Springtime Smiles

Spring officially arrived at the end of March, but of course, in classic North Texas fashion, we still had the occasional winter weather sprinkled in with torrential rain and terrible humidity. Lucky for us though, the Springtime weather seems like it's finally sticking around; I can't even remember the last time it wasn't sunny, breezy, and in the mid 70's! I mean, if there is one thing Texas gets right, it's the amazing April weather. Honestly, it almost makes up for it being too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, and this past week K and I got to take full advantage of the season and all of the wonders that come with it; it was by far the most eventful week we've had this year!

On Saturday, we spontaneously jumped at the chance to snag an extra pair of FC Dallas Soccer tickets being offered by one of K's coworkers/slow pitch softball teammates. Did you read that sentence carefully? Notice anything strange? I'm talking about the word "spontaneous," which no one would ever use to describe me. Nonetheless, we truly enjoyed ourselves as we munched on tasty/terrible for you stadium food, as we rocked the FC Dallas jerseys we borrowed from my younger brother, and as we watched FC Dallas beat up on the Canadians (they did win 2-1 over Toronto, after all).
Monday night, after a long day in the clinic for me, and an even longer day of class and research for K, we hopped on the DART to watch Game 3 in the Dallas Stars vs Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup Playoff series. This past hockey season K and I kept saying "We should get tickets to a Stars game," but it never actually happened. Once I realized that the playoffs had already started- lucky for us, the Stars made it to the playoffs this year- I spontaneously bought tickets to Mondays game so that we could finally make good on our plans to see the Stars play at the American Airlines Center (there’s that word again- spontaneous. I guess the weather isn’t the only thing changing this season). I’d forgotten just how exciting hockey games are; prior to Monday, I don’t think I’d been to a game since 1999 when we went to Game 7 of the Western Conference final the year the Stars won the Stanley Cup. It was nice to yell “Stars” during the National Anthem, swing the rally towel, and share in K’s first Dallas Stars experience with a win at home during the playoffs. Hopefully next year we won't have to wait until playoffs to go see them!

In what could end up being the coincidence of the year, my younger brother was also at the game, and ended up sitting just 3 rows in front of us in the same section. We also both ended up wearing the jerseys of two different 1999 Stars players; throw back Monday is a thing, right?

The Vera siblings proudly representing Jamie Langenbrunner and Derian Hatcher.

Tuesday night, K had a co-ed slow pitch softball game, but I won't go into that. This season is kind of a touchy subject given the fact they have yet to win a game...

Rosalind has become quite the softball fan.

Wednesday night, while K was slaving away as a PhD student researcher, I got to get dressed up and dine at Maggiano's with the Texas Association of Women Dentists. Our end of the year banquet is always such an awesome event. Aside from the super delicious multi-course dinner, it's always fun to see everyone OUT of school and OUT of scrubs. Although, even if you take the dental students out of dental school... we don't have anything else to talk about!

The D3 TAWD girls enjoying a night out.

Thursday, K and I found ourselves at the Dallas Arboretum with a bunch of BCD people to watch The Molly Ringwalds (they're an 80's cover band, get it?) perform as part of the Thursday Night Concert Series. We laid on our blanket, eating dinner, sipping wine, and watching the sun set over White Rock Lake- all while rockin' out to classic 80's songs. The company was good and the weather was fantastic. It could not have been a better night!
Friday was basically our "night off," and it was a much needed break after all the previous events of the week. That night, K and I stayed in, we cooked dinner and watched Game 5 of the Stars vs Ducks as we cuddled with the pup on the couch. It was a really relaxing night, but about half way through the game, things got a little more exciting when K and I both got a very important email from 23andMe with some really big news; the results from our DNA tests were in! Now, I realize that the idea of a "DNA test" is a little strange, but I promise there's a perfectly good reason we had our genetic ancestry tested... Really, the ONLY reason was to determine if K is actually Italian (his great-grandfather, Vito LaRosa, was adopted and his birth mother's last name was O'Flannahan or McGrady or something equally and clearly Irish.) And since I like looking at family trees and other similar things pertaining to family heritage, I got my ancestral DNA tested for kicks. All-in-all, I think our money was well spent; the results from our tests were fantastic (it's pretty amazing what information you can get from just a saliva sample)! The preliminary results that we got about a week ago showed us what percentage of our DNA is Neanderthal DNA- that was a surprise to both of us when we learned I have MORE Neanderthal DNA than K... I mean, have you seen that kid's brow line?! Anyway, the main results are what arrived Friday and if you take a look below, you're in for quite a treat.

As you can see from the picture above, the information we got is super interesting; for starters, K is ZERO percent Italian (he's not even a little bit Southern European, for that matter), he's predominantly British/Irish (it seems mama LaRosa's suspicions were dead on), and he's as much Ashkenazi Jewish as I am Iberian! It's pretty funny, because K is as much of a white person as someone can possibly get; my results, however, are little more exotic. I'll let you take a moment to get a closer look at that; try not to be alarmed when your mind is totally blown away by my genetic ancestry...

Following some pretty in depth discussions about our DNA results, I turned in early (while K stayed up and witnessed the super depressing results of the Stars game), and for good reason because Saturday was my BACHELORETTE PARTY!!! I can't believe how quick it came- it seems like just yesterday we were trying to set a date for it! Saturday morning, K and I ran a bunch of errands and did a bunch of chores, finishing just in time for my lovely Matron of Honor and Bridesmaids to come over and do my hair and make-up before they had to run to our hotel to set up for the night's festivities. Now, while the first half of the day was pretty mundane, the night was anything but boring. We started the festivities at the Hilton Anatole, followed by a ride in a stretch limo to dinner at Dee Lincoln's (which also doubles as a champagne bar), followed by stops at the Round Up Saloon, and S4 (pictures not included)!

Even K got to join us at the hotel before we got our "twerk" on.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have such wonderful friends!!! The girls who planned the night, I've known for over 10 years; the girls who joined us from BCD, truly make dental school bearable. I love those ladies to death, and I'm so glad they got to be apart of such a memorable night!