Yay Rah!!!

My sister is getting married! Yay Rah!

I passed Histology!

O yes O yes. I have never been so excited about a C in my entire life. This is offically my first C ever. But it feels great. Now I can really have a good vacation.

The stay at the depot was ok. Our room worth was $189. Totally not something I would ever pay for. Plus you have to pay $14 a night for parking. Ridiculous. I wasn't even that impressed with the Old Spaghetti Factory. The meat sauce tasted a little weird. But I had this really awesome oreo milkshake. So that made the meal completely worth it. And a couple hours in the hot tub was very relaxing. Overall it was a very fun evening. And when I came home this morning I had the second disc of season five of gilmore girls waiting for me. Yay Rah!

So I'm done now

Well I'm done with my first semester. I thought it would be great to be finished with my classes. But I can't relax yet because my last exam, in histology was the worst test I have ever taken. I'm pretty sure that I made completely in the dark guesses for at least 80% of the test. And the other 20% I was able to eliminate one or two choices but then I still had to guess. It was not pretty. I think the lab portion went ok, so as long as I picked up a few points there I think I will pass, but of this I am not yet certain.

So I sit here stressing out over my grade, unable to relax and enjoy the start to my vacation. I know there is nothing I can do about the test now, but to think that I would have to take histology over is so incredibly agonizing. Hopefully by Monday I will know my grade. I recalculated what I need to get a D in the class and it looks promising. I only needed 55 out 140. So even by guessing on the entire written test I think I was able to get 55 points right.

So except for histology its great to be done. Today I am going to start packing up our house. and tonight Josh and I are staying at the Depot and going out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. This is going to be a great break. No studying, no waxing teeth, and no histology.

Finals week

Finals week is finally here. And I only have three finals this week. Two today and one on Wednesday. However, they are the longest finals I have ever had, and I will use almost all of the time. Today starts off with waxing practical, waxing a mandibular first molar, a tooth that we have already waxed for a practical and I aced. So I am not too concerned. However following that three hour practical we have our oral anatomy final which I have no idea how it will go. Our professors is quite the trickster and can be very mean when it comes to tests and quizes.

On Wednesday I have my last and worst final, in histology. The class that everyone dreads. I'm getting a high C to low B in there so I am just hoping to pass the class, even if that means I get a D because I just want it to be over.

So Wednesday at noon I am a free woman. My first semester of dental school is finally over!

Yeah Rah

Things have been going so great for me lately. I think it all started with my last waxing practical. As easy as it may sound, making a tooth out of wax is a very difficult task. However two weeks ago I mastered the maxillary first molar. As my bench mates called it, I made the magic tooth. Mostly everyone either fails or passes by one or two points. I actually got on A on this tooth. yeah rah for me!

We also found out that we get the apartment we want. We were told we wouldn't be able to move until spring but now we actually get to move over break, and I have helpers- yeah rah!

One of my bench mates, and good friends from dental school won a free party at the lodge, a bar, downtown. So that is where I will be spending my Friday night. At a bar, not studying. Yeah Rah.

I emailed my gross anatomy teacher the other day to find out my final grade. I thought I was going to get my first C, but I didn't I got a B! This will really help my GPA because that class was worth 8 credits. Now I don't think I will be put on academic probabtion. Yeah Rah!

Only one week of classes left, and three days of finals. I am so happy to be done with this semester. Then it is Christmas, my most favorite time of year. Josh and I got almost all of our Christmas shopping done this week, and all the presents are wrapped and under our beautifully decorated tree. Yeah Rah!

I worked the day after and the Saturda after Thanksgiving and today is payday. Yeah rah!

We're Moving!

Josh and I just found out yesterday that we are moving. As of Monday we were told that we probably would not be able to move in until at least February because there were no openings. But because I was so eager (and probabl annoying) he moved us up on the waiting list and gave us the one open apartment!! Now we get to move over my Christmas break.

We could use a lot of help and a lot of vehicles. We really need the van possibly with the trailer because we have some large furniture to move and we'd rather not rent a truck. So family, what are you all doing on December 28th around 11:30? Please Please Please help us move.

I love free stuff

Dental school is great for free stuff. A few weeks ago we had a vendor fair where all these companies basically loaded your bag with toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, pens, notepads, and other odds and ends. We get "goodie bags" in our mail boxes filled with toothpaste and toothbrushes. I was thinking that I will never have to by another toothbrush as long as I live. (and i've already given molly on down new toothbrushes). Well today my thinking was confirmed when the entire first year dental class recieved an $120 electric toothbrush made by Oral B. I guess eventually I will have to buyreplacement attachments for it but thats ok with me because this toothbrush rocks! I tried it out, as soon as there was enough charge to the battery, o my gosh my teeth feel amazing!! I can't believe I waited so long to get an electric toothbrush. I love free stuff!!

Next year I think we get a sonicare, which is another super amazing electric toothbrush. I love dental school (well this week anyways).

Busy busy busy

Well school has been keeping me pretty busy lately. I am so excited for the Thanksgiving holiday, four days off from school! Next week is looking pretty great, for once we have no scheduled tests, that means that my vacation really starts as soon as my biochem test is done tomorrow.

Today I bought my first Christmas present. I never thought I would do my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, but I don't get to the store that often so since I was there and alone I was able to pick up a present for Josh. Its nice to get a head start since I won't have much time to do the rest of my shopping until after the 14th.

I wish I could make my blog more interesting but I spend my whole day at school. Not very exciting. There are some big things coming up in my future so hopefully I will have good stories from those. Thanksgiving, Christmas, a wedding and New Years, a free night stay a the Depot with water park passes, girls night out, an anniversary party to plan, and a trip to DC and my first year of dental school to finish. So busy...

A disapointing Halloween

I was really looking forward to seeing all the cute trick or treaters last night. There are always tons of kids playing around here so we bought a couple bags of candy on Sunday in preparation.

When Josh came home from school around 6 he said there were tons of little kids running around. However we didn't get our first trick or treater until 7. Little Red Riding Hood and a something with a sword and shield. We got our second trick or treaters around 7:45, two little asian boys dressed up as two little asian boys.

The house across the street had a steady flow of trick or treaters. And I know you could see our brightly glowing jack o latern (that was attacked by squirrels during the day and now resemebled a hideous monster instead of the cute smiling jack o latern we carved) from their house.

O well, at least we bought candy that we both enjoy.

Bad Luck

So a bunch of first year dental students and our professors went in on a bunch of powerball tickets. We all gave a dollar and two students went and bought all the tickets. 98 of them I think. Well we didn't win the huge jackpot but we didn't even get the powerball number once. With only 42 numbers to choose from, we should have gotten the powerball at least twice. What a bunch of bad luck. Gambling stinks. Yet I'm going to the Casino on Saturday night....

A bad week

So this week is not turing out to be one of the greatest. Today we were suppose to meet a friend for dinner and we totally forgot. Luckily he called when we weren't there so we were still able to go to dinner but I just feel horrible for forgetting. I have been the most forgetful person lately. The dumb thing is, is that I have everything written down in my planner, but I still forget. I look at my planner on a daily basis too.

Also today I found out that Brittany won't be in LaCrosse this weekend, the weekend that Maria, Theresa, and I planned on going to LaCrosse to watch Emily run, so now our trip to LaCrosse seems a little ridiculous so I cancelled it. I am really torn on this decision. I want to watch Emily run, it would be some good quality time with my sisters but Josh and I can't really justify spending the money(that we dont' have) on gas, plus it would be all day and I am getting behind with my school work so I could use the extra time to get caught up. I will get to watch Emily run when she runs right here in St. Paul so I don't feel so guilty about not watching her run. But no matter how I justify it, I still feel bad for canceling.

School has really been kicking my butt lately. It is a lot harder than I expected. I know I could be doing a lot better too, but it is hard to find the motivation. Its especially hard because Josh comes home from school and gets to spend his evenings doing whatever he wants (on the computer) and I need to be studying. Its just not fair. In the end we will both be Drs. but I feel like I am putting in so much more time. It just makes it hard to find the motivation to study.

The makings of a dentist

Well anatomy is done, but the hard stuff has only begun. My work load has quadrupled since anatomy. Luckily I have already had biochem and molecular biology, so hopefully that will help me when it comes to learning the material. I thought it would help for anatomy, but I don't think that it did.

Oral Anatomy has been very difficult, yet very rewarding. It is our only class in which we are doing anything dental related, not counting getting test questions for our boards from biochem, histo, and anatomy. Lately we've been waxing up the maxillary central incisor, or tooth number eight. Friday we have an annotation practical in which we have to assign numbers to the anterior teeth. This may seem easy, but when you just have a random tooth on the bench in front of you and you have to decide if it is maxillary or mandibular, incisor(central or lateral) or a canine and then you have to determine right from left, it is actually very difficult.

Waxing up a tooth is much harder than it sounds too. We have a partiallly cut down tooth and we have to build it up to fit in the mouth. It must touch the neighboring teeth at the exact points of contact. This means that the mesial and distal convexities must have their crests at exactly the right spot. Most people (including me) have a difficult time just drawing this, now imagine doing it in melted wax, that always seems to cool either too quickly or too slowly. Plus the terminolgy is still a little difficult. The fourth sentence in this paragraph is my new lingo. Everthing is refered to like this and the professors talk fast so good luck!!

As hard as dentistry has been I am really enjoying my time. Which is good, because this is how I spend all of my time. My days keep getting earlier and later. I'm not quite sure what Josh looks like anymore, but I could tell you the difference between and right lateral and right central incisor.

Final Anatomy Test

Yesterday was our last anatomy lecture, I thought it would never get here. No more changing into those horrible stinky cadaver clothes. Friday is our test so today and tomorrow are designated study days. I am finding it very hard to get motivated to study for this last test. I have been studying since 8:30 this morning (with the exception of a couple of short breaks and one long one for lunch). I wish tomorrow was Friday just so I wouldn't have to be tortured with trying to study.

I can't wait for this weekend, no anatomy to think about! However on Monday the rest of our classes start, including Histology which is suppose to be worse than anatomy. I don't think anything can be worse than anatomy. You don't have to change into smelly clothes to go to histo.

I can't wait to celebrate birthdays this weekend. Almost the whole family will be there, plus other relatives. I haven't seen my grandparents in quite awhile so that will be nice to see them. Plus we are having the best food ever.

Well I suppose I should get back to my studying. I wish I could just go home, but I told my body buddy I would meet him in the lab at 3. I did this on purpose, knowing it would keep me at school, however I'm not really getting any studying done, so it's pointless for me to stay at school. O well. I suppose if I learn one thing that will score me some extra points on the test it'll be worth it.

Gina Gina Pretty Ballerina

Is Back!!!

Tonight was my first night back at dance. It was so much fun. I miss clogging so much. I think it is going to be a fun year, I know my class will be a much appreciated break from all of my studying. I'm not so excited about the half hour drive to the studio, but it'll be ok.

We already started our first dance- When the Sun Goes Down- by Kenny Chesney and Uncle Cracker, and I am also learning a second, more advanced song, its by Faith Hill- not sure of the title, something about summer.

Anyways I didn't get a whole lot of studying done today so I better do a quick review before I head to bed.

Test #2

Well after a grueling four hours I have finished my second anatomy test. Two down, one to go. I'm not sure how well I actually did, I know for a fact that I only got two wrong on the first column of the practical part, because my TA graded it and told me. So far I have 46/150 points on the practical portion. I feel that I did better on the written part this time too. So hopefully my grade will reflect how I feel.

Nothing else is really new in life. Life pretty much stops while I am studying for anatomy. Tomorrow we have a whole day off and Emily and I are going shopping. I am excited to get out of the house and spend some quality time with my siser.

As soon as Josh gets done with his lab stuff he is taking me out to lunch! This is very exciting news because I am starving! I just spent two hours in the cadaver lab and that smell triggers your hunger center, so I am extra famished!

Still living next to the state fair

Well here we are at the 8th day of the great Minnesota get together and its starting to get a little old. For starters, the number of buses on the roads around here is crazy. They are creating too much traffic on my nice quiet transitway that the campus commuter takes me to school on. I liked being on the only bus on the road. Secondly the fireworks are starting to get on my nerves. Usually around 10 o'clock is when I have just fallen asleep and them I am rudely awakened by the exploding of the fireworks. I should just stay up until they are over, but I have to get up so early to miss all of the bus traffic, so by 10 o'clock I'm exhausted.

Last night Martinna McBride sang, but I didn't go outside to hear her. I think in about an hour Rascal Flats will be singing and I think I might have to go outside for them.

I think I am officially half way done with anatomy. Our cadaver has taught us much but is becoming a little , ok a lot, smelly. I, along with my body buddies, have decided to purchase some face masks for the remainder of the course. I can't believe it took us this long to decide to get masks, I'm pretty sure the smell hasn't gotten any worse. I think maybe we are just putting our faces in closer to see all the teeny structures we are forced to find so it seems a lot worse.

Only a week away from test number two, which means I better get back to my studying.

Living next to the state fair

So I thought that living next to the fair would be a lot more exciting than it has turned out to be. We thought for sure traffic would be terrible, but it hasn't been. There haven't been any problems with people parking in our community. There haven't even been any interesting characters cutting through CTC. There are a c0uple of benefits for us though. The bus stop got changed for these few weeks, and it is a lot closer than it was before! Also we get a beautiful fireworks display from the comfort of our living room every night. :)

Dental school is still going on. We had our first test on Friday, I managed to pass, but that's about all I can say. It was the hardest test I've ever taken. It took me almost all four hours to take it, and I used to be a fast test taker. Oh well. The TAs all say that the first one is the hardest so hopefully the next two will go better for me and I'll manage a decent grade in the class. Today we looked at the lungs and thorax, tomorrow we look at the heart.

Just one more class left for today- History of dissection and then I'm off to the fair for my second day in a row!

Dental School Week Two

We are well into our second week of dental school. We have only had five total anatomy lecture and labs but we are cruising through the body. I think what we have learned so far is equal to half a semesters worth in undergrad. We have our first test next Friday, yet we have already learned enough information for at least one test, if not two. It is a very overwhelming class.

Today is also our first embryology lecture. I have already taken an embryo class so I am hoping that is beneficial. I guess the professor just zooms right through. So tonight I think I will be diggin out my old embryo notes.

Tomorrow Josh and I are suppose to go to the Twins game with Emily and Eric. I didn't realize it was this week until yesterday. I feel like I shouldn't be going because then I won't have my evening to study the billion things we dissected in lab that day. One day of not studying can really put you behind. This weekend we have another wedding so there won't be much time to study either. Hopefully Josh will quiz me during the drive and then on Sunday I can review in the lab. It will be nice to have a couple of days where we are not learning new material, just trying to remember everything that we have seen so far.

Yesterday Josh finally got his new computer up and running and actually played his Everquest game. yeah rah. We went and bought a new desk, one that is big enough for both of our computers. It took Josh like 4 hours to put it together, but it looks really nice.

First day of classes

Classes started this morning at 8am with gross anatomy lecture. It is a huge class. I'm pretty sure it is larger than any class I took at CSS (and there are only medical and dental students in it). It is going to be a hard class, lots of studying and lots of time in the cadaver lab. I am glad this is our only class for the next 7 weeks or so.

I also had oral anatomy today, but all we did was hand in our jar of teeth that we collected. No biggie. I was also able to meet my body buddies while we were in oral anat.

We have an extra long break today because of oral anatomy being so short so I checked out the cadaver labs, made sure I could find my way. Now I am sitting in Josh's lab trying to kill some time. I already prepared myself for the cadaver lab this afernoon and looked up some vocab words hat I new once upon a time so I am ready to go.

Today we are disecting the shoulder and chest area. Some of the highlights we will see are the pectoralis major and minor, the deltoid, the seratus anterior, and some arteries, veins, and nerves which I can't remember the names for.

It looks to be a long afternoon in the lab, at least 3 hours. Then Josh and I will catch the bus home. Hopefully we won't miss it. The last bus comes around 5:40, so if the lab goes longer than anticipated I might be walking...

Day 2

Well day two went much better than day one. For starters it was only a half day. We had some pretty boring speakers and a student awareness bs panel in the morning. Then we talked about financial aid, everyone perked up when we started talking about money (or lack there of). Then we went and had a very wonderful lunch at the Radisson ballroom with some business associates (proctor and gamble, midwest dental ect) and some Minnesota Dental Association Members. The MDA members sponsored each one of us incoming students and paid our first year membership. So I am now a member of the American Student Dental Association and the Minnesota Dental Association. They also presented us with a PDA (made by Dell, looks pretty nice, has a couple of really great games. To my family: there is a game like bubblet on it! I am pumped) Tomorrow we have to sit and listen for two hours on how to use this thing. I most likely won't even use it, except for the games. I am much more of a paper planner person.

Tomorrow we also get assigned our body buddies. They are the three other people that we share a cadaver with. I hope I have manly men who are excited to cut up the thing. Don't get me wrong, I would love to disect but sometimes I think I would rather sit back and direct.

Tonight Josh is at poker so I have the house to myself. I haven't decided if that is good or bad yet. It also means I don't have the car, which is ok, but I guess I am really too tired to go run errands anyways. However, I better get the grocery shopping done before Thursday, because I am pretty certain that most of my nights will be spent with my body buddies- all four of them.

My first day as a dental student

Well today was my first day of the rest of my life. I started my first of three days of orientation at 7:30 this morning. We had a full day of speakers, food, a tour, and pictures. My head is so crammed full of information, none of it having anything to do with teaching me how to be a dentist. We learned about all the clubs we can join, but yet we didn't even learn where our first class is... We still have two days of orientation left so hopefully we'll learn that some time.

These next four years are going to be tough. I was really nervous this morning but now I am excited to get going. Our first class is gross anatomy. We start on Thursday morning with cutting open the thoracic cavity of a cadaver.

Hopefully I will keep up with my blog more now that I have a more regular schedule. But for now I am off to relax after a very long and tiring day.

UMM v. CSS

Josh and I headed up to Morris yesterday (about a three hour drive) to watch Morris play our alma mater, CSS. We thought it would be a good game, St. Scholastica is always bragging about their baseball team. However we ended up feeling embarrased that we attended CSS. They played cheap ball.

One thing that really bothered me was the batter would often watch the pitches(both balls and strikes) go by. Two strikes and three balls later, with no swinging action the final pitch would come and before the ump even made the call the batter would be on their way to first base, assuming it was a ball. However on at least four different occasions it was actually a strike and the batter looked like an idiot making his way to first. I'm not sure if they were trying to trick the ump into making it a ball or what. But boy did they look stupid.

The other thing that bothered me was CSS #24, who's name will remain annoymous (since I don't know it anyways), came up to bat and on the second or third pitch stepped into the ball and got a walk. It was so obvious that he stepped into it, but the ump did nothing. Then on his second time at bat, he did it again. And on his way to first base the ump called him on it, and it ended up being a strike instead. It made him look like an idiot too.

Morris ended up losing all three games, but I thought they played better than CSS. They swung, and hit the ball many times. CSS just made good plays in the field. I was very dissapointed with the cheap baseball that was played.

However, my spirits were lifted at the bottom of the 7th (and last) inning when the coach said, we're gonna get some pinch hitters in. Thats when I saw Kendrick grab a bat and put on a helmet. He was fourth to bat. That meant that somone had to get on base. A feat that had not been accomplished too many times in the previous innings. However, the first batter managaed to get on base (he actually made it to second on crazy throw to first). The next two batters struck out. Kendrick steps up to the plate a couple of pitches are thrown, one comes right down the middle and SMACK! He sends it flying to left field. CSS was playing so shallow, quite an insult to Morris, and if that left fielder would have been playing a normal depth his ball would not have been caught. It was perfect placement. As it was, the left fielder had to make a little dive for his ball anyway.

I was really excited to see Kendrick play. And It was a beautifyl day to be outside, we all ended up with sunburned faces.

After the game Kendrick introduced us to the Pizza Ranch where we enjoyed as much Pizza as we could eat. It was a great day!

Its been awhile

So I know I haven't written in what seems like forever, but I've been soo busy. Married life is crazy. And when I do have free time we end up going to the Twins game ! (check out emily's blog for the game highlights http://www.emnovak.blogspot.com/ ) Josh and I are going next wednesday (student night and dollar dog night) if anyone wants to join us. And of course we are going to the yankee game on June 4th. I'm sure we'll be going to more games between then and after then too. I'm determined to make Josh a baseball/Twins fan!


I've been working at Kohls for a month now, in the lingerie department. It was pretty crappy at first, but now that I finally got the hang of it they are moving me. Actually I'm getting promoted to the supervisor of mens. Pretty cool considering it comes with a nice raise and I'll get about 40 hours a week.

Tonight Josh and I are working at the target center for my parents. Its a wolves game so hopefully it won't be too late. I haven't worked the target center in so long. Last summer I mainly worked the Saints games, but it got really bad when some lady let her younger than 18 daughter serve alcohol. I didn't need to get fined for that, so we didn't work so much after that. At least at the target center they are more strict on their rules.

I still remember my first time I worked the target center, it was Jesse Ventura's inaugural party. And it was crazy. Plus we weren't in the regular stand, so it was dirty and not set up as nice. I swore I would never go back, but here I am 5 years later and still putting in my time.

I can't believe I actually got Josh to work with me, and before we were married! I think he worked with me even before we were engaged. If you want to know if someone loves you and your family, ask them to work the Target center with you- at least twice.

A funny story

Today I was driving to work (thats right, I finally got a job) in our wonderful little car and I had the radio on. The front left speaker is kind of crappy so the balance is set so that it does not come out of that speaker. But I hear the music from the back left speaker and the right speakers.

So today as I'm driving, all of the sudden the music got quieter and I realized there was no sound coming out of the back left speaker. I was thinking that our car was really going to crap. But then all of the sudden the music started coming from the back left speaker again. However, shortly thereafter it went out again. And then came back on.

It kept doing this all the way to work and all the way home from work. When finally I realized what was happening. Every time I turned right the music went out in the back left speaker and when I turned left it came back on again. I thought, this is really weird. Until I looked behind me as I was turning and saw the road atlas sliding across the ledge in back, blocking the speaker each time I turned right and uncovering it each time I turned left.

Its Official

This Saturday night I will be hosting a party, Emily will be cohosting. That means that you're coming over to help clean! :)

We're gonna play some games, eat some food whatever.

It'll probably start around 7:30.

Matt and Laura I'm hoping you can make it.
Emily and Eric you better be here.

Theresa Maria, try to get permission if you're free.

Any one else who wants to come is invited too!

But be warned our apartment is small.

Domestic Gina

So this week I have been feeling very domesticated. On Monday I made a menu for the next two weeks. Just like my mom used to do. And then I made a grocery list of everything I needed for the next two weeks. Then I went grocery shopping. I have never gone grocery shopping for myself for that long of a time, it took two and a half hours for the total experience. Driving, shopping, paying, driving, unloading the car, and putting the groceries away. I have never spent that much money in one grocery trip either. But it was worth it, because we are having some good meals in the next two weeks. The savory pork loin has been in the crockpot since early this morning and smells so good. If Josh would have gotten out of bed this morning we could be eating by now, but he didn't, so we are having a late dinner.

Yesterday Josh and I went to dinner at my cousin's house. It was a really good time. It was our first dinner with another married couple. We thought that maybe we would run out of things to talk about but we ended up having some great conversations!

Soon I think I will be a working wife. I had an interview at Kohls yesterday, they didn't say what would happen next, so hopefully I will be getting a phone call soon. Otherwise I have to pursue some other options. As much as I don't want to work, it would be nice to make some money. The bills are piled high and it would be nice to get some of them paid.

I got my new social security card the other day. Gina Lorraine Andersland. It is so weird to see it in print. I ordered new credit cards today too, up to this point I have been signing everything Gina Novak but soon I will be signing my new name. It is so weird. And I really have to concentrate and spell Andersland in my head everytime I write it. I'm sure it will be awhile before it comes naturally to me.

Married Life

Well we have been married for almost three weeks and things are going so great. I love the married life. I think I love it a little too much in Josh's opinion. I am so unmotivated to get a job or even go to dental school. I love being at home, running errands on my own time, cooking, cleaning, it is such a good life. I don't even mind cleaning up after Josh (Josh this does not give you permission to be messier or to not help around the house). Once I go to school I know I will be so busy and overwhelmed that I won't enjoy doing the things I am doing now, I just won't have the time or energy for them. And that leaves me questioning my decision to go to dental school. I am hoping that in six months I will be excited to go to school. Hopefully I will find a job soon, and I think that will make me want to go back to school as there is nothing more motivating than working at printing enterprises. Working there is something I know I could not do for the rest of my life.

My whole goal in life is to work part time. So I think I will make it through my four years of dental school, possibly more, and then start an office or work with someone else, whatever opportunity presents itself and then after working full time for awhile cut back to part time. I guess my goal of working part time is motivating. I wouldn't want to work part time in retail the rest of my life, it would get boring and you definetely don't get paid enough. But a part time dentist would get paid plenty and dentistry is never boring!

Josh has been super busy since we've been back from Jamaica but we've still managed to spend some time together watching our shows on Thursday night and even playing trivial pursuit. We got the 90s edition for our wedding, and there were actually questions we could answer! We have a lot more games to play so hopefully we'll find time for them all.

This weekend and next if needed we are writing all of our thank you cards. They are going to take forever. I'm making Josh write all of the thank yous to his relatives, and even though I probably have more thank yous to write I am sure I will get done way before him. That kid gets distracted so easily. Maybe thats why he and Jeph get along so great.

Josh and I are going on a date tonight, actually I guess Its a double date since we are meeting Emily and Eric to go bowling. But first we are going to dinner, but we have to find somewhere that serves seafood. Maybe he'll take me to red lobster...yum....

A beautiful sunset 

Josh climbing up to go down the waterslide 

My hunky husband! 

Friday morning I was so sick. I woke up at 1am thinking I would have to go to the hospital. I couldn't even move. After some wonderful (american) drugs, I was able to get up and even eat breakfast. Josh went and brought breakfast to our room and we ate on our beautiful patio 

Relaxing on a hammock during the sunset 

We saw a couple of lizards on our trip.  

Beaches is a family resort so we were often visited by sesame street characters including elmo, chloe, grover, and cookie monster 

Beaches Sandy bay had an xbox room that had 16 xbox machines!!  

Just relaxing in the pool after a hard day of playing on the water slides. 

A view of the island of Jamaica from the plane 

A picture of one of many pools at beaches Negril, this one had a swim up pool bar. 

Jamaica and more

So my first blog after the wedding and I'm already having too many problems. I like so many other people just spent a long time writing a blog and then I went to post it and it didn't work. I am so unmotivated on this dreary Saturday so I don't think I am going to retype it.

It was pretty boring anyway. Just a quick blog on Jamaica. How gorgeous it was and how much fun we had. And a couple of the crazy things that happened while we were down there. I think Josh will write them better on his blog, it might take him awhile, but check it out: jandersland@blogspot.com .

I am going to post some pictures though, and I'll try to write a brief description. The pictures are all from our fabulous new digital camera!!

My long hair before I cut it. I cut off 11 inches and donated it to locks of love! 

The back view of my new haircut.  

Every time we went on the beach it seemed Josh found a crab. They weren't plentiful, he was just attracted to them!  

This was our first day at our resort. My wonderful HUSBAND!!! 

We took some fun pictures with our cameras. We set the timer and hoped for the best. 

The sunsets were BEAUTFUL, WE took way too many pictures of them each night.  

I drank the juice right out of a coconut. I would not recommend this. But it was kind of fun to try. 

A picture of the restaurant at the Rockhouse and some of the cliffs. When the water was calmer, we snorkeled in this area. 

At the Rockhouse Hotel. It was beautiful there. We basically jumped off the cliffs (or climbed down the ladders) and went snorkeling.  

I got my hair braided on Friday. It took her two hours but I got a really good deal!  

Waterslides at Beaches Negril. We stayed at beaches sandy bay and had full privlages to the beaches negril property, so we spent a day using their water park! 

My new hair cut 

Four more days to go

So I'm staying calm and stuff, and then I wake up yesterday morning with the hugest cold sore ever. Its so big that I think there is actually a cold sore on top of a cold sore. I can't believe it. The biggest day of my life and I have a growth on my mouth. yuck. I am so ticked off. I'm going to have to pose sideways in all of my pictures.

Besides the cold sore everything else is going great. Well excpet that Josh was puking his guts out yesterday. But I guess its better than Saturday.

Today I'm going to the mall of america with my gramma and aunt and uncles. I just need to stay busy, otherwise I have too much time to think about everything. And my thoughts are not good. No, I don't think about not marrying Josh, I am so excited to marry him. The gloomy thoughts on my mind are that of death. I am so freaked out that someone is going to die. So please, everyone drive really safe. If its snowing drive like a grandma (or grandpa). Just be safe!!

The last of the wedding plans

Well my last bridesmaid got her dress altered yesterday. The last three dresses will be done a week from today. Hooray!! No freaking out about dresses anymore. We are working on our wedding programs tomorrow, they are all hand made so they will take awhile to make. And there's only 350 of them... We still have to meet with and pay or DJ, finalize all of the flowers, get our honeymoon papers, and wrap the gifts for our wedding party. Which reminds me, I'm still waiting for one more....I'm pretty sure it was suppose to come with the other ones, last week, so I better make a phone call on that. After all that is done, I just need to stay calm, and busy. Thats the worst party, waiting. Maybe I should have left more stuff for the last minute so I wouldn't be sitting around too much the last week. I'm sure I'll be able to find something to do. Shopping, packing for the honeymoon, repacking for the honeymoon, Josh's laundry. Yeah I'll keep busy.

Three weeks to go

Wow I haven't written on here in a long time. But I have a very legitamate excuse, I'm getting married in three weeks!! I can't believe how fast its coming up. Things are finally starting to get checked of the huge list. We got our cake, marriage license, the favors are done, molly and melinda's dresses finally came in today!!! Now we have Maria and Anna's to wait for, hopefully they will be in Monday. I have my last bridal shower tomorrow with Josh's family. I think it will be a good time. Christine is so nice to have offered to give me a shower.

Lets see, what else... Well we moved in to our new apartment. It looked sooo small when we first moved in. But now that we have all of our furniture in place and dished out tons of money for lamps, curtains, bookshelves, rugs, and a table, it doesn't seem so bad. Once we get married I would love to have visitors!!! Most of my family hasn't even see it yet. A few saw it when we moved it, we had so much help that day, it was so nice!


I am just trying to stay calm and sane for the the next three weeks. There isn't too much to do. We meet with the caterers on Monday, to decide on our menu and tell them how many people are coming. However, we are still missing RSVPs from about 100 people. Thats a lot. That's $1300 for food, and if we end up paying for all of that food and they don't show up I will be an angry bride. I probably won't have time to care on my wedding day but you can bet when I get back from my honeymoon I will make a point to figure out who was there that didn't RSVP. So if that is you- GET YOUR RSVP IN THE MAIL!!!!

Our rings are done next week, our honeymoon tickets will be coming soon, as soon as the preists RSVP we can do our programs. These will take awhile. I think I might be making a trip to Duluth to get some help with them. For all of you who volunteered thinking I wouldn't actually come up to Duluth to get help, think again. You're not getting out of this one.

Josh is working on writing vows, hopefully he won't put this off until the night before.... Well I already told him I have total veto power, I get to see the final copy to add my own opinion. If worst comes to worst, we will just stick with the traditional ones.

Well I suppose I should get back to something related to the wedding. Or maybe I'll just take the night off. Wouldn't that be a nice change of pace.