These Boots Are Made For...

...Sitting on my butt with my feet propped up, while I read Jane Austen and possibly eat pomegranates.

This morning I woke up and thought to myself, "Hmm. I only have clinic today. Plus, it is Wednesday, the Day of Tyra Banks and America's Next Top Model. If I wear cute (though uncomfortable) shoes, I can practice my 'model walk' all day long. Perhaps I shall wear my cute (though uncomfortable) boots. Yes! I shall!" So I did. They were only One Beer Shoes,* but my feet still hurt. Thus I whine.

*One Beer Shoes: Shoes that are uncomfortable, but the pain is able to be dulled by consuming about one beer. Alternately: shoes that can be worn if I am going to spend most of the day on my hiney. Antonym: Birkenstocks. See Hard Liquor Shoes**

**Hard Liquor Shoes: Those that I shouldn't even look at without a straight shot of tequila. I don't wear those often...

Jump on the Brenna Train, my friend, and let me carry you to an entirely different topic.

We had our Intern Retreat last week (to which I wore Coffee Shoes - aka Everyday shoes aka those that I will put on after I've had at least one cup of coffee).

Quick - word association game. I'll give you a word, and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. Ready? Here is the word: RETREAT.

You totally pictured cabin in the woods with questionable restroom facilities and campfires and sleeping bags, right? Or perhaps a battlefield where one side is deciding to run for their lives?

Well, you're totally wrong.

We were lucky enough to retreat at the Christian Brothers Retreat and Conference Center in Napa. Yes. That Napa. It is somehow associated with monks. I think. I didn't see any there.


We did retreat-y things, like talking. And more talking. And then between the talking, we did some more. In all, the talking part was totally painless.

But, more importantly, we had fun!

We sampled some wine:


Of course... straight from the vine isn't quite as good as, you know, actual wine. As Sarah, Ryan and Monique demonstrated.

(Though I'm not quite sure why Monique looks quite so crazy)

We also took in some fine art.

Wherein a fellow resident showed that you can take the pediatrician away from the children, but you can't take the child out of the pediatrician. This particular installment was called "Melting Stone."

After the wine and art, we did some more talky-talking, and eating - did I mention eating? We ate like queens. And/or kings. So much food, and all of it delicious. Better, at least, than the bagels and beef jerky that I tend to live off of. Just kidding. Kind of.

After dinner we played Mafia. Hours and hours of Mafia. For those of you not familiar with the game, it involves lots of mock murder, lynching and lying through your teeth. Its great fun! Incidentally, Susan's residency program also played mafia on their retreat. Must be a pediatrician thing (I didn't even suggest the game!).

Finally, we did retreat (hee!) to bed. Because the building was originally something to do with monks and not a retreat center, the rooms were of varying sizes. Guess which one I got? The room is definitely in contention for the Smallest Room Ever:



(but we all remember that honor belongs to the two person suite in New York)

The small monk-like room was totally worth the view, though:


So, there you go. I've been retreated. I guess our next retreat will be at the Marriott. FYI, the Marriott is located smack dab between the hospital, the building where the peds offices are, and the building where we have peds clinics. I'll totally wear my tequila shoes to that one!