i fell into the black hole...

i have finally emerged from the black hole, as some might say. i apologize for my absence from this blog, i get caught up in life's wonderfulness and am constantly forgetting to write about it. so let me try to sum up the past 3 or so months for my faithful readers (all 3 of you? :-)).

since the last blog...
- i started my first full-time clinical affiliation at the rex outpatient rehab facilities in raleigh, nc... here is where i'm supposed to report "my clinical instructor is the most amazing PT ever and an even more awesome person" (that one's for you, brian)... but really, he pretty much rocked. i went into the whole clinical-thing as a very nervous, anxious, and apprehensive student (i was not digging the whole PT thing through classes, and was started to get concerned that i had chosen the wrong career path) - however, by day 2 i was hooked. i was absolutely loving what i was doing... i was actually treating people... and they were getting better?! who would've thought. like i said before... pretty awesome. and i think a lot of that awesomeness should be credited to my clinical instructor who did an excellent job at trying to teach me a lot of what he knows with every free minute we had (and everyone else who worked there was just as willing to help me out and teach me something new!)... thanks, rex! remember to get that job opening ready for me within the next 4 or so years...

- my friend deana (we met in PT school out here in california) came to visit me and my family! what a treat to have that girl in nc for a wee bit of time! deana is from northern california, but went to undergrad at wake forest university. her grandparents live in atlantic beach now, so she loves to take every opportunity given to head over to the east coast. we had so much fun, and i loved getting to show her around raleigh. needless to say, everyone loved her. thanks for coming, deana!!!

- homecoming weekend at unc-ch & alumni weekend at alpha chi! it was so. much. fun. getting to hang out with all of my college girls over the weekend of homecoming! we are all kind of spread out everywhere, so for all of us to get together is a huge feat! this time, we got to meet two of the girls' new beaus (sara's chris and meredith's mark)... they were great sports. it was just a great time re-living some of the good 'ole days... GO HEELS!

- i got to have some quality hang-out time with my very dearest friends ("best friends from life"), elizabeth and meredith! elizabeth got back from living in argentina for 14 months at the beginning of november! i almost cried when i saw her walk down the hall at the airport... had it been that long since i had seen my lizzy?! so happy to have that girl back in the states, but i'm also so glad she got to experience all that she did and make an impact on so many others in argentina. meredith is a director at the ymca and just moved to a new location in durham, nc... gotta love her for that. every time i see that girl it's like a breath of fresh air. it's amazing how three people can keep each other going through everything in life. i am so blessed to have them... i love you two!

- i have this friend who pretty much rocks my world, not to mention any names (meghan elizabeth barnes), so i was thrilled that with my 3 months home in nc, i was going to see this fabulous friend a ton (she lives in cary and is a 7th grade middle school teacher at culbreath middle school in the chapel hill/carborro area). and if you haven't been keeping up with my blog... meghan is getting married (!!!) to sam on june 27, 2009! it has been a blast getting to spend time doing wedding stuff together... she's even let me go with her to try on the dress on several occasions! i cannot wait until their big day! yeah, so it was just plain wonderful getting to see this little lady as often as possible so we could chatter and laugh and love on life (she was even good enough to me to be my "date" for my work's holiday party... true friendship). meghan, can you please move to california as soon as possible so we will never have to be apart again? ok, thanks. (this picture is not flattering but it tells all)

- thanksgiving was awesome! paul flew back for the week and we went down to wilmington, nc to be with the mobley extended family... so fun! so many babies/small children to laugh and run around with! then the next day we went up to the mountains with the clarke family for the weekend - this is where we also chose and cut our christmas trees (for the clarke/mobley/willeford families)... it was a blast!



- my clinical affiliation wrapped-up on december 19th and that very same day.. many things happened. first of all, we snuck (past tense of sneak?) meghan up to the mountains for a surprise weekend away to celebrate her engagement! kaitlyn (meghan's sister and maid of honor) did such a great job of getting most everyone together (we missed those of you who couldn't make it!) and surprising the fool out of meghan. we stayed at my parents' cabin and had a fantastic time!

but another important thing happened on december 19th... MARIA GONZALES and TODD MACK GOT ENGAGED!!! maria was unable to come up to the mountains with us that weekend because todd's grandfather had been really sick and they needed to go see him... well, that sweet todd PROPOSED that night and made everything right in the world! maria and todd have been dating since our sophomore year in undergrad (i remember the day... oh maria, i loved our cell & developmental biology class conversations :-)). they are the absolute most perfect couple and we are all so thrilled for them!!! congrats, you two! much love!


- scott jason willeford is precious. there has been no change with that over these few months. i'm so glad i've gotten to spend more time with him and see him grow so much in just a matter of weeks! diane and jason are fantastic parents, and seeing them with the little one just warms your heart and soul. scott clearly hates being a baby so he is growing extra quickly and making developmental advances far before the time is necessary (as his aunt sarah says, "he's a genius!"). he loves to sit up and keep his head up (don't you dare lay him down... he won't appreciate that), and he loves to be a part of any activity going on. like i said before, he is precious. during his time at home, paul was scott's "manny" while diane had to return to work. i think that was the best christmas present anyone could have ever given paul... he is so lovestruck (like the rest of us) with that little boy. we love you, scott!

- christmas was fabulous! our families all came into town at one point or another and love was abounding! paul had his first goldsboro christmas (we open presents in the morning and then trek over to goldsboro to be with the country mice for the rest of the day). it was great! the day after christmas, my aunt candy and her friend ann came into town and we had christmas all over again! aunt candy introduced us a to a fun new game to open presents... good job, candy! the 27th, sarah and charles had arrived in nc so we got to have our mobley family christmas with all of us together! what a treat! it was so much fun seeing little scott look with wonder at all the excitement. it should also be noted that this is when the days 'o frying began... jason has a turkey fryer and instead of only frying the turkey, paul decided to fry everything... and it was well. the 28th, the extended mobley fam came into town and we had another big christmas feast! i love getting to see everyone and play with the wee ones! yay!

- my brother, sweet bug, got his wisdom teeth out the monday after christmas... what a champ! he did fabulously (we were all shocked with the little affect the surgery had on him)! i was deemed his nurse for the day (poor mom has had to deal with far too many oral surgeries... she deserved a little help with this one) and have only great things to report about our patient! there was a lot of bleeding there for a while, but a few of his friends came over in the evening and that seemed to be the perfect medicine. so proud of you, bug!

- we went out to dinner for sara's 24th birthday! i love that sara has a birthday around the holidays because it gives all of us girls a great excuse to get together. it was so much fun catching up with everyone and seeing maria's bling! thanks for organizing a fun night, sara!

- new year's eve was another fabulous time with the bestests (minus brian... boo!). usually, we make our annual trip to mark's family's beach house where we spend time laughing, running around, playing games, watching movies, dancing like crazy, cooking, and sleeping... a lot. with most of us out of the area now, it's hard to make plans for a longer trip, so paul, mark clapp, allison goff, and i met up earlier on in the day in chapel hill and re-inacted good times by eating lots of pizza and garlic knots on franklin street, watching movies, baking/cooking, playing card games, and playing lots and lots of ping-pong at mark's place. we were lucky enough to have chris mchenry and megan chesser (two also amazing friends) come by and bring rock band for the wii. i had never played before and it was crazy! i'm hooked. per tradition, i fell asleep before midnight but was awoken in time to see the ball drop on tv... ah, good times :-). thanks for another wonderful way to start the year, bestests!

- my time in nc came to a close on january 4th (so sad) when i flew back across the country to northern california. i was ready to get back to it just being me and paul in our humble abode (with tjuta!), but i love nc so very much... having my family and some of my very best friends there (and just the goodness of raleigh) makes it awfully hard to leave (plus, leaving that cute little nephew of mine should never have to happen!). don't worry, paul just got word from his advisor that he should be done by the end of 2011... woot woot (that's sooner than we thought)! so keep an eye out for us in raleighwood sometime around then!!!

i started school on monday, jan 5th and paul arrived back in palo alto on tuesday, jan 6th. it's good to be home. hopefully i can do a better job at updating this little blog more often! someone, stay on me about this :-). much love to all!