Cody's Asheville Interview

Cody had his first residency interview in Asheville last weekend. (For those of you wondering, he wore suit option #2--it was his favorite, so he felt the most comfortable wearing it.) The interview seemed to go very well.

At the Sweet Biscuit Inn


Our Room at the Sweet Biscuit Inn


We arrived in Asheville on Wednesday afternoon. We had a few hours before his dinner with the residents, so we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood where our bed and breakfast was located. It was in the historic district of Asheville, so the surrounding area was full of character. After our walk, we got ready for the dinner, which was at a resident's house. It was nice having a chance to meet some of the residents in a casual setting.

Thursday was the interview day. Spouses were encouraged to attend, so I also went with him and was involved in most parts of the day. We started off with a meet and greet with some of the attending doctors and then took a tour of the family medicine clinic. Next, Cody had a group interview and individual interviews. While he was busy impressing the interviewers, I took a walk through the botanical gardens at UNC Asheville, which was right across the street. After the interviews were over, I joined Cody again for lunch and a tour of the hospital.

The beautiful mountains in Asheville


The main draw of Asheville is the location--it is nested in the beautiful mountains, and it is close to our family and friends. Since we were so close, we visited with some of our friends from college for the rest of the weekend. It was so good to see Amy, Elliot, Pam, and Mike for a couple of days. We enjoyed some of our favorite things together--good food and playing board games! We also had the chance to meet up with Christina and Monty for coffee, who just happened to be passing through Asheville the same weekend.

On our way back to Greenville, we stayed with Momma and Daddy for a night, who had been babysitting Hershey for the weekend. (Hershey says, "Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!")

Hershey having fun playing with Connor


We enjoyed our weekend on the western side of the state, but it was nice to get back home. Asheville could be a contender, but we'll keep you updated as he attends more interviews. His next one is at Brody; he interviews this Tuesday.

Help Cody Decide!

Cody has his first residency interview coming up next week--help him decide which outfit to wear! Look at the pictures below, and post a comment stating your favorite outfit for him. (Note: He is wearing the same suit in all 3 pictures, but a different shirt and tie combination.) Please vote for your favorite as soon as possible! Click on the pictures to see an enlarged version.

Outfit 1: Navy blue suit, white textured shirt, with a blue/yellow/green/white striped tie.


Outfit 2: Navy blue suit, light aquamarine blue shirt, with a blue striped tie.


Outfit 3: Navy blue suit, lavender shirt, with a cream/lavender/blue/mint striped tie.

Brandon Got Married!

Brandon Blackburn is a friend of ours from college. He was Cody's suite-mate, and he was also a groomsman in our wedding. He and Cody have kept up with one another, and enjoy their time playing against one another on Fantasy Football. We kind of came to see him as Cody's little brother...

So you can imagine how proud we were to attend his wedding this past weekend. Luckily, the weather was perfect--Brandon and his new wife, Kerri, had an intimate wedding in a courtyard garden at the Mooresville Civic Center.







The wedding reception was a blast...we danced all night, feeling like we were back in middle school at times when dancing to songs like Macarena and the chicken dance. We even caught up with some other people from college....it was like old times.



Congratulations, Mr & Mrs. Blackburn!

Atlanta

Last weekend, Cody had to take another part of his board exams in Atlanta. We left on Thursday morning, dropped off Hershey with my mom and dad (who graciously met up in Greensboro), and finally got in Atlanta around 5 p.m. After checking in at our hotel, which by the way, was a little too close to the airport and the train tracks, we meandered our way through Atlanta to find The Cheesecake Factory. Cody had eaten at a Cheesecake Factory before and raved about it, so I wanted to try it and see what all the fuss was about. I had a parmesan chicken and pasta dish and Cody had some sort of mexican taco dish. Very yummy!





Since we were at the Cheesecake Factory, we even had a piece of cheesecake; I normally don't like cheesecake at all, but this one was delicious! We tried the Godiva chocolate cheesecake...



Most of the day on Friday was pretty much taken up by Cody's test. He had to take the clinical skills exam, where he saw 12 "fake" patients and had to do an exam and write a note on each of them. I just stayed in the hotel room all day since we only had one car; however, I don't think I would have been adventurous enough anyway to drive in Atlanta traffic. It was actually pretty nice to just relax, watch some tv, and lounge around for a while--that doesn't seem to happen too often anymore. When Cody was back from his test, we went out for dinner at a chinese restaurant called Mu Lan. We heard about this restaurant from www.restaurant.com; we got a $25 gift certificate for $1! This restaurant was amazing! The atmosphere was cozy, but the food had the presentation and taste of gourmet food! We both had wonton soup, Cody had an eggroll and sesame chicken, and I had mango sweet and sour chicken. This was our favorite food for the entire trip.









Saturday was our big day! We had a jam packed day, but we had such a great time. Our first stop was at the World of Coca-Cola. It was kind of like a little museum about Coke, where you could look at historical artifacts, watch a couple of videos (one in 4-D), get your picture made with the Coke polar bear, walk through the factory area to see how Coke is made, and (Cody's favorite part) try about 65+ Coke products from around the world. For lunch, we stopped at the famous Varsity restaurant for burgers, fries and onion rings. Then we were on our way to see a Braves game. Unfortunately, this game didn't really carry much weight since they were already out of the playoffs. The game was pretty slow until the 8th inning. They were tied with the Washington Nationals. Both teams scored 2 more runs in the 9th inning, so we went extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Nationals hit a 2 run home run, but Atlanta just couldn't come back....it was still a fun experience, even if they didn't win. (Cody was like a little kid. He was so excited about being at a Braves game!)

Unfortunately, we won't hear anything back about Cody's test until sometime in December....but I'm sure he blew them all away with his amazing knowledge and skills!