For the last 2.5 months, I’ve felt this overwhelming sense of guilt about the dogs – I hardly EVER took them to the park and often neglected to take them for long walks when I was in the throes of book writing.
Now that my schedule is (temporarily) a little lighter, I thought I’d make it up to the pups, especially James:
Maggie likes to be outside, but not half as much as James.
James is like a real dog!
And Maggie wears clothing and flattens herself to the ground when other dogs come over. Enough said.
The Husband and I took the dogs to this great dog park that includes a HUGE lake and a forest with a maze of trails. The dogs LOVE running through the forest.
But they don’t like the water. I’m glad I don’t have a doggie that dives into lakes – more messy!
The Husband is diligently studying for his Medical Board exams right now. He even brought material to the park and walked around with his nose in his papers.
I thought my legs were 100% from the 22.0 miler I did yesterday, but let me tell you – my legs started to ache after walking around the forest and the park for about an hour. And I felt worn out very quickly. I am definitely still recovering!
Before we left for the dog park, I had leftover stir fry from last night:
And afterwards, we stopped at Coldstone, and I finally got my post-long run ice cream fix:
More studying on behalf of the Husband ensued:
Keep your fingers crossed that he passes!
What’s the hardest exam you’ve ever taken? I thought the GRE exam (to get into graduate school) was extremely challenging, but my Chemistry final this summer was a killer. I walked out in tears – it was THAT hard!
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Good luck on the boards, Mr. HTP!!
I think I have “labor brain” when it comes to tough exams — I really try to erase the experience entirely from my brain! I hated the GREs, mostly because I got the exact same score both times I took them
I wish my pup would follow me off-leash like Maggie and James do!
GRE’s, hands down. I took them twice, too, so I would know. And I’m pretty sure I walked out the room in tears both times…
Good luck to your husband!
I have a doggie that LOVES to get in the water. I take him running with me (he can go eight-10 miles before he’s too tired) along a river that runs through my town and he even gets in it when it’s almost frozen! I HATE it when he runs out onto frozen water though … I get so scared for him! In the summer/fall when the water is low, he gets soooo smelly and muddy, but it’s worth it to me to see him so happy! Anyway, cute doggies, as always.
frozen water? why didn’t I just say ice? ha ha …
because your creative and original. or at least thats what I try to tell myself every time I create a new description of something Webster’s had in it’s dictionary for the past century +. haha
Definitely Anatomy that I took in College!
Your doggie antics completely crack me up. Not as much as your twitter but pretty close.
Good luck to your husband!
what a fun day! I miss having a dog – we’re hoping to get one sometime soon…just looking for the right puppy
Good luck to the husband with his exam!
I’ve got two sets of ridiculous exams, first the LSAT (to get into law school), and now my first semester exams. The Torts exam was by far the hardest so far, but I still have a property exam tonight. I plan on enjoying a few drinks tonight to ease the pain!
Illinois Bar Exam. Study for 2 1/2 months solid, in the summer (when its super nice in Chicago), then take a two day long test. Good thing its only pass/fail!
I know. Bar Exam for me too! I would call my best friend crying almost every night during the last few weeks leading up to the exam. I also subsisted on a diet of dunkin donuts and pizza.
I have taken (and passed!) three bars. The first was the most excruciating, but the other two, taken while actually practicing? Not exactly fun times.
I shudder to think about it all.
Too cute. Lol at the clothes. But what was the ice cream mix?! These are the important details.
I’m currently studying for my last final(greek history) and at this point I just don’t care! The entire campus is a ghost town because most people have finished and gone home already. It’s so demotivating
I was just going to ask about your husband’s test–good luck to him! I wish we had a dog park, but I’ve got a water dog who would be a complete mess–so maybe it’s better that we don’t
hope husband does good on his test! im not sure if this was the hardest but i remember it the most…i took an upper level accounting class as a major elective (im an idiot ha) and after the final i literally layed down on the floor in the hallway right outside class. three hours of a written accounting test will do that…ugh. thinking of that makes me miss college less…but just a little:)
Good luck to your husband on his exam!
My hardest (written) exam was cancer biology and therapeutics in my second year of grad school. Not only was it hard, it was long! They gave us 8+ hours to take it…I managed to finish in 4! My hardest oral exam was my comprehensive exam in September which decided whether I’d be able to continue on in my Ph.D. program.
We used to take our dog to the dog park all the time but he’s gotten to the point that he doesn’t want to play with the other dogs. All he wants is to play fetch. I can do that in the back yard. We were still taking him for a while because there is one with water (it’s on a river and attached to PETA’s headquarters) and he LOVES to swim, but when he started refusing to come out of the water and/or getting explosive diarrhea from drinking the water that stopped, too.
The Bar Exam was the most awful experience of my life. I was just obsessed with it for months and months and was just numb for the test. I’m so glad it’s over.
Do you ever take James running? Our dog is pretty small (only 19 pounds), but he is FAST and can naturally run several miles with me without even panting! They even have special doggie running leashes so your hands are free–it clips to your waist. Since you’re tapering and will probably be doing shorter, more relaxed runs, it might be worht a shot!
james can do about 1 mile before he gets too tired and lays down. i need to train him to build endurance! he’d like it, i think.
Some breeds do need to train like humans and work up to it! Bonus: after the run, he conks out on the couch and is a total angel for the rest of the day.
I wish I could take Shiner to a dog park… He’s old and picky with who he like to hange out with
what flavor coldstone?>?!
coffee with resee’s and coconut!
Fingers are crossed!!!
good luck to the husband! i know how hard these exams are, i have alot of friends who have taken them! i know he can do it!
I took the GRE and didn’t think it was so bad. All my tests so far in grad school have been killer. The complexity and trickiness are awful! I am getting my Master’s in atmospheric science, so they are like math/physics/weather problems that are so hard. I took my final Monday and wanted to cry! My sister took her boards for med school after her first 2 years and will take them again after her fourth year. That is definitely an intense test. Good luck to him!
I love long walks with the pups. I wish we had a dog park like that.
The hardest exam I ever took was the Foreign Language Teaching certification test. I failed it by 4 points the first time.
Well I’ve had many hard exams over the years but I am taking the MCAT pretty soon and that one will reduce me to tears I’m sure. Until February, my schedule consists of sleeping, going to my full time job, and studying. Oh and I eat and read blogs too. All I want to do is start my own blog but there are just not enough hours in the day….Yet
Good luck Husband on your exam. I hope to be in your shoes one day!
Maggie’s clothes crack me up! And that big black dog in the water looks like my puppy
I love dogs!
Thinking about taking the bar exam still makes me want to cry!
The hardest test I ever took was my Advanced multivariable calculus final when I was a freshman in college. It made teh LSAT look like a breeze this fall!!
Youre so lucky your dogs dont like water…it makes them so smelly!!!!
My chemistry final this year was the hardest ever!
I have to walk my dogs today too – it finally warmed up here a little!
My hardest test was Biology this year. It was impossible. I wish your husband so much luck! You guys must feel on top of the world right now with all you’re doing! Congrats!
I had to take a comprehensive pharmacology exit exam to pass this semester. I thought I was going to have a panic attack taking it. Definitely the hardest test I’ve ever taken. Good luck to the husband!
I am getting ready to start studying for the GRE’s. How long did you study for and what did you do? I got a big book for the GRE’s and a huge stack of vocabulary cards to start studying for them! I really really want to get into grad school!
thats exactly what i used to study and i crammed for about 1.5 months, everyday.
I plan on graduating with my bachelor’s degree in may then probably applying to the program that spring or fall so I’ll have plenty of time to study! Good luck to your husband on his exam!
I’m also getting ready to study for the GRE. Do you guys suggest Kaplan materials, another company’s materials, or anything in particular?
And the hardest test that I’ve taken (twice) is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, 2nd level. The first is the hardest. Even my Japanese 9th graders and some teachers don’t know half of the stuff on the 2nd level, so being able to understand the test was a huge milestone. (Though I hope that I passed it this time).
Thanks for any advice! <3
bridget – i used kaplan – it was great.
Ohio State Bar Exam – definitely. 2 1/2 months of studying and the test is 2 1/2 days long – which is 15 hours worth of actual test taking!!!!
Good luck to your husband! It sounds like he has been diligently studying and I think that’s the key to passing big exams like that.
That would definately be the AP Calc final! i’M SO glad to hear I’m not the only one who been known to cry when I’m in the midst of an impossible test…
I am sooo jealous of you wearing shorts & t-shirt when here it is -25 (with the wind)… (I live in Montreal) !! As for my dog I just open the back door and let her disapear in the snow until she comes back by herself! Thumbs up to the brave people who are walking their dog with this shitty weather!
BTW I painted my dog’s nails in red (what a fun idea… for me!) and tied a matching ribbon around her neck! My sister came to visit me and though my dog was bleeding (next time i’ll try black)!! hehehe!!) and my mom’s thought that I am crazy and tried to convice me that this isn’t good for her nails (no sense : if I use that on my nails why would this be harmfull to her, they works the same as ours)! I regularly file her nails just like I do mine
(she likes that, she hates when I use the nails cutter… what a princess this dog is 
)
Hey girlie! I love this post! Frank and Maggie would seriously make awesome friends. They could lay together and hang out
Good luck to the husband on his big exam. Hardest exam I ever took? One of the differential equations math tests I took in college
the Mass. Bar Exam most definitely!
The hardest exam I ever took was the french baccalaureat! I did great though
My hardest test ever was the NCLEX exam to get my nursing license.
I feel your pain about chemistry. I had a chemistry final today.
Always challenging!
The CPA exam was the worst experience of my life. It supposedly has an even lower passing rate than the Bar exam. I had to give up everything (social life, working out, personal time, EVERYTHING) to study for it. Thank goodness I never have to do it again!
I’m always amazed at the people who are CPAs and attorneys for surviving two hellacious exams.
I hear ya! (see comment below) I have currently taken and passed two sections, and have one in January and one in February. The February section scares me, just becaus I’ll be trying to study for it during tax season…
I studied for my 3rd section during tax season, because I was close to losing my credit on AUD! Life was hell for a month or so, but it was worth it in the end. If you need some motivation, check out the blog Another71.com. I found it after failing a section, and it gave me lots of advice and motivation! Good luck – you can do it!
Leigh, CPA
Totally agree. Taking and studying for the CPA has been the worst experience of my life. I just started in July and have passed one part so far. I am in grad school and my graduate accounting finals have been a BREEZE compared to the CPA. Good luck girls!
Thanks! I will check out that blog and pass it on to the numerous other folks in my firm who are studying for and taking the exam right now.
I’m currently in the middle of the CPA exam, and it’s a bear. My main motivators to get through it are 1) just to never have to take it again–would hate to study for it TWICE and 2) I want to read the Twilight series before Eclipse comes out. I know it’s goofy, but hey, whatever gets you through it, right? Congrats on your 22 miles-I’m sure you’ll do well in your marathon.
you dont want a dog that runs into lakes? so i’m guessing you wouldn’t want my new pup… porter, the newfoundland!?!? a pipe on our deck last week… water was showering down onto the patio and there was porter, dancing and jumping around in it like, I LOVE THIS, WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE???
bar exams are the worst, i’ve passed two of them, and no, it’s not any easier the second time! UGHHHHH the misery!!!!
i took the gre too, the math part was super hard.
im having cold stone cake today! yum.
The NCLEX…aka: boards to pass to become an RN! Actually, I’m not even sure if it was the “hardest exam,” but rather the most stressful. The 24 hour wait after to see if I passed was like the worst day of my life! So glad I passed. It was like a tumor was removed, such relief!
A second vote for the GRE being the hardest. I took it in August 2005, and that was right around when Hurricanes Katrina/Rita/Wilma/etc. rolled through. We had no power and I was studying by battery-operated lantern.
I went to the local Barnes & Noble to take the computer practice tests, but everyone in Miami was there charging their cell phones and laptops and putting a drain on the store’s power, so they kicked us out!
oooh what a lovely day it looks like you guys had!
My evidence law exam was my hardest exam ever – I was so pleased that I passed first go! I was dreading having to do the subject again if I didn’t pass!
The CPA exam. I have proudly taken and failed it. Woo hoo!
Bar exam. Hands down, no question. I actually ended up in a nowhere town in GA when I lost my job in ATL because I so didn’t want to take the Bar Exam again that I would only consider GA jobs.
I cried for weeks leading up to the exam.
Love the Dog posts. Keep em coming.
You and your ice cream…..
Hardest exam.. Probably my Film History ESSAY exam on Citizen Kane. That was tough. Or the Advertising Research exam my Senior year. That one sucked too.
I love that dog park!
and my hardest test was for sure this past semester’s metabolism final..ehh!
Definitely the NY bar exam, that was KILLER and one of the worst states to take it in. blech!
I thought the GRE was tough but the fact that it’s computer-based makes it SO much tougher than it should be! Just let me use paper & pencil already so I can X out the choices!
I also took the EIT exam, the one your friend Megan passed, and it was KILLER!! 8-hour tests are just mind-numbingly TOO LONG!
My dog is DEFINITELY more like Maggie. They’d be great friends.
I love your dogs!! Now I’m craving Coldstone. I don’t even think I’m going to Grad school because I’m afraid of the GRE exam. I am so horrible at math. This is going to sound silly but my hardest test was probably my math regents in high school. (stupid NY tests!) I had to take both A and B twice because I failed both the first time. I am so bad at math. lol Goog thing I’m a writing major!
I have a lab and she LIVES for the water- lakes, puddle, mud- you name it and she is in it. THE WORST!
My HARDEST test was a biochem II test. Horrible, horrible! Thank goodness I only needed a D to pass the class
I also thought the RD exam was nerve-wracking. However, by that point, I figured, “if this wasn’t enough studying, then I don’t know what else to do.” But, I passed
Ohio Bar Exam — two and a half days
Tests in PT school were the hardest, but the national boards really weren’t that bad (I guess all the impossible tests I took over the 3 year period prepared me enough!).
The thing that cracks me up about bar exams is that you spend 2 years on school that does pretty much nothing(from what I understand) to prepare you for the bar.
Almost every law school is actually three years. You’re right about law school not really preparing you for the bar exam. However, law school prepares you for practicing law — teaching you how to “think like a lawyer,” analyze and think through legal problems, conduct effective and efficient legal research, etc. For me, law school was really a pretty amazing experience… so much so I decided to spend my entire career working in one.
Awww I love the pics of the dogs! Your dogs always look so cute! And that looks like a really fun dog park.
Oh and man do I feel for you husband! And I think the hardest test Ive ever taken would be the one I had today for Med school. It was a final over all our core classes. It was over 30 chapters of material, 200 questions, and took 4 hours! Oh man. Tell the husband good luck! Im sure he’ll do great!
CPA Exam.. while working 70 hour weeks. Horrid.
The national physical therapy exam was SO hard. I cried as soon as I left, and then on and off for the rest of the weekend. I didn’t even find out that I passed until a week later, but I thought I had failed for sure because it was so damn hard. Never again!!!!
What a fun day! Good luck to Husband on his exam!!!
I had several memorable finals back in my grad school days, including ones in Biochemistry & Endocrinology. However, I took an exam in August for my teaching certification program – it covered pretty much the entire high school chemistry curriculum that is usually spread out over 4 semesters. To make it even more challenging, I hadn’t taken any sort of exam in about 6 years, and the prep was all independent study – no classes. I was wiped OUT after that exam, but I passed! Now I have to do the same for physics and teaching knowledge. Oy.
I definitely left my chemistry final this morning in tears. no good.
you definitely deserved that coldstone girl!
my hardest test would probs be my biochemisty test i took this morning! hah.
good luck to the hubby!
jenna
The MCAT that I took last summer was really tough. I took the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology GRE subject test a month ago and it was AWFUL. If I were banking on that score to get into graduate school, I would have left in tears, but I only needed to take the test as a graduation requirement for my major. I imagine the USMLE step 1 and step 2 will be my next killer tests!
CPA!!! So tough! Tell your husband good luck! and to get plenty of sleep and have a good breakfast!
I love Maggie.
I feel you on the whole test thing. I hate walking out of tests and feeling like my a– was handed to me on a platter.
I would have to say it will be the GRE. I am not sure as of right now but the GRE will be my hardest.
Tell Kristien he’s awesome. I studied for the FE in the lines at Disney world… and look how that turned out!!
All that hard work will pay off!
organic chem!! *shudders*….well, atleast the A i got makes it better!! oyyy, you get to see the Red Devils while in England!! ayeee ayeeee!! can you tell i’m a fan!!:P what’s the hubby’s fave football team?
He loves Man U
I will be taking the GRE in February, right before my trip to France and Italy! It’ll be a nice treat.
I am a little more nervous, now that I’ve read the comments saying people left crying! But I do have a tutor and have been studying the math section for almost 2 months.. I’ll be moving on to the verbal part soon. I hope it isn’t that difficult. My hardest tests were always in Theories of Personality (Psyc).
P.S. can we bring out some happy stories about the GRE, so I don’t feel scared?
My Chem 2 final this summer was absurd. It may as well have been an exam for a totally different class. I basically guessed on half of them it was so insane.
I just took my Organic Chem final this afternoon, and it actually went well! (I think…) Yay!
Hmmmm, I don’t know which exam was the hardest, because I immediately try to erase the horrid memory of writing them as soon as I walk out of the room.
I took a French oral exam once that was just terrible — luckily, I did well enough to get the AP credit but it was so stressful.
Oh man, i’ve hard so many hard exams I can’t even tell you which one was the most challenging. I’ve hard hard neuro exams and also the GRE stunk, but I wasn’t too prepeared for that either!
I actually found the GRE pretty easy but I have a Chemistry final this Saturday that is likely to make me cry as well
My husband is in med. school too so I feel your pain with the face to paper ratio!
Okay seriously, can we get Maggie and Leo together?? Leo hides from the other dogs! You should have seen him at the Christmas party the other day. He was hiding under the table. I feel like the two introverts just might get along. Doggy play date asap??
Sounds like a blast
Good luck, Christien!!! (sp?)
close! kristien!
i was quite scared before my pharmacy board exam but I did well. I feel that if you did well in school, you’ll do fine in the BIG board tests. tell your hubby good luck. it’ll pay off…LITERALLY!
Maybe I should say the RD exam-when I became a registered dietitian, but it wasn’t!! That is probably a good thing. I would say the GRE because I love geometry (when I took it as a freshman in high school) but just didn’t have time to study all that stuff in college so it made the test really tough for me.
I was an English and Art History major in college and all those exams required lots of reading, memorizing and essay writing. My hands would be hurting during the test and I’d have to stop and massage them for a minute, then get back to writing. Plus after spewing out all that information, I always felt so drained. So glad that’s all behind me now!