Med School Updates: December's End

As the month is closing and I've realized that we haven't truly updated the world with med school application news, I submit to you this picture and apologize for the messiness of legend marks.

Here's the low down of our current application situation:

- Scott has been accepted to the Class of 2015 at Rocky Vista University (RVU) in Parker, CO (just south of Denver). Our first payment to RVU was due Dec 17, so of course we put in our deposit to attend medical school. The second payment is due in the middle of January. We really enjoyed RVU when we went to visit the campus in July. Scott knows that he would have a good experience there and thinks that the program would prepare him to be a good doctor. We're not sure if this is Scott's favorite program, as we are still learning about all his options. But we've decided that even if we make the second, and very large, deposit for school it's still okay to go to another school if we feel it will better prepare him. That being said, we are VERY happy to be going to medical school next year!

- In the beginning of December, Scott had an interview at Western University's campus in Oregon. I was lucky enough to follow him there to check out the town and new campus. Scott was impressed with the many options that come from Western's established program (since this will be a new campus for their existing program in Southern California). About a week ago, Scott received a call from Western informing him that Scott is on the Alternate List. The list is reviewed once a month as those accepted candidates drop off and alternates are chosen to take their place. We aren't really sure when we would hear back from Oregon. From our interview with them, we feel like the program would provide good opportunities for Scott, but he still needs to do some serious praying to decide, if he's accepted, if he prefers to attend this school.

- Just today we received a letter from the University of New England in Maine that Scott will not be requested to interview for this next year's class. While we are slightly disappointed to not visit the campus and be near extended family there and Scott's church mission area, we know that we'll be settling around the West Coast anyway after med school. And let's not forget, we're still ACCEPTED to a med school.

-We have not heard anything further about interviews for other schools but expect that we will start hearing more about second round interviews in January. Many of the interviews will be finished in February and March, and we would probably move from Sacramento to the campus in June to settle before med school things get going in the end of July.


Directly after Scott's interview was done in Oregon, we drove back six hours to Sacramento. Though it was a bit of a drive, we were glad to sit down and talk about what Scott's first impressions of the school were and how he thinks it would compare to RVU. While I would prefer living in the town of Parker, CO, we both could see the benefits of Western's program in Oregon and how many more opportunities Scott would have there to further his career exploration. After six hours of discussing the pros and cons from our perspectives, we came to the conclusion that we had no conclusion.

Both schools seem to have equal weight and we feel Scott would be successful at either school. It was quite a mystery to us what decision to make (at the time we had assumed from the three Oregon interviewer's responses that Scott would be accepted immediately). In Sunday School the next day, we had a miraculous lesson about Daniel in the Old Testament interpreting a dream for the King of Babylon.  I know that that would seem to have no connection whatsoever to our situation, but we felt we had a complete mystery on our hands and limited time to solve it. The lesson and scriptures helped us to realize the optimal steps to receiving personal revelation and moving forward with this major life decision.

Though I would say that we are still no where near understanding what we should do and which school we'll be attending come July, we know that we will be attending school (Yay! Can't say that enough!) and that the Lord will help us make that decision and reveal options. When one door closes, another opens... or maybe a window. Depends on who you hear it from.

As you can tell from our medical school application journey, that statement is Oh So TRUE!

Merry Christmas 2010

I know I'm a video-aholic! I sure do love the Mormon Messages YouTube channel, though. Also, check out this Hallelujah Chorus - Alaskan Style that my friend Heather posted. She said the whole town of Quinhagak, AK got together (all 680 town citizens) to participate in the video for a fifth grade winter concert!

Merry Christmas from California!

Family photo January 2010 (Wish my hair was still that cute)

Luke 2: 10-11
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.


For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Christmas Lights of Elk Grove

Saw these Christmas lights in Elk Grove, CA yesterday! Christmas light routes sure have changed since my dad would "drag" us around Sitkan streets on Christmas Eve. I guess technology will do that. As a kid I dreaded getting into the car for the traditional event, but ALWAYS ended up enjoying the beautiful lights and colors. Funny now that I'm older that I initiate Christmas light routes, and the new generation of nieces and nefews are murmuring!

So get this... I planned out a route, starting with what was rumored to be a neighborhood FULL of lights. We planned to walk around the neighbor, and then check out three lights synced to music starting with the house in the video. Well we get to the rumoredly lit neighborhood, and few houses had lights. So we drove around trying to figure out if we were on the wrong street.

Finally, we decided that we would go to the first house with music. It was awesome! Which made all the other houses I had planned a poor sight in comparison. Second house was lit with music but not exactly "sync"ed. The third house that was on the list of houses with music.... well...

This is what we found when we got there... Three trees! That's it! We were all laughing so hard. Felt like we'd been punked or something. The route I had planned was not perfect, but it definitely accomplished the goal of family togetherness in the Christmas spirit. We sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is coming to Town with the radio, as we tried to find any house with lights on it in Sacramento.

John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Day of Christmas Craft Reckoning

The day finally arrived that the Chandler women would craft the morning through. The night before I had been talking with my mom about how excited I was to craft, and she asked me if I tested my craft yet. I had decided on the tile coasters that I found before on the Curbly blog and had watched the video on the blog where i found instructions. But I decided it would be best to test the craft out before I try to teach five other women to make it. It wasn't difficult, really, but I'm glad I tested it because I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't by doing my set first.

So yesterday morning I brought all of my craft ingredients to make the tile coasters. Though we had a few delays in getting started, and I had to leave in the middle, I feel like the day was still a success! After a full day of the ladies crafting I get to take home beautiful tissue paper candles, an ornament, and had some help making a fun fabric tree and some present tags!

Tips for making the napkin coasters:

Watch the video on the Curbly blog
Choose which part of the napkin design you want on your tile before you paint ModPodge on the tile. The napkin is difficult to move and makes more wrinkles when you try to adjust.
Let the ModPodge completely dry before pinching off the napkin (we liked having the napkin torn on the edges for a painted look, so remember to pull down)
Apply two coats of clear coat polyurethane to cover the tile
When the two coats completely dry, apply one more coat to seal the deal
AND the polyurethane doesn't smell pretty, so you may want to apply it on a good weather day where you can leave the tiles outdoors.

I got napkins at Target ($2/pack for fancy pattern), tiles (16 cents/per) and polyurethane ($6) at Lowes, and  ModPodge at Joanns ($2 with % off coupon). You'll also need paint brushes you don't want to use again. I may also get some felt circles for the bottom of the coasters.

Simple, inexpensive gift for Christmas, wedding, birthday, etc.

Thanks Chandler ladies for a fun day of girly togetherness!

We Believe- Kids and Christmas

Is this not the most adorable video?! Every year I make a Christmas video present for Scott's mom... I'm thinking I need to do this with the grandkids.

Shh... Don't tell Martie!

Christmas Movie Favorites

Christmas in the Cavanaugh household had some great traditions, most of which revolved around the fact that us kids couldn't sleep past 4:00 am until we were teenagers. So Christmas morning went something like this:

4:00 am - Each of us wakes up gradually in our own bed
30 second later - we look for our Christmas stockings which Santa left by the end of our beds
5 minutes later - we have gone through the entire contents of our stocking, eaten a piece of candy, opened a wrapped CD, and are now anxious to see if siblings are awake
Pause for one minute of silent tiptoeing to see if you can look beyond the banister at the Christmas Tree
Another quiet minute of creeking open siblings doors to see if the other two are awake
10 minutes - whispers can be heard downstairs of the three Cavanaugh siblings opening up our stockings for each other

At this point it's almost 4:20/ 4:30 ish, and we were NOT aloud to wake my parents up until 7:00 am, 6:00 am if we're lucky. So the night before we stacked all the Christmas VHS movies we own next to the kids TV, and at 4:30 am we started watching them until Dad came in to check on us. This is probably what the list of options would have looked like:

Classic home movie Christmases - of course
The first, and real, Toy Story - Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy
Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Nightmare Before Christmas
Mickey's Christmas Carol

We are big Jim Henson and Tim Burton fans! Can I just say how much I have come to LOVE DVR at the Chandler home in Sacramento?! I can check out which of my favorite holiday specials will be airing ahead of time and schedule to record them. This just plays to my organization obsession.

When my Dad approached us we knew it was time... time for torture! The Christmas Torture tradition involves my dad standing at the top or bottom of the stairs (depending on the house we lived in) to video tape us kids' excitement as we waited to run to the Christmas tree and rip open presents. It usually lasted around two minutes, but felt more like twenty. My dad told us when we were older that this special time was meant more so that my mom could put together anything they didn't finish at midnight and turn on the Christmas tree lights.

I wish I had some torture time footage to show you. It's kind of awesome! We love watching the home movies every year. My dad actually is in the process of moving old VHS footage to DVDs using the present we gave him last Christmas (DVD converter). So I may upload some Cavanaugh Christmas Classics later.

Maxed Out

My brother Matt wrote our family a message on Facebook this week and said we absolutely had to watch this documentary called Maxed Out. He said you'll love it and be outraged by it at the same time. We all have Netflix accounts in my family, so by logging in you can watch the movie instantly.

The movie describes how Americans are becoming more and more in debt. Really the one thing that Americans do really well now, is not manufacturing like we used to be known for, but it's spending. And this "strength" of ours is something that the government encourages and banks exploit.

Matt and I kept chatting after I watched the movie about how thankful we are to have a very frugal dad who taught us while we were young to be responsible with money. It's a great movie! Really well put together and edited. Enjoy!

Dairy Heaven

On the way up to Portland Scott asked me what I thought I might want to do with our one day with family. There aren't many things I love more than a good day relaxing and playing games with family. But there was one thing that I've always wanted to do in Oregon that I hadn't up until this trip, and that was visit the Tillamook factory!!! That's right, THREE exclamation points! I went there, and it was AMAZING!

I am a die-hard Tillamook fan. I love the sharpness of their cheddar! They used to make a fantastic coffee ice cream that was like vanilla with a good hint of coffee, but then discontinued the flavor. Have I already confessed that I am a coffee ice cream connoisseur? The truth is out there. Usually the stuff with real coffee in it is too strong for my tastes, but I sure do love that hint. Maplenut may be the only ice cream I would put in the same category of greatness. Anyway, I love Tillamook and have always heard that the factory was fun to visit. But Scott said it was out of the way and we would most likely spend the day in Lake Oswego with family.

Well, come to find out when we arrive in Portland, Grandma and Grandpa have big plans for us to visit Seaside and Tillmook on our day of visit! You can image how excited I was... or maybe you can't. Let's just say that when we pulled up to the factory I could hardly containing the bouncing feeling inside myself. Scott can attest that I may have started applauding.

The evidence really speaks for itself:

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches from the Tillamook Cafe and Tillamook ice cream. The only thing that could POSSIBLY be better in Foodland is this. Been there, would definitely go again! With this post, I feel I must also take a large step out of denial to say that my life really does revolve around food.

Oregon Interview Road Trip

This last week we drove up to Oregon for Scott's second medical school interview. We drove up a couple days before to enjoy some family time in Portland and then drove down on Saturday for Scott's interview to Lebanon (not pronounced like the country, apparently) where the new Western University campus will be. I will be writing a couple of posts about this to give you all the fun details.

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite tidbits of joy from the road trip up to Portland.

First of all, Martie (my MIL) came on the trip with us because she stayed with her parents in Portland for a few days and will fly back this week to Sacramento to welcome family for Christmas. So we enjoyed her company on the trip, which meant mostly sharing fun facts from Better Homes and Gardens and the sounds of her sleeping. But Martie was also starving the whole way to Portland on account of how Scott likes to drive - stopping only for gas and a stretch. We usually bring our own treats. That wouldn't do for Martie though. In fact we discovered that there are two traditions that Martie loves about road trips and that is stopping at McDonalds for a McGriddle Breakfast and Dairy Queen.

Well, Scott didn't want to stop for McDonalds of course and teased his mom for a good 20 - 40 miles saying he wouldn't stop so early on the trip. So Martie started reading, and right about the point she had forgotten all about breakfast, Scott stopped for gas and a McDonalds breakfast. At which point Martie said, "Greater love hath no son, than to pull over to McDonalds for a McGriddle breakfast!" Gotta love road trips with Martie.

I also listened to SEVERAL versions of the 12 Days of Christmas on Sirius Xm Holly channel, including some pretty bad ones. Don't even get me started on Destiny's Child. My favorite however was this version by Straight No Chaser!

I had never heard this before but it is AWESOME. I tried to also find the Muppets version I heard, but I really don't remember John Denver being in the version I heard and that's all I can find on YouTube.

One other favorite moment was driving along I-5 in beautiful weather (up until Corvalis) and seeing the beautiful green fields filled with sheep. When we started to see more and more green pastures full of sheep Scott said,

"If Oregon were an octagon on the Settlers of Catan board, it would definitely have the sheep resource."

Can you tell we're gamers? Mostly Scott. It's true.

Social Clout

Lately my work life revolves around Facebook and email marketing. I follow a lot of local businesses to share the love, and scan through customer email addresses to start campaigns in January. It's pretty fun, though I think some friends are surprised at this sudden burst of social activity from me.

This month we are doing a Facebook promotion for Auto Insurance quotes where you can be entered in a drawing to win Sacramento Kings vs. Portland Trail Blazers tickets. (Know anyone in Cali who needs insurance and NBA tickets?) So I'm reading the Kings Fan Page and see this video/event they did with Klout.

Klout is a company that tracks social influencers, individuals who Tweet and Facebook with many responses. They do this through an algorithim of posts, clicks, responses, and weights... Well Klout invited key social influencers to a Kings game to be wined, dined, and enjoy floor seats. Of course that was all in exchange for some fantastic tweetage.

I was curious of course so I went to visit their site. You can register with Klout to see your social influence score (1-100) if you enter your Twitter handle. Glad I don't have a Twitter account, because curiosity would have killed this cat. I'm already spending way too much time on Facebook! I definitely don't need the pressure of working to be a social influencer. Have you ever met a premium social influencer? I wonder if they get to enjoy real life outside the cyber world.

This picture from Klout's blog, where all the influencers are watching the game with their cell phones, REALLY makes me wonder!

The Future Dr. Chandler

Sorry, at the moment I don't have any new medical school updates. I just had to share a funny thought.

I was watching TV the other day... actually, Scott was watching TV the other day and left during commercials. I saw this commercial and immediately realized this was the exact image of the future Dr. Scott Chandler:



For those of you who know my husband, tell me you don't see the future?! Scott is always texting or emailing on his phone. He's VERY connected to family and friends! Not to mention his fantasy team. That video IS his future... maybe even the hair line.

Before Thanksgiving we were helping my sister-in-law move into her new house and our friends, The Danielsons, were there too. I was talking to Stefani about what our future would be like, because her husband just finished his residency and is now a full-time radiologist. She said, "Do you realize what you're getting yourself into?" Her husband didn't have the days around Thanksgiving off. In fact, he was lucky to have Thanksgiving Day free! He is often working late too, to get his work done (and after hours pay). They are a fun family! I have MUCH to learn from Stefani about my future life as a medical school student and future doctor's wife!