My Apologies

Dear Blog,

I am so sorry for neglecting you over these past few months. Like always life has been jam packed with school work, house projects, and trips. To summarize: 3 weddings, 1 funeral, 3 beach trips, 1 Mission of Mercy Dental Service Project, 1 Maylene back in Richmond, 1 bathroom makeover, about 7 exams... whew! Sadly I am terrible about remembering to bring my camera on all these activities. But luckily I'm a good facebook stalker and can steal other peoples pics!....

First there was my brother's catch of the day at Fripp Island (Beach trip #1)

Then there was lots of Kylie lovin at the Outer Banks (Beach Trip #2)

Next, it was off to Wise, VA for the Mission of Mercy 2 and a half day dental service project. It was an amazing experience! I wish I could post more pictures because just the one does not do it justice... watch this video to find out what the MOM project is all about (you have to click the "View Video" link on the left of the page) and then click here to see more pictures for the Wise project that John and I were at this past summer. (I'm the one in the maroon shirt in the waaaay back to the left of that first picture... that's the only picture I made it in lol).
Right after the MOM project we started our second year of dental school and then spent that following weekend having a good ol' time with our friends at Cate and Andrew's beautiful wedding (oh! and my 23rd birthday happened somewhere in there!)

We then attended wedding #2 and got to spend the weekend with my family.

Then we traveled up to Annapolis for Tina and Nick's wedding.

After this came Labor Day and beach trip #3 at the Reynold's beach house in Va Beach, unfortunately this was very quickly, and unexpectedly, followed by the funeral of what sounded like an amazing young man (John's cousin) that sadly I never got a chance to meet. We spent this past weekend in Winchester with the group in that previous picture visiting different wineries in the area... obviously we had a wonderful time. I'll post pictures of our bathroom makeover another time, for now I'd better get going on the laundry and packing for yet another weekend trip. We're headed home for the VT vs. Miami game (and more importantly the chance to introduce the Reynolds and the Boylands)! Tailgating, turkey legs, Enter Sandman, Maroon Effect, Blacksburg in the fall, Mom, Dad, Joe, John's family, hopefully Colorado (college friend),.... cannot wait for tomorrow!!!

Getting to know you....

Time for the introductory post as promised... and I know mom is the only one reading this but I don't feel quite right just jumping into things without some form of salutations (it's the ocd side of me coming out). So as I mentioned in the "About Me" that you'll see to the right of this post (I feel like a tour guide) I am 22 years old, live in Richmond, VA, and am currently working my booty off trying to become a dentist so in 2012 I can sign my posts "Dr." Jenni! Overall I'm really enjoying dental school although it definitely has it's own special way of getting under my skin at times. I'm sure there will be plenty on that later. So a quick re-cap of the past 5 years:

Graduated high school, Pamela moved to Michigan, started college (Virginia Tech), decided to go to dental school, met Will, decided medical school sounded better than dental school, worked at Bath & Body Works for an awful 6 months, declared my major (Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise), took a zillion classes, spent a summer studying abroad in Paris, decided dietetics sounded better than med school, became a Wellness Peer Educator, almost called the whole health profession thing off to pursue a career in interior design, switched back to dental... then med once more, April 16th happened, spent an amazing week in MI with Pamela, began studying for the MCAT, halfway through began studying for the DAT instead (yep... went back to the dental school idea), applied to dental school, Will and I went our separate ways, interviewed at VCU and Penn, fell in love with Penn, chose VCU, graduated from Tech, got a puppy, started dental school, puppy had to go live with Mom and Dad, Joe joined a band, started an Outdoors Club with Disa, fell in love with John, survived the first year of school (barely) and here we are!

And yes, that was very "Marley and Me" inspired. I swear I do have a life beyond school... I think. Now what is the opposite of a recap? Hmmm.... Well here's a glimpse into the future (obviously no pictures this time): Taking NBDE (National Board Dental Exam) Part 1, moving in with John, bringing the puppy back to Richmond, family reunion with Dad's side in South Carolina, week at Nags Head with Mom's side, a couple of weddings, a visit from Pamela (fingers crossed) and hopefully LOTS of time spent at the river, doing fun projects on the house, and playing outside. Activity for the day: planting a vegetable garden! Maybe I'll even take pictures and post them (my poor little blog is a This Young House wannabe).