, his partner, & Theresa (Class 073 Secretary)

Meredith & Steve (Class 073 Vice-Prez)

J-Pag, Andrew & his girlfriend

Ed & his fiancee Carly

Drs. Morehouse, Grand, Bobo, & Dr. Canty's daughter

Craig, me, & Dr. He

Alex (Class 073 Treasurer), Rob, & Keren

Damron & Alison

The Cayer Clan

Labels: having fun, palmer, party

Fondue Party

The fondue party was Michelle's brilliant idea based on her mom's family tradition of giving her kids a fondue party at the end of final exams to celebrate their efforts and accolades.

We had an small, intimate group of friends and we shared in extremely delicious food and fun conversation.

In rare form, Steve actually smiled for a photo.

Michelle enjoys the mini-cheesecakes of cheesecake filling dipped in the mini-graham crackers with chocolate drizzled on top.

Chris & Kristin

Steve sampled the peppercorn salami dipped in artichoke-pimento cheese fondue

Chris was a first-timer at fondue, so he began the appetizer experience. He was very inquisitive about the fondue "rules", but in the end it didn't matter. He snagged several pieces of Steve's mushrooms, potato, and steak in the fondue pot!

Our hosts: Bryan & Michelle

Kristin stands next to the dessert preparation in the kitchen: platters of fruit near bowls of marshmallows and graham crackers.

Bryan was so hungry that the fondue experience took a little too long for his preference. Every 10 minutes or so, he was able to eat a steak niblet. This whole set-up reminded me of an American version of the Chinese "hot-pot", minus the blazing hot chili peppers.

I was a huge fan of the grapes dipped in chocolate fondue (Godiva's liquor, Riesling, sweet condensed milk, and semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Kristin, Michelle, & I relaxed and celebrated that we had passed national boards!

At the end of the evening, the guys settled into playing a WWII-style kill your opponent game that reminded me of the set-up of DOOM or 007. I'm obviously not into video games and I haven't played any since I was in high school (Tetris doesn't count) . . . oh, but the guys had a GREAT time!

Labels: food, having fun, party