Graduation Day!

So the day finally came and it was awesome! Now that the day is over it is time to study for boards like a mad woman......pass and then pack! We head out of town on Sept 6th and land in Dutch on the 7th! My first day is the 10th of September......can't believe it is time to start my career. Greg is looking into substitute teaching in Unalaska. He's pretty excited to move up there and get settled in.



A few pics from yesterday...

Master's Project Complete!

This is my completed poster for my Master's paper that I did with my classmate Brian Allen......figured it is better to look at a poster than read through 50 pages of a not so exciting study!!

Graduation right around the corner

Can't believe that graduation is right around the corner......literally a few days away. Not sure where the last 27 months have gone. With all of our ups and downs in life during the last two years, I can't believe we've made it and we're not pulling our hair out!! We have had a lot of help along the way with keeping our sanity.......so thanks to friends and family for that!!!!!! :)

We had an amazing time in Hawaii. Greg got some golfing in. I actually studied a lot and managed to read through 4 enjoyable novels! People here look at us like we're crazy when we say we're moving to Alaska......especially the Bering Sea. We try to explain it is island life, but just a little colder and a bit breezier :)

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer......or what is left of it.
Take Care!!

Hawaii Here We Come!

Hawaii Here We Come!

Well with all the chaos of this summer.......we're going on vacation! We're headed back to the Big Island tomorrow and will be gone through the 10th! It's where we spent our honeymoon, so it will be a great way to spend our 4th anniversary :) Yep 4 years, can't believe how freakin fast it has flown by!

We've been working for my cousin and her friend at Plate and Pitchfork. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, they do farm dinners to promote eating local, organic, and sustainable foods. Their website: plateandpitchfork.com We've been able to spend a lot of time with family while volunteering, which has been A LOT of fun!

Greg is officially done with work, which means it is time for us to start packing up and sorting through what stays in oregon and what goes to AK with us! Pretty crazy it is just a little more than a month away before I start work at the Iliuliuk Clinic in Unalaska and we'll be settled in to our new place.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying summer!!
Natalie and Greg

Home for good!!

I'm home 1 week early from Ohio!! The doc I was working with said we could work our hours however we wanted, so I crammed them into 3 weeks and got home early! We're both pretty excited about finally living together again :)


I still have one rotation left. It's our last rotation where we work 20 days however we want. But, since they messed up my rotations and I didn't get a hospital/inpatient rotation, I'm doing that during the month of May. Luckily it's in Salem so I get to be home everyday!! I also have to finish my master's project and study for boards.....but being at home and having things to do is soooo much better than packing my bags and getting on another plane!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Well the first week is almost done! I've worked nights this week and it has been pretty interesting. I was pretty nervous for this rotation, but as it turns out the emergency department isn't quite as scary as I thought. It is definitely interesting!!


The cabin we're staying in is on our preceptor's land, so we're not out in the middle of nowhere alone. The hospital is about 10-15 minutes away. In the other direction is Old Navy, Starbucks, Wal-Mart.....everything you need away from home :)


At the hospital we get free food! We can hang out in the doctor's lounge and use the internet.....it has some couches and a TV.....not too bad!


We plan on doing some hiking this weekend and head to Columbus.....maybe a road trip while we're here. The zoo is home to Jack Hannah....okay not home I guess cause he's not in a cage....so we're hoping to head to the zoo as well.


Hope everyone is enjoying spring!!!
Take Care,
:) Natalie

Downward Slope

I'm sitting in the Vegas airport......trying not to dump $$ into the machines, too bad they don't have any roulette tables! I'm on my way to Ohio. Never been there....not sure what to expect. I'm staying with a classmate in a cabin 10 minutes from the hospital. The Dr. who is our preceptor owns it and rents it out to students. We're doing our emergency rotation so it should be pretty interesting.

Only 4 weeks left before I get to be home on a permanent basis....can't believe it is almost over. It feels like this last year has just flown by! Although if you had asked me that in the fall I may have not felt that way :)

This last month in Idaho was great. Dermatology was a lot of fun. I learned a ton even if I end up in family practice or urgent care, derm will really help A LOT. And I'll never go anywhere without sunscreen again! Plus I was back in college land so I got to see people that I never get to see. Always something to do in Nampa!

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for all of the emails, it has been great keeping in contact with everyone.
Take Care!!
:) NatalieGraduation is less than 5 months away (8-18-07!!!!)

Back to Potato Land

Well I'm back in potato country....Nampa, ID where I spent 4 years going to NNU. My brother in law and his wife offered me a room for the month so I'm living with them and another friend who is also staying with them....it's like the good ole college days!

I'm doing my elective rotation in Dermatology here in Nampa. If there is one thing I've learned, wear your sunscreen......everyone ends up with pre-cancer or skin cancer! Froze quite a few things off today. His office also has cometic types of things such as microdermabrasion and skin tightening lasers. I think this rotation will help a lot if I end up in family practice or urgent care....he has a great algorithm that helps identify lesions and rashes.......I know I just lost pretty much everybody with that last sentence :)

Greg is at home, but will be back in Nampa in another week to visit!!! He's been busy with lobbying since Oregon is in session right now. He goes down to Salem (the capitol) a few times a week to testify for bills and do his lobby thing! Hope all is well with everyone. Can't wait for spring to get here.....it's just around the corner!!
Take care,
:) Natalie

I LOVE SPACE!!!

Summit of Mauna Kea, so beautiful!

This sort of reminds me of Star Wars for some reason

Are we on the moon here??

Subaru Observatories

Me on the summit of Mauna Kea, seriously who wears flip flops on a mountain?!?! It was really freakin cold (20's-30's) but I had blisters, so no shoes for me.

Sunset at the Summit

Happy Natalie among all of the other nerdy science lovers!

For those of you who didn't know, I love space. Yes it is true I grew up going to science camps instead of playing sports :) So for me the one touristy thing I really wanted to do was to go stargazing on the summit of Mauna Kea......14,000ft. It was absolutely amazing and so beautiful. We left Kona in the afternoon and headed up to the mountain. Made a pit stop at the visitor's center for food and gift shopping. Which was perfect, I bought sweat pants, since I didn't have any pants to wear!! Then we headed up to the summit for sunset. After sunset we came back down to 9,000 ft for stargazing. It was incredible, sipping hot cocoa and looking at the RINGS OF SATURN! Yeah AWESOME!!

Still waiting to hear if I even have a next rotation. It is now Tuesday and I'm supposed to be somewhere Mon! Hmmmmm, we'll have to wait and see I guess. I head home on Friday. Can't wait to see my greg. Although we both wish he were coming here!!!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Surgery is coming to an end...

This has been an incredible rotation. I have learned so much. I've been able to assist in surgery, much harder than I thought (the coordination thing gets me). I saw my first C-section yesterday.....let me just say AMAZING! I'm hoping to see a few more births before I leave. My preceptor has given me free reign on the hospital so I can just pop into any dept throw out his name and learn! A great opportunity.

I'm glad to be getting home......Hawaii is great, but come on paradise gets lonely without Greg! I still DO NOT HAVE MY NEXT ROTATION set!!!!!!! Am I stressed? I have gotten past that, now I'm just going with the flow. So we'll see what happens with that.

Hope everyone is doing well and sticking to those resolutions (mine is about half out the window........)
Take Care
:) Natalie