weekend re-wind

this past weekend I attended my first CEU in iLs: integrated listening systems. and although i missed my alarm and had to great ready in LITERALLY 5 minutes it was a fantastic day. [fyi: my phone has a weekday feature I apparently programmed in to allow me sleep in on the weekends. excellent feature except when you are getting picked up and have to drive a ways to get to your destination]. the course was hosted by finley hospital in dubuque. and i learned a few new treatment techniques and even got to try them out this week on some patient's of mine! awesome possum! here is a link about iLs if you are interested and want to learn more. it is a unique resource that both witwer clinics offer to their clients. and in the short time i have worked/interned i have witnessed some amazing changes. right now i am trying to complete my self study course for certification in IM: interactive metronome. it is another tool we can use during our sessions to influence sub-cortical processing through the development & enforcement of synaptic connections to improve motor planning, rhythm, timing, and coordination. AND i am in the final portion of my training to be able to use serial casting as a treatment technique. it is crazy how much i continue to learn and grow. i feel very fortunate to work for a company that fosters excellence in their staff and is very supportive of continuing education.

back to this past weekend....

after i arrived home from my course. ian and i have a few friends over to celebrate st. patrick's day (a night early). we had a few drinks at home and then headed downtown to Mahoney's. it was interesting. there was a techno DJ and a very diverse crowd. not the irish pub atmosphere we had anticipated. we managed to have some fun none-the-less.

[ian purchased this cup for me in honor of my first irish holiday as a flynn]

[he really is the best]

 [cheers]

 

 

on sunday we slept in. but when we did finally drag ourselves out of bed. we got ready to riverdance music and drank some jameson & green spirits. around lunch we headed downtown to watch collin in the parade. it was FREEZING. and as soon as he walked past we bailed. and headed for white star to grab some lunch. after that we stopped by for a drink at brick's. i am in love. we will be going back there. partly just because they play tom petty and bob segar. some of my faves. once we arrived home. jon, kyle, and collin joined us for dinner. kyle cooked some cabbage, corned beef, & potatoes traditional irish-american food. we used the table gifted to us from ian's parents to play a few games of settler's of catan. ps. i won twice. with a very sketchy strategy. overall we had a fabulous weekend spent with co-workers, family, and friends!

[lunch @ white star]

[heading out to watch the parade]

[so proud of our brother who walked in the parade!]

 

a little irish knowledge i learned: [at work someone mentioned that this wasn't traditional "irish food" so i did some research. i found that historically the irish were a major producer of cattle but were often unable to afford any beef due to prohibitive costs. this delicacy was consumed mostly by wealthy english landowners & industrialized british areas. instead the irish diet focused more on pork and potatoes. when many irish immigrants moved to the USA they found that beef was more affordable, substituting it for bacon and other pork products. and it is what most american's think of as irish cuisine (most notably served on or around st. patrick's day - again an AMERICAN holiday)- although people who currently live in ireland do not view this as traditional irish food.]