A Great Birthday!

First, I wanted to thank everyone for their thoughtful and warm birthday grettings today! I don't do well with lots of attention (which will make my wedding day interesting...) but part of me has to admit that it is nice, so thank you everyone!

Overall, I had a great birthday. The celebration started the night before when Amanda and I had dinner at Paragon followed by a much needed girls' tea session at Tea Chai Te on NW 23rd. I then came home and found this bouquet of roses and lilies which Sean sent to me...




...attached with this note




This morning, Sean and I had a nice long chat on Skype, which was followed by pedicures with Sarah and Diane!



Tonight, my parents, Mick, Sarah, Finn and Diane and myself went to Piazza Italia for a great dinner! Diane, Sarah, Mick, and Finn also suprised me with a beautiful bouquet of paper flowers and my very own bubble tea set, which I am excited to try!





At the end of the meal, the owner was very generous and treated us with a big plate of tiramisu! He wanted to sing happy birthday to me, but apparently wasn't a fan of my name. Instead of 'Belinda', he renamed me 'Rosita' and led the restaurant in song!

The only thing that could have made this day better was to have Sean here. I am hoping that the residency match computer will give me a belated birthday present on March 19th and send Sean back home to me! Thanks again everyone for making this a great day!

General Surgery Rank Lists

As the past three months have passed, I have personally logged some 12,000 miles of travel distance, and have put down one heck of a carbon footprint. Apologies to Mother Nature :) It has been a great experience overall to visit some very prestigious institutions of medicine and surgery, and my five years in Ireland has led to very interesting questions during my interview sessions. Favorite questions asked of me:

1) So is the buzz about Ireland really true? Is it more green than Oregon?
2) What's your drink?
3) If one was to travel, where would they go?

All great craic really. I have been well received and amazed by the exceptional comments Chairmen/Chairwomen and Program Directors have made about my experiences and accomplishments. I remain humbled by the whole process and excited that my dream of a career in surgey will be answered in less than 50 days! At present my ranking list has not been certified, but at present this is the list to date:

Catagorical

1) Oregon and Health Science University
2) Mayo School of Graduate Education
3) Penn State (Hershey Medical Center)
4) University of Kansas, Kansas City

Preliminary

5) Johns Hopkins
6) University of Washington
7) Hospital of University of Pennsylvania
8) Yale University
9) Oregon Health & Science University
10) Mayo School of Graduate Education
11) University of Washington
12) Penn State (Hershey Medical Center)

Wish us luck, and thanks for continuing to check in on Belle and I through the days, months, years. Slainte.

A Houghton-McCully-Posner Christmas

I know that I'm a bit behind on this blog, but thought I'd post a few picutres from Christmas (courtesy of Sarah).

Sean arrived safely in Portland during the snowstorm(at 1:30am) and we'd like to thank Mick again for providing the ride to and from the aiport. We felt bad because he lost a chain on I-84 in the process, although I found out last night that Les Schwab gave him a new set of chains, free of charge!! Apparently the chains are not supposed to snap in half while you are driving (which is exactly what happened!) The next day Sean and I played with Finn in the snow and took him for a ride on his new sled that Mick built.

Christmas was nice and quiet, which is exactly what we needed!! Sean and I made Christmas Eve dinner at Sarah & Mick's. Sean experimented and made pancetta-wrapped scallops. He said they were a bit over done, but I thought they were to die for!!!

The next day we all headed to my parents house for Christmas Day dinner. I just think it is so great that our families come together for days like this.

The week after Christmas, the McCullys & Posners headed north for their annual trip to Whistler, while Sean and I stayed in Portland to watch Mina and Brodie for the week. I love going to Whistler, but it was nice to stay home and relax. Sean and I also don't get to spend a lot of time together, especially now since I live in Portland and he's in Cork, so it was nice to have that quiet time together. Taking care of the dogs was fun too (although waking up at 6:30am every morning to Mina licking my hand was a bit rough!).

Sean is now safe and sound back in Ireland, but it was sad to see him go on Sunday. However, five months isn't long compared to a lifetime together, right? We hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year, and we wish everyone all the best for 2009!!!