Let’s Have a Coffee Date: Vacation Planning, Instant Pot Fun, and Residency

Hey, friends! It’s been a while since I’ve done a coffee date post (not since we were in DC in September), and I thought it would be a good way to share some of the random news I haven’t mentioned on the blog yet!

Life has been really busy lately, and Chris has had barely any time off. Thankfully, it will be a bit slower for a bit (and then more nights. Yuck). We’re planning some fun things with Anthony to take advantage of our time together! Also, Chris just got elected chief resident by his fellow residents and attendings! It’s a huge honor, and I’m super proud of him, but it does mean he will have even more work. He also has several conferences coming up, and he has to take the intense radiology board exam in June, so the next few months will be interesting!

All of that to say, we are looking forward to him taking two weeks off in July. We are celebrating our 30th birthdays and 10-year wedding anniversary during the same week this year, so we’re hoping to go somewhere fun. We haven’t actually planned the trip yet because we won’t know the exact dates we can go until the residency schedule for next year is final (the Medical New Year is July 1). Anyone have any ideas for us? It’s been hard to narrow it down since it is our first big trip since Anthony was born.

Speaking of it being our first trip since Anthony was born, I am already having a hard time with the idea of leaving him. I know we need time together as a couple, but I work from home, and the longest I have been away from Anthony is three hours. I know it’s healthy for both of us to spend time apart, and he will be in extremely capable hands, but I can’t promise I won’t be crying on the flight to our destination!

Anthony has been so much fun lately. He’s running all over the place, and I feel like he learns a new word a day. I just love seeing his personality come out more and more. For example, he loves cleaning up and putting everything in its correct place. He didn't get that trait from me. Haha!

I messed up last week and posted my books reviews a week early! I’ve read two more books since I published my books reviews, and they were both super good (Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center and American Duchess: A Novel of Conseulo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper). I’m currently in the middle of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and it’s one of the most complicated mystery novels I’ve ever read, but it’s really interesting. I’m definitely curious to see how it ends!

We finally got an Instant Pot for Christmas, and we have really loved using it for many different recipes! We just made a quinoa chicken fried rice in it yesterday that was super delicious! I might do a roundup for our favorite Instant Pot recipes soon if anyone is interested.

Since I didn’t blog much last year, I don’t think I ever mentioned that Chris decided to stay at his current program for his fellowship in neuroradiology (in an oversimplified explanation, he will be reading brain scans and doing procedures). He decided he didn’t want to spend the money to interview all over the country again (been there, done that), and it would be hard for us to move somewhere for just a year. He will be starting his last year of radiology residency in July and doing neuroradiology fellowship the following July. It still feels like we’re a long way away from the end of training, but we’re getting closer!