Holiday Baked Goods and Santa Pub Crawl- Dec 15, 2012

Brandy is an amazing baker and so she showed off her skills at her holiday baked goods exchange.  We all got a huge share of treats (and so did Mogli).  The holiday drinks were flowing too and good times were had by all.  We capped off the night with the Santa pub crawl.  Luly and Billy had fantastic santa outfits and it was a ton of fun seeing all the costumes people came up with.

Fellows and Cazden- Dec 6, 2012

Our yearly Cazden lecture is an opportunity to infuse new knowledge in our program and our lecturer this year Dr. Berger flew in from Wisconsin to discuss sudden cardiac death and single ventricle follow-up.  It's also a chance for the fellows to dress nice and hang out a little.

OMSI Zombie Night- Nov 28, 2012

OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) after Dark is a monthly event geared towards adults to explore the facility.  There's food and drink and this month's theme was Zombies.  Brandy was super excited to go and we met up with Luly, Billy, Esther, and Nicole.  Unfortunately there wasn't too much Zombie stuff, but we watched an Imax rendition of the Mayan end of the world and got to explore the regular exhibits.  My favorite was the National Geographic photography exhibit.  A mix of powerful images and sheer beauty.

Saturday Wine Tasting- Nov 24, 2012

Kelsey is a huge fan of Iota Winery and so she gathered us all together to head out to the wine country for their one tasting of the year.  It was a pretty drive and the small tasting was informal and yummy.  Brandy was our DD since she doesn't like wine and we headed to a couple other tastings before heading back to the city.

Thanksgiving Misfits 2012!- Nov 22, 2012

Flights back to Wichita were ridiculous for Turkey Day this year, so I ended up sticking around and having delicious food and fun with some great misfits who were also in town.  We hosted at the house and Jamie Spatckcocked the turkey (very cool technique where the turkey is filet-ed open to speed up the cooking time and flavor absorption.  The kids watched movies and decorated cookies, while we "adults" ate and played games.

Haleiwa Layover- Nov 20, 2012

It's become a new tradition of sorts for us to rent a car and head out to the peace and quiet of Haleiwa on our 8 hour layover in Hawaii.  We stopped off for brunch before pick up seashells along the shore and of course, heading to our favorite spot, Matsumoto's for oversized Hawaiian shaved ice.  Beautiful.

Back to Samoa- Nov 17-18, 2012

Exploring the island was an amazing experience!  So happy that we had the opportunity to do so this time.  The trip up was a little hectic with the flights both ways, having to reroute the plane back to Hawaii on the way up and arriving at 4 am the morning before our first clinic, so our weekend off was well needed.  We went snorkeling in the sea-turtle filled waters off the coast and then hiking in the National Park on Sunday.  What a beautiful place!  To top off the weekend, the hospital had a farewell/thank you dinner for us complete with traditional dance, good food, and great company.  At the end, we were all up and dancing, making fools of ourselves as we tried to learn some moves.

Tolofa from American Samoa- Nov 12-19, 2012

Our 2nd trip to American Samoa was even better than the first.  We were more prepared and more importantly, we had built relationships with staff at LBJ and with our patients, so our return was all the more sweet.  We brought a larger team with us, most significantly 2 echo techs, Timothy and Carrie, and an additional mid-level, Lynn Johnson and were able to see even more patients.  We totalled around 120 patients and really felt like we saw most that were needed on this trip.  Plus, the longer trip afforded us some play time too and we explored the island for the first time.  My connection with AS grows deeper and deeper.