Kelly Holland

Everyone should check this out! Rachael Burks, my best buddy ever, spent the winter slaying the mountains with TGR and filming beautiful turns and hucks on skis. Click on the link below to get a glimpse of what she has to offer and a taste of TGR’s upcoming ski movie. It’s pretty damn impressive, and I’m not just saying that. Rach raises the bar yearly on skis and has made a huge break through for all women in the ski industry. She’s not just good for a girl….she’s just ridiculously good and throws down.

http://www.tetongravity.com/videos/Almost-Live–Episode13–Rachael-Burks-738134.htm

After moving our good friend Kirsten up to Virginia Beach, VA a few weeks ago we earned a free place to crash in her lovely, aqua-blue beach front apartment. It was a 24-hour whirl wind of lifting, loading, and undloading, so a two-minute glance of the beach was all I got during the move. Since things are only going to get crazier this month with finals and my trip to Nicaragua, I thought this past weekend would be the perfect time to check up on Kirsten’s Virginia Beach transition and cash-in on our free accomodations. We supplied the blow-up air mattress and Kirsten kep a room with our name on it.

 Dav, I, and Nanuq headed up on Friday night. We hit up Bubba’s for a seafood dinner and drinks, a pina colada for me, and headed home early. The next day we conquered the Virginia Beach boardwalk. It was a nice little Saturday that consisted of the four-man bike buggy, pomagranite mojitos, calamari, margaritas, nachos,…..and a little beach.

 The morning was perfect for a dog walk on the beach. Nanuq has yet to enjoy swimming, but he’s working on it. He was taking lessons from his bff Hendrix.

 We hit Chicks Oster bar Saturday and ate like royalty with crab, mahi mahi, and osters in the half shell….and wine of course. The night was topped off with ska music and dancing at the local hot spot…the Hot Tuna!

Good times in Virginia Beach….thanks Kirsten!

I finished up a long winter of blah weather, strenuous classes and crazy clinicals…I couldn’t have been happier when my break came around and summer enveloped Durham. I traded my clinical at the Prison for maturnity and pediatrics clinicals at Duke University Hospital. While I wouldn’t trade my experiences at Butner Federal Prison, I was ready to move onto something new. I do however miss the ample opportunities for IV practice, be it on patients or each other…that was awesome.

I spent the mini break with my parents, exploring Durham and the Outer Banks.

I then started the summer semester, rejuvenated, but a serious drop in motivation as the beautiful weather and good times creeped into the priority list. Thank god this semmester has been much more humane and easier to juggle…there is much more foregiveness for the occasional slacking. In turn I’ve had my fill of bbqs, pool time, wine on the local patios, Durham Bull baseball games, biking, and swimming. Summer  here is 100 times better than the winter…I love it.

Dave finally accepted BBQ…it’s not french, but it’s pretty good.

I made one little side excursion to Utah this summer to celebrate Britta’s bachelorette. Some do Vegas, some conquer the city bars, but Britt chose the White Rim. It was the coolest bachelorette party ever…12 girls and a kick ass bike trip though southern Moab. It’s a trip I’ve always wanted to do, and it took me actually moving across the country before it happened. I’m glad I could do it with Britta, Rach, and some rad girls…super rad! I had a lot of catch up to do at school afterwards, but it was worth it.

I was also blessed with a camio by my little bro last weekend, which was a ton of fun. We  kept him amply busy and entertained, as Dave is a natural social coordinator. I think Wade probably slept for a day when he got back to Boulder.

David just received his work authorization in the mail last week and has an interview for his Green Card next month…yippee! The process went way faster than expected. He’s almost a legal Frenchman….not to mention he can actually find legal work with a full time income. That’s nice. Now, if I could just get done with school…I guess have to keep on truck’n.