I've mastered the New York subway system

On March 28th Rachel and I headed off to New York for a quick weekend getaway! I arrived at Dad and Rachel's house around 1:30 and Dad drove us to the airport at 3:00. We landed at the LaGuardia airport right around 10:30pm New York time. A lincoln town car picked us up and swept us away to the Millennium Hotel right in Time Square. From our room window we could see the ball that drops on New Years Eve. We stayed on the 32nd floor out of 52; room 3209! I would like to add in here that it rained the entire time. We were soaking wet and soggy the whole time but Rachel and I made the most of everything and still had a great time. I would so go back again!



Since we were so excited to be there we decided to walk around Time Square a bit...then we headed to bed around midnight.

March 29 we got up around 7:30 to get ready for the busy day we had ahead of us. It was starbucks for breakfast which was very tasty. After that we got picked up by a guy that Rachel knows there and the 3 of us took the subway to Soho to the Room and Board store that is there. Rachel had to meet with some people there. That took up most of the morning and then we went and toured some hotels that Rachel frequently books for clients, but has never personally seen. This was a first time for both of us being in New York and this is probably a good spot to slip in the fact that yes we did get lost, but only once while we were walking from one hotel to the next. We somehow ended up in China Town and walked about 10 blocks out of our way. It was fine though because it was easy to retrace our steps. There were 3 hotels that we checked out and the best one was the last one...It's called the Affinia and it's the official hotel that is used for everyone in the Westminster Dog Show! I thought that was very cool being a dog lover and all. :)





This hotel is GORGEOUS inside and right across the street is Madison Square Garden, which is where the dog show is held every year. We sat down for a while and chatted with Rachel's contact person that is located at this hotel. She told us about 9/11 and how one of the ballrooms of the Affinia Hotel were opened up to the public and people could come take refuge there and look for family members or others they knew. It gave me chills to hear her talk about how horrific it all was. Now the Affinia Hotel is quite a ways away from where the attack happened, but many of their guests who were in town for business were affected but it.

The Hampton hotel is another one we toured and from there you could see New Jersey across the bay, and also the Trump Hotel that is up and going to be opened sometime in April.

After all the hotels we walked to Macy's. They had a HUGE flower display going on and it was very pretty. We were at that point only 10 blocks from the hotel so we decided to walk back and go to dinner at Planet Hollywood.



Some more shopping then occurred around Time Square, we got a giant cookie which seriously was the size of my head, and then headed back to the hotel around 9:30 so that Rachel could do some work and I watched TV. By the end of the day we had become masters of using the subway to get around. I like it and think it's great!

March 30th we got very early, and walked to the Rockefeller building to check out the Today Show. It was raining out horribly and there were 30 mph winds so we just sat inside the coffee shop that's across from the show. We then took the subway down the the Statue of Liberty. I am so so glad we got to see this. I don't even care that it rained and that I was soaked from head to toe. At one point when Rachel and I walked outside to the front of the statue it was raining so hard and the wind was blowing so strongly that my umbrella bend the wrong way and broke. I also got hailed on at one point of our visit there. It was worth it though because I got some great pictures.



We then took the subway back up to Time Square to change into dry clothes, go out to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then we got to see a play. It was Mary Poppins on Broadway and it was awesome!!!



March 31 we got picked up by a lincoln town car at 5:30am and headed back to the LaGuardia airport. Our flight took off at 8:15 and we were back in sunny warm 75 degree Minnesota by 10:30am.

It was an awesome trip and I had tons of fun. The only thing I would change is the weather but I can always go back someday :)

Lowe Birthdays

On Sunday March 20th I got together with my Dad, step-mom, Grandparents, and aunts and uncle to celebrate all the March Birthdays that are in our family. My aunt Diane is March 6th, mine is the 10th, Grandpa's is the 16th and Grandmas is the 20th!

We met at the Minneapolis VA hospital because that is where Grandpa currently resides. They had a room for us that we could visit in so we wouldn't have to all squish into Grandpas room and just stand around.

There were subs, and chips to eat and pop to drink and of course we had birthday pie too. French silk and banana cream. YUMMY!!!

I had to be at work that day by 4 so we all got together at 11:30 that morning and then Tony and I left at 2:00 since we are almost an hour away from everyone now that we live in Northfield.


Our whole group that day!


In other news I am happy to say that winter quarter of school is done!

Finals were this week and I passed with flying colors! I took Pharmacology, Hematology, and Parasitology. All the finals were pretty tough but I obviously learned something!
In pharmacology I got a 75% on the final, and a B for my final grade.
In hematology we had 2 parts to the final. A CBC which is a complete blood count and I got a 95% on that part, and on the written part of the final I got an 84%. Final grade in that class is a B.
For Parasitology I got an 82% on the final. This one also had a written portion and a visual portion. I have a B for a final grade in that class as well. I am very proud of myself and am happy with my grades!

Next quarter will be very busy again. I'm taking Imaging, small animal nursing and nutrition, algebra, and film in society. Plus I'll be volunteering at the zoo, and at the wildlife rehabilitation center, and I will be a TA (teaching assistant) for one of my teachers I had this quarter. I love being busy and I think this next quarter will be great!



Me and my BFF Krista taking a break from studying!

Birthday week

My birthday was on a Wednesday this year. My mom and Grandma met me at Red Lobster in Burnsville and we had a fabulous lunch together. Then Mom and I went over to Best Buy because I wanted to get an ipod touch...which I have ended up really liking! Then it was off to class for the night. Pharmacology is on Wednesday nights. It was fine though to have class. My BFF got me a card and a fabulously good smelling candle

Friday the 12th Tony took me out to dinner. We haven't really checked out any local restaurants in here Northfield so we decided to go to George's Vineyard. It's a small pizza place and turned out to be so yummy! We for sure will be going there again.

Saturday I had my volunteer interview at the MNZoo. I was the first one to get interviewed and was out of there by 11:00am. I will know in about another week which day I get to do my volunteering on. I'm super excited for this.

Sunday Tony and I met up with Dad and Rachel at TGIFridays in Burnsville so they could take me out for a birthday lunch. It was a good time and it was nice to catch up with them.

Lots of birthday stuff and there will be one more get together this weekend so you'll hear more about that when it happens!

Slow month

It's been a while since I've posted, but that's because nothing super exciting has happened.

School is still going very well. I have high B's in all my classes. If you include this week, there are only three weeks left of the quarter. This one went by super fast. I am all signed up for next quarters classes too already. Krista, my BFF and I of course signed up for the same ones! We will be taking Imaging (which is xrays and stuff like that) and small animal nutrition and nursing. I will be taking two other classes as well because I need to finish my gen eds. College algebra and a humanities class is all I have left. The humanities class that I've chosen in film in society. Basically I'll be watching movies and writing papers about them. Then in the summer quarter we can take surgery!!!

Spring break is also right around the corner which means New York!!!

My birthday is in two days so this past weekend Tony's parents, sister and her husband came down and took me out to dinner. I had to work untill about 8:00pm on Saturday so as soon as I got home we all headed out. We ate at perkins and it was so yummy, then came back to the apartment and finished a movie that they had started.

Other than that the only exciting things are that I signed up to participate with school in the annual walk for animals that the humane society does. I've gotten a few donations so far which is awesome. If you're interested in donating you can go to my page at http://events.animalhumanesociety.org/site/TR/Walk/General?px=1436521&pg=personal&fr_id=1110 you will have to just copy and paste it. This will be happening May 1st so I've got plenty of more time to collect some more donations for the animals!

I also have signed up to volunteer at the Minnesota Zoo at the WellsFargo farm. On March 13 I have an interview for that and then there will be two days in May for training. I am super super excited for that!

I will return at the end of this week to let you know how my birthday went!

Valentines Day

Sunday February 14th was a good day. I've always enjoyed valentines day, and I just happened to have just gone out and bought some new shirts so I had a perfect red t-shirt for today!

Tony and I got to sleep in...thank you very much dogs for not getting me up. Cloe gets the kennel at night and Allis gets to sleep in the bed. Allis has started a new thing of when she decides it's time to get up she will lay across my neck, cutting off my air supply, thus hoping that I will wake up before running out of air.

Tony and I just bummed around the apartment for most of the day, I gave both the dogs baths so they smelled good. Then I made taco salad for lunch and eventually Tony and I got dolled up and went out to dinner at Beef O Brady's. It's a local restaurant by the apartment, and I have to say that we won't be going there again...at least not anytime soon. There were only 2 other families in there which was nice, but the service still sucked and the burgers were super dry...Tony makes WAY better ones at home.

So even though the food was lacking, it was nice to get out of the apartment and spend some quality time with Tony. That's not something we get to do very much anymore (the going out part) since money has been so tight.

Hopefully everyones day was just as fabulous!

New York

A couple weeks ago My step-mom Rachel called me up and asked if I would like to go to New York over spring break....I of course said YES!!! Through her work she is able to get really good deals so that trips don't cost an arm, leg and your first born.

We are going March 28-31 and I'm so so so excited. So far I know that we will for sure be hitting up coffee shops, Statue of Liberty, we will be seeing Mary Poppins the play on our last night there, and I would like to see Ground Zero. Knowing me and Rachel we will get up as early as possible so that we can cram as much as possible into a day and I am just fine with that! A few weeks before this trip I will also turn 25 so I think that spending my 25th birthday in New York is fabulous.

I know that getting up at the butt crack of dawn and going strong all day, may not sound so exciting, but when I go on vacation I like to go do things and see stuff. I hate just sitting around doing nothing. I can do that at home. I might have to go buy a few more memory cards for my camera! Thank goodness I have a job now so that I can spend a little money there :)

New babies are exciting

So Tony's cousin and wife just had their first baby. Friday when Tony got home from work we headed over to see them. Tony helped Ryan fix a computer, and Jenny and I played with their new baby Corinne. She is the cutest baby and was so good the whole time we were there...basically slept while I held her and only cried when she woke up to eat. It will be fun to see them at family gatherings and watch Corinne grow up!

During the day on Friday I had my drug test and physical for the new job. I am not used to continuously lifting 50 pounds so even if I end up hating this job, I'll love my arms because they will be in great shape!

Saturday and Sunday Tony and I didn't do much else. Ran to best sbuy to return something, and then went to fleet farm. I need to get Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook. Of course fleet farm doesn't carry this though, so Monday I will venture off to find a boarders book store and a different barns and noble store. I am determined to find this book with out having to order it off the internet because I need it for some school stuff.

Not a whole lot of anything exciting happening around here. I start my new job at the end of this week so I'm sure I'll be on here next weekend writing about that!