Last night we had our first holiday party for the clinic. Since we only have one employee so far, we decided to invite the people that have helped us out so far. It was a great mix of people and everyone got along well and had a good time. We hosted it at our home - since it is really where the clinic exists right now (I have the anesthesia, patient warmer and autoclave to prove it!). And we had a really fun spread of pre New Year's food, created by yours truly. Here's the menu:

Lobster Cauliflower Soup with Truffle Oil

Texas Caviar

Celeriac Remulade

Smoked Salmon Toasts

Mini Chanterele Quiches

Warm Dungeness Crab Dip

Cheese Plate 

Peppermint Semifreddo 

Katie, our veterinary nurse came with her husband Paul (She brought delicious Chocolate cookies to go with the Peppermint Semifreddo). And while she was here we tried on the new uniforms that she had carefully researched. They are the London Series from the Katherine Heigl line of scrubs...yes, from Gray's Anatomy. The design was so great that we ordered them to try on. Our only concern is what do we do if we hire a guy to work reception? We think there may be a matching grey *plain* scrub top - we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. I also ordered the matching lab coat and we were quite the styling pair at the party.

Both Michael and I are so appreciative of all the help we have received from friends as we work on getting this clinic opened and were so happy to have everyone over for some champagne, good food and conversation. We wish all of you a very happy and prosperous New Year!

 

Yes, we are still working on opening the clinic - it is our never ending task right now but we were lucky enough to take time out for the holidays. Well, except for a little research and placing a couple of orders. Michael's family came out for the holidays for a visit. They got to see the space first hand and our color picks. They also did some house hunting as Michael's parents are moving out to Portland soon. 

From left: Uncle Tom, Aunt Jean, Kristin, Michael, Jim, and Barb         enjoying Dragon Martinis and Sweet Spicy Almonds

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Michael's mom, Barb and his Aunt Jean prepared our Christmas Eve meal which was great since I was working that day at Murrayhill. They decided to do a Pu Pu spread (maybe in the theme of getting this clinic up and running) - is that really how you spell it? We had small plates. Soup, salad, dips, crackers, cheese, meat and nomeatballs and various other delicious treats.

We opened our gifts Christmas Eve and had a good time. We got a few books for our waiting room - a pet photo book from Michael's brother, Clint and some beautiful coffee table books on Oregon and Portland from Michael's parents. We also got another themed gift - coffee mugs with the logo on them! Michael's dad, Jim had them made by downloading our logo from the blog about the business cards. It was so sweet! We got other wonderful gifts - too many to mention and it still makes me feel like a kid!

With everyone's help I put together Christmas dinner. We had an Asian influence dinner that we've made a few times when the Sulis family has gotten together for Christmas. We started with Dragon Martinis and Sweet Spiced Almonds. Jim made the Martinis - he's in charge of the drinks and does a great job! 12 Spice Chicken, Wok Fried Crab in Lemongrass Sauce, Peanut Noodles, Asian Cole Slaw, Bok Choy and Aromatic Rice kept us well fed. We kept egging each other on to finish the crab - we did it but couldn't move afterwards. We held off on dessert until a few hours later - Ginger Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream...yum. 

Aunt Jean left on thursday and Michael's parents left today.  Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb are still here. Unfortunately Barb got ill over the holidays and has been hospitalized. She is feeling so much better and hopefully she'll be released Sunday or Monday. So it's back to the grind....

My patient warmer arrived yesterday and my autoclave arrived today...it's like it's still Christmas. Tomorrow night is our first annual MTVC holiday party and Monday is my last day at Murrayhill. Still no keys to the building but you will be the first to know when we have them in our hands!!

Happy Holidays. 

Well...it's done. The permitting is complete. Michael used his architectural and business skills and spent many hours (about 18 hours total) at the City showing them the plans, making corrections, and going from department to department to get signed off. There were some scary steps along the way. We thought we were going to have to pay an extra $6,000 in system development charges for transportation but it turns out after persistent conversation with the City that we could be exempted entirely since we would not be impacting traffic more than 15%. Hurray for us!

There's nothing sweeter than approved plans!

 The stories abound - Michael can share some those if he'd like. They were terribly amusing but since the City will still have to come and inspect the building- perhaps those are better kept until after we're done.

Ok so we still don't have keys to our space (Yes, I am well aware that the 1st of December has passed) because there are no doors to the space yet. In fact, despite the last 3 days of no rain the concrete has not been poured in the front. You remember the concrete, don't you? Remember...the slope in the front of our space...one of those hiccups? Anyway, if I sound cynical it's only because I am so excited to get in there and get moving!

On the upside, they are almost done with the wall between our space and the one next door (which will hopefully house a bakery) and they have cut the door to our back space where radiology will be. 

That truck sure makes the space look small

We have scheduled the arrival of our Fovea Digital Radiology Unit for the end of January and I have ordered furniture for the waiting area. We picked out this awesome dental unit from iM3 - they are so cool and they have an office in Vancouver, WA. I've ordered our Bair Hugger patient warmer and my technician and I are researching fluid pumps. We have ordered scrubs and labcoats to try on. And are in process of getting notecards and our new client gift (tote bags) made! I've worked with our interior designer, Cheryl Janis to pick out colors and can't wait to paint them on the walls (when we have them!). Michael will be purchasing our light fixtures from Schoolhouse Electric this week. And there is still lots of work to do but now we're getting into some of the fun stuff.

Michael heads to the space tomorrow so keep your eye out for more pictures.

I'm sure all of you are wondering what happened to Foxx - the cute little kitten that turned my home into a care facility over Thanksgiving. Well, he's doing great! In fact he was doing so well that he was acting like a kitten and getting into all sorts of trouble. You should have seen him with the laser toy! He was even stalking DeeDee. She, of course, totally deserved this for all of the hassling she did while he was sick.

Foxx moving fast to get a toy!

After the holiday he went back to Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital where he continued to get his medication and lots of food. He gained a whole pound in 4 days!! Boy, he sure does like to eat. As he was getting more and more strength back and he was getting into more and more trouble I started to realize that life in a clinic was not the best thing for a kitten. And so, after the holidays and when I was sure Foxx was going to continue to get better I called his owner with an update and asked if he would like to bring Foxx back home. You see, Foxx had been adopted with another kitten and I was convinced they needed to be back together.

 I wasn't at the clinic the day Foxx went back home but I know everyone was so happy. I got an email from his owner yesterday saying that he's doing well and he's getting into frequent wrestling matches with the other kitten (for awhile there, she was much bigger than him - but I think he caught up!). Sometimes it's amazing what we can do and what a little kitten body is capable of recovering from. I will miss Foxx but I know he's in a great place with people that love him and a little sister to wrestle with - what could be better?

 

Yesterday I went out chandelier shopping with my friend Laura (realtor by trade, professional shopper by choice with a veterinary past). She and I braved the downpour and winds to hit a couple choice lighting establishments. All had wonderful pieces but, as both Laura and I agreed, we have very expensive taste! Some were really cute but too small for the space and some were perfect but too far outside my budget.

Me holding the chandelier

We finally got to our last stop, Hippo Hardware. If you don’t know Hippo – it’s a 3-story building filled with things you need for your older Portland home – doorknobs, registers, bathtubs, chandeliers, and so much more. They had some great choices and I noticed one I particularly loved off by itself. A very nice gentleman came over to be sure we weren’t parked on the street – weekday evening limits were coming up – and since we weren’t we snagged him and asked some prices. Sadly he informed me that my chandelier was way outside my price range. He then informed us that he was the owner and we chatted. He gave me some heartfelt advice on business ownership, entertained Laura and I for awhile, and then found someone who really knew prices. We were told the chandelier was $950 less than what we had originally been quoted!! Turns out the “crystals” were plastic. I did not love it any less and I brought it home in the back of Laura’s car with her making very careful turns and us giggling every time it made clinking noises.

Of course I hadn’t seen it lit up and wasn’t sure it even worked but everyone at Hippo was so nice and assured me if I kept my receipt I could return it. That night Michael braved the rain to buy a plug-in cord to see if it lit up (I think he was secretly hoping it wouldn’t – not a fan of chandeliers). He wired it and plugged it in and it was beautiful! To me it looks like a pineapple – the symbol of hospitality and I think it will look perfect in the waiting area of the practice – I can’t wait to see it hung!